Month: January 2022

In a memorandum sent to the President of India, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which was at the forefront of opposing Central farm laws during over an year-long protest at several points of Delhi borders, have raised several issues where they feel “betrayed” by the assurances given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he announced the repeal of the “black laws”.

LokMarg brings you the Morcha’s memorandum verbatime as follows hereunder

Honorable President,

You are aware that under the banner of “Samyukta Kisan Morcha”, the farmers of the country launched an unprecedented movement for the repeal of the anti-farmer law of the Union Government, for securing legal guarantee for the minimum support price, and against other anti-farmer policies. Due to this movement, the three anti-farmer laws were repealed with your signature.

Thereafter, on 21st November 2021, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, drawing his attention to the six outstanding issues. In response to this, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, wrote a letter (Secretary/AFW/2021/Misc/1) to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on December 9th, 2021, in which he gave assurances on behalf of the government on some issues and appealed to withdraw the movement. In the basis of this written assurance, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha decided to suspend the morcha on the Delhi border and various other peotests from December 11th.

Your Excellency, it is with deep sadness and anguish that we inform you that once again the farmers of the country have been cheated. The Government of India has not fulfilled any of the assurances in its letter dated 9th December. That’s why farmers across the country have decided to observe Vishwasghat Diwas (Day of Betrayal) on 31st January 2022.

You can see for yourself the difference between the words and deeds of the government:

The *promise* in the letter was: “The cases filed against farmers during the farmers’ movement will be withdrawn with immediate effect. Consent to withdraw the case has been given by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. … It is agreed by related departments and agencies of the Government of India to withdraw all the agitation related cases registered against the protesters and supporters in all the Union Territories including Delhi with immediate effect.”The *reality* is that no action has been taken by the Union Government, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Governments on the assurance of withdrawing the cases filed during the agitation. Farmers are constantly getting court summons in these cases. Only the Haryana government has done some paperwork and issued some orders to withdraw the case. But still this work is incomplete, and farmers are being summoned.

The government’s *promise* was: “The Government of India will also appeal to the other states to withdraw the cases registered related to this farmers’ movement.”The *reality* is that not even a letter has been sent by the Union Government.

The government’s *promise* was: “The Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government have also given in-principle consent for compensation to the families of martyrs of the movement.”The *reality* is that the Uttar Pradesh government has not initiated any action on compensation to the martyr farmers’ families. No decision has been announced by the Haryana government regarding the amount and nature of compensation.

The *promise* of the government was: “On MSP, the Honorable Prime Minister himself and later the Honorable Agriculture Minister have announced the formation of a committee. … one of the mandates of the committee would be how to ensure that farmers of the country get MSP.”The *reality* is that the government has neither announced the formation of the committee on this issue, nor has given any information about the nature of the committee and its mandate.

In the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre case, despite the SIT report affirming the charge of pre-planned conspiracy, Ajay Mishra Teni, the main conspirator of this case, continues to remain in the Union Council if Ministers violating every constitutional and political norm. This is adding insult to the injury. On the other hand, the Uttar Pradesh Police is active in implicating and arresting the farmers accused in this incident.

Not only this, ever since the morcha was suspended, the Union Government is moving ahead with its anti-farmer agenda. The negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with Australia threaten the existence of the dairy farmers. Amendments to the Biological Diversity Act 2002 is an invitation to biopiracy of the farmers’ wealth. GM food is being allowed through backdoor entey by making new regulations governing the FSSAI. Efforts are being made to cut down on the purchase of the crop with the new quality standard brought in by the FCI.
Your Excellency, you are the head of the state. It is your constitutional obligation to protect the interests of the Annadata farmers, the largest section of the country, and warn the government against committing this fraud on the farmers. You know that today the country has become self-sufficient in food grains because of the toil of the farmers. Due to the tireless efforts of the farmers, despite the lockdown and the economic slowdown, the agricultural production of the country has increased continuously. Playing tricks with farmers can be disastrous for the whole country.

Through this letter, the Annadatas of the country request the head of the country that the government must not forfeit their trust. The regime should stop testing the patience of the farmer. You should remind the Union Government of its written assurances to the farmers and get them fulfilled at the earliest. If the government reneges on its written assurance, the farmers would be left with no option but to resume their agitation.

Yours respectfully,
(For: Samyukta Kisan Morcha, ……………. District/Tehsil …………… State)

Shortly after isolation and recovery from COVID, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday held a meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the presence of senior officials of Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha Secretariat on the preparations for the Budget session of Parliament which gets underway from Monday.

The meeting which took place at the official residence of the Vice President went on for about 40 minutes.
In view of the ongoing third wave of Covid, arrangements have been made keeping social distancing in mind and Parliament timing for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are staggered.

The Rajya Sabha will function from 10 am to 3 pm, whereas the Lok Sabha will function from 4 pm to 9 pm except for the first two days when on Monday, the President of India will address both houses and on Tuesday when the Union Budget will be presented.

In today’s meeting, as per the sources, the Lok Sabha Speaker suggested that Members of both the Houses may be seated at different locations by name to avoid confusion, crowding and enquiries. This was welcomed by Naidu.

Secretary-Generals of both the Houses were accordingly asked to reach out to leaders of various parties and groups in respective Houses immediately and to suggest them to draw lists of names of Members of respective parties to be seated in different locations.

Seats were allotted in chambers and galleries of both the Houses based on the strength of parties.

Keeping the staggered timings of both Houses and subsequent reduction in time available for conducting of business custodians in view, as per sources, the need to seek better cooperation from all sections of the political spectrum and optimum utilisation of the available time was reiterated.

The sources also said that Secretary-Generals of both the Houses have informed that the Parliament House has followed all possible Covid protocols including sanitisation of the premises.

Birla and Naidu were also informed by the officials that all MPs have been requested to take an RT-PCR test 48 hours before the commencement of the session.

Sources further added that if anybody had tested positive or a family member was positive, post a 7 day isolation period, as per the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry, there was no need to undertake any further Covid test.

The Budget Session of Parliament gets underway on January 31 and will continue till February 11.

The second part of the session will again resume on March 14 and will continue till April 8. (ANI)

The national capital reported 3,674 new COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours, the state health department said on Sunday.

The positivity rate stands at 6.37 per cent. There is a decline in daily cases as compared to yesterday as Delhi registered 4,044 new infections on Saturday.
According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government, the active caseload in the city reached 21,490. Out of these, 16,165 patients are in home isolation, 1,508 are admitted to hospitals while the rest are admitted to dedicated COVID centres. The national capital has reported 18,27,489 COVID-19 cases so far.

As many as 6,954 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. With this, the recovery tally in the city reached 17,80,172.

The new fatalities pushed the COVID death toll in the national capital to 25,827.

As per the bulletin, 1,567 patients are admitted to hospitals across Delhi. Out of this, 59 patients are suspected to have COVID-19 while 1,508 are confirmed cases of the disease. Of these 1,508 patients, 1,203 are from Delhi while 305 are from outside.

A total of 57,686 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours to detect the presence of the virus.

During the last 24 hours, 70,263 COVID-19 vaccination doses were administered in the national capital as per the bulletin. Out of this, 24,739 people have been administered the first dose of the vaccine while 34,201 people have been administered the second dose.

Meanwhile, 10,082 children aged 15-18 years received their first dose of the vaccine, taking the total number of beneficiaries of the first dose in the aforementioned age bracket to 8,04,690.

A total of 2,95,43,034 vaccination doses have been administered in Delhi till date out of which 1,69,74,833 people have received their first dose while 1,22,98,724 people have received their second dose. (ANI)

Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police on Saturday night arrested a man near Mayfair Garden in the national capital, who allegedly cheated people to the tune of around Rs 1.09 crore in the name of investment.

According to the EOW, the accused has been identified as Rajesh Ambwani, who was absconding for almost a year.
“He along with his accomplice had duped people around Rs 1.09 crore,” said the police.

The police said that several people had complaints and two separate FIRs were also registered at Chanakyapuri police station in March last year.

“The accused Rajesh used to ask people to invest money in the investment scheme and then he used to extort the money. The accused used to identify himself as a professor of IIT Delhi. At present, the police are searching for his accomplice,” it added.

Further investigation is underway. (ANI)

The falling birth rates in China due to the one-child policy are giving nightmares for the Communist regime as it is finding itself helpless in tackling this.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that only 10.62 million babies were born last year, down from 12.02 million in 2020, and the lowest number in recorded history, as reported by New York Post.
Further, many Chinese men in their twenties and early thirties seem to have simply given up on life.

On the other hand, unlike their fathers and grandfathers, who worked long hours at their jobs so they could buy an apartment, attract a wife, and raise a family, these coddled only sons have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. It’s not just indolence; it’s an entire way of life.

Millennials are the problem and they are tangping’ers — the Chinese expression means to “lay flat” — dedicated to doing just enough to get by in life. Their plans do not include marriage, much less children. It’s just too much work for the flat-layers, according to New York Post.

Further, to make matters worse, many young women in China’s cities have taken themselves out of the marriage market altogether. They are focused on building careers, not marriages.

Meanwhile, Communist officials continue to insist that China’s population will stabilise at its present 1.4 billion, but they are whistling past the graveyard. With Chinese women averaging only 1.3 children, below even Japan’s anemic 1.34 children, China is surely already in absolute population decline, filling more coffins than cradles each year, as reported by New York Post.

On the other hand, during the one-child policy, ethnic minorities including Xinjiang’s Uyghur population, were allowed to have to three children, which authorities said was in deference of the group’s cultural traditions of large families. (ANI)

Ahead of the Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttarakhand election in-charge and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said that BJP will be launching its “mega election campaign” in the state on February 1.

In conversation with ANI, Joshi also said that Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur will be addressing rallies of 500 people on that day.
“LED TVs will be set up at 10-15 places in all 70 constituencies for people to listen to the leaders’ addresses,” he said.

Joshi further said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda will also campaign in the state, while the BJP is also seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s time for campaigning in Uttarakhand.

“We’ve sought PM Narendra Modi’s time for campaigning in Uttarakhand. He has agreed but the modalities will be finalised in line with the Election Commission’s guidelines that are expected to be released tomorrow,” he said.

Slamming the Congress for their alleged “you can loot, I will close my eyes” statement in 2017, Joshi said, “People will not believe in the ‘Char Dham-Char Kaam’ of Congress. When they (Congress) were in power, they misled the people. In 2017 their words were…’loot, I will close my eyes’. That video is still playing. They have not even issued a clarification for that video.”

Today, Uttarakhand CM campaigned in Kapkot, Bageshwar and said that seeing the enthusiasm of the people, the “lotus” will bloom again.

Earlier today, Dhami had also held a door-to-door campaign at Ganghet in Jageshwar.

Dhami has filed his candidature for the Assembly elections from the Khatima Assembly seat.

Polls to elect the 70-member Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a virtual review meeting to assess the situation on Monday when the ban on physical political rallies and roadshows for the upcoming Assembly Elections comes to an end.

On January 22, the ECI had extended the ban on physical rallies and roadshows till January 31 amid rising COVID cases.
The meeting is scheduled for 11 am tomorrow.

Confirming the news, an ECI official told ANI that the Election Commission will decide according to the present situation and the COVID cases in the respective states.

“Bench will take every suggestion before taking any decision,” the official added.

The Chief Electoral Officers and Health Secretaries of the poll-bound states are likely to be present in the virtual meeting.

As per the order issued by the ECI, no roadshow, pad-yatra, cycle/bike/vehicle rally and procession were allowed till January 31.

Assembly Elections in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from 10 February. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah during a political program in Ponda city of North Goa district on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress party and said that Goa is just a vacation spot for the Gandhi family but BJP has brought development to the state.

Addressing a public meeting in Ponda today, Shah said, “BJP brought development to Goa. For the Gandhi family, Goa is just a vacation spot. For BJP Goa means ‘Golden Goa’. But for Congress, it means ‘Gandhi Parivaar ka Goa’.”
“We raised the state’s budget from Rs 432 crores (2013-14) to 2,567 crores (Yr 2021),” he added.

He further said that ex-chief minister Digambar Kamat did nothing for infrastructure development but BJP has fulfilled its promises.

The senior BJP leader also praised Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for the work he has done in the state and said, “Goa CM Sawant Ji is working hard to realise Manohar Parrikar Ji’s dream of a Golden Goa true.”

Citing an example of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Goa, he said, “Goa’s vaccination speed has been the best in the country: 100 percent vaccination was achieved first by Pramod Sawant Ji’s government. Doses for kids are also going on at a good speed.”

Speaking about the Start-Up Policy, Shah expressed confidence that there will be a lot of start-ups in Goa before 2025.

“The Start-Up Policy brought by PM Modi has been taken to the masses in Goa comprehensively. I can envisage that there will be a lot of start-ups in Goa before 2025,” he asserted.

He also said that the BJP has an International Airport worth Rs 3,000 crore.

“Several other infrastructure projects have been started, including bridges and highways. Rs 6,000 crore fund has been provided to Goa to transform the National Highways into 6-laned roads,” Shah said.

He also stated that the Atal Setu Bridge or Juari Bridge can only be made possible by a double-engine government of BJP.

“Had the Atal Setu Bridge or Juari Bridge been made without the support of the Central government? It can only be made possible if there’s a double-engine govt of BJP: one at the Centre and another in the state here,” he further added.

Prior to addressing a public meeting at Ponda city today, the senior BJP leader who is on a day visit to poll-bound Goa also offered prayers at Sai Baba temple in Borim town. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was also present with him.

BJP has fielded its candidates on all 40 seats in the state assembly.

Goa will go to the assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday, talking about the factionalism in the state unit, said that nobody can defeat his party, only his own party can do so in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Speaking to the media here, Sidhu said, “No one can defeat Congress. Only Congress can defeat itself.”
Notably, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu had urged Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state to announce the Chief Ministerial face for the polls, following which Gandhi had said that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party workers.

Hitting out at his opponent from the Amritsar East constituency, Bikram Singh Majithia, who the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) fielded from the same constituency where Sidhu is the sitting MLA, the Congress state president said, “He (Bikram Singh Majithia) is ‘Parcha mafia’. He has filed cases against so many people. I haven’t lodged a single case against anyone. Everyone knows that Congress will give a strong & secure government We will make a new Punjab.”

Earlier on Saturday, Sidhu took on Majithia and challenged him to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly poll only from the Amritsar East constituency after SAD fielded the latter from Amritsar East as well as from Majitha constituencies.