Maharashtra BJP Legislators hold a protest outside Assembly over Maratha reservation, other issues
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Maharashtra BJP Legislators held a protest outside the State Assembly on Monday, over various issues including Maratha reservation, inflated power bills and compensation to farmers after the recent flood and heavy rain.
The State Assembly Session will begin shortly. Meanwhile, five Ordinances, 10 Bills, including two related to Shakti Act, which deals with women security, are scheduled to be tabled in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly today.
Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP Legislators hold a protest outside the State Assembly over various issues including Maratha reservation, inflated power bills and compensation to farmers after recent flood and heavy rain.
Bills proposing a change in municipal laws of few municipal corporations and a Bill for Establishment of International Sports university Maharashtra are also listed for tabling.
Five ordinances will be tabled today in Legislative councils. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will table Public Accounts Committee report for the year 2019-20 in both the Houses.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed Punjab Chief Minister Captain (retired) Amarinder Singh stating that from the beginning he was standing in support of the farmers.
In a tweet in Hindi, citing a media report Kejriwal said, “Captain ji from the beginning I am standing with the farmers. I fought with the Centre and did now allow the stadiums in Delhi to become jails. I am serving the farmers.” Leveling allegations against the Punjab Chief Minister, Kejriwal asked, “You have done setting with the Centre to get the ED case on your son forgiven, sold the farmers agitation? Why?”
कैप्टन जी, मैं शुरू से किसानों के साथ खड़ा हूँ। दिल्ली के स्टेडीयम जेल नहीं बनने दी, केंद्र से लड़ा। मैं किसानों का सेवादार बनके उनकी सेवा कर रहा हूँ
आपने तो अपने बेटे के ED केस माफ़ करवाने के लिए केंद्र से सेटिंग कर ली, किसानों का आंदोलन बेच दिया? क्यों? https://t.co/J3VzLgCI3M
In another tweet, Kejriwal said, “Fast is pious. Wherever you are, do fast for farmers. Pray to God for the success of their struggle. In the end, the victory will be of farmers.” Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister had targeted his Delhi counterpart Kejriwal for exploiting the ongoing agitation of the farmers to further the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) petty electoral agenda in Punjab with “blatant lies and brazenly false propaganda”. Cornering Kejriwal, the Punjab Chief Minister went on to call the AAP chief a “shameless liar”.
“In sharp contrast to the Kejriwal government in Delhi, which had been thriving on Ambani crumbs and had been touting its power reforms under the Reliance-run BSES as its biggest achievement, the Punjab government had neither signed any agreement with Adani Power nor was even aware of the private players bidding for power purchase in the state,” Captain Amarinder said in an official release.
उपवास पवित्र होता है। आप जहां हैं, वहीं हमारे किसान भाइयों के लिए उपवास कीजिए। प्रभु से उनके संघर्ष की सफलता की प्रार्थना कीजिए। अंत में किसानों की अवश्य जीत होगी।
Responding to Kejriwal‘s announcement that he will hold a one-day fast in support of farmers, the Punjab Chief Minister quipped: “In fact, the Kejriwal government that was shamelessly notifying one of the “black farm laws” on November 23, at a time when farmers were preparing to march to Delhi to protest these very farm laws. And now they are indulging in theatrics by announcing that they would be sitting on fast in support of the farmers’ hunger strike on Monday.”
Farmers have been protesting on the outskirts of Delhi since late November 26 demanding the government to repeal the newly enacted farm laws. However, the government has held six rounds of talks with farmers’ organizations including the meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah offering changes to the laws and written assurances.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Dhordo in Gujarat’s Kutch on December 15 and lay the foundation stone of several development projects in the state.
These projects include a desalination plant, a hybrid renewable energy park, and a fully automated milk processing and packing plant, a release from Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) informed. Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani will be present on the occasion. Modi will also undertake a visit to the White Rann, followed by witnessing a cultural programme.
“This Desalination Plant, with 10 crore liter per day capacity (100 MLD), will strengthen water security in Gujarat by complementing Narmada Grid, Sauni network, and treated wastewater infrastructure,” the release said.
The release also stated that nearly eight lakh people across the regions of Mundra, Lakhpat, Abdasa, and Nakhatrana talukas will receive desalinated water from this plant, which will also help in sharing the surplus to upstream districts of Bhachau, Rapar, and Gandhidham. It is known to be one of the five upcoming desalination plants in Gujarat besides those at Dahej (100 MLD), Dwarka (70 MLD), Ghogha Bhavnagar (70 MLD), and Gir Somnath (30 MLD).
The Hybrid Renewable Energy Park near Vighakot village in Kutch district will be the country’s largest renewable energy generation park, according to the release.
Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of a fully automated milk processing and packing plant at Sarhad Dairy Anjar, Kutch. The plant will cost Rs 121 crores and will have the capacity to process 2 lakh liters of milk per day, the PMO release said.
The customs officials seized about 463 gm of gold worth Rs 23.6 lakhs in two separate incidents at Chennai International Airport on Sunday.
“On Saturday based on intelligence that gold was likely to be smuggled from Dubai by concealing in aircraft, Indigo Airlines flight 6E 066 which arrived from Dubai was rummaged. On rummaging two packets containing gold paste form wrapped with adhesive tape weighing 406 grams were found concealed ingeniously in the inner panel of the aircraft body/wall next to one of the seats. On extraction 309 grams gold of 24 k purity valued at Rs 15.72 lakhs was recovered and seized as unclaimed under Customs Act,” read an official press release. Further, 154 gm of gold was recovered from a passenger.
Chennai Air Customs:463 gms gold valued at Rs 23.6 lakhs seized under Custom Act in 2 cases in flt 6E66 arrvng frm Dubai (1) 309 gms recovered from aircraft during rummaging & (2) 154 gms recovered from a pax concelaed in rectum . pic.twitter.com/TfDH7sBIfF
“In another case, one passenger Kalil Rahman, 49, of Ramanathapuram who arrived by same flight was intercepted at the exit. On personal search, one gold paste bundle weighing 176 grams was recovered, which on extraction yielded 154 grams of gold valued at Rs 7.84 lakhs,” the release added. In the last month, customs officials seized 799 gm of gold amounting to Rs 41.5 lakhs at Chennai International Airport.
Many voters in the DDC Polls said that they are voting to reaffirm their support for the incarcerated PDP leader.
Pulwama, J&K —
As the fourth phase of District Development Council (DDC) polls ended on Monday, the stats for the Valley’s southern district of Pulwama continued to be quite low.
With the majority of people preferring to stay away from the ballot, especially in the last few years, Pulwama has earned the tag of ‘Poll boycott capital of Kashmir‘.
While holding on to the tag, the people on Monday stayed away from the polling centers, as a result of which only 6.6 per cent of voter turnout was recorded for DDC elections to three seats.
However, people were seen flocking to cast their vote on one seat in Naira village, from where Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth wing president Waheed-ur-Rehman Para was contesting. Consequently, it recorded a comparatively better turnout of approximately 7.5 per cent.
Many voters, who talked to Digpu News, said that they are voting to reaffirm their support for the incarcerated PDP leader.
“The BJP government has failed to deliver on its promises and we are here only to support Waheed, who has ironically been jailed after filing his nomination for the election,” Mohammad Shabaan, a local said.
Another PAGD supporter, while pleading anonymity, said, “The times will change and we are here to exercise our opinion against the wrong policies of the present government.”
It is pertinent to mention here that Para was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged links with militants two weeks back, a day after he had filed his nomination from the Pulwama-I seat on November 24.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commissioner (SEC), K K Sharma on Monday said that the fourth phase of DDC polls in J&K recorded 50.08 per cent voting while no untoward incident was reported anywhere in the UT.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Sharma said that 1916 polling stations were set up for the phase-4 of the DDC polls across J&K and that 364527 voters exercised their right to vote.
“People in large numbers came out to vote in J&K. In total, 34 constituencies went to polls — 17 each in Kashmir and Jammu,” Sharma said.
He said that phase one of the DDC polls recorded 50.3 per cent voting, the second phase witnessed 48.02 per cent voting. “Today in Jammu region, Poonch district of Jammu topped in the voting percentage at 70.42 while in Kashmir Ganderbal district topped with the total polling percentage at 56.28,” the SEC said.
In the first phase, however, only 6.70 per cent people voted while 8.67 and 10.87 poll turnout were recorded in the second and third phases in Pulwama district.
He said that there is no lack of nomination for the DDC polls across J&K. “Each district has 14 DDCs. There may be some vacant seats in Panchayat polls and for that elections will be held once the Chilla-e-Kalaan (40 day-harsh Winter period) starting from December 21,” he said.
Berlin scored early in the fourth minute of the game at Alte Forsterei
Berlin (Germany) –
Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick admitted that defending Bundesliga champions can play better after a 1-1 draw against Union Berlin on Saturday.
Berlin scored early in the fourth minute of the game at Alte Forsterei as Grischa Promel headed the underdogs into a shock lead.
Robert Lewandowski’s 16th goal in as many games this season levelled proceedings just after the hour but Bayern were unable to find a winner in an entertaining clash.
Bayern’s boss said that the team did not play the first-half with composure but he was satisfied with the second-half’s play.
“The first few minutes we were not present on the pitch as we had wanted to be. We could have defended better when we conceded the goal, without question. When the first ball becomes dangerous, our composure is not there. We played the safe pass or a long ball. I wasn’t too happy with that. We addressed that during the break. We wanted to play with more composure and occupy space better in the second half, to have men over,” Bayern’s official website quoted Flick as saying.
“I was more satisfied with the second half. We can definitely play better. Our idea is to put the opponent under pressure. Today we weren’t able to implement it as we had planned. It will be a difficult season, we knew that in advance. Now we have to take the positives from the situation and improve on the things that didn’t go so well,” he added.
Bayern, who are top of the table on goal difference ahead of RB Leipzig after 11 games, have now fallen behind in each of their past five Bundesliga matches – a trend that forward Thomas Muller is keen to buck.
“We’ve often gone a goal down recently. It happened very early today. The union fought hard and played man-to-man. We made life difficult for ourselves, especially in the first 20 minutes. We need momentum again and to bounce back again,” Muller said.
“We have the quality, mentally too, but of course it just happens that we not winning but rather drawing matches. It feels too little given our ambitions,” he added.
Sonu is gifting e-rickshaws to those who have lost their livelihood during the pandemic
New Delhi –
Actor Sonu Sood has launched yet another initiative to help the needy during the COVID-19 pandemic, under which he is gifting e-rickshaws to those who have lost their livelihood during the pandemic.
The ‘Dabangg’ actor introduced his new initiative which says ‘Khud kamaao ghar chalao’ on Instagram on Sunday.
The Bollywood actor-tuned-philanthropist said that the love that he has received from people has motivated him to “continue being there for them.”
“I have received a lot of love from people over the past few months. And that has motivated me to continue being there for them. So, I have launched the ‘Khud kamaao ghar chalaao’ initiative,” the 47-year-old said.
“I believe providing job opportunities is more important than distributing supplies. I’m sure that this initiative will help them stand on their feet yet again by making them self-reliant and self-sufficient,” he added.
Earlier this year, Sood had launched the Pravasi Rojgar app that created more than 50,000 job opportunities for those who lost their job due to the economic blow due to Covid pandemic.
The app connects them to multiple companies and also offers specific programs to help improve their skills.
The ‘Simmba,’ actor has been inspiring many across the country with his noble gestures.
He began by helping stranded migrant labourers return to their native places by arranging safe travel for them back in May this year. He has seen been helping out the needy and underprivileged sections of the country.
Nine-year-old climate activist, Licypriya Kangujam has come out in support of the ongoing farmers’ protest
New Delhi [India] While showing solidarity with the farmers, she told them millions of climate activists of the world are with them. On the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Saturday, she protested with the farmers as a part of the global climate strike against the inaction by the world leaders following the signing 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which legally binds international treaty on climate change.
Showing support to the farmers’ who are protesting against the new Agri laws, she said, “Our farmers are the biggest victim of climate change. Frequent floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events like cyclones, typhoons, locusts, etc are destroying their crops. Thousands of farmers are dying every year. Our leaders must listen to the voice of the farmers. We want climate justice for our farmers and also should take out a permanent solution to solve the ongoing farmers’ crisis at the earliest.”
She also urged the farmers to stop stubble burning as it creates air pollution.
“…I would like to appeal to the farmers to stop stubble burning as millions of children are dying every year due to the air pollution crisis in India and the world. But our leaders always putting blame on the poor farmers. Stubble burning is one of the causes of air pollution but it is not the major cause of the air pollution crisis in Delhi.”
Furthermore, Kangujam asked the government to find out the solutions to solve the air pollution “crisis.”
“Stubble burning is being practiced for the last many years and hundreds of thousands of years ago. There was no air pollution before. It comes only in the last 5-6 years only. So, our leaders have to find out the solutions to solve the air pollution crisis permanently. We can’t blame only farmers,” she said.
On Saturday, farmers had started gathering at the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Rewari in Haryana, while hundreds more gathered on the Rajasthan side of the border
Rewari (Haryana) [India]: Amid the ongoing demonstration against the farm laws, farmers protesting near Jaisinghpur Kheda area in Rewari at the Rajasthan-Haryana border are waiting for more farmers to arrive, for their march towards Delhi. Today more people and unions are coming from Rajashatan at the border area. After gathering the crowd, we will move towards Delhi. Among other things, we want the three laws to be repealed. We are standing with the farmers of Punjab and Haryana. We don’t have any separate demands. We are with our union leaders,” said Banwari Lal from Jaipur, who is a Convener of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasabha.
On the Centre’s stand that they will not repeal the law, he said, “So what! We never told that we will head back if they will not repeal the law. We will continue our march towards Delhi.”
On Saturday, farmers had started gathering at the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Rewari in Haryana, while hundreds more gathered on the Rajasthan side of the border.
Farmer leader Kanwal Preet Singh Pannu on Saturday had informed that farmers will start their ‘Dilli Chalo’ march from Rajasthan’s Shahjahanpur through the Jaipur-Delhi Highway at 11 am on Sunday.
The farmers union has also said that they will sit on fast from 8 am to 5 pm on December 14 at Singhu border.
Several rounds of talks have taken place between the Centre and farmer leaders regarding the laws but no headway has been made on the front.
The farmers are protesting against the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmer (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Thousands of farmers will begin a tractor march at 11 am on December 13 from Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan and block the Jaipur-Delhi main road”
New Delhi [India]: Amid the prevailing deadlock between farmers and the central government over the new farm laws, the agitation in and around Delhi entered its 18th day on Sunday, with the protesters threatening to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
Meanwhile, at Singhu (Delhi-Haryana) border, security has been beefed up in view of the farmers’ call to intensify the agitation. “Thousands of farmers will begin a tractor march at 11 am on December 13 from Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan and block the Jaipur-Delhi main road,” Sanyukta Kisan Andolan leader Kamal Preet Singh Pannu had said on Saturday.
Earlier the farmers had planned to block the highways connecting the national capital with Jaipur and Agra on Saturday but deferred the Delhi-Jaipur highway blockade plan till Sunday.
The farmers protesting against the Centre’s #FarmLaws have threatened to block the Jaipur-Delhi highway, intensifying their stirhttps://t.co/t6GJImb7yL
The farmer union leader added they will sit on fast from 8 am to 5 pm on December 14 at Singhu border.
“On December 14, all farmer leaders will sit on fast sharing the stage at Singhu border. We want the government to take back the three farm laws; we’re not in the favour of the proposed amendments. The Centre wants to thwart our movement but we’ll continue it peacefully,” he said. Pannu alleged that the central government is trying to “fail” the farmers’ movement, making attempts to divide the farmers.
“We’ll foil any attempt by the Centre to fail our movement. The government made a few small attempts to divide us and instigate people. But, we will peacefully take this movement towards victory,” he stated.
A delegation of farmers from Haryana, including those connected with Farmer Producer Organisation, had expressed their support, in a letter, for the three farm laws with the modifications proposed by the central government, on Saturday.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said, “Progressive farmer leaders from Haryana met me and submitted a memorandum with their signatures supporting the three farm laws. They also shared their experiences on how these laws are benefitting them.”
Meanwhile, Tomar has appealed to the protesters to stop their agitation as talks are still going on.
Farmers have been protesting in and around the national capital since November 26 against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
