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Archives for December 2020

Government is ready 24 hours to clear all doubts over farm laws: PM Narendra Modi

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NEW DELHI: Seeking to allay the fears of farmers over their landholdings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while making a strong defence of the Centre’s new farm laws, on Tuesday said that a conspiracy is afoot to confuse the farmers over the legislations and accused the Opposition of using the shoulders of protesters to fire their guns.

After performing virtual stone laying ceremonies for three projects in Kutch of Gujarat district — a hybrid renewable energy park, a desalination plant and a milk processing and packing unit — the PM said the laws include all the demands made by the farmers and the Opposition in the past to improve the agricultural incomes of the cultivators.  

“There’s an attempt being made to create fears in the minds of the farmers about the farm laws. Farmers are being told that their landholdings may be occupied by others,” the  PM said.

While the farmers’ unions have dug in their heels to demand the repeal of the three farm laws, the government has maintained that it’s willing to talk to the farmers. 

“The present agricultural laws had been the demand of farmers since a long time. Even those who are in the Opposition today were supporting these bills earlier when they were in power, but could never take a decision on them and pacified the farmers with false assurances. I want to reiterate that my government is ready 24 hours to resolve all your doubts,” Modi said.

He also gave the example of two sectors in Gujarat, which flourished without government intervention.

Modi said dairy and fisheries sectors grew exponentially without much intervention of the state government as the business is mainly handled by co-operative sector leaders and farmers.

Trinamool will not get even 100 seats: Mukul Roy attacks Mamata government

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Criticising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said that earlier she did not sit with rich persons but now she does just that.

Mukul Roy was given the responsibility of the chief election strategist by the BJP in Bengal.

KALYANI: BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy claimed on Tuesday that TMC will not get even 100 seats out of the total 294 in the West Bengal assembly polls in 2021.

He said all those who are keeping themselves away from BJP because of misunderstandings must be convinced to return to its fold.

“With responsibility I am saying that TMC will not even cross the 100 seat mark in the coming state poll,” he told a meeting of BJP workers at Shimurali in Nadia district.

“Ask TMC to say how many seat they are going to win,” he said.

Asking party workers to convince those who were staying away from the party due to misunderstanding, Roy said “This is not the time for ego. There is big and strong fight before us and we have to win as Amit Shah Ji wants at least 200 seats in Bengal to turn it into Sonar Bangla and push TMC to the bottom like CPI-M.”

Criticising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said that earlier she did not sit with rich persons but now she does just that.

He hit out at the state government for the power rates in West Bengal, which she said is the highest in the country.

Roy, who was earlier a prominent leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress, criticised the Mamata Banerjee government for misusing funds given by the Centre post Cyclone Amphan.

“In two phases Modi handed over Rs 3400 crore to the Bengal government for Amphan effected people. But the poor people remained in the same plight”, Roy iterated.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Bengal later this week and address two rallies on December 19 and 20, he added.

India Covid-19 Updates new COVID-19 26,382 cases, tally at 99,32,548

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The total active cases in the country are at 3,32,002. With 33,813 new discharges in the last 24 hours, total discharged cases reached 94,56,449 With 26,382 new Covid-19 infections and 387 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the total cases in India reached 99,32,548, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Wednesday.

With 387 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the toll mounted to 1,44,096.

The total active cases in the country are at 3,32,002. With 33,813 new discharges in the last 24 hours, total discharged cases reached 94,56,449.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state by the pandemic with 72,458 active cases, followed by Kerala with 57,909 active cases.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday said that a total of 15,66,46,280 samples tested for the novel coronavirus up to December 15. Of these, 10,85,625 samples were tested on Tuesday. 

Ibrahim meets Gowda, HDK, stirs the pot for Congress

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BENGALURU: Lending credence to speculation that he could be back in the JDS, Congress MLC CM Ibrahim on Monday met JDS national president HD Deve Gowda at his residence. Former CM HD Kumaraswamy and Gowda — who was confined to bed for a few days over back-related issues — spoke to Ibrahim, though the details of the meeting are not clear. It is said that Ibrahim is being offered an important post in the JDS, a party he quit over serious differences with Gowda about 16 years ago.

It is no secret that Ibrahim is eyeing the post of Opposition leader in the Council, expected to be vacated by SR Patil when his six-year term concludes next year. Although Ibrahim has expressed his interest, he has not received any formal assurance from the Congress, which is still weighing its options after suffering serious poll reverses.

Among the frontrunners are backward communities leader BK Hariprasad, who has served as general secretary of ten states and and secretary of six states in the AICC. Ibrahim is not too hopeful as there are doubts that the Congress will elevate a Muslim to the position. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress got wind of Kumaraswamy visiting Ibrahim at his Benson Town residence about six days ago to invite him to rejoin his party, and KPCC president DK Shivakumar himself rushed to Ibrahim’s residence and spent considerable time with him.

Shivakumar said “They have worked together, and it could have been a courtesy call. Ibrahim enjoys secular credentials.’’Ibrahim, once a Gowda loyalist, went on to become a Siddaramaiah loyalist, but of late, the two leaders have fallen out, and MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan is said to have taken his place. Ibrahim has been consistently absent at Siddaramaiah’s meetings too. In 2013, Ibrahim got the Congress ticket from Bhadravati, replacing local leader Sangameshwar, but lost. He was later accommodated as MLC.

RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh to protest in Madhya Pradesh for MSP regime

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MP agriculture minister Kamal Patel had said that the BJP would be organising farmer meets in the state from Tuesday to dispel “misconceptions” about the Centre’s new farm laws.

INDORE: The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) said it would protest on Tuesday on two highways in Madhya Pradesh in support of the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism with over 10,000 farmers expected to take part, a functionary said on Monday.

Incidentally, MP agriculture minister Kamal Patel had said that the BJP would be organising farmer meets in the state from Tuesday to dispel “misconceptions” about the Centre’s new farm laws.

Those protesting against the three farm laws have claimed they are aimed at doing away with the MSP and mandi mechanisms and give corporates a dominant role in the sector.

“Farmers of western Madhya Pradesh, known for major cotton harvests, are forced to sell their produce below MSP. In this region, even the procurement centre of Cotton Corporation of India has not come up,” Kamal Singh Anjana of the BKS’ Malwa Prant (Indore and Ujjain divisions) said.

“Maize too is being sold below MSP in western MP. On the call of the BKS, over 10,000 farmers will protest on national highway number 3 (Mumbai-Agra road) in Dhar and on Indore-Icchapur state highway in Khandwa,” he said, adding that the BKS has already said some changes should be made in the new farm laws.

“For ensuring procurement through MSP and for other demands, we have written nearly four lakh letters to the president and prime minister from Madhya Pradesh,” he added.

Meanwhile, Khandwa BJP MP and former president of MP BJP unit Nandkumar Chauhan said at a press conference that the new laws were for the benefit of farmers.

Asked about farmers not getting MSP for cotton and maize, Chauhan said, “recent rains have made the produce moist and this has caused some hurdles in their procurement”.

To another query on the BKS’ protest, Chauhan said India is a democracy and if the RSS-backed BKS wants to protest on farmers’ issues, “it would manifest that it is an active organisation”.

BJP finishes third in Rajasthan Urban local body polls, Congress bounces back

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The biggest blow was for BJP which finished third and the second spot went to a large number of independents who emerged victorious. 

BJP Flag

JAIPUR: Days after suffering a setback in panchayat polls, the ruling Congress in Rajasthan bounced back with an impressive show in the m

Of the 50 municipal bodies that went to polls, the Congress emerged as a clear  winner in 620 of the total 1,775 wards. 

The biggest blow was for BJP which finished third. The second spot went to a large number of independents who emerged victorious. 

The independents candidates bagged 596 wards, while the BJP could win only 548 wards.

The Congress has emerged victorious in urban centres traditionally considered BJP bastions while the saffron party which did better in last week’s panchayat polls seems to have weakened in its strongholds in towns and cities.

The Congress has done particularly well in Jaipur district where it won 6 of the 10 ULBs. 

Similarly, in Sri Ganganagar district the Congress won 5 of the 8 municipal bodies that went to polls. 

The BJP did better than the Congress only in Bharatpur district where it won 6 of the 8 urban bodies, while in Alwar district the Congress and BJP won 3 ULBs each.

Lauding the Congress’ victory, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted, “I thank all the citizens who showed their trust in Congress and because of which the party won. I thank all the Congress workers. Because of their hard work, the party has won.”

BJP state president Satish Poonia, however, had a different take. 

Despite the BJP finishing third, he claimed that the results have gone against the Congress as the BJP and independent leaders won more than 60 per cent seats. 

He remarked that this implies that the “mandate has gone against the Congress”.

We can work together for good of nation: President-elect Joe Biden after election win confirmed

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Biden praised voters for casting ballots in record numbers on November 3 despite fears of COVID-19 and ‘enormous political pressure, verbal abuse and even threats of physical violence’.

US President-elect Joe Biden

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden said Monday that US democracy proved “resilient” against Donald Trump’s “abuse of power” after the Electoral College confirmed him as the next president, shutting the door further on unprecedented efforts to overturn the results.

In his first extended attack on Trump since the election, Biden said in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, that the president and his allies “refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our constitution.”

Biden was referring to a Republican lawsuit, supported by Trump, that sought to overturn the results in several key states, before it was rejected unanimously by the Supreme Court last Friday.

Biden praised voters for casting ballots in record numbers on November 3 despite fears of COVID-19 and “enormous political pressure, verbal abuse and even threats of physical violence” against those running the election. “The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish that. Our democracy — pushed, tested, threatened — proved to be resilient, true, and strong,” Biden said.

Biden said that Trump has had full opportunity to contest the results in court and “in every case no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute”. With the Electoral College having formalized his victory just hours earlier, Biden told the bitterly divided country: “It’s time to turn the page. I’m convinced we can work together for the good of the nation.”

Trump continues to maintain that he was cheated of victory, even if his lawyers have not persuaded one court that they have a case. On Monday he announced that Attorney General Bill Barr, who contradicted his fraud claims, would leave his post next week. “Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted.

The Electoral College vote, a formality confirming the will of voters expressed at the polls, is usually ignored by all but hardcore politics buffs. This year, the somewhat arcane procedure took center stage as the US election system withstood weeks of assaults from the powerful president and much of his party.

Biden only needed 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes, which are divided up among the 50 states and he was headed for a total of 306 against Trump’s 232. Counting was underway all day and when it got to California, the Democrat went over the minimum amount, making him officially the president-elect from that point on.

California’s electors burst into applause as the presiding officer read out the tally. Biden, Barack Obama’s former vice president, will be sworn in as the 46th president on January 20.

Thousands of Trump supporters, including members of far-right groups, protested in Washington at the weekend, brawling with counter-protesters, while in Georgia footage showed armed activists in camouflage parading at the state Capitol to support Trump’s claims.

Polls show as few as one in four Republican voters accept the election results. Trump maintained his stream of threats and unsubstantiated claims on Twitter Monday, citing “massive VOTER FRAUD” and declaring that certifying election results would be “a severely punishable crime.”

The legal Electoral College vote, however, puts an official stamp on what voters already decided on November 3. “Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-Elect,” tweeted a Republican senator, Rob Portman, signalling the changing tide.

In another shift, the staunchly Trump-supporting editorial board of The Wall Street Journal told Trump that his time is up. “President Trump’s legal challenges have run their course, and he and the rest of the Republican Party can help the country and themselves by acknowledging the result and moving on,” it said.

Ahead of Biden’s inauguration one major formality remains, when Congress, presided over by Vice President Mike Pence, opens up and counts the electoral votes on January 6.

COVID-19 India Update After five months, daily new cases fall below 23,000, 354 fatalities

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There are 3,39,820 active corona virus infections in the country which constitute 3.43 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

NEW DELHI: India’s daily COVID-19 case count fell below 23,000 after a little over five months, while the national recovery rate stood at over 95 per cent, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday.

The coronavirus caseload mounted to 99,06,165 with 22,065 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll rose to 1,43,709 with 354 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 94,22,636 pushing the national recovery rate to 95.12 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below four lakh for the eighth consecutive day.

There are 3,39,820 active coronavirus infections in the country which constitute 3.43 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7; 30 lakh on August 23; and 40 lakh on September 5.

It went past 50 lakh on September 16; 60 lakh on September 28; 70 lakh on October 11; 80 lakh on October 29; and 90 lakh on November 20.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 15,55,60,655 samples have been tested up to December 14, of which 9,93,665 were conducted on Monday.

‘Hindu Raj’ in West Bengal soon, BJP will win Assembly polls: Pragya Thakur

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BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the attack on BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda’s convoy.

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur

SEHORE (Madhya Pradesh): BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur has hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the attack on BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda’s convoy in West Bengal saying that BJP will win in the next Assembly elections and there will be “Hindu Raj” in West Bengal.

“She (Mamata Banerjee) is frustrated because she has realised that her rule is about to end. BJP will win the next Assembly election and there will be Hindu Raj in West Bengal,” said Thakur.

The minister’s comments follow a few days after Nadda’s convoy was attacked. Party leaders including Kailash Vijayvargiya were injured as protesters pelted stones at their vehicles at Diamond Harbour.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said that governance by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is “getting increasingly distanced from rule of law and Constitution” and he has been cautioning her.

Dhankar also said that he will work for ensuring free, fair and violence-free election in the state next year. 

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