Hazare said had had been holding protests for cultivators since the last three years, but the government has done nothing to resolve the issues.

PUNE: Social activist Anna Hazare has threatened to go on a hunger strike if his demands on issues concerning farmers are not met by the Union government by the end of January next year, and said it would be his “last protest”.

Speaking to reporters in his Ralegaon Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on Sunday, Hazare said had had been holding protests for cultivators since the last three years, but the government has done nothing to resolve the issues.

“The government is just giving empty promises due to which I do not have any trust left (in the government). Let’s see, what action the Centre takes on my demands. They have sought time for a month, so I have given them time till January-end. If my demands are not met, I will resume my huger strike protest. This would be my last protest,” the 83-year-old said.

On December 14, Hazare wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar warning of a hunger strike if his demands like the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations and granting autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), were not accepted.

Senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade recently met Hazare to explain him the details of the three farm laws introduced by the Centre.

Hazare observed a fast on December 8 in support of the Bharat Bandh called by farmer organisations demanding a repeal of the agri laws.

Farmers have been protesting at borders of Delhi for over a month against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The three farm laws, enacted in September, have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting tillers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

The Centre has repeatedly asserted that these mechanisms will remain.

Athawale was discharged from a private hospital in Mumbai last month, 10 days after testing coronavirus positive.

PUNE:  Union minister Ramdas Athawale, whose ‘go corona, go’ chant became a national sensation, on Sunday came out with a new slogan, ‘No Corona’, saying it was in response to the new strain of the novel coronavirus.

“I gave the ‘Go Corona Go’ slogan and the virus is now going. But it also came near me, leading to my hospitalisation (after testing COVID-19 positive). I thought coronavirus would not reach me but it can reach anywhere,” Athawale said.

“For the new coronavirus strain, I would say ‘No Corona, No Corona’ as we don’t want either the old coronavirus or the new strain to infect us,” he told reporters in Pune.

Athawale was discharged from a private hospital in Mumbai last month, 10 days after testing coronavirus positive.

In February, a video of Athawale, along with a Chinese diplomat and Buddhist monks chanting “Go corona, go corona” at a prayer meeting went viral on social media.

The video was reportedly shot at the Gateway of India here on February 20 during a prayer session to stop the spread of coronavirus in China.

Athawale (60) is a member of the Rajya Sabha and minister of state for social justice in the Narendra Modi-led government.

“I will be meeting BJP president J P Nadda to discuss a possible alliance for West Bengal Assembly elections,” he said.

“We expect (BJP to set aside for us) around 10 seats,” he added.

The leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was speaking at a programme organised in Bisuali village.

BALLIA: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary on Sunday called on farmers in his constituency Bansdih here not to allow political leaders who are supporting the Centre’s agricultural reforms to enter their villages.

The leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was speaking at a programme organised in Bisuali village.

Thousands of farmers from different states, including Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for a month now to demand the repeal of the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

The Samajwadi Party has come out in support of agitating farmers.

It held demonstrations in various parts of Uttar Pradesh earlier this month to back the farmers’ demand.

Chaudhary said political leaders who are supporting the new farm laws should not be greeted with ‘Ram-Ram’, ‘pranaam’ and ‘dua-salaam’.

“Giving them water and hookah should also be stopped. They should be stopped from entering the villages,” he told the gathering.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of minimum support price (MSP) and do away with mandis that ensure income, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of giving importance to its “capitalist friends” and said the farmers’ protest against the new agri laws is an example of the “failure” of the government.

The BJP government at the Centre is making offers to farmers for talks, but on the other hand, it is levelling “baseless allegations” on the protesting farmers, he said in a statement issued here.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, however, did not elaborate on the issue of allegations on farmers.

“This is an insult to farmers, who are staging a sit-in for their rights. The BJP, while supporting its favourite capitalist friends, is walking a path which is against farmers, labourers and those from the lower-middle income group. The government is giving Kisan Samman, but the new farm laws will cause losses worth thousands and lakhs to farmers,” Yadav said.

The former chief minister also said that after the BJP came to power, bad times started for farmers.

“The current farmers’ agitation is a living example of the failure of the BJP government. The SP is standing with the farmers,” he said.

SP’s national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that on the direction of the party chief, on the third day of the ‘samajwadi kisan ghrea abhiyan’, MPs, MLAs and other public representatives took part, and listened to the grievances of farmers.

The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state improved to an all-time high of 96.14 per cent as 23 people were cured of the disease, he said.

KOHIMA: Nagaland did not register any fresh COVID-19 case on Sunday for the first time since the state reported its first coronavirus cases on May 25, a health official said.

The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state improved to an all-time high of 96.14 per cent as 23 people were cured of the disease, he said.

The state’s caseload stands at 11,897, of which 251 cases are active while 11,438 people have recovered, 78 patients have succumbed to the infection and 130 migrated to other states, Health Department Director Dr Denis Hangsing said in a COVID-19 bulletin.

Nagaland reported its first three COVID-19 cases among Chennai returnees on May 25.

Dimapur has the highest number of active cases at 100, followed by Kohima (85) and Mokokchung (47), he said.

The state has so far conducted over 1.19 lakh COVID-19 tests, including 72,328 RT-PCR, 36,652 TrueNat and 10,733 rapid antigen tests, Hangsing added.

As he had developed mild fever, he was taken for a check-up on Sunday evening to the GDMC where doctors decided to admit him, the official at the Chief Minister’s Office said.

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who had tested positive for COVID-19 recently, was shifted to the Government Doon Medical College here after developing fever, an official said on Monday.

As he had developed mild fever, he was taken for a check-up on Sunday evening to the GDMC where doctors decided to admit him, the official at the Chief Minister’s Office said.

Rawat is under the observation of a team of doctors, the official said.

The chief minister had tested positive for COVID-19 on December 18 after which he had isolated himself at home.

His wife and daughter had also tested positive.

The term “love jihad” is used by right-wing activists to refer to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.

PATNA: At a time when BJP ruled states are making legislation against conversion for marriage, the Janata Dal (United), an ally of the saffron party in Bihar, on Sunday asserted that such laws will create social hatred and division in the society which it does not approve of.

“An atmosphere of hatred and division is being created in the society in the name of Love Jihad,” Tyagi told reporters after the party’s national executive meeting here.

The term “love jihad” is used by right-wing activists to refer to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.

“Provisions of the Constitution and CrPC give freedom to two adults to choose life partners of their choice irrespective of one’s religion, caste or region,” Tyagi said.

Socialists have upheld the right of adults to marry irrespective of caste and creed since the days of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, he said.

Lohia was a socialist ideologue.

The Cabinet in BJP governed Madhya Pradesh on Saturday passed a Bill which provides for prison term of up to 10 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh for conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.

The bill in some ways is similar to an Ordinance notified by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh last month.

In UP, a PIL has been filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging the ordiance, contending that it impinges upon the fundamental right to choice and right to change of faith.

The PM said he was surprised that those who ruled Bengal for 30 years before the incumbent TMC government were not agitating for the farmers there.

NEW DELHI:  On a day the government unveiled a massive counter-offensive on the farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought to use the issue of central agri schemes to hit out at Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal in line with the BJP’s build-up of its poll campaign.

Accusing the Mamata government of denying over 70 lakh farmers in West Bengal money transfer under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the PM said in his speech, “This is central government’s fund. Still, the state government, due to political reason, is not allowing over 70 lakh farmers to get the benefits.”

Earlier, setting up the tone, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar lamented that the Bengal government hasn’t yet submitted the list of beneficiaries for the scheme under which the Centre transfers `6,000 annually in three equal installments into the bank accounts of the farmers. “Bengal is the only state in the country which hasn’t allowed the farmers to avail the benefits,” said Tomar.

Responding to the attacks, Mamata charged Modi with misleading people with half-truths and distorted facts over non-implementation of the scheme in the state. She alleged that instead of proactively working to resolve the issues of the farmers, the PM chose to show his apparent concern for them through a televised address.

Maintaining that she had written two letters to Tomar and had even spoken to him two days ago, the Bengal CM said, “They are refusing to cooperate and are instead indulging in malicious propaganda for political gains.”

Modi also targeted the Left parties, accusing them of instigating the farmers of Punjab. The PM said he was surprised that those who ruled Bengal for 30 years before the incumbent TMC government were not agitating for the farmers there. “They have gone from  West Bengal to Punjab. But they will not stand in solidarity with the farmers of West Bengal,” he said.  

2nd Delhi-Jaipur lane blocked

Farmers camping on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway at Jaisinghpur Khera to protest against the new farm laws on Friday blocked the second carriageway of the national highway after the Haryana Police prevented them from crossing the border.

The farmers have been protesting on the highway at the Shahjahanpur border since December 12. Till now, only one lane of the Jaipur-Delhi highway had remained closed. On Friday, the vehicles were diverted towards Bawal. Protesting farmers had earlier announced that they would start proceeding towards Delhi on Friday, signalling their intent to further escalate the ongoing agitation.