India

Jaipur, Dec 24 (PTI) The Centre should repeal the new agri laws as they are making farmers feel insecure about their future, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said on Thursday.

The former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan said the Congress is working hard to ensure that the organisation and the state government fulfil the promises made to the people of the state.

"The centre should stop being stubborn and withdraw the farm laws with immediate effect. The farmers are feeling insecure about their future. They are very concerned, Pilot told reporters in Pali.

Kolkata, Dec 24 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said an agro industrial park will be set up at Singur in Hooghly district to create employment opportunities in the agrarian area.

Banerjee announced that the expression of interest will be issued for the upcoming deep sea port at Tajpur Purbo Medinipur district which will attract total investment of Rs 15,000 crore and generate 25,000 employment opportunities in the state.

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) India on Thursday condoled the death of Karima Baloch, a noted Pakistani political activist who had extensively worked for the rights of people of Balochistan.

Baloch, who was living in exile in Canada, was found dead in Toronto, according to the recent Pakistani media reports.

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Thursday alleged that party workers were attacked by AAP volunteers during a protest at the DJB headquarters and that the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government "conspired" to defame the saffron party by sabotaging the demonstration.

This comes hours after Delhi Jal Board vice chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha claimed BJP workers vandalised his office and attacked staff members at the DJB headquarters at Jhandewalan here.

Pune, Dec 24 (PTI) The Pune district administration has received a list of 504 passengers who returned from the UK in the last 28 days, an official said.

After a new variant of coronavirus was detected in the UK, the Union government had asked for tracing of passengers who arrived in India from the UK between November 25 and December 23.

"We have received a communication from the state government to trace the passengers who arrived in the district from the UK between November 25 and December 23.

New Delhi, Dec 25 (PTI) Appealing to protesting farmers to come forward for discussions on farm laws, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the government will amend the legislations if they are not found beneficial.

Describing the protesting farmers as his own people, Singh said, "Those who are sitting on dharna are farmers and are born to farmers' families. We have lot of respect for them."

NEW DELHI, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- India's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,146,845 on Friday as 23,067 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the data, the death toll mounted to 147,092 as 336 patients died since Thursday morning.

There are still 281,919 active cases in the country, while 9,717,834 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s main opposition party pressed the government on Thursday to call a special parliamentary session to withdraw new agricultural laws that farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader from the opposition Congress party, handed the president a copy of a petition that he said had attracted 20 million signatures online.

“The prime minister wants to help two, three business people” by introducing the farm laws, said Gandhi, the great-grandson of India’s founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

NEW DELHI, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Police Thursday stopped opposition Congress party's march to meet Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and detained Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders, officials said.

The leaders apart from presenting 20 million signatures to the president against the farm laws were going to present him memorandum seeking his intervention for the withdrawal of the contentious laws against which thousands of farmers are presently protesting in and outside national capital New Delhi for nearly a month.

Mumbai, Dec 23 (PTI) In a major relief for Marathas, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided to provide reservation to the community under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category for educational admissions and jobs.

The 10 per cent EWS quota is earmarked for those who are not covered under any social reservations.

Notably, the implementation of the quota for the Maratha community under the SEBC (Socially and Economically Backward Class) category was stayed by the Supreme Court, which was challenged by the state government.