Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) As farmers vowed to expand their protests over new farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assured them that his government was committed to their welfare and that the legislations were aimed at giving them alternate markets to boost income.

Without directly referring to the farmers' agitation, which entered the 17th day on Saturday, Modi said agriculture reforms as part of government efforts are aimed at removing roadblocks, and the new laws will also bring in technology and investment in the sector.

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday greeted people of Israel and Jews all over the world on the occasion of Jewish festival Hannukkah and extended them his best wishes.

The Jewish festival is celebrated for eight days.

"Chag Hannukkah Sameach to the friendly people of Israel and Jewish friends all over the world. May the festival bring peace and light in our lives and kindle more warmth to the relationship between our people. @netanyahu @PresidentRuvi," Modi tweeted using the Hebrew greeting.

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) Farmer leaders on Thursday insisted that their ongoing protest against the Centre's new farm laws is "apolitical", after photos of protestors at the Tikri Border went viral in which they were seen holding posters demanding the release of writers, intellectuals and rationalists on the Human Rights Day.

Human Rights Day was observed on Thursday.

NEW DELHI, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire: India's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today laid the foundation of the new Parliament building at a ceremony attended by various national leaders, eminent citizens, religious leaders and members of diplomatic community.

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) The AAP on Thursday claimed that the house of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was "attacked by BJP goons".

The Delhi BJP, however, refuted the allegations, saying their protest was peaceful.

Chandigarh, Dec 9 (PTI) The Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday asked the BJP-led Centre to stop playing games with innocent farmers and withdraw the three farm laws "immediately and unconditionally".

The SAD, which had pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance amid the consistent digs at it by the Congress after the enactment of the laws, also backed the farmers' rejection of the Centre's proposal on these laws.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) As thousands of farmers continue to protest at various borders of the national capital demanding the repeal of three new farm laws, a representative group of their unions on Wednesday received a draft proposal from the government on some key concerns raised by the protesters.

The draft proposal has been sent to 13 farm union leaders including Joginder Singh Urgrahan of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), one of the biggest among nearly 40 agitating unions.

Washington, Dec 9 (PTI) India's weapons procurement from the United States jumped from a meagre USD 6.2 million to a whopping USD 3.4 billion in the final year of the Donald Trump's administration, according to official data.

As per the data released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the jump in the sale of American weapons to India comes at a time when sale of weapons from the US to other countries has dipped to USD 50.8 billion in 2020 from USD 55.7 billion in 2019.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) With the Centre-farmer talks ending in a stalemate, thousands of farmers stayed put at Delhi borders on Wednesday to press for repeal of the agri marketing laws.

A meeting called by Home Minister Amit Shah ended in failure on Tuesday night as farmer leaders rejected the government's offer to amend new farm laws, saying they would settle for nothing less than the scrapping of the legislations.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) A day before the government's crucial sixth round of talks with representatives of protesting farmers, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met a select group of union leaders in a bid to break the deadlock.

Sources said 13 farmer leaders were called for the meeting, which began after 8 pm. The farmer leaders included eight from Punjab and five from various nationwide organisations.