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Week Highlights: From farmers-government tussle to GHMC election results, a week of possibilities

Ankit Kumar Ankit Kumar Follow on X Send an email December 8, 2020
376 5 minutes read
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A round-up of first-week of December about top news in just an 11-minute read

 

One World News brings a new initiative to wind up the previous week’s important news in one article. We will tell you all the important developments related to our country in the last week.

Farmers’ protest and discussion of farmers and the government

Farmers’ protest against the new farm laws and their talks with the government were the main highlights of the week. Representatives of farmers and cabinet ministers met on December 1 for the third phase of talks. The meeting ended after 3 hours of discussion where farmers’ representatives rejected the suggestion of government of forming a new committee to look into issues.

The farmers had asked the government to repel the laws. The government asked the farmers to identify specific issues in newly elected laws which is troubling them and submit them by 2nd December for consideration and discussion on 3rd December.
Meanwhile, protesting farmers asked the government to convene a special session of Parliament and repel the newly enacted farm laws along with threatening to block roads in Delhi and take more steps if the centre fails to do so.

The meeting between government and farmers held on 3rd December did not yield any result. Farmer union leaders kept their demand for the withdrawal of new farm laws. They even refused to eat food, water and tea offered by the government during the 8-hour discussion. Some farmers said after the meeting that how could they eat food given by government while thousands of farmers are sitting on roads protesting against the government.

The government assured 40 representatives of farmers that all their concerns would be addressed. Farmers maintained that there are several deficiencies and loopholes in the laws. The Agriculture Ministry tweeted that Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the doubts of farmers while leading the government’s side at the meeting.

Sources revealed that the government gave a detailed presentation on the newly enacted laws and asserted that they have been enacted in the interest of farmers. However, the farmers rejected the government’s position saying that they do not need the government to teach them about the technicalities. They do farming and sell their produce every year, so they know what could benefit them and what won’t.

Apart from Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Railway and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of state for commerce and an MP from Punjab, Som Prakash was also present at the meeting in Vigyan Bhawan.

Farmers in thousands of numbers are camping at the Tikri and Singhu borders of New Delhi for the last 11 days as part of their protest against the laws.

Captain Amarinder Singh, Punjab CM met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and requested both sides to resolve the issue while the farmers’ meeting was going on at Vigyan Bhawan.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan as a mark of solidarity with the farmers.
Many roads on the borders of Delhi, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Delhi-Noida-Delhi witnessed traffic jams as many farmers filled the roads with tractors and truck as they wanted to enter the national capital to join the protests.

Farmers haven’t only come from Punjab and Haryana. A group of farmers from Rajasthan joined the protest at Singhu border against the controversial farm laws. Farmers of Uttar Pradesh have also joined the hands with farmers from other states.

The first meeting between the central government and farmers took place on October 13, later they met on November 13, December 1, December 3 and the final one on December 5.

Justin Trudeau support to farmers’ protest

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada supported the protests of farmers and said that the situation is critical in India. He said, “The situation is concerning and we are worried about friends and families. I know the reality of many of you.” India’s external affairs ministry took offence of the support and declared the comment of Justin Trudeau ‘unnecessary’. It also warned the Canadian government of serious damage to the bilateral relation between both countries. The ministry of external affairs had summoned the High Commissioner of Canada and slammed the Canadian Prime Minister over his support to farmers’ protest in New Delhi.

The ministry said that the comments of Canadian Prime Minister have encouraged the gathering of people at India’s High Commission in Canada that raises the security issue.

Despite India’s warning, Justin Trudeau again showed support for the farmers’ protest in New Delhi. While speaking to reporters, he said that his country will support any peaceful protest taking place anywhere in the world.

 

Read more: 10 instances in 2020 when people ran the boycott campaign on social media

Kangana-Diljit online war

One cannot keep Kangana Ranaut out of the news easily. This week, she made news after a brawl with Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh. Kangana had retweeted a post in which she had identified an elderly-woman as Bilkis Bano and said that she can be bought for pretest for Rs 100.

Diljit, who had earlier supported the farmers’ protest called her out and asked her to not spread misinformation. Obviously, it didn’t go well with Kangana who retaliated with another tweet and used names. She said. “Ooo Karan johar ke paltu, jo dadi Saheen Baag mein apni citizenship keliye protest kar rahi thi wohi Bilkis Bano dadi ji Farmers’ ke MSP ke liye bhi protest karti hue dikhi. Mahinder Kaur ji ko toh main janti bhi nahin. Kya drama chalaya hai tum logon ne? Stop this right now.” Soon, both celebrities started attacking each other back and forth.

Watch the tweets here:

 

Hyderabad GHMC election results

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election results were declared on Friday where Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won 55 out of 150 wards, BJP won 48 and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM won 44 seats. Congress continued its dismal performance in the elections and won just 2 seats. BJP had won only 4 in the last election while TRS had won 99 and AIMIM had won 44.

A party needs 98 votes to win the majority as there are 150 elected members and 45 ex-officio members, making the total strength of GHMC to 195. The TRS has 31 ex-officio members and they have won 55 wards, a total of 88. They would need the support of either AIMIM or arch-rivals BJP to have their mayor.

If K. Chandrasekhar Rao, CM of Telangana and chief of TRS party join hands with AIMIM, they might have to concede the Mayor or Deputy Mayor’s post to AIMIM as per their demand.

N Uttam Kumar, state Congress chief of Telangana tendered his resignation after he failed at the election.

BJP saw the biggest gain as they won 48 seats, a gain of 44 seats in the region where it was almost non-existent so far. The result could be a giant leap for BJP who is eyeing to spread its domination in southern parts of the country.

 

Vaccine plans revealed

The government hinted at the plan on providing the Coronavirus vaccine, once it is ready to use. The government has planned to vaccinate 1 crore health workers in the first batch, followed by nearly 2 crore frontline workers which include police, municipal workers, security personnel, and other essential workers in the second batch. In the third batch, the government has planned to provide vaccine to 27 crore senior citizens. These groups have been identified as the most vulnerable groups, hence they will be provided with the coronavirus vaccine first.

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Ankit Kumar Ankit Kumar Follow on X Send an email December 8, 2020
376 5 minutes read
Ankit Kumar

Ankit Kumar

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