Motorcycle rally marks ‘black day’ I PM’s effigies burnt across state I Protest trends on social media

Farmers raise slogans and hoist black flags to mark six months of their ongoing struggle at the Singhu border on Wednesday. Photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Ravinder Saini & Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar/Panipat, May 26

On the call of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), protesting farmers on Wednesday observed a ‘black day’ at the Tikri and Singhu borders on the completion of six months of the ongoing agitation against three farm laws.

The day also marked the completion of seven years of the Centre’s formation.

At Tikri, where farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping for the past six months, a festive mood prevailed on Wednesday with black flags hoisted on every hut and vehicle. Women donned black salwar-suit and dupatta while men wore black badges on their arms to mark the day. The Sikh protesters tied black cloth on their turbans.

Young protesters put up a show of unity by taking out a bike rally from Tikri to Dhansa border while passing through various villages. A play describing the Centre’s intentions for the farm laws and movement was also staged by artistes from Punjab at the main protest site.

Residents from nearby villages holding black flags in their hands reached the border and expressed their solidarity. “Today’s protest was not only an epitome of farmers’ strength but also a slap on the face of the Centre, which is using all unfair means to sabotage the historical stir. We have been here for the past six months despite all odds and are prepared to spend as much time as needed to win this battle. So, the Centre should repeal the three laws without testing us more,” said Parminder Singh, a protester.

Purushottam Singh Gill, a senior BKU (Lakhowal) leader, claimed the protest evoked an overwhelming response as people from every section of society contributed by hoisting black flags on their rooftops or vehicles. “The success of today’s protest is a clear indication that we are heading in the right direction,” he added.

At Singhu, the protesters hoisted black flags at the main stage, on their tents, bamboo huts, tractor-trailers and two-wheelers. They also celebrated Buddha Purnima

Various SKM leaders said May 26 was marked as a “black day” for farmers, with lakhs of citizens expressing their resistance against the Centre in numerous ways. Multiple hashtags in support of the movement trended on social media since the morning, they claimed.

Govt was mistakenThe stir will continue until our demands are met. The Centre thought that it would come to an end if prolonged. The government was mistaken. In six months, the stir has spread across the country.— Gurnam S Charuni, BKU (Charuni) chief

Meanwhile, effigies of the Prime Minister were also burnt at Tikri, Pakoda Chowk in Bahadurgarh, the main gate of the kisan office at Singhu and across the state.

Ambala: BKU activists burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ambala and Kurukshetra. Leaders of the Congress, AAP and Haryana Democratic Front hoisted back flags on the rooftops of their homes.

BKU chief Gurnam Singh Charuni appealed to Uttar Pradesh farmers to start opposing BJP leaders as the elections were scheduled in the state next year.

Karnal/Kaithal: Farmers burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Bastara toll plaza on the NH-44 in Karnal district, and at Titram Mor in Kaithal district. They also protested at Pehowa chowk, Pundri, Pai, Kalayat in Kaithal district.

Tajinder Singh, a protester, said: “Farmers faced extreme cold and now they are protesting in scorching heat. We will not go back until the three laws are revoked.”

Another protester Manju “We are not excited to observe ‘black day’. The Modi government has left us with no option, but to protest.”

Rohtak: Farmers burnt the effigy of the Union Government outside Mansarovar Park here. They also celebrated the festival of Budhha Purnima. They reiterated that the government must revoke the three controversial farm laws.

The effigies were also burnt in Sonepat and Panipat.

Cong doesn’t want stir to succeed: Vij

Chandigarh: The Congress doesn’t want the farmers’ movement to succeed and was not in their interests, said Home Minister Anil Vij. Interacting with the media on Wednesday, he said, “Everyone has a right to protest in independent India. The Congress and other parties are hiding behind the farmers’ movement and have been exposed. They don’t want the movement to succeed.” He pointed out that he and even farmers’ leaders had written to the Union Agriculture Minister for starting talks again. TNS

Should start talks with farmers: Selja

Chandigarh: Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kumari Selja on Wednesday supported the “black day” observed by farmers and appealed to the Central government to accept their demands. She said the BJP government at the Centre should immediately “do away with its ego” and start the process of dialogue with the farmers and withdraw the black laws. Besides, the Haryana Government should withdraw the cases registered against farmers in the state during the agitation. TNS

Photo for representation only. File photo

Vibha Sharma 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

 The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has condemned RSS-affiliated Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, saying that the right-wing farmers’ organisation “has eroded its public support through baseless allegations against the protesting farmers”.

The BKS had on Monday issued a scathing statement against the SKM’s proposed “Black Day” on Wednesday.

The SKM said it was sad that “a so-called farmers’ union had stooped down to denigrating a historical farmers’ struggle led by it”. ‘

Terming the BKS’s allegations “baseless”, the SKM said it is “apparent that political and party affiliations are coming in the way of BKS’s understanding of the three black central laws, as well as the fight for MSP as a legal right”.

“The SKM believes that any farmer outfit that maligns the current genuine farmers’ movement is bound to be made irrelevant by Indian farmers themselves. The BKS’s statement is to be understood in this background, where because of the ongoing widespread farmers’ movement, it is finding that its support base is eroding rapidly,” SKM claimed. 

The SKM also asked the BKS to appeal to the government to fulfill the farmers’ demands, “instead of proving itself as the anti-farmer government ever in independent India”. The umbrella body of farmers unions said that the movement is “running on truth and non-violence and will complete six months of its historical struggle tomorrow” and urged all Indians to celebrate and mark Buddha Poornima tomorrow, “so that truth and non-violence find a strong place back in our community, at the time when attempts are being made to erode these basic values in our society”.

“The repeated attempts of the BJP government(s) to portray the movement as violent have failed again and again. Farmers have only strengthened themselves with peace and non-violence throughout this struggle,” it said. 

The BKS had claimed that the “real intent of those sitting at Delhi’s borders in the name of farmers was demonstrated when they spread fear and terror in the most undemocratic way on January 26”. BKS general secretary Badri Narayan Choudhary said the entire farming community is “feeling angry and questioning that who gave these people the right to defame farmers in such a way”.

“Ever since the inception of this so-called farmer’ agitation, genuine farmers are ashamed of the undemocratic, anti-people way of these so-called farmer leaders who are being financed by anti-India agencies outside India and terrorising people with the help of terrorist elements”, said the leader of the farmers’ organisation associated with the Sangh.

Choudhary said that the BKS had objected to the “presence of anti-social, anarchic elements in this agitation from day one itself” and that “after January 26, it was confirmed that the so-called farmers’ agitation has been completely hijacked by anti-social, anti-democracy and anarchic people”.

“Last month, a farmer’s young daughter from WB was gang-raped at the agitation site and pushed to death. The so-called farmer’s leaders tried to destroy evidence. Perhaps now to divert and silence the investigation, these pressure tactics are being adopted. This is a usual practice among ultra-left and anti-democratic activists,” he alleged.

Comes after Whatsapp challenged Centre’s new IT rules in Delhi HC

For representation only. Photo credit: iStock

New Delhi, May 26

The Ministry for Information and Technology asked social media platforms to submit a compliance report to its controversial new digital rules—a development after Facebook-owned Whatsapp sued the central government over the new rules.

The new rules, announced on February 25, require large social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person, and a resident grievance officer.

Non-compliance with rules would result in these social media companies losing their intermediary status that provides them exemptions and certain immunity from liabilities for any third-party information and data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

Sources with knowledge of the matter said the ministry asked the social media companies to immediately provide details and contact information of the chief compliance officer and resident grievance officer.

The Centre’s deadline for compliance with the new rules ended on Tuesday.

Whatsapp takes Centre to court over new digital rules

After the deadline ended, Whatsapp took the central government to court over the new rules over privacy concerns. The petition in Delhi High Court that challenges the new rules asks the court to declare that one of the new IT rules is a violation of privacy rights in India’s constitution since it requires social media companies to identify the “first originator of information” when authorities demand it, Reuters reported. 

A statement from the central government issued later in the evening denied any such allegation saying that new rules would have no impact on the normal functioning of Whatsapp.

Deadline over, Twitter, Facebook yet to comply with ethics code

The lawsuit comes in the middle of an already raging debate about the shrinking democratic space in India. Critics of the current establishment see the controversial new rules as an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s central government to tighten its noose over the digital space.

Toolkit controversy: Delhi Police descends on Twitter’s offices

This also comes in the middle of another controversy over Twitter’s tagging a toolkit shared by Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and some others over the Covid-19 pandemic as manipulated media. The toolkit is the subject of an ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, tensions rose further when teams from the Delhi Police visited Twitter’s offices in the national capital on Monday.

A priest runs to a safer place in Balasore district, Odisha. REUTERS

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 26

As cyclone Yaas made landfall near Balasore on the coast of Odisha, the armed forces and the Coast Guard pressed men, machines, equipment, boats, ships, helicopters and opened medical camps and shelters in Odisha and West Bengal.

On ground, the Army has deployed 17 columns — some 1,700 men — with boats, life jackets and dry ration across the two states. A specialist engineer task force with heavy equipment has been stationed at Balasore, Odisha, the spot where the cyclone hit land.

Relief and rescue work commenced today in East Midnapore and Digha, where cyclonic rain hit areas in West Bengal. The Army has spread its teams to Purulia, West Bardhaman, Jhargram, Bakura, Birbhum, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata Port, 24 Parganas and Kolkatta south.

The Eastern Command of the Indian Air Force has mobilised its assets, like helicopters for a quick response. A task force has been set up to monitor the efforts, in addition to co-ordinating with all agencies.

The Navy has arranged relief material and set up a community kitchen for thousands of people. The Naval Officer-in-Charge (Odisha), Operations Room, has been monitoring ships movement along the coast in coordination with authorities at Gopalpur, Paradip and Damara ports.

The Indian Coast Guard had commenced preventive and response measures on the eastern seaboard as early as May 19. “No loss of life or property at sea was reported,” the Coast Guard said.

All fishing boats had returned ships at anchorage off Odisha and West Bengal coast had taken safe shelter and Single Point Mooring (SPM) operations of the crude oil industry were suspended. All ships, planes and helicopters of Coast Guard are maintaining a high state of readiness.

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 26

Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders today said they were prepared to continue their agitation against the three farm laws and one on the MSP till 2024 when the next General Elections are due.

Don’t be misled: BJP to farmers

• The BJP on Wednesday reiterated that the Narendra Modi government is “always ready” for talks with farmers on the three farm laws.
• Party leaders also said farmers should “not be misled by political parties or union leaders having political aspirations and that the “agitation will be over after the Assembly elections in Punjab”.

Speaking at an event, organised by the Indian Women Press Corps on the six months of ‘kisan andolan’, BKU leader from Western UP Rakesh Tikait said the SKM was prepared for a long haul.

“The talks will begin from where they ended. There is no going back. Only the government can now take back the agitation. We are prepared to continue the agitation till 2024,” he said. Tikait said they had not received any reply from the Modi government on their letter for resumption of talks, adding “we cannot leave them like this, it is a democratic country”.

Speaking on the six-month agitation that had catapulted the farmers’ issue to the international level, Tikait and farm leader from Haryana Gurnam Singh Charuni said farm unions managed to gain the confidence of people.

“This despite the government telling lies, making all sorts of allegations against us. Today, it will say that because of us Covid is spreading,” Tikait added.

WhatsApp has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre’s new digital rules.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 26

WhatsApp has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre’s new digital rules that require the company to provide access to encrypted messages, saying it will break privacy protections.

Filed on Tuesday, the petition challenged the rules on the ground that mandating the service provider to identify the first originator of any message that undermined sovereignty of India went against the right to privacy, which has been declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court.

Firm’s stance

WhatsApp says, “Requiring messages to trace chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp. This would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people’s right to privacy.”

The petition comes on the last day of the three-month period given to social media platforms to comply with the rules, non-compliance of which could effectively deprive the companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp of the legal protections for user-generated content.https://5a1eadd9b916f567d42ddc39b856eba4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The rules defined ‘’significant social media intermediaries’’ as those having more than 50 lakh registered users. They have been mandated to use automated processes to take down pornography.

Facebook and Google have maintained they were working towards complying with the new guidelines announced on February 25.

“Requiring messages to trace chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp. This would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people’s right to privacy,” WhatsApp said in a statement, adding that tracing messages would be “ineffective and highly susceptible to abuse”.

Solely owned by the Ministry of Defence, CSD is the most profitable retail chain in India

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

 As part of the efforts to reduce operating costs and revamp functional structure, the Army has issued orders to merge unit run canteens (URC) of the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) functioning from various static military establishments located in the same station.

Any one URC of a static unit, preferably the one with largest dependency, be nominated as the ‘merged URC’ and all other URCs be kept in ‘suspended animation’. URCs of those units that are likely to be affected by rotational movements should be exempted from the merger, a letter issued by the Quartermaster General’s Branch at Army Headquarters to the establishments of all three services on May 24 states.

Based on the recommendations by a board of officers (BOO) comprising all stakeholders, formation commanders, local military authorities and station commanders will have the leeway to nominate the merged URC, which should be centrally located so that it is convenient for all to commute, the letter adds. Station Canteens for ex-servicemen can continue in accordance with the BOO’s recommendations.

The letter also states that all URCs in suspended animation shall retain their names and URC Codes, but the supporting CSD depots shall not process any demands received from such URCs. Pro-rata portion of profit will be shared with the units of URCs kept in suspended animation under supervision of the headquarters concerned.

Last year the Minister of State for Defence, Shripad Naik, had stated in Parliament that while the government has not given any orders for closure of URCs. merger of URCs is a periodic process based on the number of beneficiaries in the area, proximity to other URCs and organisational efficiency. All efforts are made to ensure that there is no inconvenience to the clientele, including ex-servicemen, he had further stated.

Solely owned by the Ministry of Defence, CSD is the most profitable retail chain in India, selling a wide variety of products like groceries, household appliances, liquor, vehicles, cosmetic and sports equipment at subsidized rates to serving and retired armed forces personnel and civilians employed in defence establishments.

It has 34 depots and 3,809 URCs located across India and an inventory of over 4,000 products sourced from 436 companies. A significant amount of profit is generated by CSD out of which 50 per cent is deposited into the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). For the 2019-20 fiscal, the amount deposited in CFI was 384.5 crore.  

Last year the sale of directly imported items, including liquor, in CSD canteens was stopped. As many as 422 such items were taken off the CSD’s inventory in a bid to promote indigenously manufactured products.

More recently, CSD has started online purchase for ‘Against Firm Demand (AFD)’ items, that include items such as vehicles and high end appliances. All purchases of AFD items are now being made through CSD’s online portal.h

CSD has also had its share of functional problems such as inadequate budgetary support, non-availability of certain products, pilferage of goods and delays in processing demands from clientele.

Colombo

The Sri Lanka Parliament has passed the Port City Economic Commission Bill, which officially declares 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the ocean and annexed to the city of Colombo as the country’s first special economic zone (SEZ) for services-oriented industries.Advertisementhttps://5594ee15af99553344f1a17c25bb5e1a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html?n=0Advertisement

The bill was passed on Thursday with 149 votes in favour and 58 against, reports Xinhua news agency.ADVERTISEMENT

Under the legislation, a President-appointed commission will be established to govern the SEZ.

It will enable the businesses to operate in any recognized foreign currency within Port City.

After the Port City bill was tabled in Parliament on April 8, 19 petitions were filed with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The Supreme Court’s ruling was delivered to Parliament on Tuesday, saying that the bill could be passed with a simple majority provided key clauses be amended to confirm with the country’s constitution.

Parliament debates were held on Wednesday and Thursday, following which a majority of lawmakers voted to approve the bill amended in line with recommendations by the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday told Parliament that the Port City project would create 200,000 jobs in the first five years, with the majority going to Sri Lankan nationals.

He said that the Port City bill provides a competitive framework to attract investment.

Port City Colombo Director of Sales and Marketing Yamuna Jayaratne said that Sri Lanka already enjoys several advantages in the cost of doing business in comparison with established and mature services hubs such as Hong Kong and Dubai.

Colombo is planned to become a major financial and services hub in South Asia.

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