Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 8

The induction ceremony of the first batch of five Rafale jets at the IAF base in Ambala cost the exchequer a little over of Rs 41 lakh, including Rs 9.18 lakh GST, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Pak mischief now just limited to border

The Army has limited Pakistan’s mischief to just the border, giving a befitting reply to their misadventures. No praise is enough for the actions taken by the Army, BSF and other security forces in containing Pak-sponsored terrorist activities. — Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister

In ’20, 46 killed in 5,133 ceasefire violations

• Rajnath said there were 5,133 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan last year in which 46 security personnel were killed
• He said 299 incidents of ceasefire violation were reported till January 28 this year and ‘appropriate retaliation’ was carried out

“The first five Rafale aircraft were formally inducted into the IAF on September 10. The arrangements for this event were made mostly through local resources of the IAF. The total expenditure on the event was Rs 41.32 lakh, including Rs 9.18 lakh of GST,” he added.

The Defence Minister said traditionally all-new variant of aircraft were inducted into the IAF through a grand ceremony. The Rafale induction ceremony was attended by the French Defence Minister and top executives of the French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale.

The second batch of three Rafale jets arrived in India on November 3, while the third batch of three more jets joined the IAF on January 27. The Rafale are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were purchased from Russia.

The first squadron of the Rafale jets is stationed at the Ambala airbase, while the second one will be based at the Hasimara IAF station in West Bengal. India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 to procure 36 Rafale fighters at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.

“India will have 17 Rafale jets by March this year and the entire fleet of the fighter aircraft bought by the country will reach by April 2022,” the Defence Minister added.

New Delhi, February 8

Farmer unions agitating against the three agri laws on Monday asked the government to fix a date for the next round of talks, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged them to end their stir and invited them to resume the dialogue.

They, however, objected to Prime Minister Modi’s remarks in Rajya Sabha that a new “breed” of agitators called “andolan jivi” has emerged in the country, and said that agitation has an important role in a democracy.

Modi appeals to agitators to give farm laws a chance

Farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka, who is a senior member of the Samkyukta Kisan Morcha which is spearheading the ongoing stir, said they are ready for the next round of talks and the government should tell them the date and time of the meeting.

“We have never refused to hold talks with the government. Whenever it has called us for dialogue, we held discussions with Union ministers. We are ready for talks with them (government),” Kakka told PTI.

Centre complicating issue, says Rakesh Tikait on PM Modi’s statement on MSP

Eleven rounds of talks have been held over the contentious farm laws but the impasse continues as the farmer unions remain firm on their demands—the repeal of the three laws and legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

In the last round of talks, the government had offered to suspend the laws for 12-18 months, but the farmer unions rejected it.

Thousands of agitating farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for over 70 days.

Read also: Modi appeals to agitators to give farm laws a chance

Centre complicating issue, says Rakesh Tikait on PM Modi’s statement on MSP

To weed out right-wingers, volunteers screen farmers living in Ghazipur tents

While replying in Rajya Sabha on Monday to a debate on the President’s address, PM Modi assured the farmers that Mandis will be modernised, saying “Not just this, MSP was there, it is there and will remain.”

“We urge those sitting on the agitation that even though it is their right to agitate, the way the old people are sitting there, is not right.

“They (agitators) should be taken back. They should end the agitation and we will together find a solution as all doors are open for dialogue. From this House, I again invite them for dialogue,” Modi said while appealing to farmers to end their agitation.

Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is also a member of Samkyukta Kisan Morcha, said the government has already said “hundreds of times” that the MSP will not go anywhere and it will remain in place.

“If the government is claiming that MSP will remain, why doesn’t it provide a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for our crops,” Kohar told PTI.

He said the farmer unions are ready to resume talks with the government, but there should be a formal invitation.

“Any issue can be resolved through proper dialogue. We are ready in-principle to resume talks,” the farmer leader.

In his speech, Modi slammed the mushrooming of a new breed of ‘andolan-jivi’—professional protestors—who are seen at every agitation. These “parasites feast on every agitation,” he said.

“Agitation has an important role in democracy. People have a right to oppose the government’s wrong policies,” Kakka said, referring to the remarks by the prime minister.

Sukhdev Singh, Punjab general secretary of BKU Ekta-Ugrahan, sought to know why the government is not ensuring a legal guarantee on MSP for crops and alleged that it is trying to divert the issue.

Farmer leader Baldev Singh also said government should repeal these farm laws and provide a legal guarantee on MSP for farmers’ crops.

Earlier in the day, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said business over hunger will not be allowed in the country.

To press their demands, protesting unions held a nationwide ‘chakka jam’ last week, during which national and state highways were blocked in Punjab, Haryana and other parts of the country. PTI

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 9

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said Punjab would prove to be BJP’s nemesis as the farm laws would sound the “death knell” for the party.

“The BJP is set to lose not just these civic polls but also the 2022 Punjab Assembly election. Its very existence will be wiped out from our soil,” said the Chief Minister, while reacting to the saffron party leadership’s assertion it would spring a surprise in the Assembly polls.

• Also read: Drop cases, free farmers: SGPC
• AAP: Sunny Deol has betrayed protesters, Parliament

A party failing to muster candidates for even 50 per cent of the civic body seats was trying to shift blame on the Congress for the farmers’ wrath, he said.

The BJP should start preparing for political oblivion, said the CM, adding its fate was now sealed, not just in Punjab but also at the Centre. “The farm laws will sound the death knell for the party. For nearly seven years, they have trampled over human rights, as well as the dignity and aspirations of Indians, and now it is the people’s turn,” he said.

“What you see on the roads, and which you allege to be the Congress handiwork, is the spontaneous anger triggered by your anti-farmer attitude,” he said, rejecting Punjab BJP’s claims of Congress workers, not farmers, targeting its campaign trail for the upcoming civic body elections.

“Did you really think you could get away with abusing farmers, and violating their democratic and constitutional rights,” the CM asked BJP’s state leadership.

Scorning the BJP’s charge of the police being mute spectator while they were being stopped from entering constituencies for electioneering, Capt Amarinder said the protesters themselves were complaining of being subjected to lathicharge. “The fact is that not only the Punjab Police but also the Election Commission are doing their job sincerely,” he said.

To the party leadership’s assertion that it would spring a surprise in Punjab in the Assembly polls, the CM said: “Yes, there will be a big surprise in 2022, with the BJP’s very existence being wiped out from our soil.”

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 10

Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu on Tuesday accused activist Yogendra Yadav of inciting the farmers that led to violence on Republic Day.

Speaking during the motion of thanks on the President’s Address in Lok Sabha on Tuesday night, Bittu said, “Yogendra Yadav sabse bada aag lagane wala hai (Yogendra Yadav is the one responsible for inciting farmers that led to violence on January 26).”

Bittu said, “If the government nabs him (Yadav) it will be able to talk directly to the farmers. He is the one who would earlier talk about farm reforms. No farmer is against the country. The people of Punjab can never do anything to harm the dignity of the Tricolour.”

Bittu also claimed that “these people are the ones getting Khalistani funding”.

When Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi asked him to explain the remarks by senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury that the BJP was behind the Republic Day violence while he was accusing Yadav of it, Bittu said that was because of the involvement of Deep Sidhu with BJP MP Sunny Deol.

Joshi accused Bittu of “misleading the people of the country”.

Objections were raised when Bittu claimed that the new laws said the ‘mandi system’ would be done away with. There was commotion when the Punjab MP made a personal remark against Union minister Anurag Thakur, who countered him on his statement.

Accusing him of  misleading the public, Thakur said, “Where is it mentioned in the laws that mandis will be closed? Nowhere do they say that the mandis will be scrapped. They first misled the Punjab farmers and now are misleading the country.”

Rohtak, February 8

The All-Haryana Private School Sangh has decried the state government’s move to suspend a schoolteacher allegedly for attending the ongoing farmers’stir at Tikri.

“The state has suspended Ajay Balhara, who has been training teachers as well as government officials for the success of the state-level ‘paudhagiri’ plantation drive, which is highly deplorable,” said sangh president Ravinder Nandal in a statement issued here on Monday.

“Balhara comes from a farming family and had gone there to know the concerns of the protesters, which is not a violation of any rule of law or constitutional provision,” said Nandal. The teachers’ association has demanded immediate reinstatement of Balhara, who had been serving as a postgraduate teacher of biology and was currently posted as the programme officer at the Director (Secondary Education), Haryana, at Panchkula. — TNS

Ahmedabad, February 10

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo on the dismantling of decommissioned aircraft carrier ‘Viraat’, but a Gujarat-based ship-breaker who has purchased it said it is now too late for any restoration effort.

Over 40 per cent of the dismantling work has been completed so far, said Mukesh Patel, Chairman of Shree Ram Group based at Alang in Bhavnagar district which bought the ship at an auction in July last year for Rs 38.54 crore.

The firm began the dismantling at its ship-breaking yard at Alang in December 2020, and now it is impossible to reassemble the parts that have been cut, he said.

“Over 40 per cent of dismantling work is complete. We have already pulled the ship towards the shore and also dismantled some portions of the hull, making it impossible for the ship to remain afloat now,” said Patel, after learning about the SC order from the media.

“I have not received any notice yet from the court.

But it is already too late for the ship to be used for any other purpose. Our legal team would submit a reply if a notice is served to us,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo on the dismantling of ‘Viraat’ which was in service with the Indian Navy for nearly three decades.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and others seeking response on a plea filed by a firm which seeks preservation of the ship as a museum.

The centaur-class aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, was in service with the Indian Navy for 29 years before being decommissioned in March 2017.

The Centre had in July 2019 informed Parliament that the decision to scrap Viraat was taken after due consultation with the Indian Navy. — PTI