Farmer protest, Delhi Noida shut, Sushil Modi, cyclone Burevi, Srilanka, Shivraj Singh , COVID-19, Sonia Gandhi, Twitter, plagiarism, NGT

2 December 2020

• Farmers continue peaceful protest at Tikri border 

  As the protests entered the seventh day, the farmers from Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday continued to protest peacefully at the Delhi-Haryana Tikri border here. Thousands of farmers have camped at the Tikri border to protest against the controversial farm laws passed by Parliament in September this year. The leaders were continuously addressing the fellow farmers on their grievances, demands and expectations from the government. 

  The farmers prepared their food and distributed it among themselves. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi put up a stall at the Tikri border to serve food to the farmers. Besides the AAP, many other organisations also have come out in their support, providing them with prepared food and milk. 

• Farmers perform 'puja' at Ghazipur border, lash out at Modi govt 

  The Modi government's latest attempts to persuade the farmers agitating at the Delhi-Haryana-UP borders for the last seven days against the three Union farm laws failed to achieve a breakthrough. 

  The agitating farmers performed a 'havan' at the Ghazipur-Ghaziabad (Delhi-UP) border on Wednesday morning and expressed their anger against the Modi government. The latest round of talks between the Centre and the farmers' organisations failed to reach a consensus on Tuesday. The farmers prayed for wisdom to prevail on the Union government 

• Cyclone Burevi to hit Sri Lanka with heavy rain, strong winds 

  Sri Lanka's Meteorology Department on Wednesday said cyclonic storm Burevi was likely to hit the country's eastern coast late in the evening, causing heavy rain and strong winds in the island country. 

  In an urgent weather update, the Meteorology Department said the cyclone was expected to hit the eastern coast between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (local time), and floods and extensive damage were expected, Xinhua reported. 

   

• Delhi-Noida Route Shut As UP Farmers Protest at Border 

  A heavy police force was deployed on the national capital's border points today as the standoff between the Centre and farmers continued, with commuters facing a harrowing time after the protestors blocked key entrances to the city for the seventh day. 

  While the police have kept the Haryana-Delhi border at Singhu and Tikri closed for traffic, the protest at Ghazipur, the city's border with Uttar Pradesh, has also intensified. 

   

• Sushil Modi files nomination for Rajya Sabha bypolls 

  Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday filed his nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypolls in Bihar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad, BJP Bihar unit state President Sanjay Jaiswal, former Bihar Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav and several other party leaders accompanied him. 

  After filing his nomination form, Modi thanked BJP National President J. P. Nadda and said he was extremely grateful to the party leadership for the Rajya Sabha candidature. 

• NGT extends blanket ban on firecrackers in Delhi-NCR

  The National Green Tribunal has imposed a total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during Covid-19 pandemic in the national capital region and all cities in the country where the ambient air quality falls under the 'poor' and above category. 

  This came after expiry of the period from November 9 to December 1 during which the green tribunal had imposed a total ban on the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in the NCR and cities with poor ambient air quality amid the double whammy of pollution crisis and rising coronavirus infections. 

• Sonia Gandhi appoints B.V. Srinivas as Youth Congress chief 

  The Youth Congress has now got an official president after more than a year. Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday appointed B.V. Srinivas as the chief of the Congress' youth wing. 

  Srinivas had been discharging his duties as interim chief after the resignation of Keshav Chand Yadav from the post, which was mired in controversy. However, in his resignation letter on July 7, 2019, Yadav said he was resigning following the defeat of the party in the Lok Sabha elections. Yadav hails from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. 

• MP CM trolled for 'plagiarism' charges levelled over a poem 

  Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently shared a poem said to have been penned by his wife Sadhna Singh which has led to a backlash on social media. Chouhan has been heavily trolled over alleged plagiarism charges levelled by a young girl Bhumika Birthare who has claimed to have originally written the poem. 

  Ghanshyam Das Masani, the father-in-law of the Madhya Pradesh CM, passed away on November 18. A few days after Masani's demise, Chouhan had shared a poem on his official Twitter account on November 22, claiming that it was written by his wife Sadhna Singh. 

• Twitter labels Amit Malviya's farmer video 'manipulated media' 

  The Twitter on Wednesday labelled a video clip posted by BJP IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya regarding a policeman swinging his baton to hit an elderly farmer protester as "manipulated media". 

  Malaviya had posted the clip days earlier to take a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, calling him "one of the most discredited Indian opposition leaders".