New Delhi:
The protesting farmers will organise a rail blockade today to press their demands that include a legal guarantee for a safety net on the pricing of all crops.

Here are the top 10 points in this big story:

RJD chief Lalu Prasad .
| Photo Credit: ANI

Now in the Opposition, mahagathbandhan to hold its first mega joint rally in Bihar on March 3

The stage is all set at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan for March 3’s Jan Vishwas Maharally, the new Bihar Opposition’s first joint rally after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with their mahagathbandhan alliance and formed the government with the BJP. All top Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, are expected to be present.

UN says ‘large’ number shot in Gaza aid chaos

A UN team has reported seeing “a large number” of gunshot wounds among Gazans after Israeli troops opened fire near an aid convoy, an incident which highlighted near-famine conditions after nearly five months of war.

New Press and Registration of Periodicals Act comes into force

The new Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, of 2023, has come into force and the old Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, now stands repealed. The Centre has notified the new law and the associated rules in its official gazette. Accordingly, the Act is effective from March 1.

Bengaluru Rameshwaram cafe blast | Bengaluru City Police manage to get partial image of suspected bomber’s face; manhunt makes no breakthrough yet 

The Bengaluru City Police have launched a manhunt for the suspected bomber using CCTV camera footage and a partial image of his face. Armed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the police have been trying to spot him in the footage from hundreds of cameras that dot the IT corridor and have had some success. However, this has not yet given the city police any leads that could potentially identify the suspect, sources said.  

Did not see junta’s army personnel inside Myanmar, says Indian MP after visiting rebels

An Indian MP who visited rebel-held areas of western Myanmar said that the area that he visited is part of the Chin state of Myanmar that has been liberated by the Arakan army, one of the several ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) that are waging an armed struggle against the military junta of Myanmar.

2024 Lok Sabha polls | Congress questions BJP for dropping sitting MPs from first list

The Congress on Saturday raised questions on the BJP’s first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections after some sitting members were not named. It said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the people for having “thrust such ‘incompetent’ MPs on people” in the last five years.

Congress rebel MLA claims to be in touch with 9 more legislators, calls Himachal CM ‘liar no. 1’

Rebel Congress MLA Rajinder Rana on March 2 claimed that nine more party legislators “feeling suffocated” due to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s style of functioning are in touch with him as he called the CM “liar number one”.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha reaches out to splinter group, calls for united fight against Centre

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has reached out to the protesting farmers on the Haryana-Punjab boundary led by its splinter group SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and appealed for issue-based larger unity among all farmers’ platforms and organisations.

Mating calls of endangered hangul in Kashmir indicate record uptick in population

Kashmir’s highly shy and sensitive animal, hangul, which is enlisted as a critically endangered indigenous species of deer, has reported one of the healthiest rutting or mating seasons in the previous autumn. Experts suggested the roars or calls made by hangul during rutting indicate that their number will cross 300 this spring, the first time in more than three decades.

Ranji Trophy Semifinal | Mumbai takes control as the Tamil Nadu batters come a cropper on green top

Once is a mistake, and twice is a pattern. The pattern of Mumbai pacers making Tamil Nadu specialist batters appear ordinary on the first morning continued for the second successive season.

Riding on an all-round effort by Mumbai’s bowling pack, the host seized control of the Ranji Trophy semifinal on day one at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground here on Saturday.

Midday Meal workers burn copies of Union Budget 2023-24 during their protest, in Kolkata, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella organisation of more than 300 farmers’ outfits and the Right to Food Campaign, a platform for activists working on food and nutritional security, termed the Budget as an attack on farmers and the poor. They said in separate statements that the allocations for the agriculture sector and food subsidy had been reduced considerably in the Budget, presented in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The SKM, expressing shock and bewilderment at the Union Budget, said it had expected the Centre to appreciate the importance of the farm sector with the need to secure income and future of the rural farming community. “Instead, the Union Budget 2023 is the most anti-farmer Budget in the history of the nation,” they said.

The Budget was silent on doubling farmers’ income, the SKM said adding that the Centre “dishonestly stopped” giving data on the income of farmers and out of the targeted increase in the income of ₹13,000, only ₹4,400 had been achieved, that is only one-third of the target, the SKM said.

The grant for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi had been reduced, they said and alleged that the number of beneficiaries had been steadily declining and now the portal had stopped displaying real-time beneficiary data. “At a time of deep economic distress, this scheme gave some relief to farmers but now even that is being constricted,” the SKM said.

Social spending reduced

The Right to Food Campaign said it was shocked to see that the Budget reduced the government spending on the social sector to a huge extent. “The negative impact of the economic crisis that began even before the pandemic, has fallen disproportionately on those at the bottom of the pyramid,” the platform noted. The activists said with the discontinuation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from January 1, 2023, the ration entitlement of the people was halved.

“Women and children of the country have once again been ignored even when they have been most affected by the pandemic and the continued economic severity. The allocations for Samarthya (including maternity entitlements), and PM POSHAN (mid-day meals) have reduced considerably this year as well,” they said.