The Evening Wrap: Farmers reject Amit Shah’s talk offer

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Sunday 29, November 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Farmers reject Amit Shah’s early talks offer Farmers’ groups have [rejected the Home Minister’s conditional invitation for talks](, saying they will not shift to the designated protest grounds in Burari for now. Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, remain parked at the borders of Delhi, demanding the repeal of the Centre’s three agricultural reform laws and withdrawal of an electricity Bill. In a letter dated November 28, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to 31 farmers’ unions from Punjab, reiterating Home Minister Amiot Shah’s late night appeal to farmers to move to the grounds in northeastern Delhi, following which they would be called for a meeting by the Centre. “If you shift to the Burari grounds, then the very next day the Centre government will hold talks with you, with a high level committee of Union Ministers at Vigyan Bhavan,” said the letter. The Punjab and Haryana unions held an internal consultation on Sunday morning, and decided they would stay put at the Singhu and Tikri border crossing points. Some demanded that the Centre allow them to protest at the high-profile Jantar Mantar site near Parliament rather than shunting them off to the Burari grounds on the outskirts of the city. “Instead of responding to the main demands of repealing of three black laws and the withdrawal of the Electricity Bill 2020, the government is doing its best to move the debate to where the farmers should camp,” said a statement from the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, one of the alliances leading the protest, which includes ten of the Punjab unions. New farm laws have begun mitigating farmers problems: PM Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann ki Baat radio address on Sunday said the [demands raised by farmers over the years had been met]( in the form of the recent agriculture reforms that have given them new opportunities. Mr. Modi said all political parties had been making promises to the farmers but now these promises had been fulfilled. The Prime Minister’s address came at the end of a week marked by protests by farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. against the four farm Bills passed by Parliament in September. “The agricultural reforms in the past few days have also now opened new doors of possibilities for our farmers...These reforms have not only served to unshackle our farmers but also given them new rights and opportunities,” Mr. Modi said. U.P. files first case under new religious conversion law The Uttar Pradesh Police have [lodged the first case under the new ordinance against unlawful conversion]( a day after it was promulgated. An FIR was lodged by the police in Bareilly under Sections 3 and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, which was cleared by the State Cabinet earlier this week and promulgated on November 27 by Governor Anandiben Patel. Bareilly police said the FIR was lodged against a person in Deorania police station on charges of allegedly trying to coerce a 20-year-old girl to convert her to his religion and marry him. Sections 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code were also invoked. The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Tikaram Rathore, a resident of Sharifnagar village, late on Friday. Mr. Tikaram alleged that the accused person had developed a friendship with his daughter during their education and wanted to “coerce, coax and allure her into converting”. DCGI investigates ‘Covishield’ volunteer claim over adverse effects, Serum institute rejects charge The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and the institutional ethics committee at the implementation site are [investigating if the adverse event as claimed to have been suffered by a COVID-19 vaccine trial participant in Chennai](are related to the shot administered to him. A 40-year-old Chennai-based business consultant, who was a volunteer for the third phase of the vaccine trial conducted by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), has sought ₹5 crore compensation for allegedly suffering serious neurological and psychological symptoms after taking the dose. He was administered the shot at Chennai’s Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), one of the trial sites on October 1. [The Covishield vaccine is at present being tested on 1,600 volunteers in India.]The Covishield vaccine is at present being tested on 1,600 volunteers in India. A law firm on his behalf has now sent a legal notice to Director General, ICMR, Drugs Controller General of India, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, CEO, Astra Zeneca U.K., Professor Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator, Oxford Vaccine Trial and Vice Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Higher Education and Research. The [Serum Institute of India rejected the charges]( and threatened to seek heavy damages for “malicious” allegations. “The allegations in the notice are malicious and misconceived. While the Serum Institute of India is sympathetic with the volunteer’s medical condition, there is absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trial and the medical condition of the volunteer,” Serum Institute of India said in a statement. We will form the next government in Telangana: Amit Shah The BJP continues to go all in on the upcoming Hyderabad municipal elections, sending a full slate of heavyweights to campaign. On Sunday, Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing a press conference in the city, [asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “is certainly going to form the next government in Telangana]( as it has already become the main opposition to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)”. “We also have the support of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the way in which he is running the government,” he said, tongue firmly in the cheek, at a press conference. [Union Home Minister Amit Shah addresses the media during his visit to Hyderabad on November 29, 2020 to campaign for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. ]Union Home Minister Amit Shah addresses the media during his visit to Hyderabad on November 29, 2020 to campaign for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. He said his party was well poised to make Hyderabad free of “Nawab and Nizam culture to a modern mini-India” where there is “no appeasement or injustice to any community”. “We will bring about a transformation from dynasty to democracy from the likes or TRS and Owaisis without the rampant corruption being witnessed now. We have been receiving tremendous support from the people so it is no longer about increasing our strength,” he claimed. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of coronavirus cases reported from India]( stands at 94,21,898 at the time of writing this newsletter with the death toll at 1,37,079. In Brief: [Taking a potshot at Home Minister Amit Shah](, the Congress said he can travel 1,200 km from Delhi to Hyderabad to campaign for the municipal polls but cannot travel 15 km to the Delhi border to meet the agitating farmers. It also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being obdurate in the face of the protests from lakhs of farmers. [Steve Smith of Australia celebrates making 100 runs during game two of the One Day International series between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground on November 29, 2020 in Sydney, Australia]Steve Smith of Australia celebrates making 100 runs during game two of the One Day International series between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground on November 29, 2020 in Sydney, Australia [Australia handed India a 51-run drubbing]( in the second ODI and an unassailable 2-0 series lead after Steve Smith produced another master-class in the form of a 64-ball 104 here on Sunday. Batting first, Australia posted an imposing 389 for four against a sluggish India. A target of 390 proved to be too much for India as they were stopped at 338 for nine, with captain Virat Kohli (89) and KL Rahul (76) finishing as their main contributors. An Assistant Commandant of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) died while undergoing treatment for injuries he sustained in [an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Sukma district]( on November 28 night, the Chhattisgarh police said. The condition of the remaining nine injured, including second-in-command Dinesh Kumar Singh, was stable and they were believed to be out of danger while undergoing treatment in Raipur. 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