The Evening Wrap: Farmers called to mark anniversary of agitation at protest sites on Nov. 26

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three contentious farm laws, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled. In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers' unions, urged farmers to gather in large numbers at all protest sites to mark the first anniversary of their agitation on November 26. The SKM has welcomed the prime minister's decision and said it will wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures. Thousands of farmers, particularly those from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding repeal of the three farm laws. Farmer leaders said that a final decision on the future course of the agitation and the issue of minimum support price (MSP) will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at the Singhu border protest site on Sunday. The farmers' body said the first anniversary of the agitation will be marked by parades by tractors and bullock carts in other States. “In various states that are far away from Delhi, the first anniversary on November 26 will be marked by tractor and bullock cart parades in capital cities, along with other protests,” the SKM said in the statement.It said that the prime minister announced repeal of the three "black" farm laws but he chose to “remain silent” on the other pending demands of the farmers. “More than 670 farmers martyred in the farmers' movement so far and the Government of India did not even acknowledge their sacrifice. These martyrs' families have to be supported with compensation and employment opportunities. The martyrs also deserve homage to be paid to them in Parliament session, and a memorial should be erected in their name,” the SKM said in the statement. Hundreds of cases in which thousands of farmers have been implicated in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere have to be withdrawn unconditionally, it said.It added that during the Monsoon Session of Parliament from November 29, peaceful and disciplined march of 500 protesters in tractor trolleys to Parliament every day will go ahead as planned. It also indicated that its movement for a statutory guarantee of MSP and demand for the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue. BJP MP Varun Gandhi, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged him to take strict action against BJP MP against Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son, Ashish Mishra, remains incarcerated for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident which saw the death of eight people, including four farmers. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s demand for the same appeared to have struck a chord with the BJP MP. They are cousins. No positive evidence against Aryan Khan: Bombay High Court The details of the order granting bail to 23 year old Aryan Khan, son of actor Sharukh Khan, which were made available on Saturday offered reasons for setting the young man free. The single judge bench observed that there was little evidence available on record to suggest that the accused persons intended to commit an unlawful act. With lower courts denying bail, Aryan Khan had spent 22 days in jail before being set free. A single judge bench of Justice Nitin Sambre, while granting bail to Aryan Khan also said, “The court prima facie has not noticed any positive evidence against Aryan Khan and two others,” the order stated. The court stated, “This Court is of the opinion that the claim put forth by the Narcotic Control Bureau that the accused should be considered to have intention to commit an offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, having found in possession of commercial quantity, in the backdrop of case of hatching conspiracy is liable to be rejected.” The court also took note of the fact that the accused were not even subjected to medical examination so as to determine whether they had consumed drugs at the relevant time. On October 2, the Central agency had seized 13 gm of cocaine, 5 gm of MD (mephedrone), 21 gm of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (‘Ecstasy’), and ₹1,33,000 cash at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai. Mr. Khan, and eight others, were charged under Section 8 (c) (prohibition to produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance); Section 20 (b) (punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis); Section 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance); Section 28 (punishment for attempts to commit offences); and Section 29 (punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy) read with Section 35 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act(presumption of culpable mental state). Rains wreck Andhra Pradesh Rains lashed across Andhra Pradesh and claimed the lives of 13 people in rain-related incidents in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh on Friday. In Tirupati, the situation continued to be grim in various localities with hundreds of houses close to Tirumala foothills inundated. Road traffic was cut off from Tirupati towards Pudi and Pachikapallam. Vehicular movement from Tirupati towards Chittoor and Madanapalle was also stopped. Rescue teams found eight bodies after 50 persons went missing after they were washed away in the gushing waters when the Annamayya dam breached near Rajampeta in Kadapa district on November 19. Most of the victims were passengers of two RTC buses caught in the floodwaters on the road down the reservoir zone. After a five-hour-long rescue operation, about 20 passengers were rescued. The rescue teams found eight dead bodies. Unconfirmed reports said that another four bodies were found. The Annamayya project, constructed in 1978, was getting heavy inflows from the Bahuda river, after the Pincha project suffered damage near Rayachoti in the district. A concrete bund to a length of 336 metres got washed away in the morning. The waters gushed through the Cheyyeru river and entered the road nearby. Three buses were immediately marooned. In Chittoor district, the body of a woman factory worker was retrieved, while three others were feared dead after they were washed away in the swirling waters of Balijapalle tank after it overflowed on a causeway on Thursday night. Chittoor district received a cumulative record 7,473.6 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending Friday morning. About 1,400 villages were cut off after they were surrounded by floodwaters due to overflowing streams and tank breaches. Several incidents were reported from across Anantapur as heavy rain continued till Friday evening. A youth died when the roof of his house at Ganthumarri village caved in on him. An IAF helicopter from Yelahanka rescued 10 persons stranded in an earthmover in the middle of Chitravathi river at Veldurthy village in Anantapur district. Sidhu walks into a Pakistan and sets off a raging debate in India Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan and offered prayers and stressed on "opening of a new friendship chapter" and trade between the two countries, days after India reopened the visa-free Kartarpur corridor for Sikh piligrims. But it was his address of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘bada bhai’ that irked the BJP which has demanded that All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi explain the party's stand on Pakistan. While he didn’t name Mr. Sidhu, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Twitter said, “Imran Khan may be anybody’s elder brother but for India he is that cat’s paw of Pak Deep State ISI-Military combine that drones’ arms & narcotics into Punjab & sends terrorists on a daily basis across LOC in J&K. Have we forgotten martyrdom of our soldiers in Poonch so soon?” The Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India's Punjab State. The 4 km-long corridor provides visa free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Darbar Sahib. The Kartarpur corridor was reopened on Tuesday for pilgrims after it was suspended in March last year following the COVID pandemic. “In the name of Baba Guru Nanak, a new chapter of friendship between the two countries should begin," Mr. Sidhu told journalists upon his arrival at the Kartarpur Sahib. "There is a need to open windows in the walls erected in 74 years (between India and Pakistan),” he said, stressing on opening of trade between the two countries."There should be trade between two countries," the cricketer-turned-politician said. Mr. Sidhu thanked Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan for taking a step to open the corridor. Earlier this week, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi along with 37 others, including his Cabinet Ministers, and Jagir Kaur, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), had visited the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. Some 2,500 Indian Sikhs who have come to Pakistan via Wagah border on the occasion of the 552 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will also visit the Darbar Sahib. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,45,00,185 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,65,354. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 20 NOVEMBER 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Samyukt Kisan Morcha calls farmers to gather at protest sites on November 26 to mark first anniversary of their agitation A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three contentious farm laws, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled. In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers' unions, [urged farmers to gather in large numbers at all protest sites to mark the first anniversary of their agitation on November 26](. The SKM has welcomed the prime minister's decision and said it will wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures. Thousands of farmers, particularly those from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding repeal of the three farm laws. [Farmers seen celebrating at Singhu border in New Delhi on November 19, 2021]  Farmer leaders said that a final decision on the future course of the agitation and the issue of minimum support price (MSP) will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at the Singhu border protest site on Sunday. The farmers' body said the first anniversary of the agitation will be marked by parades by tractors and bullock carts in other States. “In various states that are far away from Delhi, the first anniversary on November 26 will be marked by tractor and bullock cart parades in capital cities, along with other protests,” the SKM said in the statement.It said that the prime minister announced repeal of the three "black" farm laws but he chose to “remain silent” on the other pending demands of the farmers. “More than 670 farmers martyred in the farmers' movement so far and the Government of India did not even acknowledge their sacrifice. These martyrs' families have to be supported with compensation and employment opportunities. The martyrs also deserve homage to be paid to them in Parliament session, and a memorial should be erected in their name,” the SKM said in the statement. Hundreds of cases in which thousands of farmers have been implicated in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere have to be withdrawn unconditionally, it said.It added that during the Monsoon Session of Parliament from November 29, peaceful and disciplined march of 500 protesters in tractor trolleys to Parliament every day will go ahead as planned. It also indicated that its movement for a statutory guarantee of MSP and demand for the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue. BJP MP Varun Gandhi, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged him to take strict action against BJP MP against Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son, Ashish Mishra, remains incarcerated for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident which saw the death of eight people, including four farmers. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s demand for the same appeared to have struck a chord with the BJP MP. They are cousins. [underlineimg] No positive evidence against Aryan Khan: Bombay High Court The details of the order granting bail to 23 year old Aryan Khan, son of actor Sharukh Khan, which were made available on Saturday offered reasons for setting the young man free. The single judge bench observed that [there was little evidence available on record to suggest that the accused persons intended to commit an unlawful act](. With lower courts denying bail, Aryan Khan had spent 22 days in jail before being set free. A single judge bench of Justice Nitin Sambre, while granting bail to Aryan Khan also said, “The court prima facie has not noticed any positive evidence against Aryan Khan and two others,” the order stated. The court stated, “This Court is of the opinion that the claim put forth by the Narcotic Control Bureau that the accused should be considered to have intention to commit an offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, having found in possession of commercial quantity, in the backdrop of case of hatching conspiracy is liable to be rejected.” The court also took note of the fact that the accused were not even subjected to medical examination so as to determine whether they had consumed drugs at the relevant time. On October 2, the Central agency had seized 13 gm of cocaine, 5 gm of MD (mephedrone), 21 gm of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (‘Ecstasy’), and ₹1,33,000 cash at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai. [Aryan Khan arrives at the NCB office to mark his attendance in a drugs case in Mumbai, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.]  Mr. Khan, and eight others, were charged under Section 8 (c) (prohibition to produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance); Section 20 (b) (punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis); Section 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance); Section 28 (punishment for attempts to commit offences); and Section 29 (punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy) read with Section 35 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act(presumption of culpable mental state). [underlineimg] Rains wreck Andhra Pradesh Rains lashed across Andhra Pradesh and [claimed the lives of 13 people]( in rain-related incidents in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh on Friday. In Tirupati, the situation continued to be grim in various localities with hundreds of houses close to Tirumala foothills inundated. Road traffic was cut off from Tirupati towards Pudi and Pachikapallam. Vehicular movement from Tirupati towards Chittoor and Madanapalle was also stopped. Rescue teams found eight bodies after 50 persons went missing after they were washed away in the gushing waters when the Annamayya dam breached near Rajampeta in Kadapa district on November 19. Most of the victims were passengers of two RTC buses caught in the floodwaters on the road down the reservoir zone. After a five-hour-long rescue operation, about 20 passengers were rescued. The rescue teams found eight dead bodies. Unconfirmed reports said that another four bodies were found. The Annamayya project, constructed in 1978, was getting heavy inflows from the Bahuda river, after the Pincha project suffered damage near Rayachoti in the district. A concrete bund to a length of 336 metres got washed away in the morning. The waters gushed through the Cheyyeru river and entered the road nearby. Three buses were immediately marooned. In Chittoor district, the body of a woman factory worker was retrieved, while three others were feared dead after they were washed away in the swirling waters of Balijapalle tank after it overflowed on a causeway on Thursday night. Chittoor district received a cumulative record 7,473.6 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending Friday morning. About 1,400 villages were cut off after they were surrounded by floodwaters due to overflowing streams and tank breaches. Several incidents were reported from across Anantapur as heavy rain continued till Friday evening. A youth died when the roof of his house at Ganthumarri village caved in on him. An IAF helicopter from Yelahanka rescued 10 persons stranded in an earthmover in the middle of Chitravathi river at Veldurthy village in Anantapur district. [underlineimg] Sidhu walks into a Pakistan and sets off a raging debate in India Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday [visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan]( and offered prayers and stressed on "opening of a new friendship chapter" and trade between the two countries, days after India reopened the visa-free Kartarpur corridor for Sikh piligrims. But it was his address of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘bada bhai’ that [irked the BJP]( which has demanded that All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi explain the party's stand on Pakistan. While he didn’t name Mr. Sidhu, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Twitter said, “Imran Khan may be anybody’s elder brother but for India he is that cat’s paw of Pak Deep State ISI-Military combine that drones’ arms & narcotics into Punjab & sends terrorists on a daily basis across LOC in J&K. Have we forgotten martyrdom of our soldiers in Poonch so soon?” The Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India's Punjab State. The 4 km-long corridor provides visa free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Darbar Sahib. The Kartarpur corridor was reopened on Tuesday for pilgrims after it was suspended in March last year following the COVID pandemic. “In the name of Baba Guru Nanak, a new chapter of friendship between the two countries should begin," Mr. Sidhu told journalists upon his arrival at the Kartarpur Sahib. "There is a need to open windows in the walls erected in 74 years (between India and Pakistan),” he said, stressing on opening of trade between the two countries."There should be trade between two countries," the cricketer-turned-politician said. Mr. Sidhu thanked Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan for taking a step to open the corridor. Earlier this week, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi along with 37 others, including his Cabinet Ministers, and Jagir Kaur, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), had visited [Â]( Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. Some 2,500 Indian Sikhs who have come to Pakistan via Wagah border on the occasion of the 552 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will also visit the Darbar Sahib. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 3,45,00,185 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,65,354. 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