The Evening Wrap: Farmers agree to meet the govt with demands

Five days after the Government repealed the contentious farm laws, agitating farmers who had decided to continue with their year-long struggle under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) (SKM), on Saturday, formed a five-member panel for dialogue with the Government to push for their pending demands including legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP), compensation to kin of farmers who died during the movement against the agriculture laws and withdrawal of cases against the protesters, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said in New Delhi. The SKM has also demanded that Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra step down. Farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawle, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Yudhvir Singh were named the members of the committee after a meeting was held here by the SKM. Tikait said that the next meeting of the Morcha will take place on December 7 at 11 AM to decide the future course of the movement. SKM leaders, after the meeting, said they will not move from the Singhu Border here until cases filed against farmers are withdrawn and demanded an assurance in writing. They said that the committee will decide on who will hold talks in various states from the farmers' side. Farmer leader and SKM member Ashok Dhawle said that the issues of compensation to be given for martyred farmers and the journalist who was mowed down by a vehicle belonging to the son of the MOS (Home), "false cases" lodged against farmers and Lakhimpur Kheri incident were discussed in the meeting. On Monday, a bill was passed in parliament to repeal the three contentious farm laws, one of the main demands of the protesting farmers. But the stalemate continues with the protesters pressing their other demands such as a legal guarantee on MSP, compensation to families of farmers who died during the movement and withdrawal of cases. Four persons infected with Omicron in the country On the heels of a third person in the country in Gujarat confirmed with the infection of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, came the news of a fourth person who had come from Cape Town to Mumbai via Dubai, who has been confirmed carrying the same variant. The 72-year-old man from Jamnagar recently travelled to Zimbabwe. Officials confirmed to The Hindu that he had “mild symptoms” but his vaccination status couldn’t be confirmed. “A person is found Omicron-positive in Jamnagar. We’ve isolated him and are monitoring him. A micro-containment zone has been created where he is living. We will be tracing and testing all his contacts,” Manoj Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Gujarat, said. So far, two persons in Karnataka, one a South African national and another, an Indian doctor with no recent international travel history, have been confirmed this week with the Omicron variant. The State government is also investigating some of their primary and secondary contacts and though some have turned up positive, it isn’t confirmed if they too carry Omicron. India is a part of a list of at least 30 countries where the variant has been detected though so far, the evidence doesn't suggest it to be more lethal than the Delta variant. However, the sharp rise in cases in South Africa and the significant number of mutations it bore that potentially gave it a growth advantage, are what prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to label it a Variant of Concern within days of it being reported by the South African medical authorities. India currently reports around 9,000 coronavirus cases a day, with the bulk of them being reported out of Kerala. The India Sars cov2 genome consortium, which is in charge of testing a portion of positive samples to ascertain their genomes, in an update on Monday underlined that most of the cases being detected in India were of the Delta variant and its associated sub-lineages. The emergence of Omicron in the country is unsurprising as global travel to many countries has eased in recent months including in and out of India, though with the advent of Omicron, India has again imposed the restrictions, with strict screenings mandated for those travelling in from “at-risk” countries. The Union Health Ministry on Saturday directed Mizoram, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala to heighten surveillance in “light of the emergence of Omicron.” They have been singled out either for a high case-load or some of their districts exhibiting a high positivity rate. They’ve been told to increase surveillance of international travellers, continue monitoring of emerging hotspots, prompt & comprehensive contact tracing of positive individuals and follow-up for 14 days, send all positive samples for genome sequencing quickly to INSACOG labs, identify early cases through adequate testing and review health infrastructure preparedness (including in rural areas and for paediatric cases). Union Health Ministry officials, in a press conference on Thursday, said that while more information on Omicron was awaited, Indians would be best advised to complete their vaccination schedule and continue following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. Meanwhile, the number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,46,24,391 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,70,531. Ajaz Patel’s 10-wicket haul makes him the player in the world to achieve the feat New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel became the third player to take all 10 wickets in an innings on the second day of the second Test against India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The other two international players are England’s Jim Laker and India’s Anil Kumble. Jim Laker achieved this feat against Australia in 1956. Jim Laker took 19 wickets in that Test match. In 1999, Anil Kumble took all the 10 wickets against Pakistan in New Delhi. Ajaz rattled the home team in the first session with wickets in successive balls to be on a hat-trick before overnight batsman Mayank Agarwal scored 150 to help India to a challenging total. Ajaz sent back Agarwal, who started the day on 120 with India on 221-4, to break a 67-run stand involving Axar Patel, who made 52. The wily spinner soon got Axar lbw and wrapped up the Indian innings to be surrounded by jubilant Kiwi players. Resuming the day at 221 for four, India scored 64 runs in the morning session with the loss of two wickets. They added another 40 runs for four wickets after lunch to end their first innings at 325. India lost Wrridhiman Saha (27) and Ravichandran Ashwin off successive balls early in the morning session before Mayank Agarwal (150) and Axar Patel (52) took the score past 300-run mark. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 04 DECEMBER 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]( Farmers agree to meet the govt with demands Five days  after the Government repealed the contentious farm laws, agitating farmers who had decided to continue with their year-long struggle under the banner of  Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) (SKM), on Saturday, [formed a five-member panel for dialogue with the Government]( to push for their pending demands including legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) , compensation to kin of farmers who died during the movement against the agriculture laws and withdrawal of cases against the protesters, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said in New Delhi. The SKM has  also demanded that Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra step down. Farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawle, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Yudhvir Singh were named the members of the committee after a meeting was held here by the SKM.  Tikait said that the next meeting of the Morcha will take place on December 7 at 11 AM to decide the future course of the movement. SKM leaders, after the meeting, said they will not move from the Singhu Border here until cases filed against farmers are withdrawn and demanded an assurance in writing. They said that the committee will decide on who will hold talks in various states from the farmers' side. Farmer leader and SKM member Ashok Dhawle said that the issues of compensation to be given for martyred farmers and the journalist who was mowed down by a vehicle belonging to the son of the MOS (Home), "false cases" lodged against farmers and Lakhimpur Kheri incident were discussed in the meeting. On Monday, a bill was passed in parliament to repeal the three contentious farm laws, one of the main demands of the protesting farmers. But the stalemate continues with the protesters pressing their other demands such as a legal guarantee on MSP, compensation to families of farmers who died during the movement and withdrawal of cases. [underlineimg] Four persons infected with Omicron in the country On the heels of [a third person in the country in Gujarat confirmed with the infection of the Omicron variant]( of coronavirus, [came the news of a fourth person who had come from Cape Town to Mumbai via Dubai, who has been confirmed carrying the same variant](. The 72-year-old man from Jamnagar recently travelled to Zimbabwe. Officials confirmed to The Hindu that he had “mild symptoms” but his vaccination status couldn’t be confirmed. [Photo used for representation purpose only. File]  “A person is found Omicron-positive in Jamnagar. We’ve isolated him and are monitoring him. A micro-containment zone has been created where he is living. We will be tracing and testing all his contacts,” Manoj Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Gujarat, said. So far, two persons in Karnataka, one a South African national and another, an Indian doctor with no recent international travel history, have been confirmed this week with the Omicron variant. The State government is also investigating some of their primary and secondary contacts and though some have turned up positive, it isn’t confirmed if they too carry Omicron. India is a part of a list of at least 30 countries where the variant has been detected though so far, the evidence doesn't suggest it to be more lethal than the Delta variant. However, the sharp rise in cases in South Africa and the significant number of mutations it bore that potentially gave it a growth advantage, are what prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to label it a Variant of Concern within days of it being reported by the South African medical authorities. India currently reports around 9,000 coronavirus cases a day, with the bulk of them being reported out of Kerala. The India Sars cov2 genome consortium, which is in charge of testing a portion of positive samples to ascertain their genomes, in an update on Monday underlined that most of the cases being detected in India were of the Delta variant and its associated sub-lineages. The emergence of Omicron in the country is unsurprising as global travel to many countries has eased in recent months including in and out of India, though with the advent of Omicron, India has again imposed the restrictions, with strict screenings mandated for those travelling in from “at-risk” countries. The Union Health Ministry on Saturday directed Mizoram, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala to heighten surveillance in “light of the emergence of Omicron.” They have been singled out either for a high case-load or some of their districts exhibiting a high positivity rate. They’ve been told to increase surveillance of international travellers, continue monitoring of emerging hotspots, prompt & comprehensive contact tracing of positive individuals and follow-up for 14 days, send all positive samples for genome sequencing quickly to INSACOG labs, identify early cases through adequate testing and review health infrastructure preparedness (including in rural areas and for paediatric cases). Union Health Ministry officials, in a press conference on Thursday, said that while more information on Omicron was awaited, Indians would be best advised to complete their vaccination schedule and continue following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. Meanwhile, the [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 3,46,24,391 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,70,531.  [underlineimg] Ajaz Patel’s 10-wicket haul makes him the player in the world to achieve the feat New Zealand’s [Ajaz Patel became the third player to take all 10 wickets in an innings]( on the second day of the second Test against India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The other two international players are England’s Jim Laker and India’s Anil Kumble. Jim Laker achieved this feat against Australia in 1956. Jim Laker took 19 wickets in that Test match. [New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel celebrates during the second day of the second Test against India in Mumbai. He became the third international player to take all the 10 wickets in an innings.]  In 1999, Anil Kumble took all the 10 wickets against Pakistan in New Delhi. Ajaz rattled the home team in the first session with wickets in successive balls to be on a hat-trick before overnight batsman Mayank Agarwal scored 150 to help India to a challenging total. Ajaz sent back Agarwal, who started the day on 120 with India on 221-4, to break a 67-run stand involving Axar Patel, who made 52. The wily spinner soon got Axar lbw and wrapped up the Indian innings to be surrounded by jubilant Kiwi players. Resuming the day at 221 for four, India scored 64 runs in the morning session with the loss of two wickets. They added another 40 runs for four wickets after lunch to end their first innings at 325. India lost Wrridhiman Saha (27) and Ravichandran Ashwin off successive balls early in the morning session before Mayank Agarwal (150) and Axar Patel (52) took the score past 300-run mark. 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