Farmers' stir: Protesters beat 'thali' during PM's address, feed birds
Noida (UP): The farmers protesting in Noida against the new farm laws beat "thali" (metal plates) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio broadcast "Mann Ki Baat" on Sunday, while scores of them also fed birds as they took out a foot march in the city.
Bharatiya Kisan Union's (BKU) Bhanu and Lok Shakti factions, with supporters hailing from various western Uttar Pradesh districts, are protesting at separate sites here since the first week of December, demanding that the three farm laws be repealed and a guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) on crops.
At the Chilla border, scores of BKU (Bhanu) members beat utensils and raised slogans hailing the farmers during the prime minister's "Mann ki Baat" to express their dissatisfaction with the government over the impasse on the new laws.
Yogesh Pratap Singh, the Uttar Pradesh unit chief of the BKU (Bhanu), reiterated that his union "will not leave the ground" until the demands of the farmers are met by the Centre.
Separately, around 200 members of the BKU (Lok Shakti) took out a foot march from the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Sector 95 to Sector 27 and fed birds en route.
"The farmers were carrying mixed seeds in their bags to feed the birds. This was our way of telling the government that we are firm in our resolve but also peaceful and Gandhian in our approach," BKU (Lok Shakti) spokesperson Shailesh Kumar Giri said.
According to a Noida Police official, the Noida-Delhi Link Road via Chilla remained partially closed due to the stir, allowing only the commuters from Delhi to come to Noida but not the other way round.
There was no other law-and-order situation due to the stir, the official said.
Thousands of farmers are staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The Bhanu and Lok Shakti factions of the BKU are not part of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmers unions that is leading the charge at Delhi's border points in Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, but have extended their support to the cause.
"We also have similar demands and our protest is in support of the other protesters," Giri said.
The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the MSP system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
