Steps that would improve efficiency of India's markets welcome: US
Washington: Recognising that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the US has said it welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment.
The State Department, responding to a question on the ongoing farmers' protests in India, said on Wednesday the US encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue.
Indicating that the new Biden administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers, a State Department spokesperson said: "In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment".
"We recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same," the official said.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi issued a statement on Wednesday to highlight that the Parliament of India had passed "reformist legislation" for the agricultural sector, which "a very small section of farmers" have some reservations about and therefore the laws have been kept on hold while talks are held.
Meanwhile, several American lawmakers came out in support of the farmers' protests in India.
"I am concerned by the reported actions against peaceful demonstrators protesting new agricultural reform laws in India," Congresswoman Haley Stevens said.
In a statement, she encouraged the Indian government and representatives of the protesting farmers to engage in productive discussions.
"I will continue to monitor this situation closely. It has been particularly valuable to engage with stakeholders across the district on this topic and I remain appreciative to all who have reached out to share their perspective," Stevens said.
Another Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, expressed solidarity with all the farmers protesting for their livelihood across India.
"India must protect their basic democratic rights, allow for the free flow of information, reinstate internet access and release all the journalists detained for covering the protests," she wrote on Twitter.
Referring to the farmers' protests, Meena Harris, niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, alleged that the world's biggest democracy is under an assault.
"It's no coincidence that the world's oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India's internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters," she said in a tweet.
In a separate statement, Gurinder Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Sikhs Political Action Committee, said the "historic" farmers' protest is turning out to be the "biggest-ever revolution" against the Indian government's crony capitalism.
"This is the beginning of a movement for better accountability and transparency against crony capitalism. World was watching and now it has started reacting and mobilising in support of this historic revolution of Indian farmers. This will be bigger than India's freedom Revolution," Khalsa, who is based in Indiana, said.
India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted", asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country.
Emphasising that the protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, the MEA in its statement said some vested interest groups have tried to mobilise international support against the country.
"Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken.
"The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible," the MEA statement said following some high-profile celebrities tweeting over the agitation by the farmers.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.
Defending the three contentious agri laws, the MEA said: "these reforms give expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming."
Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's new farm laws have the "potential to represent a significant step forward" for reforms in the agriculture sector.
"We believe the farm bills do have the potential to represent a significant step forward for agricultural reforms in India. The measures will enable farmers to directly contract with sellers, allow farmers to retain a greater share of the surplus by reducing the role of middlemen, enhance efficiency and support rural growth," IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice told reporters here last month.
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Phase five LS polls: Rae Bareli, Amethi among 14 UP seats going to polls on Monday
Lucknow(PTI): Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, which will decide the fate of four Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, will be held on Monday.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
The seats going to polls in the fifth phase are Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Rahul Gandhi is in the fray from Rae Bareli, which was represented by his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier.
Over 2.68 crore voters are eligible to exercise their polling rights and 144 candidates are in the fray.
The BJP gave tickets to 11 of its sitting Lok Sabha MPs in this phase, while it had fielded new candidates in Barabanki (SC) seat and Kaisarganj.
In the INDIA bloc, the Congress has fielded K L Sharma from Amethi, Tanuj Punia from Barabanki (SC) and Pradeep Jain 'Aditya' from Jhansi. The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are in the poll fray on the rest of the seats.
Defence minister Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow. He is pitted against sitting SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow Central.
From the neighbouring constituency of Amethi, Irani is in the poll fray.
In Kaisarganj Lok Sabha seat, the contest is between BJP's Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former MP and ex-president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and SP's Bhagat Ram.
Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, which covers the temple town of Ayodhya, will see a contest between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh, who is seeking a hat-trick, and Awadhesh Prasad, the SP MLA from Milkipur (SC) assembly constituency in Ayodhya district.
In Hamirpur, the poll contest is between BJP's Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, eyeing a third term, and SP's Ajendra Singh Lodhi.
In Gonda, BJP's Kirti Vardhan Singh, who is eyeing a fifth term, is facing a contest from SP's Shreya Verma.
The main electoral contest in Banda is between RK Singh Patel, who is seeking a third term, and Krishna Devi Shivshankar Patel of the SP.
Vinod Kumar Sonkar, who is eyeing a hat-trick of Lok Sabha wins, will be facing SP's Pushpendra Saroj, son of SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, for Kaushambi (SC) constituency.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
Bypoll in the Lucknow East assembly constituency was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Ashutosh Tandon on November 9, 2023.
