Block vehicular and railway traffic across Punjab, demand relaxation of paddy procurement norms Various factions of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and organisations of landless labourers blocked the railway traffic at Moga and ten other locations in Punjab on Friday. They also halted the vehicular traffic on many highways, demanding relaxation in the procurement norms of paddy. The protesters claimed that adverse weather conditions had affected the quality of grains, and said...

A large white tent in the middle of an arid ground in Jind served as the venue for a Sarv Maha Khap Panchayat meeting on Sunday. Organisers who were expecting “thousands of supporters” to join their ranks to announce “threats” aimed at everyone from the government to young couples who choose to marry within the same gotra (sub-caste) were in for a disappointment. By 12 noon, two hours after the...

No other government has brought such a black law against farmers: Ajit Singh  More farmers join the dharna on Parliament Street They will march in a procession on Thursday and hold a rally at Jantar Mantar In a formidable show of strength, farmers belonging to various organisations have begun to pour into the Capital to lodge their protest on the opening day of the winter session of Parliament here on...

Civil society groups have cautioned the government against introducing genetically modified crops in the food chain and questioned the credentials of a panel of experts to look into the biosafety of Bt Brinjal, which will come up before the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on Wednesday. The committee was set up by the GEAC to look into the findings of independent experts who raised concerns at the safety of Bt...