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Digging out an old leaf from the statements made by late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Gandhi dynasty of having little knowledge about farmers' issues.


Addressing a public rally in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, Prime Minister Modi said, "If the 'naamdaar' (dynast) is told that green chillies pay less to farmers than red chilli, he will give a speech saying that farmers must not cultivate green chilli but produce crops of red chilli. The person, who cannot differentiate between green chilli and red chilli, will now preach about farmers to us!"


It is said that Rajiv Gandhi while campaigning among the farming community was once told that the red chilli pepper is costlier than green chilli pepper. Mulling over the idea, Rajiv Gandhi in his following speech, reportedly asked the farmers: "Why are you growing 'green' chilli pepper when it is the red variety that can fetch you higher margins?"


The fact that it is the green chilli that indeed turns into red and is not grown directly was lost on the then Congress leader.


Prime Minister Modi also blamed the family for the ill-fate of farmers saying, "If the farmers of the country are in acute condition today, it is because of the mis-governance of 70 years. I say it with conviction that had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, son of a farmer, become the first Prime Minister of India, the farmers' community would not have been in such a condition. The four generations of the same (Gandhi) family, who neither understand farmers nor agriculture, made such policies that it has ruined the farming community completely."


The Prime Minister further blamed the Congress of backtracking on their promise of loan waiver in Karnataka, saying: "They made the promise of loan waiver in Karnataka. They lost in the state but still made government through the backdoor. Now when the farmers are demanding to waive off their loans, they are being put in jail. Are you going to trust such a party?" -- ANI

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Tuesday said Muslim countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Syria should learn about religion from India so that there is peace in the world.


"There are various religions and traditions in India having population of over 125 crore. Muslim countries should learn from India. So that there is peace. There is coordination among all the religions here and due to non-violence principle, modern India is developing," the Dalai Lama said.


Asked about Doklam dispute, the spiritual guru only said, "Both the countries should sit and resolve the issue. The slogan of 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' should be relevant." PTI

India has decided to allow extension of business visa for up to 15 years and conversion of a regular visa into medical category in an emergency for a foreigner.


Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said on Tuesday that the number of e-Visas issued has seen a tremendous growth during the last four years from 5.17 lakh in 2015 to 21 lakh till November 30 this year.


"Relaxation has been introduced in grant of internship visa which can be obtained by a student while still pursuing a course in the country without remuneration, extension of business visa beyond five years, conversion of visa into medical category in an emergency for a foreigner who is already in the country and permission for foreigners who are on long duration visas to attend conferences," he said.


Later, another official said the business visa can be extended up to 15 years, for a period of five years at a time. The Union Home Secretary, who was addressing the conference - 'Streamlining of India's Visa regime', said that the government's objective is to create a simple and hassle-free visa regime to facilitate arrival and stay of foreign travellers into the country.


Gauba highlighted various policy initiatives taken to liberalise the visa regime, taking into account the concerns and suggestions made by various ministries, including civil aviation, tourism, health, higher education, and other stakeholders.  -- PTI

Former Rajya Sabha MP from Mizoram, Lalhming Liana, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by a Delhi court for forging air tickets to claim reimbursement of travel allowance. 

The Andhra Pradesh government withdrew permission to hold a Bhagvad Gita discourse today at the Andhra Bhavan in Delhi after a telephone call from the Chief Minister's Office in Amaravati.


Invitations to the discourse had been sent out and posters displayed about the event to be held at the Dr Ambedkar Auditorium in New Delhi.


Pandit Gangadhar Sastry of Andhra Pradesh was to deliver a speech on the occasion of the 96th birth anniversary of Padmashri Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, a great exponent of the Gita in Telugu.


But the function was suddenly cancelled after a phone call from Chandrababu Naidu's office without any explanation.  

Wife of slain Bulandshahr policeman Subodh Kumar Singh said he worked with utter honesty and took all the responsibility on himself. "This is not the first incident. He had bullet injury twice before. But now nobody is giving him justice. Justice will be done only if his killers are killed," the grieving wife said.


Singh's family and the police department paid their last tributes to the inspector who died after being shot by people protesting over alleged cow slaughter at his residence in Etah.


Meanwhile, the family of a youth who had also died over the alleged illegal cow slaughter here has refused to conduct his last rites until the government assures it of Rs 50 lakh compensation, pension to parents and a police job to his kin.


Sumit Kumar's father Amarjeet Singh, 55, also demanded state funeral to his son as was accorded to Inspector Subodh Kumar.


On Monday, he suffered gunshot injury when a mob went on a rampage over rumours of cow slaughter.

DSP Anurag Singh remembers Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh who was killed by a rampaging mob protesting cow slaughter in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. He spoke to Rediff.com's Archana Masih. Do read

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has deployed senior party leader Ahmed Patel to Jaipur. Patel will be stationed the state capital till middle of this month. The reason behind this decision is that Patel alone can get dissident leaders of the Congress back to the organisation.


Patel wants to be the Congress party's answer to Amit Shah's brilliance in stitching together fragmented parties.

Both the leaders from Gujarat, are cutting into each other's base and have been gathering intelligence through their party men about the activities of the other. For instance, Ahmed Patel has six people from Gujarat stationed in six regions of Rajasthan and the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a win.

The police inspector who died during the Bulandshahr violence was killed in police firing, BJP MLA Surendra Singh claimed Tuesday, denying any role of Bajrang Dal members in the death.


Terming the incident "unfortunate", the Rohaniya legislator said police did not "murder" him deliberately. Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who had initially probed the 2015 lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq, and a 20-year-old local man died of gunshot injuries on Monday as a rampaging mob protesting alleged illegal cow slaughter torched a police post in Bulandshahr and clashed with cops.


"I suspect that the inspector was killed by a bullet fired by police. Bajrang Dal activists might have engaged in brick batting but they did not open fire. They had not gone there with bullets," the MLA said.


Police officials, however, said the main accused in the case is Bajrang Dal Bulandshahr district convenor Yogesh Raj, who has not yet been arrested.


The MLA said the people indulged in stone pelting but police opened fire on them and the inspector was hit by their gunshot. "Police did not murder him deliberately," he said.


Twenty-seven people have been named in an FIR registered around 3 am following the Monday violence, while cases have been lodged against 50 to 60 unidentified people, officials said. Of the 27 named, at least four are workers and functionaries of right-wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, they said.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over employment opportunities, farm loan waivers, Rafale deal and demonetisation. He hit out at Modi over his promise of providing employment to 2 crore youths during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.


"Narendra Modi in his election speeches in 2014 had said he would give jobs to 2 crore youths. if you gave employment, why did four youths commit suicide in Alwar?" Gandhi said at a rally in Alwar district's Malakhera town.


Three friends died and another was injured after they allegedly jumped before a moving train in a suspected suicide pact in Alwar district last month. A primary probe revealed that they were depressed due to unemployment, police said.


The Congress leader said the prime minister says the slogan of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' in all his addresses, but works for industrialist Anil Ambani. "In every address, he (PM) says Bharat Mata Ki Jai and works for Anil Ambani. He should begin his address by saying 'Anil Ambani ki Jai', 'Mehul Choksi ki Jai', 'Nirav Modi ki Jai', 'Lalit Modi ki Jai'," he said in poll-bound Rajasthan.


Referring to the term 'Bharat Mata', Gandhi said Bharat Mata was the "entire country, farmers, sentiments of crores of youths, women and labourers". "If you talk about Bharat Mata, how can you forget about farmers?" he said, adding bad debt worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore was written off, but not a single rupee of farmers was waived off by the Modi government.


Exuding confidence of winning the upcoming state Assembly polls, the Gandhi scion said Congress will form the government and waive off farmers loan in ten days, and the chief minister will give 18 hours a day for providing employment to the youths.


Talking about Rafale deal, he said the prime minister would not speak about the matter because if he spoke, "someone from the public would say 'Chowkidar chor hai'". Gandhi alleged the Modi government worked for top 15 industrialists of the country. -- PTI

The Supreme Court Tuesday allowed the Income Tax Department to reopen the tax assessment of top Congress leaders Rahul and Sonia Gandhi for 2011-12 in connection with the National Herald case.


The apex court, however, restrained the I-T department from implementing its order in the proceedings against Rahul, who is the Congress president, and his mother Sonia till the pendency of the matter before the court.


The court also said it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the pleas filed by Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the case The tax matter is related to the National Herald case in which the Congress leaders are also facing criminal proceedings.


A bench headed by Justice AK Sikri posted the matter for further hearing on January 8 next year. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the I-T department, said the court should not restrain it from implementing the assessment orders against the Gandhis and others.


He said the court should hear the matter and pass appropriate orders. The Gandhis and senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes have challenged the Delhi High Court's September 10 verdict by which their plea against the re-opening of their tax assessments for 2011-12 was dismissed. -- PTI

Telangana Congress Working President A Revanth Reddy, who had given a bandh call to protest TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao's public meeting in Kodangal assembly constituency, was taken into preventive custody early Tuesday.


"He (Revanth) has been taken into preventive custody in view of apprehension of disturbance of public order and breach of security," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Jitender told PTI.
"He will be released (later) during the day," he said.


Revanth, the Congress candidate for Kodangal constituency had called for a shutdown to protest against Rao's scheduled meeting at Kosigi in the assembly segment this evening. Revanth's wife, Geeta accused the police of breaking open the doors of their house and forcibly taking away her husband to an "unknown location".  -- PTI


Image: Telangana Congress Working President A Revanth Reddy (in track pants) was taken into custody this morning.  Pic: ANI

Update on the murder of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh. The postmortem report confirms gunshot injury by a .32 mm bore bullet on his head.


ADG Law & Order Anand Kumar, said, "Four people have been arrested. I don't know about the organizations yet, but the main accused in the violence is Yogesh Raj who has not been arrested till now.


"A bullet has been recovered from the body of Sumit, who died in the Bulandshahr violence yesterday. The final post-mortem report will ascertain the bore of the bullet.


"It would be premature to say it was an intelligence failure or  failure of any other agency. No action will be taken against any policeman till probe is complete."


Four persons were arrested Tuesday after police lodged an FIR against over two dozen people for rioting and murder in connection with the violence here, officials said.  As many as 27 people have been named in the FIR, registered around 3 am, while cases have been lodged against 50 to 60 unidentified people, they said.


A police inspector, who had probed the Akhlaq lynching case initially, and a 20-year-old local man died of gunshot injuries on Monday as a rampaging mob protesting alleged illegal cow slaughter torched a police post here and clashed with cops, according to police.


Image: Police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh who was shot in clashes at Bulandshahr yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the proposed Kartarpur corridor linking Pakistan to India to hit out at the Congress on Tuesday and said the party will have to answer why this was not done 70 years ago.


Addressing an election rally in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan ahead of the elections in the state on December 7, he said Kartarpur went to Pakistan due to the lack of vision and sensitivity of then Congress leaders.


The foundation stone for the much-awaited corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev - to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district was laid last week.


According to Modi, Kartarpur is in Pakistan today because then Congress leaders had no idea about the importance of Guru Nanak Dev and had no respect for Sikh sentiments.


"The credit of the Kartarpur corridor goes to your vote. Correcting Congress mistakes was my destiny," he said at the rally. The headlines five years ago were about corruption and scams, the prime minister said.


"Have you seen any news of this kind in the last five years," he asked. Focussing on farmers and their problems, he said his government wants to make farmers "energy givers" and asked them to install solar panels, use drip irrigation and other modern methods of farming.


"The naamdar does not know the difference between red and green chillies," he said, hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who he has often referred to as "naamdar" (dynast). "If you tell him that farmers are getting high prices for red chilli as compared to green chilli, he'll say farmers should grown red chillies," he said, alleging that the Congress was responsible for the pain of farmers. -- PTI

The mortal remains of police inspector Subodh Singh (who died after being attacked by people protesting over alleged cow slaughter) brought to his residence in Etah.

Sister of policeman Subodh Singh who was killed in clashes in Bulandshahr: My brother was investigating the Akhlaq case and that is why he was killed. It is a conspiracy by the police. He should be declared a martyr and a memorial should be built. We do not want money. The CM only keeps saying cow, cow, cow." 

The 2019 calendar of the Government of India has pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the BJP's pet social welfare schemes. In 2017, as well, the government's calendar featured the PM for every month. The same year, the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan also replaced Mahatma Gandhi with Modi in its calendar.


Opposition parties are objecting to the government's calendar since it will be in an election year and every single government office will be displaying it.  The Model code of conduct for 2019 elections will be enforced from the day of the Lok Sabha polls announcement


Therefore Opposition parties are likely to approach President Ram Nath Kovind to ask him to use his offices to stop the misuse of government facilities.


The Congress, however,  does not want to join this chorus, since during the UPA regime, Dr Manmohan Singh's images were also used extensively on government calendars.


In fact, the only time the BJP government used Dr Singh's image was in 2014 when calendars in use in government offices had Dr Singh's photos. The Modi government was voted to office in May 2014 and it made little sense for the government to reprint calendars with half the year over.


Image: The 2017 calendar had PM Modi on every month.

India's refusal to agree to a pink-ball clash in Adelaide has impacted on ticket sales but officials are still confident of breaking the ground record for a Test against the tourists. South Australian Cricket Association chief Keith Bradshaw said on Tuesday pre-sold ticket sales were lower than what had been the case since the revamped venue began hosting day-night Test cricket in 2015 but insisted this had nothing to do with the fall-out of the ball tampering scandal. Read more

If a rose does not teach you farming, perhaps a 'Narendra Damodardas Modi' suit will? Read the column here.

Absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi and businessman Vijay Mallya are currently pleading against the same plea made by the Enforcement Directorate to declare them as "fugitive economic offenders' before a court in Mumbai.


On Saturday, the court asked advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing Modi, if he wanted to argue on an application seeking a stay on the hearing, given that a similar plea made by Mallya's legal team had already been rejected. Aggarwal responded saying that he wished to continue arguing it.


"Two film directors can make the same love story in two completely different ways," he said, stating that he could argue the same plea in a different way. -- Business Standard

A Delhi court on Tuesday framed charges of criminal conspiracy against former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran in a case related to the alleged bribery of Election Commission officials to get the two leaves party symbol. Special Judge Arun Bharadwaj put Dhinakaran on trial after he appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty.


The court framed charges against Dhinakaran for the alleged offences punishable under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.


The court fixed December 17 for commencing the trial by recording evidence in the case. The court had on November 17 ordered framing of charges against him. Dhinakaran, who floated the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam party after being expelled from the AIADMK, was arrested in April 2017 in New Delhi and later granted bail.


Alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrasekar, who is in judicial custody, was earlier put on trial in the case for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence under the IPC and under the PC Act.


Dhinakaran's aide T P Mallikarjun and a man called B Kumar were also put on trial for these offences. In 2017, Delhi Police's crime branch filed a charge sheet alleging that Chandrasekar had conspired with Dhinakaran and others to bribe poll panel officials to get the two leaves symbol for Sasikala-led AIADMK faction.


Dhinakaran won the by-elections held in Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly constituency in December last year under the 'pressure cooker' symbol with a margin of over 40,000 votes. -- PTI

If satta (betting) market trends are anything to go by, the Congress Party might walk away with a clear majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.


In Indore, the satta market is betting 35 paise on the Congress and Rs 1.65 on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A lower price in the satta market indicates victory, while a higher price indicates a likely defeat. According to speculators, the BJP is likely to get approximately 90 seats and the Congress might cross 130. Madhya Pradesh has 230 assembly seats and 116 is the magic figure that entitles a party to form the government. The market grapevine also says that many ministers in the current government might lose their seats. The results are scheduled to be announced on December 11.


-- Business Standard

India's financial sector is dysfunctional, and fixing it will require a revolution, writes Ashok V Desai in the Telegraph.  Do read

Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Azam Khan on Tuesday questioned the circumstances leading to murder of UP Inspector Subodh Kumar and asserted that if the carcasses found were indeed of cattle, police must probe as to how the animal remains were brought at the said spot.


Khan said, "In Bulandshahr two people have been killed. If Special Investigation Team is investigating the case they must also investigate as to who brought the carcass there as there is no minority population in that particular area. In the whole crowd, there was no such person as well."


He also asserted that the situation could have been much worse and said, "In the city, there were people returning from a religious congregation and this incident could have taken a bad shape."


Khan also cast aspersions over the investigation-led by the SIT and said, "SIT should probe all different aspects of the case. However, we can't say much about SIT. How can we say that SIT probe will be free of any bias when CBI itself is not being called impartial? The police controlled the situation in a good way after the situation. I hope it would remain under control in future as well," he said. -- ANI

The deceased cop Subodh's son Abhishek on Tuesday asserted that his father wanted his kids to become good citizens who are secular.


A student of class 12, Abhishek said, "I received a call around afternoon that he has been shot and is dead. Thereafter we were told his postmortem is being conducted. We were told that he reached the site of protest and was hit by a stone and went unconscious. He wanted us to be a good citizen and taught us not be religion biased. He believed that all our citizens are equal and should stay united."


Singh lost his life in the clashes that erupted over the presence of illegal animal slaughterhouses in Bulandshahr city. He was also the Investigating officer in the Akhlaq lynching case.


As per the police, clashes began after locals found cattle carcass in the Bulandshahr area.


During the violence that ensued in the region, a local youth, identified as Sumit, was also shot. He later on succumbed to his injuries. -- ANI

Four people have been arrested in connection with the murder of police officer, Subodh Kumar, who was shot dead yesterday in the Bulandshahr clashes. The Yogi Adityanath government has ordered a SIT probe in the case.


Additional Director General (ADG) of the Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar on Tuesday informed that two named accused have been arrested in Today morning, he along with Inspector General (IG) Meerut zone, Ram Kumar and other officials paid last respect to the deceased cop and laid a wreath beside the inspector's body.


The government has announced that the family of deceased will be provided with a financial aid of Rs 50 Lakh. Apart from this extraordinary pension will be provided to his wife. Also as per rules one kin of the deceased will be provided a job, the ADG announced.


He also said that a Special Investigation Team has been formed under IG Range Meerut. Different aspects such as how did this incident occur, why the mob got violent, how many people were there with the inspector and did anyone flee from the spot. SIT will inquire about all these thing and action will be taken if there is any laxity," Kumar said.


ADG Kumar also asserted that some seven to eight people have been named in the FIR.'Further action will be taken as per the emerging details,' he said. -- PTI

The BSE benchmark Sensex dropped over 100 points in early trade Tuesday amid mixed cues from other Asian markets, rising crude prices, weak rupee and heavy selling by domestic institutional investors.


The 30-share index was trading 133.27 points, or 0.37 per cent, lower at 36,107.73 at 0945 hrs. The index had closed with a marginal gain of 47 points at 36,241 Monday.


In similar movement, the NSE Nifty was trading 31.20 points, or 0.29 per cent, down at 10,852.55. Investors turned cautious after the euphoria over US-China trade settled, and uncertainty over negotiations between the two countries during the next 90 days rose.


The White House announced after talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday that a tariff hike that had been due on January 1 would be suspended for three months while the two sides negotiate a resolution.


US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a truce and halted their tariff war at the G20 meet. Market is also in wait-and-watch mode ahead of the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's fifth bimonthly monetary policy meeting for 2018-19.


Top losers include HDFC, M&M, NTPC, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries, falling up to 2 per cent. While, gainers include Yes Bank, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Coal India, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints, rising up to 2 per cent. -- PTI