New Delhi: The farmers were once again in the spotlight on prime time news Friday. The marathon 7.5-hour-long talks Thursday between the central government and farmers’ union were inconclusive even as the protests at the Delhi-Haryana border entered the seventh straight day.
And amid all this, former Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan award.
On India Today, anchor Rajdeep Sardesai wondered if Badal’s decision to return his award was just a publicity stunt.
Naresh Gujral, a Shirmani Akali Dal, Rajya Sabha MP, said, “He’s 92, he has nothing to gain or lose and the farmers look up to him. So this only reflects his pain and anguish at the way the farmers are being treated in the country today.”
On the contentious agriculture laws, Congress’ Supriya Shrinate said that her party had proposed reforms in the form of more mandis in small villages and towns.
“This government, however, is not going from step number 1 to 10. It is going right away to step 11. And when you question them, they start quoting or misquoting half truths from our manifesto,” she noted.
Meanwhile, on Republic TV, Badal’s move was labelled #AwardWapsiHypocrisy.
Anchor Arnab Goswami said, “The government is engaging with farmers and is inching closer and closer to a breakthrough. The Badal family is unhappy and the tukde tukde groups are crushed. I wonder why.”
Rajbir Kaur, former Indian women hockey team captain and Arjuna awardee, said, “We have decided to return our awards to support the farmers because whatever we have achieved is because of them.”
But she was told off by BJP’s Sanju Verma “to rise above politics and see the larger picture”. Not sure what that was.
Ravish Kumar started his show on NDTV India by discussing the inconclusive talks between farmers and the Modi government.
Kumar said, “Before we got any news about whether the talks reached any conclusive end, an image revealed the intention the farmers went with.”
Kumar explained that when it was time for lunch in between the talks, the farmers refused the food given to them by the government and instead ate the food they had, sitting on the floor.
“Food made at the langar was being eaten at Vigyan Bhawan”, said Kumar.
“This is no ordinary image,” he asserted. “This is the kind of image that will be heavy on the government.”
Kumar explained that the farmers wanted all three new farm laws to be repealed.
On India TV, Anchor Rajat Sharma had a different take on the talks. Sharma started out by saying, “We all are worried about the farmers who are sitting in protest in Delhi in the cold.”
“But today the government made some progress in their talks with the farmers. The government moved 4 steps, while the farmers moved 2,” he added.
Sharma explained, “Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar came before the camera and it is evident from what he said that the government is willing to agree to the farmers demands and give an answer to each one of their questions.”
Mirror Now debated the Centre for Science and Environment’s study, which found that 77 per cent of honey samples sold by major brands were adulterated.
Ambrish Kela, managing director of Scientech Technologies, a private organisation, advised, “As much as you can source (honey) from local and known sources, it’s better.”
Dr Shikha Sharma, a nutritionist, said, “As doctors, we advise taking natural things like honey for immunity. But if this is the situation, honey would be harmful.”
First of Mr print get ur facts right. Nutritionist are not doctors. I am forwarding ur mischief to ima.