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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Farm Stir: Stirring A Beehive

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-11-23 02:13:56

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Whoever stirs a beehive runs the risk of getting stung. But there are ways which honey collectors use to ensure that no harm comes to them. The NDA government stirred a beehive in enacting the new farm laws but failed to take precautionary measures. It got stung and royally at that.

The angry farmers, it seems, are in no mood to take the Prime Minister's apology on face value. They have upped the ante by not limiting their ongoing stir to the new farm laws and have said that it will continue till all other pending demands, including widening the scope of MSP and giving it a legal status, are met. They have decided to make it an issue in the UP polls next year.

Hence, for the government the first sting was to climb down from its high pedestal and agreeing to repeal the laws. But the second, and more painful, sting is that the first sting was borne practically for nothing as the expected withdrawal of the stir is not going to happen.

If only the government had gone for wider consultation before enacting the laws. If only the government had brought the stakeholders on board before enacting the laws. If only the government had not first used the ordinance route to impose them. If only the government had referred them to a select parliamentary committee. If only the government had not used its brute majority in parliament to rush them through. If only the narrative had not plunged so pathetically as to make demons out of farmers. If only Lakhimpur Kheri had not happened. If only........

After having used all undemocratic means to achieve its end, the government has high hopes if it thinks that the farmers will trust it fully. Trust has to be won and the government (and the BJP) has vitiated the atmosphere so badly that it will take a lot of time to do so.

In trying to score a victory, the NDA government has made sure that the nation has lost. For, farms reforms are urgently needed to make the agriculture sector modern and competitive and to increase the earnings of the farmers, 80% of whom barely manage to eke out a living for their efforts. But given the way things played out in the last one year, it is unlikely that the next attempt to reform the sector will happen in a hurry. The status quo, which helps only an entrenched class of people, will continue to rule and the farmers will continue to suffer. As for India, who cares for it anyway, despite loud chest thumping over nationalism?

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