‘Centre conspiring against farmers, dodging responsibility’
The Hindu
Agriculture Minister flays Piyush Goyal for spreading misinformation on paddy procurement
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has alleged that the BJP-led Central government was conspiring against farmers of Telangana by dodging its responsibility on procurement of foodgrains and spreading misinformation on the issue from Parliament.
Criticising Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal for his statement in Parliament on paddy procurement in Telangana, Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy, along with legislators M. Anand, K. Venkatesh Yadav, S. Vanidevi and others, on Sunday alleged that Mr. Goyal had spoken lies on the supply of rice pertaining to the last Rabi season by Telangana.
Mr. Niranjan Reddy reminded the Union Minister that the responsibility of paddy procurement was on the Centre/FCI and the State government cooperates and supports the exercise, which is in vogue since Independence. However, the FCI was inordinately delaying shifting or lifting milled (parboiled) rice pertaining to the last Rabi season lying with millers for want of railway rakes.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.