The farmers’ meeting with Union ministers in Chandigarh — a last-ditch effort of the government that got singed two years ago over farm law protests — continued almost till midnight. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda led the talks with the farmer leaders.
Post 11 pm, the two sides came to an agreement on repealing the Electricity Act 2020, compensation to farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, and the withdrawal of cases against farmers during the farmers’ movement.
But there was no consensus on the three key demands — enactment of a law to guarantee a Minimum Support Price for all crops, farmer loan waiver and the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations.
After the meeting ended just before midnight, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee’s Sarwan Singh Pandher said the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march is on. “Two years ago, the government had promised to meet half of our demands in writing… We wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. But the government is not sincere. They just want to waste time,” a farmers’ representative told reporters.
The Delhi Police have taken every possible step to stop the march from entering Delhi. There is heavy police presence at the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders. The police have imposed a month-long ban on public meetings and tractors and trolleys entering the city.
Prohibitory orders banning large gatherings have been declared in these areas. Much of the roads have been barricaded with concrete blocks and barbed wire. The movement of commercial vehicles has been stopped.
The authorities in Haryana have also fortified the state borders with Punjab at many places, including Ambala, Jind, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra and Sirsa. Concrete blocks, iron nails and barbed wire have been used to barricade the roads and block the protesters from entering the state.
Haryana has also invoked the 2021 law against public and private property damage that makes perpetrators pay. The state home department has directed the civil and police officers to stick to the rule.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. The farmers have taken a hard line, armed with the precedent of the government’s capitulation and withdrawal of the farm laws following the year-long agitation in 2020-21.
The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha which has the allegiance of more than 250 farmers’ unions, and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha — a platform of another 150 unions — called the protest in December. The protest, coordinated from Punjab, is meant to remind the government of the promises it made two years ago.

 After former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan resigned from the Congress party’s primary membership, former Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay claimed that Mr Chavan was upset with the working style of a leader from Maharashtra.

“Ashok Chavan was definitely an asset for the party. Some are calling him a liability, some are holding ED responsible, all this is a hasty reaction. He was basically very upset with the working style of a leader from Maharashtra,” Mr Nirupam said in a post on ‘X’.

The former president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee also claimed that had his complaints been addressed by the party he would not have resigned.

“He (Chavan) had given this information to the top leadership from time to time. Had their complaints been taken seriously, this situation would not have happened,” Mr Nirupam added.

Heaping praises on the former Chief Minister, Mr Nirupam said, “Ashok Chavan is resourceful, a skilled organiser, has a firm grasp on the ground and is a serious leader. When Bharat Jodo Yatra was in Nanded for five days last year, the entire leadership had seen his potential firsthand.”

“His leaving Congress is a big loss for us. No one will be able to compensate for it. The responsibility of taking care of them was ours alone,” he added.

Ashok Chavan, earlier today, submitted his resignation to Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole.

Also, in the letter, Mr Chavan mentioned his designation as a former MLA. The former MPCC president also served as MP of Lok Sabha from 1987 to 1989 and was re-elected to the lower house in May 2014.

He was the Vice President and General Secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress Committee from 1986 to 1995. He served the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for three terms, starting in 1999 and ending in May 2014.

He served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra State from December 8, 2008, to November 9, 2010. On November 9, 2010, the Congress Party asked him to resign from office over corruption allegations relating to the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israel on Monday announced the successful rescue of two hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, sparking both relief and renewed concerns over the escalating humanitarian crisis in the region. The operation, conducted by a joint military effort involving the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Shin Bet, and police, aimed to liberate Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har from captivity after nearly 130 days since they were taken captive by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Dramatic video footage released by the IDF shows the intensity of the rescue, with the Israeli special forces coming under fire in the southern Gazan city.

Fernando Marman, 61, and Louis Har, 70, were among the 253 hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October. The hostages were held in a second-floor apartment, guarded by three terrorists who were neutralised by the Shin Bet security agency and police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit.

“The hostages are in our hands, safe and sound”

🔴WATCH the moment hostages Fernando Simon Marman and Luis Har were rescued during the operation in Rafah yesterday: pic.twitter.com/1OXsHf9F9W

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 12, 2024

The successful rescue operation provided a rare positive development amid a four-month war that has devastated Gaza. However, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant cautioned against relying solely on such daring extractions to free the remaining 134 captives still held in the Strip.

The IDF’s Shayetet 13 commando unit escorted Marman and Har to a makeshift helipad, facilitating their escape from Gaza. The hostages were taken out of the building using ropes to avoid detection on the street outside, according to a commander from the elite Yamam unit, as reported by Times of Israel. 

The operation, planned for weeks with various contingencies, demonstrated the effectiveness of Israel’s military capabilities. Defense Minister Gallant declared the rescue a “turning point in the campaign” against Hamas.

“The military and the Shin Bet have been working on this operation for a long time… and they waited until the conditions were right to carry it out,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing.

The Hamas-run health ministry reported “around 100” Palestinian casualties, including children, in heavy overnight airstrikes. The already precarious humanitarian situation in Rafah, which hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge from conflict further north, has prompted widespread alarm from aid groups and foreign governments.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, urging caution and stressing the need for a credible plan to ensure the safety of those sheltering in Rafah. Qatar, Oman, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) joined the growing chorus of nations expressing concern over the potential advance on Rafah.