CHANDIGARH: Indian National Lok Dal succeeded (INLD) in winning Ellenabad by-poll as it was being expected continuously. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, two things emerged in the scenario that surprised all of us.

First one is the huge defeat of the main opposite party Congress while another aspect is the second largest vote share gained by the Govind Kanda hailing from ruling faction BJP-JJP. This debacle in the battle has forced the Congress to mull over itself despite the canvassing at a large scale by the party stalwarts in the constituency, the party contestant Pawan Beniwal failed to save fixed deposit which indicates the declining status of the party in the state.

Moreover, what is of utmost importance here to state is ongoing discussions regarding the feud among the senior party leaders in the state. Political experts continue to say that widened rift among the state party senior leaders, particularity Kumari Seleja and Bhupender Singh Hooda, the leader of opposition led to the defeat of the party in by-poll. Everyone is familiar with the fact that Pawan Beniwal belongs to the Seleja faction and he was made to join the Congress by the Seleja herself.

Even prior to the declaration of results, Seleja said on November 1 that she received several complaints against some party leaders along with workers for not supporting the party candidate properly and she will conduct an enquiry regarding the same.

Although, most of the legislators belonging to Hooda factions were involved in the election campaigning for the party contestant. But what continuously emerged is that Hooda maintained a distance from the canvassing to some extent as he addressed a few public meetings and rallies in support of the party candidate which led to indicate the ongoing rift between him and Seleja.

It is pertinent to mention that Seleja has been elected MP from Sirsa segment several times and Ellenabad constituency falls in Sirsa. Thus, the debacle in the bypoll is not less than a setback for her. Thus, Being the main opposition party in the state, the Congress failed to fulfill the expectations providing an opportunity to the leaders of the BJP. The BJP stalwarts continue to take a dig at the Congress saying that the defeat in the bypolls showcased the infighting in the Congress.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that the Delhi government will set up an online portal ‘Delhi Bazaar’ to boost businesses in the national capital.

Under this initiative, Delhi will soon have its own e-marketplace where every small and big entrepreneur will have their own e-commerce store. Highlighting that ‘Delhi bazaar’ will give global online identity to entrepreneurs of Delhi, the Chief Minister said, “Delhi Bazaar will be a state-of-the-art pathbreaking portal that will give a global online identity to entrepreneurs of Delhi and through the portal, shoppers will be able to go on virtual walkthroughs of Delhi’s markets, buy any product they like from their home itself.”

Delhi government is developing a website called ‘Delhi Bazaar’, wherein each and every entrepreneur of Delhi will get to have their own online shop. Through this initiative, one will be able to showcase all their products and services on this portal which will help them reach countless people not just from Delhi or India but the entire world, said the Office of Delhi’s Chief Minister in a statement.

While talking about the virtual bazaars which would be developed on the said portal, the Chief Minister said, “Take for instance the famous Khan Market of Delhi, there will be an online Khan Market on this portal as well. One will be able to go on a virtual walkthrough on this portal and get the feel of the Khan Market on their phone or computer itself. Right from Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar Markets to the small DDA markets inside colonies will be present in a virtual avatar on Delhi Bazaar.”

Further talking about the merits of the portal the Chief Minister said, “Imagine the kind of experience consumers will have when they can virtually visit any market, find a shop on it and shop from the retailer directly through the portal. This portal is going to bring even the smallest of the businesses of Delhi to a global scale. Even someone sitting in America will be able to virtually walk around the Hauz Khas market and buy something from the shops there. This will all be direct to the consumer, you can search for a certain shop or a product and all options will be there in front of you.”

Highlighting the business to business aspect of the portal, he said, “Suppose some businessperson from the UK wants to buy Indian antiques, they can go to our portal, look for the antiques and order in bulk quantities as well. Say the person needs 200 or even 1000 antiques, they will directly be able to reach a business of Delhi and it through the portal.”

The portal will further make it possible to hold unique online exhibitions, instead of limiting an exhibition to a fixed area and a fixed number of people, this portal will promote endless opportunities for even the most niche products.

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force ace pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has been promoted to the rank of Group Captain.

The officer was involved in a dog fight with Pakistani fighter aircraft and was awarded a Vir Chakra for taking down an F-16 combat aircraft during the engagement. The officer has been cleared for promotion to the rank of Group Captain by the IAF and he would be putting on his new rank shortly, sources told ANI.

Group Captain is equivalent to a Colonel in the Indian Army.

Abhinandan’s MiG-21 fighter aircraft was shot down after he took down the F-16 and landed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where he was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army.

The Pakistan Army was forced to release him due to the extensive pressure exerted by the Indian side along with the international intervention into the matter.

Abhinandan was part of the Srinagar-based 51 squadron and had flown to thwart an aerial attack launched by the Pakistanis on February 27, 2019.

India had launched an aerial strike on Pakistan’s terrorist facility in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area run by the Jaish e Mohammed.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday accused his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal of copying his scheme for government-sponsored pilgrimages and passing it off as his own.

“I had announced it in the budget and my scheme was ready too. My scheme has been notified too. Registration has also begun for those who want to undertake ‘teerth yatra’. He copies my schemes. He is habituated to this. He is a copymaster,” Sawant told reporters. Sawant’s comments come days after Kejriwal during his visit to poll-bound Goa on November 1 announced free government-sponsored pilgrimages to the Ram temple at Ayodhya, Ajmer Sharif and Velankanni for people in Goa if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) comes to power after state Assembly elections next year.

Every journey starts with a single step, and Punjab hasn’t been able to take even the first step. This is in context with the development of Farmer Producer Companies in different states of India.

A recent study named Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) in India: An Overview by T. S. Senthil Nathan and N. Venkatesa Palanichamy published in the Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology indicates that Punjab stands at the lower end of this ladder of FPCs.

The Northern Zone—comprising Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, New Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan—has only 664 FPCs out of which Punjab has 101 FPCs. Whereas Sikkim is standing at the top of all the states to have maximum FPCs in the country. The number of farmers mobilized through FPCs by NABARD was highest in Sikkim with 122643 farmer members, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with 109113 and 80616 farmer members respectively in each state.

The study says that the Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) have emerged as a solution to the problems that small and marginal farmers confront. This study probed into the reasons for the farmer-producer companies’ establishment, as stated in different policy documents and past literature. The performance of Farmers Producer Companies has improved significantly; however, the emergence of FPCs in India has not been consistent across the states. This paper examines the current status, geographical spread, and functions of Farmer’s Producer Companies (FPCs) across India, as well as suggests suitable measures to their performance.

The study indicated that a total of 6471 FPCs were formed, in which around 80 percent i.e. 5145 FPCs were promoted by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), 1263 FPCs were promoted by the various state government and other agencies, and 63 of them were self-promoted.

More than 50 percent of the FPCs are set up in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, and Telangana. SFAC promoted a large number of FPCs in Madhya Pradesh (149 FPCs) and NABARD has promoted a large number of FPCs in Uttarakhand (362). The number of farmers mobilized through FPCs by SFAC and NABARD was highest in the state of Madhya Pradesh with 183517 farmer members, followed by Karnataka with 176732 farmer members.

Several factors influenced state performance, and this study also has suggested some strategies to overcome them to promote the growth of FPCs in India.

Indian Navy operated airfield in Goa facilitated the safe recovery of an Israeli flight flying from Bangkok to Tel Aviv. The flight was carrying 276 personnel on board and it made an emergency landing in the early hours of Monday.

“In a swift execution of emergency procedures, Indian Navy operated airfield at Dabolim, Goa facilitated the safe recovery of Flight ELAL-082 en route from Bangkok to Tel Aviv with 276 personnel on board, the flight made an emergency landing in early morning hours of 01 Nov 21,” Navy said.