New Delhi (TIP): Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders met at Union minister Rajnath Singh’s residence on Wednesday, Jan 20,  to discuss the strategy for parliament’s Budget Session from January 29. The party is preparing to face a belligerent Opposition seeking to corner the government on the farm laws, the Chinese aggression and the leaked WhatsApp messages of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair an all-party meeting virtually on January 30. The Opposition’s demands and the government’s legislative plans for the session are expected to be discussed at the meeting. All party meetings are customary affairs before every parliament session.

A BJP functionary said the Opposition will raise the issue of protests against the three farm laws passed in September even as the government has maintained repeatedly that they benefit the farmers and that the provisions of the legislation were suggested by several parties including the Congress.

“The Congress has been misleading the farmers by alleging that the laws will benefit cooperates but the truth is that they themselves had made similar suggestions such as abolishing the APMC [Agricultural Produce Market Committee] Act when they were in power,” said the functionary, who did not want to be named.

Union ministers S Jaishankar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Pralhad Joshi, and Thawar Chand Gehlot were among others who attended the meeting.

The Congress has said it will raise the issue of Goswami’s chats during the session. The opposition has suggested the leaked messages point to collusion and leak of classified security information. The Congress has accused Modi and top ministers of violating the Official Secrets Act and demanded a probe and action against those who allegedly leaked sensitive information to Goswami.

BBC apologises for ‘incomplete’ India map after complaint

The BBC has  apologised for any offence caused and rectified what it termed as the mistaken use of an inaccurate map of India, which had the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir entirely missing, triggering a formal letter of complaint by Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma.

In a video broadcast about President-elect Joe Biden on BBC World Service entitled ‘US Election 2020: What do countries around the world want from Joe Biden’, the graphic depicting the map of India was incompletely highlighted in red with the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir missing.

Sharma, who is also chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), termed the action as “deeply insulting” in a letter addressed to the Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Tim Davie, and called for an explanation of the editorial guidelines followed.

IFFCO ranks first among top 300 cooperatives of the world

The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has stepped up to 65th position in overall turnover ranking from 125th position in last financial year and now is at the top spot among 300 leading cooperatives in the world, according to an official release.

The ranking is based on the ratio of turnover over the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

“It signifies that IFFCO is contributing significantly to the GDP and economic growth of the Nation. It relates the turnover of the enterprise to the wealth of the country according to the 2020 edition of the 9th Annual World Cooperative Monitor (WCM) report published by International Cooperative Alliance (ICA),” IFFCO said. IFFCO with more than 36,000 member cooperatives and a group turnover of nearly 7 billion dollars, it is amongst the biggest cooperative institutions in the world, it said.

Dr U S Awasthi, MD, IFFCO said it is a proud moment for IFFCO and cooperative as well.

“A great achievement for all of us in the Indian cooperative movement. At IFFCO, we are always committed to the growth of farmers across the country and strengthening the Indian Cooperative movement. We believe in innovation as it is the key to success. I congratulate everyone at IFFCO and the entire cooperative fraternity of the country for this big achievement,” he said.