| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Farmers stay put at Delhi border, refuse to go to north Delhi protest site Thousands of farmers marching to Delhi to protest the Centre's new agri laws stayed put at the Singhu and Tikri border points for the third consecutive day on Saturday amid heavy police presence even after being offered a big ground in north Delhi's Burari to hold peaceful demonstrations. They were insistent that they be given permission to protest at Jantar Mantar. At the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, hundreds of farmers of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) broke barriers and entered Delhi on Saturday afternoon. Despite heavy security presence, the Ghaziabad Police allowed them to proceed towards Delhi. The Delhi Police had given them permission to go to the Burari ground but again the farmers wanted to go to Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Maidan. Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern range) Surender Singh Yadav told reporters that around 600 to 700 farmers have so far reached the north Delhi ground. Asked why they don't want to enter the national capital despite being permitted by the Delhi Police, Sukhwinder Singh, a farmer camping at Tikri, said, "We don't want to go to any ground provided by them in Burari. We want to go to Jantar Mantar and hold a peaceful demonstration there." The farmers at the Tikri border seem to have come prepared for a long haul. They have brought utensils to cook food and are charging their phones in their vehicles. Jagtar Singh Bhagiwander, another farmer who is at Tikri, maintained that they would continue to fight for their rights from the national highway. "We won't proceed towards Burari. Yesterday, soon after we were granted permission to enter Delhi, we were told to move ahead in groups of 50 people one after the other. We refused to move in groups. This is an attempt to separate us. If we have come together all the way crossing different borders, we will continue to stay united. As of now, we have decided to stay here at Tikri. We will continue our fight from here until further course of action is decided," he said. Farmer who turned off water cannon tap charged with 'attempt to murder' A video of Navdeep Singh, a young farmer from Ambala, jumping from his tractor onto a police vehicle carrying a water cannon and turning it off to protect his fellow farmers had gone viral earlier this week. It led to him being hailed as a 'hero' and 'braveheart.' But today the police charged the 26-year-old with "attempt to murder" and breaking Covid-19 rules. Singh has been accused of attempting to run down a policeman with his tractor trolley. So far, no one has been reported injured in the incident. Opposition targets Narendra Modi government over handling of farmers' protests Opposition leaders from across the political spectrum on Saturday targeted the Narendra Modi government for its handling of the ongoing farmers' protests, with the Congress asking the Prime Minister to talk to the agitating farmers instead of "getting himself photographed at corporate offices" (a reference to his day-long tour today of different pharma companies to review the progress in Covid-19 vaccine development). In a joint statement, senior Opposition leaders of eight political parties, including Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party), T.R. Baalu (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party India-Marxist), D. Raja (Communist Party of India) and Manoj Jha (Rashtriya Janata Dal), among others, described the Centre's response as "akin to waging war against the farmers". Asking the Centre to reverse its decision of not allowing farmers to hold protests in Delhi, these Opposition leaders said, "We reiterate our opposition to these new agri-laws that threaten India's food security, abolish MSP [Minimum Support Price], destroy Indian agriculture and our farmers- 'Annadatas'. The Central Government must adhere to the democratic process and norms and address the concerns of the protesting farmers." Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, took to Twitter and shared a verse by poet Uday Pratap Singh in praise of farmers whose "blood and sweat provide the pulse to the nation". Sharing a photograph of an elderly farmer facing the baton of a security person on his Twitter handle, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said farmers were paying the price for Modi's arrogance. "This is a very sad photo. Our slogan was 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan', but today a jawan (soldier) is standing against the farmer due to PM Modi's arrogance. This is very dangerous," he said.  A farmer faces the baton of a security person in New Delhi on November 27, 2020 as protesters cross the Singhu border during their Dilli Chalo march against new farm laws. U.P. Governor promulgates ordinance on 'unlawful' religious conversion Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel promulgated an ordinance on unlawful conversion days after it was passed by the Yogi Adityanath-led State cabinet, officials said on Saturday. The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, was cleared by the State Cabinet earlier this week and promulgated on November 27. The ordinance makes religious conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence, inviting penalties of up to 10 years in prison if found to be effected for marriage or through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other allegedly fraudulent means. Violation of the provisions of the law would invite a jail term of not less than one year, extendable to five years, with a fine of ₹15,000. However, if a minor, a woman or person belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes communities was converted through the said unlawful means, the jail term would be a minimum of three years and could be extended to 10 years with a fine of ₹25,000. The ordinance, passed by the State Cabinet, also lays down strict action against mass conversions, which would invite a jail term of not less than three years and up to 10 years and a fine of ₹50,000.  Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow. File photo The court shall also grant appropriate compensation payable by the accused to the victim of said conversion, which may extend to a maximum of ₹5 lakh, said the ordinance. The ordinance says any marriage done with the sole purpose of "unlawful conversion or vice-versa" by a man of one religion with a woman of another religion, "either by converting himself/herself before or after marriage, or by converting the woman before or after shall be declared void". One who desires to convert his or her religion shall give a declaration in a prescribed form at least 60 days in advance to the District Magistrate (DM) or Additional District Magistrate (ADM) that he or she wishes to convert on his or her own free will. Violation of this provision could land a person in jail for three months to three years. The ordinance further said that the burden to prove that a conversion was not done through misrepresentation, force, fraudulent means or for marriage would be on the person who caused the conversion or the person who facilitated it. Six PMs to attend SCO summit hosted by India, but Imran Khan to skip The prime ministers of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will attend the summit of the heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Monday while Pakistan will be represented by its parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said. India is hosting the summit for the first time after it gained full membership of the influential grouping in 2017. The summit will take place in the virtual format. The MEA said Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will chair the 19th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, which is held annually with a focus on trade and economic agenda of the organisation. Apart from the SCO member States, the four observer States of the SCO -- Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia -- will also participate in the summit. The MEA said the president of Afghanistan, the first vice president of Iran, the prime minister of Belarus and the deputy prime minister of Mongolia will represent their countries. India assumed the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on November 2 last year as per rotation from the previous chair, Uzbekistan, and will complete its year-long tenure on November 30 by hosting the summit. "It will be the first time that a summit-level meeting will be held under India's chairmanship, since it gained full membership of the organisation in 2017," the MEA said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 93,84,430 at the time of writing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,36,674.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits a facility of biotech firm Bharat Biotech on the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 28, 2020 to review development of indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune to review coronavirus vaccine development work. He visited Zydus Cadilla's manufacturing facility near Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech's vaccine manufacturing facility near Hyderabad, and the Serum Institute of India near Pune. The Prime Minister's Office said the day-long visit was aimed at getting a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India's endeavour to vaccinate its citizens. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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