| 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' groups not interested in amendments, insist on full rollback of agri laws Dimming hopes of a compromise, a joint front of protesting farmer groups on Friday rejected the Centre's proposals to amend the three contentious agriculture laws and gave a call for a 'Bharat Bandh' on December 8. They reiterated their demands for a total repeal of the three central laws. The announcement by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha came ahead of a crucial round of talks scheduled on Saturday between the joint front of farmer unions and top Central Ministers tasked to hammer out a deal with the protesters. Holding a press conference at Singhu border here, the Morcha leaders said the decision to seek repeal of the three laws was reached unanimously after two rounds of talks – the first between the leaders of Punjab farmer organisations and the later among the farmer unions across the country. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general-secretary Harvinder Singh Lakhowal, who presided over the morning meetings, said the farmer unions had given a call for "Bharat Bandh" on December 8, intensifying their agitation, besides deciding to burn the effigies of the Modi government and corporate houses on December 5. He said that sportspersons and other dignitaries would return their medals to the government on December 7 as a mark of protest. Lakhowal said that toll barriers across the country would be made "free" for a day on a later date. He added that by December 8, the farmers unions would also attempt to close the two highways leading to Delhi that are still open. Bharatiya Kisan Union general-secretary Yudhvir Singh, also speaking at the press conference, said that the farmers were fast losing patience and were ready for a "do-or-die" battle. All-party meet: Covid-19 vaccine soon, says PM; Opposition flags financial concerns Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told floor leaders of around 19 political parties represented in Parliament that a vaccine against Covid-19 could be available for roll-out in the next few weeks. He said this during his closing remarks to the all-party meeting where nearly 30 leaders of various parties were present. "Experts have assessed that it won't be too long before a vaccine against corona is available and that it could be a matter of weeks for that to happen," Modi said. "As soon as scientists greenlight a vaccine the distribution will start," he said. The government, he said, has set up a national experts group of scientists, Central and State government officials for mapping the vaccination programme, which would likely take advantage of India's large and experienced vaccination network from its universal immunisation programme. "Cold chain and other logistics will be boosted taking inputs from State governments," he said.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an all-party meeting on the COVID-19 situation on December 4, 2020. Photo: Twitter/@narendramodi Opposition party leaders who took part in the meeting stressed on the need to bring the economy back on track and demanded additional financial help for States. Several parties flagged the GST dues that the Central government owed States and sought additional financial help to meet the revenue shortfall that many States are facing due to Covid-19 pandemic. According to sources, the Shiv Sena, represented by Lok Sabha MP Vinayak Raut, forcefully argued that the GST collection by the Central government was more than ₹1 lakh crore and there was no reason to withhold the share of the State governments. TMC leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay, too, emphasised there was a need for additional financial help for the State governments, considering the financial stress they were going through. India summons Canadian High Commissioner; issues demarche over Trudeau's remarks Comments from the leadership and other members of the Canadian government regarding the ongoing farmers agitation is "unacceptable interference" in India's affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. This message was conveyed to the Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel by senior Indian diplomats after he was formally summoned to the ministry and handed over a demarche in this regard. "The Canadian High Commissioner was informed that comments by the Canadian Prime Minister, some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs. Such actions, if continued, would have a seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada," said the MEA in a statement that summed up the contents of the demarche issued to the Canadian High Commissioner. Friday's comment is tougher compared to the previous official statement issued on December 1 when India had avoided naming the Prime Minister of Canada even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had expressed concern about the condition of the farmers in his Gurupurav message. Trudeau's coalition partner Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party has made several public comments about the farmer agitation. In his message he had praised the farmers, saying they are opposing privatisation. "As millions of farmers walk towards the Indian capital, they walk with this spirit (of Guru Nanak)", Singh had said on November 30. Another MP, Jack Harris, had criticised India's handling of the protests and said, "We are shocked" during the police action against the farmers. Maharashtra Legislative Council polls: Setback to BJP as ruling MVA bags three graduate constituencies In a major jolt to the BJP, the ruling tripartite 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' (MVA) swept the three graduate constituency seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) polls, breaching the BJP's bastion in Nagpur and clinching the crucial Pune seat. The counting to five constituencies – three graduates' and two teachers' – commenced on Thursday. In the final results to the graduate seats declared on Friday morning, the MVA coalition of the Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress bagged all three seats, toppling the BJP in the all-important Nagpur, Pune and Aurangabad graduate constituency seats. The Nagpur graduate seat, considered a veritable pocket borough of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' family and a seemingly impregnable BJP bastion — the seat having been held by Fadnavis' father Gangadhar Fadnavis in the past as well as senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari — was breached by the Congress for the first time in more than 55 years. Abhijit Vanjari, the Congress' candidate, polled an impressive 55,947 votes of a total 1.33 lakh votes, trouncing his nearest rival, the BJP's Sandeep Joshi, by nearly 15,000 votes. Likewise, in the hotly contested Pune graduate constituency, the NCP's candidate, sugar baron Arun Lad, who polled 1.22 lakh votes, beat the BJP's Sangram Deshmukh by a phenomenal margin of more than 48,000 votes. The results clearly hint at Maharashtra's changing political scenario, said NCP chief Sharad Pawar, speaking after the results. "The results clearly show that Maharashtra's public has rejected the BJP and has emphatically endorsed the ruling MVA. It is also testament to the unity of the tripartite MVA government," he said. Commenting on the results, Fadnavis said his party had failed to gauge the combined strength of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies. He said the party will analyse the poll results and prepare for the next election in a better way. TRS on top in Hyderabad municipal polls Counting of votes in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections conducted on December 1 kicked off today amidst tight security. The elections, which saw 1,122 candidates contesting in 150 divisions of the civic body, saw fierce campaigning by the BJP, which sought to make fresh inroads in a realm where its presence has been marginal.  TRS workers celebrating party victory in GHMC election at TRS Bhavan in Hyderabad on Friday. At the time of writing this newsletter, results for 146 out of the 150 divisions had been declared. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) had won 56 divisions, the BJP had secured 46, while Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) could manage 42 seats. The Congress could muster only two divisions. Father Stan Swamy receives straw, sipper, winter clothes Father Stan Swamy, 83, finally received a straw and sipper and winter clothes from the Taloja Central Jail authorities, his advocate informed the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday. On November 26, the NIA, probing the Bhima Koregaon case, had informed the court that it did not have a straw and sipper. The court had then directed the jail authorities to file a reply to the application seeking the items.  Stan Swamy. File Advocate Sharif Shaikh, representing Father Swamy, on Friday told the court that he received winter clothes and a straw and sipper from the jail superintendent. Shaikh then filed three applications — seeking direction to the Central probe agency to return Father Swamy's bag, which was seized at the time of his arrest on October 8; a clone copy of his hard disk which was also seized at the time of arrest; and a direction to not transfer him from Taloja Jail as Father Swamy was anxious about being shifted out. All the applications and a bail plea will be heard on December 10. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 96,01,003 at the time of writing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,39,654. In Brief: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI on Friday kept policy rates unchanged and maintained an accommodative stance to help the economy deal with the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The key lending rate of the RBI or the repo rate was left unchanged at 4% while the reverse repo rate, or the rate the RBI pays when funds are parked with it, stayed at 3.35%. The RBI has also projected the ongoing GDP contraction to narrow to 7.5% this fiscal, with the economy returning to growth of 0.1% in Q3 and expanding 0.7% in Q4 of FY21. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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