| 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. Agriculture Minister urges farmers to give up 'stubborn stand' Ahead of the tenth round of talks scheduled on January 19, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday again urged the protesting farm leaders to give up their "stubborn" stand on the new farm laws and come for a clause by clause discussion. "Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of these laws, then there is no question of being stubborn," Mr. Tomar told reporters before leaving for his home constituency of Morena in Madhya Pradesh. The government wants farmer leaders to come for clause by clause discussion at the next meeting on January 19. Except for the demand of repealing the laws, the government is ready to consider "seriously and with an open heart" other alternatives, he said. Mr. Tomar, who left for his constituency by Hazur Sahib Nanded-Amritsar Superfast Express, was seen sharing langar from co-passengers of Sikh community -- a gesture which comes amid the ongoing protests by farmers from Punjab against the agri laws. The Supreme Court on January 11 had stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse. Mr. Tomar said the government offered certain concessions, but the farmer leaders have not shown flexibility and were constantly demanding a repeal of the laws. He reiterated that the government makes laws for the entire country. Many farmers, experts and other stakeholders have supported the laws. So far, the nine rounds of formal talks between the Centre and 41 farmer unions have failed to yield any concrete results to end the long-running protest at Delhi's borders as the latter have stuck to their main demand of a complete repeal of the three Acts. Farmers' groups to go ahead tractor parade on January 26 A day before the hearing in the Supreme Court on a plea by the Union government to injunct protesters from holding tractor marches to "disrupt" Republic Day celebrations, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint front of farmer unions, on Sunday announced to hold a parallel tractor parade on Delhi's Outer Ring Road on January 26. Making the announcement, Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav, at a press conference, said the parade on the 50-km-long road would be peaceful with the tractors carrying national flags and the flags of farmer unions, and no disruption would be caused to the official Republic Day ceremony. He added that weapons, provocative speeches and violence would not be allowed during the parade and there would be no attempts to attack or lay siege to places and buildings of national importance. Saying that the further details would be revealed soon, Mr. Yadav said he did not see any reason for the Supreme Court to prevent the unions from holding the parade.  Farmers ride a tractor during the ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, on January 14, 2021. Mr. Yadav said that similar parades would be held at district headquarters and the Capital cities of the states across the country. All-India Kisan Sabha general-secretary Hannan Mollah said the aim of the tractor parade was to highlight the plight of the farmers and seek the support of the common man for their cause. Bharatiya Kisan Union general-secretary Yudhveer Singh said the farmers were determined to go ahead with their plan of tractor parade to mark the Republic Day and added that the responsibility for any untoward incident would lie with the administration and the government if they were stopped. Supreme Court appointed committee on farm laws to hold first meeting on January 19 The Supreme Court-appointed committee on the three new farm laws is scheduled to hold its first meeting on January 19 at Pusa campus here, one of its members Anil Ghanwat told the Press Trust of India on Sunday. The Supreme Court had on January 11 stayed the implementation of the three laws, against which farmers are protesting at Delhi borders for over 50 days now, till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.  Farmers seen during the ongoing protest demonstration against farm laws in New Delhi on January 17, 2021. Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann, however, recused from the committee last week. Apart from Mr. Ghanwat, agri-economists Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi are the two other panel members. If the apex court does not appoint a new member, the existing members will continue, Mr Ghanwat added. Asked about the government holding parallel talks with protesting farmer unions after the setting up of the SC panel, he said, "We have no issue if a solution is found and the protests end from either (efforts of) our panel or from the government's separate talks with the protesting farmer unions." "Let them (the Government) continue the discussion, we have been given a duty and we will focus on that," he added. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stands at 1,05,68,348 at the time of publishing this newsletter with the death toll at 1,52,441.  Covishield vaccine immunisation for COVID-19 at the Government General Hospital in Chennai on January 17, 2020. Over 17,000 people were vaccinated across six states on Day 2 of the nationwide coronavirus drive, the Health Ministry said Sunday evening, adding that this takes the total number of people vaccinated so far to around 2.24 lakh. On Saturday (Day 1) 1.91 lakh people were administered the shots with over 3,000 sites active across India. The Health Ministry said the drop in the number of states carrying out vaccination today was part of a "usual strategy" to avoid clashes with immunisation schedules for other illnesses. Opposition demands inquiry into Arnab Whatsapp chats Days after the conversations between Republic TV promoter Arnab Goswami and the former CEO of the viewership ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Partho Dasgupta leaked into the public domain, Opposition leaders on Sunday said it merited a "thorough inquiry" since many of the issues raised in their conversations pertained to "national security". "The Whatsapp chats that have come out in the chargesheet of the Mumbai Police raise serious questions of national security. How financial frauds happened, involvement of officials in high positions, and some conversations even talked about 'buying' judges and deciding portfolios for Ministers — this is akin to playing with national security and shows the hollowness of those in power," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters at a press conference. "Since the chargesheet is over 1,000 pages, we are examining the document in detail and in the next 24 to 48 hours, our seniormost leadership will come before you and share our views as to why it requires a thorough investigation," he added. Former Union minister P. Chidambaram, who also held the Home portfolio apart from Finance under the United Progressive Alliance regime, asked if Mr. Goswami had prior knowledge of the february 2019 balakot strikes. "Did a journalist (and his friend) know about the retaliatory strike on Balakot camp three days before the actual strike? If yes, what is the guarantee that their 'source' did not share the information with others as well, including spies or informers working for Pakistan? How did a 'For Your Eyes Only' decision find its way to the government-supporting journalist?" asked Mr Chidambaram. Mr. Goswami's WhatsApp chats with Mr. Dasgupta, who has been arrested by the Mumbai Police in the TRP (television rating point) scam, suggests that the Republic TV promoter had some prior information on a retaliatory strike by India after the Pulwama terror attack. Aero India 2021 to showcase range of indigenously developed helicopters With emphasis on promoting defence exports, the India Pavilion at Aero India 2021 next month will showcase a range of indigenously developed helicopters while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to hold a conclave of Defence Ministers from the Indian Ocean Littoral (IOR) states, according to a senior defence official. "We have matured in helicopters and have several in various categories. We are now capable of [designing and manufacturing] any kind of helicopter," the official said.  Built to fly over high altitude areas, the LUH has a maximum permitted height limit of 6.5 km. Photo: Special Arrangement A Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), a weaponised Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and a Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) will be on display inside the pavilion, the official said. A civilian version of the ALH will be on display outside. All these helicopters have been designed and manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In addition to the Defence Ministers' conclave, plans are also on to hold an Air Chiefs' conclave. Also, about six to seven official delegations are expected to be there at Aero India in addition to various companies. With less than a month left for the biennial air show, construction of the halls and facilities is at advanced stages of completion. In Brief: Legendary Indian classical musician and Padma Vibhushan awardee Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan passed away on Sunday afternoon at his residence in Mumbai. He was 89. Khan's daughter-in-law Namrata Gupta Khan said that the veteran breathed his last at 12.37 p.m. at his Bandra home. "Today morning he was fine. We had a 24-hour nurse at home. During his massage he vomited and I ran up to him immediately. His eyes were shut and he was breathing slowly. I tried connecting to doctors but by the time they came he had already died," Namrata told PTI. She said the family was in shock due to Khan's sudden demise as he jad been keeping well. The musician was going to turn 90 on March 3. He had suffered a brain stroke in 2019 which left the left side of his body paralysed. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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