From the Newsroom: PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of new Parliament building

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of the new Parliament building; Union Agriculture Minister says government is open to amending some provisions in new farm laws; Karnataka Assembly passes Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Bill, and BJP chief J P Nadda says West Bengal has become a state of "lawlessness and intolerance".

Here is the top news of December 10, 2020:

India's government is open to amending some provisions in new farm laws, the Union Agriculture Minister said on Thursday, after farmers rejected proposed changes to the controversial laws they said would harm their interests and help big food retailers.

Farmers have been demonstrating since late last month over reforms enacted in September that loosened rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce, which had protected farmers from an unfettered free market for decades.

Describing the laying of foundation stone of the new Parliament building as a "milestone in India's democratic history", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said if the old Parliament house gave direction to the country post-independence, the new one would be a witness to making of a self-reliant India.

Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of the new building and performing the ground-breaking ceremony, Modi said many new things were being done in the new Parliament House, which will increase the efficiency of the MPs as modern methods will be incorporated in the work culture.

The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Bill, which promises a new governance structure for the city besides increasing its municipal area.

At present, Bengaluru is governed under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act. That the city should get a separate law was a long-pending demand.

The Bill was passed with the Opposition benches empty as the Congress had decided to boycott the proceedings whereas the JD(S) did not show up.

The Bill proposes ‘constituency consultative committees’, which are expected to give MLAs more say in the way the city is run.

West Bengal has become a state of "lawlessness and intolerance", said BJP chief J P Nadda at a party workers' meet after an attack on his convoy. If I have reached here for the meeting, it's due to Maa Durga's grace, he added.

Nadda said he was not hurt as he was travelling in a bulletproof car, but others in the convoy were assaulted. When such a thing can happen to senior leaders of the BJP, the plight of common party cadres can be easily imagined, he said.

Source: DHNS / PTI