Farmers Update: Rakesh Tikait Teaches Kids At Makeshift School; Deep Sidhu's Custody Extended
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who has given a new lease of life to farmers agitation with a string of ¡®mahapanchayats¡¯ across Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, on Monday turned a teacher to the children attending a makeshift school running on the agitation site at Ghazipur.?
Tikait taught a group of children who had been assembling at the Ghazipur agitation site and also took stock of what they had learnt in the month-and-a-half that the school has been operating, , according to BKU¡¯s Dharmendra Malik.?
Praising the efforts of those involved in the noble work,?Tikait said, "I came here to look after what are they learning even I taught them too. They came here to study from nearby slum areas. I also asked children to plant trees on their birthdays, it will clean up the environment."?
Social activist running the makeshift school
A social activist from Mata Savitri Bai Phule Mahasabha, Nirdesh Singh, has been running the Savitri Bai Phule School for poor children, mostly rag pickers from neighbouring localities, in one of the tents at the site. "Nirdesh didi is running the school since January. Around 90 children from neighbouring colonies are registered in the school which is run in two shifts," said Malik.?
Tikait also slammed the government for "lack of educational facilities" for poor children. "The children of rich study in air-conditioned schools and those of poor do not even have 'taat patti' schools (basic facilities)" Tikait said, a press release reads. Although education at protest sites be it Singhu or Ghazipur continues with various initiatives such as free books, library but this Pathshala is the first of its kind that has arranged classes and lunch breaks periodically.? ? ? ?
Havan at Singhu border
Farmers sitting on protest at Delhi Singhu border for nearly 90 days organised a 'havan' on 'Basant Panchami' on Tuesday. They said the aim was to purify the environment and to pray to God to make Prime Minister "understand their issues and accept farmers' demands".
Deep Sidhu custody extended?
Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu¡¯s police custody was on Tuesday, 16 February, extended by seven days.Sidhu was arrested by the Delhi Police on 8 February in connection with the Republic Day violence during the farmers¡¯ tractor rally in Delhi and later remanded to a seven-day police custody.?
Remember, police arrested Sidhu from Karnal in Haryana, while he was waiting for someone to pick him up.On Saturday, the Delhi Police Crime Branch took the actor-turned-activist to the Red Fort reportedly for recreating the events as they had unfolded during the farmers¡¯ tractor rally on 26 January.
Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
