Month: February 2020

Mobile Data Restrictions To Stay In Kashmir Till Feb 15

By LokMarg

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday stated that its January 31 order regarding restrictions on mobile data services shall continue to remain operative till February 15.

“Upon re-assessment of the restrictions on mobile data services with regard to its impact on the overall security situation and after due consideration of reports of the law enforcement agencies, which have, among other things, brought out the usage of the internet for carrying out terror activities including those at Nagrota, Pratap Park (Srinagar), Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway as well as use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for this purpose. The directions/restrictions contained in govt order of January 31, shall continue to remain operative till 15th February,” Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the government, said.

Kabra also said that the IGP Kashmir/Jammu shall ensure immediate compliance of these directions by all the service providers.

The central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories — Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

(ANI)

Challenger To CM

Challenger To CM: ‘AAP Govt’s School Reforms Are Cosmetic’

By LokMarg

Rohit Gupta, a 31-year-old stationery shop owner in East Delhi, says Delhi education system needs an overhaul. Gupta is contesting against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to underline this need

I decided to contest against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to underline my presence and desire to reform Delhi education system. I run a stationery shop, so I have a deep attachment with the education field. I know the city’s education structure is not good, the selection of books is not desirable, the selection of subjects or curricula is not good – and it’s all adding up to a messed up future for our children.

ALSO READ: ‘My Fight Is Against False Promises’

CM Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia did some good things with some schools but these changes are cosmetic. I can say it was more like a PR exercise and nothing substantial. The education system reform has been largely ignored.

We require a good education system to eliminate joblessness. Our curriculum from high school to colleges need to be job oriented. We need to add at least one skill in the syllabus of the children. This is not being done by the government despite of having all the budget they need. We need to change now for a better future.

ALSO READ: Kejriwal Sidesteps Shah’s Communal Bait

The schoolkids are our future. We need to take serious care of them without discrimination between the poor and rich. For this, we need a complete overhaul of our education system. We need to choose books wisely with no unnecessary burden on students. 

Here, I would also like to share my experience with our electoral system, in sharp contrast with how the education department. It was not without trepidation that I decided to file my papers against Kejriwal. I had been thinking about it for some time, but could never gather the courage to do so. The decision was in fact finalized on the last date for filing the nomination. I had a chat with my friends. My family and friends gave me the strength and I gathered all the documents required to file the nomination. All this information is available on the Election Commission website. I also requested some friends to become my ‘proposee’ for the nomination.

ALSO WATCH: AAP Claims Versus BJP Challenges

My hands were shivering when I reached Jamnagar House, where all the nominations of the area were being filed. I could feel a heavy chest and other signs of nervousness. However, as soon as I entered the room in which the process was going on, all the fear went up in thin air.

All the candidates were being treated with respect and not seen as minnows contesting for cheap publicity. There was no special service for the candidates from major political parties or even for the CM. I waited with the Chief Minister sitting right in front of me for about 10 minutes and I was amazed to see how many people were there to contest against Kejriwal.

This is the beauty of our democracy which treats all equal before an institution. The rules of Election Commission of India are so strong that no person can alter it. I salute this festival of democracy.

Modi In Lok Sabha: Cong Speaking Pakistan Language

By LokMarg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Congress for its support to anti-CAA protests, accusing the party of speaking the language of Pakistan.

Prime Minister Modi, who was replying to the marathon debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, said the opposition party has taken a wrong path, which can create problems for it and the country as well.

Modi also rubbished opposition allegations that the government was trying to divide Hindus and Muslims and asked if “anarchy” can do the country any good.

Modi said that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had talked of problems of “minorities” in the neighbouring countries and the Congress was raising objections when the BJP-led government was fulfilling the words of its leaders.

The Prime Minister, who spoke for nearly 100 minutes, targeted Pakistan over its treatment of minorities since its inception and said the neighbouring country had tried to incite Muslims of India.

He accused the Congress of seeing Muslims as Muslims and not as Indians.

Modi said the government was fulfilling its responsibility towards the Constitution and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) does not impact any citizen including the minorities.

“The vote-bank politics has been rejected by the people but you continue to play vote-bank politics,” he said.

Modi said the Congress, which has ruled the country for so many years and of whom people expected to play the role of a responsible opposition, has taken a “wrong path.”

Modi said that he was giving a warning as the good of the country should be at everyone’s heart.

“This path is going to create problems for you also, will put the country in trouble and I am giving this warning because all of us should be concerned for the country, its bright future,” he said.

He asked if the assemblies in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress is in power, take a decision and people do not agree and resort to processions and violence, what situation will be created.

“Can the country run like this? … You have done so much wrong and that is why the people have made you sit in the opposition,” Modi said amid interruptions from the Congress members.

He said the people in a democracy have a right to put their views but by “spreading lies and rumours, misleading people, we will not be able to do good of the country.”

He said the questions were being asked why CAA was brought “in a hurry” and allegations were made that the government was causing divisions in society and breaking the country.

The Prime Minister said an “artificial fear” was sought to be created among the people.

“The people who stood with members of “Tukde, Tukde’ gang, they are speaking. For decades Pakistan has been speaking the same language, saying these things. It has tried its utmost to provoke Indian Muslims, to mislead them but it is unable to carry out its designs. I am surprised that those who have been defeated by people are doing what the country could never have expected,” he said.

Referring to the speeches of Congress members in which they had cited instances of participation of Muslims in the freedom struggle, Modi said that “all of them were Indians in our view.”

“When the Congress and parties like it start looking at India from India’s point of view, they will realise their mistake,” he said.

Modi said that he was grateful to the “Congress and its ecosystem” and if they had not raised so much opposition to the CAA, the people of the country would not have come to know their real face.

“The country has seen who is with the country and who is with the party,” he said.

He also targeted Congress over 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying the people had been burnt and widowed mothers had to wait for three decades to get justice.

He made a veiled reference to Kamal Nath and said a person against whom allegations had been made in connection with the riots had been made a chief minister by the party. “Will there be two yardsticks (on minorities),” he asked.

Modi said the government was working with speed and determination and its vision was “greater investment, better infrastructure, and maximum job creation.”

The Lok Sabha later adopted the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.

(ANI)

Campaigning For Delhi Assembly Elections Ends

By LokMarg

Campaigning for Delhi Assembly polls came to a close on Thursday putting an end to rallies and roadshows by leaders as Delhiites prepare to vote on February 8.

The campaign, which was marked by aggressive rallies and roadshows of parties including the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress ended at 6 pm today.

A total of 668 candidates are in the poll fray while the onus for electing the next government will be on around 1.47 crore voters.

On the final day of campaigning, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held three roadshows in Seemapuri, Hari Nagar and Madipur assembly constituencies respectively, while BJP president JP Nadda participated in roadshows for party candidates in Mundka and Sultanpur Majra.

Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia carried out a ‘padyatra’ in his constituency Patparganj.

While campaigning was headed by none other than Amit Shah for the BJP, the AAP, on the other hand, remained mostly dependent on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Congress, which didn’t win even a single seat in the last Assembly polls, pinned hopes on Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two rallies saw the campaign ascending to its zenith, what added vigour to the BJP’s poll efforts were the roadshows and door-to-door campaigning of Shah.

The BJP, which could only manage three seats in the last Assembly election, remained aggressive throughout the campaigning, which witnessed rallies by party bigwigs like Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Manohar Lal Khattar, Vijay Rupani, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Anurag Thakur among others.

For AAP, which marked a historic win in 2015 polls by winning 67 out of 70 seats, Kejriwal remained at the forefront along with other party leaders like Sisodia.

Among the most prominent issues, which remained in highlight during the campaigning process, was Shaheen Bagh, where people have been protesting for more than a month over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, among others.

The heated poll campaign in Delhi witnessed AAP outlining the work done, primarily in the field of health and education. BJP focused on the central government’s achievements and projected the Prime Minister’s image to seek votes.

Congress, on the other hand, attempted to remind the citizens of Delhi about the welfare and development work done by former chief minister Sheila Dikshit under her 15 years of rule and revolved their campaign around ‘Congress waali Dilli’.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also did a rally in Rajouri Garden.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of Assembly polls with the deployment of 190 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

Also, 19,000 Home Guards and 42,000 Delhi Police personnel will be deployed at polling booths.

“We have put 190 companies of CAPF who are regularly patrolling to ensure peace and tranquility,” Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner (Intelligence), Delhi Police told ANI.

All five polling stations in Shaheen Bagh, where anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest is going on since December last year have been declared “critical” by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer.

The counting of votes will take place on February 11.

(ANI)

Pak’s Request For OIC Meet On Kashmir Frustrated

By LokMarg

Saudi Arabia has shown reluctance to accept Pakistan’s request for an immediate meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) foreign ministers on Kashmir, Dawn reported citing a Pak diplomatic source.

Pakistan has been pushing for a long time for the foreign ministers meeting of the 57-member body since Indian abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to people of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, last August.

Though a meeting of the contact group on Kashmir took place on the sidelines of UNGA last year in New York, there is no progress on the Council of Foreign Ministers’ (CFM) meeting.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia, which holds the most important place in OIC, is avoiding the CFM meeting by proposing several proposals to Pakistan including holding a parliamentary forum or speakers’ conference from Muslim countries and a joint meeting on Palestine and Kashmir issues.

With the delay of the meeting, Pakistan’s frustration is growing and is visible.

Last week during his visit to Malaysia, Imran Khan said, “The reason is that we have no voice and there is a total division amongst [us]. We can’t even come together as a whole on the OIC meeting on Kashmir.”

After Islamabad pull out of the Kuala Lumpur summit in December, Riyadh Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan indicated some flexibility on the proposal for the proposed meeting.

The Saudi flexibility too was short-lived and soon Riyadh reverted to its position on the CFM on Kashmir, the report added.

(ANI)

All 645 Evacuees From China Test Negative For Coronavirus

By LokMarg

In a major development, all 645 evacuees from Wuhan have been tested negative against the novel coronavirus (nCoV), the Union Health Ministry informed on Thursday.

Earlier, they were all put in quarantined at Manesar and ITBP facility.

“All 645 evacuees from Wuhan, China have tested negative for the novel coronavirus. In addition, 510 samples have been tested by the ICMR network laboratories of which all have tested negative except for the three who had already been reported positive. Those three cases are now clinically stable,” said an official of the health ministry.

Till Friday, 1,38,750 passengers from 1,265 flights have been screened but no new case has been detected, according to the official who added that community surveillance and contact tracing were ongoing by IDSP for 6,558 persons across 32 states/UTs.

Fourth Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) meeting was held today under Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to discuss various technical issues including review period of follow up required for asymptomatic travellers from China.

The Health Ministry in coordination with central ministries and all states/UTs is taking adequate measures for the management of novel coronavirus in the country.

“In case of fever, cough and symptoms of pneumonia, seek medical attention immediately. For any technical query on 2019-nCOV call the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Helpline at +91-11-23978046 or email at ncov2019@gmail.com,” stated the official. (ANI)

Union Budget 2020: A Missed Opportunity To Tackle Unemployment

By Sanjoy Narayan

Continued lack of employment opportunities for India’s youth has already led to disaffection among them and that is evident partly from the manner in which student unrest (albeit triggered by the Modi regime’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act) has spread. Half of India’s 1.3 billion people are below the age of 25. This year, it is expected that the average age of an Indian will be 29 years (for China, it will be 37). As education levels rise for young Indians so do their aspiration for good jobs and better standard of living. If employment rates don’t rise their hopes will not be met.

That could be a ticking time bomb. Many believe the countdown to an explosion has already begun. Educated urban youth in India have readily joined the movement against the Citizenship Act, which is being seen as discriminating against the largest minority community in India, Muslims, who constitute more than 14% of Indians. The youth’s opposition to the Act must be seen holistically. It is a symptom of the greater disaffection that young Indians feel. Even as the number of those who graduate from schools and colleges increases, their prospects of landing desirable jobs have diminished. Before long this could be a problem instead of the demographic dividend that a youthful India could benefit from.

In that context, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget has missed a big opportunity. The annual Budget in India has always been a mega economic event in the country. Finance ministers, regardless of which political party they represent, use the exercise, which ought to be a routine balancing of the government’s expenditure and revenue streams, not only as an opportunity to announce the government’s economic policies but also as a podium to offer sops and incentives to different sections of the population—an exercise that is seen as a means to garner electoral support from voters.

ALSO WATCH: Youth Slam Govt Over Lack Of Jobs

As a consequence, the media hype gets heightened and the Budget’s announcement in Parliament becomes a red-letter day for newspapers, TV channels and other publications. In recent years, as the Indian economy has become less regulated; tax structures have become simplified; and government controls on different economic sectors have loosened, the Budget’s importance has declined. It is no longer an event that offers governments a chance for grandstanding or making big announcements for changing policies or ushering in new economic strategies.

The Indian economy has been ailing in recent months. It is probably at the worst low point that has been witnessed in over a decade. Last year, GDP growth rate slumped to 4.8% from 2018’s 6.8%; prices across many categories of products, including food, rose; and sales of consumer products stagnated. Industries, including automobiles, white goods, and other categories held off investment plans as inventories of unsold products built up. The youth—65% of Indians are under 35—were impacted adversely too as estimates of the unemployment rate rose to nearly 8% at the end of 2019.

ALSO WATCH: Nothing In This Budget To Create Jobs

In her Budget, Sitharaman announced a series of incentives—personal income tax cuts; bank deposit insurance; and some infrastructure investments—but none of them were designed specifically to increase the potential for generating more employment. Most of India’s youth are based in rural parts of the country. Nearly 66% of Indians live in villages. And while 44% of Indians are employed in agriculture, the sector accounts for a shade over 15% of GDP. Labour productivity in the sector is low and many Indians are what economists call “disguised unemployed”—that is they work on farms but don’t add anything in terms of incremental output.

In fact, it has been argued that if rural youth, ostensibly working on overcrowded farms, get the opportunity to move to other sectors and find work, the productivity of Indian farms could actually go up. But there lies the rub. Where are those alternative jobs? India’s Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, and some of his ministerial colleagues have often stated that India’s youth have opportunities galore in the informal sector—to be small entrepreneurs who are self-employed. Those are facetious statements, designed more to divert attention from the real problem of unemployment than to alleviate it. Otherwise, how does one explain the phenomenon of post graduates and graduates applying in thousands for menial posts such as that of a government department’s peon or a municipality’s sweeper?

ALSO READ: DU Graduate Who Cleans Sewers, Drains

Yet, there may be a kernel of an idea for employment generation in those statements. If the finance minister, in her Budget, had devised incentives for unemployed youth or other budding entrepreneurs to set up small businesses—through liberal grants of seed capital; subsidised land for building small manufacturing or trading establishments; and facilitation for marketing and distribution of products and services—that could lead to heightened entrepreneurial activities. Such incentives, if properly targeted in the rural and semi-urban parts of the country where agriculture or farm-related enterprises could move the rural sector up the value curve, it could see the blooming of millions of tiny, small, and even medium enterprises. In turn each of these enterprises could generate employment—not on a large industrial scale—but in modest numbers. If a tiny enterprise hires even four or five workers, 10,000 of them could hire 50,000 young people. The multiplier effect of such an initiative is easy to conceive.

To be sure, Mr Modi’s government, in its first term (2014-19) flagged off many well-publicised schemes: Skill India, which was aimed at re-skilling young Indians; and Startup India, aimed at handholding and helping entrepreneurs to set up enterprises. None of these has attained the levels of success that were envisaged or promised. If such programmes are conflated into comprehensive opportunities for fresh Indian graduates from schools and colleges and offered to them as they finish their education, particularly in rural and semi-urban India but also in urban areas, they could not only be opportunities for unconventional employment but also serve to build small enterprises by young entrepreneurs that could further employ other young people.

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Some of this is happening informally. But the need of the hour is for India’s government to formalise such activity and make it a widespread movement. The definition of a budget is to balance spending and earning; but in India, budget-making could also be the opportunity for governments to think out of the box and create something that could address what is perhaps the country’s biggest issue—a burgeoning population of young people but a diminishing prospect of finding employment for them. India’s youthful demography is unique. Nowhere in the world are there as many young people as there are in India. The strategy to find opportunities for them has to be equally unique. The Budget for this year offered a platform that could have been used to do just that. Sadly, that opportunity was missed.

Prime Minister Modi IN Rajya Sabha

Modi Announces Formation Of Ram Temple Trust

By LokMarg

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday paved the way for the construction of Ram temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya with Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the formation of “Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra” to oversee the construction process.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, amid vigorous chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the Prime Minister informed the house that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the Union cabinet had passed a Resolution for establishing a Ram Temple trust.

“The government has, as per the directions of the Supreme Court, paved the way for the construction of a grand Ram Temple at the Ramjanmabhoomi site. The issue pertains to the sensitivities and faith of crores of people in the country and it is my good fortune that I am making this announcement,” he said.

“To maintain the sanctity of Ayodhya and for construction of the temple, keeping in mind the needs of crores of devotees, that would throng the religious place, the entire 67.703 acres land bank, of the inner and outer courtyard, would be transferred to the trust,” Modi added.

Modi pointed out that he was made aware of the historic verdict in Ayodhya case on the auspicious occasion of inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor on the 550 Prakash Parv of Guru Nanak on November 9 last year.

He said the Uttar Pradesh government had also approved the proposal to transfer 5 acres land to the Sunni Waqf Board as per the directions of the apex court.

Prime Minister Modi also thanked people for their maturity in dealing with the order and pointed out that the nation followed the culture of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ and ‘Sarve Sukhinah’.

“All religions in India are part of one family. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists should evolve, develop, be healthy together in keeping with the principles of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas,” he said.

He exhorted all communities to work together for the construction of the grand Ram temple.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had in November ruled unanimously in the favor of Ram Lalla. It said the entire disputed land spread over 2.7-acre will be handed over to a trust formed by the government, which will monitor the construction of Ram temple at the site.

The court had asked the government to give 5-acre land to Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque.

(ANI)

All Nirbhaya Rape-Murder Convicts To Hang Together

By LokMarg

Delhi High Court on Wednesday stated that that death warrant of all convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case should be executed together.

The Delhi prison rules does not state whether when the mercy petition of one convict is pending, the execution of the other convicts can take place and from the trial court to Supreme Court all convicts have been held by a common order and a common judgment, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait observed while passing the order.

High Court dismissed the Central government and Tihar Jail authorities plea challenging the Patiala House court’s order, which stayed the execution of the four convicts in the case. It also observed that the convicts indulged in a heinous offence of a bone-chilling rape and murder of a girl and that criminal appeals by all convicts were dismissed by the courts.

Moreover, the court observed that the review petitions were filed after long wait and convicts are taking shelter of Article 21 which is available to them till their last breath.

A single-judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait had on Sunday kept the order reserved in the matter after special hearing of two days.

Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Centre, alleged that the convicts were deliberately delaying the execution, adding that any delay in death sentence will have a dehumanising effect on the convicts.

A Delhi court last week stayed till further orders the execution of the four convicts — Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma — which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutal murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people, including a juvenile, in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.

(ANI)