Month: November 2020

Government has issued an order bringing online films, audio-visual programmes and online news and current affairs content under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

In a notice, Cabinet Secretariat stated, “In exercise of powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 77 of the Constitution, the President hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, namely–These rules may be called the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Three Hundred and Fifty-Seventh Amendment Rules, 2020. They shall come into force at once.”

In the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, in the second schedule, under the heading–‘Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Soochana Aur Prasaran Mantralaya)’ after entry 22, the following sub-heading and entries shall be inserted, namely–Films and Audio-Visual programmes made available by online content providers.

News and current affairs content on online platforms, read the notification. (ANI)

By Abhishek Bhardwaj

It was a tough assembly election for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as he faced multiple challenges in his bid for the fourth successive term in office. The challenge posed by Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan gained momentum as the campaign progressed and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan also gunned for him.

The performance of Janata Dal-United has down compared its performance in the 2015 elections and the ruling party could not win even half of the number of seats it contested in this election. But the seats it won were enough to give a cushion to the strong performance by BJP to take the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) past the majority mark in the 243-member House.

Kumar’s party could only win 43 seats out of the 115 seats it contested whereas BJP, which fielded 110 candidates registered victory in 74 constituencies.

JD-U leaders said that the problems faced by people due to Covid-19 and the strategy adopted by LJP leader Chirag Paswan to put up candidates against the party and target the chief minister were among factors that led to a decline in the seats won by the party.

Kumar and BJP sought to repeatedly remind people of “jungle raj associated with RJD rule” in the past even as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav made jobs and employment a key issue. He talked of issues of “kamai” (employment), “dawai” (medicine), “padhai” (education) and “sinchai” (irrigation).

The Congress and other opposition parties also reminded people of the problems faced by migrant labour from the state when the first lockdown was enforced to contain the spread of COVID-19.

While the NDA looked in a comfortable position about two months ahead of elections and Nitish Kumar was expected to cruise along on his image of “Sushsan babu”, the elections saw Tejashwi Yadav put up a determined fight in terms of forging a cohesive coalition, launching sharp political attacks and through the sweeping promise of 10 lakh government jobs.

NDA’s victory also appeared likely as the alliance had performed remarkably well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning 39 of 40 seats in the state.

Nitish Kumar’s personalized barbs on Lalu Prasad were seen by political observers as a sign of some unease in the JD-U camp over Tejashwi Yadav’s sustained and aggressive campaigning.

A six-time member of Lok Sabha and one of the most experienced political leaders of the country, Nitish Kumar was Chief Minister of Bihar briefly for eight days in March 2000.

He has continued helming the state as Chief Minister since November 2005 except for a brief period in between and is credited with improving infrastructure in the state, improving law and order situation, initiating many people-oriented schemes, and putting the state on a sustained growth track.

Kumar served almost two full consecutive terms as NDA scored a victory in the 2010 elections. He resigned in May 2014, making party leader Jitan Ram Manjhi Chief Minister, but returned to the post in about nine months.

The 69-year-old leader left BJP-led NDA in 2013, fought the 2015 Lok Sabha election with RJD to trounce BJP and again rejoined with NDA in 2017 after differences cropped up. Tejashwi Yadav was his deputy in the coalition government formed by the two parties.

A leader belonging to the socialist school, Nitish Kumar has been different from his contemporaries Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav who have made their sons inheritors of their political legacy.

Born on March 1, 1951, Nitish Kumar pursued B.Sc. (Engineering) and was first elected to Bihar assembly in 1985. As union minister, Kumar held several portfolios including railways, surface transport, and agriculture. He is a six-time member of Lok Sabha.

Ahead of the third and last phase of the campaign, Kumar announced it will be his last election.

While Tejashwi accused him of being weak and “of being unable to handle the state”, Chirag Paswan also attacked him throughout the campaign seeking to portray him as an opportunist.

Both of them alleged corruption under his rule. Paswan said he will get ‘Saat Nishchay’ (seven resolves) scheme probed if voted to power and “send to jail those found guilty including the chief minister”.

LJP, which contested outside NDA, put up candidates against JD-U but not BJP that also apparently created some doubts about the cohesion of the alliance.

But while JD-U numbers went down, the party has retained much of its support. While it had won 71 seats and got 16.8 per cent votes in 2015, the party got 15.41 per cent votes in this election.

Nitish Kumar appears to have particularly retained his support among women voters with the stable governance he has provided as Chief Minister.

The welfare programmes of the NDA government and appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made a decisive impact to help NDA come to power. (ANI)

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan on Wednesday said that people of Bihar have reposed their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and credited him with the BJP’s victory in the Assembly polls.

“People of Bihar have reposed faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The result shows that people are excited for the BJP. This is PM Modi’s victory,” Paswan tweeted in Hindi.

The Paswan scion also congratulated the candidates who fought for the party and hoped that the efforts will reap the benefit in the future.

“All the LJP candidates fought well the elections all alone. Party’s vote share also increased. LJP went with ‘Bihar first Bihari first’ resolution. The party also strengthened in every district and will benefit in future,” he added.

The LJP chief thanked the people of Bihar for showing love towards his party.

“I am proud that the party never bowed down for power. We fought and told people about our work. The love shown by people has strengthened the party. I thank the people of Bihar,” he tweeted.

According to the latest trends as per the Election Commission’s website at 1 am, the BJP won 65 seats and leading on 9 while its ally Janata Dal (United) bagged 40 seats and ahead on 3. Other NDA partners Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) secured 4 seats each.

RJD registered victory in 70 constituencies and leading on 5 seats, its ally Congress won 18 seats and ahead on one.

The halfway mark in 243-member Bihar legislative assembly is 122. (ANI)

The European Union has to legislate the removal of terrorism-related content from the Internet within one hour next week as a matter of urgency to reinforce the fight against the terrorist threat in member states, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

“Internet is a space of freedom, but this freedom does not exist if there is insecurity and if it serves as shelter for those who violate our values or want to spread mortifying ideology. That is why the regulation of extracting terrorist content within one hour must absolutely be adopted next week. It is essential,” Macron said.

The French president also conveyed his country’s “firm support” to the European Commission’s initiative of proposing a new legislation against hate speech in early December.

“We need intergovernmental work to improve coordination in security, the work of our services together to fight against terrorism, to better organize ourselves in the fight against all forms of radicalization in our societies,” Macron continued, adding that “any security breach on the external borders or on the borders of one of our member states is a security risk for all the member states.”

Among the concrete steps that he proposed were the development of a shared database, police cooperation and the reinforcement of legal tools.

France vowed to ramp up the fight against radical Islamism and terrorism after two brutal religiously-motivated attacks were carried out in its territory last month. A 21-year-old man from Tunisia killed three people in a church in France’s southern city of Nice, including two by beheading, on October 29. Two weeks before that, a 17-year-old local Muslim teen beheaded a Parisian teacher who showed caricatures of prophet Muhammad during a freedom of speech lesson.

When another terrorist attack took place in Austria on November 2, claiming the lives of four people excluding the perpetrator and injuring 17 others, governments of other countries across Europe rushed to reinforce their counter-terrorist measures as well. (ANI/Sputnik)

BJP leader Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday said that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has again won an absolute majority in Bihar elections and returned to power in the state.

“NDA has once again won absolute majority in Bihar elections. We want to thank PM Narendra Modi and our party president JP Nadda for leading the party in the biggest polls of the country,” Yadav said at a press conference here.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai thanked the people of the state for reposing faith in the NDA. “We thank people of Bihar for giving us the mandate,” he said.

Home Minister Amit Shah thanked the people of the state for “re-choosing development, progress, good governance” and giving “full majority” to the NDA on Tuesday.

“Every section of Bihar has once again rejected hollow politics, casteism, and politics of appeasement, and flagged the development of NDA. This is the victory of the hopes and aspirations of every person of Bihar. This is the victory of the double engine development of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. Congratulations to the workers of Bihar BJP,” Shah tweeted.

“I thank all the brothers and sisters of the state from the depths of heart for re-choosing development, progress, and good governance in Bihar. I especially thank the youth and women of Bihar who formed the government with a full majority of NDA by choosing security and bright future in Bihar,” he said in another tweet.

He said, “It is truly amazing to see the enthusiasm with which people showed their support for the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NDA. This result not only reflects the faith of the poor, labourers, farmers, and youth in the successful fight of Modi government against Corona but also a lesson for those who mislead the country.”

BJP national president JP Nadda also thanked the people of Bihar for rejecting “dynasty, corruption and divisive politics” and choosing development.

“I heartily congratulate and thank the people of Bihar for today’s mandate. The people of Bihar have put their stamp on the public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the performance of development works and the actions of the NDA government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar,” tweeted Nadda.

ANI

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi on Tuesday said that Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) was unable to accept its defeat in the Assembly polls and will blame the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the loss.

“RJD was the same party which opposed elections but when Rahul Gandhi called EVMs as Modi Voting machines then I was certain that the RJD will also blame the EVM for their loss,” Sushil Modi Modi said in a press interaction after claiming victory.

BJP senior leader Bhupinder Yadav also took a swipe at the RJD and termed its conduct as against democratic values.

“I want to especially thank the women voters of Bihar for their support for the mandate. The conduct by the RJD is not according to democratic values,” Yadav said.

Yadav said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has again won an absolute majority in Bihar elections and returned to power in the state.

“NDA has once again won an absolute majority in Bihar elections. We want to thank PM Narendra Modi and our party president JP Nadda for leading the party in the biggest polls of the country,” he said.

Counting of votes, which began from 8 am at 55 counting centres across 38 districts of the state, is still underway even after 16 hours.

According to latest trends as per the Election Commission’s website at 12:09 am, the BJP won 60 seats and leading on 13 while its ally Janata Dal (United) bagged 33 seats and ahead on 10. Other NDA partners Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) secured 4 seats each.

RJD registered victory in 64 constituencies and leading on 12 seats, its ally Congress won 16 seats and ahead on 3. The halfway mark in 243-member Bihar legislative assembly is 122. (ANI)

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) appeared headed for a majority in Bihar elections as it continued its lead over Mahagathbandhan as election results poured in on Tuesday evening.

According to trends from the Election Commission, the ruling NDA is leading on 122 seats and Mahagathbandhan on 113 seats in the 243 member assembly.

While BJP leaders said that the NDA was coming back to power in the state due to “good governance” in Bihar, a delegation of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress went to meet officials in state electoral office in Patna late on Tuesday evening alleging “tempering” in counting on several seats.

“There are over dozens of seats where tampering has been done. They are trying to change the people’s mandate, even after all such ill-intended attempts we’ll form the government,” RJD leader Manoj Jha told reporters after meeting Election Commission officials.

“Election Commission (EC) has assured us that they will try to address all our grievances. We trust the EC but not district administration,” he added.

BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal thanked people for their support to the ruling alliance.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked for poor in the last 6 years. Due to the good governance in Bihar, the leadership of NDA is coming back in majority again and for this I am thankful to the public,” he said.

The trends showed narrow leads and margins in several constituencies.

Among the constituents of NDA, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 48 seats and is leading on 24, Janata Dal-United JD(U) has won 30 seats and is leading on 12, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) has won four seats while Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has won three seats and is leading on one seat.

Among the constituents of Mahagathbandhan, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has won 56 seats and is leading on 21, Congress has won 13 seats and is leading on six, CPI has won one seat and is leading on two, CPI-M has won two seats and CPI(M-L) has won nine seats and is leading on three.

Among other parties, AIMIM has won four seats and is leading on one and BSP has won one seat. One Independent candidate has also won.

With his party poised to win five seats, AIMIM leader Asaduddin said “it is great moment for us as people of Bihar have honoured us with so many votes”.

“Our leaders and workers have put a lot of effort into strengthening our party in Bihar. We will try our best to fulfil the promises,” he said.

The results have been delayed as the number of polling stations were increased from 72,723 earlier to 1,06,515, an increase of 46.5 per cent over the previous election, to ensure adherence to social distancing measures in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The polls were held in three phases. (ANI)

The strategy adopted by LJP leader Chirag Paswan to contest outside NDA and target Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the campaign does not appear to have worked in the Bihar assembly polls and the party is likely to draw a blank.

With 82 per cent of the votes already counted, LJP is not in lead on any seat though it had shown some promise in the initial rounds of counting.

The party had contested 137 of 243 seats and fielded candidates against JD-U but not BJP.

The results are especially telling as LJP done well in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls as part of National Democratic Alliance. (ANI)

Farmers in Amritsar continued to burn stubble on their fields even as neighbouring Delhi choked with Air Quality Index (AQI) remaining well over 400, in the “severe” category, on Tuesday.

Despite several weeks of rising pollution levels, farmers claim that the government has still not offered an affordable alternative to the problem.

“We are compelled to burn the stubble as we don’t have any other alternative. We cannot afford the big machinery that the government offers as alternatives. The government should find a more concrete solution for this problem,” said Jerman Singh, a farmer from Amritsar’s Wadala village.

He suggested that the government should also set up an industry to produce something from the straw. “This way pollution can be reduced. Stubble burning, however, is not the only reason for pollution. Industries and vehicles contribute much more,” he added.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Tuesday reported that the AQI in Delhi-NCR continued to remain in the “severe” category.

The AQI near Income Tax Office (ITO) in New Delhi was recorded at 469. It was 489 in Narela, 497 in Gurugram’s Sector 51, and 480 in Noida’s Sector 62, all in the “severe category”, as per the CPCB.

Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that the national capital was paying the price of the Centre’s negligence as timely intervention by the government could have helped lower the pollution levels in the city.

Justifying the ban imposed on bursting firecrackers during the ongoing festive season in the city, Rai said that it was necessary amidst rising pollution during the pandemic. (ANI)

A day after Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced around 90 per cent efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccine in their ongoing phase three trial, the central government on Tuesday said that it is in dialogue with both the domestic and international vaccine manufacturers about the logistical requirements.

The government’s National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 was responding to a query if they are considering any tie-up with Pfizer for their covid vaccine.

“We not only look at the status of the development of these vaccines but also at the regulatory approvals, where have they progressed. We also engage in dialogue about the logistical requirements if such vaccines have to be stored at a temperature which may range between -90 and 8 degrees Celsius, as well as dosages required to be administered. This is a continuously changing situation and if any regulatory approval comes, we will share it,” said Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary.

On Monday, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced more than 90 per cent efficacy of their potential vaccine for the coronavirus infection. (ANI)