The Jharkhand High Court on Friday reserved judgement on the bail petition of RJD president Lalu Prasad in fodder scam cases.
After hearing arguments of the petitioner as well the CBI, Justice Apresh Kumar Singh reserved his order.
Earlier, on December 21 last, the bench had deferred the hearing on Prasad’s bail plea for January 4.
The RJD chief is languishing in Ranchi jail since December 2017 after conviction in multi-crore fodder scam cases.
The feast of St. Bonaventure at Erangal beach
The famous church of St. Bonaventure, a 16th-century Portuguese church, is situated on the beach in Erangal in Malad (West), Mumbai. The annual Erangal feast held on the second Sunday of January, celebrating the feast day of St. Bonaventure, attracts over four lakh people of all faiths and communities to this scenic spot.
To celebrate this feast, people travel by buses, tongas, and bullock carts from all over Mumbai and its suburbs. The feast is patronised mostly by the people belonging to the East Indian Catholic community. But nowadays, other communities patronise it as well. The day starts with attending the Holy Mass at the famous Church of St. Bonaventure situated on the beach in Erangal. Thereafter, people start enjoying themselves by going for horse rides, camel rides, giant wheel rides and other rides available on the beach front. There are also stalls for different kinds of games like throwing rings, shooting the balloons, etc. Some people do live cooking in the open air wadis, while others prepare their food at home and bring them in huge Tiffin boxes. Lots of East Indian Marathi songs are played throughout the day. Some of the well-known ones are ‘Mary tuze kes lam lam lam’, ‘Sakalche Para’, and ‘Gaylan Sakli’. People visit each other and the day is spent in eating, drinking and merrymaking. In the evening, the fisherwomen in their traditional nav vari lugras (nine-yard sarees), wearing the same colours, dance to Marathi songs along the beach to celebrate this feast.
The fair is popularly known within the community as ‘Erangal Cha Sann’. The East Indians who are the original inhabitants of Mumbai have been visiting the Shrine of St. Bonaventure at Erangal for centuries.
Jubel D’Cruz
Allotting govt-bungalows to former CMs in MP
It refers to the media-reports about Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath providing government-bungalows to former chief ministers Digvijaya Singh (Congress) and Shivraj Singh Chauhan (BJP) in Bhopal. Earlier, recently retired CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan subsequent to an order of MP High Court following Supreme Court verdict on May 7, 2018, misused his discretionary power of allotting government-bungalows to former BJP Chief Ministers Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur, Kailash Chandra Joshi but not to Digvijay Singh of Congress.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in a bid to exhibit unbiased politics has provided government-bungalow simultaneously to his BJP predecessor Shivraj Singh Chauhan also, in order to provide one to Digvijay Singh of his own party Congress. It is clear that rival politicians unite on matters of mutual convenience.
The Supreme Court should sue-motto take cognisance of the matter and undo the wrong done by extending its order on May 7, 2018, to all the states so that such undue facility may be snatched from all former chief ministers from various states. It is noteworthy that even the most advanced nation of the world, USA, with democratic governance of system, provides just half of the last-drawn salary to its former presidents as the only post-retirement benefit, with former US Presidents even doing job in private establishment or engaged in farming etc. after their retirement as most powerful political ruler of the world.
Madhu Agrawal
Demonetisation of Rs 2,000 notes
Media reports confirm about the printing of Rs 2,000 currency-notes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after about two years of its launch to meet emergency situation subsequent to demonetisation on November 8, 2016, of earlier notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 6.73 lakh crores were there in circulation on March 31, 2018, which accounted for 37 per cent of total currency worth Rs 18.03 lakh crores on that day. Since Rs 2,000 notes not commonly seen are mainly hoarded as unaccounted currency and for illegal currency-circulation, even a currency-crunch developed in the country some time back.
Even though demonetisation on November 8, 2016, was a bold step for checking unaccounted deals, yet poor and unplanned implementation could not give the desired results with currency-circulation presently crossing the figure before demonetisation on November 8, 2016, thus negating the real purpose of demonetisation.
Since Rs 2,000 notes are not much in hands of commoners, a well-planned demonetisation of Rs 2,000 notes by asking the public to deposit all these notes in their banks before a stipulated date can yield the desired result of checking unaccounted transactions and replacing cash-deals by banking transactions. Voluntary Disclosure Scheme for unaccounted cash announced simultaneously with the announcement of demonetising Rs 2,000 notes can overflow public-exchequers. Demonetisation of currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 done on November 8, 2016, will be incomplete till Rs 2,000 notes issued in emergency conditions are demonetised.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Need communal harmony
The statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Ram Temple issue that government would wait for the SC verdict is most welcome. This statement has been appreciated from all communities, irrespective of caste and religion. It is very clear that the leaders of the country have faith in the highest court. I hope they will accept the judgement of the SC without ifs and buts, except a handful of people who are constantly destroying the peace of our country and compelling the government to make a new law to build the Ram Temple. I request them to not insult the verdict of the SC and trust it. Definitely, it will create communal harmony in the country.
Najmul Sherazi
Establish a strong India
In order to defeat the ruling party, the Opposition must be very strong and united. If the Opposition does not unite, no one can stop their votes to be divided. In this case, the ruling party takes advantage and that is why the Opposition should make the best policy before the upcoming election for the sake of the country.
The unity is the biggest weapon of defeating BJP. The unity will only overcome BJP (United we stand divided we fall) and we request the president of every political party to make a strong alliance in the next Lok Sabha Election so that we establish a strong India.
Waseem Akram Qasmi
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said in Lok Sabha that there would be no loss of jobs due to merger of public sector banks.
Earlier this week, the Cabinet approved merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda.
Jaitley said that there would be no job losses due to merger of the banks and that the move would create a bigger entity like the State Bank of India (SBI).
The cost of lending could also become cheaper, he added.
During the Question Hour, the Minister said that out of the 21 public sector banks, 11 are under PAC (Prompt Corrective Action) framework.
PAC is initiated against banks that have high levels of non-performing assets (NPAs).
Replying to a supplementary question, Jaitley said that the curve of non-performing assets would go down and that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has helped in bringing back around Rs 3 lakh crore into the system.
Jaitley said that the State Bank of India (SBI) and other public sector banks have been making operational profits. They incurred losses due to provisioning for non-performing assets, he added.
With regard to recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the minister said that Rs 51,533 crore has been infused into them in the current financial year till December 31.
“In the budget estimates of FY 2018-19, Rs 65,000 crore has been allocated for recapitalisation of PSBs and an amount of Rs 51,533 crore has been infused in PSBs till December 31, 2018,” he said.
The Minister also said that in recent past, Rs 90,000 crore was allocated in the Union Budget and infused in various PSBs by the government during financial year 2017-18.
No one can say “NO” that India is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won praises for shepherding that momentum. PM Narendra Modi comes across as an effective administrator and a proud Indian nationalist. He is also a policy maven — introverted, precise, and even passionate about the most technical of subjects. Image of Narendra Modi is considered of a stern administrator and protective strict discipline. The man “MODI – Ek Swayamsevak”, the man who has never thought for him, he has just given his life for the Bharat Mata. Majority of the population feels and thinks that Modi could change fortune of the nation with his strategies and policies.
As per the Survey, it is said that there are more people in the country today who believe that Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government does not merit another opportunity to govern India after the 2019. There is hardly a leader in the opposition camp who can give a competition to Modi. Narendra Modi is unstoppable. BJP is well entrenched in every state. Its leadership is proactive. It is for all the purposes that he has become a dynamic indefatigable party persisting tirelessly in bits endeavor. No party or group of parties can match BJP or Modi. BJP is sure to win once again with a mandate to rule for another five years. One may agree that as per the political analysts who believe that the performance of the Modi government has been unsatisfactory and a few seem to believe that the Bharatiya Janata Party won’t return to power but if we look at a glance in 2014, Modi powered BJP to a landslide victory. That was the first time in around three decades when any party won a full majority on its own in the Lok Sabha polls. Since 2014, several surveys have suggested Modi’s popularity remains high. Modi dominates the politics of India the way that no other figure has done in decades and we do not find any opposition figure who can compare with him in stature, experience or presence. The manner in which the BJP has established its presence demonstrates how much popular faith it has won in more than four years of its tenure at the centre. Modi is the first PM who has popularity all over the world for his excellent and dynamic presentation making India very stable despite too much opposition. No politician in the past 30 years has occupied the public’s mind space as Modi has. The nation trusts Modi and so his policies should come up to the expectations and within the reach of the needy and poor. The most impressive passion that Modi has exuded are the passion for development, the passion for uplifting the living standards of the people in India and the joy with which he recounted simple yet memorable data-points.
No doubt, the regional parties are strong in their states and certainly can give good fight to BJP in their states but they have their own limitations. People even now believe Modi as a messiah sent to redeem them. When it comes to Parliament election, their invariable option is Modi and BJP. One agrees that Modi has done some good things and some bad in the opinion of general public but his governance has been a lot better than previous MMS Govt. But Modi and his aides should not take things for granted because the electorate in India is a silent killer.
(This is the first part of the Diary and the latter part will continue on Sunday.)
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that if his party comes to power in 2019, a criminal investigation will be launched into the Rafale deal and the accused will be punished.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament ahead of the government’s reply, he urged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to answer the questions raised by the Congress on the multi-million dollar fighter jet deal.
“We and the entire opposition want that when defence minister speaks on the PM’s behalf, the questions raised by us should be answered,” Gandhi told reporters.
The Congress president also asked Sitharaman whether any objections were raised on the Rafale contract file by the negotiating team and the Defence Ministry.
Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running away from the debate and said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should answer questions raised by the Congress instead of abusing him.
The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that they were facing difficulties in the operation to rescue 15 miners trapped in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya since December 13 as there was no blueprint of the 355-feet well.
The government told the apex court that the illegal mine was located near a river and seepage of water was hindering the rescue operation.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, informed a bench of justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer about the steps taken for a swift rescue operation.
The bench directed the Centre and other authorities to file a status report on the steps taken and progress made in the rescue operation on January 7.
The apex court on Thursday had expressed dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the Meghalaya government to rescue 15 miners trapped in the illegal coal mine and had said “prompt, immediate and effective” operation was needed to rescue them as it was a matter of life and death.
It had asked the Solicitor General to apprise it by Friday the steps which the government intends to take in the matter.
The rat-hole mine, atop a hillock fully covered with trees in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, was flooded when water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it, trapping 15 miners.
Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually three-four feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed “rat holes” as each just about fits one person.
The Solicitor General had told the bench that several members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were working at the site and instead of the Army, the government has sent Navy personnel there as the mine was submerged in water.
“72 members of NDRF are already there but still no result,” the bench had observed, adding, “Why cannot you take help of the Army? He (petitioner) says that water pumps were sent to Thailand. Why cannot it (pumps) be used here also?”.
The petitioner, Aditya N Prasad, has said in his plea that Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL) had offered high-powered water pumps and given technical support to the Royal Thai government in June-July 2018 for the operation to rescue a football team trapped inside a cave system in Thailand.
KBL had then offered to provide four specialised high capacity Autoprime de-watering pumps, which were kept ready at Kirloskarvadi plant in Maharashtra to be airlifted to Thailand.
Mehta had maintained that the petition seeking urgent steps for rescue of these 15 persons was not adversarial.
The counsel appearing for the state had said adequate steps have been taken and besides 72 NDRF personnel, members of state disaster response force, the Navy, fire department and Coal India Ltd were also involved in the rescue operations.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for petitioner Aditya N Prasad, had told the bench that an adjoining mine was connected with river and the authorities were using only 25 horsepower pumps to flush out the water.
The plea has also sought a direction to the Centre and other authorities concerned to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for rescue operations in “mines and other similar conditions”.
It has sought directions to the Centre and the state to utilise the services of the technical wing of the Indian Armed Forces — the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force — in the operation immediately to rescue the 15 miners.
Family members of at least seven trapped miners had already given up hope to rescue them alive and requested the government to retrieve the bodies for last rites.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi postponed his tour timings for Amethi on Friday due to the ongoing Rafale discussion in the Parliament.
Gandhi, who was scheduled to address a programme in Amethi around 4.30 pm today, will now leave for Amethi after the Parliament session and reach Fursatganj in the evening.
The political atmosphere in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi, is expected to be charged today as the Congress president and Union Minister Smriti Irani are scheduled to visit the town at the same time.
During his visit, Gandhi will meet the people of his constituency, attend public and party reception events, hold ‘corner meetings’ and attend a function of newly-appointed party spokespersons. He will be travelling to Salon Nagar, Pardeshpur, Naseerabad, Paraiya Namaskar, and Gauriganj on January 4 before reaching Amethi in the night.
On January 5, after spending some time in Amethi, the Congress president will travel to Musafirkhana tehsil, Jagdishpur and Tiloyi, where he will meet the family members of veteran Congress leader Shiv Pratap Singh, who died last week after a prolonged illness, before reaching Lucknow to catch a flight back to Delhi.
It will be the Congress president’s first visit to the constituency after his party’s victories in the recent assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Irani, on the other hand, will attend a programme organised by an NGO, Raghav Sewa Sansthan, during which blankets and financial assistance will be extended to those in need. She will also lay the foundation stone for a school in the area.
The two leaders have been fighting over the development of Amethi, with Irani maintaining that the constituency had suffered despite the Gandhi family representing it in the Lok Sabha for decades.
Gandhi, a Member of Parliament from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, had defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate Smriti Irani from this Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 elections. Ms Irani is expected to contest from the Amethi seat once again in the 2019 polls for which she has been making frequent trips to gather support.
Confusion prevailed over the entry of a 46-year old Sri Lankan Tamil woman into the Lord Ayyappa temple on late Thursday night with the woman denying it and official sources claiming otherwise.
While the woman, Sasikala, said she was not allowed to undertake the trek to the shrine and sent back by the police, official sources told agencies that she entered the sanctum sanctorum and offered prayers.
Sasikala, who was accompanied by her husband, Saravanan, and son for darshan, told reporters at Pamba that she was not allowed to offer prayers at the temple.
Saravanan said that only he and his son were able to offer worship at the temple on Thursday, the day when parts of Kerala witnessed violent protests over the entry of two women of menstruating age into the shrine.
Last night, some television channels aired visuals of the woman with “irumudikettu” (sacred offerings) and two policemen in mufti (plain clothes accompanying her).
On spotting the media, the policemen were seen scurrying away.
Sasikala claimed that at Marakootam, she was prevented by the police from proceeding further.
“There was no protest from devotees. But police sent me back. I am an Ayyappa devotee. They did not allow me to go to the shrine. I am not scared of anyone…,” she told reporters on her return to Pamba, foothills of Sabarimala.
Sasikala claimed that she had observed the 41-day “vratham” (penance).
“They did not allow me. Why did they not allow me? Why are you all standing around me now? I am not afraid of anyone. Ayyappa will answer you all. I am an Ayyappa devotee. I have not come here to act as others. You will come to know who I am,” she said, visibly agitated.
On Friday, a transgender, Kayal, who arrived at Pamba at around 6 am, was turned away by the police and not allowed to go to the temple complex following protest from the devotees, the police said.
Kayal had come in a saree and later changed into men’s clothing and tried to trek the holy hills with “irrumudikettu”, they said.
Four transgenders had recently offered prayers at Sabarimala.
Women MPs in Rajya Sabha, cutting across party lines, nudged the BJP-led government on Friday to use its brute majority in Lok Sabha to ensure passage of a legislation providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state legislatures.
The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Bill, was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010, but is awaiting nod of Lok Sabha.
Women members spoke in favour of the legislation after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu allowed short submissions. He converted notices from some members for a discussions into matters that could be raised during the Friday Zero Hour.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said that her party was not against the Bill but wanted sub-reservation to be provided for dalits. Also political parties should be given right to choose the seats or constituencies from where they wish to field 33 per cent women, she said.
“There are unnecessary rumours that our party is against the Bill. We are not against the women’s reservation bill. We are for the reservation bill but we have certain recommendations,” she said, adding the “Bill is cosmetic in its present form”.
Jharna Das Baidya (CPM) said that the BJP has absolute majority in Lok Sabha but has not got the women’s reservation bill passed.
V Thota Seetharama Lakshmi (TDP) said that her party supports the legislation and appealed to the government to ensure its passage in the lower house.
Shanta Chhetri (TMC) said that her party gave one-third of tickets to women in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and West Bengal has already provided 50 per cent reservation to women in local bodies.
Vijila Sathyananth (AIADMK) urged the government to bring the bill and ensure its passage it in Lok Sabha. “You have enormous majority” to pass the legislation, she said.
She also asked the government to confer Bharat Ratna on late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, whom she described as the “greatest leader of the century”.
Kanimozhi (DMK) said the Right, Left and Centre are supporting the bill, yet it has not been passed in Lok Sabha for nine years.
“It is very sad that women have to put up with decisions made by men throughout their lives. Even here men are making decision for women,” she said, asking the government to bring the women’s reservation bill in Lok Sabha.
She said that her party supports the legislation.
“There is so much discrimination against women in the country,” she said citing the controversy over entry of women in Sabarimala temple.
Sonal Mansingh (nominated) said that the rotational provision in the bill needs attention and detailing.
Women in legislatures will bring “grace, wisdom and harmony”, she said.
Congress member Viplove Thakur said there cannot be women empowerment until they become decision-makers.
She said that the ruling BJP had promised reservation for women in Parliament and now the Lok Sabha should pass the bill already cleared by the Upper House.
Kahkashan Parween (JD-U) said the Chief Minister of Bihar has already implemented women reservation in local bodies. She said several women are heading Zila Parishads and are also mayors.
BJP member Sampatya Uikey said her party is empowering women.
The BJP-led government in Maharashtra has given financial assistance of Rs 50,000 crore to farmers in the last four-and-a-half years, much more than the rest while Congress-NCP administration, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Fadnavis said that his government is working for the poor and common people and a slew of welfare schemes have been implemented for them in the state.
He said the BJP-led government is committed to farmer welfare and since taking charge in October 2014, it has provided Rs 50,000 crore in financial aid to cultivators.
More help will be made available to farmers, he said.
In comparison, the previous Congress-NCP government had given only Rs 20,000 crore-Rs 22,000 crore to farmers in 15 years of its rule, said Fadnavis.
He was speaking after the inauguration of construction work of an administrative building, a government guest house and other development works at Phulambri tehsil here in central Maharashtra.
Fadnavis said that his government is known for taking “speedy” decisions and giving priority to providing facilities to the people in rural areas.
The CM said that the government has made all arrangements to provide relief in drought-affected areas.
More funds have been sought from the Centre for drought relief, Fadnavis said.
He said that two lakh farmers have been given electricity pumps in the Marathwada region and this has helped them a lot in irrigation.
