Cong targets NCP over delay in promotion of Satyapal Singh

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January 27, 2014

A senior Congress leader criticised Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil over “delay” in promotion of city police chief Satyapal Singh and claimed the state has “suffered” due to NCP getting the home portfolio.

“The promotion file of Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, which was supposed to be received on April 1, 2013 by Chavan was received after five months i.e. On September 30, 2013,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.

Singh is due for promotion to the rank of Director General.

Transfers and promotions of the rank and file of IPS officers in the state have been pending for almost a year now, allegedly due to a tussle between Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Patil, with both Congress and NCP trying to have their say in the matter.

The leader claimed Chavan had discussed the issue of transfer of IPS officers and appointment of successor to the Police Commissioner with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

As per the Police Transfer Act, if transfers are not done in specified time period, the Chief Minister is authorised to take the decision.

“They (NCP) have some interest in the appointment of (new) police commissioner of the city (of their choice),” the Congress leader claimed.

According to reports, Javed Ahmed, currently additional DGP (law and order) and senior IPS officer Vijay Kamble are in the race for the post of city police commissioner.

The latest attack on NCP by the alliance partner is likely to further affect already strained ties between the two parties even as elections are round the corner.

“The procedure of timely appointment of Mumbai Police Commissioner should have been followed. As the home department is with them (NCP), Maharashtra has suffered hugely. Elsewhere in the country the home department is with the chief minister’s party. Giving away the Home Department to them was not a good idea,” the leader said.

Taking a dig at NCP for its criticism of Chavan over “slow” decision-making, the leader said, “They (NCP) complain that Chief Minister does not clear files swiftly. But at first place, he should receive files (in time) to clear them. Didn’t the CM receive the file of commissioner of police late?”

When asked if Chavan will set his foot down on the issue, the Congress leader replied in the negative, saying “Chavan knows that using veto power will be detrimental to the prospects of the fragile tie-up (between Congress and NCP)”.

However, he also expressed hope that the sticky issue might get resolved in a week.

No road construction possible if toll collection stopped: Prithviraj Chavan

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

A day before the workers of Raj Thackeray-led MNS vandalised toll booths at various places in the state, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had said that if toll collection was stopped, construction of new roads would come to halt.

Admitting that there could be manipulations in bidding process and calculation of toll amount, Chavan yesterday stressed the need for a regulatory authority.

“Since no public hearing is taking place and also the whole process of toll is not transparent, there is some anger among the people. (But) If toll is not collected, highways will not be built.

There should be a regulatory authority,” Chavan said, talking to reporters here late last evening.

Talking about the Kolhapur toll issue where locals are opposed to toll collection at entry points on the city’s outskirts, Chavan said as per the agreement, if the company collecting the toll faces any difficulty, the government has to compensate it, and the government does not have the money.

“No construction of roads would take place. The entire process will stop,” he said. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers today went on a rampage, vandalising toll plazas in various places, following Thackeray’s diktat not to pay the toll and “thrash” those who protest it.

Is ‘Raksha Bandhan’ also superstition?: Uddhav to Sharad Pawar

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray hit back at NCP chief Sharad Pawar after the latter took a swipe at the saffron party’s ‘shiv bandhan’ initiative and wondered whether the NCP will oppose ‘Raksha bandhan’ festival and bring it under the Anti-Superstition Act.

“Those who have cheated people throughout will never understand the difference between ‘ganda’ (thread tied around the wrist) and bandhan…Will the festival of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ be brought under the Anti-Superstition act?…If that happens we will oppose the act,” Uddhav said.

His comments came a day after Pawar ridiculed the initiative wherein Sena workers on the occasion of late Bal Thackeray’s birth anniversary on January 23 tied a “shiv bandhan” thread to remain loyal to the party and overthrow the Congress-NCP government in the state.

Scoffing the ‘shiv bandhan’ drive, Pawar had said, “this was violation of the anti-superstition act and I am waiting to see what action the government takes”.

Binny, the Black sheep

By

Vaidehi Taman

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January 27, 2014

Everything turned opposite. Till these days, Arvind Kejriwal was protesting against government and system but today he faced a protest on his lawn by BJP lawmakers who demanded his controversial Law Minister Somnath Bharti’s resignation. On the other hand, barely hours after sitting on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Vinod Kumar Binny called off the protest on giving ‘more time’ to Kejriwal government in Delhi to fulfill the promises.

One of the most serious tasks to an agitation party is to induce discipline in the party. There is no doubt, AAP emerged in very short span of time with outstanding outcome and Kejriwal has managed to establish his benchmark. However, we should not neglect the base of the party, through which it has been emerged from i.e. through a mass movement. There is no entry test for a person to become a member. Moreover, no political party has any such mechanism but still being the largest and oldest parties they have their own established credit. As the nation watches, the growth of this ‘experiment’, its leader will have to show great resolve and single-minded pursuit for their avowed objectives. The way the politicians, police and administrators behave, India needs a “Dictator” to discipline them and have a credible transparent and fair government. Somewhere, Kejriwal is struggling between establishing the Swarajya and managing his rebellious leaders. Congress is a master-mind; they already smelled the danger and implanted many of their party members in Aam Aadmi Party, to over watch the party functioning. Binny is blessed by Anna Hazare, the one who is jealous of Kejriwal due to his success.

Team Anna never ever remotely thought that Kejriwal will make so big. Binny has Congress culture. AAP should have anticipated that he would be power hungry. They should not have given ticket to him in the first place. Let him stage hunger strike or join BJP or return to Congress again. It is his fundamental rights. These types of politicians are real cheaters. AAP do not need greedy people like Binny and his expulsion should be seen as a message to other MLA’s too. A deadline of 10 days was given by the rebel AAP MLA to the Aam Aadmi Party government reportedly on the advice of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

Binny had earlier met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and apprised him of the ongoing situation and talked about the alleged misbehaviour of Law Minister Somnath Bharti with Ugandan women during the midnight raid that took place in Khirki Extension in South Delhi recently. Even then Binny alleged that AAP has already decided on the candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Binny further reportedly said that he was the first one to join the party when AAP had no support and is the first one to protest when the party is deviating from its principals. He further said that the AAP had made allegations of corruption against former Delhi chief minister but did not do anything on that aspect as well. Another rebel AAP leader Tina Sharma also expressed her full support to Binny. These incidences make us feel that, there is no democracy in the party. They have different yardsticks for different people. They have cheated the people of Delhi and these rebels want the people to realise it. The rebel AAP leader had been criticising his party and the Delhi government for failing to fulfill the promises made in the election manifesto on various issues, including regular water supply and cheap electricity. Binny also claimed to have gained support of 3-4 AAP MLAs, who are backing his agitation against the Delhi government.
However, the AAP leadership has been claiming that Binny has rebelled from the party after he was denied a ministerial berth in the Delhi Cabinet. Anyhow, Binny wound up his Dharna drama when there was no adequate media support or the gathering of people. He started agitation post breakfast and finished it post lunch.

On the other side, BJP was protesting in front of Kejriwal’s office, they pointed out that there was no restriction that they were violating, a swipe at Kejriwal, who had defied a ban on large gatherings to stage a dharna, or sit-in, near top government offices in the centre of Delhi exactly a week ago. For 33 hours, Kejriwal had refused to negotiate with the Delhi Police and even threatened to disrupt Republic Day celebrations if Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde did not act against police officers who refused to follow the orders of Aam Aadmi Party ministers.

Since the AAP has come in power, other political parties and ministers are adopting the same methods adopted by them. Politically, such methods to be used for a genuine cause and not for blackmailing purpose like Binny is using. In the history of non-violent resistance like fasting was practiced in many countries: England, China, USA, Palestine to mention a few. Mahatma Gandhi adopted many non-violent methods like non-cooperation movement, fasting, Quit India Movement, Salt March to win independence from the British; his reasons were valid, genuine and very reasonable. We should also reason and judge, why these non-violent methods adopted by Mahatma Gandhi were successful? The British were always very sensitive to the human rights, they were benevolent; the British Government had a conscience. What would have happened if Mahatma Gandhi had adopted same non-violent methods against any other country, say against the Japan of 1940s? Upon suspension from AAP, Vinod Kumar Binny should leave politics and live in his ancestral home tending his wives and concubines, cattle, other domestic animals and chickens. Binny staying in politics or leaving politics will reflect only on his personal profit or loss account. And on the other side, BJP should think out of box, they are far more experienced and established than AAP. BJP and Binny, both B factors, need wisdom to deal with the issues at this hour.

Stop this politics of hatred

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Prakash Jha

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January 27, 2014

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has once again started indulging in politics of hatred by targeting toll plazas across the state. The common man has to bear the brunt of MNS activists who disrupt normal lives by vandalising toll booths. By indulging in such acts the party is only damaging the national property and wasting tax-payers money.

This is not the first time Raj has indulged in such acts to gain cheap publicity earlier too his party had ransacked toll plazas. I don’t understand why he issues provocative statements by asking people to refrain from paying toll charges. Doesn’t he realise that he is only causing huge hardships to Mumbaikars who already have to commute a long distance to reach offices?

Even I am aware that inflation is rising which has resulted in to increase in prices which needs to be controlled. Also steps needs to taken to reduce toll charges which has become a burden for motorists. However, it doesn’t mean that one should resort to violence for reducing toll charges. This is not first instance when political parties are fighting for the welfare of common man. Many others are adopting a peaceful means to protest against the issues affecting the people. Thus Raj Thackeray and his party are not following the right approach by creating law and order problem in the state.

Even Arvind Kejriwal too protests against various issues but he never takes law in his hands. On the other hand, Raj Thackeray indulges in politics of hatred and his activists carry out agitations which turn violent. Recently, the MNS party workers had vandalised toll plazas across Maharashtra state thereby causing inconvenience to people. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that MNS party workers were vandalizing tolls booths in Dahisar check naka as commuters sustained injuries. When I went for covering this incident party activists reprimanded me. They also asked me to leave the place and also threatened me of dire consequences if I covered the news. I don’t know what the MNS party has to prove by indulging in such goondaism.

According to me leaders like Raj Thackeray is big threat to the society and should be expelled from Maharastra. He can never be good politician because always indulges in politics of hatred. He always claims that his party works for the welfare of Marathi Manoos. However, I would like to remind him that Mumbaikars were stuck in traffic jam for hours because of his cheap publicity stunt. Moreover, many Marathi people sustained severe injuries. If Raj is really bothered about their welfare then he should stop indulging in such anti-social activities. His party also needs to work for the welfare for Marathi Manoos.

For Narendra Modi, working on world’s tallest statue, a new order is placed

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

Building the world’s tallest statue – with donations of cash and iron from farmers and others across the country – is one of the mission statements being emphasized in the campaign of Narendra Modi, the BJP’s candidate for Prime Minister.

The statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Home Minister and the deputy of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is expected to cost 2500 crores, will be double the height of the Statue of Liberty, and will be installed on a river island in Gujarat, the home state of both Mr. Modi and the iconic founding father, who belonged to the Congress but whose legacy has turned into hotly-contested territory.

While Mr. Modi and the BJP have positioned themselves as the defenders of a founding father ignored by the Congress, they have a new interest group to contend with.

Dalit organisations in Gujarat have come together to demand an even taller statue of their leader, BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian constitution and the country’s first Law Minister.

On Republic Day, several leaders including Dr. Ambedkar’s grandson, Prakash, met at Bhatt village, about 30 kilometres from Ahmedabad, and decided to launch a high-decibel campaign to pressure Mr. Modi .

“We now need to examine whether religion or constitution holds an important role..that’s why there is need for such a statue..which could serve as an icon for the youth and provide them an insight into the contribution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar,” said Prakash Ambedkar.

Paraphernalia to popularize the cause includes matchboxes and candles inscribed with messages promoting Mr. Ambedkar. These are being distributed in villages.

Dalits constitute 17 per cent of the population, and if the movement gathers momentum outside Gujarat, Mr. Modi may find himself confronting a new and large dilemma.

AAP trumps Rahul Gandhi, builds roof over Dalit woman’s home in Amethi

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

In yet another political move, the Aam Aadmi Party helped in the construction of the roof of the house of a Dalit woman in Amethi that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had visited in the year 2008. The AAP has helped contruct the roof of the house of Sunita Devi. Her house was burned down after Rahul spent a night there in 2008.

Vishwas is likely to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Rahul Gandhi’s bastion Amethi.
Vishwas had visited the house of Sunita on January 13. Pacing up his attack on Congress, Vishwas had said that there had not been any change in the condition of the family even after Rahul Gandhi’s promise of help. Sunita too echoed Vishwas’s words. “Our condition has worsened after Rahul’s visit. We do not have anything to eat,” Sunita Kori said.

Vishwas had said that Rahul had done nothing for the betterment of the district. “In the last 10 years, not one question was asked on Amethi in Parliament,” he had said.

“A lot of claims have been made on development of Amethi but the reality is that there is no development here… Coming here and returning after waving at people will not serve the purpose of development,” he added.

The Samajwadi Party workers had built the walls for the Sunita’s house before the Uttar Pradesh elections. They, however, had refused to provide money for a roof.

Rahul was also shown black flags during his visit to Amethi last week. The members of Bhartiya Kisan Union showed him black flags. It was his first visit to his Lok Sabha constituency after being promoted as the party’s election campaign chief.

Unemployment levels rising in India: Experts

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

The count of people being without a job is on the rise in India as economic slowdown and slower business expansion activities cast a shadow on employment generation, say experts.

Indicating sluggishness in the country’s job market, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said in its recent report that the unemployment scenario in India over the last two years has been showing a rising trend.

Going by ILO’s latest estimates, India’s jobless rate could be 3.8% this year.

Ritu Mehrotra, VP Global HR and Talent Management of Bristlecone, a Mahindra Group company, said that due to migration to urban areas there is a sharp rise in the unemployment rate in rural areas as well.

“Government should step up their efforts to support skill and retraining activities to address the gaps between demand and supply of work skills and qualifications and to address long-term unemployment,” she said.

In South Asia, labour markets continued to suffer from high rates of informal/agricultural employment where jobs are poorly paid and unprotected, ILO said in the report.

Unemployment rate in India is showing an increasing trend since 2011 when it was 3.5 percent. The same rose to 3.6 percent in 2012 and climbed to 3.7 percent last year.

This year, jobless rate is expected to rise to 3.8 percent, according to the report ‘Global Employment Trends 2014’.

According to the ILO report, it has been argued that India was experiencing ‘jobless growth’ due to the fact that total employment grew by only 1.1 million from 2004/05 to 2009/10 (based on the National Sample Survey), representing an employment elasticity of almost zero.

However, total employment in India expanded from 2009/10 to 2011/12 by a much healthier 13.9 million, “though many of these jobs are in the informal economy,” it added.

Executive search firm GlobalHunt’s MD Sunil Goel said in the last couple of years Indian and global economies have been facing slowdown. New business expansions are also not happening at all or has gone down, he added.

A large pool of youth in the age group of 18-25 years despite being skilled are facing unemployment issues since there are not enough opportunities for them, Goel said.

In India, ILO report showed, 21.2% of working men (aged 15, 59) had a regular salaried job (in 2011/12 period).

“India’s biggest worry and centre of all debates essentially needs to be the growing informal employment which counts for 94 percent of the workforce and is growing faster than formal employment,” Indian Staffing Federation Vice President Rituparna Chakraborty said.

Expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny ends hunger strike on Anna Hazare’s suggestion

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

Barely hours after sitting on a hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar, expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Vinod Kumar Binny called off the protest on Monday giving ‘more time’ to Kejriwal government in Delhi to fulfill its promises.

A deadline of 10 days was given by the rebel AAP MLA to the Kejriwal government reportedly on the suggestion of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

Binny told PTI that Anna Hazare and Lt Guv Najeeb Jung suggested that “some days should be given to the AAP-led government so that he (Kejriwal) could work on public-related issues”.

Ahead of beginning his hunger strike, Binney met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung this morning and apprised him of the ongoing situation and talked about the alleged misbehaviour of Law Minister Somnath Bharti with Ugandan women during the midnight raid that took place in Khirki Extension in South Delhi recently.

“Lt Governor has assured that due action will be taken against those who have violated the law, irrespective of their positions,” he told reporters.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Jung, Binny said, “I think the AAP wants the government to fall, as they are scared that they would not be able to fulfill the promises they have made to people, and they are trying to run away from their responsibilities.”

He also alleged that AAP has already finalised the names of its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Binny further said that he was the first one to join the party when AAP had no support and is the first one to protest when the party is deviating from its principals.

“They made false promises about free water and electricity to people, and the decisions and rules they have made on water and electricity have made the people confused and have mislead them,” he told reporters.

“They had also said that the Jan Lokpal Bill would come into effect fifteen days from the time they come to power, but nothing is being done about it,” he said.

“They had also promised to form a commando force for the safety of women, but there have been so many cases of crime against women in the past few days,” he added.

AAP membership crosses 1 crore, gets 98.5 lakh members in three weeks

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Afternoon Voice

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January 27, 2014

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) whose government in Delhi is completing one month on Tuesday claimed that its membership has crossed one crore. Addressing the media, AAP leader Gopal Rai said that the party had got 1 crore and 5 lakh members so far. “We have reached 98.46 lakhs membership on January 26. It was just 7 lakh before we started the ‘1 crore members before Republic Day campaign’. We have achieved our target. People registered themselves as members through mobile phones, SMS and missed calls,” he said.

AAP had launched a 1 crore free membership drive in the second week of January. According to AAP leaders, the membership drive will continue till the Lok Sabha elections. Rai admitted that initially when they announced this ambitious drive, the party was not confident of getting one crore members. He said that the most members were from the rural areas across India.

He also added that some miscreants tried to enroll fake names like Barack Obama, Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi, etc and stated that the technical team of the AAP has deleted such members. He also claimed that the AAP had not released such a data that it cannot verify.

Rai said that since it was impossible to scrutinse the background of all one crore members, the party has decided not to do that. “If somebody goes against the AAP principles, his/her membership will be automatically cancelled. Each member has a responsibility and nobody should indulge in anti-AAP activities or the activities against our principles,” he said.

He reiterated that there is no split in the party and the party will not comment on the next moves of its expelled MLA Vinod Kumar Binny.

Reacting to a question on President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to the nation in which he criticized the anarchism, Rai said, “the President knows who his intended target was. The matter is before the public”.

Talking about the Lok Sabha polls preparations, the AAP leaders said that the party had received more than 5,000 applications from the aspirants and the processing of application would take more time. “We thought that we would be able to come out with the 1st list of Lok Sabha candidates by January 20. We did expect that so many people will apply. We are yet to process more than 1000 forms,” AAP leaders said.