Don’t oppose development in the name of environment

By

-

October 11, 2019

The development wins over quality of life and preservation of environment. Trees are already being chopped down in the dark of the night. The accused were arrested as they held a protest without prior permission and assaulted two constables, including a female constable, who was trying to disperse them. Where was these people and protesters when the discussions for Aarey car shed was going on. Now they are stopping development in the name of trees in the last brink? People should welcome this move and let BMC do their work, rather than showing environment in last minute when discussions are over.

There is no one to be blamed for the Aarey mess as the stand for cutting around 2000 trees was taken in the best interest of development and infrastructure advancement. Passing the buck at this stage is not in good taste. Bombay High Court should have certainly covered a host of issues before giving its judgement, agreeing with the proposal to cut down certain number of trees. But then, it is the government’s responsibility to make serious attempt to convince the people, the public, as to why the trees need to be cut and why it could not wait till the issue is heard by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). It is now or never position and a make or break situation.

Those opposing the Metro car shed at Aarey Colony have accused the government of ignoring the environmental impact of the project. They say the project site is a green lung which absorbs harmful carbon carbon dioxide. The felling of trees is being opposed by green activists and local residents. The letter said Aarey Forest was an unclassified forest and the felling of trees, robbing Mumbai of its green lungs, was illegal. The Bombay High Court had refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest and declined to quash a Mumbai Municipal decision to permit the cutting of the trees for the metro car shed. Restrictions under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure was imposed in the Aarey colony area.

The cutting of trees at the Aarey forest continued through the night of October 4 and into October 5, even as activists and residents of Mumbai reacted with outrage over the government’s decision to start felling in the middle of the night, just hours after the High Court verdict. The handling of the protests by police also came in for criticism with 29 persons arrested early in the morning and nearly 200 others detained through the day.

It is observed that those people who are opposing the felling of trees inside Aarey despite a court directive are showing fascist tendencies. It seems they have no respect for the judiciary and the government and have fascist mentality. The need to cut trees in the night was felt because the government machinery wanted to speed up the project once the court has given its judgement on the matter.

The discussions have happened. NGT, tree authority, activists have all presented their side of views. Based on everything High Court has given judgement. There is nothing undemocratic. Even I don’t want the trees to be cut. But when I see all experts point of view was considered and judgement arrived at, we all should agree and do not create ruckus. The space available in Mumbai is limited and hence for any infrastructure development we have to fore go environment. Mumbai receives, every week, 48 trains from UP and Bihar, the populous states. In Mumbai everyone gets job, makes money, remit home and pull on with Vada Pav. Sparrow is endangered bird in India but not in Mumbai. Finally Mumbai cannot grow horizontally but only vertically.

No doubt, our modern and materialistic life is putting lot of impact on environment by way of cutting trees and deforestation especially during 21st century. Therefore instead of cutting trees, it is better to use state of the art method to extract out tree along with roots and fix somewhere else where it’s use can be taken out to make friendly environment, so as the continuing progress for the society be carried out like laying down metro rails and roads.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 11 October, 2019

By

Web Team

-

October 11, 2019

Begging has become a lucrative business

Begging has become a profession in most metropolitan cities and the tale of a beggar who left behind Rs 10 lakhs with a nominee named in his bank account should act as an eye-opener. Begging has become a lucrative business and some prefer to beg than work for a livelihood. We are encouraging begging by giving money and one should rather help the needy in kind like giving them food and medicines than cash which is either saved or spent on addictive habits like alcohol as well as cigarettes.

Government should open orphanage and old age homes for the needy. People too can donate directly to these homes to help government in this noble cause. Begging infact should be banned and those who are handicapped without income should be shifted to these homes for shelter and food. Easy money discourage people to work which is the reason why begging has become a lucrative business!

S.N. Kabra

Is our money safe in banks?

Who said our money is safe in banks? It is not. Banks looting customers have become a common sight nowadays. The PMC Bank did not have a better audit system hence they incurred heavy losses. Poor customers. They now have to bear the brunt.

Jubel D’Cruz

One Rupee Clinic

The popular “one rupee clinic ” which functions at important railway stations in the Mumbai region of the central and western railways has again found it’s place in the news and the hearts of railway commuters as recently it helped a pregnant woman passenger deliver a baby in an emergency situation. These clinics that function at railway stations in the region has helped save many a lives before too.
The Central Railway introduced the concept of such clinics at its major stations two years back in the wake of accidents and health problems happening suddenly to passengers. The doctors provide consultation at a charge of Re 1 and the clinics have already been appreciated whole heartedly by the public for its dedicated service to commoners. During railway accidents the victim needs immediate medical attention and assistance which due to lack of medical facilities often result in death. As life saving tools and doctors are available 24×7 many number of precious lives have been saved. The clinics also provide medical tests too to commoners at a very affordable rate thereby winning the hearts of the people who now feel safe during rail journeys. This medical service is laudable and the same can be followed in the other railway zones too.

M Pradyu

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Sheikh Hasina exhibits an excellent example of hood governance

By

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

-

October 11, 2019

For decades, Indians and Indian media were competing in undermining the capabilities of Bangladesh by showing us as “poor”, “hunger-stricken” etc. But those days are gone and things were possibly just because of the magnanimous and dedicated leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Now the Indian media are projecting Bangladesh as “economic lessons for India”.

Truly, Indian policymakers now need to learn from our Prime Minister how she has been successful in turning an under-developed Bangladesh into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Currently, our GDP is above 8 percent while per capita income in US$ 2,000 and by 2030, we are expected to leave India’s economic growth far behind that of ours. While the size of unemployment is growing fast in India, in Bangladesh, the scenario is just the opposite. Currently, being frustrated with their financial conditions and failing to find a job, over 800,000 Indians are working in various sectors in Bangladesh illegally and the number of such illegal immigrants – most coming in search of the job- is growing at an alarming level. According to statistics, Bangladesh has already become a key attraction to most of the Indians in West Bengal and Northeastern states, just because, they don’t find a job in their own country.

While Sheikh Hasina is wholeheartedly working in elevating Bangladesh to the status of a developed nation by 2040, Indian politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unfortunately, are indulged into the old-days habit of cheap and filthy politics or even political stunts. Though the Indian policymakers fully understand that foreign investors are increasingly becoming uninterested in putting their investments in India because of a very chaotic political situation, they sadly are failing in adopting a workable strategy, which would help them in getting foreign investors interested in investing in India.

One of the most important points here is – Bangladesh has already become a top choice to foreign investors, especially those billionaire investors in China, who are looking for relocating their industrial projects. To them, Bangladesh is at the top chart because of many reasons, which includes political stability and very fast growth of infrastructure and connectivity.

A glowing example of good governance

Since September 18, 2019, law enforcing agencies in Bangladesh began a massive crackdown on illegal casinos, which was later expanded on extortionists, tender manipulators, and drug dealers. It is learnt from media reports that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has passed strict instructions to the law enforcing and intelligence agencies to show zero tolerance for such illegal activities. She has also asked them to wholeheartedly combat corruption and bring the perpetrators of such crimes into books, irrespective of their political or social identities.

This is for the first time; a political government has taken such a praiseworthy initiative with the noble goal of freeing the country from the evil clutches of corruption and other forms of criminal acts. Though the political opponents of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is making frantic bids in somehow sabotaging such noble endeavor, the people of Bangladesh at large are confident about the success in her efforts in fighting corruption, drugs, extortions, tender manipulations and other forms of criminal acts.

But of course, in achieving remarkable success in her noble endeavor Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina well-deserves all-out support from people of every walks of life as well as the international community. Bangladesh is moving ahead in establishing good governance, and it is time for mighty nations in the world to extend their wholehearted support towards Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

(Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a multi-award-winning journalist and editor of Blitz.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

7 dead as bus runs over pilgrims sleeping on pavement in UP

By

Web Team

-

October 11, 2019

Seven members of a family were killed when a bus rammed into a group of sleeping pilgrims near Narora on Friday morning, police said. They said the driver of the bus was on the run.

Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Singh said the victims, who were residents of Chandpa, had gone on a pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine along with some relatives and other villagers.

While returning, they got off from from the bus in Narora and slept on the road along Gandhi Ganga Ghat. At around 4 am, another bus that was also carrying pilgrims crushed the victims to death, the official said.

After receiving information about the incident, Dibai Circle Officer Vikram Singh and Dibai Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sanjay Kumar reached the spot.

Locals gathered there and protested against the accident. Police talked to the people and send the bodies for postmortem.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of the deceased.

He said those responsible should be punished strictly.

The deceased were identified as Phoolwati (65), Mala Devi (32), Sheela Devi (35), Yogita (5), Kalpana (4), Renu (22) and Sanjana (4).

Deny pension to politicians

By

Suraj Chandran

-

October 10, 2019

An NGO had filed a petition in the Supreme Court for denying pension to politicians. After this, many persons started online campaign for it. They appealed to everyone to share and support this cause.

Mahila Pradesh Congress General Secretary Manisha Rote said, “Salaries of MPs and MLAs have been revised. Poverty is increasing in the country and people are dying due to hunger. At the same time, politicians have other source of income. You can’t find a leader who is surviving on salaries and pension. Once a person becomes a politician he starts owning property worth crores of rupees. Instead of giving pension and other perks it would be better to support poor people.”

In the petition the NGO had stated that MPs should not get pension because politics is not a job or employment, but a free service. Politics is an election under the Public Representation Act, there is no retirement, but they can be re-elected in the same situation again. (Currently they get pension, after 5 years of service). Another loophole is that if a person has been a councilor first, then becomes a legislator and later becomes an MP, then he gets not one but three pensions. This is a great betrayal with the citizens of the country as they immediately have to act to stop it. It also stated that with the Central Pay Commission, salary allowance of MPs are being revised which should be brought under the income tax.

NCP leader and advocate Majeed Memon said, “Let people file petition and court will hear the matter. Those who have served the country and society for a fairly long time why they should not be considered equal to those who have done public service? Why they should not be on par with the benefit of pension post retirement? I don’t find any substance in this argument that they should not be entitled to it.”

At present, MPs increase their salaries and allowances arbitrarily by voting for themselves and at that time all the parties forget their differences and become united. The NGO was in favour of discarding healthcare system for MPs. Politicians often tend to go overseas for treatment. If they go abroad for treatment then they must bear the expenses from their pocket. It wanted MPs and MLAs to discard their current health care system and participate in health care system similar to Indian public health.

Justice BG Kolse-Patil, former judge of Bombay High Court said, “It is a double edged sword. Honest politicians face immense difficulties after retiring from politics. They had to rely on pension for supporting themselves. All facilities were meant for honest politicians. However, times have changed and today it is difficult to find an honest politician.”

NGO also called for the abolition of various concessions offered to MPs and MLAs in electricity, water and phone bill. MPs not only get several concessions but they also increase them regularly. It wanted criminals to be prevented from contesting election, suspicious persons with punitive records, criminal charges and determination, past or present to be banned from entering the Parliament.

According to the NGO, the financial losses caused by politicians while remaining in the office should be recovered from them, their nominees and properties. It wanted MPs to follow the same rules applicable to common citizens. No deduction on LPG gas subsidy by the citizens unless the subsidies available to MPs and MLAs, and other subsidies, including subsidised food in the Parliament canteen, are not withdrawn. It also called for the withdrawal of free rail and air travel. It asks why should the common man bear the cost of subsidies availed by MPs and MLAs. According to it, serving in the Parliament is an honour, not a lucrative career for looting.

Why pension for a people’s representative?

By

Vaidehi Taman

-

October 10, 2019

Last month Madhya Pradesh-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur filed the RTI query. The Lok Sabha Secretariat’s First Appellate Authority cited Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act, which authorises the information holding authority to refuse information if it deems it personal. The reply given was actually very strange. The information, the Lok Sabha secretariat has informed, was “personal”, so details would not be shared. According to the Finance Bill of 2018, former MPs are entitled to a pension of Rs 25,000 every month, if they complete their five-year term. The MPs are entitled to an additional Rs 2,000 for every year served as an MP over the five-year period. Under the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, an MP loses his entitlement to pension and perks in case he is appointed the President, Vice-President, or is re-elected to either House or gets employed in the central or state government.

The section says that “information which relates to personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual” may not be shared “unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure”. It also adds that this is “provided that the information, which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person”.

The salaries and pensions of parliamentarians are decided by the Parliament through open deliberation and thus, constitute information which can be placed before Parliament if a member asks for it from the authority.The RTI query had sought the information of pensions and allowances given to Amrinder Singh, Mehbooba Mufti, Yogi Adityanath, Mamata Banerjee, Sarbananda Sonowal, Nitish Kumar, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, Manohar Parrikar, Kamal Nath, V. Narayanasamy, Ashok Gehlot, and Sachin Pilot (current Rajasthan deputy chief minister), between 2013 and 2018 December. All of them have been MPs and went on to become chief ministers, except Pilot. He may have recently raised a red flag about government’s interference in the functioning of the judiciary, but Justice Jasti Chelameswar gave a huge relief to sitting and former Parliamentarians.

After a year long hearing, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Chelameswar dismissed a petition that sought the scrapping of pension and perks being given to ex-MPs. The court also rejected a plea to regulate the salary and allowances of sitting MPs. The bench was delivering judgement in an appeal filed by NGO ‘Lok Prahari’ against the Allahabad High Court order dismissing its plea, alleging that pension and other perks being given to MPs even after demitting office are contrary to Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution.

The SC agreed with the findings of the Allahabad High Court that Parliament is competent to legislate on pensions for ex-MPs and has the power to prescribe any condition subject to which the pension may be paid. In the process, what the court cleared for former MPs includes life-long pension, travel facilities, telephone calls, free electricity and water, unlimited travel by train along with spouse from any place in India to any other place in India and up to eight air journeys in a year from the MP’s place of residence to Delhi and back when Parliament is in session.

According to this new SC mandate,, the spouse of the MP gets unlimited train travel by first class AC at any time in the year and one associate of the former MP get free AC-II tier pass to accompany him/her in all train journeys. The petition had challenged the constitutional validity of the law and sought its scrapping. “Parliament has no power to provide for pension benefits to lawmakers without making any law,” it said. 82 per cent of the lawmakers were “crorepatis” and “the poor tax payers should not be made to bear the burden of their pension, including their family pension,” the petitioner NGO said. Backing the pension and other perks for MPs, the Centre had told the court that the entitlement of former MPs to get pension and other benefits was “justified” as their dignity has to be maintained even after they complete their tenure as Parliamentarians.

He also informed the bench about the finance bill 2018, which contains provisions regarding salary and pension of MPs, and also about the revision of their allowances after every five years starting from April 1, 2023, on the basis of cost inflation index. The term of appointment of the Member of Parliament (MP) in India is only five years and hence they get pension after five years.

The term of appointment of government servants including Army and civil services is for 25-40 years i.e. until they become sixty years. They still get a full pension after 20 years. An IRS officer, who served Government of India for 25 years, gets the pension of around Rs 90,000 per month, which is half of the total salary received by him at the time of his retirement.

A retired Cabinet Secretary of Government of India gets a pension of more than 1, 25,000 per month. Now compare these pensions with the pension of an MP.

A one term MP thus gets lesser pension than even the clerk who has retired in a government on superannuation. This pension is not even 10 % of the benefits, which a sitting MP gets. Such benefits are estimated to be more than Rs 3,00,000 per month. Let our MPs get decent salaries and pension so that they don’t have to engage in corruption. But scenario is completely otherwise. MPs are the representatives of the people and the most important people in democracies as they represent the people of India.

They deserve much more than what in greed of getting more. Their intent is serving themselves than the people. They are getting lawfully now but for that they really need to serve people coming out of glamour posts; they need to slog for the people and their welfare unconditionally. When politics becomes an opportunity for them, why would they be paid our hard earned money is the question here. People’s representatives just gave themselves financial bonanza. One has to complete 21 years of service to become eligible for pension. Why pension for a people’s representative? It is not a government service. No qualifications fixed. No retirement age. It is for the people to raise questions?

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Reboot of ‘Friends’ would ruin it: Jennifer Aniston

By

Web Team

-

October 10, 2019

Jennifer Aniston believes a reboot of her beloved sitcom, “Friends”, would “ruin” the show.

Aniston portrayed Rachel Green on the show, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

She starred alongside Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller.

Appearing on “The Howard Stern Show”, Aniston discussed her reunion with the rest of the cast at Cox’s house for dinner.

“We just had dinner this week, the whole gang. We all happened to have a window of time so we all got together… We just laughed a lot,” she said.

Aniston added that they all miss the show, which ran for 10 years from 1994 to 2004.

Addressing the rumours about the reboot, she said, “I honestly think we would love it. There’s an idea that if there’s a reboot of the show it won’t even be close to as good as what it was, so why do it? It would ruin it.

Madhuri Dixit turns producer for Marathi film

By

Web Team

-

October 10, 2019

Bollywood’s ‘Dhak Dhak‘ girl Madhuri Dixit Nene has turned producer for a Marathi film titled ‘Panchak.’

Apart from the ‘Aaja Nachle‘ actor, the film is also produced by her husband and doctor Shriram Nene.

The film which stars Adinath Kothare and will be directed by Jayant Jathar.

Madhuri shared a boomerang video from the muhurat of the film where she can be seen posing with the clapperboard along with Dr. Nene.

In a picture shared by the actor, she can be seen striking a pose with the entire crew of the film.

“Elated to announce our film banner, @rnmmovingpictures, next project, #Panchak It’s a fantastic and hilarious take on belief & superstitions for the whole family. Sending my best wishes to our team as they start shooting today,” she captioned the snaps.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the Padma Shri actor who was last in the period drama film ‘Kalank‘ was seen judging the reality show ‘Dance Deewane 2‘.

Always wanted to raise the bar of action films in India: Hrithik Roshan

By

Web Team

-

October 10, 2019

Overwhelmed by the thunderous response received by ‘WAR‘, Hrithik Roshan said that he always wanted to raise the bar of action films in India.

The high-octane film that sees Hrithik and Tiger Shroff pitted in a massive showdown across 7 countries as they go after each other relentlessly was successful in surpassing the Rs 200 crore mark in just seven days of its release.

Delighted by the response, Hrithik said, “We wanted to make a film that raises the bar of action films in India and could truly compete with the best of action spectacles being made in the West.”

“War is a genre-defining action film and I’m extremely happy for the entire cast and crew of WAR because we all have given our all and more to make this film a cut above,” he added.

On the other hand, Tiger feels that the success of the film is like a blessing for him and is more close to his heart as he got to play a role with his “inspiration” and “idol” Hrithik.

“It’s an absolute blessing that our film has been accepted widely and it’s definitely going to be a special one forever because I got to do this with my hero my idol Hrithik Roshan who I aspire to be and who I am inspired by,” the ‘Heropanti‘ actor said.

Apart from receiving unanimous love and appreciation from the audience, the actor was touched by the fact that this is his first film in the industry to smash all box office records and score well. “I am blessed that my first 200 is with such an amazing team,” he added.

The film now becomes the third highest-grossing movie of 2019, surpassing the business of Salman Khan starrer ‘Bharat.’

Ayushmann’s bald character from ‘Bala’ will leave you in splits

By

Web Team

-

October 10, 2019

Ayushmann Khurrana who is basking in the success of his latest film ‘Dream Girl,’ is back to leave you in splits with the tale of a bald man ‘Bala‘. The actor shared the trailer of the laughter riot on Thursday.

Known for opting for unique scripts, Ayushmann is set to make you laugh with his character who is facing premature balding.

The hilarious trailer starts with Bala selling skin whitening products in a school where he encounters a dusky girl played by Bhumi Pednekar. Bhumi who gets offended by Bala’s comments asks him why he is wearing a cap. She then inches closer and takes the cap off, leaving Bala’s semi-bald head in the open.

The trailer then shows the constant struggle Bala undergoes to regain hair where he also seeks help from his father played by Saurabh Shukla who tries home remedies to overcome his son’s baldness. At one point in time, the premature balding of Bala also proves to be a hindrance in his marriage.

Apart from Bhumi, fans can also catch a glimpse of Yami who plays the role of a star in the film and is also Bala’s love interest.

Depressed by his situation, Bala runs from pillar to post to find a solution for his baldness. After trying a lot of weird concoctions to add length to his hair, he decides to put on a wig to impress his lady love in the film.

Apart from the above-mentioned stars, fans can also watch Jaaved Jaaferi, Seema Pahwa and Abhishek Banerjee in the film.

This is the second time Abhishek and Ayushmann have come together for a film. Earlier they were spotted together in ‘Dream Girl.’

The film is directed by ‘Stree‘ fame director Amar Kaushik and produced by Dinesh Vijan.

The release date of the film has been preponed and it is now slated to hit the screens on November 8.