AAP to contest on 50 seats in Maharashtra!

By

-

September 23, 2019

Aam Aadmi Party is all set to contest 50 seats for the Maharashtra Assembly polls. AAP which was once considered as serious contender to challenge BJP and Congress has lost its sheen after it won only one seat out of over 40 it contested across nine states and Union territories in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. AAP had announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra claiming that the state government had failed on all fronts. The party’s campaign committee for Maharashtra polls will have Ranga Rachure as convenor, Kishore Mandhyan as co-convenor and Dhananjay Shinde as secretary. Senior Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon will be a member of the committee which will oversee poll preparations.

“Despite the electorate voting for change in the previous election the present Devendra Fadnavis led BJP-Shiv Sena government has been a colossal failure on all fronts. Maharashtra once known to be a progressive state is plagued with large scale drought, floods, farmer suicides, agrarian distress, rising unemployment, failing law and order, rising crime, widespread corruption, lack of service delivery, and economic slowdown,” said Durgesh Pathak state in charge of AAP, Maharashtra.

The party recorded its highest vote share in the national capital at 18.10 per cent. AAP had fielded candidates in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar, Goa, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, Haryana, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. In 2014 AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, though it lost on all seats in Delhi it came second on the seven constituencies.

AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said, “We have fielded around 50 candidates for assembly polls. We won’t be going for alliance with any political party rather decided to go solo. We will be starting our campaign with Sanjay Singh who is our Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson, from day after tomorrow.”

The vote share of AAP in the nine states remained dismal. In Delhi, it got 18.10 per cent which was the highest for the party. In UP the party had 0.01 per cent vote, 0.36 per cent vote share in Haryana,7.38 per cent in Punjab, 3.02 per cent in Chandigarh, 0.06 per cent in Bihar, 1.37 per cent in Andaman and Nicobar, 3.01 per cent in Goa and 0.03 per cent in Odisha. The most humiliating loss came to AAP from Delhi where the party was expecting to win atleast four seats. Analysts believe the performance of AAP, the ruling party in Delhi, in the Lok Sabha polls might impact its prospects in assembly polls early next year. The AAP had won 67 out of 70 seats in 2015 Delhi assembly elections. The BJP had won only 3 seats while the Congress had failed to open its account.

On the other hand, AAP national joint secretary Ruben Mascarenhas said, “We will field at least 50 candidates for contesting assembly polls. The list which we are going to release will have candidates from Vidarbha, Mumbai, North Maharashtra. Talks are going on with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi but nothing has been finalised yet.”

Meanwhile, AAP announced the name of 22 candidates for the October 21 assembly polls in Haryana. They include Ranbir Singh Rathi from Gurugram, Kumari Sumanata Vashisth from Faridabad, Santosh Yadav from Faridabad NIT, Harendra Bhati from Ballabhgadh, Yogeshwar Sharma from Panchkula, Anshul Kumar Agarwal from Ambala City. The term of the present Haryana Assembly expires on November 2 and the Election Commission has announced the polls to the 90 seats whose results will be declared on October 24.

First list of AAP Candidates for Maharashtra State Assembly Elections 2019

Adv. Paromita Goswami- Bramhapuri Constituency, Chandrapur District of Vidarbha
Vitthal Govind Lad –Jogeshwari East Assembly Constituency in Mumbai Suburb
Dr Ananda Dadu Gurav –Karveer Constituency in Kolhapur District of Western Maharashtra
Vishal Vadghule- Nandgaon Assembly Constituency in Nasik District of Northern Maharashtra
Dr Abhijit More- Kothrud Assembly in Pune district of Western Maharashtra
Siraj Khan- Chandivli Constituency of Mumbai Suburban region
Dilip Tawde- Dindoshi Constituency in Mumbai Suburban region
Sandeep Sonawane- Parvati Constituency, Pune District of Western Maharashtra

“Howdy Modi”

By

Vinod Dixit

-

September 23, 2019

There are many who asked me what Howdy Modi is. Houston is the fourth-largest city with a population of over 1,30,000 Indian-Americans and “Howdy”, is a short form for ‘How do you do?’, which is a friendly greeting commonly used in the southwestern United States. Houston, the fourth most populous city of the US and most populous in Texas, is named after Samuel Houston. This was one of the largest gatherings of the Indian-origin Diaspora ever addressed by Modi and Trump. More than 50,000 Indian-Americans from across the country had attended the “Howdy, Modi!” event, the largest-ever gathering of this minority but affluent ethnic community in the US. The gargantuan event, rowdily named as “Howdy, Modi!”Really reflects the growing size, power and complexity of the Indian-American community, both in the Houston area and the U.S. The most significant attendee in “Howdy Modi” was US President Donald Trump. This is because Trump, who as a Republican presidential candidate in 2016 promised to be India’s best friend. The Houston event came ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections, in which the influential Indian-American community is expected to play a big role. Trump will earn more votes from Indian Americans in the 2020 presidential elections. This reveals the fact that PM Modi is a polarising politician – loved and loathed in equal measure in the world.

Modi’s main two engagements in Houston were addressing the NRI community at a stadium and a roundtable meeting with CEOs and top executives of US energy companies. Over 1,000 volunteers and 650 organizations had mobilized to make it possible. The Indian-Americans were very enthusiastic about PM Modi and US President Donald Trump as they jointly addressed a mega ‘Howdy, Modi’ rally, which they feel can take the bilateral ties to a new level. The entire city of Houston enjoyed the festivities and learned about Indian-Texan relations.

With the cultural program, the attendees experienced the vibrant expressions of people empowered by their identity and driven to enrich the communities around them. The cultural programme arranged preceding PM Modi’s address, showcasing Indian-American artists from Texas has portrayed how the community is woven into the larger tapestry of American life. It has also involved broad-based community participation across the United States.

The show had also lighted on unsung heroes in the Indian-American community who had undertaken selfless acts benefiting the broader American community without any need of recognition.

There is no doubt that this event is a unique moment in world history as the leaders of the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy shared a stage speaking to 50,000 Indian-Americans.

Indian Ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla has rightly described Howdy Modi as the “largest event” of its kind, adding that it is a bigger and momentous event as compared to all the previous overseas community events of PM Modi. The event was organized by non-profit Texas India Forum (TIF), a representative body of Indian-American organizations in Texas and other parts of the US. The message is very loud and clear that US and India are natural allies and this relationship will get stronger as time goes. It has created a great opportunity to emphasize the strong ties between the people of the United States and India and to discuss the ways to deepen their energy and trade relationship.

Today there are many in Houston who are Modi’s supporters and are very much attracted by the PM Modi’s attitude towards modernization, the environment and improving India’s economy. One would see that there are no other leaders like Modi and Trump who works for their country, love their country and for them the country comes first. The United States and India must work closely together to address the pressing issues that impact our nations, our countries, and the entire world too.

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

Letters to the Editor: 23 September, 2019

By

Web Team

-

September 23, 2019

Idea of simultaneous elections may not be a dream-come-true

Election Commission has announced election-schedule for Haryana and Maharashtra state assemblies with single-day poll to be held on October 21, 2019, meaning thereby that idea of much-needed simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and all state-assemblies as also strongly advocated by Prime Minister, may not be a dream-come-true.

A smart beginning could be made by imposing short-term President-rule in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand till February 2020 (Jammu-Kashmir is already under President-rule) when elections to all these state-assemblies could be held along with Delhi state-assembly in February 2020. Even Bihar state-assembly could be dissolved a bit earlier so that elections in Bihar could also be held in February, 2020.

There would not have been resistance to such step because all the state-assemblies mentioned above are ruled by BJP and its allies. Otherwise also, February is considered to be most appropriate month for holding elections. In such a scenario, any next elections for any of the state-assembly would have been February 2022 as a step in direction for simultaneous elections.

However a smart beginning can now be made to avoid concept of hung state-assemblies and unstable government experimenting simultaneous election of new Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker for Haryana and Maharashtra by secret and compulsory elections through EVMs equipped with VVPAT on nominations signed by at least 34-per cent members with abstaining members losing right to vote in the House though retaining its membership. Such elected incumbents may be removed only through same process but with compulsion to name alternate leader in the same motion.

Central government should issue an ordinance before October 27, 2019 whereby no person may be allowed to contest from more than one constituency, and a sitting MP or MLA compulsorily resigning from earlier seat before filing nomination for elections to prevent unnecessary by-elections in case of a candidate winning from more than one constituency, or by-election caused by a sitting MP winning for state-assembly.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

NSDL must shift to online KYC updation process

Trading in India by single investors is centralised with the online electronic services provided by National Securities Depository Limited. NSDL thus facilitates seamless information related trading of shares as associated with respected Depository Participant (DP) in online format. A unique CAS Id is generated by NSDL for each account holder for the benefit of shareholders to ascertain the status of overall account maintained through stocks and through a consolidated monthly statement.

Further for the benefit of depository holders under each account the need to update basic information in KYC like email, telephone and address is not possible through the existing centralised online portal i.e. NSDL. Otherwise one is only directed to a Depository Participant (DP) to update KYC details in an offline mode. The NSDL portal still insists and directs a participant only to physically verify the KYC details while an online verification will help ensure faster updation of details.

Thus there is now an urgent need to restore KYC for NSDL account holders instantly through an online mode. The current system of paper passed updation is archaic and consumes a lot of time. Further with the availability of seamless technology and enhanced online security, NSDL can further initiate quick steps to relook its current manual KYC updation process and upgrade to online system based verification process.

Varun Dambal

Aarey at it again

In what can spell trouble for the Maharashtra government and also to Mumbai Metro Rail corporation Limited the Bombay HC indicated that into would look into the controversial metro III about shifting to Kanjurmarg instead of Aarey colony. It is reliably learnt that it was decided to construct the car sheds for both Metro III and Metro VI lines at Kanjurmarg and the sudden change of place creates a controversy and the resultant turn around in the case. Thus Aarey versus Kanjurmarg question is raised and going rounds as of now.

C.K. Suresh

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

General Rawat warns Pak of more severe action than Balakot airstrike

By

Web Team

-

September 23, 2019

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Monday said Pakistan has reactivated Balakot very recently and about 500 infiltrators were waiting to infiltrate into India. General Rawat warned Pakistan of more severe action than Balakot airstrike.

“Balakot has been reactivated by Pakistan very recently. That shows that Balakot has been affected. It had been damaged and destroyed. And that is why people have got away from there and now it has been reactivated,” he told reporters at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai. He said around 500 infiltrators were waiting to infiltrate into the country. “…some action had been taken by Indian Air Force and now they have got the people back there,” he said.

General Rawat said, “Pakistan violates ceasefire to push terrorists into our territory. We know how to deal with ceasefire violations. Our troops know how to position themselves and take action. We are alert and will ensure that maximum infiltration bids are foiled.” Asked if the Army is planning another strike to counter the resurgence, General Rawat said, “Why should we repeat the same action? Why not go beyond that? Let them keep guessing.”

Earlier, Indian Air Force had carried out attack at terror camps in Balakot in retaliation to the deadly terror attacks on CRPF personnel in Pulwama in February this year.

Raj Thackeray agrees to contest assembly elections

By

Rajesh Choudhary

-

September 22, 2019

Following the silence after interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray seems to be returning to action. He held meetings of MNS leaders and workers. Finally, Raj Thackeray has agreed to contest Maharashtra assembly elections. Now he is busying himself in finalising party candidates for assembly elections. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has indicated to fight around 100 seats. This is equal to total number of seats being contested by each the Congress and the NCP. Earlier, Raj Thackeray’s strong opposition to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had given rise to speculation that MNS may boycott the assembly polls. However, he never announced to not contest assembly elections.

When our correspondent Nikhil Sagare spoke to MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande he said, “We will contest more than 100 seats but I can’t say about the actual figure. There is no alliance between MNS and Congress-NCP.”

It is remarkable that his party did not contest the Lok Sabha polls but Raj Thackeray had run an aggressive campaign against PM Narendra Modi and his government. He openly supported the Congress and the NCP candidates in the state. After that, there was speculation that MNS might form alliance with Congress and NCP. But both these parties do not include MNS into their alliance and announced to contest 125 seats each in assembly elections.

MNS film wing president Amey Khopkar said, “Raj Thackeray will announce tomorrow from where MNS will be contesting election and how many seats and contestants will contest polls. No talks have been held pertaining to having alliance with Congress-NCP.”

The MNS is struggling to remain relevant in the Maharashtra politics. Raj Thackeray founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2006, after he fell out with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The MNS won 13 seats in the 2009 assembly elections but it could manage only one seat in 2014. The party lost its ground in the state, despite the popularity of Raj Thackeray.

In August this year, Raj Thackeray, was interrogated by ED in a money laundering case. The Mumbai police had imposed section 144 of CrPC (banning unlawful assembly) outside the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office and some parts of the city as precautionary measure. It was apprehended that violence might spread over questioning him. After this interrogation, he was almost silent. Leaders like Ajit Pawar raised questions over his silence.

As per reports, MNS workers from Mumbai demanded that the party must contest the polls to remain relevant in the politics of Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray carefully listened to them and gave his green signal on contesting polls. He has asked to prepare the list of probable candidates for assembly elections. A senior MNS leader said that the party is focusing on urban areas like Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Pune. Raj Thackeray is taking constituency-wise views from local leaders. Prior to this, the party leaders were of opinion that the MNS is not in a position to contest polls.

It is remarkable that Raj Thackeray had been at the forefront of anti-EVM protests. In July, MNS chief met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and demanded that the assembly polls in Maharashtra be conducted through paper ballots instead of EVMs. It was his visit to the national capital Delhi in more than a decade. Raj Thackeray said that he has submitted a letter to the Election Commission, demanding it to switch back to the traditional paper ballot. He also met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and discussed political developments including the issue of EVMs. Later on, he met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 31 in Kolkata and invited her to take part in his party’s rally demanding use of ballot papers in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Raj Thackeray’s MNS is one-man army

By

Vaidehi Taman

-

September 22, 2019

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is one-man army and the man is Raj Thackeray. When the ruling party literally had no opposition, when the opposition parties were clueless and dense, its Raj Thackeray who was vocal about every issue and had time and again took on ruling government. There is no strong opposition party in Maharashtra against BJP and Shiv Sena allied government. Most of the top-level leaders of Congress-NCP are under the fear of various investigations such as CBI, ED, etc. Here MNS already shown that they can be strong opposition by clearing stations in Mumbai, its Suburbs and Thane.

Raj Thackeray was one of the prominent leaders in Shiv Sena during 2002–04. His influence in party’s policies was tremendous and he was actually considered to be the successor of Bal Thackeray. But Bal Thackeray started promoting his own son Uddhav and purposely sidelined Raj, which lead to formation of a new political party MNS by Raj. MNS got some success in its initial days due to their ‘Sons-of-Soil’ agenda. Raj was seen as a promising leader. But in the latest elections, people have completely discarded him and his party. The reason was that the MNS could not stand on its words and they always started something and left half way, the Marathi Manoos started losing faith in his leader and he never tried to win the confidence of people.

The development is significant as Raj was not keen on contesting the assembly polls in Maharashtra and had called for a boycott of the assembly polls till the Election Commission agreed to conduct the assembly polls in the state with ballot papers instead of EVMs. Raj had met NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and other opposition leaders with the idea of a boycott of the assembly polls claiming that the polls held under EVMs were managed to favour the BJP. However, other opposition parties in the state were not keen to boycott the polls.

Raj has miserably failed to give a strong political programme to the masses and has bellied their expectations. Moreover, MNS doesn’t have a strong organisation base. There is no second leadership after Raj. Moreover, some of the prominent leaders of party have already left MNS and joined BJP due to Modi wave of 2014, not non-involvement of Raj in active politics.

They had very narrow agenda; the only itinerary of MNS is Marathi Manoos i.e. ‘Sons-of-Soil’. Raj has not understood that the Maharashtra’s youth has become cosmopolitan and their aspirations are changed. He can no longer have the same parochial attitude. Currently, Raj and party has no issues to talk about. Some agitations like toll ban and ban on Pakistani artists were not taken seriously. Though he is hopeful about his strong bounce back, people of Maharashtra have stopped taking him seriously. One sentence- Irrelevant issues raised by Raj Thackeray and his party leaders.

Since its inception, MNS tried creating divide between people based on their origin. “Don’t speak in Hindi or English” with “outsiders”. This worked in lower working class as this class always believes that their misfortune is because of somebody else. This was during 2006 to 2009 period. It’s always easy to convince this class in whatever way you can. After 2010, Modi was applauded for his developmental agenda in Gujarat. BJP too opted this model countrywide and this quickly became popular. “Good road, water, education, doing business, career development’ became the key words than “mother tongue, culture, region, religion’. This development agenda is much inclusive and does not discriminate anybody. Needless to say, this became popular in young voters that constitute huge population in state. Soon MNS found it very difficult to convince the people. They too opted for development agenda and implemented to some extent in Nashik but it didn’t work for some reasons. Previous election result proved the same-MNS is almost wiped out across the state. Maharashtra and its people- over all are not as extreme in language, culture etc compared to some other states. That does not mean they don’t have pride in that but fooling them in the name of these issues won’t work any longer. Shiv Sena is a classic example- Its one of the oldest regional party (1966)- ‘fighting’ for sons of soil issue but it took 29 years in 1995 when they got first chief minister. Again there, they did not get majority.

In spite of the entire ruckus, MNS has finally decided to contest the upcoming elections; the party is likely to contest around 100 seats. MNS will be concentrating on cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, and Pune, where it has been receiving significant support since its formation. There are indications that there may an informal alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Raj Thackeray is a firebrand leader. He won 13 assembly seats in 2009. Due to lack of organisation set up, party lost in 2014 election. However, they started attacking PM Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election. In spite of Raj’s hard hitting attacks, Modi won in majority. Since political outfits of all shapes, sizes and geo-political foot prints have already announced a unified vision of ‘Defeat Modi’ for the 2019 LS polls, MNS type units can and will extract their pound of power from the wanna-be challengers. Be it Congress, which is fighting an existential battle along with the NCP or the Shiv Sena, MIM and the invisible left, which will even spill blood to stay relevant. In these circumstances the MNS is likely to bargain and get a few more seats than they would ever deserve and the Congress and NCP will part with those seats so they can survive politically to fight another day.

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

Are you spending sleepless nights to recover a friendly loan?

By

Vaidehi Taman

-

September 22, 2019

Adv. Pratibha Bangera (Advocate and legal Expert in litigation and commercial law) suggests legal precautions before helping a friend or relative with our Editor in Chief Dr Vaidehi Taman.

What is the difference between a friendly loan and a commercial transaction ?

A friendly loan does not necessarily include interest upon loan amount whereas a commercial loan can be given only by a licensed and registered money lender along with chargeable interest.

How dangerous is it to give loan to a friend or a relative ?

Legally, it is the same as any commercial transaction. But otherwise due to your awkwardness or inability to refuse it may be risky for survival of a friendship if the loan money is not returned.

Can a case be filed for recovery of a friendly loan?

Only if it is supported by a document such as a promissory note or an agreement to repay the amount within a stipulated date. You may also take a post dated cheque of same value with or without additional interest.

Is this the same as a Security cheque and can such cheque be encashed?

Most borrowers try to excuse repayment by making excuses that the cheque was given for security purpose only or the cheque was stolen or deposited without their consent.

How does one go about recovery of such amounts?

If you have a promissory note and/or a post dated signed cheque given by the borrower, you should deposit the cheque within the validity period or limitation time for expiry of such cheques as stipulated by the bank.

In addition to this a “lawyers legal notice” has to be mandatorily sent to the borrower, that too within 1 month of cheque dishonour along with “intimation letter” which has reason for dishonour of cheque.

Failure to send notice within 1 month may weaken complaint for filing a cheque bouncing case in a criminal court. There are time guidelines for filing a case. Also as it is a punishable offence to “bounce cheque” it has to be filed before a criminal court. In addition to punishment and penalty the criminal court may grant cheque amount or even more than the amount mentioned in the bounced cheque along with interest and litigation cost to complainant or penalty for cheque bouncing.

What if there was no agreement or document? Can a person use email or phone communications as proof of loan?

Yes, any written admission to return the loan amount can be produced as proof of promise to repay.

How is a 138 NI Act case or cheque bouncing case different from a summary suit or a ordinary suit ?

A cheque bouncing case is filed in a criminal court whereas, a summary suit is filed in a civil court. The complainant is required pay “court fees” on the amount claimed even though it’s a criminal offence and in addition to return of money the court will sentence the defaulter.

In summary suit, there is no need to pay “court fees” and if the borrower fails to comply with conditions levied by court to defend his case the judgement is faster and sometimes the court may ask borrower to first pay part of the amount in order to be able to defend his side of the story. However, the judgement in summary suit which go undefended is within 1 month of filing such summary suit. Therefore this is a faster and easier relief for the lender.

In a civil suit also the lender may have to first deposit certain percentage of claim amount towards “court fees” to initiate his claim for recovery. Therefore, one should lend carefully and only if there is certainty that the money will be returned.

Can a money lender take such amounts and keep security cheques and trouble the borrower and pass off as friendly loan ?

There are laws to protect innocent borrowers. If the borrower was manipulated into taking a loan and forced to give a security cheque and if there was no privity of contract and if it is found that the lender was involved in giving “black money” on interest, the court may direct the case for investigation along with directions to the Economic Offences wing to conduct investigation to find out source of such money and to take necessary action.

Is there any time limit for recovery of such loans?

There is no limitation of time for filing a criminal case or a complaint against a borrower for cheating but the only result will be punishment if found guilty. Most people avoid doing that to their friends or relatives. But all civil cases are bound by the limitation period and have to be filed within 3 years.

How does the court help in such cases?

Almost all courts have a mediation center or Lok Adalat now. If there is a possibility that the borrower is willing to pay and the lender can allow some extension of time for repayment, the mediation officers help in working out proper consent terms and in case of failure to repay the loan amount.

What about the Tax liability of a person who has given loan and after he recovers the same ?

If there is an interest paid upon such loan, the same will be treated as income to the lender and he will have to pay tax upon same.

Can a person be imprisoned for cheque bouncing if it’s a punishable crime?

Yes even though its a punishable crime and if there is prison sentence the lender may agree to waive off or excuse the borrower or in other words the court may compound prison sentence for cheque bouncing.

What if the borrower changes his address or goes missing?

If the person goes missing after judgement, the complainant can make applications for arrest warrant or impound passport of the defaulter or issue a look out notice and inform airport authorities to be on the lookout for such person travelling out of country and if the person is already out of the country can even search through international police or Interpol. There are several legal remedies provided the complainant acts upon it and has money and time to remain persistent for recovery of his money. And in most cases of friendly loans it is only the friendship that is lost.

Significance of Shradh Paksha

By

Dipti Joshi

-

September 22, 2019

During this period, Hindus pay homage to their ancestors or Pitras. It is believed that during this time of the year, ancestors visit earth and bless their kin with prosperity. According to Vedic tradition, various customs, fast-festivals and traditions are seen in Sanatan Dharma. Hinduism has to complete sixteen rites from conception to death. Even after funeral, we have to carry out some actions or rites for the parents who have passed away. One of them is Shradh Karma. While Shradh Karma is performed on the Amavasya date of every month, but from the full moon of Bhadon month to the new moon of Ashwin month, we have been practicing this whole fortnightly Shraddha Karma (Pirtu Paksha) for years. In simple words we can say that in order to pay reverence to our ancestors, the law of Shraddha has been kept, which we are required to do with complete loyalty.

The greatness of Shraddha can be gauged from the fact that in almost all the mythological texts it is mentioned that we should give more importance to our ancestors worship than God or Goddess worship. Because if Pitars are happy then the Gods and Goddesses also accept our faith and loyalty. This is the reason that in our eternal religion and culture, the elders must try to provide peace to the living elders by honoring them and performing Shraddha Karmat.

According to the Brahma Purana, if the ancestors are not sacrificed after the whole law, then they do not get liberation, it is believed that by not doing so, their soul wanders after death.

As per astrology

There is also an astrological reason behind celebrating Pitru Paksha (Pitru Paksha 2019) or Shradh (2019). In astrology, Pitra-Dosh has been described as very influential. In this context, Jyotishacharya Shri Laxmikant says that you do some work with full devotion, honesty and dedication, do not take any kind of care, even after that you feel a failure or are constantly losing money, your illnesses. If you are not giving up the pursuit, there is not much promotion or salary increase in the job for a long time, then there is a lot of possibility that it may be due to paternal fault also. And it has often been seen that when a native of all four sides shields his ancestors and gives peace to his soul, then the vehicle of your success suddenly catches speed. Your stuck money starts coming. Therefore, to get rid of Pitradosh, for the peace of the fathers, we should follow every method and legislation with a sincere mind.

To perform Shradh

The month of Amavasya is fixed in advance for the Shraddh of the Pitars. On this day, there is a law of pinddaan or shraadh for the peace of ancestors on the banks of a river. But Pitrupaksha is considered the best time for Shraddh. It is to be noted here that it would be appropriate for the ancestors to have a puja or shraadh done by a qualified priest.

Now in the fortnight of Shraddha, on which date your ancestor or deceased family member has died. If you remember that date, then it should be done on the same date of Shraddha fortnight. If the exact date of death is not known, on the day of Ashwin Amavasya the body can be worshiped. That is why this day is also called Sarvapriti Amavasya. If the relative has suffered from premature death (accident, suicide, murder) then his / her shradh can be done on Chaturdashi. Apart from this, the date of Ashtami for father and Navami for mother is considered correct.

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

Letters to the Editor: 22 September, 2019

By

Web Team

-

September 22, 2019

Don’t keep parks open 24*7

BMC’s 24×7 garden policy is unfeasible and would also cause law and order problems. Free public parks in the city are mostly used by the poor as lavatories wherever there are toilet facilities available by those who don’t have toilets at home. Public toilets in the city are crowded during morning hours and parks as well as gardens become a convenient alternative. Public parks after sunset are mostly frequented by couples for sexual activities which makes them unfit for children and elderly. Drug addiction at these places too are common during night hours.

Proper lighting at big parks throughout the night for a few people too would be a costly affair apart from policing them that would be an additional cost. Toilet facilities at parks should be charged a nominal fee so that they are not misused and kept clean by the house keeping staff. Every public place needs maintenance as well and keeping them open at all hours in a city like Mumbai is untenable as well as unadvisable. Even the local trains don’t operate for a few hours at night and so should be the parks and gardens

S.N. Kabra

Why not construct a new capital for India?

It refers to ambitious plan to build a new most-modern and spacious building for Parliament, and a composite big complex to house offices of all the central ministries at one place. All this coupled with other related plans like to develop Rajpath and other areas of Leyton New Delhi will cost very heavily to the exchequer. Presently capital-city of New Delhi has become over-saturated and unplanned with so many new buildings being erected from time to time to originally systematic planned New Delhi way back in the year 1931.

Many countries in the world and even states in India have preferred developing new capital-cities rather than spending too much for added requirements in the existing capitals. India presently virtually has a separate economic capital Mumbai in addition to main capital-city of New Delhi. Any heavy expenditure like on a new Parliament House in outdated capital-city will be like spending on a costly silky patch-work on an old costume.

Best is to develop an altogether new well-planned capital-city of India somewhere in middle of the country to be almost equi-distant from remote corners of India, and may also serve as economic capital of India. New city can be planned in a manner that residences of office-goers may be near to their offices requiring minimum local transport. Site for new capital should be chosen keeping in view future systematic expansion, and may be least affected by natural calamities like floods etc. Delhi should be expanded to be a full state by taking some nearing areas of bordering Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Madhu Agarwal

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

19.96 lakh fake Anganwadi beneficiaries identified in Assam

By

Web Team

-

September 22, 2019

As many as 19.96 lakh ghost beneficiaries have been identified at Anganwadi centres in Assam through a daily headcount, according to an RTI query. There are around 14 lakh Anganwadis across the country and 10 crore beneficiaries, which include children under the age of six and pregnant women and lactating mothers.

In Assam, there are a total of 62,153 Anganwadi centres in which 36,24,973 beneficiaries, including 5,94,296 pregnant women and lactating mothers, are enrolled.

The Centre has asked all states to conduct headcount of all beneficiaries of Anganwadi centres, a type of rural child care centre set up by the government to combat undernutrition and stunting among children below the age of six years and also meet nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women.

In reply to an RTI query, the Women and Child Development Ministry said a total of 19.96 lakh ghost beneficiaries (both children and pregnant women and lactating mothers) have been eliminated from the Anganwadi services in Assam while report from other state governments are still awaited.

The ministry further said the beneficiaries under the Anganwadi Services Scheme are identified on the basis of Aadhaar which is used as identity document for delivery of services or benefits in a bid to bring transparency and efficiency.

“The beneficiaries not possessing Aadhaar card are assisted by the field functionaries to obtain the Aadhaar card. Till such time they get the Aadhaar card, they are provided the Anganwadi services on the basis of alternative identification document,” according to the RTI reply.

Officials said the identification of fake beneficiaries is an ongoing exercise and a report in this regard has been received just from Assam yet.

According to the revised cost norms for supplementary nutrition, children from six to 72 months get Rs 8 per day while severely malnourished children (6-72 months) get Rs 12 per day and pregnant women and nursing mothers get Rs 9.50 per day.

The identification of fake beneficiaries is also being done through smartphones having Integrated Child Development Services-Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) app, officials said. These smartphones have been distributed to over 1.2 lakh Anganwadi centres.

The nutrition monitoring app has been developed under the Poshan Abhiyan, also called the National Nutrition Mission, launched by the Centre in 2018 with an aim to bring down stunting in children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022.