Home Blog Page 986

Karnataka crisis: SC orders rebel MLAs to appear before Speaker at 6pm

July 11, 2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the 10 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs to appear before the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly at 6 pm and submit their resignation in person. The Supreme Court also directed the Speaker to take a final decision on the issue today. On Friday, the court will hear the decision of the Speaker. In their plea, the rebel MLAs had alleged that the Karnataka Assembly Speaker was not accepting their resignations deliberately as the political crisis in the state showed no signs of abating. The plea, which has sought direction for the Speaker to accept the resignation of these MLAs, would be heard by a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.

When the issue of the political crisis in Karnataka was mentioned on Wednesday morning before a bench headed by the CJI, the rebel MLAs were assured that the court will see whether their plea can be listed for an urgent hearing on Thursday.

The MLAs are now likely to fly from Mumbai to Bengaluru to meet the speaker. In their plea, they had alleged that the speaker had refused to meet them all together. The SC bench, headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi, has requested the speaker to inform the court of the developments by Friday, when the court will resume hearing on rebel MLAs’ plea.

The bench, consists of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, justice Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, heard the plea filed by the rebel MLAs. “Speaker has acted as a partisan and mala fide manner in the present case in order to protect the Govt. in power which is in a minority” alleges the petition.

Appearing before the bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, on behalf of the MLAs said that the MLAs were apprehensive that they may be forced to vote in the favour of the ruling alliance if the resignations are not accepted.

The plea has been filed by MLAs Pratap Gouda Patil, Ramesh Jarkhiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, BC Patil, ST Somashekar, Arbail Sivaram Hebbar, Mahesh Kumathalli, K Gopalaiah, HD Vishwanath and Narayan Gowda.

The matter has also kept both house of the Parliament, which is currently in session, in upheaval. The Congress has accused the BJP of horse trading to destabalise the coalition government in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and party’s chief troubleshooter DK Shivakumar was deported to Bengaluru late on Wednesday night after being detained by Mumbai Police for allegedly violating the Section 144 imposed in the Powai area of the city. DK Shivakumar had flown from Bengaluru to Mumbai early on Wednesday morning to try and placate the rebel MLAs staying at Renaissance Hotel in Powai. However, the MLAs wrote to Mumbai Police, alleging threat to life, and had Shivakumar barred from entering the hotel. The senior leader continued to stay put for several hours and was eventually escorted to a rest house for detention and later to Mumbai airport. AICC has filed an FIR against ‘illegal confinement of rebel Karnataka Congress MLAs at a Powai hotel’.

It is remarkable that eleven MLAs, eight of the Congress and three of the JD(S), submitted their resignation to the Speaker’s office on July 6 triggering a fresh political crisis in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state. Two MLAs had resigned on July 1.The ruling coalition’s total strength is 116 (Congress-78), JD(S)-37 and BSP-1, besides the Speaker.

With the support of the two independents, who on July 8 resigned from the ministry, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113. If the resignations of the 13 MLAs are accepted, the coalition’s tally will be reduced to 102. The Speaker also has a vote.

Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy claims having majority. On the other hand, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has ruled out his resignation saying he has the numbers. Kumaraswamy claimed a majority and said, “I have the majority. MLAs are with me. There is no need for my resign.”

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked Kumaraswamy to step down, claiming that his government has lost the majority. The BJP has also urged the governor to step in following the crisis. “We have petitioned the governor seeking his intervention. We may even move a no-confidence motion against the government. We will urge the governor to direct the government to prove its majority,” BJP MLC and party spokesperson N Ravikumar told agencies.

Total 13 MLAs, including Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj, have resigned and two Independent legislators, R Shankar and H Nagesh, have withdrawn support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar is yet to take a decision the resignations of the MLAs.

Dr Vaman Acharya, BJP spokesperson, Bengaluru said, “Six months ago, we have done some efforts to form the government. The same story media and Siddaramaiah are repeating. We have nothing to do with the current crisis of the Congress-JDS government. This government is not going to last long, and it will fall. Only then, we will see what to do. So, in that context, we are doing nothing on their part. But if the government collapses and they continue fight among themselves, we will not keep quiet.”

“We will definitely claim to form government. We are already single largest party with 105 MLAs. After fall, defection and resignation, we will attain majority. So, as a majority party we will claim power, not before that. All those who have resigned were never in our contact. But after resigning they sought some help. Our party workers arranged hotel and other facilities in Mumbai. Five more Congress MLAs will resign tomorrow. Hence, this government has to collapse,” he added.

Ayodhya dispute: Hearing on daily basis from July 25 if Mediation Panel rules out role: SC

Web Team

July 11, 2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the latest status report with regard to the ongoing mediation proceedings in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya land dispute case within a week.

A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, asked former apex court judge Justice (Retd) F M I Kalifulla, chairperson of the three-member mediation panel, to submit the report of panel by July 18. The bench said that the court would pass further orders on the same date. The bench said that after perusing the latest status report, if it felt that the mediation process ought not to be concluded, the main Ayodhya dispute case would be heard by the apex court on a day-to-day basis from July 25.

Timeline of the case

1528: Babri Masjid built by Mir Baqi, commander of Mughal emperor Babur.

1885: Mahant Raghubir Das files plea in Faizabad district court seeking permission to build a canopy outside the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure. Court rejects plea.

1949: Idols of Ram Lalla placed under a central dome outside the disputed structure.

1950: Gopal Simla Visharad files suit in Faizabad district court for rights to worship the idols of Ram Lalla.

1950: Paramahansa Ramachandra Das files suit for continuation of worship and keeping the idols.

1959: Nirmohi Akhara files suit seeking possession of the site.

1981: Uttar Pradesh (UP) Sunni Central Waqf Board files suit for possession of the site.

February 1, 1986: Local court orders the government to open the site for Hindu worshippers.

August 14, 1989: Allahabad High Court ordered maintenance of status quo in respect of the disputed structure.

December 6, 1992: Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure demolished.

April 3, 1993: ‘Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act’ passed for acquisition of land by Centre in the disputed area. Various writ petitions, including one by Ismail Faruqui, filed in Allahabad HC challenging various aspects of the Act. Supreme Court exercising its jurisdiction under Article 139A transferred the writ petitions, which were pending in the High Court.

October 24, 1994: Supreme Court says in the historic Ismail Faruqui case that mosque was not integral to Islam.

April 2002: Allahabad High Court begins hearing on determining who owns the disputed site.

March 13, 2003: Supreme Court says, in the Aslam alias Bhure case, no religious activity of any nature be allowed at the acquired land.

March 14: Supreme Court says interim order passed should be operative till disposal of the civil suits in Allahabad HC to maintain communal harmony.

September 30, 2010: Allahabad High Court , in a 2:1 majority, rules three-way division of disputed area between Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

May 9, 2011: Supreme Court stays Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya land dispute.

Feb 26, 2016: Subramanian Swamy files plea in SC seeking construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site.

March 21, 2017: Chief Justice of India (CHI) JS Khehar suggests out-of-court settlement among rival parties.

August 7, 2017: Supreme Court constitutes three-judge bench to hear pleas challenging the 1994 verdict of the Allahabad High Court .

August 8, 2017: UP Shia Central Waqf Board tells SC mosque could be built in a Muslim-dominated area at a reasonable distance from the disputed site.

September 11, 2017: Supreme Court directs Chief Justice of the Allahabad HC to nominate two additional district judges within ten days as observers to deal with the upkeep of the disputed site.

November 20, 2017: UP Shia Central Waqf Board tells SC temple can be built in Ayodhya and mosque in Lucknow.

December 1, 2017: Thirty-two civil rights activists file plea challenging the 2010 verdict of the Allahabad HC.

February 8, 2018: Supreme Court starts hearing the civil appeals.

March 14, 2018: Supreme Court rejects all interim pleas, including Swamy’s, seeking to intervene as parties in the case.

April 6, 2018: Rajeev Dhavan files plea in Supreme Court to refer the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement to a larger bench.

July 6, 2018: UP government tells Supreme Court some Muslim groups were trying to delay the hearing by seeking reconsideration of an observation in the 1994 verdict.

July 20, 2018: Supreme Court reserves verdict.

September 27, 2018: Supreme Court declines to refer the case to a five-judge Constitution bench. Case to be heard by a newly constituted three-judge bench on October 29.

October 29, 2018: Supreme Court fixes the case for the first week of January before an appropriate bench, which will decide the schedule of hearing.

November 12, 2018: Supreme Court declines early hearing of petitions in the case requested by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.

November 22, 2018: Supreme Court dismisses public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to organisations and public at large to “behave” and not air their views that can spoil the atmosphere till it decides the title dispute case.

December 24, 2018: Supreme Court decides to take up petitions on case for hearing on January 4.

January 4, 2019: Supreme Court says an appropriate bench constituted by it will pass an order on January 10 for fixing the date of hearing in the title case.

January 8, 2019: Supreme Court sets up a five-judge Constitution Bench to hear the case headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud.

January 10, 2019: Justice U U Lalit recuses himself prompting Supreme Court to reschedule the hearing for January 29 before a new bench.

January 25, 2019: Supreme Court reconstitutes 5-member Constitution Bench to hear the case. The new bench comprises Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

January 27, 2019: Supreme Court cancels the January 29 hearing due to non-availability of Justice S A Bobde.

January 29, 2019: Centre moves Supreme Court seeking permission to return the 67-acre acquired land around the disputed site to original owners.

February 20, 2019: Supreme Court decides to hear the case on February 26.

February 26, 2019: Supreme Court favours mediation, fixes March 5 for order on whether to refer matter to court-appointed mediator.

March 6, 2019: Supreme Court reserves order on whether the land dispute can be settled through mediation.

March 8, 2019 : Supreme Court refers the dispute for mediation by a panel headed by former apex court judge F M I Kallifulla.

Crisis in Karnataka, Section 144 in Mumbai

Rajesh Choudhary

July 10, 2019

The Karnataka crisis has taken a new turn with Congress Minister D.K. Shivakumar denied entry into the hotel where the rebel MLAs of Congress-JD(S) alliance are staying. Shivakumar had booked a room in the Renaissance hotel in Powai but his reservation has been cancelled by the hotel. After being denied entry into the hotel, Shivakumar stated that he is not a terrorist. The hotel staff informed Shivakumar that his accommodation has been cancelled due to some emergency situation. Shivakumar stated, “I am a citizen and not a minister. I am not a terrorist and this is pure politics.” If the coalition regime does finally fall, Karnataka may have an alternative government by the BJP perhaps, after the party moves a successful no-confidence motion in the Assembly.

Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi said, “The central government is responsible for the Karnataka crisis. They are trying to weaken the opposition andare indulging in corruption. To hold elections and to govern the country, they are indulging in horse-trading activities. They have come to power by misleading the voters. Police, Income tax department, Enforcement department, and Intelligence department are working at the behest of the BJP government.”

The half-way, simple-majority mark in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly for a party or parties to form a government is 113. When the resignations of the 13 MLAs are accepted, the coalition’s strength will come down from 118 to 105 (Congress – 69, JD(S) – 34, BSP – 1, Independent – 1). The BJP’s current strength in the Assembly too is 105. However, this equation will worsen for the coalition, if more legislators resign, which they might.

Congress spokesperson Hemlata Patil said, “Why was Shivakumar denied accommodation in the hotel? He is not a terrorist. Attempts are being made by the BJP government to topple the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka. They want to come to power in Karnataka by hook or crook.”

The dissidents and the BJP, working in close coordination, are adopting the time-tested ‘resign and reduce’ technique to topple the government without falling foul of the anti-defection law. As part of this, BJP-patented system, ruling members neither violate a whip of their party nor join another party. They simply resign as MLAs, which reduces the effective strength of the Assembly and the half-way, majority mark.

BJP MP Dilip Patel said, “The government has imposed section 144 in Powai and there is no need to create a hue and cry over it. There is a tendency to blame BJP for all incidents. The BJP has won with a good mandate. The Congress always holds Modi, Amit Shah and BJP for everything. Congress and JD(S) government lack majority in Karnataka.”

To maintain law and order in the area section 144 has been imposed in Powai from July 9 to July 12. Police security has been tightened outside the hotel.

Rebel MLA’s chanted slogans asking Kumaraswamy to go back. On the other hand, Shivakumar stated, “I have already booked for my accommodation in the hotel. Nobody can prevent me from entering the hotel.” Rebel MLAs also informed the police that Shivakumar is a threat to them and demanded police protection. Therefore, police had prevented him from entering the hotel.

Shivakumar said, “I have booked a room in the hotel. My friends are staying in the hotel. There is no question of me threatening anyone. The Mumbai police must be allowed to do their duty. I have come here to meet my friends.”

Shivakumar is trying to convince the rebel MLAs to return to the party fold. The MLAs have submitted their resignations to the Speaker and are staying in Mumbai, apparently at the behest of the BJP, threatening the stability of the coalition government.

Stating that he would stay put at the gate till he was allowed in, Shivakumar said, “I am not going in with a weapon, I only have a heart. I am going to talk to them.”

“I have reservation here [in the hotel] and should be allowed in. When BJP leaders R. Ashok and Bopaiah are being let in, why but not us,” he asked.

“I don’t want to harm anyone. I have a lot of respect for the Maharashtra government. This is the first time such a thing is happening. Let the police accompany me inside. I have not come with any weapon. I want to go into the room that I have booked and freshen up, have coffee,” Shivakumar said

Eleven rebel MLA’s of Congress and JD(S) are staying in Renaissance hotel. Som Shekar has said that he will continue to be a Congress leader despite quitting from the post of MLA. He said, “I won’t reconsider my resignation. We are preparing out next strategy after quitting from MLA’s post.” Even BJP MLAs were spotted at this hotel.

Meanwhile, former Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora took to Twitter and posted, “I have spoken to @D.K Shivakumarji and assured him that local Congress leaders and workers are available to lend any support.”

“I urge the Karnataka MLAs to return to Bengaluru and resolve the matter constitutionally. BJP is sponsoring this sabotage by misusing its power in Maharashtra,” he added.

While city infra crumbles, 969 engineer posts lie vacant in BMC

Web Team

July 10, 2019

Mumbai’s infrastructure is crumbling. Bridge collapses, potholes, rains and fires claim lives of residents of the city. It is not easy to build infrastructure projects in Mumbai. The city is very dense. Mumbai is facing a lot of infrastructure problems. At the same time, 969 posts out of 4,482 of civic engineers in the BMC are vacant. This was revealed by a reply to an RTI query.

According to the city engineer’s office, activist Anil Galgali had asked the query to the office. The city engineer’s office also gave a report for the October 1 to December 31, 2018. As per the report, 4,485 posts of junior engineer, sub-engineer, assistant engineer, executive engineer and deputy chief engineer were approved. Of these, 969 posts were vacant and 3,516 were working. Considering the large scale of work BMC takes up, these vacant posts should be filled up as early as possible.

A bridge near CST in Mumbai collapsed, killing six people in March this year. Notably, no issues were flagged when the bridge which collapsed was audited by BMC. BMC’s 2018 report highlighted that the bridge needed minor repairs but the incident dismissed all the findings. While Elphinstone tragedy created quite an uproar and the government was slammed from all quarters, no one learned any lesson. In July last year, a portion of a 40-year-old bridge collapsed in Andheri killing two people. But the problems of Mumbaikars aren’t limited to Railways and bridges. Frequent fires also kill residents of Mumbai. The Kamala Mills fire accident, in which 14 people died, revealed that enough precautions haven’t been taken to avert any fire tragedy. Fire incidents kept claiming lives. In December 2018, ESIC Hospital in Kamgar caught fire killing 13 people. It seems no one takes fire safety norms seriously in Mumbai. Aa per a report, nearly 2,600 high rises violated rules in the last four years.

Residents of Mumbai are not lucky to get potholes-free roads. Rapping BMC for ignoring its order on potholes, a division bench of Bombay HC said that the civic body shows laxity because they know Mumbaikars are tolerant. The first rains of monsoon killed 26 persons in Mumbai recently. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rout said that the BMC and Shiv Sena are not responsible for whatever happened in Mumbai, blame the monsoon.

According to consultancy firm McKinsey as reported by Livemint, Mumbai needs $220 billion (approximately Rs 14,74,000 crore or Rs 14.74 trillion) of investment in hard infrastructure and smart technology over the next 20 years to be future-proof. The report of McKinsey found that Indian cities fare much worse than even Latin American and African metros in adoption of technology, the McKinsey report said. The study, put together by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the research division of the consultancy, evaluated 50 major global cities for their smartness. With the highest score set at 37 points, Jaipur scored only 2.7 (lowest among the cities studied), Pune 6.4 (at par with Nairobi) and Mumbai 8.8, ranking below counterparts such as Mexico City and Cape Town. These were the three Indian cities that made it to the 50 that were studied.

McKinsey estimates that Mumbai needs $220 billion to build hard and smart infrastructure till 2035. Suveer Sinha, partner, McKinsey was quoted by Livemint as saying, “There are no 20-year infrastructure plans for cities. City governments create plans for their individual terms. Therefore, there is no comparable government figure for how much the city’s corporation will spend to create infrastructure over this period.”

Mumbai lags behind other Indian cities in infrastructure

According to an expert, Mumbai lacks the political push that’s needed for infrastructure projects, while the government and state agencies in other cities are collectively working on clearing logjam on the ground so that they can expedite infrastructure projects. Many cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Jaipur rapidly developed metro lines to ferry people. Mumbaikars feel left behind. Mumbai was the city where careers were made earlier, so people were ready to struggle everyday in the trains or fight the traffic on roads. Now other cities offer growth opportunity and have better in.

ELECTRICITY

45 lakhTotal no of power consumers

3 million – Reliance Energy 0.95 million – BEST 0.60-0.65 million – Tata Power

ELECTRICITY DEMAND

During Summer- 3,600 MwOther months- 2,700 Mw

LAW AND ORDER

50,600 No of Policemen in city

94 – No of Police Stations The BPRD data till Jan 2016 says, Maharashtra had 1:625 police public ratio, which means one policeman for 625 people

WATER

City gets water supply from 7 sources namely Tulsi, Vihar, Tansa Modak Sagar, Middle Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa. Net supply to city is 3,750 MLD (excluding en-route supply and transmission losses). However, the city needs around 4,200 MLD water daily. The extra 450 MLD of water will come from 5 state-of-art infra projects like the lake-tapping of Modak Sagar & installing recycling plants at the Bhandup and Panjrapol water complexes

Controversial and pro-radical Islamist Vice President of India should be investigated

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

July 10, 2019

All of us are aware of the phrase ‘black-sheep’ or proverb ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. Two-times Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari is one of them, who had betrayed with his country and secretly joined hands with notorious Iranians, thus causing massive damage to India’s intelligence establishment.

According to information, NK Sood, a former officer of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), through his Twitter account @rawnksood on June 28, 2019, has made explosive allegations against Ansari stating, he [Ansari], while serving as Indian ambassador to Iran between 1990-1992 had endangered the lives of RAW officers in Tehran and even ended up exposing its set-up in Iran.

On July 5, 2019, in another tweet, Sood wrote: “Rata Sehgal was Additional Secretary in IB [Intelligence Bureau] and he was later found to be working for CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and help[ed] passing on documents to CIA lady agent in Delhi. He should have been arrested, jailed and dismissed. But was asked to resign and allowed to go. Now he is settled in [the] US”.

Sood retired from RAW in 2010.

According to a report published in The Sunday Guardian, Sood has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an inquiry into the case of Hamid Ansari’s betrayal and for “damaging the RAW operations” when he was posted as ambassador in Iran.

These officers, who were posted in Tehran during Ansari’s tenure, had first approached the Indian Prime Minister in August 2017 seeking investigation against Ansari, but surprisingly, Modi has not shown any interest in doing so.

In their complaint to the Prime Minister, these officers have claimed that Ansari, while being posted in Tehran, “not only failed to protect India’s national interest, but cooperated with the Iranian government and its intelligence agency SAVAK to cause a serious dent to RAW and its operations”.

According to them, there were four major incidents when Indian Embassy officials, diplomats were kidnapped by SAVAK and Ansari deliberately failed in his duties to protect India’s interest.

It may be mentioned here that, Iran’s notorious spy agency SAVAK was officially disbanded in 1979 and a new organization, Sazman-e Ettela’at va Amniat-e Melli-e Iran, was formed. However, intelligence agencies, including RAW, even till date, continue to refer to the Iranian spy agency by its old name.

NK Sood said, in May 1991, one Indian official named Sandeep Kapoor was kidnapped from the Tehran airport, by SAVAK. When the issue was brought before Ansari, he downplayed it despite RAW station chief — who was in Dubai during this incident, had to fly back considering the gravity of the situation and had briefed Hamid Ansari on the matter.

Instead of taking any initiatives in tracing the abducted official, Ansari sent a confidential report to the Ministry of External Affairs stating Kapoor was missing and his activities were under the radar of Iranian authorities because Kapoor was having illicit relations with a local woman. Hamid Ansari had deliberately suppressed the fact of being briefed by RAW and involvement of SAVAK behind the abduction of the Indian official, Sood added.

After three days of his abduction, an anonymous phone call to the Indian Embassy in Tehran informed that Kapoor was lying in a particular place on the roadside. Later he was rescued by the Indian officials. Sandeep Kapoor was heavily drugged and the after-effect of it lasted for several years.

Despite RAW’s suggestions of filing a protest with the Iranian regime, Ansari, because of his extreme romance with the Iranian mullahs, did not take any such steps.

There are many such incidents when Hamid Ansari had exhibited his total loyalty to the Iranian regime instead of looking into the interest of his own country.

During August 1991, RAW was monitoring activities of some Kashmiri jihadists, who were regularly visiting Iranian religious and recreation center named Qom, where they were getting military training. As the matter came to the knowledge of Hamid Ansari, passed the name of the RAW team leader D.B. Mathur to SAVAK and subsequently, the RAW officer was picked up by the members of the Iranian agency. As the matter was brought into the attention of Indian leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and subsequently Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, after 72 hours of his abduction, Mathur was released from Iran’s infamous Evin prison. It may be mentioned here that, Evin Prison has been accused of committing serious human rights abuses against its political dissidents and critics of the government. Hundreds and thousands of female prisoners were raped inside this prison by the prison guards as well as members of the Revolutionary Guards prior to their execution.

In his letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Sood also mentioned an incident where P.K. Venugopal, the RAW station chief, was picked up by SAVAK and beaten up before being released. Ansari never lodged a complaint with Iranian authorities.

Sood claims that Ansari’s prolonged and regular meetings with Pakistan Ambassador in Tehran was also not reported to the MEA.

Untold facts about Hamid Ansari

What the Indian intelligence establishment was not aware is, Hamid Ansari was not only having extreme intimacy with the Iranian regime, he also was under monthly payroll of the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). He had hosted Indian envoys in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain with the ulterior motive of extracting details about the RAW activities in those countries and had secretly passed the information to his Pakistani counterpart.

Hamid Ansari also was regularly supplied young Iranian girls by SAVAK while he was having a temporary wife named Shirin under Iran’s notorious Muta’ah marriage law.

It may also be mentioned here that Hamid Ansari had proposed setting of Shariah court in each of the districts in India. Following his retirement, Ansari has made numerous comments which went against India’s image.

Hamid Ansari has attended a program organized by militant Islamic organization named Popular Front of India (PFI), which has been accused by India’s National Investigative Agency (NIA) for its role in controversial love jihad cases in Kerala. He even defended and applauded those students who had protested the removal of Pakistani leader Jinnah’s portrait at Aligarh Muslim University.

It may be mentioned here that Hamid Ansari has authored a number of books on Iran including a book named Iran Today. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and a Visiting Professor at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. He is a former Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. Ansari has served as India’s ambassador to the UAE, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as High Commissioner to Australia, and as Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

It is unknown if Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will initiate an investigation into the case of Hamid Ansari. But of course, for the sake of punishing someone who had betrayed with his own country, people like Hamid Ansari should definitely be tried and at least imprisoned for life on charges of high treason and sedition.

(The author is the editor of Blitz. Follow him on Twitter at Salah_Shoaib)

(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.)

Do you want a career in Cricket?

C K Subramaniam

July 10, 2019

The transition from school to college and then to actual career-building will not be as fair, nice, and safe as you might expect, particularly at a time when the world is rapidly moving towards a greater degree of automation with each passing day. You should quickly adapt to the changing times in order to match up to the tasks. Nevertheless, planning should start at the early stages so as to seize the opportunities as and when they come and the youngsters should keep learning to be productively engaged with society. Building a career in sports is the best option for children to survive in a competitive field.

The message is simple — if you dream of becoming a professional sportsperson, you should have earned some national visibility by 16 or you most likely compete out already! Harsh as it sounds, this is usually a family decision — a high level of mentorship is needed for a young kid to live the life of strict nutrition, fitness, and practice regimes that the demands of the sport and then to survive the emotional highs and crashing lows of professional wins and losses. Of course, you can just be a sports hobbyist and running, playing sports at community clubs and participating in amateur tournaments while you hold down your day job.

Indian cricketers were emerging in the National horizon due to sheer talent or maybe the influence of being so and so of former cricketers/officials of National repute. The talented guys had to toil hard to meet their both ends without any support, parents’ wrath and the risk of neglecting studies. In comparison with two decades back, the ever-growing popularity of cricket in India has changed the scenario completely today. Cricket is being pursued as a career. We all know that a cricket player’s career is limited. The follow up like the star tag, the glamour always adds to subsequent guaranteed engagements which may be in advertisements endorsements, politics and even in Bollywood. Besides, the money generated by a cricketer during his limited career will be more than enough to venture into business propositions aftermath the career.

No surprise, the cricket fever with the youngsters in the country increasing the number of cricket coaching institutes. Crowded summer coaching camps are seen every nook and corner of the country. And India is reigning No-1 in ODI ranking in the World. India has become the new home of World Cricket. So, If you got a trio of talent, passion, and luck by your side, maybe you can be a part of bleed blue and play for the country. To be an International player you want to start the preparations from age 14 or at least 16.

If you make it big, there is tremendous earning potential as a cricketer. In recent times, a large amount of money has been put into the game and even players who play domestic cricket can earn significant sums of money if they participate in the various T20 tournaments held around the world, such as IPL in India and Big Bash in Australia. Most cricketers also earn significant amounts of money through sponsorships. However, first-class cricket players do not earn as much as international players.

The level of competition in the world of cricket has increased drastically over the last few years, ever since more money has been made available to players. However, at the top level, there is always room for exceptional people. However, only the top thirty or so players in every country come into contention of making it into the final playing eleven in each team. Competition is extremely fierce, and one really has to stand out in terms of talent, determination, and luck to make it.

Cricketing is a viable career option in the 10 test match playing countries. These are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, and West Indies. Within India, you can get selected from any part of the country that is home to a first-class cricket team. However, it is often easier to get noticed if you are from a bigger city. Hence, the competition there can be more intense. To succeed you will have to work really hard and that makes you a tough player of the test to withstand pressure situations and perform at the highest level.

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

Letters to the Editor: 10 July, 2019

Web Team

July 10, 2019

Steep illegal parking fine levied by BMC

The fine levied by the BMC for illegal parking to motorists is too much. They should first clean up the city of Mumbai of its garbage and also clean up the drainage system which gets chocked up during the monsoons and cause flooding and then levy a fine to motorists for illegal parking.

Jubel D’Cruz

Insult of great national leaders unacceptable

There is reference of Maharana Pratap in history and civics text books of 7^th standard (Maharashtra Board) without giving him due respect and thus Education Department has, in a way, insulted Maharana Pratap. In a lesson on history of pre-Shivaji period, it has been mentioned that ‘Maharana Pratap took over throne of Mewad after the death of Udaysingh. He continued the struggle for existence of Mewad.’ He has been referred to as an ordinary citizen. On Rajput community’s staging agitations on this issue, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that necessary instructions would be given to the Education Department; however, there is nothing new for the State Government, in Education Department’s committing blunders in text books. Earlier, in NCERT’s text books published by Union Government, history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was given in few lines while there were several pages on the history of Mughals. Revolutionaries were mentioned as terrorists in those books. Patriotic citizens protest against Education Department’s such kind of bravery; therefore, these blunders are at least brought to the notice of people. The curriculum set by Education Board has to be ideal as it helps in building up our future generation. The Government appoints experts in respective fields for the same; even then, Education Department is in public eye for some or the other issues. Historical legacy of revolutionaries and great national leaders is an invaluable treasure of Bharat which is striving to become a super-power and if that treasure is being insulted while presenting it before future generation, how will they take the country on the path of further progress?

Mokshada Ghanekar

Health woes after deluge

Health woes haunt the maximum city after the monsoon rains along with high tide swept the city and cause innumerably problems to the routine life of citizens. Some of the people are still missing in the heavy downpour could not be traced out and the old buildings have started falling down one by one. In the aftermath of rain, health problems also surface and cause a stir to the city. Doctors advised people, who ventured out in the muddy rain water for half an hour or so, need to undergo a test without fail to make sure that they do not face any health issues. Dengue, Cholera, Malaria and Swine Flu all are common as the water is contaminated with both drinking and drainage water mixing in some areas. It is better to boil and drink water at least for a fortnight till the normalcy is achieved. The deluge will surely result in diseases outbreak and one has to be careful with diseases like leptospirosis as it is a dangerous one. It is time to take care of health after the heavy rains. Monsoon rains is part and parcel of Mumbai and the state government should be ready for the outbursts of diseases and the medical team and the hospitals should be ready to meet any calamity with life saving medicines available and doctors kept ready. On the part of citizens, the people should take all precautions to make sure that the deluge has become a worry for diseases. After all cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Lakshmi Raghu

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

Rahul takes stock of poll debacle in Amethi

Web Team

July 10, 2019

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi is in Amethi for the first time since his Lok Sabha defeat at the hands of BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani. Perhaps he will take a lesson from this debacle and improve shortcomings of the Congress party.

Rahul Gandhi, on his daylong visit to Amethi, met Congress workers to ascertain the reasons behind his defeat with a margin of 55,000 votes. On Monday, in an important meeting of the Congress Sewa Dal in Lucknow, it was also emphasised that the organisational structure should be made strong once again.

The Congress had earlier also constituted a two-member panel comprising UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s representative KL Sharma and AICC secretary Zubair Khan to analyse the reasons behind the poll debacle in the Congress stronghold Amethi.

According to the report of the panel, the non-cooperation by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party workers at the grassroots level were to be blamed for the poll rout. The SP and the BSP, which had formed an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls, did not field any candidate in Amethi in a show of tacit support to the Congress party.

As per the local leaders, the absence of a BSP candidate contributed to Gandhi’s defeat, even though he got more votes than his 2014 tally. They said that the votes from the BSP candidate’s kitty went to the BJP instead of getting transferred to the Congress. A senior Congress leader said, “The party chief had bagged 4,08,651 votes in 2014 while he got 4, 13,994 votes in 2019. Meanwhile, the BSP candidate from Amethi in 2014 had got around 57,000 votes. Interestingly, this time the margin by which Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi was around 55,000.”

Local Congress leader Yogendra Mishra also said, “The vote of the BSP instead of going to the Congress actually got transferred to BJP due to absence of any BSP candidate. The son of Gayatri Prajapati, who was the mining minister in the SP government, and SP MLA from Gauriganj Rakesh Pratap Singh, had expressed their support to the BJP. Rakesh Pratap Singh extended support to Rahul Gandhi after getting directive from the leadership but it was too late by then.” KL Sharma, refuted this justification and said that there will be further feedback sessions with workers from the Tiloi and Gauriganj segments.

Congress slept, BJP swept

At a tea shop in Jais tehsil in Amethi, a young farmer Visweshwar Verma put up a spirited defence of PM Narendra Modi’s schemes when asked why he voted for the BJP. “We received two instalments of Rs 2,000 each from the PM-Kisan scheme… he gave us Rs 4,000 (the second instalment came a few days before the day of polling). No one before him even gave us Rs 4 in our hands,” he added.

The overall consensus of the group sitting inside the tea shop is that the BJP was expected to win these elections. They said, “Man, dhan se chunav lada BJP ne… koi Kasar nahin choda (the BJP put its heart and resources to win the elections). An alert Congress should have seen it coming but they kept on sleeping.”

Brijesh Kumar, 40, a Congress party worker of Gauriganj, was fuming. He said, “Our local leaders expected to win without doing anything… there was no campaign in the villages, nor was anyone there to listen to people’s problems.” However, his biggest complaint is that the local leadership prevented workers from meeting Rahul Gandhi whenever he visited. “We could only see him from far away. We were told that a 134-year-old party will not function according to our suggestions.” The disconnect and lack of grassroots campaign also meant that the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY)—the Rs 72,000 per year minimum income guarantee scheme for the poorest which was promised in the Congress manifesto—escaped popular imagination.

According to Jay Prakash Kaushal, a resident of Gauriganj, the widening gap with the ordinary people coupled with the gate keeping by local leaders cost the Congress the crucial seat. He said, “The results will hold a mirror to Rahul Gandhi… the party should have seen this coming.”

In the 2014 general election, Rahul Gandhi’s margin of victory fell to a little over 107,000 votes from 370,000 votes in 2009. In the 2017 state assembly elections, the Congress lost in each of the five assembly constituencies in Amethi. It was nowhere to be seen during the Panchayat elections in 2018. The poor election management in Amethi is indicative of the Congress’ wider decimation in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the party witnessed a washout despite winning state elections seven months ago.

According to Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior Lucknow-based leader and spokesperson of the Congress, the lack of foot soldiers who could campaign for the party, coupled with the BJP’s dominance of television and social media, were major reasons for the electoral loss of the party. “We were fighting a moral battle… the (popular) support for PM Modi is grounded in astha (faith), which does not see any merit or demerit,” he said.

Youths have no attachment to history of development of Amethi

From infrastructure to restoring agricultural land, the Gandhis have indeed done a fair share of work and managed to change the face of Amethi, but the youths of today have no attachment to this history of development Amethi, said Sudhir Panwar, professor at the University of Lucknow. Panwar said “When the Jat farmer leader, Ajit Singh, lost in the 2014 general election, there was anger in the villages of western Uttar Pradesh. But after he lost this time, there is none. The same goes for the Congress in Amethi. Ordinary workers of the Congress are also deserting the party since it is not in a position to benefit them in any way.”

According to Vivek Mishra, a young booth-level worker of the BJP, dislodging Gandhi from Amethi took months of hard work. “The BJP fought these elections at a micro level as if it was Panchayat elections. We worked as social workers, helping people enrol under the Ayushman Bharat (the PM’s flagship health insurance) scheme, and ensured that farmers received the PM-Kisan money transfers.” That is not all. Polarization on religious lines was also an integral part of the election strategy. Rajwant Singht, a 65-year-old resident of Gauriganj said, “The beef eaters had to be taught a lesson… only the BJP can protect the interest of Hindus.”

Hrishik Pandey (21 years) from Pure Dhana Pandey village in Jais, voted for the first time. He said, “Hindus have been suppressed for far too long… see, Rahul also knew that he will lose, so he ran away to Wayanad (in Kerala) where Hindus are in minority… but don’t you think southern states are odd. Why did they vote the other way?”

Many promises yet to be fulfilled

Rajesh Choudhary

July 9, 2019

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has claimed to retain power again but he has not fulfilled many promises made by him during elections. In the recent past, CM Fadnavis recited a poem indicating that he will be coming back again and resuming the work as CM of Maharashtra.

Seeing the winning graph of the BJP, no one can deny that the party will retain the power in alliance with the Shiv Sena. However, at the same time, the poem is contradictory to some people in the state as youths are jobless and Mumbai is still in potholes. Mumbai’s potholes will be addressed, it was in the 2014 manifesto of the CM.

CM had also told people that if you find any pothole, do not vote for me. He had said that Mumbai would not suffer waterlogging.

The first rain of monsoon this season left Mumbai paralysed and more than 50 people lost their lives. His ally party leader Sanjay Raut blamed the monsoon saying that the BMC and Shiv Sena are not responsible for whatever happened in Mumbai.

On the other hand, corruption in the state is continuing without any break and women safety is still a distant dream.

Chief Minister was speaking on the last day of the last legislative assembly session of the present government. He expressed his firm belief that once again he will return to power for the creation of Navamaharashtra. He said, “I’ll be back again to make the villages of the state hydrated, to change the face of the cities, to make Maharashtra drought-free and youths more efficient.”

Congress spokesman Atul Londhe told Afternoon Voice, “None of their promises has been fulfilled. People are very disappointed with them. People are surprised that how did they win elections?”

Fadnavis said that during his five years reign as the Chief Minister, there were many problems and challenges. He said, “I did not run away from it. I have tried to solve the questions honestly and positively with everyone. We have done the things that have not been done in the past 15-20 years. We have been successful in bringing back the glory of Maharashtra. Today Maharashtra is the number one state on all the fronts.”

BJP spokesperson Prof. Suhas Farande said, “The work of the Fadnavis government has been good. That is why people gave 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. This government is transparent. Like PM Modi, CM Devendra Fadnavis has done a good job. As far as unemployment is concerned, it cannot be solved in only five years. This problem has been persisting since the Independence of India. The Fadnavis government will come back, it is our confidence.”

The BJP led by Fadnavis came in power in Maharashtra five years ago. The Chief Minister promised clean, transparent governance, more industrialisation, and employment opportunities, improving the state’s finances and ramping up infrastructure. However, his tenure has grappled with acute agrarian distress and a farm loan waiver, dwindling finances, slow investment, and corruption charges. Maharashtra’s position as the number one economy in the country is slipping. During the ‘Make in Maharashtra‘ event in 2016, the state government promised Rs 8 lakh crore worth of foreign investment that would create 30 lakh new jobs. But the ground reality is that no major industry has come and no new jobs have been created. The BJP promised clean governance, but Fadnavis’s ministers are facing corruption charges.

NCP leader Shashikant Shinde said, “They have won the recently held Lok Sabha elections. But there will be a huge difference between the results of the Maharashtra Assembly and the Lok Sabha polls. NCP will fight Assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. There is also an apprehension about polling through EVMs.”

BJP leaders made pre-poll promises to farmers about complete loan write-offs, remunerative prices based on the Swaminathan Commission‘s recommendations, and doubling farmers’ income in five years, but they have not delivered on any promise. Incidents of farmers committing suicide are continuing. The state government failed to control farmer suicides. Demonetisation and the implementation of GST have caused a major slowdown in the economy. Even traders are not happy.

Despite this, the implementation of many projects has not been as quick as the government earlier projected. Five years on, the construction of key projects like Mumbai’s trans-harbour link and a coastal road are yet to take off. The grand ‘housing for all’ scheme is lagging far behind targets and the smart cities scheme is doing little to bring about the overhaul that cities really need.

BJP’s populist promises to Mumbaikars:

-Pothole-free roads in 5 years, till then no street tax

-To introduce mobile application to address citizens’ grievances

-The projects taken up by BMC in last 20 years under Public Private Partnership module for education, medical and other projects will be investigated by retired judge

-24×7 water to be provided and under Right to Water, every family will be provided 750 litres water on which corporation takes eight per cent charge every year. No more extra charges

-The citizens would be provided with more 3200 MLD water with the help of Gargai, Pinjal and Daman Ganga dams

-Salt water treatment plant will be set up

-Sewage treated water will be utilized to wash roads of Mumbai’s to make the city pollution and dust-free

-Families who are living in flood-prone areas would be given extra FSI so redevelopment of flood prone area buildings would be easier

-Eight sewage treatment plants will be set up

-Electricity from waste management

-Waste collection vehicle information will be available on mobile phones

-Waste treated water will be used to wash railway bogies, BEST bus, State transport (ST buses) and private vehicles. A separate place would be provided for sewage treatment plant

-Separate plants for debris treatment will also be setup

-Unhygienic public toilets will be given free electricity and water as incentives to maintain them well and motivate people to use it cleanly

-To decongest Mumbai city, a ‘Traffic comprehensive Mobility Plan’ will be worked out

-Five new medical colleges will be constructed

-A special budget provision will be made for Mumbai open space and beautification

-Beach Beautification programmes will be undertaken; East Coast, which comes under Bombay Port Trust, will be beautified and kept open for public

–Mangroves theme park will be setup on 30 per cent land of Mumbai city with people’s participation

The Chief Minister said in poem:

I’ll be back again! The same fixes,

In this same place in this role

New Maharashtra’s creation

I’ll be back again!

To make the villages hydrated

To change the face of the cities

Maharashtra to be drought free

For the creation of Navamaharashtra

I’ll be back again!

To make young friends more efficient

To strengthen the victims

For the creation of Nava-maharashtra …

I’ll be back again!

Monsoon mess in Mumbai

Vaidehi Taman

July 9, 2019

Expect heavy to very heavy rainfall for the rest of the week, this was the message from the weather department. When it rains, the entire city traffic comes to a halt in Mumbai, India’s second most important city in the country after Delhi. Every year, at least a dozen people get washed away in flood water here and as usual, Nobody Cares!

Monsoon puts our government, city civic bodies, and urban planners to shame every year. However, nobody cares. Major cities across India resembling a huge water body when the skies open up is a regular feature during monsoon. When it pours, life comes to a halt and lakhs of people suffer. Mumbai receives more rain than many other major cities in India; the commercial capital of the country suffers the most and makes it to headlines. Once the rain stops and flood water recedes, everybody including the people of Mumbai choose to forget it till the next monsoon.

Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Guwahati, Jaipur, and even Dehradun and Lucknow have the same issues during monsoon. It exposes the serious lapses in our urban planning and more so in its execution. Unless we get our basic drainage system right, we can’t save our cities from monsoon fury. The need of the hour is investing in better and effective drainage system across all major cities. We need to build good quality wide roads with no potholes to decongest the cities when the skies open up.

For all these, we need more money, world-class technology, political will, and no corruption while delivering the work. Mumbai needs urgent attention of the concerned authorities. If we can’t protect them from rain, we better forget our plans or dreams of making them model cities or smart cities or world cities. Heavy overnight rains lashed Mumbai and adjoining areas causing water logging in several low-lying areas, resulting in the slow movement of peak hour rail traffic. The local trains on the Harbour line were running late by 15 to 20 minutes. The trains on Central and Western lines, however, were running on time. The disaster management team is keeping a tab on the situation but that is not enough. The city recorded 477.2 mm rain since June 1. With the average rainfall for June in Mumbai is 523.1 mm, the city has 46 mm left to cover to surpass its monthly mean rainfall.

Every year monsoon arrives and exposes the authorities and government. Every year, there is at least one picture of a BMC worker who is working towards clearing the choked drainage, the silent messages depicted in pictures but what is the point in it? Every year the government is making budgets for drainage and those people are doing their jobs. The ever-procrastinating people, who are not answerable to anybody, waste much of government funds. Just one or two rains hit Mumbai and look at the conditions around. Railways station escalators are not protected against weather, there are water logs everywhere on the stations to metro and skywalk, tiles are broken and holes. Of course, there are attempts being made to ‘advance’ the facilities to passengers by installing escalators worth nearly 80 lakhs per set, which can speed up enough to cope with the rising demand of hurry for citizens.

Before the arrival of monsoon in the city, the opposition always disputes with the ruling party, the BJP used to attack then and now Congress and NCP are attacking, leaving these political parties aside from the civic body’s claim that most of the city nullahs have been cleaned. However, if you visit Borivali nullah near the national park to Andheri, most of them are filthy, overflown with plastic covers and all sort of garbage. The work at the Dahisar River nullah remains incomplete.

At many nullahs, the parapet walls have not been built. The nullahs of Dahisar River, Chandavarkar nullah did not have proper parapet wall causing flooding during heavy rains. Lacks of funds are one of the reasons that parapet walls have not been built at some nullahs. The NL Complex nullah, which starts from Dahisar east near Sanjay Gandhi National Park and flows into the Mira Bhayander creek, is still not cleaned properly. In case of high tide, there are chances that water might go backward and flood some areas, instead of flowing into the sea. This is the main cause of water borne diseases. People suffer from different kind of strange viral infections.

Seashores are dirty, beaches and dumped with all sort of waste. Lakes are stinking. Since a large number of Mumbaiites are used to urinating, spitting and defecating in public places, rains promptly absolve us of the guilt of our reckless conduct. In this way, we can continue to blame the authorities for not making our areas hygienic and mosquito free whilst assuring ourselves unrestricted use of the freedom we won so dearly. Common public and BMC both blame each other but the main issues get sidelined, above all politics kills the substance of the purpose. I have been witnessing Mumbai rains since my birth, but every year, the issues are the same without any solution.

There is no other season or weather that can fill one with as deep and different emotions as the rains. Every season the stories are same, just the rulers may change. You voted for this government with great faith, hope they live up to your expectations and do not leave in monsoon mess of Mumbai.

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

1...985986987...5,577 Page 986 of 5,577