India

By Quaid Najmi
Mumbai, Dec 25 (IANS) Just when the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra appeared to be settling cosily at the half-way mark of its tenure, a shock-and-awe rebellion unseated it barely within half-a-month in June.


The 'bloodless coup', unprecedented for state politics, saw the rise of a rebel Shiv Sena group led by Eknath Shinde, later head of 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' (BSS), who joined hands with the then Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to unseat the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party 'autorickshaw' government.

The MVA and the Sena (UBT) hit back at the new dispensation with a series of legal challenges, which are pending before the Supreme Court.

As per current indicators, the court case may drag on for long, but if (and when) the verdict goes against the BSS-BJP, it could pave the way for the President's Rule, followed by mid-term polls in the state.

Under any possible scenario, the BSS-BJP will need to establish its credibility vis-a-vis the massive sympathy that the ousted MVA continues to enjoy among the masses, which could be crucial for any elections, particularly the upcoming civic elections to several major corporations including Mumbai.

Besides the hanging legal sword, the Shinde-Fadnavis government suffered major setbacks when several major industrial projects abruptly deserted the state and went to Gujarat, and certain other states.

The MVA Opposition cried foul, went hammer-and-tongs after the Shinde-Fadnavis government, especially since Maharashtra ranks as the country's most-developed and investor-friendly state, and something that didn't go down well with the working and business classes.

After pleading by Shinde-Fadnavis, the Centre to compensate for 'losses' here, and so far, a few 'unimpressive' commitments have come up, which are being crowed as 'major achievements', but the creamy ones continue to elude, and may prove to be disastrous at the hustings.

Around November, the long simmering Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary issue -- territorial, political and emotional -- suddenly jumped to the centrestage, but here Maharashtra seems to have gone on the backfoot.

In contrast, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai -- eyeing the next Assembly polls in his state -- looms like a giant prowling around to swallow the small villages on the other side... with the Shinde-Fadnavis cowering helplessly, like Nanos.

Luckily for the two states, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah intervened to put his foot down on the issue and told both sides to maintain restraint, not to make tall claims over each other or vitiate the atmosphere till the Supreme Court verdict.

April-May saw the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray grabbing the centrestage by challenging the alleged menace of loudspeakers blaring high-decibel 'azaan' (Muslim call for prayer) from mosques in the state, and counter them with full-throated Hanuman Chalisa rendition.

Though claiming success for the agitation and even getting patted by Shinde-Fadnavis, Raj Thackeray still shies from a direct alliance with the BSS-BJP for the upcoming elections to over a dozen big civic bodies.

Post-MVA collapse, Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut was at his loudest vocal best against the Shinde-Fadnavis government, and finally he paid the price for it in the form of arrest on August 1 in an alleged landscam and money laundering case.

Raut secured bail in November after spending 110 days in jail - and walked out to a changed political scenario with a different party name, poll symbol and a much-truncated Sena, and is slowly regaining his voice...

In November, the state and nation were shocked with the brutal killing of a Palghar woman, Shraddha Walkar by her live-in partner, Aaftab Poonawala, much like the diabolic murder of a corporate executive Sheena Bora exactly 10 years ago.

On anticipated lines, there was a clamour from some quarters to enact a 'love-jihad' type of law here, and the state took a first step by appointing a panel to check out 'inter-religious' marriages and help the girls 'trapped' into such marriages but have severed links with their families, and is now studying other states' laws for the next step.

Towards the year-end, the state Governor's utterances on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other icons resulted in a fresh tumult, especially with several BJP leaders also making similar statements.

A majority of the parties are now demanding the ouster of the Governor -- again, something unprecedented for the state -- and action against the BJP leaders accused of bad-mouthing legendary personalities.

After the upheavals in 2022, the masses hope that real issues like inflation, unemployment, women's security and farmers' woes bounce back on the priorities of the squabbling political parties in 2023.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

--IANS
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By Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar, Dec 25 (IANS) The tribal belt is spread from Danta in north Gujarat to Umargam in Valsad and Dangs in southeast of the state. Some 89.17 lakh tribals live in this eastern belt and have great dominance in Gujarat politics with 27 reserved seats, of which the BJP won 23 in this assembly election.


For the last two and a half decades the BJP has made inroads into the tribal belt, which was once the bailiwick of the Congress. First with the Hindu card and now with the development card, the government is planning to win the hearts of the tribals. It has planned eight tribal parks in this belt.

In principle the government has decided to set up industrial estates for Micro, Small, Medium units in talukas that are declared tribal talukas. The aim is to create employment in the tribal belt and also encourage entrepreneurship among the tribals, said Dr Kuber Dindor, Tribal Development Minister.

Out of the eight, two tribal parks are coming up in Chhotaudepur and Dahod district, said Dharmendra Panelia, regional manager, Vadodara, of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC).

Panelia said Vanar village in Chhotaudepur and Chakaliya village of Jhalod taluka in Dahod district have been selected as the sites for the tribal parks, with some 8 to 10 hectares of land being reserved for each site. It is at a very primary stage, and details have to be worked out whether they will be dedicated to MSME or will be a mixed bag of small and big units. But one thing is sure, they will be non-polluting units.

To encourage entrepreneurs to set up shop in the industrial estates, the state government has launched schemes to attract investment. The first is the Atmanirbhar Gujarat Yojama-2022, under which general category investors are given subsidy for setting up units, whereas under the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Udhyog Uday Yojna, SC/ST entrepreneurs setting up MSME are given subsidy, said S J Thakor, general manager at the Dahod District Industries Centre.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs are given a higher subsidy under this scheme, compared to the general investor.

The policies and programmes all sound good when they are announced, but in reality they fail to deliver, is the experience of Vansda MLA Anant Patel from the Congress.

He doubts that the tribal park will increase tribal entrepreneurs, because very few tribals are financially empowered to set up units. Patel said that a lot many hotels have come up in tribal areas, where the tribal is the owner of the land but once the agriculture land is converted into non-agriculture land, a non tribal takes over. The same will happen with the industrial units. To avail subsidies, on paper the entrepreneur will be a tribal but once the subsidies are availed, the tribal will be out of the game.

In the name of tribal development they want to snatch away the tribals' land alleges Chaitar Vasava, AAP MLA from Dediapada. This is his observation from past experience, be it the development of the Statue of Unity, or water reservoir projects like the Narmada, Kadana or Ukai dam. Vasava said they will launch an agitation against such tribal parks.

--IANS
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By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi
New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) In the just concluded winter session of Parliament, the opposition despite all its efforts could not persuade the government for discussion on the Chinese transgression issue.



The regular adjournment notice in Lok Sabha was rejected by the Speaker and the suspension of business in Rajya Sabha was also not entertained by the chair. The Congress has been pushing for discussion on the issue to 'expose' the government but in vain.

This time with the new chairman in the Upper House the opposition could not press for an adjournment except for a few occasions and brief timings. Similar pattern was repeated in the Lower House as well.

This is not the first time but during the whole session the opposition could not prevail upon the government to initiate a discussion on any matter except for a very few occasions. The opposition tried to convince the government to discuss issues but could not do so.

Many times in the year the opposition adopted a joint strategy to corner the government but in the end could not do so. Shashi Tharoor said on Friday that, "many important issues like unemployment, inflation could not be discussed in the House... The winter session was cut short."

Though the winter session became the new bone of contention as the opposition is now alleging that the government cut short the session and it was started late but the government said that it was done with "consensus".

While parliamentary affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said since the Modi government came to power the opposition has been exhibiting negative conduct in the House."

The government and the chair insisted on productivity that Parliament was doing more work. The opposition insisted that the government business was not the productivity but discussing the people's issues were the productivity.

The government and the chair on Friday listed productivity as an achievement. The productivity of Rajya Sabha was 103 per cent, while it was 97 per cent for Lok Sabha, the minister informed. There were 13 sittings over a period of 17 days during the session.

The Winter session began on December 7 and was adjourned sine die on December 23, 2022.

Joshi further informed that during the session, nine bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and seven bills were passed.

Nine bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha. Total number of bills passed by both the Houses during the session were nine.

The Parliament's Monsoon Session also had ended four days before its scheduled completion, with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die.

The session, which began on July 18, was slated to go on till August 12 but was adjourned sine die on August 8.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, before adjourning the ninth session of the 17th LS sine die, had said that the House met for 16 days wherein seven bills were passed.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu had adjourned the Upper House sine die, during the session the Congress was fighting against the ED,

As Congress Chief Whip, Jairam Ramesh said, "Under the circumstances, in keeping with the sanctity of Parliament and Parliamentarians and its time-honoured conventions, it is high time that the presiding officers of both Houses may deliberate and ensure that such gross affronts on the Parliament and MPs does not recur."

The proceedings of the Budget Session in the Lok Sabha were adjourned sine die on, one day ahead of its schedule.

The total productivity of the eighth session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 129 per cent, said the Speaker while informing the members about the work done in the session. He further said that the session began on January 31 and a total of 27 sittings were held which lasted for about 177 hours and 50 minutes.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, under the government's policy of zero tolerance against corruption, has approved force retirement for 10 senior Telecom Department (DoT) officials, including a joint secretary, a source said.

The minister took the decision after receiving complaints of corruption and negligence, the source said, adding that the officials have 'doubtful integrity'. Out of the 10 officials, nine were working at director level while one was of joint secretary rank.

According to the information, the forced retirements were given under Section 56 (J) under Pension Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

Vaishnaw has taken the decision on the eve of 'Good Governance Day' celebrated every year by the Central government to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The minister, who also holds Railway portfolio, has taken similar actions in past as well when he cleared forced retirement for about 40 officials in the railways department for their non-performance and doubtful integrity.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Dec 25 (IANS) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its latest report pointed out that due to time over run initially conceptualised National Register of Citizens (NRC), the project cost escalated from Rs 288.18 Crore to Rs 1602.66 Crore.

The CAG report for the year ended 2020, which was submitted in the Assam assembly on Saturday, said that in the NRC updating exercise, highly secure and reliable software was required.

"Due to lack of proper planning in this regard, to the extent of 215 software utilities were added in haphazard manner to the core software. It was done without following the due process of either software development or selection of vendors through eligibility assessment following a national tendering," the report said.

The CAG report said that haphazard development of software and utilities of NRC data capture and correction posed the risk of data tempering without leaving any audit trail.

The audit trail could have ensured accountability for the veracity of NRC data. Thus, the intended objective of preparing a valid error-free NRC has not yet been met, it said.

Former NRC co-ordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma had filed an FIR with the vigilance and anti-corruption wing of the state government complaining about corruption and money laundering by his predecessor Prateek Hajela.

NRC is an exercise to remove illegal immigrants. The draft list was published in July 2018, excluding 19.06 lakh out of 3.30 crore applications for the lack of adequate documents for establishing their Indian citizenship.

In Assam, those who entered India before March 25, 1971, have to prove their citizenship.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Amid rising Covid scare in many countries, especially China, the Centre has asked all the states and UTs to hold a mock drill at all the health facilities, including identified Covid centres, across the country on Tuesday (December 27).

"Taking note of a surge in Covid trajectory in many countries around the world, it is necessary that in all the states/UTs, requisite public health measures are put in place to meet any exigencies. The preparedness of Covid-19 health facilities is crucial to ensure that states/districts are in a state of readiness to meet increase in clinical care needs due to any spurt in cases," said Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, in a letter to all the states and UTs on Saturday.

Bhushan said that it has therefore been decided to hold a mock drill at all health facilities, including identified Covid-dedicated health facilities, across the country on December 27. The objective of this exercise is to ensure operational readiness of these health facilities for management of COVID, he said.

The centre has said that during this exercise, focus shall be on the Geographically representative availability of health facilities covering all districts, Bed capacities like Isolation beds, oxygen supported isolation beds, ICU beds and ventilator supported beds andA
Optimal availability of human resource.

The ministry has asked to ensure through mock drill the availability of healthcare professionals trained on Covid-19 management, availability of advanced and basic life support (ALSfBLS) ambulances and testing capacities, logistics availability, availability of essential drugs, ventilators and medical oxygen.

The mock drill may be done under the overall guidance of respective district collectors/district magistrates in close consultation with officials of the health department of the state/UTs, read the letter.

"Follow up on any gap assessment shall be required to be undertaken by additional chief secretary, principal secretary, secretary (health) and or MD-NHM of states who will also be required to monitor the exercise personally under the overall guidance of health minister of the respective states," the letter said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) A special NIA court in Guwahati has awarded 5 years' rigorous imprisonment to two persons who were arrested in connection with a case related to recruiting members to raise a module of the terror group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).

The court while awarding sentence to Md. Shahnowaj Alom a.k.a. Shahnawaj Alam and Omar Faruk also imposed a fine on them. Both were convicted under sections 120B of IPC, 18, 18B, 19, and 38 of UA (P) Act.

Alom was arrested in 2018. He was having close connections with Md. Kamruz Zaman, a suspected terrorist of HM.

During investigations, it was revealed that accused Kamruj Zaman, Shahnawaz Alom, Saidul Alam, Omar Faruk and other accused had entered a conspiracy to recruit members for raising a module of HM in Assam for striking terror in the minds of people by terrorist activities.

The case was initially registered at Jamunamukh police station in 2018 and later on, the probe into the matter was taken over by the NIA.

After investigation, a chargesheet was filed against five accused on March 11, 2019

--IANS
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By Avinash Prabhakar
New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) Weeks after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wrested control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from the BJP, which was at the helm for three consecutive terms, AAP on Friday announced its candidates for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.


Shelly Oberoi, the councillor from Ward No. 86 in Patel Nagar, is AAP's Mayoral candidate, while the name of Aaley Mohammaed Iqbal has been proposed for the post of Deputy Mayor.

Oberoi (39) joined AAP as an activist in 2013 and was the party's Mahila Morcha vice-president till 2020. As a first time councillor, she registered victory on a BJP stronghold in West Delhi. A former visiting assistant professor at Delhi University and a first-time councillor, Oberoi contested the elections from former Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta's home turf of East Patel Nagar, and defeated her rival Deepali Kumari by 269 votes.

Oberoi holds a PhD in management studies from IGNOU's School of Management Studies. Along with Delhi University, She also taught at several other universities such as NMIMS, IP and IGNOU.

The first-time councillor, who is a lifetime member of the Indian Commerce Association (ICA), has several awards and accolades to her credit that she received in different conferences.

"I am feeling honoured as it will be a big responsibility. I shall give my best to fulfil the expectations of people and my respected party members", Oberoi had said after she was named AAP's Mayoral candidate.

From an ordinary AAP worker to being nominated for the Mayor's post, her journey has truly been overwhelming, she said in a tweet.

Her main focus, Oberoi said, will be fulfilling the 10 guarantees promised by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by working together with all the councillors to knock off the city's 'garbage capital' tag.

"My eyes are full of dreams to fulfil the committments of Arvind Kejriwal and his 10 guarantees," she said.

However, it should be mentioned that AAP has named her candidature for only three months.

At the first MCD meeting to be held on January 6, the 250 municipal councillors will take oath and elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor besides six members of the standing committee. The post of the Mayor is reserved for a female councillor in the first of the MCD's five-year tenure.

After the Mayor is be elected on January 6, she will remain in office till April. Election for Mayor's post will be held again in April.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Dec 24 (IANS) Assam Police have arrested 53 'jihadis' this year including a Bangladeshi national, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

Replying to a question of BJP MLA Terash Gowala on the last day of winter session in Assam assembly, Sarma said that since March this year, a total of nine cases have been registered in seven districts of the state -- Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Tamulpur and Nalbari districts.

The case registered in Barpeta against the jihadi module was handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA), said Sarma.

One Bangladeshi national Saiful Islam a.k.a. Harun Rashid was arrested in Barpeta under relevant sections of IPC, UA (P) Act, Passport Act and Foreigners Act.

"The person was engaged as Imam of Dhakaliapara Mosque in the Barpeta district," he added.

Meanwhile, five other Bangladeshi nationals are still absconding who were allegedly to be involved in 'jihadi' activities in Assam, said Sarma.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the joint committee of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Uttar Pradesh PCB and District Magistrate, Balrampur, with state PCB acting as nodal agency to ascertain the factual position and take remedial action in accordance with the law in a plea where it has been alleged that two sugar mills are discharging untreated industrial effluents into a storm water drain.

The plea mentioned that the effluents discharged in the drain are then released into the Suwaon drain, a rain-fed rivulet connected with the Rapti river, which forms part of the Ganga river basin, in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district.

The plea was filed by Manav Sewa Sansthan, and advocate Rahul Choudhary, alleging two sugar mills -- Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd. located in village Bishunpur village and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Mills located at tehsil Utraula.

The tribunal asked the respondents to file an action taken report within two months.

"The report may cover compliance of both the industries with reference to the consent conditions, particularly ZLD condition and consented mode disposal of effluents. Analytical results of samples collected by the applicant may also be adverted to," the tribunal said.

"A copy of the report may also be shared with PPs for their response, if any, before the next date, by email. If there are any other orders with regard to the said mills by any other Court, the same be mentioned," the tribunal added.

In the plea, the plaintiff has referred to an earlier order of the tribunal dated April 27, 2017 by which the tribunal considered an earlier grievance against Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd.

Finding violations, the tribunal directed remedial action, including payment of compensation as mentioned in the said order.

In the plea, the petitioner has annexed samples of waste water in the vicinity of the units showing exceedance of parameters.

It is stated that as per Environment Clearance (EC) condition, the unit has to be Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) and use effluents in its process, instead of discharging the same into the stream, as it is being done.

The petitioner has also annexed a copy of representation dated July 9, addressed to the statutory regulators on which CPCB asked the state pollution control board vide letter dated July 22 to look into the matter and take remedial action in respect of both the mills.

The NGT said: "The applicant may furnish set of papers to CPCB, state pollution control board, district magistrate, Balrampur and the PPs by e-mail and file affidavit of service within one week."

The tribunal has listed the matter for further hearing on March 24, 2023.

--IANS
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