Regional

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 9 (IANS) Following a huge backlash from the opposition parties and within the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Front, the proposal in the state Budget presented in the Assembly that batted for privatization in the higher education sector has been put on hold.

On Monday, state Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal while presenting his fourth straight budget said the doors have been opened for private and foreign universities to open their campuses. As the first step towards this, he said four international educational conclaves will be held outside the country.

He said experts hailing from Kerala and those working in the higher education sector abroad will be drafted for taking forward this idea. To fast track this idea, special packages will be introduced in the field of higher education. Balagopal had pointed out that all these changes were being made to ensure to attract foreign students to Kerala besides helping students from here presently going abroad for higher studies.

But no sooner had the budget presentation got over, the Congress-led UDF opposition and the BJP went hammer and tongs on this major shift in the ideology of the Left, who have all along been against any sort of privatisation.

State Higher Education Minister R. Bindhu also was seen expressing her displeasure and the only ones who batted for it was the Chief Minister himself, state CPI(M) party secretary M.V. Govindan and Balagopal.

Meanwhile, according to sources, CM Vijayan, who returned from Delhi on Friday, has been directed by the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury not to take it further in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As this is a major deviation from the CPI(M) ideology, no further action should be taken, Yechury has said, as per the sources, adding that the Congress and BJP will attack the Left during the election campaign.

All along the CPI(M)-led Left in Kerala had staunchly opposed the entry of the private sector in the education sector. The Left led huge protests when the K. Karunakaran government in the '90s planned to open up a few professional courses in the medical sector and also when the A.K. Antony-led government in 2001 opened up the professional education sector in the self-financing mode.

Incidentally, the present lot of CPI(M) state Ministers, including Balagopal, P. Rajeeve (Industries) M.B. Rajesh (Local Self Government) Saji Cherian (Fisheries) P.A. Mohammed Riyas (Tourism) and V. Sivankutty (Education) were all in the forefront of protests in the nineties whenever the Congress-led state governments tried to revamp the higher education sector.

--IANS

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Patna, Feb 9 (IANS) Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Friday granted interim bail to former Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her two daughters -- Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav -- in the IRCTC land-for-job case.

The court gave them the interim bail on Rs 1 lakh bail bond each. The next hearing of this case is scheduled on February 28.

Earlier, Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav appeared in the Rouse Avenue court on Friday morning after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a charge sheet against them in the case.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had questioned Lalu Prasad Yadav for 10 hours, Tejashwi Yadav for eight hours, Rabri Devi and Misa Bharti for three hours each in Patna after the government changed in Bihar.

Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav, Amit Katyal, Hridayanand Choudhary and others are facing charges of money laundering of Rs 600 crore.

Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Union railway minister between 2004 to 2009 had given the jobs to several people in Group D after allegedly taking their lands.

--IANS

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Chennai, Feb 9 (IANS) Dalit activists have taken up the case of a 37-year-old Dalit man being asphyxiated to death while cleaning a septic tank in an apartment building at Kannabiraman street in Coimbatore.

Activist and leader of Dalit rights movement Meenakumari Sunil told IANS that manual scavenging is against the law.

“It is against law and we will take those who engaged the man for manual scavenging to the court,” Meenakumari said.

Mohanasundaralingam (37) was engaged in cleaning the sewage tank of an apartment in Kannabiraman Mill road near Sowripalayam in Coimbatore on Thursday.

While Mohanasundarlingam was supervising the cleaning, two of his accomplices, Raju and Guna went inside the sewage. Ramu fell inside the sewage tank and Mohanasundarlingam also entered the tank to save Ramu; while Ramu was pulled out to safety, Mohanasundarlingam collapsed and was immediately taken to the local hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Mohansundaralingam hails from Thiagi village in Ramanathapuram and the Dalit organisations in the area took up the cause of his death.

Meenakumari said that manual cleaning was abolished by law long back and added that those engaging people for this inhuman act must be brought to book.

She said that the activists including a group of advocates have met the family members of the deceased Mohanasundaralingam at Coimbatore General Hospital where his postmortem will be conducted on Friday and assured them that they would take legal recourse and stand with the family of the deceased person.

The Dalit rights activist told IANS that as per the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavangers and their Rehabilitation Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, those who have engaged the deceased and his accomplices for manual scavenging will face stringent legal action.

--IANS

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Guwahati, Feb 9 (IANS) At least 4.5 lakh new voters in 18-29 year age group have been added to the electoral roll in Assam, officials said on Friday.

According to Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Goel, the total electorate in Assam was 2,43,01,960. Of these, 1,21,79,538 were male and 1,21,22,602 female.

He said, “This time, 7,26,783 new voters were added to the electoral roll in the state. Out of these new voters, around 4.5 lakh are young voters in the age group 18-29 years.”

The officer also said that due to deaths, 7,27,291 voters' names were also deleted from the electoral roll.

The state election commission published a draft electoral roll on December 8, 2023. However, 508 more voter names were deleted after their death.

Goel said that if any person finds his or her name missing from the rolls, he or she can still apply through Form 6, in online or offline mode. He advised people to check the electoral roll available on the state election commission’s website as well as in respective district election offices.

According to the final photo electoral roll, the Amri Assembly constituency has the lowest number of 96,542 electors in the state and Dalgaon constituency has the highest number of electors among the Assembly seats, with 2,97,846 electors.

It was also mentioned that the lowest number of 8,92,789 electors is in the Diphu Parliamentary Constituency while the highest number of 26,43,403 electors was in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat.

--IANS

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Chennai, Feb 9 (IANS) Krishnagiri district collector (DC) in Tamil Nadu will conduct an inquiry into the alleged lack of eggs in the noon-meal scheme of a tribal school in the district.

There have been complaints that Irular (ST) students of the Panchayat Union School in Kadambakuttai in Krishnagiri school were not receiving mandatory eggs along with their noon-meal since the past couple of weeks.

It may be noted that Kadambukuttai in Krishnagiri district is an Irular settlement and teachers are deputed to the school from Kelamangalam since June 2023. There were instances of teachers, who were deputed from Kelamangalam, not reaching the tribal settlement school.

The noon-meal organiser of the Kadambakuttai school, Devarajiamma when contacted told IANS that there was regular supply of 180 eggs every month with a fortnightly supply of 90 eggs at a time and that this was the required quantity of eggs for the school.

However the supplier said that as the person who used to supply eggs was not available since Monday and hence the shortage of eggs. Devarajamma said the issue would be sorted out on Friday.

Meanwhile, Krishnagiri District Collector K.M. Sarayu told IANS that she would look into the issue and conduct a detailed inquiry.

K.R. Amudham, social activist and researcher on the education among the tribal children told IANS that the issue was grave and that those responsible should not be allowed to go unpunished. He said that nutritious noon meal scheme was directly proportional to the increase in percentage of school enrollment of Irular tribes and added that stringent punishment must be meted out to those responsible.

--IANS

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*Govt schemes facing hurdles near army camp areas: Assam BJP MP* *Guwahati, **February 9** (IANS): *Assam BJP MP Rajdeep Roy has demanded a policy from the defence ministry as the beneficiary projects of the central government have been facing hurdles near defence enclaves where there are also civilian residents. Roy is a Lok Sabha MP from Assam’s Silchar constituency. He told IANS on Friday, “In my constituency, many families reside in nearby areas that fall beside camps of military and paramilitary forces. These are patta lands and are not owned by security forces. A countable number of families live in such places.” “Although the lands do not belong to security forces, the agencies have been facing issues introducing central government beneficiary schemes like the Jal Jeevan Mission or Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), etc. in those areas,” he added. According to the BJP MP, the people residing there have been deprived of their due government benefits. “The issue is complex and needs the attention of the highest level of government. That is why I also raised this issue in parliament on Thursday, when Union defence minister Rajnath Singh was present in the House. I hope that the ministry will come up with a new policy to solve the problem,” Roy said. The Lok Sabha MP also argued that similar kinds of problems must be faced by people living in nearby areas of army camps in other parts of the state as well. --IANS tdr/

Srinagar, Feb 9 (IANS) Intense cold continued in Kashmir on Friday due to clear night sky as minimum temperature remained below normal in Jammu division.

A Meteorological (MeT) Department statement said that Srinagar had minus 4.8, Gulmarg minus 9 and Pahalgam minus 10.3 as the minimum temperature.

In Ladakh region, Leh town had minus 16.1 and Kargil minus 19.8 as the minimum temperature.

Jammu city had 5.3, Katra 5.8, Batote 3.3, Bhaderwah minus 1.6 and Banihal 2 as the night’s lowest temperature.

The MeT office has forecast dry weather with clear night sky till February 14 which means the intense cold is likely to continue at least for another four to five days.

--IANS

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Chandigarh, Feb 9 (IANS) A delegation led by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami on Friday reached Nanded to join the protest over the proposed amendments to the Nanded Sikh Gurdwara Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Act, 1956, by the Maharashtra government.

Other members of the delegation comprised Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Daljit Singh Cheema and SGPC general secretary Rajinder Singh Mehta. The delegation will join the protest being organised by Hazur Sahib ‘sangat’ against the amendment passed by the Maharashtra Cabinet.

The Takhat Hazur Sahib in Nanded in Maharashtra is one of the five Takhats (high temporal seats) of Sikhs and is of great historical importance as the 10th Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, passed away there.

The decision to amend the Act that will increase the number of the government’s nominees to the religious body’s board has drawn criticism from SGPC president Dhami who said it was “sad, condemnable and a direct interference” in Sikh affairs “which cannot be tolerated”. He has now written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, seeking an appointment to discuss this issue.

Akali Dal leader Cheema said the state government has opened a way to directly nominate 12 out of total 17 members of the board.

“The number of members sent by the SGPC has been reduced from four to two and nomination of Chief Khalsa Diwan of Hazuri Sachkhand Diwan has been abolished. Similarly, two Sikh MPs who used to be members of the board has also been denied this right in the new amendment,” he wrote on X.

“It’s clear that the state government is going to take full control of the gurdwara board which can’t be tolerated by Sikh community. SAD urged the Maharashtra government to immediately roll back the amendment,” he added.

The Global Sikh Council (GSC), a confederation of national-level Sikh organisations, has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene. It warned that such unilateral decisions of the government, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, constituted a gross violation of Sikh gurdwara affairs and would not be tolerated by the Sikhs.

In a statement, GCC President Kanwaljit Kaur highlighted the “consistent disregard” shown by the ruling dispensation in Maharashtra towards Sikh sentiments.

--IANS

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Lucknow, Feb 9 (IANS) Four Lok Sabha seats, a berth in the union cabinet, two berths in the state cabinet and one seat in the UP legislative council - with this on its platter, the Rashtriya Lok Dal is all set to switch sides and join the BJP-led NDA.

A clear indication of RLD joining the NDA is that RLD MLAs will now join the BJP MLAs on their Ayodhya visit on Sunday.

A senior BJP leader said, "Our party is offering them Baghpat, Mathura, Hathras, and Amroha. The party leadership has refused to give them Muzaffarnagar and Kairana. We are even offering Bijnor and Saharanpur. The modalities are still being worked out."

RLD leaders said there had been issues over the SP wanting its leaders to contest some of these seven seats on their symbol. Among these seats is Kairana, where the SP wanted to field Iqra Hasan, the sister of SP MLA Nahid Hasan.

"This policy of 'our candidate, your symbol' is not acceptable to us now. This is against the coalition dharma and amounts to back-seat driving," said a senior RLD leader, admitting that this was a major factor in souring of relations between SP and RLD.

Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday, while speaking to reporters in Varanasi, did not provide a clear answer on the future of the SP-RLD partnership.

"The BJP knows how to break parties and when to take whom. The BJP also knows how to cheat. You have seen how cheating happened in the recent Chandigarh mayoral elections. The BJP knows how to buy parties. It is not by coincidence that the BJP has become the biggest party. They know where to send ED, CBI, and the IT department," he said.

Akhilesh also appeared to dissuade the RLD from joining the NDA. “Jayant Chaudhary is an educated person and he understands politics well. I am hopeful that he will not let the fight for farmers and prosperity of UP be weakened,” he said.

If the RLD quits the INDIA alliance, it will further weaken the beleaguered alliance in UP an give a major boost to the BJP in western UP.

Seat sharing between SP and Congress, meanwhile, is still in the realms of uncertainty.

Sources in the BJP also confirmed progress in the talks between the two parties.

--IANS

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Jaipur, Jan 15 (IANS) The Rajasthan government has announced a 'dry day' in the state on January 22 in view of the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony at Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The order in this regard was issued by the state Excise Department on Sunday.

Eventually, over 7,000 liquor shops and bars in the state shall remain closed on the day, officials said.

"Due to the consecration ceremony of Lord Shri Ram in the temple being built at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, January 22, 2024, is declared as a dry day in the entire state. Liquor shops will remain closed throughout the day on this day. The closing time of liquor shops in Rajasthan is fixed at 8 p.m. In such a situation, liquor shops will be closed at 8 p.m. on January 21, and will open in the morning on January 23," the order stated.

Besides this, all non-veg shops in Jaipur will also remain closed on the day.

--IANS

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