Regional

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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Bhubaneswar, Jan 15 (IANS) The Odisha government has announced a holiday on January 17 for all educational institutions and state government offices in view of the inauguration of the Jagannath Temple Heritage Corridor project in Puri on the day.

All the schools, colleges and government offices will remain closed so that the devotees can witness the grand opening event on January 17, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Sunday.

The government is anticipating that a huge crowd of devotees will throng the holy city to witness the event.

Rituals for the grand opening of the project have already commenced in Puri from Friday.

Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the 'King of Puri', earlier invited priests for the 'Maha Yajna' scheduled to start with the placing of an 'Akhand Deepa' on Monday.

The Maha Yajna which will be performed by 108 Sotriya Bramhins will culminate with the offering of Purnahuti by Gajapati in the presence of Chief Minister Patnaik on January 17.

Later, Patnaik will walk through the corridor and dedicate the corridor to the public. He is also scheduled to address the devotees present at the event.

Several dignitaries including the Sankaracharayas of all the traditional four mutts and the King of Nepal have been invited to attend the grand opening event.

The 12th-century shrine and the holy city which is expected to witness a footfall of lakhs of devotees will be under a five-tier security blanket during the event.

As many as 66 platoons of police force will be deployed to manage the traffic and security arrangements in the city on the day.

--IANS

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Dehradun, Jan 15 (IANS) A 12-year-old child was injured after a tiger attacked him on Canal Road in Dehradun late on Sunday evening. The injured child has been admitted to a hospital and is said to be out of danger.

The incident took place when 12-year-old Nikhil was playing with other children on the bank of the Rispana river near Gangotri Vihar bridge in Sandhowali of Kandoli area. Suddenly, three tigers came there and one of them attacked Nikhil.

Other children and nearby residents immediately raised an alarm and rushed to save the child. Hearing the noise and seeing people coming, the tigers ran away leaving the child.

People took the injured child to Doon Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment.

Nikhil, son of Sher Bahadur, sustained a serious wound on the back of his head in the attack.

--IANS

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Patna, Jan 14 (IANS) A man in Bihar's Bhojpur has been arrested for killing his friend over a Rs 500 dispute, police said on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police, Bhojpur, Pramod Kumar Yadav said that the accused, identified as Ajay Mahto, also tried to mutilate the body as well.

"A complaint was filed by a person named Vinod Singh that his nephew Mohan Singh was found missing since January 10 from his native village Bada Basantpur under Mufassil police station in the district. His dead body was found a couple of days later. We constituted a team and managed to arrest the main accused of this case," he said.

The accused confessed that he had a dispute of Rs 500 with the victim. On January 10, the accused brought Mohan Singh from home for a liquor party. When Singh became inebriated, accused Ajay Mahto throttled his neck until he was dead. He also tried to remove his eyes using fingers. However, he failed in his attempt,” the SP said, adding that they were interrogating the accused to find out if there was involvement of other persons in the crime.

--IANS

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