Month: June 2019

Critical Shortage of Blood in Bihar

Source: .patnadaily.com

On June 14th, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated worldwide! Thousands of donors will give their valuable blood, but unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough! The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies Bihar as a state that collects a very low amount of blood annually with only 20% of the estimated requirements being donated!

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can change this! It’s as simple as coming forward to donate blood and creating a new future for Bihar. Not only can we save so many lives, but it’s also the duty of every healthy citizen! Blood cannot be artificially manufactured by any means, so, it’s necessary to get blood directly from a donor. We will need a great number of volunteers, but Bihar can do it.

Who can donate blood?

Donors may be allowed to donate blood or blood components, like homologous, plasma, platelet, red blood cells, and granulocytes. Any donor (male or female) between 18 to 60, with a weight of more than 45 kg, is allowed to donate a minimum of one unit (350 ml to 450 ml) of blood once every three months. Almost anyone can donate blood at any time with the assistance of blood banks! A blood bank collects and stores blood and its components for future use. They properly examine the blood before transfusion to avoid spreading infectious disease. Blood banks are completely run by volunteers and donations so even if you are ineligible to donate blood, you can still help out in a variety of ways!

Why should I donate?

Blood donations are necessary for an emergency, but it also has plenty of hidden benefits as well! Before donating blood, donors usually will undergo a pre-donation screening which includes testing for Hepatitis, HIV, Syphilis, and HTLV. This can help the donor find any health concerns and is usually provided by the blood banks. In addition, donating blood can reduce the excess level of iron in the body. Of course, the donor can feel proud and good about themselves for this selfless act!

If a patient needs blood for their own future surgery, they are eligible to donate blood for themselves in a procedure known as autologous blood donation. Blood banks will store their blood until the surgery. This can help cut down on the overall need for blood!

Where should I donate?

India has more than 2000 licensed blood banks. Many people really want to donate blood to save lives. But, with that many choices, people become confused to make the right decision and moreover, they were not aware of it. In the capital of Bihar, Patna, Jeevan Rekha Blood Bank, National Blood Bank & Research Centre, and Bharat Blood Bank are the three best 24-hours blood banks identified by independent ranking website Three Best Rated® using their 50-point inspection.

From today, every individual in Bihar should make a resolution to donate blood to save lives! It’s not only our responsibility, but it’s also our duty!

Second special visit to Bodh Gaya for Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel

Source: sundaytimes.lk

The High Commission of India organised the second edition of a special pilgrimage trip to Bodh Gaya from 15 – 18 June 2019 for 160 personnel of Sri Lanka armed forces and their families.

The special pilgrimage was started last year based on discussions held between the two countries towards increasing interaction and bonhomie between armed forces personnel of both countries, a statement from the Indian High Commission said.

This year’s trip has built on and expanded over the last one by not only having an increase in duration from two to four days but also inclusion of a reciprocal visit by 160 Indian Armed Forces personnel and their families to Sri Lanka.

During the trip, the Sri Lanka armed forces personnel and their families would visit the sacred Mahabodhi Temple, 80 feet statue of Buddha, Rajgir and Nalanda museum.

The Indian contingent which has arrived on a special request of Commander of Sri Lanka Army would visit important places in Sri Lanka. This includes a visit to Kandy where they would pay their respects at the Temple of Tooth Relic and to Galle. This is the first time when such large delegation of Indian armed forces with their families has arrived in Sri Lanka to undertake a visit.

An Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft was specially deployed for transportation of the Sri Lankan and Indian contingents.

In addition to cultural and historical immersion, large scale interaction between armed forces personnel and their families would be undertaken both in India and Sri Lanka.

This would provide an ideal platform to develop personal and everlasting bonds of friendship between the armed forces of the two countries which are already sharing a very deep and robust professional relationship.   

Shri Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka and Lt General Mahesh Senananyake, Commander of Sri Lanka Army were at the airport to receive the Indian delegation visiting Sri Lanka and see off the Sri Lankan delegation for their visit to India. 

West Singhbhum farmers wary of Jharkhand government’s agriculture incentive scheme

Source: hindustantimes.com

Tribal farmers of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district want to stay out of the state government’s flagship scheme Mukhya Mantri Krishi Ashirvad Yojana (MMKAY), fearing that their land would be acquired if they share land details to avail the monetary support under the state government scheme.

Confusion reigned all around the poor tribal population in the hinterlands after 2017, when the state’s BJP-led Raghubar Das government attempted to amend the British-era tenancy laws – Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT), as well as the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. Though the government could not amend the CNT and SPT Acts, it successfully brought changes in the Land Acquisition Act to waive off the social impact assessment (SIA) clause for land acquisition, which enables the government to acquire land for specific purposes such as building of schools, colleges or hospitals.

The opposition parties, however, had fought tooth and nail to prevent the government from amending the laws in 2017. It charged the government of acting on behalf of corporate interests to acquire tribal land. A message, thus, was spread among tribal population that the government wanted to alienate them from their land.

The misinformation became so deep-rooted that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to assure tribal voters in West Singhbhum during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaigns that no one would acquire their land.

Eyeing the assembly elections scheduled to be held in November-December this year, the BJP dispensation in the state has fixed a deadline for the state bureaucracy to disburse agriculture incentives announced by the government for fiscal 2019-20.

The state government, in line with the centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PMKSNY), had also announced that small and marginal landholders having landholdings up to five acres, will get an annual incentive of Rs 5,000 per acre for Kharif crop production.

But residents of many tribal villages under Manjhari, Gudri, Sonua, Bandhgaon, Manoharpur, Noamundi, Hatgamharia, Jhinkpani and other blocks in West Singhbhum district expressed their concern and reluctance to avail the monetary benefits under the scheme. They believe that government would take over their land if they share land details to avail the financial benefits under MMKAY.

Some residents of Jhangiburu villager in Manjhari block had even sent a letter to the deputy commissioner (DC) last week to raise their concerns.

Ram Soren, a Kisan Mitra who is supposed to collect villagers’ application in Noamundi Basti under Noamundi block said, “Out of around 50 farmers in his village, only 25 have applied for the monetary benefits.”

“Villagers are saying that the government did not give them benefits under the Indira Aawas Yojana and other schemes as promised earlier. Now it is luring the tribal people with MMKAY to acquire their plots in the name of financial support,” Soren said.

West Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) Arava Rajkamal, however, on June 10 had issued letters to 217 mukhiyas (village head), asking them to convince people not to get swayed by rumours. He had also sent a team of district administration to Jhangiburu village to sensitise the villagers.

On Thursday, the DC along with other officials, visited Asura village in Jhinkpani block to convince people to apply and avail the financial assistance that would help them in purchasing seeds, pesticides and other goods for better agricultural production.

“Farmers are free to use the said money for agricultural purposes and the administration is not going to ask for fund utility proof,” DC Rajkamal said.

He informed that out of 1.5 lakh beneficiary farmers in the district, only 38,819 farmers have so far applied for the scheme. As many as 12,800 farmers had received the first instalment of Rs 2000 out of Rs 6,000 annual benefit under PMKSNY. 35,000 more farmers have now applied.

“It is a rumour that farmers’ lands would be acquired or transferred if they furnish land details in Form C. Through the forms, we are just taking their approval for depositing respective amount directly to their bank accounts,” Rajkamal said.

“A group of people with antidevelopment mindset have been spreading rumors. Strict legal action would be taken against those involved.”


Jamshedpur’s Aniket emerges state topper, Ranchi’s Ankit 2nd topper in JEE Advanced

Source: hindustantimes.com

Jamshedpur boy Aniket Gudipaty emerged as the Jharkhand topper with an all India rank (AIR) of 29, while Ranchi’s Ankit Kumar Jain was the second topper from the state with an AIR of 30 in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced, results of which declared by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee on Friday.

This year, a total of 38,705 candidates qualified for the JEE Advanced from all over India. Over 700 students qualified for the examination from Jharkhand, according to numbers received from different coaching institutes.

Aniket, a resident of Jadugora in East Singhbhum district, had topped in Jharkhand in the second round of JEE-Mains held in April. Gudipaty made the state proud by emerging as the IIT-Khargapur zonal topper in JEE Advanced.

“As per results of the JEE Advanced declared today, Aniket from Atomic Energy Central School (AECS), Jadugora ranked 29th nationally to emerge as the IIT-Khargapur zonal topper. West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, parts of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh come under the IIT-Khargapur zone,” Aniket’s father GGVLM Murty said.

Aniket went to his parental place in Peethapuram, Andhra Pradesh after winning the gold medal in the National Science Olympiad (Chemistry) in Mumbai a few days ago. He closely missed out on being among the four students from India to be selected for the International Science Olympiad. Aniket was a school topper who received 95.8% marks in his Plus-2 exams from AECS, Jadugora.

“He had obtained AIR 22 in JEE Mains with 100 percentile to become the Jharkhand topper and now he is the state topper, as well as the IIT Khargapur zonal topper. There are no words to describe how happy we are. He had also cleared Kishore Vaigyanik Protosahan Yojna (KVPY) exam with AIR 31 earlier. But his target has always been pursing computer science from IIT Bombay and he will go there,” said Murty, who is an electrical engineer in UCIL here.

Ranchi boy Ankit was also the state topper in first round of JEE Mains held in January and stood second in the second round of JEE Mains held in April.

Son of businessman Vinod Kumar Jain, Ankit cleared his Class 12 examination with 92.8% marks in aggregate this year from Delhi Public School (DPS), Ranchi. “Besides classroom studies, I used to devote 5-6 hours daily for the JEE examinations,” Ankit said. He too wants to pursue computer science from IIT Bombay.

The enablers: These changemakers are helping millions, breaking barriers

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Ramesh, a daily wage labourer from Gaya (Bihar) works in a brick kiln factory in Madhya Pradesh that is situated in a region that does not have any bank or ATM in its 10 km vicinity. As a result, he finds it extremely hard to obtain money, unless he decides to skip half a day’s work – just to visit the nearest bank branch.

A large section of the society has been bypassed by formal channels of banking and finance and most find it difficult to access or understand such services. It’s precisely in such scenarios wherein, a number of fintech players are now playing a crucial role in bridging the physical distance and the information asymmetry.

Payworld, one such digital-led finance player, targets a large number of individuals in the Bottom of the Pyramid (BTP) section of the society. Since 2006, Payworld has been operating with the idea of assisted ecommerce across the country, particularly in far-flung regions where access to many of the basic financial solutions is still few and far in between.

Clocking 200,000-250,000 transactions on a daily basis, enabled via its 200,000 retail points across the country, the platform’s existing basket of offerings include the most basic of utility services, such as domestic money remittance, mobile and DTH recharges, rail, air and bus reservation, insurance facilities, utility bill collections, digital wallets and cash withdrawal points.

Noteworthy is, that for facilitating these services, the enterprise does not charge anything from its customer, but instead charges various service providers that are on-board its platform. “Service providers such as insurance companies, investment portfolio companies give us a margin that we share with the retailer,” tells Praveen Dhabhai, the fintech’s COO

Fuelling entrepreneurship
One quite visible benefit of the unique modus operandi of the enterprise means that while taking the idea of assisted ecommerce to nation’s tier 2-3 regions, it has also produced thousands of new age entrepreneurs. This is evident from the fact that the company today boasts of more than 200,000 retail points across the country, thereby acting as a source of (additional) revenue for thousands of rural-based entrepreneurs.

As Dhabani puts it, “Since inception, the key motivation behind Payworld has been to facilitate an additional revenue stream for small shop owners, entrepreneurs and SMEs, besides accelerating their financial inclusion.”

The platform also provides Aadhaar enabled payment service to a large number of MSMEs, thereby addressing their working capital requirements – an acute problem for MSMEs based out of India’s hinterlands.

“Under our definition of assisted ecommerce, Payworld also facilitate SME’s loans. It also acts as a Composite Corporate Agent to provide small-ticket insurance solutions, besides facilitating various investment options in portfolios,” he adds.

Payworld says it is filling an important space where it did about 35 million transactions with 22 million unique customers last year. Dhabhani says using data analytics, the firm can even analyse if a customer coming for remittance is a good fit for loans (from various NBFCs on its platform), or if a would-be-borrower is a good potential for insurance schemes/mutual fund products too.

Shiprocket: Making business shipping easy
Shiprocket wants to drive efficiency in India’s ecommerce logistics by connecting online retailers with logistics providers along the supply chain. The digital platform aims at collaboratively connecting online retailers, logistics companies and consumers on an all-in-one platform. Boasting of a nationwide network, with 26,000 pin codes available for pickups, deliveries and cash-on-delivery (COD), Goel says that the platform’s core ..

Backed by business analytics to help sellers make informed decisions, the logistics aggregator currently has 15,000 sellers in its platform.

“We operate in the ecommerce enablement space. We are living in a time where on one end of the spectrum you may have housewives selling on WhatsApp, and on Instagram, and on the other, an SMB trader operating out of (say) Surat, who could be selling items directly via his own website. Shiprocket caters to the needs of both such individuals,” says Goel.

Cutting costs
Backed by data analytics and API integration solutions, Goel says that the aggregator can manage the entire shipping cycle of SMEs on one platform, leading to a significant reduction to their logistics costs.
Experts say, the Indian ecommerce space is in the nascent stage and requires protection from major foreign brands that have often been accused of violating competition norms and predatory pricing. Goel believes that his platform acts as a springboard f ..

Terming logistics costs as the biggest Achilles heel of small entrepreneurs, Goel says if a typical SMB today is selling an item worth Rs 600, then his logistics costs will be around Rs 200 – a significant 30% of the total amount of the order. Goel, thus believes, Indian SMBs are not able to compete with big etailers on the price front. Shiprocket wants to turnaround the situation for them.

“What we bring is that we a similar cost structure and a similar technology that the global players boast of – at a much lower rate, without compromising on the consumer experience, thereby helping Indian SMEs reach a level playing field,” he adds.

ShopX: offering unique solutions for a unique India
Useful to MSMEs, Nandan Nilekani-backed ShopX is an omnichannel retail operating platform that acts as a hub for connecting brands, retailers, and consumers – all at one place.

As aspirations rise across India, consumers in smaller towns and cities want to purchase brands considered desirable. However, for major brands selling in Tier 2 and 3 towns is a costly proposition, which means local shopkeepers often miss out on what consumer want. The startup aims to connect thousand of mom-and-pop shop owners with FMCG brands directly. Through a digital catalogue, small retailers spread across India can directly order from brands like Unilever, L’oreal and even Apple. ShopX h ..

With more than one lakh retailers across the country signed up on its shop network, the business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce platform claims to execute $400 million of annualised business. The startup claims to manage over 50,000 transactions per day and power a deeply integrated supply chain.

“We realised that India is different. It’s neither the US nor China and needs its own principles-based answers. We observed that India has a beautiful and widespread network of small merchants across the country, and by digitising them, we can create something akin to an Uber for retail – a shared economy model which utilises pre-existing infrastructure,” says Sharma.

While holding the view that the main mechanism of organising retail in the future will neither be the large format retail paradigm, nor the traditional B2C ecommerce model, he opines that although both of the before-mentioned models have been heavily funded, they together still amounted to less than 10% of retail.

Sharma believes that when one extends the concept of how traditional retail works for the benefit of ecommerce players, the outcome is a model where customer specific customisation is lost. Citing an anomaly in the existing e-retailing framework, he goes on to highlight how a customer logging in from Bangalore on a cold December morning can see the same sweatshirts as someone logging in from a far colder Delhi.

“At ShopX, our omnichannel strategy focusses on customisation, localisation and personalisation. We ensure that every retailer gets a unique view of the merchandise on offer from brands. Present in over 300 towns across India, our technology platform ensures that a Kirana owner in South Bangalore gets to see a different range of products and offers from a Kirana store in Belgaum,” elaborates Sharma.

The founder also cites ‘discoverability’ as their other USP, saying this differentiator allows shoppers to discover the best prices and products available in their vicinity and connect with retailers digitally. The startup has a consumer facing app for this. It has also recently acquired two entities – GabbarDeals and PriceMap. The founding duo believes that with these moves, they have simplified the buying and selling experience for retailers, besides making it easier for consumers to shop.

Maintaining that ShopX has been able to add more than 15,000 retailers to its network each month in recent times, Sharma adds that the startup is targeting one million small retailers to enable ordering, delivery, returns and customer servicing for 400 million consumers. “We are targeting a billion-dollar scale within the next 12 months.”

Transporters’ strike hits coal supply in Dhanbad’s power plant

Source: hindustantimes.com

Transporters’ strike hit coal supply at Maithon Power Limited (MPL) in Dhanbad, leading to the crisis of electricity production in the thermal power unit, Ramesh Jha, MPL chief executive officer.

Jha said situation in power plant worsened as supply of coal and transporting of ash from the MPL plant completely interrupted due to strike by workers. The tool down strike entered 6th day today.

“Regular maintenance activities of critical equipments have been stopped due to the workers’ strike leading to the closure of the plant”, said Jha. Coal transporters have stopped supplying coal since Saturday demanding revision in fare.

The district administration on Wednesday held meeting at Maithon for resolving the strike but failed to address the grievances of the protesters. Rural superintendent of police Aman Kumar, who chaired the meeting, said the meeting would be held again tomorrow. “Negotiation is continued. I have called management and land losers leaders in Dhanbad tomorrow for talk and I hope crisis would be resolved”, he said.

Already 170 land losers have been “laying a siege” to the power plant, demanding compensation promised by the power company. The protestors under the banner of MPL Vishthapit Sthaniya Samiti along with the Kamgar Union – the recognised union of the power plant – have been holding the stir in support of 18 points demand. The workers too started tool down strike inside the plant for enhancement of salary payment from June 10. However Nirsa MLA Arup Chatterjee, who represented the land losers and workers, held the management of the MPL responsible for failure of talk. “Agitating people have 18 points demand. At the meeting, we proposed that for time being implement only three points – job to land losers, increase salary of workers and ensure gratuity of employees but MPL officers were not agreed on any of these demands”, he said.

Nirsa MLA, however, denied charges that agitators stopped entry and exit of officials in the plant and workers were hampering coal feeding in hopper inside plant.

“No one stops officials. Rather, agitating land losers are also helping them so that power generation runs smoothly”, he said.

MPL is joint venture of Tata Power and DVC which generates 1050 MW power per day and caters requirement of four states Bengal, Delhi Punjab and Kerala. MPL official said plant needs 15000 ton coal per day for generation 1050 MW power.

Now fly to Varanasi, Gaya Buddhist circuit in India at affordable rates; check IndiGo flight offers

Source: financialexpress.com

From August, you can fly to pilgrim towns of Varanasi and Gaya, Buddhist circuit in affordable rates! IndiGo has announced 12 non-stop daily and weekly flights to boost air connectivity to Varanasi and Gaya. Now you can travel to Gaya Airport or Bodhgaya International Airport (GAY) and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi (VNS) from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata (CCU) and Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport (PAT).

IndiGo flight offers, ticket fares, timings

The 12 non-stop daily and weekly flights will start from August 8. Bookings for these IndiGo flights have opened.

Flight number 6E 7713 will depart from Kolkata on a daily basis at 7 am and will reach Gaya at 8.35 am. The fare of the flight will Rs 1999. Flight number 6E 7714 will leave from Gaya at 9.05 am and arrive in Kolkata at 10.30 am. The ticket price is Rs 1999. This flight won’t be available on Sunday. Flight number 6E 7715 will depart from Kolkata at 11.05 am and will reach Gaya at 12.25 pm. Ticket fare is Rs 1999 and won’t be available on Sunday. There is a weekly flight from Gaya to Varanasi and Varanasi to Gaya. The flight will depart from Gaya at 9.30 am and reach Varanasi at 10.30 am. The fare of the flight is Rs 1499. The direct flight from Varanasi will leave at 11.25 am and reach Gaya at 12.25. The ticket for this flight will cost you Rs 1499. These two flights connecting Gaya and Varanasi will be available only on Sunday.

There are also two daily flights connecting Gaya and Varanasi. One will depart from Gaya at 12.45 pm and will reach Varanasi at 1.45 pm. The return flight from Varanasi will depart at 2.15 pm and will reach Gaya at 3 pm. These fares of these two flights are Rs 1499 per ticket.

Another daily flight from Gaya will take off at 3.20 pm and reach Kolkata at 4.40 pm. Fare of a ticket is fixed at Rs 1999.

A daily flight from Kolkata will leave at 5.25 pm and reach Patna at 7 pm. This flight will cost you Rs 1826. The return flight from Patna will depart at 7.30 pm and reach Kolkata at 9.05 pm. This flight will cost you Rs 1737.

A flight from Kolkata will take off at 9.35 PM and will arrive in Varanasi at 11.35 pm. This flight will cost you Rs 2594. The return flight from Varanasi will depart at 11.55 pm and reach Kolkata at 1.45 am. This flight will cost you Rs 2523.

“As a part of our endeavour to enhance domestic connectivity, our ATR fleet helps us serve regional operations efficiently. We are delighted to have launched these flights on the Buddhist circuit, which not only provide more travel options to customers, but also enable people to come closer to Indian history and spirituality. These flights will also help attract new tourist arrivals from around South East Asia, where IndiGo is adding a number of new routes into Kolkata over the next few months, including services from Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China,” Chief Commercial Officer of IndiGo William Boulter said. “With the introduction of these flights, we will continue to provide the flexibility of choice to our customers with a consistent on-time, affordable, courteous and hassle-free flying experience,” Boulter said.

India’s Politicians Have Turned the Anti-Defection Law on Its Head

Source: thewire.in

The political class made a commitment when parliament passed the tenth schedule of the constitution, popularly known as the anti-defection law, to maintain the integrity and stability of the party system. Their whole-hearted support to the constitution (52nd amendment ) Bill which incorporated the tenth schedule in the constitution signified that commitment.

Thirty-four years later, that commitment seems to hold no value. Elected representatives are very much engaged in familiar party-hopping tactics. The mass exodus of MLAs from the vanquished Congress to victorious parties shows that they have no respect for the anti-defection law.

Earlier, the ‘aaya Ram, gaya Ram‘ phenomenon had created an alarming level of political instability. Governments fell frequently as elected representatives exercises their ‘freedom of movement’ a little too literally.

Now, a new phenomenon is at play. MLAs, corporators etc. belonging to defeated parties have started migrating in large number to winning parties. This means parties that lose elections are all but wiped out of legislative bodies. Top leaders from victorious parties openly encourage representatives of defeated parties to defect.

Defection is a politically immoral act, and the anti-defection law ought to have stamped it out. If people have chosen a representative from one party, she has no moral or legal right to defect to another party during her tenure. The tenth schedule disqualifies such representatives, and their legislature membership is terminated. Nevertheless, defection continue. People defect in groups and thus defeat the law.

The latest case is of 12 MLAs from the Congress party “merging” with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the ruling party in Telangana. News reports suggest that groups of MLAs from the Congress in Congress-ruled states are also getting ready to move over to the BJP.

These legislators would do well to pause and take a hard look at the provisions of the anti-defection law. If they do that, they will realise that their actions will most certainly land them in serious trouble. At the moment, they happily believe that if out of 18 MLAs, 12 go over and merge with the ruling party, they will be safe. According to them, if two-thirds of the legislators merge with another party, it does not amount to defection.

Clearly, they do not fully understand the law. Para 4 of the tenth schedule makes three points:

  1. The original political party should merge with another party.
  2. As a result, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party merge with that party.
  3. The merger becomes legally recognisable only when two-thirds of the members of the legislature party also merge with the other party.

In other words, as per para 4 of the tenth schedule, a merger can be legally recognised only when the original party merges with another party, and not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party agree to such a merger. So even if two-thirds of the members of the legislature party decide to merge, there would be no merger under para 4 if the original political party does not merge with another party. Thus, in the absence of a merger of the original political party with another party, the merger of the legislators has no legal validity. Hence they will be termed defectors and held liable to be disqualified.

Legislators would do well to understand that the anti-defection law was enacted not to facilitate their defection but to prevent it. Lawmakers have taken care to punish individual defectors, while at the same time protect legislators who act in tandem with their original political party when it merges with another party.

The tenth schedule, as it was originally enacted, contained a provision to protect legislators when an original party splits and one-third of the legislators form another group. This was deleted later when it was found that this provision was being abused by politicians.

An important point needs to be made here. The basic object of the tenth schedule is to prevent defection and thereby protect the stability of the party system as well as of established governments. When we analyse para 3 (now deleted) and para 4, this becomes clear. Para 3 dealt with the split in the original political party and para 4 deals with merger by the original party. In both cases, it is the original political party which initiates the action.

Any unilateral action by legislators, singly or in a group, is always treated as defection. Only if the original party takes the plunge do legislators get protection. Thus, the law says legislators should not abandon their party once they are elected on its ticket unless the party itself decides to merge with another party.

The recent spate of defections in various state legislatures recently shows that defector legislators are under the impression that it is enough to mobilise two-thirds of the members of the legislature party and merge with the ruling party. In this context, the Supreme Court judgment in Rajendra Singh Rana vs Swami Prasad Maurya (2007) is very instructive. Although this case dealt with the split in the legislature party, its ratio applies to a case of merger as well. The court says, “Those who have left the party will have prima facie to show by relevant materials that there has been a split in the original party.”

Similarly, in Jagjit Singh vs State of Haryana as well, the Supreme Court said that the split in the original party is a precondition for recognising a split in the legislature party. The Rajender Singh Rana case was decided by a five-judge constitution bench, which in fact upheld the proposition laid down in Jagjit Singh. The ratio of these decisions apply to a case of merger also.

What happened in Telangana

In Telangana, 12 of the 18 Congress MLAs have merged with the ruling party in the state, the TRS. This merger was endorsed by the chief minister and accepted by the speaker. The defecting Congress MLAs thus instantly became TRS members.

Two points need to be made in this context.

One, para 4 of the tenth schedule says that the original political party should merge with another party first. This would mean that the Congress party should merge with the TRS before these 12 MLAs can merge with that party. But there is no evidence that the Congress party has merged with the TRS. Therefore, there is no legally recognisable merger in Telangana.

Further, the decision to merge with the TRS needs to be taken by the All India Congress Committee and not the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. The Jagjit Singh judgment says, “In case a member is put up by a national party it is a split in that party which is relevant and not a split in that party at the state level.”

Second, media reports say that the speaker has accepted the merger and recognised the defecting MLAs as TRS members.

Under the tenth schedule, the speaker gets jurisdiction to act only when a petition is presented to him under para 6 of the schedule. No such petition seems to have been filed by the Congress party. So the act of the speaker accepting the merger is without jurisdiction, and hence does not count.

The Rajendra Singh Rana judgment says, “Under the 10th schedule the speaker is not expected to simply entertain a claim under para 3 and 4 of the schedule without first acquiring jurisdiction to decide a question of disqualification in terms of the para 6 of the schedule. …The power under the 10th schedule to do so accrues to him only when he is called upon to decide the question referred to him in para 6 of that schedule.”

On the basis of this analysis, it becomes clear that the merger of the 12 Congress MLAs in Telangana is not recognised by law. The speaker’s decision to accept the merger seems to be an act without jurisdiction, and is therefore not sustainable. The result is that these 12 MLAs are liable to be disqualified under para 2 (1)(a) of the tenth schedule, on the grounds that they have voluntarily given up membership of the Congress party.

Jharkhand HC’s Intervention Saves An Old Man From Starvation

Source: livelaw.in

Jharkhand High Court has brought the much-need relief to octogenarian Munilal Yadav, a resident of Baghmara area in Dhanbad district, who was facing starvation for the past several days.

A division bench comprising Justices HC Mishra and Deepak Roshan on Wednesday took cognizance of the plight of old man and ordered the deputy commissioner of Dhanbad to submit a report on the issue.

Following the court’s order, the district administration swung into action and provided food grains to Munilal within hours.

Lawyer Harshvradhan Sahay, who had brought the matter before the court, said on Thursday that now the division bench has ordered for registration of a PIL in the case.

“I had seen the plight of Munilal in a television report and thought it proper to bring it to the notice of the court. Once court issued the directive, the administration initiated several measures for bringing relief to the man. Steps for his pension has also been initiated” Sahay said. He added that entire process was streamlined and benefits were delivered within hours of the order.

It may be stated here that Munilal is weak and frail due to old age and was surviving on the alms from his neighbors for a long time.

In Bihar, doctors treat patients on floor as hospital tries to cope with rush

Source:hindustantimes.com

So chock-a-block are the wards at Muzaffarpur’s Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital with patients suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) that doctors are being forced to treat children on the floor.

At least 43 of the 50 deaths due to AES in Bihar have taken place at this hospital, with Muzaffarpur being the epicentre of the outbreak. Ten other districts have also been affected.

Sri Krishna hospital medical superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said, “We have an in-patient bed strength of only 610 whereas the number of patients admitted to our hospital is around 876. We do not refuse any patient, so we put mattresses to treat them on the floor.”

To cope with the rush of patients, the superintendent has converted all 20 beds of the intensive care unit (ICU) into paediatric intensive care units (PICU).

“If we come across patients, who need to be admitted to ICU, we will admit them in the coronary care unit (CCU). Against 14 existing beds at our PICU, I have converted all our 20 ICU beds into PICU, taking the number of beds in PICU up to 34,” Shahi said.

“Given the disease burden, even the central team which is here has suggested increasing the number of PICU beds to 100,” he added.

The government has ensured the availability of all drugs free of cost to AES patients. Sri Krishna hospital is also providing food to patients as well as their attendants. “Though we are not supposed to provide food to patients in PICU, on the advice of health minister Mangal Pandey and principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, I am supplying milk, supplements, fruit, bread and eggs to all AES patients and their attendants on humanitarian grounds,” said Shahi.

The parents of some children being treated at the hospital are satisfied with the facilities provided. Some of them, including Md Aslam Madan Sahni, Ram Bharos Thakur and Gayatri Devi, are hoping the hospital will start supplying diapers free of cost too.