Month: July 2019

BJP leader from Jharkhand joins JD(U) in presence of Nitish Kumar

Source: hindustantimes.com

Several political leaders from the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, including one from BJP, joined JD(U) on Sunday, following the party’s decision to go solo in the upcoming assembly elections in four states.

Those inducted into the JD (U) fold by national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar were Prem Kataruka, former state secretary-cum-spokesperson of BJP, Manoj Yadav of JVM (P) and Arun Mandal and Prabhat Kumar Prabhakar of JMM.

Till now, as an unspoken rule, Bihar allies JD (U) and BJP have exercised restraint in allowing leaders from joining each other’s parties.

The notable crossover of Sanjay Jha from BJP into JD (U) camp in the state was an exception. Jha, who was elevated to the post of national general secretary, is now a minister.

Sunday’s development, viewed in the context of JD (U) turning down the ‘single berth’ offer in the union cabinet, is indicative that the party is not shy of triggering a political realignment in states ruled by its saffron ally. Jharkhand is one of the two BJP ruled states, other than Haryana, that goes to polls along with Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir later this year.

Arun Kumar Singh, in-charge of JD (U) affairs in Jharkhand, said that the joining of leaders will strengthen the party and help in providing a leg-up to its electoral prospects in the state, where voters are looking for an alternative.

That the Jharkhand state unit had already started its preparations on all the 81 assembly seats was evident from the claims of JD (U) state president Salkhan Murmu, who was pitching for Nitish-model of ‘Sushashan’ in his home state which, he believed, will usher development and also remove the friction between adivasi, moolvasi and others, so that people live in harmony.

Their optimism for a ‘good showing’ also stems from the rout faced by opposition parties—JMM, JVM (P), RJD and Congress—during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “The JD (U) is in a position to provide a credible alternative to the tribals, minorities and others, particularly after the dismal electoral performance of the JMM-Congress combine,” he said.

Backing JD-U’s more than satisfactory poll performance in Arunachal Pradesh and the strong re-iteration that it was “not part of NDA outside Bihar,” a team of Prashant Kishor’s organisation has already landed in Ranchi to conduct an independent survey to assess the party’s electoral prospects in as many as 35 assembly seats in the first phase.

A BJP leader, not willing to be named, said that such things, ahead of elections, is a common phenomena and ‘disgruntled’ elementshave little or noimpact on final outcomeas voters remain wary and recent pollshave shown that theyreject ‘turncoats’ more often than not.

Won’t Tolerate Mob Lynching or Any Crime: Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das

Source: thewire.in

Ranchi: Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das has asserted that there will be no discrimination based on caste or religion while dealing with those involved in mob lynching or other crimes and anarchy won’t be tolerated.

Talking about the recent lynching of Muslim youth, accused of stealing a motorcycle in Saraikela Kharsawan district, he said, “My government strongly condemns this incident. Our commitment is to punish criminals… Jharkhand is the only state in the country where such cases are taken up on a fast-track basis with quick punishment to the guilty.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month said in Rajya Sabha that this lynching incident pained him and the guilty should get the severest punishment. He, however, said that for this incident, the entire state should not be pronounced guilty and everyone put in the dock.

Tabrez Ansari was beaten up by a mob, and a video showed that he was purportedly made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’. He later died.

Das urged people to refrain from taking law in their hands and expressed his government’s commitment to “punish the criminals” irrespective of caste or the religion.

He also lashed out at the opposition for “giving a communal colour” to stray incidents and said things should not be blown out of proportion and “the government or any particular political party should not be blamed for such incidents”.

“It is a matter of great sadness that the opposition starts playing politics on such issues”, he said.

“Be it this kind of crime or any crime, my government will not tolerate any anarchy… There will be no discrimination in punishing criminals… the colour of blood is the same. Our motto is to ensure communal harmony, peace and brotherhood,” Das told PTI in an interview.

He said his government has constituted a special investigation team to probe the incident and eleven people have been arrested, and two police officers suspended.

According to him, there had been lynching cases during Congress regime too, but this is the first time that action against the guilty is being taken through fast-track courts in Jharkhand.

Das said that Jharkhand has followed Supreme Court guidelines fully in this regard.

The apex court had in 2018 said that “horrendous acts of mobocracy” cannot be allowed to overrun the law of the land and issued a slew of guidelines to deal with mob lynching and cow vigilantism, besides asking the centre to consider enacting a new law to deal with such cases sternly.

It had asked the state governments to designate a senior police officer, not below the rank of superintendent of police, as nodal officer in each district to take steps to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.

Modi, in his speech, had objected to some people calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching.

“Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state? None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand,” he had said and referred to violence in states ruled by opposition parties.

“All kinds of violence, whether in Jharkhand or West Bengal or Kerala, should be treated as same and law, should take its course,” he had said.

On June 24, leader of the opposition in the upper house Ghulam Nabi Azad had said that Jharkhand has become a lynching factory where Muslims and Dalits were lynched and attacked every week.

Last year, a fast track court in Jharkhand had convicted eleven people for lynching a meat trader in June 2017 over the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car.

Fuel price hike irks trade bodies

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Jharkhand Petroleum and Dealer Association (JPDA) and Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FJCCI) raised questions on cess and special excise duty on petrol and diesel.

In the 2019 union budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed to increase special additional excise duty, and road and infrastructure cess by Re 1 per litre on petrol and diesel.

The JPDA president, Ashok Singh, said the tax payers would have to spend Rs 2 extra on every litre of petrol and diesel. “The state tax is imposed on the total price of a litre of fuel which includes excise duty, cess and special excise duty. Thus from now, petrol or diesel is going to be costlier by Rs 2.44 a litre in Jharkhand. This way, 44 paise will go to the state exchequer. So, it’s abki baar, garibo pe waar budget,” said Singh.

One litre of petrol was sold at Rs 69.39, while diesel was sold at Rs 65.67 per litre, at fuel stations in Ranchi on Friday.

FJCCI Deepak Kumar Maroo said the move will have multiple effects on customers. “It will leave a cascading impact on inflation as travel and food costs rise.” He added, “I believe it was not required when fuel prices are already high.” Former FJCCI president Ranjit Garodia said the budget focused more on making government exchequer healthier.

Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das termed the budget as balanced. “The budget will push the idea of new India of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Every section, including women, youth, farmers, industrialists and small traders were kept in mind in the budget.”

Bihar man caught, beaten by first wife while trying to marry for the fourth time

Source: hindustantimes.com

A man set to marry for the fourth time was caught by his first wife and beaten up in the very court where he had planned to tie the knot.

The man, identified as Mumtaz, arrived at a court in Bihar’s Araria district to get married even though he hails from Bettiah district.

Mumtaz, who is in his thirties, was trying to get married to a woman from Araria’s Kursakanta locality. The arrival of the first wife at the court added to the drama and brought inquisitive onlookers.

The police said he had come in contact with the woman through Facebook. “It was the family of his first wife who first saw Mumtaz at the court with an unknown woman and alerted her. The first wife, whose name has been preferably kept secret, wasted no time and rushed to the Araria court where she found her husband about to get married and vented her ire on him,” said the police.

When the police tried to intervene, infuriated locals got in the way and thrashed the man. They also damaged the police vehicle. The police somehow managed to get away from the mob that was swelling that was gaining in numbers with each passing minute. “If the police had not arrived promptly, the man would have been lynched,” lawyers said.

Meanwhile, Araria town police took the man and the girl to police station and have begun investigation on the charges levelled against him by his first wife.

Station house officer of town police station, Atulesh Kumar said, “We are verifying the veracity of the statement of the man and his first wife and only after that any legal action will be taken.”

He added, “The woman with whom Mumtaz was going to get married has also been taken into custody.” The woman’s family has also been summoned to the police station.

Census 2021: Chief Secy stresses on complete and accurate enumeration

Source: pragativadi.com

Bhubaneswar: Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Friday chaired a preparatory meeting for Census of India-2021, the largest administrative exercise of the world.

The high-level meeting was held at the secretariat today afternoon wherein Principal Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management Nikunja Bihari Dhal outlined the issues and Joint Director Census, Government of India Pravakar Barad presented the proposal for discussion.

Looking into different dimensions of the proposal, Padhi directed to make the whole census operation complete and accurate. He emphasized on complete coverage of all houses and accurate enumeration of all the people.

It was decided in the meeting that this time one specially designed mobile app will be adopted for enumeration to make it more accurate and real-time. Tehsildars were asked to update and certify the maps of the villages in the respect of their Tehsils.

It was also decided that the District Magistrates would function as Principal Census Officers and the Additional District Magistrates would be designated as District Census Officer in their respective districts.

The Census would be carried on in two phases. In 1st phase, there would be house listing and housing census and in the second phase there would be population enumeration.

It was decided to complete both the phases tentatively by March, 2021. Unlike previous Censuses, this time tehsil wise enumeration would be done instead of police station wise enumeration.

Further, the meeting decided that pre-testing activities of the Census techniques would be conducted in three representative places of the state. These are Pattamundai in Kendrapara district, Puintala in Bolangir district and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

Joint Director Barad said that the pretesting would be done through mobile app. It would start from 12th August, 2019 and would be completed by 30th September, 2019 within which the whole census operation would be done on sampling basis using both the mobile app and paper mode.

Jharkhand mob violence: Internet shut, police deployed in tense Meerut days after lathi-charge

Source: indianexpress.com

Internet services were shut on Friday as Meerut remained under heavy police deployment amid tension, days after a police lathi-charge on a group of people assembled at Indira Chowk in the city to protest against the mob violence in Jharkhand last month which led to the victim’s death four days later.

More than 50 people have been arrested so far in connection with the protest.

Badar Ali, who allegedly led the protests, was arrested on Thursday from near a mall in Meerut. The police will initiate proceedings under the National Security Act (NSA) against him; his properties will be seized, officers said.

Meerut SSP Ajay Sahni said: “Police patrolling is on since 6 am and the deployment was made as a precautionary measure. Internet services were shut since rumors of a Bharat Bandh were afloat. Members of the community concerned have claimed that they are not supporting the bandh and things have returned to normalcy.”

The accused have been booked under IPC Sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 352 (assault), 336 (act endangering life personal safety), among others.

Meerut police personnel, along with members of Rapid Action Force and Provincial Armed Constabulary, were deployed in areas around Indira Chowk. A flag march was conducted by senior police officials, including Meerut zone ADG.

Since Sunday, local residents said, fewer people have ventured out of their homes.

Noor Hassan, who runs a welding shop near Indira Chowk, said: “It was supposed to be a peaceful march. Yes, there was no permission, but the police action made it worse. Now that Internet has been shut down and there is heavy police presence, people fear something might happen. Most people are not leaving home.”

On Sunday, a group of people led by Badar Ali congregated at Faiz-e-Aam Inter College and were supposed to conduct a 2-km march up to Hapur Adda to protest the death of Tabrez Ansari, who was beaten up by a mob in a Jharkhand village and allegedly asked to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”. He succumbed later.

According to the police, the group did not have permission for the gathering. Following arguments, the police said they had to do a lathi-charge to maintain law and order. No serious injuries were reported.

HC allows repatriation of 104 Jharkhand kids to home state

Source: indianexpress.com

THE PUNJAB and Haryana High Court has ruled that a child welfare committee is well within its rights to ask a children’s home located in its jurisdiction to send back inmates of other states or districts to their home region in case it requires to accommodate local children in need of shelter.

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A single bench of Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa gave the verdict in the case of Ferozepur-based Arya Anathalaya, which was earlier this year asked by the district child welfare committee to send back nearly 104 children of Jharkhand to their home state.

Justice Dhindsa in the verdict, however, added that “even such course of action can be adopted only after consultation with the concerned child welfare committees in the home districts from where the inmates are currently lodged”.

Arya Anathalaya was established in 1877 for providing shelter to children who had lost their parents or had nobody to take care of them, its plea had said in the court. There are 104 – 60 boys and 44 girls – at the home, all of them from Jharkhand.

The HC said that the State counsel has not been able to cite any provision under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 to construe that there is an embargo with regard to admitting children, who may be residents from outside Punjab. It, however, added that the child welfare committee wanted to admit local children to provide them the shelter but it was refused on the ground that the facility was already full to its capacity.

“If the petitioner Anathalaya declines admission to the children who are in need, for the reasons that it already has utilized its capacity to the hilt by admitting inmates from Jharkhand, no exception can possibly be taken to the decision of the child welfare committee, Ferozepur in calling upon the Anathalaya to send such inmates back to their home districts or states,” the order read.

Meanwhile, the State has told the court that the repatriation of the children staying in Anathalaya would be taken up with the child welfare committees of Jharkhand and put into operation in a phased manner and that too with proper consultation and co-ordination with the concerned child welfare committee of Khunti and Ranchi districts in Jharkhand.

Pro Kabaddi League 2019: Injury to key defender Surender Nada poses questions for Patna Pirates

Source: hindustantimes.com

When Patna Pirates bought the star defender Surender Nada for Rs 77 lakh at the auctions this year, it was considered to be a brilliant move. The franchise had won three titles on the trot till season 5, but in season 6, Pirates failed to make it to the play offs, eventually finishing in the fourth spot in Zone B table. The onus of the defeat lied with a faulty and inexperienced defence, which failed to compliment the brilliance of Pardeep Narwal, who, despite being injured, finished as the best raider of the season.

Nada, who is the second-most successful raider of the tournament and registered most tackle points in season (80 in 21 matches), seemed like the ideal fit to cover the left corner position. But unfortunately for Pirates, the Indian international has failed to recover from the injuries that ended his campaign early last year, posing a big question mark in front of Patna Pirates coaching staff.

We are looking into Surender Nada’s injury. There is still one doctor’s appointment left and we will make our decision on it later. The first medical we did, he turned out to be weak and unfit. So it will take time to heal. We will make our decision after the doctor’s report, hopefully he will be fit to play,” Patna coach Ram Mehar Singh told Hindustan Times in an exclusive chat.

Nada has not turned up for pre-tournament shoots and media exchanges, and is still recovering from his injuries back home, which makes it likely that Patna could name a replacement soon. But coach believes it will be better for the team balance to get an allrounder player instead of a specialist defender for Nada.

“If he fails to get fit, then we will look for a replacement. But we have a player for left corner position, Jaideep, so we will look for an allrounder player in place of the defender,” Singh said.

Water conservation in ‘dry’ Ranchi planned

Source: dailypioneer.com

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raghubar Das stressed on water conservation, the State Government has prepared strategy on water conservation and re-charging depleting ground water table. The State Government from July 7 to September 15 is to launch a concerted save water drive across the State. The campaign though is Government initiatives, but ruling BJP too has jumped in the exercise.

The save water campaign from July 7 to September 15 is to witness voluntary participation of ruling party MPs, MLAs, ministers, besides CM Das himself participating at the campaign. BJP chief whip and MLA, Radha Krishna Kishore said, “From July 7 to 15, all MLAs, ministers, MPs will volunteer their participation in water conservation. Water conservation is need of the hour.”

The Ranchi district administration moving a step ahead too has decided to dole out cash incentives to panchayats taking a lead in water conservation.

Ranchi Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rai Mahimapat Ray on Tuesday held a meeting on water conservation and announced cash incentives for panchayats selected for mini watershed planning. Best performing panchayats will get cash incentives ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Ray said, “On July 7, the district administration will launch the drive on which there will be plantations drive and Shram Daan (volunteer participation) by people. The Chief Minister will himself participate at the function in Kanke.” The State Government and Ranchi District Administration stressing on water conservation is due to depleting ground water table, which has become a cause of concern not only for administration but also for residents of the city.

According to city-based Geologist/Environmental Scientist Dr Nitish Priyadarshi ground water table in State Capital in last 15 years has gone down by 3 metre to 25 metres, with areas such Kanke, Ratu Road, Morhabadi, Harmu largely affected due to ground water depletion.

Priyadrashi said, “The main reason for depleting ground water is lack of water management, which includes over exploitation of ground water and shrinking water bodies. In last few years lots of deep boring has been done. These deep borings in the State Capital has forced the water table to move down, as well as Ranchi plateau consists of metamorphic rocks which are relatively impermeable and hence serve as poor aquifers.”

The over exploitation of water table can be gauged from the fact in localities such as Upper Bazar, Harmu area, Kishore Ganj are facing severe water crisis with borings too becoming failure. Atul Choudhary, a resident of Upper Bazar said, “In our house there are two borings but both of them have failed. We are left with no other alternative but to depend upon water supplied through water tankers by civic bodies which too are irregular.”

Apart from uncontrolled deep borings, the other reasons behind depleting ground water are shrinking surface water in State Capital. Ranchi city that used to have more than 52 to 55 ponds and smaller water bodies during Independence, but now only a dozen odd water bodies exist. Even rivers flowing beside the State Capital are crying for existence. Due to growth of City, these large ponds, rivers and water bodies are encroached by construction companies. “Shrinking natural water bodies have lowered groundwater level and as a result people suffer during summer,” said Nitish Priyadarshi.

In 1946, JB Auden, a British geologist who visited Ranchi to explore for underground aquifers, found that ground water level in Ranchi was not reliable due to the presence of Archaean rocks–the oldest rock formations. To meet the increasing demand for surface water, three dams–the Dhurwa Dam in 1962, Kanke Dam in 1954 and Getalsud Dam in 1971– were built in and around the city to cater to a population, but the depressing fact is that neither administration nor citizens have taken effort to protect these water bodies. Priyadarshi claimed that administration and citizen should take some measures such as putting a ban on construction at recharge area or catchment areas, construction of artificial water reservoirs, regular cleaning of ponds, lakes and rivulets and dams.

Tabrez lynching: Police issue alert on fake posts

Source: hindustantimes.com

A joint group of organisations, which took out a protest rally on Friday in the state capital against the recent mob lynching of a community’s youth in Saraikela, attacked and vandalised a bus of Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) at Rajendra Chowk panicking the commuters.

The district and police administration, however, intervened soon and brought the situation under control. Police personnel have been deployed in area.

“It was a minor incident. Situation was soon brought under control,” said Ranchi deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Roy. According to eyewitnesses, students sitting in the bus raised religious slogan which incited people participating in the rally. They then attacked the bus and resorted to vandalism. Some students received minor injuries.

Earlier in the day, organisations under the banner of Muttahida Muslim Mahaz (MMM) convened a public meeting at Urs ground at Doranda where leaders vented ire over the rising mob lynching incidents in the state and demanded CBI probe into the recent killing of Tabrez Ansari.

Addressing the gathering MMM convenor Maulana Obedulla Kasmi said that their agitation was not directed against a particular caste or religion but it was against the unscrupulous elements, who are trying to spread hatred by committing crimes like mob lynching.

The organisations prepared a charter of seven demands to press it before the government.

A mob had mercilessly beaten up Ansari for hours and forced him to chant Jai Sri Ram and Jai Hanuman in Dhatkidih village under Seraikela police station (PS) in the night of June 17-18. He succumbed to his injuries on June 22.