Day: December 23, 2019

Nitish Kumar drops Bihar from NRC list, asks why should it be implemented.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Just a day after he told minorities in Bihar that they had nothing to worry, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday signalled that he didn’t want the Centre to roll out the National Register of Citizens, or NRC, in Bihar.

“Why will it be implemented in Bihar,” Nitish Kumar shot back with a counter-question when reporters asked him for his stand on the Centre’s plan to roll out a nationwide citizens’ list.

Nitish Kumar is the first chief minister of a NDA-ruled state to shut its doors on the citizens’ register that would be crucial to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led national coalition delivering on its promise to expel infiltrators. Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier this month set a 2024 deadline for his government to throw out all infiltrators, a term usually used by the BJP to refer to Muslim undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.

His party, Janata Dal United, had voted in favour of the controversial changes in the Citizenship Act that allows the government to give citizenship to minorities from three Muslim countries Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the past, Home Minister Amit Shah has described this amendment as the first step, or a precursor to the National Register of Citizens.

Of the parties that backed the amendment to the citizenship law, Nitish Kumar is the second.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, whose party Biju Janata Dal had supported the citizenship law change in parliament, has also spoken out against the citizens’ register. But his party isn’t part of the NDA and takes a stand on legislations on a case-to-case basis.

Nitish Kumar’s decision to clear his stand on the citizens’ list comes a day after protests erupted in several parts of the country against the CAA. His party’s vice president Prashant Kishor has been a vocal critic of both, the citizenship law and the register.

Watch l Why Prashant Kishor says Rahul isn’t protesting loud enough on NRC Why Prashant Kishor says Rahul isn’t protesting loud enough on NRCAs protests against the recent amendments to the Citizenship Act intensify across the country, a vocal critic of the new law, Prashant Kishor, spells out his personal and his party’s stand.

Yesterday, Prashant Kishor told Hindustan Times that he had an assurance from Nitish Kumar that he would not let the NRC to be implemented in Bihar. Before the day was out, Nitish Kumar sent a clear message to minorities that they had nothing to worry about as long as he was around. That was a message assuage the sentiments of minorities, who make up for about 17 per cent of Bihar’s population.

Within the JDU, Prashant Kishor wasn’t the only one to express his concerns.

Others including national spokesperson Pawan Varma and party MLC Gulam Rasool Bulyawi had gone public distancing themselves from the party’s support to the Citizenship Amendment Act,

“For us, people are more important than party and we’ll fight against the draconian Act (CAA) and NRC,” Kochadhaman JD-U MLA Mujahid Alkam said in public, while participating in the meetings and agitation being organized in protest of the CAA and NRC in the district in Purnia.

Tejashwi Yadav among opposition leaders booked in Bihar for anti-CAA bandh.

Source – indiatoday.in

Top opposition leaders In Bihar, including RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, have been booked in connection with the bandh organised in Bihar on the previous day in protest against the amended Citizenship Act and a proposed countrywide National Register for Citizens (NRC), police said on Sunday.

According to a release issued by the Patna Police, Yadav, a former deputy chief minister and currently the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, is among 27 people mentioned by name in addition to “hundreds of unnamed ones” against whom an FIR was lodged late Saturday night at the Kotwali police station.

Prominent among those named are Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, RJD leaders Shivanand Tiwari (national vice-president, former state minister and ex-MP) Abdul Bari Siddiqui (MLA), Jagadanand Singh (state president and former MP) and Bhai Virendra (MLA), Congress president and MLC Madan Mohan Jha and MLAs Poonam Paswan and Shakil Ahmad.

All the accused have been booked for “staging a demonstration at the Dak Bungalow crossing without any permission from the authority, raising slogans and disrupting vehicular traffic”, the release said.

They have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by government servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505 (public mischief) and the Loudspeaker Act.

In addition, cases have been slapped on the aforementioned counts against CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and controversial politician Pappu Yadav who took part in the bandh organised by the Left parties on Thursday, Superintendent of Police, City, Vinay Tiwari said.

Besides, FIRs have been lodged against unidentified persons by journalists Prakash Singh of Republic TV and photojournalist Dinesh Kumar of Dainik Bhaskar, who have alleged that they were assaulted by bandh supporters on Saturday, the release added.

Ranchi, Jharkhand Assembly Election Result Updates: Counting of votes begins.

Source – indiatoday.in

Results for elections held for Jharkhand’s Ranchi assembly seat are being announced today. Ranchi assembly seat went to the polls in December 2019 along with 80 other assembly constituencies of Jharkhand. The Jharkhand assembly elections were held over five phases in December 2019. The overall voter turnout was recorded at 65.17 per cent in the Jharkhand assembly elections 2019.

The Ranchi assembly seat voted on December 12 in the third phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections 2019. Results for the Jharkhand assembly election results 2019 are being announced on Monday, December 23.

Counting for the elections held to Jharkhand’s Ranchi assembly seat is currently on.

The Ranchi assembly is located in the Ranchi district of Jharkhand and falls under the Ranchi parliamentary constituency. In the 2014 Jharkhand assembly election, Chandreshwar Prasad Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from the Ranchi assembly seat.

Jharkhand is currently ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party under Chief Minister Raghubhar Das.

In the 2019 Jharkhand assembly elections, the BJP is up against an alliance of the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Jharkhand is the third state where elections have been held since the 2019 Lok Sabha election when the Narendra Modi-led BJP stormed back.

Apart from Jharkhand, elections have been held in Maharashtra and Haryana. In both the states, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party but could not secure a majority on its own. In Haryana, the BJP formed government by joining hands with the Jannayak Janata Party. In Maharashtra, the BJP failed to form a stable coalition, which led to an alliance of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress coming to power.

In Jharkhand, Congress borrows a strategy from Maharashtra’s Sharad Pawar.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s campaign strategy in Maharashtra shaped the Congress’s line of campaigning in Jharkhand as it kept the focus on local issues, economy and jobs, and avoided getting into a debate on nationalism, as pushed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The state, where tribals play a key role in politics, witnessed a bitter battle of narratives. While the BJP made Article 370, Ayodhya and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), now an Act (CAA), its poll plank, the Congress and its alliance partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) stuck to their tactic of keeping the rivals engaged on local matters, and limited their discourse on national issues to economic slowdown, price rise and unemployment.

The Congress had undoubtedly taken a leaf out of Pawar’s book as the Maratha leader during the Maharashtra elections successfully dodged the BJP’s nationalism narrative and extensively campaigned on local issues.

“It was deliberate on our part to keep the elections focussed on local issues and not fall into the BJP’s trap of making it nationalism-centered. We had also received feedback that there is strong anti-incumbency against BJP chief minister Raghubar Das and as such they will raise the pitch on Article 370, Ayodhya and the CAB,” said senior Congress leader Ajay Sharma. “We didn’t let that happen and kept the campaign entirely Jharkhand-centric.”

Sharma handled the Congress’s campaign in Ranchi and assisted the party’s Jharkhand in-charge, RPN Singh, in campaign strategy and planning.

He said the Congress also thwarted all attempts by the BJP to make it Prime Minister Narendra Modi-centric elections, as the ruling party decided to increase his number of rallies after assessing that the local leaders are not getting the required traction on the ground.

The Congress had crafted different campaign plan for each of the five phases of elections. The party had also planned to end the campaigning on December 18 with a rally by either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The latter, eventually, addressed a public meeting along with JMM chief Hemant Soren at Pakur in the Santhal-Pargana region.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi addressed four rallies across the state.

“For the first time in 18 years, the Congress was in a fighting-fit form and we gave our best. Besides, the in-charge [RPN Singh] camped in the state for 40 consecutive days which never happened in the past,” said the party’s state working president, Rajesh Thakur.

But Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo dismissed the contention that the ruling party was on the back-foot on local issues and instead blamed the opposition alliance for polarising the elections.

“We started with ‘Ghar Ghar Raghubar’ campaign and talked about stability and development in the last five years of the BJP government. But the Congress and JMM leaders started polarising the elections by talking negatively about Article 370 and we responded by exposing their double standards,” Shahdeo said.

He claimed that the alliance also hit the panic button after getting the feedback that the minority voters were supporting the BJP in large numbers. “At the same time, national issues are always paramount for us. As far as increasing the Prime Minister’s number of rallies, the figures available suggest a clear 80.9% strike rate for him as compared to 18.1% that of Rahul Gandhi,” added Shahdeo.

But political analysts said the local issues dominated the poll discourse among a large section of voters during the elections. “Roti [bread], kapda [cloth] aur makaan [house] are important for all and they take precedence over national issues. Voters across the country have shown that they vote differently for national and state elections,” said LK Kundan, associate professor of the political science department at the Ranchi University.

The elections for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly were held in five phases between November 30 and December 20. The results will be declared on December 23.

As per their pre-poll agreement, the Congress is contesting 31 seats while the JMM 43 seats and the RJD seven.

On the other hand, the BJP and the All Jharkhand Students Union or AJSU Party could not come to an understanding and are fighting the elections separately.

“It is a ploy. They [BJP and AJSU] have been together for five years and will join hands after the elections. The people are seeing through their drama and will hand over a crushing defeat to them,” Sharma said.

Jharkhand election results to be announced today: All you need to know in 10 points.

Source – indiatoday.in

Votes for the Jharkhand Assembly election are being counted with the India Today-Axis My India exit poll predicting 22-32 seats for the ruling BJP, and 38-50 seats for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress alliance. As per the exit poll, JVM-P could win two to four seats while AJSU Party three to five and others four to seven. Jharkhand voted in five phases between November 30 and December 30 to elect a new government in the state.

Here’s all you need to know as results for the elections to the 81-member state assembly are announced.

1. The counting of votes for 81 Jharkhand Assembly seats began at 8 am. The counting of votes is taking place in all the 24 district headquarters. The maximum rounds of counting will take place at Chatra with 28 rounds and lowest round at two seats. Results will emerge by Monday afternoon.

2. Jharkhand is the third state to go to the polls since Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power at the Centre on the back of a landslide BJP victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

3. Jharkhand voted between November 30 and December 30. The overall voter turnout was recorded at 65.17 per cent. Voting passed off peacefully across Jharkhand’s 81 assembly constituencies. This was the first time in the state’s 19-year history that voting took place without any violence by Maoists.

4. The primary contest in the Jharkhand assembly election is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the alliance between the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

5. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) are among the major political parties which are in the fray in the tribal-dominated state.

6. Among key candidates in Jharkhand, Raghubar Das is contesting from the Jamshedpur East seat against his ex-cabinet colleague Saryu Rai and Congress candidate Gourav Vallabh. Former Chief Minister Hemant Soren is the fray from two seats. He is pitted against Social Welfare Minister Louis Marandi at Dumka.

7. Former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajantarik (JVM-P) president Babulal Marandi is fighting from Dhanwar Assembly seat. The AJSU president, who lost the 2014 Assembly poll, is trying his luck again from Silli seat.

8. Most exit polls for the Jharkhand assembly election have predicted a hung assembly in the state with an advantage to the Congress-JMM alliance. The India Today-Axis My India exit poll had the BJP winning between 22 and 32 seats, and the JMM-Congress alliance between 38 and 50 seats.

9. A party or alliance needs to win at least 41 seats to form government in Jharkhand.

10. After the 2014 Jharkhand assembly election, the BJP formed government under CM Raghubar Das, who went on to become the only chief minister to complete a full five-year term in the state. The BJP ran the government in alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). However, the two contested the 2019 Jharkhand assembly elections separately.

IBPS RRB officer scale-1 result: Steps to check score card, interview details.

Source – indianexpress.com

IBPS RRB officer result: The Indian Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has released the result for the Mains exams conducted to hire at the post of officer scale-I in the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). Candidates who had appeared for the exam can check their result at the official website, ibps.in. The scorecard will be available on the website till December 31.

The interview round consists of 100 marks. The interview will be coordinated by the Nodal Regional Rural Banks with the help of NABARD and IBPS in consultation with the appropriate authority. The allotment of candidates will conclude by January 2020. The dates of the interview are not yet declared.

IBPS RRB officer result: How to check

Step 1: Visit the official website, ibps.in
Step 2: Click on the scrolling link ‘view score of candidates shortlisted for RRB officer …’
Step 3: Click on the shortlisted link again in the new page
Step 4: Log-in using credentials
Step 5: Result will appear, check

After selection as a scale-I officer in the Regional rural banks (RRBs), candidates need to undergo a training period, that is, a probation period. On completion of this period, candidates are placed as assistant managers in the respective banks. The score of candidates selected for the post of officer scale II and officer scale III was released earlier. A total of 1,390 vacancies were to be filled through this recruitment exam.

UPSC: Strong foundation is the key.

Source – telanganatoday.com

Keeping this in view, UPSC is a prestigious examination which requires a holistic preparation. The holistic preparation starts with the building of the foundation. A foundation should be strong enough so as to achieve the desired result in this examination. The foundation is created by doing the Basics. This examination not only tests the knowledge of a candidate but also the consistency, perseverance, capacity, and capability to face tough situations in life. The knowledge testing is done on the exam days but the humane qualities which are required to be good civil servant or a good human being are developed everyday throughout this preparation in which a solid foundation helps.

Therefore why a strong foundation is needed?

There is a saying that “Excellence is a habit, not an act.” But at the same time one cannot be perfect especially an aspirant who has just started preparing for the Civil services Examination. This process of habit creation provides multiple dimensional and innovative spirits. These spirits are directly proportional to the efforts made by the candidate during the process of foundation building. This process of foundation development also includes developing innate qualities of a human being adds value and helps in the development of a holistic perspective. This value addition and development of holistic perspective helps to achieve success in the examination. This process also helps in maintaining a healthy balance between preparation, family, friends, and development of self. This process is a long journey which has to be enjoyed.

Thus a strong foundation brings about a comprehensive strategy which inculcates different values for a candidate. The foundation is also linked with the foundational values of civil services, humane values, familial values, societal values and civic values of an ideal citizen. Thus the process of value addition through preparation is a means to not only achieve success and a good rank but also developing an integrated personality which makes you a good human being with essential value system. This value system will help an aspirant in each and every stage of life, making sure that these would be sufficient enough to face any kind of adversity in personal as well as professional life. This adversity will help in developing character of an aspirant. And LBSNAA motto itself says “Character is the highest virtue” attained by an individual to work for the people, society, and country.

Thus what constitutes this process of developing a foundation for UPSC becomes important by an aspirant?

This process is developing the external and internal constituents required for the good preparation for the UPSC examination. The external constituents are skill set, knowledge while the internal constituents are values, social role, motives and social image of an aspirant. This integration of external and internal forces composes the process of developing foundation for UPSC. The knowledge helps an aspirant to enhance his perspective. The skillset is required to face the questions that are asked in the various stages of UPSC. The motive helps to internalize the preparation process. The social role and social image add societal perspective to the preparation. This leads to the development of values. Thus this is the composition of the Foundation for UPSC.

Hence how this foundation is achieved by an aspirant preparing for the UPSC CSE?

The step is to grasp the basics. The basics are attained through the knowledge and not only by attaining knowledge but also Imagination as it is said that knowledge is limited but Imagination encircles the world. This knowledge attainment requires hard work and patience. There is no short cut to success and hence an aspirant has to make a strategy of how and what he/she is going to read, write and think.

The reading, writing, and thinking are important to attain knowledge and develop a skill set to face the questions of UPSC CSE. The syllabus provides an aspirant with the structure of knowledge that has to be attained. But this is a broad structure that has to be delved deeper through smart and flexible strategy. This strategy varies from aspirant to aspirant but in general it can be said per se that it involves these following basic steps:

1. Study the syllabus comprehensively.

2. Study the previous papers and develop an approach to answer them.

3. Study the basic books NCERTs, offline or online.

4. Focusing more on optional paper on a daily basis.

5. Daily newspaper reading.

6. Making notes from the various sources used by an aspirant.

7. Revising the notes and the syllabus.

8. Practicing the writing by answering the questions. Hence the delving into the questions of Why, What and How will create value in an aspirant and helps to reach the destination of getting success in this examination which eventually will be beautiful.  Manoj K Jha, Director, GS Score, New Delhi.

UPSC releases interview schedule for Medical Officer posts, check details.

Source – indianexpress.com

UPSC Medical Officer recruitment 2019: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) released the interview schedule for the posts of Medical Officer. The interview will be held from January 13 to 31, 2020.

The candidates who had cleared the written test, the result of which was declared on November 22 should check the interview schedule at the website- upsc.gov.in.

“With reference to your application for the above mentioned post, this is to inform that you have been shortlisted for interview. You are accordingly requested to appear for the interview as per the reporting schedule given below. Reporting time for candidates called for interview in Forenoon Session is 9 am and the reporting time for candidates called for interview in afternoon session is 12 noon, in the UPSC Office, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi – 110 069,” read the official notification.

The candidates required to bring the original documents at the time of interview. “You are also requested to submit Attestation Form along with photographs and fill TA Bill Form (if an outstation candidate). In this regard please read carefully and follow the procedures, terms & conditions governing the Interview as indicated in the Commissions website under Recruitment/ Interview/ Procedure, Terms & Conditions (annexure II) and download the requisite forms,” the notification mentioned.

UPSC Medical Officer interview schedule: List of documents needed

1. Matriculation/ 10th standard or equivalent certificate indicating date of birth, or mark sheet of matriculation/ 10th standard or equivalent issued by central/ state Board indicating Date of birth in support of their claim of age

2. Essential qualification as mentioned in the advertisement no. 01/2019 (Vacancy No. 19010115112) alongwith mark sheets pertaining to all the academic years/ final year as proof of educational qualification claimed

3. Certificate(s) in the “prescribed proforma” from the Head(s) of Organization(s) / Department(s) for the entire experience claimed, clearly mentioning the duration of employment (date, month & year)

4. Caste certificate in the prescribed proforma in case of candidates seeking reservation as SC/ ST/ OBC from the competent authority indicating clearly the candidate’s caste

5. A declaration in the “prescribed proforma” by candidate seeking reservation as OBC, that he/she does not belong to the creamy layer on the crucial date, in addition to the community certificate (OBC)

6. Physically Handicapped (PH) certificate in “prescribed proforma” issued by the competent authority by Physically Handicapped persons eligible for appointment to the post on the basis of prescribed standards of Medical Fitness, as mentioned in the official notification.

The candidates need to check the official website- upsc.gov.in for details om the documents needed at the time of interview. The interview will be conducted at UPSC Office, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi – 110 069.