Tag: gram Panchayat

Mukhiyas Targeted in Bihar, 2 Killed in 24 Hours

Source: newsclick.in

Patna: With two mukhiyas [elected village body heads] killed by criminals in Bihar in the last 24 hours, hundreds of mukhiyas in rural areas across the state are worried about their security, owing to the threat to their lives from gangsters, criminals and rivals.

Arun Singh (48), mukhiya of Barap panchayat, was shot dead on Monday night by motorcycle-borne criminals at his native village in Bhojpur district. In another incident, Ravinder alias Robin Das, mukhiya of Fatehpur panchayat, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered. His body was found on Tuesday morning in Sabaur in the neighbouring Bhagalpur district.

Singh, who belongs to the powerful upper caste Rajput, was killed when he was reportedly sitting along with other villagers outside a house in his native village. Angry over the killing, hundreds of local villagers on Tuesday blocked Ara-Sasaram road, demanding arrest of the criminals involved.

Das’s throat was allegedly slit after he was kidnapped and his body was thrown near an orchard. Local residents have protested and are demanding compensation for his family.

“Singh and Das were killed by criminals hired for revenge by their rivals or by those having dispute with them over some issue,” a senior police official at the police headquarters here said.

Last month, Mohammad Alishan, mukhiya of Sumera panchayat in Muzaffarpur district, was shot dead at his native village. In the past six months, half a dozen husbands of women mukhiyas have been killed across the state. After Bihar government reserved 50% seats in panchayat polls for women, hundreds of women mukhiyas have got elected, but their husbands run the show on the ground.

According to a rural activist, Mahender Yadav, most of mukhiyas were murdered over disputes with local criminals, gangsters or rivalry related to development work in their areas.

A senior officer from the Home Department, which is under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told NewsClick that security threat is an old concern among mukhiyas in the state and time and again, they have demanded bodyguards. Akhiyar Khan, mukhiya of a panchayat in Arwal district, confirmed this: “We have demanded bodyguards repeatedly citing real threat to our lives, but we have been ignored.”

“Mukhiyas are not safe. There is a threat to our life, as we are working on the ground. But the government hardly bothers to provide security to us,” Chotu Singh, mukhiya of a panchayat under Haspura block in Aurangabad district said.

A mukhiya of a panchayat in Muzaffarpur district told NewsClick on the condition of anonymity that local criminals demand tax and threaten the mukhiyas with dire consequences if they are not paid.

In some districts like Gaya, Jehanabad, Jamui, Munger, Sitamarhi, Rohtas, Nawada, Sheohar, Aurangabad and Arwal, mukhiyas are even afraid of threats by Maoists.

In Bihar, there are 8,442 village body heads, 8,422 sarpanch, 1,15,542 panchayat members, 11,534 panchayat samiti members and 1,162 zila parishad members.

Thanks to rampant corruption in state and central government-funded development schemes in rural areas, mukhiyas have become neo-rich, which makes them easy targets of the criminals as well as their political rivals. With youths without job or work, they are hired by gangs to target mukhiyasfor money.

Politics of name and colour costs exchequer Rs 5.50 crore in Rajasthan

Source: newindianexpress.com

JAIPUR: Shakespeare has asked, “what’s in a name?” But politics over the name of two former PMs of the country, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi, have come to haunt the people of Rajasthan financially. Gehlot Government had changed the name of Atal Seva Kendra to Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra again which now has cost the exchequer crores.

After coming to power, Gehlot Government had announced in January that government sewa centres at 9894 Gram panchayat and 295 Panchayat samitis will undergo a name change. At the time it was said that all the other Seva centres around the country have the name Rajiv Gandhi whereas the previous BJP government had unnecessarily changed the names in the state to Atal Seva Kendra.

Sources in the department say that around 2000 rupees have been spent per gram Panchayat and 5000 Rupees have been spent per Panchayat samiti. The total cost has come to 5.50 crore rupees.

Earlier between 2008 to 2013, Ashok Gehlot Government had kept the name of these centres as Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra which at that time had costed Rs 1.5 crore.

In 2013 when BJP government came to power the name was again changed to Atal Seva Kendra which costed 1 crore 85 lakh rupees. Currently, 2 crore rupees have been spent with the name changing back to Rajiv Gandhi from Atal. Sources also say that there is no separate provision made in the budget for this.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had earlier said that both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi are Bharat Ratnas and they wanted to keep the names of both of them. ” We wanted the name to be Rajiv Gandhi Atal Seva Kendra. But the Supreme Court has said that in these programs no name can be added or subtracted. As such, in the law, the name is Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra. This is the reason why we had to keep that name”, he added.
BJP says that in comparison to Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee was a greater leader and it is not right to change his name. ” If they wanted to change the name, they should’ve done for other projects. This shows the amateurish behaviour of the Government. ” Said Vasudev Devnani, former Education minister in BJP government”

The names shouldn’t be changed with the changing of the Governments. To change the name of a popular leader like Atalji is unfortunate. If Atalji’s name had stayed, it would have saved the government money and started a new tradition as well.” Added Devnani

While the politics of name has increased the expenditure of the government, the politics of colour have saved some extra crores. The cycles given to the school going girls by the education department will now be painted black from the saffron colour, which will save 8.50 crore Rupees. In 2007, the BJP government had changed the colour to saffron. The change of colour to saffron and putting a basket in the front increases the cost of a bicycle by 200 to 300 rupees.

Not just the colour of the cycles but the name of the RSS idealogue Deendayal Upadhyaya has been removed from the scholarships given by the education board. In fact, his name has been removed from all previous paperwork in the Government which are now redundant and lakhs of rupees have been wasted due to this.

“BJP had made education an RSS propaganda laboratory. The coloured cycles saffron and made it expensive. Now they are coming out with baseless statements against us”, said Govind Singh Dotasara, State Minister of Education, Rajasthan.