Tag: Lok Sabha

Nitish banks on Prashant Kishore’s Jharkhand groundwork for rich poll harvest

Source: hindustantimes.com

Janata Dal (United) national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is all set to launch party’s election campaign in poll-bound Jharkhand on August 25. Mega preparations are on in the state’s capital city by the party workers to welcome Kumar, who would be holding a meeting with around 2,000 leaders from across Bihar during his four hours stay on Sunday.

Assembly elections are due in Jharkhand later this year. The state carved out of Bihar in 2000 has remained a traditional BJP stronghold. The opposition led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), however, has had its brief share of power on more than one occasion with the JMM patriarch Sibu Soren and his son Hemant Soren – currently the party’s executive head – serving as chief ministers of the state thrice and once respectively.

The JD(U) since its formation in 2003 had remained in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) across states including Jharkhand, expect from June 2013 to August 2017, when the party switched to Rashtriya Janta Dal-led Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar. The party, which had won six out of the 81 assembly seats in 2005, doesn’t have any presence in the state legislature as of now and its organisational strength has been fading with each passing year.

However, buoyed by its recent successes in the Lok Sabha polls when it won 16 out of the 17 seats it had contested in Bihar followed by the triumph in Arunachal Pradesh – where JD(U) went on to become the second largest party winning seven seats, the JD-U is now striving hard for Jharkhand assembly polls to build up on its push to become a strong national party.

“Nitish Kumar’s scheduled visit on Sunday has already set eye-balls rolling in Jharkhand’s political circles. The state badly needs Kumar’s model of development and we are confident that we will make a difference with or without any alliance in the coming polls,” said JD-U Jharkhand president and former BJP parliamentarian, Salkhan Murmu.

JD-U had contested the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in alliance with BJP and also intends to contest the 2020 assembly polls under the NDA. However, during the recently held party’s executive committee meeting in Patna, the party leaders announced that outside Bihar they would go solo in all polls.

In Jharkhand, if JD(U) fails or refuses to bridge an alliance with any party, it would be pitted against a strong NDA – comprising BJP and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and a resolute Grand Alliance (GA) comprising JMM, Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the left.

The party leaders, both in Patna and Ranchi, are unperturbed by the prevalent political combinations. Influenced from Rajya Sabha deputy speaker Harivansh in the state and backed by expertise of poll strategist Prashant Kishore, whose teams have been working clandestinely in all 24 districts for last six months, JD(U) leadership is confident of altering all the set poll equations.

“Our party vice-president, Prashant Kishore’s teams have done extensive ground work and have found out that there exists immense potential for JD(U) to make headway in the neighbouring state,” said a senior JD(U) leader requesting not to be quoted.

Though the party has announced to contest all 81 seats, it may scale down to 35 seats or even less after Kumar’s meeting with local leaders and office bearers, leaders, adding, they would field candidates in constituencies where they stand a chance to win or give a tough fight.

According to the insiders, the party would focus on constituencies with high Kurmi voters’ percentage. Several disgruntled Kurmi leaders associated with other parties are being lured to join JD(U).

Shailendra Mahato, vice-president of JD(U) unit in Jharkhand, said that among others, Kumar would be accompanied by Kishore, Member of Parliament Lallan Singh, Bihar welfare minister and Jharkhand in-charge Ram Sevak Singh and general secretary Arun Kumar Singh.

“Our national president would be in Gaya on August 24 where he would stay back overnight. Next morning after breakfast, he will leave for Ranchi by road and hold crucial meetings till 5 pm before he departs for Patna by the evening flight,” he said.

Nand Kishore Yadav, BJP’s Jharkhand co in-charge, said that JD(U)’s foray into Jharkhand assembly polls does not affect his party much as JD(U) has contested polls independently in several states. “Our alliance with them is only in Bihar. We do not have anything to do with their decisions,” he said.

All speeches of Lok Sabha since 1952 to be archived: Speaker Om Birla

Source: millenniumpost.in

New Delhi: In a historic move, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla initiated a process of archiving the speeches of all Lok Sabha members and ministers since 1952. When asked, the Speaker told the Millennium Post exclusively that the availability of the video footage and the audio discs were the main concern now.

However, this work is also time-consuming. The presiding officer of the Lower House (Lok Sabha Speaker) confirmed that the entire process would take three months.

Earlier only Prime Ministers’ speeches were archived. This move will create a real political history of our country. Reportedly nearly 500 MPs have passed away in the last fifteen years, 25 of them belonged to India’s first Lok Sabha.

In the earlier days, there used to be translators in the Parliament and they used to transcribe the speeches and publish in the Parliament proceedings. In those days there used to be only the audio recordings available and used to be preserved in the disc. Later on, Doordarshan was entrusted with the job of recording the both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings.

Much later, the Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV were launched. In 2006, DD Lok Sabha was replaced by LSTV, a 24-hour TV channel broadcasting in Hindi and English, which is owned and operated entirely by the Lower House itself. Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Left stalwart Somnath Chatterjee who launched it. Later in 2011, the Rajya Sabha TV started the coverage of the proceedings of the Upper House.

The archive will help in understanding the historic discussions on the floor of the Houses. Hence, once this archiving takes place, the entire political history since 1952 will be readily available to the common people. The audio and video recordings will further remove the confusion about what stand or the position different political leaders from different political parties have taken on different issues in our political history, whether the negotiations that took place between the treasury and opposition to build consensus on GST, right to education, land acquisition, or the recent insolvency and bankruptcy laws, triple talaq, rescinding of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and others.

However, the government has not communicated any official version yet. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a museum dedicated to all former Prime Ministers. The deadline to complete the ‘Museum on Prime Ministers of India’ is March 2020.

Sources said the iconic speeches, delivered by the former External Affairs Minister and an eloquent speaker of Bharatiya Janata Party, Sushma Swaraj, who passed away on Tuesday, is on the priority. The recent years saw the demise of several Indian political stalwarts. On August 13 in the last year, former Lok Sabha Speaker and Left veteran Somnath Chatterjee and three days later, on August 16, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away, who had served Parliament, both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha twelve times.

This year, George Fernandez, the defence minister during the Kargil War and nine times MP in Lok Sabha, passed away in January. After that, the demise of Ram Chandra Paswan in the last month and Sheila Dikshit, the former Delhi chief minister and former LS MP from Kannauj passed away in the last week.

Cops called for Congress clash in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Congress factions resorted to an ugly clash in front of the party office on Thursday afternoon, forcing police to use force and detain a few leaders, indicating a growing belligerence among party men eager to ascribe blame for the poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections.

State party chief Ajoy Kumar, who arrived at the state party headquarters on Shradhanand road moments after the police managed to control the situation, addressed a gathering of loyalists and blamed a set of senior leaders for trying to “break the party”.

He did not mention names, but made it amply clear he was referring to former minister and Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay, former state party chief Pradep K Balmuchu, former MPs Rameshwar Oraon and Furkan Ansari, all of whom have joined hands against him.

The Congress contested seven of 14 Lok Sabha seats in alliance with the JMM, JVM and RJD but could win only one.

By the end of the day, a senior Congress leader revealed that the party’s central leadership, already grappling with a leadership crisis, summoned all senior leaders of the state for a meeting in Delhi on August 3.

The leader also said that Jharkhand Congress minder R.P.N Singh called him from Delhi in the afternoon to find out what had happened.

The clash had its genesis in Wednesday night’s expulsion of former president of Ranchi district unit Surendra Kumar Singh and former state spokesperson Rakesh Sinha on disciplinary grounds for a period of six years.

Both leaders, considered to be Sahay loyalists, decided to hold a press conference at the party office at 2pm on Thursday. But around 50 supporters of the state party chief gathered at the party office early on with a plan to thwart the press conference.

At 1.45pm, both the expelled leaders, along with 250 of their supporters, arrived at the party office. They were jeered and pushed back by Kumar’s supporters, saying expelled leaders weren’t allowed to use the party office.

A clash ensued. Stones and missiles were hurled freely. Police, who seemed to have been informed earlier, were on standby with officer in-charge of Kotwali police station S.N. Mandal deploying as many as 22 personnel.

“Police used mild force to disperse the crowd. One photojournalist was hit by stone and injured. Surendra Kumar Singh and Sinha were kept under preventing arrest for around two hours after which they were released. No FIR has been lodged,” Mandal said.

Before they were taken into custody, Surendra Kumar Singh and Sinha addressed the media, calling Kumar “incompetent and arrogant” for wanting to run the party like a “dictator”.

“Kumar will be remembered as the worst (state) president of the party. The downfall of the Congress in Jharkhand and expulsion of committed party leaders and workers are some of his notable achievements. He has set a record of expelling over 100 leaders and workers during his tenure. We have lost committed workers like Ajay Rai and Sunil Singh, whom he has expelled,” said Sinha.

Three days earlier, Kumar had expelled Sudhir Singh, Yogendra Singh Beni, Ashutosh Nath Pathak, Manish Kumar Singh, Tinku Verma and Krishna Verma after they burnt his effigy and shouted slogans against him.

In May, Kumar expelled a dozen leaders and workers of the Hazaribagh district unit. Several others were expelled from Ramgarh, Giridih and other district units.

“Our expulsion is blatant violation of the party constitution. As per rules, a showcause notice has to be issued, and a reply has to be given within two weeks. An expulsion is subject to approval of the working committee. In our case, no procedure was followed,” Surendra Kumar Singh alleged.

In his address to party men, Kumar, who was accorded a welcome with garlands, thanked his supporters and went on fire a volley of accusations against senior leaders. Kumar said that like others, he too was sad over the performance of the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

“We won one seat and lost two others with a narrow margin. This is not a battle for posts and power. There are some people who want to take control over the ticket distribution exercise for Assembly elections. They want to grab the entire party. I have dedicated my life to serve the people of Jharkhand. As a police officer, I was wounded by the bullet fired by criminals. What kind of language they have been using? I too can collect 50 men at a time,” he said.

Kumar said there were leaders who wanted tickets for themselves and their children.

“Those who were defeated in the parliamentary election will not take responsibility of their defeat. For the coming Assembly elections, tickets will be given to new faces, the young and the energetic,” he said.

Congress Lohardaga MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat said the party had become a laughing stock in the state. “Jab nash manuj par chhata hai pahle vivek mar jata hai. (When the end is near, wisdom dies first),” he said.

BJP kicks off preparations for Jharkhand Assembly polls

Source: newsd.in

Ranchi, July 29 (IANS) Speculations are rife that Jharkhand polls, due early 2020, may take place along with Haryana and Maharashtra by the end of the year. The ruling BJP has not officially said anything but has begun its preparations, ensuring benefits of schemes reach people and launching a membership drive.

The tenure of Haryana and Maharashtra assemblies are ending on November 2 and 11, respectively and that of Jharkhand on January 5, 2020. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP favouring simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the party may set an example by holding Assembly polls together.

The party, however, says that no decision has been taken on holding Assembly polls, along with the two other states. “There is no information of advancing the Assembly poll in the state,” BJP leader Ravi Bhatt told IANS.

Asked about the timing of polls, state BJP spokesman Shivapujan Pathak told IANS that the “party has started poll preparations. It is up to the party’s central leaders to decide whether polls will be held on schedule time or advanced”.

“Our membership drive is going at large scale…. We have set target of 25 lakh new members in the state,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raghubar Das has swung into action, with the state government fixing September 30 for distributing free gas cylinders to the remaining 14 lakh families.

Jharkhand, which has already distributed free gas cylinders to 29 lakh families, has also announced to refill the cylinder at free of cost.

The state is focusing to cover all its people under the Ayushman Bharat and other social schemes.

The Chief Minister has directed the officials to complete major state and centre sponsored schemes by August 31 and September 30, respectively.

Government sources also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to make two to three visits to the state in August and September to launch agriculture-related schemes and inaugurate the multi-modal terminal on the Ganga in Sahebganj district.

On the International Day of Yoga, Modi had chosen Ranchi to attend the programme, which was attended by more than 35,000 people.

The BJP is enthused by the Lok Sabha poll outcome, where it won 12 of the state’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, defeating the grand alliance of the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. While the Congress and the JMM managed to win one seat each, JMM President and former Chief Minister Shibu Soren lost his traditional Dumka seat.

Meanwhile, the membership drive is carried out on an intensive level, especially among the rural areas. BJP Working President J.P. Nadda had also recently visited the state to participate in membership drive campaign and discuss poll preparations with local leaders.

BJP national Vice President Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is in charge of the membership campaign in Jharkhand, has also visited the state twice.

Even, the opposition parties have started their poll preparations. Not deterred by the Lok Sabha defeat, the grand alliance is again gearing to fight the Assembly polls together.

“We are ready to face the Assembly poll. Let BJP manipulate the poll dates. The assembly poll will be different from Lok Sabha. In the 2014 Assembly polls, despite the ‘Modi magic’ and the divided opposition, the BJP did not get a majority on its own,” JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya told IANS.

The BJP had won 37 seats in the 81-member Assembly and came to power with the help of ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union.

In the Saga of Bihar, Where to Start and Where to Conclude?

Source: patnadaily.com

During the considerable time gap since then much water has flown down the rivers and many events, both pleasant and unpleasant — from abuse of girls in shelter-homes to Pulwama bombing to the Lok Sabha elections to the outbreak of encephalitis — have all filled the pages of newspapers, I spent a good hundred days in India, mostly at my ancestral home in the city of Darbhanga (24 Feb to 19 May, 2019). Away from India, I always had the urge to reach out to fellow Biharis through the PD columns; closer home, as if I was on an unexplained leave of absence!

Before arriving at Darbhanga, my wife, Reeta, and I had the opportunity to visit my alma mater JNU, present a talk arranged by Dr Mansi Mandal, a JNU alumni, at Amity University (Gurgaon), meet with a number of friends and relations in Delhi, and take a holy dip at the Prayag Kumbh while camping with my Lucknow-based cousin sister Madhu Di (originally from Patna).

At every stage of my travel, I thought I could have sent a short dispatch to PatnaDaily capturing my impressions or experience (as many competent writers do), but the procrastinator in me always came in my way. During my prolonged stay at Darbhanga, I always toyed with the idea of writing something and thought of a potential topic every day but, again, failed to get myself to doing that on one pretext or the other. The idea seemed to drown with the setting sun every night.

The thought of uselessness of writing, frankly, also crossed my mind. It possibly discouraged me from typing out my impressions. I was most likely overwhelmed by many things going on around me. I decided perhaps voluntarily to internalize the experiences and then set about expressing them. But then the question was where to start, which question to take up and where to go? Who will I be writing for? Who are the targeted readers? Is there anything new I’m going to say? Should I be recording things for myself and then share with interested friends and relations later? How is this going to be beneficial to the society? And so on.

As a Bihari settled in Canada, I thoroughly enjoyed being at my ancestral home place living in its own life-style; however, that didn’t prevent me from critically looking at my own surroundings in Darbhanga, most of the time through a foreigner’s pair of glasses. The contrasts between our two livings — and the mindset — were so stark that I feared if I said anything critical, I would be seen as attempting to force people into adopting certain attitudes and behavior that they considered “foreign.” But my anguish continued. I wished to engage everyone around me in a serious conversation: Please think long and hard about the future of Bihar.

If I were to frame one question, I would ask: “Are we trying to make Biharis, particularly the generation that is under ten, into the future aware Citizens?” What will happen when this huge chunk of the population grows up into adulthood not properly educated or trained; not seeing a clean or efficient administration or the rule of law in action; not realizing the dangers of lawless behavior on the road or in the over-populated neighborhoods; not understanding the consequences of environmental (including noise) pollution or not comprehending the superstitious-exploitative, ritualistic, self-destructive or political aspects of organized/ institutionalized religions?

It’s very easy to hold the government-that-be responsible for everything and it is to a large extent; but, what about the role of the people with whom lies the Sovereignty, who were part of the Civil Society? What when the government had all good intentions and a section of the people were hell bent on frustrating them? What when the people took laws into their own hands? So where to start and where to conclude?

Former Lok Sabha MP and Founder of Jharkhand Movement AK Roy Passes Away in Dhanbad

Source: news18.com

Dhanbad: Former Lok Sabha MP and founder of Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC), A K Roy passed away at a hospital here on Sunday.

Roy, a bachelor, was 90, party sources said. The veteran Left leader and chief patron of CITU Jharkhand state committee was admitted to the Central Hospital here on July 8 following age-related problems and he died of multi-organ failure, doctors said.

He was one of the founders of the Jharkhand movement.

The three-time MP from Dhanbad was also founder of Jharkhand’s regional party Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC).

Roy won the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat in 1977, 1980 and 1989, besides representing Sindri seat in Bihar Assembly in 1967, 1969 and 1972.

Along with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren and former MP late Binod Bihari Mahto, Roy began

Jharkhand movement demanding a separate state from Bihar in 1971. Jharkhand became a separate state on November 15, 2000.

Roy was born in Sapura village, now in Bangladesh. His father Shivendra Chandra Roy was an advocate. He completed MSc in Chemistry from Calcutta University in 1959 and worked for two years in a private firm. Later, he joined PDIL Sindri In 1961.

He actively participated in Bihar Band agitation on August 9, 1966 and was arrested and sent to Jail. As he opposed the then government, the Projects and Development India Limited (PDIL) management dismissed him from job.

Roy entered trade union and started agitation in Sindri Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) and against private colliery owners. In 1967 he contested on CPI (M) ticket from Sindri Assembly seat of Bihar and won.

But he resigned from CPI(M) and formed his Marxist Coordination Committee.

Roy was called a ‘political saint’ by his associates and followers as his bank account always showed ‘zero balance’ till he breathed his last.

Roy lived in the house of a party worker at Pathaldih area, 17 km away from Dhanbad, for the past one decade.

Earlier he lived in his party office at Temple Road at Purana Bazaar here. “He was the first MP in the country who opposed increase in perks and pension proposals in 1989 for MPs, though his proposal was defeated,” Anand Mahto, a former MCC MLA, said.

Why Bihar was right in defeating Tejashwi Yadav and RJD in Lok Sabha polls | Opinion

Source: indiatoday.in

When results of an election are announced, they decide two important roles–who will govern and who will be in the opposition to keep a check on what the new government does. For maintaining a polity’s democratic health, the second role is somewhat more important than the first.

This is because governments exist even in non-democratic regimes. But it is the presence of a responsible opposition that makes a robust democracy distinct. How effectively the Opposition is able to conduct itself, in many ways determines how cautious, sensitive and responsible the government will be while taking policy decisions and responding to unforeseen emergencies.

These are basics taught in social science classes at the senior secondary level and not necessarily part of a grand theory or sophisticated sacred knowledge.

But when it comes to the political spectrum of Bihar, the Leader of Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, appears to have conscientiously chosen to be oblivious about this.

Bihar is currently witnessing its worst medical emergencies in recent times with more than 110 children dead due to encephalitis in Muzaffarpur district alone. The epidemic has exposed glaring faultlines in the public heath infrastructure of Bihar–be it availability of doctors, hospital infrastructure, nutrition level (which is worse than most African countries), among others.

These are exactly the times when people look up to their leaders (both in the ruling government and the Opposition) to stand with and for them to brave the calamity. Political ideologies, colours and partisan interests ought to diffuse in the face of such widespread human sufferings.

But what has been Tejashwi Yadav’s response to the Muzaffarpur tragedy? Two words can describe it: Silence and absence. This is not only unprecedented but also unbecoming and uncharacteristic.

Ever since the encephalitis outbreak hit Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly who is also the de-facto head of the single largest party in the state–Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)–has been silent.

Not only is he yet to utter a single word, not many, even within his own party, seem to be even aware of his whereabouts. Senior RJD have been clueless when asked where their leader is. Some said he might be in the United Kingdom to watch the Cricket World Cup.

Is Tejashwi Yadav on a holiday? Is he unwell? Is he under a spell of unending introspection? How does he and his party plan to help the state overcome tragedies like the one in Muzaffarpur? He is a public figure, the Leader of Opposition in an honourable state assembly. The people have every right to know his whereabouts and where he stands in these dark hours.

This is the same Tejashwi Yadav who two months ago would not miss even a minuscule opportunity to hit out at the NDA governments at the state and national level; the same Tejashwi Yadav who on May 17 (the last day for campaigning for Lok Sabha polls) took a jibe at Nitish Kumar, daring him to at least release his party manifesto on the last day; the same Tejashwi Yadav would be active on Twitter to share visuals from his rallies and regularly question the government and launch scathing attacks on it throughout the polls.

But all this was during the election seasona season when promises are served like hot pakodas; when people’s dreams are colonised by political colours of all hues in the buzzing atmosphere characterised by one-upmanship.

Now with the poll season is over, have things suddenly changed for Tejashwi Yadavthe politician whose Facebook cover image screams the words “Pratham pratigya, Pratham pyar, sukhi samridh sarvottam Bihar (My first pledge and first love is to see a happy and prosperous Bihar)”.

Is the strength of his pledge and love so weak that it could be rattled by a humiliating electoral defeat?

No doubt that when results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were declared on May 23, they came as a nightmare for Tejashwi Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The party founded and nurtured by Tejashwi’s father Lalu Yadav, who is in jail, was routed and failed to win any of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. This was its worst performance and came despite an aggressive posturing, and an even more aggressive campaign led by Tejashwi Yadav against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But Tejashwi should have known that defeat is also a time that tests your character and leadership. It is easy to be a leader in victory because the tide is in your favour. But it takes political and moral courage to accept defeat, work for the future, and shoulder one’s responsibility as an opposition leader.

If silence and complete absence from public life is the kind of leadership that Tejashwi Yadav had to offer the people of Bihar in times of a catastrophe like the one in Muzaffarpur, it is for good that most people in the state chose to vote against his party in the Lok Sabha elections.

Defeat, just like victory, is part of a political journey. If a de-facto party president and Leader of Opposition cannot see beyond the humiliating results of a general election, it is better that the people chose not to repose faith in his leadership. One wonders if Tejashwi Yadav is naive to understand the basics that a political party’s socio-political responsibilities do not cease to exist in the post-election season.

Being a responsible opposition leader does not mean that he necessarily has to militate against the ruling government at all cost. In times of crisis, maturity commands that the opposition and the government work as a unit and support each other to tackle the situation.

But for this, our politicians need to look beyond the optics of electoral politics. And this is where Tejashwi Yadav has failed miserably.

He may be a popular politician in Bihar, but the larger question is: Is he a leader?

Modi stuns Congress in Parliament, does what they least expected him to do

Source: financialexpress.com

Expect the unexpected when the man in question is Narendra Modi. Known to spring up surprises more often than not, there was anticipation ahead of Prime Minister’s maiden address in Parliament after returning to power with a stronger mandate. A day earlier, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had drawn a “gandi naali” analogy to target PM Modi. Contrary to expectations that Modi would shred the Congress leader in his speech over the lowly attack, the PM chose otherwise.

Of course, that did not deter him from launching an all-out attack against the Opposition, particularly the Congress, over a number of other issues. In his over 65-minute-long address, PM Modi did not spare the Congress for ignoring the contribution of former PMs like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. He took repeated digs at the Gandhi-Nehru family for its sense of entitlement and absolute disconnect with roots and also took a shot at Rahul Gandhi’s foreign jaunt immediately after the elections were over. “Even we wanted to relax after running around during elections for so long. But we do not think that way.”

The PM also reminded the Congress of the Emergency over how it crushed India’s soul on the day 44 years ago. Responding to a question by Chowdhury a day earlier on why Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were not in jail, when, as per the PM’s own claims, they are neck-deep in corruption, the PM said: “There is no Emergency in the country. Enjoy if you are out on bail.” The Prime Minister also pointed out how the Congress leadership had lost its connection with the masses, and in its lust for power even refused to acknowledge or appreciate the contribution of its own leaders outside the Gandhi family.

Yet, when Congress leaders emerged from the Parliament after the session, they claimed a moral victory. For, at the end of his address, the PM did what the Congress would never have expected him to do. Concluding his speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Modi quoted India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Congress has scored a “great victory” as it had compelled Modi to quote Pandit Nehru’s words in his speech.

“I think we have scored a great success that at least the Prime Minister, who used to previously remain reluctant to recognise any Congress leader, was compelled to quote Nehru at the fag end of his speech. So, I think this was our great victory,” IANS quoted him as saying.

On Tuesday, Modi quoted an extract from a speech made by Nehru in 1951 at the release of the Congress manifesto for the first Lok Sabha polls in the country. “The biggest lesson to the world from India is that here, duties come first. From these duties emerge the rights. In today’s world, everyone talks about their rights and conveniences. Hardly anyone talks about duties. This is the reason for the friction in the world. It is true that we fight for our rights, but if we forget our duties, these rights will also not remain with us,” the Prime Minister told the Lok Sabha, taking his time to reveal that the “mahapurush” whom he had quoted was none other than Jawaharlal Nehru, urging members to understand his wish and see if it can be taken forward.

Congress has good reason to be surprised though one may doubt its contributions in “compelling” the Prime Minister to quote Nehru. The Prime Minister and the BJP are seen to be promoting the contributions of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi towards nation-building more than Nehru. The government’s push to honour all Prime Ministers at the Nehru Memorial has been a bone of contention between the BJP and the Congress. The grand old party has also often accused Modi of being opposed to the idea of pluralism and inclusivity that Nehru stood for, besides blaming the former of destroying institutions that Nehru built. Of course, praise for Nehru from arguably his biggest critic, is bound to delight them.

While the Congress is playing it smart by claiming victory for Modi’s choice of words, the Prime Minister has displayed that he is staying true to his promise of taking the Opposition along. There are some bills that still need the Opposition’s support to pass muster in the Rajya Sabha and the PM’s praise of Nehru could be an olive branch to the Congress. Also, by praising Nehru, the Congress’ tallest leader, could also puncture the Opposition’s charge of disrespecting their icons. In either case, it is Modi who has emerged as the smarter politician yet again.

Bihar’s 1.48 crore power consumers to get smart prepaid meters by 2020

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Come August 2020 and Bihar’s 1.48 crore power consumers will get smart prepaid electricity bill measuring meters installed in their houses. 

After successful completion of the target, Bihar would become the first state in the country with all its power consumers availing facility of prepaid electricity meters.

Buoyed by recent Lok Sabha victory, the Nitish Kumar government has directed officials of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) to achieve the target of complete installation of smart prepaid electricity bill measuring metres by August 2020, ahead of the state assembly elections in 2020.

CM Nitish Kumar has assigned the task of completing the installation to chairman-cum-chief managing director(CMD) of BSPHCL Pratay Amrit, who has played an effective role in ensuring the complete electrification of villages in record time in the state. 

In the last five years, Bihar has spent a whopping Rs 55,000 crore on electrification works and ensuring availability of power.
 
The CM while lauding the performances of electricity department at a function organised to inaugurate and kick-start various schemes worth Rs 697 crores on Tuesday, said that department should also achieve the target of installing the prepaid meters on top priority.

“Once the prepaid meters are installed, consumers will face not problems like inflated bills of which is major complaint by consumers”, Kumar said.
 
He also asked the power officials to replace all the old wires within the stipulated time frame and ensure separate power connection under the agriculture incentive plan to the farmers.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, also present at the function, said that the number of power consumers in the state has increased from 37 lakh in 2012 to 1.48 crores in 2019.

“Thanks to the ample availability of power in even remotest parts, state government got a huge revenue of Rs 9,072 crores. The ample power availability has reduced the sales of inverters and gensets in the state to a great extent”, Modi said.

Pratay Amrit said that installation works of smart prepaid meters will start in July from Arwal and Sheohar districts of the state. He informed the government in his welcome speech that old wires in 28874 circuit km were replaced. “The number of power sub-stations has increased also from 95 to129 with a registered demand of power around 5389 megawatts in the state”, he said.