Archives for March 2021

New Delhi Five days before the launch of the doorstep ration delivery scheme by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Centre on Friday asked the Delhi government not to implement it, saying it is “not permissible” to use subsidised foodgrain allotted under the national Food Security Act for the ambitious project.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought to know as to why the centre is against the “ending of ration mafia” and termed the Union government’s move just days ahead of the launch of the scheme as “astounding and rather unfortunate”.

The decision comes against the backdrop of the Union government introducing the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha which seeks to give overarching powers to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi which revived the tussle between the AAP dispensation and centre.

Kejriwal was scheduled to launch the scheme with doorstep delivery of ration to 100 households in northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri on March 25.

In a letter written to the Delhi government on Friday, Joint Secretary in the Union Food Ministry S Jagannathan said the subsidised foodgrains being allocated by the central government for distribution under the NFSA “cannot be used for the operationalisation of any state specific/other scheme under different name/nomenclature other than NFSA as the same is not permissible under the Act.”.

However, the central government will have no objection if the Delhi government comes out with a separate scheme without mixing the elements of the NFSA, it said.

In June 2018, Kejriwal along with his cabinet ministers had staged a sit-in at the LG office, demanding approval of doorstep delivery of ration in the city.

In his Republic Day address this year, Kejriwal had termed the initiative as a revolutionary step in changing the city’s public distribution system (PDS).

The modalities of the scheme had also been notified by the Delhi government last month.

In his letter to Delhi food and civil supplies commissioner Padmini Singla, Jagannathan said while states may like to enhance the distribution of subsidised foodgrains, including additional entitlements, more subsidy etc, the nomenclature from NFSA to any local state scheme may be misinterpreted by the beneficiaries as state benefit and may give rise to confusion regarding their rights under the Act.

Under the NFSA, passed by Parliament in 2013, the central government provides foodgrains to states for distribution to 81.35 crore people via the PDS at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 1-3 per kg.

As per the ministry’s data, about 41.33 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have been allocated under the NFSA to Delhi government till February of the 2020-21 fiscal for distribution via PDS. Out of which, offtake has been 40.97 lakh tonnes.

In the national capital, there are around 72 lakh beneficiaries of the PDS.

On its part, the AAP said it is deeply saddening that the central government has asked the Delhi government to stop the ‘Mukhya Mantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana’.

Addressing a press conference, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the Delhi government has not taken a single penny from the centre to implement the social welfare scheme.

Under the scheme, each eligible beneficiary would have been delivered ration including properly packaged wheat flour and rice, after their biometric verification.

Earlier this week, Kejriwal, his cabinet ministers and AAP MPs and MLAs had staged a protest at Jantar Mantar against the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill.

The chief minister had alleged that the Centre wanted to weaken his government through the bill.

The BJP has brought this bill as it is scared of the AAP’s reach in other states, Kejriwal had claimed.

Bengaluru: The entrance examination for COMED-K and Uni-GAUGE for admission to engineering courses will be held on June 20 as a combined test.

The entrance test will be held for admissions to BE or B.Tech courses for colleges affiliated to the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation Trust and Uni-GAUGE member universities, a release said here on Friday.

The exam will be conducted online in over 150 cities across the country, it said, adding this year, COMED-K and Uni-GAUGE member universities expect over 80,000 students to appear for the examination.

The online application process will begin on March 22 and will end on May 20.

Dehradun: Facing flak over his “ripped jeans” comment, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Friday said he apologises for the remark if it has hurt anybody.

But at the same time, he repeated his objection to ripped jeans, saying he has no problem with jeans with but wearing “torn” ones is “not right”.

Referring to his remark made earlier this week, Rawat told the media that he had commented that nowadays children bring a costly jean home and then cut it with a scissor.

He had only talked about the environment at home and this applies to him as well, Rawat said.

If we inculcate good values and discipline in children, they will never fail in future, the CM added, stressing that he had made the comment at a programme held to keep the children away from intoxicants and other evils.

Describing himself as a man from a rural background, Rawat on Friday said whenever his pant was torn in schooldays, he feared that his teacher would scold him. Due to discipline and values, we used cover it with a patch, he said.

Rawat had drawn flak after at an event earlier this week he said youngsters follow strange fashion trends due to a lack of values and consider themselves to be big shots after wearing jeans ripped at the knees. Women also follow such trends.

Rawat then went on to describe the attire of a woman who sat next to him on a flight. He described her as wearing boots, jeans ripped at the knees, bangles in her hands and with two children travelling with her. He also said she runs an NGO, goes out in society and has two children and wondered what values she would give them.

New Delhi: West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle on Friday joined a number of cricketing stalwarts from the Caribbean islands to thank India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for donating COVID-19 vaccines to their countries.

Gayle shared a message thanking India and PM Modi and called on the Indian High Commssioner there to express gratefulness.

The High Commission of India in Kingston, Jamaica and for Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and British Virgin Islands also posted his message on its Twitter account.

“He thanked India for gifting the COVID19 Vaccines to Jamaica and shared how much he loves being in India,” it added.

Earlier, West Indies, whose cricket team is represented by players from a number of sovereign Caribbean islands, cricketing giants like legendary Viv Richards, Richie Richardson and Jimmy Adams had shared similar messages to thank the Indian government for sending the vaccines to their countries.

India has donated the COVID-19 vaccines to a number of countries as part of the “Vaccine Maitri” exercise.

Kolkata: A 40-year-old man was seriously injured after being attacked by a lion when he entered the animal’s enclosure at the Alipore Zoo here on Friday, an official said.

The unidentified man is undergoing treatment at the SSKM Hospital and his condition is “critical”, hospital sources said.

The incident happened this morning at around 11.30 am when the man after entering the zoo “somehow managed to climb the boundary wall before jumping over the two netted- boundaries to get inside the enclosure. The lion, which was out of its cage, attacked the man. He has been very badly injured,” an official said.

Alerted by the other visitors, security guards rescued the man and sent him to the SSKM Hospital after informing local police, the official added.

“We are checking the CCTV footage to get a clear picture of the incident. We are trying to find out his identity,” a policeman said.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police have registered a case against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for allegedly forcing Swapna Suresh, key accused in the gold smuggling case, to give statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The case was registered two days ago on the basis of a report filed by the Crime Branch team which has been probing the leak of a voice clip, purportedly belonging to Suresh, police said.

According to the FIR, the ED officials who had questioned Suresh on August 12 and 13 last year allegedly forced her to give ‘false’ statements against the chief minister in order to make fake evidence.

“…the ED officials, probing the gold smuggling case while questioning an accused named Swapna Prabha Suresh on August 12 and 13, 2020, have forced her to give false statements against the state chief minister in order to make fake evidence…,” the FIR read.

The Crime Branch case has been registered under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 192 (fabricating false evidence), 195-A (threatening any person to give false evidence) among others of the Indian Penal Code.

Suresh, a former employee of the UAE consulate here, is the prime accused in the case relating to the smuggling of gold worth 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore in a diplomatic baggage and now under judicial custody since her arrest.

In a voice clip purported to be of Suresh, circulated a few months ago it was alleged that some ED officials had threatened her while being interrogated at the agency office in Kochi in August last year to give statements against Vijayan and some ministers.

Later two women civil police officers, who had been with Sureshwhen she was interrogated by the ED, had also reportedly claimed that they had heard the ED officials forcing her to name Vijayan.

Besides the ED, the Customs and the National Investigation Agency are also probing the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel.

Vijayan has been accusing the Central agencies of targeting his government.