[Nasheman news] New Delhi The Model Code of Conduct came into effect on Sunday following the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule by the Election Commission.
Indian voter population is 900 million
[Nasheman news] New Delhi The number of voters in the Lok Sabha elections will be around 900 million, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Sunday, calling the upcoming polls the “largest festival of democracy”.
There would be approximately 10 lakh polling stations this year, up from 9 lakh in the last general election in 2014.
Of the total electorate, 15 million will be in the age group of 18 to 19 years.
“The Election Commission has attempted a very comprehensive preparation for the conduct of the election,” he said.
President to confer Padma Awards on March 11, 15
[Nasheman news] New Delhi President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the Padma Awards on March 11 and 15 in two investiture ceremonies at the Rashtrapati Bhavan as the Modi government has claimed to have transformed the national honours into “people’s choice” trophies by involving the general public in sending entries.
For the awards announced on the eve of Republic Day, the government received a record 50,000 nominations, 20 times more than the 2,200 entries in 2014.
The awardees include 12 farmers from nine states, 14 doctors from 11 states, nine sportspersons, 16 social workers and others representing various fields.
Of the 112 named for the awards, 56 will receive the honour on March 11.
Among those to be awarded on March 11 include Balasaheb alias Balwant Moreshwar Purandare from Maharashtra who will be honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.
There will be eight Padma Bhushan honours to be given to John Chambers, Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan, Vishwanathan Mohanlal, Budhaditya Mukherjee, Karia Munda, Kuldip Nayar (posthumous) and Hukumdev Narayan Yadav.
The Padma award winners will interact with the winners of Padma Quiz organised by the government last week which saw participation by 35,499 people.
PM lauds CISF efforts for ensuring safety, security
[Nasheman news] Ghaziabad Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded efforts of the Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) personnel in protecting the vital institutions of the country and said that the responsibility of safeguarding the modern infrastructure built for New India is in the safe hands of CISF.
“The CISF personnel are protecting the country’s developmental growth by maintaining round the clock vigil. As India grows, the roles and responsibilities of CISF will also grow commensurately,” he said, while addressing the 50th raising day ceremony of CISF here.
He said the VIP culture creates hurdles in security architecture and urged citizens to cooperate with the security personnel.
To create awareness among the general public regarding the role and functions of CISF, Prime Minister suggested the idea of starting digital museums at airports and metros, showcasing the work of CISF.
Hailing the organisation’s role in securing the critical infrastructure of the country, he said that the force is also involved in disaster response, ensuring safety of women and many other activities.
“The forces did a commendable job of disaster relief operations during Kerala floods and also during the Nepal and Haiti earthquakes,” he said.
Noting that duty is the festival for the armed forces, the Prime Minister said that the role of CISF has increased, due to the challenges posed by terrorism.
He added that his government is committed towards eliminating terrorism.
Tell Pulwama victim families who released Masood Azhar: Rahul
[Nasheman news] New Delhi Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Pulwama terror attack,, pointing to National Security Adviser Ajit Dovals role in the 1999 release of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) head Masood Azhar.
Gandhi tweeted pictures of Doval accompanying the three militants in Kandahar, Afghanistan, who were released following the the hijack of the Indian Airlines Flight 814.
“PM Modi please tell the families of our 40 CRPF Shaheeds (martyrs), who released their murderer, Masood Azhar? Also tell them that your current NSA was the deal maker, who went to Kandahar to hand the murderer back to Pakistan,” the Congress chief said in a tweet.
The JeM has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on February 14 targeting the CRPF convoy.
Need to protect traditions, beliefs of Hindus: RSS
[Nasheman news] Gwalior The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday urged Ayyappa devotees in Kerala to continue their struggle to save the Sabarimala temple traditions and sought the country’s support in protecting the beliefs of the Hindu society.
At a three-day meet of its highest policy-making body the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) here, the RSS adopted a resolution saying there had been a “systematic design” by “vested interests” based on “a non-Bhartiya perspective” to insult and hurt Hindu beliefs and traditions.
“The Sabarimala temple case is a recent example of this design. Hindutva is not a monolithic thought but a view of life manifested in diverse and varied ways of cultural expressions, characterised by uniqueness in modes of worship, local traditions and festivities. It is anomalous to impose monotonous homogenisation on the beauty of diversity in our traditions,” the resolution said.
The ABPS urged the devotees to continue their struggle to protect the temple traditions with restraint and sobriety.
“The Pratinidhi Sabha urges the Kerala government to honour the beliefs, sentiments and democratic rights of the devotees and not perpetrate violence upon its own people. The Pratinidhi Sabha hopes that the Court will comprehensively consider all these concerns in the review and other petitions,” the resolution said.
The RSS body accused Kerala’s Left Front government of trampling upon Hindu sentiments under the pretext of implementing the Supreme Court verdict to allow women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple.
“It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court while reaching the decision did not take into consideration the nature and premise of the tradition that has been accepted and continuously followed by people for many years.
“The version of heads of religious traditions was not taken into account and the sentiments of women devotees were also not heeded,” it said.
The RSS said the Left government’s attempts to sneak in “atheist, ultra-Left women activists” from the backdoor had hurt the sentiments of Ayyappa devotees.
“This is being done to further the Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M) petty political gains and opens another ideological battle against the Hindus,” the resolution read.
Gunfight breaks out in J&K’s Pulwama
[Nasheman news] Srinagar A gunfight broke out on Sunday between security forces and holed-up militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.
Security forces surrounded Pinglish village in Tral area of Pulwama following information about the presence of militants there.
“As the security forces tightened the cordon around the hiding militants, they fired, triggering an encounter.
“Intermittent firing exchanges are going on,” a police officer said.
Pakistani drone crosses Rajasthan
[Nasheman news] Jaipur A Pakistani drone attempting to enter Indian territory across the Rajasthan border went back following its detection by the Border Security Forces (BSF), who tried to shoot it down, the BSF said.
This was another of the drones from across the international border that tried to enter Indian territory at around 5 a.m. at Hindumalkot border near Sriganganagar, a BSF official said, adding that the moment it was sighted the troopers started firing, forcing it to return.
Villagers residing along the western border also heard heavy firing.
The drone returned safely across the border to Pakistan, a BSF official said.
Trump plans to implement transgender military ban after court ruling
[Nasheman news] Washington US President Donald Trump’s administration said that it intends to implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military after a federal court struck down the last injunction against the policy.
Friday’s announcement comes a day after US District Judge George Russell III said he was striking down the last of four injunctions against the transgender service member ban, reports The Hill magazine.
Russell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who serves on the US District Court for the District of Maryland, cited in his ruling the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in January to stay two of the injunctions.
Obama declared in 2016 that transgender service members would be allowed to serve openly, but Trump announced a reversal to that policy in 2017, saying that transgender troops would be prohibited from serving “in any capacity” .
Four lawsuits were filed against the policy, and lower courts in all four cases issued injunctions to the rule as the cases made their way through various courts.
Former Defence Secretary James Mattis laid out a policy in March 2018 that would allow transgender people to serve if they do so “in their biological sex”.
Advocacy groups have repeatedly slammed the policy as discriminatory against transgender people who simply seek to serve their country.
Will give clean government, people believe my party: Bhaichung Bhutia
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[Nasheman news] Gangtok Unfazed by recent desertions from his fledgling party, football icon-turned-politician Bhaichung Bhutia exudes confidence that the Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) would give a “new” and “clean” government if voted to power in the Himalayan state.
While not ruling out the option of future alliances, the HSP Working President and former India football captain says that as of now, his party would contest the upcoming elections alone to the sole Lok Sabha seat and all the 32 Assembly seats in the state.
In a freewheeling interview with IANS, Bhutia spoke on his party’s agenda, and attacked the state’s Pawan Chamling government on issues like corruption, while criticising some headline welfare policies unveiled by the regime.
Bhutia said the HSP was the answer to Sikkim people’s craving for a party with credibility.
“We are going to give a new Sikkim and clean Sikkim. We are a young party and we have got credible people. This is what the people of Sikkim want,” he said.
Scotching speculation that the HSP was holding talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some regional parties to take on Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), that has been in power since 1994, Bhutia said: “We are going it alone in this election. One or two parties, if they believe in our ideology, we are ready to take them (in). But at the moment, we are going with 32 candidates for the Assembly and one for the Lok Sabha.”
On two HSP founding members and working presidents – R.B. Subba and K.N. Uprety – crossing over to the SDF, Bhutia said his party’s credibility would be stronger and better without them.
“It is not at all a major challenge… After they left, the party’s credibility has gone up. Now when we say ‘clean, corruption free Sikkim’, people believe us.”
Bhutia stressed on development being the sole agenda of the party, also taking potshots at the Chamling government.
“We’ll go completely on development. Because Sikkim, in 25 years, in terms of development, has been lacking,” he said promising good roads, improvement in the health sector, 24-hour electricity and drinking water to “almost al the villages” if his party is chosen by the people.
Calling Sikkim “the most corrupt state politically” in the country, the 42-year-old Bhutia alleged graft in the hydro projects.
“Sikkim is the most corrupt state… It is highly corrupted politically,” he said.
Bhutia was also not impressed with the state government’s “success” in organic farming, alleging it was only done for the Chamling’s “marketing purposes”.
Incidentally, Chamling received the prestigious Future Policy Gold Award at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation headquarters in Rome last October for turning Sikkim into a “100 per cent organic state”.
While supporting the concept of organic farming, Bhutia quoted the state government’s data saying organic agricultural land has gone down 50 per cent in the current regime.
“We have 20 lakh tourists visiting Sikkim and your food production has gone down 65 per cent. There is huge gap between just declaring it, and then actually realising it. He (Chamling) needs to increase agricultural land which has gone down by 50 per cent.”
Bhutia said his party would ensure sustainable development by taking good care of farmers through measures like minimum guaranteed price and subsidies.
Bhutia also took a dig at the ‘One family, one job’ scheme announced by Chamling, saying the youth were “disappointed” at being given jobs for only 89 days.
“Don’t make people of Sikkim (look like) beggars. Today’s youth of Sikkim are educated and qualified and you are giving them jobs of ‘safai karmacharis’ (sweepers) and village guards.
“And when you are giving jobs, give secured jobs and not just for 89 days.”
While launching the scheme in January, Chamling said budget allocations have been made for 89 days in the current financial year for paying emoluments to the new recruits, and fresh provisions would be made in the next financial year.
This is Bhutia’s second innings in politics. He earlier contested the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal as a Trinamool Congress candidate – but bit the dust on both occasions.
“I don’t live or work in Bengal, so just being a star and being up there doesn’t work. So from Bengal it was more from top, getting nominated as candidate. In Sikkim, this is my own party. In politics if you can’t be with your people and help them, then I don’t think it makes any sense to do politics,” he added.