Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the BJP’s development model is one that is aimed at snatching the right to education from the poor, especially SC, ST and OBC children.

The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shared on Facebook screenshots of some media reports.

One media report claimed that the number of government schools declined by 8 per cent but private schools increased by 14.9 per cent in the decade from 2014-15 to 2023-24, while another claimed that the enrolment of SC students in 2023-24 compared to previous fiscal year fell by 16.2 lakh students, while enrolment of ST students and OBC students declined by 5.1 lakh and 38.5 lakh respectively during this period.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi alleged that the “BJP’s development model is a model to snatch the right to education from the poor, especially SC, ST and OBC children”.

“More than 5,000 government schools are being closed in Uttar Pradesh. Since 2014, 84,441 government schools have been closed across the country, most of which have been closed in three BJP-ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam,” he said.

“This is not just closing schools, but a direct attack on the right to education given in the Constitution and the historic law of the UPA government, which brought every child from every village to school and led to a historic increase in enrolment,” Gandhi said.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had stated that education is the milk of a lioness and whoever drinks it will roar, but today education itself is being snatched away, he alleged.

“Students and teachers are on the streets against the decision to close schools, but instead of listening to their voice, the government is busy harassing them and weakening the education system further. Whereas the need is to strengthen it and provide equal, accessible and quality education to every child,” Gandhi said.

Belagavi (Karnataka): Four people have been arrested for allegedly “assaulting” five members of the Sri Ram Sene by tying them to a tree in Ingali village, police said on Monday.

A video of the incident, which took place in Hukkeri taluk on June 28, has gone viral on social media, prompting police to register a case on their own.

The video shows five men tied to a coconut tree and being “thrashed” by a group of villagers. Sri Ram Sene members claimed they were attacked for stopping the illegal transportation of cattle.

However, villagers alleged the assault was unrelated to cattle transportation and accused the activists of “misbehaving with women”.

According to police, on June 26, Sri Ram Sene members intercepted a vehicle carrying cattle and took the driver and vehicle to the Hukkeri police station, alleging the cattle were being transported for slaughter.

The cattle were moved to a cow shelter but were returned to the locals on June 28 after authorities confirmed they had been purchased for dairy farming.

Later that day, Sri Ram Sene members allegedly trespassed into a villager’s house in an attempt to reclaim the cattle and created a “ruckus”. At the time, only women were present, police said, without providing more details about them.

Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar S Guled said the villagers “assaulted” the activists as they were angered by the trespassing incident.

“This act by the villagers is a violation of law and order. However, the victims are not entirely innocent—one of them is a rowdy-sheeter who had been externed from the district,” he alleged.

Guled also dismissed claims that “the assault was communal”.

“One of the accused is a Hindu. This doesn’t appear to be a case of communal violence,” Guled added.

Denying allegations of police ‘inaction’, Guled said, “We registered a case on our own and arrested four people for the assault. Another case was filed based on a complaint from the cattle transporter. Further investigation is underway.”

The railway ministry issued an official circular on Monday, increasing the fares of the non-air-conditioned class in mail and express trains by 1 paisa and all air-conditioned classes by 2 paise per kilometre from July 1.

Ministry officials had on June 24 hinted at the proposed fare revision.

However, the official circular with the fare table according to trains and class categories was released on Monday.

The fares of suburban trains and monthly season tickets have been left unchanged in the interest of daily commuters.

The ordinary second-class fare has not been increased for up to 500 km and for distances beyond that, there is an increase in the ticket prices by half a paisa per km.

The passengers of ordinary sleeper class and first class will also have to pay half a paisa more per km more from July 1.

“The fare revision also applies to premier and special train services, such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas, Humsafar, Amrit Bharat, Mahamana, Gatimaan, Antyodaya, Jan Shatabdi, Yuva Express, AC Vistadome coaches, Anubhuti coaches and ordinary non-suburban services, in accordance with the revised class-wise fare structure,” the ministry said in a press note.

“Revised fares will apply to tickets booked on or after 01.07.2025. Tickets issued before this date will remain valid at the existing fare without any fare adjustment. PRS, UTS and manual ticketing systems are being updated accordingly,” it added.

According to the ministry, there is no change in ancillary charges. For instance, the reservation fees, superfast surcharges and other charges have remained unchanged.

Similarly, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will continue to be charged in accordance with the applicable rules and the fare-rounding principles will remain as per the existing norms.

Sangareddy (Telangana): At least 12 people died and 34 persons were injured in a pharma plant explosion in this district on Monday, Telangana Minister Damodara Raja Narasimha said.

“As many as 12 people died and 34 people are under treatment. We are hopeful that there would be no more (deaths),” the health minister told reporters.

Labour Minister G Vivek Venkatswamy said: “Eight people died in the morning. Now, four bodies were found.”

Both the ministers visited the site.

The explosion took place at a reactor in the plant of Sigachi pharma company in the Pashamylaram industrial estate due to the suspected chemical reaction where fire also broke out.

Earlier, Inspector General of Police (Multizone) V Satyanarayana, quoting factory sources, said there were 150 people in the factory at the time of the blast. Ninety persons were in the same area where the explosion occurred.

He said the explosion occurred between 9.28 am and 9.35 am. The management immediately reached out to the local police who in turn alerted the fire department.

About ten fire fighting engines were pressed into service, he further said, adding the personnel of NDRF and SDRF were also engaged in the rescue operation.

The fire was brought under control, he added.

Asked how many workers were working at the time of the tragedy, he said effort was on to ascertain the exact figure as the person who maintains record of the workers’ details is believed to have died.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the fire tragedy and conveyed condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the incident. He wished an early recovery to the injured.

In a post on ‘X’, he announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy expressed anguish over the incident and directed officials to take all steps to save the trapped workers and provide them advanced medical care, an official release said.

Sigachi Industries Limited is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering advancements in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Intermediates, Excipients, vitamin-mineral blends, and Operations and Management (O&M) services, according to the company’s website.

There was no immediate reaction from the company.