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Government for system change to fill up judicial vacancy

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Kiren Rijiju

NEW DELHI: Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday kept up his attack on the collegium system, blaming it for high judicial vacancies, saying the issue will keep cropping up until the procedure of appointment of judges is changed.

He also took a critical view of the Supreme Court taking up all bail applications and “frivolous PILs”, claiming it will add to its burden, which drew sharp comments from legal eagles.

On the collegium system, he said in the Rajya Sabha, “The government has no right to find new names for appointment of judges except the names that have been recommended by the collegium…. I have requested Supreme Court and high court judges to ensure that names of quality judges are sent, and that they include names of women and those belonging to various castes.”

The minister recalled that in 2015, Parliament passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act to reform the system to appoint judges. But the SC struck it down some months later.

Till September 9, the government had appointed 165 HC judges, the highest in a calendar year so far. “Government has recently referred back 20 names to Supreme Court Collegium recommended for appointment as High Court judges….Against 331 vacancies, at present, 147 proposals received from High Courts are at various stages of processing between the Government and the Supreme Court Collegium,” he said.

Reacting to Rijiju’s comment on bail applications, Congress MP Manish Tewari said, “Obviously Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had other pressing preoccupations in Law School other than Law. He perhaps has never read Justice Krishna Iyer’s seminal treatise – bail not jail is the rule.” “Forget NJAC, Govt wants to micromanage judiciary: cut vacations, no priority to bail, et al. What next?” senior advocate Salman Khurshid wondered.

Congress has a mountain to climb ahead of elections inNagaland,Meghalaya & Tripura

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Kewekhape Therie, Vincent Pala, and Birajit Sinha

GUWAHATI: The upcoming elections in three states of the Northeast will be a battle for survival for the Congress which once ruled the entire region but has now gotten reduced to a shadow of its glorious past. The Congress’ slide in the Northeast began after the BJP’s emergence as a powerhouse in 2014

Simultaneous elections in the 60-member Assemblies of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura are expected in February.

As it appears now, the Congress is not in the race to power in any of these states. It lacks leaders after many of them embraced the ruling party and other parties over a period of time.

The Congress does not have a single MLA in Nagaland, just one in Tripura and five in Meghalaya.

However, the five in Meghalaya were suspended earlier this year by the party’s central leadership for cosying up to the Conrad K Sangma government.

The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 Meghalaya Assembly elections but the National People’s Party (NPP)-led motley alliance formed the government. 

In November last year, 12 of 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya, led by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, jumped ship to wear Trinamool Congress (TMC) colours. Their desertion relegated the grand old party to a more minor party and made the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC the state’s principal Opposition party overnight. TMC had no base in the state prior to that.

Shillong MP H Pala is now Congress’s lone prominent face in the Christian-majority state. The Congress will not, perhaps, have a single MLA by the time it goes to elections as the five suspended legislators have more or less ditched the party and are likely to contest the polls on the tickets of other political parties.

In Tripura, Sudip Roy Barman is the Congress’ only MLA. He had won the last election on the BJP’s ticket and was inducted into the ministry but he resigned from the Assembly and the party in February this year after falling out with the then-Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. Later, he won a by-election, necessitated by his resignation.

The Congress had failed to win a single seat in the 2018 Tripura elections which the BJP swept, decimating the Left. 

The Congress had also drawn a blank in the Nagaland elections of 2018. The party, which had won many elections under former Chief Minister SC Jamir, is now virtually lost in the state which is ruled by a coalition of BJP, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, and Naga People’s Front. All MLAs in the state are from these three parties.

The elections in the three states are around the corner but not many people are talking about the Congress.

Party leaders, however, try to put up a brave face. “So what if we have one MLA? Atal Bihari Vajpayee had just two MPs but he went on to become the Prime Minister,” Tripura Congress chief Birajit Sinha told this newspaper.  “There is a lot going on in Tripura. People will vote us to power,” he said confidently, just days after seven Congress leaders, led by former state chief Pijush Kanti Biswas, joined the TMC in Tripura.

The Congress in Nagaland sounded equally optimistic. “The Congress is the only alternative and people will vote for it. Not only has the Naga political issue remained unresolved, but the state, under the present government, is also facing bifurcation,” state Congress president K Therie said referring to the demand of an influential tribal organization for the creation of “Frontier Nagaland” state in eastern Nagaland.

Five-year-old girl in Raichur is Karnataka’s first Zika case

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RAICHUR/BENGALURU : Karnataka’s first case of Zika virus has been reported from a village in Raichur district’s Manvi taluk. The case of the patient, a five-year-old girl, was processed on December 5 and reported as ‘positive’ on December 8, but a subsequent test recorded her as Zika-negative, by when she was cured and discharged from hospital. 

However, what has baffled the health authorities is that neither the little girl nor her five-member family had any travel history, and they lived in an isolated place in Kolichya village coming under the limits of Neermanvi Primary Health Centre of Manvi taluk (Raichur district). Interestingly, blood and serum samples of all five members of the girl’s family which were also sent for testing, were found to be negative for Zika virus.

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday confirmed to the media in Bengaluru that the girl was tested positive for Zika virus. He said Zika virus cases have been earlier reported from Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra a few months ago, but this girl is the first case in Karnataka.

“The case came to light when the girl’s serum collected for Dengue and Chikungunya was sent to the Virology lab in Pune for testing. We usually send 10% of such samples for testing. Of the three specimen samples we sent, the five-year-old girl’s has come positive. The case was processed on December 5 and reported on December 8,” Dr Sudhakar said, adding that the state government was monitoring the situation with caution.  

He said that there was no cause for panic and that the health department will soon be issuing detailed guidelines to tackle Zika virus. Raichur District Health Officer Dr Surendra Babu said two teams of experts from Bengaluru and Kolkata have reached the village to conduct some more tests on the girl, who has recovered. Dr Babu said the girl was suffering from fever and was admitted to Sindhanur Taluk Hospital. 

Raichur girl treated at VIMS

She was referred to Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) as the doctors at Sindhanur Taluk Hospital of Raichur district suspected it to be Dengue fever. 

The VIMS doctors treated the girl, and as a precautionary measure, sent her blood and serum samples to National Institute of Virology, Pune. As the girl was cured, she was discharged from the hospital. Two tests just days apart showed the first to be positive, while the second came negative. Zika is spread through the bites of infected Aedes species mosquitoes, A aegypti and A albopictus.

Himachal CM to bring in transparency act soon

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CHANDIGARH:  A day after being sworn in as the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Congress leader Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday said the transparency act will be brought into the state soon, for which a blueprint will be prepared. The act will see the elected representatives having to disclose their sources of income and assets every year. 

Assuming charge at the secretariat in Simla on Monday, accompanied by Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, Sukhu said, “We will bring in the transparency act so that MLAs and other elected representatives disclose their assets annually, besides revealing the source of their income. The blueprint of the act will be prepared so that people get a corruption-free administration.”

Sukhu added that as soon as the state Cabinet is formed, all the guarantees promised to the people before the elections will be fulfilled in the first meeting itself, as directed by Rajya Sabha MP and AICC in-charge of the state, Rajeev Shukla. “But we first need to understand the entire situation so that we can take decisions in accordance with the ground realities,” the CM said.

When asked about the formation of the Cabinet, Sukhu said it will happen the moment the party’s high command gives the go-ahead. The Cabinet will be a blend of experience and youth and will comprise professionals and people from all regions so that everyone gets due representation. Sukhu dismissed talks of differences within the party over government formation, saying that there will be perfect coordination between the government and the party. State Congress president Pratibha Singh will soon hold consultations with all the MLAs, he added.

Sukhu also presided over the Congress Legislative Party meeting, after which he said that it was decided that all the MLAs and their family members would have to pay the same room tariff in Himachal Bhawan and other state guest houses as is being charged from the general public. He also promised to give top priority to the redressal of public grievances.

Sukhu also brought attention to the restoration of the foundation stone plaque of Atal Tunnel, Rohtang, which was laid by Sonia Gandhi when she was the chairperson of the National Advisory Council on June 28, 2010. Calling the missing plaque an insult to democracy, Sukhu said it must be restored at the earliest.

Promising Transparency

Aims to ensure a corruption-free government

Under the proposed act, MLAs and other elected representatives will have to disclose their assets annually

They will have to reveal the source of income

Blueprint of the act to be prepared soon

Akhilesh joins call for Oppn front to take on BJP in ’24

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Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI:  A day after Bihar Chief Minister revoked talks about consolidation of the opposition parties to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav also jumped into the bandwagon signalling the possibility of parties burying the hatchet to put up a united face

“A continuous exercise is underway to form an alternative for 2024. Nitishji, Mamataji and KCR Sahab are working for it. An alternative is needed with inflation at its peak,” said Yadav. While the chorus of opposition unity has gained momentum, it is no secret that Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) are aspirants for the Prime Minister post in the event of defeating BJP in the next general election. During a conference of his party on Sunday, Nitish Kumar dismissed the possibility of a third front in 2024 and said that there will be a ‘main front to fight the BJP at the national level. He was referring to the efforts of Mamata Banerjee and KCR in the past to forge a third front minus the Congress against BJP.  

The posturing of JD (U) and SP leaders are significant in the wake of the recent Assembly bypoll election results, say analysts. While BJP secured a record-breaking win in Gujarat, it lost Himachal Pradesh to the Congress. Out of the six by-polls held in five states, BJP and the Congress won two seats each while one each went to BJD and RLD. Analysts say that the opposition parties are getting their act together before it is too late.

Ever since JD (U) supremo Nitish Kumar walked out of alliance with the BJP in Bihar, he has been at the forefront of bringing disparate parties together to put up a united front against the BJP.  The renewed talks of Opposition Unity also come in the backdrop of leaders from TMC and AAP attending a meeting of the Opposition parties ahead of the Parliament session. 

Defence minister Rajnath Singh to make statement in Parliament on India-China troops clash in Tawang

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NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement in both houses of Parliament Tuesday on the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, government sources said.

The minister will make a statement on the issue in the Lok Sabha likely at 12 noon and in the Rajya Sabha around 2 pm, the sources said.

Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 and the face-off resulted in “minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides”, the Indian Army said on Monday.

The clash near Yangtse along the LAC in the sensitive sector took place last Friday amid the over 30-month border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.

Bombay HC grants bail to ex-Maha minister Anil Deshmukh in corruption case being probed by CBI

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Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).ADVERTISEMENTAds by 

Deshmukh, however, won’t walk out of jail as the high court has kept the order in abeyance for ten days after the CBI sought time to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

A single bench of Justice M S Karnik allowed Deshmukh’s bail plea after hearing arguments of both sides. He is currently in judicial custody and lodged at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai.

Deshmukh, 74, had approached the high court after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He sought bail both on medical grounds as well as on merits.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader has been in jail since November last year after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.

In April this year, he was arrested by the CBI in the corruption case. He was granted bail by the high court last month in the ED case.

Deshmukh’s bail plea in the corruption case was, however, rejected by the special CBI court noting that there was prima facie evidence against him.

IPS officer Param Bir Singh had in March 2021 alleged that Deshmukh, then home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.

The high court in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a Preliminary Enquiry against Deshmukh.

The CBI subsequently registered an FIR against Deshmukh and his associates for alleged corruption and misuse of official power.

India far ahead of China in IT but Chinese firms catching up on IT tech: Chinese IT expert

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BEIJING: India’s IT sector, one of the mainstays of its economy, is much ahead of its Chinese counterpart in the global markets but the firms from China are catching up and doing well in e-commerce, autonomous driving, AI and cloud services, according to a top Chinese IT executive.

Mike Liu, the author of the book titled ‘The Rise of Indian IT’, said unlike the Indian firms, who still have a sway in the global markets, especially in IT outsourcing, China’s software revenue is mostly from home.

He said that over 95 per cent of China’s IT earnings come from the domestic Chinese market. “In the global IT market, India is leading much ahead of Chinese market players,” he said.

“The Chinese companies are not a threat to the Indian firms in the global markets,” Mike, one of the rare Chinese IT executives who worked with the top Indian company Infosys for years, told PTI here ahead of his book launch.

The book that provides an insight into the Indian and Chinese information technology development over the decades has been just published in the Chinese language.

It will be published in English soon.

Mike was the first Chinese-born country head of Infosys and worked both in Indian and Chinese firms, besides multinational companies like HP.

According to a recent report by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China’s software business revenue from January to July this year reached 5.456 trillion yuan (USD 797.26 billion), a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent.

IT sectors in both countries contribute about eight per cent to their GDPs, though China’s IT revenues are far higher considering the size of the Chinese economy, Mike said.

While Indian IT firms ruled the global markets, the Chinese firms have established dominance in technology, he said.

He said the Chinese firms have a long way to go to make a dent in the global international markets.

“I foresee Chinese players still have a long learning curve to compete in the English market. Chinese people often ask, why have Indians become so predominant in business in America? The typical view is Indians speak good English. But that is maybe one per cent of the factor,” he said.

For their part, the Chinese companies need to learn many things such as mindset, management systems and governance, he said, adding that an abundant supply of human resources in IT was key for India’s success.

He said the Indian IT phenomenon is not made possible through either deregulated efforts or government subsidies and policies but due to the strong conviction by the Indian tech leaders and software engineers to make a difference.

However, on the tech front of IT and innovation, China has taken the lead, he added.

“The scenario has changed today. The Chinese companies have become a global phenomenon in the B2B and doing well not only in e-commerce but autonomous driving, AI, and cloud services, where you don’t see Indian players, unfortunately, having had the same impact,” Mike said.

Chinese firms like Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent made a big leap in technology development, while the Indian IT sector is broadly confined to software outsourcing, spending little on innovation and R&D, he said.

On India’s constant complaint that China is not providing market access to Indian IT firms, he argued that the issue of market access should not be an excuse for Indian IT firms’ inability to penetrate Chinese markets.

While keeping their focus on English language global markets, it is time for the Indian firms to shift their focus to non-English speaking markets such as China to rework their strategy to tap big future revenues, he said.

“The question for Indian IT companies now is how to break into fast-growing non-English speaking countries,” he said.

“Market access alone is something of an easy excuse. If you are determined to engage in a market, then you will figure it out,” he said while highlighting the success of firms like HP in which he worked earlier and made big inroads into the Chinese markets.

For years, China has been stonewalling Indian demand to provide market access to its biggest products in the IT and pharmaceutical firms which struggled to make headway in the Chinese markets despite their global success.

Mike argues that while the Indian IT firms are doing well in the multinational firms based in China, they made limited headway into the burgeoning Chinese market adopting a “cost-conscious” strategy and looking for short-term returns.

“You cannot have the same formula to work in two very different, highly complex markets and societies,” he said.

Facing COVID surge, China expanding hospitals, ICUs

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BEIJING: Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals as it rolls back anti-virus controls that confined millions of people to their homes, crushed economic growth and set off protests. 

President Xi Jinping’s government is officially committed to stopping virus transmission, the last major country to try. But the latest moves suggest the ruling Communist Party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy.

A Cabinet meeting called Thursday for “full mobilization” of hospitals including adding staff to ensure their “combat effectiveness” and increasing drug supplies, according to state media. Officials were told to keep track of the health of everyone in their area aged 65 and older.

It isn’t clear how much infection numbers have increased since Beijing last week ended mandatory testing as often as once a day in many areas. But interviews and social media accounts say there are outbreaks in businesses and schools across the country. Some restaurants and other businesses have closed because too many employees are sick.

The virus testing site in Beijing’s Runfeng Shuishang neighbourhood shut down because all its employees were infected, the neighbourhood government said Saturday on its social media account. “Please be patient,” it said.

Official case numbers are falling, but those no longer cover large parts of the population after mandatory testing ended Wednesday in many areas. That was part of dramatic changes that confirmed Beijing was trying gradually to join the United States and other governments that ended travel and other restrictions and are trying to live with the virus.

On Sunday, the government reported 10,815 new cases, including 8,477 without symptoms. That was barely one-quarter of the previous week’s daily peak above 40,000 but only represents people who are tested after being admitted to hospitals or for jobs in schools and other higher-risk sites.

Shaanxi province in the west has set aside 22,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 and is ready to increase its intensive care capacity by 20% by converting other beds, the Shanghai news outlet The Paper reported, citing Yun Chunfu, an official of the provincial health commission. Yun said cities are “accelerating the upgrading” of hospitals for “critically ill patients.”

“Each city is required to designate a hospital with strong comprehensive strength and high treatment level” for COVID-19 cases, Yu was cited as saying at a news conference.

China has 138,000 intensive care beds, the general director of the Bureau of Medical Administration of the National Health Commission, Jiao Yahui, said at a news conference Friday. That is less than one for every 10,000 people.

Health resources are distributed unevenly. Hospital beds are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities on the prosperous east coast. Thursday’s Cabinet statement told officials to make sure rural areas have “fair access” to treatment and drugs.

China’s controls kept its infection rate low but crushed already weak economic growth and prompted complaints about the rising human cost. The official death toll is 5,235, compared with 1.1 million in the United States.

China’s official total case count of 363,072 is up nearly 50% from the Oct. 1 level after a rash of outbreaks across the country.

Protests erupted on November 25 after 10 people died in a fire in Urumqi in the northwest. Internet users asked whether firefighters or people trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus measures. Authorities denied that, but the disaster became a focus of public anger.

Xi’s government promised to reduce the cost and disruption after the economy shrank by 2.6% from the previous quarter in the three months ending in June. That was after Shanghai and other industrial centres shut down for up to two months to fight outbreaks.

Forecasters say the economy probably is shrinking in the current quarter. Imports tumbled 10.9% from a year ago in November in a sign of weak demand. Some forecasters have cut their outlook for annual growth to below 3%, less than half of last year’s robust 8.1% expansion.

It isn’t clear whether any of the changes were a response to the protests.

In a show of official confidence, the No. 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang, was shown by state media meeting with leaders of the International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions without masks last week in the eastern city of Huangshan. Earlier, Xi skipped a photo-taking session with Russian and Central Asian leaders during a summit in Uzbekistan in September at which the others wore no masks.

Still, health experts and economists say “zero COVID” is likely to stay in place at least through mid-2023 because millions of elderly people need to be vaccinated before restrictions that keep most visitors out of China be lifted. The government launched a campaign last week to vaccinate the elderly, a process that might take months.

Experts warn there still is a chance the ruling party might reverse course and reimpose restrictions if it worries hospitals might be overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, experts cited by state media called on the public to reduce the strain on hospitals by treating mild COVID-19 cases at home and putting off treatment for less serious problems.

Patients are standing in line for up to six hours to get into fever clinics. Accounts on social media say some hospitals turn away patients with problems deemed not serious enough to need urgent treatment.
“Blindly going to the hospital” is depleting resources and might delay treatment for serious cases, “resulting in serious risk,” the vice president of Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, Chen Erzhen, told The Paper.

“We recommend trying to manage health at home,” Chen said. “Leave medical resources for people who really need treatment.”

Modi, Shah set to lead host of rallies in Karnataka

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BENGALURU:  In the run-up to the assembly polls, the state BJP has planned a series of public rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath across the state

In January, the PM is expected to take part in Raitha Morcha Samavesha scheduled to be held in Belagavi and Shah will attend the SC Morcha Samavesha in Chitradurga, where the opposition Congress has also planned an SC/ST Samavesha on January 8.

“Modi will visit the state once every 15 days and Shah four times a month,” said Revenue Minister R Ashoka. Meanwhile, RSS leaders have been holding talks with the CM as he will be the BJP’s face. RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale met Bommai, and on Friday night, veteran RSS pracharak Mukunda CR held a meeting with the CM for two hours. “They discussed Bommai’s cabinet expansion and induction of former ministers KS Eshwarappa, CP Yogishwara and Ramesh Jarkiholi to brighten party’s chances in certain seats,” a source said.

Two strategists for the party in Karnataka, Union ministers Bhupendar Yadav and Piyush Goyal, also held talks with Bommai during his visit to New Delhi recently. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will inaugurate a samavesha of party workers on December 18. Nadda is expected to address rallies in Bagalkot on December 15, 20 and 21. The party’s Yuva Morcha Samavesha in Udupi on January 12 will be attended by Adityanath.

Responding to the challenge of contesting against former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Varuna constituency, BJP state vice-president BY Vijayendra riposted, saying, “I am ready to face any challenge. It’s up to the party to decide,” he added. Asserting that he is ready to shoulder any responsibility, Vijayendra said he is organising the party in Varuna and other constituencies and is committed to winning more seats in the Old Mysuru region. He said leaders of the Grand Old Party are under the wrong impression that BJP’s massive victory in the Gujarat elections will not impact Karnataka.

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