Archives for December 2018

Guwahati, (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the Congress of playing with the country’s security and said that the opposition party is shying away from a debate in Parliament on the AgustaWestland and other defence deals signed during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

Addressing a press conference here, Yoga Adityanath held the Congress responsible for delaying the Rafale deal which was initiated in 2007. “Post Kargil war, the country’s security forces needed modernisation and induction of 4th and 5th generation fighter jets. However, the UPA regime kept the deal on hold from 2007 to 2014, jeopardising the country’s security,” he said.

The UP Chief Minister added that now that the Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the government over the deal, the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of the country for dragging in the issue of the Rafale deal unnecessarily.

He also pointed out that while most of the defence deals signed during the UPA regime had middlemen or agents, the Rafale deal was a deal signed between two governments. 

“The Rafale deal is a transparent one signed between two governments. There was no Quattrocchi or Christian Michel involved in the Rafale deal and that was probably the reason why the UPA government kept it on hold till 2014,” Adityanath said.

“The BJP is ready for a debate on any issue in Parliament. However, the Congress is not interested to debate. In a democracy, there cannot be a better place than Parliament to debate on any issue. However, the Congress is shying away from debate as they want to escape from controversies like AgustaWestland and other defence deals signed during their tenure,” he said and demanded the resignation of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for misleading the people of the country and unnecessarily dragging in the issue.

Asked about the SC judgement regarding the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, the UP Chief Minister said that the Congress has been dividing the country on religious lines since long. “The Congress had its hands stained during the anti-Sikh riots. The truth cannot be hidden,” he added.

Varanasi,(IANS) Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be wiped out in the state in Lok Sabha elections if the BSP and Samajwadi Party join hands, state cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said on Monday.

“It is very clear that if these two one-time rivals come together, the BJP will certainly be decimated in the state” where it won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, said the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief, a BJP ally.

He also announced that his party would stage state-wide protests from December 24 on the issue of 27 per cent reservations.

He added that so far he had not received any invite for the Prime Minister’s rally in Ghazipur and so would not attend it. 

Asked about his unceasing outbursts against the BJP, he said the SBSP had ensured the BJP’s victory in 125 Assembly constituencies in the 2017 elections.

Mumbai, (IANS) With development topping his agenda, a series of engagements have been lined up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Maharashtra on Tuesday, an official said here on Monday.

The highlights will be laying the foundation stone for two metro corridors in Thane district and launching of a housing project for the economically weaker sections and the low income group under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

In Kalyan, Modi will attend a function related to the Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro 5 and the Dahisar-Mira-Bhayander Metro 9 corridors that would ease the transportation problems in these bustling towns in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) adjacent to the island-city.

He will also launch a housing scheme involving 90,000 homes for the poorer sections of society at the venue, constructed under the PMAY here by the City and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (CIDCO).

Thereafter, he will fly down to Pune and lay the foundation stone for the Pune Metro Rail Phase 3 and address a public meeting.

Interestingly, the ruling NDA ally Shiv Sena has been kept out of the crucial events in Thane amid the ongoing war of words between the two parties.

Earlier in the morning, Modi will attend and address the Republic Summit organised by Republic TV, a private news channel.

Thereafter, he will go to Raj Bhavan and release a book titled ‘Timeless Laxman’ based on the life and little known facets of the legendary cartoonist, the late R K Laxman.

The book has been penned by his daughter-in-law, Usha Srinivas Laxman.

Laxman, famed for his creation, The Common Man, through whose eyes he chronicled Indian history and regaled millions daily in ‘The Times Of India’ and other publications for nearly seven decades, passed away in January 2015 in Pune.

Modi, who will reach Mumbai Tuesday morning around 8 am shall be received by Maharashtra Governor C. V. Rao and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis besides other dignitaries and will depart for New Delhi from Pune the same evening.

New Delhi, (IANS) The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 that provides for protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare was passed amid din by the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Seeking passage of the Bill, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot said the Bill was important in view of the rights of the transgenders and urged the members to pass it.

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2016 and as per the demands of the members, the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment.

Gehlot said that as many as 27 suggestions made by the standing committee were accepted in the Bill amid protests by the Congress, AIADMK and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members on different issues.

Amid the din Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Biju Janata dal (BJD)’s Bhartruhari Mahtab, Natinalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Supriya Sule and Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s Kakoli Ghosh spoke and presented their concerns on the various clauses of the Bill. They also sought some amendments but were rejected.

According to the 2011 Census, the number of persons who do not identify as “male” or “female” but as “other” stands at 4,87,803 — 0.04 per cent of the total population.

This “other” category stands for transgender persons.

In 2013, the government set up an expert committee to examine issues related to transgender persons. The committee stated that transgender persons faced issues of social stigma and discrimination which affected their access to education, healthcare, employment and government documents.

In 2014, the Supreme Court recognised transgender person’s right to self-identification as male, female or the third gender. Further, the Court directed the Central and state governments to grant legal recognition to transgender persons, address issues of social stigma and discrimination, and provide social welfare schemes for them.

The Special Public Prosecutor said that he will convince Karnataka court that the Central Crime Branch can file a chargesheet as contested by Nalappad’s lawyer.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Shyam Sundar has called the latest move by the lawyer of Mohammed Nalapad, the accused in the high profile Farzi Cafe assault case, a ‘hoodwinking tactic’. Nalapad’s lawyer has secured a stay for eight weeks from the Karnataka High Court on the criminal proceedings against him in the attempt to murder case.  Speaking to media, Shyam Sundar, who was appointed as an SPP, said, “They (Nalapad and lawyer) have kept us in dark. What they have done is wrong and moved the court without serving me. As there is a Special Prosecutor in the case, he has no business to move the court without letting us know. We are going to file a complaint with the court, as this is a matter of great impropriety. They should not have done it. We will explain to the court that this is nothing but a hoodwink tactic from the petitioner.” While seeking dismissal of the case, Nalapad’s lawyers had claimed that the Central Crime Branch (CCB) was not a recognised police station according to the Criminal Procedure Code and hence, it cannot file a chargesheet.

 When asked if the case will be dismissed on the ground that the CCB cannot file a chargesheet, Shyam Sundar said, “It (Nalappad council’s version) does not have a legal standing. For now, they have tried to convince the court of some technical reason, but we will demystify that. If this kind of interpretation is made, then it will defeat the very purpose of the dispensation of justice.” He added, “Apparently in one or two cases in the past, a single stay has been granted but we will convince the court that the CCB can file a chargesheet.”  Son of Congress MLA NA Haris, Mohammed Nalapad is currently out on bail after he was arrested on February 19, two days after he and his friends allegedly assaulted Vidvat, the son of a prominent businessman, at Farzi Café, an uptown café in Bengaluru, over a minor altercation. He is charged with attempt to murder (Section 307) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.