Nasheman News : It is shameful that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar continues to be in power despite being severely unwell, former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar said on Wednesday, adding that an ailing head of state is detrimental to the state and its people.

Velingkar, who was sacked as state Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) head two years back amid an ongoing feud with Parrikar, also said that his political party, the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), would contest the upcoming state Assembly bypolls in Goa.

“It is a matter of shame that a state like Goa is being government by a Chief Minister who is severely ill. The state deserves better. The CM should take rest and it is shameful that he is being kept in the chair in this state,” Velingkar told reporters in Panaji.

Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York for 11 months now. The opposition has been demanding his resignation, claiming that his continuance in the chair during the prolonged illness, has led to an administrative slowdown, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has insisted that Parrikar is fit enough to rule the state.

Velingkar also announced that his party would contest the upcoming but yet unscheduled assembly bypolls in Shiroda and Mandrem legislative constituencies, which have been necessitated due to the resignations of Congress legislators Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte, respectively, both of whom joined the BJP last year.

“The GSM will teach the BJP a lesson. This is an untrustworthy and a lying government which has gone back on its words on several key issues like medium of instruction, mining resumption, banning casino operations, etc,” Velingkar said.

Nasheman News : The police assaulted several Congress activists, including from the youth and student wings, when they tried to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the city on Wednesday.

The trouble erupted when some Youth Congress and National Students Union of India activists stood near the roads and raised slogans of ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’. Others raised black flags and released black balloons as Modi’s motorcade zoomed past.

Angered by this, plainclothes security personnel pounced on the activists, pushed and dragged them, kicking and punching them brutally.

“An Emergency-like situation has prevailed in Solapur since the past couple of days… Party activists, municipal corporators and other elected leaders were served notices, questioned on their movements and today even prevented from staging peaceful protests,” Congress legislator Praniti (Sushilkumar) Shinde told IANS.

She added that several activists – including Nivrutti Gavhane, Ganesh Dongre, Shubham Mane, Shivraj Birajdar, Sidhhram Sagare – were detained by the police.

At least one activist was arrested and slapped with serious charges by the police. But after appeals by local Congress leaders, the charges were modified while others were allowed to go, said Shinde.

Modi, along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, spent half a day in Solapur to kickstart the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign.

 Nasheman News : Slamming the Karnataka coalition government for burdening the people again, the opposition BJP on Wednesday urged Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to withdraw the 2 per cent hike in state tax on petrol and diesel.

“The basic price of petrol and diesel has declined across the country over the last 2 months due to fall in international crude oil prices. Instead of making the people benefit from lower prices, the state government had increased the sales tax on fuel by 2 per cent since January 1. It should be rolled back,” state BJP’s state unit general secretary C.T. Ravi told reporters here.

Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, increased the state tax to 32 per cent on petrol and to 21 per cent on diesel because their base price decreased since November.

“As the fuel prices declined after fall in crude oil rates in the global market since November, the state tax has been revised to 32 per cent on petrol from 30 per cent and to 21 per cent on diesel from 19 per cent since January 1, 2019,” said a statement by the chief minister’s office here on January 5.

Noting that the state tax on petrol was Rs 20.59 per litre and Rs 13.75 on diesel per litre, which was among the highest in the country, Ravi said the state levy was three times over that levied by the state-run oil marketing firms.

“When fuel prices decline, the ruling coalition partners (Congress and Janata Dal-Secular) say it is owing to fall in crude oil rates and when they go up, they blame the Modi government for it, indulging in double-speak,” said Ravi.

The state government had on September 17 reduced its tax on petrol to 28.75 per cent from 32 per cent and diesel to 17.73 per cent from 21 per cent in a bid to give relief to the people from on soaring international crude oil prices.

In the state budget for fiscal 2018-19 Kumaraswamy presented on July 5 Che increased the state tax on petrol by 2 per cent to 32 per cent from 30 per cent and on diesel to 21 per cent from 19 per cent with effect from July 15 despite protests and public resentment.

“We will launch a protest strike if the hike in the state tax on the fuel is not rolled back before the Sankranti festival next week,” a party official told IANS./Eom/405 words.

The incident occurred in the Uttarakhand High Court after the police refused to accept the sex of a woman who had sexually transitioned to a woman, claiming her right to feminism.

According to the law, the High Court, which came to the aid of a linguistic woman, ordered the state police to inform the cause of this behavior.

The woman says in her complaint that she loves a man from Kotdwara and has been converting her into a woman to marry him.

But the woman alleged that her future husband called her to Kotdwara after raping her.

When the woman went to police station to complain about her rape, the police refused to file an IPC sub-376 (rape) complaint and filed a case under Section 377 (the criminal offense).

Asked by the woman, High Court Metalliri asked her to direct the police to change her FIR from September 37 to September 37, as she had full rights of feminism.

Justice Lokpal Singh, who listened to a woman complaint, ordered the state government to reply within four weeks.

Nasheman News : Prime Minister Narendra Modi patted his government’s back for the passage of Upper Caste Reservation Bill and Citizenship Amendment Bill in his first rally after the two key Bills were passed. The two Bills were passed in Lok Sabha where the government enjoys a majority. The Bill to provide ten per cent reservation in education and government jobs to economically weaker sections was tabled in Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Winter Session on Wednesday and will be taken up for discussion during the day.

Hitting out at the opposition parties for raising objections, he said that the Bill is a “strong answer” by Parliament to those “spreading lies”. He assured that none of the reservations allotted to the weaker sections will be reduced to add this 10 per cent quota. “The rights of the deprived sections, including the dalits and the tribal people, will not be affected because of this bill. The opposition wanted some part of the reservation of weaker sections to be taken away to be given to upper castes but we were adamant that nothing will be taken away from them. This is an additional quota being made for the people from general category,” PM Modi said at a rally in Solapur in Maharashtra. 

He termed the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha as a “historic” step which seeks to uplift the deprived sections and also illustrates the commitment of the government to prioritising the good of those needing it the most. “There are misconceptions being spread about the Quota Bill. Rajya Sabha was extended by a day for this Quota Bill only. I am confident that like yesterday, we will pass the bill in Rajya Sabha too,” PM Modi said. 

He also applauded his government for the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The Bill is important as migrants from other countries who want to stay here will be given Indian citizenship now. India will give shelter to these migrants. We have taken the onus of taking care of these people who have come to India,” he said. He assured the people of Assam and North East that their rights will not be curtailed in any way through the bill’s provisions.

PM Modi was speaking in Solapur after the inauguration of a highway project built at an investment of over Rs 970 crore. He added that Solapur will soon be covered under the Udaan scheme which seeks to link far off places with air connectivity. During his visit, he also laid the foundation stone of a project worth over Rs 1,800 crore of 30,000 houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. 

Nasheman News : The Madhya Pradesh Assembly is likely to witness voting for electing the new Deputy Speaker of the House as both the ruling Congress as well as the opposition BJP have fielded candidates.

Hina Kaware, a second-term MLA from Lanji in Balaghat, has filed the nomination for the Congress while the BJP has fielded its former Minister Jagdeesh Dewra, an MLA from Malhargarh in Mandsaur district.

The voting for the second top post in the Assembly is likely to take place on Thursday.

Both candidates expressed confidence of winning the election.

On Tuesday, Congress’ N.P. Prajapati was elected Speaker after BJP members walked out in protest over the Protem Speaker’s refusal to let the opposition party propose the name of its nominee for the post.

The BJP had fielded former Minister Vijay Shah for the post.

If any of the candidates don’t withdraw their nomination, voting will have to be undertaken to elect the new Deputy Speaker.