Nasheman News : With an eye on the upper caste vote in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Union Cabinet on Monday approved 10 per cent reservation for economically backward people in general category in jobs and educational institutions.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took the decision to provide for 10 per cent quota for people belonging to “unreserved categories”, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh and land holding ceiling of about five acres, highly-placed sources said.

A Constitution amendment bill for the purpose is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The sources said the proposed move will not disturb the existing 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

“The quota will include sections not falling under any provision of reservation such as Brahmins, Banias, Thakurs, Jats, Gujjars, Muslims and Christians,” a source privy to the decision told IANS. 

He said that rules will be framed in due course to implement the Cabinet decision. 

The decision comes four months before the Lok Sabha polls and after the reverses suffered by BJP in the Assembly polls in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. 

The BJP was said to have faced the wrath of the upper castes, especially in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, over the amendment brought by the Central government to nullify the Supreme Court judgement in the SC-ST Act last year.

Reacting to the decision, BJP MP Udit Raj said it was a “bold” decision. 

However, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha said the proposal was “nothing more than a jumla” which bristles with legal complications and there was no time for getting it
passed in both the Houses of Parliament.

Nasheman News : A woman and her daughter were trampled to death by elephants in Jharkhands Gumla district early on Monday.

According to Forest Department officials, a herd of elephants entered Rampur village, triggering panic among the villagers. 

The seven elephants surrounded and attacked the house Archna Devi, damaging it. Archana, 26, tried to escape with her two-year-old girl. But the elephants trampled them to death. 

The elephants returned to the jungle after damaging more houses and properties in the village. 

In Jharkhand, more than 700 people have been killed by elephants since 2000. 

Nasheman News : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday attacked Congress President Rahul Gandhi for raising “incorrect and misleading” doubts regarding her statement in Parliament after the latter challenged her to prove her claim that the Centre gave Rs 1 lakh crore worth of orders to defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) or resign.

In a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman clarified that she had received confirmation from HAL that during 2014 to 2018, contracts amounting to Rs 26,570.80 crore had been signed with the public sector company and orders worth approximately Rs 73,000 crore were in the pipeline.

“Doubts are being raised on my statement made on the floor of the house on January 4 regarding procurement orders in the pipeline for HAL… I would like to set all doubts to rest by adding that I have received confirmation from HAL that during 2014-2018, contracts amounting to Rs 26,570.80 crore have already been signed with HAL and orders approximately of Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline,” she said without naming Gandhi.

“I had specifically mentioned that there are 83 LCA Tejas fighters ordered worth Rs 50,000 crore, 15 combat helicopters worth Rs 3,000 crore, 200 more helicopters worth Rs 20,000 crore, 19 Dornier transport aircraft worth Rs 3,400 crore, helicopters worth Rs 15,000 crore, and aero-engines worth Rs 8,400 crore. All of them put together amount to Rs 1 lakh crore,” she added.

Placing documents related to those orders on the floor, Sitharaman said they “clearly confirm the correctness of my statement made on the floor of this house and (prove that) the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading”.

Her response comes after Gandhi alleged that the Defence Minister must either place documents before Parliament to prove her claim that the Modi government has given Rs 1 lakh crore worth of orders to defence PSU HAL or resign.

Two days after Sitharaman made the claims in the Lok Sabha , Gandhi took to Twitter to question her claims, tagging a media report that said “no actual order has been placed”. 

Nasheman News : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has accrued the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to intimidate and arm-twist its political rivals through government agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Referring to reports that the investigative agency might question former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the mining scam, the BSP leader said the development sacked of political vendetta, with an eye on the forthcoming general elections.

Mayawati telephoned Akhilesh Yadav, with whose party the BSP is negotiating an alliance, and told him that such tactics were nothing new as the BJP always indulged in such “dirty politics and electoral conspiracies”. 

She added that she and the BSP had suffered in the past in similar fashion when the previous BJP government unleashed the CBI on her.

She told the 45-year-old Samajwadi Party leader not to be deterred by such conspiracies and instead face them with his head held high. 

The Dalit leader told foe-turned-friend Akhilesh Yadav that by now even ordinary people were aware of the “dirty tricks” of the BJP and were readying to give the ruling party a befitting response in the Lok Sabha elections.

In a statement, she said the BJP was jittery as the BSP and SP were discussing an alliance and the CBI raids last week at different places and the media reports of the probable questioning of Akhilesh Yadav, who served as the Mining Minister in 2012-13, was politically motivated.

“If this was a serious and unbiased action, why did the CBI not do it earlier and why has the action triggered a spate of unnecessary reactions from BJP leaders?” she asked. She alleged that BJP leaders had suddenly becomes spokespersons of the CBI.

Mayawati pointed out that long back when the BSP refused to give 60 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh to the BJP, they tried to frame her in the Taj Corridor case. 

“But I never buckled to pressure and ultimately I romped home with a majority in the 2007 elections to the Assembly,” the four-time Chief Minister said. 

She also accused the Congress in the same breath of being “expert in fixing political opponents”.

Nasheman News : Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy appointed 14 Congress legislators to head boards and corporations in the state, an official statement said.

Of the 14, there is only one woman MLA, Laxmi Hebbalkar, from Belagavi, who will head the Mysore Minerals Ltd.

Other board and corporation heads include: B.K. Sangameshwar (Karnataka Land Army Corp), R. Narendra (Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies), B. Narayan Rao (Karnataka Forest Development Corp), Umesh G. Jadhav (Karnataka State Warehousing Corp), and T. Raghu Murthy (Hutti Gold Mines Ltd).

Yashwanthraygoud Patil (Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board), B.A. Basavaraj (Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd), B. Shivanna (Karnataka State Electronics Development Corp Ltd), S.N. Narayanswamy (Ambedkar Development Corp), Munirathna (Karnataka Skill Development Corp), Shivaram M. Hebbar (North West Karnataka Road Transport Corp), B.S. Suresh (Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corp) and T.D. Rajegowda (Malnad Area Development Authority).

The coalition government will have Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) sharing the posts of board and corporation heads, with Congress heading 20 boards or corporations and the JD-S 10. The JD-S, however, is yet to appoint its legislators to the posts.

In a related development, the Chief Minister also appointed eight Congress legislators as parliamentary secretaries.

In the 225-member Assembly, the Congress has 80 MLAs including Speaker, JD-S 37 and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 104.

In the 34-member ministry, the Congress has 22 ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and JD-S 10, including the Chief Minister and two vacant posts.

‘Samrasta Khichdi’ will be cooked at the Bhim Mahasangam rally in Ramleela Maidan with the ingredients collected by members of Delhi BJP’s SC Morcha. The rally will be addressed by party chief Amit Shah.

“We have covered over two lakh Dalit houses so far and expect to reach 90 per cent of the targeted three lakh households in the coming days. Also, we are in touch with Guinness Book for getting this feat registered as a world record,” said Delhi BJP SC Morcha president Mohanlal Gihara.

The current world record of largest khichdi cooked is 918.8 kg, which was achieved by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Ministry of Food Processing Industries at World Food India festival held in Delhi in November 2017.

Gihara said Nagpur-based chef Vishnu Manohar and his team, who had attempted to cook 3,000 kg khichdi in a single vat, have been invited to cook ‘Samrasta Khichdi’ at the rally that is expected to be attended by over 50,000 people.

A specially designed vat, measuring 20 feet in diameter and six feet in depth, will be used by Manohar and his team to cook over 3,000 kg of khichdi with ingredients like rice, pulses, salt and water, Gihara said.

BJP chief Amit Shah is scheduled to address the rally being held to showcase reach of the party within the Dalit community in Delhi.

Khichdi is a well-known Indian dish that is often prescribed by doctors due to its nutritional value to convalescent persons. It is also popular as an easy-cooked meal.

PTI