New Delhi: From suspending a district supply officer publicly for alleged negligence in the delivery of the Ujjwala scheme, to dialling the police chief to suspend the Jhabua SP, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has apparently been shedding his amiable persona for that of a hard taskmaster in the past few weeks.

Fondly called Mama (uncle), the chief minister is going all out — often publicly — against those civil servants and police officers who are accused of not delivering services, especially if these are public welfare schemes.

Consider this: On Wednesday morning during his review meeting of Sheopur district, he reportedly warned the district collector that he had received complaints regarding the delivery of foodgrains at the doorstep in villages. The collector informed him that 11 FIRs had been lodged and four arrests made.

Chouhan told the collector and the district superintendent of police to act against those allegedly involved in irregularities. “I will not spare anyone who is effecting corruption in the distribution of rations,” he said, adding that the district supply officer (DSO) was presenting an incorrect picture. The CM went on to suspend the latter midway through the meeting.

On 24 September, Chouhan reportedly asked Collector Ratnakar Jha about progress in the delivery of central schemes at a meeting with officials and the public in Dindori district, held as part of a programme called the Mukhyamantri Jan Seva Abhiyan. “The last date [of the programme] is 31 October. If anyone is left in your district, I will not hesitate to suspend you,” he warned.

The CM also called Dindori DSO T. R. Ahirwar onto the dais and sought explanation for why the target of enrolling 70,000 people under the Ujjwala scheme from January to September was not met. Unsatisfied with the answer, he suspended the DSO right on the dais in front of thousands of people present at the meeting. Chouhan scolded the officer to a huge round of applause by those present at the rally.

Launched on 17 September, the Jan Seva Abhiyan aims to facilitate the enrolment of beneficiaries under two dozen schemes and to plug loopholes in their delivery.

Another DSO met with the same fate at a Jan Seva Abhiyan event in Jhabua district on 25 September. DSO M. K. Tyagi was summarily suspended after many people complained that they were not getting rations in their villages.

In Chhindwara, Chouhan warned the DM and the district health officer on 23 September to identify every eligible beneficiary for the Ayushman Bharat to ensure their e-health card, “otherwise I will not hesitate to take action”.

Jhabua SP Arvind Tiwari also faced heat after a video went viral in which he purportedly abused polytechnic students who had sought protection after a brawl in their hostel. When the video came to his notice, Chouhan on 19 September asked Director General of Police (DGP) Vivek Johri to suspend him.

In Panna district, the CM told the district magistrate at a review meeting last month that “either you don’t know facts or you are misleading me”. He was upset about the district not achieving the target set for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

However, Congress spokesperson K. K. Mishra questioned Chouhan’s actions against officials, which he said was for the purpose of “maintaining” the CM’s public image. “Who appointed these officials? Now that the election is approaching, he is holding public trials of officials. It shows Chouhan himself doesn’t want to share accountability for corruption and is shifting the blame to officers,” 

New Delhi: Karnataka has seen the steepest fall in sex ratio at birth (SRB) among big states in the past 10 years while Punjab has improved the most on this front, according to an analysis of the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) data by ThePrint.

The southern state saw its SRB — number of boys born alive per 100 girls born alive — come down from 944 in 2008-10 (three-year average) to 916 in 2018-20, which translates to 28 less female births for every 1,000 male births than what the state reported a decade ago.

Other states that recorded a significant fall in SRB are Gujarat, with 27 fewer female births, followed by Bihar (22), Chhattisgarh (22), Delhi (22) and Maharashtra (20).

The northern states — often perceived as being more patriarchal — have shown a marked improvement. With an SRB of 897 in 2018-20, Punjab leads the list with 61 more female births per 1,000 male births than it did in 2008-10 (836). Jammu Kashmir (51), Rajasthan (36), Uttar Pradesh (31) and Haryana (21) were other states that improved on this indicator.

Overall, India has seen a marginal improvement over the past decade — from 905 in 2008-10 to 907 in 2018-20.

Experts take data with pinch of salt

While the numbers are alarming for the southern state, experts assert that Karnataka’s data, or for that matter a drastic change in numbers for any other state, have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

“The SRS used the population metrics using the 2001 frame till 2013 and the 2011 Census after that period. Why this matters is because this defines the boundaries of urban versus rural areas. Our research showed that increasing urban class size corresponded to a higher preference for sons, implying bigger cities having a skewed SRB, hence, the SRB deterioration. So far, we know that rural areas generally have better sex ratio than urban areas. Preference for small family size in urban areas with at least one son may be one of the factors behind declining sex ratio at birth,” Debolina Kundu of Delhi-based Indian Institute of Urban Affairs told ThePrint.

The root cause behind extreme effects in SRB builds the case for more detailed qualitative and quantitative research, she said.

“In the past two decades, Karnataka has seen a mass migration of youngsters coming from northern parts of the country. As they move in search of better opportunities, the culture of strong preference for sons also travels with them,” Kundu said, adding that the role of migration in Karnataka’s declining sex ratio needs more research.

Conducted by the Registrar General of India, the 2020 SRS data covered over 8.4 million people. Unlike the Census or the National Family Health Survey — which map quality attributes such as income group, migration status or societal changes — the primary objective of the SRS survey is to calculate demographic indicators like fertility rates, birth and death rates.

“There could be statistical shocks, or changes in the sample population picked up for data collection — that question needs to be answered by the SRS. The difference between two different points of time may not provide a complete picture sans the confidence interval of the trends,” said Prof. Chander Shekhar, department of fertility studies, International Institute for Population Sciences.

“The SRS gives the data, but we need more quality attributes to understand why a state is moving in which direction. Whether it’s migrants who are pushing down Karnataka’s sex ratio at birth, or has there been a change in social systems within the natives, needs more than mere indicators. Both are visible on the ground, but only sophisticated research can reveal who is contributing how much in the trajectory,” Shekhar explained.

Urban India leading the change  

While SRS data is available separately for rural and urban areas, it shows that the trend in urban areas is defining India’s overall curve.

In 2008-10, urban India’s sex ratio at birth was 898 which rose to 906 by 2011-13. The ratio then fell in the succeeding years to settle at 888 by 2014-16. Since then, it has improved to outstrip rural India in the period of 2017-19.

The hinterland, too, had a similar trajectory, but the numbers did not disperse as wide as its urban counterparts.

In 2008-10, Karnataka’s urban sex ratio at birth was 934, which dropped to 871 in 2018-20. This means that on average, 63 fewer females were born per 1,000 males compared to a decade ago.

Even urban areas of lesser developed states like Bihar (897), Rajasthan (901), Odisha (907), Chhattisgarh (910) and Jharkhand (910), which were behind Karnataka 10 years ago, fared better than the southern state.

Overall, urban India saw the ratio rise from 898 to 910 in the same period.

Link between urbanisation & SRB

Is there a relationship between rising urbanisation and deterioration in sex ratio at birth? Yes, say Kundu and her peers.

In an article, ‘Sex Ratio at Birth in Urban India’, published in Economy and Political Weekly (EPW), the authors mentioned that urbanisation and sex ratio at birth were negatively related to each other.

“An exploration of the trends and patterns of sex ratio at birth in urban India and the processes behind son preference suggests a systematic worsening of SRB with increasing urban district size classes,” the article states.

Until 2011-13, the Sample Registration System survey was using urban boundaries as mapped in the 2001 Census. As more and more villages urbanised and appeared in the 2011 Census, there was a drastic fall in the sex ratio at birth in several states, especially from 2012-14 onwards. In Karnataka’s case, the urban SRB plunged from 942 in 2011-13 to 887 in 2012-14.

The relationship between sex ratio at birth and urbanisation needs to be read in context with declining fertility, said Prof. R. Nagarajan of Department of Population and Development at Mumbai’s International Institute for Population Sciences.

Most politicians know all this. It is in their bones. But I am beginning to get the sense that the Gandhis have still not worked this out. It is partly because of Sonia Gandhi’s own career decisions. She was offered the Congress leadership (and therefore the prime ministership) in 1991 when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. She turned it down. She could have been prime minister in 2004. But she turned it down again. Unlike most people in politics, she is not fixated on power.

Nor does she recognise how closely the respect that a party leader commands is linked to his or her ability to win elections. This may be because of her own experience. Soon after she joined politics, the Congress lost two Lok Sabha elections in a row. But the party rallied behind her, even refusing to join a revolt by Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma. When the Congress went down in a humiliating defeat in 2014, nobody asked her to step down and she was even able to nominate her son Rahul as her successor.

She continues to be respected. But no politician or party can remain immune to the Iron Laws of politics forever. And as the Ashok Gehlot fiasco demonstrates, the Congress is like every other party. As much as it reveres the Gandhis, their authority has been badly eroded by their inability to win elections any longer. People may still respect them. But they won’t always listen to them.

New Delhi: Irked by the Canadian government’s “lackadaisical approach” towards individuals and organisations engaged in promoting and carrying out anti-India activities and sectarian crimes, the Narendra Modi government Friday issued a lengthy travel advisory on Canada, considered to be a friendly country for India.

This comes within months of Prime Minister Modi meeting his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the margins of the G7 Summit in Germany in June.

While this is not the first time India has issued an advisory on Canada, Friday’s cautionary note made some strong signals to the Canadian government for their “lackadaisical approach” towards India’s repeated requests in taming the Khalistani elements that have given rise to gangsterism, likely promoted by the “invisible” ISI hand, top-level sources told ThePrint.

An advisory for Indian citizens in Canada was issued earlier this year in February when there was a massive protest by the truckers. But that was issued by the Indian High Commission in Canada.

This time the advisory has been issued by the Ministry of External Affairs to give a “loud and clear” message to the Trudeau government which continues to “rely heavily on these elements for vote bank politics,” said sources who wished to not be named.

In its advisory, the MEA said, “There has been a sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence and anti-India activities in Canada. The Ministry of External Affairs and our High Commission/Consulates General in Canada have taken up these incidents with the Canadian authorities and requested them to investigate the said crimes and take appropriate action. The perpetrators of these crimes have not been brought to justice so far in Canada.”

While the government has not directly discouraged Indian students who are planning to go to Canada for higher studies or those citizens seeking permanent citizenship there, it did say, “In view of the increasing incidences of crimes as described above, Indian nationals and students from India in Canada and those proceeding to Canada for travel/education are advised to exercise due caution and remain vigilant.”

It also asked all Indian nationals and students in Canada to register with the High Commission of India in Ottawa or with the Consulates General of India in Toronto and Vancouver.

Earlier this week, the Modi government gave a stern message to Canada after hundreds and thousands of people from the Sikh community gathered in Brampton, Canada, on 19 September to participate in a so-called referendum that seeks to create a different country for them cut out of India.

The Sikhs gathered there had raised anti-India slogans while chanting “Khalistan Zindabad”, holding the purported Khalistan flag. This was held under the aegis of ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) that was banned in India in 2019.

Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, called it a “farcical exercise” and said that the matter has been taken up with the Canadian government.

“The government of Canada has reiterated that they respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, and that they will not recognise the so-called referendum, which is taking place in Canada,” said Bagchi.

“However, we find it deeply objectionable that politically motivated exercises by extremist elements are allowed to take place in a friendly country. You’re all aware of the history of violence in this regard. And the government of India will continue to press the government of Canada on this matter,” he added.

 Udhampur/Jammu,(PTI) A blast in a bus parked at a stand in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur city on Thursday morning, the second within a few hours, sent security agencies in a tizzy as they sounded a high alert, sources said.

The roof and the backside of the bus were blown away by the blast that occurred around 5.30 am on Thursday but no one was injured, they said.

The incidents occurred just days ahead of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah starting October 4. He was supposed to embark on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on September 30 and hold public meetings in Rajouri on October 1 and Baramulla on October 2. However, the visit was rescheduled.

On Wednesday night, a blast occurred in an empty bus parked near a petrol pump at Domail Chowk, injuring two people, sources said, adding the bus used to be parked at the spot daily.

The bus on which the second blast occurred had come from Basantgarh in Udhampur district and was on night halt at the bus stand. It was scheduled to leave for Basantgarh in the morning.

DIG of Udhampur-Reasi range Suleman Choudary said two to three buses have suffered damage in the blasts. “The nature of explosives and other things are under investigation. It needs a detailed probe,” he said.

The people injured have been questioned and terror angle cannot be ruled out, the police officer said. An alert has been sounded by the police and people have been asked to check their vehicles for any suspicious items.

Personnel of the police and other security forces have cordoned off the bus stand and all vehicles are being checked thoroughly before allowing them to resume services.

All vehicles which left the bus stand before the blast occurred in the morning will be stopped at checkpoints and thoroughly checked, officials said. PTI 

Kolkata,(PTI) The Durga Puja ritual of Pushpanjali on Maha Ashtami can now be conducted in Bengali with a scholar, linguist and a priest coming together to translate the verses from Sanskrit.

Sanskrit scholar Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, linguist Pabitra Sarkar, and Kaliprasanna Bhattacharya, a priest who has conducted Durga Puja rituals for at least 60 years, came together for the initiative as part of a campaign to promote Bengali.

“The devotion lies in the heart and not in the language in which the shlokas are chanted. It is always better to offer the prayers in a language, which we know and understand, rather than saying it in Sanskrit with half of the meaning not understood by us,” Bhaduri told PTI.

The rituals on Maha Ashtami — the second day of the four-day festival, including Pushpanjali and Sandhi Puja, are considered to be the most significant ones and are conducted in Sanskrit, also called ‘Dev Bhasha’ or the divine language.

Even though Pushpanjali, or offering of flowers, is held on multiple days during the Durga Puja, the one on Maha Ashtami is most revered with thousands of people queuing up at pandals to take part in the ritual.

The Bengali shlokas have been compiled in a book, which has been distributed among the puja committees of Kolkata. The Sanskrit verses are also there in the book if someone wants to check the accuracy of the translation, said Srimanta Choudhury who is the head of the campaign, initiated by a group of Bengali techies living abroad.

The Bengali verses can be downloaded from chantbangla.org in PDF or in an audio format, chanted by noted elocutionist Satinath Mukherjee, he said.

Around 250 Durga Puja committees in West Bengal will be conducting the rituals in Bengali this year, he added.

Not only the community Pujas, but also the Pujas at several ‘Bonedi Bari’ or traditional households will be conducted with these verses. Some residential complexes will also be using the Bengali sholkas, Mukherjee said.

Among the notable community Pujas taking part in the initiative are SB Park Sarbajanin in Thakurpukur, Behala Club and Ajeyo Sanhati in Haridevpur.

“Bengalis across the globe have been asked to upload the video of them performing Pushpanjali in Bengali. We expect that our initiative will be well accepted by Durga Puja organisers,” Mukherjee said.

“To promote it, we have also produced a music video that starred well-known Durga Puja artists such as Santan Dinda and Sushanta Pal, among others,” he said.

The Durga Puja organised by the association of sex workers, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, will also conduct the ritual in Bengali, said its liaison officer Mahasweta Mukherjee. PTI

New Delhi,(PTI) The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to provide 100 per cent renewable energy in its area via discoms by 2025, Vice Chairman Satish Upadhayay said on Wednesday.

The issue was discussed at the civic body's council meeting.

"There was no policy on providing green energy so far. Discussions are on to chalk out a policy and we will also seek suggestions from the public on the same. The final plan will be drafted only after holding meetings and taking suggestions from all sides," Upadhayay said.

The policy for 100 per cent renewable energy will be known as the "NDMC Solar Policy-2022" and will be applicable for any solar energy generating system with a capacity of 1 KWp or more.

"This policy applies to all electricity consumers under all electricity tariff in the NDMC area and all entities that setup and operate solar power plants in the NDMC area. We will encourage implementation of grid connected solar plants. All grid connected solar plants shall comply with applicable CA (Grid Standards) Regulations, 2013 and other applicable rules, regulations, and guidelines as amended from time to time," he said.

He said the NDMC will promote the deployment of solar plants with net metering on all buildings of government organisations, hospitals, educational institutes, embassies, stadiums, bridges, public toilets, and bus stops.

An audit will be conducted on the existing rooftop solar panels in the NDMC area, he said.

NDMC member Kuljeet Chahal said an audit will also be conducted for upgrading NDMC schools and a report will be submitted by the time the next council meeting is held.

Chahal further said the council has decided to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the national stadiums in Delhi to provide multi-sports facilities to NDMC school students.

"We plan to upgrade all NDMC schools and an audit will be conducted for the same. Further, we want to provide the best multi-sports facilities to our students and hence, we have decided to sign an MoU with the national stadiums in Delhi," he said. PTI

Lucknow, (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said though election results in the recent past have not been favourable, it has been proved that only his party can defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

He said that the Samajwadi Party worked for a big victory but “the people in power used every trick and misused official machinery and we failed to succeed”.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadis tried hard for a historic result. They tried to realise the dream of Ram Manohar Lohia and B R Ambedkar to “bring the ‘Bahujan’ forces on one platform, the Samajwadi Party chief said after inaugurating the state-level convention of the party.

“In 2022 (Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls), the Samajwadi Party formed an alliance in an attempt to take along with it all those struggling to remove the BJP from power. But we could not win.” “But I can say one thing that despite the experiments of 2019 and 2022, the manner in which our leaders and workers worked, the Samajwadis have come to know despite not getting success is that if there is anyone who can compete and defeat the BJP, it is the Samajwadi Party,” Yadav said.

The Samajwadi Party contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election with the BSP and the 2022 Assembly polls in alliance with smaller parties but lost.

At the party’s convention, Naresh Uttam Patel was declared elected as state president again.

Congratulating Naresh Uttam, Yadav said, “We will together face the challenges that come up.” “All of us will work together towards taking the socialist movement ahead. This is a big struggle. We will work together to remove the powers who are bent upon dividing the society,” he said.

Yadav alleged that the ruling BJP has failed on all fronts and said that once his party comes to power it will work towards the betterment of the people. PTI

Mumbai,(PTI) Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its plan to organise 'Marathi dandiya' in areas dominated by Maharashtrians in Mumbai, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday said its former ally is under an "illusion" if it thinks the community's unity can be undermined with such events.

The BJP, which is a part of the Eknath Shinde-led government, has announced plans to organise ‘Marathi dandiya’ in predominantly Marathi-speaking areas during the ongoing Navratri festival.

At such dance events, mostly Marathi songs (instead of Hindi or Gujarati) will be played for participants. The events are being seen as an attempt by the BJP to woo the Marathi votes -- which have been traditionally with the Shiv Sena -- ahead of the Mumbai civic body polls.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena said events like Marathi dandiya are aimed at countering the party in its areas of influence in the metropolis.

“By organising Marathi dandiya in Lalbaug, Parel, Sewree, Byculla, Parel and Mazgaon, Kamlabai (the name Shiv Sena has been using for the BJP of late) has been trying to woo the Marathi voters. After Ganeshotsav, the BJP is using Navratri for its political purpose.

“But it is their illusion if they think they can break the unity of the community (with such events),” the editorial maintained.

However, such events will not dent the Shiv Sena's support among the Marathi manoos (Marathi-speaking people), the newspaper said.

“This is nothing but an attempt of the Dillishwar (the term Shiv Sena uses for Delhi) to bring down the saffron flag,” it said.

The BJP has been using events like Ganeshotsav (Ganesh festival) and 'Marathi katta' (a place where ideas are exchanged) to woo the Marathi voters ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.

In the 2017 BMC polls, the Shiv Sena won 84 seats, its lowest tally in the 227-member civic body in two decades, while the BJP considerably improved its tally and bagged 82 seats.

Hitting back, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said the Thackeray-led Sena was feeling jealous after the Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government lifted curbs on festivities and allowed people to celebrate festivals with full fervour.

Shelar said when in power, the Shiv Sena, which headed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, had shut temples for two-and-a-half years and stopped Ganesh, Navratri and Dahi Handi festivals (during the coronavirus pandemic).

Backing the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said on one hand, the BJP is organising Marathi dandiya and on the other the ruling party is quiet over the demand (by Jain community) to ban advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked three Jain religious charitable trusts and a city resident practising Jainism why they were seeking to encroach on the rights of others by appealing for restrictions or ban on advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar noted the issue falls within the domain of the legislature and it cannot frame laws and rules imposing bans. PTI

New Delhi: More than 300 government awards for scientists from the ministries of science, space, health and family welfare, and earth sciences have been discontinued this month in a bid to make the number of awards very restrictive “to select [the] really deserving candidates”, ThePrint has learnt.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also proposed instituting a “Nobel Prize-like” science award called ‘Vigyan Ratna’ in the future. This would be open to scientists of all disciplines, and awarded in consultation with the principal scientific advisor, according to the minutes of a meeting chaired by Home Secretary A.K. Bhalla on 16 September, which ThePrint has accessed.

The revelation comes after a delay in announcing the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize — India’s highest science award —  left the scientific community perplexed. The prize, awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is usually announced on 26 September every year.

While this prize will continue to be awarded, there’s no mention of when it will be announced. However, a Press Information Bureau release from Monday quotes Jitendra Singh, India’s science minister, as saying that the CSIR will “have a celebration of eight decades of its foundation soon with several commemorative activities and prizes to be announced”.

The 16 September meeting was attended by secretaries and officers of departments under the ministries of science and technology, earth sciences, and health and family welfare, the minutes show.

The largest chunk of “discontinued” prizes was from the Department of Science and Technology, with 207 of the department’s 211 awards being done away with, the minutes showed.

A new award of “very high stature” will replace all 38 awards of the Department of Atomic Energy.  Likewise, a national award of high stature for space science will be instituted in place of the three internal awards conferred by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

Six awards from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, three from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 13 from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and 34 from the Department of Health Research have also been done away with.

The minutes quote Bhalla as having said that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make the number of awards and awardees very restrictive and the selection process transparent. He added that the home ministry had already issued suitable guidelines on conferring awards for the participating ministries or departments to follow.