PATNA:  A day after the Bihar government constituted a special commission to review the political backwardness of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), paving the way for their reservation in urban local body polls, the BJP, as well as RJD, took potshots at the Nitish Kumar government for the way the panel has been constituted. A BJP leader said on Thursday that the government is being controlled by RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Samrat Choudhary, the leader of the Opposition in Bihar Legislative Council, launched a blistering attack on the chief minister, calling him a “rubber stamp CM” and saying that the manner in which the Commission has been constituted gives a clear hint that Lalu is remote-controlling the government. Lalu is currently undergoing medical treatment in Singapore.

“A retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court should also be inducted into the commission for its proper functioning,” Choudhary said. The EBC Commission also includes state JD-U spokesperson Arvind Nishad, JD-U leader Gyanchand Patel and RJD leader Tar Keshar Thakur. It will review the political backwardness of EBCs in fixing their quota in the urban local body elections.

Bihar BJP spokesperson Arvind Singh said that by not appointing an RJD leader as the panel’s chairman, the CM has shown a mirror to his allies. He added that Nitish also exposed how he is governing Bihar like a “Talibani” ruler. 

RJD leaders also expressed annoyance over the lack of proper representation in the panel. Stressing that the RJD is a major ally in the grand alliance, Rambali Chandravanshi said, “When the post of the chairman of SC/ST Commission was given to JD-U, RJD should have got it in EBC Commission.”

The state government had on Wednesday informed Patna High Court that it is going to constitute the 
commission. The government had also withdrawn its review petitions, which were filed after the court had ordered that reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and EBCs in the state’s urban local body elections without following the triple test criteria as laid down by the Supreme Court was “illegal”. 

MUMBAI:  The Maharashtra government on Thursday released Rs 2,500 crore as a Diwali gift to eligible farmers who have paid their loans on time. The 7 lakh beneficiary farmers will receive Rs 50,000 each as an incentive for timely payment of their crop loan.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Maharashtra is the first state to deposit money directly into the account of the farmers on the occasion of Diwali. He added that farmers should not get tired due to the damage caused to their crops by the heavy rains during this monsoon season. 

“We are committed to helping the farmers,” Shinde said. “We have decided to give an incentive amount to the farmers who make regular repayments of their crop loan. We had earlier assured farmers that they would get their money without any delay. Today, it has been released and money has been deposited in the bank accounts of 6.90 lakh farmers. This decision will add a sweet touch to their Diwali celebrations,” he added.

The erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray government, under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Shetkari Debt Relief Scheme (MJPSDRS), had waived chronic defaulter farmers’ loans up to `2 lakh each, but at the same time, had also announced Rs 50,000 incentive to farmers who had repaid their crop loan on time.

Shinde on Thursday released Rs 2,500 crore and paid Rs 50,000 each to the eligible farmers time. The government deposited Rs 2,500 crore in the accounts of 6.90 lakh farmers. The chief minister added that the government is also concerned about farmers whose crops got damaged in the returning monsoon. 

“We have taken decisions to give relief to farmers. The relief amount has been doubled under the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) norms. We have also increased compensation for three hectares 
of damaged crops against the earlier provision of two acres only. We are committed to helping the farmers. We have directed to make the panchnama immediately and provide assistance to them,” Shinde added.

He also said that the state government is approving the stalled irrigation projects in an effort to bring maximum land under irrigation.

BHOPAL:  Call it a battle between camps or a divide separating the old from the new, but the BJP in Madhya Pradesh is certainly experiencing internal turmoil. And the first round seems to have gone in the favour of the ‘new’ BJP in Sagar district of Bundelkhand region.

Rajkumar Singh Dhanaura, the Sagar district chief of the party’s Kisan Morcha, has been removed from the organisational post and also expelled from the party for six years, apparently for a social media post published against MP Transport Minister Govind Singh Rajput.

While Dhanaura is a close relative of the state’s Urban Development Minister Bhupendra Singh (considered close to CM Shivraj  Singh Chouhan), Rajput is said to be among Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalists.

Singh as well as Rajput represent separate seats in Sagar district. While Singh is an MLA from Khurai, Rajput represents the Surkhi seat. Singh has also won from Surkhi seat twice in the past.

Dhanaura had recently taken to social media platforms, demanding that a local resident and not an outsider candidate be fielded by the BJP from the Surkhi seat in the 2023 Assembly polls. The post was seen as targeting sitting MLA Govind Singh Rajput, whose village is situated in the adjoining Naryawali-SC constituency of Sagar district.

According to party insiders, the matter was communicated to higher levels in the party by Rajput, after which Dhanaura was removed as head of Kisan Morcha in Sagar, and also expelled from the party for six years. Sharing his side of the story with the media, Dhanaura broke down on Wednesday.

“I met state party president VD Sharma with folded hands and tendered my unconditional apology. But the party for which I religiously worked for the last three decades threw me out like an insect within a minute,” Dhanaura said.

When asked by journalists about why his relative and minister Bhupendra Singh didn’t come to his rescue, Dhanaura said, “Sometimes such a situation builds up, when someone, despite wanting to help, cannot actually come forward to support you. This is what happened in my case. Had he (Bhupendra Singh) fought for my cause, it would have sent the wrong message of him intervening in the Assembly constituency of Govind Singh Rajput.”

The sacked leader further alleged that old BJP leaders and workers of Surkhi Assembly constituency are being implicated in false criminal cases at the behest of those who came into the BJP from Congress along with Rajput in March 2020.

Sagar district has three Cabinet ministers in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government, including BJP veteran Gopal Bhargava and Bhupendra Singh (both old BJP warhorses). Rajput was among the 22 Scindia loyalist Congress MLAs who pulled down the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in March 2020.
Meanwhile, making the best of Dhanaura’s expulsion from the BJP and the subsequent press conference held by the sacked BJP leader (whose father was with BJP since Jan Sangh days), state Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja targeted the saffron party. 

“Sacking of MP minister Bhupendra Singh’s relative Rajkumar Singh Dhanaura for opening a front against Scindia loyalist minister Govind Singh Rajput exposes how the tikaus (dependable old BJP men) are being shown the way out to appease the bikaus (saleable new BJP leaders),” Saluja said.

Dehradun, Oct 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district on Friday.

Wearing a white-coloured traditional attire of the hill people with a “swastika” symbol embroidered on it, the prime minister performed a “puja” at the temple. He is also scheduled to visit the Badrinath temple later in the day.

During his two-day tour of the state, Modi will inspect various ongoing development projects and lay the foundation stones of some new ones.

On his arrival at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun, the prime minister was received by Governor Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union minister Ajay Bhatt.

After performing the “puja” at the Kedarnath temple, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone of the 9.7-km Gaurikund-Kedarnath ropeway project.

During his two-and-a-half-hour-long programme at Kedarnath, Modi is also scheduled visit the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Guru Shankaracharya.

At Badrinath Dham, he will review the progress of the development projects along the riverfront.

In the afternoon, Modi will lay the foundation stones of road and ropeway projects and address a gathering at Mana village. Thereafter, he will review the progress of the beautification project of the Arrival Plaza and the lakes in the area.

Security has been tightened around the two famous hill temples in view of the prime minister’s visit. Both the temples have been decorated with quintals of flowers. PTI DPT RC

Noting the pendency of issues related to firecrackers before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition challenging Delhi Pollution Control Committee's complete ban on sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers.

Justice Yashwant Varma dismissed the petition by two merchants who sought to ''purchase, sell and store only green crackers'' during the festive season, and said it was not appropriate for the high court to independently examine such a challenge when the issue ''does appear to be engaging the attention'' of the top court.

The court, however, said the petitioners were free to initiate appropriate proceedings under the law to seek redressal of their grievances.

''From the material placed on record, the court notes the issue of pollution as a result of use of firecracker during Diwali was first considered by the Supreme Court (in a case). The petitioner remains pending on the board of the Supreme Court. Subsequently, another writ petition came to be preferred before the Supreme Court seeking the issuance of guidelines in respect of sale, purchase and bursting of permissible firecrackers. The writ petition also produces some of the banning orders issued by few states,'' the court noted.

''In view of the aforesaid, it would not be appropriate for this court to entertain an independent challenge, especially since the issue does appear to be engaging the attention of the Supreme Court. Accordingly, while this writ petition stands dismissed, this order shall not preclude the petitioner from initiating such proceedings as may be permitted in law,'' it said.

Green cracker merchants Shiva Fireworks and Jai Mata Stores had approached the high court last month, assailing the ban imposed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on the sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers in the city during the upcoming months.

The petitioners had emphasised in their plea that the ''last-minute ban'' imposed by the DPCC on September 14 was arbitrary and illegal, and adversely affects their livelihood.

Uttar Pradesh will begin teaching medical and engineering courses in Hindi as well, Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath has said. Yogi tweeted, "Some books of medical and engineering courses have been translated into Hindi. The students will be able to study those subjects in Hindi from the coming year." 

https://twitter.com/myogiadityanath/status/1581237366488207361? The announcement has been made days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched India's first Hindi version of MBBS textbook in Bhopal on Sunday (October 16).

While addressing the event in Bhopal on Sunday, the Home Minister said, "Today is a very important day for the education sector of India. Whenever history will be written in the coming days, this day will be written in golden letters" "Through the New Education Policy, PM Modi has given more emphasis to the mother tongue of students. This is a historic decision. Now under Modi ji you can avail higher education in any language as per your comfort," Shah said.

Madhya Pradesh is the country's first state to start the MBBS course in the Hindi language. Initially, three subjects have been selected to be studied in Hindi which includes Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry. A team of 97 experts have been working on the preparation of books for the last 232 days at Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. They have been translating the books from English to Hindi.

Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang on Sunday said that the move will bring a big change in the advancement of education in Hindi medium. The experts further said the new edition of Medical Biochemistry contains the application of some new chapters which include Sodium, Potassium, Water Homeostasis, Biochemistry Techniques, Radiation, Radioisotopes and Environmental Pollutants and Toxins.

Besides, several new line diagrams, tables and text boxes have been added to make information more memorable. Similarly in the Anatomy edition, new chapters of surface anatomy have been added in both the abdomen and lower limb sections. New line diagrams, CT and MRI diagram tables and flow charts are added to increase the retention of knowledge. (ANI)

New Delhi, October 19

One of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case, Mitesh Chimanlal Bhatt, who was released for “good behaviour”, is an accused in a case of outraging a woman’s modesty while out on parole during June 2020, revealed the annexure of an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by the Gujarat Government.

According to the annexure, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the District Magistrate, Dahod, was informed by the district Superintendent of Police about the case when the Gujarat Government was considering the proposal to release 11 convicts, including Bhatt, on remission after 14 years of imprisonment.

Bhatt (57) was booked under Sections 354, 504 and 506 (2) of the IPC in June 2020 by the Randhikpur police and a chargesheet had been filed in the case, it said, adding that the trial was pending. Till May 25 this year, Bhatt had “enjoyed 954 days of parole, furlough leave” in the Bilkis Bano case.

Incidentally, even after the registration of the FIR in 2020, he was out of prison for 281 days, the official documents revealed.

In the FIR and the police complaint, Bhatt was accused of “threatening and harassing witnesses” and “outraging a woman’s modesty” while out on parole, which runs contrary to the “good behaviour” justification given by the Gujarat Government.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs approved the early release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case in August this year, the Gujarat Government disclosed in its affidavit. In a follow up on Tuesday, the Supreme Court remarked that the counter-affidavit to pleas challenging the remission was very bulky wherein a series of judgments had been quoted, but factual statements were missing.

The convicts were freed on August 15 and greeted with garlands and sweets like heroes outside a jail in Gujarat.

Trial pending

• Mitesh Chimanlal Bhatt was booked in June 2020 for outraging the modesty of a woman while on parole
• Chargesheet filed in case, trial pending; till May 25 this year, he had “enjoyed 954 days of parole, furlough leave”in the Bilkis Bano case

Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has moved a Jammu and Kashmir court to challenge the adminstration's order denying him entry into the Union territory, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Mann has been sitting on a protest in Lakhanpur for three consecutive nights against the administration's decision. Thursday is the fourth day of the protest.

The MP from Sangrur in Punjab was stopped on orders of Kathua District Magistrate Rahul Pandey on Monday evening, leading to the protest by the politician and his supporters.

In his order issued under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Pandey said it had been brought to his notice by the senior superintendent of police that Mann was scheduled to enter Jammu and Kashmir and his visit was likely to cause ''disturbance in public tranquility''.

Mann filed a petition in the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Kathua through advocate T N Gupta, challenging the district magistrate's order denying him entry into Jammu and Kashmir.

Gupta said Mann has challenged the order on grounds that he was granted approval for his visit to the Union territory a few days ago.

''As per the protocol of his visit fixed by the additional deputy commissioner (Kathua), he left for J&K on October 17 (from Punjab). But when he reached here, the district magistrate of Kathua gave him this order (of denying entry into J&K). So he is challenging it,'' Gupta said.

He said the matter will be taken up on Thursday.

Gupta said Mann has also demanded the restoration of his basic rights as a senior citizen as well as an elected MP.

 ANI

Patna, October 20

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Bihar Lalan Paswan courted controversy by making bizarre statements about Hindu deities.

Paswan's statement sparked an outrage. People held a protest at Shermari Bazar in Bhagalpur and burnt the effigy of the BJP MLA.

Paswan, who is an MLA from Pirpainti Assembly constituency in Bhagalpur district raised questions on Hindu beliefs and argued with evidence to prove his stance.

He further raised questions on Lakshmi Puja on Diwali.

Paswan said, "If we get wealth only by worshipping Goddess Lakshmi, then there would have been no billionaires and trillionaires among Muslims. Muslims do not worship Goddess Lakshmi, are they not rich? Muslims do not worship Goddess Saraswati. Are there no scholars among Muslims? Do not they become IAS or IPS?"

The BJP leader said everything is people's belief. He said the affair of "Atma and Paramatma" is just people's belief.

He said, "If you believe then it is a goddess and if not then it is just a stone idol. It is up to us whether we believe in Gods and Goddesses or not. We have to think on a scientific basis to reach a logical conclusion. If you stop believing, then your intellectual capacity will increase." "It is believed that Bajrangbali is a deity with power and bestows strength. Muslims or Christians do not worship Bajrangbali. Are they not powerful?  The day you stop believing, all these things will end," added Paswan.

Earlier, Paswan came to light when he allegedly leaked a personal conversation with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav.

 PTI

Mumbai, October 19

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will pay tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai on Wednesday on the first day of his three-day visit to India.

Guterres landed in Mumbai on Wednesday shortly after midnight via a commercial flight from London. He was greeted by senior Maharashtra government officials on arrival.

He later drove to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in south Mumbai, where he will pay tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks.

The Taj Mahal Palace hotel was one of the targets of the horrific 26/11 terror attacks in 2008.

Guterres will deliver a public address at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai on the subject -- "India @75: UN-India Partnership: Strengthening South-South Cooperation" later in the day, before flying to Gujarat.

It is his first visit to India since his second term in office commenced in January. He had earlier visited the country in October 2018 during his first term at the top office.

The UN secretary general will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event relating to the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) in Gujarat's Kevadiya on October 20.

His visit to the country comes more than a week before the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee holds its two-day deliberations in India.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would hold bilateral discussions with Guterres on issues of global concern, steps to deepen India's engagement with the UN, including through the country's upcoming presidency of the G20.

In Kevadiya, Guterres is expected to pay floral tributes at the Statue of Unity, the MEA said, adding that he will also visit the country's first solar-powered village in Modhera (Gujarat) and other development projects in the area.

The UN secretary general will also visit the Sun temple in Modhera, before departing for his onward destination, the MEA said.