SC reserves order on EC, Congres row over errors in Madhya Pradesh rolls

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a major row between the Election Commission and the Congress over alleged acts of omission and commission over the electoral rolls in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

However, the top court said it would separately examine a plea by Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Sachin Pilot on the need to verify at least 10% per cent of VVPATs to ensure poll purity.

The hearing on Monday was again marred by accusations and crossaccusations by Congress leaders, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and EC counsels senior advocate Vikas Singh and Amit Sharma.

Sibal was flanked by senior advocates Vivek Tankha and Anoop G Chaudhari. Varun Chopra was assisting Sibal.

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Health ministry confirms 22 Zika cases in Rajasthan

After Jaipur in Rajasthan recorded 22 confirmed cases of Zika virus till Monday, the government has put neighbouring states on high alert.

Given that the pink city is part of India’s golden triangle tourist circuit, connecting the national capital and Agra, authorities said strict surveillance was required in the region.

“A few cases of Zika virus have been reported in Jaipur. We have alerted neighbouring states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, to keep strict vigil on Zika virus. Given that the festive season is round the corner, many people travel to popular tourist destinations for year-end holidays. Since there is seamless travel between these states, the health authorities will have to be careful,” said Sunil Gupta, additional director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The outbreak in Jaipur was detected through the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) surveillance system. The ministry of health and family welfare deputed a seven-member high level central team to Jaipur immediately following the detection of the first case to assist the state government in taking containment measures.

A control room has been set up at the NCDC to undertake regular monitoring of the situation. “All suspect cases in the defined area and mosquito samples from this area are being tested. Additional testing kits are provided to the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories. All pregnant mothers in the area are being monitored through the National Health Mission (NHM). Extensive surveillance and vector control measures are being taken up in the areas as per protocol by the state government,” an official statement from Union health ministry said.

Zika is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The disease is currently being reported by 86 countries worldwide. Symptoms of Zika virus disease are similar to other viral infections such as dengue, which include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and headache. In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January-February 2017. The second outbreak was reported after five months in the Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu. Both were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management.

The disease continues to be on surveillance radars of the Union health ministry although it is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, according to World Health Organization notification of 18 November, 2016.

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Rahul’s Mega Rajasthan Road Show From Vasundhara Raje’s Home Turf

The Congress was wiped out in most of Rajasthan in the last state elections in 2013 but managed to retain a toehold in the Dholpur-Bharatpur belt, winning four seats.

Rahul Gandhi’s mega road show in six constituencies in Rajasthan’s Dholpur and Bharatpur today is aimed at taking on Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on her home ground.

Ms Raje belongs to the former royal family of Dholpur and is popular as “Maharani Sahib” to voters there.

In the by-election to the assembly seat in April 2017, it was her focused campaign run from inside Dholpur Palace that managed to dislodge the Bahujan Samaj Party and win the Dholpur seat for the BJP.

But Dholpur in eastern Rajasthan, that borders Uttar Pradesh, is a fertile ground for the Congress.

The Congress was wiped out in most of Rajasthan in the last state elections in 2013 but managed to retain a toehold in the Dholpur-Bharatpur belt, winning four seats. The Congress had a higher vote share, of 34.5 per cent, than that of the BJP in Dholpur.

This is why, the party believes, Rahul Gandhi’s public outreach programme with the 163-km road show, can boost the Congress’ prospects in the upcoming elections. “We have a good chance in east Rajasthan. That is why Rahul Gandhi is here and we are taking on the Chief Minister not just in Dholpur but in all 200 seats,” said Rajsthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot.

There’s another reason why the Congress is starting its election campaign from this part of Rajasthan, and that is the Mayawati factor. The Dalit powerhouse announced last week that her party will fight the elections on its own. She gave a shock to the Congress last week, ruling out any alliance with the party in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In the last elections, her party did better in Dholpur than it did in the rest of Rajasthan.

But the BJP is not entirely worried about the BSP.

“It is true that Mayawati impacts a certain vote bank. But the maximum she has ever got in Rajasthan has been 4 per cent of the vote share,” said Rajendra Rathore, a minister in the Vasundhara Raje cabinet.

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View: This one Indian innovation could transform Africa

Over the last two decades, China has invested more than $125 billion in Africa to build ports, highways, airports, railways and other infrastructure. Chinese President Xi Jinping says funds, to the tune of $60 billion, will continue to flow because “inadequate infrastructure is believed to be the biggest bottleneck to Africa’s development.”
China’s largesse has certainly benefited the continent. An Indian innovation, however, could be what African countries really need.

India’s Aadhaar biometric identification system has given hundreds of millions of citizens a portable digital ID, allowing them to receive government services, join the banking system and otherwise partake in the formal economy. The need for similar technology in Africa is acute: According to the World Bank, the continent is home to 502 million of the world’s identity-less individuals, half of the global total and roughly 40 percent of Africa’s population. The problem is worse for women, who in many African countries are critical to family finances. In low-income countries surveyed by the World Bank, over 45 percent of women lacked identification, compared to 30 percent of men.

These citizens face towering social and political challenges. Services such as education, health care and welfare are often targeted and delivered on the basis of identification, thereby bypassing those who need them most. In many African countries, individuals are required to show identity when registering a mobile phone or signing up for value-added services such as Africa’s pervasive, feature phone-based mobile money systems. Getting a formal bank account is even harder, which helps explain why over half of Africa’s population remains unbanked. Those who can’t vote because of a lack of identification are politically excluded, which only reinforces their economic isolation.

The Aadhaar system creates a 12-digit unique identification number for each citizen, issued on the basis of biometric and demographic data. Data is stored centrally and enrollment is free, simple and document-light. From the start, particular efforts have been made to enroll women and ensure that births are recorded (and prenatal benefits received).

By most metrics, the system has been a success. Over 1.2 bn people have enrolled, including in rural locations disconnected from the modern digital economy, making Aadhaar the world’s largest biometric database. It’s improved access and delivery of government services, and promoted digital and financial inclusion. According to one recent survey, more than three-quarters of new bank accounts in three Indian states were opened using Aadhaar biometric data, while mobile-phone registrations have boomed.

Not all of these benefits will hold, of course. Privacy concerns and bureaucratic interference are beginning to curb the private sector’s ability to use Aadhaar. But there’s no turning back to a pre-identity India.

At a September roundtable at the United Nations, the World Bank estimated it will cost $6 billion to meet Africa’s civil registration and digital identification needs by 2030. Currently, at least 23 projects are underway. Some are country-specific, while others focus on regional solutions designed to ensure that the new IDs are interoperable across Africa’s porous borders.

The potential benefits are immense. Registering women and births can play a crucial role in curbing threats from child marriage to sex trafficking. Africa is also home to the world’s highest rates of female entrepreneurship (more than a quarter of adult females in sub-Saharan Africa are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity). Digital IDs would enable them to acquire bank accounts, save assets, register property and formalize their businesses.

A continent-wide system similar to Aadhaar could be even more beneficial. Africa is home to large volumes of intra-continental economic migration, and individuals who cross borders without identification are forced to use irregular channels that promote smuggling. Migrants who might have been exploited in the past would be able to assert their citizenship rights, both at home and abroad. That could be especially valuable for Africa’s large population of forcibly displaced people.

Above all, an African Aadhaar would help to spur digital and mobile innovations in a region that’s been a pioneer in fintech and shown a capacity to leapfrog older technologies. More people with registered mobile phone accounts means more opportunities to leverage Africa’s emerging digital sector. At a time when Africa is building more physical highways than ever before, the digital ID could be the expressway it actually needs.

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Telangana at forefront in healthcare: KTR

Minister KT Rama Rao says State government spending Rs 7,000 crore annually; praises Health Minister for his efforts

Hyderabad: The Telangana government was at the forefront of providing such healthcare, which has not been done by the public sector in the country, to the people of the State, Minister KT Rama Rao said on Sunday.

Addressing a meeting of Ayush doctors in the city, Rama Rao said the endeavour of TRS, in the future, would be to build on the work done so far with regard to healthcare and further provide improved and better medical services to the people.

A large number of Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathy doctors from different districts of the State attended the ‘Ayush Doctors with KTR’ meeting. Rama Rao in his address, which touched upon the various path-breaking healthcare initiatives of the Telangana government, said the State was spending Rs 7,000 crore a year on healthcare.

He also heaped praise on Health Minister Dr C Laxma Reddy under whose stewardship, medical services and facilities in Telangana practically leapfrogged on several fronts. It was the vision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who wanted top-of-the-range medical care to be made available even to the poor and Dr Laxma Reddy worked hard to make this happen, Rama Rao said.

For instance, Area hospitals in the State did not have intensive care units. The previous governments were insensitive to the health needs of the people until Laxma Reddy became Health Minister. Not just that, many hospitals also now have neo-natal ICUs, he said.

Similarly, the credit for starting blood banks at hospitals across the State goes to the Health Department and TRS government. Among the facilities that were created were also the 40 dialysis centres at government hospitals, which are the only ones in the country to use single use disposable items. It was the Chief Minister’s goal of good healthcare that such developments were possible, Rama Rao said.

The Chief Minister demonstrated what a humanitarian government can achieve, he said. Thanks to programmes such as Amma Vodi, institutional deliveries increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent in the State. This resulted in elimination of unnecessary caesarean operations and hysterectomies, which were being performed under the Arogyasri scheme just so that hospitals could make money of hapless women, Rama Rao said.

Referring to the Kanti Velugu scheme, he said very few States had interventions on to improve healthcare for the poor and needy on this scale. “There is much more to be done and we will improve the services further”, he added.

Referring to some issues raised by Ayush doctors, Rama Rao said a meeting can be arranged with some Ayush fraternity representatives where these can be discussed in detail. He also said the demand for a bridge course for Ayush doctors, who may want to also acquire an Allopathic medicine degree, would be explored. “Laxma Reddy is an Ayush doctor and is a credit for us. I am sure he will solve the problems or challenges faced by you,” Rama Rao said.

Referring to possible confusion amidst the political heat related to elections, he said, “The tu tu main main, tu kitta main kitta, dekhlenge dekhlenge, will go on. I have faith that the people are with us. TRS implemented many programmes for improving education, health and development for providing immediate relief to the poor as well meet long-term needs of the people and the next generations to come,” Rama Rao said.

Referring to the peaceful atmosphere prevalent in the State, Rama Rao said in the pat, every year curfew somewhere or the other was being clamped. “But under a secular Chief Minister who practises his faith, but also treats every other religion and belief with all the respect they deserve, there has been peace in every corner of Telangana,” he said.

Laxma Reddy said the Chief Minister’s schemes and plans in all sectors made the rest of India look at Telangana for inspiration. The Chief Minister was giving a lot of importance to healthcare for the poor, he said.

Lok Sabha member B Vinod Kumar said under the TRS government, people’s faith in government hospitals increased many fold. “Telangana is the capital of Ayush streams and there is also a need for more research in these fields,” he added

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Telangana Polls: How the youngest state voted last time

Elections to the legislative assembly of Telangana, the country’s youngest state, will be held on December 7. The previous elections were held in April-May 2014 along with the Lok Sabha elections, and the state formally came into being on June 2.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi led by K Chandrashekar Rao secured the majority with 63 seats in the 120*-member house.

A look at the parties’ seat tally and victory margins…

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Chhattisgarh To Vote In 2 Phases

Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana will be held between November 12 and December 7 in what may be a virtual semi-final to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the five states on December 11, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.

While Chhattisgarh will go to the polls in two phases on November 12 and 20, elections in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will be held on November 28.
Polling in Rajasthan and Telangana will be held on December 7, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) OP Rawat announced.

The Congress, which is ruling in Mizoram, is trying to wrest power from the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had dissolved the assembly on September 6, paving way for early elections.

Like in the past, Chhattisgarh will have elections in two phases. In the first phase, 18 seats in south Chhattisgarh affected by left wing extremism will go to polls and in the second phase voting will be held in 72 seats in the northern parts of the state, Rawat said.
Responding to a question, he defended the decision to have two phases, saying in the past too, voters, political leaders and security personnel have been targeted by Naxals and it was necessary to have polls in multiple phases.

The model code of conduct, which bars the ruling party and even other parties from disturbing level playing field, came into force in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram immediately.

The term of the Madhya Pradesh assembly is ending on January 7, Rajasthan on January 20, Chhattisgarh of January 5 and Mizoram on December 15. After a recent EC decision to impose model code immediately in states where assemblies are dissolved prematurely, Telangana is already under the poll code. The term of its assembly was to end in June, 2019.

Much is at stake in the polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan as the BJP and the Congress are in a direct contest in the three states after the saffron party had trounced its arch-rival in 2013 and then gone to decimate it in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah, the BJP has since 2014 got better of the Congress in every major state polls where both were the main rivals.
In 2013, the BJP had won 165, 163 and 49 seats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assemblies respectively, with the Congress securing 58, 21 and 39 seats. The corresponding strength of these assembies are 230, 200 and 90.

In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi is seen to be going strong and will face contest from the Congress and the BJP.

After winning 63 seats in the 2014 assembly polls, the TRS’ ranks have swelled with members of rival parties joining it over the years. The state assembly has 119 seats.

In Mizoram, the Congress has been in power since 2008. In the hill state with 40 assembly seats, Congress has been in fight against state parties Mizo National Front and Mizo Peoples Conference.

Putting in place security arrangements for the polls, the Union Home Ministry has ordered for the deployment of about 25,000 troops for election duties in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

These paramilitary and state police personnel, part of the additional 250 companies to be sent in for the polls, have been asked to take position by October 15 in states assigned to them.

While 50 fresh companies each have been marked to be sent to Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the highest of 150 such teams have been earmarked by the ministry to be sent to Chhattisgarh that has its southern part affected by a high-level threat of Maoist violence.

A single state police or Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) company has about 100 personnel.

This time, to ensure “wholesome and constructive participation” of persons with disabilities in the election process, the Commission has decided to issue accessible photo voter slips with braille features to persons with visual impairment.

In a statement, EC said it is “genuinely concerned” about noise pollution and “great disturbance to the peace and tranquility of the general public by the reckless, widespread and flagrant use of loudspeakers during election canvassing and campaign.”

It said that the use of public address system or loudspeakers or any sound amplifier, whether fitted on vehicles or in static position used for public meetings for electioneering purposes will not be permitted between 10 pm and 6 am.

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SP rules out alliance with Congress in poll-bound MP

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday ruled out any alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said they waited long to come to an understanding but the Congress had shown no willingness to join hands with like-minded parties to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“We have waited till now but not any longer,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister told a gathering at the party headquarters here.

He added that the party will either contest the polls on its own or in an alliance with the Gondwana Party.

“The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has already declined any tie-up with the grand old party and I am sure other parties in other poll-bound states will also soon announce their candidates,” the SP President stated.

In an indirect reference to the statement of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh that the BSP was not aligning with the Congress against the BJP in Madhya Pradesh for fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, Yadav said parties like the SP and BSP were not scared of anything.

He said the SP was ready to explore the possibility of a coalition with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh.

In his address, he slammed the state government and said that people had lost faith in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and that law and order had completely collapsed in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress and the SP contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls together in 2017 but the alliance did not work in their favour as the BJP stormed to power with a landslide victory.

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Amit Shah Launches BJP’s Mass Contact Campaign In Madhya Pradesh

BJP president Amit Shah today formally launched the party’s mass contact campaign in the Malwa-Nimad region of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

Mr Shah launched the ‘Maha Jansampark Abhiyan’ from the Rajwada area and sought support from the people for his party in the upcoming polls.

He garlanded a statue of Ahilyabai Holkar, a former queen of the kingdom of Malwa, in front of the historic Rajwada Palace of the erstwhile Holkar dynasty.

Mr Shah also offered prayers at a Mahalaxmi temple located in the vicinity.

The BJP chief launched the campaign from a famous ‘paan shop’ in Rajwada and its owner offered a ‘paan‘ to Mr Shah.

Standing on the foot-board of his vehicle, Mr Shah greeted the people gathered in the area and then travelled from Rajwada Palace to Krishnapura Chhatri, covering a distance of about half-a-kilometer.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is the BJP MP from Indore, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other senior party leaders accompanied Mr Shah.

The mass contact programme will cover the Malwa-Nimar region of western Madhya Pradesh, an area considered a BJP bastion.

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Modi in Rajasthan: PM accuses Congress of playing ‘vote bank politics’, lists Vasundhara Raje govt’s triumphs

Accusing the Congress of working for only one family and practising vote-bank politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked the people to keep it away from power, breaking the state’s tradition of alternating power between the Congress and the BJP every five years.

Addressing a meeting marking the completion of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s month-long “journey for pride”, he said “while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not have the habit of lying as it works on the mantra of ‘sarva jana hitay‘ and ‘sarva jana sukhay’ (interest of all), the opposition is fond of doing vote-bank politics”.

“Those who do vote bank politics, they enjoy the issue of Hindu-Muslim, old-youth, forward-backward, this caste that caste and man and woman,” he said in his address to party activists in this religious town, where the BJP lost a prestigious Lok Sabha bye-election earlier this year.

“And this vote bank politics is not limited to elections, but it keeps on going for long.””Wherever they get the opportunity they try to divide the society,” Modi said about Congress adding that it was easy to divide but very hard to unite. “And the BJP believes in uniting the society,” he said.

He said that the result of the vote-bank politics was that the poor who voted for them keep on cursing them for five years.

Modi also said that Rajasthan has a tradition of alternating between Congress and BJP every five years and expressed confidence that this time that tradition would be broken.

“This time it should be changed. This time, let us keep Congress away from power in the state and elect the BJP,” he said.

“The BJP government in the state believes in accountability and thus we believe in presenting the report card of the works our governments has done, whether it’s Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh.

“The BJP never hides its face while giving the report card to the people. But the Congress keeps on spreading lies,” Modi said.

“For 60 years the Congress followed the tradition of vote-bank politics,” he said.

Accusing Congress leaders and workers of worshipping one family, Modi said: “When I came here, (Chief Minister) Vasundhara Raje told me that the Congress leaders are not present in the Assembly, they do not raise any questions, they do not participate in debates.

“They do not do anything like this because they are busy serving one family, they are busy in worshipping one family.

“For them their high command is one family, but for the BJP our high command is seven and half crore people of the state. Should such forces be allowed again to come to power?” asked Modi and answered himself, “We don’t have to allow them to come to power again.”

Modi said that the Congress which failed in the government in the last 60 years also failed as the opposition.

“Earlier I had said that there should be a clever opposition, dedicated to people, they should have sensibility of people’s problem, keep a tab on the government’s works, participate in debate and give ideas to the government.

“But it was unfortunate that they have not only failed in the government but they have also failed as an opposition.

“They don’t do hard work, thus they have taken the help of lies and false propaganda. And when we dare them for a debate they flee,” he added.

Modi said that after 60 years, the country is in the right direction. “And they should not be given another chance,” he said.

Attacking Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his hug in Lok Sabha, Modi said, “There are people who think that they can change the course of their politics with a hug.”

Modi also asked the Congress what had stopped them from increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for the farmers.

“Why didn’t you increase the MSP for farmers? Who stopped you from doing so?

“We (BJP) did that. We increased the MSP of the farmers and now you (Congress) people have a problem with the Modi government that how I did this. And now as nothing is left for the Congress they are, every morning, manufacturing a new lie,” he said.

Modi also said that about Rs 62,000 crore will go to farmers every year after every farming season. “Congress never thought for farmers. Farmers have now insurance for crops like never before. So they never dare to debate over development. Why is the Congress not fighting election on facts?” he asked.

Highlighting the works of his government, Modi said that it brought relief for women against triple talaq. “We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. I thank Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan governments for death sentence against rapists. Now the justice has been fast-tracked. And the demons with such mentality should be scared,” he said.

He also said that now 30 percent women are working in government departments, which is not seen in many of the developed nation yet. “Our government also gave maternity leave for 26 weeks,” he said.

Hailing the Rajasthan chief minister for implementing the Central Government’s task of electrifying all villages in the state, he said, “When Vasundhara Raje came to power, about 13 lakh people were living in the 18th century (darkness). We had promised electrification for all. We provided electricity to 13 lakh people. Those who are yet to get electricity, the Rajasthan government and the Centre are working for them,” he said.

Modi also said that about two lakh hectare will have irrigation facilities through water from Chambal. The work on the technical survey in 13 districts are on and after that we shall start the work so that 40 percent people of the state will get sweet water to drink,” he said.

The 200-member Rajasthan assembly will go to polls on December 7, where the BJP is in power. The term of the Rajasthan Assembly expires on 20 January, 2019.

Slamming the Congress for questioning the second anniversary of the surgical strike as Parakram Parv, Modi said: “When last week I came to Rajasthan to pay tribute to the brave soldiers, they spread lies that I was going to sound the poll bugle.

“But I was here to celebrate the valour of our armed forces, I was here to celebrate the second anniversary of the surgical strike. “

He said that the surgical strike which was carried out in September 2016 showed the valour of our soldiers.

“But what has happened to Congress? Has politics pushed them to such a low that they belittle the surgical strike? They should feel ashamed for questioning the surgical strike,” he said.

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