Rajasthan Polls 2018: Sensing good show, Congress sitting MPs join ticket queue

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Top Congress leaders in Rajasthan are vying for tickets anticipating a ‘good performance’ by their party in the upcoming assembly elections. Even those who had contested the parliamentary polls earlier are pushing for their candidature. One of the two current Lok Sabha MPs from Congress has also indicated his willingness to try his luck in the polls.

“It would be a party decision. I am ready for whatever the party asks me to do,” he said.

Congress had drawn a blank in the 2014 general elections from Rajasthan. Later, Karan Singh Yadav won from Alwar and Raghu Sharma from Ajmer.

“It was after these bypoll victories that the Congress has come into the reckoning. Now, Rajasthan is the best bet for the party’s revival,” said a senior Congress functionary.

Political analysts feel that the rush for Congress tickets this time is due to the suspense over the chief ministerial candidate.

“Had the party declared the CM face, like BJP has done by projecting Vasundhara Raje, other senior Congress leaders would not have shown so much of interest,” said Ram Pratap Singh, a political analyst.

In 2013, Congress had fought by projecting the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the CM candidate. That time, most of the senior leaders contested the Lok Sabha elections giving the assembly polls a miss, which were held about six months before the 2014 LS elections.

“Party stalwarts Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, CP Joshi, Girija Vyas, Mahesh Joshi, Namo Narayan Meena and Ijyaraj Singh, among others, unsuccessfully contested the elections then. Now, focus is on the state assembly polls where dislodging Raje looks more “doable” than engaging in the “complicated” 2019 general elections,” he said.

Earlier in 2008, CP Joshi, the then state party chief, was slated to become the chief minister (though not declared).

But he lost the election by a solitary vote and Ashok Gehlot was given the responsibility

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Rajasthan: Eye on polls, BJP, Congress woo SC voters

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Rajasthan has 34 Assembly seats that are reserved for the SC community. The BJP won 32 of these in the 2013 state polls, while the Congress drew a blank. In 2014, however, the Congress won the Weir reserved seat in a bypoll.

With Assembly elections in Rajasthan a few months away, the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress are vying with each other to woo the Scheduled Castes which, according to the 2011 Census, account for 18 per cent of the state’s population.

According to BJP, More than 2,000 ‘booth vistaraks’ of the party are going from village to village and telling members of the SC community about the Centre and state government’s initiatives for the weaker sections of the society.

“Each vistarak has been allotted two villages where they will interact with the SC youth and residents. We are telling them about state and central government initiatives such as the construction of Ambedkar Bhawans in each municipality,” O P Mahendra, president of state BJP SC Morcha, told The Indian Express. Ambedkar Bhawans are community centres being built by the state government.

Mahendra said the vistaraks are also highlighting the central government’s move to bring The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill in August. The Bill was brought to undo “dilution” of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by a Supreme Court order that laid down guidelines to be followed before registering a case under the Act. The verdict was met with strong protests from the community.

“The vistaraks will also make the SC population aware about the efforts of the Narendra Modi government to protect the memory of Babasaheb, such as the inauguration of a memorial in London. The Congress didn’t do any of this,” said Mahendra.

Rajasthan has 34 Assembly seats that are reserved for the SC community. The BJP won 32 of these in the 2013 state polls, while the Congress drew a blank. In 2014, however, the Congress won the Weir reserved seat in a bypoll.

The Congress, meanwhile, has launched Samvidhan se Swabhiman Yatra to reach out to the SC population. “Around 4,000 Congress workers are going to every panchayat, slum and village, and convening meetings with the SC population. They are telling them that democracy and secularism are in danger and there is a need to vote Congress back to power,” said Goparam Meghwal, president of the party’s state SC department.

Dalit rights activists said there is anger among the SC population, especially after the April 2 Bandh when several people from the community complained of persecution and harassment by police and anti-reservation outfits. “Neither Congress or BJP can take the SC population for granted. There is anger among Dalit youth and they won’t tolerate discrimination anymore,” said Satish Kumar, director, Centre for Dalit Rights, Jaipur.

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Polls Effect : Madhya Pradesh to have cow ministry: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

If Madhya Pradesh implements the decision, it will become the second Indian state after Rajasthan to get a cow ministry.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday announced that his government will set up a cow welfare ministry to ensure that cattle in the state are treated well. “I have reason to believe that the Cow Protection Board in the state should be turned into a full-fledged ministry,” Mr Chouhan said at an event attended by Digambar Jain monk Vidhyasagarji Maharaj in Khajuraho.

The announcement comes in the run-up to the state assembly elections, where the ruling BJP is expected to face a resurgent Congress amid likely anti-incumbency. The model code of conduct is expected to kick in soon.

“The cow ministry will replace the existing Madhya Pradesh Gaupalan Evam Pashudhan Samvardhan Board because it has limitations,” Mr Chouhan said, adding that an independent ministry can help serve cows in a much better way.

Referring to the country’s first cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa district, the Chief Minister said a single facility was not enough to shelter a large number of cattle and more sanctuaries of the kind would be set up soon.

If Madhya Pradesh implements the decision, it will become the second Indian state after Rajasthan to get a cow ministry. Cow Protection Board chairman Akhileshwaranand Giri had earlier recommended the setting up of such a ministry, stating that the move would inspire future generations to take care of cows in the same way the Chief Minister “had tended to bovines at his home”.

He also said that establishing a cow ministry would help create a “golden Madhya Pradesh” and set a precedent for other states, much on the lines of its “happiness department”.

Incidentally, opposition Congress chief Kamal Nath has also promised to construct cow shelters in every panchayat if voted to power. “Look at the condition of the cows here. They always keep talking about cattle but do nothing for them. If we are voted to power, we will construct gaushalas in every panchayat,” he said last month.

There has been increased focus on the welfare of cows across the country ever since the Narendra Modi-led BJP stormed to power in 2014. Cow shelters have been set up on a war footing, and a majority of Indian states have various regulations prohibiting either the slaughter or sale of cattle. Earlier this year, Animal Welfare Board of India chairman SP Gupta had even said that while his department cares for all animals, “there is no doubt that the cow is at the centre”.

However, the heightened focus on cattle welfare has also resulted in increased mob killings across the country. According to a Reuters report, 28 people were killed and 124 injured in cow-related violence between 2010 and 2017.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court said India should not be allowed to descend into “mobocracy”, and asked states to ensure that nobody resorts to vigilantism.

Telangana agri varsity (PJTSAU) signs pact with drone maker AEGIS

To promote awareness and utility of drone technology in agriculture operations, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) has signed a memorandam of understanding (MoU) with Bengaluru-based drone manufactuer AEGIS.

The MoU was signed by S Sudheer Kumar, Registrar, PJTSAU, and S Vinod Kumar, Director, AEGIS, in the presence of Vice-Chancellor V Praveen Rao.

PJTSAU can now use the technical services of AEGIS in diagnosing pests and diseases in rice, maize and cotton crops in the State. Further, it will be used for spraying pesticides. Directors of institutes under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research also participated in the event.

The Vice-Chancellor suggested the preparation of a detailed action plan in consultation with AEGIS for effective use of drone technology in agriculture, to improve skill development among agricultural graduates and prepare a curriculum to start one-month certificate course which can help develop and train manpower in handling drone technology.

Medical services flatline in Rajasthan

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On Friday, more than 5,000 medical shops in Jaipur and around 45,000 medical shops in Rajasthan remained closed over the union government’s decision to regularize online pharmacies.

The medical shops, including the wholesale shops that abound in the Film Colony and those that operate outside the Sawai Man Singh Hospital, the largest operating public sector hospital in state, remained closed. The support for the call for nationwide shutdown in other districts was more or less the same, with most chemists shutting down their outlets on Friday. An almost total shutdown was reported from Kota and Jodhpur despite government’s call to private hospitals to keep their drug stores open.

“All the shops across the state remained closed today, business worth Rs 75-100 crore was affected in a single day due to the strike,” informed Ajay Agarwal, spokesperson of Rajasthan Chemist Association.

As per a rough estimate trade worth Rs 10-12 crore went down the drain in Jaipur due to closure of more than 5,000 shops.The result was that patients were seen going from one market to another in search of medicines.

The situation of patients who were admitted to the hospital did not suffer much as hospitals had stocked medicines after the state health department swung into action to lessen the impact of the bandh and tackle the shortfall of medicines for in-patient departments. However, the patients of OPD were seen carrying the prescription from the doctor and were looking for outlets that could provide them the said medicines.

There was some relief to the pensioners who could get a limited supply of medicines from the medical stores run by the cooperative department. But largely the patients felt helpless as the shops remained closed throughout the day.

The branded medical stores had already sent advance text messages to their customers informing them about the strike and to arrange for emergency medicines in advance.

The state government had made arrangements to make sure that medicines were available in abundance at all Community Health Centers, Primary Health Centers, District Hospitals, Sub Centers, Hospitals associated to Medical Colleges, PM Jan Aushadhi Kendra, Life Line Fluid Stores and Co operative medical stores across the state.

The Threat

The traditional medical shops are seeing the online pharmacy business as a threat and want that the provisions of online pharmacy should not be made legal. There are a large number of people who have started buying medicines from online pharmacy platforms.
They say that it’s against rules of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1945 and the proposed set of provisions for online retailers go against interest of traditional shops.

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This collector turned a stinking Chhattisgarh city into its cleanest small city

Self-help groups collected door-to-door waste and segregated them into 24 categories of organic and inorganic waste. A final round of micro segregation was done, after which the refined and cleaned waste was sold to scrap dealers.

Ritu Sain, a 2003-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, can’t forget the first sight that greeted her when she entered Ambikapur city, in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, in February 2014.

“There was a big signpost welcoming people to the municipal corporation of Ambikapur, and bang opposite that was a huge open dumping yard. The stink was unbearable. I thought to myself, what kind of impression the city would create if this was the first thing a person saw after entering,” she said.

Sain had just taken charge as Ambikapur collector. Even before she reached her official residence, she knew what her first priority was going to be. “There was no looking back since that day. I was clear about what I wanted to do,” Sain, now Chhattisgarh’s additional resident commissioner in Delhi, said.

“It was a challenge. The city with a population of 1,45,000 had meagre funds and hardly any capacity to take up the cleaning task. I knew whatever I did would have to be participatory, viable and replicable,” Sain, who studied international relations from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said.

Long brainstorming sessions with all stakeholders followed and, within two months, Sain was ready with the road map. Initially, the solid and liquid resource management model was started on a pilot basis in one ward.

Women from self-help groups (SHG) were engaged. A three-member team comprising SHG workers was formed. Each team was assigned 100 households, where they would have to go door to door collecting waste after segregating it at source.

A garbage clinic was opened in the ward, where the women again segregated the collected material into 24 categories of organic and inorganic waste. A third and final round of micro segregation was done, after which the refined and cleaned waste was sold to scrap dealers.

By May 2016, all 48 wards in the city were covered. The municipality also fixed a user charge for door-to-door collections. Currently, 447 women work from 7am to 5 pm daily at the 48 garbage segregation centres. All of them are provided safety gear such as jackets, aprons, gloves and masks. They also undergo regular health screening.

The result is there for all to see. The 16-acre open dumping yard has been converted into a sanitation awareness park. The 200 overflowing community dustbins have been replaced by just five.

“It’s a self-sustaining model. Each woman gets to earn Rs 5,000 per month from user fee and sale of recyclables. We have spent Rs 6 crore to put the entire infrastructure in place and have already earned Rs 2 crore. The money earned is being spent on the sanitation workers,” Sain said.

Ambikapur was declared the cleanest small city in the 2018 cleanliness survey by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry. “It’s very fulfilling to see that something we started has come so far and is sustaining itself,” Sain said.

MP Assembly Elections: Samajwadi Party to Contest 24 Seats

Samajwadi Party’s national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary said that it is ready to go into the assembly election in Madhya Pradesh with full strength. It will contest around two dozen assembly constituencies in the state.

The Samajwadi Party is planning to contest 24 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, according to its leaders.

In a statement issued in Lucknow, a party spokesperson said, “SP national president Akhilesh Yadav will be in Madhya Pradesh on a two-day visit. On September 29, he will address a public meeting at Shahdol. On the 30th, he will address a public meeting in Balaghat.”
SP’s national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary said, “Akhilesh Yadav has already held a number of programmes in the recent past in Bhopal, Satna, Rewa, Khajuraho, Panna, Sidhi, Shahdil. Hence, the Samajwadi Party is ready to go into the assembly election in Madhya Pradesh with full strength. It will contest around two dozen assembly constituencies in the state.”

The party organisation has expanded in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, Chaudhary claimed.

Chaudhary said, “In the past 15 years of the BJP rule in MP, youngsters have been pushed to the brink of unemployment. The condition of farmers is bad, and they are deprived of irrigation facilities and minimum support price for their crops.”

TRS will play decisive role after LS elections in 2019

TRS leader and minister in Telangana’s caretaker government K T Rama Rao Friday expressed confidence that the party would play a decisive role at the Centre after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to work for the state’s interests.

It would be a coalition era after the next parliamentary elections, he said,addressing a gathering of TRS workers here.

“I am fully confident that in this coalition era, TRS will definitely be in a decisive role in Delhi and get what is due for Telangana, not by begging the Centre, but by dictating.

Our leader KCR has the intelligence and strategy to do it,” Rama Rao, son of TRS president and Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said.

Claiming that the popularity of BJP and also Congress is on the decline,he exuded confidence that the Telangana people would overwhelmingly vote for TRS in the Lok Sabha polls.

“I am confident that our Telangana people will give a judgement with awareness to give 16 parliament seats to TRS. Because the Modi graph is falling. I need not say specially about Rahul Gandhi… One who wants to vote would also run away after seeing him,” he said.

He also alleged that the NDA government had not done justice for Telangana over last over four years.

Assembly polls in Telangana were originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year.

However, the assembly was dissolved earlier this month as per a recommendation of the state cabinet, which necessitated elections ahead of the schedule.

Election Commission must retain credibility of Seshan’s days: Apex Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the credibility the Election Commission gained when it was headed by T.N. Seshan should be seen in the conduct of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

“We want it (credibility) to remain here also (in providing the voters list),” a bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan said while deciding to hold a hearing on the plea seeking voters list to weed out bogus voters.

Madhya Pradesh-based Jaya Thakur has moved the top court seeking directions to the Election Commission.

Pointing to the acts of omission and inaction on the part of the Centre, the Election Commission and the State Election Commission in Madhya Pradesh, the petitioner contended that it would impede a free, fair and unbiased election set for later this year.

The court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to dwell on what it meant by the text mode voters list backed with documents and authorities.

Directing the listing of the matter on October 4, the court said that the credibility the Election Commission acquired during Seshan’s time should continue.

Election Commission sets the stage for Telangana elections

The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday said that the model code of conduct will come into force immediately in states where the legislative assembly has been prematurely dissolved.

The directive comes against the backdrop of then Telangana chief minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao, dissolving the assembly on 6 September and calling for early elections. The term of the House was to end in June 2019.

The Commission said in an official communique to the cabinet secretary and chief secretaries of all states that the caretaker government should merely carry on with day-to-day governance and desist from taking any major policy decisions.

The code will also be applicable to the central government on matters relating to the state.

The EC said the model code will continue till the new Assembly is elected. The direction is in line with a 1994 Supreme Court order that said that neither the caretaker state government nor the central government will announce any schemes or projects with respect to the particular state.