Arhtiya dies moments before Capt visit
Ferozepur, October 19
A commission agent died on Wednesday evening moments before PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh was scheduled to address farmers from his shop located at grain market in Ferozepur Cantt. According to information, Amar Singh, who was also sarpanch of Godarwala village, died of a cardiac arrest following which Amarinder's programme was cancelled. Congress MLA Parminder Singh Pinki, who had organised the programme, said the visit was cancelled as a mark of respect to Amar Singh, who was a Congress worker.HC dismisses Kejri’s plea to stay Jaitley libel case
New Delhi: In a blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to pursue both criminal and civil defamation cases against the Aam Aadmi Party supremo for alleging corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) while the BJP leader was heading the sports body for 15 years till December 2013. “There is no legal impediment to invoke civil proceedings for defamation as well as initiating criminal proceedings for defamation simultaneously and continuation of the same,” Jutice PS Teji held in his 30-page judgment while rejecting Kejriwal’s plea for quashing the criminal defamation case pending with CMM, Patiala House Courts. TNS
Admn gears up for inauguration of war museum on Oct 23
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 19
Amarinder bats for Singla for Bathinda (Urban) seat
Ripples in political circles as Harminder Jassi and Manpreet are also frontrunners
Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, October 19
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh today said he would recommend the name of former finance minister and former Bathinda (Urban) MLA Surinder Singla to party high command for contesting the Assembly election from here.singla’s return
- The return of Surinder Singla was also evident from the huge banners and hoardings installed in the city welcoming Capt Amarinder Singh’s Kisan Yatra on Tuesday evening
- One thing that goes against Surinder Singla is that he has stayed away from the city for a long time
Getting feelers from CPI, Cong forms committee to poach Left
3-member panel to hold parleys with CPI on seat-sharing; Left parties divided on pactIt is important to consolidate the secular vote bank to curb the growing religious fundamentalism that the Congress and the Left have traditionally been fighting against for long. RAJINDER KAUR BHATTAL, senior Congress leaderCHANDIGARH:
In its bid to consolidate the secular vote bank, the Congress has formed a threemember committee for holding talks with its erstwhile ally — the Communist Party of India (CPI) — for an electoral alliance in the forthcoming Punjab assembly polls.he last time CPI had an alliance with the Congress was in 2002 assembly polls when it had won two seats.All India Congress Committee secretary Harish Chaudhary and senior leaders Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Lal Singh are likely to hold talks with the Punjab unit of the CPI within 2-3 days. Sources said CPI was demanding five assembly seats.
“It is important to consolidate the secular vote bank to curb the growing religious fundamentalism that the Congress and the Left have traditionally been fighting against for long,” Bhattal told HT, confirming the Congress’ willingness to join hands with the CPI.
She said the three-member committee was formed on the direction of the party’s high command, and with the consent of Punjab in-charge Asha Kumari and state president Capt Amarinder Singh.
The CPI’s secretariat had met on Sunday and the state leadership was given the green signal to hold parleys with the Congress on seat-sharing, party sources told HT.The CPI has zeroed in on six seats in case of an alliance works out with the Congress. Four of the seats are: Bathinda, Mansa, Nihalsinghwala (all having Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs) and Amritsar-West (currently with the Congress), sources said. LEFT MEET FAILS TO REACH CONSENSUS
The crucial meeting of the four main Left parties of Punjab— CPI, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), CPI (ML)-Liberation and Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) on Wednesday failed to reach a consensus on contesting the state elections together. It was the CPI that put its foot down, seeking more time to decide on the issue. The CPI leadership led by the party central committee member Dr Jogidner Dayal also conveyed that the Congress was keen on an alliance, sources said.
While Dayal and CPI Punjab secretary Hardev Arshi refused to talk on the issue, a combined press statement signed by the leadership of all the four parties said: “There is a need for the Left and secular parties to join hands against parties propagating policies in favour of privatisation and corporatisation.The CPM leadership conveyed to the CPI in the meeting that its central leadership had already decided against any handshake with the Congress, which was also endorsed by the CPI(ML)Liberation and the RMPI.
In Punjab, it’s all about slogans, not welfare
THE STATE’S MOST VULNERABLE SECTIONS, NAMELY THE ELDERLY, HANDICAPPED, WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, ARE NOT NEEDY; THEY ARE DESPERATE. INDIFFERENCE TO THEIR HARDSHIP HAS SEVERE CONSEQUENCES
Amuch-trumpeted provision of the 2016-17 Punjab budget was a scheme to provide pension to farmers. The Punjab government was ‘expecting’ this scheme for the past eight months, only to suffer a ‘miscarriage’ in mid-October when the state finance department declared that the treasury did not have the `80 crore needed to implement it. Apparently, the state government is going to try again and this time use the mandi board money.
The state government announced the scheme during the budget session in March, but it was never clear how the scheme would work or who would be eligible. Even at the time of the announcement, people who were familiar with the state’s past record in the matter of social welfare schemes saw little likelihood that the pension would actually reach farmers.
Social welfare has never been on the agenda of the Punjab government – except as a slogan. Punjab’s small and marginal farmers and farm labourers need pensions, but even as these people are numerous and parties need their votes, they are too disorganised and fragmented to wring needed measures from the government. HARYANA FARES BETTER
Punjab and Haryana are both agricultural states and — going by the size of their respective 2015-16 state budgets — they have nearly the same resources, but they perform very differently when it comes to social welfare.
In 2015, the Badal government doubled the pension for the destitute elderly people. This sounds generous, but the reality is that the pension amount – formerly `250 per month – became `500 per month. Also in Haryana, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that persons eligible for old age and other social security pension would get enhanced pension of `1,400 per month with effect from January, 2016 (The previous Congress government instituted automatic pension hike of `200 per year). Haryana pays the pensions on schedule into recipients’ bank accounts or delivers the amount if recipients are over 80 years of age. Pensions in Punjab are released sporadically, sometimes after a gap of months.
In Punjab, a person owning more than two acres fertile land or four acres barren land is ineligible as are persons with a monthly income of `1,500 or more. Women become eligible at 60 and men at 65. In Haryana, all persons above the age of 60 are eligible if their annual income from all sources together with that of the spouse is below `50,000. Land holding is not a criterion.The Punjab finance department found no money for farmers’ pensions but there was no dearth when it came to providing pensions and wage hikes to legislators. In March 2015, Punjab’s legislators voted themselves hikes ranging from 57% to 100%. WHEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM?
Is Punjab’s problem the lack of money or the way the state likes to disburse it? Pension schemes are governed by rules, and eligible recipients receive pension as a matter of right. The chief minister prefers to disburse money as a matter of ‘grace and favour’. This is what his ‘sangat darshans’ amount to. The panchayat gathers in his presence hoping that their ‘bainti’ will be granted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at the Centre on the slogan ‘achhe din aane wale hai’. Punjab’s ruling Akali-BJP coalition certainly cannot campaign on an ‘achhe din’ slogan. They have had nine years to usher in ‘achhe din’ but unemployment is rife as industries have been lured away to adjoining states that enjoy central benefits. The mafias of the state have tightened their grip and -- being trans-party in character -- they will continue to flourish regardless of who comes to power. The input-profit squeeze in agriculture has worsened, driving farm incomes down and farm debt up to an estimated `69,355 crore. Pauperisation has resulted in more rural suicides.
The state’s most vulnerable sections, namely the elderly, handicapped, widows and orphans, are not needy -- they are desperate. Indifference to their hardship has severe consequences. Punjab’s very high rate of rural suicide is an obvious one. The Rescue and Revival Mission covers nearly 110 villages in the subdivisions of Lehra, Andana and Budhlada. In the first six months of this year, 32 farmers and farm labourers of these villages have committed suicide. In all cases, the victims were heavily in debt. These 110 documented villages amount to only 0.8% of Punjab’s total 12,581 villages. How many suicides would have taken place in the other 99.2%?
But all this is invisible... invisible to the government, invisible to the parties, invisible to the leaders. The news centres on ‘who’ — breakaway leaders, splintering parties and new hopefuls. Issues constitute the ‘what’, but ‘what’ is largely ignored. Where is the leader who represents anything besides himself ?
No comments:
Post a Comment