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Congress state president raised questions about recruitment scams and demanded a CBI inquiry!

Mahara has said that huge corruption and nepotism were seen in the recruitments of all departments including Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission, Cooperation Department, and Education Department. Due to this, the Congress State President has applied for a CBI inquiry. Stay tuned on this page and make eyeball attention to this entire content.

According to reports, it is being told that Congress workers, alleging rigging in recruitment in various institutions, asked the Governor to complete all the work under the supervision of the CBI. Moreover, it has also been said that demand will also be made to conduct an inquiry under the supervision of the Judge of the High Court.

As you all know, the workers who met the Governor under the leadership of Congress State President Karan Mehra have told that there has been a lot of corruption in the jobs of government departments. It was also told that it was clarified by the order of inquiry into the recruitment examination in the Subordinate Services Selection Commission, in the recruitment of the cooperative department, 33 posts of Secretariat Guard and 288 posts of Judicial Junior Assistant.

There has been a huge amount of fraud in the recruitment of guards, Gram Panchayat secretary, and village development officer. Among those who met the Governor are former State President Ganesh Godiyal, MLA Furkan Ahmed, State Vice President Suryakant Dhasmana, State General Secretary Organization Vijay Saraswat, Chief Spokesperson Garima Dasani and former MLA Rajkumar etc.

It has also been alleged that in the recruitment of 61 posts in cooperative banks, the bank president, secretary and officers in connivance have provided jobs to their relatives, due to which the hard-working candidates are not getting the benefits of government services. . To stop this corruption, the state president has asked for a CBI inquiry. Through CBI investigation it can be proved what percentage of seats these people have snatched from hardworking candidates.

To get the latest and best news, stay connected with this channel like this, tomorrow once again we will meet you with the new and latest news.

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UP and Punjab can pose a challenge for election commission in 2022

Election in India

Early next year, three states, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, are due to hold elections. In this regard, Election Commission of India has a major challenge. It has to conduct elections in the midst of a pandemic and a possible third wave. Preparations for UP election 2022 have begun among the parties. Preparations like alliance building have begun for Punjab elections as well.

Also Read: Akali dal-BSP alliance chalked up for upcoming Punjab election

The Election Commission needs to start its planning and preparations now.  A repeat of its mistakes during the West Bengal election cannot be afforded now. The election event in West Bengal turned out to be a super-spreader event in the way it was conducted. The election officials, the central forces were allegedly not following the Covid-apt behaviour. Additionally, rallies were conducted tossing away social distancing norms.

Currently, UP has a low vaccination rate. And, it is forecast to be one of the most likely Covid hotspots in India. It may also perhaps be heading for a massive third wave.

There are 200+ million people in UP. Out of them, only 2 percent have so far had both doses of the vaccine. It is a near-impossible task to vaccinate even half of the remaining 98 percent of UP’s population before the elections.

Punjab is ranked as the 6th worst state of India by vaccination rate. It is not far behind UP.

These two states lag behind their target vaccine rates. A closer look into the data makes it clear that we are heading towards a Covid-crisis. The UP vaccination rate is 66 percent below target while Punjab is 47 percent below target. If the poll body does not take precautions, UP and Punjab can lead to super-spreaders causing a huge third wave of Covid19.

Also Read: A peek into by-polls in India-Can there be a way around them?

What election commission can do?

The election commission should not allow large or crowded rallies, which can trigger super-spreading events. That can actualise the fears of a massive third wave of Covid19 where tens of thousands may die.

The poll body may instead allow for street-corner meetings with under 50 people. Following of social distancing and wearing of masks should be made compulsory for such meetings. Courts may coordinate with the poll body to monitor such meetings and rallies with drones. The poll body must penalize any candidate who violates the 50 people limit. This directive must be announced in advance.

Television can be used by the parties to reach out to the voters. Election commission, courts and TRAI can map out a modality where each party can be designated a time-slot where they can place their candidates & manifestos prior to the election. Such a channel can be mandated to be made as a primary channel in any DTH input. And ultimately, the number of counting stations can be increased to address the requirement of social distancing on the day of vote counting and declaration of election result.

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Chief Minister of Uttarakhand called for meetings in New Delhi

Tirath Singh Rawat

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat was called to New Delhi for a meeting with BJP high command and other leaders. This development has rung bells in the political corridors of the state. The CM was called to Delhi by BJP high command and he was expected to reach the Uttarakhand house in the national capital by around 1 pm. CM Rawat replaced Trivendra Singh Rawat as the CM in March this year over dissatisfaction by party MLAs against the latter. He has mostly made news for his infamous comments like didactic over attire of sanskari girls & ripped jeans. His comment of ‘America enslaved India’ had made him the centre of jokes and trolls.

Also Read: Major setback to BJP in north Bengal: Ganga Prasad with 7 other leaders switched to TMC

Rawat’s visit has formed cradle for birth of political speculations. This is because, in the state, he had a busy schedule for today. He was expected to launch several programmes relating to the ministry of his cabinet minister Rekha Arya. Apart from that the BJP in Uttarakhand has just concluded a three-day event. It was to chart out the party’s strategy for the 2022 assembly polls. The programme was termed as Chintan Shivir. It was held in Ramnagar, Nainital. Despite the aspersions and concerns within the party, there was no indication of any resentment against Tirath Rawat in the ‘Chintan Shivir’.

Also Read: Results of Covid19 crisis, O2-deficit, & West Bengal election defeat- Denigration & rift within BJP

Sources indicated that the BJP high command planned to discuss the outcome of the three-day political meeting in Uttarakhand. The party also premeditated to discuss further about the party’s planning for the assembly polls in the state next year. Tirath Rawat was expected to meet the top BJP leaders including party chief JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah. The meetings can be held today or tomorrow.

As Rawat was inducted as the Chief Minister without being an MLA, he is also looking towards his election to the Uttarakhand Assembly before September 9. When he was made the state’s Chief Minister on March 9, he was a Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal constituency in Uttarakhand. To continue as chief minister, he must be elected to the assembly within six months through by-elections. Like him, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is also looking for her by-election. Tirath Rawat has not clarified his constituency from where he will contest. He has said that the party high command will take the final call on it.

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Chief Ministers of two states with other leaders await by-election-what is ECI doing?

Election-commission

Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Uttarakhand face deadlines to get elected to their state legislatures. In this regard, the election commission of India is yet undecided about when to conduct the by-elections for the two CMs. By elections are among the not so highlighted yet important elections in India.

After conducting five assembly polls, which coincided with the second wave ofE Covid19, the election commission has indefinitely deferred the by-elections. It is worthwhile to note that the Madras high court had held the election commission responsible for the explosion of cases in the second wave and that the poll body officials should face murder charges.

It may be because of the flak which it received from the Madras high court that the poll body has not yet decided on the by-election. It has not even scheduled any meeting this week to discuss the issue.

Also Read: What led to BJP’s defeat-Important highlights at the conclusion of the West Bengal election

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India had last week refused to accept Covid19 as an excuse to defer the elections. The Apex court has directed the Tamil Nadu state election commission to conduct the civic body polls by September 15, “before the third wave of Covid19 arrives”.

Justice Hemant Gupta shared the vacation bench with Justice Aniruddha Bose to hear urgent matters. Justice Gupta observed, “Covid has become a good excuse in all matters. We know the reality in these matters; unless and until political parties are ready, elections are not held.”

A senior official in the E stated, “At the moment, the commission has not taken a decision but it is definitely assessing the situation. The Supreme Court direction was for a state election commission and has no bearing on us. No meeting has been scheduled on this matter.”

At the local levels, the state election commissions conduct municipal and panchayat polls and are independent of the election commission of India. In Indian election and parliamentary system any unelected ministers are required to get themselves elected within six months of taking the oath.

After TMC’s election victory, Mamata Banerjee would be contesting the necessary by-election from her home turf of Bhowanipore, which a state cabinet colleague has vacated for her. It was because in Nandigram Assembly Constituency seat, where Banerjee stood for election, Suvendu Adhikari had won by a thin margin.

In the follow-up of the election result, Mamata has also petitioned Calcutta High Court challenging the Nandigram result. If the High Court orders a recount and she wins, she will not need to contest a by-election. She had recently taken a dig at the Election Commission from a position similar to the apex court’s in the matter of the Tamil Nadu civic polls.

She said, “I came to know that when Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) will give the instruction, then only they (the commission) will hold the by-election. If it is so, then I will request the Prime Minister, clear the by-election. Because now, the situation is okay. But if the third wave (of the pandemic) comes, then you cannot do anything.”

Also Read: Sitakulchi firing-Facts on the ground do not add up with the claims by the central forces

In April, the ECI ironically had rejected Mamata’s demand to club the last three of the eight phases of the Bengal polls and minimise the pandemic damage when the second wave was escalating.

The poll body, whose autonomy is protected by the Constitution, has not responded to Mamata’s jibe on the Prime Minister’s prospective “instruction”.  It has also been reported by a Kolkata-based daily that the current chief election commissioner has not responded on the query over criteria of conducting an election during a pandemic.

Maharashtra’s state election commission last week rejected a request from the state government to defer local body polls in five districts, scheduled on July 19, on the ground of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Bengal BJP is eroding its hold over party-men and leaders. Yet, it has opposed by-elections being held during the pandemic and demanded that Mamata resign. And it must be remembered that it was the same party which was carrying out rallies during the second wave, bringing in people from outside Bengal into the state increasing the chances of spread.

In West Bengal, seven Assembly seats are vacant. Due to the deaths of candidates, elections were not held in two seats. Two Trinamool congress winners died after the polls. Two BJP winners quit their Assembly seats to remain MPs and minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay resigned from the Bhowanipore seat on May 21.

Therefore, Chattopadhyay too needs to be elected by November 21. And Finance minister Amit Mitra, sworn in on May 10 after opting out of the polls, faces a November 10 deadline.

Also Read: TMC vs BJP-Giving too much attention on criticizing a non-existential opponent can cause problem

In Uttarakhand, former state BJP president Rawat was appointed chief minister on March 10. The appointment came after an intra-party struggle against his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat. Following this, the Congress has written to the Election Commission to clear the air on by-elections.

The poll body had cited “lockdown/restrictions under Disaster Management Act, 2005, as issued by NDMA/SDMA”, the national and state disaster management authorities, while deferring the by-elections in Bengal in May.

Both West Bengal and Uttarakhand have unlocked many public services and commercial activities over the past month, with a few restrictions still remaining. Last year, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had sought election to the legislative council after being sworn in. The polls there were postponed because of the pandemic. After that, Uddhav had requested governor B.S. Koshiyari to appoint him to a vacant “nominated” seat, only to be refused.

Uddhav then wrote to centre, after which Koshiyari asked the poll body to notify the election to the vacant legislative council seats.

In this context, the election commission had said in its press note, “In cases of former Prime Ministers Sh. P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991 and Sh. H.D. Deve Gowda in 1996; and several chief ministers of states (like Sh. Ashok Gehlot, chief minister Rajasthan in 1991; Smt. Rabri Devi, chief minister of Bihar in 1997, Sh. Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1993, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh & 4 ministers in 2017, and chief minister of Nagaland in 2017), commission conducted by-elections to fulfil similar constitutional requirement. Commission noted that this has been the consistent practice in the past.”

Also Read: Officials of Election Commission should be booked for murder, said Chief Justice of Madras High Court while castigating ECI

An important question arises in this regard. What will the election commission do? Its credibility has taken a toll after the second wave, when eight phased polls were organized in West Bengal, despite the pandemic. Many alleged that the poll body was doing the bidding of the saffron party. On top of that, the Madras High Court had heavily castigated and reprimanded the election commission for the second wave, commenting that its officers should be booked under murder charges. Now, the poll body has to carry out by-elections of two Chief Ministers; one belonging to BJP and other from TM C. Will it follow a ‘silent under the table nudge’ of BJP, as has been suggested by Mamata Banerjee, or will it carry out its duty remembering the flak from Madras High Court? That remains to be seen.

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In view of Char Dham Yatra, Rawat government in Uttarakhand gave guidelines for vaccination

Chardham-Yatra

Before the opening of the Char Dham Yatra, Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat directed the administration of additional doses of vaccines against coronavirus disease (Covid-19). These doses are intended for all the individuals related to the journey that is set to begin for the residents of three districts of the state, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, and Rudraprayag. Additionally, Covid-19 vaccines have also been allotted for residents in the districts of Tehri and Pauri. Since these places are situated on the way of the Char Dham Yatra, they have been allotted the additional vaccines as well.

A total of 5,000 additional doses each have been provided to the aforementioned districts, following the order. But, the district of Uttarkashi received 10,000 additional doses of the vaccine against coronavirus disease.

Also Read: Two cases why Trivendra Singh Rawat had to leave CM-ship to Tirath

Char Dham Yatra, meaning the pilgrimage of four abodes, is a journey to a set of four ancient pilgrimage sites across India. The one in the state of Uttarakhand consists of a smaller circuit but is equally sacred to many Hindus, who believe in making the yatra at least once in a lifetime. Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri form the Uttarakhand Char Dham Yatra circuit .This circuit is usually closed during winters and reopens for summers. This time, things had to be readjusted according to schedule in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also Read: Around 2400 policemen in Uttarakhand tested Covid-positive in second wave; is there a link with Kumbh?

Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat has instructed to vaccinate all the people who will be in direct contact with pilgrims of the Char Dham Yatra before its commencement. The instruction has been given to ensure the safety of both the locals and the visitors.

The state government has issued guidelines to the concerned officials to vaccinate the priests, shopkeepers, dhaba operators, local residents, mule operators, cab drivers, and others associated with the Char Dham Yatra timely.

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Tirath Singh Rawat to be Uttarakhand’s new CM. Know more about him

Tirath Singh Rawat

Tirath Singh Rawat will take over as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, after Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned from the CM’s post on Tuesday.

56-year-old Tirath Singh Rawat is a BJP MP from the Pauri constituency. He was the chief of the party in Uttarakhand in 2013-15 and also an MLA from the state in the past.

He will be sworn 4pm today at Raj Bhavan.

In the early days of his political career, Rawat was part of the Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata YuvaMorcha, the BJP’s youth wing, where he served as the state vice-president for some time before being elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1997.

A close aide of general BC Khanduri, Teerath Singh Rawat is an old RSS and ABVP hand who has been in BJP for over three decades.

When the state of Uttarakhand was formed in 2000, Tirath Singh Rawat became its first education minister.

He was elected in 2012 as an MLA from the Chaubatakhal assembly constituency in his birthplace of Pauri Garhwal. He continued to serve as the Chaubatakhal MLA till 2017.

In 2019, Tirath Singh Rawat became an MP by defeating his rival Manish Khanduri by over 3.50 lakh votes from the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat.

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Uttarakhand glacier break: UN Chief Antonio Guterres saddened by the loss of lives-UN ready to contribute if necessary

Uttarakhand

Reacting to the glacier burst in Uttarakhand, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he is ‘deeply saddened’ by the loss of lives and expressed condolences to families of victims affected, his spokesperson informed. The United Nations stands ready to contribute to ongoing rescue and assistance efforts if necessary, he added.

In the aftermath of the Uttarakhand glacier burst, 10 bodies have been recovered till now, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said on Monday. Currently, 32 people from the first tunnel and 121 people from the second one are still missing and rescue operations to recover people still trapped in the tunnels are underway in full swing.

The glacier burst took place at the Rishiganga power project after a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday morning and damaged the Rishiganga dam on Alaknanda river.

Twelve people on Sunday were rescued from the smaller tunnel, DGP Ashok Kumar said adding that efforts are underway to open the bigger tunnel where more people are feared trapped.

Rescue operations in one of the tunnels of Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project intensified on Monday as at least 30 people are still trapped inside. “Around 300 ITBP jawans are deployed to clear the tunnel,” said ITBP Spokesperson Vivek Pandey.  As operations are underway, “more teams will be sent there if it is required, we are focussing on rescuing people from the tunnel first,” Pandey added.

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Update on farmers’ protests: Next round of talks on Dec30-More farmers from Uttarakhand set to join the protests-more farmer-organizations are pooling in to join the protests

The farmers’ protests running for more than a month are gaining momentum day by day. Farmers from multiple states are gradually pooling at the borders of Delhi. Teams have been placed to promote the movement over social media with special people ensuring cyber-security of the live-streaming and the posts. Supports from various groups and different parts of the country (like doctors) have gathered for the farmers, cornering the central government into an increasingly uncomfortable and uneasy position. Here are some recent updates on the protests.

Farmers agreed for talks on December 30-criticize absence of agenda in letter of invite

Protesting farmer unions on Monday agreed “in-principle” to a government proposal of holding the next round of talks on the new agricultural laws on December 30. They said that the Centre should have spelt out the agenda of the meeting in its invite. “In our letter sent to the government on December 26, we had clearly mentioned that repeal of three farm laws and legal guarantee for MSP should be part of the agenda for fresh talks, but despite this, the government in letter today has not mentioned any specific agenda,” a leader of Samyukt Kisan Morcha said.

No stopping our movement, say the farmers of Uttarakhand

In Uttarakhand, the intensity of farmers’ protest against the three new farm laws is increasing with the protesters insisting that they will march to the borders of New Delhi to join protesters from other states. This comes after farmers from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and other organizations from MP involved in the wholesale market are joining the protests at the Delhi-border.

United Sikh Nagar farmers augmenting the protests

The intensity of the protest has increased especially in the US Nagar district which has a sizable number of Sikhs, many of whom are farmers. The farmers’ passion was evident on December 25 when more than 1,000 farmers heading towards the Delhi border clashed with a heavy police force that was deployed to stop them at Bazpur.  The farmers broke through the barricades on their tractor injuring some policemen. The videos and photographs of the incident made rounds on social media. Later the district police booked about 1,500 unidentified farmers on charges of rioting and stopping police from doing their duty. However, no arrests have been made so far. Many of the farmers who broke through the barricades eventually reached Ghazipur on Delhi’s eastern border where a large number of protesters have already pitched camp.

Farmers and Sikh organizations supporting them have now decided to join the agitating farmers near Delhi in larger numbers

Gurbaz Singh Virk said, “In no way we are going to stop our agitation against the farm laws. After a call by the farmer organizations to head Delhi on December 25, we did that by breaking the police barricades. Now, soon again a similar call is going to be given on which more number of farmers are going to head towards Delhi.”

Gurbaz Singh Virk is the US Nagar district president. United Sikh Federation is agitating with the farmers of the district at Ghazipur on Delhi’s border since December 25.  Virk said that the farmers have drawn a strategy on “how to gather more farmers from all over the state to head to Delhi.”

“We have divided all the 13 districts into sectors. From there the farmers would gather in US Nagar and prepare to head to the Delhi border while waiting for the next call of our leaders,” he said.

Gurinder Singh Sahni, another farmer from US Nagar agitating against the farm laws, expressed his anger against the government for deploying a large number of police to stop them.

Sahni stated and put forth a rhetoric, “First this government tried to threaten the farmers against the protest by filing a case. Then they deployed a significant police force at the state border with barricades to stop us. What does all this signify? Are we criminals?”

Lashing out at the BJP government in Uttarakhand, Sahni added, “When even the Supreme Court had said that the farmers should not be stopped from protesting then why is the government stopping us using the police? We are not going to stop our protest and soon head towards Delhi again.” Supreme court, in the face of criticisms of being indifferent  had stated that the protests can go on till they are peaceful.

Sahni stating about the Dasvand (10% contribution of produce to charity like Langar) in Sikhism, said that the Gurudwara management committees or Gurudwara prabandhak committees of the local gurudwaras in US Nagar have also extended their support to the protesting farmers.

Amid the ongoing protest by farmers, the Opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Uttarakhand have also put their weight behind the farmers to attack the ruling BJP.

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Swamitva scheme- Survey being carried out for residential properties in rural regions of Uttarakhand

In Uttarakhand, an official under the Panchayati Raj Division stated that under the Swamitva scheme, a survey of residential properties in rural areas is being undertaken for the very first time.  The Swamitva scheme has rekindled the hopes for reopening businesses with loans for people like the 26 years old, Saurabh Godiyal.  In 2016, he wanted to setup a guest house just outside his native village Goda, in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district. When he had approached the relevant officials to get a loan of Rs 35 lakh, he was provided just Rs 2 lakh. Demotivated by the slack job done by the loan providers, he had dropped the thought and had shifted to Haridwar, where he began a ‘tour and travels’ enterprise.  His father, Anusuya Prasad (59), a teacher, recently acquired a property card through the SWAMITVA scheme. It legally confirmed the possession of his 120-years old ancestral home in Goda village. It rejuvenated Saurabh’s expectation of establishing the guest house.

In October, PM Modi had launched the physical distribution of property-cards underneath the ‘Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’ scheme abbreviated as SVAMITVA.

Uttarakhand is one of the 5 states in India, where the distribution of property-cards has begun. Two blocks each in Udham Singh Nagar and Pauri Garhwal districts have been covered in the pilot stage of SWAMITVA. The property-cards in the remaining of the blocks would be distributed soon. It has been asserted by the PRI officials in the state that correct survey and demarcation of boundaries of homes and issuance of property card will resolve the disputes the villagers typically have with their neighbours in the village localities. They have stated that the authorities have focused on the distribution of 1 lakh property-cards by April 24, 2021 on the Panchayati Raj Day.

 Features of ‘SWAMITVA’ scheme

It is a Central Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, which was launched on National Panchayati Raj Day, April 24, 2020. The beneficiaries under the scheme would be from 763 villages across six states in the country including 346 from Uttar Pradesh, 221 from Haryana, 100 from Maharashtra, 44 from Madhya Pradesh, 50 from Uttarakhand, and two from Karnataka.

Beneficiaries from all these states except Maharashtra will receive the physical copies of the Property Cards. Maharashtra has a system of recovering the nominal cost of Property Card, so it will take a month’s time.

The move will pave the way for using the property as a financial asset by villagers for taking loans and other financial benefits. This scheme aims to provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue the Property Cards.

This scheme is being implemented across the country in a phased manner over a period of four years (2020-2024) and would eventually cover around 6.62 lakh villages of the country.

As per the PMO release, about 1 lakh villages in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka and few border villages of Punjab and Rajasthan, along with the establishment of Continuous Operating System (CORS) stations’ network across Punjab and Rajasthan, are being covered in the Pilot phase (2020-21).

The release had also added, “All these six states have signed MoU with Survey of India for drone survey of rural areas and implementation of the scheme. These states have finalized the digital property card format and the villages to be covered for a drone-based survey. States of Punjab and Rajasthan have signed MoU with Survey of India for the establishment of CORS network to assist in future drone flying activities.”