India News
75% believe corruption has increased or not declined under Modi govt: CMS study
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]PM Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 riding on popular anger against corruption whipped up by a full scale movement on the issue. He made it a major poll plank, famously declaring ‘Na khaunga, Na khaane doonga’ (will neither take bribes nor let anyone take bribes).
Four years later, reports by independent agencies depict Modi government’s record on this front as dismal. A CMS study, CMS-India Corruption Survey 2018, released a week ago, finds that 75 percent households have the perception that the level of corruption in public services has either increased or remained same during the last 12 months.
Earlier, India was reported to have slipped two ranks to be 81st in 180 countries in Transparency International’s (TI) ratings.
Worse, TI attributed to this an aspect that riles Modi government due to the flak its faces on it from all around: lack of press freedom. Perhaps that was also the reason few media organisations reported the CMS-ICS study key findings inconvenient to the government.
The CMS-ICS study also adds that perception about Union Government’s commitment to reduce corruption in public services has seen a decline from 41 percent in 2017 to 31 percent in this round (2018).
The study covered both rural and urban locations of 13 states (including six which are ruled by the BJP) and 11 public services.
The states were Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The public services which have been availed between 2005 and 2018 are: Public Distribution System (PDS), Health/ Hospital, School Education, Electricity, Water Supply, Housing/ Land Records, Police, Banking Services and Judiciary, plus MGNREGS for rural locations.
“While 38 percent of the households across India feel that the level of corruption has increased, another 37 percent households feel that the level of corruption in public services has remained same as before,” says the report.
“States where nearly half of the households perceived that the level of corruption has increased during the last one year include Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu Rajasthan and Gujarat,” the report says.
It says less than half of the households in states such as Bihar and West Bengal, believed that the level of corruption in public services has decreased during the last one year prior to the survey.
In states like, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, nearly 40 percent or more feel that the level of corruption has remained same during the last one year prior to the survey conducted for CMS-ICS 2018.
The CMS report has some good news, as well. Based on a survey conducted in both rural and urban areas across 13 states, the CMS-ICS 2018 has found that the proportion of households experiencing corruption while availing any of the nine public services has almost halved – from 52 percent in 2005 to 27 percent in 2018.
In the last 13 years, the proportion of households (rural and urban combined) experiencing corruption pertaining to Police, Housing/ Land Records and Judicial services has reduced by more than 50 percentage points, according to the CMS-ICS report.
The proportion of households experiencing corruption in 2018 is the highest for Transport (21 percent), followed by Police (20 percent) and Housing/ Land Records (16 percent).
Although the proportion of households experiencing corruption in 2018 is the lowest for availing Banking services (1 percent), the highest bribe which an average Indian household has paid in 2018 is for taking loans from a bank (viz. Rs. 5250/- on an average in a year).
For getting a new driving license or renewing a driving license, an average household has paid a bribe of Rs. 518 in a year.
In 2018, roughly 1.9 percent households (rural and urban combined) were denied public services like Police or PDS either because of not paying bribes or because of not having contacts/ middlemen to take forward their requests. Nearly, 1.4 percent rural households were denied MGNREGA benefits for the same reasons.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1526985551161{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #dd9933 !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”]
- Among states, 73 percent households in Telangana, 38 percent in Tamil Nadu, 36 percent in Karnataka, 35 percent in Bihar, 29 percent in Delhi, 23 percent in Madhya Pradesh; 22 percent in Punjab and 20 percent households in Rajasthan experienced demand for bribe or had to use contacts/middlemen, to access the public services.
- Among public services, where households experiencing corruption while availing its services was high during the last 12 months include, Transport (21 percent), Police (20 percent), Housing/ land records (16 percent) and Health/ hospital services (10 percent). Less than one percent of the households experienced corruption in banking services.
- While 99 percent of the respondents had Aadhaar but 7 percent of them paid bribe to get it. In case of Voter ID, around 92 percent had one but 3 percent paid bribe to get the Voter ID made. This is high and reflects continued malice.
- Perception about Union Government’s commitment to reduce corruption in public services has seen a decline from 41 percent in 2017 to 31 percent in this round (2018).
- Grouping of States by People’s Perception and Experience with Corruption while availing Public Services put Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan among the ‘poor performing’ while West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among the ‘better performing’ states.
- States’ position on the basis of Citizen Activism-Use of RTI; online complaint registering; participation in public protest rally against corruption; Use of Digital payment gateway, having Aadhaar- Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar and Telangana among ‘better performing’ states and states namely, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, among ‘poor performing’.
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India News
Rajya Sabha passes Women’s Reservation Bill, all it now needs is President Murmu’s assent
The Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill unanimously on Thursday. A voice vote was taken with Chairman of the House Jagdeep Dhankhar declaring the ayes have it. Then it was voted on with 215 in support and zero against.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill unanimously on Thursday. A voice vote was taken with Chairman of the House Jagdeep Dhankhar declaring the ayes have it. Then it was voted on with 215 in support and zero against.
Just before the vote, drawing the two-day discussions in both Houses to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the members and political parties for their constructive suggestions. He noted some 132 members spoke in both Houses of Parliament.
The synergy of the government and the Opposition over women’s reservation was a confidence-building measure, he said. This sends a new message to the people, he added. The Lok Sabha had cleared the Bill yesterday with 454 votes in favour and 2 against.
Earlier in the Rajya Sabha, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said with 33% reservation for women in the country, India will steal a march over developed nations which don’t have such measures.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wondered why the reservation was being promised after Census and delimitation. He demanded that the House be told when the reservation will be in effect as to the date and month and year when it will come into force.
Kharge joked if like the Rs 15 lakh and the 2 crore job promise of the BJP ahead of elections, this would also be an election jumla as said by party leaders. He said almost every party supports you on the Bill but let our support not go waste in election propaganda of the BJP. Raising each and every point, Kharge kept repeating that he was supporting the Bill in a scene reminiscent of Mark Antony’s speech from the play Julius Caesar. Pushing for the OBC quota, he said even SC/ST officers don’t even make it to joint secretary level.
Kharge asked if you can come up with the sudden demonetisation of 2016, why didn’t you bring this Bill then? There was no Opposition to you in the first term in the Lok Sabha, he charged.
Congress MP KC Venugopal mocked the BJP for its pro-women stance by saying that its stalwarts Vajpayee, Advani and Jaswant Singh voted against women’s quota in 1989.
Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the BJP has been consistently in support of women’s reservation. She said the BJP doesn’t like to bring politics in women-related matters.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi slammed the UPA government for not supporting the Bill in the Lok Sabha. He said its allies did not want this Bill to be passed.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan noted that when a similar Bill was presented in the House in the presence of CPM leader Brinda Karat and late Sushma Swaraj but failed to pass. Bachchan said the SP is not against the Bill, her party has some concerns as echoed by other parties as well.
Before this, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien and Dhankhar had an altercation over time allotted to MPs to speak on the issue.
Independent MP Kapil Sibal demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah if they do not complete the process of delimitation and implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill by 2029.
India News
Mumbai Police arrest two people who kidnapped, raped 14-year-old girl in moving taxi
Police have identified the two accused as Shiv Prakash Pandey and Salman Shaikh. Both of them are aged 25 years and 27 years respectively.
Mumbai Police have registered a case against two people who kidnapped and then raped a 14 year old girl in a taxi. According to the police the girl had a fight with her family members. She decided to go in Malvani in Malad to meet her relative. On seeing the girl alone a taxi driver asked to drop her off to Malwani. The girl agreed and started going to Malwani with him.
The accused taxi driver took the taxi to Dadar. The Taxi driver stopped and made the accused Salman Shaikh sit with him. The family came to know about the girl’s disappearance. The girl’s family members contacted the Malabar Hill police station. They informed the police about the kidnapping.
A case was registered by the police as the girl was underage. A technical investigation was started by the police and came to know the girl had gone to a relative’s place in Malad. A team of police officers was sent to Malad to bring back the girl. Situation became serious when the girl revealed what happened on her way to Malad.
A police officer added two men were present inside the taxi. One was the taxi driver and the other man raped the girl at the back seat of the car. Different teams were formed to carry out the investigation in the case. The CCTV footage of the area was also used. According to the police the incident took place between Malad and Dadar.
Police have identified the two accused as Shiv Prakash Pandey and Salman Shaikh. Both of them are aged 25 years and 27 years respectively. According to the police Salman Shaikh works in a hotel in Dadar. The victim gave a statement on the basis of which a case has been registered in related POCSO section and section 376 of IPC. The accused have been produced in court where the court sent them to police custody till September 25.
India News
Punjab: CM Bhagwant Mann hands over Rs 1 crore cheques to Anantnag encounter martyrs families
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also assured all possible help and support to the families of the martyred soldiers.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday handed over cheques of Rs 1 crore each to the bereaved families of martyrs Colonel Manpreet Singh and martyr Pradeep Singh. They were among the soldiers who laid their lives in protecting the nation in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.
The anti-terror week-long operation in the Garol forests in the Anantnag district ended on Tuesday. The operation began when Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer, 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Ashish Dhonchak and deputy superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat were killed by terrorists.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also assured all possible help and support to the families of the martyred soldiers. He expressed that martyr Colonel Manpreet Singh and martyr Pradeep Singh will always live in their memories.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the Chief Minister conveyed that he met the families of Colonel Manpreet Singh of Kharar Constituency and Shaheed Pradeep Singh of Samana Constituency. He added that the families were handed over cheques of Rs 1 crore from the government as an honorarium.
According to reports, Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer of the Rashtriya Rifles (19 RR) and a recipient of the prestigious Sena Medal (Gallantry), spoke to his family, just hours before dying of gunshot wounds. He is survived by wife, 2-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son, mother and a brother.
The body of martyred soldier Pradeep Singh was recovered on Monday, after he went missing on the first day of the encounter. Martyr Pradeep Singh was with the Sikh Light Infantry and was a part of 19 Rashtriya Rifles. Reportedly, the 27-year-old soldier served in the Indian Army for seven years. He hailed from Patiala in Punjab and is survived by his wife.
Addressing a function late on Sunday evening, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha expressed that every drop of blood of the slain security personnel will be avenged and the terrorist handlers will have to pay a heavy price. He added that they have complete faith in the soldiers and the entire nation stands in solidarity with them.
