English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

Rs 600 cr is advance assistance, clarifies Centre; Union minister Alphons wants foreign aid policy changed

Published

on

Rs 600 cr is advance assistance, clarifies Centre; Union minister Alphons wants foreign aid policy changed

The Centre clarified on Thursday that Rs. 600 crore given to flood-hit Kerala was only “advance assistance” and more funds would be released after another assessment by an inter-ministerial team.

Meanwhile, Union Minister KJ Alphons said that he will request the Centre to change a 14-year old convention on accepting foreign financial assistance, NDTV reported.

The issue has sparked a row after the centre declared on Wednesday that it would not accept foreign aid to combat natural disasters, as per India’s policy since 2004 when Manmohan Singh government had declined foreign assistance in the aftermath of tsunami. The Centre’s response came after a reported offer of $100 million (around Rs. 700 crore) by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Death toll in Kerala floods has reached 373, more than 1.2 million people are in relief camps and losses are pegged at Rs 20,000 crore ($2.86 billion), 16% of the state’s 2018-19 expenditure, according to media reports.

“I would plead that for my state because I have seen the misery,” Alphons said. “We need the money.” The Union minister has been surveying the destruction caused by the flooding in the state.

Alphons cited Kerala’s contribution to India’s foreign exchange assets. “In fact in the last year itself, it had brought Rs 75,000 crore through remittances,” Alphons told PTI. “For these reasons, as a junior minister I am appealing to my senior colleagues to make a special consideration for the state. I appeal to them to make a one-time exception to the policy.”

On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs formally rejected offers made by foreign countries to send aid for flood relief work in Kerala citing “existing policy”. The United Arab Emirates had offered Rs 700 crore as aid to Kerala. Earlier on Thursday, the European Union announced that it would donate 1.9 lakh euros (Rs 1.53 crore) to the Indian Red Cross relief work in Kerala.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the National Disaster Management Authority, in its 2016 policy, allowed an exception to the convention on foreign assistance if any national government of another country offers aid as a good will gesture. .

Kerala has accused the centre of depriving it of foreign funds while allocating only Rs. 600 crore against its demand for Rs. 2,200 crore for rebuilding efforts after the state’s worst floods in a century.

“This is a dog in the manger policy,” Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had tweeted.

A statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) last night said: “It is clarified that Rs. 600 crore released by Centre is the advance assistance only. Additional funds would be released from NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) on assessment of the damages as per laid down procedure.”

The MHA said the centre had provided urgent aid and relief material “in a timely manner and without any reservation”.

“In one of the largest rescue operations, 40 helicopters, 31 aircraft, 182 teams for rescue, 18 Medical Teams of Defence forces, 58 teams of NDRF, 7 companies of CAPFs were pressed into service along with over 500 boats and necessary rescue equipments. They successfully saved over 60,000 human lives by rescuing them from marooned areas and shifting them to relief camps. Defence aircrafts and helicopters have made 1,084 sorties of duration 1,168 flying hours and airlifted 1,286 tonne of load and carried 3,332 rescuers. In addition, a number of Navy and Coast Guard ships were pressed into service to carry relief material to Kerala. The search and rescue operations and mobilisation of resources alone would cost the Central Government hundreds of crore of rupees,” the MHA said.

The government said Rs. 600 crore was released in advance “pending an assessment” by a team of ministers. This, the statement added, was apart from Rs. 562.45 crore already in the State Disaster Relief Fund, to which the centre contributes 75 to 90 per cent.

The statement follows some severe criticism of the Rs 600 crore assistance even by independent sections. An India Spend analysis, pointing out that it was “less than the cost of one Rafale fighter jet (Rs 670 crore), 36 of which India hopes to buy from France”, added that this interim relief is less than:

–    The amount allocated towards the construction of an exhibition cum convention centre (ECC), Dwarka, New Delhi– Rs 700 crore.

–    the amount spent on the purchase of two new VVIP aircraft for special flights operated by Air India for the President, Vice President and Prime Minister–Rs 4,469.5 crore ($640 million);

–    the allocation made by the Centre for the revival of 50 airports/airstrips under the Regional Connectivity Scheme–Rs 890 crore.

India News

BJP Mahila Morcha gets 2024 task after PM Modi hands over PMAY house keys in Kanpur

The BJP Mahila Morcha will reach out to all women PMAY beneficiaries from June 3, the party wants women beneficiaries to share their thoughts with PM Modi and write postcards to him, expressing thanks since they are now owners of houses worth lakhs.

Published

on

PM Modi PMAY CM Yogi Kanpur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the keys to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Kanpur in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders.

The programme was held to mark the nine years of the PM Modi led-government at the Centre. The BJP Mahila Morcha will reach out to all women PMAY beneficiaries from June 3. The Morcha wants women beneficiaries to share their thoughts with PM Modi and write postcards to him, expressing thanks since they are now owners of houses worth lakhs as part of the Lakhpati Didi campaign.

The BJP Mahila Morcha will visit the women beneficiaries to understand and identify their ideology and ask them their reasons to subscribe to it, BJP Mahila Morcha UP unit president and Rajya Sabha member Geeta Shakya said. This campaign has been organised ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election and is likely to be end by June 19.

Not just PMAY beneficiaries, the BJP Mahila Morcha will also visit beneficiaries of Ujwala Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission to know their experience and its impact on their lives. They will get it shot on camera to share with PM Modi, Shakya said. Those who share pictures with their PMAY house, will be able to share it on the NaMo App.

The BJP women’s wing has been given the responsibility to mark the completion of nine years of Modi government as part of the Maha Sampark Abhiyan. Apart from this, the women’s wing is going to cover the 18-25 age group which voted in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and will ask them what they thought of the last five years of the Modi government and their expectation from the Modi government in the future.

Another programme, the Nav-matdata Yuvati Sammelan, to appeal to young women, who are first-time voters in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is also on the cards. Mahila Morcha workers will also visit anganwadis to meet parents of children and gauge their views on the government scheme and its impact on their lives.

Continue Reading

India News

Darshan Solanki suicide: Mumbai Police chargesheet lists caste bias in IIT Bombay

Filed on Tuesday in the Special Court hearing cases hearing offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the chargesheet has the statement made by Solanki’s mother.

Published

on

Darshan Solanki suicide: Mumbai Police chargesheet lists caste bias in IIT Bombay

The Mumbai Police chargesheet into the suicide of IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki has revealed that he faced large scale caste discrimination when his classmates got to know of his caste.

Filed on Tuesday in the Special Court hearing cases hearing offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the chargesheet has the statement made by Solanki’s mother. She said her son had told his sister sometime in December 2022 over a call that his fellow students’ behaviour to him underwent a sea change once they got to he was a Dalit.

Solanki had died by suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of the hostel in the IIT Bombay campus on February 12, 2023, a day after semester exams ended. Aman Khatri, a fellow student, who has been named in the chargesheet is out on bail after his arrest on the charges of abetment to suicide.

Khatri had allegedly threatened to kill Solanki after the latter had spoken offensively about his religion. Solanki’s mother told police of the change in behaviour of his friends when they came to know of his caste. Solanki had again raised this when he came on vacation for Makar Sakranti in January 2023. On February 12, he spoke to his mother on the phone around 12:20 pm and said that he would visit home on February 14, and they should invite their relatives for a get-together. Two hours later, his father got a call that Solanki had committed suicide.

He told his parents that he was enjoying his studies at the Institute but some students taunted him that he was getting free education. The chargesheet include statements of 55 witnesses, including some students and professors from IIT Bombay.  

Dalit students continue to face the unrelenting pressure of caste discrimination in elite institutions in engineering, medicine and the humanities. Many have died by suicide as a result.   

Continue Reading

Karnataka News

Congress’s poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu appointed Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s chief advisor with cabinet minister rank

Amid the finalisation of the new cabinet formation in the state, the CM office has shared the news of Kanugolu’s appointment as the chief advisor.

Published

on

Congress’s poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu appointed Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s chief advisor with cabinet minister rank

Top poll strategist and the man behind Congress campaigns in the recent held Karnataka elections Sunil Kanugolu has been appointed as the chief advisor to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with cabinet minister rank.

Congress after coming to the power in Karnataka after marking a landslide victory officially took charge after Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar were sworn in as the CM and Deputy Chief Ministers respectively on May 20.

Amid the finalisation of the new cabinet formation in the state, the CM office has shared the news of Kanugolu’s appointment as the chief advisor.

Kanugolu, known to be a champion strategist for political parties for political parties was born in the Ballari district of Karnataka.

Congress which secured a huge mandate of 135 seats in the Karnataka assembly elections was said to be because of its campaigns that hit success reaching out to the masses.

Reports said, Kanugolu’s micro-management strategies was what Congress relied heavily on, he was the part of the core strategy building team of the party contributing in the making of catchy campaigns for the party to encircle the BJP during elections.

Some of the key campaigns were PayCM, 40 percent commission among others.

Kanugolu is a key member of  the Congress Task Force 2024, who got appointed in May last year, a team created to execute the Nav Sankalp declaration of the grand old party after its brainstorming session held in Udaipur last year.

The Task Force also includes senior leaders of the party Priyanka Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal and others.  

Kanugolu was earlier associated with the sharp witted poll strategist Prashant Kishor and was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 Lok Sabha elections campaign.

Kanugolu has earlier also worked for the DMK and AIADMK.

As per reports, the data driven strategist was also behind the planning of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

Continue Reading

Trending

-->

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com