India News
A day after quitting Modi cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur says farm bills not anti-farmer
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday said she never called the farm bills moved by the Narendra Modi government anti-farmer in what is seen as walking a tightrope between farmers’ interests and the SAD’s continuance in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
She said she had repeatedly asked the Central government to listen to concerns raised by the farmers and hold open discussions with them before tabling the bills in Parliament. The SAD leader quit the Cabinet on Thursday night as the debate over the bills grew animated and the government resolve behind the bills showed.
Badal said farmers feel that if the bills got passed they will be at the mercy of the private players. she added that the union government needs to take farmers’ concerns into consideration. However, on the question of her calling the bills anti-farmer, she said it does not matter what she thinks. She added the bills have come in Parliament for the benefit of the farmers and they must believe that it is in their benefit.
Badal’s husband and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said he strongly opposed the three agriculture-related bills in the Lok Sabha. Badal said the farm bills would sound the death knell for 20 lakh farmers, 3 lakh mandi labourers, 30 lakh labourers and 30,000 arhatiyas, besides destroying food grain procurement system established over 50 years.
On the other hand, the Modi government said the proposed laws are meant to help small and marginal farmers. Calling the day of passage of bills a historic day for the country in the field of agricultural reforms, PM Narendra Modi on Friday blamed the opposition for spreading lies and misleading farmers on the legislation.
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However, the bills have triggered massive protests from farmers, particularly in Punjab and Haryana. The bills will replace three ordinances issued in June which will now be taken up by the Rajya Sabha. Many parties are targeting the government over these bills, including the Akali Dal, the oldest ally of the BJP.
India News
Bihar: Dalit woman stripped naked over Rs 1,500 loan, money lender, son booked for assault
The accused have not been arrested so far, and police have initiated a search for them.
In yet another shocking incident, a Dalit woman was assaulted in Bihar’s Patna district by a money lender and his son on Saturday, according to the police. The victim alleged that the accused also urinated on her and tried to disrobe her for not making recurring interest payments on a Rs 1,500 loan that her husband had taken.
According to the victim, Pramod Singh and his son Anshu Singh summoned her to their house on Saturday night mentioning that they had detained her husband and that he would be allowed to go only after the interest on the loan he took from them was fully repaid.
When she reached Singh’s house, her husband was not there. They had lied to her about detaining her husband. The father and son beat her up and tried to disrobe her, and the son also urinated upon her, the woman told the police.
The woman also mentioned that the Rs 1,500 her husband took on loan years ago had already been repaid with interest, but the money lender continued to seek interest from them at regular intervals.
According to reports, police have registered a case against Pramod and Anshu Singh under IPC sections related to assault and misbehaving with a woman, as well as under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused have not been arrested so far, and police have initiated a search for them.
Patna Rural SP Imran Masood asserted that the woman was undergoing treatment for her injuries at a primary healthcare centre. The woman’s brother-in-law told The Indian Express that the poor people of the village have been trapped by money lenders and that it is like a goonda bank. He explained that as most of them are illiterate and cannot get loans from banks, they have to depend on these money lenders and face humiliation.
India News
UP student slapping row: State should take responsibility of incident, says Supreme Court
The bench underlined that if this incident has happened, then it should shake the conscience of the state. It’s a serious issue, the bench noted.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a teacher at a school in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar who instructed her students to slap a classmate, targeted one community and that the state must take responsibility for the incident.
Hearing a petition that raised concerns over the incident of school children taking turns to slap a muslim student on order of their teacher, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal made the aforesaid verbal observation. The video of the incident went viral across social media platforms last month.
The incident sparked widespread outrage, consequently a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the teacher. While hearing the plea on Monday, the top court bench noted that it had serious objections to the way Uttar Pradesh police handled the matter.
The Supreme Court bench further observed that the teacher is targeting one community and that they will go deep into the matter. The bench questioned whether this was the way teachers teach students and whether this is this quality education.
The bench added that the state must take responsibility for this incident, questioning if the school appointed some counselor for the child? The bench underlined that if this incident has happened, then it should shake the conscience of the state. It’s a serious issue, the bench noted.
The apex court bench also mentioned that at first impression, it was a case of failure on the part of the Uttar Pradesh government to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which prohibits physical and mental harassment of students and their discrimination on the basis of religion and caste. There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the grounds that he belongs to a particular community, it added.
The bench further ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint an expert child counselor and provide counseling to the victim so that he can overcome his trauma. It also ordered that a senior IPS officer be appointed to supervise the investigation and submit a report to the court within three weeks.
India News
Bhopal: PM Modi addresses Karyakarta Mahakumbh
PM Modi said every nation wants to collaborate with India. He said investors are looking to invest in India. He said for a developed India a developed Madhya Pradesh was needed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. He addressed the Bhartiya Janata Party workers at the Karyakarta Mahakumbh at the Jamboree Maidan in Bhopal. PM Modi said Congress has lost its will power. The grassroots leaders of Congress have been sitting with their mouth locked. PM Modi said first Congress got ruined. Then it became bankrupt. Now the Congress has given its contract to someone else. The party is no longer being run by its leaders. Now it is outsourcing everything from policies to slogans.
PM Modi said every nation wants to collaborate with India. He said investors are looking to invest in India. He said for a developed India a developed Madhya Pradesh was needed. PM Modi said this is the primary reason the BJP government will come to power in Madhya Pradesh.
He said the country is working hard towards prosperity but the Congress wants to take the country back to the 20th Century. PM Modi added nothing is more important than India and its people. PM Modi said the leaders of Congress are born with a silver spoon, how will the Congress feel the pain of the poor.
PM Modi slammed the Congress saying for all the years they ruled they did not provide any assistance to women. PM Modi said Congress did not want to work for women. The prime minister said the Congress has flaws in their intentions. He appealed to the women to stay united and not to fall prey to politics of Congress.
PM Modi slammed Congress for questioning the women’s quota bill. He said the Congress started the Garibi Hatao slogan fifty years ago but the poverty actually increased under its rule. PM Modi said about 13.5 crore citizens came out of poverty level. He said Modi means every guarantee will be fulfilled. He reminded the women of Madhya Pradesh that the guarantee Modi gave of women’s reservation bill has been successful.
