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Modi Govt has no data on farmer suicides, none on employment and many other key matters

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Modi Govt has no data on farmer suicides, none on employment and many other key matters

At a time when farmers’ distress and their agitation are at a new high and beginning to affect fortunes of political parties, it seems the Narendra Modi government has decided it would perhaps be safer to conceal facts and possibly get a benefit of doubt than reveal them and be damned.

This is not limited to farmers or agricultural sector only, but that provides the peg today.

Media reports today, (Thursday, Dec 20) said that the government told the Parliament it has no data on farmer suicides in the last three years. Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh told the Lok Sabha that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which collects such data, has not published figures of farmer suicides since 2016.

He was responding to a question by Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi, who had sought details about the number of farmers who had committed suicide since 2016 and whether the government planned to rehabilitate their families.

“The NCRB under the Ministry of Home Affairs compiles and disseminates information on suicides… These reports on suicides are available up to 2015 on its website. The reports for the year 2016 onwards have not been published yet,” the minister said in a written reply that detailed other steps taken by the government in a country where 70 percent of the population relies on agriculture.

In 2015, the report reveals, over 8,000 farmers committed suicide. Maharashtra had the highest number (3,030), followed by Telangana (1,358) and Karnataka (1,197). Over 4,500 agricultural labourers committed suicide. That year, the report began publishing reasons for farm suicides. Most suicides were because of debts and bankruptcy.

Since then, reported News18, there have been several agitations by farmers. As farm distress increased, five farmers were killed in police firing during a protest in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur last year. But the data on suicides became unavailable, as pointed out also by journalist P Sainath, who participated in a farmers’ march and protest in Delhi last month.

In 2014, the crime records bureau reported 5,650 farmer suicides. That year, the bureau started separating data for farmers and agricultural labourers.

That was about farmers.

The year 2016 seems to be the ‘watershed year’ for Modi government. That was also the year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi got the ‘brainwave’ of demonetisation.

There is no government data on employment either – also from 2016. In March this year, Minister of State for Labour and Employment (independent charge) Santosh Kumar Gangwar told the Parliament that the Indian government has not conducted any nationwide survey to find out the actual data of employment in the country since 2016. In other words, the government does not have any clue about the employment/unemployment situation in the country since 2016.

The government not only finds it better not to keep data on key sectors, it also denies information on many. Let’s take the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) itself.

For all its claims of going after the rich and working tirelessly for the poor, the PMO refused to give information on NPAs. It rejected a RTI plea seeking to know details of bad loans submitted by then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, which finds mention in his response to Parliament’s Committee on Estimates.

Modi government and BJP never tire of boasting about going after the corrupt. But Modi would not like to share specifics.

In its response to a Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking for details of black money brought back from abroad within 15 days, the PMO refused to share the details.

The PMO has refused to share details of alleged corruption complaints received against Union ministers, saying providing such information “may be a subjective as well as a cumbersome exercise”

Earlier, the PMO declined to share action taken on a letter written by Congress leader Ajay Singh to PM Modi, which alleged large-scale corruption through e-tendering in Madhya Pradesh.

A report said that a whopping 2,227 RTIs rejected by the PMO in 2015-16 were in the “others” category — which does not find mention in law — said the Central Information Commission (CIC) report released in March 2017. Rejections under this head seems to have reached a new high in 2015-16, as per the data in the annual report of the CIC.

Also in 2017, PMO refused to  reply to RTI on Modi, Manmohan’s foreign trips, calling it ‘vague’. The PMO said the RTI query seeking information on expenses incurred in foreign trips by Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh was “too vague and wide”.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Lok Sabha election 2024: PM Modi to hold roadshow in Ayodhya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer prayers and hold a roadshow in Ayodhya.

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The 2024 Lok Sabha Elections are now in progress across the country, with the first two stages having concluded on April 19 and 26. An important step in the electoral process is coming up on May 7, which is the date of the third phase. As the peak of campaigning approaches, political parties are stepping up their efforts to win over voters. Today, as part of election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is will travel to Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, where he will lead a roadshow and offer prayers at the Ram Temple.

On May 7, elections will be held for 94 Lok Sabha seats spread across 12 states and Union Territories.

The INDIA bloc and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA are the two main political groups that will compete in the 2024 Lok Sabha Election. The NDA has the BJP, the PMK, the JDU, and other political parties as members, whereas the INDIA bloc is made up of political parties like the Congress, the AAP, the TMC, etc.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has been the subject of a complaint about his nomination from the Raebareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Regarding Rahul Gandhi’s nationality, his recent defamation conviction, and how the Election Commission may accept his nomination, the complaint raises some red flags.

However, in a meeting with young people impacted by the Agnipath Scheme on Saturday in the national capital, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the National Security Advisor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, rather than the Indian Army, created the program.

Gandhi assured the youth that this program would end and the army’s previous recruitment procedure would be reinstated should the INDIA alliance win the elections.

With echoes of abki baar 400 paar, the NDA is aiming for its third consecutive term in this general election. In contrast, the opposition INDIA alliance is running an economical campaign, pledging cash handouts to women and MSP for farmers in its manifesto.

On June 4, the results of the Lok Sabha election will be announced after the votes have been counted.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP

Arvinder Singh Lovely said they have been given an opportunity to fight for the people of Delhi under the banner of BJP and under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

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Days after resigning from the post of the Delhi Congress president in protest against the party’s alliance with INDIA bloc partner AAP and over selection of party candidates, Arvinder Singh Lovely joined BJP on Saturday. Lovely joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and the BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde.

He, along with 4 former Congress leaders, joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The 4 others who joined the party include former Congress MLAs who had recently left the party — Neeraj Basoya, Rajkumar Chauhan, Delhi youth Congress chief Amit Malik and Naseeb Singh.

Speaking to the media after joining the BJP, Arvinder Singh Lovely said, they have been given an opportunity to fight for the people of Delhi under the banner of BJP and under the leadership of the Prime Minister. He had full hope, and there is no doubt about it, that the BJP government is being formed in the country with an overwhelming majority. Lovely added that in the coming days, the flag of the BJP will fly in Delhi too.

Lovely’s resignation on April 28 was a setback to Delhi Congress in terms of optics and perception. Coming 4 days after former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chauhan quit the party, the resignation of Lovely, who has been heading the Delhi unit since August last year, has been a blow to the Congress’s preparations for the May 25 elections in Delhi.

After the announcement of the resignation, AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj took to his X handle to allude to the links between Lovely and BJP. It is the 2nd time that Arvinder Singh Lovely has stepped down as the Delhi Congress president. Lovely’s resignation came a day after more than a 1000 members of the Sikh community, including office-bearers of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, joined the BJP in the presence of its national president J P Nadda.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi calls PM Modi a shahenshah who lives in castles and can never understand the plight of the common man

Priyanka Gandhi said on the other side is the shehanshah, Narendra Modi, who lives in a palace. She asked the people if they have watched him on television?  She said not a single speck of dust is visible on his face. She asked how can PM Modi understand their problems?

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a shehzaada. She was speaking at an election rally in Gujarat on Saturday where she called PM Modi a shehanshah.

She said BJP calls her brother Shehzada. She wanted to tell BJP how this shehzada walked 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to listen to people’s problems. The Congress leader added that Rahul Gandhi met  sisters, brothers, farmers and labourers and asked them what problems they were having. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at a rally in Banaskantha in Gujarat.

Priyanka Gandhi said on the other side is the shehanshah, Narendra Modi, who lives in a palace. She asked the people if they have watched him on television?  She said not a single speck of dust is visible on his face. She asked how can PM Modi understand their problems?

Priyanka Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he repeatedly called Rahul Gandhi a shehzada of shahi parivar. He was addressing a rally in Gujarat on Thursday where PM Modi had targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said Pakistan is eager to make the shehzada of the grand old party India’s next Prime Minister as the country’s enemies want a weak government at the centre.

Priyanka Gandhi further attacked PM Modi and said Gujarat gave PM Modi respect and self-respect and gave him power, but he is seen only with big people. She asked if anyone had seen PM Modi meeting a farmer?

 She further pointed out that farmers are protesting against the black laws. She said hundreds of farmers are martyred, but the Prime Minister does not even bother to go and meet them. She said just before the elections come and they feel that they will not get votes, then PM Modi changes the law.

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