India News
Tamil Nadu candidate’s promises: Free chopper for everyone, iPhone, trip to moon (why not)
With so much at stake, political parties in Tamil Nadu have taken populism to a new high even though the state is in a five lakh-crore debt
Ahead of Tamil Nadu assembly elections starting from April 6, candidates have been filing nominations and releasing manifestos promising people welfare schemes in case they win the polls. Following which, a 34-year-old Independent candidate Thulam Saravanan from South Madurai has promised the moon to the voters if he wins the election. Yes moon!
Starting from an iPhone, a car, helicopter, a boat robot and much more, the candidate has listed a number of outlandish welfare schemes in his manifesto. Releasing his manifesto, Saravanan promised that if he won, he will provide every household with one iPhone, a car, a helicopter, a boat, a robot, a three-storied house with a swimming pool, Rs 1 crore for youths and a 100-day vacation to the moon.
Thulam Saravanan is an independent candidate contesting from the Madurai South constituency. His manifesto and its outlandish promises have certainly grabbed attention in the constituency where there are 13 more candidates.
The journalist-turned-candidate told the NDTV that his aim is to raise awareness against people falling for freebies by political parties. he said he want them to choose good candidates who are ordinary and humble.
He also slammed the political parties for turning politics into a money battle and ignoring people’s welfare. He also said such politicians and political parties have polluted the state politics and have turned it to be the preserve of the rich.
When questioned about the outlandish manifesto, he responded that for the past 50 years, political parties have won elections by announcing welfare schemes. Their governments never served the people. He has admitted that he released manifesto to create awareness.
With so much at stake, political parties in Tamil Nadu have taken populism to a new high even though the state is in a five lakh-crore debt. Following the big promising trends, the ruling AIADMK promises free washing machines, monthly payment of Rs 1,500 for housewives, six free cylinders for every family and a government job for every family among others.
On the other hand, It’s main rival DMK has promised to cut petrol price by Rs 5 a litre, and diesel by Rs 4 a litre, free tab with internet. Kamal Haasan’s MNM first mooted the idea of a salary for housewives, promises Rs 3,000 every month, free computers with internet in all homes as a public resource to access government schemes, good governance and 50 lakh jobs.
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In 1967, the DMK offered every ration card holder around 4.5 kg rice for a rupee. After winning the elections, it could not deliver on its promise while AIADMK in its 2011 election manifesto offered 20 kg rice free to every ration cardholder. In 2006 the DMK offered a free colour TV to every home. Since then parties have promised mixers, grinders, fans, laptops, etc.
India News
Chhattisgarh: Rahul Gandhi says PM Modi also has a remote control but he presses it secretly
The Congress MP said when he questioned PM Modi on Adani in the Lok Sabha and his Lok Sabha membership got cancelled.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched Mukhyamantri Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana in Chhattisgarh through a remote control. He said PM Narendra Modi also has a remote control but he presses it secretly. Rahul Gandhi waved a remote control at the event in Chhattisgarh and said BJPs remote controls are all secret. Gandhi said the Congress party presses the remote control in the open. But the BJP presses secretly and the public sector becomes private and Adaniji gets Mumbai airport.
The Congress MP said when he questioned PM Modi on Adani in the Lok Sabha and his Lok Sabha membership got cancelled. He attacked the BJP government at the Centre after PM Modi addressed a rally in the poll bound Madhya Pradesh and said the Congress party has rusted like iron. PM Modi said Congress would push back Madhya Pradesh in the sick category whereas 1.5 crore people came out of poverty under the BJP rule in the last five years.
According to PM Modi the Congress and its allies have supported the bill out of hesitation and compulsion as they understood the power of Nari Shakti. PM Modi said Modi means the guarantee of fulfilling guarantees. Rahul Gandhi repeated what he had said in the Lok Sabha during his intervention on the women’s reservation bill.
He said there are only 3 OBC bureaucrats working for the government of India. Rahul Gandhi said caste census is the X-ray of Hindustan. The caste census will determine how many Dalits, SC/STs are there. Gandhi said the government is running away from caste census. He promised the congress will do a caste census.
In all Congress ruled states the public is at the centre and the government is not run by Adaniji. Talking to the media on Sunday Rahul Gandhi said he was confident Congress is winning the election in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. In Rajasthan the fight would be close Gandhi predicted.
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.
