40 lakh people out of Assam citizens’ list

Agencies
July 31, 2018

Guwahati/New Delhi, Jul 31: A massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam on Monday excluded over 40 lakh people from the final draft list, triggering a political slugfest.

The Opposition alleged that it was BJP’s “game plan” to divide the people for electoral gains. The issue rocked both houses of Parliament after which Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the Opposition not to politicise the “sensitive” matter as the list has been published on the directives of the Supreme Court and the Centre has “no role” in it.

The ruling BJP in Assam had raised the issue of foreign nationals in Assam during the 2016 Assembly polls, promising an error-free NRC.

At a press conference in Guwahati, Registrar General of India Sailesh announced that 2.89 crore people were found to be eligible for inclusion in the complete draft of the ambitious draft NRC out of a total 3.29 crore applicants. Around 40.07 lakh applicants, however, did not find a place in the document, casting a shadow over their fate.

Soon after, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Centre, accusing it of resorting to vote bank politics. “This divide-and-rule policy will finish the country,” she said in Kolkata, alleging that it was a “game plan” to isolate and “throw out” Bengali-speaking people and Biharis from the state.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said it was a historic day for the state, which will abide by the directions of the apex court. Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who had spearheaded the six-year Assam agitation against foreigners and was a signatory to the historic Assam Accord, said the Centre “must deport people who have come after March 24, 1971, to their original country”.

Assam, which has witnessed an influx of people from neighbouring Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, which was first prepared in 1951. The current NRC is being updated with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date to include names of genuine Indian citizens.

Asked about the reasons for excluding names of around 40 lakh applicants, NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela said, “We are not going to make the reasons public. It will be informed individually. They can find the reasons by visiting NRC Sewa Kendras.”

The Union Home Ministry announced that the final NRC list will be published by December 31, 2018.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

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Agencies
February 25,2020

New Delhi, Feb 25: Condemning the violence in Delhi, the Congress on Tuesday demanded that the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Chief Minister of Delhi come forward to ensure peace and maintain brotherhood while rising above partisan politics.

"This is Gandhi, Nehru, Patel's India, can any Indian accept this mindless violence? Congress appeals to the people of Delhi to maintain communal harmony and thwart all attempts of the forces dividing the country on the basis of religion," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters.

Unabated violence and incidents of stone-pelting and murder in the national capital have shattered the nation, he said, while referring to the riots in northeast Delhi over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that continued for the third day, and demanded stern action against the culprits.

"Our appeal to the prime minister, the home minister and the Delhi chief minister is, can you rise to the occasion, leave aside your political partisanship and views, and become really not leaders of your parties but leaders of the society so that harmony, peace, and non-violence prevail," he said.

The Congress party will stand with the Centre and the Delhi government in every way to maintain brotherhood and harmony in the society, he said.

"Do not fail this country because you belong to different political parties," Surjewala said, adding this was a sincere appeal "on behalf of people of Delhi and the country" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"There is no place for violence in Gandhi ji's India... Today there is a need to establish peace on the ground and maintain brotherhood," he said.

Surjewala said the party also prays for the speedy recovery of DCP Amit Sharma and the hundreds of other people who have been injured in the violence.

"We also condemn the firing at three journalists Arvind Gunasekar, Saurabh Shukla and Akash and pray for their good health," he said.

"We strongly condemn these brutal riots and demand that the culprits are identified and stern action is taken against the real culprits and miscreants. The Congress mourns the death of Head Constable Ratan Lal and others in the violence," Surjewala said.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Central government as India crossed the 20 lakh COVID-19 positive cases.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader reiterated his earlier tweet, sent out on July 17, which stated "The 10,00,000-mark has been crossed.

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, by August 10, more than 20,00,000 will be infected in the country. 

The government must take concrete, planned steps to stop the epidemic."
"20 lakh-mark has been crossed, Modi government is missing," the Congress leader tweeted today.

The Union Health Ministry has said active cases as a percentage of total cases have seen a significant drop from 34.17 per cent on July 24 to 30.31 per cent.

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