AAP completes 100 days in office

May 24, 2015

New Delhi, May 24: The AAP-led Delhi government today completed 100 days in office, a period marked by its ongoing bitter tussle with the Lt Governor, a split in the party and implementation of a slew of its electoral promises, including slashing power tariff by 50 per cent and providing free water of up to 20,000 litres per month.

AAP 100The government also relaunched the '1031' anti-corruption helpline, where people can lodge complaints against officials, to weed out graft and achieve its stated objective of making Delhi the country's first graft-free state.

The government has planned a mega event at Central Park here in the heart of the national capital tomorrow where the entire Delhi Cabinet will be present to highlight its achievements before the public.

The Arvind Kejriwal government has also initiated the process of regularising unauthorised colonies while it banned demolition of jhuggis immediately after assuming office and held a series of special camps to provide licences to e-rickshaws.

A new body, Delhi Dialogue Commission, was created to implement the government's 70-point development agenda whereas 21 MLAs were appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries to assist in matters of governance.

Its bid to reach out to the rural constituency suffered a serious setback in the form of an alleged suicide of a farmer at a party rally days after it announced relief of Rs 20,000 per acre for rain and hailstorm hit farmers in Delhi.

On the administrative front, Kejriwal had to settle for KK Sharma as the Chief Secretary as the Centre overruled his choice of Ramesh Negi.

A major conflict broke out as the Lt Governor Najeeb Jung appointed Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting Chief Secretary when Sharma went on a 10-day leave.

As Kejriwal questioned the LG's authority and accused him of trying to take over the administration, the Union Home Ministry came out with a notification throwing its weight behind Jung.

The chances of the confrontation ebbing away looks a distant possibility as the two sides have raised the stakes in the power tussle with the Delhi government mulling to take the legal route.

The AAP government has also decided to call a two-day 'emergency' session of Delhi Assembly from Tuesday to deliberate on the notification.

The comment by the Chief Minister, who has repeatedly alleged "conspiracies" against the government, that there should be a "public trial" of the media evoked sharp criticism.

Later, the government also issued a circular on filing of defamation cases against media houses for publishing or broadcasting news that damages the reputation of the Chief Minister, the council of ministers or the government. The circular was stayed by Supreme Court.

In February, the AAP government had announced a 50 per cent subsidy on monthly power consumption of up to 400 units and 20,000 litres of free water per month to all households which would cost the exchequer around Rs 1,670 crore annually.

The free water scheme and power subsidy came into effect from March 1.

The ruling AAP on multiple occasions locked horns with the police, accusing it of creating problems towards smooth functioning of the government, which reached its flashpoint when they got entangled in a tussle over the issue of statutory powers of a District Magistrate who was asked to probe the alleged suicide of farmer Gajendra Singh.

Delhi Police had written to the district magistrate saying he had no jurisdiction in the matter as it was the subject matter of an FIR filed under various sections of IPC, including abetment of suicide.

The period also saw Kejriwal loyalists having an ugly spat with dissident leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. The duo were expelled from the party last month.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Jaipur, Jan 27: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that if the Citizenship Amendment Act leads to the implementation of the NPR and the NRC, it would be a complete victory for Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He said that Jinnah's idea of a country was already winning in India with the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coming into effect, but asserted that there was still a choice available.

"I would not say Jinnah has completely won, but I would say Jinnah is winning. There is still a choice available to the nation between Jinnah's idea of a country and Gandhiji's idea of a country," he said on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival on Sunday.

The CAA came into force in India in December amid protests across the country and around the world.

The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that the amended Citizenship Act took Jinnah's logic by declaring that religion shall be the basis of nationhood, reaffirming that Gandhi's idea is that all religions are equal .

"The CAA is, if you are talking Tennis, you would say one set up or big first set lead for Jinnah. But the next step would be if the CAA would lead to the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). If that happens, then you would consider that Jinnah's victory is complete," he said.

The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

On the BJP's defence that the NPR was carried out during the UPA regime, Tharoor said that the Congress government had utilised a decision of the NDA government led by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"It never asked where were your parents born. It never authorised the enumerators to note on the margin 'dubious citizenship', a term used in the NPR rules crafted by this government. That is purely BJP's invention," he said.

If we go around this country authorising people to interview all the citizens, or identify some who have 'dubious citizenship', you can be pretty sure which Indians are going to be found on the 'dubious citizenship', he said.

"That will principally be one community that is not mentioned in the CAA. And if that happens, then it is indeed Jinnah's victory.

"From wherever he is, he can point to this place and say, 'see I was right in the 1940. We are separate nations and Muslims deserved their own country because Hindus cannot be just'," Tharoor said.

Speaking about the Delhi election, the three-time MP said that the maximum development in the national capital happened under the Congress government.

"What Sheila Dikshit did in her 15 years as Chief Minister of Delhi, no other leader could do it before or after her," he said.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Visakhapatnam, May 7: Unconscious children being carried by parents in their arms, people laying on roads, health workers scrambling to attend to those affected by the styrene vapour leak and residents fleeing were some of the scenes that played out near here on Thursday, bringing back grim memories of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The leak of styrene, a chemical used to make synthetic rubber and resins, among others, occurred in the wee hours of Thursday while people were still fast asleep.

Women and children were seen lying on roads struggling to breath, reminiscent of the infamous Bhopal gas tragedy when a leak from the Union Carbide plant left around 3,500 dead and many maimed.

The worst-hit Gopalapatnam village reverberated with cries of people for help.

Many people fell unconscious during their sleep, a villager said.

Affected people, suffering writ large on their faces, were rushed to hospitals in autorickshaws and on two wheelers.

Visakhapatnam Collector Vinay Chand said 20 ambulances were pressed into service as soon information about the gas leak was received.

Exposure to styrene, also known as ethenylbenzene, vinylbenzene can affect the central nervous system (CNS), causing headache, fatigue, weakness, and depression.

It is primarily used in the production of polystyrene plastics and resins.

The gas leak took place at LG Polymers chemical plant.

LG Polymers was established in 1961 as "Hindustan Polymers" for manufacturing Polystyrene and its co-polymers at Visakhapatnam. It merged with McDowell & Co. Ltd of UB Group in 1978, according to the company's website.

Taken over by LG Chem (South Korea), Hindustan Polymers was renamed LG Polymers India Private Limited (LGPI) in July, 1997.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 11: The effective handling of Covid-19 pandemic by the Kerala Government has received a big endorsement in the International media with the latest being a report in Washington Post which suggests that the State’s success could prove instructive to the entire country.

The Washington Post quoted Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher as saying “We hoped for the best but planned for the worst. Now, the curve has flattened, but we cannot predict what will happen next week.”

"The Minister said six states had reached out to Kerala for advice. She, however, noted that it might not be easy to replicate Kerala’s lessons elsewhere," according to the Minister's office quoting the report here on Saturday.

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