BJP works for the interest of a few rich people, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Agencies
October 7, 2018

Morena, Oct 7: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP of working for the interest of a few rich people and ignoring the farmers and other sections of society.

At an event organised by tribal organisation Adivasi Ekta Parishad at Morena in Madhya Pradesh, he also raked up the multi-billion Rafale fighter jet deal with France to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

Mr. Gandhi said his party would ensure the implementation of the tribal rights bill if voted to power in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, which go to the polls in November and December.

“If you want to help out the rich, do it… but also help the farmers and other poor sections of the society. If ₹3 lakh crore of the rich can be written off, then why not give such concessions to farmers and other poor sections of the society?” he said.

“The tribal bill is not a gift, but right of the tribal people. The tribal people must have their rights over land, water and forests,” he said.

The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is a key piece of forest legislation passed when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.

Also called the tribal bill, it concerns the rights of forest dwelling communities to land and other resources denied to them for decades due to colonial forest laws.

Mr. Gandhi charged the Modi government with diluting the consent clause in the Land Acquisition Bill and also weakening the panchayati raj institutions.

He alleged that in the 2016 demonetisation exercise, black money became white, nobody went to jail and contrary to the BJP’s promise, no one received ₹15 lakh in their bank account.

'I always fulfil the promises I make to people'

He said that before taking a decision, unlike the BJP, he thought whether it would benefit the poor. “If the decision will harm the interests of the poor, I never go ahead with its implementation. On the other hand, the BJP thinks whether its decisions will benefit the rich.” He always fulfiled the promises he made to people, he added..

“I am in politics since 2004 and you can check my speeches. Give me one example where I have made promises like depositing ₹15 lakh in your bank account,” he said.

“In Karnataka, I promised that if the Congress returns to power, farmers will get a loan waiver. Accordingly, the Chief Minister implemented the decision after the new government was formed,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi said the BJP wanted to implement rural employment guarantee scheme MNREGA and Right to Food policies of the UPA through bureaucracy, while the erstwhile dispensation had empowered panchayats and pradhans (village heads) to take decisions regarding them.

“The bureaucracy doesn’t want these schemes, so their budgetary allocations have been reduced,” he alleged.

He accused the Modi government of letting liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamantaire Nirav Modi flee the country with public money. “Nirav Modi robbed your money from the banks to the tune of ₹35,000 crore and fled the country. Similarly, Vijay Mallya took away ₹10,000 crore from the banks and informed [Finance Minister Arun Jaitley] before leaving the country. So far, no action is being taken in these two cases,” he alleged.

Reiterating his allegations on the Rafale fighter jet deal, he said Mr. Modi cancelled the contract that the UPA had signed with France and inked a new deal to buy the aircraft at a much higher price.

The Prime Minister gave the (offset) contract to his “friend” Anil Ambani instead of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), he alleged.

NDA's denial

The BJP-led NDA government had repeatedly denied any irregularity in the ₹58,000 crore deal.

Mr. Ambani had also rejected Mr. Gandhi’s allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in Dassault, the French makers of Rafale, choosing his company as offset partner.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 27,2020

Washington, May 27: Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said in its COVID-19 guidelines which do not recommend following social distancing between two passengers inside a plane or keeping the middle seat unoccupied.

As a result of coronavirus pandemic, air traffic inside the US has come to a near halt. Air traffic is said to be down to about 90 per cent. For all travellers coming from overseas, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended 14 days quarantine.

"Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on aeroplanes," the CDC has said in its set of COVID-19 guidelines for air travellers.

However, it noted that the air travellers were not risk-free especially in the time of the coronavirus pandemic and recommended Americans to avoid travel as far as possible.

"Air travel requires spending time in security lines and airport terminals, which can bring you in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces," it said.

"Social distancing is difficult on crowded flights, and you may have to sit near others (within six feet), sometimes for hours. This may increase your risk for exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19," the CDC said.

But instead of recommended social distancing inside commercial planes, the CDC has advised a series of preventive and hygienic measures to be taken by the airlines pilot and crew to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration in its latest safety alerts for operators on May 11 said that air carriers and crews conducting flight operations having a nexus to the US, including both domestic and foreign air carriers, should follow CDC's occupational health and safety guidance.

The CDC issued its guidelines in first guidelines for the airlines and airline crew on March and again in May.

The CDC, which has issued an exhaustive social guideline measures in various sections, is silent on keeping the middle seat of a plane unoccupied so as to maintain the six feet distance between two passengers.

It calls for the plane crew to report to the CDC a traveller with specific COVID-19 symptoms like fever, persistent cough, difficulty in breathing and appearing unwell.

Asking the airlines and cabin crew to review infection control guidelines for cabin crew, the CDC recommends several measures for cabin crew to protect themselves and others, manage a sick traveller, clean contaminated areas, and take actions after a flight.

Prominent among them include washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, particularly after assisting sick travellers or touching potentially contaminated body fluids or surfaces and use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer (containing at least 60 per cent alcohol) if soap and water are not available.

Airlines should consider providing alcohol-based hand sanitizer to cabin and flight crews for their personal use, it said.

The CDC guidelines do not recommend following social distancing inside a plane between two passengers or keeping the middle seat unoccupied. But it asks to minimise contact between passengers and cabin crew and the sick person.

"If possible, separate the sick person from others (by a distance of 2 meters or 6 feet, ideally) and designate one crew member to serve the sick person. Offer a facemask, if available and if the sick person can tolerate it. If a facemask is not available or cannot be tolerated, ask the sick person to cover their mouth and nose with tissues when coughing or sneezing," said the CDC guidelines.

If no symptomatic passengers were identified during or immediately after the flight, the CDC recommends airlines to follow routine operating procedures for cleaning aircraft, managing solid waste, and wearing PPE.

"If symptomatic passengers are identified during or immediately after the flight, routine cleaning procedures should be followed, and enhanced cleaning procedures should also be used," it said.

Clean porous (soft) surfaces (e.g, cloth seats, cloth seat belts) at the seat of the symptomatic passengers and within 6 feet of the symptomatic passengers in all directions, it added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 30,2020

Mumbai, Jan 30: Speaking at an event, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi's son and businessman, Farhan Azmi said that if CM Uddhav Thackeray will build lord Ram's Temple at Ayodhya then he will build Babri Masjid there. He said, "My problem is with Uddhav Thackeray.

I respect him a lot and if in Shiv Sena somebody really deserves respect, then it is no other than Uddhav Thackeray. He never runs a government and I don't think he is running his party correctly.

If being the Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray says he is going to Ayodhya on 7th March, I will also go with him. He will build lord Ram's Temple and we will build Babri Masjid."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: Two alleged criminals were killed in an exchange of fire with the Special Cell of Delhi Police at Pul Pehlad Pur area in New Delhi on Monday morning, officials said.

The encounter took place around 5 am, they said.

Raja Qureshi and Ramesh Bahadur, who were injured during the encounter, were rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were declared brought dead by doctors, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P S Kushwah said.

According to police, the two men were involved in multiple cases of murder and robbery.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.