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Mallikarjun Kharge to be on CIC selection panel

November 4, 2014

New Delhi, Nov 4: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been inducted into the three-member selection committee which will select the Chief Information Commissioner.

Mallikarjun KhargeAs per file notings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who heads the panel, has nominated Defence Minister Arun Jaitely besides Kharge to the committee.The decision to include Kharge has been taken on the advice of Law Ministry as there was lack of clarity on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The RTI Act requires that selection of the Chief Information Commissioner be done by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

"For the purposes of removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People has not been recognised as such, the Leader of the single largest group in opposition of the Government in the House of the People shall be deemed to be the Leader of Opposition," the Act says.

The file notings accessed by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra show that the Lok Sabha Secretariat had conveyed to DoPT on June 19, 2014, that "as on date, there is no Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. Indian National Congress with a strength of 44 mmbers is, however, the single largest party in opposition to the Government in Lok Sabha.

"As per the information received from the party, Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha which is the single largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha."

After receiving the response, DoPT had referred the matter to Law Ministry seeking to know whether leader of single largest party can be "treated" as leader of "single largest group" in the Lok Sabha for the purpose of the RTI Act?

"Our answer to the query is in the affirmative. We, however, clarify that this answer is only for the limited purpose of the RTI Act [explanation below Section 12(3)] and not for any other purpose," the Law Ministry said in its advice to Department of Personnel and Training.

The Law Ministry had also made it clear that the term "single largest group in opposition", as mentioned in the RTI Act, is not defined either in the RTI Act, Acts pertaining to functioning of MPs and Parliament and compilations of "Directions by the Speaker of Lok Sabha".

It said it relied on the response of the Lok Sabha Secretariat saying Kharge was the leader of Congress which was the single largest party in opposition.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal ministry for RTI matters, has invited applications from the people in a given format before November 24.

According to the Act, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media or administration and governance.

All the CICs appointed so far have been retired bureaucrats. The position has been lying vacant after Rajiv Mathur, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau, retired on August 22.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 17 lakh mark with 54,736 positive cases and 853 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

"The total COVID-19 cases stand at 17,50,724 including 5,67,730 active cases, 11,45,630 cured/discharged/migrated and 37,364 deaths," said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has a total of 1,49,214 active cases and 15,316 deaths. A total of 4,31,719 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the state up to Saturday, as per the state health department.

Tamil Nadu has a total of 60,580 active cases and 4,034 deaths.

In Delhi, the total cases rose to 1,36,716, including 1,22,131 recovered/discharged/migrated cases and 3,989 deaths. There are 10,596 active cases in the national capital.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to August 1 is 1,98,21,831 including 4,63,172 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday.

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News Network
April 6,2020

New Delhi, April 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that people from every section of the society and age group demonstrated unity on Sunday by responding to the Prime Minister '9 pm-9minute' appeal and strengthened the resolve to the fight against COVID-19.

"We experienced yesterday at 9 pm, the strength of togetherness of 130 crores people of our country," said PM Modi.

He further praised the citizens of the country for their support to the lockdown imposed across India in the wake of coronavirus threat.

"The maturity shown by the people during the lockdown, in a large country like India, is unprecedented. No one could have imagined that the people will abide by this with such obedience and sense of service," said Prime Minister Modi.

"I state it with full responsibility that this is a long war against coronavirus pandemic. But we do not have to get tired or take a rest in this war. We have to emerge victoriously. Today, the country has only one goal and one resolve - to win this war," he added.

The Prime Minister continued saying, that the government has developed an Aarogya Setu app through which one can get information regarding the infected cases around them.

"I request all of you to tell people about it, everyone should make sure that at least 40 others install it. They will get info through it about possibly infected cases around them. In these tough times, we have to ensure this," he added.

The Prime Minister also advised everyone to take necessary preventive measures and stay protected by adopting the mantra of social distancing.

"Always remember, whenever you go out your face should be covered, I say you should keep your face covered even at your homes. The mantra today for the whole world is social distancing and discipline," he added.

Prime Minister Modi addressed the BJP workers and the nation on the occasion of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 40th Foundation Day.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Bijnor, Feb 6: Apprehensions over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are now so strong that a team of economic enumerators were allegedly manhandled in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district and faced stiff resistance from the people.

A team of the economic census enumerators in Bijnor, on Wednesday, sent a letter to the District Magistrate narrating the difficulties they are facing in some parts "due to misinformation".

District magistrate Ramakant Pandey, when contacted, said that he had asked the department concerned to complete the work on time. "If teams are facing any problems, we will sort it out at once. No hurdle in economic census will be tolerated," he said.

According to District Economic and Statistics Officer, Harendra Malik: "Our teams are facing protests in minority-dominated areas as people are linking it to the NRC. Some team members were manhandled.

"We have now asked village heads and municipality chairmen to help our teams in the survey and convince the people. Our teams are trying to convince them that it is a routine work which is being carried out for years. It has nothing to do with the NRC or CAA."

He further said that they plan to hold a series of meetings with people's representatives, including village heads and chairmen, so that they could put an end to this confusion.

The seventh economic census was flagged off in Bijnor by District Magistrate Ramakant Pandey on January 6. There are around 3,000 enumerators and 569 supervisors engaged in the census being carried out under the supervision of economic and statistics department. It is expected to be completed by March 31.

The economic census is aimed at collecting data about the financial status of people engaged in unorganised sector.

Meanwhile, the areas where the enumerators are facing stiff resistance include Kalhari village in Najibabad block, Amipur Narain village in Mohammadpur Devmal block, Anisa Nangli village in Dwarka block and the Mirzapur Bella village in Jalilpur block.

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