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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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News Network
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: Air India has operated more than 2800 flights and flown over 3 lakh passengers worldwide till now under the Vande Bharat Mission.

"Air India under Vande Bharat Mission Operated more than 2800 flights and flown more than 3 lakh, 80 thousand passengers worldwide till now," Air India said in a tweet on Thursday.

The fifth phase of the Government of India's 'Vande Bharat' mission, aimed at evacuating Indian nationals stranded in various foreign countries owing to restrictions on air travel, will begin early next month, August 1.

"Under Vande Bharat Mission, we have already brought back more than 2.5 lakh stranded Indians from 53 commies," Air India had earlier said in a statement.

Over 7.88 lakh Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic have returned under Vande Bharat Mission till July 22, Ministry of External Affairs had said.

The government started Vande Bharat Mission on May 7.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday recalled the significance of the path of 'maryada' associated with Lord Ram in the backdrop of the situation created by COVID-19 and emphasised the importance of social distancing and wearing face masks.

He said that the current situation demands 'maryada' should be 'do gaz ki doori, mask hai zaroori' and exhorted everyone to follow it.

In his speech after laying the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister said the temple of Lord Ram will inspire and guide humans for ages to come.

He said that the path of `maryada' followed by Lord Ram is all the more necessary today in the situation created by COVID-19.

"The `maryada' (need) today is do gaj ki doori, mask hai jaroori (keep distance of two yards, wear mask). The Almighty may keep all the citizens healthy and happy, this is my prayer. The blessings of Mother Sita and Shri Ram be always there on the citizens," he said.

The Prime Minister termed the occasion as historic and said that India is starting a glorious chapter when people across the country are excited and emotional to have finally achieved what they had been waiting for centuries.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Ghaziabad, Jul 28: Days ahead of Eid-ul-Adha, Nand Kishore Gurjar, a BJP MLA from Loni assembly constituency in Ghaziabad, has stoked controversy as he asked people celebrating the festival to "sacrifice their children instead of animals" on the occasion. He also claimed that "meat spreads coronavirus" so people should not be allowed to sacrifice innocent animals.

"People who want to sacrifice on Eid should sacrifice their children. I will not let people consume meat and alcohol in Loni. We will not let people sacrifice innocent animals because meat spreads coronavirus," the BJP legislator said while speaking to reporters.

"The way people have followed the guidelines of the government by not offering prayers and namaz at temples and mosques to contain COVID-19, in the same way, they must not give the sacrifice of animals on this Eid," he added.

"Earlier, sacrifices of animals used to be done in Sanatan Dharam as well. However, now coconut is offered instead. I request the Muslim brothers not to give 'qurbani' of animals. We will stop those who will perform the ritual animal sacrifice. We will not let this happen in Loni," he said.

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