Advani urges Pranab for simultaneous polls, fixed legislture terms

August 12, 2012

advani

New Delhi, August 12: BJP leader L.K. Advani Sunday called upon President Pranab Mukherjee to take the initiative for bringing the country out of "perpetual election mode" and ensure simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies every five years with fixed term for the legislatures.

In the latest post on his blog, Advani said successive elections to state assemblies was not good for governance and polity as it influences decision making.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said he had discussed the issue of electoral reforms in 2010 with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee, the then Leader of House in the Lok Sabha, and both were receptive to his suggestion that there should not be midway dissolution of either the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and they should have a fixed tenure.

"For the non-partisan responsibility Pranab Da has just assumed, taking an initiative regarding electoral reform would be very appropriate," he said.

"Let the new Rashtrapati take an initiative with regard to poll reforms in their totality, but more specifically in respect of this particular matter which we had once discussed," Advani said.

"Let the present government in which he himself has been a principal player accomplish this one thing at least: a fixed tenure for Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and simultaneous elections at the centre and states every five years," he added.

Advani noted that the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) term will end May 2014 but 12 states have seen elections since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and two more are expected to go to polls before the end of 2012.

"In a way, for those running the Union Government this vast country of ours with its huge population is in a perpetual election mode. When for six years we were in the NDA Government we actually experienced how impending elections even in a remote corner of the country used to influence decision making in New Delhi. I feel this is not good either for governance or for the polity," Advani said.

The BJP leader said first general elections in India and assembly elections were held in 1952, and this was repeated in 1957, 1962 and 1967.

The fifth general elections were due in 1972 but were held in 1971 due to the Lok Sabha's early dissolution at the insistence of the Indira Gandhi government, but assembly elections took place as scheduled in 1972, thus leading to "the initial delinking" of the two.

Advani also said that the use of Article 356 - which empowers the union government to dissolve a state assembly if it concluded that the government in the state was not being carried on in accordance with the Constitution - had resulted in the delinking of the election programme of different states.

Referring to the election system in the US where the election date is fixed, Advani said that the exact date of elections should not be arbitrarily decided by the executive.

Advani added that during his discussions on the issue of simultaneous elections with the prime minister and Mukherjee, he had indicated that the British government was also thinking in the same direction and their parliament had also passed a law in this direction in 2011.


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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 9,2020

Bijnor: A 17-year-old Dalit youth was shot dead by four miscreants belonging to the upper caste of Hinduism after the former tried to enter a temple in Uttar Pradesh.

The deceased was identified as Vikas Jatav. The accused had tried to stop the deceased from entering into a temple. 

On being stopped from entering the temple located in Domkhera village, Jatav raised and objection and started arguing with the accused. 

The accused were identified as - Lala Chauhan, Horam Chauhan, Bhushan and Jasveer. The incident took place on May 31, according to the father of the deceased. 

How it happened 
On May 31, Jatav went to a temple in Domkhera to offer his prayers. The four accused, however, did not let him go inside. Following this, an argument broke out between the accused and the 17-year-old boy. 

On the same day, the victim approached the police and lodged a complaint in relation to the incident. The police, however, did not take any action against the accused men. 

Late night on Saturday, Jatav was sleeping inside his house when the four men barged in and opened fire at him. 

Hearing the gunshots, Jatav's family rushed to rescue him, following which, the accused escaped. Vikas was profusely bleeding after being shot and succumbed to the injuries before he could reach the hospital. 

Lala Chauhan and Horam were nabbed by the police while the other two are still at large. The four accused have been booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST Act.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: Air India's jumbo B747 plane, evacuating 324 Indian nationals from the novel coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China, landed here on Saturday morning, officials said.

The plane reached Delhi around 7.30 am, they said.

There were five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and one paramedical staff on board, said an Air India spokesperson.

The Indian Army has set up a quarantine facility in Manesar near Delhi to keep those evacuated from China's Hubei province.

Officials said they would be monitored for any signs of infection for a duration of two weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members.

"With 324 passengers, special flight has taken off for India from Wuhan. It may reach Delhi at 7.30am," said the Air India spokesperson at 1.19 am on Saturday.

The flight had departed from Delhi airport at 1.17 pm on Friday to evacuate Indian nationals from China, where more than 250 people - none of them Indian - have died due to novel coronavirus.

On Friday evening, the Air India spokesperson had stated that another special flight may take off from Delhi airport on Saturday to evacuate Indians from Wuhan.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has risen to 259 with total confirmed cases surging to 11,791 amid stepped up efforts by a number of countries to evacuate their nationals from Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, officials said on Saturday.

About Friday's flight, the spokesperson had said earlier during the day, "A team of five doctors from RML hospital, one paramedical staff from Air India, with prescribed medicines from doctors, masks, overcoats, packed food are in the aircraft. A team of engineers, security personnel are also there in this special aircraft. Whole rescue mission is being led by Captain Amitabh Singh, Director (Operations), Air India."

The spokesperson had added that there were five cockpit crew members and 15 cabin crew members on Friday's flight.

Before departure at Delhi airport, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani had said, "No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction (between cabin crew and passengers)."

"Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged a complete protective gear," he had added.

"Total five doctors from the Health Ministry are also going... The plane will be there (at Wuhan airport) for 2-3 hours," Lohani had said.

Air India has done such evacuations earlier also from countries such as Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait and Nepal.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has made key appointments in its different commands all across the country including formations that look after operations along the borders with China and Pakistan.

Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari has been appointed as the head of the Delhi-based Western Air Command (WAC) which looks after both the crucial borders, with China in Ladakh and all along Pakistan from Ladakh up to Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Chaudhari would be assuming charge of the new office on August 1, replacing Air Marshal B Suresh who is superannuating after a brief tenure of nine months there.

In the Shillong-based Eastern Command, incumbent Air Marshal RD Mathur would be moving to the Bangalore-based Training Command on October 1, he will be replaced by Air Marshal Amit Dev. The Eastern Command looks after the entire Northeastern region including the border with China from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the new appointments issued on July 24, Kargil war gallantry awardee Air Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik would be taking over as the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the Prayagraj-based Central Air Command.

On October 1, the Air Force would also get a new in-charge of personnel in Air Marshal RJ Duckworth who is presently the SASO in the WAC.

Air Marshal Vikram Singh would be the next SASO of the WAC. Air Marshal J Chalapati-- the officer who had briefed the Supreme Court on the Rafale issue last year, would be the SASO of the Trivandrum-based Southern Air Command.

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