No poor in India will remain hungry: Sonia Gandhi

August 21, 2013

Sonia_GandhiNew Delhi, Aug 21: The legal right to food security is "unparalleled" in the world and will ensure that no poor in India remains hungry, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said here Tuesday while launching the ambitious food security programme in Delhi.

Delhi is among the first states to launch the programme that is expected to provide cheap staple food to two-thirds of the nation's population.

The launch of the programme - seen as both a major welfare as well as populist move designed to swing votes for a beleaguered Congress in upcoming elections - coincided with the birth anniversary of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi said the right to food security programme had been conceived so that no poor remains hungry.

"We decided to formulate food security bill so that the poor do not remain hungry, their children do not sleep hungry and they do not suffer malnutrition," Sonia Gandhi said at Talkatora Stadium here.

"The guarantee of food provided by the food security scheme on such a large scale is unparalleled in the world," she declared, adding that states had benefitted from welfare schemes of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

"We know work is not over and there is need of a lot of struggle. It is our duty to keep in mind interests of the poor," she said.

She said the public distribution system had many shortcomings and the food security bill had given importance to reforms in it PDS so that the "real beneficiaries get benefits and there is no scope of corruption".

The food security bill is yet to be passed by parliament. The Delhi government unveiled the food security programme on the basis of an ordinance promulgated in June.

Sonia Gandhi said that the food security bill will provide benefits to 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of the urban population.

She said the food security programme will empower women.

The Congress chief handed over food security ration cards to beneficiaries along with a 5 kg rice packet each.

Under the programme, a total of 7.3 million people will get foodgrain at highly subsidised rates in the national capital.

The programme will come into effect from Sep 1 and benefit to 3.2 million people in the first phase. The beneficiaries will be get a fixed amount of foodgrain at Rs.3 a kg for rice and Rs.2 a kg for wheat.

Sonia Gandhi praised Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her efforts for implementing the programme.

She also lauded Dikshit for transforming the infrastructure in the capital, saying the city was no longer the same as it used to be 15 years ago.

Food Minister K.V. Thomas accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of delaying the passage of food security bill in parliament.

Referring to a letter written by BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call a meeting of chief ministers, he said consultations were being held on the bill since 2009.

"The purpose is to delay," he said.Taking a dig at Modi, he said that the person who has laid bare his prime ministerial ambitions wants to delay the right to food security for millions of poor people in the country.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Jan 7: A Delhi Court today issued death warrant against four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case. The hanging will take place on January 22 at 7 am.

During the hearing, the prosecution said there was no application pending before any court or the President right now by any of the convicts and the review petition of all the convicts was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the court had reserved order on issuing of death warrants against four death row convicts.

Today's order comes days after mother of the victim in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case moved the Supreme Court on opposing the plea filed by one of the four death-row convicts seeking review of its 2017 judgement awarding him death penalty.

The apex court had on July 9 last year dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts — Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24) — in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.

The 23-year-old girl was gangraped and murdered by six men on a moving bus on 16 December 2012. The main accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail during the trial. Another accused was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime and was sent to a reform facility and released after three years.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

New Delhi, Mar 15: The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday, with 12 fresh cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of cases include two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka.

While a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia died on Thursday, a 68-year-old woman in Delhi who had tested positive for coronavirus passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Friday night.

Delhi has reported seven positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11 so far. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients while Maharashtra 31, Ladakh three and Jammu and Kashmir 2. Telangana reported three cases.

Besides, Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each.

Kerala has recorded 22 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection with flu-like symptoms.

The total number of confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the ministry officials said

Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present.

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, a Health Ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 93 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance.

He said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs), trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and union territories.

The government on Wednesday suspended all visas, barring a few categories like diplomatic and employment, in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

It has asked Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad.

All incoming international passengers returning to India should self-monitor their health and follow the required do's and dont's as detailed by the government.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Lucknow, Jan 16: The drive initiated by Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath government to identify non-Muslim immigrants in the state seems to have run into rough weather.

In Pilibhit, where the maximum number of about 35,000 illegal immigrants has been identified, it has now been found that information is being sought by the state government on an unverified document. A large number of families from Bangladesh settled here several decades ago.

The survey began last month even before the bill was notified. Moreover, the feedback email on the questionnaire is a Gmail ID -- [email protected] -- which is not a government server.

It is not known how the state government is drawing up the lists without having the verification criteria.

After the report was put up by a news website, Home Department officials feigned complete ignorance about the issue.

A spokesman said: "This was an unofficial and preliminary exercise to assess the number of illegal migrants in the state. The document is meant to collect basic beneficiary information. No list of potential beneficiaries has yet been sent to Delhi."

The document has eight columns asking for name, father's name, place of stay in India, and where did they come from and when. It does not mention any requirement of proof, or documents.

It also asks for a description of the kind of atrocities they faced, presumably in their home country.

The District Magistrate of Pilibhit claimed they are checking documents of the refugees, but denied any knowledge of the unsigned document.

The CAA is meant to benefit Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. The statement of purposes of the Act adds that it is meant to benefit those fleeing religious persecution from the above countries.

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Abdullah
 - 
Thursday, 16 Jan 2020

Yogi is unfit to be CM as he does not know what he speaks and does.   Its unfortunate that we are such idiot as CM.    Instead of CAA we need PAA (Politician amendment act).    We need age limit of politicians to be fixed to 65 or maximum 70 years and any one coming in politics to be free from any bad doing.   No rapists/murders/looters/decoits should be allowed to contest election.   Presently 90 percent of the politicians have bad record.  Few are rapists, murders, having spent jail term etc.    

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