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Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM, Lalu's two sons as ministers

November 20, 2015

Patna, Nov 20: Nitish Kumar today took oath as Bihar Chief Minister along with 28 ministers, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad's two sons Tejaswi and Tej Pratap, as the grand alliance government of RJD-JD(U)-Congress was sworn in at a mega ceremony attended by several top leaders from non-BJP parties.

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Besides Nitish, 12 members each from RJD and JD(U) and four from Congress were administered oath as ministers by Governor Ram Nath Kovind.

Speculation is rife that first time MLA Tejaswi, who was the second person to be sworn in after Nitish at the event held at Gandhi Maidan, will be made Deputy Chief Minister.

Nitish took oath as the chief minister for the fifth time. Portfolios of the ministers are likely to be allocated soon.

A galaxy of leaders including Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and a number of Congress Chief Ministers were present at the swearing in ceremony of the new Bihar government.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was deputed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also present. CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja also attended the event.

Former JD(U) state President Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar and Jay Kumar Singh, all members of the outgoing cabinet also took oath besides former MP Maheshwar Hazari, Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Santosh Nirala and Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmad.

New members in the cabinet from JD(U)-- Shailesh Kumar, Kumari Manju Varma, Madan Sahni and Kapildeo Kamat also took oath.

Hazari, a cousin of Ram Vilas Paswan had defeated the LJP chief's nephew Prince Raj from Kalyanpur assembly seat. In Lok Sabha elections earlier, he had defeated Paswan's brother Ram Chandra Paswan.

From RJD quota besides Lalu's sons, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Abdul Gafoor, Vijay Prakash, Chandrika Rai, Alok Kumar Mehta, Ram Vichar Rai, Sheo Chander Ram, Muneshwar Chaudhary, Chandrashekhjar and Anita Devi took oath.

Anita, the lone woman minister from RJD defeated senior BJP leader Rameshwar Chourasia in Nokha assembly segment. From Congress, party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh were sworn in.

RJD had won 80 seats in the Bihar poll followed by JD(U) 71 and Congress 27 totalling 178 in the 243-member Legislative Assembly. As per constitutional provision of cabinet quota being fixed at 15 per cent of the House strength, Nitish Kumar could have a maximum of 36 members, including himself, in the ministry.

At an historic function here attended by a galaxy of top political leaders of the country and watched by a huge crowd, Kumar was administered the oath of office by Governor Ram Nath Kovind.

All eyes were on Tejaswi and Tej Pratap Yadav, the two sons of RJD President Lalu Prasad, who took oath at number two and three positions, signalling the family's importance in the alliance government.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and a host of chief ministers, were present for the function at the sprawling venue in the heart of the city.

Congress Vice President Gandhi who, too, attended the event, could reach the venue only at the fag end of the ceremony due to late arrival from the national capital.

Allies of BJP in the NDA, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), too, were represented at Nitish's swearing-in by, respectively, Maharashtra ministers Ram Das Kadam and Subhash Desai and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

With the function virtually serving as a stage for showcasing a united picture of anti-BJP parties, along with chief ministers Banerjee and Kejriwal were present Virbhadra Singh, Oommen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi and Siddaramiah.

While the presence of so many prominent leaders of various anti-BJP parties may not result in the formation of an alliance immediately, it could give a psychological boost to the opposition against NDA ahead of the crucial winter session of Parliament starting later this month.

Naidu sat beside RJD President Lalu Prasad and was seen talking to him from time to time.

Responding to a personal invitation by Nitish, who had himself invited the dignitaries over the phone, leaders of parties like Congress, NCP, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK, SAD, CPI(M), CPI, National Conference, National Lok Dal, INLD, AGP besides JD(U) and RJD attended the mega event.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, DMK leaders TR Balu and MK Stalin and National Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, too, were seen at the function.

Although Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the function, SP MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, who is also the son-in-law of Lalu Prasad, was there at Gandhi Maidan.

The event provided a rare opportunity for lensmen to photograph leaders who otherwise are often at loggerheads in the political arena.

Thus Banerjee and CPI(M)'s Yechury were present on the same dais, as were Kejriwal and ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit along with Assam chief minister Gogoi and AGP leader and ex-chief minister of the northeastern state Prafulla Mahanta.

The occasion also provided a rare picture of Gandhi shaking hands with and later hugging RJD chief Prasad amidst cheers by the crowd.

Gandhi sat in the first row marked for VVIPs. Next to him was Deve Gowda followed by Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu and Sharad Yadav. While walking to his seat on the dais, he hugged Sheila Dixit and shook hands with some others.

Bonhomie was seen all around with leaders shaking hands with and hugging Kumar and Prasad.

Nitish's son Nishant and elder brother Satish were present on the occasion as was Prasad's entire family, including wife Rabri Devi and seven daughters along with sons-in-law, who sat in the VVIP area and were seen cheering Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.

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News Network
April 11,2020

New Delhi, Apr 11: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with chief ministers, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday urged CMs of states where the party is in power to unanimously demand for transfer of cash to every poor family.

He said the poor have lost their jobs and have exhausted their savings. They are now standing in lines to get free food, the former Union finance minister said.

Chidambaram said remonetising the poor would cost only Rs 65,000 crore, which is economically viable.

"Chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanasami, Uddhav Thackeray and E Palaniswani should tell the prime minister today that just as LIVES are important LIVELIHOOD of the poor is important, he tweeted.

"The poor have lost their jobs or self-employment in the last 18 days. They have exhausted their meagre savings. Many are standing in line for food," Chidambaram said.

Can the state stand by and watch them go hungry," he asked, adding that chief ministers should demand that cash be transferred to every poor family immediately.

"Remonetise the poor should be their unanimous demand," Chidambaram said.

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Agencies
July 21,2020

The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has said that ad hoc lockdowns by state governments are impacting the businesses of already-stressed retailers, along with hurting the economic revival of the country.

In a statement, the body of the organised retail industry said that the long road to recovery for the Indian retail industry continues to meet stumbling blocks with numerous restrictions being imposed at the state and local levels.

"Total lockdowns in some places and limited operational hours and days in several others are creating setbacks for retailers as the already stressed retail businesses are getting further interrupted and in turn, dampening consumer sentiment," it said.

According to RAI, although the intentions are that of citizen safety and social distancing, the recent instances of local lockdowns and ad hoc restrictions being imposed in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are having a distressing impact on retail businesses.

Retailers are already facing huge setbacks in terms of payment of wages and rentals due to very low sales of about 40 per cent as compared to last year, thanks to the extended lockdown, it said.

Contesting the restrictions on operating hours, Sandeep Kataria, CEO, Bata India said: "Restricted shopping time can lead to unnecessary overcrowding of stores, which is unfavourable towards the personal safety of both store staff and customers. Longer operational hours will support recovery for retailers as well as help adhering to social distancing norms."

Arvind Mediratta, MD and CEO, METRO Cash & Carry India said that these lockdowns will create severe inconvenience for all citizens as they also bar operations of food and grocery retail and wholesale stores.

Such hastily-implemented decisions by states undermine investor confidence and would come in the way of making the country "aatmanirbhar" or self-reliant, he said.

Voicing the concerns of retailers, the RAI has submitted representations to various state and local authorities that puts forth recommendations to get businesses and life of consumers on the track to recovery.

It has said that authorities should mandatorily allow essential shops including kiranas, general trade shops, supermarkets, hypermarkets and wholesalers to operate every day of the week until 9 p.m. to cater to the daily needs of the customers.

It has also sought ensuring uniform and regular opening of all categories of retail for full working hours while following stringent hygiene practices and adhering to social distancing norms. This will help avoid overcrowding outside stores as demand will get distributed over all days of the week, it said.

The industry body has also asked the local authorities to open malls in all states. Malls can ensure a safe shopping experience wherein safety measures are taken by both, the mall authorities and the retailers, it said.

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, RAI, said: "The need of the hour is concerted efforts by all stakeholders. While retailers are doing their bit by following stringent hygiene practices, the policymakers too need to support to ensure economic revival across the country. Consumption is important for the country and supports the business environment."

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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