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UP CM's Rs 80 crore gift fails to enthuse rivals

July 3, 2012

akhilesh

New Delhi, July 3: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's largesse to the MLAs failed to get the anticipated support from the political parties with his bitter rivals - the BJP and the BSP - rejecting the proposal that the legislators can use Constituency Development Funds to buy personal vehicles.

Akhilesh said each of the 403 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly can use up to Rs 20 lakh out of the Rs 5 crore allotted during a five-year tenure to buy vehicles. If all the MLAs buy a vehicle worth Rs 20 lakh, the cost to the state exchequer would be more than Rs 80 crore.

However, the BJP and the BSP strongly objected to Akhilesh’s proposal saying the decision would send a wrong signal to the people of the state; the Samajwadi Party defended it saying that it's not obligatory to but a personal vehicle using the fund.

BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said, "Giving car through this order is completely wrong. It gives wrong impression. No BSP MLA will take any car through this order." BJP leader Lakshmi Narayan, said, "This decision is completely wrong and it gives wrong impression. No BJP MLA will take any car through this order."

The SP has defended the decision of Akhilesh Yadav. Senior SP leader Azam Khan said, "This order came out after the increase in MLA fund for those who are not able to afford it and it is not compulsory that they should buy it. They will only become owner when they pay in full."

Earlier, as promised in its party manifesto, the SP government entitled MLAs to purchase four-wheelers worth upto Rs 20 lakh from their local area development fund, which was also increased by Rs 25 lakh.

"Despite a financial crisis, the SP government has fulfilled all the promises it made in the party manifesto in the budget. We entitle MLAs to purchase vehicles upto Rs 20 lakh from their local area development fund", Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced in the state Assembly.

He said that value of the vehicle will be depreciated per year and after the end of five years the MLAs could deposit the depreciated amount and hand over their vehicle.

"This will help MLAs, who did not have money to buy the vehicle", Akhilesh said adding that the government would not give any amount for maintenance of the vehicles.

The decision, however, was not appreciated by the opposition, which termed that it would send a wrong message as the money for development was spend on the vehicle.

"The decision to buy vehicles will not send a good message to the electorate. Even, MLAs buying vehicles on their own money would look as if they used public money for the purpose. We, BJP members, will not purchase vehicles from the development fund", BJP leader Hukum Singh said.

BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya also said that the decision would not send a good message to the public and added that separate arrangements would be made for the purpose of purchasing vehicles.

"BSP members will not be utilising their development fund for vehicles", Maurya said.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari aired the same view and said that Akhilesh should increase the MLA area development fund and reminded him about the announcement made by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in the House in 2007.

"Your father had announced to increase MLA fund by Rs 25 lakh in 2007 but could not do so. Now you have to rid you father of this 'karj' (obligation)", Tiwari said.

Following this, the Chief Minister later announced to increase the MLA fund by Rs 25 lakh--from 1.25 crore to Rs 1.5 crore.

The Chief Minister earlier informed the House and sought its support for importing coal, if it was not made available by the Centre.

"The state is not getting coal links to run 10 thermal power plants. We want support to run them on imported coal. The state government will ensure that power thus generated would be on competitive rates", Yadav said while the members supported the move.

The CM also announced that two Lohia villages would be selected for development on advise of concerned MLAs and demanded by them while Parliamentary minister assured piped water supply in two villages on request of MLAs.

Akhilesh also announced honorarium of Rs five thousand to Vidhan Sabha staff besides providing torch, cycle and uniform to chowkidars in all the districts.

As per law, Constituency Development Funds are to be used for development work and not for personal benefits.


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Agencies
August 4,2020

Ayodhya,  Aug 4: Various religious ceremonies have been conducted for the past 108 days by saints in Ayodhya and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in `muhurat puja' at 12.44 pm on Wednesday as part of 'bhoomi pujan' for construction of a grand Ram temple.

PM Modi will arrive at 12:30 pm at the Ramjanmbhoomi and take part in various prayers including the main "bhoomi pujan".

Govind Giriji Maharaj, treasurer of Shri Ramjanmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said that the religious ceremonies will begin from 8:30 am in the morning and will continue till 12:30 pm.

"The Prime Minister will arrive at 12:30 pm and he will offer `puja' for 15 minutes and take 'sankalp'. First Lord Ganesh will be worshipped then he will offer prayers of eight shilas. Some prayers at shilas we have conducted already," Giri told said.

"The muhrat of pooja is at 12: 44 pm. He will say words 'prathisthapayami' and it is crucial to be done in that muhrat," he said.

Elaborating on the rituals to be performed tomorrow by the Prime Minister, the trust member said that most important is `Kurm Shila' .

"The most important is Kurm Shila - this is right beneath the place where Ram Lalla will be seated. It is this ceremony that we are conducting tomorrow. A cone of Bakul tree wood will be kept in ceremony. This isn't an ordinary cone, it is made of various metals including gold and silver. 

A lotus with nine gems too will be part of pujan which will be offered to this cone by the Prime Minister," he said.

"These are intrinsic to main bhumi pujan. The first religious ceremony was of Devi Kali. There are two devi kalis here, `choti' and `badi'. She is kuldevi, family's goddess of Sita. Today we held Ramarchan ceremony," said Giri.

The Vedic pundits who are involved in religious ceremonies have come from Delhi, Mathura and Kashi.

Asked about the absence of Nepal's religious head of Janaki Mandir, he said that there are many, including 20 religious heads, who would not able to come because they can't leave their seat in Chaturmas.

On the design of temple, Giri said, the old design will remain as it is except a rise in height.

"The structure has become popular and we will keep it. Keeping in mind the modernisation of architecture, we have raised height from 128 feet to 161 feet and instead of three peaks we will have five peaks," he said.

Kanchi Pithadhishvar Maharaj has sent silver coins as souvenirs for every sadhu participating in it, Giri said.

Invitations have been sent to 175 people, including 135 saints of 35 religious organisations to attend the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Ram temple.

The construction of Ram temple will begin in Ayodhya after the ceremony to lay the foundation stone.

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News Network
July 16,2020

New Delhi, Jul 16: With India's economic growth sputtering, the Reserve Bank of India was expected to maintain a rate-cutting cycle, but an uptick in near-term inflation could give the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee reason to pause for now.

Having cut its key lending rate by an aggressive 115 basis points (bps) in 2020, on top of 135 bps cuts in 2019, the RBI so far has had little success in spurring credit growth amid varying degrees of lockdowns across India.

Some economists and market insiders argue it may be prudent for the MPC, the policy committee, to hold its fire when it meets early next month.

"It's probably too early to administer a demand stimulus. The RBI still has room to cut rates, but we probably want to be more cautious of the timing," said Venkat Pasupuleti, portfolio manager at Dalton Investments.

"Maybe they should wait a quarter to see how things pan out once the lockdown situation is eased further."

Market participants have factored in at least a 25 bps rate cut by the MPC on August 6 while analysts are predicting a total 50-75 bps cuts over the rest of the fiscal year that runs to March 31.

The spike in the retail inflation rate above the RBI's mandated 2%-4% target range is another reason for the central bank to take a breather, analysts say.

Annual retail inflation rose to 6.09% in June, compared to 5.84% in March and sharply above a 5.30% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Rahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays, said the spike in both consumer and wholesale prices "could lead to a tempering in enthusiasm for material front-loaded policy support from here on."

Almost all economists however agreed the RBI cannot move away from its accommodative stance or call an end to the rate cutting cycle just yet.

India's economy grew at 3.1% in the March quarter - an eight year low - and some economists have predicted a contraction of more than 20% in the June quarter and a contraction of up to 5% in the fiscal year.

"Even in the event of a pause, we think the RBI and MPC would want to hold out the promise of more cuts," said A. Prasanna, economist with ICICI Securities.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in a recent speech the need of the hour is to restore confidence, preserve financial stability, revive growth and recover stronger, suggesting inflation concerns are unlikely to deter the downward trajectory for rates too soon.

"The August policy decision would boil down to a judgment call over whether RBI can maintain easy monetary and financial conditions without the aid of a token rate cut," Prasanna said. 

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Agencies
July 24,2020

Lucknow, Jul 24: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh on Friday protested against what it dubbed as deliberate and systematic deletions of chapters dealing in freedom struggle and the party's role in it from the syllabi of Classes 10 and 12 of the Secondary Education Board.

Congress leader Anugrah Narain Singh said: "The deletions effected in Class 12 syllabus clearly has political overtones. Chapters dealing with the freedom movement and the Congress role in it have been cut out. The BJP has no role of its own in the country's history and, therefore, wants that the new generations should not learn about the Congress contribution as well."

A Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to UP Eduction Board Secretary Divya Kant Shukla to demand restoration of the deleted chapters and topics.

BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi accused the opposition Congress of "turning every occasion into a political opportunity during the pandemic".

"The Congress is unnecessarily making an issue out of this. Only some portions have been deleted from the syllabi due to shortening of the academic session due to the nationwide lockdown. People already know about the Congress and the cut in the syllabi is only temporary. The Congress is unnecessarily trying to create a political controversy," she said.

Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari of the History Department in the Allahabad University dubbed the changes made in the syllabi as "unfortunate". "The history is not of the Congress alone -- it is the history of the nation and every student must know about it," he said.

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