NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday signed the ordinance on food security to give nation's two-thirds population the right to get 5 kg of foodgrains every month at highly subsidized rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.

Mukherjee cleared the ordinance, which was received by the President's secretariat last night, ending speculation that he may not be in a rush to give his nod in the wake of strong reservations over its present form expressed by BJP, Left and some other major parties.

The food security programme will be the biggest in the world with the government spending estimated at Rs 1,25,000 crore annually on supply of about 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 per cent of the population.

The Cabinet, which had last month deferred a decision on the issue following differences within, had approved promulgation of an ordinance to implement the Food Security Bill on Wednesday.

The ordinance comes just weeks before the scheduled monsoon session of Parliament and political parties demanding that the Food Security Bill be debated in both Houses before being passed.

Left parties attacked the government for taking the ordinance route saying the UPA-II has shown contempt for Parliament while BJP termed it an "election gimmick" saying Congress was running away from a debate in the House.

The Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter of UPA, also sharply opposed promulgation of the ordinance saying it was undemocratic and the programme would derail the food economy.

The Ordinance will have to be approved by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha within six months of promulgation.

The measure will guarantee 5kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at a fixed price of Rs 3, 2, 1, respectively,

However, about 2.43 crore poorest of the poor families covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme under public distribution system (PDS) would continue to get 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month but with legal entitlement.
— PTI

NEW DELHI: CBI is probing “all angles” in the Ishrat Jahan case including the statements of some witnesses claiming knowledge of political conspiracy behind the fake encounter involving the Gujarat Police and the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau.

“We are investigating all the angles related to it,” CBI director Ranjit Sinha said.

Sinha was asked whether CBI is probing the statement given by Deputy Superintendent of Police D.H. Goswami before the Magistrate where he reportedly claimed that DIG of crime branch D.G. Vanzara had got the nod from Gujarat’s political leadership for the encounter.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Interpol conference on wildlife crimes organised here, Sinha said CBI is taking assistance from other agencies including National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its probe in the case.

The NIA had earlier said, Mumbai terror convict David Headley had mentioned that Ishrat was a Lashkar terrorist.

Sinha said Intelligence Bureau is also cooperating with the agency.

CBI in its first chargesheet has held that the 2004 encounter was fake.

On the issue of coal scam, where CBI’s lawyer Uday U. Lalit recused himself from representing the agency in the wake of an FIR being against Naveen Jindal and his company Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Sinha said the agency has engaged an Additional Solicitor General to represent it before the Supreme Court.

He refused to reply whether CBI’s case has been compromised as Lalit could be privy to evidence collected by the agency against Jindal in this case.

Lalit has reportedly shown his inability to participate in the highly sensitive proceedings since he has represented mining companies owned by Jindal, a Congress MP. — PTI

BHOPAL: In a setback to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, Finance Minister Raghavji was forced to resign on Friday after an obscene CD, purportedly featuring him, surfaced and a police complaint by his servant alleged that he was being sexually exploited by the minister.

The 79-year-old minister submitted his resignation to Chief Chouhan, who forwarded it to state Governor Ram Naresh Yadav for acceptance, official sources said.

Chouhan is learnt to have asked Raghavji to resign after an obscene CD purportedly featuring him surfaced and the minister's servant filed a police complaint yesterday against him alleging that he was being sexually exploited.

Raghavji had set a record by presenting the state budget for 10 years in succession from 2004 to 2013.

The sources said that Chouhan has asked Water Resources Minister Jayant Malaiyya to look after the Finance portfolio.

Describing the incident as unfortunate, Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Ajay Singh said that in politics "moral corruption" was a much worse thing than corruption. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Freebies promised by political parties in their election manifestos shake the roots of free and fair polls, the Supreme Court on Friday said and directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines for regulating contents of manifestos.

A Bench of justices P. Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi said though the election manifesto is published before the code of conduct comes into force, the Commission can make an exception by bringing its within code of conduct.

The judgement can have wide ramifications and can put a curb on political parties promising different types of freebies like distributing laptops, TVs, grinders and mixers, electric fans, 4-gram gold thali and free foodgrains if voted to power.

"There is no guideline for regulating the contents of election manifesto. We direct the Election Commission to frame guidelines on it," the Bench said.

"We direct election commission to take up the task (of framing guidelines) immediately," it said.

The apex court also said that separate legislation should be made on this issue.

It said freebies promised by political parties disturb the level playing field among players contesting the polls and vitiates the election process.

The Bench, however, dismissed the plea challenging J. Jayalalithaa government's decision to implement AIADMK's poll promise of free household items to voters, saying that under the present law, promises of freebies made in the manifesto do not amount to corrupt practices.

The petition was filed by an advocate S. Subramaniam Balaji, challenging the state's decision to distribute freebies.

According to the petitioner, competitive populism resorted to by political parties was unconstitutional besides being a huge drain on the state exchequer.

The petitioner had contended that freebies offered by the Tamil Nadu government amounted to bribing the voters and ran counter to the constitutional mandate of free and fair elections. — PTI