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BJP begins hi-tech SMS campaign
Poor have gone poorer during UPA regime: Shanta
Candidates are 5.5 times richer this time: NGO
BJP feels minorities pampered
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Don’t be hyper-technical,
HC tells govt
Farmers benefited from free soil test: CM
EC ruling on polling agents
Cong charge sheet against Dhumal, son on May 8
Kullu DC asked to resolve venue dispute
Elderly Advice
Cong assails BJP for violating tenancy act
MP challenges BJP leaders
Cement plant to commission in October
Boosting religious tourism is Sushant’s priority
Recession may deepen unemployment problem
Plea to scrap Renuka project
Temple Demolition
Dam oustees to boycott elections
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BJP begins hi-tech SMS campaign
Shimla, May 6 The party, which had been relying on catchy slogans targeting its main opponent, the Congress, till now, launched the SMS campaign yesterday. “We have a huge databank with mobile numbers of five lakh voters whom we will approach through SMS to influence their political preferences in favour of the
BJP,” said Ashok Kapatia, convener of the state BJP media cell. The party wants to take advantage of the fact that Himachal is among the top-ranked states in the country as regards
tele-density. With a whopping figure of over 17 lakh mobile phones, SMS becomes a very convenient and cheap method of reaching out to the voters personally. Till now, it had been sending text messages to a select 18,000 mobile phone users, including its own party ranks and
mediapersons. “Seeing the positive response, especially among the youth, we have decided to increase our reach to five lakh mobile phone owners. In this way, we will be able to reach out to at least 40 per cent of the voters,” said
Kapatia. The SMS campaign will not just remain restricted to catchy slogans, but will also detail achievements of the Dhumal regime during its 16-month rule. “The major decisions, like enhancement of daily wages and social security pension, which have directly benefited the common man, will also be conveyed through text messages,” said
Kapatia. Main highlights of the party’s national manifesto would also be circulated through same mode, he added. |
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Poor have gone poorer during UPA regime: Shanta
Dharamsala, May 6 Shanta Kumar alleged that as per global hunger index statistics released recently India was placed 94th among 119 countries. In transparency international report also India has been ranked as the most corrupt country. The said statistics reveal that performance of the UPA government has been pro-rich. The Congress-headed UPA government has ignored the poor of the
country. Shanta Kumar levelled these allegations while addressing a press conference along with Himachal Transport minister Kishan Kapoor this morning. He further alleged that the rich had gone richer in the UPA regime while the poor had gone poorer. It is irony that 36 families of the country have more than Rs 10 lakh crore wealth while 26 crore residents of the country are living below the poverty line. About 12 crore population is surviving in an income of just Rs 8 per day. In the past five years as per the official statistics 1.5 lakh farmers have committed suicide. The farmers have committed due to debt burden. On the contrary the industrialists owe Rs 80000 crore to the banks and financial institutions of the country. However, not even a single industrialist has committed suicide as yet. The government has failed to recover bad debts from the rich but the poor farmers are being disposed of their lands for small amounts. The people like Hasan Ali have stacked more than Rs 7000 crore in foreign banks but the government has been soft toward him. Like this many influential people have stacked wealth in Swiss banks. It is surprising that when the BJP took up the issue of bringing back black money, the Congress leaders instead of supporting the issue went in a defensive mode. He said that the real issue during the present elections was high prices of essential commodities. Even during elections the prices of sugar, a government-controlled commodity has gone up to Rs 30 per kg. This clearly illustrates the poor management on the part of present government. |
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Candidates are 5.5 times richer this time: NGO
Shimla, May 6 Addressing a press conference here today, state coordinator of the HP Election Watch PR Ramesh said the National Election Watch (NEW) was a nationwide campaign of more than 1,200 NGOs working for electoral reforms and ensuring better governance in the country. With the mission of providing information to the voters about the candidates seeking their votes, the National Election Watch today released details about the property, increase in assets and educational qualification of the 30 candidates in fray for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state. “Nine candidates have total assets of Rs 1 crore and above while five have liabilities of more than Rs 20
lakh,” he said. As per the data given by him, the average assets of Congress candidates were around Rs 6 crore each. The figure was Rs 2 crore in case of BJP candidates and Rs 79,000 in case of BSP candidates. There is only one woman candidate fielded by the Rashtrawadi
Sena. With regard to educational qualification of the candidates, 17 out of 30 are graduates and
above. Ramesh regretted that despite an appeal to political parties, including the Congress and the
BJP, not to field candidates having criminal record, there were 1,042 such persons in the fray all over the country. “We had also met the Chief Election Commissioner to request him to make a provision for those who do not wish to cast their vote in favour of anybody by giving the option of ‘none of the above’,” he added. |
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BJP feels minorities pampered
Shimla, May 6 Addressing a press conference here today he said it was the Congress which had pampered the minorities to keep their vote bank intact. “It is only if the BJP is voted to power that reservation can be done away with and all communities can be treated at par,” he remarked. Kesari said rather than continuing with reservation it would be better to provide better educational facilities for the
minorities under the occupation of some private individuals and government He said the BJP
governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh had already done this to benefit the minority
communities. “It is the Congress which has given the tag of minorities to certain communities as till independence there was no such term,” he said. He said the Congress could stoop to any level to achieve its political motive and this is precisely what they had done by even raking up the issue of languages. Kesari said the Congress-led UPA regime had still not hanged the
mastermind of the Parliament attack, Afzal Guru as it wanted to keep a particular community in good humour. “This only reflects the soft stand of the Congress on terrorism as politics is above national interest and security for the party,” he said. |
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Don’t be hyper-technical,
HC tells govt
Shimla, May 6 It was observed by the high court in connection with a petition of Mohan Lal Thakur, who worked as a daily-wage earner for 33 years with the state government department. He was appointed in 1968 and completed 240 days every year till 2001, except for 1992 and 1993. In these two years, he was shown to have worked for 210 and 212 days, respectively. The state government had farmed a policy for regularising employees who had put in eight to 10 years of continuous service with 240 days in the preceding calendar year. The court observed that the shortfall of days needed to be condoned in such a case as otherwise it would amount to unfair labour practice. The court observed it also led to discrimination as the persons who worked for around 10 years were regularised, but a person who had served for 33 years was not granted the benefit of regularisation. The court directed the state government to regularise the service of the petitioner from the date of completion of 10 years in service by condoning the shortfall for those two particular years. It also directed the government to pay him the retrial benefit. The entire exercise of granting benefits should be completed within six weeks, the court further said.
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Farmers benefited from free soil test: CM
Bilaspur, May 6 He said some one lakh families of farmers have benefited as their soil had been tested free of cost in one year and they were being advised about the best yielding grains and vegetables while another Rs 34 crore have been remitted annually as the 10 per cent stamp duty had been exempted on farmers’ loans of up to Rs 10 lakh. The government had ensured implementation of ambitious Rs 353 crore poly-houses project which would provide 80 per cent subsidy on construction of poly-houses and additional 50 per cent subsidy on allied facilities in this project, which would change the economic face of our country side. Dhumal said if the BJP comes to power at the Centre after the election, all loans of farmers would be exempted while all loans in future would be provided at a petty interest of 4 per cent. He said the UPA also always indulged in stepmotherly treatment with the state and reduced the industrial package given by Atal Bihari Vajpayee for 10 years to seven years, thus dwindling chances of faster industrial development in the state. |
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EC ruling on polling agents
Shimla, May 6 Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Khachi said accordingly all polling agents would be required to display their EPIC’s or other identification document prominently on their persons on the day of poll for easy and quick identification. Those appointed by contesting candidates should be ordinary residents and electors of the concerned polling areas only. Such polling agents must have EPIC’s or other documents. The set up of polling stations would be so arranged that polling agents were seated in such a way that they could see the face of an elector as and when he entered the polling station.They should also be able to watch entire operation inside the polling station, except casting of votes.
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Cong charge sheet against Dhumal, son on May 8
Mandi, May 6 Interestingly, the charge sheet has so far excluded ministers, who allegedly do not gel well with the Chief Minister, revealed sources. These ministers included Forest Minister JP Nadda, Education Minister RD Dhiman, and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Dhawala. On the other hand, ministers close to Dhumal, including PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur, Transport Minister Kishan Kapur, Social Welfare Minister Sarveen Chaudhary and Health Minister Rajiv Bindal, are figured in the charge sheet. The new thing about the Congress charge sheet is that the party has gathered information not only from official and non-official sources, but also under the RTI Act, the sources added. It targets a top BJP leader charging him of transacting ‘benami property deals’ in Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur, Panchrukhi (Kangra) and Kasauli. On the other hand, another senior BJP leader has been named in the “illegal deal of handing over the Vivekanand Memorial Research Trust, Palampur, land which was given on lease of Re 1 by the government to the private company for a song”. The two cabinet ministers, who find their names in the charge sheet have been charged of committing irregularities in the awarding of tenders to some favourites. Former Vidhan Sabha speaker Gangu Ram Musafir, headed the team, while Congress Santokhgarh MLA Mukesh Agnihotri and Baijnath MLA Sudhir Sharma are other two members. State Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur told a recent press conference here that the charge sheet would be submitted to the Governor on May 8. “It would be an election issue as 1,000 published copies of the charge sheet have been made available to the party workers”, he asserted. BJP president Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress charge sheet was the Lok Sabha elections propaganda they have been hearing for the last six months and to defame party leaders to get few votes in which they would never succeed as all charges are baseless. |
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Kullu DC asked to resolve venue dispute Shimla, May 6 The direction has been issued in the wake of the complaint lodged by the Congress that the administration had permitted the BJP to hold the rally of Narinder Modi at the same venue, same day and same time where Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to address an election meeting. The party had been granted permission for the rally at Dhalpur Maidan on May 11 and it had also paid the user charges for the purpose. However, subsequently the administration allowed the BJP to organise Modi’s rally at the same venue on the adjacent ground which could lead to law and order problem. The commission has asked the deputy commissioner to convene a district code of conduct meeting and also discuss the matter with the representatives of the BJP and the Congress to sort out the matter. Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Kuldeep Rathore has alleged that the ruling BJP was trying to sabotage the rally of Rahul Gandhi and that his party apprehended violence for which the ruling party and the district administration would be responsible.
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Elderly Advice
Kalpa (Kinnaur), May 6 This retired teacher has been a witness to many waves of modernisation that swept across the Kinnaur valley from time to time. People’s tastes and likings might have undergone a sea change over the years, but the basic tenets of democracy remain unchanged even now, he believes. Sharing his views on the thriving democratic system in India and people’s responsibility towards making that system even more deep-rooted and efficient, he says, “We should vote for only those candidates who have a strong moral character and who constantly strive for the uplift of the poor.” “A candidate’s individual merit should be given more weightage than his political affiliation (party) when we cast our vote,” he says. “We used to trudge through waste-deep snow carrying ballot boxes in earlier days, but things have changed a lot now. Making arrangements for polling has become easy due to increased connectivity of the area with the rest of the country and better road network in the tribal area itself. Casting vote has become as easy as pressing a button thanks to the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs),” he says. “Use of EVMs has minimised the chances of rigging in elections, but that was never an issue in this area as tribal people have never indulged in fake voting, leave alone booth capturing,” he maintains.
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Cong assails BJP for violating tenancy act
Kangra, May 6 He stated this during his visit of the Jawalamukhi assembly segment of the Kangra constituency yesterday. He said Section 118 of the state Tenancy and Land Reforms Act was being diluted and capitalists from outside the state were being bestowed with the land to open universities and medical colleges and leaving farmers landless in some cases. He said transferring land in the names of 15 proposed universaties was against the basic interests of the state. |
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MP challenges BJP leaders
Kullu, May 6 She said Virbhadra Singh had served the state with utmost honesty and sincerity for 17 years and the time had come to reward him by electing him with a record margin from the Mandi parliamentary constituency. She called upon the youth and the rural population for counting hundreds of developmental works done during his tenures as the chief minister. She also challenged the BJP leaders to name one developmental work done for the rural population in the state. Referring to the achievements of the UPA government, she said the people of the country would never forget the gifts of “Right to Information, Gramin Rozgar Yojna and Rajiv Vidyut Yojna” which had not only given opportunities of jobs to the people but also right to know about the facts at their doorstep. She said the UPA had provided 100 days of employment to the rural folk and promised 200 days of employment in the manifesto. The Gramin Rozgar Yojna had not only provided employment but also made development in the villages. Pratibha said the present BJP government was anti-farmers, anti-employees, anti-villagers and anti-students. She lashed on the government for quashing the employees’ tribunal. She said the educational institutions, including Himachal Pradesh University, were being politicised and used to gain political benefits.
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Cement plant to commission in October
Shimla, May 6 The plant was originally to be set up at Malakhar in Bilaspur but local people opposed it as a result of which it was shifted to Bagha, although it meant enormous additional financial burden on account of development of site, construction of approach roads and other works. The company also upgraded the existing PWD road between Baga and Jabbal (17 km) to national highway standard, connecting the project site to N-H-88 at Jabbal. |
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Boosting religious tourism is Sushant’s priority
Kangra, May 6 He said he received a good response from the people during the road show. He said price rise would be curbed and religious tourism would be given a boost with the central assistance, which would be the priority after our government takes power at the Centre. He said new law would be enacted in order to scrape the ban on felling trees which was badly hitting back on farmers of the state. He said to get a cement plant opened at Chamba would his priority so as to boost economy of the Chamba region of his constituency. When asked about certain allegation levelled against the government by his opponent in the fray Chander Kumar, Sushant said, “I believe in positive politics and not the negative one. I believe in doing and not in speaking only.” Interestingly, lack of coordination in the BJP was evident when the party failed to communicate even to mediapersons about the scheduled road show of Shushant. Local leadership did not even invite local media for covering the event and Sushant expressed surprise about the development.
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Recession may deepen unemployment problem
Shimla, May 6 The state had 7.82 lakh jobless persons on the live registers as on March 31,2009 and their number had been hovering around 8 lakh for the past two years. The economic boom only ensured that the figure did not go up but the overall unemployment situation remained grim. With industries and other private sector establishments deferring new projects and laying off manpower in the existing ones in the wake of global meltdown the problem of unemployment will get further aggravated. The number of unemployed for a small state with a population of just 64 lakh is very high considering the fact it has the highest percentage in government jobs in the country. Over 40 per cent of the state’s budget goes towards payment of salaries and pensions of employees and the situation has come to such a pass that the government is no more in a position to engage regular employees. Fresh recruitment is being made only on a contract basis. With few jobs available in the government sector the youth could be absorbed only in the private sector. However, the high literacy rate of the state is a major hindrance as the educated youth are only after white-collar jobs and are reluctant to work in industries. It has led to a paradoxical situation where the industrial sector is not getting the required manpower and forced to bring workers from outside even as lakhs of youth are desperately looking for job opportunities. The huge difference in salaries of employees in the government and private sectors also discourages unemployed persons from taking employment in the private sector. There is also mismatch in the demand and supply of manpower. The kind of skilled and trained manpower required by industries is not available. Intriguingly, the government is banking on the private sector for setting up institutions for such professional courses like engineering and nursing colleges, it is squandering away its own resources on general degree colleges. As many as 16 degree colleges have been opened over the past two years even though the enrolment in colleges is on the decline. The industries prefer the passouts from industrial training institutes and ready to take even plus two candidates who fit in well after training. However, there are no takers for simple graduates produced by degree colleges who are ever on the lookout for white-collar jobs. |
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Plea to scrap Renuka project
Shimla, May 6 In memorandum to the Prime Minister, the Union Minister of Water Resources, the Delhi Jal Board, the Central Water Commission and the Ministry of Social Justice, these groups, along with representatives of dam-affected communities, drew attention towards various technical and conceptual issues today. They also dwelt on various environmental and social implications of the project. The signatories to the memorandum include the Jan Ekta Samiti, Sirmaur; the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan; the Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti and the Lok Vigyan Kendra from Himachal, besides national like the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People and the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, New Delhi. It has been pointed out that undertaking such a huge project without proper assessment of various options would be completely wrong and inappropriate use of public resources. Moreover, studies have proved that Delhi was thirsty not because of shortage of water, but due to its mismanagement and misappropriation. According to the Performance Audit report of the Delhi Jal Board for 2008, the distribution losses were abnormally high at 40 per cent as compared to the acceptable norms of 15 per cent. The memorandum questioned whether it was necessary for the Yamuna tributaries to be dammed when Hathni Kund and Wazirabad barrages could route and store water for Delhi’s needs without having to submerge 2,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land in an eco-sensitive area of the lower Himalayas. Besides submergence of the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary, about 700 hectares of the reserved forest area and several hundred hectares of dense private forests would also be submerged in water. Around 700 families would lose their sources of livelihood, the memorandum said. The urgency to push the project through when the techno-economic, forest and environment clearances and approvals were yet to be granted was not understandable. By initiating forced land acquisition, the state government was belittling the importance of these approvals and treating them as mere formalities, the memorandum added.
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Temple Demolition
Bilaspur, May 6 Committee members Tulsi Dass Bansal and Raghubir Singh said here today that the committee had complained to the President regarding non-cooperative attitude of the local administration and the state government in this matter, resulting in failure to take any action despite registration of an FIR on February 11 and repeated representations and demonstrations. It alleged that action is not being taken as the alleged culprits belong to the ruling party and are being protected by a local BJP leader and the Forest Department is taking cover under the fictitious argument that the temple was located on encroached forest land. Earlier, a deputation of Guru’s followers met Deputy Commissioner JS Rana and expressed resentment against this situation and submitted a memorandum to be forwarded to the President. The memorandum seeks the President’s intervention to ensure justice to the Dalits as it alleged that neither Dalits nor their places of worship are safe under the present BJP government.
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Dam oustees to boycott elections
Bhattiyat (Chamba), May 6 The necessary compensation of Rs 50 lakh to each family was also not paid so far in lieu of jobs to their wards.
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Dharamsala, May 6
Ninety-two-year-old Shayam Charan’s face might have become covered with wrinkles and his body might have turned weak with the passage of time, but his faith in democracy remains as fresh and strong as ever.
This retired teacher has been a witness to many waves of modernisation that swept across the Kinnaur valley from time to time. People’s tastes and likings might have undergone a sea change over the years, but the basic tenets of democracy remain unchanged even now, he believes.
