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Patnaik calls on Modi, Jaya may meet today
Ensure transparent, effective
governance: Modi to ministers
Uddhav is Sena’s CM nominee
BJP may lose a quarter of its MPs in UP
Gogoi meets dissident MLAs’ leader
Priyanka’s SPG withdrawal remarks
Cabinet Secy Ajit Seth
gets 6-month extension
60,000 primary schools in Bihar without headmasters
Black money SIT mulls ways to move ahead
Rajnath seeks road map on internal security
Housing for all by 2022, says Venkaiah
Akhilesh orders 24x7 power supply for Modi’s Varanasi
Chavan expands Maharashtra cabinet
Veterans take up OROP issue with PM
Mumbai blasts Ex-servicemen take up OROP issue with PM
Kedarnath Yatra resumes after brief delay Jaitley to review chopper deal
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Post-euphoria, many challenges await Telangana
Hyderabad, June 2 Telangana Rashtra Samithi founder president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is widely seen as an architect of the statehood movement, has his task cut out. The biggest challenge before him is to come up with a development vision that addresses the region's backwardness, a trigger for the statehood agitation. Apart from finding resources to speed up irrigation and power projects and to fund a series of populist promises made in the run-up to the elections, the TRS government needs to address the fears and concerns of a large number of people from Seemandhra who have made Hyderabad their home. The major challenge is to retain the brand image of Hyderabad which has served as an economic powerhouse of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh since its inception in 1956, attracting investors and livelihood-seekers from Seemandhra in equal measure. There are fears that the "Brand Hyderabad", built over years on the back of strong Information Technology and Pharma sectors, might take a beating post-bifurcation. KCR, as the TRS chief is known in political circles, has the toughest challenge ahead of him to ensure that Hyderabad continues to be a preferred international investment destination. With a population of 80 lakh, of which about 40 percent are migrants from Seemandhra, the city accounted for over 30 percent of the erstwhile AP's revenues. More than 90% of the private sector investment that came to Hyderabad was from entrepreneurs from Seemandhra region. Also, 65% of the Union government's revenues from AP were collected from Hyderabad metropolitan area. It contributed nearly Rs 90,000 crore to AP's taxes kitty annually and accounts for software exports of Rs 60,000 crore. Not surprisingly, there are fears over the safety for huge investments made by Seemandhra settlers since the formation of AP in 1956. There are also fears that there would be a flight of capital from the city as a major chunk of big investors hail from Seemandhra. The new state starts with an acute power deficit. According to experts, it requires nearly Rs 7,000 crore annually to buy power from other states. Several irrigation projects have been pending for decades. Being mostly an upland area, it requires lift irrigation projects on a massive scale, entailing huge costs. Telangana was once a stronghold of Maoists, so much so that several areas were virtually under their control. There are fears that the new state could witness revival of naxalite activity. At present, almost the entire top leadership of CPI (Maoist) is from Telangana. They are now active in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. The pangs of bifurcation are likely to haunt the new state. The distribution of assets and liabilities, allotment of employees and fixing the ratio for sharing of power, water, revenues and taxes between the two states have become a daunting task for the officials managing the transition process.
Timeline
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Patnaik calls on Modi, Jaya may meet today
New Delhi, June 2 The overtures from the BJP camp and response from these two regional satraps can be summarised as complementary and supplementary. The collective strength of these parties in Parliament stands at 61 MPs , 57 in the Lok Sabha (AIADMK 37 and BJD 20) and 14 in the Rajya Sabha (AIADMK 10 and BJD 4). With an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, the ruling coalition is comfortable in the lower house but it is in minority in the upper house with just 46 MPs. On the other side, the two Chief Ministers would want to be on the right side of the new government at the Centre. In the run-up to the elections, the AIADMK and the BJD mingled with non-Congress, non-BJP parties, but that altered after the BJP emerged triumphant. Now, both these parties are second and third largest parties on the other side of the aisle. Today, the Odisha CM petitioned the Centre with a list of seven demands, including special category status for the state, revision of royalty, imposition of tax on mining profits, Rs 4,550 crore special Central assistance for two events, including the Naba Kalvera of Lord Jagannath to be held in 2016, and intervention in the Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra that would submerge 130 villages in Malkangiri district. Patnaik MPs accompanying him expressed satisfaction at the positive response from the Prime Minister, with one senior MP Bharatruhari Mahatab stating that Modi told the delegation that he believed that the Centre could progress only when states move ahead.
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Ensure transparent, effective
governance: Modi to ministers
New Delhi, June 2 In his first marathon Cabinet meeting, the decisions of which are likely to be reflected in President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament next week, Prime Minister Modi asked his Cabinet colleagues to ensure transparency in the system to help the BJP fulfill its promises. Modi's first meeting with his Council of Ministers lasted for over three hours at his residence and was followed by dinner. He urged his 45-member team to ensure government schemes trickled down to one and all and stressed on efficient governance and time-bound implementation of the work. The meeting took place against the backdrop of Modi's 10-point agenda which includes increasing investment, completing infrastructure projects in a a time-bound manner and exploiting natural resources, besides giving freedom to bureaucrats to take decisions and implement them. Modi reportedly asked his ministers to come up with progress report on various projects initiated by the previous UPA government at the earliest so that work on them could begin. He also directed his ministers to choose their staff members carefully and strictly told them against employing their relatives. Last week, Modi issued a set of 10 commandments to various ministries on what the guiding principles should be in terms of functioning, empowering the bureaucracy, putting it to place institutional mechanism to make decision making swifter. Modi at the meeting talked about his ideas on how to boost the economy, attract greater investment and improve infrastructure. The discussions are believed to have centred around the 100-day agenda which Modi had asked his ministerial colleagues to set by identifying priorities. Modi has told them to take their Ministers of State along in implementation of programmes and that he would be regularly meeting them as also the Secretaries individually.
Marathon meeting
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Uddhav is Sena’s CM nominee
Mumbai, June 2 “The next chief minister of Maharashtra will only be from the Shiv Sena. And the Shiv Sena party wants Uddhav Thackeray to be the man who leads the state. If there has to be change in Maharashtra, only Shiv Sena can do it. Uddhav never wanted to be the chief minister, but the party wants him to be one,” Sanjay Raut, party spokesman and editor of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, told reporters today. The Shiv Sena also kicked off a campaign in the social media along the lines of the “Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar” campaign undertaken by the BJP ahead of the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections. The Shiv Sena shows only Uddhav Thackeray as the face of the campaign for the Assembly elections. Observers say that the Shiv Sena is preparing to go it alone in the Assembly elections. At a meeting of party office-bearers in Mumbai on Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray spoke only of the party’s performance during the Lok Sabha elections. The Shiv Sena had won 18 of the 20 seats it contested. Thackeray did not mention a word of the BJP and there was no references to Narendra Modi as well. And today’s edition of Saamna took potshots at BJP leader Gopinath Munde with whom Thackeray had enjoyed a close relationship for more than 20 years. “Narendra Modi will decide who will be the BJP’s candidate to lead Maharashtra. Munde has been sent on loan to the Centre for three months,” the piece in Saamna said. Observers say, the party is preparing to play the anti-Gujarati card. Sanjay Raut had earlier written an editorial on the occasion of Maharashtra Day accusing the Gujarati community of ignoring Maharashtra “even though they had used the wealth generated from Mumbai to build palaces in their villages”. Mumbai became part of Maharashtra after huge protests when Gujarat was carved out of the erstwhile Bombay state. The Chief Minister Morarji Desai had ordered police to open fire on the demonstrators demanding the inclusion of Mumbai in Maharashtra, a point that still fuels anger towards the
Gujaratis. Breaking away from BJP?
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BJP may lose a quarter of its MPs in UP
Lucknow, June 2 An apex court bench chaired by Justice RM Lodha (now the Chief Justice of India) had March 10 ruled that all cases faced by MPs should be heard promptly and the judicial process completed within one year. The Bench also ruled that cases under sections 8(1), 8(2) and 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act should be heard daily and the verdicts pronounced in not more than a year. Among the leading BJP MPs in trouble are Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Niranjan Bharti. Uma Bharti, a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, is accused of making inflammatory speeches, inciting hatred and rioting. Joshi battles similar charges. Both can be jailed for up to two years if the charges are proved. Sakshi Maharaj, another senior BJP MP, is accused of murder, dacoity and attempt to murder. Lallu Singh, MP from Faizabad, is charged with dacoity, obstructing government work and tampering with evidence. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the Qaiserganj MP, has several serious cases slapped on him. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) confirms that the number of MPs from Uttar Pradesh facing serious criminal charges is 22. Other BJP MPs who face such charges include Ram Shankar Katheria, Ajay Kumar, Bhairon Prasad Mishra, Keshav Prasad, Kunwar Bhartendu, Sanjeev Baliyan, Sadhvi Niranjan Bharati, Kaushal Kishore, Bharat Singh, Harishchandra Dwivedi, Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar, Babulal and Rajendra Agarwal. BJP ally Apna Dal’s two MPs - Anupriya Patel and Kunwar Harivansh Singh - too face major criminal charges. What could be worrying for the BJP is that charge sheets have been filed against 15 of the MPs. BJP leaders, however, trash the charges and say all the cases against the MPs were politically motivated and would not stand scrutiny in courts. “We gave Lok Sabha ticket to the MPs only when we were convinced that the cases had political overtones,” Vijay Bahadur Pathak, the BJP UP spokesman, said. MP Lallu Singh said: “I have full faith in the judiciary. I am sure I will be cleared during the trial.” Ashok Pandey, an Etawah-based lawyer, however, says that the bravado of these MPs could be of little help to them. “They may say
anything but the fact remains that a real threat of conviction stares at them.”
— IANS
Law tangle
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Gogoi meets dissident MLAs’ leader
Guwahati, June 2 Dr Sharma refused to comment on the problem brewing in the Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP), saying that the issue was now being tackled by an AICC-appointed panel comprising Ghulam Nabi Azad, CP Joshi and Motilal Vora. He said the AICC had barred party MLAs in Assam to talk to the media on the current ACLP-related problems. “The Chief Minister called me to discuss the current political situation in the state after the party’s poor show in the recent elections. I have presented before him 10 points which, I believe, were key reasons for the poll debacle. I have raised points such as failure to tackle riot in Bodoland areas where Muslims have alienated from the party, failure to implement the Food Security Act, doubtful voters’ issue that alienated Bengali-speaking people from the party etc. I have requested him to try resolving these issues so that the party can retain power in the state in 2016 Assembly polls,” Dr Sharma said. On the possibility of disgruntled MLAs being accommodated in the ministry, Dr Sharma said: “None of the unhappy MLAs are aspiring to become ministers. What they want is proper support from the government to work for people in their respective constituencies so that they could get re-elected in 2016 Assembly polls.” He said the ball was now in the court of the chief minister to make or break the party. He virtually asked Gogoi to quit in the greater interest of revamping the party. Gogoi left for New Delhi in the afternoon to meet the AICC leaders, triggering speculations about effecting reshuffle in the state Cabinet.
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Priyanka’s SPG withdrawal remarks
New Delhi, June 2 “One should not politicise security issues. I have failed to understand why someone is trying to score a political brownie point. Security does not depend on whims and fancies of any individual,” Rijiju told reporters here without naming
Priyanka. “It is better to leave to the security agencies to take a decision,” Rijiju said. In a letter to the SPG chief Durga
Prasad, Priyanka referred to media reports of possible removal of her husband’s name from the list of security protectees exempt from security checks at airports and said she would appreciate if it is done at the
earliest. Priyanka said Vadra’s inclusion in the list was made at the instance of previous SPG chiefs and Delhi Police and not upon any request by “either of us who were informed after the
fact”. Vadra was under repeated attack from Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders during the recent election campaign besides the barbs targeting
Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “Since the government is now reportedly considering the removal of his name, I would like to inform you that I do not feel it will be correct for my children and me to avail the facility of exemption of these checks while entering or exiting airports when we are all traveling together.
— PTI
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Cabinet Secy Ajit Seth
gets 6-month extension
New Delhi, June 2 The government has approved extension of Seth as Cabinet Secretary for a period of six months with effect from June 14 or till further orders, whichever is earlier, an official notification said. The extension for Seth given by the new government is apparently to ensure continuity in view of the fact that it has to settle down quickly and start implementing the electoral promises and the need to prepare for the budget session of Parliament likely to be held in July. Seth’s extension virtually eliminates the chances of Sutanu
Behuria, currently Secretary, Heavy Industry department and the senior most bureaucrat after Seth, becoming the Cabinet Secretary. A 1976-batch IAS officer,
Behuria, originally hailing from Odisha, is due to retire on July 31 this year. This will leave Uttar Pradesh Cadre officers Power Secretary P K Sinha and Petroleum Secretary Saurabh Chandra among the front runners for the post of country’s top bureaucrat if rpt if Seth lays down office after the six-month extension. While Sinha is from 1977 batch, Chandra is a batch junior to him.
— PTI
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60,000 primary schools in Bihar without headmasters
Patna, June 2 According to officials, senior teachers were not been promoted to the post of headmasters as they failed to fulfill some qualifications and criteria as per the government policy. At present, there are 85,000 permanent primary school teachers who get a monthly salary, unlike over one lakh contractual teachers in primary schools. Amarjit Sinha, principal secretary at the education department, said the government is serious to speed up appointments and promotion of headmasters in primary schools. “We have initiated steps to appoint permanent headmasters in primary and middle schools. The process will start in June itself,” said Sinha.
— IANS
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Black money SIT mulls ways to move ahead
New Delhi, June 2 During the meeting, detailed modalities of the proceedings further with the Supreme Court mandate were discussed and the road map decided.s SIT was recently constituted to implement the decision of the Supreme Court on large amounts of money stashed abroad by evading taxes or generated through unlawful activities. The next meeting of the SIT will be convened shortly to take stock of the follow-up of the decisions taken in this meeting. Former judges of the Supreme Court MB Shah and Arijit Pasayat are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the SIT. The high-powered committee comprises top bosses of the country’s key investigation, enforcement and intelligence agencies. The 11-member list includes Revenue Secretary, RBI Deputy Governor, Intelligence Bureau Director, Director of Enforcement Directorate, CBI Director, CBDT Chairman, Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, DG Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Director of Financial Intelligence Unit, Secretary of Research and Analysis Wing and the Joint Secretary (Foreign Tax and Tax Research) in the Finance Ministry.
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Rajnath seeks road map on internal security
At a meeting attended by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, chiefs of Intelligence Bureau (IB), RAW and others, Singh reviewed the security situation and asked them to prepare a blueprint to ensure a good security environment for faster development. “Development requires good security environment. Government is committed to it,” Singh said at the hour-long meeting. Besides Doval, the meeting was attended by IB Chief Asif Ibrahim, Chief of Research and Analysis Wing Alok Joshi and heads of paramilitary forces. While taking over as the Home Minister, Rajnath had asked his officials to come up with out-of-the box ideas for internal security and for coordination between the Centre and states. He had said the blueprint should also contain ideas to resolve border disputes with neighbouring countries without compromising national interests. Crucial divisions dealing with internal security, Naxal management, Centre-State, Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast have also been directed to give their inputs in the next few days for this exercise. Singh has already been briefed about the problems along the international border and ways to resolve them. — PTI
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Housing for all by 2022, says Venkaiah
New Delhi, June 2 “Housing for all is a challenging task since the ministry has only Rs. 35,000 crore to provide affordable housing and for slum development in the 12th Plan while the requirement is much larger. It is for this reason that the public private partnership and corporate social responsibility are required in this sector,” Naidu said. One of the stakeholders informed the minister that the housing investment of nearly Rs 5 lakh crore was stuck due to want of various clearances He said all
these issues would be taken up in the coming 100 days and concerns of all stake holders would be addressed.
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Akhilesh orders 24x7 power supply for Modi’s Varanasi
Lucknow, June 2 Akhilesh today directed MD of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd AP Mishra to ensure uninterrupted power supply in
Varanasi. The CM made the announcement after talking to the Varanasi MLA. Roy had begun his hunger strike on May 27 demanding power cut-free status for
Varanasi. During the elections, the high-profile constituencies of Varanasi and Azamgarh were getting round-the-clock power supply. While Azamgarh continued to get uninterrupted electricity supply even after the polls, power cuts were back in
Varanasi. Congress president Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli and other constituencies of SP leaders such as Etawa and Kannauj are among a handful of areas in the power deficit state that get 24-hour power supply.
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Chavan expands Maharashtra cabinet
Mumbai, June 2 This is the second time in less than a week that Chavan had expanded his team. Last Thursday, Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad was inducted as medical education minister. Awhad replaced former minister Vijaykumar Gavit, who was sacked after his daughter Heena contested the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket. She won the elections from the Nandurbar seat. Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, their cabinet colleagues, legislators and other senior leaders and officials were present on the occasion.
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Veterans take up OROP issue with PM
Chandigarh, June 2 In memorandum submitted today to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prashad and other members of Parliament, the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) has drawn the government’s attention to their pensing demands and other issues that were included in the BJP’s election manifesto. Besides the OROP issues, IESM has also sought immediate withdrawal of all pending appeals filed by the defence ministry against disabled soldiers and widows in the Supreme Court, formation of a military veteran’s commission and job employment up to the age of 60 years.
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SC stays Yakub Memon’s execution
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, June 2 A summer vacation Bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and C Nagappan also issued notice to the Maharashtra Government and the Centre seeking their response to Memon’s plea against sending him to the gallows. The Bench clarified that his writ petition would be heard by a Constitution Bench along with a similar plea made by another death row convict, Mohammed Arif alias Ashfaq, involved in the 2000 attack on an army battalion stationed at Red Fort here in 2000 killing three jawans. In his petition, Memon has pleaded for open court hearing of review petitions in death sentence cases, instead of the usual practice of in-chamber decisions.
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New Delhi, June 2
The first meeting of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) on black money discussed modalities and road map to proceed further.
According to a statement issued, the meeting was held here today under the chairmanship of Justice M B Shah, former Supreme Court judge.
He was responding to a question on Priyanka’s letter to SPG chief where she asked the organisation to withdraw the exemption given to her and her family from normal security checks at airports, a plea that comes in the wake of reports that government is considering cancellation of such a facility to her husband Robert
Vadra.
New Delhi, June 2