Anantapur youth meet President
The group presented a memorandum supporting simultaneous elections across the country. The Samvidhaan Support Group has been actively campaigning for this cause, engaging with over 320 Members of Parliament, conducting a massive signature drive with lakhs of young supporters, and organising impactful events such as a one-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar and a peaceful protest march to Parliament with 2,000 youth participants. They also submitted 112 signed requests from National Youth and NSS Awardees to the President. During the meeting, Bharath emphasized that One Nation One Election would help curb policy paralysis, reduce election expenditure, prevent misuse of illicit liquor, drugs, and black money, cut down excessive campaign time, and address voter fatigue. He said the reform would also enhance governance, administrative efficiency, and economic growth.
The President appreciated the delegation's efforts and acknowledged the commitment shown by the youth towards this national reform.
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Indian Express
25 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Centre's proposed amendment to remove ministers from office: What SC has previously said on the matter
Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced in Lok Sabha a significant constitutional amendment that seeks to remove a central or state Minister who is facing allegations of corruption or serious offences and has been detained for at least 30 days consecutively. The Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025 and two related statutory amendments to reflect the proposed changes for Union Territories have been referred to a joint committee of Parliament for review. What does the amendment propose? The Bill proposes amendments to Articles 75, 164, and 239AA of the Constitution, which deal with the Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers in the states, and Ministers in Union Territories respectively. These provisions will have a new clause: 'A Minister, who for any period of thirty consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall be removed from his office by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister to be tendered by the thirty-first day, after being taken in such custody.' The removal can be reversed when the Minister is released from custody. Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister will be in the ambit of the proposed law. According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, there is a need for a legal framework for the removal of a Minister arrested on serious criminal charges. Ministers facing such allegations 'may thwart or hinder the canons of constitutional morality and principles of good governance', which could 'diminish the constitutional trust reposed by people'. The constitutional amendment will require a majority of two-thirds of Members present and voting to be passed. What is the current legal framework, and how does the Bill depart from it? Under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, (RPA) legislators are disqualified from contesting elections or continuing in office upon conviction for certain criminal offences, and being sentenced to imprisonment for at least two years. The proposed amendment deals with the removal of a Minister after having spent a certain time in custody. Ministers do not have qualifications that are distinct from those of legislators (with whom the RPA deals), but they have different responsibilities. In the RPA, the yardstick for disqualification is conviction by a court. The disqualification can be stayed if the conviction is stayed by a higher court on appeal. India's constitutional scheme envisages the presumption of innocence for the accused, and puts the onus of proving the charges on the prosecution. Police file a chargesheet within 90 days of arrest, after which a court frames the charges. Trial begins after that, and can end in acquittal or conviction. In the proposed Bill, the yardstick for removal is 30 consecutive days of being 'arrested and detained in custody'. Since arrest and detention are only the preliminary step in a criminal investigation, such a yardstick raises serious questions of due process. What has been the debate on when a legislator can be disqualified? Given the serious concerns over the growing criminalisation of politics, a view has gained ground that a legislator must be disqualified even before the stage of conviction. It has been argued that the long wait for conviction defeats the purpose of disqualification. Since September 2013, only 27 sitting MPs and MLAs have been disqualified after being convicted of offences. However, constitutional principles of natural justice require a person to be given a fair opportunity to be heard before consequential action is taken against them. Also, disqualification impacts not only the rights of the legislator but also the will of the people who have elected the legislator. In its 170th report in 1999, the Law Commission of India proposed that the framing of a charge for offences punishable by up to five years' imprisonment should be made an additional ground for disqualification, which should be for five years or until acquittal, whichever was earlier. This proposal was reiterated by the Election Commission of India in 2004, and by the Law Commission in its 244th report in 2014. The Law Commission's 2014 report recommended that a legislator could be disqualified when charges were framed against them by a court, since this showed prima facie judicial satisfaction that there existed sufficient material against a person to put them to trial. The report rejected suggestions that the filing of a chargesheet by police or of a court taking cognizance of an offence against a legislator were appropriate stages for disqualification. Disqualifying a person before the 'application of judicial mind' would be 'against the principles of natural justice', and 'would mean that a person is penalised without proceedings being initiated against him', the Commission said. What has the Supreme Court said on the question of disqualification of a legislator? 🔴 A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court discussed these recommendations in a 2018 judgment in a public interest litigation. The PIL by Public Interest Foundation had sought disqualification at the stage of framing of charges for serious offences. The court stated that it could not legislate or add new grounds for disqualification beyond what Parliament had provided. It reiterated that the power to make laws on disqualification rested solely with Parliament. The court did recommend, however, that Parliament should enact a 'strong law' making it mandatory for political parties to revoke the membership of those against whom charges have been framed for 'heinous and grievous offences', and to not give them tickets to contest elections. 🔴 Earlier, in its judgment in Manoj Narula v Union of India (2014), the Supreme Court had said there is no bar against a person with criminal antecedents being appointed as Minister. However, the court suggested that as the 'repository of constitutional trust', the Prime Minister should consider not choosing individuals with criminal antecedents, especially if charges have been framed for heinous or serious criminal offences or corruption. 🔴 More recently, the SC made some observations in two cases of Ministers facing money laundering charges — one, V Senthil Balaji of Tamil Nadu, and two, then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. BALAJI was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2023 in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam and remained in custody for 14 months. He was dropped as a Minister after significant pressure from the Governor and the opposition. In September 2024, the Supreme Court granted Balaji bail because the trial was likely to take several years. Within days of being released, Balaji was reinstated as a Cabinet Minister. The ED urged the SC to cancel his bail, arguing that from his position of authority, he might influence the case against him. The SC observed that it had not taken into account his ministerial position, as he had resigned before his bail application was heard. Once he was reappointed after being released, the court said it was misled. In April 2025, the court told Balaji to choose between 'freedom or post' — he could either resign or risk the cancellation of his bail. Days later, Balaji stepped down, and the court allowed his bail to continue. KEJRIWAL was granted bail in the alleged liquor policy money laundering case, but the SC barred him from signing official documents, entering government offices, and interacting with witnesses and accessing files connected with the case. The court, however, made it clear that it had no jurisdiction to compel an elected leader to step down; whether he should resign was left to Kejriwal's discretion. In September 2024, the court granted him regular bail, noting that prolonged incarceration without progress in the trial would be unjust. 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Business Standard
25 minutes ago
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Best of BS Opinion: Rolling the dice on gaming bans, AI rules, and growth
In the Mahabharata, Chausar was not mere entertainment but a test of foresight, nerve, and destiny. Dice in hand, pieces moving, fortunes shifting, the game carried the weight of unpredictability and choice. Each roll of dice carried the possibility of triumph or ruin, every move shaping the course of kingdoms. What made the game enduring was its blend of chance and calculation, a reminder that even the strongest warriors could falter when strategy met uncertainty. Modern policymaking and economic choices carry the same weight. Laws, frameworks, and reforms resemble moves on a vast board where ambition, caution, and risk constantly collide. Let's dive in. The Union government's Online Gaming Bill, 2025 embodies this duality. It seeks to ban online money games, citing addiction, fraud, and financial losses, while simultaneously creating a regulatory framework to promote e-sports and casual play. The industry warns of job losses, underground markets, and declining investor confidence if prohibition prevails, notes our first editorial. With over Rs 25,000 crore in FDI and Rs 2 trillion in valuations at stake, the decision resembles a risky throw. Like a hasty roll of dice, Parliament must decide whether prohibition secures or destabilises the board. The Reserve Bank's FREE-AI report, too, is a masterclass in anticipating moves, highlights our second editorial. With its seven guiding 'sutras,' it seeks to balance the promise of AI with the perils of bias and opacity. By proposing common AI infrastructure, sandboxes, and indigenous models, the RBI wants India to play not as a follower but as a designer of the game. Execution, however, will decide whether AI becomes a trusted ally or a loaded dice. Meanwhile, Naushad Forbes urges India to respond to Donald Trump's tariff threats not with defensive swagger but transformative ambition, much like Japan transformed humiliation into industrial resurgence. To become a developed nation by 2047, India must reform education, agriculture, taxation, and manufacturing, aiming for sustained growth above 9 per cent. The choice is whether to play defensively or pursue the bold moves that can transform the board. Amit Kapoor cautions that India's cities risk losing vitality if migration slows. Migrants power both formal and informal economies, yet fear-driven governance has weakened their sense of belonging. With urban investment needs of $840 billion over 15 years, cities must remain open and trusting, or else the pieces on the board may stop moving altogether. And finally, as Ambi Parameswaran notes in his review of Sandeep Das's Why Your Strategy Sucks, strategy itself is the master move. Das distinguishes true strategy from mere plans, offering frameworks for both corporate goals and personal careers. Even if richer case studies might have added depth, its core lesson stands, that strategy is not about playing every piece but choosing the few moves that can redefine the entire game. Stay tuned!
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Paper trails, lost salaries: Stories of struggle, success in Bihar SIR drive
The first phase of the controversial special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar excised 6.56 million names from the state's voter rolls. The exclusions have generated a political firestorm and reverberated in Parliament and the Supreme Court. But another key facet are the 72.4 million people who managed to fill their forms. Across five districts, HT attempts to sketch the contours of the exercise, shaped by identities, differing access to government services, migration and socioeconomic status. Paper trails, lost salaries: Stories of struggle, success in Bihar SIR drive Chandan Das, Tilhari Village A flight of three steep steps leads a visitor to the meeting room of Tilhari village chief Shakunta Devi and her husband, Chandan Das. Under framed faces of Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar and Ravidas, the room teems with clots of people anxious about their names on the electoral roll – one has a brother toiling away in Hyderabad who cannot come back to fill the forms, a second has no document other than Aadhaar card in her name since her marriage in this village five years ago, and a third is worried that she might have missed her BLO and will be marked absent. In this peri-urban village of 900-odd people dominated by marginalised castes, a white sheet of paper stamped with the panchayat logo, signed by Das, and a photograph of the applicant affixed is lucrative. Das has signed roughly 250 of these letters since July 1, filling the gap in access to formal documentation. 'In our village, most are poor. The problem here is birth certificates and only 10% of people have caste papers. So what else can we do to help them?' asked Das, who was once associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). In his early 30s, the husband of the village chief unofficially executes many of the official functions of his wife. He had thought that the publication of the draft roll on August 1 would mean an end to the frenetic pace of work. 'Not a lot of names in this village were deleted so that's a relief. It means the letters worked,' he said. But now, there is a new problem. 'Naam bohot ka gadbad kar diya hai (they've made a lot of mistakes with the names) – Rai in place of Ram, father-in-law in place of father,' Das said. 'I went through the draft list for an hour with the BLO and found 6-7 such mistakes,' he added. In front of him is Rekha Devi, whose father-in-law Yaddu Manjhi's name is misspelt. Next to her is Ruby Devi whose husband's name Bhagiran Manjhi is now spelt as Jhageru Manjhi. Behind them on the floor are Ram Bhuvan whose name is spelt as Rai Bhuvan and Rukmini Devi, now erroneously spelt as Kamini Devi. They all have to fill a form and submit it to the BLO before September 1. Such errors are not new but the stringent SIR process has locals worried. 'We are illiterate so we have come to request pradhan sahab to help us,' said Rekha Devi. It's back to the grind for the young politician. Kaiser Alam, Asura village The tranquil waters of the Kankai river hug the international border between India and Nepal through most of its course, before spilling into the Mahananda in Bihar's Kishanganj district. Its banks on either side are dotted with hundreds of villages and the occasional makeshift bridge – like the one on the edges of Asura village. In this part of the world, formal jobs are scarce and most people are manual labourers, farm hands or fishers. The few skilled people either migrate out of the state or the country for decently paying jobs. Kaiser Alam, a stonemason, is one of them. Courtesy his travel, the 41-year-old has a passport – one of the 11 documents the Election Commission of India is accepting as proof of address. But his wife, Mohsina Khatun, has largely remained at home. She doesn't have a passport or an educational certificate. For people like her, the most-popular choice of document is the niwasi or the permanent residency certificate, which is issued by the block office and usually takes between 10 and 15 days. A filled form, a letter from the panchayat and Aadhaar card is all that usually takes. And a bit of luck. Khatun fears her luck might have run out. The mother of five cast her vote in the 2020 assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 'I applied for it (the certificate) soon after the declaration of SIR on July 3; since then I have been frequenting the block office but till now I haven't got it,' said Alam. This is not uncommon. Across many blocks in Kishanganj, Purnia, and Araria districts, officials temporarily froze the issuance of new certificates in July and August after seeing a sharp spike – tenfold on average – in applications. While this helped ease verification stress, it hurt many applicants. 'I am worried that my wife will be deprived of her franchise,' Alam said. But her luck might turn again. Last week, the Supreme Court told the EC to start allowing the submission of Aadhaar details.. Ajit Rishi, Palasi village Since his teenage years, Ajit Rishi has been somewhat of a busybody. In his village of Palasi in Bihar's Araria district, most people are migrant labourers and hail from the Mahadalit Musahar caste. Rishi himself is Dalit, having appended Rishi to his name in an attempt to dispel the stigma binding the impoverished community once forced to eat rats to stave off hunger. Rishi spent most of his teenage years in odd jobs. By his early 30s, he had become a ward member in the panchayat, leveraging his community ties and numerous small favours he was owed. Literacy remains low among the 537 voters, most of whom are from the Dalit communities and work as day labourers. 'You can understand that very few people here understood what the papers meant when the SIR forms were first given out,' said Rishi. The partially pre-filled forms were distributed by the local schoolteacher BLO. But when he came back to pick up the documents days later, he refused to accept Aadhaar or voter identity card – most villagers had photocopied these two and affixed it to the forms – as supporting documents. 'First they said fill only the form, then said give it with documents. Then, they said only the form will do. After that, they said they'll come back for a document check. For us villagers, it was very confusing,' said Tuntun Rishi, a resident. That's when Rishi stepped in. 'We formed a strategy. For some, I helped them fill the form in Hindi and added their Mahadalit certificate or card myself. For some others, I filled out the form and asked them to add as many documents as they could, especially any card they had got as beneficiary for a SC-specific scheme. We then spoke to the BLO to accept it,' he said. But there were still outliers. Farmhands Baidyanath Rishi and his wife Minti Devi were both in Punjab, having migrated up north for the harvest season, and only their small children were back at their village home in Palasi. 'There were at least 30-40 people from our samaj (community) who were out because the wages at this time of the year are good,' said Rishi. Some responded to missives by their family members but many didn't – in any case, many simply didn't have the kind of documents the BLO was looking for. As July entered its final lap, the pressure on Rishi was mounting as people frequented his house with their anxieties about being struck off the rolls. In a village election, a disgruntled household is enough to swing the polls away from a candidate. Rishi had to keep everyone happy. 'In every village, there is a vikas mitra appointed by the state government to help Mahadalits access official schemes. He has a list of families and dependents. We told him to give us a copy of the list and shared it with the BLO, who we told to mark voters based on that list,' said Rishi. 'People who are outside and couldn't fill their form but were Mahadalit were also helped by this parivarik suchi (family listing),' Rishi said. The workaround sidestepped the document soup as the BLO directly picked up names from the list. 'For some people, who didn't even have Aadhaar, the parivarik suchi was enough,' he said. It was a relief for Rishi, who was increasingly getting anxious about lost labour wages for the many hours he spent filling forms, effectively securing his votes. 'An hour lost means ₹400 gone,' he said. His work, however, is not done yet. Sarima Devi and her husband Jittan Rishi are at sea because he is a migrant labourer who has lately stopped returning home, sending between ₹2,000 and ₹3,000 occasionally for her upkeep. 'My husband has not filled out the form. Plus my name is not on any welfare document so what do I submit?' she asked. Rishi sighed. It is not uncommon in the countryside for a woman to be abandoned by her migrant husband. But for now, getting her name into the voter list is of bigger importance than her personal tragedy. 'I'll talk to someone,' Rishi said. Abdul Javed, Mahendrapur For decades, brothers Abdul Javed and Abdul Hamid shared a common mud courtyard between their huts, a separate kitchen room off to the right, and two string cots outside to entertain evening visitors. In the village of Mahendrapur, the farm hands lived off the main lane, the entrances of their houses marked by dented sheets of tin stapled together in the likeness of a gate. When their children were in school, it became clear that there were no jobs available in the countryside to support the family. Javed's two sons quickly migrated – first to state capital Patna and then to Karnal town in Haryana, where they alternate between working on construction sites and agricultural fields. Pay is more regular and at least four times the rate given in Bihar. 'There are six people in our house and eight people in Hamid's house. It was all going well when the SIR was announced,' Javed said. After one week of confusion, the household swung into action. Now in his 70s, Javed requested a young man from the village to help them understand what was being asked. He then called his elder son Sabbar to spare a day from his otherwise gruelling manual labour schedule, and click photos of every document available with him. As the elder brother, he held all the documents (which included passports because the brothers earlier worked as contract labour in west Asia) and sent photographs of every document on WhatsApp. 'I went to the block headquarters and got the photos printed. I then used the details to fill the form myself on their behalf. The BLO accepted them,' said Javed. Here, every household has more than one member working outside – either in an industrial town in India, or in west Asia. Complicating their already difficult lives are increasing polarisation and stereotypes about Muslims, especially those who speak Bengali. This is all too apparent next door, in Chatia village, where most young men leave home at 18. Ruksana Khatun and her friend Jainur Khatun have helped fill the forms of several male relatives, including their husbands and children, who are in Haryana working in tile factories. 'They only take scanned copies of Aadhaar with them, so we were lucky that the rest of the cards were all at home. We just filled the forms thanks to them,' said Ruksana. Almost everyone here is a migrant, but the share of Muslim people has surged in recent years, bringing with it anxieties and sometimes unfounded allegations about infiltration. In Rampur Kodarkatti, where Muslims make up two-thirds of the population, village chief Rajesh Kumar Singh is a proponent of these theories. Two years ago, he hit the local news when he contacted the police about a man he alleged was Bangladeshi. 'Bengali and Bangladeshi here are the same. 70% came here after Bangladesh was born and changed our demographic,' he said. Girija Devi, Naya Tola For most of her 47 years, Girija Devi has been on the move. Born in a village in Uttar Pradesh near the border with Bihar, Devi was married in Gopalganj district to her husband, Ramprit Prasad, but the first home she built, in Tangrahi village, was engulfed by the Gandak river during a seasonal flood. Bankrupted by the tragedy, Devi and her husband moved to higher ground, to a village named simply as Naya Tola or new neighbourhood – an amalgam of people who'd moved here from various parts of the district after being rendered homeless by Bihar's monsoon sorrow. A mud-and-cement embankment protects most of the settlements in Naya Tola, but also makes life difficult for people like Devi who double up as farmhands. In this slushy landscape, building roads is difficult and the moped is the perfect all-weather vehicle. But the proximity to Kuchaikote town helps in securing odd jobs. For the labourer couple, a day's work means between ₹300 and ₹400. But for the past month, earning has been somewhat sporadic because the couple has skipped days hunting for documents to affix to their electoral forms. Prasad had thought that a family member's name in the land records, or Khatian, would suffice, but has been told by the BLO that it has to be his own name for the document to count. 'Neither I nor my wife are educated. I have given my Aadhaar but they're asking for my birth certificate. Where will I get it?' he asked. Devi faces a bigger conundrum. Women have been asked by the authorities to affix proof that traces their lineage to their fathers. All Devi has is proof of her marriage. 'My parents are dead, and in any case, who will give me any proof there? Women don't get ration cards made in their name,' she said. Across the state, the controversial SIR has erected hurdles to confirm one's place in the voter rolls. But women such as Devi face an additional set of hindrances, because they typically reside away from natal homes from where they have to trace lineage and access documents. Devi doesn't care much about voting or whether her name stays in the rolls. But she's worried about spillover effects. 'Who will put my name back in the rolls once it's struck off? And what'll happen to my ration or schemes?' .
