Chirag meets Dy CM to discuss state's development
Vijay Kumar Sinha
held a meeting with LJP (RV) chief
Chirag Paswan
on Monday and discussed the upcoming
Bihar assembly elections
. The meeting was held shortly after Chirag met CM
Nitish Kumar
during the day.
LJP (RV) through a post on X on Tuesday said, "Last night, the deputy CM had a meeting with party president and Union minister Chirag Paswan.
During the meeting, detailed discussions were held over the all-round development of Bihar and the upcoming assembly elections.
"
The BJP described the meeting as a "courtesy call." However, this assumes significance since it took place shortly after Chirag made a statement about BJP minister Vijay Shah's comments on Col Sofiya Qureshi.
As the city roads are turning into poster galleries much before the assembly elections, on Tuesday some new 'creatives' sprung up at the city's intersections.
"Ho gayi mulaqat, mila gaya aashirvad", "Chacha ko hai is bhatije par pura bharosa, Bihar ki surat aur seerat dono badlega (Uncle has complete trust on his nephew. He will change the face of Bihar)." The posters referred to Chirag's meeting with CM Nitish Kumar on Monday.
LJP (RV) described the posters as the expression of "personal sentiments" by the party workers. "Every party worker wants his party chief to reach the pinnacle of power, but Chirag Ji has already announced that the next assembly elections will be fought under Nitish," party spokesperson Rajesh Bhatt told reporters on Tuesday.
Chirag has expressed his desire to be active in Bihar's politics. "I am a Bihari first. The reason for my entering into politics has also been Bihar and Biharis," Chirag told the reporters after meeting the CM. He also said that he wanted to be back to Bihar at the earliest.
Prior to this, Chirag's party announced it would fight the next elections with an "independent identity." LJP (RV) sources said the party leadership is miffed at the way BJP and JD(U)—two key NDA allies in the state—have been dividing seats among themselves and then sparing some for the other allies from their respective quotas.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
20 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Delhi govt.'s move to amend labour laws will strip lakhs of workers of their rights, say experts
Trade union leaders and experts have criticised the Delhi government's move to amend at least two labour laws as part of its 'Ease of Doing Business' policy, saying the amendments will strip lakhs of workers in the city of several rights. The first pertains to changing the applicability of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954, to establishments with 10 or more employees. Currently, the Act, which includes several safeguards for employees, such as leaves, weekly holidays, and a month's notice for dismissal, is applicable even to establishments with one employee. The government is also planning to amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which protects workers in cases of lay-offs and closure of units employing 100 or more workers, by raising the minimum threshold of employees to 300. Directions were issued to senior officials at a review meeting on June 30, chaired by Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena and attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, to make these changes, said a source. However, the government is yet to release any official statement on the matter. 'No protection' Anurag Saxena, CITU general secretary (Delhi), said introducing a threshold in the law will leave employees working in smaller establishments without any protection. 'Right now, if a person working at a small bakery or garment shop is fired illegally, he or she can file a complaint under the Act. Once the minimum threshold is increased to 10, workers at thousands of establishments with fewer than 10 employees will be placed outside the ambit of the law and left without any protection,' he said. A senior Delhi government official said once the four Labour Codes, which were passed in Parliament in 2019 and 2020, are implemented, workers in smaller establishments will be provided with 'some level of protection'. However, Mr. Saxena said, 'The labour codes could provide protection to employees in case of wages, but there is no safeguard for workers at a small establishment who are fired illegally.' Concurrent List The government is also looking to make changes to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which applies to commercial units across the country, as labour is part of the Concurrent List, which includes subjects over which the Union and State governments share legislative responsibilities. Currently, the Act provides protection to workers in the event of retrenchment and closure of firms employing 100 workers or more, as prior permission is required from the government or notice is to be given for such actions. The Delhi government plans to amend the Act to cover only establishments employing 300 or more workers. Professor Surajit Mazumdar at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said an employee's rights do not depend on the size of the establishment. 'As things stand, many labour laws meant to protect employees are not enforced properly. And now if you remove the workers from the ambit of the law itself, the workers won't be able to even fight for their rights,' he said. The threshold in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 has already been raised to 300 by the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in Gujarat (2021) and Assam (2018). The same change has also been proposed in the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, which is part of the four labour Codes, which have not been implemented amid resistance from labour unions across the country. Mr. Mazumdar said raising the threshold to 300 would be a way of introducing the labour Codes 'through the back door'. Gujarat had also amended the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019 (the equivalent of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954) six years ago to cover units employing only 10 or more workers. 'The total number of employees in establishments with less than 10 workers in Delhi, who will be affected by the change in law, will be in the range of 7 to 20 lakh and the actual figure will be closer to 15 lakh,' said Mr. Mazumdar. He used the data from the Economic Census, 2013-14 and Delhi Economic Survey 2023-24 to arrive at the conclusion. Brijesh Goyal, chairman of Chamber of Trade & Industry, said the figure will be around 18-20 lakh workers, and Sucheta De, AICCTU national vice president, said the figure will be around 15-17 lakh workers. 'The entire practice is to keep most workers outside the scope of any legal protections,' Ms. De said. When reached out, the CM's office did not offer any comment.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Arora meets bizmen, gives them a hearing
Ludhiana: Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora gave a patient hearing to the issues being faced by the industrialists of the city during an interaction with them on the premises of Avon Cycles here Saturday evening. Among the leading industrialists present in the meeting were Onkar Singh Pahwa, Rahul Ahuja, SC Ralhan, JR Singhal, Sanjeev Pahwa, Rajnish Ahuja, Mandeep Pahwa, Arshdeep Singh Sahni, Harsimerjit Singh Lucky, MS Bhogal and Gurmeet Singh Kular. Matters related to GST, PSPCL, freight subsidy, industrial plots, industrial corridor, traffic jams and municipal corporation were taken up. On fake GST billing, Arora asked the industrialists to suggest remedial measures to him so that strict action can be initiated. The minister was told that the industrialists doing genuine business are suffering losses due to fake GST billing. On the industrialists' demand that the GST rate should be reduced from 12% to 5% on bicycles, Arora said when he was a Rajya Sabha MP, he had taken up the matter with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He said the state govt has distributed industrial subsidies worth Rs 222 crore in the first four months of the current financial year, and that the remaining subsidies worth Rs 28 crore would be distributed in the near future. Subsidies worth about Rs 80 crore were distributed in the last fiscal, he added. The cabinet minister said the state govt has already set up nine industrial committees for industrial policy enhancement in Punjab, adding that the remaining committees would be announced by next week. The motive of setting up these committees is to gather suggestions from industry experts for strengthening the state's industrial policy and further improving ease of doing business. The industrialists thanked the state govt for taking care of their issues in the last three years. Arora said he has observed that despite Punjab being a landlocked and border state, people from outside are willing to invest here because of the business-friendly ecosystem. He added that the state govt is also trying to make pro-industry policies and boost ease of doing business by ensuring that new units get approvals within 45 days.
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
Three, including two nuns, held for human trafficking in Chhattisgarh
RAIPUR: Three persons, including two Catholic nuns who had reportedly come from Agra, were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Durg on Friday for alleged human trafficking amid suspicion of coerced religious conversion. They were remanded to 14-day judicial custody, a police officer said. The trio were booked under BNS Section 143 (trafficking of persons). All three were caught accompanying three young women aged between 18 and 20 years, hailing from Narayanpur district in south Bastar, after Bajrang Dal activists spotted them at Durg railway station. The group was allegedly preparing to travel to Agra for training and subsequent employment opportunities. Bajrang Dal members staged demonstrations at the Durg GRP police station demanding strict action against those allegedly involved in human trafficking and forced religious conversion. 'The nuns had come to Durg merely a day before without any valid reason. They were about to board a train along with the rescued girls to Agra when we spotted them,' said Ravi Nigam, a Bajrang Dal leader. Members of the Christian community also gathered at the GRP Durg station and were seen defending the nuns. The two nuns — Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis — who had come from Agra, along with Sukhman Mandavi from Narayanpur, were produced before a local court in Durg and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. The rescued girls have been sent to the Sakhi One Stop Centre in Durg. Meanwhile, Congress MP K C Venugopal has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai seeking stringent action against the perpetrators. He also urged the government to uphold constitutional rights and religious freedom in the state. The Congress leader alleged that BJP-ruled states are witnessing a rampant rise in attacks on minorities. 'The latest attacks by Bajrang Dal goons on two Catholic nuns in Durg, Chhattisgarh, point to a tacit support for such hate crimes from the ruling establishment,' Venugopal wrote on X.
