Latest news with #Akhilesh
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Akhilesh hits out at govt for appointing another acting DGP
1 2 Lucknow: Responding to the appointment of senior IPS officer Rajeev Krishna as the state police chief on Saturday evening, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said that Uttar Pradesh has got yet another acting DGP. Akhilesh has been critical of the BJP govt in the state which has been appointing acting DGPs one after another since May 2022 when the then state police chief Mukul Goel was removed from the post. Since then, govt has appointed four acting DGPs – DS Chauhan, RK Vishwakarma, Vijay Kumar and Prashant Kumar, who passed the baton to Rajeev Krishna on Saturday. It was after Mukul Goel's unceremonious removal from the post of DGP in May 2022 that the UP govt decided to appoint acting DGPs to "bypass" the system in place where names of three eligible IPS officer had to be sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for its stamp on the name of the state police chief. After this, the SP took on the UP govt accusing it of bypassing the Centre in appointment of DGP. It was in 2024 that the state cabinet cleared the draft of 'Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh Selection and Appointment Rules' which provided for appointment of a select committee by the state chaired by a retired judge of the high court to shortlist a DGP from a panel of three names suggested by the state govt. The committee is yet to be constituted. Lashing out at the state govt for appointing an acting DGP, Akhilesh took on the outgoing police chief Prashant Kumar whom he had repeatedly accused of surrendering to political pressures. "Now that the tenure of the outgoing DGP Prashant Kumar has ended, it is time for him to reflect on what he got in return for proving every wrong as right. Instead of an individual, had he shown his commitment towards the Constitution and law of the land, he would have walked out with his head held high," Akhilesh said. "It is now the time to see if the new DGP will be able to deliver justice with an objective and impartial approach or finds himself stuck in the mess that the outgoing state police chief has left behind and falls prey to politicking. Why should the people of Uttar Pradesh bear the brunt of a law-and-order mechanism which has been in shambles only because Lucknow and Delhi do not have good (political) relations," he said. Akhilesh said it was because of the ongoing power tussle within the BJP that UP was not getting a full-fledged DGP for years. "Despite having a double-engine govt, they are unable to strike a consensus and shortlist a DGP in the state, hence one must not expect any wonders at the crime and law and order front from the BJP govt," the SP chief said.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
PM inaugurated projects launched in our regime: Akhilesh
Lucknow: Despite being in government for eight years in the state, the BJP has no achievement to showcase at the development front; so much so that the projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister in Kanpur on Friday were actually works done during the government, claimed former UP chief minister . Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The statement came hours after PM Modi, along with chief minister Yogi Adityanath, reached Kanpur where he inaugurated Kanpur Metro train, Panki power project and Neyveli Lignite power plant among a host of other development projects worth a total of over Rs 47,000 crore. "In the last eight years that the BJP has been in the government in UP, they have not done any development work. Despite being in government for so many years, BJP people from the Centre and in the state are cutting ribbons (inaugurating) of development projects of the Samajwadi Party government," Akhilesh said in a statement issued on Friday. "Today the projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister in Kanpur were initiated during the SP government," Akhilesh said. Akhilesh said every development project that was launched during the SP government was dedicated to the people of the state. "Extension of Panki thermal power plant, Neyveli Lignite Power Plant and Kanpur Metro were projects that were launched during the SP regime. Today BJP people are all praises for these projects," he said. The SP national president said the BJP should face the people and appraise them if the government has any scheme for the Lal Imli in Kanpur. Set up in Kanpur in 1876, Lal Imli was known the world over for its high-quality woollen products, so much so that the trademark was regarded as a guarantee of pure wool. The mill is shut today, and workers have not got their salary for the past 34 months, he said. "Not only in Kanpur, the Metro Rail projects in Lucknow and Noida, that the Prime Minister was made to inaugurate, were projects that the SP government had got completed," Akhilesh said, citing Agra-Lucknow Expressway, International stadium in Lucknow, IT City, Janeshwar Mishra Park as examples of world-class projects that were conceived and executed by the SP government and dedicated to the people of the state. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The former UP CM said most of the projects launched under the BJP government have been plagued by corruption. "The Jal Jeevan Mission launched by the BJP government has turned into a loot mission," he said. Akhilesh went on to cite specific instances to underline BJP's corruption. "In April, an overhead water tank in Lakhimpur burst and crumbled under the weight of rising corruption under the BJP government. In May, another overhead water tank collapsed in Sitapur because of the same reason," Akhilesh said.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
A department fit for the gods — till it isn't. Another UP temple story
The Department of Religious Affairs in Uttar Pradesh has grabbed the spotlight after Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that temples must be protected from 'administrative corruption' and accused the Yogi Adityanath government of 'indirectly taking control (of them) under the garb of better administration'. Akhilesh's comments came after the Adityanath-led BJP government constituted a trust on Tuesday to manage the administration of the Banke Bihari temple as a part of its plans to redevelop the Banke Bihari corridor between Mathura and Vrindavan. 'Through the excuse of management, the BJP and its associates are gradually taking indirect control of prominent temples. Those who have been traditionally managing these temples for centuries with devotion are being stripped of their rights and are being unfairly accused of being incapable or mismanaging temple affairs,' the SP chief said in a post on X. Officially christened 'Dharmarth Karya Vibhag' and mandated to develop religious institutions and temples, the department came into existence on December 19, 1985, under the Vir Bahadur Singh-led Congress government. According to the website of the Department of Religious Affairs, all temples and religious places of the state fall under it, and its objective is to provide basic facilities like route management, accommodation, lighting, drinking water and food to the visiting devotees. The department was seen as 'defunct' and a hub of 'officials sent on punishment posting' till Akhilesh, during his tenure as CM between 2012 and 2017, 'revived' it with announcements like Rs 50,000 for devotees taking up the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Rs 10,000 for the Sindhu Darshan Yatra. It has further gained prominence since Adityanath assumed power in 2017, and especially after it tied up with the Tourism Department to promote the BJP government's vision of developing Uttar Pradesh into a hub of 'religious tourism'. In 2018, barely a year after coming to power, Adityanath established the 'Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad', headed by retired IPS officer Shailja Kant Mishra, to develop temples and pilgrimage sites of the region. Under Adityanath's direct supervision, over the past five years, the department has set up six more such 'parishads' for Ayodhya Dham, Vindhyavhal Dham in Mirzapur, Shukarteerath in Muzaffarnagar, Chitrakoot Dham, Devipatan Dham in Gonda district and Naimisharanya Dham in Sitapur. While the other 'parishads' are yet to see the light of day, the Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad is fully operational. The Adityanath government had also increased the assistance for pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Sindhu Darshan Yatra to Rs 1 lakh and Rs 20,000 respectively. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi on February 14, 2022, the Adityanath regime shifted its focus to the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan. However, the government's move to use temple funds to acquire five acres for a project similar to the Kashi Vishwanath corridor ran into legal trouble after the temple's sevak (priest) approached the Allahabad High Court against it. The court last year passed an order denying permission to the government to use temple funds for the project. The government then moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. Earlier this month, the top court gave its go-ahead for the project. The government later passed an ordinance to establish the Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir Nyas Trust, which was cleared by Governor Anandiben Patel on Tuesday. According to a senior official, the trust will now be responsible for the development, security and administration of the religious site while the 'Goswamis' will continue with their traditional duties of performing rituals. The temple has sought a review of the Supreme Court order. A BJP leader said that the Banke Bihari corridor would be implemented on the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath project. 'People whose lands are acquired will be adequately compensated like it was done during the Kashi Vishwanath corridor. There will be no issues whatsoever,' the leader said on the condition of anonymity. Incidentally, Akhilesh as CM had cleared a similar proposal by the Department of Religious Affairs to manage the Banke Bihari temple as well as the Vindhyavasini temple. The proposal was scrapped after SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav intervened. 'There are seven other temples in Mathura where management issues have been pending for decades and are currently being managed by administrative or judicial officers,' a senior official told The Indian Express.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Swadeshi call a contrast in shrinking manufacturing sector : Akhilesh, ET Manufacturing
Advt Advt Advt A day after PM Narendra Modi urged people to prefer swadeshi to imported items, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the call for 'self-reliance made little sense in a scenario where big corporate houses were flooding the Indian market with imported products and a post on X, Akhilesh quoted PM's speech in Gandhinagar on Tuesday where he outlined the role of smaller cities in making India world's third largest economy. Modi said people should buy locally made swadeshi products as their contribution strengthens the pointed out that the smaller cities and towns in India rely heavily on cottage industry and the Indian manufacturing sector which has shrunk rapidly in the recent past. This has automatically paved the way for entry of imported goods in the Indian market."Manufacturing and production sectors in India are constantly shrinking which has led to lopsided development trajectory and unequal distribution of income. This is happening because industrial houses are being elbowed out by corporates which are only focusing on trading of goods from abroad to sell them in the Indian market," Akhilesh said in a statement. He said the new economic order taking shape in India has taken its toll on cottage and micro segments of the industrial maintained that industrial houses are slowly and systematically being sidelined, as a result the value of our raw material, skill and talent is on the decline, taking a heavy toll on job and employment opportunities. "What is worse, talk of self-reliance has been reduced to a mere slogan, behind the scenes deals are being struck to import goods and services from world's top corporate giants. These products and services are being pushed into every sector of the Indian economy. This has turned (us) into selling agents of these multinationals," Akhilesh policies are forcing the Indian economy to become dependent on imported finished goods rather than empowering domestic production, he said. "The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer," he said, adding that no govt can add to the prosperity of the country by "betraying its own economy". He said the real development and economic progress will come from improving the per capita income in India rather than trillion-dollar economy statistics."Due to the faulty economic policies of the BJP govt, there has been no relief from rising prices. Under the BJP govt, farmers, youth and traders are feeling cheated," said senior SP functionary prof Sudhir Panwar . "Farmers were promised that their incomes will be doubled but on the contrary their cost of production has increased because of rise in prices of seeds and fertilizers. Joblessness among youth is at an all time high. Traders and small businessmen are yet to come out of the economic slowdown that followed demonetisation. In such a situation everybody is struggling to make two ends meet, leave alone contributing to an economic agenda," Panwar said.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Swadeshi call a contrast in shrinking manufacturing sector : Akhilesh
1 2 Lucknow: A day after PM Narendra Modi urged people to prefer swadeshi to imported items, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the call for 'self-reliance made little sense in a scenario where big corporate houses were flooding the Indian market with imported products and services. In a post on X, Akhilesh quoted PM's speech in Gandhinagar on Tuesday where he outlined the role of smaller cities in making India world's third largest economy. Modi said people should buy locally made swadeshi products as their contribution strengthens the economy. Akhilesh pointed out that the smaller cities and towns in India rely heavily on cottage industry and the Indian manufacturing sector which has shrunk rapidly in the recent past. This has automatically paved the way for entry of imported goods in the Indian market. "Manufacturing and production sectors in India are constantly shrinking which has led to lopsided development trajectory and unequal distribution of income. This is happening because industrial houses are being elbowed out by corporates which are only focusing on trading of goods from abroad to sell them in the Indian market," Akhilesh said in a statement. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Alarma con cámara a precio especial en Buenos Aires (ver oferta) Verisure Alarma Empieza ahora Undo He said the new economic order taking shape in India has taken its toll on cottage and micro segments of the industrial sector. He maintained that industrial houses are slowly and systematically being sidelined, as a result the value of our raw material, skill and talent is on the decline, taking a heavy toll on job and employment opportunities. "What is worse, talk of self-reliance has been reduced to a mere slogan, behind the scenes deals are being struck to import goods and services from world's top corporate giants. These products and services are being pushed into every sector of the Indian economy . This has turned (us) into selling agents of these multinationals," Akhilesh said. Such policies are forcing the Indian economy to become dependent on imported finished goods rather than empowering domestic production, he said. "The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer," he said, adding that no govt can add to the prosperity of the country by "betraying its own economy". He said the real development and economic progress will come from improving the per capita income in India rather than trillion-dollar economy statistics. "Due to the faulty economic policies of the BJP govt, there has been no relief from rising prices. Under the BJP govt, farmers, youth and traders are feeling cheated," said senior SP functionary prof Sudhir Panwar. "Farmers were promised that their incomes will be doubled but on the contrary their cost of production has increased because of rise in prices of seeds and fertilizers. Joblessness among youth is at an all time high. Traders and small businessmen are yet to come out of the economic slowdown that followed demonetisation. In such a situation everybody is struggling to make two ends meet, leave alone contributing to an economic agenda," Panwar said.
