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Time of India
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Nadda meets Gadkari, seeks help in restoring HP roads damaged by flash floods
Shimla: Union health minister and BJP national president J P Nadda , along with BJP Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh Harsh Mahajan, met road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday and sought help for the damaged roads and highways in the hill state. After the meeting, Nadda said Gadkari assured them that the central govt would not leave any stone unturned to help Himachal and the roads damaged by the disaster would be repaired on a war footing. The vision presented by the central minister regarding road construction technology, tunnels, and bridges will significantly benefit Himachal, Nadda added. The health minister said the pace of development in the rural areas of Himachal would now accelerate. The central govt has approved a material budget of Rs 201 crore for the state under the first phase of MNREGA, he informed. This amount will expedite small and large projects, including steps, pathways, and roads at the panchayat level. Nadda mentioned that Himachal had been consistently receiving funds from the central govt under the national disaster relief fund and the state disaster relief fund, with over Rs 5,000-crore in aid already provided to the state. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like [Pictures] The only WD-40 trick everyone should know Undo The central govt is always ready to provide relief, having stood by Himachal financially in the past and will continue to do so, said the BJP national president. Recalling the 2023 monsoon season, Nadda mentioned the disasters in Mandi and Kullu, during which he had visited Himachal three times. He recalled that Rs 3,146 crore in relief was provided by the central govt to the hill state. Recently, the central govt allocated Rs 2,006 crore to Himachal for rehabilitation under the NDRF, totalling Rs 5,152 crore, said Nadda. Also, more than one lakh houses have been provided under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and roads worth over Rs 3,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, he added. Shimla: Union health minister and BJP national president J P Nadda, along with BJP Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh Harsh Mahajan, met road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday and sought help for the damaged roads and highways in the hill state. After the meeting, Nadda said Gadkari assured them that the central govt would not leave any stone unturned to help Himachal and the roads damaged by the disaster would be repaired on a war footing. The vision presented by the central minister regarding road construction technology, tunnels, and bridges will significantly benefit Himachal, Nadda added. The health minister said the pace of development in the rural areas of Himachal would now accelerate. The central govt has approved a material budget of Rs 201 crore for the state under the first phase of MNREGA, he informed. This amount will expedite small and large projects, including steps, pathways, and roads at the panchayat level. Nadda mentioned that Himachal had been consistently receiving funds from the central govt under the national disaster relief fund and the state disaster relief fund, with over Rs 5,000-crore in aid already provided to the state. The central govt is always ready to provide relief, having stood by Himachal financially in the past and will continue to do so, said the BJP national president. Recalling the 2023 monsoon season, Nadda mentioned the disasters in Mandi and Kullu, during which he had visited Himachal three times. He recalled that Rs 3,146 crore in relief was provided by the central govt to the hill state. Recently, the central govt allocated Rs 2,006 crore to Himachal for rehabilitation under the NDRF, totalling Rs 5,152 crore, said Nadda. Also, more than one lakh houses have been provided under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and roads worth over Rs 3,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, he added.
Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Not against SIR itself but against the process': Tejashwi after at Bihar Speaker allows discussion on electoral rolls revision
The Special Intensive Revision continued to cause stormy scenes at the monsoon session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly for the third day in a row, with the Speaker allowing discussion on the subject after three days of Opposition protest. Speaker Nand Kishor Yadav's decision to allow the discussion came despite Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's objections to it. During the debate, Bihar's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav questioned the timing, transparency, and documentation requirements for SIR – the Election Commission's contentious exercise to update electoral rolls. 'The Constitution grants the right to vote to every person above 18 years, regardless of wealth or status. This equality must not be infringed,' he said. The Opposition, he insisted, 'wasn't against the SIR itself' but opposed the process. Referring to complaints cited by the Election Commission about non-resident and 'external' voters. 'The Election Commission should work honestly and transparently, but it is not doing so. We strongly oppose and deny this in the House,' he said. 'It is shameful that such a significant drive is going on and yet the Election Commissioner has not addressed the press to clarify their position, instead, information emerges only through unnamed sources.' He also wondered at the 'urgency' of conducting the exercise, pointing out that the last such revision in 2003 took two years to complete. 'If the process is so important, why not start after the Lok Sabha elections? Why was it initiated now, during the monsoon season?' he asked. 'Bihar is at the bottom in terms of essential documents, whether it's a birth or death certificate. Only 2.3% of people have the necessary documents. Now, 11 documents are being demanded which most poor people don't possess. Why aren't Aadhaar, ration cards, or MNREGA cards being accepted, despite Supreme Court suggestions?' This figure includes both 3.5 crore registered workers and around 1 crore unregistered voters who, despite their tenure outside, 'return Bihar to vote'. 'There is now a risk their names may be deleted from the rolls,' the LOP argued. Addressing allegations about foreign nationals on the rolls, he said: 'The matter is pending before the Supreme Court. In the 780-page affidavit filed by the Election Commission, there is no mention of any Bangladeshi, Nepali, or Myanmar national. Even BJP's over 52,000 Booth Level Agents have never raised such complaints with the Election Commission.' In response, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the Opposition of making electoral rolls revision 'an issue because of their lack of work and upcoming elections'. The RJD too had been in power once, he went on to say. 'Why are you raising these issues now? Your father was chief minister for seven years, then your mother for another seven years, and then you were also deputy chief minister,' Kumar said. 'Look at what your budget used to be earlier, and how much more we've done for everyone now. Today, it's more than Rs 3 lakh crore and the central government is providing a lot of support too… we surveyed Bihar to identify where anything was lacking. Wherever there were gaps, we've addressed them… Whenever there was a need, we made sure the work got done,' he said. He then said: 'Ab mamla hai ki chunav ladna hai to bhai chunav ladiye aur uske band jitna bolna hai bolte rahiye (But now it's about contesting elections. So go contest and then you can say as much nonsense as you like).' The situation began to heat up when a comment made by RJD MLA Bhai Virendra caused uproar and lead to the house being adjourned until the afternoon session.
The Print
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
Less US & UK, more Bihar & Gujarat, Rahul 2.0 is on a grassroots sprint with a packed schedule
However, the last few months have signalled a shift. Rahul's schedule—marked by frequent visits to states, meetings with the party's frontal organisations, efforts to revive the district units, holding reviews of the performance of Pradesh Congress Committees – has been packed. For much of his political life, Rahul has battled the perception of being a reluctant or a 'non-serious politician'. The label, coined by his political opponents, was echoed by some within his own Congress party, frustrated by his lack of a consistent approach. New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was in Kerala Friday. The day before, he travelled to Assam. On Wednesday, he spent a few hours in Lucknow. Earlier in the week, Rahul met with Congress leaders from Jharkhand and Bihar in New Delhi. Last week, he was in Patna and Bhubaneswar, following a meeting with the Gujarat unit in the capital. At a public meeting in April last year at Jawahar Bhavan in New Delhi, Rahul, for the first time, addressed the criticism directly. 'They say I'm not serious, I'm not interested in politics. Land Acquisition Bill, MNREGA, Niyamgiri, Bhatta Parsaul are not serious? When people talk about the larger population, they deem us non-serious. When you don't have the loudspeaker in hand, everything that you say is non-serious,' he told the audience. VIDEO | Here's what Rahul Gandhi said addressing Samajik Nyay Sammelan in Delhi. "They say I'm not serious, I'm not interested in politics. Land Acquisition Bill, MNREGA, Niyamgiri, Bhatta Parsaul are not serious. When people talk about the larger population they deem us… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 24, 2024 This was essentially an attempt to frame his early years in politics through an ideological lens, projecting him as an outsider within the establishment. But the criticism he faced over the years was less about a lack of ideological commitment, and more about the perception that he was unavailable or unresponsive to his own party workers. Rahul's repeated retreats from the public eye, his foreign visits, and his appearances mainly during elections, following the Congress's defeat in the 2014 elections only reinforced that image. The 4,000-km Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 2022–23 marked a clear departure from that pattern, helping recast him as a more serious political figure. He followed it up with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Maharashtra in early 2024. Yet, not everyone was convinced of his ability to revive the Congress's moribund organisational machinery, especially in the states, in the absence of an effort to connect with the provincial leaderships. 'Be it Bharat Jodo Yatra or Bhatta Parsaul, those campaigns helped Rahul Gandhi project himself as a committed, ideological political leader whose heart beats for the people. But he was still seen as someone uninterested in organisational affairs, inaccessible to leaders outside. That has somewhat changed now,' a Congress Lok Sabha MP told ThePrint. A look at Rahul's engagements from the beginning of this year reveals a gradual uptick in his visible involvement in the Congress's organisational affairs. When asked about the noticeable change in Rahul's approach, Congress general secretary (organisation) told ThePrint that the party leadership's visits to the states are now being planned differently than in the past. 'Earlier, we used to go to a state, address a public rally and return. That approach has now changed. Now wherever Rahul Gandhi goes, we arrange his meetings with senior leaders of the state, MPs, MLAs. Then there's one public programme before returning to Delhi. The same model is followed for Congress President Kharge too. We have been to nine to 10 states and the rest will also be covered,' Venugopal said. For Rahul, while January was largely devoted to campaigning for the Delhi polls, he visited Bihar in February, his first of six visits to the poll-bound state so far this year. In February, he also spent two days in his Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli, attending seven public events. In March, he landed in Ahmedabad for a two-day visit that he began by holding a meeting with the Political Affairs Committee of the Gujarat Congress unit, a practice that he's since followed in nearly every state. LIVE: Addressing Congress Workers | Ahmedabad, Gujarat — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 8, 2025 It is in Gujarat that the Congress rolled out its ambitious plan to restructure its district units, in an effort to place them at the centre of the party's larger efforts to reclaim lost political ground. Venugopal said '70 per cent of the party's problems will be solved' if the project to revamp the district units, launched in a year that the Congress has announced will of organisational strengthening, becomes a success. He said previously district presidents were appointed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) by going through lists of names recommended by the state in-charges and presidents. 'Now, names are being shortlisted by AICC and PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) observers after holding consultations with at least 5,000 to 6,000 people in every district. Of course, the final call will be that of the AICC. New Gujarat district presidents have been announced. Likewise, lists will be out for Madhya Pradesh and Haryana within this month,' Venugopal said. Venugopal said one objective behind Rahul's meetings with state leaderships is also to gather feedback about the ongoing restructuring of the organisation. In April, the Gandhi scion visited Bihar, Gujarat for the second time, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. On 7 April, apart from participating in public events including a 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan', Rahul also met senior leaders and district presidents of the party's unit in Bihar. In Gujarat, again on a two-day visit, he formally launched the project to revamp the district units and addressed an orientation programme for the observers appointed for this purpose. पहलगाम में हुए कायरतापूर्ण आतंकी हमले में शहीद हुए शुभम द्विवेदी के परिजनों से आज मुलाक़ात कर उन्हें सांत्वना दी। इस दुःखद घड़ी में पूरा देश शोकाकुल परिवारों के साथ खड़ा है। आतंकियों के ख़िलाफ़ सख्त और ठोस कार्रवाई होनी चाहिए और पीड़ित परिवारों को न्याय मिलना चाहिए। इसी… — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 30, 2025 Later that month, he travelled to Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to meet those injured in the Pahalgam terror attack. On 26 April, he took part in the Bharat Summit organised by the Congress government in Telangana. Three days later, he landed in Rae Bareli again and attended a series of public outreach events, while also holding a meeting with the party's booth-level workers. On 15 May, he returned to Patna, this time to participate in a protest and to watch the movie 'Phule' with influencers from the marginalised communities—activities that were aligned with his social justice pitch. Five days later, he was in Karnataka to address a public rally in Vijayanagar district. आज पुंछ में पाकिस्तान की गोलाबारी में जान गंवाने वाले लोगों के परिवारों से मिला। टूटे मकान, बिखरा सामान, नम आंखें और हर कोने में अपनों को खोने की दर्द भरी दास्तान – ये देशभक्त परिवार हर बार जंग का सबसे बड़ा बोझ साहस और गरिमा के साथ उठाते हैं। उनके हौसले को सलाम है। पीड़ित… — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 24, 2025 On 24 May, the LoP visited areas in J&K's Poonch affected by Pakistani shelling during Operation Sindoor. Following his return to Delhi, he visited Delhi University and met the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) unit. On 30 May, he met the Congress's new leadership in Assam in Delhi, two days after the appointment of the party's Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi as the president of the state unit. June onwards, Rahul's involvement in organisational affairs attained a frenetic pace. On 3 and 4 June, he was in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana respectively, meeting party MPs, MLAs, Political Affairs Committees, district and block presidents among others. In fact, his visit to the Congress's Haryana unit office in Chandigarh was the first by a member of the Gandhi family. On 6 June, he participated in party events in Bihar's Gaya and Rajgir. He also wrote an opinion piece in various newspapers, a route he rarely took before, on 6 June, triggering a heated debate on the independence, or the lack of it, of the Election Commission. The Congress leader also marked his 55th birthday on 19 June by visiting the party's national headquarters and personally accepting greetings from leaders and workers. In the past, he had drawn criticism for being abroad on his birthdays, denying party members, who often cut cakes in his absence, the opportunity to meet him. On 21 June, the Congress announced the new district presidents of the party in Gujarat, marking the culmination of its pilot project which has now been scaled up. Venugopal said the performance of the new appointees will be assessed in three to four months and those found unable to deliver will be made to step down. 'There will be a clear-cut evaluation not just for the new district presidents but office-bearers at all levels. The AICC will carry out the assessment process. They will have to fulfil the primary task for which they are being appointed. Anyone who wants to contest elections will have to step down at least one year before they plan to do so. They will be given ideological training and made aware of the prevailing political situation,' he said. Leaders of the Congress's tribal wing also shared a similar feedback they received from Rahul in two meetings he held with them over the last one month. On 23 June, he met leaders of the All India Adivasi Congress, the party's tribal wing. He held another meeting 14 July, also sharing his vision to establish an empowered tribal leadership within the party. This month, Rahul has already been to Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Kerala. Separately, in Delhi, he has held meetings with leaderships of the Jharkhand, Bihar and Gujarat units. LoP Shri @RahulGandhi made a courtesy visit to senior leader Shri A.K. Antony in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. — Congress (@INCIndia) July 18, 2025 'There is also an effort on his part to act as a bridge between the party's old and new guard that has come up under him,' said a senior Congress functionary who works closely with Rahul, referring to his meeting with former defence minister in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Many leaders, however, are cautiously optimistic about the shift in this approach and its implications for the party. 'He is going around sharing his vision and ideas with party workers down to the block level. But execution remains an area of concern. Last year, he had declared his intention to purge the Gujarat unit of BJP moles. The same set of people actually dictated the appointment process of the district presidents of Gujarat Congress in some cases,' said a leader of the party's Gujarat unit. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: 50 yrs since Emergency, Congress's journey from justification to admission of 'mistake'
Time of India
4 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Ishan river revival benefits 44 UP villages
Lucknow: Reduced to a dry channel because of massive encroachment stopping its flow, Ishan river is being revived under state govt's 'One District-One River' scheme. The river is now flowing through Etah, Hathras, Mainpuri, Kannauj and Kanpur Nagar districts. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The project to revive the river was undertaken by State Clean Ganga Mission, Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department. Etah district magistrate Prem Ranjan Singh said revival of the 57 km-long river benefited farmers in 44 village panchayats. Locals were employed under MNREGA to carry out works like the excavation of ponds, desilting, and plantations. Ishan enters Etah district from Nagla Godi village in Nidhauli Kalan development block. TNN
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
ED prayer for deemed sanction against IAS officer
Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a petition before special PMLA court in Ranchi requesting that since state government has not approved prosecution of IAS officer Puja Sighal in MNREGS scam and money laundering case the issue be considered as deemed sanction to prosecute her. Notably, Singhal is presently posted as secretary information technology and e-governance. The ED had filed a prosecution complaint against her in the MNREGA scam and money laundering case. The ED had asked permission from state for prosecuting here in the case but there has been no reply even after 120 days. As per the rules ED has recently filed the petition for allowing prosecution as if the sanction has been granted.
