Funds | SabrangIndia

UP: Hand over cowshed project fund or we will release 15,000 cows!

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:54:30 +0000

Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in

Over a dozen Panchayat Chiefs of Banda district in Bundelkhand region threatened to release nearly 15,000 cows in a joint letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath if they do not receive government funds by December 25, 2020, said The Telegraph.

“We have been running 43 cowsheds since 2018, when the state government built cowsheds for abandoned animals,” leaders wrote in the letter.

The letter stated that the Chiefs had not received funds after April due to which they began running a cowshed on their own. According to one of the village head leaders Gyan Singh, “Our tenure as the Gram Panchayat Chief will end on December 25. We will then release the cattle, so that they do not die of hunger in the cowshed.”

Singh said that these stray cows have been kept in 43 sheds until recently. After Friday, the Panchayat Chiefs will become caretakers until upcoming rural elections. The election process will begin next week. The state government has to pay Rs. 30 per cow every day to gram panchayats. However, for unclear reasons, most districts have not received funds since February this year.

The Yogi government allocated Rs. 613 crores for cow welfare for the financial year 2019-20. However, no such funds have been allocated for the current financial year.

The post UP: Hand over cowshed project fund or we will release 15,000 cows! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It’s Modi vs Farmers: NRI children of Punjab’s farmers

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 12:16:47 +0000

Image courtesy:globalpunjabtv.net

“Our elders toiled in the farms, worked hard to send us for education in Canada, so we could earn in dollars are now being targeted by the Modi government,” said a Sikh Indian-Canadian holding up a protest sign in Brampton. Another protester, his voice choking with emotion asked, “Our fathers and grandfathers are back home are protesting the black laws, and the authorities have fired water cannons, set up barricades… may even shoot them?”

“That actress said our mothers and sisters are available for a hundred rupees for protest,” came another voice, rising in anger in reaction to fake news and communal slurs being hurled online, an onslaught led by actor Kangana Ranaut, who shared fake news that the old Punjabi woman farmer (seen in a month old photo) was Bilquis Daadi of Shaheen Bagh. For Ranaut, and those who agreed with her amplified the fake news that these women protestors were available for ‘hire’, the voices from abroad will add to the many thousands who have already called them out on this now deleted tweet. Insulting women farmers has upset all sane citizens who know that Women farmers are the worst hit by any anti-farmer laws.

At this protest in Canada, it was the children and grandchildren of these women farmers who said they will “work double shifts,” and financially support their families sitting on protest for as long as it takes. “The Modi government should take back the farm laws that farmers are objecting to,” said another. More protests are being planned as the NRI/ international community adds its voice to the farmers protest. They have plans to hold further protests across the region and have urged the larger community of Indian origin individuals living abroad to join in. More vlogs (video blogs) which have lakhs of followers have begun noticing and mentioning the farmers’ protests now underway in Delhi, and across the country.

“We should start a fundraiser of supporting protest of farmers in delhi.pls u should start it we are with u.I was on work today i can’t reach the protest but i will give all what i earned today (sic),” commented Jas Karan, a social media user who has said what many NRIs OCIs have planned. Financial and emotional support from abroad by the descendants of farmers who have always sent money home and added to national coffers indirectly.

“Please share this video for our Farmers & Awareness,” said the video blogger Manraj Singh Mangat, who lives and works in Canada, his father, a retired army man who now works as a farmer on the family’s lands. Mangat, better known as Manni to his lakhs of followers on social media, is among the scores of non resident punjabis who are joining the farmers’ protest in solidarity in many ways. His video of the recent protect may be seen here:

There were also cricket fans, some in Australia supporting the Indian farmers protest during yesterday’s match.

Cricket fans supporting Indian farmers protest in yesterday’s match #AUSvsIND #INDvsAUS #kisaanprotest #FarmersProtest #sikh #isupportfarmers @KanganaTeam #GodiMedia #KisaanMajdoorEktaZindabad #ModiAgainstFarmers pic.twitter.com/tXoQTR0HfH

— Rajpal Singh (@Rajpal_Singh_1) November 30, 2020

Reply @KanganaTeam #shame #godimedia #dalal #StandWithFarmerChallange #modiagaintsfarmer pic.twitter.com/XGhTsM0ijD

— Sukh Kaonke (@SKaonke) November 30, 2020

Farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws have expressed apprehension that the laws would pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates. @narendramodi @BJP4India #kissanprotest #kissanektazindabad pic.twitter.com/09BYJMpFRj

— Monty Panesar (@MontyPanesar) November 28, 2020

According to a report in the Tribune, a large number of non-resident Indians (NRIs) have joined in support of the protesting farmers in Delhi and started sending them aid. Around 50,000 Canadian dollar (Rs 25 lakhs) has been donated by Raja Dhaliwal of Canada’s “World Financial Group” and the executive team to help the farmers and they have donated for providing langar to the farmers. They have given the money to Ravi Singh of the Khalsa Aid. Khalsa Aid has begun langar, community kitchens at the protest sites.

Singers @BawaRanjit and #TarsemJassar join out team in serving Langar to the protesting farmers in #Delhi ! #FarmersBill2020 #FarmerProtests pic.twitter.com/A3P1bHVOnq

— Khalsa Aid (@Khalsa_Aid) November 29, 2020

Canada’s Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan expressed his concern at the way the Indian government is treating the peaceful protesters, “very troubling,” he said, adding “Healthy democracies allow peaceful protest. I urge those involved to uphold this fundamental right.”

The reports of peaceful protesters being brutalized in India are very troubling. Many of my constituents have family there and are worried about the safety of their loved ones. Healthy democracies allow peaceful protest. I urge those involved to uphold this fundamental right. https://t.co/myWev8t3uW

— Harjit Sajjan (@HarjitSajjan) November 28, 2020

The Tribune quoted NDP leader in Canada Jagmeet Singh as saying, “The violence perpetrated by the Indian govt against farmers peacefully protesting is appalling. I stand in solidarity with the farmers from Punjab and across India – and, I call on the Indian govt to engage in peaceful dialogue rather than violence.” According to UK MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi also quoted in the report as saying, “It takes a special kind of people to feed those ordered to beat and suppress them. I stand with farmers of Punjab and other parts of India, including our family and friends, who are peacefully protesting against the encroaching privatization of #FarmersBill 2020.”

Earlier, NRIs in Canada, Italy, the US, the UK and France have expressed support for farmers and also staged protests against the three farm bills passed by the Union Government, added the news report, it quoted one Gurpreet Singh of Canada said, “I came to Canada around ten years back and have agricultural land in Punjab. Even all my relatives in Punjab are associated with farming, I feel that these reform bills have been passed to crush the small farmers, so there is a need for everyone to come out and support our Punjabi farmers.”

The post It’s Modi vs Farmers: NRI children of Punjab’s farmers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Crores allocated for upliftment of manual scavengers remain unused: Lockdown impact?

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:24:27 +0000

Image Courtesy:newsclick.in

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said during the Parliament’s monsoon session that Rs. 11.80 crores are available as unutilised funds for providing rehabilitation to manual scavengers in the year 2020-21. However, it categorically says that these funds are exclusively for people identified as manual scavengers, and not all sanitation workers in general.

This was in response to questions raised by Member of Parliament Natrajan P. R. who asked the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment about the unutilised fund held under the Self Employment Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS.) He also asked about the budget provision for the prohibition and rehabilitation of manual scavengers in the last three years.

To this the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said, “The implementing agency of the Scheme, National Safai Karmacharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) is having Rs. 11.80 crores as unutilised funds as on September 15 for providing rehabilitation benefits to the remaining identified manual scavengers and their dependents during the period of the current fiscal year.”

Regarding budget allocation of funds, he said Rs. 110 crores were allocated from the Budget under the Self Employment Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) for 2020-21, although as of September 15, no funds have been released. In 2019-20 the same amount was allocated out of which Rs. 84.80 crores were released by the government. This was less than the funds released in 2018-19 when the full revised allocation of Rs. 85.76 crores was released.

When asked about the sanitation workers who had benefited under the scheme, Athawale said that workers who are not identified as manual scavengers are not eligible for the SRMS. However, according to government data, nearly 14,000 manual scavengers received one-time cash assistance in 2020-21. As of September 15, as many as 30 people received the capital subsidy for self-employment projects. This is a sharp drop from figures of previous years, and one wonders if this can, or should be attributed to Covid-19, given how sanitation workers have been on the frontlines, and should be seen as Corona Warriors, much like doctors, nurses or policemen.

In 2019-20, a little more than 13,000 people received one-time cash assistance, as many as 2,532 people received skill development training and 114 people received the capital subsidy for self-employment projects. Similarly, in 2018-19, one-time cash assistance was given to 18,079 people while 1,682 people received skill development training and as many as 151 people received money for self-employment projects.

AU1451

The post Crores allocated for upliftment of manual scavengers remain unused: Lockdown impact? appeared first on SabrangIndia.