Contradictory exit poll figures

Himachal Pradesh: Zee News exit poll suggests that NDA is winning 6-8 seats in the state while opposition INDIA alliance is reduced to naught. As a matter of fact, Himachal Pradesh has only 4 Lok Sabha seats, so can BJP supposedly win 6-8 seats in the state! Pertinently, most exit polls had shown BJP winning the Himachal Pradesh state assembly elections in 2022, while the party actually lost the elections.

Haryana: Zee News has shown NDA capturing around 16-19 seats in the state, with INDIA alliance trailing at 2-4 seats. To fact check the claim, Haryana has only 10 Lok Sabha Seats!

Rajasthan: News 24 Today-Chanakya exit polls posted on X (formerly known as twitter) claiming that NDA is likely to win 33 seats in the state even though the state has only 25 Lok Sabha seats! 

Bihar: India Today’s Axis My India exit polls suggests LJP is likely to win between 4-6 seats in the state which has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats. Pertinently, LJP is only contesting in 5 seats, so how can it secure 6 seats?

Tamil Nadu: Zee News has shown Congress winning about 13-15 seats out of total 39 seats in the state. As a matter of fact, Congress is only contesting in 9 seats!

Exits polls claim significant turnaround in favour of BJP

Orrisa: In the Lok Sabha 2019, BJP won 8 seats in the state while 12 seats went to BJD. As per India Today – Axis My India exit polls for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP will win 18-20 seats in the state which has a total of 21 seats, while BJD will be reduced to 0-2 seats, and Congress may win 0-1 seat. Furthermore, the same poll suggests BJP grabbing 51% vote share with BJD settling for 33% vote share. 

West Bengal: Multiple exit polls suggests that for the first time BJP may trump TMC by winning up to 26 seats while TMC could be reduced to below 20 seats, with as low as 16 seats. Notably, West Bengal has a total of 42 seats.

Karnataka: India Today exit polls suggest that NDA may bag 23-25 seats out of total 28 seats in the state while Congress could be reduced to 3-5 seats. Similarly, India TV-CNX gave NDA 19-25 seats and Congress 4-8 seats. ABP News-C Voter has predicted 23-25 for NDA and 3-5 for Congress. 

Jharkhand: Aaj Tak exit polls have predicted CPIML to win 2-3 seats in the state which has 14 seats in total, even though CPIML is only contesting in 1 seat!

All-India level poll predictions

Conclusion

As the country waits with bated breath for the final results to be announced, speculation runs wild. There is still a hesitation that the exit polls may have been manipulated, while some argue that the true sentiments of the people are simply too complex to be accurately captured through exit polls. Amidst all the chaos and confusion, there are those who remain hopeful that the true voice of the people will soon be revealed. They believe in the power of democracy and the ability of the Indian electorate to make an informed and rational choice. The 2024 Lok Sabha exit polls may have been filled with contradictions and uncertainties, but let us hope that the voters will prevail as the election results are finally revealed on June 4th.

The post FactChecked: 2024 Lok Sabha exit polls reveal conflicting predictions appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The MHA was responding to six questions raised by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. The responses were made by G Kishan Reddy, Minister of State in the MHA. In its submission the MHA admitted, “63959 (sixty three thousand nine hundred fifty nine) persons have been declared foreigners through ex-parte proceedings by Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam from 1985 to 28th February, 2019.”
 

According to the MHA, there are six detention centers currently operational in Assam. As of June 25, 2019 a total of 1133 people were being held in these facilities. Out of these 769 had been held for over a year and 335 had been held for over three years. The MHA also stated that free legal aid was being provided to detenues by the District Legal Service Authority. The entire submission may be read here:

Now, it is also noteworthy that as per a recent Supreme Court order, people who have completed a term of three years in a detention center are eligible to be released subject to certain conditions. Therefore, it remains to be seen if the MHA will act in accordance with the order and release over 300 people.
 

Also Read:

SC offers Relief to Assam Detention Camp Inmates
Petition against Assam’s Detention Camps in SC
Where hope fades and time stands still: Assam’s Detention Camps
Bengali Hindu labeled “Bangladeshi”, found dead in Assam Detention Camp
Pregnant and Helpless in a Detention Camp
 

The post MHA admits that over 60,000 people declared foreigner ex parte in Assam appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Twentyfour News

He makes two basic claims. First, he argues that on the question of Sabarimala, there is a basic conflict between liberal values like equality, on the one hand, and freedom of religion, on the other. While the former belongs to the domain of reason and constitutional principle, the latter pertains to matters of faith which are beyond reason. In situations of tension between the two, secular democracy demands a political “negotiation”. It is clear from the article that in the case of Sabarimala, by “negotiation”, Tharoor simply means a capitulation to the demands of the protestors. Second, he claims that underneath the current turmoil is a conflict between liberalism and democracy. While the Supreme Court has followed liberal precepts in delivering its verdict, democratic will, which Tharoor finds manifested in “informal surveys” and such like, pulls in the other direction. He argues that as a democratically elected representative of the people he is obliged to prioritise the latter.

Both the arguments advanced by Tharoor are misplaced for the following reasons. First, the wall he erects between equality and freedom of religion is without historical foundation. Freedom of religion or conscience, as a right, emerged as a part of the Enlightenment, a process of thoroughgoing social change in Europe from the 16^th to the 18^th century. The defining features of this process were a separation between ecclesiastical authority and state power, an overall curtailment of the hold of religion over public life, a fundamental retreat of aristocratic and monarchical authority, and the establishment of modern democracy based on the idea of equal citizenship. These features were different aspects of an overall process of democratisation, and were therefore interlinked. Decreasing religious sway over social and political life went hand in hand with increasing public criticism of religious institutions and dogma. Freedom of expression and conscience took root as a part of this process of subjecting religion to public scrutiny. Of course, criticism of religious authority also meant criticism of aristocratic inequality and hierarchy since the former provided ideological justification for the latter. Individual freedom of conscience and the modern ideal of equality, therefore, have historically been fundamentally interrelated. By driving a radical wedge between the two, Tharoor denies this history.

Second, even in legal and constitutional terms, there is no fundamental strain between equality and freedom of religion. Tharoor says that in the judgment delivered on September 28, the Supreme Court chose Article 14 over Article 25. This is a blatant untruth. Four out of the five judges in the Sabarimala case explicitly held the bar on women’s entry to be violative of Article 25 since it denied women their right to freedom of religion. By ruling in such a manner, the judges not only denied any contradiction between equality and Article 25, but in fact affirmed the centrality of the Article to the constitutional spirit of equality and individual dignity. Even Article 26, which deals with the rights of religious denominations, is subject to the demands of equality. In cases like Sri Venkataramana Devaru and Others v. State of Mysore and Others, the Supreme Court has quite consistently held that Article 26 cannot be used as a device to deny fundamental rights. A number of these cases dealt with the entry of Dalits into temples. By completely ignoring such established constitutional principles, and by misrepresenting the Sabarimala judgment, Tharoor attempts to illegitimately separate freedom of religion from the overall constitutional framework. Freedom of religion is an integral component of, rather than an exception to, the transformative constitutional project.

Finally, there is no contradiction between the liberal demand of equality and democratic representation. As stated earlier, the modern democratic ideal emerged from a protracted struggle against aristocratic, monarchical and ecclesiastical power. The notion of inherent equality, as manifested most famously in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, has been at the foundation of this ideal. In fact, the slogan of equality has animated the demand for democratic rights throughout the modern period. The struggles of the working class, women, and oppressed races for voting rights continued well into the twentieth century and were obviously based on equality as a governing ideal. In the Indian context, the adoption of the principle of one-person-one-vote was a significant advance in a deeply unequal society and reflected the egalitarian aspirations of the vast masses of the exploited and the oppressed. It is no coincidence that the very constitution which grants universal suffrage also outlaws untouchability. By invoking democratic representation in defence of an exclusionary religious practice, therefore, Tharoor directly obfuscates the link between democracy and equality.

Despite his “instinctive liberalness” and much-flaunted erudition, Shashi Tharoor’s article places him in unsavoury company. In defending the entry ban at Sabarimala by ignoring essential aspects of our social and political history, distorting the basic nature of our constitutional framework, and misrepresenting the Supreme Court verdict, Tharoor has willy-nilly joined the ranks of the menacing thugs physically preventing women from entering the shrine. Is this an aberration – an error of judgment from an otherwise progressive politician? Or is it an indication of the Congress increasingly becoming a mirror image of the RSS in its bid to counter the latter? The recently released Congress manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh elections, with its promises of a gaushala in every village Panchayat and commercial gaumutra production, suggests interesting answers.

Arjun Sengupta teaches at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

The post Liberalism and Sabarimala: Why Shashi Tharoor is Wrong appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
If you really want to know how different real Hinduism is from political Hinduism of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, Shashi Tharoor’s latest book has the answer.
 
Why I am a Hindu comes at a time when attacks on religious minorities continue to grow under the BJP government. The Hindu extremists who have been targeting Muslims and Christians, besides Dalits or so-called untouchables with impunity, want to turn India into a Hindu theocracy. Though it is a matter of time when the Indian constitution is amended to make that happen, the calls for Hindu India are being made shamelessly under a hawkish Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 
Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during 2002 when anti-Muslim massacre was organized by the BJP supporters following the burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims. More than 50 people had died in the incident that was blamed on Muslim extremists. The human rights activists and survivors continue to allege Modi’s complicity in the violence against Muslims. There is a spike in religious violence ever since Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014.
 
Tharoor, who is a practicing Hindu, belongs to the opposition Congress party that describes itself as secular alternative to the BJP. He throws light on the history of Hinduism which is a great religion that has always been liberal and tolerant. He writes how Hinduism gave refuge to the Jews and Parsis in India over the years and allowed Christianity and Islam to grow as Hinduism itself is very diverse and eclectic. He points out that Hinduism has no one scripture or deity to follow and allows self-criticism and even agnosticism. He takes a critical look at the brutal caste system that is practiced among the Hindus for centuries and emphasises on breaking the caste barriers.
 
He goes into great details of the narrow brand of Hinduism practiced by the BJP supporters in a section titled; Political Hinduism. Based on his understanding of Hinduism he counters their divisive politics and misinterpretation of Hinduism. He repeatedly writes how the political Hinduism or Hindutva – based on the idea of Hindu theocracy can divide the soul of India that has always been known for its pluralism and diversity.
 
However, he has glossed over the inconvenient truth of his party’s culpability in the growth of Hindutva forces. After all, it was the Congress leader and the former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi who had started hobnobbing with the Hindutva forces during mid-1980s.
 
Gandhi was responsible for the anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 that followed the assassination of his mother and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. This had helped him win the general election with brute majority and set a precedent for future pogroms, including the one that happened in Gujarat.
 
Although Tharoor briefly mentions that, he does not show courage to go into the details of the pogrom to reveal how Hindutva forces were used as foot soldiers in the crime. So much so, he tries to rationalize Gandhi’s decision to allow the public broadcast of Hindu epics that actually helped the BJP. For instance, several stars in the TV serial of Ramayana ended up becoming BJP MPs.
 
That Gandhi was also responsible for opening the doors of disputed site of Ayodhya to let Hindu priests perform rituals finds no mention in the book. The Hindus claim that an ancient Babri mosque that stood at Ayodhya was built by the Muslim ruler after demolishing a temple that was originally built at the birthplace of Lord Rama, a revered Hindu god. The BJP had started a campaign to rebuild the Ram temple at the disputed site. Once the access was granted, it had emboldened the Hindutva brigade. On December 6, 1992 when the BJP supporters pulled down the structure, the late Congress leader PV Narsimha Rao was the Prime Minister. Tharoor obviously knows all this and yet he chose to overlook these facts in his book that essentially deals with the Hindutva politics. By simply pointing fingers at the BJP, he cannot exonerate the Congress party that has to take blame for majoritarian intolerant society India has become. This only creates more doubts about the sincerity and honesty of the Congress in the eyes of those who are looking for an alternative to Modi in the 2019 elections. 
 
Despite all these disagreements, Tharoor has undoubtedly done an important work that helps people in understanding key difference between Hinduism and Hindutva and gives hope to ordinary Hindus to reclaim their faith from the self-styled gate keepers of their religion and are giving it a bad name worldwide. In a fight against such forces, we do need allies from within the Hindu community who can show mirror to Modi and his supporters and for that reason Tharoor’s narrative comes handy in educating the masses.
 

The post Opinion: Tharoor’s book rests between Hinduism and Modi’s political Hinduism appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post Delhi High Court calls Subramanian Swamy’s PIL as political interest litigation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
We found that 19 of the 23 programmes were indeed renamed versions of older schemes, as Tharoor claimed. Here’s our analysis:
 
Claim 1: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana=Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account
 
Fact: True
 
Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) was a no-minimum-balance service with all facilities of a normal banking account except that withdrawals were limited to four a month, according to this Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated August 17, 2012. The accounts came with an automated teller machine (ATM)-cum-debit card too.
 
The BSBDA accounts were also meant for beneficiaries of government programmes, according to this answer in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) on December 13, 2012.
 
Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched on August 28, 2014, an accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh, overdraft facility up to Rs 5,000 after six months and a life insurance of Rs 30,000 were added to BSBDA accounts.
 
Unlike BSBDA, PMJDY accounts had a credit limit of Rs 1 lakh because of which pension reimbursements were getting rejected, The Financial Express reported on September 8, 2016.
 
While BSBDA covered only villages with above 2,000 population, PMJDY has been extended to all areas–rural as well as urban.
 
“They are more or less the same. All accounts opened prior to August 28, 2014, were BSBDA. Since then, they have all become PMJDY accounts. It’s only a change of nomenclature,” Prem Singh Azad, deputy general manager, Allahabad Bank, who is involved in the bank’s financial inclusion programme, told IndiaSpend.
 
Claim 2: Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana=National Girl Child Day programmes
 
Fact: True
 
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-I declared January 24 as the National Girl Day in 2008-09 and several objectives associated with previous continuing programmes were adopted as targets.
 
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana (BBBPY), launched in January 2015 under the ministries of women and child development, health and family welfare and human resource development, was a consolidation of old programmes scattered across schemes and ministries under the UPA government.
 
For instance, the girl child education programme of BBBPY was a repackaging of older education schemes such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, according to this February 2016 report by the Centre for Development and Human Rights, a research and advocacy organisation in New Delhi.
 
Similarly, BBBPY’s objectives of improving the child sex ratio and reducing school dropout rates among girls were already present in the UPA’s Dhanalakshmi and Sabla schemes, respectively. Dhanalakshmi was later discontinued as states already had better schemes in place.
 
Claim 3: Swach Bharat Abhiyan=Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
 
Fact: True
 
In September 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government approved a proposal that Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme be restructured into Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, according to this government release.
 
Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was the new name adopted for the Total Sanitation Campaign on April 1, 2012 under UPA-II, according to the Abhiyan’s guidelines.
 
Total Sanitation Campaign was the new name given to the Central Rural Sanitation Programme–launched by the Congress in 1986–in 1999, according to the drinking water and sanitation ministry’s website.
 
Claim 4: Sardar Patel National Urban Housing Mission=Rajiv Awaas Yojana
 
Fact: True
 
“The government is shortly going to launch a comprehensive programme named Sardar Patel National Housing Mission by merging and improving existing urban housing schemes,” The Pioneer reported on October 10, 2014, quoting Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister Venkaiah Naidu.
 
A parliamentary committee, headed by Biju Janata Dal member Pinaki Mishra, had even asked the government in December 2014 how merely changing the name could accelerate implementation, The Telegraph reported on December 30, 2014.
 
Claim 5: Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin)=Indira Awaas Yojana
 
Fact: True
 
A parliamentary standing committee report–submitted on August 31, 2016–pointed out that Congress’s Indira Awaas Yojana was “rechristen[ed]” Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin).
 
The “Guidelines”, “Scheme Allocation” and “FAQs” on the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) website still open Indira Awaas Yojana documents.
 
Claim 6: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana=Rajiv Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana
 
Fact: True
 
The UPA’s Rajiv Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana was “subsumed” under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, according to this government release on July 23, 2015.
 
Claim 7: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation=Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
 
Fact: True
 
NDA’s urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu had said on assuming office that they would replace Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with their own urban renewal schemes, The Hindu reported on May 29, 2014.
 
Subsequently, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), smart cities Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Urban) were launched on June 25, 2015.
 
JNNURM was launched on December 3, 2005, for an initial period of seven years and then extended for two years up to March 2014, according to this Rajya Sabha answer on December 6, 2012.
 
A comparison of some key objectives of the two programmes shows that under the NDA government, the targets of UPA’s umbrella programme have been spread over several schemes.
 
The “sectors covered under JNNURM and [AMRUT and other urban development programmes] overlap significantly,” according this March 2016 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a global consultancy .
 
“[V]arious urban sector components [that] were earlier addressed through a single mission (JNNURM) … have now been split across missions [such as AMRUT, Smart Cities Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission],” the report said.
 
 

 
Claim 8: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana=Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme
 
Fact: Unclear
 
Three older programmes– Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme of the water resources ministry, Integrated Watershed Management Programme of the land resources ministry and the On Farm Water Management of agriculture and cooperation department–were merged to create the NDA’s Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, according to Yojana’s website.
 
As government websites (click here, here, here, here and here) do not reveal when exactly the programme was launched in 1996, it is difficult to check this claim, as three prime ministers–Congress’s P.V. Narasimha Rao (till May 16), BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee (May 16-June 1) and Janata Dal (Secular)’s H.D. Deve Gowda (June 1 onwards)–governed India during 1996.
 
The watershed management programme goes back to the late 1980s when the country was mostly under Congress’s rule.
 
Claim 9: BJP’s neem-coated urea=Congress’s neem-coated urea
 
Fact: True
 
Neem-coated urea was included in the Fertiliser (Control) Order of 1985 in 2004, according to government-owned National Fertilizers’ website, and was notified on June 2, 2008, according to this government communication.
 
It was finally included in the 1985 Order through an amendment on February 6, 2017.
 
Claim 10: Soil Health Card scheme=National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility
 
Fact: True
 
A soil health card was “added” to the National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility, according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16 of the agriculture and cooperation department.
 
The centre would earlier provide support to states for issuing soil health cards under the central scheme, according to Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) answers (click here and here).
 
Under the UPA government, soil health cards were also issued under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, one of its several organic-farming programmes, according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16. This scheme was also merged with NDA’s renamed Soil Health Card programme.
 
Claim 11: Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana=Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and other programmes
 
Fact: True
 
“Some existing components … have been clubbed together as a cluster based programme and named Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana,” according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16 of the agriculture and cooperation department, FactChecker reported on July 22, 2015.
 
Claim 12: Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana=Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana
 
Fact: Unclear
 
The ministry of women and child development’s website does not use the new name–Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana–for the maternity benefit programme (see the latest release dated May 19, 2017) but archives releases under the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana under the same head.
 
A senior ministry official was quoted as saying the name had been changed, Hindustan Times reported on May 25, 2017.
 
Claim 13: Atal Pension Yojana=Swavalamban Yojana
 
Fact: True
 
Even as the Modi government folded Congress’s Swavalamban Yojana–a pension scheme for unorganised sector workers launched on September 29, 2010–under its Atal Pension Yojana, the features of the two schemes remain the same, according to this comparison by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute For Contemporary Studies, a think tank in New Delhi.
 
Claim 14: Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana=Jan Aushadhi scheme
 
Fact: True
 
The decision to launch the Jan Aushadhi scheme, a programme to supply unbranded medicines at lower prices, was taken on April 23, 2008. The first store under the scheme was opened on November 25, 2008, according to the Bureau of Pharma PSU in India, established under the department of pharmaceuticals on December 1, 2008, to coordinate the scheme through government-owned companies.
 
The scheme is now called Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, according to this Lok Sabha answer on March 14, 2017.
 
Claim 15: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana=Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme
 
Fact: False
 
The 1985 Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme concluded in 1999, according to this report of the agriculture and cooperation department.
 
Claim 16: Make In India=National Manufacturing Policy
 
Fact: True
 
The Make In India website not only summarises the scheme as Congress’s “National Manufacturing Policy” but even the broken download link unsuccessfully directs you to a 2011 document of the older policy.
 

 

 
The features of the National Manufacturing Policy and Make in India remain the same, shows a comparison on Twitter on February 13, 2016, by Amitabh Dubey, a political analyst at Trusted Sources, which provides investment research on emerging markets.
 
 

Claim 17: Digital India=National eGovernance Plan
 
Fact: True
 
The National eGovernance Plan is “now subsumed under Digital India”, according to this government release on November 30, 2016.
 
Both the Congress (click here and here) and the BJP schemes talk about building infrastructure for delivering government services electronically.
 
Claim 18: Skill India=National Skill Development Programme
 
Fact: True
 
Previous skill development programmes were relaunched as Skill India with new branding, according to this government release on July 15, 2015.
 
The older programmes–National Skill Development Corporation and National Skill Development Fund (launched in 2009), and National Skill Development Agency (launched in 2013)–were brought under a new department of skill development and entrepreneurship on July 31, 2014, according to this government release. The department became a ministry on November 9, 2014.
 
Claim 19: Mission Indradhanush=Universal Immunisation Programme
 
Fact: True
 
Mission Indradhanush is the new name for special immunisation weeks, which were being  conducted in areas of low immunisation under the Universal Immunisation Programme, FactChecker reported on July 23, 2015.
 
Claim 20: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana=National Rural Livelihood Mission
 
Fact: True
 
“The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana … is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission,” according to the programme website.
 
Claim 21: PAHAL=Direct Benefits Transfer for LPG
 
Fact: True
 
Launched on June 1, 2013, the “Direct Benefit transfer of LPG scheme PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh) [was] re-launched in 54 districts on November 15 ,2014 in the 1st phase and will be launched in the rest of the 622 districts of the country on 1.1.2015,” according to this government release on December 31, 2014.
 
Claim 22: BharatNet=National Optic Fibre Network
 
Fact: True
 
The National Optic Fibre Network, approved on October 25, 2011, aims to provide “Broadband connectivity to Panchayats”.
 
BharatNet merely repeats the claim: “to digitally connect all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Villages of India”, according to this September 2016 Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay report on the second phase of the programme.
 
Claim 23: Sagarmala=National Maritime Development Programme
 
Fact: False
 
The programme was originally announced by former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on August 15, 2003, during the BJP-led NDA’s first stint in power, Frontline reported in March-April 2004.
 
When the Congress-led UPA came to power, it launched its own National Maritime Development Programme even as Sagarmala lapsed, according to this Lok Sabha answer on August 3, 2009.
 
The NDA revived the original programme on March 25, 2015.

Courtesy: factchecker.in
 

The post Shashi Tharoor Says BJP Renamed 23 Congress Schemes. He’s Right About 19 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The proposed enactment is unlikely to be taken seriously by the Narendra Modi-headed BJP government with a comfortable majority. But there can be no doubt that if enacted, Tharoor’s Bill would go a long way in promoting equality and preventing discrimination not only against Muslims but every vulnerable segment of India’s citizenry.

The Sachar Committee’s mandate was to prepare a comprehensive report on the ‘Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community in India’ and to make necessary recommendations for addressing issues related to the socio-economic backwardness of the community.

The Committee’s report submitted in November 2006 highlighted the fact that Indian Muslims were victims of institutionalised discrimination and suggested several short and long-term remedial measures. In 2007 the then UPA government tabled the report in Parliament and declared its intent to act upon all the Committee’s recommendations.
However, as several reports have since pointed out, the actions taken have at best been token in nature.

Between 2007 and 2014, when the UPA government was voted out of power, the recommendation for an Equal Opportunities Commission was tossed around between the Ministry for Minorities Affairs, National Commission for Human Rights and the National SC/ST Commission before being altogether forgotten.

Whether the national scene would have been altogether different had a law of the kind now suggested by Tharoor been enacted during the pendency of the UPA regime is now a matter of conjecture. However, his private Bill has within it the clear possibility of placing before citizens a promising counter-narrative.

The overarching aim of the Bill is to promote equality and prevent harassment, boycott, segregation, discriminatory violence and victimisation of any targeted group of persons based on caste, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, religion and belief, tribe, disability, linguistic identity, HIV status, nationality, marital status, food preference, skin tone, place of birth or residence, age.

In addition, it includes any group of persons suffering widespread and substantial social, economic, political, cultural or educational disadvantage.

The wide-ranging protection provided by the Bill cannot be dismissed on the ground of alleged “appeasement of minorities”.   

The ‘Anti-Discrimination and Equality Bill, 2016’ envisages the creation of a Central Equality Commission to be headed by a Chief Equality Commissioner (CEC) who is a retired judge of the Supreme Court or chief justice of a high court or a senior advocate practicing in the Supreme Court. The CEC is to be assisted by two Equality Commissioners (ECs). One of them would be a distinguished academic and the other a member from civil society who has “worked for organisations committed in advancing the purpose of the Act”. At least one of the three ECs should be a woman.

The other nine ex-officio members of the Commission will be the chairpersons of the present national commissions for SCs, STs, minorities, human rights, women etc.
The functions of the Chief Equality Commission shall include:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment, boycott, segregation, discriminatory violence and victimization.
• Encourage the formulation and adoption of good practice in relation to equality, anti-discrimination and diversity for the disadvantaged groups.
• Promote awareness and understanding of the rights and duties under this Act.
• Assist aggrieved persons in seeking legal remedies provided under this Act.
• Monitor the enforcement of this Act.
• Review, from time to time, the functioning of this Act and make recommendations for its improvement.

The powers of the Central Equality Commission:

• Approach any court for the enforcement of this Act.
• Require any public servant to undergo diversity training.
• Take any other reasonable action towards the implementation of this Act.
• Conduct equality impact assessments of the activities of composition of any public authority or any private person performing a public function.
• Direct a State Equality Commission (to be set up along similar lines as the central commission) to investigate any alleged breach of provisions of this Act.

The full text of the Bill may be read here.
 
 

The post Congress MP Shashi Tharoor now proposes what the UPA government never did: A Bill to end discrimination, promote equality appeared first on SabrangIndia.

भाषण दे रहे थरूर कुछ देर तक सिर झुकाए चुपचाप खड़े रहे. जेएनयू के कई छात्र और टीचर नजीब की मां को रोता देख ख़ुद को नहीं रोक पाए. सभी की आंखों में आंसू थे. कविता कृष्णन ने नजीब की मां को ढांरस बंधाने की कोशिश की लेकिन कुछ काम नहीं आया, वह रोती रहीं. वहां जमा भीड़ ठंडी पड़ गई थी.

नजीब की मां के आंसू एक किस्म का रिमाइंडर थे उन सभी सियासी हस्तियों के लिए कि इस हाईप्रोफाइल जुटान का मक़सद सिर्फ़ भाजपा को दिखाने के लिए नहीं होना चाहिए. उनका बेटा नजीब अभी भी गायब है और उसे ढूंढने की कोशिश की जानी चाहिए. उनके आंसू मांग कर रहे थे पुलिस को हरकत में लाने के लिए और उन सभी के ख़िलाफ़ कार्रवाई करने के लिए जिनकी वजह से नजीब लापता हो गया.

The post “कहां है मेरा नजीब.” भाषण दे रहे थरूर कुछ देर तक सिर झुकाए चुपचाप खड़े रहे appeared first on SabrangIndia.