Bengal Governor To Be "On Road" During Voting For Panchayat Polls Tomorrow

Urging the people of rural Bengal to exercise their franchise in the panchayat elections without fail, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Friday said he would be on the streets along with his team during polling.

The governor described Saturday's panchayat polls as a "fight between ballots and bullets" and said that he would monitor the situation throughout the state and take corrective measures.

"(Tomorrow) I will be on the road. I will be with my team. For the last few days, the Raj Bhavan was a Mobile Raj Bhavan tomorrow before the voting begins, I will be on the roads. After the voting ends, I will go back. In between, I will also visit the Peace Room to see what is happening throughout the state and to take corrective measures to the extent I am entitled to do so," Mr Bose told reporters in Berhampore.

Talking about his role on the polling day, Mr Bose said that he would ensure that the interests of the public are protected and that Constitution is followed by everyone.

"I have a role to see that constitutional colleagues get the facilitative environment to exercise their powers. I am here to see that the interests of the public are protected. That is what I do before the election, during the election and after the election," he said.

Mr Bose urged the people to vote on Saturday and said that if they exercise their franchise then that would act as an umbrella for the future.

"What is important is tomorrow's election. I think the permanent solution to all the problems will come tomorrow. That black ink on the index finger is the strength of the common man. All voters will go to the polling booth and express their voting rights according to their conscience. Take an umbrella if it is raining, but go to vote. Your vote will be your umbrella in the future. This is a fight between ballot and bullet," he added.

On the ruling Trinamool Congress's allegation that he is running around the state to gain publicity, the Governor said, "Yes, I agree with them. I am doing this for publicity, publicity and publicity alone. To publicise the right of the common man, sanctity of the Constitution, to publicise that human right which is supported by the common man's will cannot be suppressed by any political propaganda. I will seek publicity till the end to popularise what is democracy."

Around 5.67 crore voters are likely to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zila parishads, 9,730 panchayat samitis, and 63,229 gram panchayats seats on Saturday.

Mr Bose, who reached Murshidabad district on Friday morning, paid a visit to the dead Congress worker's house who was killed during a clash between two groups late Thursday night.

He assured the victim's family of all sorts of assistance.

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No Evidence Suggesting Slowdown In Indian Economy: Centre

The Indian economy has carried the momentum from the past year into the current fiscal year and there has been no evidence by far that suggests a slowdown in the current financial year 2023-24, said the Department of Economic Affairs under Ministry of Finance in its monthly review report.

According to the provisional estimates released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) recently, real GDP growth for 2022-23 stood at 7.2 per cent, higher than the 7 per cent as was projected earlier. An upward revision in the 2022-23 GDP numbers is expected going forward.

For 2023-24, the central government sees growth at about 6.5 per cent.

"A strong final quarter performance pushed the GDP growth for the full year to 7.2 per cent, higher than the 7 per cent estimated in February. This upside to the growth estimate takes the growth momentum deep into the current year," said the finance ministry report.

Several forecasting agencies also share optimism as they have upwardly revised their growth estimates for India for 2023-24.

"The latest evidence also does not indicate any slowing of activity in the first two months of the current year. India is the fastest-growing major economy, is now no longer only a statistical fact," it added.

The finance ministry stated that what has been clearly working for India's economy is the strength of its domestic demand.

"High-frequency indicators paint a healthy picture of the state of the economy. Urban demand conditions remain resilient, with higher growth in auto sales, fuel consumption and UPI transactions. Rural demand is also on its path to recovery, with robust growth in two and three wheelers sales."

Goods and Services tax collection, Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing and services sector continues to expand, it noted.

Further, for the agricultural sector, it said the forecast of a normal monsoon despite the prevalence of El Nino, adequate availability of seeds and fertilisers and sufficient water in key reservoirs augur well for a healthy kharif season.

India has three cropping seasons -- summer, kharif, and rabi.

Crops sown during June-July and harvested in October-November are kharif. Crops that are sown during October-November and the produce harvested from January-March depending on maturity is Rabi. Crops produced after rabi but ahead of kharif are summer crops.

Farmers have meanwhile started sowing their Kharif crops. Paddy, moong, bajra, maize, groundnut, soybean, and cotton are some of the major Kharif crops.
 

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Jagan Reddy Meets PM Over Irrigation Project Other Pending State Issues

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed pending state projects.

He also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi.

In an hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Reddy talked about various pending issues related to state bifurcation, Polavaram irrigation project, construction of a steel plant in YSR Kadapa district, financial assistance for new medical colleges, among others, sources said.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said, "Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri @ysjagan met Prime Minister @narendramodi." It also posted a picture of the meeting.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also brought to the notice of PM Modi the rise in the construction cost of the Polavaram project to Rs 55,548.87 crore, which has been pending for a long time. In order to speed up the work, he said the state government requires Rs 17,144 crore for the construction of the project's first phase, which is under consideration of the central hydropower department.

The Chief Minister also requested that the Centre reimburse an amount of Rs 1,310.15 crore spent by the Andhra Pradesh government as part of the construction of the project, sources added.

Mr Reddy, who often raises these issues during his visits to the national capital, later left for Vijayawada.

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Stones Thrown At Vande Bharat Express In Karnataka

People pelted stones on the recently launched Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat Express between Kadur-Birur section in Chikkamagalaru district of Karnataka on Wednesday morning, railway authorities said.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is investigating the matter.

According to railway officials, the incident occurred at 8.40 am when the train was passing between Kadur-Birur section at "KM 207/500".

The stones hit the glasses of C5 coach at seats No. 43 and 44 and EC-1 coach toilet. Due to the incident, the outer glass was damaged. However, no one was injured.

"There is no breakthrough. RPF is investigating by checking the CCTV footages. Site investigation is also being done," a railway official told PTI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the Vande Bharat train connecting the state capital with Dharwad city in the northern part of Karnataka on June 27. This is the second Vande Bharat train in Karnataka. The first one is running between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.

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Supplementary Chargesheet Filed In Bihar Fake Notes Terror Conspiracy Case

The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday filed its third supplementary chargesheet in a terror conspiracy case that stemmed from the seizure of high-quality fake Indian currency notes from Bihar's East Champaran, an official said.

The chargesheet was filed before the NIA special court in Patna against Sudhir Kushwaha, the kingpin in the case with links to Nepal and Bangladesh, a spokesperson of the federal probe agency said.

Besides gang members from these two countries, accused from West Bengal and Jharkhand have been arrested in the case, the official said.

The official said the investigations revealed that Kushwaha was the key conspirator of the fake Indian currency racket. The case was registered in 2015 and Kushwaha had played a crucial role in the entire conspiracy, the spokesperson said.

Kushwaha had formed a gang to commit terrorist acts and had used the territory of India and Nepal for procurement, smuggling, and distribution of high-quality fake notes to damage the monetary stability and economic security of India, the official said, adding that he was arrested in January this year.

The official said the conspiracy came to light on September 19, 2015, following the seizure of fake notes of the face value of Rs 5.94 lakh from accused Afroz Ansari by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) near Ramgarhwa in East Champaran's Motihari.

The accused was carrying the fake currency consignment to Raxaul near the India-Nepal border for further delivery in Nepal, the spokesperson said.

The official said DRI Patna initially registered the case which was taken over by NIA and re-registered on December 23, 2015. Investigations led to the arrest of seven persons, who were chargesheeted over a four-year period from July 2016 to March 2019, the spokesperson said.

Four of the accused, Afroz Ansari, Sunny Kumar alias "Sunny Shaw" alias "Sujit Kumar" alias "Kabir Khan", Ashraful Alam alias "Ishraful Alam" and Alomgir Seikh alias "Raju" have since been convicted and sentenced to life, along with a fine of Rs 30,000, under the IPC and the UAPA, the official said.

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Team Uddhav Leader's "Divide And Rule" Dig At BJP Over Ajit Pawar Switch

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of resorting to the policy of "divide and rule" and engineering a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) now and in the Shiv Sena last year in Maharashtra.

Seeking to make light of the NCP leader Ajit Pawar breaking away from the Sharad Pawar-led party, he said the Opposition Maha Vikas Agahdi (MVA) will nevertheless go ahead strongly in the state.

Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other MLAs of his camp on July 2, dealing a blow to the Opposition bloc, which comprises the Congress, the NCP (Pawar faction) and the Shiv Sena (UBT).

Sanjay Raut, a bitter critic of the BJP, said Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray spoke to the senior Pawar over the phone, while Congress leaders met him on Tuesday to express their support after the split in his party.

He said "Delhi's Sultan", a reference to the BJP, is enjoying the political game in Maharashtra, while Marathas, the most dominant social group in the state, are fighting among themselves, alluding to upheaval in the Shiv Sena last year and in the NCP now.

"Divide and rule is the BJP's policy. They engineered a split in the Shiv Sena and a party which was like a family was pitted against each other. Ajit Pawar has been pitted against Sharad Pawar. Divide and rule was a British policy," Sanjay Raut said.

The Shiv Sena suffered a split last year year when its senior leader Eknath Shinde, along with more than three dozen MLAs, rebelled against the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde later joined hands with the BJP and became chief minister. 

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Video: Policemen "Manhandled" Protesting Women Workers Claims Congress

The Congress has alleged its women's wing workers were "manhandled" by policemen during a protest over inflation outside the BJP headquarters in Delhi on Tuesday.

A video tweeted by Congress showed a cop in uniform pulling a woman worker by her hand amid strong resistance. Sanjeev Kumar, the station house officer at the IP Estate Police Station, was also seen pushing another woman protester.

The cop was only trying to snatch an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the protesters, said police sources, defending the action of the SHO.

दिल्ली पुलिस के इस थप्पड़बाज इंस्पेक्टर को देखिए।

बढ़ती महंगाई को लेकर महिलाएं प्रदर्शन कर रही थीं। ये इंस्पेक्टर उनके साथ मारपीट करने लगा। pic.twitter.com/ATabiaHQIF

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 4, 2023

The Congress claimed the cops "broke protocols" by sending male officials to the site where women were protesting. The established protocols suggest only women personnel must deal with women protesters or criminals.

"Look at this inspector of Delhi Police who is slapping away. The women were protesting against rising inflation. This inspector started fighting with them," the Congress said tweeting a video of the incident.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the protesters were only exercising their democratic right to protest.

"Today they have broken all protocols by sending male officers to manhandle Mahila Congress workers protesting intolerable rise in prices of essential commodities. They were only exercising their democratic right to agitate lawfully," he tweeted.

But the protesters did not have prior permission to stage the demonstration, said the police sources. Large gatherings are banned in the area, they added.

Congress leader KC Venugopal called the cops "BJP goons in uniform" and sought to know who gave instructions to the male officials to "manhandle" the women workers. "Women bear the largest brunt of price rise and the BJP believes in quashing their protest, not in addressing their pain," he added.

Women officers were at the spot; the protesters were trying to damage some statues and stop the cops from doing their duty, news agency PTI cited a senior official as saying.

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