- Nitish admits sharp differences in Party
Staff Reporter, Patna Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday admitted that sharp differences prevailed in the JD(U) over the Women's Reservation Bill, but ruled out any crisis or split facing the party.
"I admit there have been honest differences of opinion in the party over the support to the women's reservation bill in Lok Sabha...but it should not be taken as a crisis or split facing the party," Kumar said.
On a section of media suggesting that he might break away from the JD(U) and launch a new party, Kumar said, "I simply ignore such report."
"My point of view on the bill is quite crystal clear...
Bihar is the first state which under the rule of NDA provided 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayati raj institutions and urban bodies," he said.
"Since the Centre and other states are adopting the decision of the state's NDA government for ensuring reservation to women, with the experience I received from the desires and aspirations of women running panchayati raj institutions and urban bodies effectively, I can never shy away from supporting a similar move by the Centre," he said.
Go to Top - Cong releases NREGS scams list in 10 UP districts
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Acting on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's announcement that corruption would not be tolerated in implementation of NREGS in the state, Congress on Wednesday released a list of scams worth around Rs 50 crore asking her to take action against those responsible.
"We have taken the announcement seriously and hope that she would stick to it and take action and order arrests of those responsible for the scams and are therefore releasing the details of ten districts," NREGS monitoring committee chairman of the UPCC, Sanjay Dixit told newspersons here.
He said details of scams in other districts of the state would be released in the second list after 15 days.
Alleging largescale corruption, Dixit said in the 38 districts where the party has held extensive surveys, the scam could be over Rs 200 crore.
Giving the nature of scams, he said it include purchase of common seeds by suppliers against the rules in Kanpur under the garb of hybrid seeds, tents supply in Mahoba, purchase of toys and printing of calenders through NREGS funds in Gonda among others.
"In all these cases, inquries have already been conducted and it was prima facie found that some 50 officials are responsible for it and all this is happening in the know of the state government which has now to take action and order arrest if they are really serious," he said.
To a question, Dixit said the Congress leadership has given a 'blanket approval 'for launching an agitation on the issue.
Go to Top - House adjourned for the day
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Members of SP, RJD and JD(U) disrupted Lok Sabha proceedings for the third day today over the Women's Reservation Bill and the forcible eviction of their colleagues in the Rajya Sabha.
Virtually no business could be transacted due to pandemonium in the House, which had to be adjourned twice till 1400 hours and finally for the day when it reassembled. Only one question could be taken up.
As soon as the House met for the day, members belonging to SP, RJD and JD(U) led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav rushed to the well and disrupted proceedings.
They shouted 'marshal bulao' (call the marshals) to protest the eviction of their party colleagues in the Rajya Sabha, forcing Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the House first during Question Hour and later at noon.
The Speaker could not even order the laying of papers due to the vociferous protests. Noticing the aggressive mood, Kumar adjourned the House almost immediately after she came in.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj were present.
When the House was not in session, Yadav and Prasad were seen urging Swaraj to take up the issue of using marshals to remove the seven suspended members from Rajya Sabha yesterday and BJP member Yashwant Sinha was heard asking them to go the President and withdraw their support to the UPA.
Go to Top - Advani favours compulsory voting
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Observing that voting percentage among the educated section was far lower than that in the lower rungs of society, senior BJP leader L K Advani has favoured compulsory voting as a remedial measure.
"If a survey is taken of the comparative percentage of voting in different sectors of the society, classified education wise, I have little doubt that voting percentage among the graduates, post graduates and those in the still higher categories, would be far, far lower than at the lower rungs of society," Advani says in his latest blog.
Arguing that such a situation is bound to affect the quality of Indian democracy, he said, this can be changed through the simple measure of compulsory voting.
"...I feel it can be (changed). One simple way is the innovative measure adopted by Narendra Modi’s compulsory voting," he said.
Advani said Gujarat has introduced this measure for all local body elections. "The Law has been passed by the state Assembly, but it is still to be implemented. The rules etc. are still being worked out".
The senior BJP leader goes on to say that many people in India would not be aware that as many as 25 countries inhabited by more than 700 million people today have compulsory voting even for their parliamentary election.
These countries include Australia, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Thailand and Singapore. "I feel political thinkers in India also must apply their mind to this".
Go to Top - Withdraw support in written: BJP
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: BJP sought to create trouble for the Congress-led coalition at the Centre asking RJD and Samajwadi Party to formally withdraw support to the government by writing to the President.
"You go to the President, withdraw support. We are with you," senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told RJD and SP chiefs, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav, when the Lok Sabha was adjourned for two hours following uproar over the forcible eviction of seven opponents of the Women's Reservation Bill from the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Yadav and Prasad reached out to Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj impressing upon the need by the main Opposition to take up the issue of use of marshals to remove the suspended members from Rajya Sabha.
Taking note of the vociferous protests against the use of marshals, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said "the women's reservation bill is a very important piece of legislation. It should be passed in a more persuasive manner and not exactly the way it was done" in Rajya Sabha.
Dasgupta and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury also demanded that the suspension of the seven members from the Upper House should be revoked.
"These members were suspended after a resolution was moved by the government to that effect in the Upper House.
Now, the government should move a resolution withdrawing the suspension which can be adopted by the House," Yechury said.
Go to Top - Uproar in LS; House adjourned twice
staff reporter, new delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Women's Reservation Bill rocked the proceedings in the Lok Sabha for the third day today forcing Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the House till noon.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, SP, RJD and some JD(U) members criticised the government's "autocratic move" to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. With Speaker insisting on going ahead with the Question Hour, the members trooped into the well and shouted slogans.
Soon SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and JD(U) President and NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav marched to the well to protest the passage of the bill in the Upper House yesterday.
Amid the din, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon.
When the House adjourned, several Congress members were seen walking up to party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and congratulating them for the passage of the bill.Go to Top - RS makes history, women's quota Bill passed
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: History was made in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday when it voted by an overwhelming majority a Bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women after the Government pushed ahead with it, ignoring possible threats to its stability and after the eviction of troublesome MPs opposed to it.
Fourteen years after the first attempt was made in the Lok Sabha and repeated failures subsequently, the Constitution Amendment Bill was adopted in the mandatory division with 186 members voting for it and one voting against.
In the 245-member House with an effective strength of 233, the bill required the backing of at least 155 members and the UPA had the clear support of 165 in the run up to the event.
Welcoming the passage of Women Reservation Bill that provides for 33 per cent reservation of seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies for women in the Rajya Sabha, Congress, BJP and Left sought to take credit for its success.
Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said, "We had promised that discussion will take place on the Bill and we held a discussion. So many attempts were made in the past to pass the Bill by successive governments but it happened under the regime of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi stood behind the Bill like a rock."
He said the government will definitley bring it in Lok Sabha soon and will not try to bulldoze it. "We will address all concerns of other parties and take them into confidence.
It cannot be taken back now. We are confident that it will be passed by Lok Sabha," he said.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, "It's a historic moment. We are proud that it's Congress-led and UPA-led moment. Rajiv Gangdhi's dream is coming true. Congress President Sonia Gandhi's rock-like support to the Bill is seeing its fruition."
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and BJP leader Arun Jaitly said, "The Bill was passed because of the struggle waged by the Opposition for it."
CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said, "Without the full and unambiguous support of BJP and Left, UPA government could not have been able to make the Bill through."
She said it is now necessary that the government brings the Bill in Lok Sabha without any delay.
Go to Top - Congress suspends Sadhu Yadav
Staff Reporter, Patna Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: The Congress party suspened former MP and its senior leader Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav, high profile brother-in-law of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for his alleged violation of party's stand on Women's Reservation Bill.
"We have taken serious note of Sadhu Yadav going to extreme step of violating the party lines on the bill and suspended him with immediate effect", Bihar Pradesh Congress committee chief Anil Sharma said.
Sharma said according to the statement quoting Sadhu Yadav in a section of the press today, the state party decided to take the action against the former mp.
'We will soon issue a show cause notice to Sadhu Yadav seeking his explanation as to why he should not be expelled from the party,' he said.
According to reports, Sadhu Yadav has threatened to resign from the Congress to protest against its stand on Women's Reservation bill.
Sadhu Yadav had switched over to Congress following his differences with RJD chief Lalu Prasad on allotment of a party ticket to him before the last Lok Sabha election. He contested unsuccessfully from Champaran lok sabha constituency on a Congress ticket.
Go to Top - Delhi court grants bail to Sajjan Kumar
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who has been chargesheeted alongwith others for his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots cases, appeared before a Delhi court on Wednesday which granted him bail in the matter.
The former outer Delhi MP was granted bail on furnishing a personal bond and a surety of Rs 50,000 each by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma.
Besides 64-year-old Kumar, seven other accused also appeared before the court and were granted bail.
Kumar, against whom a non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued, was already granted anticipatory bail by the Delhi High Court on February 26.
The court fixed the matter for further proceedings on March 20.
Go to Top - Yadav duo not considering no-confidence motion
Staff Reporter, New Delhi Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Bureaucracy Today: Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav, the two strong opponents of the women's Bill, on Wednesday said they were "as of now" not considering the issue of bringing a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha as they did not have the numbers for it.
"Nothing as of now, we need to decide it among ourselves first and then only we can bring a no-confidence motion. We don't have enough MPs of our own," Mulayam, whose Samajwadi Party has 21 members in Lok Sabha, said.
On whether he was planning to carry out his threat to withdraw outside support to the UPA, the SP supremo said, "There is no question of meeting the President now."
On the issue of no-trust motion, Lalu Prasad, whose RJD has four members in the Lower House, said, "There is no such decision. It is wrong information.
"We have only four MPs and, therefore, where is the question of no-confidence motion," he said.
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