Adani News

Tag: Center

  • Patna: Opposition to discuss Centre’s ordinance on June 23

    Patna: Opposition to discuss Centre’s ordinance on June 23

    New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced that all opposition parties will discuss the ordinance imposed by the Central government in an upcoming meeting.

    The meeting is scheduled to take place in Bihar’s Patna on June 23. “The primary agenda of the meeting will be the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi. The opposition seeks clarity from the Congress regarding their stance on this matter,” stated the AAP.

    Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal emphasised that the ordinance not only applies to Delhi but also has the potential to be enforced in any full-fledged state in the country.

    Kejriwal highlighted that the Central government now possesses the authority to introduce similar ordinances on any subject within the concurrent list. Therefore, it is crucial for all opposition parties to unite and deliberate on this issue to ensure the protection of states’ autonomy.

    “I hope that the Congress will clearly state its position, as the other political parties present in the meeting will inquire about it. The first topic to be discussed will be the Delhi ordinance. I will explain the risks of this ordinance to each and every party attending the meeting. I will bring the Constitution of India with me and demonstrate how this ordinance ridicules it,” said Kejriwal.

    He added, “Just because it has been implemented in Delhi, which is often considered a ‘half-state’, doesn’t mean it cannot be implemented in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and other states. By promulgating such ordinances, the Centre can undermine all matters falling within the concurrent list of the Constitution of India.”

  • Tamil Nadu: AAP seeks DMK’s support in fighting Center’s Bill

    Tamil Nadu: AAP seeks DMK’s support in fighting Center’s Bill

    Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday extended support to the AAP in its fight against the Centre’s Delhi Ordinance on control of services in the national capital following a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Chennai. A delegation led by Kejriwal that included Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Stalin and senior DMK leaders seeking their support.

    Emerging from the meeting, Stalin described Kejriwal as a good friend and said, “The Modi-led BJP government is pressuring Delhi UT and the AAP government there, by using Lt Governor. If the BJP government brings an ordinance on Delhi, the DMK will strongly oppose it. We had a discussion about other leaders’ views and I appeal to all leaders to support Arvind Kejriwal.”

    Due to his prior engagement on June 12, he appealed to his Delhi counterpart to fix the opposition unity meet accordingly.Thanking the DMK leader, Kejriwal told journalists that with every passing day, he was becoming more confident of being able to defeat the Bill in the Parliament.DMK will support AAP against the Bill

    “He has assured us the DMK will stand by the elected government of the Aam Aadmi Party, the people of Delhi, and help us in defeating this Bill and vote against it,” he added. The AAP chief has sought appointments with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but they were yet to respond. “I am very confident that Congress should support this and there is no reason why Congress will not support this, because the ordinance is undemocratic and against the federal structure,” Kejriwal said.

    On May 19, the Union Government promulgated an ordinance designating the Lieutenant Governor as the administrator of Delhi, giving him the final say on the postings and transfer of all bureaucrats serving in the Delhi government.The ordinance seeks to amend the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991 negating the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the Kejriwal government the power to make laws and wield control over bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government.If all parties will come together, then we can defeat the Bill

    “The ordinance will come (as Bill) in the monsoon session of the Parliament. In Lok Sabha, BJP has a complete majority but in Rajya Sabha, BJP has only 93 of 238 members. If all the non-BJP parties come together, we can defeat this Bill in Parliament,” Kejriwal said calling for its defeat. He said this is undemocratic and against the federal structure.According to him, this will be like a semifinal before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “If this Bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, a strong message will go across the country that the entire opposition has come together and may be in 2024 Modi is not going to come back,” he added

  • Stalin urges Centre to resume direct flight connectivity between Chennai & Tokyo

    Stalin urges Centre to resume direct flight connectivity between Chennai & Tokyo

    CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin has asked the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to re-introduce direct flight connectivity between Tokyo and Chennai and increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai to at least a daily service at the earliest on a priority basis.

    In his letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiadiya Scindia, Stalin referred to the presence of manufacturing facilities of many large Japanese conglomerates like Nissan, Toshib, Yamaha, Komatsu, Mitsubishi and Hitachi in Chennai and said that the Chennai-Tokyo direct flight introduce in October 2019 by All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, was discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic and the service has not been resumed.

    Pointing out that three of the 12 industrial townships established in India under Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership Program were in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said that lack of direct flight more than doubles the travel time between Tokyo and Chennai by about seven hours.

  • HP CM Sukhu Urges Centre To Return Funds Deposited For NPS

    HP CM Sukhu Urges Centre To Return Funds Deposited For NPS

    Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday sought the Centre’s directions to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to return Rs 9,242 crore deposited under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by the state government.

    Sukhu, who attended the 8th Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog in New Delhi, said there should be no limit on receiving external aid for the next three years and the Union government must approve proposals submitted to the Department of Economic Affairs.

    He also sought 100 per cent central funding for the strategic Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Leh Railway Line, saying the land acquisition cost that was borne by the state government should be considered as its contribution to the project.

    He also requested the Centre to include ropeway projects under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojna’, besides demanding special financial assistance for completing the construction of medical colleges in the state.

    Sukhu said his government was keen on developing Himachal Pradesh as a ‘Green Energy State’ in order to protect and preserve the environment. An elaborate plan is being made for promoting Green Hydrogen, he added.

    A Rs 2,000 crore World Bank-aided project ‘Himachal Pradesh Power Sector Development Programme’ will be launched soon after holding the final round of discussions with the bank, he said.

    Sukhu said efforts are being made to create 40,000 direct and 50,000 indirect employment opportunities and attract investments worth Rs 20,000 crore in various sectors in the current financial year.

    -With PTI Input

  • Ma Su writes to Centre to guide NMC to recognise MD course

    Ma Su writes to Centre to guide NMC to recognise MD course

    CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya to guide National Medical Commission on recognising the creation of an MD course in Diabetology, Nutrition – Metabolism in the State and approving it in the schedule of the Commission.

    Stating that the prevalence of Diabetes is about 10.4 per cent in Tamil Nadu, he said that Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder which contributes immensely to increased health expenditure for both the Government and the individual. If urgent preventive measures are not undertaken, most of the pre-diabetes will rapidly progress to frank diabetes, thus increasing the burden for the country in Tamil Nadu.

    In the past few years, both our State and Central Governments have been focusing on detection and early treatment of non-communicable diseases like diabetes in their health policies. Hence, starting an M D (Diabetology, Nutrition – Metabolism) course will increase the number of professional health-care providers available in this speciality in the country, the letter said.

    He emphasised that the course will help in the successful implementation of the State and Central Government’s policy of creating Diabetes care units in all health care centres in the State and the country. The course will also help to create diabetes care units in all the district peripheral hospitals in the State of Tamil Nadu.

    Talking about the already existing courses related to Diabetes, he mentioned that Tamil Nadu was the first State in the whole country to start a fulltime 2 years diploma in Diabetology course at the Institute of Diabetology at Madras Medical College since 1986, the only such course in the entire country to have been approved by the Medical Council of India (MCI) till date.

    Thus, he stated that the creation of a new MD course will help in the conversion of the already existing MCI recognised diploma in Diabetology seats into degree seats, thus helping in creating more number of teaching faculties in this specialty as per National Medical Commission norms.

    Speaking of the training in degree course in Diabetes – other metabolic diseases, Ma Subramanian said that training will be totally different from training in MD in General Medicine, Community Medicine and DM in Endocrinology. He suggested that if the M.D., (Diabetology, Nutrition – Metabolism) course is included by the National Medical Commission in the schedule of PGMER, 2000, the existing Diploma in Diabetology seats could be converted to MD Degree seats. The proposal for the same has been sent by the Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University to National Medical Commission.

    The State health department had requested the National Medical Commission to consider the proposal favourably and issue necessary orders thereon to enable the University to start the course. However, the National Medical Commission, in its letter on Feb 23, 2022, had stated that the said request has not been acceded as this will downgrade all the existing courses.

    The state health department has filed an appeal to the Secretary, National Medical Commission and requested to consider the above proposal favourably and issue necessary orders thereon to enable the University to start the course in the forthcoming academic year itself, as per Section 28 (5) of the guidelines of National Medical Commission for dealing with appeals preferred to the Central Government Under National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

    Ma Subramanian requested Mansukh Mandaviya to guide the National Medical Commission to consider th proposal favourably and to issue necessary orders thereon to enable the University to start the course in the forth coming academic year.

  • Bengal reported over Rs 100 crore in mid-day meals: Center

    Bengal reported over Rs 100 crore in mid-day meals: Center

    Serving of around 16 crore midday meals worth over ₹ 100 crore were over-reported by the local administration in West Bengal from April to September last year, a panel appointed by the Ministry of Education has found.

    The Ministry of Education (MoE) had in January constituted the ‘joint review mission’ (JRM) to review the implementation of the centrally sponsored scheme PM POSHAN in West Bengal following complaints of irregularities. The panel noted “serious discrepancies in information submitted regarding number of meals served at various levels”.

    “According to the first and second Quarterly Progress Reports (QPRs) submitted to the Government of India by the state government, about 140.25 crore meals had been served under PM Poshan scheme during April to September, 2022. However, as per the QPRs submitted by the districts to the state, the number of meals served was about 124.22 crore. “Thus, there is an over-reporting of over 16 crore meals which is a serious issue. The corresponding material cost works out to be ₹ 100 crore,” the report said.

    The panel also questioned the diversion of funds meant for the scheme to pay compensation to fire victims, misallocation of food grains, cooking of rice, dal and vegetables up to 70 per cent less than “prescribed quantities”, and usage of expired packets of condiments.

    The joint review mission, which comprised nutrition experts and officers from the Centre and the state government, reviewed the implementation of the scheme, formerly known as the midday meal scheme, in the state and district and school levels for a specified period of time on defined parameters. “The state used to claim that more than 95 per cent children availed midday meals on an average basis. However, in all the schools visited, the number of children availing these meals was between 60 to 85 per cent during the period,” it said.

    The team also reviewed the fund flow from state to schools or implementing agencies, coverage of the scheme, management structure at state, district, block levels, delivery mechanism of food grains from state to schools, construction of kitchen-cum-stores, procurement or replacement of kitchen devices, among others.

    On April 3, Bengal’s Education Minister Bratya Basu tweeted that the JRM which visited schools “across the length and breadth” of the state in February had submitted its report without even informing the project director from the state. “They have submitted their report without even informing the project director (PD), CMDM, who was the state representative on the team, let alone getting his signature on the report… this is another example of a blatant violation of the Centre-state relations that the central government does regularly,” he had tweeted.

  • Nitish Kumar Urges Centre To Provide More COVID Vaccine Doses

    Nitish Kumar Urges Centre To Provide More COVID Vaccine Doses

    Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday urged the Centre to provide fresh stocks of COVID vaccine vials so that administering of jabs, which is currently on hold, could be resumed.

    Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function, he also asserted that his government was “alert” in view of rising incidence of COVID cases in some parts of the country, though Bihar was not one of them.

    “Our testing rate is much higher than the national average, which is six lakh tests per one million people. We are conducting eight lakh tests. Bihar accounts for about one fourth of the total number of tests conducted across the country”, claimed Kumar.

    He underscored that the current spike was noticed in those parts of the country which were the worst affected when the coronavirus had caused a global pandemic.

    “In Bihar cases are very few but we are alert, nonetheless. In places like hospitals wearing of masks is being reinforced. We were also carrying out vaccination till our supply dried up. We hope the Centre would do the needful soon”, added Kumar.

    The JD(U) leader also took a veiled dig at his former ally BJP when he was asked about riots in some parts of the state during Ram Navami festivities.

    “All the guilty would be exposed and brought to book. In 2018, we did not spare even the son of a Union minister”, said Kumar, referring to Ashwini Choubey’s son Arijit Shashwat who was arrested in connection with riots that had then erupted in Bhagalpur.

  • Mamata Banerjee will protest against the Center

    Mamata Banerjee will protest against the Center

    Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday that she would hold a dharna for around 30 hours from March 29 near B.R. Ambedkar’s statue to protest against allegedly dictatorial attempts to malign her government and deprive Bengal of its rightful dues from the Centre.

    Although Mamata did not specify which Ambedkar statue she would hold the sit-in by, sources in the Trinamul Congress said she had probably meant one on Red Road in Calcutta and not in Delhi. However, there is a possibility of the chief minister visiting Delhi next week to participate in a non-Congress, non-BJP political exercise being planned by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

    “I will do this (the dharna near the Ambedkar statue) as the chief minister of Bengal to protest against this dictatorial attempt to malign the state government and deprive our state of its rightful dues,” said the Trinamul chairperson at the Calcutta airport, en route to Bhubaneswar to meet her Odisha counterpart and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik.

    Mamata is scheduled to meet Naveen on Thursday, six days after she hosted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at her residence in Calcutta. On Friday, JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy is slated to call on Mamata at her Kalighat home.

    These meetings take place against the backdrop of stern criticism of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress by Mamata and seniors in her party, with indications of her preference — at least at the moment — for equidistance from the BJP and the Grand Old Party.

    Although there are murmurs that the meeting between Mamata and Naveen could be a stepping-stone towards the formation of an alliance of regional satraps ahead of the general election, BJD insiders dismissed the possibility, while Mamata played down the political significance of the talks.

    “This is not a matter of united Opposition or anything (like that). It is a personal meeting, a courtesy meeting,” she said in Calcutta.

    Naveen Patnaik.
    Naveen Patnaik.
    File picture
    Asked if it was her desire to see regional parties stepping forward to take the lead ahead of 2024, she said: “Regional parties are always strong.”

    “The central government just gives the policies, but the state governments are the implementing authorities…. So, wherever we go, whenever we meet somebody, we want to discuss the development of the states, the federal structure,” Mamata added. “But this meeting (with Naveen), I have decided it is a courtesy meeting, let me see.”

    The Bengal chief minister will be in Puri for an hour from around 4pm on Wednesday and is likely to offer prayers at the 12th-century Jagannath shrine there.

    “We have organised a number of functions, including a special puja for her. She will also offer prayers at the temples of Maha Laxmi, Maa Bimala, Lord Hanuman, and others located inside the shrine,” said senior servitor Jagannath Swain Mohapatra.

    Mamata is likely to make a spot assessment of the land allocated by the Odisha government to Bengal for the construction of a guesthouse in Puri for tourists from the state.

    Before leaving for Odisha, Mamata repeated her attack on the BJP-led Centre. “Not a paisa was given to Bengal under the 100-day employment guarantee scheme. This is the only state, (to which) nothing is being given…. We are spending our own money on (various central) projects,” said Mamata.

    “I personally met the Prime Minister over the Rs 1.15 lakh crore due to Bengal from the Centre. (Union home minister) Amit Shah was here for a meeting, I told him, too. Everybody there has been written to, spoken to, repeatedly. Despite that, we can see a deliberate attempt to stop the funds,” added the Bengal chief minister.

    Referring to the removal of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s name from the Interpol Red Corner notice list, Mamata has said people like him and industrialist Gautam Adani are the “best friends” of the Centre.