Tag: state wise news

The Centre is working on a three-pronged approach to bring the warring Meitei and Kuki communities into a narrow common ground for lasting peace in trouble-torn Manipur, sources said on Wednesday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is currently visiting Manipur, has given clear instructions that violence must end immediately and peace should be restored in the northeastern state as early as possible.

The government is working on a three-pronged approach to restore peace in Manipur. These include dialogue with the affected people, rehabilitating those who had to leave their homes with enhanced security and control over insurgents, the sources privy to the development said.

The major task before the government is to build confidence between the Meitei and Kuki communities.

Hence, the Centre is making all efforts to reach out to every segment of the society in Manipur and working to bring them into a narrow common ground for lasting peace, the sources added.

There has been a concern that several terrorists have moved away from their designated camps and efforts are on to bring them back, they informed.

Security forces are also asking the members of all communities to hand over weapons if they have any, the sources said.

Some of the affected people belonging to both the Meitei and Kuki communities, who were moved to safer areas, want to return to their homes.

The administration is being instructed to provide them a safe environment so that they can restart their normal life, the sources said.

Shah, whose trip is part of the confidence-building measures in the northeastern state, is speaking to all segments of the society and visiting the violence-hit areas.

The home minister has said the peace and prosperity of Manipur are the government’s top priority and instructed officials to strictly deal with any activity that disturbs peace.

This is for the first time that the home minister is visiting Manipur since ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state on May 3.

The state has been witnessing sporadic violence ever since.

The death toll from the clashes has gone up to 80, according to officials.

The violence first broke out after a “Tribal Solidarity March” was organised in the hill districts of the state on May 3 to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

The violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.

Final preparations for a major summit of European leaders were being made in Moldova on Wednesday, a sign of the Eastern European country’s ambitions to draw closer to the West and break with its Russian-dominated past amid the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Moldova, Europe’s poorest country which is cradled by Ukraine on three sides, is putting its best foot forward for the second meeting of the European Political Community on Thursday, a gathering which will bring together around 50 leaders from 47 countries in what organizers are calling the largest international event in the country’s history.

In the capital, Chisinau, and on the 35-kilometer (21-mile) route to the rural summit venue, roads were being resurfaced, crosswalks painted and EU flags hung in anticipation of the arrival of the heads of state and government from European Union countries and other continental nations.

The choice to hold the summit in Moldova, a former Soviet republic of around 2.6 million people, is seen as a message to the Kremlin both by the EU and by the pro-Western Moldovan government, which received EU candidate status in June of last year, at the same time as Ukraine.

The attendance of heavy hitters like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks to the bloc’s commitment to ensuring Russia’s ambitions to control the country do not go unchallenged.

“One of the big messages is the place where this meeting is going to happen,” said one EU official, who asked not to be identified. “You’ll sit in Moscow and you’ll see 47 countries in your immediate close neighborhood meeting together. That’s, I think, quite an important message,” the official said.

Russia is chronically critical of Moldova’s lean toward the West, claiming this presents security concerns and shows the hegemonic intentions of the United States and its allies in the EU.

Last week, after the deployment of the EU Partnership Mission to Moldova, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Gazulin said that “the EU seeks to consolidate the pro-Western course pursued by the current leadership of Moldova (and) set up the country for confrontation with Russia, ignoring the interests and mood of the population.”

“The increase in cooperation between Chisinau and NATO and the EU in the military-political sphere, of course, cannot but cause us concern,” Gazulin said in an interview with state news agency RIA-Novosti.

There has been consistent speculation that Russia would use the war in Ukraine as a bridgehead for taking control of Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, where Russia already has a military contingent.

On Monday, the head of the defense committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, Viktor Bondarev, called for strengthening Russia’s military presence in Transnistria, along with other places, citing the growing malign influence of the United States in the region.

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday began a four-day visit to India that is expected to inject a fresh momentum in the already close relations between the two countries.

It is the first bilateral trip abroad by the 68-year-old Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) leader after he assumed the top office in December 2022.

He was received at the airport in Delhi by Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.

“PM @cmprachanda of Nepal arrives in New Delhi on his first overseas visit after assumption of office. Warmly welcomed by MoS @M_Lekhi at the airport. The visit will impart renewed momentum to the close and unique India-Nepal relationship,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

A high-level delegation is accompanying Prachanda.

He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks on Thursday following which both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.

The Nepalese prime minister is also scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old “Roti Beti” relationship.

Nepal shares a border of over 1850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.

Nepal’s access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.

The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries.

With pressure mounting on the Congress government in Karnataka to implement the five ‘guarantees’ as promised to the people ahead of Assembly polls, State’s Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said criteria and frameworks are being decided for its implementation.

He said the criterion has to be fixed to implement the guarantees, as tax-payers money is involved.

In view of the implementation of five guarantee schemes, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is today holding a meeting with all the Ministers of his cabinet and senior officials of the concerned departments at Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state secretariat and legislature, here.

The decision on implementation of guarantees is likely to be taken at the cabinet meeting on Thursday.

“Every scheme is based on a criterion, it is your (public) money, tax payers money is involved. We will have to put criteria. Tell me which scheme of the central- Modi government is free?” Kharge asked.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, “there will be criteria and we will ensure that everyone is benefited. Is it wrong to give priority to BPL (below poverty line), the government is for the poor.” “How to implement Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, YuvaNidhi — the criterion and framework will be decided by today and tomorrow, there is no need to worry,” he added.

The Congress had promised to implement the ‘guarantees’ — 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day of assuming power in the state.

There is mounting pressure on the new government from opposition parties and various sections of people from across the state, to fulfill its five guarantees as promised ahead of polls.

Opposition BJP and JD(S) have accused the Congress of trying to “cheat” voters after coming to power by trying to attach conditions or criterion to the guarantees for their implementation, which were not mentioned ahead of polls.

Asked how the government will mobilise resources, the Minister said, “we will do it. First of all — it is because of the central government and the double engine (BJP at both centre and state) government that was there — our financial situation has worsened.” “Our GST share has not come, there was financial mismanagement during COVID-19, because of this Kannadigas are in debt today, I had raised this issue several times in the Assembly in the past,” he said, now that our government has come, the priority will be to give financial stability to the state and its people.

After having accorded in-principal approval for the guarantees in the first cabinet meeting on May 20, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said they would “most likely” be implemented after the next Cabinet meeting. He had also said that initial estimates indicate it would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore annually.

Congress leader Ajay Maken on Wednesday fired a fresh salvo at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, claiming he was seeking “enhanced powers” over administrative services to stall probes into corruption allegations against his administration, but AAP dismissed his criticism as the view of an individual and not his party.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which is trying to rally support from opposition parties over the face-off with the Centre on the services issue, said it has sought a meeting with the Congress’ central leadership to discuss the matter Taking to Twitter, Maken alleged that Kejriwal’s true motives are exposed as he “aims to take control” over the vigilance department and is “challenging” decades of established governance norms.

Asked about it, the Aam Aadmi Party said, “This is the statement of an individual. What is the stand of the Congress party on this? “We sought time from the national Congress already to discuss the matter.” Congress leaders from Delhi and Punjab met the party leadership here on Monday and suggested not supporting the Aam Aadmi Party on the Delhi services ordinance issue, sources had said earlier.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had convened separate meetings of leaders from the two states for seeking their opinion on the matter. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also present during the meetings.

“Let’s not forget that the powers Kejriwal seeks were intentionally vested in the Central Government by eminent leaders like Ambedkar, Nehru, Patel, Shastri, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh to prevent a multiplicity of authority in the National Capital Territory,” Maken said on Wednesday.

Kharge has reportedly conveyed to Kejriwal he will take a call on the matter after having a word with state party leaders. The sources said the Congress leadership will also meet party leaders from other states before deciding its position.

The Centre on May 19 promulgated the ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, which the AAP government had called a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi, excluding police, public order and land, to the elected government.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the top court’s May 11 verdict.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar, his deputy and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief leader Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury have expressed solidarity with AAP on the matter.

Karanataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar said on Wednesday that the state won’t follow the Centre’s Nation Education Policy (NEP), instead the state will have its own education policy, which will be different from the NEP. He further said that the Congress government of Karnataka will follow its manifesto and a detailed discussion will be held soon about the implementation of the state education policy.

“Karnataka won’t have the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. We will implement the state education policy. We have come up with a manifesto; we won’t implement NEP 2020,” Shivakumar said.

Siddaramaiah holds hold meeting with writers to discuss scrapping of NEP
Karnataka CM Siddamaraiah had on Tuesday, May 29, 2023, held a meeting with writers and organisation heads to discuss Karnataka’s “textbook row” and how they can undo changes that were made under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. “The education sector cannot be adulterated,” he said, adding that there is no question of complacency in protecting the harmony and secular heritage of Karnatak.

“Hate politics will not be tolerated, and the environment of fear will be eradicated. The act of polluting children’s minds through texts and lessons cannot be accepted,” he added.

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YS Sharmila, chief of the YSR Telangana Party, met DK Shivakumar at his residence in Bengaluru on Monday triggering speculations about a potential alliance ahead of the Assembly elections in Telangana. This was the first meeting between Sharmila and Shivakumar after the latter took charge as Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. Earlier, Sharmila had lauded DK Shivakumar for playing a key role in ensuring Congress’ victory in Karnataka.

Rumblings of an alliance between YSR Telangana Party and Congress have been doing the rounds for a while now. Asked if she was planning to ally with the grand old party, Sharmila said on May 17 that her party is open for talks with anyone “as we do not want KCR (Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) to return to power in the state.”

“This is an election year, so every party will try their best for everything, in every way, so it’s not surprising,” Sharmila said.