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Assam tea garden workers are deciding factor in LS polls

There are more than 70 lakh tea tribe community people across the state, including around 10 lakh workers in the organized sector working in 856 tea estates…reports Asian Lite News

As Assam gears up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unfolding in three phases, the focus intensifies on the tea garden workers, a significant voter base poised to influence the outcomes in at least three of the five constituencies contesting in the first phase.

There are more than 70 lakh tea tribe community people across the state, including around 10 lakh workers in the organized sector working in 856 tea estates. Assam produces around 55 per cent of India’s tea.

This demographic, integral to the state’s identity and economy, could be pivotal in shaping the electoral battle in Dibrugarh, Kaziranga, and Sonitpur, with Jorhat also seeing a substantial number of tea tribe voters.

Amid this electoral fervour, political parties, notably the BJP and Congress, are actively courting the support of the tea tribe community, a move that underscores the community’s potential to sway the electoral results in these regions.

The people of the tea tribe community have been facing lots of problems since independence.

Bhaskar Kalindi, a former leader of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA), said that there are around 55 lakh tea tribe community voters across the state, and most of the tea tribe community voters are in Dibrugarh, Kaziranga, Jorhat, Sonitpur Lok Sabha seats.”

“The current BJP government in Assam has increased the daily wage of tea garden labourers to Rs 251, and we request the government to increase it more. I am a tea tribe community youth. Earlier, the road connectivity in the tea garden areas was very poor. Now the road connectivity has improved, and the state’s current government has established schools and Anganwadi centres in the tea garden areas. During the Congress regime, there was nothing. This government has also declared a holiday on our festival Karam Puja Day,” Kalindi told ANI.

He further said that tea garden voters will become a major factor in this election in at least three parliamentary constituencies in the state.

“Earlier, the tea garden labourers had received their wage in cash, but the current government has opened bank accounts against each worker. Earlier, the workers did not have any bank accounts. The people of the tea garden areas are now very happy with the work done by the current government,” Kalindi said further.

He also said that the Assam government has also made reservations for tea garden people in government jobs. “If the government will give ST status to the tea tribe community, then we will be more happy,” Bhaskar Kalindi said.

Ashar Orang, a tea tribe community voter, said that Congress had ruled for 70 years, and there was no development of the tea tribe community people. “But the BJP-led government is gradually working for the development of this community people. People are now getting benefits. The current government is also focusing on development in the education sector in the tea garden areas,” Orang said while speaking to ANI.

Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ashar Orang said that not only the tea tribe community but the Prime Minister is also working for the development of all sections of people.

On the other hand, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora, who is also the local MLA of Bokakhat assembly constituency under the Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat, told ANI that the tea garden community people were the vote bank of Congress, and they didn’t do anything for the development of these people.

“There are still many issues, but our government under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has resolved many problems of the tea garden people. Now the tea garden people are very happy with the work done by this government,” Atul Bora said.

“My constituency is a tea garden workers-dominated constituency. In today’s meeting, thousands of tea garden people arrived to see the Chief Minister. The NDA candidate for the Kaziranga parliamentary constituency is also a tea garden community person,” he added.

Assam Congress leader, Rituparna Konwar, claimed that a lot of work had been done during the Congress government’s tenure in the state and that the current BJP government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had “failed to increase tea garden workers’ daily wages.”

“During our regime, we did a lot of development works for tea tribe community people. Our government did socio-economic upliftment of the tea tribe community. Congress never used the tea tribe community as a vote bank. We increased their political representation,” Rituparna Konwar told ANI.

“In this election, Congress has given the party tickets to two candidates who belong to the tea tribe community, but BJP has fielded only one,” he said.

“The BJP-led government sold state-owned tea gardens in Assam to private companies and the government has failed to increase the daily wage of the tea garden workers,” he alleged.

In this Lok Sabha election in Assam, the BJP is contesting in 11 out of 14 seats, while its ally parties, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), are contesting in two seats (Barpeta and Dhubri), and UPPL in one seat (Kokrajhar), respectively.

Elections for the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam will take place in three phases on April 19, April 26, and May 7.

In the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 7 of the 14 seats in Assam. Both the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) claimed three seats each.

During the 2019 elections, the BJP increased its seat count to 9, while the Congress maintained its three seats, and the AIUDF won a single seat. (ANI)

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Celeb influence wanes in Lok Sabha polling

Some like Dharmendra and Govinda could not understand the complexities of politics and called it a day after one term…reports Asian Lite News

Till the turn of the Millennium; film stars guaranteed crowds and votes in politics.

Political parties across the country wooed them ardently and top stars of the time, including Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Prada, Govinda, Raj Babbar and Jaya Bachchan braved the heat and dust to campaign for their political parties.

Some of the stars contested the elections and managed an easy win. Amitabh Bachchan contested his first election in 1984 from Allahabad and defeated a doyen like Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna.

Amitabh Bachchan quit politics midway after the Bofors controversy, but he returned to Uttar Pradesh briefly in 2007 to campaign for Samajwadi Party.

The superstar held a number of programmes with his friend Amar Singh in which he coined the slogan “UP mein hai dum, kyonki jurm yahan hai kam.”

Some like Dharmendra and Govinda could not understand the complexities of politics and called it a day after one term.

However, an actor from the same era as Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna was a four-time MP who was very dedicated to his constituency Gurdaspur and remained in politics till his demise in 2017.

Others like Raj Babbar, Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan continue to stand their ground till date.

Jaya Bachchan has been sent to Rajya Sabha five times by the Samajwadi Party and she campaigns for the party in every election. She has never contested Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Actor Govinda recently joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, marking his re-entry into politics after a 14 year hiatus. His last stint in politics, which ended on a sour note in 2009, coincided with his films flopping. Now he hopes to kickstart his political career again at the age of 60.

However, if various political parties are to be believed, the stardust is losing its glitter and film stars can no longer guarantee a win on the seats they campaign for.

A clear indication of this is the fact that the demand for actors as campaigners is almost missing in these elections.

A BJP candidate said, “There is no use getting film stars to campaign because they cannot give speeches and do not leave any impact on voters. Moreover, our biggest crowd puller and star is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

According to senior journalist RK Singh, “The stars are losing their credibility because they lack conviction in what they say. People know that in most cases stars take money to campaign and this erodes their sincerity. Some stars have changed more parties than they have delivered hits.”

Besides, he explained, the glamour factor has also reduced because film stars are now seen 24×7 on social media and television, leading to overexposure and fan fatigue.

“Earlier, people would wait for hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite actor but not anymore. You just need to get on to the Internet and you can have your fill,” he added.

Significantly, just like all the other candidates in the fray, Bhojpuri stars Ravi Kishan and Dinesh Yadav Nirahua, who are contesting the Gorakhpur and Azamgarh seats respectively for their second term, are toiling hard in their constituencies to ensure their win.

Raj Babbar explains that it needs more than just stardom to survive in politics.

“Much before I started working in theatre and then films, I was associated with Socialist youth politics. I joined the Janata Dal in 1989 and actively participated in party activities. I later joined the Samajwadi Party and then the Congress. I never confined myself to campaigning and that is one reason why the parties and the people started taking me seriously,” he says.

In these elections, Hema Malini has confined herself to campaigning in her own constituency Mathura and so has Arun Govil who is making his political debut from Meerut.

The campaigns of Jaya Prada, Jaya Bachchan and most others have not even been finalised yet.

Though the actors are used for campaigning, they are seldom allowed to involve themselves in party matters.

One actress who spoke to this correspondent on the condition of anonymity said, “I did try to get my word in a few times but was politely told to restrict myself to campaigning. I have understood that apart from my star value, I mean nothing to the party.”

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Central agencies monitor LS polls, says CEC

The CEC said that the full-Bench of the ECI, which was on a visit to West Bengal, had meetings with all the political parties…reports Asian Lite News

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will involve central agencies in monitoring the polling process across the country during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC), Rajiv Kumar, told media persons in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The CEC added that a separate portal would be opened involving all central agencies for the purpose of vigilance.

He added that a mobile application named ‘C-Vigil: Citizens be Vigilant’ would be introduced to enable users to report any election-related irregularities or violence promptly.

The CEC said that the full-Bench of the ECI, which was on a visit to West Bengal, had meetings with all the political parties.

CEC Kumar said apart from complaints about the use of money and muscle power in the polls, the Bench had also received complaints that bureaucrats were not operating in a transparent and unbiased manner.

“Barring one political party, all other parties have requested for deployment of additional forces. One political party has also insisted on a single-phase election in West Bengal,” he said.

He added that during the meeting with the functionaries of the state’s administrative and police setup, clear instructions were given about ensuring an absolutely peaceful election.

“Voting should be conducted in a festive mood. The higher administrative and police functionaries have been directed to convey the message to their subordinates down the line, so that all necessary steps are taken to ensure violence-free polls. If the state administration and police fail to do that, we will make them do it,” CEC Kumar said during the interaction with media persons.

He also said that this time separate polling stations for women and Divyangs would be set up.

Meanwhile, sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) West Bengal said that the ECI will be taking special measures to prevent the use of black money in the elections. In order to ensure that, the Income Tax Department and the ED sleuths will also be activated, they said.

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SP names of 16 candidates for Lok Sabha polls

Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party won the Mainpuri parliamentary byelection in December 2022, defeating Raghuraj Singh Shakya of the BJP by a margin of 2,88,461 votes…reports Asian Lite News

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced the names of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to take place in this year. The SP has fielded Dimple Yadav, wife of former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav from Mainpuri and Shafiqur Rahman Barq from Sambhal and Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow.

Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party won the Mainpuri parliamentary byelection in December 2022, defeating Raghuraj Singh Shakya of the BJP by a margin of 2,88,461 votes. Considered as SP’s bastion, the seat was held by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and it got vacated after his death on October 10. Akshay Yadav has been fielded from Firozabad, while from Banda, the SP has fielded Shivshakar Singh Patel. Barq who at 93 is one of the oldest Parliamentarians has been elected 5 times to the Lok Sabha from Sambhal. “Hoga PDA ke naam, abki ekjut matdan,” the SP said. In the current Lok Sabha, the SP, that had fought in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2019, has three MPs while BSP has 10 MPs. Sonia Gandhi, who represents the Rae Bareli seat, is the lone Congress MP from the State. On January 19, the SP and RLD had announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha election, with SP leaving seven seats in western Uttar Pradesh for the RLD. The SP has offered 11 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh to the Congress.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former U.P. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, on Saturday said that their “alliance” is off to a good start in the State. Both the Congress and the SP are members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), formed to take on the BJP-led Centre. “Our cordial alliance with the Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats. This trend will move forward with the winning equation. ‘INDIA’ team and ‘PDA’ (Picchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) strategy will change history,” Yadav said in a post on X. (ANI)

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Ethics panel report on charges against Mahua adopted

Vinod Sonkar further said BSP MP Danish Ali submitted his dissent note…reports Asian Lite News

With the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee adopting the report on the ‘cash-for-query’ charges against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, the leaders of the several Opposition parties came out strongly in support of the TMC leader.

The meeting of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee which is investigating the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was held on Thursday wherein it adopted the report with a 6:4 majority.

According to panel chairman Vinod Sonkar, six members of the committee supported the report, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur, while four members opposed it.

He further said that the panel will submit a ‘detailed report’ to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday.

“The recommendation report by the Parliament Ethics Committee has been adopted by the Committee with a 6:4 majority. Congress MP Preneet Kaur is one of the six MPs who supported the draft. A detailed report is being submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker tomorrow…The action, whatever it is, will be taken by the Speaker,” Sonkar said.

Notably, Preneet Kaur who is the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, is now in the BJP.

The Congress disciplinary committee in February this year suspended Preneet Kaur, who is the wife of former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for indulging in anti-party activities. The Congress alleged that she was helping the BJP in the state. Her husband Amarinder Singh and daughter Jai Inder Kaur joined the BJP last year.

Nishikant Dubey backed Kaur’s decision against Moitra, calling the Congress MP ‘uncompromising’.

“Punjab has always stood for India’s identity and national security, today again Captain Amarinder Singh ji and Congress Party MP .

Preneet Kaur ji did not make any compromise for national security. India was, is and will always be grateful to the brave men of Punjab,” Dubey said on X.Aparajita Sarangi, a BJP MP and member of the Parliament Ethics Committee said that Kaur sided with the truth.

“(Congress MP) Preneet Kaur sided with the truth. I thank her for it. No right-thinking person would support Mahua Moitra…” she said.

Earlier last month, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Moitra, accusing her of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.

Vinod Sonkar further said BSP MP Danish Ali submitted his dissent note.

“The report (on TMC MP Mahua Moitra) was adopted by majority vote and sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker. There were some people who wanted to obstruct the probe but today the report was adopted by a majority. Danish Ali, who had been trying to obstruct the probe, today submitted his dissent note,” he added.

The Committee, in its draft report, accused Moitra of being involved in ‘unethical conduct’ and sharing her ID login and password with unauthorised persons, sources said on Thursday.

“One common ground for all the opposition MPs to submit a dissent note is that the enquiry is not fair. They have said that Darshan Hiranandani should have been summoned by the committee to ensure a free and fair enquiry in all respects,” the sources said.

As per the sources, the draft report on Mahua Moitra’s cash-for-questions case reveals that she visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times.

“On 47 occasions, her member portal login credentials were accessed from Dubai,” according to the draft report of the ethics committee. (ANI)

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Lok Sabha set for no-confidence motion debate, Rahul back in action

Rahul Gandhi.

With his membership having been restored on August 7, the Congress is now keen that Gandhi initiates the discussion on the no-confidence motion, sources said…reports Asian Lite News

The Congress will move the no-confidence motion against the government in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, and the discussion on it is likely to be initiated by Rahul Gandhi, whose membership of the House had been reinstated on Monday.

Though the motion will be moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi as per the list of business for August 8, according to party sources, once the motion is admitted, it is the party’s discretion to decide who can be the lead speaker to initiate the discussion on it.

According to Parliament sources, the discussion on the no-confidence motion is expected to begin once it is moved on August 8, and is likely to continue throughout the next two days, that is, August 9 and 10. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reply to the discussion on the motion on August 10.

The agenda of business for August 9 and 10 however is yet to be announced officially.

It is being felt within the Congress that starting the discussion on the no-confidence motion with Rahul Gandhi as the lead speaker, would make the desired impact and put pressure on the government.

After the Supreme Court stayed Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case on August 4, the Congress was keen that his Lok Sabha membership is restored at the earliest, so that he would be able to participate in the discussion on the no-confidence motion on August 8.

With his membership having been restored on August 7, the Congress is now keen that Gandhi initiates the discussion on the no-confidence motion, sources said.

Meanwhile, according to the list of business for Tuesday (August 8), Gogoi will move the no-confidence motion, which says “That this House expresses its want of confidence in the Council of Ministers”.

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No power shortage in country, parliament told

Centre announced its decision to abrogate the so-called special status of J&K and divided it into two Union Territories — has become a history in ‘Naya Jammu and Kashmir’…reports Asian Lite News

The government on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that there is no power shortage in the country.

In a written reply, Power Minister R.K. Singh said: “At present, there is adequate installed capacity for power generation in the country as on June 30, the installed generation capacity of India was 403.76 Giga Watt (GW) which is sufficient to meet the Peak Power Demand of the country of around 215.89 Giga Watt (GW) which had occurred in the month of April, 2022 during the current year 2022-23.”

He said that the Centre had launched Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in November, 2015 with the objective of financial and operational turnaround of the State owned Power Distribution Companies (DISCOMs), wherein one of the operational parameters to be targetted was reduction in gap between Average Cost of Supply (ACS) and Average Revenue Realised (ARR) to zero.

To bring reforms in Distribution Sector, the Central Government has launched a new Reforms-based and Results-linked, Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in July 2021 with the objective of improving the quality and reliability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient Distribution Sector in the country.

Meanwhile, the electricity crisis in the Himalayan region, which was a norm till August 5, 2019 — when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate the so-called special status of J&K and divided it into two Union Territories — has become a history in ‘Naya Jammu and Kashmir’.

Recently, the Union Power Ministry sanctioned a phase-I package of Rs 5641.91 crore for complete revamping of the power distribution infrastructure under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in both urban and rural areas of J&K. Of the sanctioned amount under Phase-I, Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited will get Rs 2807.70 crore and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited will receive Rs 2834.21 crore to undertake the works that remained stuck in one or other wrangle for seven decades.

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LS passes Bill amending higher judiciary’s salary, service conditions

He also said that as of now he cannot assure the Members to add up certain suggestions made by them without holding consultation with the Supreme Court and High Courts…reports Asian Lite News.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed, by voice vote, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021, which changes the salary and service conditions of the judges of the higher judiciary and provide an additional quantum of pension or family pension when they attain a certain age in accordance with a specified scale.

According to the Bill, the additional quantum of pension to retired judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court is being sanctioned on completing the age of 80, 85, 90, and 95 years, as the case may be.

In his reply to the debate on this Bill, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that he welcomed the suggestions made by the members during the debate on Tuesday and he will consider incorporating them after due consultation with the other stakeholders.

He also said that as of now he cannot assure the Members to add up certain suggestions made by them without holding consultation with the Supreme Court and High Courts.

Noting that the judiciary is equally important as other pillars of democracy as legislature and executive, the Minister also said that many retired judges and the Supreme Court Bar Association have expressed different views on the Collegium system and the National Judicial Appointment Committee, therefore, he will make wider consultation on these issues.

He also admitted that the staggering number of pending cases in various courts has to be addressed on priority basis.

Initiating the debate on the Bill on Tuesday, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor raised the issue of the retirement age of judges of the top courts. He also cited the alarming number of pending cases in the courts.

Trinamool Congress’ Kalyan Banerjee also raised the issue of case pendency, while BJP’s P.P. Chaudhary requested the government to revisit the process of appointment of judges.

YSR Congress Party’s V. Geethaviswanath, Shiv Sena member Arvind Ganpat Sawan, BSP’s Shyam Singh Yadav and others also participated in the debate.

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