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Rahul Gandhi resumes Yatra from old Cong bastion

Amethi used to be a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes in the 2019 elections…reports Asian Lite News

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday afternoon resumed his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi.

The senior Congress leader is on a Manipur-Mumbai Yatra covering 15 states ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May this year.

Amethi used to be a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes in the 2019 elections.

On the other hand, Union Minister and BJP MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani held a Jan Samwad in Amethi on Monday as part of a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency.

The Congress is still undecided on whether Rahul Gandhi will attempt to regain the Congress stronghold especially since Sonia Gandhi has also left Rae Bareili for the Rajya Sabha.

“CEC will decide on who will contest from Amethi. Rahul Gandhi has been an MP from Amethi thrice. His father Rajiv Gandhi also used to contest from Amethi. It is a very important constituency for the Congress party…” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Sonia was elected as an MP from Raibareli for the first time in 2004. Since then, the Congress leader has been representing the Congress stronghold in the Lower House.

The current chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party served as the party’s national president for almost 22 years, between 1998 and 2022, and is a five-time Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli.

The Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, after the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, aims to cover 6,700 km through 15 states, with Lok Sabha polls around the corner.

Rijiju counters Rahul’s OBC barb

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday strongly countered Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of ‘discrimination’ against the Other Backward Class (OBC) community in the country’s top bureaucratic set-up.

“Is he naive or a fool?,” Rijiju, lashing out at the Congress leader, took to his X handle and explained in detail the ‘progression process’ of bureaucrats.

Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in UP’s Amethi on Monday, told newsmen, ”The number of Dalits, Adivasis and other backward people remains very low in courts, same is the case in Bureaucracy.”

Taking strong exception to Rahul’s statement that only 3 out of 90 secretaries in Government of India belong to OBC community, Rijiju explained that the current batch of secretaries are from either 1992 or previous batches, when OBC reservation was not even in effect.

“Today Rahul Gandhi again said there are only 3 OBC secretaries to Govt of India and negligible OBC judges. Is he naive or a fool? A fresh IAS officer can’t just become secretary and a fresh lawyer can’t become a judge of High Court or SC directly,” Rijiju said.

Minister of Earth Sciences further said that at that time, OBC was not even classified under reserved category, only SC and ST community got quotas in jobs. OBC classification into All India Service (AIS) came only post 1995 following the court verdict.

Smriti Irani holds key meet in Amethi

Even as former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra enters the erstwhil bastion of Amethi a political face off was seen.

Union Minister and BJP MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani held a Jan Samwad in Amethi on Monday as part of a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency.

Amethi used to be a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes in the 2019 elections.

The Congress is still undecided on wether Rahul Gandhi will make an attempt at regaining the Congress stronghold specially since Sonia Gandhi has also left Rae Bareili for the Rajya Sabha.

Amethi, Feb 19 (ANI): Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani holds Jan Samwad in Amethi on Monday. (ANI Photo)

“CEC will decide on who will contest from Amethi. Rahul Gandhi has been an MP from Amethi thrice. His father Rajiv Gandhi also used to contest from Amethi. It is a very important constituency for the Congress party…” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Pratapgarh, Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi said, “Amethi is the home of Rahul Gandhi. He has been a member of parliament from here. He is the son of Amethi. Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is going to have a huge impact on Uttar Pradesh and the country…”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday resumed the Yatra from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh attacking the BJP for not doing enough for the backward classes.

“Tell me how many Dalits, Adivasis, and backward people are there in high courts? You don’t have courage, you all are sleeping. There are 650 high court judges. You have 73% of the population…Tell me how many people do you have among the bureaucrats?…” said Rahul Gandhi at Pratapgarh.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will address a public rally in Babuganj on Monday.

“Today is the 37th day of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will address a public rally in Babuganj. We will stay in Amethi tonight and reach Raebareli tomorrow morning. We will stay in Lucknow tomorrow and in Kanpur the day after. Then, we will take 2 days’ rest on 22nd and 23rd February…” said Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh.

The Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, succeeded by the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, aims to cover 6,700 km through 15 states, with Lok Sabha polls around the corner. (ANI)

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Amarnath Yatra a blessing for these women

The recent cloud burst and the resultant flash floods, in which several Amarnath pilgrims died, is an example of how extreme and erratic the weather can be in the region…reports Asian Lite News

Sushma Devi, a member of Baba Hardev, a self-help group (SHG) in Jammu’s Samba district, stitches raincoats and tracksuits for pilgrims visiting the Amarnath cave shrine. She’s part of a 13-member women’s group that works across different SHGs in Samba, for whom the annual yatra has become a means to ameliorate their families’ financial constraints.

The 13 members of Baba Hardev also make these garments for officials of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, who are deputed at different locations in Kashmir, including the base camps of Baltal and Nunwan.

The initiative to involve these women in stitching the tracksuits and raincoats was taken after it was decided that these shrine board officials, at the base camps of the 43-day-long pilgrimage, would wear uniforms in the form of tracksuits, says Indu Kanwal Chib, director of the Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihoods Mission (JKRLM).

“It was also important to provide them with raincoats as the weather is unpredictable in these areas in the Valley, and monsoon is already here,” she adds.

The recent cloud burst and the resultant flash floods, in which several Amarnath pilgrims died, is an example of how extreme and erratic the weather can be in the region.

After these women provided the required material to the officials, they decided to stitch the same for the pilgrims. Within just a week of the yatra’s commencement on June 30, over one lakh pilgrims visited the holy cave shrine in Kashmir. The union territory administration permitted women in at least seven districts to set up stalls at different locations along the route. In fact, women in Samba had their stalls erected along the national highway in the district, from where the pilgrimage passes after entering Jammu & Kashmir.

Clinging to hope with ‘Umeed’

The JKRLM’s Umeed scheme aims to alleviate poverty by identifying and organising the poor and engaging them in livelihoods that enable them to tap into their potential. Its mission is to reach out to 66 per cent of the rural population across the 125 blocks of Jammu & Kashmir and link them to sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Panchayats and district development councils identify women in need for the SHGs. The government provides Rs 15,000 on the initiation of a SHG, followed by other monetary help, including Rs 40,000 as a loan to these women. They can also seek a loan to purchase raw material for the products they make.

Sushma, who has a daughter and a son, says the Baba Hardev SHG under Umeed provides her much-needed financial help to sustain her family. Her husband works as a daily wager with the Jal Shakti department, but doesn’t earn enough to sustain a family of four, including their children’s education expenses.

During other times of the year, Sushma sells homemade snacks and other eatables; this is her first time catering to the pilgrims. She’s also started a boutique at her home, where women from nearby villages come to get their clothes stitched.

Exploring various livelihood options

Women in Samba and other districts of J&K are also engaged in making bamboo products, rakhis, file covers and other handcrafted items. Before the pilgrimage, this used to be their primary source of income.

Sonia Kumari, who works with another SHG in Samba, earns Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,500 every month through the sale of bamboo buckets and other showpieces as well as sleeping bags. For the Amarnath pilgrimage, the buckets are filled with sweets that are offered to the deity as prasad and sold to the pilgrims going to or returning from the holy cave shrine.

“The women of our SHG purchase the cloth, foam and zipper to make the sleeping bags from Pathankot in Punjab as the raw material is cheaper there,” says Sonia. “We earn a profit of nearly Rs 300 on each sleeping bag. The sale has increased owing to the inflow of pilgrims, and a stall has been set up along the national highway near a prominent temple in Samba.”

Since the beginning of the Amarnath Yatra on June 30, Sonia has been earning Rs 2,500 a week just by selling sleeping bags. Members of the group divide the total money earned through the sales in accordance with the tasks they undertook.

Women prepare buckets for sanctified sweets in Samba district for people visiting the Amarnath temple.

Empowering women the SHG way

Chib says many such SHGs also operated in Kashmir, especially in the villages of Kulgam district, stitching gloves, socks and other woollens for the pilgrims.

“At least seven to eight SHGs there work towards making essentials, including raincoats, woolens and sleeping bags. The shrine board paid nearly Rs 4.5 lakh to produce them for the Amarnath officials,” she adds.

Nilofer (last name withheld on request) from Kulgam district had been struggling with financial difficulties. The 32-year-old mother of two couldn’t even afford to send her children to school till last year. Her husband works as a helper of a truck driver and is mostly away from home, travelling with his vehicle to Punjab, Haryana, New Delhi and other places.

“I joined an SHG under the Umeed scheme in the area to support my family financially. Here, we make snacks, woollen gloves and socks. The opportunity not only allowed me to earn but also provide better education to my children. While the Amarnath pilgrimage provides much needed financial support to those directly associated with it, even the SHGs providing essential items to the pilgrims are benefitting,” says Nilofer.

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