More regional parties have expressed their support to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

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photo for representational purpose only

More regional parties have expressed their support to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s protest against the Lieutenant Governor with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) being the latest.

JMM’S working president and former chief minister Hemant Soren, in a tweet, said: “I salute to the fight by Delhi for its rights. The AAP government in Delhi is forced to come on the street for its rights, which kind of democracy is it? Jharkhand is with the people of Delhi and with Kejriwal.”

Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu expressed solidarity with the “elected” Delhi government.

“The trend of using the Governor’s office for political benefits of the ruling party at the Centre goes against the spirit of the Constitution,” he said in a statement.

Kejriwal’s protest has already been backed by West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bihar’s Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, along with former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, and actors-turned-politicians Kamal Hassan and Shatrughan Sinha.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India were also supporting Kejriwal.

She is not appeasing any community clears Mamta

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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said those who accuse her of appeasing Muslims are friends of neither the Hindus nor the Muslims.

“Some accuse me of Muslim appeasement. My question to them is whether loving Hindus means you have to hate Muslims. I respect and love all communities and religion. This country belongs to everybody,” she said.

“Those who say I appease Muslims are friends of neither the Hindus nor the Muslims,” Banerjee said while addressing a special prayer gathering on Red Road to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr.

The BJP and some other organisations have been charging Banerjee with appeasement of Muslims for political reasons. The chief minister said it was due to her protest that the Niti Aayog meeting which was earlier scheduled for Saturday was changed to Sunday.

“My question to the central government officials is whether they are not aware that Eid is scheduled to be celebrated on 16 June. Why was the Niti Aayog meeting kept on that day? I had written to the central government urging it to change the date so that it doesn’t clash with Eid,” she said.

Banerjee had confirmed her participation in the Niti Aayog’s rescheduled governing council meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. The meeting, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was earlier scheduled for Saturday, the day when Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated.

Banerjee and a few other chief ministers had expressed unwillingness to attend the meeting in view of Eid, following which it was postponed by a day.

Modi wants bureaucrats to spend time in field, be innovative

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While pushing for innovative ideas from senior bureaucrats in the ministries, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that a certain budget of each department should be allocated for innovation. PM Modi has made a set of observations in a recent meeting with the senior officials of the ministries.

The PM has also observed that officers have lost field focus and asked that officers may be mandated to spend at least 5-6 days in a month in the field.

The PM has also asked to develop in-house capabilities in the ministries and government departments to do away with consultants. Recruiting consultants for different works or projects under government schemes is quite a general practice in various ministries and departments.

Analysis of set of observations made by the PM suggested that his focus is on quick delivery of projects in the country and all the hurdles coming in the way of this be removed. The set of observations have been made by the PM in a recent meeting with senior officers of various ministries.

Keeping in view the delay in implementation of some flagship projects in the country, the PM has observed, “Speed of decision making is critical-officers should constantly endeavour to reduce delays in processes.” The observation has been made in respect of all the central ministries.

Speaking about the need of innovations in government working, the PM has observed that innovations need not be big always and small changes can bring in big impact. “An award to innovation among officers…Innovation needs system flexibility. 1 % of each department may be considered to be allocated for innovation,” the PM observed.

Focusing on performance, the PMO has also noted that there is need to move from process based administration to performance based administration and each officer should be given clear task with freedom and responsibility.

The PM has also talked about team work as he observed, “Need to reach out to everyone in the team. Break the habit of working in silos. Knowledge sharing is necessary and helps better decision making.”

Speaking further on works, the PMO has observed, “Need to have a positive attitude towards work-behind every file are people. Whatever you do or not do, impacts the entire country. Need to aware of this always.”

It has also been said that successful experiments in governance should be documented and developed into a framework for replication across the country and institutions of repute may be engaged in this regard.

Apart from this, the PM has also asked for simplification of rules in government working. “Simplification of rules needs immediate attention—annual validation of all government circulars and orders is a must.”

The PMO has also asked the ministries to focus more on ‘soft copies’ as it has said that “hard copies of government orders or guidelines should be an exception.”

Speaking about coordination among seniors and juniors in the government departments, the PMO has observed, “there is need for communication between seniors and juniors. Need for a department vision and not just project plans. Need to align all employees of the organization to the vision of the organization.”

 

De Facto President’s Rule in Delhi : Kejriwal

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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today alleged that there is de facto President’s rule in Delhi because of what the AAP government describes as an ongoing IAS officers’ strike.

Kejriwal made the allegation as his sit-in along with three cabinet colleagues at the waiting room of Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office entered its sixth day.

Kejriwal accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai have stayed put at the office demanding that Baijal direct IAS officers to end their “strike” and approve doorstep ration delivery scheme.

In response to a tweet about IAS officers withdrawing from work being de facto President’s rule, Kejriwal tweeted, “I agree. It is de facto President’s rule in Delhi thro IAS strike (sic).”

Jain and Sisodia have been sitting on hunger strike at the waiting room of the L-G Secretariat since Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

The Chief Minister has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work with his officers not attending his meetings.

In his letter to Modi yesterday, Kejriwal urged him to end IAS officers’ strike so that he can attend a meeting of NITI Aayog on Sunday.

However, the IAS officers’ association has maintained that no officer is on “strike”.

Also, Sisodia yesterday released a video warning that if they are forcibly removed from the L-G Secretariat, they will stop drinking water too.

Sources said the L-G, who has been working from his residence after the sit-in by AAP ministers, has constituted three teams of doctors to examine the health of ministers.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court yesterday agreed to hear on June 18 a plea seeking direction to the L-G to ensure that the alleged informal strike by IAS officers of Delhi is called off and they perform their duties as public servants.

The petition comes in the backdrop of another plea filed on Thursday in the court seeking that the sit-in by Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues at the L-G office against the “strike” by the IAS officers be declared unconstitutional and illegal.

This plea against Kejriwal’s sit-in was also listed for hearing for June 18.

RTI act being reconsidered for revision

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Even as the central government has confirmed that the matter regarding amendment in the Right to Information (RTI) Act is under consideration, the Department of Personnel and Training refused to provide details of the proposed amendment bill.

An RTI reply received by Anjali Bhardwaj this month from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said: “The matter regarding amendment in the RTI Act, 2005 is under consideration and has not reached finality. As per section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005, information requested by you cannot be supplied at this stage.”

Among the questions which were asked in the RTI application include: the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 was prepared by the DoPT; the date on which the DOPT forwarded the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 to the cabinet and the date on which the cabinet has taken a decision regarding the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005.

It also asked for a copy of the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005, prepared by the DOPT and a copy of the decision of the cabinet regarding the proposal to amend it.

Bhardwaj said under the Pre-legislative Consultation Policy (PLCP) of 2014, the government is supposed to put out all the legislations, policies etc that it is planning in the public domain for one month for consultation.

“The government is not wanting to make the amendment public at all. Unfortunately, we are finding that any amendment or laws that they are bringing in, there is no pre-legislative consultation on these.

“Even in the case of the Whistleblower’s Protection Amendment Bill, they didn’t put anything in the public. We filed an RTI application, but they didn’t give us any information,” Bhardwaj said.

“From media reports, we got to know that an RTI amendment was being planned and there was an RTI Amendment bill. So, we filed this RTI to know the content of the bill. They have denied it to us,” she added.

Bhardwaj said there was a clause in the RTI Act Section 8(1)(i), which says that cabinet papers cannot be given under the RTI.

“But we didn’t ask for cabinet papers, we have asked for what the DOPT has prepared and the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared. What is so secret about the date. They have denied all the information related to the amendment,” she said.

“The government has confirmed that it is planning to amend the RTI Act but has illegally refused to share details of the amendment bill in response to an RTI application.”

Bharjwaj also said: “It has refused to even disclose the dates on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared by the DoPT and date on which it was forwarded to the cabinet by the DoPT, which cannot be covered under Section 8(1)(i).”

Expressing concern over the media reports that the amendment the government was planning to bring was regressive, Bhardwaj said: “What is worrisome is they are planning to reduce the stature of the Information Commissioners and weaken the Information Commissions in the country.

“At the moment, the salaries and allowances of the Commissioners are same as that of a SC judge. But, now the government will have the discretion to decide their salaries. That is very dangerous. It erodes the independence of the Commission.

“There is a powerful law in place. There is no need to make changes. What the government should instead do is appoint Information Commissioners. At the CIC, there are four vacancies and four more to come this year including the Chief Information Commissioner who is retiring. Why is the government trying to tinker with the law and amend the law and dilute it.

“We need to know as citizens what is the government planning. They are not telling us. Even this is hearsay. There might be more amendments also,” she added.

Rakesh Math Summoned in Gauri Lankesh’s Murder

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The SIT probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has summoned Rakesh Math, the Vijayapura district president of fringe right-wing outfit Sri Ram Sene, for questioning, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The SIT decided to question Math since the suspected shooter of Lankesh, Parshuram Waghmore, was an active member of the Hindutva organisation linked to moral policing in parts of Karnataka.
The official, from the SIT, said they wanted to find out whether Math was involved in Lankesh’s assassination and whether he “brainwashed” Waghmore to participate in the plot.

Math and Waghmore were allegedly involved in hoisting a Pakistani flag outside the tahsildar office in their hometown Sindagi of Vijayapura district in Karnataka in January 2012.

The SIT believes Math has a strong support base in coastal regions, including Mangaluru, and parts of north Karnataka.

“We have summoned Rakesh Math. He has not come yet,” the official said.

Sri Ram Sene founder and chief Pramod Muthalik has distanced himself and his organisation from Waghmore and the killing of Lankesh and other rationalists.

Lankesh was shot dead at the entrance of her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year.

“There is no connection between Sri Ram Sene and Waghmore. He is neither our member nor our worker. This I say very clearly,” said Muthalik.

The Sene chief said when the Pakistani flag hoisting issue had come to light, it was said that Waghmore was a member of Sri Ram Sene. However, he said he has proved that Waghmore was not a member of Sri Ram Sene but of RSS.

“I had shared his pictures sporting RSS uniform. I had said at that time that he is an RSS worker and not of Sri Ram Sene,” Muthalik said.

Conceding that Math is the district head of Sene, Muthalik said he has been summoned for inquiry because all of them are from Sindagi town and were involved in the Pakistani flag hoisting incident.

Since both Waghmore and Math were involved in the Pakistani flag case and were from the same town, the police might have summoned the latter for interrogation.
“Rakesh Math is our district president. However, the organisation has its own constitution according to which it functions. If somebody does something privately in his personal capacity, it cannot be held responsible,” he said.

Parashuram Waghmore’s father Ashok Waghmore, who had come from Sindagi to Bengaluru to see his son, said he was innocent but could not recall where he (Parashuram) was on September 5, the day Lankesh was shot dead.

“I think he was at home,” Ashok Waghmore told a Kannada news channel.

Rakesh said he came to Bengaluru following a notice to appear for the inquiry.

“I received a notice stating that my presence was required for the investigation (of Lankesh murder case),” Math told the channel.

He also said he has been Parashuram Waghmore’s friend and his arrest was quite shocking.

He said he came to know about his (Parashuram Waghmore’s) arrest after the police picked him up.

Rakesh was confident that his friend would come out clean.

He denied his involvement in the killing and said he has only been doing organisational work.

Eid in Valley

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Despite the Ramzan truce initiative by the Centre, attacks on security forces have continued in the Valley. Sporadic protests were also seen in several areas, inviting retaliation by security forces. Here’s how violence rocked the Valley in the days leading up to Eid

  • Aurangzeb, a soldier with Rashtriya Rifles was abducted from Pulwama on Wednesday. His bullet ridden body was recovered a few hours later

    * Aurangzeb’s father, an ex-Serviceman, demanded that his son’s murder be avenged in 32 hours, otherwise he would venture out himself to do the job

    * On Eid morning, a protester was killed in clashes with security forces in Anantnag. Terrorists also fired at security forces outside Srinagar, injuring four.

    * There was disquiet on the Pakistan border and LoC as well. Breaking from the usual tradition, Indian forces stationed at border did not exchange sweets with their Pakistani counterparts this year.

    * On Thursday, Shujaat Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir daily, was shot dead by bike borne terrorists outside his office in Lal Chowk, Srinagar.

    * Bukhari was instrumental in organising conferences for peace in Kashmir. He was also part of the ‘Track II process’ with Pakistan. Thousands attended his funeral in Baramulla. Chief ministerMehbooba Mufti and former CM Omar Abdullah were among the ones present.

* India on has rejected a UN report alleging human rights violations in Kashmir as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.” Ministry of External Affairs said the report is “overtly prejudiced” and seeks to build a “false narrative.”

* On Friday night, PM Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh discussed the security situation in Kashmir.

* Security for the annual Amarnath Yatra, that starts later this month is also being reviewed. A bus carrying pilgrims came under attack from terrorists last year.

* The Centre is expected to monitor the situation for some more days before taking a decision on extending the ceasefire. Some sections within the security establishment are believed to be against an extension, contending that it allows militants to regroup.

Indians may have to wait for over 150 years for a Green Card

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Indians with advanced degrees may have to wait for over 150 years for a Green Card which authorises them to live and work in the US permanently, according to projections by a think-tank.

The new calculation on the Green Card wait period by Cato Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, comes after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently released number of applicants for such cards.

The calculation is based on the number of Green Card issuances in 2017.

As of April 20, 2018, there were 632,219 Indian immigrants and their spouses and minor children waiting for Green Cards also known as legal permanent residency cards. The shortest wait is for the highest skilled category for EB-1 immigrants  with “extraordinary ability”. EB stands for employment based.

The extraordinary immigrants from India will have to wait “only” six years, Cato Institute said in its latest report.

According to the USCIS, there are 34,824 Indian applicants under EB-1 category.+ Along with their 48,754 spouse and children, 83,578 Indians are in line for Green Card under EB-1 category.

EB-3 immigrants– those with bachelor’s degrees– will have to wait about 17 years, Cato Institute said. As of April 20, there were 54,892 Indians in this category. Clubbed with 60,381 spouses and children, the total number of Indians waiting for Green Card in EB-3 category are 1,15,273.

However, the biggest backlog is for EB-2 workers, who have advanced degrees.

“At current rates of visa issuances, they will have to wait 151 years for a Green Card. Obviously, unless the law changes, they will have died or left by that point,” Cato institute said.

According to the USCIS, there were 2,16,684 primary Indian applicants under EB-2 category and 2,16,684 spouses and children, thus making a total of 4,33,368.

This is primarily because of the existing laws which imposes per-country-limit of seven per cent.

In all 306,400 primary Indian applicants are waiting for their Green Cards. Clubbed with their spouses and children numbering 325,819; as many as 632,219 Indians in all are waiting for their Green Cards.

In 2017 only 22,602 Indians were issued the legal permanent residency cards. Of these 13,082 were in the EB-1 category, 2,879 in EB-2 category and 6,641 in Eb-3 category, according to the latest USCIS figures.

Cato Institute said the Green Card allocation is not based on the the backlog, so 69 per cent of the backlog is in the EB-2 category, but it received only 13 per cent of the Green Cards issued in 2017.

There are two reasons for this, it explained.

First, each category is guaranteed a minimum of 40,040 Green Cards, so the allocation between categories does not adjust when one category has higher demand than the others.

Second, EB-2 is currently subject to the per-country limits, that prevent Indian immigrants from receiving more than seven per cent of the Green Cards issued in the category, the report said.

Cato Institute notes that that for employment-based Green Cards, the per-country limit only applies in full force when the category is filled up, meaning that if some Green Cards would go to waste, Indian immigrants can receive above the per-country limit of 7 per cent. For this reason, Indian immigrants received nearly 18 per cent of the total Green Cards issued in the EB-3 category in 2017.

Referring to the inconsistency in the application of the per-country limit, the report said if the per-country limits end up not applying fully for EB-2 during some future years, they could receive their Green Cards before the next century.

For example, if they received the same number of Green Cards as EB-3 workers did in 2017, they would have to wait “only” for 65 years, rather than 151 years as projected based on the number of issuances in 2017.

On the other hand, if the per-country limits end up applying fully for EB-3 workers after 2018, they could end up having to wait more than 40 years, rather than 17 years, the report said.

 

India Proposes to Raise Customs Duty on 30 US Products

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India has now submitted a revised list of 30 items — including motor cycle, certain iron and steel goods, boric acid and lentils — to the WTO on which it proposes to raise customs duty by up to 50 per cent.

As duties hiked by the US on certain steel and aluminium products would have implications of about $241 million on India, the raise in tariffs proposed by New Delhi too would have an equal implication on America.

“The US would be collecting $241 million worth of duties by hiking tariffs on certain steel and aluminium items from India, we also proposed to withdraw concessions of similar amount from these 30 products imported by India from the US,” a source said.

Earlier in May, India proposed to raise duties by up to 100 per cent on 20 products such as almonds, apple and specific motorcycles imported from the US.

The additional duty proposed to be hiked on these items ranges from 10 per cent to 100 per cent.

“The revision is being provided to adjust the products and the tariff rates in accordance with India’s rights reserved vide its notification to the Council for Trade in Goods contained in the WTO document…of May 18, 2018.

“India hereby reiterates its decision to suspend concessions or other obligations notified to the Council for Trade in Goods on May 18, 2018…of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards, that are substantially equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the measures imposed by the United States,” according to a communication by India to WTO.

It said that the proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations takes the form of an increase in tariffs on selected products originating in the US, based on the measures of the America.

“India reserves its right to further suspend substantially equivalent concessions and other obligations based on the trade impact resulting from the application of the measures of the US,” it added.

The country has proposed this move under the WTOs Agreement on Safeguards.

On March 9, US President Donald Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items, a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war.

Trump signed two proclamations that levied a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium imported from all countries except Canada and Mexico.

Earlier India had stated that these suspension will come into effect earlier than June 21, 2018, in case the US decides to continue the period of application of the measures.

It said that the duty imposed by America has affected steel exports by $198.6 million, while the same on aluminium was $42.4 million.

The other items include chickpeas, fresh apple, walnut, refined palmolein, motor cycle with engine capacity over 800 cc, diagnostic reagents and threaded nuts.

India has also dragged the US to the World Trade Organisations dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.

India’s exports of steel and aluminium products to America stood at about $1.5 billion every year. Its exports to the US in 2016-17 stood at $42.21 billion, while imports were $22.3 billion.

Residents of Himachal Pradesh are Lacking in Financial Literacy : RBI, Shimla Regional Director Amaranth

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The residents of Himachal Pradesh are lacking in financial literacy, which is below the national average.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shimla Regional Director Amaranth speaking about the ongoing financial literacy week that began on Monday said, “Financial literacy of Himachal Pradesh was 16 per cent, which is below against the national average of 24 per cent.”

The findings have been revealed by the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), working under Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that had conducted a survey across the country, he added.

According to the NCFE study the financial literacy of Goa was 50 per cent, Kerala being the highly literate state (84 per cent) in India has the second highest level of financial literacy which was 36 per cent.

The states like Manipur, Gujarat also has high financial literacy at 36 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.

Besides, HP other states like Chandigarh, Mizoram, Bihar, Nagaland, Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Maharashtra have the lowest level of financial literacy which is below 20 per cent.

The RBI as an initiative under ‘Project Financial Literacy’ has taken up the task of disseminating information about the basic banking concepts to the various target groups from various walks of life including rural and urban people, school and college students.

Amarnath said that with the recent digitisation having secured a vital role, it has become all the more imperative for ‘consumer protection’ which has been adopted as the theme this year for financial literacy.

The objective is to create awareness among the consumers of financial services about their rights, responsibilities, good practices to be followed in banking transactions for safe digital banking experience and resolution mechanism in a fast changing digital financial landscape, he added.

During the financial literacy week focus will be on four related themes that includes know your liability for unauthorised electronic banking transaction, banking ombudsman (an easy mechanism for complaints redressal), good practices for a safe digital banking experience, risk and return for which content has been developed by RBI.

He said that there have been numerous complaints where people got defrauded by someone claiming to be from Bank or RBI and asking for customers personal details like card numbers One Time Passwords, expiry date and other details.

Awareness will be disseminated to the target groups besides the RBI official website, with the help of banks, local government agencies, school and colleges through brouchers, pamphlets.