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High-level inquiry report says Sasikala given special treatment inside prison cell

OpIndia Staff
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High-level inquiry report says Sasikala given special treatment inside prison cell

The committee set up to look into the allegations of V K Sasikala, who is serving a  four-year sentence in a corruption case, being given special treatment inside prison cell has found out serious lapses and falsification of records by the senior prison officials.

The high-level inquiry committee led by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar had submitted the report last year which was accepted by the Karnataka government. The government had directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau into allegations of irregularities in Bengaluru central prison has found “serious lapses” a to register a case but the findings were kept strictly confidential.

RTI activist Narasimha Murthy alleged that the jail authorities had allotted 5 rooms to Sasikala while she is entitled to only one room.


He further alleged that rules were openly flouted in providing a cook to Sasikala who would prepare food for her in the prison and that people were allowed to meet her in groups and even stay for hours.


The issue regarding special treatment to Sasikala was highlighted in 2017 by the then Deputy Inspector General of Police (Prisons) D Roopa. Roopa had written to the authorities that prison authorities were extending special treatment to Sasikala for a bribe of Rs 2 crore. However right after the issue was brought to the notice of the authorities by Roopa, she was transferred to the Traffic Department.

Karnataka: Two Congress MLAs fight each other at Eagleton resort, MLA Anand Singh injured after being hit by a bottle

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: Two Congress MLAs fight each other at Eagleton resort, MLA Anand Singh injured after being hit by a bottle

There seems to be no end to the political drama in the state of Karnataka, as reportedly two Congress MLAs have fought each other violently over the issue of their support to the Congress-JDS coalition government in the state, reported News18.

A heated argument between two Congress MLAs from Bellary- Anand Singh and JN Ganesh turned violent and Anand Singh was injured after JN Ganesh hit him with a bottle. The incident happened during an intense argument over joining hands with Congress-JDS coalition. The Congress MLAs are staying at the Eagleton resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru amidst the rumours of few Congress MLAs deciding to quit the party to support the BJP to form the government.

Reportedly, there was a heated exchange initially at Vidhan Soudha between Hospet MLA Anand Singh and Kampli MLA JN Ganesh on the issue of mining. Soon, both the Congress MLAs were shifted to the Eagleton resort along with other Congress legislators to avoid any risks of possible poaching by the BJP. However, a fight between Ganesh and Singh broke out when the former accused the latter of leaking information to the Congress party. Reportedly, Ganesh is rebelling against the Congress party and also in talks with the BJP.

Ganesh accused Anand Singh of not only leaking information to the Congress but also misleading him to join the Congress party. He reportedly said that Congress did not offer him any ministerial post while he could have been a minister if he had joined the BJP and held Anand Singh responsible for that. After this, a physical fight broke out amidst an intense quarrel, which led to Ganesh allegedly hitting Anand Singh with a bottle leaving the latter injured.

According to the reports, Anand Singh has now been admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru for further treatment. Most of the senior Congress leaders including Deputy CM Parameshwar met Anand Singh in the hospital but refuted any claims of fighting between the two Congress leaders.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar rejected the reports of a fight between Karnataka Congress MLAs Anand Singh and JN Ganesh said, “There is no fight. You saw all of them coming together, going together. It’s fake news. Entire Congress party is united.I’m confident that even those who couldn’t attend CLP will come to Congress.”

Deputy CM Parameshwar and Congress leader DK Suresh however, visited the hospital to check the health condition of Anand Singh and claimed that the Hospet MLA was admitted to the hospital as he was unwell and dismissed that there was any fight at the resort.

“I don’t know about the fight Anand Singh is admitted in hospital due to chest pain. There are no injuries or anything. His parents are here at the hospital. Other issues are just speculations,” said DK Suresh, Congress MP and brother of DK Shivakumar.

Meanwhile, BJP has grabbed the opportunity to attack the Congress government for instability within the party and the Karnataka government. “What more proof do we need to tell all is not well within Congress…Congress MLA’s in Eagleton resort indulged in physical fight & 1 MLA is admitted. How long will Congress be in denial mode & blame BJP for all their differences? When political party is lame, it loves to blame,” said the Karnataka BJP.


Former Deputy CM and BJP leader R Ashok speaking to the media said, “DK Shivakumar & DK Suresh are confusing people by telling lies. Doctors of Apollo Hospital should come out & give clarification about whether Anand Singh is admitted for chest pain treatment or for something else. Police should file a suo-motu case & investigate.”

On Friday, the Congress moved 76 of its 80 lawmakers to the resort amid fears of poaching by the BJP. Four of the Congress MLAs did not make it to the Eagleton Resorts and also failed to attend the Congress legislature party meet on Friday. All the four MLAs have been sent a showcause notice by the Congress party. Recently, two independent MLAs, H Nagesh and R Shankar had withdrawn their support from the Karnataka government.

Opposition rally in Kolkata: Crowd nowhere near the 50 lakh mark as projected, many left mid-way

OpIndia Staff
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Opposition rally in Kolkata: Crowd nowhere near the 50 lakh mark as projected, many left mid-way

After a massive build-up created for several weeks over the turnout at the United India rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, the final crowd count was far from what had been projected by the Trinamool Congress party and failed to impress the political veterans, reports DNA.

The over-hyped Brigade meeting has been making headlines for quite some time now, as TMC supremo along with leaders of the Congress, TDP, SP, RJD, NC and AAP are devising a united opposition to give a clarion call to oust the BJP-led NDA coalition government at the centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Veteran political observers said that although the turnout was impressive it was not a ‘historic’ one as TMC wanted.

“The way it was being projected we were thinking that even the lanes adjoining the ground would be chocked but nothing of that sort happened. The gathering was under 10 lakh and nowhere near the 50 lakh mark which was projected. The capacity of Brigade Parade Ground is 3.5 lakh and it was surely full,” said a senior police official preferring anonymity.

The onlookers had started leaving the ground mid-way in such big numbers that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had to intervene asking them to stay back. “No vehicles will leave before 4 pm. You people sit down and listen to all the leaders. Let them know how disciplined you are,” Mamata said.

People mostly coming from remote districts, felt disconnected as Karnataka CM, HD Kumaraswamy, started speaking in English and started leaving the ground.

People who were leaving said they could not understand anything. “Some of the leaders are speaking in English which we have no clue about. Some are speaking in Tamil which is being translated in a strange way and there are some leaders who are speaking in Hindi but owing to the age they are incomprehensible,” said Ramesh Kundu who had come from South 24 Parganas district.

Mamata, who was anchoring the event said, “There are 6-7 more speakers and then I will be speaking at the end.” But sadly while Mamata’s speech was still on nearly half the ground had left the venue.

Earlier Mamata Government in its animosity towards the BJP had refused to give permission to BJP’s Rath Yatra citing threats of ‘communal disharmony’ in the state.

BJP had planned three grand rallies from different parts in West Bengal, travelling across the state’s 42 parliamentary constituencies over one-and-a-half months to protest against the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress government.

After being denied permission the BJP resolute to create awareness decided to organise ‘padyatras’ instead.

Media spreads half-truths about central government debt under Modi

Shantanu
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Media spreads half-truths about central government debt under Modi

On January 19th 2018, several media houses reported how the central government debt had increased massively under the Modi government. India Today headline screamed how central debt under the Modi government had surged by a whopping 50%, and Economic Times reported how India’s debt is up by 50% under the Modi era according to the 8th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt that was released on Friday.

Soon, the anti-Modi brigade latched on to the report and started using it to deride the Modi government.


While there is nothing factually wrong in these reports, the real mischief lies in what these reports don’t tell you.

What the reports don’t clarify:

The increase in debt is perfectly normal, in fact, India is doing better than many major economies on this parameter

The central government borrows money (from internal and external sources) to fund the fiscal deficit. Govt debt is nothing but an accumulation of fiscal deficits over the years. Government debt over the years has always increased. The important factor here is the sustainability of the debt, and the most important parameter to evaluate sustainability is the Debt to GDP ratio (because as the GDP increases, govt’s revenue increases and thus its ability to service debt enhances). In India’s case, the Central government debt to GDP ratio has been hovering around 44-47% since 2010 and has shown improvement under the Modi government.

 

Central Government Debt to GDP (%)

The above chart shows that the ratio has improved from 46.98% in 2013 to 45.11% in 2017. Similarly, the gross general government debt, which includes borrowings of both Central and State governments has hovered between 67-72% since 2010 and is expected to steadily decline until 2024.

Gross debt position (% of GDP)

Finance ministry, in a recent press release, commented on the government debt –

The overall liabilities of the Central Government are on a medium-term declining trajectory and Government’s Debt Portfolio is characterised by prudent risk profile. Government is primarily resorting to market-linked borrowings for financing its fiscal deficit. Conventional indicators of Debt sustainability, i.e., Debt/GDP ratio, interest payment to revenue receipts, shares of short-term Debt/External Debt/FRBs in total debt indicate that the debt profile of the Government is comfortably placed in terms of debt sustainability parameters and is consistently improving.

Under UPA, central government debt increased at a much higher rate

 While all reports and tweets by opposition leaders harped on the 49% increase in central government debt under Modi government, they conveniently forgot to compare it with what happened during UPA government. OpIndia analysis shows that the central government debt increased by 68% under UPA-I and 89% under UPA-II. Cumulatively, the debt more than tripled in 10 years of UPA. But why show the complete picture when half of it helps your propaganda?

Central government debt

When it comes to external debt (borrowings from foreign governments and institutions), the figure saw an increase of 443% under UPA-I, 60% under UPA-II and 0.04% under the Modi government. This underscores the statement from the Finance Ministry that the government is primarily resorting to market-linked borrowings to finance the fiscal deficit.

Thus, the number 49% is more hype and less substance. But it’s election season, so expect much more misleading news based on half-truths.

Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit hits out at Arvind Kejriwal, says Congress will highlight AAP’s ‘propaganda’

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit hits out at Arvind Kejriwal, says Congress will highlight AAP’s ‘propaganda’

Sheila Dikshit, the three-time Delhi chief minister who took over as the Congress party’s Delhi unit chief recently, hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that the Congress would hold programmes in all districts to make Delhiites aware of the “propaganda” of the Aam Aadmi Party government.

Dikshit was speaking at a meeting of District and Block Congress Committee presidents at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office, as part of the party’s preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. DPCC working presidents Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia were also present in the meeting.

In the meeting, it was also decided that the DPCC will hold conventions in their respective areas from next week, which would be addressed by the recently elected Pradesh Congress president Sheila Dikshit.

Dikshit while speaking to the members of DPCC said that in order to strengthen the Congress party, she would hold ‘Jag Jagran Abhiyan’ in each district in which the Delhiites would be made aware of the false promises and propaganda and the corruption of the AAP. “In the last four years, the AAP Government in Delhi has not done anything for the development of Delhi,” she said.

Lambasting at the Aam Aadmi party for not carrying out any development work in the past four years Dikshit said that the “truth” was that Kejriwal was “taking credit for the development works carried out by the Congress government during its 15-year rule”.

She said the AAP government was “misleading” Delhiites when it came to their mohalla clinics and other healthcare services.

She added that with the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the Congress would aim to win all seven seats in Delhi, for which the district and block committee presidents would be the backbone.

“Ms Dikshit said that the confusing statements of the BJP and the AAP, their corruption, wrong policies and failures should be told to the people to make them aware about such matters,” the DPCC statement said.

Earlier, criticising the Arvind Kejriwal-led party over the resolution introduced to withdraw the Bharat Ratna given to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Dikshit had denied any possibility of forming an alliance with AAP. She had said that “there is no question of aligning with them after what they have done. I have always had the opinion that the Congress must stay away and fight on its own. We can do it and it’s not difficult. We just have to be together and fight.”

Taking a jibe at the Aam Aadmi party, Dikshit said that it is a small party and such a small party keeps coming and going, “The AAP is not something we have to worry about. It’s a political party that is confined to Delhi. Where is its presence in other states? Where is it in Gujarat or Rajasthan? It’s a small party and will come and go,” she said.

Regarding speculations of a tie-up with AAP, Congress veteran reiterated that “Working with AAP in any way is not possible. I have never said that I am willing for any kind of an alliance. If I have been quoted in this context, I would like to clarify that I have been misunderstood. We are not exploring an alliance with AAP.” Referring to a statement by AAP that such a tie-up was not on the cards, she told NDTV, “This is something they are just repeating. They only said what we already said.”

Last year in July, commenting on the ‘conflict‘ between the Delhi government and Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal, Sheila Dikshit had lashed out at the AAP saying that it was there ‘creation’. Dikshit had then said that there was no conflict with the L-G when she was in power from 1998 to 2013 “because the constitution clearly defines the roles of the chief minister, ministers and the L-G”. She had then also clearly disapproved AAP’s ‘style’ of working.

Karnataka: After expensive Hublot watch, a Mercedes car comes to haunt former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: After expensive Hublot watch, a Mercedes car comes to haunt former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

After facing severe flak over receiving expensive Hublot watch as a gift, a new controversy has struck former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as reports have now emerged that one of his close confidants has gifted him with a brand new Mercedes car worth Rs 1.8 crore.

According to the reports, Hebbal Congress MLA Bhyrathi Suresh, who is known to be a close aide of Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah gifted him a brand new expensive Mercedes Benz SUV causing huge controversy. The timing of receiving such gifts amidst the huge farm crisis looming over the state seems to have exposed the insensitivity of the Congress leaders.

Bhyrathi Suresh, who represents Hebbal is one of the richest politicians of the state with a net worth of Rs 416 crore. Suresh, along with his brother Bhyrathi Basavaraj-KR Puram MLA, is known to be from Siddaramaiah faction of the Karnataka Congress and incidentally hails from Kuruba community.

However, as soon as the news went viral, Suresh quickly denied that he had gifted the expensive car to the former CM, claimed that it was his car and had parked it in front of Siddaramaiah’s residence.

“I have not given Siddaramaiah any car. This is my car and I had parked it in front of his house. He may not even be aware of this,” Suresh stated and continued to state that his vehicles are always at the disposal of his friends, including Siddaramaiah.

Congress strongman DK Shivakumar, too, refuted these reports of Congress MLA gifting Mercedes-Benz car to Siddaramaiah, he said, “There is no gift or anything. We also sometimes take our friends’ vehicle to travel. There is no issue. Is there any record that he has received a gift or anything? Nothing, no record.”

Siddaramaiah’s love for gifts is not a closed secret anymore as this is not the first time he has allegedly accepted gifts from his party members and supporters. Earlier, Siddaramaiah was accused of receiving an expensive Hublot watch worth Rs 70 Lakh from a fugitive named Vijay Eshwaran, after which Siddaramaiah had to receive a huge backlash across the state.

In June 2018, KJ George, another close confidant of Siddaramaiah had gifted him a Toyota Land Cruiser to Siddaramaiah with fuel coupons for a year. George had explained that he had given the SUV to Siddaramaiah as the latter was not comfortable driving long distances in an Innova.

BJP President Amit Shah, who was suffering from Swine Flu, discharged from AIIMS

OpIndia Staff
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BJP President Amit Shah, who was suffering from Swine Flu, discharged from AIIMS

BJP President Amit Shah had informed his followers on 16th January that he is suffering from Swine Flu, and that he will be fine soon. Later, it was reported that Amit Shah is admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. Now, BJP Spokesperson Anil Baluni has informed media that BJP President has completed his treatment and taken discharge from Hospital.


Later Amit Shah himself tweeted that he is fully healthy now and has been discharged from the hospital. He thanked everyone for their good wishes.


Amit Shah’s 4 day-long treatment was marred with indecency displayed by some ’eminent’ journalists and opposition leaders of the country.

A Quint journalist, Stutee Mishra had taken to Twitter to ask whether “people die from Swine Flu”, after news of Amit Shah getting admitted to AIIMS, had gone viral. Following this, the news portal Quint had condemned the tweet and had also promised strict actions.

The hate-filled tweets towards BJP President had not only come from The Quint journalists. An NDTV Journalist, Sunetra Chowdhury, too had expressed her celebratory mood on Twitter. She was also joined by a scribe working at leftist propaganda website The Wire, Maya Mirchandani. The NDTV journalist had also expressed her ‘excitement’ when then Cheif Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi had suffered from Swine Flu in 2009.

On 17th January, BK Hariprasad, a Congress MP from Karnataka had mocked BJP President Amit Shah’s health condition, as he had said that Shah was suffering from ‘suar ka zukam’. He had warned Amit Shah of facing a more graver disease than swine flu if the JD(S)- Congress government in Karnataka is destabilised. He had given the statement in the wake of the speculations of a few Congress MLAs turning rebel and switching over to the BJP camp. A day later, the same leader had again issued a controversial statement claiming that he has received reports stating that BJP President Amit Shah does not have any flu at all.

On the occasion of PM Modi’s birthday in 2017,  a journalist associated with The Quint Suprateek Chatterjee had tweeted that he was happy to know that Prime Minister Modi was one year closer to death. The Quint later had disassociated itself from the scribe.

Congress leaders have not even spared incumbent Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikar. They have repeatedly dragged CM Parikar’s aliment into politics. Last year in December Congress leader Jaipal Reddy had commented that Parrikar is ‘sticking to his chair like a leech.’ Before that, state Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu had demanded that the BJP should either ‘show’ Parrikar is alive or they should conduct his ‘Shradh’ (death rituals).

“It is a matter for all of us to be glad, that our President Amit Shah, has finally cured himself and has received the discharge from AIIMS, and came back to his residence. Thanks to well-wishers and workers of the party” Anil Baluni tweeted.

Congress expels former minister Srikant Jena and former MLA Sagaria for ‘anti party activities’

OpIndia Staff
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Congress expels former minister Srikant Jena and former MLA Sagaria for ‘anti party activities’

According to a senior party leader, the Congress on Saturday expelled former Union Minister Srikant Jena and former MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria for alleged anti-party activities.

The Odisha Congress’ disciplinary committee convener Ananta Prasad Sethi, made the announcement late last night saying, “Both Jena and Sagaria have been expelled from the party as per the approval of the All India Congress Committee.”

They issued anti-party statements to the media causing damage to the Congress and were expelled from the primary membership of the party, Sethi added.

The Congress leader further alleged that the two had also issued remarks against OPCC (Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee) functionaries.

While Jena was a former Union Minister in the previous UPA government, the Dalit leader, Sagaria represented Koraput in the state assembly.

Upset over failing to ensure justice for a rape and murder victim and her family at Kunduli in Koraput district, Sagaria, who was the lone Dalit MLA of the Congress in the party, had in November resigned from the membership of the Odisha assembly.

Earlier in the day, Sagaria had strongly criticised OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik by saying, “Congress is not a property of Niranjan Patnaik. He is indulging in anti-party activities by giving statements on who will get a ticket or not in the media.”

The Congress now seems to be in trouble in Odisha as few days prior to this, it’s working president Naba Kishore Das and tribal MLA Jogesh Singh resigned from the party to join BJD last week. At least six more sitting MLAs are likely to quit and join the BJD.

In 2014 Assembly polls, Congress had recorded its worst-ever performance in its electoral history winning just 16 seats that are merely 25.7 per cent of the votes polled. And now following the defections of Naba Kishore Das and Jogesh Singh and the expulsion of Sagaria and Jena, its strength in the House has come down to 12.

Similarly, in the 2017 panchayat polls, the Congress’ vote share dropped to less than 20 per cent as the party conceded the main opposition tag to the BJP.

Indian Railways mulls export potential for Train-18, plans to set its foot into $200bn global market with the new semi-high speed train

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Railways mulls export potential for Train-18, plans to set its foot into $200bn global market with the new semi-high speed train

Eyeing a market of over $200 billion rolling stock and semi-high speed railway market, the Indian Railways is looking at utilising the opportunity to make an entry into unexplored markets. Interestingly, Peru, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and some countries in the Middle East have expressed interest in importing the Railways’ state-of-the-art Train 18.

According to the reports, a senior official said on Friday said that many countries have expressed interest in the ‘Train-18’, which is yet to get the government approval to conduct its first run between Delhi and Varanasi.

“Many countries have expressed interest in the train set and we are happy and proud that an indigenously made product is attracting so much interest. The rolling stock market worldwide is worth about 200 billion dollars and we want a significant share of it. Now, the aim is to successfully run the train,” said Member, Rolling Stock, Railway Board, Rajesh Agarwal.

Reportedly, the train set equivalent to Train-18 standards costs around Rs 250 crore worldwide compared to Rs 100 crore at which the Indian version manufactured by Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is priced at.

India is the newest entry into the semi-high speed club and is looking forward to pitching Train-18 as a mascot of India’s manufacturing capabilities while hosting the upcoming International High-Speed Rail Association (IHRA) conference in February.

“The production of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches increased from around 685 in 2014-2015 to 4,016 during the current year. The actual production up to December 2018 has touched 3,106 coaches with three more months to go. In fact, the total LHB production of the first 17 years has been exceeded in the last two years, which is unprecedented,” Agarwal said.

One of the projects they are eyeing is the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High-Speed Rail (HSR) project which is currently stalled because of pricing issues. Many companies from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe are believed to have expressed interest in the project. Indian Railways now wants to bid in this project as they believe that the project would be financially viable with a semi high-speed train.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly also asked the railways officials to make a presentation on the Train-18 before heads of all Indian missions so that they can popularise the train in countries where they are posted as a part of economic diplomacy push.

Train-18, the country’s first engine-less, self-propelled train for inter-city travel manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, under the ‘Make in India’ initiative is capable of running at a speed of up to 180 kmph. The Train-18 is all set to replace the Shatabdi Express that has been in the service of Indian Railways for the past 30 years.

Madhya Pradesh: BJP Mandal President Manoj Thackeray found murdered in a field

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: BJP Mandal President Manoj Thackeray found murdered in a field

BJP leader Manoj Thackeray who had gone for an early morning walk has been found dead in a field. His body, with his head smashed by stones, was recovered.


The perpetrators are yet to be identified. Thackeray’s body was found a few minutes away from the road near Radha Swami Bhawan of Balwadi village. According to police, a blood stained rock has been found near the crime site. It is believed that he was killed with that rock. Investigation is currently underway.

More details are awaited in the case.

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