Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday asked the Bihar government to open "janata hotels" in rural areas to provide cheap food to poor people in view of the drought.
Last week, 26 of the state's 38 districts were declared drought-hit. Bihar has recorded a 38 percent rainfall deficit so far this monsoon season.
"The government should initiate a move to provide lunch and dinner at Rs.2 for the poor who are likely to be hit hard by the drought," Lalu Prasad said on Thursday.
The former railway minister also asked middle class and affluent people to restrict their intake of food to save food grains.
"We should take care to consume less to save food grains," he said, adding that as per official records India has a foodstock buffer for just 13 months.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an aid package of Rs.23,071 crore to meet the financial burden caused by the "unprecedented drought".
A 11-member central team Wednesday embarked on a three-day visit to the drought-hit districts.
The drought has affected about 1.26 crore families in 26 districts with paddy coverage showing an overall shortfall of 57 percent. link
Showing posts with label Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Show all posts
Thursday 20 August 2009
Thursday 28 May 2009
Lone representation in Team Manmohan disappoints Bihar
With no leader from Bihar making it to the Team Manmohan Thursday, many in the state, where the Congress won only two Lok Sabha seats, expressed disappointment over the decreasing number of Bihar ministers in the union cabinet - from 12 in 2004 to just one in 2009.
Meira Kumar is the lone face from Bihar in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet. She was sworn in May 22 when 19 ministers took oath in the first instalment of government formation.
Fifty-nine ministers were sworn in at Thursday’s oath ceremony but there was none from Bihar.
“It was shocking for us that Bihar found no place when 59 ministers took oath. It is first time in my memory,” said Amit Kumar, 20, a college student.
There were 13 ministers from Bihar in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 1999. Ten ministers from the state were in the Deve Gowda-led government in 1996 and the same was the case in I.K. Gujral’s government.
“Nearly after two decades, representation of Bihar in the central ministry is very poor. It is a matter of concern,” said businessman Rajesh Kumar Singh, 50.
Marketing professional Jai Prakash Yadav, 40, feared that the “wrong” decision to have only one minister from Bihar will “effect (the) centre-state relationship”.
Many in the state were expecting that at least three newly elected MPs from the state will find a place in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
People were hoping that Congress MP from Kishanganj Maulana Asrarul Haque and two independent MPs Digvijay Singh and Om Prakash Yadav would be sworn in.
Haque, a Muslim cleric, is a first time MP from Muslim-dominated Kishanganj constituency. He defeated former central minister Mohammed Taslimuddin of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
“If the BJP can have Syed Shahnawaz Hussain as a minister after he won from Kishanganj in 1999, why the Congress cannot have Haque,” said Shamsher Ali, a Congress worker in the constituency.
The Congress won only two Lok Sabha seats from Bihar - Kishanganj and Sasaram. The party contested the elections alone after the seat sharing arrangement with Lalu Prasad’s RJD failed.
Meira Kumar is the lone face from Bihar in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet. She was sworn in May 22 when 19 ministers took oath in the first instalment of government formation.
Fifty-nine ministers were sworn in at Thursday’s oath ceremony but there was none from Bihar.
“It was shocking for us that Bihar found no place when 59 ministers took oath. It is first time in my memory,” said Amit Kumar, 20, a college student.
There were 13 ministers from Bihar in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 1999. Ten ministers from the state were in the Deve Gowda-led government in 1996 and the same was the case in I.K. Gujral’s government.
“Nearly after two decades, representation of Bihar in the central ministry is very poor. It is a matter of concern,” said businessman Rajesh Kumar Singh, 50.
Marketing professional Jai Prakash Yadav, 40, feared that the “wrong” decision to have only one minister from Bihar will “effect (the) centre-state relationship”.
Many in the state were expecting that at least three newly elected MPs from the state will find a place in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
People were hoping that Congress MP from Kishanganj Maulana Asrarul Haque and two independent MPs Digvijay Singh and Om Prakash Yadav would be sworn in.
Haque, a Muslim cleric, is a first time MP from Muslim-dominated Kishanganj constituency. He defeated former central minister Mohammed Taslimuddin of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
“If the BJP can have Syed Shahnawaz Hussain as a minister after he won from Kishanganj in 1999, why the Congress cannot have Haque,” said Shamsher Ali, a Congress worker in the constituency.
The Congress won only two Lok Sabha seats from Bihar - Kishanganj and Sasaram. The party contested the elections alone after the seat sharing arrangement with Lalu Prasad’s RJD failed.
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Free mobile phones to fight Maoists in Jharkhand
Authorities in an insurgency-hit eastern Indian state are distributing free mobile phones to villagers to provide information about Maoist rebels, officials said.
The heads of about 220 villages in Jharkhand have been provided with a mobile phone each and users are provided with a list of police numbers to call as part of the latest strategy to fight Maoist insurgency.
"The idea of distributing mobile sets is to strengthen our network system in remote villages," Sudhir Kumar, police chief of the state's East Singhbhum district, a Maoist hotbed, told. "We are getting a good response."
Maoists, who have been running an almost four-decade-long insurgency, control vast tracts of rural land in about a dozen states in east, central and parts of southern India.
They say they are fighting for the rights of farmers and the poor. The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and has been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the country's gravest internal security threat.
Villagers say the mobile phones are a useful tool in the fight against the Maoists.
"One night we saw a few Maoist rebels roaming around our village. We used our mobile to pass on information," said Antu Hembrom, a village headman.
"Police reacted fast and the rebels were arrested."link
The heads of about 220 villages in Jharkhand have been provided with a mobile phone each and users are provided with a list of police numbers to call as part of the latest strategy to fight Maoist insurgency.
"The idea of distributing mobile sets is to strengthen our network system in remote villages," Sudhir Kumar, police chief of the state's East Singhbhum district, a Maoist hotbed, told. "We are getting a good response."
Maoists, who have been running an almost four-decade-long insurgency, control vast tracts of rural land in about a dozen states in east, central and parts of southern India.
They say they are fighting for the rights of farmers and the poor. The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and has been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the country's gravest internal security threat.
Villagers say the mobile phones are a useful tool in the fight against the Maoists.
"One night we saw a few Maoist rebels roaming around our village. We used our mobile to pass on information," said Antu Hembrom, a village headman.
"Police reacted fast and the rebels were arrested."link
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
