India to step up aid for Afghan-owned growth
Both opposition parties move adjournment motion; INLD dubs BJP government as antifarmer, claims some people faking as farmers thanked CM for scrapping project
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed on Tuesday India’s pledge to step up reconstruction initiatives in Afghanistan and called for joint efforts to combat terrorism.
He told visiting Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani that India supports a negotiated political reconciliation in his country not dictated by any other nation.
“The Indian leadership reiterated its support for a negotiated political reconciliation in Afghanistan that is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. It was emphasised that renunciation of violence and terror; and closure of cross-border safe havens and sanctuaries were essential for any meaningful progress and lasting peace,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
India blames Pakistan-based terrorist outfits for the instability in Afghanistan and the region.
This was Ghani’s fourth visit to the country in three years and 12th personal interaction with Modi, the latest after the US announced a new Afghan policy that sought a larger role for India and faulted Pakistan for doing little to rein in terrorist outfits.
: Dissatisfied with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s response over the state government’s decision to scrap the Dadupur-Nalvi canal scheme, opposition parties Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Congress staged separate walkouts during the ongoing assembly session on Tuesday.
Speaking on the adjournment motion, leader of opposition Abhay Chautala said that ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was anti-farmer and is doing politics with the farming community.
There was uproar in the House when Abhay said the government’s decision to scrap the canal scheme was a blow to farmers and the CM put up a drama with some people faking as farmers thanking him for scrapping the project.
This led to heated arguments between BJP MLAs Krishan Kumar Bedi, Shyam Singh Rana, Nayab Saini and Karan Dev Kamboj led by parliamentary affairs minister Ram Bilas Sharma and INLD legislators Abhay, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Zakir Husain, Naseem Ahmed and Ravinder Dhull.
Earlier, during the question hour, Abhay and Krishan Kumar Bedi exchanged barbs over the INLD MLA’s fake farmer remark. When Bedi objected to it, Abhay retorted, “Tera rog to mein yehin abhi katunga (I would set you right here).” Khattar told the opposition MLAs that it was sad that they were still doing politics over the issue instead of addressing it. “I can give provide credentials of all farmers for verification whether they are fake or genuine,” he told Abhay. On this, the INLD MLAs staged a walkout.
CONG LEGISLATORS FOLLOW THE SUIT
Minutes later, the Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Karan Dalal, Kuldeep Sharma, Kiran Chaudhry and Geeta Bhukkal also condemned the scrapping of the scheme and asked Khattar as under which section of law had the scheme was de-notified.
They said the state government could not have ordered de-notification of the DadupurNalvi land since the proposed enabling provision in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act was yet to get the President’s assent.
Despite the fact that the applicable provision is yet to receive the President’s nod, Manohar Lal Khattar-led government went ahead with the de-notification under section 101 of the Act on the advocate general’s advice, they said.
Section 101 cannot be invoked in case of Dadupur-Nalvi land as it is not an unutilised land and Section 101 pertained to land acquired under the 2013 land acquisition law and not the old Act, the Congress MLAs said.
Though Khattar did reply, the Congress MLAs raised slogans against the government and walked out of the House.
ROW OVER PRECEDENCE IN STARTING DEBATE
Earlier, the House wasted 40 minutes arguing who gets precedence in initiating the discussion on the canal project issue during the adjournment motion.
The requests by INLD and Congress MLAs for an adjournment motion on the issue were clubbed by speaker Kanwar Pal. Soon after the question hour came to an end, the speaker asked Abhay Chautala to move adjournment motion.
Then the speaker allowed Congress’ Beri MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian to second the motion. Chautala objected to this saying INLD MLAs be allowed to speak on the issue since their party was the first one to request an adjournment motion. “The Congress MLAs are just making up for their lapse by requesting a similar motion,’’ he argued.
Kadian then disputed the speaker’s decision to allow Chautala to speak. The speaker, who at one point looked clueless on deciding who gets precedence, quickly checked the rulebook. Even as the dispute lingered, agriculture and irrigation minister OP Dhankar took a swipe at the Congress benches saying, “Iss nahar ka satyanash Congress ne kiya hai (The Congress is the one which ruined this canal (Dadupur-Nalvi). What is the justification of building a canal on over 1,000 acres for irrigating just 300 acres of land?’’ he questioned.
The issue was finally resolved after 41 minutes when the
speaker accorded priority to Chautala to start the discussion.
COLLECTOR RATE TO BE REVISED TWICE A YEAR
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar told the House that state government has decided to revise the collector rates for rural and urban areas twice in a fiscal to ensure uniformity and transparency between market and collector rates.
The chief minister said this while replying to an issue concerning collector rates raised by INLD legislator Ranbir Gangwa during the assembly session. He said the deputy commissioners have been directed to review and revise the collector rates twice a year.
CONGRESS SAYS THE STATE GOVT CANNOT DENOTIFY LAND SINCE PROPOSED PROVISION IN LAND ACQUISITION ACT WAS YET TO GET THE PRESIDENT’S ASSENT