Those who want azadi can leave the country: Gambhir

Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Thursday backed paramilitary personnel who were manhandled by Kashmiri youths in a video, which has gone viral on social media, saying whoever wants freedom for Kashmir can leave the country. A video which shows Indian security forces being physically and verbally abused in the Kashmir Valley went viral on Wednesday.

Reacting to the incident, Gambhir took to Twitter and said for every slap on the security personnel, at least a 100 jihadi should be killed.

“For every slap on my army’s Jawan lay down at least a 100 jihadi lives. Whoever wants Azadi LEAVE NOW! Kashmir is ours. #kashmirbelongs2us,” the Delhi batsman tweeted.

“Anti-indians hav forgotten dat our flag also stands 4: saffron -- fire of our anger, white -shroud for jihadis green

Eminent social scientist Jean Dreze has alleged that MGNREGA job cards have been cancelled in some states to meet targets of linking them with the Aadhaar project.

Dreze’s remarks come amid a political row over the government’s attempt to expand the mandatory use of the country’s unique identity scheme.

The scheme, launched under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), ensures employment to the rural population through one job card to each family. “In some states, for instance, Jharkhand and Karnataka, large numbers of job cards have been cancelled because MGNREGA functionaries were under pressure to meet the 100% Aadhaar-seeding targets. The easiest way to do that is to cancel haar numbers are eluding functionaries concerned ,” he told HT. Government officials maintain there is no question of denying job card. They also pointed to the high persondays generated in Jharkhand and Karnataka to counter Dreze’s allegations.

Last week, HT carried a story on how the government has cancelled more than 9.3 million “fake job cards”, with the authorities dubbing the move as a way of stopping leakage of funds. “In some states, there have been drives to cancel so-called “inactive job cards” or cards that have not been actively used in the recent past to work on MGNREGA. This is pointless, and also violation of act, since every rural household is entitled to apply for job card whether they use it or not.” He also argued that majority of the cancelled job cards can’t be termed fake. “Fake cards are very rare. Also, a bogus job card would be of no use, since it would not be possible to link it to bank account