TMC govt failed to provide data on migrants, says FM

KOLKATA: West Bengal could not be included in the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan, to provide employment to migrant workers, because the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government did not provide relevant data to the Centre, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday, during a virtual rally of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.

“In all, 116 districts in six states figure in the scheme, for which ₹50,000 crore has been sanctioned. But not a single migrant from Bengal is going to benefit from it because the state has not provided any data on migrant workers,” Sitharaman said in the rally, which was webcast on social media from Delhi.

“TMC has opposed every scheme that the Centre has launched so far. This is another example,” she added, referring to healthcare benefits under Ayushaman Bharat and monetary benefit for farmers under the Prime Minister’s Kishan Samman Yojna.

In response, Tapas Roy, senior TMC leader and minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said on Sunday, “The claim made by Sitharaman is bogus. The Centre never asked for any data from the government. She is the least efficient among all finance ministers the country has had. Let her first revive India’s economy. She should release the money the state owes to the Centre under several heads.”

NEWDELHI: The remaining examinations for class 10 students of the Rajasthan state board will go ahead on June 29 and 30, after the Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed a plea, filed by the mother of a class 10 student, seeking cancellation of the examinations in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At a special sitting held late evening on Sunday, a threejudge bench of the top court, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar, declined to grant relief to the petitioner, Maghi Devi, who had moved the court on June 27.

More than 1.1 million students are set to appear for class 10 examinations of the Rajasthan state board this year.

The examinations had commenced and had taken place till March 18, when it was put on hold due to the Covid-19.

The bench, which also comprised justices Dinseh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, observed that the state government has taken necessary precautionary measures and the court was not inclined to interfere at the eleventh hour, when the exams are set to commence on Monday.

The same bench had, last week, paved the way for the cancellation of remaining CBSE and ICSE examinations in view of the coronavirus threat.