‘Cong has run away; HP poll one-sided’
UNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hit out at the Congress, saying it had “run away” from the Himachal Pradesh electoral battle, which he described as a contest being fought by the people of the state.
Campaigning for the third day in a row in the state that goes to the polls on November 9, he said the election was not being fought by his party, the BJP, but the people of the state who were out to “teach” a lesson to the Congress for corruption and poor law and order.
“I am sad as I am not enjoying the election this time, as the Congress party has left the ground and run away. These elections have become onesided,” he said at a rally here.
Attacking the Congress on the issue of corruption, Modi accused the previous Congressled government at the Centre of abusing subsidies worth Rs 57,000 crore. He claimed he had stopped this misuse, and the money was now being used for the welfare of the poor.
“Never has there been a one-sided election as seen in this election. The reason for this is that the country knows what the Congress government is like and what its intentions are,” he said. In the last 20 years, Modi said, he had not seen an election like this. “After being in politics for so long, I can sense which way the wind is blowing. But this time one can see a storm in Himachal. The anger of the public is coming out against corruption, bad law and order, for protection of women and daughters,” Modi added. The people of the state, he said, had decided to teach a lesson to Congress’s “Sultanate”.
“This time we have to admit that it’s not the BJP, or its workers or leaders, fighting (the poll). Himachal’s election is being fought by the people of the state who have decided to teach a lesson to Congress’s ‘Sultanate’,” he said.
The Congress’s top leaders, holding rallies in Himachal, had “dared to face the public” and attack him and state leaders such as Prem Kumar Dhumal. But they had nothing to say, Modi stressed. He said middlemen had looted the treasury in the name of subsidies in the past. “Over Rs 57,000 crore in subsidies were looted by middlemen. Modi has stopped all this and this money is now being spent for the welfare of the poor,” he said, holding that this was the reason for the Congress’s attack on him. He also took a dig at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for his statement that out of one rupee spent from Delhi, only 15 paisa reached the villages., saying that Gandhi was merely painting a picture of what the Congress did. DHARAMSALA: The Congress on Sunday upped the ante on the issue of GST, drawing a parallel between lines made famous by Bollywood villain Gabbar Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s characteristic way of addressing the people.
“People feared Gabbar (Singh) when he used to say ‘kitne aadmi the (how many people were there)’ and now they fear Modi when he says ‘mitron (friends)’ because they do not know what is coming next,” party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said at a rally here.
Surjewala’s remarks come days after Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi dubbed the Goods and Services Tax “Gab- bar Singh Tax” during a rally in Gujarat.
The Congress leader claimed the Modi government was the first central government to levy a tax on farmers in the form of the GST.
“Eighteen per cent tax is levied on agriculture and 12 per cent on agriculture equipment... the first time in India.
“Farmers are working hard to fill our stomachs, and they must be exempt from tax... That is why Rahul Gandhi has termed GST Gabbar Singh Tax,” he said.
Surjewala accused the Modi government of being “anti” Himachal Pradesh, which goes to polls on November 9, and reneging on the promises the BJP made to the people of the state before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. NEW DELHI: Doctors and medical staff involved in the child delivery process will now be financially rewarded for following strict benchmarks in providing quality care to both mother and newborn, according to a new initiative by the Union Health Ministry.
The initiative -- Lakshya -will be launched soon across the country to ensure proper implementation of the existing labor room protocols in order to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, a senior health ministry official said.
Steps to be taken to improve environment of natural delivery process include avoiding unnecessary induction, providing privacy to the mother during the intrapartum period, by way of separate labor room, or at least a private cubicle, use of labor beds instead of tables and a no-tolerance policy for any verbal or physical abuse of the woman.
Also, it should be ensured that the mother and the child bond immediately after birth, stressing a comfortable position during delivery rather than insisting on a universal “lying down” position.
Abolishing ‘out of pocket expenditures (OOPE)’ including demand by facility staff, for gratuitous payment by families for celebration of the baby’s birth.
“All these are required to avoid undue stress in mothers,” the official said stressing on the need to reorganise the labor room care processes to facilitate natural delivery process and to enable not only adherence to quality standards and clinical protocols, but also address issues such as respectful maternity care.
“Under the ‘Lakshya’, labor room teams will be financially rewarded if they meet the strict benchmarks and achieve targets in a time-bound manner as defined in the labor room guidelines,” the official said.
The targets described include reduction of preventable maternal and new-born mortality, still birth rates. NEW DELHI: The dearness allowance of judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts has been increased even as proposals to give them a salary hike are pending approval of the Union Cabinet.
In a letter to the secretary general of the apex court and registrars general of the high courts last month, the department of justice in the law ministry said that the DA of the judges has been revised to 139 per cent with effect from July 1 “at the same rates (139 per cent) as are admissible to the members of the all-india service”.
The letter pointed out that according to the revised rates, central government employees continuing to draw their pay in the pre-revised pay scale as per the Sixth Pay Commission are entitled to the DA at the rate of 139 per cent which was revised from 136 per cent.
The judges have been given the DA hike based on the 6th Pay Commission as two bills to provide them the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission are pending approval of the Union Cabinet.
The bills are likely to come up for Cabinet’s consideration in the coming days and would be tabled in Parliament in the Winter Session. While one bill deals with salary and allowances of the Supreme Court judges, the other deals with salary of the high court judges.
During a hearing last week on a case relating to grant of washing allowance to apex court staff and officers, a bench of justices J Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazir had reportedly asked Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha about the salary of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts which was to be brought on par with Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for central government employees.
In 2016, the then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had written to the government seeking a hike in salaries of the Supreme Court and the high court judges on the basis of the recommendations made by a committee of judges which was set up by the CJI to look into the issue of salary and emoluments.
Sources in the government said the issue is under active consideration and a bill to amend The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act may come up in the Winter Session of Parliament.
Government functionaries said the quantum of the hike will not be as recommended by the judges’ committee. They said the hike in pay packets would be applicable from January 1, 2016.