Land bill is ‘kisan mitra’, not ‘antifarmer’: Amit Shah

BHOPAL: Accusing the Congress of trying to spread falsehood over the land acquisition bill, BJP president Amit Shah said on Sunday that the legislation is “kisan mitra” (farmer friendly) and not ‘anti-farmer’ as dubbed by the Opposition.

“Congress is trying to spread falsehood and create confusion around the land acquisition bill that it is anti-farmers.. (but) it is ‘kisan mitra’,” Shah told a BJP workers’ meeting here.

“I want to assure farmers of Madhya Pradesh and the country that no injustice will be done to them in the land acquisition bill,” he added.

The NDA government at the Centre has been facing stiff resistance from the Opposition and few of its allies on the land bill which was passed with amendments in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha.

NEARLY 9.4 LAKH CANDIDATES HAD APPLIED FOR THE LAST YEAR FOR THE CIVIL SERVICES, SUCH AS THE IAS, IPS AND IFS

A government official said there would be no fresh concession for civil service aspirants who, if selected, may serve the government till around 2050. The government has already pledged to give aspirants, who may have lost out due to sudden changes in the exam pattern by the UPA, two additional attempts and the consequential age relaxation. Also, the English Language Comprehension Skills portion removed from the General Studies-II paper (the CSAT paper) would not be a part of the syllabus.

Nearly 9.4 lakh candidates had applied for the examinations last year to get into coveted branches of the civil services, such as the IAS, IPS and IFS. A little less than half of them – 4.5 lakh – appeared for the preliminary exam. This time, the UPSC expects the applications to cross well over a million, and has decided to increase the number of centres from the existing 2,137 to about 3,000.

The formal order spelling out the examination rules is expected next Saturday (May 16, 2015). The first-stage preliminary examination has been slated for August 23, the exhaustive second-stage main examination will begin on December 18, and the final interviews are expected to be held around April or May next year.