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The Adiyanath government in UP came in for praise from the PM. “Good governance is possible only when one takes an inclusive view. And, I am glad that Yogi Adityanath is following this,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh administration has announced strong action against violent protesters — CM Adityanath said on December 19 that the administration would exact “revenge” for the violence — including seizure and attachment of their properties. But there was no word on compensating families of those killed in police firing or on holding officers to account.

“We should always remember our rights and obligations. While good and accessible education is our right, we also have an obligation to respect our teachers and safeguard the security of our educational institutions,” Modi said, criticising the ongoing protests by students against the contentious new law in universities across the country. Getting a good education was a matter of right, accompanied by a duty to respect and protect places of learning, he said. “People who damaged public property and were involved in violence in the name of protests in Uttar Pradesh should ask themselves if what they did was right,” Modi said in his address at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Atal Bihari Medical University in Lucknow.

“Better roads, transport and sewer are our rights, and it’s our duty to protect it. Quality education is our right but safety of educational institutions and respect for teachers is our duty. Secure atmosphere is our right, but it’s also duty of citizens to respect the work of police,” he added.

Eighteen people have died across Uttar Pradesh in protests against the law, which was passed by Parliament on December 11. Most of the deceased protesters died of bullet injuries. State police initially denied having fired at protesters but later officers in three districts admitted to have fired gunshots in selfdefence. Another seven have died elsewhere, taking the nationwide death toll to 25. The Lucknow district magistrate has set up a committee on Adityanath’s instructions to assess the damage to property. The committee has also been tasked with identifying the people involved, and levying fines on them. Police said the protesters damaged public property worth around ~100 crore.

Congress spokesperson Pranav Jha said, “There’s no denying the fact that public property should not be damaged. Would our Prime Minister bother to know as to why people are protesting? Who is responsible for making people come on to streets?” He added: “We are a democracy and when people are hurt by the indifference of the government they would show their anger. This government is hellbent on pushing its agenda which has caused this widespread anger and unrest.” ter’s post, the leader quoted above said that it depends on the approval of the party high command. “If the high command gives us the nod, we will certainly demand the post,” he added.

Soren told reporters after the meeting that he invited both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to his oath-taking ceremony. Rahul Gandhi may attend the ceremony, he added.

Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister on November 28.

The JMM leader also said that he will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, apart from state chief ministers and other regional leaders, to the swearing-in.

Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu invited Soren to form the government after he submitted to her a letter of support of 50 legislators on Tuesday. The JMM won 30 seats, the Congress 16 and RJD one seat in the election. The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), with three legislators, has extended “unconditional support” to Soren.

The BJP won 25 seats and its former alliance partner, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) party two.

Soren had already spoken to Gandhi, but personally wanted to invite her to the ceremony. He also wanted to thank the Congress party and its leadership for their support in helping form a coalition government in the state. Congress party’s Jharkhand in-charge RPN Singh accompanied Soren to Delhi. prises. “As it is the MSMES (micro, small, and medium enterprises) work on slender profit margins amid tough competition. Individual enterprises may find it difficult to maintain their separate facilities. So a joint facility can be a feasible idea,” said a third panel member, also on condition of anonymity.

The labour committee has so far met the Indian Film and TV Producers Council, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives’ Associations of India, Action Aid Association, National Labour Law Association, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Joint Forum of Plantation Workers Unions, Darjeeling Planters Association, Tea Association of India and several trade unions. “The panel will now meet a few states before finalising its report,” Mahtab added.

During the discussions, many members and different organisations have also pointed out that the OSH Code is applicable only for establishments with 10 or more workers, excluding a large number of workers who work in micro, family-run establishments. The panel may ask the government to devise a mechanism to ensure safety and good health of a worker in such establishments as health and safety of all workers are important. additional district magistrate Amit Singh said the claims assessment process would be on until December 30.

Another five districts said they were still assessing losses and notices would likely be issued by Thursday, officials said.

A 2009 verdict of the Supreme Court, and a subsequent order by the Allahabad high court, empowers the government to recover damages in case protests turn violent and public property is destroyed.

Meerut superintendent of police (city) AN Singh said arms licence notices were issued to people in the areas where clashes took place, and the police will probe if the alleged rioters had access to any of the licensed weapons or bullets.

If their response to the notice is not found to be satisfactory, the licences will be cancelled.

“When the clashes were happening, these people should have come forward with their guns and supported the authorities. Gun licences are not distributed like biscuits. You have to fulfil certain conditions, the primary of which is to protect life and property,” said Singh.

He added that the empty shells of around 69 bullets were similar to bullets issued to some licencees.

“We need to check whether these bullets belonged to these licencees, and which guns were used to fire them,” Singh added.

Meerut’s additional district magistrate Ajay Tiwary said 12 notices were issued to people who had prima facie (at first sight) been found involved in the violence. The city has the highest death toll — 5 — across UP, where a total of 19 lives have been lost in the violence.

“If their response to the notice is found satisfactory, the notice will be recalled. Otherwise, further action will be taken,” he said.

The process of recovery includes levying a penalty, and even seizure of movable and immovable property at the final stage, said a senior government official.

The notices – which ask people why they shouldn’t be asked to pay for damages — are usually issued to people who are named in FIRS relevant to the claim filed, or who the police has identified in video and photographic evidence, the official added.

In their response, the accused or their family members can produce evidence that they were not present or involved in the violence.

The response has to be filed within a week, after which the administration starts the process of recovery.

A second official said that the estimated extent of damage was at ₹50 lakh in the city.

Violence roiled several cities of UP last week during protests against CAA, which seeks to speed up the grant of Indian citizenship to members of religious minorities from the Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Police in three districts — Kanpur, Bijnor and Meerut — admitted to firing shots in “self-defence”. On Tuesday, Rampur became the first district to start the process of recovering damages by issuing notices to 28 people for damages worth ₹14.86 lakh.

The action was initiated after chief minister Yogi Adityanath on December 19 directed officials to identify the protesters and recover the losses.

The Lucknow district administration issued notices to at least 100 people. Additional district magistrate Vishwa Bhushan Mishra said, “Assessment is on. So far police have submitted their damage report worth ₹26 lakh while other departments are yet to furnish the report.”

In Kanpur, the administration issued notice to 15 people for damages worth ₹10.97 lakh, said superintendent of police Anant Deo Tiwari.

In Muzaffarnagar, 50 people were slapped with notices, said district magistrate Selva Kumari J. “The assessment process is yet not over. The assessment as well as process of identification of people is on.”

In Bijnor, notices were issued to 43 people for damages worth ₹19.70 lakh while in Bulandshahr notices for recovery of ₹6 lakh were given. In Sambhal, 26 notices were processed for recovery of ₹15 lakh. In Meerut, 12 notices were issued.

In Gorakhpur, 33 persons were served notices. Districts such as Varanasi, Agra, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Hapur are still assessing the losses and notices are likely to be issued to more than 200 people on Thursday.

“We are assessing the losses and most likely notices will be issued to over 100 people in a day or two. We are also including cost of one day salary of each personnel of the force deployed to maintain law and order,” said Varanasi district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma.

Some of the people slapped with notices contended that they were not connected to the violence.

“My son Zameer is an embroidery worker…he is in jail and I even don’t have resource to bring him out from jail. How will we pay this amount? My son had nothing to do with protest,” said Munni Begum, a resident of Rampur.

Ashna, a Muzaffarnagar resident, said her brother was at home when the violence broke out. “Next day police arrested him and we could not do anything,” she said.

Muslim community leaders in Meerut said they feared the process of claims recovery might not be fair.

“This process seems completely wrong. During farmers’ and other agitations also there was lots of violence and cars were set on fire. But no compensation was asked,” said Zainur Rasheedin, a community leader.