‘Nothing conceded’: Centre on LAC troop pullback deal
NEW DELHI: The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will retreat to its base east of Finger 8 on the north bank of Pangong Tso, the Indian Army will move back to its permanent position near Finger 3 and neither side will patrol the contested areas in between until an agreement is reached through future talks, defence minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on Thursday, explaining the nuances of a disengagement plan hammered out by the two armies to reduce military tensions in eastern Ladakh.
Until now, rival soldiers have been deployed eyeball-to-eyeball on the Finger 4 ridgeline at heights of almost 18,000 feet.
The Chinese defence ministry announced the disengagement on Wednesday; New Delhi did not react immediately because Parliament was in session, and a day later, Singh briefed the House on the breakthrough in a months-long impasse.
In a detailed statement on the situation in eastern Ladakh, Singh told Rajya Sabha and later Lok Sabha that the next meeting between senior military commanders of the two armies to discuss other issues will take place 48 hours after “complete disengagement” in the Pangong Lake area — both north and south banks.
Singh told both Houses that India did not “concede anything” during the military talks, and added that there were still some “outstanding issues regarding
NEW DELHI: After an invitation was extended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to be chief guest of centenary convocation ceremony of Jamia Millia Islamia, which is to be held virtually, students affiliated to All India Students Association (AISA) have threatened to boycott the event.
On February 8, vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar had announced that the university had requested Modi to attend the centenary convocation ceremony “and grace the occasion through virtual mode as the chief guest”. On Thursday, Jamia students affiliated to AISA condemned the move and said the university had been “under attack from the Narendra Modiled BJP government.”
A senior university official said, “We have just extended an invitation to the PM and no date for the convocation has been decided as yet.”
But, AISA in a statement on Thursday said, “The Jamia administration has shown its authoritarian and anti-student tendencies by inviting Narendra Modi through virtual mode as the chief guest of the centenary convocation. Students of the varsity are shocked and displeased over the Prime Minister being invited to Jamia Millia as his ideas cross the line into hate speech and communalism.”
The student activists also raised the arrest of Jamia students for their alleged role in the Delhi riots and demanded an intervention by the administration. “We demand that administration uninvite PM Modi. We demand that Modi-led regime unconditionally release arrested Jamia students along with all political prisoners…failure to comply with our demands would only cement our argument that Jamia administration is anti-student and pro-fascist and force our hand to call for a boycott of the convocation,” AISA statement read.
NEW DELHI: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in its final budget presentation on Thursday doubled the councillors’ funds for Local Area Development (LAD), from ₹50 lakh per councillor per year to ₹1 crore per councillor per year.
Besides that, the SDMC made a provision to provide ₹10,000 to councillors per ward to celebrate national days such as Independence Day and Republic Day. The civic body has also decided to hike funds to celebrate festivals such as Ramlila, Krishnalila and Chhath Puja from ₹50 Lakh to ₹1 crore.
It also scrapped the provision of increasing the property tax and reduction in concessions, which were proposed by the SDMC additional commissioner in the budget presentation for the financial year 2021-22 in December.
Reacting to the budget, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and the party’s municipal affairs in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the budget is nothing but a “money-making exercise for councillors”.
Presenting the final budget for the financial year 2021-22, leader of the SDMC house Narendra Chawla said that the civic body has decided to double the LAD funds from ₹50 Lakh to ₹1 crore for each ward and also made a provision to create a new head of account for the allocation of ₹50 Lakh for the deputy chairperson of each zone.
“This should not be seen as money being given to the councillors -- it is for the development of wards. It will be reserved for citizen-centric works as they were impacted by the Covid-19 last year. We will make arrangements to generate additional funds for the purpose. We will bring more people under our tax net to bridge the (revenue) gap,” Chawla said.
He added that to generate more revenue, the civic body will rely on completing its ongoing remunerative projects and
lease out its commercial and other properties. “We will make provisions for holding night markets to earn more revenue. We will also rent out empty spaces in our office buildings and also allow advertisements on toilet blocks and dhalaos (garbage collection centres). All these efforts will generate more revenue,” Chawla said.
In the budget, the civic body has decided not to levy extra taxes from residents. “We know that due to coronavirus pandemic, people are already troubled, and we don’t want to put an extra burden on their pockets in terms of a tax hike. So, we have decided to scrap recommendations to increase property tax. We have also decided not to implement recommendations of the municipal valuation committee-3 (MVC-3), which proposes to double the tax amount on rented commercial properties and banquet halls, among others. These are all people-centric decisions,” Chawla said.
The civic body also decided to impose a fine of ₹50,000 on those found dumping building material along the roadside.
He said the move will help in reducing pollution, especially dust pollution.
The SDMC also announced the restarting of Atal Aahar Yojana, a scheme through which people will be provided food at ₹15 per meal. This scheme was first launched in 2017 and was stopped when the pandemic struck last year.
Under the scheme, people will get a full plate of food (thali) for ₹15. “Initially, the scheme will restart with five inbuilt kitchen mobile vans in each zone and, later, two such vans will be made available in each ward of the SDMC,” an SDMC official, in the know of the matter, said.
The civic body also decided to allow the keeping of an animal (either cow or buffalo) within the periphery of houses in rural and urban villages, without paying animal tax.
Besides, the civic body also decided to allocate ₹25 lakh to each ward to improve the condition of roads with a width ranging between 30 feet and 60 feet.
The SDMC will provide ₹500 to municipal schoolchildren and children of safai sainiks and gardeners to purchase tracksuits. The municipality also decided to launch a scheme to provide houses to kins of corona warriors who died on duty during the pandemic.
AAP’S Durgesh Pathak said, “At a time when the municipalities are going through an acute financial crisis and employees are not being paid salaries, the SDMC has decided to increase councillor funds. The Delhi government has given them ₹1,095 crore for payment of salaries, which the MCDS are distributing among its councillors. MCDS have become a den of corruption. Instead of increasing councillor funds, the SDMC should think about its employees and the people.”