PM slams hooligans, promises strict action
After registering an “ideological victory” in Tripura, which was under Communist rule for 25 years, the BJP on Wednesday had to assert that it believed “a wide range of ideas and ideologies can coexist in India” after incidents of statue vandalism, which began in Tripura on Monday, came too close to home on Wednesday. In a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned incidents of vandalism of statues and warned of stern action against those found guilty. The PM also spoke to Union home minister Rajnath Singh over the issue and expressed his strong disapproval of such incidents.
The home ministry reached out to state governments saying they “must take all necessary measures” to prevent such incidents and that district magistrates and superintendents of police will be held personally responsible for such incidents. On Monday, two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) swept the Tripura elections with two- thirds majority, ending the 25- year- old rule of the Left in the state, the first incident of vandalism was reported. In Belonia, South Tripura, a statue of Vladimir Lenin was destroyed by some people chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. The next day, a statue of E. V. Ramasamy ‘ Periyar’, social reformer and founder of Dravidian movement, was vandalised in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district.
And on Wednesday, a bust of Parivar ideologue Syama Prasad Mookherjee was desecrated in West Bengal, and in Meerut, UP, miscreants vandalised B. R. Ambedkar’s statue which led to protests and deployment of police force. The protests ended only after the district officials assured that the statue would be replaced at the earliest. As Opposition parties lashed out at the ruling BJP saying vandalising statues is a “reflection of a new kind of politics” and that “hatred and division” is the “face of the BJP,” BJP president Amit Shah termed the desecration of Communist icon Lenin’s statue in Tripura
PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday strongly condemned incidents of vandalism of statues and warned of stern action against those found guilty. The home ministry said that DMs and SPs will be held personally responsible for such incidents.
PM Narendra Modi’s ambitious National Nutrition Mission ( NNM), which he is all set to launch on March 8 from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, will not have a critical component of direct cash transfer ( DCT).
The PMO had directed the Union women and child development ministry — which is one the nodal ministries for implementing the scheme apart from Health Ministry — to introduce DCT in lieu of Take Home Ration ( THR) component under the mission, on a pilot basis, however the WCD ministry has indicated to all states that there is no proposal for introducing such kind of cash transfer.
This lack of decision on part of a key Union ministry which has been tasked with the implementation of the NDA regime’s ambitious programme, looks strange as during a review meeting conducted by the PMO in November last year on the issue of nutrition, top officials from the WCD and Health ministries and Niti Aayog had been clearly told to take up a pilot project for DCT in lieu of THR in selected districts in consultation with state governments.
The meeting conducted by the PMO was held just days before the Union Cabinet had approved the setting up of NNM during its meeting held on December 1, 2017.
While THR is a norm which is followed in nutrition programmes being run in aanganwadis across country, introduction of DCT would have ensured greater transparency in the process, sources pointed out.
Highly placed sources informed this newspaper that quite a few states had contacted the WCD ministry, seeking its no objection certificate ( NOC) for implementing DCT on a pilot basis, however the Union Ministry has written to chief secretaries of all the states, informing them that there is no such proposal under its consideration for introducing DCT in lieu of THR.
Sources privy to the implementation of NNM confirmed that even as the scheme is set to be launched by Mr Modi, whose brainchild it is, on March 8, no concrete decision has been taken on introducing DCT in lieu of THR. Therefore NNM is all set to be introduced sans DCT. The NNM is aimed at improving the nutritional status of children up to six years and pregnant as well as lactating mothers through achieving specific targets for improving malnutrition, stunted growth and controlling prevelance of Anaemia
Mr Modi has given a call for converting the mission into a Jan Andolan for its effective implementation and desired reach.
On December 1, 2017, the Union Cabinet had approved the setting up of the NNM with a three year budget of ` 9,000 crore. Its main components are mapping of various Schemes contributing towards addressing malnutrition, introducing a very robust convergence mechanism, ICT based Real Time Monitoring system, incentivising states for meeting the targets, and incentivising Anganwadi Workers for using IT based tools.