Mandsaur anniversary: First test of Rahul Gandhi's opposition unity effort

Rahul Gandhi's presence in farmers' death anniversary next month will be a litmus test for Opposition unity

A meeting in Budha village of Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh could next month turn out to be the first test for Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s promise that his party would be the lynchpin of Opposition unity.

It would also test the popularity of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state in an election year.

Prominent Opposition leaders, including the Congress president and leading activists, are likely to assemble in Budha village, 20 kms from Mandsaur town on June 6, to mark the first anniversary of the death of six farmers in police firing last year.

On June 6, 2017, six farmers had been killed in police firing in Mandsaur. The farmers were protesting against the abysmal prices for their onion and garlic crops. The incident had triggered sustained farm protests in several parts of the country.

As the Mandsaur firing incident completes a year, garlic prices have hit rock bottom in Madhya Pradesh, while onion rates have again plummeted in the Malwa-Nimar region, the epicentre of the farmers’ agitation.

The meeting is significant since Madhya Pradesh has Assembly elections due in November-December, along with Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. Theis will also be the last round of Assembly elections before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress party’s Madhya Pradesh in-charge Dipak Babaria confirmed that Gandhi was likely to be in Mandsaur on June 6.

Swaraj Abhiyan’s Yogendra Yadav said leaders of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, or AIKSCC, an umbrella body 190 farmer organisations, would also be in Budha village on June 6 to pay their respects to the slain farmers.

However, the committee has decided it will stay away from any event organised under the Congress party’s flag. The leaders are not averse to sharing the stage with either the Congress chief or leaders of other political parties. But they have suggested that the meeting to pay respects to the slain farmers be organised by locals, and not under the banner of any political party.

Activist Medha Patkar will lead a march from Badwani to Bhopal, where farmers will observe a symbolic fast on June 5 to protest the Narendra Modi government’s “failure to address farm distress”, said former legislator and AIKSSC leader Sunilam.

All India Kisan Sabha, affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), will also hold countrywide protests on June 6. In the last one year, the Kisan Sabha has led farmer movements in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, including the ‘long march’ from Nashik to Mumbai a couple of months back.

Blackbuck case: Salman Khan bail plea hearing adjourned until July 17

Salman Khan's bail plea in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case will be heard by a Jodhpur court today. Khan had earlier been found guilty of killing blackbucks and sentenced to 5 years in jail

Salman Khan's bail plea hearing in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case was on Monday adjourned to July 17 by a Jodhpur trial court. The Bollywood actor arrived in Rajasthan's Jodhpur on Sunday afternoon to appear before the court. Khan had on April 5 been convicted in the 19-year-old case and sentenced to five years in jail for killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of the 1998 movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Subsequently, Salman was granted bail after spending two nights in the Jodhpur Central jail. Salman's Hum Saath Saath Hain co-stars Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and Neelam and Jodhpur resident Dushyant Singh, another accused in the case, were all acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The blackbuck case is not the only instance of legal trouble Khan is facing. Also in April, a Mumbai court cancelled the bailable warrant against Khan in connection with the 2002 hit and run case. The court had issued the bailable warrant as Khan had not completed the procedure of providing surety on the past two dates. Further, a Ludhiana court on May 1 rejected a petition against Salman and Shilpa Shetty that sought action against them under the SC/ST Act for allegedly using derogatory words against the Valmiki community. In the same case, the Supreme Court on April 23 put on hold proceedings pending against Khan before several courts across the country in cases registered under the SC/ST Act.

Salman is set to be back on the small screen as the host of Dus Ka Dum and is shooting for the big screen venture Race 3, among other projects.

Here are the top 10 developments in the Salman Khan blackbuck poaching case:

1) Salman Khan's blackbuck case hearing adjourned to July 17: The Jodhpur court on Monday adjourned until July 17 Salman Khan's plea challenging the trial court order sentencing him to a five-year jail term in the blackbuck poaching case. District and Sessions Judge Chandra Kumar Songara adjourned the hearing after the defence counsel Mahesh Bora sought time to begin arguments.

Khan appeared before the judge in compliance with the directions given by the court on April 7 while granting bail. Salman was seen leaving the Jodhpur trial court soon after.

Khan arrived in Jodhpur on Sunday afternoon, while his fans were seen trying hard to get a glimpse of the actor as he left the airport.

2) Salma's sister, close friend accompany him: Salman hasn't gone to Jodhpur alone. Apart from his lawyers, he was accompanied by his sister Alvira and friend Baba Siddiqui.

3) Blackbuck poaching case history: Salman on April 5 was convicted in the blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to five-year imprisonment by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri in Jodhpur. Before he was granted bail by the sessions court on April 7, he spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central jail.

Long queues again? ATMs go dry as many states face cash crunch: Top updates

Several states are facing a cash shortage despite currency flows in the economy at the pre-demonetisation level

A cash crunch has been reported in several states of India -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. People are facing a huge monetary crisis, with a majority of automated teller machines (ATMs) running out of cash. In Bihar's Patna several ATMs have gone 'out of service' causing inconvenience to the locals.

Taking stock of the situation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "We have reviewed the currency situation in the country; there is more than adequate currency circulation and it is available with the banks... a temporary shortage caused by the sudden and unusual increase in some areas is being tackled.

Here are the top developments in the crisis caused by a sudden shortage of cash across several states and what the government is saying:1. Life gets miserable for many Indians, especially traders: Despite the currency flow in the economy going back to the pre-demonetisation level, ATMs are going dry making life miserable for many residents, especially traders. Many are running from one ATM to another in search of currency notes.

ALSO READ: Demonetisation redux? ATMs again running dry across states amid cash crunch

2. Some ATMs not dispensing more than Rs 5,000: Only one ATM at State Bank of India’s branch had cash, but the machine was dispensing only up to Rs 5000 cash and that too only in the form of Rs 100 currency notes, according to The Times of India report.

The people in Delhi, on the other hand, said that most of the ATMs are dispensing only Rs 500 notes.

3.Hyderabad, Varanasi office-goers face troubles: In Hyderabad, office goers have told news agency ANI, that they have been unable to withdraw cash from ATMs in several parts of the city since yesterday. There are reports from Varanasi as well of people saying there is no cash at ATMs since yesterday, said TOI report.

However, people in Madhya Pradesh claimed that they have been facing a cash crunch for the last two weeks.

4. Govt's meeting with RBI on cash shortage across states: The finance ministry held a meeting with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks, and state government officials on Thursday to take stock of cash availability after receiving complaints of the dearth of money in some states. The non-release of funds by the Centre is being cited as one reason for the cash crunch.

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

Among many political, administrative and ideological messages in the changes in the council of ministers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out, the most important was the unambiguous stamp of his office.

The sweep of influence of the Prime Minister’s Office in Tuesday’s rejig was rarely witnessed in the past three decades.

In expanding this influence of the central government, the PM was assisted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah.

The changes in the Cabinet worked at several levels.

They were definitely done with an eye on electoral compulsions — Dalits and Other Backward Classes found increased representation. New ministers were inducted from states that are either electorally crucial for the BJP (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat) or are going to polls in the near future (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh).

Also, alliance building was kept in mind. Allies like Republican Party of India (A)’s Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel were made ministers.

There was an effort for more efficient political management, not only to reach out to Opposition parties but other stakeholders, like the media, as well as assuage different camps within the BJP.

A straight-talking M Venkaiah Naidu was made in charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Arun Jaitley, seen as a liberal voice in the Sangh Parivar and the party, was divested of that portfolio. Read more.

Jawaharlal Nehru's name 'removed' from Rajasthan textbook; state minister denies deliberate omission

The "removal" of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's name from new textbooks for classes sixth to eight in Rajasthan elicited a strong reaction from the Congress even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied any wrongdoing.

The textbook, according to an Indian Express report, has been written "following a year-long curriculum re­structuring exercise".

According to a NDTV report, the textbook, "Samajik Vigyan", makes no mention of  Nehru as a freedom fighter or as "a leader of Independent India".

The report adds that the textbook does not mention Mahatma Gandhi's assassination at the hands of Nathuram Godse.

The Rajasthan unit of the Congress on Sunday reacted strongly to the move.

State Congress chief Sachin Pilot told IANS on phone: "It's absolutely unacceptable that the BJP is working in a vindictive manner by not even mentioning India's first prime minister in the textbooks."Read More.

Balram Jakhar, a leader who always looked out for farmers

Dr Balram Jakhar Ji was one of the most towering personalities to sit on the Lok Sabha Speaker’s Chair. An avid reader of admirable intellect, equally at home in a library or on a sports field with his towering 6 feet 5 inches’ frame. He will be missed.

 He will be missed by his family and farmers alike. He was born on the August 23, 1923, in village Panjkosi near Abohar in Punjab, which is close to the border with Pakistan.

He studied in Sangaria in Rajasthan and later in Lahore in present day Pakistan. He was an avid reader of books, loved poetry and could recite innumerable Sanskrit shlokas and Urdu poetry. His first language remained Urdu and he could also read and write in Sanskrit, English & Hindi. Read More.