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MGNERGA served as lifeline for workers who lost jobs during Covid pandemic: Kharge

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Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNERGA)served as a lifeline for workers who lost their jobs during Covid pandemic.

Speaking on the ‘Motion of Thanks’ to the President’s address in the Upper House, he said that traditionally the President’s speech is a policy document, but unfortunately it had neither policy nor vision.

Slamming the BJP leaders, he said: “You say nothing happened in the past 70 years, if nothing had happened you would not have been alive today and anyone who speaks against the government is an anti-national,” he stated.

Whenever the Opposition raises its voice, the government says that religion is under danger. “In 2014, you had promised two crore jobs every year and going by that, by now you should have provided 15 crore jobs. Yesterday’s budget speech announced to create 60 lakh jobs in the next five years but over two crore people are unemployed today.”

In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the youth have taken to the street demanding employment, whereas the Central government has nine lakh vacancies, including 15 per cent in Railways, 12 per cent in the union Home Ministry, 40 per cent in Defence sector, he added.

Noting that 60 per cent Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME) units are now closed down, Kharge further said that we brought MGNREGA which, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to term a live example of “our unsuccessful policies”.

“During Covid, this MGNREGA served as a lifeline for workers who lost jobs and around Rs 1.80 lakh crore should have been allotted to MGNREGA, but you have kept only Rs 73,000 crore for the scheme. You only gave 20 days’ jobs to only seven crore unemployed people, against the 150 days promised during the pandemic,” he alleged.

Price rise during these days is at 12-year-high, he added.

Referring to the Chinese encroachment on Indian territory, the Congress leader said that “the hostile neighbour has been snatching our land, building houses, why are you not showing your red eyes to them now? When we were in power, we were asked by the then Opposition to show red eyes to China.

“You do not talk about China at all. Why are you are silent now?” Kharge questioned while PM Modi was present in the House.

On the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) which is a profitable venture, he said that the government is going to disinvest it.

He also slammed the government for not paying any compensation to the farmers who lost their lives during the year-long agitation against the three farm laws, saying: “You called them mawaali (hooligans), aatankawadi(Terrorists), a minister’s son killed four farmers and he was not sacked because of political interest, you should sack the home minister (MoS Home Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni), as he could influence the probe.”

The Congress leader also made a reference to harassment of minorities and how the Mother Teresa’s organisation Mission of Charity was targetted.

Crime

Woman’s body with sealed lips found in dumped trolley bag in Kolkata

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Kolkata, April 22: The body of a woman with sealed lips was recovered from a trolley bag dumped at the roadside at Baguihati in the northern outskirts of Kolkata on Tuesday.

Local people said that some people from the locality noticed the trolley bag dumped at the roadside on Monday night only. However, all of them chose to ignore it.

However, a newspaper vendor became inquisitive after spotting the trolley bag in the same position on Tuesday morning. He immediately consulted a senior citizen, and they thought it wise to inform the local police station.

On being informed, the cops arrived at the spot. After opening the trolley bag, they saw the dumped body of a young woman in a salwar kurta and her lips sealed with brown tape.

The cops recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem purposes.

“The exact reason behind the death will surface only after the final autopsy report is available. Prima facie, it seems that the woman was murdered somewhere else, and then her body was placed in the trolley bag, and finally, the bag was dumped at the roadside. We have started our investigation into the matter. Our prime aim is to know the identity of women,” said an investigating official.

He also said that the footage from the CCTV cameras is being checked to get any clues in the matter. The missing persons’ diaries registered with the different police stations are also being examined.

To recall, in February this year, two women were arrested at the bank of the River Ganges at Kumartuli in north Kolkata as they were trying to dispose of a trolley bag carrying the headless and chopped body of a third woman in the river.

The two women, mother and daughter, were identified as Falguni Ghosh and Aarati Ghosh. The woman, whose chopped and headless body had been recovered from within the trolley bag, was reportedly that of Sumita Ghosh, an elderly relative of the two arrested women.

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Crime

Bengaluru Police file FIR against Air Force officer in road rage case

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Bengaluru, April 22: The Bengaluru Police lodged an FIR against an Indian Air Force officer on Tuesday in connection with a road rage incident involving him and a bike rider.

The case was registered under the jurisdiction of the Byappanahalli police station. The FIR has been filed against Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose. Earlier, the bike rider, Vikas Kumar, was arrested in connection with the case. The incident came to light after Bose uploaded a video on social media claiming he was attacked by a local youth for not speaking in Kannada.

However, later CCTV footage revealed Bose overpowering the bike rider, banging, kicking, and punching him.

The FIR has been filed under IPC Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 304 (snatching forcefully), 324 (mischief), and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace).

The complaint was lodged by Vikas Kumar, a call centre employee. According to him, while he was returning a friend’s bike, a car touched his vehicle. “When I questioned why they hit the bike, the officer kicked it. When I objected, he continuously assaulted me. When I tried to call my friend, he snatched my phone and threw it. He also threw away the bike keys and attempted to choke me,” Kumar alleged.

The incident escalated after Kannada organisations condemned the officer’s video and the alleged assault, criticising him for giving the issue a Kannada versus Hindi language twist. After Kumar’s arrest, they also slammed the police for taking one-sided action.

DCP East D. Devaraju had stated earlier that the incident occurred around 6 a.m. on Monday while the Air Force officer was travelling from DRDO Quarters to the Bengaluru International Airport. “An altercation broke out between the officer, his wife, and the biker. His wife, Squadron Leader Madhumita Das, was driving the car. The situation escalated, and we have CCTV footage along with videos taken by bystanders,” he said.

“It’s a clear case of road rage. Both parties could have avoided the incident. Around 6.30 a.m., they came to the police station, and the SHO advised them to seek first aid as they were bleeding,” he added.

He also stated that Bose had left for the airport due to a delay. “Once he went live on social media, we traced the details and contacted Madhumita Das at the DRDO quarters. She later came to the police station and filed a complaint. This is a clear road rage incident,” DCP Devaraju reiterated.

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Crime

ED raids 16 locations in Bihar, Jharkhand in connection with 117 acre land scam

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Ranchi, April 22: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out searches at 16 locations across Jharkhand and Bihar in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to a massive land scam involving 117 acres of forest land in Bokaro.

The raids began early in the morning and were spread across Ranchi, Bokaro, and Ramgarh in Jharkhand, as well as some locations in Bihar.

The operation is part of the ED’s ongoing probe into illegal land transactions and suspected laundering of proceeds from the sale and purchase of forest land.

The case, originally registered at the Sector-12 police station in Bokaro earlier this year, pertains to the alleged illegal transfer and sale of approximately 117 acres of forest land. The Jharkhand CID had initially taken up the investigation, which revealed major irregularities.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Jharkhand Police, also probing the 2022 forest land scam, found that 74.38 acres of land belonging to the Forest Department in Bokaro were illegally allotted to a private company by administrative officials.

According to CID findings, the land mafia in alleged collusion with some personnel of Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL) tampered with land records. It was further discovered that the land in question had not been properly handed over to the Forest Department by BSL, which created loopholes exploited by the accused parties for illegal transactions.

Following the revelations, the case was handed over to the ED for investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Sources indicate that the ED is likely to summon and question several individuals, including officials from the Forest Department and BSL, in connection with the case.

The agency is also examining financial trails to ascertain how the proceeds from the land transactions were laundered and who the key beneficiaries were.

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