News Analysis India

Tag: Independence Day

  • ‘Ambush tactics’: Jharkhand SPs told not to act in haste to remove Maoist posters, flags 

    Express News Service

    RANCHI: Alerting all district headquarters over possible Maoist attack to mark the black day on Independence Day, Jharkhand Police has issued a letter to all SPs not to act in haste in removing the posters, banners, or black flags as it might be a trap to ambush the forces. 

    In the letter by the special branch of Jharkhand Police, the SPs have also been asked to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) while reacting against any such information as most of the time it is found to be tactics adopted by Maoists to carry out an ambush.

    According to the Special Branch, as they have done earlier, Maoists are likely to observe ‘Black Day’ on August 15, during which, they might put black flags on government buildings such as schools, Panchayat Bhawans, Primary Health Care Centers or even on non-government buildings or blow them up by IEDs.

    “Most of the time times, Maoists trap security forces to ambush them by putting black flags, posters, banners on government buildings or blowing them up. Therefore, SOPs must be followed by the forces while travelling to such places as there is a possibility that an IED might be planted under the banners and flags, which may blow up as soon as they are removed,” stated the letter issued by ADG (Special Branch) Muralilal Meena. Such incidents have already taken place earlier in Gumla and Bokaro, it added.

    A list of sensitive police stations located in different districts has also been given to the SPs concerned asking them to make deployment of cops at strategic and sensitive locations.

    Therefore, the letter further stated that the Maoists might also use police uniforms or VIP vehicles for making an attack on MLAs, MPs, or some other public representatives or executing any other Maoist incidents. Patrolling parties in Left Wing Extremism ((LWE) affected districts have also been warned to keep extra precaution while reacting over any information related to Maoist-related incidents on Independence Day.

    Meanwhile, all the SPs have been asked to conduct search operations in their districts and interrogate the suspected persons if found occupying hotel rooms.

  • Let’s work together to achieve constitutional ideals: VP Venkaiah Naidu’s message on Independence Day eve

    Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday extended his greetings to the people on the eve of Independence Day.

  • Farmers to celebrate Independence Day as ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting against the three contentious agriculture laws will celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day as ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas’.

    Following a national call by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, farmers across the country will mark the day with ‘tiranga rallies’ at block and tehsil levels.

    However, the farmers stressed that they will not enter Delhi.

    “On August 15, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has given a call for all constituents to mark the day as Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas, with tiranga marches to be organised on that day,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of AIKSCC (All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee).

    “On that day, tractors, motorcycles, cycles, and carts will be taken out in tiranga marches by farmers and workers to block, tehsil, district headquarters or to their nearest kisan morchas or dharnas. These marches will be taken out with the national flag on the vehicles,” he added.

    The rallies will be taken out nationwide from 11 am to 1 pm, another farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said.

    At the Delhi borders too, including Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, tri-colour marches and programmes will be held throughout the day.

    “At Singhu, farmers will march for about eight kms from the main stage at the protest site till the KMP expressway, with the tricolour, and the flags of their respective farm unions on their vehicles,” farmer leader Jagmohan Singh said.

    The tricolour will also be hoisted on the farmer “jhopdis” at these protest sites, he added.

    Farmer leaders stressed that the tiranga rally on August 15 will be “peaceful” and will steer clear of Delhi.

    “Marches will be taken out across the country, but at tehsil and block levels. They will be peaceful, and we have clarified repeatedly that we have no plans of entering Delhi,” Kohar said.

    “The happenings of January 26 put a dent on our movement, so the tiranga marches on August 15 will not enter any city, but our agitation is not going to stop until our demands are met,” added Singh.

    Singh said the tiranga marches on Independence Day will reiterate the farmers’ demands of repealing the three contentious laws, and how the government has not extended its support to the farmers despite their over eight-month-long protest.

    “Through this rally we want to stress on our demands that we have been fighting for all this time. The speakers at the borders on August 15 will talk about the three laws and why they must be repealed. The rally is also to show how the government is not going on back foot and meeting the farmers’ demands,” Singh said.

    Farmers from different parts of the country have been protesting against the three laws since November last year.

    While the farmers have expressed apprehension over the laws doing away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations, the government has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms.

    Over 10 rounds of talks have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

  • E-court vans in five Uttarakhand districts from Independence Day

    By Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: In a first, Uttarakhand is planning ‘e-court vans’ in the state from Independence Day. In the initial phase, the vans will be rolled out in five hill districts — Tehri, Chamoli, Uttarakashi, Pithoragarh and Champawat. 

    “The idea is to make the judicial process accessible to remote hills areas of the state. District judges concerned will be responsible for the functioning of the vans. In later stages, the  e-court vans will be rolled out in other districts, too,” said an official from the Uttarakhand High Court.

    The idea is a brainchild of Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court R S Chauhan. He took the initiative of starting a mobile court in Adilabad while he was the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.

    The vans will be equipped with wifi, video conferencing and other facilities, with judges hearing cases with the help of a team that will enable the functioning of these e-courts.

    The standard operating procedure for the functioning of the mobile court units will be out soon.

    Case backlog in the Uttarakhand HC has increased by 22 per cent in five years with 38,676 cases pending. The information was shared in a reply by former Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Parsad in Rajya Sabha in March.

    The data revealed that in 2016, the state had 32,004 cases which declined to 30,022 the following year but rose in 2018 to 34,049 and 35,407 in 2019. Courts of Himachal Pradesh and UP have more than double cases pending till March 23.

  • CPM to observe Independence Day in a big way, to raise national flag for first time

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to celebrate India’s Independence Day in a grand manner for the first time on August 15 next when the national Tricolour will be hoisted in every party office, a senior leader said on Sunday.

    The development took place more than seven decades after the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) raised the slogan “Ye Azadi Jhutha Hain” (This freedom is false).

    The CPI(M) came into being following a split in the CPI in 1964.

    “It has been decided that the Tricolour would be hoisted at every party office on the occasion of 75th Independence day,” CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.

    Chakraborty, also a senior functionary of the party’s West Bengal state committee, however, rejected the contention that the party is observing the day for the first time saying that it was celebrated earlier also in a different manner.

    “We usually observe the Independence Day by holding discussions on issues and dangers faced by the country by fascist forces, by communal forces. This time the day will be held in a bigger way. Seventy-fifth or 100th year don’t come every time,” he told PTI.

    The Tricolour will flutter along with the red flag of the party, which will be seen for the first time on August 15 atop CPI(M) offices, another party leader said.

    The decision to observe the day was made after the central committee of the CPI(M), which assumed the role of principal Left party in the country after the split in the undivided CPI, put its seal of approval to the proposal of the West Bengal committee at a virtual meeting in which state members attended the deliberations from here.

    The move came in the wake of the poor performance of the CPI(M) in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly polls in West Bengal, which was blamed by political observers as the party’s growing disconnect with the electorate.

    The decision also assumes significance as the Marxist party had been accused of jettisoning nationalist values and being more sympathetic to its international counterparts in China, Cuba and Vietnam in the past.

    The party had been charged with being soft to China during the India-China War in 1962.

    The undivided CPI, led by patriarchs such as Jyoti Basu, Bhupesh Gupta and others had coined the slogan “Ye Azadi Jhutha Hain” after Independence, arguing that it will only help the capitalists but not the proletariat.

    During the 34-year rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal, opposition parties charged it with organising protests over happenings in Cuba neglecting issues faced by the people of the state.

    The BJP, Congress and the Trinamool Congress observe Independence Day in a big way had previously alleged that the communist party is less national and more international in its approach and had no contribution to the freedom movement.

    The charge, however, had always been denied by the communists.

  • Cabinet Secretary warns officers of action if they fail to attend Independence Day event at Red Fort

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has warned officers invited for the Independence Day function at the Red Fort that a “serious view” will be taken if they fail to attend the event.

    In a communication to the secretaries of all Union ministries and departments, Gauba said the Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address the nation, has its own significance and the officers invited for the function are expected to attend.

    “It has been observed that some of the invited officers fail to attend the ceremony. This is inappropriate considering that the occasion is of great national importance. There is clearly a need to remind the officers that it is their duty to attend the Independence Day ceremony,” he said.

    In his letter, Gauba also said that in view of social distancing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officers of only joint secretary level and above have been invited for the ceremony this year.

    “You may suitably advice all officers of your ministry/department, who are invited to the independence day ceremony, to attend the function.

    You may also like to caution them that a serious view can be taken of their absence on this occasion,” Gauba told the secretaries.

  • Ceiling on gatherings eased to facilitate Independence Day celebrations across Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir State Executive Committee (SEC) on Sunday ordered temporary relaxation on the number of people permitted to attend indoor and outdoor gatherings on the occasion of Independence Day but directed district magistrates to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour.The relaxations were announced even as the SEC decided to continue various Covid containment measures including the closure of the educational institutions and night curfew across the union territory till further orders.

    In an order issued after a detailed review of the COVID-19 situation with a focus on total weekly new cases (per million), total positivity rate, bed occupancy, case fatality rate and vaccination coverage of the targeted population, Chief Secretary A K Mehta said, “There is a need to continue with the existing Covid containment measures in all the districts in view of the uneven trend in the daily cases.”

    The order said the maximum number of people permitted to attend any indoor or outdoor gathering shall be restricted to 25.

    “However, this ceiling shall be temporarily relaxed on August 15 only on account of Independence Day celebrations, subject to Covid appropriate behaviour to be ensured by all District Magistrates,” Mehta, who is also the chairman of the SEC, said.

    He said there would be no weekend curfew in any district but night curfew would continue to remain in force in all districts from 8 pm to 7 am, while all deputy commissioners would intensify testing by making optimum use of available RT-PCR and RAT capacities and there shall be no drop in testing levels.

    “All school and higher educational institutions, including coaching centers, shall continue to remain closed for onsite/in-person teaching, till further orders. However, the educational institutions are permitted to seek personal attendance of vaccinated staff/students for administrative purposes and Independence Day celebrations subject to a limit of 25 and strict adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour,” Mehta said.

    The SEC ordered the deputy commissioners to focus on the positivity rates of the medical blocks under their jurisdictions.

    “Intensified measures, related to Covid management and restriction of activities, shall be undertaken by the DCs in these blocks. There shall be renewed focus on panchayat level mapping of cases and effective micro-containment zones shall be constituted wherever unusual spike of cases is noticed,” the order said.

    The deputy commissioners have been asked to keep active track of the positivity rates in the blocks and consider implementing stricter control measures in closed clustered spaces like public-private offices, community halls, malls, and markets in case the weekly positivity rate goes beyond four percent in these blocks.

    “The three ”T” protocols of testing, tracking and treating, besides vaccination, need to be strengthened in these blocks. The proportion of RT-PCR tests in the total mix should be scaled up, on a best effort basis, to 70 percent or more, excluding travellers,” Mehta said.

    He said the positive cases detected as a result of intensive testing need to be isolated and quarantined at the earliest and their contacts should also be traced at the earliest, and similarly quarantined and tested, if needed.

    The Health and Medical Education Department was directed to ensure adequate availability of Covid dedicated health and logistics (including ambulatory) infrastructure, based on its assessment of the case trajectory.

    “National Health Mission in consultation with the DCs shall take up panchayat level mapping and data capturing for tracking the positivity rates on fortnightly basis in all panchayats,” the order said.

    Mehta directed the district magistrates to strictly ensure that there is full compliance to Covid appropriate behavior and defaulters are firmly dealt with under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code.

    “The District Magistrates shall constitute joint teams of Police and Executive Magistrates for enforcement of Covid Appropriate Behaviour. The joint teams shall submit daily reports regarding activities carried out by them and their assessment of compliance level,” the order said.

  • Protesting farmer unions to hold Tiranga rallies on Independence Day

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting against the Centre’s three agri laws would observe Independence Day as ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azadi Sangram Diwas’ and would take out Tiranga marches across the country, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) announced on Wednesday.

    In a statement, the SKM, which is an amalgam of 40 farmer unions, said “farmers and workers shall take out Tiranga marches to block, tehsil, district headquarters or their nearest Kisan Morcha or dharna” on August 15.

    “These marches will be taken out with the national flag on cycles, bikes, carts, tractors, etc,” it said.

    The SKM here also reiterated their earlier decision that no “official flag hoisting functions” or “march with the national flag” would be opposed by farmers till August 15.

    However, its decision of boycotting BJP leaders and its allies would continue for all other political and governmental activities, it noted.

    During the ongoing ”Kisan Sansad”, which completed its 10th day on Wednesday, the farmers here passed resolutions against the three black laws as well as against the proposed bill on Air Pollution and the Electricity Amendment Bill.

    The mock Parliament also witnessed the farmers tabling a “bill” providing a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the agriculture produce.

    Various speakers during the discussion highlighted the failure of the existing system to offer a remunerative price or even cost price to the farmers, it added.

    The Kisan Sansad is being organised by farmers who have been protesting against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws at multiple Delhi borders since November last year.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

    As part of these Kisan Sansad sessions, 200 farmers from the protest sites participate in the mock Parliament session at Jantar Mantar during which issues concerning the farming community are discussed.

  • PM Modi asks people to share their inputs for his Independence Day speech

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged citizens to share their inputs for his Independence Day speech on August 15, saying their thoughts will reverberate from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

    In a tweet, he asked people to provide their inputs on MyGov, a citizen engagement platform.

    The portal noted that the prime minister in his Independence Day speech lays out the government’s programmes and policies, and Modi over the last few years has directly invited ideas and suggestions from citizens.

    It added, “Similarly, this year too the Prime Minister invites citizens to contribute their inputs for New India. So, now you have the opportunity to tell your ideas, give word to your suggestions and crystallize your vision. PM Narendra Modi will pick up some of the ideas in his speech on 15th August.”

  • Farmers to take out tractor parade on Independence Day in Jind

    By PTI
    JIND: Farmers protesting against the new agri laws will take out a tractor parade in Jind district of Haryana on Independence Day, peasant union leaders said on Monday.

    “On August 15, we will take out a tractor parade. Our tableaux will display the tools which we use in farming,” Satbir Pehalwan Barsola told reporters here.

    The parade, in which the national flag and “kisan flag” will be put up on farm vehicles, will start and culminate at the protest site at Khatkar toll plaza here, he said.

    “We have prepared our route march. We will seek permission from the district authorities for the parade,” he said on Sunday.

    A large number of farmers will take part in this march, said Barsola, who is convener of the Khatkar toll plaza committee of the protesting farmers.

    Barsola said they will show “black flags” to BJP-JJP leaders if they come to Jind to unfurl the tricolour on Independence Day.

    Farmers opposing the Centre’s three farm laws enacted last year have been protesting at public functions of BJP-JJP leaders in the state.

    However, local farmer leader Bijender Sindhu said, as August 15 is a national festival, “We will not stop anyone from hoisting tricolour on that day”.

    “It is my personal opinion that in such functions no hindrance should be created as August 15 is our national festival,” he said.

    It has been eight months since the farmers’ agitation against the three agri laws that they claim will do away with the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations, began.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two sides.