News Analysis India

Tag: Uttar Pradesh

  • Congress’ move to give 40 per cent tickets for women in UP polls throws spotlight on low representation

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Congress’ gambit by announcing 40 per cent tickets to women candidates in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls has brought into focus the under-representation of women in the state legislature and also thrown a challenge to political opponents for rising above tokenism in fielding women in electoral contests.

    Congress general secretary and UP party in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday announced that her party will give tickets to 40 per cent women in the upcoming elections to make women, roughly constituting about half the electorate, “a full-fledged partner in power”.

    The move, she claimed, is aimed at empowering every woman who wants justice, change and unity of her state and also against the efforts to divide them into caste and religion that is stopping them from emerging as a force.

    With this decision, Congress will have to give tickets to around 160 women in the election to the 403-member house.

    It would be interesting to see if the party’s strategy will pave the way for better representation of women in the house, which had only 10 per cent of their presence in the outgoing Vidhan Sabha that is the highest till date, and whether political opponents will make a conscious move to field more women candidates than the previous elections in 2017.

    A record 40 women candidates had made it to the legislature in 2017 making it the highest ever proportion of female members in the 403 member-house.

    In the 2012 state elections, 35 women were elected, which was the earlier record. All the major political parties had together fielded 96 women in the 2017 polls.

    The BJP, whose senior member and Allahabad MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi had alleged that her former party Congress humiliated the women who contributed so much for the organisation, and its junior partner Apna Dal had got the highest number of 35 women representatives elected to the house in 2017.

    The Congress has two women candidates elected while the BSP, whose national president Mayawati termed the decision to set aside 40 per cent tickets for women as nothing but “pure election drama”, also has two women MLAs in the house.

    The Samajwadi Party has one woman MLA in the outgoing house. BJP had given tickets to 43 women, the highest among all the parties, in the polls. According to Election Commission data, the first UP assembly elections held after Independence in 1952 saw 20 women get elected to the house.

    After that, their presence in the assembly has remained insignificant.

    In 1985, 31 women were elected but the number fell to 18 in 1989, and further dropped in 1991 to 10.

    In 1993, 14 women were elected that further increased to 20 in 1996 and 26 in 2002.

    In 2007, however, their number fell to a mere three.

    Ironically, a woman (Mayawati) was the Leader of the House at that time.

    BSP had fielded only 20 women candidates in 2017 whereas it had given 33 tickets to women in 2012.

    The SP-Congress, who had contested the election in an alliance, gave tickets to 33 women, of whom SP had 22 and Congress 11 candidates in 2017.

    In 2012, SP had fielded 34 women candidates of whom 22 had won their seats.

  • BJP has fielded 50 per cent women candidates in MP bypolls: CM Chouhan

    After holding five public meetings, Chouhan spent the night at the house of a tribal, Bharchand Bhuria, in Kabirsej village of Jobal Assembly constituency.

  • Lakhimpur violence: Only 4 out of 44 witnesses have been recorded, SC asks UP govt to take all statements

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: “We think you are dragging your feet. You please dispel this,” the Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Uttar Pradesh government while hearing the Lakhimpur Kheri matter, and asked it to record statements of remaining witnesses in the case before a judicial magistrate.

    The apex court, which was hearing a matter pertaining to the October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight persons including four farmers were killed during a farmers’ protest, was told by the state government that statements of four out of the 44 witnesses have been recorded by the judicial magistrate.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana perused the status report filed by the state government in the matter in a sealed cover.

    The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, was told by the state that the process of recording of statements of witnesses before judicial magistrate is going on.

    The top court has posted the matter for hearing on October 26.

    Ten people, including Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, have been arrested so far in connection with the case.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: ‘Rail roko’ affects 150 locations in Northern Railway zone, 60 trains affected

    The top court is hearing the matter after two lawyers had written a letter to the CJI seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, also involving the CBI, into the incident.

    Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

    Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the violence.

    Several farmer organisations are protesting against the passage of three laws — The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 since last November.

    The apex court had stayed the implementation of these laws in January.

    Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

  • Rains batter Uttarakhand as 42 more die, Uttar Pradesh sees four fatalities; Kerala dams open gates

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand reported at least 42 rain-related deaths on Tuesday with many people still trapped under the rubble after landslides, while Uttar Pradesh witnessed four fatalities, even as heavy downpour in Kerala filled several dams to the brim and multiple districts were on alert.

    In view of the incessant rains, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reiterated his appeal to Chardham yatris to stay where they are and not to resume their journeys before the weather improved.

    “The number of casualties in Kumaon region alone has crossed 40,” DIG Nilesh Anand Bharne told PTI.

    With 42 new fatalities in the Kumaon region, the death toll in the disaster has risen to 47 as five deaths were reported on Monday.

    Of the 42 fresh deaths, 28 people were killed in Nainital district, six each in Almora and Champawat and one each in Pithoragarh and Udham Singh Nagar districts, the official said.

    ALSO READ: Experts explain what is causing heavy rains that killed dozens in Uttarakhand, Kerala over few days

    The connectivity to Nainital was restored in the evening after hours of struggle amid inclement weather, officials said.

    Chief Minister Dhami undertook an aerial survey of the rain-hit areas and later interacted with the affected people on ground zero to make an assessment of the damages caused.

    He announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in rain-related incidents across the state over the last two days.

    Director General of Uttarakhand Police Ashok Kumar, who accompanied Chief Minister Dhami on a visit to the rain-hit areas of the Kumaon region, said roads, bridges and railway tracks have been damaged in Kathgodam and Lalkuan in Nainital and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar.

    ALSO READ: Uttarakhand government to give Rs 4 lakh to kin of those killed in rain-related incidents

    It will take at least four-five days to repair the damaged tracks, Kumar told PTI.

    Three Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters have arrived in the state and are assisting in relief and rescue operations.

    Two of them have been deployed in Nainital district, which has suffered extensive damage due to cloudbursts and landslides, Dhami said.

    According to a rough estimate, around 100 pilgrims from different parts of Gujarat who had gone to Uttarakhand for the Chardham Yatra were stranded following heavy rains and landslides, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi said.

    The National Disaster Response Force has rescued over 300 people from flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand, the federal force said on Tuesday.

    ALSO READ: Over 300 people rescued from flood-affected Uttarakhand – NDRF

    The NDRF has deployed 15 teams in the state.

    Rainfall was reported from other parts of the country as well including Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, according to the IMD, which forecast an intense spell of rain over east and northeast till Wednesday, and south peninsular region during the next four-five days.

    Authorities in the national capital said Prof Joginder Singh Marg in the western part of the city had been closed after the road caved in.

    A 35-year-old woman and her mother-in-law died in Uttar Pradesh’s Fathepur after a wall of their house collapsed following heavy rains.

    In Bareilly, also in UP, two labourers died of electrocution in Bisalpur road after coming in contact with a solar panel following heavy rains, police said.

    WATCH VIDEO: River washes away under-construction bridge as rains cause havoc in Uttarakhand

    In West Bengal, the Met department said heavy rainfall is very likely to continue till Thursday morning even as the low-pressure system that developed over the Gangetic Basin in the southern part of the state moved to Bihar, parts of which received heavy rains during the day.

    The weatherman warned of extremely heavy rainfall over Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Alipurduar till Wednesday morning and downpour till Thursday over all sub-Himalayan districts.

    The IMD forecast more rain on Wednesday in Odisha, which has already been battered by low-pressure area-induced downpour for the last three days.

    Fishermen were advised not to venture into the Bay of Bengal for the next 48 hours.

    Down south in Kerala, after a relative respite of two days, the IMD Tuesday issued an Orange Alert for 11 districts of Kerala indicating heavy rainfall.

    The weatherman has put 12 districts in the state on Orange alert on Thursday also.

    The IMD sounded an Orange alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur districts on October 20.

    An Orange alert has been issued for all districts other than Kannur and Kasaragod on October 21.

    Idukki, Idamalayar, Pamba and Kakki, four major dams among the total 78 dams in the state have been opened to release the excess water.

    Shutters of Cheruthoni dam, part of the Idukki reservoir in Kerala, were opened on Tuesday to create more storage capacity in anticipation of the heavy rainfall predicted in its catchment area over the next two days.

    Various district administrations have issued alerts to the people living downstream and shifted them to relief camps set up in the state.

    The IMD said a low-pressure area lies over Bihar and neighbourhood.

    Also due to strong southerly/southeasterly winds from Bay of Bengal, a heavy spell of rainfall activity is very likely to continue over east and northeast India till October 20.

  • Uttar Pradesh cops save man hanging from noose after call from alert daughter

    By PTI

    NOIDA: A 45-year-old man hanging from a noose inside his house was saved by policemen in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district who promptly reached the location following a call from his daughter, officials said on Tuesday.

    Police were alerted by the Class 11 girl who called up the emergency number 112 on the instructions of her elder brother who was away from home but sensed the criticalness of the situation.

    “The police response vehicle (PRV) got the call at 2.10 pm on Monday and it reached the house, which lies on the outskirts of a village, covering a distance of three kilometres in just around three minutes,” an official with the 112 emergency number said.

    Sub-Inspector Shivdas was the commander of PRV-1195 and Home Guard Prem Narayan its driver, the officials said.

    The PRV officials said that after they reached the house, they looked into the room through a window and saw the man hanging from the noose.

    “Some other people had gathered there and all thought the man was dead. I noticed a slight movement and immediately started breaking the door which was bolted from inside. With the help from two more people, we broke the door and brought the man down by releasing him from the noose,” Prem Narayan told PTI.

    Water was sprinkled on his face and he regained consciousness after which he was rushed to a local hospital from where he returned home later in the day, the officials said.

    “He is doing fine now,” the man’s son, who requested that the family not be identified, told PTI over phone on Tuesday.

    The 24-year-old son said his father attempted suicide because he was “intoxicated” and upset with his mother, who had gone to the farms after a tiff in the afternoon.

    “I was not in the village when my younger sister called me to inform me of what had happened. I sensed the criticality and told her to immediately call the police on 100 (112 now) instead of wasting time looking for help in the village, she did that and the police also reached quickly,” he added.

    The family, meanwhile, requested people to not share videos or pictures of the episode on social media.

  • Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit vice president Pankaj Malik resigns

    By PTI

    MUZAFFARNAGAR: In a jolt to the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, its state unit vice president Pankaj Malik and his father Harendra Malik, who was a member of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s advisory committee, quit the party on Tuesday.

    Pankaj Malik, also a former MLA, released to the media a letter he has sent to the state congress president resigning from the primary membership of the Congress.

    At a press conference, senior Congress leader and former MP Harendra Malik announced his decision to leave the party.

    He said that he has not yet decided to join any political party and will take a decision after a discussion with his supporters.

    The development came on a day Priyanka Gandhi announced that the Congress will give 40 percent tickets to women in the coming UP assembly elections.

  • Congress decides to field 40 per cent of women candidates in Uttar Pradesh polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Congress will give 40 per cents of its tickets to women candidates in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Tuesday.

    Gandhi told a news conference here that the decision is aimed at making women, roughly constituting half the voters, a “full-fledged partner in power”.

    While announcing the party’s decision, Gandhi, also the party’s Uttar Pradesh affairs in-charge, however, remained non-committal on contesting the UP polls herself.

    The Congress’ decision to field 40 per cent of woman candidates in UP, however, did not go down well with its opponents BJP and BSP both terming the move a “pure election drama”.

    Tasked with regaining the party’s lost ground in the politically crucial state, Priyanka Gandhi, said, “It’s the party promise to give 40 per cent tickets to women in the coming elections.”

    “Had I had my way, I would have given 50 per cent tickets to them,” she said, adding the decision to field more and more candidates would be taken forward in the 2024 polls “There is no hidden meaning to it. We want women in politics to become full-fledged partners in power,” she said.

    Gandhi’s announcement was greeted with the bursting of firecrackers and slogan-shouting by women workers who were watching the press conference on a large screen elsewhere in the party office.

    Congress had won only seven seats, including two by women, in the 403-member UP house in 2017 polls.

    Asked if she will also contest the assembly elections, Priyanka Gandhi said, “It has not yet been decided. There is still some time for the elections. I will think about it and decide if I have to contest.”

    Active in the state politics for over two years now, Gandhi evaded a definite reply on whether a woman would be projected as the CM face in the state after today’s announcement.

    “I will tell this later when I want,” she said.

    Elaborating on why the decision to field more woman candidates in the UP polls was taken, she said it is aimed at empowering every woman who wants justice, change and unity and her state to progress.

    “Women will have to come forward if the country has to be taken forward,” she said while asking the prospective women candidates to apply for tickets by November 15.

    To a question, Priyanka said that the participation of women in the party will improve with this decision.

    “This decision has been taken with the approval of all. The main thinking is that women are being divided into castes and religion and they are failing to emerge as a force,” she said.

    Referring to the Ujjwala scheme, she also took a dig at the BJP government, saying “political parties think they can please women only by giving gas cylinders and Rs 2,000”.

    She did not find any fault in the prospect of fielding women from various political leaders’ families in elections as a fallout of this decision.

    She said the decision was taken in UP where she is looking after the party affairs and it can prove to be an example for other states where the Congress has its government and elections are due soon.

    When asked if this formula could be repeated in the party organisation, she said efforts will be made for it.

    Soon after the announcement, BSP president Mayawati tweeted, “The Congress never remember Dalits, backwards and women when they are in power and having good days.”

    “But now that their bad days are not going away, they have remembered Dalits in Punjab and women in UP. The decision to give 40 per cent of its tickets to women is nothing other than a pure election drama,” she said.

    Rita Joshi, the former UPCC president who quit the Congress to join the BJP, alleged “Congress could not keep women like me, who contributed so much to the party, with them.”

    “I gave 18 years to the party by doing selfless service, I was given responsibility and worked so hard for it, why was I humiliated?” she said, also citing the examples of Sushmita Dev and Priyanka Chaturvedi among others who left the Congress in recent past.

    “They are giving tickets only where they know the party is going to lose and not where the party has chances to win. This is a drama as they know that they are going to lose in UP,” Joshi said.

  • PM Modi to inaugurate Kushinagar International Airport on Wednesday. Find details here

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Kushinagar international airport, an endeavour to connect Buddhist pilgrimage sites around the world, will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

    Kushinagar, considered to be comparatively a backward district in the Gorakhpur division, is expected to bring a huge uptick in tourism and the earnings of the people of eastern UP when the airport becomes operational.

    UP has with international airports already functional in Lucknow and PM Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi. By 2024, the state is likely to become the only state in the country with five international airports as Ayodhya airport will become functional by 2022 and Jewar by 2024.

    Kushinagar is the place where Buddha attained ‘mahaparinirvana’ (salvation). With international air connectivity, the place will become easily accessible for Buddhist pilgrims across the world.

    On February 23, the Director-General Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a licence for international flights to Kushinagar airport which will be the third licensed international airport of UP.

    The inauguration of Kushinagar International Airport will be marked by the landing of the inaugural flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying a Sri Lankan delegation of over 100 Buddhist monks and dignitaries including the 12-member holy relic entourage bringing the holy Buddha relics for exposition.

    The delegation will have five ministers of the Lankan government led by cabinet minister Namal Rajapakshe. Built at an estimated cost of Rs 260 crore, Kushinagar Airport will serve nearbydistricts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and is expected to give a fillip to investment and employment opportunities in the region. 

    While KUSHINAGAR International Airport will be inaugurated by PM @narendramodi Ji on 20th Oct, grand Abhidhamma Day will be celebrated and sacred Buddha Relic will be taken to Kushinagar, UP from Waskaduwa Sri Subuddhi Rajvihara Temple, Sri Lanka by the mahanayake of the Temple. https://t.co/SlbYcwgANe pic.twitter.com/Afh2FeOSey
    — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) October 19, 2021
    Kushinagar International Airport has the longest runway of 3.2 km length in the state and is 45 metres wide. The airport has the capacity for four arrivals and four departures of flights per hour. It also has a 3,600 square metre interim passenger building and arrangements are being made to make night flights also possible.

    As per immigration bureau records, there has been a footfall to the tune of 42 lakh tourists in Kushinagar from 18 Buddhist countries in the last five years. “After international air connectivity, tourism will increase by 20%,” said AK Dwivedi, director, Kushinagar International Airport.

    Significantly, the other two international airports functional in UP are Lucknow’s Chaudhury Charan Singh airport and Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport.

    While Chaudhury Charan Singh Airport is connected to 29 destinations and five countries, Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport is connected with 16 destinations and two countries.

    PM Modi will visit UP tomorrow & inaugurate the Kushinagar International AirportThe inauguration will be marked by landing of inaugural flight at the airport from Colombo carrying Sri lankan delegation of over 100 Buddhist Monks & dignitaries incl 12-member Holy Relic entourage pic.twitter.com/22GiQPt3fn
    — ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2021
    The air connectivity of Uttar Pradesh has increased manifold since 2017.  Till 2017, only four airports were functional in UP. Among them, only Lucknow and Varanasi were in regular use. Rest Gorakhpur and Agra seldom had flights.

    At present, eight airports including Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Bareilly, Agra, and Hindon are fully functional in the state. “Before 2017, there were only 25 destinations from Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, and Agra combined; today, that service has expanded to three times more destinations,” said a senior civil aviation official.

    The international destinations with which Uttar Pradesh is connected include Bangkok, Kaula Lampur, Kathmandu, Sharjah, Dubai, and Muscat.

    Along with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, work on Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram Airport is also on the fast track. For this, in February 2021, the Centre released Rs 250 crore and the state government sanctioned a total of Rs 1001.77 crore to buy 555.7 acres of additional land for the dream project. So far, 377 acres of land have been provided to AAI for the development of the airport. 

    Work is being done to start flights from the airport by 2022.

    Similarly, the construction of ‘Noida International Airport, Jewar, one of the largest in the world, according to the government, will start soon. In addition to that, eight more airport projects at Azamgarh, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Lalitpur, Moradabad, Sonbhadra, Shravasti, and Saharanpur (Sarsawan) are under construction and will be operational soon. UP Civil Aviation Secretary Surendra Singh said once all the 17 airports become functional, the state will get a connectivity boost, which will result in an upswing in tourism and employment.

  • Former Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar dies

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Sukhdev Rajbhar died here on Monday following a prolonged illness.

    Rajbhar, 70, was the speaker of the UP Assembly in the BSP government between 2007 and 2012.

    He was an MLA from Didarganj constituency in Azamgarh.

    Condoling his death, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Rajbhar always raised issues related to the poor and backward classes.

    Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit also mourned the demise of Rajbhar.

    “Former speaker of UP Vidhan Sabha Sukhdev Rajbhar’s death is an irreparable loss. My condolences to the bereaved family. May his soul rest in peace. Your political life dedicated to social justice will always inspire others,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

  • Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Indra Pratap Tiwari gets 5 years in jail in 28-year-old fake mark sheet case

    By PTI

    AYODHYA: Indra Pratap Tiwari, BJP MLA from Gosaiganj in Ayodhya, was on Monday sentenced to five years imprisonment by a special court in a 28-year-old case of using a fake mark sheet to get admission in college.

    Special judge Puja Singh delivered the verdict and Tiwari, who was present in the MP/MLA court, was taken into custody and sent to jail.

    The court also slapped a fine of Rs 8,000 on him.

    Indra Pratap Tiwari alias Khabbu Tiwari was elected from the Gosaiganj assembly constituency.

    The case was lodged against Tiwari in 1992 by the then Principal of Saket Degree College in Ayodhya Yaduvansh Ram Tripathi at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station.

    According to the FIR, Tiwari, who failed in the second year of graduation, took admission in the next class by submitting a fake mark sheet in 1990.

    The charge sheet was filed after 13 years in the case.

    Several original documents disappeared from the records and the trial continued with the preparation of secondary copies of all the court documents.

    The plaintiff, Tripathi, also died during the trial.

    Mahendra Kumar Agrawal, the then Dean of Saket College, and other witnesses testified against Tiwari.