One killed, five hurt in Ludhiana court blast, high alert in Punjab

 The blast comes days after the alleged sacrilege bids – at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and a gurdwara in Kapurthala – followed by the lynching of two men

A bomb went off in the district court complex on Thursday, killing one person and injuring five others, prompting the Punjab government to declare a high alert in the state. Police suspect that the man killed in the blast in the second-floor bathroom was trying to set off the explosive device, or may even have been a suicide bomber.

As forensic teams and specialised agencies were being summoned to the blast site, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed apprehension that the explosion might have been an attempt to create “anarchy” in the poll-bound state.

The Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report from the state government as early as possible. It also wanted to be informed about the findings of the initial investigations. The blast wrecked a wall of the bathroom, shattered window panes in adjoining rooms and broke windscreens of some cars parked below, triggering panic in the busy court complex…Read More

Signal from PM Modi to CMs: Covid-19 lockdown may continue beyond May 3

Green zones may see more relaxations; states divided on how to end curbs

The nationwide lockdown is all set to be extended beyond May 3, at least until the middle of the month in the red zones of the country, as many states told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video-conference meeting on Monday that it’s not the time yet to lift the curbs.This means more activities may be allowed to resume in green zones of the country. Most Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states support extending the lockdown, but will wait and abide by the Centre’s fresh guidelines. Telangana has already extended the lockdown until May 7, and will take a decision on further extension on May 5.

ALSO READ: CRISIL pegs India’s FY21 economic growth rate at 1.8% from 3.5%

Odisha, Meghalaya and some others support extending it by a month. Congress-led governments want the lockdown to be lifted in areas other than hotpots or containment zones.Delhi will take a call by April 30.Maharashtra will also decide by the end of the month, but will not lift the lockdown in urban centres like Mumbai and Pune, which are in red zones, while allowing economic activity in green zones. Mindful of the economic challenges, the government is preparing a detailed exit strategy that would give states more space in deciding their respective plans, sources said after the three-hour meeting.

ALSO READ: Govt likely to pledge Rs 3-trn in loans to MSMEs amid Covid-19 outbreak

All CMs, except Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, who sent his chief secretary, participated in the meeting. Nine CMs spoke while the rest sent in their suggestions. The PM indicated that Covid-19 is here for a long haul and that people need to learn to live with it. He said masks and face covers would become part of our lives in the days ahead and reiterated the mantra of ‘do gaz doori’ or social distancing…

Punjab set to move resolution in state assembly seeking repeal of CAA

A minister would move a resolution on the second day of the two-day special session of the Assembly urging the Centre to repeal the Act, the sources said

The ruling Congress in Punjab is all set to bring a resolution in the state assembly on Friday demanding scrapping of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, official sources said. A minister would move a resolution on the second day of the two-day special session of the Assembly urging the Centre to repeal the Act, the sources said.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on Thursday not ruled out the possibility of bringing a resolution against the amended citizenship law. “Wait till tomorrow,” Singh had said when asked by reporters if the government will bring in a resolution, on the lines of Kerala, against the Act. The state Congress government had on Tuesday said it will proceed according to the “will of the House” on the issue of CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

Singh had recently said his government would not allow the implementation of the “brazenly divisive CAA”.After a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, his colleagues in the ministry had expressed concern over the implications of the “blatantly unconstitutional and divisive CAA, NRC and NPR.” “The ministers were of the view that the matter was bound to be raised during the two-day session of the assembly on January 16-17 and it was unanimously decided that the government should accept the will of the House,” an official statement had said.

Sikhs don’t need passport to visit Kartarpur, no fee on day one: Imran Khan

The Kartarpur Corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced that Sikh pilgrims from India would not need a passport to travel to Kartarpur and no fee would be charged from them on the opening day of the corridor on November 9.

“For Sikhs coming for pilgrimage to Kartarpur from India, I have waived off two requirements: i) they won’t need a passport-just a valid ID; ii)they no longer have to register 10 days in advance. Also, no fee to be charged on day of inauguration and on Guruji’s 550th birthday,” Khan tweeted. The Kartarpur Corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, just 4 kilometres from the International Border, located at Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

India and Pakistan last week signed the agreement on the Corridor that will allow Indian pilgrims to undertake visa-free visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the shrine of the Sikh religion’s founder Guru Nanak Dev in Pakistan, notwithstanding a chill in bilateral ties over Kashmir. The agreement will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib where Guru Nanak spent last 18 years of his life. Each visitor would be required to pay $20 as fee, though India has requested Pakistan not to charge the Indian pilgrims.

Over 22 dead in HP, 8 missing in Uttarakhand as rains ravage north India

Delhi witnessed rains with the maximum temperature settling at 29.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average

Current Affairs: Heavy rains lashed northern parts, leaving at least 22 people dead in Himachal Pradesh and eight missing after cloudburst in Uttarakhand, while a flood alert was sounded in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab as Yamuna and other rivers were in spate.

In view of heavy discharge being released in the rivers in Haryana, the state’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department has requested to direct the concerned Army officials to be on stand by.

In southern India, the death toll in flood-ravaged Kerala climbed to 116 with the retrieval of more bodies. Ground Penetrating Radars were put into use to locate bodies at Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Wayanad, where massive landslides had wiped out two villages.

Delhi witnessed rains with the maximum temperature settling at 29.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 24.8 degrees, two notches below the season’s average. As the water level in the Yamuna river neared warning level, the Delhi government sounded a flood alert for the city and asked people in the low-lying areas to vacate their place….Read More

How Punjab’s Dalits fight over a piece of land for dignity, not profit

In Punjab, upper castes, mostly Jat Sikhs, dominate the farming landscape. Only 3.5% of private farm land belongs to Dalits who make up 32% of the population

“Our struggle is not just about money. It’s about owning a farm where we can go without fear,” said Paramjit Kaur, standing at the door of her kitchen, rolling a dough ball to make chapatis. “Now, our daughters can go alone to harvest fodder at any time.”

Paramjit Kaur was talking about the 15.5 acres of common land she is jointly tending with 200 other Dalit families of the village, earning 2.5 quintal wheat and Rs 1,200 annual profit per household.

At her home in Bhattiwal Kalan village of Sangrur district in Punjab, a green awning in the courtyard partly blocked the harsh summer sun. Around 50 metres away stood the family’s only reliable source of income–a cart full of cosmetics, small household items and plastic toys. Paramjit Kaur’s husband, Major Singh, takes this mobile shop to neighbouring villages, earning around Rs 500 from daily sales. Her son recently joined a private firm in Sangrur as laboratory assistant, relieving her of a job as a farm labourer.

The family are among the several thousand Dalits participating in a land rights movement sweeping across 70 villages of southern Punjab, upsetting the deeply-entrenched power equations between upper-caste farmers and scheduled caste (SC) labourers…

(Read More: Punjab Farmers)

Centre to meet state officials to discuss PM-KISAN scheme on Thursday

States would also be convinced to reconcile their PM-KISAN database with the Centre’s to prevent duplication and deletion of eligible beneficiaries

With a view to enrolling nearly 90 million farmers under the expanded PM-KISAN scheme by July, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called a high-level meeting with state agriculture ministers on Thursday.

So far, senior officials said database of almost 57.6 million eligible farmers is available with the Centre of which a sizeable chunk has received the first installment of Rs 2,000 under PM-KISAN and have become eligible for the second tranche States would also be convinced to reconcile their PM-KISAN Scheme database with the Centre’s to prevent duplication and deletion of eligible beneficiaries.

“For example, in case of Punjab, as per the last agriculture census, around 37.7 million farmers would have been eligible for the scheme, but the state has uploaded details of over 16 lakh farmers in the PM-KISAN portal which is even more than the total number of cultivators in the state,” a senior official said.

West Bengal, which hasn’t yet participated in the scheme, has not confirmed its attendance Apart from PM-KISAN, the Centre’s ambitious programme to provide pension to almost 80 million eligible farmers in the age group of 18-40 years will also be discussed with the states along with expanding the ambit of Kisan Credit Cards, the officials said.

Punjab job crisis: Note ban haunts as labour pleads for work at 1/3rd wages

Most end up consenting to compensation as low as Rs 150-Rs 200 while the official the lowest pay permitted by law is Rs 311.12 for an untalented worker and Rs 375.62 for a talented worker

Stress had put profound wrinkles on Balkara Singh’s temple however he was only 32 years of age. The day by day wage specialist, wearing a blurred blue sweater and pants, has gone to the Gol Diggi work center in southern Punjab’s Bathinda city each and every day throughout the previous five years to search for employments. Since the finish of 2016, he has returned home frustrated generally days. As well as could be expected trust in were around 10 days of work in a month, he said.

Neediness drove Balkara out of school when he was in Class 2 and his solitary dream was to see his kids – matured four and six- – complete their training. His little house in Amargarh town where he lives with his significant other, kids and guardians, is around 14 km from Gol Diggi. It takes two transport changes and Rs 30 to achieve the center point.

When we met Balkara toward the beginning of April 2019, he was never again beyond any doubt if his fantasy could ever worked out as expected. The move by the Narendra Modi government in November 2016 to pull back 86% of India’s money, by esteem, had thumped the scrape the bottom of the easygoing employments division which kept running on money installments – farming, little scale material units, chaotic retail organizations, and the travel industry as IndiaSpend has announced.

ALSO READ: When getting a new line of work turned into a bad dream in Bengaluru after note boycott, GST

Five million men, for the most part from the chaotic segment, lost their employments over the two years following demonetisation, said another report ‘Territory of Working India 2019’. This most recent gauge of occupation misfortunes was distributed by the Center for Sustainable Employment (CSE), Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, and discharged on April 16, 2019. The numbers would have spiraled if ladies somehow managed to be incorporated into the examination. As Punjab cast a ballot on May 19 in the progressing general races to the Lok Sabha, we investigate the state’s casual occupations emergency.

The joblessness rate in Punjab in November 2016- – when demonetisation was reported – was 4.9%, which expanded to 6.1% in December 2016 as indicated by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a consultancy. This joblessness rate achieved 8.9% in June 2017 and further expanded to 9.2% on the main commemoration of demonetisation in November 2017. In October 2018, the figure achieved 11.7%, and by February 2019, recorded 12.4%…

Punjab: Repolling ordered at 48 polling stations on Feb 9 over VVPAT snag

EC had used VVPAT for the first time in Punjab at 6,668 polling stations in 33 assembly segments

 

The Punjab Election 2017  on Tuesday ordered repolling in 48 polling stations falling in Majitha, Muktsar and Sangrur assembly segments in Punjab following malfunctioning in the Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) EVMs on February4.

The repolling will take place on February 9.

Besides, the repolling will also take place at polling stations in Moga and Sardulgarh segments where EVMs displayed the votes polled during mock polls.

"The repolling will take place at 48 polling stations because of the malfunctioning in VVPAT on polling day. The repolling will take place on February 9," Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

He said polling stations where the repolling shall take place are in Majitha, Muktsar and Sangrur assembly segments where VVPAT developed snag.

Singh further said that repolling would also be held at polling stations in Moga and Sardulgarh assembly segments.

The repolling has been ordered at 32 polling stations of Majitha (12), Muktsar (9), Sangrur (6), Moga (1) and Sardulgarh (4) and 16 polling stations of Amritsar Lok Sabha bye-election, an official said.

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