Tag: parliament winter session 2023

INDIA Bloc Decides to Finalise Seat-Sharing By Dec. 31 to Mount ‘Collective Fight’ Against BJP

The INDIA parties also passed a resolution on EVMs, suggesting that each voter should be handed the VVPAT slip that is generated after they vote, so that they can confirm that the machine recorded the vote correctly.

New Delhi: The INDIA bloc will finalise a seat-sharing arrangement by December 31, opposition leaders who participated in the fourth formal meeting of the alliance decided after a three-hour meeting on Tuesday (December 19).

Leaders of all parties were present at the much-awaited meeting, which was initially scheduled for December 6 but was postponed to ensure the maximum participation of INDIA constituents.

Sources in the Congress said that almost every leader emphasised the need to have a seat-sharing formula as soon as possible to mount a “collective fight” against the BJP.

K.C. Venugopal, the Congress’s general secretary (organisation), said that the focus of the meeting was seat-sharing and all leaders agreed that it needed to be finalised “as early as possible”.

Some sources also indicated that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was of the view that the Congress should target 280-300 seats where it would face a direct contest with the BJP, and leave the rest for other constituents. The idea is to have a one-on-one fight with the BJP.

The Congress’s insistence on contesting from the political turfs of its allies had initially proven to be a roadblock for seat-sharing talks. However, after the Congress’s poor performance in the recent assembly elections, it is likely that the grand old party may budge from its hardened position.

INDIA leaders also decided to hold mass protests across the country on December 22 against the suspension of 141 MPs from parliament.

Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal said that all leaders agreed to formulate a mass contact programme and a plan for joint rallies in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Akhilesh Yadav told reporters that the election strategy for INDIA will be to unite the ‘PDA’ (Pichhda or OBC, Dalits, and Adivasis) group to challenge the BJP, which also means that the demand for a caste census will figure among the top-most priorities of the INDIA bloc.

According to some reports, Banerjee proposed the idea of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge – also a Dalit face – to be announced as the alliance’s prime ministerial candidate. The proposal was also seconded by the usually reticent Arvind Kejriwal.

However, Kharge made it clear that the name of the leader can be decided only after the elections and added that the primary focus of the alliance will be to defeat the BJP and win the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly.

Contrary to reports in circulation that a convenor would be announced in the meeting, some MPs like Manoj Jha said there was no such discussion. Many other aspects of the alliance, including the convenor’s position, will be decided soon.

At a press conference after the meeting, Kharge said that the idea is to begin a joint campaign from January 30, 2024 onwards so that all INDIA parties will target arriving at a consensus on the alliance’s political aspects soon.

He said that the priority is to get a majority by contesting unitedly before a prime ministerial face could be decided.

“All parties have come together with an understanding that we will have to fight together to save democracy in India. All of us are ready for the fight,” Kharge said, implying that the 2024 Lok Sabha election is not just yet another electoral contest, but is important for ideological reasons.

He came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not attending a single session in the winter session of parliament as well as for facilitating the suspension of a record number of MPs.

Kharge also said that all parties will iron out their differences soon in states like Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Punjab, where different INDIA constituents like the SP, AAP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) or the Janata Dal (United) could have differences with the Congress.

When asked about a prime ministerial face, he said there was no point in discussing the issue.

“Our goal is to have a majority. If we do not have enough MPs, what is the point of discussing [the alliance’s PM candidate]?” he said.

The INDIA parties also passed a resolution on EVMs, saying there are “many doubts on the integrity of their functioning”. They have suggested that each voter should be handed the VVPAT slip that is generated after they vote, so that they can confirm that the machine recorded the vote correctly.

Earlier in the day, the Congress formed a five-member ‘national alliance committee’ comprising senior leaders Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Salman Khurshid, Mohan Prakash and Mukul Wasnik, with Wasnik as its convenor.

In the run-up to the meeting, many INDIA bloc leaders also spoke about the challenge to mount a positive agenda for the alliance, one that can compete with the BJP’s “divisive” one.

The meeting was coordinated by Kharge and was attended by leaders like Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar, M.K. Stalin, Sitaram Yechury, D. Raja, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar among other senior leaders.

The alliance first met in Patna in June, while its second and third meetings were held in Bengaluru and Mumbai respectively.

After RBI and Barclay’s Alarms on Rising Inflation, FM Says Retail Inflation Now ‘Stable’

Sitharaman’s statement comes after Barclay’s estimated last week that India’s retail inflation may have crossed the RBI’s tolerance limit of 6% in November from 4.87% in October.

New Delhi: Union minister for finance Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on Monday (December 11) that India’s retail inflation is now stable and within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance band of 2% to 6%.

Sitharaman’s statement came in response to a starred question by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sushil Kumar Rinku about whether the Union government has “taken note” that the country’s retail inflation is “increasing steeply”.

“India’s retail inflation has declined from an average of 7.1% in April-October 2022 to 5.4% in the corresponding period of 2023,” Sitharaman said in her written reply.

“The retail inflation is now stable and within the notified tolerance band of 2% to 6%. A steady decline in core inflation, estimated after removing volatile food and fuel items from retail inflation, has been critical in weakening the inflationary pressure in the Indian economy. The core inflation has declined from 5.1% in April 2023 to 4.3% in October 2023.”

Sitharaman added that “temporary increases in inflation on a few occasions are caused by demand-supply mismatches arising out of global shocks and adverse weather conditions.”

She said that proactive supply-side initiatives by the government and effective demand stabilisation measures by the RBI have helped resolve the demand-supply mismatches and to rein in inflation.

Sitharaman’s statement comes after Barclay’s estimated last week that India’s retail inflation may have crossed the RBI’s tolerance limit of 6% in November from 4.87% in October, reported Mint.

In July, India’s retail inflation rate jumped to 7.44% – a 15-month high due to a massive surge in vegetable prices, data by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. 

The data showed that retail inflation easily breached the upper limit of the RBI’s tolerance band of 2% to 6% for the first time in five months.

On Friday, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that high-frequency food price indicators “point to an increase in prices of key vegetables which may push retail inflation higher in the near-term,” reported The Indian Express.

“The near-term outlook is masked by risks to food inflation, which might lead to an inflation uptick in November and December,” Das said, adding that “food inflation is going to increase”.

He said that “significant progress” has been made in bringing down inflation to below 5% in October.

Das said that retail inflation is projected at 5.4% for 2023-24.

Sitharaman said that the measures taken by the government to restrain inflation include the strengthening of buffers of key food items and making periodic open market releases, easing imports of essential food items through trade policy measures, preventing hoarding through the imposition/revision of stock limits, and channelling supplies through designated retail outlets.

She added that to ensure food security to the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana that provides free food grains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries, has been extended for a period of five years with effect from January 1, 2024.

She also cited that in October, the Union government also increased the subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder.

In August, the Narendra Modi government reduced the price of LPG cylinders by Rs 200 and pegged it as a “Rakhi gift” to the women of the country. 

However, the cut ended up highlighting inflation and the price increase of the last three years.

J&K: Authorities Prevent Protest By Tribal Groups Against Bills to Include Paharis in ST List

Several Gujjar and Bakkerwal activists have been reportedly detained along with some students, while unofficial curbs were imposed in Rajouri on Thursday to foil the march to the national capital against the Bills.

Srinagar: Authorities prevented Gujjar and Bakkerwal groups from undertaking a ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Thursday (December 7) against the likely passage in the Lok Sabha of two controversial Bills which seek to provide Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Paharis of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a linguistic minority.

Several Gujjar and Bakkerwal activists have been reportedly detained along with some students, while unofficial curbs were imposed in Rajouri on Thursday to foil the march to the national capital against the Bills.

“Some 50,000 people were planning to march from Rajouri to Delhi today in protest against the Bills. However, authorities foiled the march and restrictions similar to the day when Article 370 was read down were imposed in Rajouri. This is undemocratic, but we will continue to raise our voice,” said Zahid Parwaz Choudhary, a Gujjar leader and president of the Gujjar Bakarwal Youth Welfare Conference J&K.

Senior superintendent of police (Rajouri) S.P.N. Amritpal Singh could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Witnesses said that security personnel set up checkpoints and blockades on roads in Thanamandi and adjoining areas of Rajouri district on Thursday morning, where passenger and private vehicles were frisked and all those who were planning to join the march against the Bills were deboarded.

‘The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ and ‘The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ were introduced in parliament during the monsoon session in July this year.

In a recent notification, the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said that the two Bills, which will also extend political reservation to the Paharis, are listed under ‘Legislative Business’ which is “likely to be taken up” during the ongoing session of parliament.

Also Read: Parliament Passed Two Important Laws on J&K. Here’s What They Will Do.

Guftar Ahmad Choudhary, a Gujjar activist, said that J&K’s tribal communities were feeling betrayed by the listing of the two Bills and the crackdown on protesters was “adding salt to our wounds”.

“We are a democratic country. Peaceful protest is our constitutional right but unfortunately it is not being allowed. The government has been telling the world that the tribals benefited after the reading down of Article 370, but why are people in J&K on the roads then?” he said.

The two Bills came despite assurances from the Union government and the J&K administration led by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha that the reservation percentages for the Gujjar and Bakkerwal tribes will not be affected by the addition of a new chunk of J&K’s population to the ST category.

Besides Paharis, the Bills will provide reservation in jobs, educational institutions and the J&K legislature under the ST category (10% in J&K) to the ‘Gadda Brahmin’, ‘Koli’ and ‘Paddari Tribe’ communities, thereby shrinking the prospects of the already-defined ST communities of J&K.

Feeling dismayed, the Gujjars and Bakkerwals took to the streets in parts of Jammu as well as on social media to vent their anger.

Sporadic protests also broke out in parts of the Jammu division against the Bills. At the University of Jammu, a protest was held on Wednesday (December 6) by tribal students, prompting the police to enter the campus.

A video of the protest verified by The Wire shows more than a dozen policemen in riot gear striding around the university campus.

Another video shot on Wednesday showed the protesting students shouting anti-police slogans and taking out a candlelight march while alleging that they were assaulted by cops “merely for exercising their democratic rights”.

A protest was also planned by Gujjar and Bakkerwal groups in Srinagar city on Thursday against the two Bills. However, authorities didn’t allow the protest.

Later, some activists from the tribal communities held a press conference at a hotel in the Lal Chowk in the city’s centre, during which they urged the government to withdraw the two Bills.

“Some 130 activists and several students, some of whom are set to appear in exams, have been detained. We urge the authorities to reconsider the Bills and release all the detainees,” an activist who addressed the presser said.

He could not be immediately identified.

Union home minister Amit Shah defended the Bills in parliament on Wednesday, saying that they will add “another pearl to the chain of hundreds of progressive changes” brought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“These Bills are going to provide rights and justice to those who were treated unjustly and insulted and ignored for 70 years,” he said.

As per the 2011 census, there are between eight and 12 lakh Pahari-speaking people, and about 15 lakh Gujjars and Bakkerwals in J&K, most of whom live in the Pir Panjal region, which comprises the Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu division.

Together, they can collectively impact the outcome of elections in 25 out of 90 seats in the J&K assembly, according to one estimate.

The BJP has been wooing the Paharis to make inroads in the Pir Panjal region, where it hopes to dent the prospects of the traditional parties like the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party. Critics allege the party is attempting to create divisions between the Gujjars and Bakkerwals on the one hand and the Paharis on the other.

Also Read | A Culture of Indifference: What the Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir Endure

The Gujjar-Bakkerwal tribes and the Pahari community share a similar social and cultural milieu, and together they form a majority in the Pir Panjal region.

While the Gujjars and Bakkerwals mostly live a nomadic life by shuttling between the Kashmir and Jammu regions with their livestock of buffaloes, sheep and goats, the Paharis are a socially stratified community with caste and other ethnic divisions who are joined by the thread of language.

If passed, the Bills will be the first of their kind to not only grant tribal status to a linguistic group, but also provide them with political reservation.

Besides the two Bills on ST status for Paharis, three more Bills on J&K, which will restructure the reservation rules and representation in the legislative assembly, are likely to be taken up during the ongoing parliament session which started on December 4.

Tribal groups in J&K have been protesting against the Union government’s decision since December 25, 2019, when a delegation of Paharis met Union home minister Amit Shah and sought ST status for the community.

Over the last four years, the Gujjars and Bakkerwals have been organising events, candlelight marches, protests and even a couple of mahapanchayats in J&K to express their anger against the likely grant of ST status to Paharis.

In January 2020, the Paharis were given a 4% reservation in the OBC category. In 2021, the J&K Commission on Socially and Educationally Backward Classes headed by G.D. Sharma was set up by the government.

In its 2022 report, the commission recommended the inclusion of Paharis, Paddari, Koli and Gadda Brahmin communities as Scheduled Tribes.