India spoke through Bharat Bandh
Through the bandh that was called by opposition parties on Monday, it has been very evident that people are very upset with the current regime. The bandh called by Congress, other parties and other pro-people organisations has been a whopping success.
The whole country starting from Kashmir to Kanyakumari has spoken, and how! People participated in this bandh on their own accord. People had high expectations from the Narendra Modi government that assumed power four and half years ago, riding on its own lies.
People assumed black money would come into their bank accounts and each of them would get at least Rs 15 lakh as mentioned by the then PM candidate Modi. He had also assured them that he would create 2 crore jobs every year and that he’d control corruption, inflation/price rise, and run the government scam-free.
But none of these assurances were met in the last four and half years that Modi has been in the office. Not just that, he put everyone into unspeakable misery with his gimmicks of extracting black money, with demonetization that put people into massive hardships. No black money came out.
Another drama unfolded in the name of GST. Even that fell flat. Corporate defaulters like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya ran to foreign shores right under the nose of the government, with big loans taken from banks for their booty. The government in a way, aided their escape.
Rationale given for demonetization was that fake currency up to Rs 3 lakh crore would be controlled. But more than 99% money came back into banks. Over Rs 6 lakh crore was spent to print new notes. They not only let the people down, but subjected them to various difficulties.
Innocents were chased and killed by communal goondas under the name of Gau Raksha. The caution issued to them by the PM was just lip service. The Modi government tried its best to crush the Dalit voices across the country. This led to the death of a student Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad University, under suspicious circumstances.
The government attempted to saffronise the Jawaharlal Nehru University and created an environment of total unrest.
The promise of corruption-free administration has fallen flat. The government has been caught in quite a few big value scams regarding the Rafale warplanes deal with France. This whole issue was unknown to the minister of external affairs, and minister for defence. The PM had entered into this deal with the France-based company directly in order to make massive profits for Ambani and the others that are in his good books. The government does not reply to RTI queries regarding the deal.
The inflation has skyrocketed. Essential items consumed by people cost a lot more than they did before, and the government hardly intervenes to control prices.
Though the crude oil/petrol, diesel prices and LPG are a lot lesser than before in the international market, common people can never get the benefit of it. Each cylinder now costs over Rs 800 per unit. Diesel costs Rs 75 per litre now, and petrol is at Rs 85.
The common people have been so frustrated by all these expenses that they responded to Bharat Bandh quite well. Narendra Modi had assumed power with the assurance of creating 2 crore jobs every year. He hasn’t been able to deliver even 10 lakh jobs per year.
The government isn’t even willing to fill the vacancies right now. Since everything is boiling down to accountability, PM says one could even earn a livelihood by selling Pakodas. Another minister Nitin Gadkari says there are no jobs in the government so they cannot create reservation posts for the sake of people.
The population of India has crossed 130 cr. Unemployment is biting people hard. More than half of the young people are in tension about their future. If there is a vacancy for a few hundreds of posts, lakhs of applications come in for the same.
But the government is unable to provide jobs. According to available data, more than 24 lakh jobs are lying vacant in state and central government. They need to be filled fast. Education department alone has 10 lakh vacancies. Railways has 3 lakh, police department has 6 lakh vacant posts, Anganwadi has 2.2 lakh vacancies, Health sector is awaiting filing of 1.5 lakh posts with armed reserve forces showing a vacancy of 50,000 posts.
The government has been unable to meet its promises. Hence, people were forced to take to streets yesterday to express their anger against this government. Hope the message has gone out loud and clear.
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Kerala HC denies bail to police officer accused of 'raping' minor Dalit girl
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court has denied bail to a police officer accused of raping a 14-year-old school girl belonging to Dalit community two years ago on Children's Day in a house in Thrissur district of the state.
Justice K Babu denied the relief to the officer, who was a Student Police Cadet (SPC) instructor in the victim's school, saying that he had committed a "heinous offence" and was "not entitled to be released on bail".
"While the court cannot ignore the fundamental right of the accused under Article 21 of the Constitution, it cannot shut its eyes totally to the atrocious nature of the offence committed.
"The material placed by the prosecution would reveal that the appellant (police officer) is alleged to have committed heinous offences. The prosecution has established a prima facie case," the High Court said.
The order came on the officer's plea challenging a session court's decision rejecting his bail application.
According to the prosecution, the victim is a member of Scheduled Caste and the accused seduced her by maintaining a relationship with her over the phone.
On November 14, 2022, he took her to a house near Kodungallur in Thrissur district by offering a birthday treat and raped her, the prosecution told the High Court.
He was arrested on September 26, 2024 and has been in judicial custody since then.
The officer has been booked for various offences, including rape, under the IPC, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
