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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Order blocking YouTube channel '4PM' withdrawn, SC told
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court was on Tuesday informed that an order blocking YouTube channel "4PM", which has a subscriber base of 73 lakh, was withdrawn.
"They have withdrawn the blocking order," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, informed a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by Sanjay Sharma, who is the editor of digital news platform 4PM, seeking quashing of an order blocking the channel.
The plea claimed the blocking was effected by the intermediary pursuant to an undisclosed direction allegedly issued by the Centre citing vague grounds of "national security" and "public order".
Sibal requested the bench that the plea be tagged with separate pending petitions which have challenged Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.
He said Sharma's petition also sought quashing of Rule 16 of the 2009 Rules.
Rule 16 says strict confidentiality shall be maintained regarding all the requests and complaints received and actions taken thereof.
The plea also sought striking down or reading down Rule 9 of the Blocking Rules, 2009, to mandate issuance of a notice, opportunity of hearing and communication of a copy of the interim order to the originator or creator of the content prior to passing of a final order.
The bench tagged the plea with the pending separate pleas.
On May 5, the top court sought responses from the Centre and others on Sharma's plea, which said the blocking was a "chilling assault on journalistic independence" and the right of public to receive information.
The plea, filed through advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, said no blocking order or underlying complaint was furnished to the petitioner, violating both statutory and constitutional safeguards.
The petition said it was a settled law that the Constitution does not permit blanket removal of content without an opportunity to be heard.
"'National security' and 'public order' are not talismanic invocations to insulate executive action from scrutiny," it said.
The plea said the action was not only ultra vires the parent statute but also strikes at the core of democratic accountability ensured by a free press.
"The blocking is a chilling assault on journalistic independence and the right of the public to receive information," it said.
Seeking a direction to the Centre to produce the order with reasons and records, if any, issued to the intermediary for blocking the channel, it asked for a direction to quash the blocking order.
The plea said the petitioner's YouTube channel was blocked without giving any fair opportunity to clarify or justify his case.
Blocking Rules, 2009, including Rules 8, 9, and 16, infringe upon fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, particularly the rights to freedom of speech and expression, right to equality and the right to life and personal liberty, it added.
It said the authorities concerned have a duty under the law to ensure that blocking of YouTube channels were not done arbitrarily, suppressing the freedom of speech and expression.
