Who’s eligible to be included in voters’ list?
Success of an electoral process such as an election is dependent on full participation of citizens. A candidate wins or loses based on the number of votes polled for him. The government also spends a lot of funds trying to create awareness about the significance of voting. But at the same time, a well-planned conspiracy is underway to keep some eligible voters out of the voting list to deny them the right to carry out a democratic duty. This act has active participation from politicians, government officials and even police officers, thus threatening the whole process of democracy.
Earlier, people voted on proxy. They were fake, duplicate votes cast twice or more times by the same person. Someone would usurp the vote of someone else. All this would work at the behest of local rowdies and small time political goondas. But, the act that has been planned now will mostly do away with the names of people from the voting list itself, where they’d vote against the ruling dispensation. Majority of such names are going to be from Muslim and Dalit communities from lower strata of the society. The names of these people were identified along with the names of ‘illegal’ immigrants in Assam, who government claims had sneaked in from Bangladesh. NRC draft report is out now making it easy to identify the locals and immigrants.
Lakhs of people have been marked as not-citizens-of-India. Opposition parties claim the main agenda of the government in this case is to keep those people away who are presumably against the ruling BJP, more than identifying the foreigners living in India. Assam is shaken by the kind of mistakes that have been noticed in NRC draft. Some people have even committed suicide over gory future. Protests are being carried out against this measure. Many Indian citizens have also been named as immigrants.
Unfortunately this pattern is being replicated in Karnataka too, and has already been deemed a partial success. Among the 2.8 lakh applications submitted to be included in the voters’ list, more than 62% have been rejected for reasons that the applicants are not Indian citizens. And majority among these are Dalits and Muslims apart from lower caste people. Many don’t even know their applications have been rejected. Many with valid Aadhar card and electricity bill have also been rejected with the aggrieved not even being given a choice of questioning this rejection of their applications. The deserving people should not be denied participation in democracy, is the core value of the constitution. People of this country have at least a right to question why their application was rejected. And the officers owe them an answer.
The government has all the rights to make arrangements to deport illegal immigrants from any other country into any part of the nation, including Karnataka. There should be no compromise on that. There are charges that Bangladeshis have made Karnataka their home. But many people have encouraged them to render their services because Bangladeshi workers are available for lesser labour charges over local ones. They work in estates and coffee plantations. If this charge of Bangladeshis having entered Karnataka is true, Coffee and tea plantations should be raided and the labourers from Bangladesh, if found, have to be deported to their lands. But in their pretext, it is rather unfair to cheat the locals. If people are coming to Karnataka from Bangladesh, this is nothing but a breach of security and intelligence. Illegal activities in the border are aiding this.
Hence, officers who allow such pilferage of people across borders should be identified and should be penalized. But at the same time, denying rightful citizenship to someone with all documents and due identity as required by law, would be to deny him/her the right to live. Officers who’d do this live right among us. Their job is to keep the dissident voices out to win elections for their favourite people.
A coalition government which claims to be secular has occupied the office today. The government would obviously know by now that the names have been deleted. The government by now has to make efforts to understand who is behind this and who would the act finally benefit. Instead of regretting over the spilt milk, the government should immediately pay attention to undue amendments and removal of names from the list of the state.
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India moving towards becoming global economic powerhouse: Kovind
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Amritsar (PTI): Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said that with digital transformation, economic reforms and a strong focus on the ease of doing business, India is moving towards becoming a global economic powerhouse.
He was speaking after inaugurating the 19th edition of the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) in Amritsar.
The former president said that this 19th edition of PITEX is being organised at a time when India is recognised as one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) the former president, while referring to Punjab, said the state is a living example of courage, sacrifice and enterprise.
"The spiritual light of Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) inspires peace and humanity across the world. The heritage of Punjab is deep and inspiring," Kovind said, according to a statement issued by the PITEX.
The former president congratulated the PHDCCI for hosting the 19th edition of PITEX and suggested that the chamber should expand PITEX outside Punjab.
He proposed that a similar event should also be held in New Delhi.
