Kindly light
Modi’s complete electrification is an illusion
In the last five decades, the number of poor has decreased considerably. Or so the government has thus declared which does not mean that there are no poor. Instead, the government has changed the criteria for identifying the poor. For example, the government identifies a person whose daily income is below Rs 30 as poor and gives him a BPL card. But what if the government changes the criteria that a person whose daily income is below Rs 20 could be considered as below poverty line.Naturally, the number of poor will come down on paper. It is a clear strategy to remove the poor in the country in the records by reducing their number through a different criteria instead of alleviating the poverty.
Very recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that electrification of all villages in the country was completed. If we felt happy thinking that all houses in the country were electrified, then it means we are cheated. This is just a symbolic statement and it does not mean that the entire country was freed from darkness. It is not so easy to do in the country dominated by villages. It is just a magic of statistics.
Three factors expose the charade of the programmes announced by the government. As the first factor, out of total houses in a village, at least 10 percent of residents need to get power connection, and public utility places like schools, panchayat offices, health centres and community centres should get power facility to declare that a village is completely electrified. As per the government, the village is given 100 percent power facility. But the government data clearly shows that more than 31 million houses were not yet given power. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam, more than 50 percent of houses were not given power. This is the situation even after four years of BJP which came to power by assuring power to all villages. Among 12 states, more than 25 percent of houses are need to be given power connection. When this is the situation, how can we believe if Modi announced uninterrupted power facility by 2019?
More over, complete electrification is a continuous process. When the country was given freedom, it was under complete darkness. Not even 5 percent of the houses were given power facility. Because of the development concept and programmes of Nehru and subsequent prime ministers, the villages have seen the light in phased manner. But now, Modi is trying to get the credit. This means, before Modi coming to power, all the villages were in darkness and under his regime, all the villages were given electrification.
When we introspect, only 1500 villages were given power during 1947. But even those villages were not completely electrified. Even though one or two houses had got power connections in the village, such village was declared as electrified village. During the UPA tenure between 2005 and 2014, total 10,82,000 villages were given power connection and more than 2 crore houses were electrified. Among them 19 million houses were given free electricity. When Modi declared that he would give electricity to all villages, there were only 18452 villages which were not electrified. The UPA government had give power connection to on an average 12,030 villages annually. But the Modi government has given power to just 4842 villages. So, there is nothing to celebrate. When compared to previous government, Modi’s development is very slow. Moreover, the power connection is not yet completed, but the NDA government has earmarked Rs 16,000 crore for this purpose. The programme cannot be successful if the money is reserved. Instead of creating illusion or fooling people through statistics, the Modi government should take an honest step to light up every house. Nowadays, the entire country has been facing the power problem. The power distribution companies are not getting sufficient coal. India has been dependent on coal for producing more than 60 percent of it’s power. But on the other side, the production of coal is declining. This would have a negative impact on the power generation. Are the villages lit up just from electricity connections without providing power?
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
