Women’s safety is hardly any priority
The Nirbhaya incident shook the country like a thousand thunders would. It brought focus on the issues of safety of women in the country. It was even responsible for starting many pertinent discussions that brought focus on framing laws to ensure safety of women. Though the incident happened in Delhi, the outrage was not restricted to that city alone but the whole country responded to it with anger and frustration.
This incident caused major embarrassment to the UPA government which went on to establish the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ from the subsequent budget. The government created this fund to create an ecosystem to increase the security and safety of women in 2013. The allegations of this fund being misused were being heard from the very days of its initiation. Now the parliamentary affairs committee reveals that this fund that should have been for the victims of crimes has been used for construction of buildings. This mocks the very purpose for which the fund was established in the first place.
Reports suggest that crimes against women are increasing under Modi government. This government that speaks often about women, culture, respect, pride etc should have actually added more financial resources to this fund. Instead, the government has proved its priorities by using that fund for other purposes. This misuse of funds is not restricted to Nirbhaya fund alone. A Dalit leader has expressed his concern about social welfare fund reserved for empowerment of SC/STs being returned to the government and the money reserved for Dalit empowerment being used for other purposes.
The reason for returning the money that is reserved for Dalits could be the vested interests of officers. They have utter dislike towards using money for the progress of Dalits. The reason for this could be presence of mostly upper caste officers in higher levels of the government. Modi government imposed tax on people for Swachata Andolan but the result of this cess is not known. A big part of this is being used for advertisements. After this, it would be spent on meetings and some comic acts by the politicians. Rest of it would finally fill the pockets of the officers. What is the use of this fund to those who really take part in the ‘Swachata’ of this country?
Our labourers are the ones who directly take part in the process of cleaning up cities. Even now the governments are not able to give modern equipment to those Pourakarmikas who get themselves dirtied to keep our cities clean. We only see reports of ‘modern equipment’ being given to the labourers, but they never reach those who work. That money is used by someone powerful in the large scheme of things.
Prime Minister Modi who keeps talking about cleanliness has never spoken on the welfare of Pourakarmikas and their progress. The number of Dalits who die getting down to clear clogged manholes hasn’t come down at all. If the government had given at least Rs 20 lakh to the family of the person who died like this, the tax collected for Swachata Andolan would have served its purpose. But even one percent of the money collected isn’t reaching the Pourakarmikas. The money reserved to improve the conditions of the poverty stricken isn’t any different either. Now with Ayush being introduced, government hospitals have been weakened.
Earlier, government hospitals followed Allopathy. But now with the introduction of Homeopathy and Unani which are supported with government funds, the impactful medicines distributed to the poor through government hospitals has been reduced. The poor still depend on Allopathy for most of their illnesses. The choice of Unani and Homeopathy or Ayurveda must be left to the patients. Only those with faith on such methods of medicine should be allowed to choose. Instead, the poor shouldn’t be pushed towards Ayush. Because this method does not have medicines for many illnesses.
Ayush falls silent in front of delivery, TB, AIDS, Cancer etc. Not just that, most medicines are not even known to be impactful. Many people have lost their financial resources in dairy farming. The Gau Rakshaks are using up the money reserved for cow safety. The gau rakshaks are making money by stopping the sale of cows. Farmers are suffering owing to unscientific Goshalas being opened which are using up the resources reserved for the farmers. Fake Gau Rakshaks are usurping all the money for this purpose. On the other hand, politicians and industrialists are looting farmers’ money in the name of organic farming too. Just setting up funds for women and the weaker sections does not absolve the government of its responsibility. Only when the system ensures this is spent for the right purpose, does the society limp towards any improvement.
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ECI website faces outage amid vote counting in Jharkhand, Maharashtra
New Delhi: Election Commission of India’s official results website ‘results.eci.gov.in’ has reportedly experienced a technical outage on Saturday morning, at a time when India closely watches the high-stakes Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly poll battle.
Visitors visiting the site were met with non-functional links and a generic “counting in progress” message, leaving them without updated election data. The ECI has not issued an official explanation for the disruption.
Vote counting, which began at 8 a.m. with postal ballots, is underway for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra and 81 in Jharkhand. Early trends suggest a lead for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, currently ahead in 141 seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is leading in 96. In Jharkhand, the BJP-led NDA is ahead in 43 seats, while the ruling JMM-led alliance is trailing with leads in 33 constituencies.
Additionally, counting is underway for 48 assembly bypolls across 13 states and two parliamentary seats, Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala.
