Anna attacks Modi government on Lokpal
New Delhi: Launching a fresh anti-corruption agitation with an indefinite fast here on Friday, social activist Anna Hazare said his efforts to communicate with the Modi government on issues of Lokpal and agrarian distress had yielded no result.
"I have written 43 letters to the Modi government in the last four years but did not get any reply," he said soon after he began his hunger strike at the sprawling Ramlila Maidan here after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
"The farmers in the country are in distress as they are not getting remunerative prices and the government is not acting to ensure fair prices."
Hazare said he would hold discussions with the government during the agitation but his indefinite hunger strike, called 'Satyagraha', would continue "till the government comes out with a concrete action plan".
He said the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which decides prices for 23 crops, should be made autonomous for fair price fixation.
Currently, the Central government controls CACP and cuts the fair price rates suggested by states by 30-35 per cent, he said.
The agitation also contributed to the Congress-led UPA losing the 2014 general elections that brought the BJP to power at the Centre.
The veteran activist said Modi was "never serious about Lokpal".
The reason behind the delay, he said, in the appointment of a Lokpal was because the Prime Minister was afraid that once this became a reality, his office as well as that of his cabinet members would also come under its purview.
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Odisha: Medical College expels 5 MBBS students from hostel for ragging juniors
Berhampur (Odisha), Nov 2: Five MBBS fourth-year students of government-run MKCG Medical College here were expelled from the hostel for allegedly ragging juniors, an official said on Saturday.
Earlier the five students have been rusticated from the campus for six months. The punishment was imposed as per the decision of the anti-ragging committee meeting held on Wednesday, the official said.
"The anti-ragging committee has taken such a hard decision to arrest further occurrence of ragging incidents in the medical college campus," said SP (Berhampur) Sarvan Vivek M, who is one of the members of the anti-ragging committee of the college.
Suchitra Dash, in-charge Dean of the college, however, declined to comment on the development.
The SP said they were also investigating separately against these students based on the FIR lodged. The statement of the students have been recorded by the police on Friday, he said.
While one second-year MBBS student has given a written complaint to the college authorities alleging ragging by senior students, three other complaints of ragging were lodged by parents of the students with the National Medical Council (NMC).
The NMC had directed the college authorities to inquire into the allegations and take action against the students.
After receiving the complaints from the NMC, the anti-ragging committee of the medical college inquired into the matter.
In February this year, the medical college authorities had suspended two fourth-year MBBS students for two months for ragging a second-year student.
