Modi government finished Panchayati Raj system: Congress
New Delhi, April 24: Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan on Tuesday, the Congress party said the Modi government has systematically finished the Panchayati Raj System by starving Panchayats of funds.
The party urged the Prime Minister to stop invoking Mahatma Gandhi's name in his "fake jumlas" and stop fooling the people by renaming schemes. It pointed out that Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan had now been rechristened as the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan.
"During the last four years Narendra Modi government has systematically annihilated the entire Panchayati Raj System in the country by starving the panchayats of funds and making them beggars before respective state governments," said Congress spokesperson P.L. Punia.
"By discontinuing the centrally-sponsored Schemes, like Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) and de-capacitating schemes like MNREGA, Rajiv Awas Yojana, Anganwadi and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the Modi government ensured that the Panchayati Raj institutions do not have any funds," he said.
"The government, for all practical purposes, shut down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj by draining it of any substantive budgetary allocations."
According to him, the Modi government and many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states have failed to bring about any incremental legislation that could ensure 50 per cent reservation for women.
"Regressive legislations in Rajasthan and Haryana with regard to educational qualifications only ended up ensuring that already marginalised people became ineligible from contesting elections on grounds of insufficient qualification," said the Congress leader.
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Bill to provide precise definition of 'transgender' introduced in LS
New Delhi (PTI): A bill seeking to provide a precise definition of the term "transgender" and provide graded punishments that reflect the gravity of the harm inflicted upon such persons was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill was introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar.
It notes that it is imperative to give a precise definition for proper and definitive identification and protection of transgender persons, to whom the benefits of the present law must reach.
The protection and benefits that are provided under the present law are vast in nature, and therefore, care has to be taken that "such identification cannot be extended based on any acquirable characteristics or personal choice or claimed self-perceived identity of an individual".
The Bill also contains provisions for "designation of an authority" which will have the option to seek "expert advice" if required.
The draft law also seeks to empower transgender persons to make consequential changes in official documents.
