Hubballi (PTI): Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday alleged that precarious financial conditions in Congress-ruled states like Karnataka have led to governments being unable to fill up job vacancies.

He, however, defended the measures taken by the BJP-led government at the Centre, to increase the employment rate in the country.

Responding to a question related to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reportedly targeting the BJP government at the Centre on the issue of unemployment, Joshi hit out at the former, accusing him of making statements based on what his advisers tell him, instead of himself going into details.

"Mr Rahul Gandhi doesn't always go into details. He will just give a reaction based on some feedback that his advisers give him. He doesn't go personally into details. Actually, post Covid, especially if I can say, employment rate has increased like anything, EPFO numbers itself show that," Joshi said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said as far as filling up vacancies in the central government are concerned, from 2022 to till date, every month there is Rozgar Mela, and every month 50,000 to one lakh people are being absorbed into the government.

"So far, in the last two-and-half years, more than seven-and-half lakh people have been recruited into various government departments and institutions," he added.

Noting that the ruling Congress in Karnataka has not filled more than 2 lakh vacancies in the state, the union minister said these vacancies have not been filled as the government is unable to pay the serving employees itself on time.

"They (Karnataka government) are not able to pay the serving employees on time. The payment of salary is delayed by ten to fifteen days to twenty days. Their (government) financial condition is precarious, so they are not filling up the vacancies," he claimed.

"Before talking about something else, I will ask Mr Rahul Gandhi to look at what is happening in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh. They have governments in three states and they are in very bad shape," he added.

 

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Dhaka (PTI): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.

Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment — five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported.

The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol.

The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm.

Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment — two years in each case — while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in both cases.

Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in each case, totalling two years.

The court also fined all convicted persons Tk1 lakh each and ordered them to serve an additional six months in prison in default of payment.

Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.

The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.

According to the prosecution, the accused manipulated the allocation process and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).