Andhra Cricket Association serves show-cause notice to Hanuma Vihari
Bengaluru, Mar 28: The Andhra Cricket Association has served a show-cause notice to Hanuma Vihari a month after the India batter accused the governing body of unceremoniously removing him from captaincy and vowed not to play for the state again.
However, Vihari is yet to respond to the notice which was served after the ACA Apex Council meeting a few days ago.
"Yes, we have served him a show-cause notice and we are awaiting his reply," an ACA official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
However, the official said the association did not want to prolong the issue.
"This is just to find what made him react the way he did last month. He has not reached out to us, so this is a chance for him to come out with his grievances.
"After all, we value Vihari and his contributions to the growth of state cricket as he has played a big part in Andhra going up in the ranks in domestic cricket," he added.
The train of unsavoury incidents began soon after Andhra lost to Madhya Pradesh in this year's Ranji Trophy quarterfinal.
The 30-year-old right-handed batter took to social media to accuse the ACA of stripping him of captaincy right after Andhra's first match of the season against Bengal.
However, at that time Vihari attributed the decision to "personal reasons."
But in his Instagram post, Vihari said the ACA acted under pressure from a local politician after his son, a 17th player during that match, complained that the middle-order batter shouted swear words at him.
"I have decided that I will never play for Andhra where I lost my self-respect," Vihari wrote in his emotional outburst.
Later, Vihari, who played 16 Tests for India, also posted a letter of support from his fellow Andhra players on his X account.
However, KN Prudhuvi Raj, the 17th player during the match against Bengal, also took to social media and lambasted Vihari for making false accusations against him.
"Personal attacks and vulgar language are not acceptable in any kind of human platform. Everyone in the team knows what happened that day," wrote Raj on his Instagram handle.
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Siddaramaiah urges PM Modi to suspend VB-G RamG Act, flags 'erosion' of employment rights
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suspend the implementation of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act, warning that the new law fundamentally weakens the employment guarantee framework and undermines cooperative federalism.
In a detailed letter to Modi on Tuesday, the Chief Minister expressed serious concern over the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), stating that the new legislation risks dismantling a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement that has served as a critical livelihood safety net for rural households.
“I wish to draw your kind attention to the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act and the consequent repeal of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,” Siddaramaiah wrote, cautioning that the shift could defeat the very intent of an employment guarantee law.
“At the outset, I submit that the new law risks defeating the very intent of the original employment guarantee, a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement,” the Chief Minister said, while acknowledging that although the new Act increases the promised guarantee from 100 to 125 days, it does not provide assured planning or central funding to back that promise.
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Siddaramaiah pointed out that the VB-G RamG Act caps the union government’s financial responsibility to a ‘normative allocation’ for notified areas of each state, with the Centre contributing only 60 per cent of that allocation in most states.
“As a result, the so-called legal guarantee of 125 days is not absolute,” he said, adding that it is constrained by a centrally determined funding ceiling, leaving many gram panchayats without funds despite genuine demand.
The Chief Minister also objected to provisions that allow the Centre to determine state-wise normative allocations annually based on objective parameters that are neither embedded in the legislation nor fixed through consultation.
He warned that such parameters could be altered unilaterally and would fail to reflect diverse local needs across and within states.
“In effect, a demand-driven regime is being converted into a supply-driven, top-down system,” Siddaramaiah wrote, pointing out that the new framework runs contrary to the participatory approach under MGNREGA, where labour budgets originate at the gram panchayat level and allocations follow village-level demand rather than central convergence plans.
He stated that this diluted the constitutional vision of decentralisation under the 73rd Amendment.
Raising alarm over the revised funding pattern, Siddaramaiah said under MGNREGA, mainstream states followed a 90:10 Centre-State sharing arrangement, while the new Act shifts this to 60:40.
This, he said, converted a statutory guarantee into “a run-of-the-mill scheme” and imposed a heavy burden on state finances already strained due to GST compensation issues and inequitable financial devolution.
According to him, the provision making states fully liable for expenditure beyond their normative allocation could leave them facing 100 per cent financial responsibility for excess demand.
In such a scenario, he said, the guarantee would depend not on demand but on a state’s fiscal capacity, rendering the entitlement unenforceable.
Siddaramaiah also criticised the requirement to pre-notify a 60-day no-work period during peak sowing and harvesting seasons.
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While acknowledging increased agricultural activity during those months, he said a blanket restriction would hurt vulnerable groups who may not find adequate farm work.
He cautioned that this could reduce employment opportunities, suppress wages and worsen livelihood insecurity, leading to increased distress migration and reduced participation of women.
Summing up the changes, Siddaramaiah wrote that the new framework shifts the intent “from ‘right to work’ to ‘work only if permitted’,” and from year-round rural employment to restricted periods and locations.
He also voiced concern that increased reliance on technology and contractor-led projects could exclude the poorest, particularly Dalit and Adivasi communities.
Terming the implementation "arbitrary and hurried", the CM said the Act violates constitutional provisions requiring consultation with states and weakens the foundations of cooperative federalism.
Siddaramaiah also opposed the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the law, calling it a historic, globally acclaimed rights-based legislation rooted in Gram Swaraj and Antyodaya.
