Cong will raise repealing of MGNREGA during upcoming parliament session: Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that the Congress, which has launched a nationwide fight against the central government for repealing the UPA-era rural employment law MGNREGA and replacing it with a new one, will also raise the issue during the upcoming parliament session.
He, however, did not wish to comment on the leadership tussle between CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar over the Chief Minister post in Karnataka, and the Congress high command's intervention in this regard.
"During the upcoming parliament session too, we will raise the issue. The fight against this (repealing of MGNREGA) is underway everywhere in every district. In Karnataka, protests are also planned. The fight on this issue is a continuous programme," Kharge told reporters here.
Stating that a programme has been organised against the repeal of MGNREGA at Nehru auditorium in Delhi on January 22 at 10 am, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said he along with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be launching it, and several NGOs are participating in it.
The Modi government, by striking at the root of the MGNREGA programme, has caused a shock to the poor, he further said, adding that "MGNREGA ensured right to work, which the central government has today snatched away."
The Budget session of Parliament will be held from January 28 to April 2.
The Congress party, which is fighting against the central government for repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), is demanding for its restoration by scrapping the new Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act.
Alleging that the central government has also caused loss of thousands of crores to the state governments by increasing the state's share under the new act to 40 per cent from the ten per cent that was there earlier under the MGNREGA, Kharge said, "By removing MGNREGA they want the poor to become bonded labourers. They want them to live like slaves."
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
