Emergency was Jallianwala Bagh of free India: Akbar
Bengaluru, June 26: Recalling the "horrors" of the era, Minister of State for External Affair M.J. Akbar on Tuesday said the 21-month Emergency from June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977 was the Jallianwala Bagh of free India.
"Emergency was the Jallianwala Bagh of free India. All that Indians wanted in June 1975 was freedom and what they got was a massacre of democracy," the journalist-turned-politician told reporters at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office here.
To ensure that the period of Emergency, which saw the arrests of several political activists and leaders of the country, does not repeat in the future, there was a need to be vigilant, he said.
"Jails that were meant for criminals turned into homes for leaders, activists and several other people of India, whose only sin was asking for a free country. To ensure that the event never repeats again, we must be vigilant," Akbar said.
The country must not forget the dark and dangerous 21 months when Emergency was imposed 43 years ago and India's freedom was destroyed, he stressed.
"Indians then did not only lose their freedom, but also lost their right to live. They lived in complete fear and the silence of censorship. It was a time when authoritarianism and dictatorship was imposed upon the country," he added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Nearly 70% cases in 'pension adalats' resolved since 2019: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): Over 8,300 cases were resolved in pension adalats held since 2019, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
A total of 12,049 cases were taken up by pension adalats since 2019.
In a written reply, the minister said of the total cases, 8,373 (69.49 per cent) have been resolved.
"Pension adalat is an important administrative reform for improving pensioners’ welfare by timely and effective redressal of long-standing grievances of central government pensioners," he said.
There is substantial decrease in the number of pensioners’ grievances due to the pension adalat, Singh said.
He said since 2019, eight pension adalats have been held.
As many as 403 cases were taken up in two pension adalats held in 2024, of which 330 were resolved, according to the data shared by the minister.
A total of 603 (440 were resolved) and 1,732 (1,113 were resolved) cases were taken up in 2023 and 2022 respectively, it said.
Of the total of 3,692 cases taken up in 2021, 2,598 (70.36 per cent) were resolved.
There were 342 (319 were resolved) and 5,277 (3,573 were resolved) pension-related cases were taken up in 2020 and 2019 respectively, according to the data.
