MP: Tribal woman set afire over land row critical; 5 persons arrested so far
Guna, Jul 4: The condition of a tribal woman, who was set ablaze allegedly by three persons over a land dispute in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district, continues to be critical, a police official said on Monday.
The police have so far arrested five persons, including two women, in this connection, he said.
The condition of the woman, Rampyari Bai (45), continues to be critical. She is undergoing treatment at the government-run Hamidia Hospital in the state capital Bhopal, sub-divisional officer of police Yuvraj Singh said.
The incident had taken place on Saturday afternoon in Dhanoria village under Bamori police station limits, located around 200 km from Bhopal, the official said.
A video, purportedly shot by the accused, had also surfaced on social media platforms, wherein the charred woman was seen crying in pain, with smoke all around her.
The person shooting the video was heard saying the woman had set herself ablaze, and let us shoot the video .
Guna Superintendent of Police Pankaj Shrivastava said the woman's husband, Arjun Saharia, had in a police complaint said when he reached his agricultural field on Saturday afternoon, he found his wife there with several burn injuries.
When he asked his wife about it, she told him that she was set on fire by three persons, identified as Pratap Dhakad (35), Shyam Dhakad (35) and Hanumat Dhakad (25), the official said.
The police on Sunday arrested the three men and two women - Avanti Bai (50) and Sudama Bai (35) - in connection with the incident, he said.
A case was registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said.
The complainant told the police that the accused had forcibly usurped his land, which was freed by the local administration in May this year and handed over to him, he said.
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) July 3, 2022
A very painful incident happened in #Guna district of #MadhyaPradesh, #Tribal woman was burnt alive by pouring diesel, she has burnt upto 80%, the injured woman has been referred to #Bhopal in critical condition.
FIR lodged, Two arrested.#TribalLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/kdm2OFF4hB
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PM must explain why his govt scrapped Backward Region Grant Fund: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): The Congress on Friday hit out at the BJP for "scrapping" the Backward Region Grant Fund in 2015 and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain why his government "callously" did away with the "forward-thinking" scheme of the UPA.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Uttar Pradesh.
"Why has the Modi Sarkar scrapped the Backward Regions Grant Fund? Why has the BJP neglected UP's mentha farmers? Why has CM Yogi repeatedly lied about reopening the Budhwal Sugar Mill?" Ramesh said.
Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details", the Congress leader said the Backward Region Grant Fund, aimed at uplifting the backward districts of India, was "callously scrapped" by the Modi government in 2015.
"This forward-thinking scheme was established by the UPA government in 2006 and by 2013, Uttar Pradesh's backward districts had received benefits worth Rs 4000 crore from it," he said.
Ramesh pointed out that in 2015, the Modi government discontinued separate budgetary allocations for this scheme, transferring it to states and slashing annual funding to the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) from Rs 1,006 crore to just Rs 60 crore.
"This came as a significant blow to districts like Fatehpur that received crucial development funds from the scheme. Can the outgoing PM explain why his government so callously scrapped the Backward Region Grant Fund?" Ramesh said in a post on X.
Pointing out that India is the world's largest producer and exporter of mentha oil and UP alone accounts for 90 per cent of India's total production, Ramesh claimed that the mentha oil industry is now reeling from convoluted tax classifications, high GST, and general government neglect.
"Instead of trying to support farmers and processors, the government is trying to extract maximum revenue from the industry. First, the government follows a dual policy for mentha - it is classified as an industrial product under GST, but it is classified as agricultural produce when it comes to the Mandi Tax," he said.
This enables double taxation - GST as an industrial product, Mandi Tax as an agricultural product, Ramesh said.
"Farmers already have to pay the 12% GST on mentha oil sales, and under the new Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM), RCM is levied on purchase. Mentha oil processors are forced to take on the tax liability when purchasing mentha oil from farmers and therefore take on dual tax liability," he said.
Finally, despite mentha being an entirely export-oriented product, the government provides no incentives to boost production, processing, or export, Ramesh claimed.
Why have the outgoing PM and the BJP neglected such an important Indian export, he asked.
"Even after repeated promises from PM Modi and CM Yogi, the Budhwal Sugar Mill remains inactive," he said.
"The PM first promised to revive all of UP's inactive sugar mills in 2014.Then in 2017, before assembly elections, Yogi Adityanath said that the mill would be revived if the BJP formed the government. The BJP won and formed the government but the mill remained inactive," Ramesh said.
Again, in 2022, CM Yogi Adityanath promised to restart the mill and even approved a supplementary budget of Rs 50 crore for the project, he said.
"The government also began to acquire land near the mill, raising hopes of its revival. However, months have now passed and no construction work has been initiated. After all of the BJP's promises, can the outgoing PM explain why the Budhwal Sugar Mill still remains inactive?" Ramesh said and asked the prime minister to break his "silence" on these issues.
