PM thought of sending delegations to divert attention from tough questions: Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly thought of sending multi-party delegations of MPs to visit different countries to divert attention from the tough questions he is being called to answer, while his image globally has been "shattered".
The Congress general secretary made the remarks in a post to pay tribute to former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary.
Since the 1950s, MPs from various political parties have been sent in delegations to the UN in New York every October-November and PM Modi stopped this tradition from 2014, Ramesh said.
"But now that he is desperate and his image globally has been shattered, he suddenly thought of such all-party delegations of MPs to visit different countries to divert attention from the tough questions he is being called to answer," the Congress leader said.
On the 34th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Ramesh said, "The essential humanity, goodness, and decency of the man--qualities absent in Mr. Modi---come out poignantly in this story narrated by none other than his political adversary Atal Bihari Vajpayee."
He shared a video of Vajpayee talking about how Rajiv Gandhi got him included in a delegation to the UN so that his medical treatment could be done abroad and the expenses of that are taken care of.
On Saturday, the Congress said it was asked by the government to submit the names of four leaders for the multi-party delegations to be sent abroad to explain India's stance on Pakistan-backed terrorism. It nominated Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.
Of the four, only Sharma has been included in the seven delegations that will be visiting various countries.
Four Congress leaders -- Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Salman Khurshid -- who were not part of the list sent by the Congress have been included in the delegations.
The Congress on Monday had taken a swipe at Prime Minister Modi with Ramesh saying the same prime minister who had abused the Congress publicly in countries such as Australia, the US, South Korea and China, was taking the help of the opposition party in these delegations.
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ADM responds in Hindi: U'khand HC asks if person who can't speak English control executive position
Nainital, Jul 26 (PTI): The Uttarakhand High Court has asked two top officials of the state to find out whether an officer who has no knowledge of English can effectively control an executive position after an additional district magistrate responded in Hindi during the hearing of a PIL.
When the division bench of Chief Justice Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra asked why he chose Hindi instead of English, the official said while he could understand the language he was unable to speak it fluently.
At this, the bench asked the State Election Commissioner and the Chief Secretary to find out whether an officer of ADM (Additional District Magistrate) level, who has no knowledge of English, can effectively control an executive position.
The ADM concerned is also the electoral registration officer of Nainital.
The high court asked the state election commissioner and the Chief Secretary to appear before it via video conferencing at the next hearing of the PIL on July 28 to respond to the query.
The situation arose during the hearing of the PIL questioning the inclusion of names of outsiders in the voter list for panchayat elections in Budhlakot gram sabha of Nainital district.
Taking a strict stance on the issue, the high court questioned the State Election Commission on the criteria used for the inclusion of such individuals in the voter list.
The court asked on what basis these individuals were identified as residents of the area.
The election officer, who appeared personally before the court, informed that the names were identified based on the family register.
However, the court observed that under the Panchayati Raj Act, birth and death certificates are considered more important documents than the family register.
So far, more than 25 petitions challenging various issues related to the panchayat elections have been filed. Notably, Akash Bora, a resident of Budhlakot, filed the PIL stating that 82 names in the village's voter list belonged to people from outside the area, most of whom are from the state of Odisha and other places.
When he complained to the SDM, a fact-finding committee was constituted, which found that 18 individuals listed were indeed outsiders.
However, even after the final voter list was released, the names of these 18 individuals were not removed.
After filing the PIL, the petitioner also submitted a list of 30 more such individuals to the court.
However, despite repeated complaints, no action has been taken, the PIL said.
The list includes names of outsiders from places such as Haldwani, Nainital, Odisha, Delhi and Haridwar.
