Rahul constitutes 23-member CWC, drops some senior leaders
New Delhi, July 17: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday constituted the Congress Working Committee (CWC) by appointing 23 members and dropping some senior leaders in his bid to strike a balance between age and experience, and prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Prominent among those dropped from the previous CWC include Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath and Sushilkumar Shinde.
The first CWC to be constituted by Gandhi after his elevation as party chief in December last also seeks to have balance in terms of regional representation.
The first meeting of the new CWC -- the party's highest decision-making body -- will be held on July 22.
The new faces in the CWC include former chief ministers Oommen Chandy (Kerala), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka) and Harish Rawat (Uttarakhand).
Former Union Minister Kumari Selja, party MP from Durg Tamradhwaj Sahu, former MP Raghuveer Meena and former Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam are the other new faces in the CWC.
Sahu is the only Congress MP in the Lok Sabha from Chhattisgarh where assembly polls will be held at the end of this year.
Apart from Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath and Sushilkumar Shinde, those dropped include Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Kamal Nath was earlier this year appointed chief of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit.
C.P. Joshi, B.K. Hariprasad, Karan Singh, Oscar Fernandes, Mohan Prakash, Hemo Prova Saikia and Sushila Tiriya have also been dropped.
The new CWC does not include any of the three Congress chief ministers.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the senior members of the new CWC that will form the core team of the party for the state elections this year and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The leaders who have been retained include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot, Motilal Vora, A.K. Antony, Amika Soni, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande, K.C. Venugopal and Dipak Babaria.
There are several young faces in the 18 permanent invitees of the new CWC.
The permanent invitees include former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit; former Union Minister P. Chidambaram; party MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gaurav Gogoi, Rajeev Satav, Rajni Patil; former MPs Tariq Hameed Karra, P.L. Punia, P.C. Chacko, R.P.N. Singh, Jitendra Singh and Ram Chandra Khuntia; and party's communications incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Other permanent invitees include Shaktisinh Gohil, Anugrah Narayan Singh, A. Chella Kumar, Balasaheb Thorat and Asha Kumari.
The special invitees are party leaders K.H. Muniyappa, Arun Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Jitin Prasada and Kuldeep Bishnoi, and chiefs of party's frontal organisations apart from president of the party's student wing National Students' Union of India (NSUI).
The CWC was announced four months after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session in March ratified the election of Gandhi as party chief and authorised him to reconstitute the party's top decision-making body.
Ahead of the plenary, Gandhi had turned the existing CWC into a steering committee.
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Karnataka govt directs municipal corps to regulate, prohibit pigeon feeding
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government has issued directions to municipal corporations across the state to regulate and prohibit feeding pigeons in public places, citing serious public health concerns.
Deputy Secretary to Government V Lakshmikanth has written to the Urban Development Department requesting it to issue directions to the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and all municipal corporations to take immediate steps to implement the measures.
In an official note dated December 16 issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department and released to the media on Wednesday, the department said uncontrolled feeding of pigeons in public places has resulted in large congregations of birds, excessive droppings and serious health concerns, particularly respiratory illnesses linked to prolonged exposure to pigeon droppings and feathers such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis and other lung diseases.
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"The commissioner, the Greater Bengaluru Authority and the Commissioners and chief officers of other municipal corporations shall take necessary action to mitigate the causes of dangerous disease spread by pigeon and enforce specified guidelines in their respective jurisdiction," the note said.
According to the department, these include a prohibition on feeding pigeons or causing pigeons to be fed in areas where it may cause nuisance or pose a health hazard to the public. Pigeon feeding shall be permitted only in designated areas in a controlled manner, subject to certain conditions.
"The designated areas may be selected in consultation with stakeholders. The responsibility for upkeep of the designated areas and compliance to the directions shall be taken up by some charitable organisation or an NGO. The feeding in designated areas shall be permitted only for some limited hours in the day," it said.
The note further stated that authorised officers of local authorities shall issue on-the-spot warnings and may impose fines for violation of the order, or lodge complaints to prosecute offenders under Sections 271 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 272 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
It also directed local authorities to conduct public awareness campaigns, including the display of signboards, banners and digital messages, explaining the health hazards associated with pigeon droppings and feathers, the content of the regulatory directions and penalties for violations, and alternative humane methods of bird conservation that do not endanger public health.
