A provision to punish unscrupulous elements who cause premature development in children through the administration of hormones has also been introduced.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government has taken an important step to protect children.
NEW DELHI:
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said that the cabinet has approved amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, further strengthening the law to safeguard minors in the country. The provision of death penalty has also been included for those found guilty of aggravated assault on a child.
"This is a very wholesome initiative by the Union government. The government has brought about a far-reaching amendment in the POCSO Act. Our aim is to prevent children from falling victim to sexual aggression," he told reporters at a press meet today.
Mr Prasad claimed that the architecture of POCSO has not only been strengthened but also expanded through this move. "There are some who cause premature development in children through the administration of hormones to enhance their appeal in the sex trade and pornography industry. Doing this has now been made a major offence through Section 9 of the Act," he said, adding that drugs should not be abused to "kill the childhood of a child" for extraneous purposes.
Mr Prasad also listed out the ways in which the government plans to curtail access to child pornography. "Another objective of this provision is to curb the proliferation of child pornography. Anybody found circulating such material for commercial or other purposes will also face stringent punishment," he said.
The POCSO Act was enacted in 2012 to provide a robust legal framework for the protection of children from sexual assault, harassment and pornography while safeguarding the interests of the child at every stage of the judicial process. However, the recent rise in child abuse cases has led to demands that the law be made more stringent to deter offenders. Several states, including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have approved the death penalty for those found guilty of raping children below 12 years of age
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Political journalism in India has become a branch of sports journalism – concerned only with winners and losers.
As early as the Gujarat Assembly election campaign of 2017, it was evident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi no longer proactively crafts political narratives. In that campaign, he was touchy and reactive – complaining about personal attacks from the Congress, and floating a wild conspiracy theory (since quietly dropped) about his predecessor plotting with Pakistanis to commit treason.
The elections to five state Assemblies in November and December this year confirmed that the prime minister remains unwilling or unable to run on his record or project optimism about the country’s future. His speeches were more focused on the Gandhi family than on his four-and-a-half years in office. On December 11, counting day, Swapan Dasgupta, a nominated member of Parliament and effectively an unofficial government spokesperson, predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s general election campaign for 2019 would rely on fear rather than hope: on the contrast between stability under Modi and chaos under Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The two weeks since then have shown that while the prime minister may no longer set the political agenda, the national media does it for him, by perpetuating a set of narratives that lack a factual or ethical basis, and work to undermine the republic while benefiting only Modi.
Winners and losers
The most persistent of these narratives is the framing of the 2019 general elections as “Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi”. This alone disproves the notion, still strangely popular on the Right, that the Delhi media takes their marching orders from 10, Janpath, the official residence of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. For the Congress has sought to avoid precisely this framing, by sharing the credit for its three victories as widely as possible. The Congress knows that the prime minister remains more personally popular than either his policies or his party, and that he would start strong favourite in a presidential contest against Rahul Gandhi.
A similar tendency was at work in the coverage of the election results in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Once it was clear that the Congress would form governments in these three states, the sole matter of press interest was the contests for chief ministership. The major newspapers and television channels were unconcerned with the Congress appointing a chief minister who has been accused of leading a mob in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. Indeed, many carried fawning interviews with the man.
Nor was there much interest in what the changes in government would mean in administrative terms. Political journalism in India has become a branch of sports journalism – concerned only with winners and losers, with rising and falling stars and “men of the match”. Elections, like sporting contests, are zero-sum; one candidate’s victory is another’s defeat. Governing, on the other hand, can be positive or negative-sum; we can all gain or lose from it. What the press chooses to scrutinise helps determine which it is.
What India needs
Ours is a parliamentary democracy, and there is no compelling public interest in presidentialising it. The evidence of four-and-a-half-years shows that it is the opposite: by presidentialising parliamentary politics, the press is actively failing the citizenry. “Modi versus Gandhi” trivialises the immense human consequences of elections by presenting them as a winner-takes-all circus. Worse still, presidentialisation reduces the complex business of the Central government to the personality of a single leader. It legitimises the capture of independent institutions – such as regulatory and investigative agencies – by that leader.
In many state elections, presidentialisation – what can also be called Caesarism – has been the norm for decades. The vast majority of political parties in India are now dominated by a single individual or family. But in national politics, the two-and-a-half decades that followed the defeat of the Congress in 1989 saw a series of elections that could not be reduced to a presidential contest. Each produced a coalition government that was socially representative of the republic’s ethnic and religious pluralism, and never dominated by a single personality.
To describe the governments of the coalition era as imperfect would be too generous. They were responsible for corruption that varied in degree but was never less than egregious. They presided over rising inequality, every kind of environmental collapse, and three of the republic’s most shameful episodes of communal violence – the expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits, the destruction of the Babri Masjid, and the Gujarat riots of 2002. They made glacial progress in remedying their predecessors’ failures in public health, nutrition and learning outcomes.
But they also delivered modern India’s greatest rise in living standards and its most rapid improvements in infrastructure. And the republic seemed to retain its ability to self-correct; to recover, however slowly, even from something like Babri. They generated a near-universe surge of material expectations – a surge that Modi, back when he was the candidate of optimism rather than fear, successfully rode to power. Our republic, unlike our neighbours to the north and west, was still more or less plural and democratic.
The experience of those years, by comparison with what came before and after, ought to establish definitively that what the country needs is not to empower a single charismatic leader – be they Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi or Narendra Modi – and ask them to deliver us to greatness. But the mythical need for a strong leader persists – so too the belief that a majority government is preferable to a coalition, or that for all of Modi’s flaws, there is “no alternative” (in a country of 793 MPs, 30 chief ministers and 800 million voters). Like “Modi versus Gandhi”, these narratives have no truth-value. They have been allowed to pass unexamined for far too long.
Some journalists will respond to these charges by saying that this – presidentialisation, a focus on winners and losers – is what viewers want. What they mean is that these narratives are necessary to generate ratings and clicks. But this is a case of the cart driving the bullock. Media organisations need reader or viewer interest in order to survive – they need to generate clicks or TRPs so that they can keep reporting the news, rather than to report the news so that they can keep generating clicks. Otherwise they are like any other business, and can claim no special protections or public function.
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The Delhi Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution in which it was demanded that the Bharat Ratna awarded to Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn, but the AAP swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the Congress leader.
New Delhi: Delhi legislator Alka Lamba was asked to resign from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday, hours after the party denied passing a state assembly resolution apparently aimed at withdrawing late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna over his failure to curb the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The AAP MLA said she will tender her resignation as "demanded" by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not supporting a resolution in the assembly.
The AAP MLA said she will tender her resignation as "demanded" by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not supporting a resolution in the assembly.
The Delhi Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution in which it was demanded that the Bharat Ratna awarded to Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn, but the AAP swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the Congress leader.
The matter became a major crisis, with Lamba alleging she was "put under pressure" to support the resolution, which she resisted and boycotted.
Lamba said she was ready to face "any consequences" and claimed she spoke to AAP supremo and CM Kejriwal who, she said, asked her to resign as MLA. "I am ready to do so", she said.
The Chandni Chowk MLA said she was not happy with the demand to take back Bharat Ratna from Gandhi and staged a walkout in protest.
Interestingly, the AAP later distanced itself from the resolution. "After I staged a walkout, I got a message from the chief minister to tender my resignation," she said.
When asked whether she will quit, Lamba added, "I have won on a party ticket. I will tender my resignation as demanded by the party," the former Youth Congress leader said.
In a tweet, she said, "I was asked to support the resolution demanding taking back the Bharat Ratna awarded to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Since I didn't agree to this, I staged a walk out. I am ready to accept whatever punishment given to me."
The Chandni Chowk MLA said she was not happy with the demand to take back Bharat Ratna from Gandhi and staged a walkout in protest.
Interestingly, the AAP later distanced itself from the resolution. "After I staged a walkout, I got a message from the chief minister to tender my resignation," she said.
When asked whether she will quit, Lamba added, "I have won on a party ticket. I will tender my resignation as demanded by the party," the former Youth Congress leader said.
In a tweet, she said, "I was asked to support the resolution demanding taking back the Bharat Ratna awarded to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Since I didn't agree to this, I staged a walk out. I am ready to accept whatever punishment given to me."
Updated : December 20, 2018 17:13 IST
Kolkata:
Three BJP 'rath yatras', expected to crisscross Bengal ahead of next year's general elections, received a green signal from the Calcutta high court today. The court scrapped the objections of the Mamata Banerjee's government, which had claimed that the yatras could trigger communal tensions. The administration was asked to ensure there was no breach of law and order.
The judgment from the division bench overturns an earlier ruling from the court that had refused permission for the rally. Later, the state BJP had appealed again.
Congratulating the state BJP on the judgment, Union minister Arun Jaitley tweeted: "If any NDA/BJP Government had stopped an opposition Programme, it would have been called an "Undeclared Emergency". Why Silence now?"
The BJP has planned three "Save Democracy" rallies: One from Cooch Behar in the northern part of the state, one from Kakdwip, in the extreme southern part and one from Tarapith temple in Birbhum district, which would converge in Kolkata for a massive rally.
Together, the rallies are expected to cover all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal -- one of the several non-BJP states, where the party hopes to expand its footprint.
There are expectations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the state to attend one of the marches.
BJP chief Amit Shah -- who set the party a target of 22 seats in next year's national elections -- said permission for the yatras were refused as Ms Banerjee was "terrified" that the party would make inroads in the state. The BJP chief had also warned that "nobody can stop rath yatras in the state".
Ms Banerjee's close aide and Trinamool Congress lawmaker Derek O'Brien yesterday ridiculed the ambitions of the BJP, pointing out that it has only two seats in the state.
Calling the 20-seat plan "another jumla (political rhetoric)", he said the BJP "should work to protect the two seats they've got, otherwise they'd be reduced to zero... the roshogolla would have no sugar".
The ruling Trinamool Congress would embark on a "Pavitra Yatra" (purification rally) a day after BJP's rath yatras. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who dubbed the rath yatras as "Ravan yatras" has said the areas through which they pass would need cleansing.
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TNNScores of protesters gathered at a bus stand in Dausa district and blocked the traffic
JAIPUR: As the high command of the Congress party was deciding on the next chief ministerial candidate, incidents of violence were witnessed in many parts of the state, including Ajmer, Karauli and Dausa. Angry protesters blocked highways, however they dispersed by the police in sometime. Heavy security was put in place at the Jaipur airport, Pradesh Congress committee (PCC) office and Raj Bhawan to ensure peace.
Senior police officers at the
police headquarters were taking a review meeting on the situation. “IGs and SPs have specifically been asked to ensure law and order in any case. Highways should be kept under tight vigil,” said a senior police officer.
PCC chief
and former chief minister
too have appealed party workers to maintain law and order and peace. “I urge the party workers to maintain peace and show discipline. I have full faith in the party’s leadership and whatever Rahul Gandhi ji and Sonia Gandhi ji will decide, we will welcome that. All the dedicated party workers have a responsibility to maintain the dignity,” Pilot tweeted.
Gehlot said, “We should maintain peace and show some grace. I urge party workers to show they are part of a disciplined party.”
At Pataoli, which is a Gujjar-dominated area, scores of protesters gathered at bus stand in Dausa district on the Jaipur-Agra highway and blocked the traffic. “Some of them even brought a tyre and set it on fire. Police reached the spot and dispersed them. The commotion was witnessed merely for 20 minutes,” said NRK Reddy, additional director general, law and order told TOI.
He added that the protesters fled towards Gazipur village near Mahwa from where they were dispersed. “The traffic on the Jaipur-Agra highway via Dausa and Patoli has been restored at 6.15 pm and is smooth,” said VK Singh, Inspector General of police, Jaipur Range under whose jurisdiction Dausa comes.
Likewise, at least 50 protesters blocked Jaipur-Beawar highway near Ghoogra Ghati and set a tyre on fire. “It was a block that did not last for more than half-an-hour. We intervened on time and dispersed them,” said a police officer in Ajmer
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Singh Arya was the first minister of Madhya Pradesh's Happiness Ministry, which was modelled on the national happiness index used by Bhutan.
Updated : December 12, 2018 19:17 IST
Lal Singh Arya had been arrested in 2017 on murder charges (File)
Bhopal :
India's only "happiness minister" Lal Singh Arya was among the losing BJP candidates in Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress edged past the party that ruled the state for three consecutive terms. Mr Arya lost by a whopping 25,000 votes to a rival from the Congress.
Mr Arya was the first minister of Madhya Pradesh's Happiness Ministry, which was modelled on the national happiness index used by Bhutan to keep an account of well-being of its citizens.
Soon after becoming the state minister in 2017, Mr Arya had been in trouble as the police sought to arrest him for the alleged murder of a Congress leader in 2009. He was eventually arrested and is now on trial in the court.
The Congress dashed BJP's Shivraj Chouhan's dream of a fourth term as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. After a long-drawn counting process that went on for nearly 24 hours, the party emerged as winner of the assembly polls, winning 114 seats out of 230. Though the party was two seats short of a simple majority, the BSP and SP came to the party's rescue, offering to help in order to keep the BJP at bay.
Meanwhile, India's only dedicated "cow minister" has also lost the polls. Otaram Dewasi, the first head of Rajasthan's cow ministry, was defeated on Tuesday, when BJP was thumped in the desert state. The Congress won 100 seats in Rajasthan and is poised to form a government.
The Congress also surprised the BJP in Chhattisgarh, defeating the party comprehensively.
The assembly poll wins could be a shot in the arm for the Congress that had been written off after a series of losses in various states following a humiliating debacle in 2014 general elections
__________________________________________Final election results 2018: BSP chief Mayawati said her party will support the Congress in Madhya Pradesh as it fought the election to keep BJP out
Madhya Pradesh results: BSP chief Mayawati said her party will support Congress to keep BJP out
NEW DELHI:
Mayawati today said her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would support the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to keep the BJP out of power. Her support will take the Congress past the finishing line in both states, where it missed a majority in elections.
"Our aim is to keep the BJP out of power. And that is why we have decided to support the Congress in Madhya Pradesh," Mayawati said this morning. The BSP has won two seats in the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh assembly, in which the Congress has emerged the largest party but is two short of the majority mark of 116. The BJP is not far behind, with 109 seats.
"We have decided to support the Congress in Rajasthan as well. We fought these elections to ensure that the BJP does not come back to power," said Mayawati.
The Congress, which wrote to Governor Anandiben Patel late last night staking claim to power, is expected to meet her this morning.
While announcing her support, Mayawati did not spare the Congress her criticism. She said the Congress ruled most of the states in India but regional parties emerged because it was not working for the welfare of the people. "If the Congress had performed well, there would not have been a BJP either," she said.
Congress workers celebrate outside the party office in New Delhi (AFP)
The Congress's first overture to Mayawati went yesterday, as soon as it realised that its climb to the top of the heap in Madhya Pradesh in yesterday's vote count was slow and uncertain.
After receiving Kamal Nath's call, Mayawati called her leaders to Delhi for a meeting.
The BSP chief, a powerful Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh with influence in swathes of rural north India, had snubbed the Congress during talks for seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh and its neighbour Chhattisgarh. Acrimonious exchanges between Mayawati and the Congress at the time dampened hopes for a united opposition bloc to take on the BJP in next year's national election.
Mayawati had also skipped an opposition meeting held on Monday to establish unity goals for 2019. Her ally in the state, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, had also given the meeting a miss.
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Kushwaha had been sulking ever since the BJP and the JD(U) reached an agreement that the two parties would contest 17 seats each in Bihar, where the total number of constituencies is 40.
RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha addresses reporters in Delhi on Monday.
New Delhi: Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has resigned from the Narendra Modi cabinet and parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after a prolonged battle with the BJP over seat-sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"Having served in your council of ministers for last 55 months, I stand dejected and betrayed by your leadership. There has been fundamental problem in what you promised to the people before elections and what you have actually delivered after coming to power," reads the Kushwaha's resignation letter to PM Modi.
"Having served in your council of ministers for last 55 months, I stand dejected and betrayed by your leadership. There has been fundamental problem in what you promised to the people before elections and what you have actually delivered after coming to power," reads the Kushwaha's resignation letter to PM Modi.
The Rashtriya Lok Shakti Party (RLSP) chief's move comes on a day the BJP is holding a meeting with other alliance partners in show of strength to rival the grand meeting called by the opposition parties.
Addressing reporters in the afternoon, Kushwaha cited that lack of special status for Bihar as the reason for calling it quits. “Narendra Modi ji couldn't meet expectations of the people of Bihar. Nothing was done for special status. Bihar is still where it was earlier. Education and health system is non-existent,” he said.
Kushwaha had been sulking ever since the BJP and the JD(U) reached an agreement that the two parties would contest 17 seats each in Bihar, where the total number of constituencies is 40.
As per the tentative arrangement, the RLSP was to be given two seats, one less than the number it had fought on and won in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Kushwaha had himself won from Karakat. The party’s third MP Arun Kumar from Jehanabad had been suspended from the RLSP two years ago.
Before launching an all-out attack on the BJP, Kushwaha had urged the party to come up with a "respectable" seat-sharing formula by November 30.
"Kushwaha is likely to announce his parting of ways with the BJP today at 2pm. He will also quit as a Union minister," a senior RLSP leader said.
The RLSP may join hands with the opposition, which includes Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress.
As per the tentative arrangement, the RLSP was to be given two seats, one less than the number it had fought on and won in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Kushwaha had himself won from Karakat. The party’s third MP Arun Kumar from Jehanabad had been suspended from the RLSP two years ago.
Before launching an all-out attack on the BJP, Kushwaha had urged the party to come up with a "respectable" seat-sharing formula by November 30.
"Kushwaha is likely to announce his parting of ways with the BJP today at 2pm. He will also quit as a Union minister," a senior RLSP leader said.
The RLSP may join hands with the opposition, which includes Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress.
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Modi
Takes 2019 War to Gandhis, to Launch Campaign During Maiden Visit to Sonia's
Den Rae Bareli
After Rae Bareli, PM Modi will visit Prayagraj (Allahabad) on
the same day for monitoring the Kumbh preparations.
Having faced an aggressive resurgent, Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, BJP leadership realises that 'Road to 2019' is not easy. Party will also be faced with a formidable challenge in UP, as BSP and SP look all set for an electoral alliance.
In this back drop, BJP's top leadership, especially party president Amit Shah and PM Modi, probably want to keep the cadre high in spirit, and the Rae Bareli visit fits right into that perspective. Thus, giving out a message that party is neither on the defensive nor lacking in aggression.
BJP spokesperson Dr Chandra Mohan, however, said, "No constituency or area is anyone's personal fiefdom. Rae Bareli and Amethi had lacked on development for decades."
He further said, "Prime Minister's visit to the town is in tune to our promise of bringing development back to this region,"
Meanwhile, sources said that PM Modi will also talk about the corruption charges surrounding the Gandhi family in his public address, the glimpses of which we had seen during his speeches for Vidhan Sabha elections recently.
After Rae Bareli, the prime minister will visit Prayagraj (Allahabad) on the same day for monitoring the Kumbh preparations. Later in the month, he will also be visiting his constituency of Varanasi and address a rally in eastern UP town of Gajipur.
Early next year in January, PM Modi will be attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Varanasi and will visit Kumbh as a devotee.
He further said, "Prime Minister's visit to the town is in tune to our promise of bringing development back to this region,"
Meanwhile, sources said that PM Modi will also talk about the corruption charges surrounding the Gandhi family in his public address, the glimpses of which we had seen during his speeches for Vidhan Sabha elections recently.
After Rae Bareli, the prime minister will visit Prayagraj (Allahabad) on the same day for monitoring the Kumbh preparations. Later in the month, he will also be visiting his constituency of Varanasi and address a rally in eastern UP town of Gajipur.
Early next year in January, PM Modi will be attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Varanasi and will visit Kumbh as a devotee.
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