Jammu and Kashmir administration has been putting efforts to stop the practice of physical movement of files in trunks and trucks from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa during the Darbar Move.

The administration has successfully implemented e-Office by scanning and digitizing over 2 crore pages from 3.5 lakh files in order to facilitate the concept of e-administration in Jammu and Kashmir.

An official spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir government said that owing to the digitization, for the first time no files were moved from Jammu to Srinagar when the Darbar reopened here.

Already the offices in the civil secretariat of Srinagar have switched over to the e-office and there are no physical files being moved from one table to another.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, on Sunday, while assuring the people of responsive administration has said that Darbar Move this year has been deferred due to implementation of the e-office project of digitalizing the UT’s Civil Secretariat and it has lessened the burden on the state exchequer.

CHANDIGARH: Former Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal on Monday categorically reiterated his “intent and commitment to fully cooperating with the law” and said that he had ‘complete faith in the judiciary.’ He has, however, asked the SIT “to reschedule the date for his appearance for the investigations as he is not keeping good health and has been advised complete bed rest for ten days by doctors.”

“As soon as my health gets better, I will be available to join the investigation as per law, at my current place of residence. (MLA Flat No 37, Sector 4, Chandigarh.),” he said. Badal said he hoped that this SIT, unlike the previous one, would respect the law of the land and conduct a fair investigation, withstanding political interference from the ruling dispensation which, he said, had been brazenly subverting the law for petty political gains.

In his two-page response to the summon from the SIT investigating the handling of Kotkapura incidents by the previous government, Badal said, “the entire process of investigations already stands brazenly compromised through blatant and unapologetic political interference and it reeks too strongly of political vendetta to inspire any confidence about a fair process of law being followed.” Despite this, said Badal, he will “cooperate fully” with the investigative process.

The former Chief Minister pointed out that the very need for the present SIT had, “arisen out of the brazen politicization of the case by the previous SIT.” In this regard, Badal came down heavily against one of the members of the previous SIT and said,

“With a callous and contemptuous disregard for all the established procedures and norms, this officer completely usurped and appropriated to himself the entire functioning and designated role of all the other members of the SIT, including its Chairman and rendered them redundant and they were reportedly not even a part of the investigative process.”

The former CM further referred to reports that said that the findings of the previous SIT had been scripted jointly by half a dozen high profile members of the ruling party.“ These reports, Badal pointed out, had never been contradicted.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sudip Banerjee on Monday asked the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari to take care of the 25 missing BJP MLAs first before thinking about anti-defection law. Speaking to ANI, Banerjee said, “Anti Defection Law is not the subject of an individual. It has to pass through both the houses of the Parliament and then to the Assembly. If the opposition leader from the BJP wants to bring a new rule he can ask the central government. They are there in power.”

Banerjee also raised questions over the 25 BJP MLAs who were missing in the party’s meeting on Monday.

“Where are the 25 missing MLAs. First talk about issuing anti Laws against them. He (Suvendu Adhikari) needs to take care of his MLAs now, then talk about others,” added Banerjee.

On Suvendu’s father Sishir Adhikari, Banerjee said, “I had spoken with Loka Sabha Speaker Om Birla ji on June 2 requesting him to initiate a process of seizing memberships of Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mondal. I made a follow-up call today and he said that a committee will be set up and both MPs will be called. I will also be called for my opinion.”

Earlier on Monday, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari held a meeting with BLP MLAs in the assembly. Following this, 50 BJP MLAs headed by Adhikari handed over a memorandum to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

“50 MLAs of Opposition including Suvendu Adhikari have handed over a memorandum to me, attracting my attention towards four points including anti-defection law and incidents of Tiljala and Chandan Nagar,” said West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The development comes days after former BJP national vice president Mukul Roy and his son Subhranshu Roy joined the TMC on Friday. Further, another BJP MLA Rajib Banerjee met with Trinamool Congress’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh at the latter’s residence here on Saturday. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly. Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory winning 213 seats.

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat is fully equipped to face the possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government said on Monday. The state government has formulated a comprehensive action plan— Harshe Corona-Jitshe Gujarat— in a bid to tackle the possible third wave of the deadly outbreak.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, said that the first and the second waves of Covid-19 have been largely controlled by the state government through intensive health measures, three Ts (testing, tracing, and treatment), efforts of the frontline workers, and the cooperation of the people of the state.

He made it clear that in Gujarat, they do not have to adopt a complete lockdown system like other states. With the cooperation of the people and adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines in the state, we have been able to gradually reduce the number of Corona cases, he said. Instead of complete lockdowns, Gujarat imposed limited restrictions in only 6 cities.

During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, around 1,600 cases were registered daily in the state around September 25 last year, and it increased to 1,800-1,900 in November. “As a result of our intensive measures and strict adherence to the guidelines, the number of such cases dropped to 200-275 cases per day in February,” Rupani said.

During the second wave of the pandemic in the state, the highest number of cases was recorded on April 30, at 17,605, and the number of active patients of Covid was 1.48 lakh in the entire state.

Vijay Rupani said that the number of cases has come down to less than 500 in the last week. Nevertheless, Rupani said, the Covid-19 virus has not gone away yet.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani added that in the wake of the possibility of a possible third wave, the state government had started preparations from the second week of May. Views and opinions were sought to formulate an action plan by holding meetings with expert doctors of the state’s Covid Task Force.

The CM Rupani said that regular meetings of the core committee to review the situation of Covid19 in the state have also been held from time to time to discuss in detail the pre-preparations.

“We are announcing the action plan strategy today, finalizing all these views and the outcome of the various decisions of the core committee,” he said.

Giving details about the features of this strategy-action plan of the state government, the Chief Minister said, “We have formulated this strategy with special focus on two things. Accordingly, the state government is committed to moving forward with a two-pronged strategy to prevent the onset of the third wave— to decrease the intensity of the outbreak by following the protocols, and as well as increase the capacity of the health system to deal with the potential third wave if the number of cases increases.”

The Union Home Ministry on Monday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the notification issued on 28th May 2021 has nothing to do with the Citizens Amendment Act. The Union Home Ministry has stated that it has issued similar notices five times in the past.

“The notification dated 28 May 2021 seeks to merely delegate the power of the Central Government to the local authorities in particular cases. The said notification does not provide for any relaxations to the foreigners and applies only to a foreigner who has entered the country legally as the Central Government used its authority under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act and delegated its powers to grant citizenship by Registration or Naturalisation to District Collectors,” the MHA submitted.

The MHA in its affidavit further said that such citizenship-granting power, in effect delegation of power, in respect of “minority Hindus with Pakistani citizenship” who had migrated to India five years back was also delegated to Collectors of all the Districts in the State of Rajasthan.

MHA also said that initially, this delegation of powers of Central Government to District Collectors of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Home Secretary of Gujarat State was only for one year.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Centre’s move to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees in thirteen districts in five states.

The petition had been filed in the Supreme Court by League General Secretary PK Kunhalikutty challenging the amendment to the Citizenship Act.

The League wants the notification issued by the Central Government inviting applications for citizenship to be stayed immediately.

The plea also said that the two provisions read together do not permit the classification of applicants on the ground of religion and therefore the order goes beyond what is permitted by the provision itself.

The order does not withstand the test of Article 14 in as much as it treats people within a particular class i.e. persons entitled to apply for citizenship by registration and naturalisation unequally by the virtue of their religion, the plea added

The petitioner further said that the concept of granting citizenship to persons based on religion was introduced vide the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, and the impugned order and rules are challenged in the present writ.

The said act is against Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution, the plea added

On 29, May the MHA had issued a notification under the 2009 rules of the Citizenship Act, 1955 asking non-Muslims belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship.

The fresh notification said: “In exercise of powers conferred under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the central government hereby directs that powers exercisable by it for registration as a citizen of India under Section 5, or for grant of certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of the Citizenship Act 1955 in respect of any person belonging to a minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, residing in the districts mentioned…”

On Monday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that it will contest all 182 seats in the 2022 Gujarat legislative assembly polls. The announcement was made by AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

“Our candidates will contest on all seats,” said Delhi CM Kejriwal during a press conference held at the circuit house.

“People here (Gujarat) think if electricity can be free in Delhi, why not here? Likewise, for hospitals also the condition has not improved in 70 years here. But things will change now,” he said.

In the 2017 state elections, AAP had contested 29 seats and got 0.62 percent votes in the contested constituencies. A total of 66 parties were in the battle wherein the BJP won 99 seats and the Congress 77 seats respectively.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on a one-day visit to Gujarat. Kejriwal was given a grand welcome at the Ahmedabad airport by AAP workers. Later, they then reached the circuit house where they held a press conference.

Speaking about the derelict conditions of the common people in Gujarat, Kejriwal said, “Farmers of Gujarat are committing suicide, people of Gujarat are upset, traders are scared. Some time ago Gujarat Chambers invited me but the government forced the chambers to cancel my program.”

The Delhi CM also accused the Centre of ignoring PM Modi’s home state Gujarat during the pandemic, contradicting his own statement alleging partiality towards Gujarat in oxygen distribution.

Moreover, speaking about the significance of Gujarat in the political landscape of the country, AAP leader said, “Gujarat has always contributed to politics. Even during independence, we saw leaders like Sardar Patel emerge.

Kejriwal also said that the provision of basic amenities and the multifaceted development is stuck in severe bottlenecks, and held BJP and Congress responsible for the same.

“…we see only BJP and Congress fighting with each other and for past 27 years, there is only one party in Gujarat. The people of Gujarat did not have an option till now. Now, they do. We will contest in all seats in Gujarat,” said Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.

In reply to one of the queries from the media personnel, Kejriwal said his party would not bring Delhi model to Gujarat, as each state can have its own model. The model of Gujarat will be decided by the people of Gujarat, he added.

With the arrival of the AAP, Kejriwal said, Gujarat is bracing for a change. Entry of Isudan Gadhvi would only expedite the process, Kejriwal added.

Kejriwal called Gadhvi’s joining the AAP as a “huge sacrifice of a promising career to clean the mess that the ruling party, together with the Congress, had created in Gujarat.”

“Gadhvi has left a plum career for AAP…You can bring a change from outside the system, but there is a limitation to this. So, Gadhvi decided to join the system and clean the mess,” Kejriwal added.