Central Govt. and Maharashtra Govt. must learn from the Delhi Govt’s humanitarian work during the pandemic
The Aam Aadmi Party today took strong objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament, where he gave a clean chit to his own government as far as Covid mismanagement is concerned. There cannot be anything further from the truth. The fact is, that both the PM Modi-led Central government as well as CM Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government miserably failed our migrant daily wage earners, who make a bulk of our informal labour force. It is these very workers who, through the sweat of their brow, power the engine of economic growth-led development in Urban India.
We first had lies in election rallies, but now we have lies on the floor of Parliament itself, by none other than Prime Minister Modi himself. Misclaims of absolutely no Covid mismanagement is contrary to the lived experience of millions of daily wage earners who were stranded due to an unplanned lockdown, and invariably had to walk back home, not knowing their mode of transport, and that too on empty stomachs. The pandemic amplified inequalities world over, but it was only in India that we saw streams of hundreds of thousands of people, trudging alongside our highways in their journey home. Some of them were also with their families, who didn’t have access to adequate food, water, or even toilets for that matter. After partition, this was perhaps the largest forced displacement of marginalized populations.
The Maharashtra government on the other hand, initially resorted to physically attacking migrant workers, in their attempt to prevent bad press. PR was more important than the safety and travel arrangements of these workers. Let’s not forget that these migrant workers were forced to leave their homes as most of their slums were containment areas. In the absence of a planned lockdown, and no help forthcoming from local administration, they very quickly extinguished their meagre savings, and literally didn’t have anything to eat. It’s in the context of these abject conditions, that we saw what we did, while watching this human catastrophe unfold right in front of our eyes.
“The Aam Aadmi Party demands that the PM have some shame and immediately apologize to our nation for his lies, and his abject failure to manage the Covid crisis. The Central and the Maharashtra government must learn from the Delhi government’s humanitarian work during the pandemic – which not only ensured that labourers were given adequate allowances, but also ensured that food was available at every municipal school for their sustenance. We also appeal to our fellow Indians to shun these failed parties and vote for the greater good, by choosing the Aam Aadmi Party.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
The National Green Tribunal has slapped a penalty of Rs 25 crore on Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd for violation of environmental norms in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district.
The green panel said environmental law violations cannot be taken lightly when the violators are entities like the present project proponent (PP) and victims are poor villagers.
The NGT said the victims of damage are unspecified number of persons spread over in more than six panchayats — Bherukhera, Agucha, Parasrampura, Kalyanpura, Kothiya, Balapura and others — in Hurda block.
A case is made out for requiring the PP to provide for compensation for the past violations and bear the cost of remediation, apart from complying with recommendations of the Committee.
Having regard to the violations/damage by the project proponent and overall estimated cost of ecological rehabilitation and restoration and financial capacity of the PP, we require the PP to deposit a sum of Rs 25 crore with the District Magistrate, Bhilwara within three months to meet the cost of remediation measures, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said.
The NGT also directed that a joint committee of the Central Pollution Control Board, state pollution control board and District Magistrate, Bhilwara with the assistance of any other experts may prepare a restoration plan for remediating the soil and quality of ground water in the area, apart from undertaking health improvement programme for the inhabitants and the cattle.
The action taken may be placed on the website of the District Magistrate, Bhilwara and its execution duly monitored.
The remediation works may be got executed by an appropriate agency utilising the amount deposited by the PP and the PP itself will have liberty to get the such work executed of restoration/rehabilitation on its own or through any other agency, if found proper by the joint committee in the circumstances, the bench said .
The NGT said that a public awareness group may be setup jointly by the DM and the PP to list out the issues requiring further action.
The amount deposited will be utilised for executing the plan within one year, associating all stake holders, including the PP and civil society in a suitable manner, subject to overall supervision of the Committee, the bench said.
The joint committee may have a report of status of compliance as on March 31, 2023 filed before the Registrar General of this Tribunal by e-mail.
The tribunal was hearing a batch of pleas alleging violation of environmental norms by Hindustan Zinc Ltd in executing mining lease of lead, zinc and associated minerals in the villages covering nearly an area about 1,200 hectares of mining land.
BMC habitually makes tall claims without having any results to show for them
The Aam Aadmi Party today, slammed the Shiv Sena and the BMC for their failure to rejuvenate the Mithi river, despite spending crores on projects for the same. The Mithi river is an essential part of Mumbai’s natural infrastructure, and serves a key role as a natural drain for the city. Unfortunately, it has become a nalla today, having been subjected to excessive encroachment and pollution under the Shiv Sena government. In their 2022-23 BMC budget, the government has allocated 400 crores for the widening/training of the Mithi river, but this is one amongst several such budgetary allocations and initiatives undertaken by the BMC over the past two decades, which are yet to yield any outcomes.
After the 2005 floods in Mumbai, the 2006 Chitale Committee report had clearly directed the government to rejuvenate the river on a war footing. In fact, The MMRDA and BMC had spent over Rs 1,200 crore on the “development” of Mithi river till 2019. The BMC had cleared 569 Crores for Mithi’s rejuvenation in 2020, then tabled a Mithi desilting proposal of 132 Crores in February 2021, and cleared another project for Mithi worth 603 Crores in August 2021. The BMC and the Shiv Sena have already spent crores of public funds, with no results to show for it, and now, the 2022 budget has another 400 crores earmarked for the restoration of the Mithi river.
“Mumbai is governed by a PR sarkar. The BMC habitually makes tall claims and hefty budgetary allocations, but either these projects do not see the light of day because the allocated funds are lost to corruption, or the desired results don’t materialize because of a lack of due oversight. While such initiatives to restore Mumbai’s natural infrastructure are encouraged, we are afraid that this initiative will also be lost to the Shiv Sena’s incompetence, corruption and lack of initiative.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
SC’s pulling up of the BMC and terming it’s inaction as putting Mumbaikar’s lives at danger is ‘Alarming
The Aam Aadmi Party today, called out the BMCs callousness towards the lives of Mumbaikars and Mumbai’s ecology, by not being able to construct STP plants, despite being pulled up by the SC. Moreover, what is further shocking is that the project cost escalation has been exponential when compared with other STPs in other states. This has resulted into both, a delay in execution, as well as an additional burden on the exchequer.
“We have self proclaimed environmentalists at the head of our government, who have proven to be useless time and again. If the Aam Aadmi Party can build world class STPs in Delhi at a fraction of the cost, then why can’t the BMC do the same? It clearly demonstrates the BMC’s lack of intent and callous approach towards Mumbai and Mumbaikars. AAP demands an urgent and immediate rationalization of costs, and speedy execution of these STPs without further delay.
Mumbai is the only large metropolis of the world which doesnt treat a bulk of its sewage and actually allows the sewage to flow out in the Arabian sea. This has resulted into the degradation of the entire coastal ecosystem, which is already very fragile. 10 species of fish have gone extinct in the last 3 decades alone. Dirty, contaminated water, which also creates a stench is the regular sight on all sewage outflows on Mumbai’s coastline.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
The International Monetary Fund has approved the completion of the sixth review of its stalled USD 6 billion programme for Pakistan, paving the way for an immediate disbursement of about USD 1 billion loan tranche for the cash-strapped country.
The IMF’s Executive Board held a meeting in Washington DC on Wednesday to consider Pakistan’s request for completion of the sixth review and release of a USD 1 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The completion of this review allows for an immediate disbursement of 750 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (about USD 1 billion) to Pakistan, bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 2,144 million (about USD 3 billion) or 106 per cent of the country’s quota, the Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin also confirmed the approval in a tweet.
I am pleased to announce that the IMF Board has approved the 6th tranche of their programme for Pakistan, he wrote.
In July 2019, Pakistan and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies for a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Under the agreement, Pakistan was to receive about USD 6 billion for a period of 39 months.
The IMF had pledged to provide support under the EFF programme when Pakistan’s economy was in a critical stage and badly needed assistance to meet the balance of payments challenge.
The IMF provides EFF loan facilities to a country facing serious medium-term balance of payments problems because of structural weaknesses that require time to address.
Compared to assistance provided under the standby arrangement, assistance under an extended arrangement features longer programme engagement to help countries implement medium-term structural reforms and a longer repayment period.
The programme aims to support Pakistan’s policies to help the economy and save lives and livelihoods amid the still unfolding Covid-19 pandemic, ensure macroeconomic and debt sustainability and advance structural reforms to lay the foundations for strong, job-rich and long-lasting growth that benefits all Pakistanis, the report said.
The sixth review was scheduled for January 12, 2022, and later January 28, but was postponed twice on Pakistan’s request to attain more time for implementing IMF conditions.
In order to meet another condition of the IMF, the government had successfully managed to get the State Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2021, cleared from the Upper House of Parliament which was the last stumbling block in reviving the stalled programme.
Following the clearance of the bill, all prior conditions of the Fund had been fulfilled by Pakistan, including the approval of the mini-budget and SBP bill.
The next review (seventh) under the USD 6 billion EFF programme will be due in April 2022. The last and final eighth review is expected to be done in September 2022, Geo News reported.
The programme, after the agreement, had remained largely off track, resulting in disbursements of only USD 2 billion in two years.
Islamabad had accepted the IMF’s conditions to reduce the primary deficit to 0.6 per cent, granting more operational autonomy to the SBP, placing a flexible exchange rate and further tightening the monetary policy.
Pakistan had also already accepted two conditions of the IMF. It increased the electricity prices by Rs 1.68 per unit or up to 14 per cent and also jacked up the petroleum products prices to the new historical level of R. 137.79 per litre.
Terming the BMC budget as ‘Contract and Contractor Driven’, the Aam Aadmi Party today slammed the Shiv Sena led BMC for it’s lack of focus on improving the standard of living of Mumbaikars. That the cash rich BMC is the fountainhead of all corruption in Maharashtra, is an open secret and is validated by the lived experience of 1.5 Crore Mumbaikars.
Despite the massive revenue shortfall, the budgetary estimate for the financial year 2022-23 has been pegged at ₹45,949 crore, which is 17.10% higher than that of the budget for FY 2020-21 (₹ 39,038.83 crore).
Where is this additional money going to come from? As stated by the municipal commissioner, we will be dipping into our reserves, while also taking additional loans, thus further burdening the exchequer, without demonstrated capacity to actually spend it!
“Huge budget outlays mean nothing, when only 48% of last fiscal year 2021-2022 budget was actually utilized. This has been happening year after year, for the past several years, where the BMC has been consistently unable to spend it’s budget outlay, despite making provisions for it.
It speaks volumes of the BMC’s ineptitude and poor capacity to execute projects that have already been budgeted for. We demand that like the Delhi Govt, the BMC must also present an Outcome budget to state what was achieved in the previous year, else this entire announcement is useless”, said Ruben Mascarenhas, Mumbai Working President of the Aam Aadmi Party.
“This budget has nothing for those living in slums, who make up the vast majority of Mumbai’s population. Mumbai has poor physical infrastructure like roads, footpaths, water and sewage lines, degrading natural infrastructure and crumbling social infratructure like education, healthcare and lack of public conveniences.
One would have thought that the recent covid pandemic and its aftermath,would have served as a wake up call to the civic adminstration, but this budget has proved otherwise and is nothing a string of ‘misplaced priorities’
BMC’s allocation to the education department is ₹3370 Crores, which is a mere 7.33% of our budgent and reeks of vast underallocation.Our Govt in Delhi spends 25% of 69000 crores – 16377 crores.
That’s why Delhi’s 17 lakh+ students are thriving, while BMC schools keep closing with less than 3 lakh students left!
BMC has to think beyond these band-aid efforts of fixing a failed system. Why can’t BMC simply replicate, Delhi’s succesful model of Universal Healthcare through Mohalla clinics within 1km, where diagnostic tests and medicines are free, for every Mumbaikar?”, said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive member and AAP Mumbai Prabhari.
For the 20th anniversary of international career,started as a child prodigy of Gioconda Vessichelli ,a big concert will take place on 22january 2022 in South America, Aired also in television.
The famous singer Gioconda will be protagonist of an exceptional show and the three tenors and pianist will join her in this concert.
The kermess will see as anchor the daughter of the legendary and one of the most famous composer Demetrio Ortiz , for which Gioconda has recently sung and released 2 songs : “Tus Lágrimas ” and “Mis noches sin ti” with the orchestra of Maestro Sergio Cuquejo .
Vuln!! Path it now!!
Beijing has reported its first local omicron infection, according to state media, weeks before the Winter Olympic Games are due to start.
The infected person lives and works in the city’s northwestern district of Haidian and had no travel history outside of Beijing for the past two weeks. The individual experienced symptoms on Thursday and was tested on Friday for COVID-19, officials said in a news conference Saturday during which they confirmed the infection.
The infection comes less than three weeks before the Winter Olympic Games’ opening ceremony on Feb 4., and around two weeks before the start of Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
So far, multiple cities in China have reported omicron infections, including Shanghai, the western city of Xi’an, cities in southern Guangdong province such as Zhuhai and Zhongshan, and the city of Tianjin, which is 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed rail.
Officials across the country have urged residents to stay in their cities for the new year, instead of traveling back to their hometowns. China has adopted a strict zero-Covid policy, with authorities locking down residential compounds and even entire cities such as Xi’an when a local outbreak has been discovered in an effort to stamp out community transmission.
The Beijing patient’s residential compound and workplace have been sealed off and authorities are mass-testing people linked to either location for the coronavirus. Some 2,430 people had been tested as of Saturday night, according to The Global Times, a state-owned newspaper.
China reported 119 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, of which 65 were domestic cases. The country has reported 104,864 infections since the beginning of the pandemic.
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