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Hans India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Bengal LoP accuses Mamata govt of appointing temporary employees as BLOs
The Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Sunday, alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government appointed undeserving candidates as booth-level officers (BLOs). Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Adhikari claimed that despite having permanent government employees, the state government had appointed its temporary employees as BLOs. He also alleged that a section of block development officers (BDOs) in the state was too involved in this conspiracy. "These BDOs are those who got jobs by paying money to the West Bengal Public Service Commission with fake other backward class (OBC) certificates and submitting blank papers in examinations. In a bid to secure their jobs and keep Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in good humour, these BDOs have appointed temporary employees as BLOs despite having permanent employees at their disposal," said Adkhikari. The BJP leader further claimed that he has about 50 names of such BLOs. "The number might increase. They should be arrested. The Trinamool Congress wants to win the election by any means," he said. Meanwhile, Adkhikari alleged that Baguihati and New Town areas, on the northern outskirts of Kolkata, have become a camp of illegal Bangladeshis, Muslims, and Rohingyas. In a social media post, the BJP leader said that it was difficult to find people living in these areas who are not aware of the fact that the Baguiati area and New Town-Rajarhat areas of Kolkata have become a camp for illegal Bangladeshi Muslims. 'The local leadership of the Trinamool Congress, with the help of the administration, is arranging fake Indian identity documents and documents for these illegal infiltrators whose names have already been registered in the voter list," the Leader of the Opposition added. Sharing a video footage of the area, Adhikari said these people are the ones who participated in Trinamool Congress's July 21 Martyrs' Day rally and other meetings and processions. "So when the crackdown starts in other provinces of the country, Mamata Banerjee gets all fired up because she has worked so hard to build her vote bank. If they are 'pushed back' in Bangladesh, not only will her government, but the party itself will be in crisis," he added. Adhikari also said that the Chief Minister had started to carry out various political programmes till the 2026 Assembly elections, in the interest of all these illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslim infiltrators.
India Today
23-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Abandoned, unheard: Women without papers victims of Bihar's voter revision
In Seemanchal, Bihar, a woman's identity is no longer her own—it is a shadow tethered to a husband who may have left, remarried, or simply vanished. In the bureaucratic storm of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, women are the ones caught in its deadliest undertow—women without papers, without husbands, without lineage records, now running pillar to post to prove they belong to a country they have never left. They are not just trying to get names on a list. They are trying to anchor their lives to a state that is suddenly asking questions it never prepared them to answer: Who are you without a husband's surname? Without a father's electoral trace from 2003? Without a village elder willing to vouch? For many of them, identity is a fractured thing. They carry surnames that don't match their dialects, appearances that don't match administrative assumptions, and stories that don't fit neatly into columns. And in this corner of Bihar, where suspicion has become systemic and scrutiny often wears the face of bias, their womanhood becomes both their greatest vulnerability and their most enduring was nearly ten days since I landed in Bihar, navigating the thick, bureaucratic fog of the Special Intensive Revision process — locally dubbed the voter revision prakriya. The national conversation focused squarely on how this would impact communities at large, how entire demographics might find themselves disenfranchised in one stroke. But my lens zoomed in differently. Beneath the political thunder and policy jargon, there was another story breathing — subtle, ignored, the urban nooks of Bihar, BLOs (Booth Level Officers) seemed energetic, going door-to-door, taking down enumeration forms even without documents, connecting voters to the 2003 rolls with urgency and care. In these city corners, the fear was not seen. But as I moved into rural Bihar, especially into districts untouched by the 'infiltrator' stereotype, the contrast was stark. Villagers scrambled around dusty Panchayat offices, flipping through the 2007 parivarik suchi(family register), trying to craft vanshavalis (genealogies). BLOs being absent from door to door was the only complaint, but officials were cooperative in helping those without a document by tending to panchayat lists. Forms were being checked behind closed doors. And yet, the real chaos brewed in one specific OVERCAST WITH SHADOW OF INFILTRATION In Seemanchal, suspicion isn't just a sentiment -- it's infrastructure. The districts here, particularly Kishanganj, had been unofficially placed on alert. Villages were flagged, booths labelled 'suspicious,' and Block Development Officers (BDOs) were quietly instructing BLOs on who to watch and who to list. The criteria? Simple, yet terrifying: "local intelligence" combined with an inability to trace one's parents to the 2003 electoral rolls meant that your very existence was now under whispers were louder than any press conference. District Magistrates were being texted by self-styled local whistleblowers, BDOs avoided eye contact, and a quiet freeze had been imposed on issuing new 'niwas' (residence) certificates. Corruption, too, was thriving alongside a steady stream of complaints to District Magistrates about bribes being taken in exchange for new niwas certificates. One whistleblower even shared screenshots of his conversation with the DM, where he alleged that officials were demanding money to issue documents.I began tracking down these 'flagged' booths. In three such locations, I met people who held nothing but Aadhar or voter ID cards, some of whom claimed they were born here but didn't know where their parents hailed from. In one area, I met young adults—between 20 to 25 years old—without any form of government ID, completely disconnected from the system that now threatened to erase MUKHIYA'S OFFICE AND THE PROOF HE PROMISEDadvertisementThe trail led me to Rasundangi village in Dighalbank block, where a 32-year-old Mukhiya (village head) had asked me to meet him. He had earlier promised to show 'proof'—three Bangladeshi women, he claimed, had turned up at his Panchayat office that morning.I wasn't hopeful. Over the last several days, I had visited countless localities and found no one who directly identified themselves as immigrants or could be conclusively called one. Most lived in quiet panic, too unsure or uninformed to even know they were under I walked into his dimly lit office, I found the Mukhiya seated confidently behind a table, and in front of him sat three Muslim women, all in their mid-30s. They spoke a dialect of Bengali I recognized—common in Murshidabad and Malda, yet viewed with suspicion here in WITHOUT PAPERS, LIVES WITHOUT PROOF A few minutes into the conversation, it became clear that two of the women were widows, there to apply for widow pension certificates. The third explained her husband was mentally unwell; she had mostly come to seek financial help and accompany the others. None of them had anything except photocopies of their husbands' Aadhar cards. No death certificates, no marriage registration, no vanshavali Bengali myself, I eased into their dialect. They opened woman said her husband had died eight years ago. The other, nearly ten. Both had been left by their husbands, who remarried—common in their community, as they told me. When I asked why they waited this long, they had no answers. The Mukhiya, stern and exasperated, told them without official proof, death certificates, affidavits, or old entries in the Panchayat register, he wouldn't process their one woman pleaded softly, 'Kardijiye jitna paisa lagega de denge' (We'll pay whatever it takes). The Mukhiya leaned forward: 'Ghush de rahe ho? Yahan yeh sab nahi chalta.' (You're offering a bribe? That doesn't work here.)He told them to identify their husbands' names in the 2007 parivarik suchi, which they couldn't find, let alone prove MUKHIYA, THE KAZI, AND A LAYERED IDENTITYThe Mukhiya remained unmoved—firm, methodical, and known in the area as a taskmaster who often helped locals navigate government processes. He was affiliated with the BJP, but he didn't fit the mould of a hardened right-wing ideologue. My first encounter with him had taken place at his residence, where I happened to witness a telling exchange that would later shape how I perceived day, a local Kazi had come to see him with a complaint—its specifics were unclear to me—but what followed was a revealing conversation. The Mukhiya told the Kazi he was willing to support his case, but only on the condition that he maintained a proper marriage register. He emphasised the need to verify ages to prevent underage marriages. The Kazi pushed back, saying, 'Aise toh humare dharam mein shaadi nahi hoga'—such a requirement didn't align with religious Mukhiya didn't flinch. 'Main aapke shariat mein dakhal nahi dena chahta,' he said calmly. 'Aap jo karna hai kijiye, par agar marriage register mein underage shaadi likhoge, toh woh register nahi hoga. Yeh Bharat ka kanoon hai, yahi chalega [I don't want to interfere in your Shariat law. You do what you have to—but if you register an underage marriage, it won't be accepted. This is Indian law, and that will apply].In a political climate where we often see Hindutva hardliners downplay reformist movements like the abolition of Sati, he instead invoked Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 'Hindu dharm ne bhi samay ke saath sudhaar kiya hai. Islam ko bhi karna chahiye,' he had said. (Hinduism reformed with time. Islam must too.)advertisementThat conversation lingered with me. It showed a man who was conservative, yes—but also pragmatic, rooted in law, and willing to challenge regressive traditions without weaponizing identity. It left me convinced that while he might carry the political weight of his party, he wasn't someone who led with prejudice alone."TUMI SOI KORE DAO" — THE DESPERATION OF BEING STATELESSRealising that their case was going nowhere with the Mukhiya, one of the three women turned to me and subtly gestured for me to step outside. Though we spoke in different dialects, they were merely different shades of the same language—Bengali—and that small linguistic familiarity seemed to bring her some comfort. Her eyes, tired but hopeful, met mine as she softly repeated her request: 'Bahaar aaiye na, didi.' I followed them moment we stepped away from the Panchayat Bhawan, her composure broke. She began to cry, folding her hands before me. 'Aap mere behen jaise ho, please madad kardo.' (You're like my sister, please help me.)Then came the full story. Her husband had married her from Nepal and brought her to India, where they had started a life together. Eventually, he abandoned her and went back across the border to marry someone else. She had heard, through neighbours and distant contacts, that he had died. But there was no certificate to prove it. No documentation. Nothing she could present to the Mukhiya, the administration, or anyone else who might I gently asked her where her husband was originally from, she hesitated. Her silence lingered. Then, as if pleading, she whispered, 'Please amar problem ta bojho didi Mukhiya soi korbena Tumi soi kore dao.'(Please understand my problem, sister. The Mukhiya won't sign my case. You sign it for me.)She reached for my hand. I held hers, trying to steady her trembling fingers, and told her softly that my signature had no official weight. It wouldn't change anything. Her desperation didn't end woman—the second widow—stepped forward. Her voice was low, resigned, but no less desperate. 'Amar-o same case, didi. Bor chere chole dilo Ekhon amake proman korte hobe je ami ekhankar. Please help kore dao. (Mine is the same, sister. My husband left me. Now I have to prove I belong here. Please help me).Here they were—three women, caught in the crosshairs of a sweeping bureaucratic process, grasping at invisible threads of identity. They had no death certificates, no marriage records, no niwas or lineage documents. Their only hope of legitimising their existence rested on links to husbands who had either died or disappeared, often after marrying again. The Special Intensive Revision process demanded proof they simply could not of them bore clearly Mongoloid features but had a Muslim surname — yet another complication in Kishanganj, a border district where identities blur, dialects bleed into one another, and suspicion often outweighs facts. It's a region where borders have long since become porous, and people have crossed over for decades, not always by choice. In this fog of overlapping identities, yes—foreign nationals have indeed found their way onto voter rolls—but these women were not infiltrators. They were casualties of abandonment, poverty, and a system that never accounted for them to begin were unaware that one day, their entire existence would be put on trial—not in a courtroom, but through a form, a certificate, a name in an old register. They hadn't anticipated that proving their husband's identity, and by extension their own, would become a bureaucratic impossibility.I asked how they survived—how they managed day to day. 'Kichu korey khai [We somehow get by],' one this—this looming erasure—was unlike anything they had faced before. They weren't just being denied pensions. They were now at risk of being denied recognition—denied the right to belong to a country they believed was their that moment, I felt helpless. I wasn't a government official, nor a lawyer. But I was a witness. And if nothing else, I owed them their story—because in the scramble to filter out illegality, it is these women, forgotten by their families, ignored by the state, and sidelined by a process that knows no nuance, who pay the quietest, heaviest HUMAN COST OF A NATIONAL CONCERNI don't deny the importance of identifying illegal immigration. But here, we weren't dealing with infiltration alone. We were dealing with women who were once wives and daughters-in-law, who now carried the double burden of abandonment and statelessness. They didn't anticipate that one day, they'd be running from office to office, trying to prove their worth to a system they never fully were forgotten not just by their husbands but also by families and a system that seeks to cleanse itself of outsiders. In this process of cleansing, humanity becomes is the unseen, unspoken cost of the SIR. The cost that women, widowed and invisible, are now forced to bear.- EndsMust Watch
Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Surge in demand for domicile certificates suggests presence of many immigrants': Bihar Dy CM
With the publication of the first draft of the electoral rolls after the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive just a week away, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Samrat Choudhary addresses the concerns over it, particularly regarding Bihar residents working outside the state, and says special attention should be paid to Kishanganj district. Excerpts from an interview: * Questions have been raised about the timing of the SIR, just months to go for the polls, with the Block Development Officers (BDOs) deployed for the exercise struggling to cover everyone. The EC is doing the SIR with the 2003 voters' list as the starting point. It is going well across the state minus the Purnia division, especially Kishanganj district. While records show that between January and June 2025, Kishanganj had averaged 26,000 to 28,000 applications a month, in July so far (after the SIR kicked in), about 3.41 lakh domicile applications have been filed. * What do you think the numbers suggest? The surge in demand for residential certificates suggests that many of the applicants are immigrants from other countries. We suspect a sizeable percentage of the people in Kishanganj (a Muslim-dominated district) could be from Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Central and state governments and the EC should scrutinise and find out if illegal immigrants have been living in India stealthily. Within the Purnia division too, while Purnia district has seen a rise in average monthly domicile applications from 43,970 (earlier) to 98,200 (in July 1-13), in Katihar, this has gone up from 38,271 on an average to 1.32 lakh, and in Araria, from 27,710 domicile certificates in June to 53,556 applications till July 13. (The Indian Express reported earlier that in the wake of the SIR, the demand for a domicile certificate had generally seen a surge, with a big reason being that applicants could get this using Aadhaar, a commonly available document.) * There are apprehensions that a large number of Bihar residents working outside the state may not manage to enroll for the SIR? It is true that a large number of people live outside the state and all of them can't return to the state to fill up their enumeration forms. But in many of these cases, voters have names in the Bihar electoral rolls, as well as elsewhere. The EC is looking at this duplication. It may be verified by Aaadhar cards and voters could be given the option of remaining voters in Bihar or in another state. * Some estimates suggest that 10-15% of those living outside Bihar could be left out. The EC is going through its rules and procedures. There will be claims and objections, followed by appeals. * Isn't it ironic that, just a few months ago, BJP leaders were preparing lists of state residents living outside Bihar to convince them to come back home and cast their votes? Our team met not just Bihar voters but also people who are the state's ambassadors in several fields. Some of these people will still come back for us, whether to vote or to just speak about our good works. * A very small percentage of the deposited enumeration forms are being uploaded with any of the 11 documents that the EC has sought. Does this not leave Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) with too much power to decide which forms to accept? These are questions that are too technical. An ERO has the right to seek to be convinced after a voter has been issued notice for removal from electoral rolls. But the legal nitty-gritty of such questions can be explained better by the EC. * Many BJP leaders are equally concerned about the fallout of the SIR confusion. We are comfortable. We have 52,000 BLAs (Booth Level Agents) and will add 10,000 more to their numbers in some time. Our BLAs are coordinating with BLOs as part of the process.
New Indian Express
15-07-2025
- New Indian Express
Koraput couple forced to pull plough for marrying against customs: Police register case, start probe
JEYPORE: A day after a tribal couple was tied to a yoke and paraded like bullocks through the streets of Pedaitiki village in Narayanapatana block, Koraput police suo motu registered a case on Monday and started investigation into the inhuman incident. As part of probe, the Narayanapatana block development officer (BDO), tehsildar and IIC visited Pedaitiki and inquired about the involvement of villagers who forced Narendra Pidika (22) and Asanti Pidika (21) to undergo the 'purification' ritual for marrying in the same tribal clan. Around six villagers were also called to Narayanapatana police station for questioning and later released. Koraput collector V Keerthi Vasan asked all the BDOs of the district to spread awareness among the tribal communities in their respective areas not to adopt such practices in the name of purification rituals. The collector also urged the PRI members to remain alert and prevent such acts by tribal communities. 'The administration has taken the issue very seriously and directed the BDOs and PRI members to prevent such inhuman acts in the tribal villages. No one will be allowed to harm anyone's self respect or rights in such a manner. People found indulging in these practices will face strict action,' he added. Sources said Narendra and Asanti Pidika, both belonging to the Kondh community, fell in love and got married. They eloped to Andhra Pradesh during the Rath Yatra festival and returned to their respective homes three days back. However, their union was not accepted by the tribal community which considered marriage between blood relatives a taboo. On Sunday, a meeting was convened by village elders and family members of the couple following which they decided to carry out the 'purification' ritual before accepting the marriage. As part of the ritual, the couple was tied to a yoke and paraded like bullocks on the streets of Pedaitiki in full public view. Subsequently, they were made to offer prayers before the village deity and finally allowed to stay in Narendra's house.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bahraich secures 9th spot in CM Dashboard reflecting strong governance
1 2 Bahraich: Bahraich has earned 9th spot in the overall CM Dashboard ranking released by the govt, reflecting remarkable administrative performance. The credit for this achievement is being attributed to district magistrate Monika Rani, who is known for her daily monitoring of govt schemes. According to the June 2025 report, six departments-- revenue, electricity, agriculture, rural development, health, animal husbandry, and industry secured a perfect 100% score in performance metrics. The revenue department secured the 2nd position across the state. "The departments scoring 100% deserve appreciation. Others must improve so that Bahraich can claim the top rank," said Monika Rani. Meanwhile under the Critical Gap Scheme for 2025-26, the state govt has released Rs 2 crore for developmental projects. Of this, Rs 1.4 crore will be used for rural development and Rs 60 lakh for urban development. Meanwhile during a review meeting, the DM approved the installation of 3 KVA solar plants and construction of boundary walls in rural cow shelters, with a total cost of Rs 1.4 lakh per site. She directed the concerned block development officers to submit the necessary cost estimates promptly. In the urban sector, Rs 40 lakh is being spent on constructing a video conferencing hall at the District Informatics Center. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 motivi per cui gli investitori si rivolgono all'S&P 500 eToro Market Updates Scopri di più Undo The DM instructed district statistics officer Ghasi Ram to submit utilisation certificates for works executed under the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Critical Gap Scheme. She also directed BDOs to install depth markers in ponds and pits to prevent accidents during the monsoon. For Kanwar Yatra, Rani emphasized proper cleanliness, lighting and barricading arrangements at temples, ghats and pilgrimage routes. She ordered immediate rectification of any waterlogging issues along Kanwar paths. The meeting was attended by CDO Mukesh Chandra, BDOs among others.
