Latest news with #Sabka
United News of India
a day ago
- Politics
- United News of India
Sikkim MP urges Centre to boost basic infrastructure in the state
Gangtok, July 22 (UNI) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from Sikkim DT Lepcha has called for urgent attention to the development of basic infrastructure in the strategically located Himalayan state. Addressing the House on Monday, Lepcha emphasized the need for equitable development in line with the national goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047. The issue came up during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. "I am pleased to inform you that Sikkim is celebrating the golden jubilee of its statehood. At this historic juncture, I wish to draw the government's attention towards the need for accelerated infrastructure development in our state," said Lepcha. He pointed out that Sikkim shares sensitive international borders with Tibet (China), Bhutan, and Nepal, and its difficult mountainous terrain has been a persistent challenge to consistent development. Highlighting the slow pace of infrastructure growth in the state, he stated, 'In a limited time, we are unable to access all essential facilities.' Roads, healthcare, education, communication, and power connectivity in remote parts of the state continue to lag behind, affecting both economic potential and national security. The MP further invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' and said that small states like Sikkim with low population and complex geography must be given special focus so they can contribute meaningfully to nation-building. He urged the Central government to adopt a balanced approach, ensuring that regions like Sikkim are not left behind in the national development roadmap. 'Only through equal and inclusive growth can we collectively realise the dream of a developed India by 2047,' Lepcha said. UNI SUJ PRS
Hans India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Crash, cover-up and caste: India's rot runs deep
India's bureaucratic inertia is once again under scrutiny following the tragic crash of Air India Flight 171, which claimed over 170 lives. The preliminary investigation reeks of evasion—shifting blame to pilots who can't defend themselves, ignoring critical technical red flags, and conveniently glossing over earlier global safety warnings. While the government remains tight-lipped, and regulators delay action, the real victims—Indian passengers—are left without answers. The Congress party too remains silent, except when it finds a chance to peddle identity politics, as seen in Rahul Gandhi's bizarre caste-based commentary on India's space mission. It's time to ask: will India's power circles ever choose truth, merit, and accountability over cover-ups, red tape, and hollow political grandstanding? Will India's bureaucratic mindset ever evolve? Will the so-called babus ever learn to say 'Yes', as Prime Minister Narendra Modi once exhorted? Judging by the current state-of-affairs—particularly in the civil aviation sector—this hope still seems far-fetched. The Prime Minister's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' continues to run into a brick wall of bureaucratic opacity and red tape. The most damning recent example is the handling of the June crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, which claimed over 260 lives. The preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raises more questions than it answers. Is the subtle attempt to blame the pilots an effort to protect Air India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), or perhaps Boeing? Whose interests are being served here? Certainly not those of the passengers who lost their lives. The report quietly insinuates pilot error—convenient, given that both pilots are dead and cannot defend themselves. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu insists it's too early to jump to conclusions, but the very language of the report reads more like an exercise in blame-deflection than a search for truth. This column had earlier raised alarms about the DGCA's lack of transparency. The current report only reinforces those fears. One of the most disturbing aspects is that the AAIB panel reportedly did not include any experienced pilots. Worse, it skirts crucial technical possibilities like software or mechanical failures. According to aviation experts, the act of switching off both engines' fuel controls manually within 0.1 seconds—what the report attributes to pilot error—is virtually impossible. It would require superhuman synchronicity. Adding to the dubious narrative, media reports hinted at possible suicidal tendencies in one of the pilots. That too collapses under scrutiny. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, was a seasoned flyer with over 15,600 flight hours, more than 8,600 of them on Boeing 787s. He was nearing retirement and planning to care for his elderly father. First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, had over 3,400 hours of flying experience and was soon to be married. Neither showed any signs of emotional instability. These are not the profiles of men on the edge. This is not how a credible investigation is conducted: Worse still, the Wall Street Journal accessed and published the report a full 24 hours before its official release in India. Who leaked it? And why was the Indian public kept in the dark? Shockingly, even after the Journal and other international media pushed a narrative of human error, the DGCA, Civil Aviation Ministry, and AAIB failed to issue a firm rebuttal. It took five days for the Minister of State for Civil Aviation to make a bland statement urging the public not to speculate and wait for the final report. That's not leadership; that's abdication. At the heart of the tragedy is a chilling fact: Both engines' fuel control switches were moved from 'run' to 'cutoff' within seconds of take-off. One pilot reportedly asked the other, 'Why did you cut off the fuel switch?' The reply: 'I didn't do it.' Yet the AAIB chose to paraphrase this cockpit conversation rather than quote it verbatim. Why omit such a crucial detail? Is this ambiguity deliberate—intended to protect Air India and Boeing? Former pilots insist it is nearly impossible for both switches to be accidentally moved in perfect synchronisation within 0.1 seconds. If true, the real culprit could be a systemic or software-related failure. Equally damning is the DGCA's inaction despite a 2018 bulletin from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warning about the disengagement of fuel switch locks on Boeing aircraft, including the 787—the same model involved in the Ahmedabad crash. India's regulator sat on this alert for seven years. No fleet-wide inspections were conducted. No corrective directives were issued. Even after the crash and release of the AAIB's preliminary findings on July 11, the DGCA waited until July 14—after a conveniently timed long weekend—to order checks. Meanwhile, Etihad Airways and UK aviation authorities launched immediate inspections. What explains India's delay? Gross negligence? This lethargy can cost lives. The Civil Aviation Ministry and DGCA owe the nation answers. The report's silence on cockpit voice recordings is another red flag. Transparency in aviation safety is non-negotiable. But instead of facts, we get fog. Instead of accountability, we get spin. Even more appalling is the political silence. The opposition, so quick to erupt on issues of caste and religion, has maintained an eerie silence. Where are their calls for justice and transparency? Rahul Gandhi, in particular, squandered an opportunity to raise serious questions. Instead, he continued his tiresome identity-politics circus, questioning why Shubhanshu Shukla was chosen for the Axiom space mission and lamenting the absence of a BC candidate. He made similar caste-based objections during the Agniveer recruitment drive and even the Miss India pageant. He continues to display his grandmother Indira Gandhi's Emergency mindset and threatens that 'Babbar Sher,' of Congress will put Assam CM behind bars. Congress should first examine its own track record. Since Independence, it has had only two Dalit party presidents: Babu Jagjivan Ram and, more recently, Mallikarjun Kharge. For a party so obsessed with representation, the hypocrisy is glaring. Coming back to the crash—India's preliminary accident reports typically only outline what happened, not why it happened. Some argue the AAIB report is more detailed than usual. But a closer read reveals the same bureaucratic DNA: vague summaries, missing transcripts, and no serious probing. This isn't just bureaucratic apathy—it's a systemic rot. In any truly accountable democracy, this tragedy would have triggered a nationwide reckoning: a hard look at aircraft safety protocols, regulatory failures, and corporate collusion. Air India's CEO rushed to declare there was 'nothing wrong with the aircraft.' Then why did it fall out of the sky? He offered no answer, merely hinting—again—at pilot error. This crash wasn't just an aviation disaster. It was a mirror held up to India's broken regulatory architecture, a culture of bureaucratic cover-ups, and a political class more interested in optics than outcomes. Unless this changes, 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' will remain just a slogan—spoken from the podium but ignored in the cockpit of governance. (The author is former Chief Editor of The Hans India)
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Guv felicitates Bokaro students
1 2 Bokaro: Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar applauded meritorius students at the 'Pratibha Samman Samaroh' held at the Binod Bihari Mahto Stadium in Nawadih block of the district on Tuesday. Addressing the students, he urged them to pursue their goals with honesty, hard work, patience, and determination. "Education is not only a tool for personal growth but also a duty toward society and the nation," he said. Citing the Prime Minister's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas', he encouraged students to contribute to building a self-reliant India. He described the event as not just a celebration of academic excellence but also a tribute to the visionary social reformer Binod Bihari Mahto. The Governor highlighted Mahto's contribution to education, social upliftment, and regional identity, noting how he instilled a sense of change through learning, even during difficult times. Reflecting on a similar event in Bahragora, he said interacting and dining with students there was a heartwarming experience. He stressed that talent thrives equally in villages and rural areas, not just in urban areas.
India Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Indian Muslims hostages, not citizens: Owaisi on Kiren Rijiju's minorities remark
A war of words erupted on Monday between All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju over the latter's assertion that minorities in India enjoy more benefits and protection than the majority it "rights, not charity", Owaisi lashed out at Rijiju, accusing him of acting like a monarch and dubbing him the "Minister Against Minorities". Intensifying his attack, Owaisi said that Indian Muslims were no longer citizens of the country but hostages. advertisementRijiju shared an excerpt of his interview with the Indian Express on X, in which he said, "INDIA is the only country where the minorities get more benefits and protections than the majority community." He claimed that the PM Modi-led government had championed the principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas', enabling minority communities to be equal participants in India's growth story. Rijiju went further, saying, "The main point we have to understand is that minority communities are receiving more funds and support from the government than the majority community... i.e., the Hindus."Owaisi fired back swiftly, saying, "You are a Minister of the Indian Republic, not a monarch. You hold a constitutional post, not a throne. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity."He added that being called names like Pakistani, Bangladeshi, jihadi, or Rohingya every single day is not a "benefit", nor is being lynched or having homes and religious sites bulldozed illegally. "Is it an 'honour' to be the target of hate speeches from no less than the Prime Minister of India?" he retorted that Indian Muslims don't migrate to other countries because of the benefits provided under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare schemes. "How come minorities from our neighbouring countries prefer to come to India & our minorities don't migrate?" he responded sharply, saying, "According to Hon'ble Minister Against Minorities, if we don't migrate it means we are happy. Actually, we are not in the habit of fleeing: we did not run away from the British, we did not run away during partition, and we did not run away because of Jammu, Nellie, Gujarat, Moradabad, Delhi etc massacres."He added, "Our history is proof that we neither collaborate with our oppressors nor do we hide from them. We know how to fight for our democratic rights and we will inshallah."The Hyderabad MP also took aim at the government's changes to the Waqf (Amendment) Act, which allows non-Muslims on Waqf boards."Can Muslims be members of Hindu Endowment Boards? No. But your Waqf Amendment Act forces non-Muslims onto Waqf Boards - and allows them to form a majority," he accused the Modi government of slashing scholarships for Muslim students, pointing out that the Maulana Azad National Fellowship was discontinued, and pre-matric, post-matric, and merit-cum-means scholarships were defunded or limited - all because they benefitted Muslim are now the only group whose numbers have fallen in higher education. Their presence in the informal economy has gone up. They have been among the worst-hit by your economic policies," he said, citing government further claimed that Indian Muslims are no longer treated even as second-class citizens but as hostages. "Indian Muslims are the only group whose children are now worse off than their parents or grandparents. Intergenerational mobility has reversed. Muslim-concentrated areas are the ones most starved of public infrastructure and basic services," he his rebuttal, Owaisi urged Rijiju to stop comparing Indian Muslims to minorities in "failed states" like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka."We are not asking to be compared with other minorities of other countries. We are not asking for more than what the majority community gets. We are demanding what the Constitution promises: social, economic, and political justice," he said.- EndsMust Watch
Hans India
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
BJP ‘first party' to push for caste census: Union Minister
Bengaluru:Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav claimed on Saturday that the BJP was the 'first party' since Independence to push for a caste census. He said that under the 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (Together with all, development for all) policy, the BJP aims to bring change to all sections of society based on scientific data. He said that over the past 11 years, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, numerous developmental and welfare schemes had been implemented for the benefit of the poor and marginalised. He noted that it was PM Modi who gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission. Yadav emphasised that the Registrar General of India was empowered to conduct caste censuses and said that for the first time since Independence, such an exercise was being carried out to responsibly collect data on social, economic, caste-based, and educational indicators. He recalled that after the end of the Emergency, a non-Congress government, the Janata Party, came to power at the Centre and constituted the Mandal Commission. Yadav asserted that the BJP was the first party since Independence to push for a caste census. He mentioned that the Congress mouthpiece 'National Herald' had even published an article advocating for one-party rule in India. Following this, BK Nehru had written a letter, and a committee was reportedly formed within the Congress on this matter. Yadav alleged that Congress had long been engaged in a systematic effort to equate the party with the family, and the family with the nation. This ideology, he said, led to the declaration of Emergency. He concluded by saying that the Emergency was remembered as a dark chapter in Indian democracy, one that ignited a people's struggle driven by national self-respect and democratic values.
