15 April, 2015 (English)

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Fortnightly Magazine

CONTENTS

Editor

Prabhat Jha, MP

Executive Editor

Dr. Shiv Shakti Bakshi

Editorial Team

Ram Prasad TripathyVikash Anand

Creative Editor

Dharmendra KaushalVikas Saini

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3 Kamal Sandesh April 1-15, 2015

Cover Story : PM visits Seychelles, Mauritius & Sri LankaPM's historic visit to... adds new chapter............................... 8

Organisational ActivitiesBJP National President address a huge rally in Varanasi...... 12BJP Nationwide Membership Drive........................................... 14

Government's Achievements : Economic SurveyCabinet approves bill for 33% reservation in police forces... 19

VAICHARIKI - Pt. Deendayal UpadhyayaOur Nationhood............................................................................. 22

SHRADHANJALI : Birth anniversary - 14 AprilDr. BR Ambedkar : A visionary scholar

By Dr. Shiv Shakti Bakshi................................................ 24

OthersBJP President reconstitutes National Executive...................... 16‘Motion of Thanks’ to President’s Address (Rajya Sabha) 26

ShatShat

Naman!

14 AprilBirth anniversary

Baba Saheb Ambedkar


vkiw;Zek.kepyizfr"Ba leqneki% izfo'kfUr ;}r~r}r~ dkek ;a izfo'kfUr losZ l 'kkfUrekIuksfr u dkedkeh AA70AAThat sage achieve peace whom approaching all kinds of enjoyable sense objectsremains unaffected; like unto the ocean being always being filled by approachingrivers and not that person desirious of sense enjoyment.

—(Bhagavadgita : Ch.-II, 70)

TWEET ~~

~☯☯☯

~~~“India is proud to assist a project

that nurtures dreams & aspirationsof several families in Jaffna.”

-Narendra Modi

“BJP will do work formaking Uttar Pradesh thebest state.”

-Amit Shah

Rama Navami : 28th MarchRama Navami also known as Sri Rama Navami is a major Hindu

festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Rama. Rama is the 7th incarnationof Lord Vishnu. The Rama Navami festival falls in the Shukla Pakshaon the Navami, the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hinducalendar. Thus it is also known as Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami,and marks the end of the nine-day Chaitra Navratri celebrations.

At some places the festival lasts the whole nine days of theNavratras, thus the period is called ‘Sri Rama Navratra’. It is markedby continuous recitals, Akhand Paatha (mostly of theRamacharitamanas), bhajan, kirtan and distribution of Prasad afterthe puja and aarti.

On that day images of infant Rama are placed on cradles bydevotees. Since having born at noon, temples and family shrines areelaborately decorated and traditional prayers are chanted together bythe family in the morning. Also, at temples special havans areorganized, along with Vedic chanting of Vedic mantras and offeringsof fruits and flowers. Many followers mark this day by Vrata (fasting)through the day. Eight Prahar fasting is suggested by religious textsduring Rama Navami. Which means devotees should observe thefast from sunrise to sunrise.

In South India, in Bhadrachalam the day is also celebrated as thewedding anniversary of Sri Rama and his consort Sita. SitaramaKalyanam, the ceremonial wedding ceremony of the celestial coupleis held at temples throughout the south region, with great fanfare andaccompanied by group chanting of name of Rama. Whereas, the marriage is celebrated in Mithila andAyodhya during another day on Vivaha Panchami as per Valmiki Ramayana.

The important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Sita Samahit Sthal(Sitamarhi), (Bihar), Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), and manyother places in India thronged by lakhs of devotees. Rathayatras, the chariot processions andpalanquin also known as Shobha yatras of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, are taken out atseveral places, including Ayodhya where lakhs of people take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu.

Kamal Sandesh April 1-15, 2015 5

Edito

rial..

.Special on BJP Foundation Day: 6 April

35 years of BJP – a journey from 2 to 282

After Jansangh, it will be 35 years of the formation of BJP on 6th April2015. Starting from 2, it has reached 282 in the Lok Sabha today. Thispolitical journey of the BJP is a unique example of the liveliness of the

organization. It is an opportunity to salute those unknown karyakartas whowithout any expectation, greed or temptation remained continuously engagedin the organizational work. In the Indian politics BJP alone is a party which maybe called social as well as spiritual political party. Among the parties withoutphilosophy there is a party complete with philosophy which is called BharatiyaJanata Party.

The then president of Janata Party Chandrashekhar excluded Janasanghfrom Janata Party in the name of dual membership. Many people like AtalBihari Vajapyee, Lal Krishna Advani, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Sunder SinghBhandari, Kushabhau Thakre, Jagannath Rao Joshi, Rajmata Scindia, BhaironSingh Shekhanwat, Jana Krishna Murthy, KL Sharma, Yagyadatta Sharma, JPMathur were not perturbed. They knew organization is strength and onlyJansangh had the organization, it was accepted by everyone.

On 6th April 1980 they met in Delhi and founded BJP. The most belovedleader of Jansangh Atal Bihari Vajpayee was made the president. The firstconference was held in Mumbai. In this conference Atalji standing along theside of sea while calling upon the delegates said, “Suraj niklega, andherachhantega aur Kamal khilega”. The caravan started moving ahead. Thekaryakartas kept working hard. A time came when in the Lok Sabha electionsheld in the background of the death of Indira Gandhi BJP was confined to twoseats only. Even Atalji, the hero of BJP lost the election. There was a sense ofdespair for a while but BJP had the strength of its organization. There werekaryakartas in every village. Therefore the sense of despair disappeared soon.

Atalji, Advaniji and Joshiji took the command. They moved over the entirenation. The era of yatras began. While Dr. Joshi worked to unite India by his‘Ekatmata Yatra’ Shri Lal Krishna Advani himself came out on the yatra fromSomnath in Gujarat to Shri Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya. The idea of onenessstarted taking place in the minds of the people. Cultural Nationalism startedgetting support in every nook and corner of the country. The Congress maskof ‘dharma-nirpekshata’ started getting defeated by ‘panth-nirpekshata’. Thecountry started moving towards the idea of ‘sarva-dharma- sambhava’. Therewere times when allegations and counter-allegations became rule but BJPcontinued to grow. It was a wonderful phase of political change in the country.BJP grew tremendously from north to south and from east to west. While wehad stopped at 2, we reached 85 thereafter. And then we started marchingahead continuously.

While we were kept aloof by some people, it slowly led to polarization ofpolitics. On the one side people started joining Congress and on the otherpeople joined BJP. Advaniji presented Atalji as future prime minister. A ray ofhope was seen by the people. The country was dreaming of seeing the mostbeloved leader of opposition Atalji as the prime minister of the nation. The


number of the allies of BJP started increasing. From one to two and from two to five and fromfive to 24 parties became its allies. In the same manner while we were two in 1984 then onlyafter 12 years in 1996 BJP became the largest party by getting 161 seats and 13-day governmentwas formed under Atalji in the centre. Atalji never showed his faith in making government byhook or crook. The government fell. He said it clearly that not one but hundred governmentsmay be sacrificed but it was not acceptable for him to form government by hook or crook. In1998 the opportunity came when BJP after winning 182 seats formed NDA government underthe leadership of Atalji. This government continued for thirteen months and fell again. Thegeneral elections were held in 1999. BJP again got 182 seats. Atalji as the leader of 24 partiessuccessfully led the government for five years.

It was a wonderful phase of coalition in Indian politics. A new chapter of struggle waswritten. The hard work of the karyakartas was at its peak. In many states including MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar and UttarPradesh BJP governments or coalition governments with BJP started functioning. Thedevelopment of the country was speeded up. The historic step of nuclear test was taken in theleadership of Atalji. In the Kargil war India won against Pakistan. The decision to link riversand to build golden quadrangle was taken during this time. The dream of antyodaya wasrealized. Kisan credit card and crop insurance scheme gave strength to the farmers. Not onebut many decisions were taken which will be written in golden letters in the Indian history.

In south India expansion of organization took place. Jana Krishnamurthiji, Bangaruji andVenkaiahji of south India became national presidents of BJP. As president Advaniji maderemarkable efforts by embarking on not one but many yatras to unite the country and toexpand BJP. He emerged as an intellectual giant.

BJP government of Gujarat which was functioning under the leadership of Narendra Modileft its indelible imprint in India. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh made their uniqueidentity. In the deserts of Rajasthan the crop of ideology was sown which started yieldingresults. In the country the second rung leadership came to the fore. Atalji, Advaniji andRajamata ji groomed lines of leadership in every state.

BJP always kept itself lively. Even after doing good works in the elections of 2004 resultswere not encouraging. But BJP neither waited nor stopped it continued to march ahead. Instates wherever BJP was in government it made its national image. Gradually people startedto think that BJP should be brought again in the central government.

From 2004 to 2014 BJP worked patiently and righteously. It never deviated from itsideology. Slowly Gujarat started emerging as a model. The then chief minister of GujaratNarendra Modi started emerging as a ray of hope. UPA government pushed the country tonadir in last ten years. The country started to pass through an atmosphere of deep pessimism.Every day it used to be the day for expose of scandals. India had lost both its reputation andcredibility, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was silent and Congress and its allieswere looting the country at the instance of Soniaji and Rahul. The black deeds of scams startedcoming before the people. The situation was so bleak that questions were raised on theprestige of tricolor. The parliament started getting ashamed. The constitution was underthreat. The army and border were constrained. The morale of army started getting weakened.The prestige of parliament was under assault. The constitutional structure started facingbreakdown. Every citizen of the country was restive.

BJP heard the echo of change. In the Goa national executive a historic decision was taken.In the presidentship of Rajnath Singh ji it was decide to contest elections under the leadershipof Narendra Modiji. There were some sweet and sour experiences of these decisions also. Buteveryone accepted the decision by keeping national interest in mind. The country was looking


for change and for the leadership of Narendra Modi. And then BJP decided that our primeministerial candidate will be Narendra Modi. The country celebrated this enthusiastically. Thefaith in leadership increased. Political leader Narendra Modi was able to read this yearningfor change. He started working tirelessly. He had travelled throughout Gujarat now he startedtouring the entire country. By addressing around 500 public meetings he awakened theorganization. The atmosphere of pessimism and despair was dispelled in the country. By hisuntiring efforts Narendra Modi turned the glimmer of hope into illuminating light. Heattacked the opponents. Not only this, the faith of people which was earned in Guajarat statedspreading in the entire country. BJP organization and the people of India started playing therole of making the hero of Guajrat the hero of the country.

Elections were over. 16 May was the day of results. BP broke the record of thirty years.From its journey from Jansangh to BJP the party had never formed a government with clearmajority in the country. By the sunset the figure reached 282. It was not only a figure of 282but the rise of an ideology in the political horizon of the country. BJP accepted this mandategiven by the people of India with humility and stated ‘patience is dharma’ and ‘karma isworshipped’ in democracy.

By the strength of the organization and power of leadership the dreams of the people maybe realized. After the journey of last 35 years we are now in the government with clearmajority and in many states our governments are in place. We should not seat comfortably tokeep this remarkable faith reposed on us by the country. The good decisions of the governmentare to be taken to villages through our organization. The journey is incomplete now. It is stillto be completed. Continued work is required for India with the ideology of cultural nationalism.We have no doubt over our leadership, valuable karyakartas, policies and intention. We haveaccepted political work as divine work. Therefore we pray to the almighty to take us to successby making us stronger.

PM addresses farmers through ‘Mann Ki Baat’Our commitment is to ensure benefits for farmers through the

Land Acquisition Bill, says PM

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on March 22 addressedfarmers through his radio programme Mann ki Baat. He startedtalks with damage caused by unseasonal rains and later

touched upon the land acquisition bill. He conveyed his messagethat the Land bill was in the interests of farmers.

In the sixth edition of his radio programme, Mann ki Baat, ShriModi said that the proposed Bill is an improved version of theprevious Land Act for the benefit of farmers and villages. Arguingthat the Bill addresses “lacunae” in the previous Act which was“enacted in a hurry”, the PM, however, clarified that his Governmentwas willing to accommodate any more suggestion in farmers’interest.

While rejecting the allegations that the Land Bill was aimed atbenefiting the corporate and was anti-farmer, Shri Modi underlinedthat it has the same compensation provisions as in the previous Bill

...Continued on page 13


PM VISITS SEYCHELLESPrime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

reached Seychelles on 11th of March. He wasaccorded a rousing civic reception by theexpatriate Indian community in the countryhere.DNA wrote, it was similar to thereception that he had received at New York’sMadison Square Garden when he visited thatcity in September last year.

An estimated three-and-half-thousandexpatriate Indians, greeted the visiting PrimeMinister with loud cheers, clapping of hands,and slogans such as “Modi, Modi”, and “VandeMataram”, as he began to address them fromthe podium at the event. Greeting the audiencewith the Gujarati salutation of “Kemcho”,Prime Minister Modi said, “Nature might haveseparated us, but it can never part our hearts,which are connected. Science says India andSeychelles were a part of the same land athousand years ago, and I believe that theworld is one family, and people who havebeen brought up with this belief, can never beseparated by geographical barriers.”

Emphasizing the civilizational ties andlinks that existed between India andSeychelles, Prime Minister Modi statedfurther, “The sea (Indian Ocean) doesn’t

divide us...it unites us, you can point in India’sdirection, and say, that’s my Bhuj, that’s myChennai.”

Praising the contribution of the Indiancommunity to the prosperity of Seychelles, hesaid, “The Indian community living inSeychelles has further added to the capability,prosperity and sweetness of Seychelles. Weare proud of you.”

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on March 11 embarked on his five days tour of three IndianOcean Island countries Seychelles, Mauritius & Sri Lanka. These countries are vital for India`s securityand progress. The government led by Shri Narendra Modi`s foreign policy aims to realize India`s fullstrategic potential in Indian Ocean. Modi government has already initiated the ‘Sagar Mala Projectas promised in the party`s election manifesto for building infrastructure in Indian ocean. The visitappears to be part of the Sagar Mala Project. While departing for these island nations Shri Modi pointedout the significance of India’s relations with the countries. His visit to Seychelles was first visit of IndianPrime Minister since 1981.On March 11-12 Shri Modi stayed in Mauritius. In his address PM Shri Moditermed Mauritius as ‘Chhota Bharat’. His Sri Lanka visit was first visit of any Indian Prime Minister after28 years. He became first Indian Prime Minister who landed in Sri Lanka`s Tamil dominated NorthernProvince Jaffna. Shri Modi is also the second foreign leader who visited the war ravaged region. BritishPrime Minister David Cameron had visited Jaffna during a Commonwealth summit in Colombo inNovember 2013.He urged the country’s new leaders to give greater autonomy to its Tamil minority.

We are publishing a brief report of his visit to these three countries for our esteemed readers :

PM's historic visit to Indian Ocean island countriesadds new chapter in bilateral relations

Cover Story : PM visits Seychelles, Mauritius & Sri Lanka


India, he said, was a country where a boysteps out of bed after waking up, and is toldto apologise to the motherland, as he isstepping on her, and it was a matter of historyas well as pride, that the nation had been ableto elect a majority government to rule over itafter a gap of over 30 years.

Prime Minister Shri Modi describedthe Seychelles as a scenically beautifulcountry, and said that though his currentvisit was a short one, he would certainlycome for a longer visit the next time. Hesaid that the people of Seychelles hadmade him feel like ‘one of their own’,adding that India saw the island nation asa trusted neighbour and strategic partner.“Though this is my first visit to Seychelles,the people of Seychelles have made mefeel like one of their own. I have beendeeply touched by their warmth andaffection towards me. This is the firstvisit by an Indian prime minister in overthree decades. Yet, President Michel andI were able to strike a rapport as if wewere old friends,” he wrote. Relationsbetween India and Seychelles have beencharacterized by close cooperation andunderstanding. During his less than 24-hour-visit to Victoria, the capital of Seychelles —the first by an Indian PM in 33 years — thetwo sides also signed an agreement forhydrographic survey for maritimecooperation.” Shri Modi hoped that Seychelleswill soon become a full partner in the maritimesecurity cooperation between India, Maldivesand Sri Lanka. Along with Mauritius,Seychelles is currently an observer at the Indo-Lanka - Male National Security Advisor leveldialogue. The significant part of the growingstrategic partnership was the decision bySeychelles to lease Assumption Island, one ofits 115 Islands, to India for infrastructuredevelopment.

During the visit India launched a coastalsurveillance radar project, gifted Seychelles aDornier aircraft for enhancing maritimesecurity capabilities and received an island onlease for surveillance, as measures to boost its

security ties with the key Indian Ocean regionnation.INDIA & MAURITIUS INTEND TO BUILDPETROLEUM STORAGE

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modistayed in Mauritius between 11 March and 12March 2015 as part of his three nation tour to

Seychelles,Srilanka & Mauritius. During hisarrival Prime Minister of Mauritius SirAnerood Jugnauth gave the ceremonialreception to Prime Minister Modi.

Shri Modi received here warm andextraordinary hospitality. Both leaders jointlyaddressed the press.Shri Modi stated “Today,I was pleased to offer a concessional line ofcredit of 500 million U.S. dollars for civilinfrastructure projects for Mauritius. We alsointend to quickly build the petroleum storageand bunkering facility in Mauritius. This willnot only benefit Mauritius, but also reinforceits role as a regional hub. A decade ago, Indiahelped build the first cyber city in Mauritius.Its remarkable success reflects the strategicforesight of Mauritius in diversifying itseconomy. Today, we have offered supportfor construction of the second cyber city. Ouragreement today on the development ofAgalega Island is a major stride in ourcooperation in infrastructure sector. It


demonstrates the depth of our mutualconfidence.”

During his visit, five Memorandum ofUnderstandings (MoUs) were signed betweenthe two nations. These include:

• MoU in the field of Ocean Economy• MoU on Programme for Cultural

Cooperation for the year 2015-18• MoU on the Protocol for the importation

of fresh mango from India• MoU for the Improvement in Sea and Air

Transportation Facilities at Agalega Islandof Mauritius

• MoU on Cooperation in the field ofTraditional System of Medicine andHomeopathy

Besides on 12 March 2015, Prime MinisterShri Modi joined the National Day celebrationsin Mauritius as the guest of honour and alsogreeted people of the Island nation andoffered prayers by pouring Ganga Jal at GangaTalao, Mauritius. He also addressed theNational Assembly of Mauritius and attendedthe programme to mark the commissioning ofthe Barracuda, a ship in the service of theNational Coast Guard of Mauritius.

He also paid homage to the valiantAapravasis for their human spirit and alsodescribed the Aapravsi Ghat as signifyingthe enduring links between India andMauritius.

HISTORIC VISIT TO SRI LANKAModi expresses India’s strong desire to

develop a Ramayana trail in Sri Lanka anda Buddhist Circuit in India

Morning of March 13th, Prime Minister,Shri Narendra Modi reached Sri Lanka. Itwas the final destination of Shri Modi’s threenation tour. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe, received Shri NarendraModi at the airport in Colombo early morningat around half past five.

A ceremonial reception was organised forthe Indian Prime Minister. President of SriLanka, Mr. Maithripala Sirisena welcomed ShriNarendra Modi. Prime Minister Modiexpressed his delight to meet President

Sirisena yet again.Sri Lanka visit attached

great importance for boththe nations as this was thefirst stand alone bilateralvisit by an Indian PrimeMinister since 1987. In theday, on March 13th, thePrime Minister of India andthe President of Sri Lankaaddressed the JointStatement to the media. ShriNarendra Modi noted theimpressive growth of tradein the past few years andhoped to strengthen India-Sri Lanka trade ties further.

Shri Modi expressed India’s strong desire tocooperate and develop a Ramayana trail in SriLanka and a Buddhist Circuit in India.

PM, Shri Narendra Modi also held ameeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, PMRanil Wickremesinghe. Discussions were heldrelating to a wide-range of issues andfortifying the cooperation between India andSri Lanka.

Shri Narendra Modi also paid a visit toMahabodhi Society. He interacted with theBuddhist monks in Colombo. Seeking blessingsfrom them, PM Modi said that Buddha hasalways shown the path away from wars. Hethanked the Mahabodhi society for letting


him visit such a place. Taking note of thecontribution of Buddhism in the culturalupliftment of India and Sri Lanka, ShriNarendra Modi considered it to be a unitingforce between both the nations.

Early evening, on the very same day,Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed theParliament of Sri Lanka. Considering the SriLankan Parliament to be one of the mostvibrant in Asia, he conveyed greetings onbehalf of the 1.25 billion people of India. ShriModi expressed his delight to have got thechance to visit Sri Lanka so early in his term.Believing Sri Lanka to be an inspiration forhuman development, Shri Modi assumed it tobe home for enterprise, skill and extraordinaryintellectual heritage. He expressed that howwithout having any land boundary the twonations have been the closest neighbours. ThePrime Minister stated his vision of an idealneighbourhood where trade, investments,technology, ideas and people flow easily acrossborders. Shri Narendra Modi assured India’sfull commitment and support in developmentpartnership with Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Modi also paid tributes tothe martyrs of Indian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF). He remembered their sacrifices andsaluted their spirit.

While addressing a business communityat Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the PrimeMinister highlighted the relevance ofinfrastructure, energy, traditional handicrafts,modern manufacturing and tourism. ShriNarendra Modi regarded that India attachedhighest importance to Sri Lanka’s economicprogress. He was pleased to see the progresson Sampur Thermal Power Project and theTrincomalee Oil Farm. He also shared hiscontentment on Government of India’sdecision about extending the benefit of visaon arrival facility to Sri Lanka starting April14th.

Shri Modi also met the opposition leaderof Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Mr. NimalSiripala de Silva, leaders of the Tamil NationalAlliance and the Former President of Sri Lanka,Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga.

March 14th, the second day of visit, beganwith his journey to Anuradhapura. Shri Modivisited Sri Mahabodhi Tree where he andPresident Sirisena offered prayers. He evenposted a picture on Instagram.

After Anuradhapura, the next stop overfor Shri Modi was Jaffna. Upon reaching there,PM Modi said that the world was now able toexperience a sense of peace from Jaffna too.Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stoneof the Jaffna Cultural Centre.He is the firstIndian Prime Minister to set foot in this warravaged town in Sri Lanka’s Tamil—dominated Northern Province, a day after heurged the country’s new leaders to givegreater autonomy to its Tamil minority. He isonly the second foreign leader to visit thebattle— scarred region. British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron had visited Jaffna during aCommonwealth summit in Colombo inNovember 2013. Jaffna is about 400 km northof Colombo.

The Prime Minister’s brief visit is seen ashugely symbolic, particularly after he calledon the majority— Sinhalese government tofully implement the 13th amendment, a 1987constitutional provision on greater autonomyand go beyond it in the reconciliation process.

The Prime Minister also went toNaguleswaram Temple in Jaffna where heoffered prayers in the temple and spent a fewminutes.

Jaffna and the Indian State of Gujarat havehad a common link for quite some time. Itwas after the Tsunami in Indian Ocean that ateam from Jaffna travelled all the way toGujarat for studying about reconstruction.After 2001 earthquake that hit Gujarat andposed serious threat to life and property, theGujarat Government came up with a uniqueOwner-driven Reconstruction Project. Happyto see the project implemented successfully inJaffna too, Shri Modi handed over homes atIlavalai North-West Housing Project site.Around 27,000 more homes would beconstructed that the Prime Minister hopedwould wipe away tears from the eyes of those

...Continued on page 18


BJP National PresidentShri Amit Shah onSunday, 22nd March

2015 addressed a huge rallyin Varanasi. He appealed forchange on the occasion andasked the people to vote aBJP government with clearmajority in the states of UPand Bihar.

He said that in theleadership of PrimeMinister Shri NarendraModi a government withclear majority is workingat the Centre. PrimeMinister Narendra Modihas adorned the post ofPM as representative ofVaranasi. Thegovernment with clearmajority is formed in thecountry with theblessings of the peopleof Uttar Pradesh. Hadthe UP not given 73 seatsto BJP the government withclear majority was notpossible. BJP is indebted tothe people of UP. Thereforeit is the responsibility of BJPto make UP the best state inthe country. The change whichhas come to UP and BJP gotthe full majority just becausethe backwards and extremelybackwards supported BJPwholeheartedly.

The BJP Presidentinvoked Modi’s humblebackground, saying he faced

poverty in his life and soldtea in Gujarat during his initialyears, but has risen to occupythe highest post today. “TheBhartiya Janata Party made aperson, who belonged to thebackward caste, as the PrimeMinister of this country, whohad faced poverty in his lifeand sold tea. Our party

respects backwards, most-backwards and the dalitcommunities,” Shah said at therally in Modi’s Lok Sabhaconstituency. He said thatonly Prime Minister NarendraModi can understand theirplight of the poor as he hasrisen from among them.“With your support NarendraModi became Prime Ministerof this country and BJP gainedfull majority in Lok Sabhaelections and now again withyour support, the next

government in UP is going tobe formed by BJP,” Shri Shahsaid addressing a rally wherelocal backward caste leaderfrom Samajwadi Party AnilRajbhar formally joined BJP.

Appealing to lend theirsupport to BJP to form thenext government in UP in2017, he reminded them that

“it was this party whichhad extensively workedfor them during its rule.”

“BJP governmentwould work for solvingreservation issue in thestate. Our party does notplay politics on the basisof caste and religionrather our politicsrevolves on the agenda ofdevelopment,” said Shahadding that “our aim is tomake Uttar Pradesh themost developed state inthe country...Those who

ruled the country for the last67 years from Panchayat toParliament— Congress and itsallies— they always talkedabout eradicating povertyfrom the lives of people, butit did not happen....Thepoverty of the countrymendid not go away but thepoverty of their leaders hadsurely disappeared.” Helamented that six decade afterindependence, nearly 40 crorepoor people did not have theirbank accounts.” I want to ask

Vote for clear majority governmentsin UP and Bihar : Amit Shah

Organisational Activity

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those who have ruled the country forthe longest period. Why didn’t youthink about providing bank accountsto poor, like us. Why it didn’t cometo your mind.”

He said those who have neverfaced poverty cannot understand itssuffering.

“How will you understand thepain of poverty when you have notever faced it in your life? Our PMhad faced it,so he is working in thisdirection to improve the lives of poorpeople,” Shah said. He referred tothe Jan Dhan yojna and said “withinsix months period of NarendraModi’s government, a large numberof bank accounts of these poor peoplewere opened...Besides this, a facilityfor availing loan from Rs 5000 to Rsfive lakh is also being provided topoor people such as farmers, vendors,rickshaw and auto rickshaw driversamong others under PM’s Mudrascheme,”said Shri Shah.

Shah said earlier bank loans wereonly given to rich and the corporates.“Many bankers argued thatdistribution of loans to poor peoplewill lead to losses, I told them that ifa poor person takes loans, he is theone who will surely repay theamount,” Shah said.

Shah said the NDA governmentwants to bring change in the countryand Modi is striving for it. He attackedthe Congress over the coal blocksand 2G spectrum scams and said NDAgovernment has filled government’scoffers by their auctioning.

Along with Rajbhar, a largenumber of people from the backwardcaste also joined the party. The rallywas organised in honour of RajaSuheldev, a backward caste king. Shahrecalled the history of Suheldev andsaid that during his time he had foughtagainst foreign invaders. (FOC)

enacted in 2013 by the then UPA Government. He also said that the “No Consent” provision in

the proposed new law applies to acquisitions byGovernment for Government or Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) projects and insisted that the sameclause exists in the previous Act as well. “I am surprisedthat all kinds of misinformation is being spread,”Modi said while asking farmers not to be misled by“rumours and lies.”

“Our commitment is to ensure benefits for farmersthrough the Land Acquisition Act. So many lies arebeing spread. It is my fervent appeal to farmers notto make decisions on the basis of these lies. Don’t bemisled. You trust me, I will not betray your trust.Rumours are being spread that Modi is bringing thelaw to reduce compensation. I can’t even think ofcommitting such a sin. Such misinformation is beingcarried out for political reasons. You have to guardagainst them,” Shri Modi said.

During the 30-minute programme, Shri Modi saidthe then Congress-led States like Maharashtra andHaryana too have favoured changes in the Land Actof 2013 and clarified that if any State wants to go bythe previous law, they are free to do so. Lambastingthe Congress party which has intensified its protestagainst the proposed Land Bill, Shri Modi said: “Thoseprojecting themselves as sympathizers of farmers andundertaking protests had been using a 120-year-oldlaw to acquire farm land for over 60-65 years afterIndependence and are now targeting my Governmentwhich is trying to improve the Act of 2013.”

“If anything is done in a hurry, some lacunaeremain. May be the intent was not wrong but lacunaeare there which need to be corrected. Our attempt isto address these lacunae to ensure that the law isbeneficial for villagers, farmers, their futuregenerations and to ensure they get electricity andwater,” PM said.

He said the biggest among them was that 13aspects of Government activity, like railways, nationalhighway and mining, for which land is mostlyacquired. These were kept out of the ambit of thatlaw. It meant that compensation for acquiring landfor these purposes would be paid on the basis of the120-year-old law, he said, adding this has beenaddressed and hence farmers will get four timescompensation for these too.

...Continued from page 7


One thing is becomingclear now in thepolitical arena that

Bharatiya Janata Party is fastspreading its wingsnumerically across thecountry. The party’s nationalmembership drive, which waslaunched by Prime MinisterShri Narendra Modi on 01November, 2014, has crossedthe 7 crore mark till March15, 2015. The primary aim ofthe drive is to enroll at least3-4 times of primary membersand 50% more activemembers into the party foldby the end of this programme.The present drive willcontinue till March 31, 2015.

It is noteworthy that thismembership drive is not newfor BJP. In a gap of every sixyears the BJP conductsmembership drive and everyprimary member becomemember again after six yearsduration. Amongst almost1300 parties, there are one ortwo only in which internaldemocracy still survives andthere is a system to connectthe people. After gettinglinked to the party one isconnected to the organizationand there is a system to reachto any post through election.Like earlier instances, BJP isorganizing this massivemembership drive but so faras the mechanism isconcerned, apart from the

traditional methods for thefirst time the party is usingtechnology and enrollingmembers over mobile phone.Anybody interested will haveto make a call to 18002662020for joining BJP as a PrimaryMember of the party.However, persons withouthaving mobile phones have to

send an SMS to 9242492424and he/she can become amember of BJP.

To become an activemember one has to make atleast 100 primary members.This time BJP has decided toincrease 50% of the activemembers which was 5.5 -6.00lakh earlier. If a state has 100active members then it has tomake 150 by increasing 50%.And the party has made some

changes in the eligibilitycriteria for becoming an activemember. One who wants tobecome an active member willhave to give 7-day time inany locality, slum, Dalit basti,village or block where BJP hasno member and work formembership and will have tosubmit report. After that once

the work is certified he willbe involved as an activemember. Every activemember has to make 100members. A pamphlet in thisregard has been prepared, inwhich name, mandal, district ,state, mobile number of theactive member who is beingproposed are to be given. Inone family more than onenumber can be made. BJP hasmade up its mind to see that

Organisational Activity : BJP Nationwide Membership Drive

BJP National membership crosses7 crore mark


this system has to be strictlyfollowed from top to boothlevel Karyakartas.

Following March 31 theorganization has decided tocelebrate the whole Year 2015as ‘Sadasyata Parb Varsh’. Theaim of this ‘Sadasyata ParbVarsh’ is to reach out to everyhousehold of this country and‘Ghar Ghar Bhajapa’ or amember from each and everyhousehold of the country inBJP, as the final objective ofthe party.

As per the plan the BJPwill start the ‘SamparkAbhiyan’ (contact drive) fromApril 1. During thisprogramme, contact will beestablished with people andmembership cards will bedistributed. This will help instrengthening the party’sbond with its members”.

Everybody recognizes thisfact that Prime Minister ShriNarendra Modi and PartyNational President Shri AmitShah were the driving forcebehind this mammothnationwide membership driveexercise. Shri Shah personallyvisited maximum number ofstates and has closelymonitored the exercisethroughout its journey till date.

The campaign has drawna huge response from acrossthe country, with the biggestnumber of people joining theparty in Uttar Pradesh viamissed calls. While 1.3 crorepeople from Uttar Pradeshbecame primary members ofthe BJP, Gujarat and MadhyaPradesh followed with 80.85lakh and 78.90 lakh new

inductees respectively tilldate. Amongst the small statesHimachal Pradesh, had only2.1 lakh new members whojoined BJP during this drive.

However, the response instates like Odisha wasremarkable. The state nowhas over 21 lakh members.Previously, the party had only3 lakh members in the state.Similarly West Bengal, wherethe party is gaining groundhas also responded well tothe party’s membership drive.The number of members grewalmost four times to 27 lakhmembers from 7 lakh fourmonths ago.

On that occasioninteracting with mediapersons BJP Vice Presidentand Convener of theNationwide MembershipDrive Dr Dinesh Sharma saidit had close to 3 croremembers before it launchedthe current drive from theNovember last year and hadone crore new members joinit in the first month alone. Hesaid we enrolled 1 crore moremembers in the next 22 days,1 crore more in the next 13days, 1 crore more in next 16days... The members enrolledthrough mobile reached 7.2crore by March 16 he said andfurther added that it is on thecourse to have the largestmembership among allpolitical parties in the world.

He also said that BJPMembership Drive isunderway in other countrieswith the organization underthe banner of ‘Friends of BJP’have enrolled thousands of

new members in London,New York and other placesacross globe.” BJP is all set tocross the number of membersof the communist party ofChina and Russia. In China,the Communist Party has 7crore members which includeall the army personnel andgovernment employees. Butthe actual number of commoncitizens is not more than 5crore,” he said. Dr Sharmasaid that BJP is all set tobecome the world’s largestpolitical party after March 31.

BJP National VicePresident and Co- Convenerof the Membership Drive Dr.Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said thatthe drive has givenencouraging results in all thestates including North-Easternstates and seven southernstates where the party is weak.“We have enrolled record newmembers in West Bengal,Kerala, Tamil Nadu like stateswhere the number of newregistered members crossed allprevious record.

Explaining about thefuture course of action, BJPNational Secretary and Co-Convener of the drive ShriArun Singh said the party hasidentified about 15,000 activemembers who will be trainedin the coming months. “Theywill be taught three majorthings – party’s ideology,achievements of the NDAgovernment and leadershipquality. These members willfurther inform the remainingmembers in their area aboutthese things,” Shri Singhadded.


BJP President reconstitutesNational Executive of the Party

MEMBERSMEMBERSMEMBERSMEMBERSMEMBERS1. Shri Narendra Modi2. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee3. Sh. L.K. Advani, MP4. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, MP5. Sh. Rajnath Singh, MP6. Smt. Sushma Swaraj, MP7. Sh. Arun Jaitley, MP8. Sh. M. Venkaiah Naidu, MP9. Sh. Nitin Gadkari, MP10. Sh. Ananth Kumar, MP11. Sh. Thawar Chand Gehlot, MP12. Sh. Jagat Prakash Nadda, MP13. Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad, MP14. Sh. Yashwant Sinha15. Sh. Kalraj Mishra, MP16. Sh. Vinay Katiyar, MP17. Sh. Radha Mohan Singh, MP18. Dr. C.P. Thakur, MP19. Sh. Jual Oram, MP20. Sh. S.S. Ahluwalia, MP

21. Sh. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MP22. Sh. Bandaru Dattatreya, MP23. Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan, MP24. Sh. Rajeev Pratap Rudy, MP25. Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, MP26. Sh. Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav, MP27. Sh. Prakash Javadekar, MP28. Sh. L. Ganeshan29. Sh. Lalji Tondon, MP30. Sh. O. Rajgopal, Ex-MP31. Sh. Tathagat Roy32. Sh. Subramanyam Swamy33. Sh. Gulabchand Katariya, MP34. Sh. Narendra Singh Tomar, MP35. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, MP36. Sh. Tapir Gaon, Ex-MP37. Sh. Varun Gandhi, MP38. Sh. Piyush Goyal, MP39. Sh. Vijay Goel, MP40. Sh. Satpal Maharaj, Ex-MP41. Sh. Vishwabhushan Harichandan

BJP National President Shri Amit Shah re-constituted the team of the National Executiveon 12 March, 2015. Shri Shah has included former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,senior leaders Shri L.K. Advani, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi and Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Shri ArunJaitley, Union Foreign affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj,.

Among others the Union Ministers like Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Nitin Gadkari,Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Shri Ananth Kumar, Shri Thawarchand Gehlot, Shri J.P. Nadda,Harshvardhan, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Shri Radha MohanSingh, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Shri Kiran Rijiju, Shri Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Shri V.K.Singh and Shri Rao Inderjeet Singh got a place in the executive.

All the eight chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, two deputy chief ministers, 14 formerchief ministers and three ex-deputy chief ministers are permanent invitees to the meetingsof the National Executive.

He also re-constituted the list of permanent and Special Invitees. The earlier panel wasformed during Rajnath Singh’s tenure as party president in 2013.

Besides, All Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council party leaders, State Presidentsof all states, All General Secretaries (Org.) expected in State General Secretary (Org.)Meeting will be Special Invitees in National Executive. Following is the list of the members.


42. Sh. Bijoy Mahapatra43. Gen. (Retd.) V. K. Singh, MP44. Sh. Birendra Singh, MP45. Sh. Suresh Prabhu, MP46. Sh. P.K. Krishna Das47. Sh. Vinod Pandey48. Sh. Trivendra Singh Rawat49. Sh. Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasiya,

MLA50. Smt. Aarti Mehra, Ex-Mayor51. Smt. Louis Marandi52. Sh. V. Shanmughanathan53. Capt. Abhimanyu54. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, MP55. Sh. Omprakash Dhankar56. Dr. Sanjay Paswan, Ex-MP57. Sh. Prahlad Singh Patel58. Dr. Chandan Mitra, MP59. Sh. Vinod Khanna, MP60. Sh. Ramdas Aggrawal, Ex-MP61. Dr. Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Ex-MP62. Sh. Om Prakash Mathur, MP63. Yogi Adityanath, MP64. Sh. Suresh Pujari65. Sh. Anil Madhav Dave, MP66. Sh. Nitinbhai Patel67. Sh. Navjot Singh Siddhu, Ex-MP68. Sh. Sheshadri Chari69. Sh. Satya Pal Jain, Ex-MP70. Smt. Shobha Surendran71. Sh. Ashwani Kumar Chaubey, MP72. Sh. Shatrughan Sinha, MP73. Sh. Tarun Vijay, MP74. Dr. Anita Arya, Ex-MP75. Sh. Jaiprakash Agrawal (Surya)76. Sh. Sripad Yasso Naik, MP77. Smt. Gauri Chaudhary78. Sh. Arjun Meghwal, MP79. Sh. Harbansh Kapoor, MLA80. Sh. Manoj Sinha, MP81. Sh. Rajendra Agrawal, MP82. Sh. Kirit Somaiya, MP83. Sh. Avinash Rai Khanna, MP84. Sh. Rajendra Rathore85. Dr. Ramapati Ram Tripathi86. Sh. Kailash Vijayvargiya

87. Sh. Vijay Kumar Rupani, Ex-MP88. Sh. Ashwini Sharma89. Sh. Sudhir Mungantiwar, MLA90. Sh. Devdas Apte, Ex-MP91. Sh. Kiren Rijiju, MP92. Sh. Dilip Ray, Ex-MP93. Dr. Jitendra Singh, MP94. Sh. Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, MP95. Smt. Maneka Gandhi, MP96. Prof. Ram Shanakar Katheriya97. Sh. Ramesh Bais, MP98. Sh. Eknath Rao Khadse, MLA99. Sh. Vinod Tawde, MLC100. Sh. Pon. Radhakrishnan, MP101. Sh. Rao Indrajit Singh, MP102. Sh. Krishnapal Gurjar, MP103. Sh. Rajveer Singh (Rajju Bhaiya), MP104. Sh. Dushyant Singh, MP105. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, MP106. Sh. Ratan Lal Katariya, MP107. Dr. Uditraj, MP108. Sh. Santosh Gangwar, MP109. Sh. Ashok Khajuria, MLA110. Sh. Rajen Gohain, MP111. Dr. C.P. Radhakrishan, Ex-MP

PERMANENT INVITEESChief Minister

1. Sh. Shivraj Singh Chauhan2. Sh. Raman Singh3. Smt. Vasundhra Raje Scindia4. Smt. Anandiben Patel5. Sh. Raghuvar Das6. Sh. Devendra Gandadharrao Fadnavis7. Sh. Manohar Lal Khattar8. Sh. Laxmikant Parsekar

Deputy Chief Minister9. Sh. Fracesco De Desouza10. Dr. Nirmal Singh

Ex. Chief Minister11. Sh. Sunder Lal Patwa12. Sh. Shanta Kumar13. Sh. Kailash Joshi14. Sh. Madan Lal Khurana15. Sh. Manohar Parrikar16. Sushri Uma Bharti


17. Sh. Prem Kumar Dhumal18. Sh. Arjun Munda19. Sh. Bhagat Singh Koshyari20. Major Gen. (Retd.) BC Khanduri21. Sh. Ramesh Pokriyal “Nishank”22. Sh. Babu Lal Gaur23. Sh. D.V. Sadanand Gauda24. Sh. Jagdish Shettar

Ex. Deputy Chief Minister25. Sh. Sushil Kumar Modi26. Sh. K.S. Eshwarappa27. Sh. R. Ashok

SPECIAL INVI'TEESSPECIAL INVI'TEESSPECIAL INVI'TEESSPECIAL INVI'TEESSPECIAL INVI'TEES1. Sh. Thupstan Chhewang, MP2. Sh. Ramtahal Chaudhary, MP3. Smt. Kirron Kher, MP4. Shri Arun Haldar5. Sh. Kamal Bairiwal6. Sh. Babul Supriyo, MP7. Sh. Chetan Chauhan, MP8. Sh. Shamsher Singh Manhas9. Sh. Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, Ex-MP10.Sh. Ganga Prasad11.Sh. K. J. Alphons12.Sh. Somu Veerraju13.Sh. P. Chandra Shekhar Rao14.Sh. C.T. Ravi15.Sh. Ladhharam H. Nagwani16.Sh. Ashok Dhawan

17.Sh. Mahendra Singh18.Sh. Arvind Limbavali, MLA19.Sh. Suresh Oberoi20.Sh. Ramchandra Rao, Sr. Advocate21.Sh. Mangal Prabhat Lodha22.Sh. Vishnu Deo Sai, MP23.Sh. Sarvanand Sonowal24.Sh. S.P. Singh Baghel, Ex-MP25.Sh. Chandra Mohan Patwari26.Sh. Saryu Rai27.Sh. R.S. Pandey28.Sh. Ramesh Chand Tomar, Ex-MP29.Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, MP30.Sh. Satyendra Narayan Kushwaha31.Sh. Madan Kaushik, MLA32.Dr. Harmohan Dhawan33.Sh. Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, MP34.Sh. Bishnu Pad Ray, MP35.Sh. Gopal Krishna Agrawal36.Sh. R. Ramakrishnan37.Sh. Ravikant Garg38.Sh. Vijay Sampla, MP39.Sh. Keshav Prasad Maurya, MP40.Sh. Govind Karjol, MLA

All Legislative Assembly and LegislativeCouncil party leaders, State Presidents of allstates, All General Secretaries (Org.) expectedin State General Secretary (Org.) Meeting willbe Special Invitees in National Executive.

who suffered in the past.Shri Narendra Modi also met with

Northern Province CM CV Wigneswaran.Prime Minister Modi also flagged of a trainservice from Talaimannar to Madhu Road.Shri Narendra Modi considered it to be anhonour to have been able to dedicate sucha developmental project in Sri Lanka.

The Indian High Commissioner inColombo organised a reception in respectof Prime Minister of India. Shri NarendraModi interacted with the guests there at theevent.

As he left the land of Southernneighbour, the Prime Minister was optimisticthat in the coming future India-Sri Lankaties would be stronger.

The Prime Minister hoped that both thenations would work together to harness thevast potential of the Ocean Economy. Heexpected that both nations would rise abovetogether beyond the recent histories andwork more effectively in the times to come.A new page was added to the chapter ofIndia-Sri Lanka relationship with this historicvisit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Continued from page 11


With intent to empowering womenthe Union Cabinet approves bill formaking 33% reservation for women

in direct recruitment in Non-Gazetted postsin police forces of all Union Territoriesincluding Delhi Police.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the PrimeMinister, Shri Narendra Modi on March 20gave its approval for making reservation of33 percent for women, horizontally and ineach category (SC/ST/OBC and others) indirect recruitment in non-gazetted posts fromConstables to sub-inspector in the police forcesof all Union Territories, including Delhi Police.The Cabinet also approved that suitableenabling provisions in the Recruitment Rulesshould be made accordingly by all UTs policeforces including Delhi Police. The reservationwill be available to women against all suchvacancies existing on the date of issue of theorder after Cabinet approval and vacanciesarising thereafter.

This decision will help in augmenting therepresentation of the women in the policeforces of all UTs and Delhi Police so as tomake the police more gender sensitive. It willalso instill confidence among women to enablethem to approach the police without hesitationfor seeking protection and assistance as andwhen required.

Insurance Bill passed inRajya Sabha

In a major breakthrough to the BJP-led NDAgovernment’s efforts to push through

reforms, the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill,2015 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March13. The bill was passed by voice vote afterwalkout by Trinamool Congress and DMK.The FDI cap in insurance sector has now beenraised from the existing 26 percent to 49percent.The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on

Cabinet approves bill for 33% reservation in policeforces of all Union Territories including Delhi Police

Government's achievements

March 4.The bill will replace the Ordinance issued

by the government.The bill had sought toamend the Insurance Act, 1938 and the GeneralInsurance Business (Nationalisation) Act 1972and the Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority Act, 1999.

The enactment of this Bill has the potentialto be a historic game-changer for thedomestic insurance industry.The bill has several provisions that canenable Indian consumers, as well asdomestic and foreign companies, tobenefit from India‘s vast and at presentan almost unpenetrated market.The Bill has increased the Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) limit in the sector to 49per cent from 26 per cent.The move will help in creating jobs thatthe country requires for its ever-increasingworkforce. Some consultancies haveestimated an additional 15-20 per centjobs in the industry in the coming fewyears.As per McKinsey report for theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII),the market size of the insurance sectorcurrently stands at close to US $60 billion.This is expected to quadruple over thenext ten years (till 2025) to US $250 billion.If that happens, it not only means greatercapital infusion but also greater insurancepenetration among the masses and greaterjobs within the sectorCompanies or co-operative societies inthe life or general insurance business musthave a minimum equity capital of Rs 100crore, while those in health insurance musthave a minimum equity capital of Rs 50crore.An insurer cannot challenge a lifeinsurance policy for any reason, after aperiod of five years.



Insurers who fail to meet their obligationswith respect to underwriting third partymotor insurance, or underwriting policiesin rural and social sectors or withvulnerable sections, face a fine of Rs 25crore.The Bill provides for appeals againstdecisions by Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority to lie with theSecurities Appellate Tribunal set up underthe SEBI Act, 1992.

Mines & Minerals billspassed by Parliament

Two key bills- Coal Mines and Minerals,were passed by both houses of the

Parliament. The Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation) AmendmentBill, 2015, and Coal Mines (Special Provisions)Bill, 2015 got approval onMarch 20 when the Rajya Sabhapassed legislation seeking toallow the auction of coal minesand other minerals, in abreakthrough for PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sagenda of economic reforms.The Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation)Amendment Bill, 2015, and Coal Mines (SpecialProvisions) Bill, 2015, now require thePresident’s signature to enter the statutebooks, having received approval from the LokSabha earlier this month.

Under the Coal Mines (Nationalisation)Act, 1973, coal mining was allowed for(i) government companies, (ii) companiesthat the government had sub-leased themines to, and (iii) private companiesengaged in a specified end-use such aspower, iron and steel, cement and coalwashing. The Bill seeks to enable privatecompanies to mine coal for sale in theopen market.The Bill creates three categories of mines:(i) Schedule I, (ii) Schedule II, and (iii)Schedule III. Schedule I mines includes

(i) all the 204 coal mines cancelled by theSupreme Court in August 2014, (ii) anyland acquired by the prior allottee in oraround the coal mines, and (iii) mineinfrastructure. Schedule II includes 42Schedule I mines that are currently underproduction or about to start production.Schedule III mines includes the 32Schedule I mines that have beenearmarked for a specified end-use.Schedule I mines can be allocated by wayof either public auction or governmentallotment. Schedule II and III mines willbe allocated by way of public auction.Public auction will be conducted by wayof e-auction on a payment of maximumfee of Rs five crore.The new legislation will herald a newregime of competition, efficiency andtransparency for key natural resources by

fostering fair play.It will strengthen the

reform agenda of thegovernment and drive theeconomy to higher levels ofgrowth.

One of the new thingsin the coal bill is more moneygoing to the states in line withthe principle of cooperative

federalism.Two rounds of coal block auctions havealready fetched the government Rs.2.09trillion from 33 blocks, giving credenceto the national auditor’s claims thatallocation of mines over the years hadcaused substantial losses to the nationalexchequer.

Cabinet approves bill torepeal 758 archaic laws

The Union Cabinet chaired by the PrimeMinister, Shri Narendra Modi on March

20 gave its approval to introduce theAppropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015 inParliament so as to repeal 758 AppropriationActs [including Appropriation (Railways) Acts

Legislative reformscleared in first phase of

Budget session49% foreign investment ininsuranceCoal mine auctionsMinerals site auctions



and 111 State AppropriationActs enacted by Parliamentsince 1950 to 1976].

This is in keeping with thePrime Minister’s commitmentto bring reform in thecountry’s legal system, so asto make it more accessible tothe common man.

This is also in consonancewith the recommendations ofthe Select Committee of RajyaSabha to have a repeal clausein the Appropriation Acts.However, such clause shall beprovided when the enactmentof the Appropriation Act,2016 is undertaken whereunder the Appropriation Actsof 2013 shall be repealed.

The Appropriation Acts[including Appropriation(Railways) Acts] enacted fromthe year 1950 to 2012 and 111State Appropriation Actsenacted by Parliament since1950 to 1976, in reality havelost their meaning and are stillshown on the Statute-Books.The repealing ofAppropriation Acts whoseterms have ended will in noway cause any negativeimpact on actions that werevalidly taken under theseActs.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Shri M.VenkaiahNaidu has said that the first phase of the Budgetsession of Parliament that concluded on March 20

has been productive and has been the most significant andrewarding of the four sessions of Parliament since theGovernment assumed office in May, 2015. Giving details offunctioning of both the Houses, Shri Naidu informed that LokSabha has passed 14 Bills while Rajya Sabha cleared 7 and boththe Houses passed a set of 7 Bills. Productivity of Lok Sabhahas been 123.45% while Rajya Sabha has worked for 106.79%of the scheduled time. Lok Sabha sat beyond the scheduledbusiness hours on 11 days while the upper house did so on 9days.

Shri Naidu further informed that disruption of proceedingshave come down and thanked the leaders and members of allparties for the same.

He said while the Lok Sabha lost 1 hour 46 minutes dueto interruptions, the House functioned for an additional 27hours 12 minutes. Rajya Sabha has lost 4 hours 21 minutes butmade up an additional 11 hours 41 minutes.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that with the passing of Minesand Minerals and Coal Mines Bills replacing the Ordinances,“the Parliament has enabled the beginning of a new era oftransparent governance in the country by ending theGovernment’s discretion in allocation of minerals which hascome to be a cesspool of corruption and malpractices. I wouldrate these two legislations at the top of the major outcomes ofthe Budget session so far.

Passing of the Insurance Bill hiking FDI in insurance sectoris the next major outcome and I thank the Congress Party fortheir support”.

Budget session registersLS productivity of 123%

India is fastest growing economy : OECDThe organization for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD) on March 18

projected Indian economy to grow 7.7% in 2015 and accelerated to 8% in 2016. The countryis expected to become the fastest-growing major economy over the next two years. Chinais pegged to grow at 7% in both these years, even as the world economy is forecast to domoderately better than expected a few months ago. The think tank forecasts that theIndian economy is set to perform strongly.


Our NationhoodPt. Deendayal Upadhyaya

India had to contend with the challenge of its existence as a nation.The coming of the colonial rule not only posed a challenge to Indiancivilization, culture, economy and polity it also posed an intellectualchallenge for India to reclaim itself as a united entity. Unfortunatelymany Indians under the influence of western understanding of the

term ‘nation’ could not dissociate themselves from alienconceptualization aimed at distorting its meaning. Pt.Deendayal Upadhyaya tried to conceptualise the term fromIndian understanding of the term and from Indianintellectual and civilizational perspective. We arepublishing his ideas under the title “Our Nationhood”

in two parts for better understanding of ideologicalpositioning on the term “nation” and its attributes. The second

and final part is published below for our esteemed readers:

VAICHARIKI

‘CHITI’ IS CENTRAL TO NATIONCHITI is fundamental and is central to the

nation from its very beginning. Chiti determinesthe direction in which the nation is to advanceculturally. Whatever is in accordance with Chiti isincluded in culture.AWAKENING NATION’S ‘VIRAT’

WE have to undertake the task of. away.awakening our nation’s ‘Virat’. Let us go forwardin this task with a sense of pride of our heritage,with a realistic assessment of the present and agreat ambition for the future. We wish to make thiscountry neither a shadow of some distant past noran imitation of Russia or America.OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY

IT is essential that we think about our nationalidentity. Without this identity there is no meaningof independence, nor can independence becomethe instrument of progress and happiness. As longas we are unaware of our national Identity, wecannot recognise or develop all our potentialities.Under alien rule this identity is suppressed. Thatis why nations wish to remain independent sothat they can progress according to their naturalbent and can experience happiness in theirendeavour. Nature is powerful. An attempt to goagainst nature or to disregard her leads to troubles.The natural instincts cannot be disregarded but it

is possible to elevate this nature to the level ofculture. Psychology tells us how by suppressionof various natural instincts different mentaldisorders ensue. Such a person remains restlessand dejected. His abilities slowly deteriorate, andbecome perverted. The Nation too, like theindividual, falls a prey to numerous ills when itsnatural instincts are disregarded. The basic causeof the problems facing Bharat is the neglect of itsnational identity.CONDITIONS FOR NATIONAL GLORY

IF we have to take the nation to the pinnacleof glory we have to fufil two conditions. The firstis that this glory must be the result of our ownnational endeavour. For this the entire nation’scapacity to work needs to be organised. If we fullthis condition the prosperity we achieve for Bharatwould be considered genuine. The second point isthat while achieving this prosperity on the basisof organised capacity, Dharma has also to beprotected. Organised force by itself is not enough.Even thieves may have a strong organization, butit will neither be permanent nor beneficial, henceit is necessary that our organised capacity shouldprotect Dharma even while conquering glory.EUROPEAN NATIONALISMDESTRUCTIVE

IN European countries nationalism led to


ruination. But to call Indian nationalismdestructive because of this reason is like beingonce bitten twice shy. It is wrong to presume thatour nationalism would be as calamitous as that ofthese nations.

This is not a mere claim, it is the truth, and thistruth is supported by thousands of years of historyof Indian nationalism. The history of thesecountries of the world for about a thousand yearsis full of scenes of destruction, while in the longhistory of India there is not a single page describinggrief caused to man. The entire history of India isfull of goodwill for the whole world. The remainsof Indian history found in different parts of theworld declare to this day the truth that India hasstriven only for the good of the entire creation.Hence the truth is that if the world is to be savedfrom the terrible effects of Western nationalismthat have resulted from mutual conflict, hatredand competition, we shall have to organist andstrengthen Indian nationalism. This way lies thegood of the world.NATIONALISM VERSUS RELIGION

DURING the regime of the British we hadaccepted that there are many differentcommunities, like the Muslims and the Christians.in this country and the spirit.of nationalism can becreated only by protecting their individualexistence. Actually to accept their independentexistence on the national level is a big mistake,because to classify society into classes such asMuslims and Christians on the basis of religion isdifferent from nationalism. Followers of the samereligion can be nationals of different nations, whilea single nation can include the followers of manyreligions.

If nationalism is a sufficiently strong sentiment,religion does not enter it. But today our effort is toaccept the independent existence of thesecommunities and then to unify them so that theunification does not require anybody to forsakeanything. The funny thing is that nobody Las aclear idea of the unifying element that can bringeverybody together.BHARAT IS ‘MATA’

THE basis of our nationalism is not simplyBharat but ‘Bharat Mata’. Remove the word Mataand Bharat would remain just a piece of land. Theaffinity between us and this land is established

only with the relationship of the mother. No pieceof land can be called a country so long as therelationship between it and the people living in itis not that of mother and son. This is patriotism.But patriotism does not merely mean love for apiece of land. Even birds and beasts have suchlove.

The tiger lives in its lair, and birds return totheir nests every evening. But they cannot be calledpatriots. Man also comes to acquire a feeling ofaffinity for the place where he may live. But that isnot enough for patriotism. Only those people canbe called patriots in a particular country who arebound together as one people. A country is createdby the coming together of land as mother and anintegrated society as son. This is patriotism and itis deathless.PRESERVE OUR MOORINGS

WHY is there no vitality in the country evenafter so many years of independence ? Why havepoverty, starvation, unemployment and feeling ofhopelessness increased? Why has nationalcharacter degenerated ? Why has there been acontinuous fall in all fields-economic, political,social, literary-and why has the life of the nationbegun to drift aimlessly ? Why are we drifting likethis ? Without doubt the only reason is that we arenot standing on our own feet. He who has lost hismoorings must naturally drift, like an uprootedtree moving helplessly with a current of water.Our entire national life has lost its roots. The meansof only checking this fall is a true realization ofnational life. Without a pure feeling of nationalismnot only is national development not possible buteven independence may be lost. We have fallen onthese evil days because we have forgotten theawareness of nationalism that manifests itself inthe age-old history of the nation. To get out of thispit we must clarify the sentiment that is the basisof the nation.

A strong force can be created if the roots ofnational ideals and aspirations are strengthened.The purpose of national life can be understood ona true realization of nationhood, and then the lifeof the nation throbs with vitality. An absence ofthis true realization of nationhood is the basiccause of our present fall as a nation.

(Excerpts from the book - “PanditDeendayal Upadhyaya A Profile” edited by

Sudhakar Raje)


As the nation celebrates124th birth anniversaryof Dr. Babasahed

Bhimrao Ambedkar on 14 April2015 the people remember himas chief architect of the Indianconstitution, a socialrevolutionary and a Dalit thinker.Babasaheb represents amultifaceted personalitycontributing immensely to enrichvarious facets of national life.Apart from earning a numberof doctorates from prestigiousColumbia University and theLondon School of Economicsfor his study and research inlaw, economics and politicalscience he wrote fearlessly onvarious issues as anacademician and as a politicalactivist. His writings may bebroadly divided into variousparts, viz. the writings of apolitical activist, anacademician, a nationalist, aspiritual leader and so on. As apolitical activist and as a massleader, Babasaheb was raisingissues far ahead of his times,hence a radical approach wasrequired to galvanise support forhis agenda of social reform so asto bring the issue of castediscrimination anduntouchability in the centralfocus. While as an academicianhe tried to frame scholarly andwell researched responses on theburning issues of the day whichremain relevant even today.

Babasaheb was born on 14April 1891, in a Mahar familythen staying at Mhow, now in

Madhya Pradesh. His familyoriginally hailed from the townof Ambavade in the Ratnagiridistrict of modern-dayMaharashtra. As a school goingchild he had to face variouskinds of discrimination owingto low status of Mahars in thecaste hierarchy but he remainedundeterred in his resolve topursue higher education. As a

student from Elphinston Collegehe was granted a scholarship oftwenty five rupees a month fromthe Gaikwad ruler of Baroda,Sahyaji Rao III for higher studiesin the USA. He went to USA forhis doctoral studies andobtained degrees in economicsand political science. On hisreturn he joined service ofBaroda state government andalso started as a social activistfighting against castediscrimination anduntouchability then widelyprevalent in Indian society. Hisactivism and scholarly espousalof the cause of the deprived and

oppressed sections soon sawhim emerging as a politicalleader of national stature.

So far Babasaheb writings inIndia have been selectively readwithin a particular frameworkshowing him a champion ofdeprived and oppressed sectionsof Indian society. He is seen as achief architect of Indianconstitution who laid the

foundation of liberaldemocracy in the countryexpecting the state to takewelfare measures in theinterest of weaker sections ofthe society. But other side ofhis personality remainsunexplored. The academicianand thinker in him, hisadvocacy for exchange ofpopulation at the time ofpartition, his concerns forpreserving cultural contours ofIndian civilization, hisdecision to embrace Buddhism

not only as a political act but asa result of a honest spiritualquest, his rejection of Islam,Christianity and Marxism andhis reading of India’s past – andmany more such otherdimensions of Babasaheb’spersonality still awaits to bestudied, researched andexplored.

Speaking on the thirdreading of the draft constitutionBabasheb said in voice chokedwith emotion, “On 26th January1950. India will be anindependent country (Cheers).What would happen to herindependence? Will she

SHRADHANJALI : Birth anniversary - 14 April

Dr. BR Ambedkar : A visionary scholarBy Dr. Shiv Shakti Bakshi


maintain her independence orwill she loose it again? This isthe first thought that comes tomy mind. It is not that India wasnever an independent country.The point is that she once lostthe independence she had. Willshe lose it a second time?”

He further answers his ownquestion emphasizing that theseapprehensions were rooted inthe history of India wherein thecountry had to face the ignominyof defeat and suffer at the handsof conquerors due to treachery ofits own people. He said on theoccasion, “What perturbs megreatly is the fact that not onlyIndia has once before lost herIndependence, but she lost it bythe infidelity and treachery ofsome of her own people. In theInvasion of Sind by Mahommed-Bin-Kasim, the militarycommanders of King Daharaccepted bribes from the agentsof Mahommed-Bin-Kasim andrefused to fight on the side oftheir King. It was Jaichand whoinvited Mahommed Ghori toinvade India and light againstPrithvi Raj and promised him thehelp of himself and the Solankikings. When Shivaji was fightingfor the liberation of Hindus, theother Maratha noblemen and theRajput kings were fighting thebattle on the side of MoghulEmperors. When the British weretrying to destroy the Sikh Rulers,Gulab Singh, their principalcommander sat silent and didnot help to save the Sikhkingdom. In 1857, when a largepart of India had declared a warof independence against theBritish, the Sikhs stood andwatched the event as silentspectators.”

On the question of India

embracing democratic form ofthe government and whether thedemocratic Constitution willsurvive the test of time andwhether India will she be able tomaintain it or will she lose itagain, he had very convincinganswers. He said, “It is not thatIndia did not know what isDemocracy. There was a timewhen India was studded withrepublics and even where therewere monarchies. They wereeither elected or limited. Theywere never absolute. It is not thatIndia did not know Parliamentsor Parliamentary Procedure. Astudy of the Buddhist BhikshuSanghas discloses that not onlythere were parliaments - for theSanghas were nothing butParliaments - but the Sanghasknew and observed all the rulesof Parliamentary Procedureknown to modern times. Theyhad rules regarding seatingarrangements, rules regardingMotions, Resolutions, Quorum,Whip, Counting of votes, votingby Ballot, Censure Motion,Regularization, Res Judicata, etc.Although these rules ofParliamentary Procedure wereapplied by the Buddha to themeetings of the Sanghas, he musthave borrowed them from therules of the political Assembliesfunctioning in the country in histime.”

Envisioning the divisionsthat may be created bydemocratic form of governmentand parliamentary democracy,he was anxious to guard India’sunity and independence at anycost. He was aware of thedifferent factors in the societywhich might strengthencentripetal tendencies yet he hadfaith in the democratic

institutions that were deeplyrooted in Indian ethos sinceancient times. Exhorting thepeople of India to guard the hardearned independence he said,“Will history repeat itself? It isthis thought which fills me withanxiety. This anxiety is dependby the realization of the fact thatin addition to our old enemies inthe form of castes and creeds weare going to have many politicalparties with diverse andopposing political creeds. WillIndians place the country abovetheir creed or will they placecreed above country? I do notknow. But this much is certainthat if the parties place creedabove country our independencewill be put in jeopardy a secondtime and probably be lost for ever.This eventually we must allresolutely guard against. Wemust be determined to defend ourindependence with the last dropof our blood.”

As a nationalist Babasahebalways attempted to keepnational interest at the foremost.His relentless championing thecause of deprived and depressedsections of the society hasresulted in his image beingstereotyped around certainissues mainly looking at him asa Dalit icon and relegating hisother contributions tobackground. Babasaheb was amass leader, political and socialthinker, academician, scholarand above all a nationalistrooted in the cultural ethos ofIndian civilization. While thecountry feels indebted for hisimmense contributions in thenation building process, manyother aspects of his multifacetedpersonality remains yet to beexplored.


We have equalresponsibilitytowards states

which we represent. Itwould be our collectiveresponsibility and wewould not shun awayfrom it for progress ofthis country. Law shouldbe allowed to take itsown course. Here,people also say thatnothing is new, schemesare old. I had stated thisin that House also and Iam stating this in thisHouse also. Schemes arenew or old; thisdiscussion will take us faraway. The issue is that theproblems are old. The concernis for problems and to findways for the solution ofproblems. We are not of thisthinking that since we arehere, God has given all theknowledge to us only.Nobody can boast of beingcomplete.

Therefore this is not ourline of thought. This Housewould have never heard thatafter sitting on treasury benchthose who are seated that side

have ever said that anybodyelse had contributed in theadvancement of this country.Those who are not willing togive the credit of freedommovement to anybody, howcan they accept participationof anybody else in the journeyof development? But I amhere who had declared it fromthe rampart of Red Fort thatall the Governments till date,all the Prime Ministers till dateand all the State Governmentshave contributed to the

advancement of thecountry. We even donot feel that the countrywas born on 15thAugust, 1947. Thiscountry is here sincecenturies, sincethousands of years. Thesages, teachers andfarmers have made thiscountry. Governmentshave not made thiscountry. We just come,run the system and goaway. Therefore,kindly do not force usto live with theideology with whichyou have lived.

You mentioned aboutschemes. I am just telling you.I can go a long way; can goup to 1984, 1986. But I willnot take that much time. WhenNDA Government was inpower, a scheme was thereMultipurpose NationalIdentity Card Project. Youcame in power, that schemebecame AADHAR- UIDAI.The same scheme came in newcolours and forms. At the timeof Vajpayee ji there wasSampoorna Gramin Yojana.

‘Motion of Thanks’ to President’s Address (Rajya Sabha)

Sages, teachers and farmers have made thiscountry : Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi replying in the Rajya Sabha to the debate on thePresident’s address on 03 March, 2015 said, that all of us should pass the Motion of Thankson the President’s Address. He said the sages, teachers and farmers have made this country.Governments have not made this country. We just come, run the system and go away.Therefore, kindly do not force us to live with the ideology with which you have lived.Following is the synopsis of the speech delivered by the Prime Minister Shri Modi :


During your regime it becameMNREGA. During the regimeof Atal ji there was Freedomof Information Act. You cameand named it Right toInformation Act. During theregime of Atal ji there wasSarva Shiksha Abhiyan Clause86 Constitution Amendment.

You changed it to Rightof Children to Free andCompulsory Education Act.During the period of Atal jithere was Swarnim JayantiGram Swaraj Yojana, youbrought National Rural

Livelihood Mission. Duringthe period of Atal ji there wasTotal Sanitation Scheme; youcame and named it as NirmalBharat Abhiyan. During thetime of Atal ji there wasInsurance RegulatoryAuthority and DevelopmentAct and you named it asPension Fund Regulatory andDevelopment Authority Act.

How problems arise inpolitical life as a result oftaking decisions on the basisof perceptions. We cannot goon the basis of perceptionsonly. You see, while today BJPrepresents Laddakh; KanyaKumari is also represented by

BJP. If BJP represents Kuchh;Arunachal Pradesh is alsorepresented by BJP. Therewas a time when you used tothink that they are Hindi beltpeople. But we have beensuccessful in formingGovernment in South also.Sometimes an allegation islevelled against us that onlyupper caste people are in thisparty, but having seen me youmight have changed yourthought.

There are some stateswhere tribes are more in

number. Be it Maharashstra,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Rajasthan or be it Gujarat.These are the states wheremaximum population is oftribes and this tribal societyhas given power to BJP. Youare also aware that BJP is inpower with full majority inGoa where Christians havedecisive votes. BJPGovernment is in power inNagaland where maximumvotes are of Christians. Weare sharing power in Jammu& Kashmir where Muslimvotes are decisive. We aresharing power in Punjab for

many years where Sikhs aredecisive.

Therefore, sometimesthink practical. Theperceptions which you keepon talking about are very oldthings. Time has changed. Letus take ‘Swachhata Abhiyan’.Whether it is a programmefor Corporate, for rich people?In ‘Jan-Dhan Yojna’, bankaccounts were opened forpoor people. Is thisprogramme for corporateworld? If we say ‘toilets inschools’- which schools arethese? These are Governmentrun schools where children ofpoor people, children of thoseliving in clusters go to study.There are no toilets. I amtalking of toilets; I amworking in this direction.Whether this programme isfor rich people, for corporate?I am talking about ‘Soil HealthCard’.

For which farmer is this?This is the farmer who ownslittle land. We resort to coalauction, and the money whichcomes from coal auction willgo to these states only.Because coal is with themonly and this will give them agood deal of strength to fightagainst poverty and for theadvancement of the State.Whether all these things arebeing done for rich people orcorporate world?

Let us take cleanliness ofriver Ganga. Forty per centpopulation of this country isdirectly or indirectlyconnected with Ganga fromeconomic point of view.Cleanliness of Ganga can be a

While today BJP represents Laddakh; Kanya Kumariis also represented by BJP. If BJP represents Kuchh;Arunachal Pradesh is also represented by BJP. Therewas a time when you used to think that they are Hindibelt people. But we have been successful in formingGovernment in South also. Sometimes an allegation islevelled against us that only upper caste people arein this party, but having seen me you might havechanged your thought.


matter of faith for someone,it can be a matter ofenvironment for someone, butit is a big programme also.The whole world, even therichest country in the worldis working with full focus onone subject and that is the skilldevelopment. It is ourresponsibility to work in thisdirection properly. If therewill be skill, I understand thatthe youth of our country willemerge as a big force to takethis country to new heights.Therefore, skill developmentis a programme to befocussed for common man andpoorest man of India.

Let us take Housing forAll’. Who are these homelesspeople? Whether they arecorporate people? They arepoor people. We are makingefforts to provide homes topoor. Our effort is to buildthree crores of homes invillages and two crores ofhomes in cities. There cannotbe any political agenda in this.This is not the programme ofthis Government. This is theprogramme of the poor of thiscountry. It is such a bigdevolution that if this moneyis spent for infrastructure, forthe development, you will seethe economy of that state willstart generating. I wouldinsist that you are Hon’bleMembers who representStates. When such a hugeamount has been given toStates, you have to see that itis utilized for thedevelopment in real terms.

A MUDRA scheme hasbeen mentioned in this

budget. We see that no studyhas been conducted to findout the fact as to who runsthe economy of the countryreally. Common man of thecountry gives employment,engages in self-employmentand runs the economy of thecountry as well. There areauto-rickshaw repairingmechanics, there are auto-rickshaw drivers and thereare auto-rickshaw owners.Likewise, there will be scooter

repairing mechanic, cyclerepairing mechanic, there willbe fruit seller and bread seller;all these are common men.

There are more than fiveand half crore such unitswhich provide employment toeleven-twelve crore people.But if they require money,there is no arrangement. Forthe first time, thisGovernment has brought this‘MUDRA’(Micro UnitsDevelopment and RefinanceAgency) scheme under whichonly this class will get fund.This is such a new area overwhich we have focussed.Around fifty-four per centpeople do business in ruralareas and run their smallbusinesses. Forty-six per cent

are in cities and of thoseworking out of this, sixty percent either belongs toScheduled Castes orScheduled Tribes or OBC.

Out of 125 crore peopleonly 29 crores have LifeInsurance cover and only 19crore people have AccidentalDeath Insurance cover. Only6 crore people haveOrganised Pension Schemecover. Besides, arrangementsare there for providing a

pension from 300 to 1500 tothree crore widows or seniorcitizens under BPL category.This arrangement is quitenormal in such a big country.We are trying to take a bigstep to solve a big problem. Ithink that we are trying totouch all classes of societyunder ‘Pradhan Mantri SurakshaBeema Yojana’, ‘Pradhan MantriJeevan Jyoti Yojana’ and ‘AtalPension Yojana’.

The farmers of ourcountry will benefit from thepension scheme. We havemade a new effort regarding“gold bond”. Now gold coinand gold biscuit will have theEmblem of Ashoka Chakraand it should have access inthe world also. We want to

Let us take Housing for All’. Who are these homelesspeople? Whether they are corporate people? Theyare poor people. We are making efforts to provide

homes to poor. Our effort is to build three crores ofhomes in villages and two crores of homes in cities.There cannot be any political agenda in this. This is

not the programme of this Government. This is theprogramme of the poor of this country.


proceed in that direction.We talk about sovereigngold mine. Today gold islying unused in the form ofdead money. We want tobring it into circulation sothat the economy gets agreat boost. Similarly wewant to proceed in thematter of sovereign goldbond. So it would be aneffort to balance ourimbalance regarding import-export. This is a schemewhich in my opinion wouldbe very beneficial. ShriGhulam Nabi Azadexpressed great pain withregard to transfer ofofficers. But when they werein power they hadtransferred many officersunceremoniously.

Our effort is to providegood governance. BothRailways and Highways comeunder the Government butearlier there used to be somany tussles between the twothat more than 350 projects ofHighways were not givenapproval by the Railways andthe projects of Railways werenot cleared by the Highways.We called a meeting of boththe departments and an MOUwas signed between the two.Today we have created anonline portal wherein onlineclearance is given. During our9 month tenure we haveconstructed longer highwaysand more new railway linesand done more gaugeconversion and moredoubling work than the UPAgovernment.

With regard to Model

village scheme, I want towelcome and thank someHon’ble members. Around660 MPs have taken thisprogramme forward. Hon’bleMotilal Vora has doneremarkable work in Mohalivillage in Chhattisgarh. Hehas opened Jan-Dhan accountsof all ration cardholders andliked them with Aadhar card.He constituted monitoringcommittees for governmentdistribution shops so that thebenefits of PDS system reachthe poor people. The MP fromJorhat has made perfectarrangements for themonitoring of

ICDS and mid day mealscheme. Our Minister of CivilAviation, Shri Ashok adopteda village in Andhra Pradeshfor making it alcohol free. Ithink that if we all co-operate

in Model village scheme thenonly this can be takenforward. 27 thousand croresrupees of labourers are therein government exchequer.We have tried to make ascheme called UniversalAccount Number. Underthis scheme wherever alaborer goes, his moneywith this account numberwould be transferred there.As a result of this, if he ishaving any old account in27 thousand crore rupees, itwould also be transferred.Regarding fertilizers, Iwould like to say there isno reason for lagging behindin the sale of manure,Regarding Aadhar card andMNREGA, we carried outmore Aadhar based

transfers, linked moreAadhar numbers withMNREGA and linked morejob cards with Aadhar in our9 month tenure than the UPAgovernment. We have talkedabout providing 100 daysguarantee of employment tothe poor under MNREGA.

We have tried to bringchange in the life of commonman during this period. Therewas a mention of West Bengalalso. The people, who wantedto run the country withimported ideas, got theopportunity to rule WestBengal for thirty years. WestBengal which used to be thecapital of industrial activityonce has perished totally inthese thirty years.

There is a need for jobcreation in the country. Forthis we will have to pursue

Our effort is to provide goodgovernance. Both Railwaysand Highways come underthe Government but earlierthere used to be so many

tussles between the two thatmore than 350 projects ofHighways were not givenapproval by the Railways

and the projects of Railwayswere not cleared by theHighways. We called a

meeting of both thedepartments and an MOU

was signed between the two.Today we have created an

online portal wherein onlineclearance is given.


the mantra of Make in India.We should stress uponinfrastructure to increase thepossibilities of employment.The President has mentionedabout digital India in hisAddress. I think that in thecoming days digital dividecan also become one of thereasons for poverty andbackwardness.

We want to proceedtowards mobile governance.We want to provide itsfacility on mobile to thepoorest of poor also. We alsotalk about digital India.Whether our BPO centresshould function inHyderabad, Bengaluru,Mumbai, Chennai andAhmedabad only or thesecentres should be providedto the youth of North-Eastalso. Our effort is to proceedin that direction to provideemployment to the youth ofour country. Everybody hasexpressed concernsregarding black money.

This is a subject whichnobody wanted to touchsome time back. TheSupreme Court had askedto constitute a SIT in 2011.Had it been constituted atthat time only and theprocess had started, thenthe people would have notgot time for transactions.But we are committed tobring back black money inthe country and we wouldcomplete that process. Inconnection with LandAcquision Ordinance, I wantto assure you that there isno anti farmers provision in

this. At the same time I wantto request you all not tospread this propaganda thatwe are going to reduce thecompensation.

It is difficult for the Statesto work under this law. Toprotect the responsibilities ofthe States is also yourresponsibility. Through thisnew law, an effort has beenmade to bring changesaccording to hopes andaspirations of the States. Weshould worry about thefarmers of our country andgive them protection. TheGovernment has not decidedto cut down the coverage ofpoor people which is 67 percent with regard to foodsecurity. Please do not spreadsuch misconception.

Due to this new 42 per

cent devolution, all the Stateswill be getting more money.The royalty for minerals hasbeen raised by one and halftimes which will be going tomostly Eastern States. Statesare going to get money fromcoal auction also. 62 per centof the total amount will bewith the States and only 38per cent will remain with theCentre.

Our central point is toprotect the interests of India.With regard to internationalrelations, our thinking is clearthat we want to build ourrelations with the world. Wewant to have special and deeprelations with our neighborsbut we will not bow to anypressure. I want to give anassurance to this House thatJammu and Kashmir

Government has beenformed on the basis of acommon minimumprogramme and it will workon that basis only. Withregard to terrorism, thisGovernment would proceedwith the policy of zerotolerance. I welcome ourcitizens of Kashmir. We haveconfidence in them. I wantto assure the whole nationthrough this House that themotions which have beenpassed by the Houses of ourcountry for Kashmir will befollowed in letter and spirit.There would be nocompromise regarding that.I once again request theHouse that we shouldtogether pass the Motion ofThanks on the President’sAddress unanimously.

I want to give an assuranceto this House that Jammuand Kashmir Governmenthas been formed on the

basis of a common minimumprogramme and it will work

on that basis only. Withregard to terrorism, this

Government would proceedwith the policy of zero

tolerance. I welcome ourcitizens of Kashmir. We haveconfidence in them. I want to

assure the whole nationthrough this House that the

motions which have beenpassed by the Houses of ourcountry for Kashmir will befollowed in letter and spirit.

Documents

15 April, 2015 (English)