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Tag: begging

  • Mafias who demanded ‘goonda tax’ earlier now begging for their lives: Adityanath

    Mafias who demanded ‘goonda tax’ earlier now begging for their lives: Adityanath

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    Maharajganj: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday claimed that mafias and other criminals used to forcibly occupy the land of the poor and demand “goonda tax” under previous governments, but the state is free of anarchy under the BJP and there is rule of law.

    Adityanath, who was addressing public meetings in eastern Uttar Pradesh – one of poorest regions and a hotbed of mafias and gangsters, sought to woo voters for the upcoming urban body elections by harping on the planks of law and order and development.

    The chief minister asserted that security was now guaranteed in the state. “Earlier, the mafia used to demand goonda tax, but today, they are begging for their lives,” he said.

    MS Education Academy

    The BJP leader alleged that earlier, the SP, BSP and the Congress used to hand out pistols to the youths of the state, but the incumbent government gives youngsters tablet computers.

    “SP and BSP used to spread corruption and encouraged criminalisation of politics, diversion of funds and embezzlement in welfare schemes, but today the benefits of development schemes reach every poor,” the chief minister said at an election meeting in Deoria.

    He charged the previous governments with turning Deoria from a sugar bowl to a bowl of bitterness.

    “These people sold the sugar mills at a throwaway price… Because of their disgusting politics, they also created an identity crisis for the youth of the state and forced the farmers to commit suicide.

    ‘But we will restore Deoria to its existence again. A distillery will also be set up here along with ethanol plants,” he said.

    The chief minister said that the atmosphere of fear that used to be created during festivals till six years ago is no longer there.

    Addressing a conference of traders in Gorakhpur earlier, Adityanath said, “Earlier, the ruling party’s goons or the mafia used to forcibly occupy the property and the lands of the poor, but now, Uttar Pradesh has become free of anarchy and there is rule of law in the state.”

    The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has maintained that it follows a zero-tolerance policy against the mafia and over 18O criminals have been killed so far in encounters with the police in the state. However, it has been accused by the Opposition and others of high-handedness and bias.

    The criminals killed in encounters in the six years of Yogi Adityanath government included gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and his accomplice.

    The UP Police data shows that more than 10,900 police encounters have taken place in the state since March 2017, when Adityanath took over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time.In these encounters, 23,300 alleged criminals were arrested and 5,046 were injured.

    Praising the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Adityanath also listed the development works of the central and state governments.

    Speaking in Maharajganj later at an election meeting, the chief minister claimed, “Earlier, traders used to walk with their heads bowed while criminals and mafia used to go around fearlessly, but now that has been reversed. Cities are being made safe.”

    The BJP’s ‘double-engine’ government is leading the state on the path of progress, he said and urged voters to form a “triple-engine government” by electing its candidates in the civic polls.

    He spoke of medical facilities being enhanced in the state.

    Those who divide the society in the name of caste are not going to succeed at all, Adityanath said, adding that the BJP government has completely checked such divisions.

    There is a double-engine government in Uttar Pradesh and development work is going on at double speed, he added.

    Before 2017, most of the districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Maharajganj, used to suffer from encephalitis, but now, this disease has been brought under control. Vantangia villages of the district has also joined the mainstream of development, the chief minister said.

    The Vantangiya community comprises people brought from Myanmar during colonial rule to plant trees for afforestation.

    The chief minister also sought votes for BJP candidates in a public meeting in Kushinagar.

    “Earlier infectious disease on one side and hunger on the other troubled the people. Nine years ago, when the public blessed PM Modi, he changed the picture of the country. The Kushinagar people who were stranded in Sudan were safely transported here,” the chief minister said.

    He maintained that willpower is necessary to bring change.

    “There was once an atmosphere of fear and panic during the festivals six years ago. Today, there is no nuisance in UP. Festivals shape the identity of the new Uttar Pradesh.”

    He pointed out that under the SP-BSP regime, water was supplied by installing generators and electricity was only available for a scant 2-4 hours per day.

    We are working to provide water to every household in UP. “Kushinagar is our top priority,” he asserted.

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    #Mafias #demanded #goonda #tax #earlier #begging #lives #Adityanath

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Uber Eats is begging me to come back – but I’m out there in the real world, supermarket shopping | Emma Brockes

    Uber Eats is begging me to come back – but I’m out there in the real world, supermarket shopping | Emma Brockes

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    There’s a pathetic but satisfying thing that occurs when you stop using an online service you’re used to frequenting. This was Facebook a few years ago, when plummeting engagement whipped the social media platform into a frenzy of desperate invitations and prompts. It’s Fresh Direct when you fill your basket with groceries and – I can’t recommend this enough, if you’re looking for the tiny high that comes from withholding – don’t check out, triggering a bunch of wheedling automated messages, begging you to come back.

    This week, in my life, it’s Uber Eats. For the past couple of years I’ve ordered from them once a week and now I’ve stopped, causing the food delivery service to issue a flurry of semi-hysterical special offers. Each spam text, each begging notification, reminds me of the money I’m saving. If you like rejecting things (I like rejecting things) then this exercise will thrill you: rejection without the human cost of hurting someone’s feelings.

    The bigger picture, obviously, is a consumer trend away from the convenience-related services that surged during the pandemic. Companies that boomed and attracted millions in investment are starting to wither as our online habits change. In the US, instant delivery startups such as Buyk and Jokr, which briefly boomed in 2021, are declaring bankruptcy or pulling out of the US market. The meal-kit company Blue Apron has seen its share price plunge as food costs have risen and consumer interest in pricey convenience products has dwindled. The same goes for Stitch Fix, a service for clothing delivery that briefly boomed during the pandemic. And all of this in the context of mass lay-offs in tech at a time when those companies, seemingly, have nowhere left to expand.

    Supermarket shopping: ‘The joy, withheld during those two years of disruption, of going to a place and doing a thing.’
    Supermarket shopping: ‘The joy, withheld during those two years of disruption, of going to a place and doing a thing.’ Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

    Though it may be bad for the economy, from the perspective of an individual trying to have a life that entails leaving the house, this trend is perhaps an encouraging sign. The same encouragement might be taken from the slowdown at Netflix; many of us are capped out after too many hours of watching TV. I’m not exactly out there every morning taking invigorating walks, but I am reading again, feeling more inclined to work rather than pass out on the sofa, and to seek out real-world rather than online experience. If habits inculcated during the pandemic were supposed to augur the future, as Derek Thompson wrote in the Atlantic last month, “the post-pandemic economy has been much weirder than most people anticipated”.

    For me, the weirdest of these impulses has been a desire to return to supermarket shopping. This is partly money-related; the downturn in fast-food delivery earnings is clearly linked to pinched household incomes. It’s also a health thing; many of us are still trying to reverse the damage done by all the junk food we ate during lockdown.

    But of all the habits adopted in the past couple of years, it seemed as if grocery delivery might be the obvious keeper. Post-pandemic, maybe no one wants a hulking great Peloton in their living room and the appeal of the third place – be it the gym or Starbucks – is enjoying an obvious bounce-back. But supermarket shopping, at least in New York where I live, has rarely been a pleasure. It has always been time-consuming, stressful and over-crowded, with in-store prices not much lower than what you pay for delivery. And yet, every Monday, I feel compelled to stand in line at Trader Joe’s, and stagger home carrying six bags of shopping.

    All I can put this desire down to is a combination of the small satisfaction that comes from making even minor economies in the present climate; and something less tangible to do with the joy, withheld during those two years of disruption, of going to a place and doing a thing. The expense of energy has itself become a virtue. Its inverse – ordering in; falling back on convenience and paying for it – seems not only to belong to a sadder period but, at this point, when one can go out, using one’s actual body, to feel like a moral failing. If it’s a hair shirt, perhaps it feels good simply in contrast to our pandemic wardrobe. Meanwhile, I suspect watching Uber Eats freak out will never get old.

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    #Uber #Eats #begging #real #world #supermarket #shopping #Emma #Brockes
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )