Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday granted conditional permission to the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) for a day-long hunger strike at Indira Park in Hyderabad on the problems faced by the unemployed.
The hunger strike was scheduled on April 17 under the umbrella of ‘Telangana Students’ Action for Vacancies and Employment’ (T-SAVE), a platform mooted by YSRTP President Y.S. Sharmila but the police had denied permission for the same.
Sharmila had filed a petition in the High Court, seeking direction from the police to allow the protest. The High Court, however, directed that not more than 500 people should participate in the hunger strike.
The organisers were also directed to approach the police 48 hours before their hunger strike.
Sharmila is likely to announce a new date for protest in a day or two.
After the police denied the permission, the YSRTP had lashed out at Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for it calls his atrocious reign and dictatorial treatment of those who raised voice against his failures and fake promises.
Blasting the state government for forcing Hyderabad police to refuse permission to T-SAVE hunger strike, YSRTP official spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao said that it is shameful in a democratic setup to not let activists enter their own party office.
The Political Affairs Committee had alleged that Sharmila is repeatedly being targeted because KCR is now scared of her fight and commitment towards Telangana. “We have been tirelessly fighting for the cause and the rights of the unemployed. Not only is the state government silent and arrogant, they are also depriving us of our right to fight and protest,” he said.
“T-SAVE was proposed as a common platform and we had decided to conduct a hunger strike for a day near Indira Park. This plea was rejected by the city police. Is this fair on the part of the party that claims its emergence and existence to public movements and people’s protests? Didn’t KCR conduct numerous protests at Indira Park earlier? How can the rules be different for BRS and others?” added Ramachandra Rao.
He claimed that the proposed hunger strike had the support of 39 social organisations and various political parties.
Hyderabad: YSR Telangana party on Monday said that it would knock on court doors to get permission for Telangana Students’ Action for Vacancies and Employment’s (T-SAVE) day-long hunger strike at Indira Park, which was refused by the city police earlier.
Addressing the media after the political affairs committee meeting, YSRTP official spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao said, “This is completely shocking and a sorry picture where YS Sharmila is repeatedly being targeted because chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao is now scared of her fight and commitment towards Telangana”.
The YSRTP spokesperson said that the CM KCR’s treatment of those who raised their voices against his failures and fake promises was atrocious and dictatorial. Rao claimed that the state government is forcing the Hyderabad police to refuse permission to a T-SAVE hunger strike.
He said that the party is tirelessly fighting for the cause and the rights of the unemployed. “Not only is the state government silent and arrogant, but they are also depriving us of our right to fight and protest,” alleged Rao.
He said that it is shameful that a democratic setup does not let the partymen enter their own party office.
“T-SAVE was proposed as a common platform and we had decided to conduct a hunger strike, for a day near Indira Park. This plea was rejected by the city police. Is this fair on KCR who owes his party’s emergence and existence to public movements and people’s protests?” he added.
“Didn’t KCR also conduct protests at Indira Park? Why different rules for Bharat Sashtra Samithi (BRS) and other parties?” added Ramachandra Rao.
He said that the YSRTP will approach the court to obtain permission to conduct the day-long hunger strike. “We have the support of 39 social organisations and other political parties as well. When BRS can carry out dharnas in Delhi, why does it pose obstacles for other parties in Telangana? Isn’t it because they are scared?” said the party spokesperson.
The hunger strike was announced at T-SAVE’s inaugural roundtable meeting on April 10. YSRTP leader Sharmila had announced that her party will stage a hunger strike for a day at Indira Park to “bring this government to task” and put pressure and force it to deliver justice to the youth.
BRUSSELS — China and other powerful countries need to step up to help steer the world away from a potentially “catastrophic” hunger crisis this year, the new head of the United Nations’ World Food Programme said.
Cindy McCain, an American diplomat and the widow of the late U.S. Senator John McCain, also told POLITICO that the EU and U.S. should see world hunger as a national security issue due to its impact on migration. She furthermore accused Russia of using hunger as a “weapon of war” by hindering exports of Ukrainian grain.
McCain, formerly the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food agencies, took the helm of the WFP on April 5 and begins her five-year term at a time of increasing world hunger. The number of people facing food insecurity around the world rose to a record 345 million at the end of last year, up from 282 million in 2021, according to the WFP’s figures, as Russia’s war in Ukraine deepened a food crisis driven by climate change, COVID-19 and other conflicts.
This year could be worse still, McCain warned, with the Horn of Africa experiencing its worst drought in 40 years and Haiti facing a sharp rise in food insecurity, among other factors. “2023 is going to be catastrophic if we don’t get to work and raise the money that we need,” she said. “We need a hell of a lot more than we used to.”
Non-Western countries, which have traditionally contributed much less to the WFP, need to step up to meet the shortfall, McCain said, pointing specifically to China and oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. China contributed just $11 million to WFP funds last year, compared to $7.2 billion donated by the U.S.
“There are some countries that have just basically not participated or participated in a very low fashion. I’d like to encourage our Middle Eastern friends to step up to the plate a little more; I’d like to encourage China to step up to the plate a little more,” said McCain. “Every region, every country needs to step up funding.”
Her entreaty may fall on deaf ears, however, given rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. The WFP’s last six executive directors have been American, dating back to 1992, and Beijing may prefer to distribute aid through its own channels. Last summer, for example, China shipped food aid directly to the Horn of Africa following a drought there.
National security
Countries hesitant to throw more money into food aid should think about the alternative, McCain said, particularly those in Europe that are likely to bear the brunt of any new wave of migration from Africa and the Middle East.
“Food security is a national security issue,” she said. “No refugee wants to leave their home country, but they’re forced to because they don’t have enough food, and they can’t feed their families. So it comes down to if you want a stable world, food is a major player in this.”
The WFP is already having to make brutal decisions despite raking in a record $14.2 billion last year — more than double what it raised in 2017. In February, for instance, it said a funding shortfall was forcing it to cut food rations for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh.
The problem is compounded by surging costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which sent already-high food prices soaring further, as grain and oilseed exports through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports plunged from more than 5 million metric tons a month to zero.
A U.N.-brokered deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports to pass through Russia’s blockades in the Black Sea has brought some reprieve, but Moscow’s repeated threats to withdraw from the agreement have kept prices volatile.
Moscow claims that “hidden” Western sanctions are hindering its fertilizer and foods exports and causing hunger in the Global South | Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
The deal, initially brokered in July last year, was extended for 120 days last month; Russia, however, agreed to extend its side of the Black Sea grain initiative only for 60 days. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov threatened, once again, to halt Moscow’s participation in the initiative unless obstacles to its own fertilizer and food exports are addressed.
Moscow claims that “hidden” Western sanctions — those targeting Russia’s fertilizer oligarchs and its main agricultural bank, as well as others excluding Russian banks from the international SWIFT payments system — are hindering its fertilizer and foods exports and causing hunger in the Global South.
Ukraine and its Western allies have countered that Russia is deliberately holding up inspections for ships heading to and from its Black Sea ports, creating a backlog of Ukraine-bound vessels off the Turkish coast and inflating prices.
These delayed food cargoes are hindering the WFP’s ability to respond to humanitarian crises, said McCain, who did not hold back on the issue.
“Let’s be very clear, there are no sanctions on [Russian] fertilizer,” she said. “It is not sanctioned and never has been sanctioned.”
Russia is “using hunger as a weapon of war,” said McCain. “it’s unconscionable that a country would do that — any country, not just Russia.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Hyderabad: The Telangana Students’ Action for Vacancies and Employment (T-SAVE), that was proposed and floated by YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) as an umbrella organisation, announced a daylong hunger strike by all opposition parties at Indira Park on April 17.
The hunger strike was announced at its inaugural roundtable meeting on Monday in Hyderabad.
Speaking at the event, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) chief YS Sharmila blamed both the state and central governments for allegedly failing to meet the expectations of the students and the unemployed youth. “KCR has failed to generate a single job during this term, and despite carving new districts and mandals, there has been no effort made to fill vacancies and address the growing administrative needs,” she added.
“This figure stands at close to 4 lakhs, while the Biswal Committee’s recommendation to fill up 1.91 lakh vacancies has fallen on deaf ears. Inside the Assembly, the CM puts the vacancies at 80,000, then the notification is issued for barely 40,000 jobs and finally exams are held for 8000 posts. The fate of these too are indefinite after the paper leakage,” said the YSRTP president.
Sharmila added that her party will stage a hunger strike for a day at Indira Park to “bring this government to task” and put pressure and force it to deliver justice to the youth.
She also demanded that the Biswal Committee recommendations be immediately implemented, and a CBI enquiry be called to look into the paper leakages. “If KCR fails, why doesn’t the BJP government launch the CBI probe?” she added.
Listing the demands of T-SAVE Sharmila said, “Skill development should be prioritised, Nirudyoga Bhruthi (pension for the unemployed youth) be immediately disbursed, fees reimbursement dues be cleared, and corporation loans be facilitated to turn youth into self-made entrepreneurs”.
T-SAVE also demanded that the Central government give clarity on its commitment to 2 crore jobs annually. “They have deceived Telangana on IIM, coach factory, steel factory, tribal university and many other bifurcation related promises. These would have generated employment for the state youth,” Sharmila said.
Speaking on the occasion, TPCC official spokesperson Addanki Dayakar lashed out at the KCR government for “concentrating” on liquor business rather than students’ future. “His failure and recklessness in paper leakage is unpardonable, while his son is a classic case of inefficiency. The vacancies stand at 2.20 lakhs in the state and KCR’s tall talk about Rs 4 lakh crore budget is a sham and ham,” alleged Dayakar.
“KCR’s rule is all about corruption, scandals, and scams. We support T-SAVE and stand by the side of the youth,” he said.
Hyderabad: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Telangana chief RS Praveen Kumar was taken into custody by the Telangana police on Friday ahead of his indefinite hunger strike over the leak of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) Assistant Engineer (civil) exam paper.
The BSP supremo was holding an indefinite hunger strike at his party office on Lakdikapul when the police took him into custody.
Praveen Kumar had demanded that the group I exams be cancelled and the investigation into the leak be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
In a statement on Wednesday Kumar had stated that he was giving the state government 48 hours to hand over the case to the central agency or he would take up a fast onto death.
Demanding that the TSPSC chairman Janadhanan redyy step down immediately, he stated that he would write to the President and Gocernot over the same.
He also questioned Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and state IT minister KT Rama Rao’s silence on the same.
“All the examinations held during Janardhan Reddy’s tenure should be cancelled and re-conducted. TSPSC has lost the trust of Telangana people. Details of candidates who have crossed 100 marks in Group 1 Prelims should be disclosed,” said Praveen Kumar.
The BSP leader also alleged that the government was attempting to wash its hands of the case by handing it over to an SIT and terming the leak as a technical error.
Hyderabad: Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar will sit on a day-long hunger strike at the state party headquarters on Friday demanding that the state government order a judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge into the leakage of the examination paper of the recruitment test conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission.
Sanjay also demanded the immediate sacking of state information technology minister KT Rama Rao from the cabinet, as his IT department had ‘failed to prevent the leakage of the question paper’, besides a complete overhaul of the TSPSC and payment of compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each of the unemployed youth who had suffered due to cancellation of the examination.
Before commencing the hunger strike, the BJP president would go to the Telangana martyrs’ memorial at Gun Park in front of the state assembly at 10 am to pay homage to the martyrs. “This is to highlight the fact that the K Chandrasekhar Rao government has belittled the sacrifices made by over 1400 youth for the sake of Telangana state,” a press note from BJP said.
Later, Sanjay would sit on a protest hunger strike from 10.30 am to 2.30 pm at the party office, the party said.
On Thursday morning, the BJP president went to Chanchalguda Central Prison to call on the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leaders, who were arrested while protesting at the TSPSC office on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters later, Sanjay strongly condemned the lathi-charge and arrest of BJYM state president Bhanu Prakash and others who were doing a ‘peaceful’ protest over the leakage of the TSPSC question paper. “While the accused in the leakage case are being given the royal treatment, those who took part in the protests are subject to harassment,” he alleged.
The Begum Bazaar police arrested seven activists of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha for rioting and damaging public property at the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) during the protest on Tuesday.
Sanjay sought to know how the question paper was leaked without the knowledge of the TSPSC chairman. “In fact, the TSPSC officials should be prosecuted first. The constitution of an SIT is just a hoax as it would not serve any purpose. Many SITs constituted in the past did not yield any results,” he said.
Stating that the entire episode was a ‘drama’ enacted by KCR’s son KT Rama Rao, Sanjay wondered why the state government was hesitating to order a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge.
Stating that the ‘failure’ of KTR is clearly evident in the entire episode, Sanjay said the Information Technology department, headed by KTR had miserably failed to prevent leakage of the question paper. “It is shameless on the part of KTR to say that the BJP has a role in the leakage, on the pretext that one of the arrested Rajasekhar has connections with the BJP,” he said.
He pointed out that Rajasekhar had been an employee of Telangana State Technology Services, which is part of the IT department headed by KTR. “What is KTR doing instead of identifying such people? He is unfit to be a minister,” he said.
Sanjay said Rajasekhar had nothing to do with the BJP. “Many people come to me to take selfies. Does it mean I have connections with all of them?” he asked.
He alleged out that the mastermind behind the question paper leakage Renuka has connections with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. “Her mother is a sarpanch of BRS. Her brother is a BRS leader. So, for whose benefit the question paper was leaked?” he asked.
He demanded that all those, including the TSPSC chairman, be sacked and stringent action be taken against them. “The government should conduct recruitment tests as scheduled,” he said.
Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary and the state in-charge, Tarun Chugh stated that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha’s hunger strike was ironic and called it “theatrics” to deflect attention from her involvement in liquor scam.
“It is ironic that a party that is inherently misogynist, talks about women’s reservations. The first cabinet of Telangana state didn’t have a single woman minister. Even in its second stint, the party has just two women as ministers,” said the BJP state in-charge.
He alleged that the demand to pass the women’s reservation bill in the next parliamentary session was only a pretext to divert the attention of the people from the liquor scam.
“If Kavitha is genuine in her demand, she must ensure a 33 percent reservation in her father’s cabinet,” added Tarun Chugh.
“The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned the sitting MLC Kavitha for questioning after following due process and obtaining conclusive evidence. Arun Pillai, one of the accused in the scam, already made a deposition stating that he was actually a binami of Kavitha and acted at her behest,” read the statement on Saturday.
After nearly nine long hours of questioning, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) senior leader and MLC K Kavitha was let off by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday. However, her phone continues to remain in ED’s custody.
The daughter of Telangana chief minister will appear before the ED next on March 16, sources said.
Chugh said that chargesheets had detailed the role of Kavitha in the liquor scam in active connivance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “The chargesheets contain information on how the South Group played an important role in the whole scam, and how Rs 100 crore were given to AAP through the hawala route,” he added.
He said the ED summoned Kavitha to get details of the transaction. “Instead of answering questions, to which perhaps there are no answers, BRS has chosen to take recourse to intimidation by calling statutory agencies names”.
He stated that the statutory agencies have free hands, and they would do the job as per the mandate. He said that it has become fashionable for opposition parties to blame the agencies.
“The silence of K Chandrashekhar Rao on this entire issue is telling,” said the BJP leader stating the BRS MLC is unable to provide answers to simple questions like whether she was a part of the South Group.
“Did she take part in the deliberations to decide the liquor policy? Whether or not they had meetings in ITC Kohinoor, Hyderabad, and Hotel Oberai, New Delhi, or her share in the entire scheme was fixed at 33%,” he added.
Chugh said that it is ironic that a section of opposition parties has taken the usual recourse of blaming the Union Government and Narendra Modi. “I wish to make it unequivocal that the Modi government wouldn’t spare anyone involved in corruption, for it has a zero-tolerance policy towards it,” he added.
Referring to posters put up by BRS across the city in the wake of Kavitha’s interrogation by ED, Chugh said, “As the truth of the liquor scam stares them in the eyes the fear is visible on their faces which the manufactured postures and protests can’t obfuscate.”
BRS has put up posters across Hyderabad with one of them depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ten-headed Ravana from Hindu mythology. The poster also described the Prime Minister as the ‘destroyer of democracy and ‘grandfather of hypocrisy’.
Along with this, posters mocking the BJP for its ‘raid’ detergent also were put up by members of the BRS in the city.
Earlier in the day, Bandi Sanjay, while addressing a rally said, “Few journalists asked me if Kavitha would be arrested. If or not arrested should Kavitha be kissed!” His comments did not go down well with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) cadres who protested and burnt effigies in the national capital.
Following a complaint by BRS leaders and a suo motu cognizance by State Women’s Commission chairperson Sunitha Laxma Reddy, a case was reportedly registered against Bandi under Section 504 (Whoever intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace) and 509 (intending to insult the modesty of any woman) of the Indian Penal Code.
Hyderabad: AICC General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday asked why the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be passed in Lok Sabha over the last nine years despite the BJP having a brute majority.
He also brushed aside BRS MLC K Kavitha’s hunger strike in support of the bill claiming that the move was an attempt to divert attention from the ED summons issued to her.
He recalled that the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010 due to the efforts of Congress which was in power then.
It was passed in Rajya Sabha first as any bill that is introduced in the Upper House never lapses, he said.
Ramesh added that the Congress had tried to introduce it in Lok Sabha but there was opposition within UPA.
The Congress did not have the requisite majority then and the BJP was also reluctant to support on the issue, he alleged.
“…from 2014, Mr Modi has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha. Now, he does not have to pass it in the Rajya Sabha… It is already passed. TRS (BRS) is supporting him most of the time in Lok Sabha. YSRCP supports him all the time. So, why could the bill not pass in the Lok Sabha in the last nine years,” he said.
“So, to sit in hunger strike today at Jantar Mantar (in Delhi) to divert from other issues which will become relevant tomorrow, these are all diversionary tactics,” he told reporters when asked about the Congress not attending Kavitha’s hunger strike in support of the bill.
A day before her scheduled appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy case, Kavitha led a six-hour long hunger strike in Delhi seeking the passage of the bill in the current Budget session of Parliament.
Ramesh said if the BJP wants to get the bill passed, it can get it done in the Budget session next week, Ramesh said.
Regarding Telangana, Ramesh listed out ‘panch sutras’ (five elements) for the benefit of farmers in the state and assured that the Congress, if voted to power, would address all grievances related to the ‘Dharani’ (integrated land records management system) portal.
Congress also promises land surveys in the state in two years if it comes to power, with the objective that the land owner would be the real owner of the land and the land title is conclusive and not presumptive, he said.
Observing that there are 125 laws related to land and 3,000 Government Orders (GOs) in Telangana over many years, he said Congress would come up with one comprehensive land law which will integrate all the existing 125 land laws and thousands of GOs.
He said no land will be acquired without the permission of the land owner.
Congress would also be extending government benefits like crop insurance to nearly 15 lakh tenant farmers in Telangana, he added.
Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday accused Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC K Kavitha of using the hunger strike in support of the Women’s Reservation Bill to divert people’s attention from her involvement in ‘liquor mafia’.
Speaking at the ‘Mahila Gosa-BJP Bharosa’ dharna at the party headquarters in Hyderabad, he said that Kavitha has no ‘moral right’ to take up a strike for women’s bill and alleged that she had no support of any women in the state.“The entire country is bowing its head in shame because of Kavitha’s nefarious activities,” he added.
“It is an open secret that the only well-known female face in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi party is K Chandrashekhar Rao’s daughter. Even in Telangana Jagruthi, there is no other woman except Kavitha. People are laughing at her for taking up the strike for the women’s bill,” said Sanjay.
He said that Telangana women were scared of two flags – that of the BRS and the AIMIM, as the parties were protecting those accused of atrocities on women.
He questioned why the women’s bill was not discussed at the cabinet meeting convened by KCR on Thursday and why the BRS MPs had not raised the issue in Parliament.
The BJP leader also questioned why KCR was not following the 33 percent quota for women in the formation of cabinet, distribution of party tickets to MPs and MLAs, and BRS organisational structure.
The BJP state president said, “During the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, the NDA government had introduced the bill on July 13, 1998 but it was torn to pieces by Rashtriya Janata Dal”.
“Even in 1999, 2002 and 2003, the NDA government introduced the women’s reservation bill, but the opposition parties had opposed the same,” alleged Sanjay.
He said that the Modi government had given utmost respect to women, as many as 11 women were inducted into the Modi cabinet. “Sushma Swaraj is the first female foreign minister and Nirmala Sitaraman is the first defence and finance minister,” he added.
“An Adivasi woman has been made the President of India, eight women were made Governors and four as chief ministers. Women were given prominent positions in all the three military forces,”Sanjay said. . Accusing KCR of doing nothing for the women in the state he recounted the Union government’s schemes that benefited women. “Modi had granted gas connections to nine crore women, power connections to 2.5 crore people under Sowbhagya scheme, houses for 3 crore women and opened 25 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts for 25 crore women,” he added.
Women politicians are unsafe from BRS predators.
Ironically TS CM’s daughter is protesting in Delhi, even as KCR fails to take action against BRS legislators being accused of sexual harassment by women leaders.
Delhi: Congress will not participate in the one-day hunger strike called by BRS MLC K. Kavitha on Friday at the Jantar Mantar , said party leader Jairam Ramesh.
Kavitha, on Thursday while praising Sonia Gandhi for pushing the Women Reservation Bill during the UPA’s tenure criticised the party for “arrogance” on the issue of alliance, and added that the Congress “should be a team player.”
She had said that she had spoken with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K.C. Venugopal to send a representative to the protest.
The BRS said that they have got confirmation from AAP – Sanjay Singh and Chitra Sarwara; Shiv Sena (Uddhav) delegation; Akali Dal – Naresh Gujral; PDP – Anjum Javed Mirza; NC- Dr Shami Firdous; Trinamool Congress – Sushmita Dev; JD(U)- K.C. Tyagi; NCP – Dr Seema Malik; CPI – Narayana K.; Sitaram Yechury – CPI(M); Samajwadi party – Pooja Shukla, RJD – Shyam Rajak; and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal.
Earlier, she had invited 18 political parties, including the Congress to join the one-day hunger strike to press the demand for the Women Reservation Bill.
She said around 6,000 people will be present and her organisation, Bharat Jagruti Manch has reached out to the like-minded parties and organisations.
