Firdaus Khan
The Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi delivering a speech at Times Square: Rahul Gandhi on September 20 addressed Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in New York as a part of his two-week long visit to the United States. He has repeatedly raised the issue of joblessness during his meetings with experts, business leaders and Congressmen. He addressed the NRIs with the purpose of making them a part of India’s development.

Rahul Gandhi said, I’d like to welcome all the people on the stage and every single one of you in this room. You know, many years ago Sam came to India and he told you the story of Indira Gandhiji listening to his presentation. Sam, I think it was 1982? Yes, 1982. I was 12 years old. In the morning my father told me that there is a presentation and you have to come. I didn’t know what presentation meant, I thought I was going to get a present. Anyway, I went there, and my sister and I were made to sit down at the back of the room quietly. And we sat there for 6 hours. And Sam and my father discussed computers. I didn’t quite understand what a computer was, nobody actually in 1982 really understood what a computer was.To me it looked like a little box with a TV screen on it. And frankly I didn’t like that presentation, as a little kid, I couldn’t stand the fact that I had to sit for 6 hours. And four or 5 years later, I started to see the result of that presentation. There were typewriters in the Prime Ministers Office. And everybody wanted to use a typewriter. And Sam and my father said to everyone in the PMO’s office that everyone has to move to computers. And everybody said, NO, we like our typewriters, we don’t want computers. So in Sam and in my fathers typical style they said fine you can keep your typewriters, what we are going to do is, we are going to replace typewriters with computers for one month, and after one month we will have your typewriters back. They gave them the computers for one month and then after one month they said ok we are bringing your typewriters back and everyone started to fight, NO, we dont want our typewriters back we want the computer.
Ideas take time to travel into India. But, when an idea is good, India understands it very quickly, and uses it and shows the world how it can be used.
I have been talking to Sam and I made a point in the car to him and he said “I hadn’t thought about it”. You are all Non Resident Indians.
The original congress movement was an NRI movement. Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI, Jawaharlal Nehru came back from England, Ambedkar, Azad, Patel, these were all NRIs. Every single one of them went to the outside world, saw the outside world, returned back to India and used some the ideas they got and transformed India. I’ll go even further, the biggest success in India, our friends in BJP said nothing happened, but one of the biggest successes in India, the milk that most of India drinks, it was man called Mr. Kurien, he was an NRI. He came from the United States and he transformed India. Sam is another example. There are thousands of examples that we have not recognised. So before I even get into the depth of my speech, I want to tell you that I went from San Fransisco to Los Angeles to Washington to New York, I addressed people in Berkeley ,in Princeton, and wherever I went, you made me feel poud to be an India.
Everywhere you look in this country, there is an Indian person working for America, working for India, living peacefully and building this country and our country.So I would like to start by telling you, that you are actually the backbone of our country. Some people view India as a geophraphical construct. They view India as a piece of land. I don’t view India as a piece of land. I view India as a set of ideas. So for me, anybody who has the ideas that make up India is an Indian.
We have many religions in our country. We have many different languages in our country. Every single one of them lives happily together, and the reason they have been able to do so are the ideas of the Congress party. Sam Pitroda just said that the Congress is a hundred and thirty years old. Yes, it is true, the Congress organisation is more than a century old. But, the Congress idea in India is thousands of years old. We don’t represent an organisation, we represent a philosophy that is thousands and thousands of years old. I’ll tell you a little but about what this philosophy is. What did Gandhi actually fight for, what was our freedom movement about, what did Mr. Kurien do? What did Sam pitroda do? What do thousands of NRIs do? They stand up for the truth. It doesn’t matter what is standing against them, when they believe in something and they are convinced that is the truth they stand up for it and pay the price for it. That is the Congress idea.
I had lots of conversations in my trip. I met lot of people from the administration, I met people from both democratic and republican parties, I met many friends, NRI friends.And I must tell you, I was very surprised because before I could even tell them what I was feeling, before I could even tell them what I was worried about, they told me exactly the same thing. And the single biggest thing most people told me, What has happened to the tolerance that used to prevail in India?
What has happened to the harmony in India?
There are a couple of challenges that India is facing.
The single biggest challenge and I’ll give it to you in numbers. 30,000 youngsters come into the job market every single day. Today, only 450 of them are getting a job. I’m not even talking about the unemployed.
This is the biggest challenge in front of our country. And, this challenge is going to be addressed by building a unified approach by bringing people together.
We discuss everything in India.There’s a divisive politics in India but the real challenge facing India is that 30,000 youngsters looking for a job and only 450 getting a job. You can imagine as this process continues what the result will be. India simply cannot give its youngsters a vision if it is unable to give them a job. The Congress party has a vision to solve this problem. And I will tell you little bit about this vision. Currently, the entire focus is on 50 or 60 really large companies. We believe that if you are to create millions and millions of jobs in India, it has to be done by empowering small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs.
Second, I’ll give you another number, 40% of India’s vegetables rot. Agriculture can simply not be ignored. There are people from Punjab here, you will understand exactly what I am saying.
Agriculture is a strategic asset. We need to build agriculture, we need to develop a cold chain, we need to put food processing units close to farms, and we need to empower Indian agriculture. We need to empower our farmers.
Healthcare is going to transform. And I said this in my speech in Berkeley, today all the information in healthcare is in the doctors memories tomorrow all that information is going to be in computers. India has the world’s second largestpopulation. We do very large number of surgeries, heart surgeries, eye surgeries, we have a great understanding of how to do these things. There is a huge opportunity for India in healthcare and we can become the healthcare centre of the world but we have to plan for it today. And I am not talking about simply health tourism, I’m talking about about constructing whereby in the future large parts of medical processes are acrid out in our country.
I can give you a similar vision for the IITs. I went to Berkeley, I was in Princeton yesterday. US universities are networks, knowledge networks. Information travels within them, they are connected to businesses, they are connected to economy. Our IITs are tremendous institutions but they are not networks. If we connect our IITs to our industries and businesses across the world, they will start to compete with the best businesses in the world. these are things that can be done. I, want to go back to the beginning of my speech- You need to get involved. You have tremendous knowledge, You have tremendous understanding, you work in different fields. I invite you to come and work with the congress party and discuss the vision going forward. We want to take your help. Sam Pitroda single handedlytransformed the telecom industry. We don’t want one Sam Pitroda. We wantatleast 10-15 Sam Pitrodas to transform India, Because there’s a lot of work to be done in India.
The last thing I’d like to say to you, India has always shown the world how to live in harmony. For thousands of years India has had a reputation of peace and harmony. This is being challenged. There are forces in our country that are dividing the country and it is very dangerous for the country and it ruins our reputation abroad.
Many, many people in the Democratic party and the Republican party asked me what is going on in your country? We always believed that your country worked together, we always believed your country was peaceful. What is going on in your country?
And that is something we have to fight. India’s reputation in the world is very important. The world is transforming and people are looking towards us. China is rising, we have a relationship with the Unites States . Many countries in a violent world are looking to India and saying maybe, India has the answer to the 21st century. Maybe India has the answer for peaceful coexistence in the 21st century. So, we cannot afford to lose our most powerful asset. Our most important asset is that 1.3 billion people lived happily, non-violently, peacefully and the world respected us for that . This is something that as Congress people every single one of us has to defend. India is a country that belongs to all its people. Doesn’t matter who they are I can see my Sikh brothers, people from different states. India does not belong to any ONE of you. India belongs to this entire room and India belongs to every single one of us and that is what the Congress party is. Again, I’d like to thank you very much and I’ve told Sam, whenever you want me to come to theUnites States, whenever you want me to come anywhere, just call me, MEIN HAAZIR HO JAUNGA. And final thing, I told Sam today, he said about the photographs and I have learnt something, Sam hamarein yahan individual photographs chalti hain, so next time we will give a decent amount of time so that we can have selfies or photographs together. Thank you very much, All the best!

Firdaus Khan
The Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi delivering a speech at Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley, California on Monday. He touched all major aspects of contemporary Indian politics, right from defending questions on dynasty politics to raising questions over the BJP government’s demonetisation drive. He said that he was “absolutely ready” to take up an executive responsibility if the Congress party asked him to do so.
Rahul Gandhi said, Today happens to be the 11th of September. So I would like to start by paying homage to all the people who died on this day and all the people who lost their loved ones.
We stand with them today in their memory.
As a politician, we get to go to different places and listen to many different people. And I am going to start today by telling you a little story. Many years ago, you remember that there was a huge Tsunami, it came to India. And it hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands. And one of the things that we were doing at that time was trying to send aid to the Andaman Nicobar islands and I was looking at a list of people who had died and there are many communities who live in the Andaman Nicobar islands. And I noticed in the list that there were absolutely no tribal people who have died. So I asked some of the people there. I said, "Listen how does it happen?" I said, "There are many many people who have died. There are lots of tribals living in Andaman Nicobar but I don't see a single tribal person who has died in the Tsunami. What happened?"

So then, one of the people there told me, you know Mr. Gandhi when the Tsunami comes, the sea goes out. And when the sea goes out, huge numbers of fish are left stranded. And he said, the tribals, they know when a tsunami goes out and when a tsunami comes in, whereas the non-tribals did not know this. And when the Tsunami came, the sea went out.

All the non-tribals ran to get the fish and all the tribals ran into the hills. And some of the tribals told the non-tribals, don't go there. You are going to get killed. They didn't listen. They ran into the sea. And that's why no tribals died.

And as a liberal today, that's exactly how I feel. Everybody knows that something has gone very wrong in the system. And the right-wing politicians are saying go there and pick up the fish. And people are sort of looking at the simple answers. They are looking at the simple answers but, you are not going to get results from these simple answers.

And this is one of the reasons I have come here. This is a tremendous institution but this institution believes in a liberal ideology, it believes in discussions, it believes in listening to people, it believes in conversations. And, you have a tremendous history and I respect that history. As you, Mr. Chibber said, my great grandfather came here and gave a speech. So, I would like to thank you very much for inviting me here. I am going to speak for about 15-20 minutes and then we are going to have a conversation. You can ask me all the questions you would like.

India is a massive country. It is also one of the world's most complex countries. Every time you think you have understood India, she will reveal something new to you. In fact, I would venture to say anyone who thinks he understands India is a fool. According to most western academics and intelligence agencies in the middle of the last century, India was supposed to fail. We are 29 states covering every religion in the world. We have 17 official languages and hundreds of different dialects and a terrain that runs from the Himalayas all the way to the deserts. Most of these experts didn't expect India to survive. Thye predicted it would fall apart, torn to pieces by its own diversity and contradictions. And yet somehow, as Indira Gandhi said, when asked whether India leans left or right, India came out standing straight and tall.

The idea of non-violence or ahimsa, as we call it in India, is what allows this huge mass of people to rise up together. Uniting India's religion, castes and languages would simply be impossible without it. It is this idea that Mahatma Gandhi fashioned into a powerful but beautiful political weapon.

The common conception in the west is that people have ideas. You all say I have an idea. But there is an alternative way of looking at the world. The counter intuitive notion that instead of people having ideas that ideas have people. So, instead, if I have an idea, an idea has me. This notion is the basis of ahimsa or non-violence as taught by Gandhi. If one accepts the notion that ideas capture people, then the only possible response to a person infected by a bad idea, any person, is love and compassion. The only action you can take against him is to try and rid him of the bad idea and replace it with a good one. Using violence against a person who is infected by a bad idea actually results in the idea spreading more aggressively, multiplying among the people who care for him and love him. This non-violent philosophy in action has travelled far beyond India.

Non-violence is not inaction, says Cesar Chavez, it is not discussion. It is not for the timid and weak. Non-violence is hard work. It is this very idea, this beautiful struggle, that is viciously under attack in India today. But it is also the only idea on which humanity can survive the connectivity of the 21st century and come out unscathed stronger.

The road travelled by India since independence is difficult and filled with formidable obstacles. Our partition was the bloodiest migration in recorded history. At independence, most of our 400 million people were hungry. Yet the achievements of India have been significant. Increasing literacy, expanding healthcare and raising life expectancy, all within a generation. Achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, averting famine, pushing huge advantage in science and technology, even being a front runner in computer technology.

When Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and my dear friend Sam Pitroda who is sitting here spoke about bringing the computers to India, there were voices that ridiculed them. In fact, a leader of the BJP who became PM later asked a question: what does India need computers for? Why do we need computers, imagine that. When India built the IITs, the entire world including many in India were highly critical of the idea that a poor country should waste money on such technical institutions. They reacted to us with scepticism, wondering why a country like ours would need such institutions. Today these IITs and other higher educational institutions in India play a central role in Silicon Valley in the global progress of technology. And yet look at us today. We are rightly proud, we have done that and more lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. For everything everyone says about India, there is no democratic country in human history, and I repeat that there is no democratic country in human history that has raised as many people out of poverty as India has. It is never being done. And we have not done it with violence, we have not done it by killing people, we have done it peacefully together.

For the first time in our history, India, if it is steered correctly and faithfully, have the opportunity to wipe out poverty. If India is able to lift another 350 million people out of poverty by 2030, it would be an achievement that the human race can be proud of. Doing this would require us to grow by more than over 8 percent in the next 13 years. India has done it before and can do it again. But it is imperative that India sustain a high growth rate for an uninterrupted period of 10-15 years in order to do so. At the heart of this powerful engine which India has built with its blood, sweat and bare hands since 1947 are jobs and economic growth. No amount of growth is enough for India if it's not accompanied by the creation of jobs. It doesn't matter how fast you grow. If you are not creating jobs, you are not actually solving the problem. So, the central challenge of India is jobs. Roughly 12 million young people, 12 million, enter the Indian job market every year. Nearly 90% of them have a high school education or less. India is a democratic country and unlike China, it has to create jobs in a democratic environment. India does not have and nor does it want China's coercive instruments. We cannot follow their model if massive factories are controlled by fear. Jobs in India are going to come instead from small and medium scale industries. India needs to turn a colossal number of small and medium businesses into international companies. Currently, all the attention in India is paid to the top 100 companies. Everything is geared towards them. Banking systems are monopolised by them, the doors of government are always open to them and laws are shaped by them. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs running small and medium businesses struggle to get bank loans. They have no protection and no support. Yet these small and medium businesses are the bedrock of India and the world's innovation. Big businesses can easily manage the unpredictability of India. They are protected by their deep, deep pockets and connections. But the real innovative strength of India lies with the millions of small firms and young entrepreneurs that run them. And they are relying on us to build the financial, communication and political infrastructure that would allow them to turn their skills into global businesses.

Healthcare in the 21st century is being revolutionised. Today, a doctor examines you, analyses your data and tells you what is wrong with you. All this is based on his memory. When he retires, that information is lost. Tomorrow, all the medical data is going to be digitised and accessible on computers. Two factors will determine competitiveness in healthcare. First, the type and volume of different medical processes and procedures that are taking place in a country and second, the genetic diversity of your population. India's size will give it huge advantages. The sheer fact that India performs millions of cataract operations or heart surgeries a year, for example, means we are going to be the best at doing them. But much more important in scale will be India's rich genetic diversity. Thousands of years of cross culturalism means that India has the world's most genetically diverse population. If medical processes are going to be based on DNA, then India's diversity is going to be a huge global asset. So, if you are looking at the medical processes in the 21st century, by far, the best opportunities for groundbreaking research and innovation will be in India. It is imperative that we start thinking about these systems now while addressing the critical concerns of privacy and ownership before they arise. Done properly, this can transform India's healthcare system and while at the same time, help the world beyond our borders.

India has triggered a massive process of human transformation. The nature of India's transformation has now reached a stage where it's moment is so powerful that its failure is no longer an option. Our success impacts the world, but should our country fail, it will shake the entire world. What India is trying to do is to connect 1.3 billion people to the global economy with minimum disruption possible in a peaceful and compassionate way. But don't be confused. If this process breaks down, the potential for violence is massive.

I have given you the positives. But before I end, I need to tell you what can go dangerously wrong. Our strength so far has been that we have done all this peacefully. What can destroy our momentum is the opposite energy. Hatred anger and violence and the politics of polarisation which has raised its ugly head in India today. Violence and hatred distract people from the task at hand. Liberal journalists being shot, people being lynched because they are Dalits, Muslims killed on suspicion of eating beef, this is new in India and damages India very badly. The politics of hate divides and polarises India making millions of people feel that they have no future in their own country. In today's connected world, this is extremely dangerous. It isolates people and makes them vulnerable to radical ideas.

Finally, listening to India is very important. She will give you all the answers that you seek. India's institutions have over 70 years have built a profound understanding of our country. We have experts in every single field. Ignoring India's tremendous institutional knowledge and taking ad hoc decisions is reckless and dangerous. Decisions like Demonetisation which removed 86% of cash from circulation overnight and was carried out unilaterally without asking the Chief Economic Advisor, the Cabinet or even Parliament imposes a devastating cost in India.

Currently, we are not producing enough jobs. 30,000 new youngsters are joining the job market every single day and yet the Govt is only creating 500 jobs a day. And this doesn't include the massive pool of already unemployed youngsters. The decline in economic growth today is worrying and it's leading to an upsurge of anger in the country. The Govt's economic policies, Demonetisation and hastily applied GST have caused tremendous damage. Millions of small businesses were simply wiped out as a result of Demonetisation. Farmers and manual labourers who use cash were hit extremely hard. Agriculture is in deep distress and farmer suicides have sky rocketed across the country. Demonetisation, a completely self-inflicted wound caused approximately 2%loss in India's GDP. India cannot afford to grow and create jobs at the current rate. If we continue at the current rate, if India cannot give the millions of people entering the job market employment, anger will increase and it has the potential to derail what is being built so far. That will be catastrophic for India and the world beyond it.

It is siginficant that, In 1949, India’s first prime minister and Gandhi’s grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru had delivered a speech at the university. Leaders from Congress party praised Gandhi’s speech for its candour and eloquence.

Contribution reports for financial years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 submitted to the Election Commission of India has revealed that the BJP received donations worth Rs 2.50 crores from companies that export buffalo meat.
According to a report in The Times of India, subsidiaries of Allanasons Ltd — Frigorifico Allana Ltd, Frigerio Converva Allana Ltd and Indagro Foods Ltd — before the Lok Sabha elections on 2014. Later in 2014-15 Frigerio Converva Allana Ltd had donated Rs 50 lakh more.
Allanasons Ltd is supposed to the largest exporter of meat in India.
This assumes significance given that during the run up to the Lok Sabha polls Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made meat export a poll issue. He had criticised the Congress in a rally in Nawada, Bihar saying, "We had heard of White Revolution, we have heard of Green Revolution, but the government in Delhi wants a 'pink revolution'. Do you know what a pink revolution is? The government is keeping you in the dark."
He had criticised the UPA government for "destroying our rivers of milk" and setting up slaughter houses.
The revelation that BJP has received donations from a meat exporting company may cause controversy given BJP's stand against consumption of meat.
The opposition parties have criticised the BJP for its 'intolerance' towards after the Dadri lynching and the Kerala House raid.

Firdaus Khan
Everybody agrees that justice delayed is justice denied. And yet, trials continue for several generations in our country. The condition is such that people are suffering from what can be called ‘ancestral trials’. An individual passes away, but the trials seem to continue. That is why innocent people sometimes spend their life behind bars. It has happened many a time that after spending the whole life behind bars or even after a person’s death, the verdict comes that the person was innocent. In that case, it is worthless to say who is responsible for the injustice that has happened to them. Nobody in this world can give back the time wasted behind the bars. The family of those people who get involved in trials also face a lot of difficulties in their life. They keep circling around the courts and the lawyers. During each circle, the lawyer earns a huge amount of money and the people lose a huge amount of money. In this era of unemployment and inflation, it is very difficult to earn money and often it is also difficult to manage two full meals a day. Filling the deposit boxes of the lawyer with this limited income is also not less than any kind of punishment.
In the courts country-wide, more than 3 crores cases are pending presently. A point of even greater concern is that out of those 3 crores cases, 60 per cent cases are related to the Government. In several cases the agonist and the antagonist states along with the Central Government are also present. The maximum cases are related to the Income Tax Department, Home Department, Finance Department, Industry Department, Mining-Petroleum Department, Forest Department, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Education Department, Village Councils, Transport and Revenue Department plus 19 other departments. The maximum cases that are against the Government are related to tax. S.S. Palanimanickam, Union Minister of State, Finance said in the Lok Sabha that 5860 cases related to direct tax worth Rs. 2707 crores are pending in the Supreme Court whereas 29650 cases related to direct tax worth Rs. 36,340 crores are still pending in the High Courts. He also said that 2855 cases related to indirect tax worth Rs. 8130 crores are pending in the Supreme Court whereas 14,626 cases related to indirect tax worth Rs. 11,459 crores are still pending in different High Courts of the country. Palanimanickam also said due to some ‘irremediable’ processes of the Government the outstanding taxes are not been collected. The recovery of the outstanding taxes is also not possible due to the suspension of application by the Appeal officials and also due to suspension of the cases by the courts.

Out of the total pending cases, 74 per cent cases fall within the last five years. Salman Khurshid, Law and Justice Minister, said in the Rajya Sabha that till 30 September 2010, 57,179 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, whereas 42,17,903 cases were pending in the High Courts and 2,69,86,307 cases in the lower courts.
Other than the impotency of the Judicial System, the reason behind the huge number of pending cases in the courts is also a glaring shortage of Judges. In proportion to the country’s population, the number of judges is less. There are 135 judges per 10 lakhs in America. Likewise in Canada it is 75, In Australia it is 57 and in Britain it is 50 whereas in India there are only 13 judges per 10 lakhs population. Despite this, the judge’s post in different courts are still empty. Last year, in about 21 High Courts of country-wide, 279 posts were empty, although 895 recommended posts are present in those High Courts. There are 160 posts for judges in the Allahabad High Court, but only 69 judges are present — that means 91 posts are still empty. In the High Courts of Haryana and Punjab there should be 68 judges in total, but only 20 judges are present and 48 posts are vacant. In Kolkata High Court, only 17 judges are present, whereas there should 58 judges in total. There 41 posts still vacant.
There are only 13 judges in the High Court of Rajasthan, but there should be 40 judges which means 27 posts are vacant. Gujarat High Court also has only 22 judges, whereas there should be 42 judges, 20 posts are vacant and in Sikkim High Courts only one judge is present, whereas there should be 3 in total. District and Subordinate courts are also more or less in the same situation. In total, 18,008 posts are recommended in those courts, whereas 3,634 posts are still vacant. In Gujarat, there are 1679 posts for judges, but only 863 judges are present and 816 posts are empty. Only 681 judges are present in Bihar, whereas the requirement is 1666 judges. 1897 judges are working in Uttar Pradesh, whereas 207 posts are still vacant. The requirement of judges in West Bengal is around 146. Around 194 posts are still vacant in Maharashtra. The other states of the country are more or less in the same situation. As a consequence, delays in court cases inevitable. The Prime Minster of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice of India, Mr. Sarosh Homi Kapadia and Law and Justice Minister, Mr. Salman Khurshid have agreed that in India cases in the courts run for a longer period of time and decisions also come very late.
Cabinet Minister and famous Advocate Kapil Sibal said that the biggest obstacles for appointing new Judges are the State Governments. They always cry over the deficiency of money. Justice is on the last pedal in their priority list.

The Government has now taken some major steps for rapid completion of court cases. According to this the Government has approved the National Justice Delivery and the Legal Reform Mission. In the financial year 2011-12, for infrastructure development, the Central government has alloted Rs. 500 crores _ five times more than the previous allotment. For the States, it has also been increased from 50:50 to 75:25 and for the Northern states it is kept as 90:10. Other than this, for the period in between 2010 to 2015, the Government has approved the recommendation of Rs. 5000 crores mentioned in the 13th Five Year Plan for the development of a viable justice pattern in the country. In 2010-11, the State Governments have already been granted Rs. 1000 crores each. With the help of these grants, the State Governments can build Morning/Evening/Special Magistrate courts in order to reduce the number of pending cases in their respective states. They can appoint court stewards; build Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centers, provide training for the consultants and arrange more people for the courts. Grants are also been allotted for the training of Justice Officials, for making the State Justice academies more powerful, for the training of the public prosecutors and for the maintenance of the heritage courts. To make all the judicial processes computerised, the Government has alloted Rs. 935 crores for every district and Subordinate courts of the country. This process has been under way since 1997. Till 31 March 2012, around 12,000 courts are to be computerised and till 31 March 2014, 14.249 courts are to be computerised. State case policy is also being prepared with the aim of making the Government efficient and responsible. If the cases in which the Government is involved are reduced then the courts will get more time to resolve the other pending cases.
To provide justice to the people at ground level, village courts are to be constructed under the Village Court Act-2008. The Central Government is also providing expenses for the construction of village courts. For the first 3 years the amount for the help allotted is to be Rs. 3.20 lakhs per village court per year.

Justice After Five Decades
In a five decades old case, on August 2007, the Supreme Court gave a decision in favour of a farmer named Rajendra who died a few years ago. This land dispute case reached the court in 1957. In 1964, the Allahabad High Court stipulated the land was in Rajendra Singh’s name. The Supreme Court also deemed this decision to be correct. The persons, who occupied the land namely Prem Mai and Sudha Mai, also didn’t challenge this decision. In that case Rajendra Singh should have got the land, but in 1991 the High Court again interfered in this case and dissolved the final decision. In 2001, Rajendra Singh knocked at the door of the Supreme Court and in August 2007, Rajendra Singh got the decision in his favour. But Rajendra Singh had passed away a few years before the decision was given. In this issue the Court sorrowfully said that if the trust of the common people is to be reinstated in the Judicial system, then the cases should be completed expeditiously.

Agra (Uttar Pradesh). Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of Delhi Court and much famed panel headed by him on Muslim minorities in 2006 called Sachar Committee said in Mathura on Friday that more Hindus are involved in beef trade in India than Muslims. He said this in three days International Conference on Radical Islam in the wake Paris attack. His statement reads, “Almost 95% of beef traders are Hindus. Still, a man was lynched in Dadri because he ate beef. This is the death of mankind and humanity. Eating habits have nothing to do with religion. Even I can eat beef”.

In a subtle reference to BJP’s Sardhana MLA Sangeet Soma, who recently made news over allegation about owning a beef trading company,Mr Sachar told “MPs and MLAs too own beef company. Then why is only the common man being targeted by right wing groups”.

As soon as he delivered this at RC Degree College at Mathura, people comprising mostly scholars and teachers started leaving the venue in protest. A few of them also switched fans and lights in the hall to disrupt the address and demanded Sachar to stop the address.However,the former High Court Judge tried to pacify the audience by saying that he only meant to highlight the plight of Muslims who were being targeted unnecessarily due to the beef controversy.

Among the audience present at the venue, Mr Shiv Ram Bhardwaj,a teacher at a Degree College, Mathura did not like the comment made by Mr Sachar and told that Mr Sachar tried to turn a “pro Muslim topic into an Hindu one”. Another teacher present at the venue Yaduraj Yadav told Justice Sachar should not have made reference to Hindus and their scriptures to drive home his point. Several scholars and delegates from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada and other countries were present at the Conference

Over 90% of Muslim women, surveyed by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) across 10 states, want a ban on oral and unilateral Talaq (divorce) and have rejected polygamy.
The survey, released in New Delhi on Thursday, also revealed that an overwhelming number of women — 88.5% of the total 4,710 women surveyed — want action against the cleric for sending notice of oral divorces. A staggering 93% women also stated that they wanted arbitration to be made mandatory before a divorce.
“Around 91.7% or 4,320 women have spoken out against polygamy saying that a Muslim man should not be allowed to have another wife during the subsistence of the first marriage,” stated the survey findings, which covered states like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand.
The survey report also stated that 83.3% Muslim women surveyed believed that codification of Muslim family law will help them get justice.
“This is a very important finding which suggests that women want an elaborate codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce, polygamy, maintenance and custody of children,” said Mumbai-based Noorjehan Safia Niaz, who along with Zakia Soman conducted the survey.
Niaz said that the survey was an attempt to give voice to what Muslim women want rather than letting others speak on their behalf.
“For long, everyone else has been speaking on behalf of Muslim women in India. We wanted to find out what do Indian Muslim women think and want so we conducted the survey which took us two years to complete. An overwhelming number of women want reforms in Muslim personal law as is prevalent in the country today,” said Niaz.
Courtesy :Hindustan Times

Guwahati (Assam). Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressed a huge party rally in Guwahati as part of his campaign in Assam for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

He said, For the past 13 years, you have a Congress government in Assam. Militancy came down and peace is back in the state. How we could achieve this? It is because the Congress government in Assam went to the people, listened to them, connected entire sections with love, empowered them and peace returned. All the people in Assam are reaping the benefits.
There are two types of leaders. The first type is those leaders who go to the people, mingle with them, listen to their issues and wish to give them more power. This is the way Congress thinks. And on the other side, there are leaders who snatch power from the people.  I am not of that type. I do not want your power but want to give you more strength, instead. It is you, who must take our country forward. You have strength and the potential to do so.

Today, I had an interaction with some people here in Assam. I could learn a lot from them. Nowadays, some leaders come to you and promise you that they would change the state and the world. But the fact is that it is the people who bring in changes, not the leaders. Leaders cannot reform the world; only people can do so. I do read our history. Our great leaders always listened to the people.. They had bowed their head before them. They always stressed for the empowerment of common people. I just want to say one thing; we must give more power to the people. They must have a role in governance and policy making because they know a lot. I sit in Assam and it is not possible for me to know the minute details on what is happening in Assam. But the people here, the women and the youth, know about it. We, therefore, try to give more powers to them.

What has been done in 70 years, BJP claims it can do in it in three months. This is a mockery of the people as what has happened in the last seven decades is because of the people. If India is progressing, that is because of the hard work of our people. If Assam is having peace today, it is because of you. It is your good heart, love and affection made it possible. So you must be strengthened further. If we do so, those leaders will vanish.

What did Congress do in Assam? Earlier BJP-AGP government looted the state. Just within 3 months they robbed the people of Assam, which was never done by anyone else in the past 50 years. There was no peace under their regime; people were under pain.

Congress transformed the state now. More than 1000 kms of roads were built under PMGS. You have a bridge over Brahmaputra now. The proposed economic freight corridor will benefit you too. The youth will have increased employment opportunities.  We connected lakhs of women with banks through Self Help Group scheme. We gave you the biggest employment guarantee scheme in the world – MNREGA – which ensures minimum 100 days of jobs for rural poor.

Mahatma Gandhi taught us that revolution is brought with peace. The BJP had opposed our move for MNREGA and Food Security schemes. They said it is a wastage of money.
Opposition talks about corruption but the most powerful and historical instrument against it in the form of RTI was given by our government. What was done in closed doors by bureaucrats can be known by any common citizen by filing an RTI.

We brought the Tribal bill for the adivasis. We fought with Vedanta at Niyamgiri and gave the lands back to the tribals.  We fought for the farmers’ rights in Batta-Parsaul and enacted the Land Acquisition law. We waived-off the loans of the poor farmers worth Rs 60000 crores. We did all these with love and respect, not with anger. This has been our policy.

We brought 2 central universities, IIIT, NIT, TIGS, RGIPT, North-East Institute of Science and Technology in Assam to enable our youth to have better education and training. We want them to be better equipped to secure jobs. Congress wants to empower women. We want the women to have the same power that men possess. Women are our strength and they develop our country. Congress always believed in inclusive growth.
Yesterday, I was interacting with some farmers in Haryana. One farmer told me that he stays in Gujarat and has been engaged in farming there, for the past 40 years. But now the Gujarat government says that he is an outsider. He now faces the threat of eviction from the Gujarat govt. It is very sad. No one is an outsider. In Maharashtra, the people from UP are outsiders. In UP Maharashtra people are outsiders. In Delhi N-E people are outsiders. This is not right. This is not our policy. For us all are insiders in India.

When people started shouting BJP Murdabad, Rahul Gandhi quipped back.
Please don’t. we must not use the words like Murdabad. We should not be angry. That is the habit of BJP. Now BJP wants to finish Congress. But they do not know that Congress is not a party, but it is an ideology which cannot be removed from the hearts and minds of the people.  It is ideology to love each other, respect all. BJP talks of Hindutva but did not read Gita. The Gita talks of respecting all, working with love and not to be arrogant. The same has been said in Quran, Gurugranth Sahib. This concept is years-old and no one can destroy this. Hindustan is like a Guldasta (bouquet) which has space for all. We must love all, respect all. It is the people who develop the nation.

In the last ten years, about 15 crore people came out of poverty. This is an historic achievement and it happened for the first time in our country. It is due to the good work done by the Centre led by Manmohan Singh Ji and Sonia Ji. Now there is a new class emerging. It is just above the BPL but down the middle class. About 70 crore are coming in this new category. Our next aim is to uplift them and take to the middle class group.

We talk about Super power. Without empowering our women India can never be a super power. It will remain as half super power until then. In the next 5 years we will strengthen our steps to empower more women. We want 50% of the members in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Assemblies are women. We also want to empower the youth and want them at higher places. We have nothing but you, the people, have everything – the strength, the knowledge and the power. Our duty is just give you opportunities, open up conditions and to empower you.

In Assam, we have initiated a new process to select the candidates. We want to give people a voice in candidate selection. We are holding primaries. We have held it now in 15-16 places but we want to take it in all constituencies. With this (primaries), all party workers would be involved in candidate selection and you will feel that it is your candidate. Congress party also needs to be reformed and we are doing it. I feel very glad to be here in Assam. Lots of your people come to Delhi. You have a good reputation there. Once, when I went to a hotel in Delhi, I could see good number of Assam people are employed there. I asked the authorities why there are more of your people there. They told me that the people from North East are very good and they work very nicely.

I feel sad for Nido. Whenever something goes wrong with North east people, I feel very bad. Everyone must feel safe and secure, everywhere in India. All Indians must be loved equally, anywhere. You should feel at home in Bangalore just as you feel in Assam.
I could learn about a self immolation of a youth here. I was just telling our Chief Minister Gagoi Ji, his government must extend maximum help and support to his family. We must love his family and must never be angry with them. We believe in love, not in ager. That is what Assam teaches us.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand ). Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday kick-started his party’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by addressing a mammoth party rally in Dehradun. While speaking on the occasion, he took on the BJP for its divisive politics and anti-people policies.
He said, I am grateful to Uttarakhand.. I did my schooling here..Recently I was reading some works of Pt Nehru.. I was shocked to read that he thanked English for sending him to jail as he could a learn about the world, the people during imprisonment. Whenever you see people in pain,  go to them.  One must realise their pain and must try to resolve it. If we want to realise others pain, one must set aside his aspirations, pride and pains. There is no place for anger in politics.

That is what I could learn from Uttarakhand. When the state was under crisis, everyone in the country stood with it. Entire India was united to help Uttarakhand – Dalits, Adivasis, Sikhs, Hindus all were with you. I also saw the victims in Uttarakhand helping others. The people here have strength and potential. Though some handful of people indulged in divisive ideology, the people stood as one. I had just talked to your Chief Minister and he has assured that the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure will be completed as early as possible and I am sure that the people will get its benefits soon. The Centre also had extended maximum help, sent Rs 7000 cr, to help flood-hit Uttarakhand.

Do you know who helped you the most? Not Rahul Gandhi, not the Central government but it was the Army. We can never forget it. I am grateful to them. We realise their strength and that is why their long pending demand for one-rank, one pension was approved by the Prime Minister and Sonia Ji. I am happy to see women here in large numbers. I want 50% of the members in Parliament and assemblies are also women.  I had gone to Kerala recently and I had a meeting with women. They requested me to increase the number of subsidized LPG cylinders to 12. I had communicated this to Prime Minister and Sonia ji and I am glad that the Central government agreed with their request and increased the number to 12. There is 50% reservation for women in Panchayats but we want to extend the reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies too. We will do it. Everyone is talking about India becoming a super power. But we can never be a superpower without empowering our women. We need to ensure that and I am there with you to fight for it.

Now I want o tell something to our youth here. The Centre has initiated a corridor which will touch Uttarakhand too. Lakhs of youth will have new employment opportunities. In education we established new IIM, IIT and NIT here. We can explore new avenues in tourism too. We are soon going to face another election. We have an opposition here which talks a lot. Rajiv Gandhi had initiated computerization. When he talked about computers, the opposition had opposed that move in the Parliament by saying that India do not need computers. They also had said that computerization will kill jobs. But now, after 10 years, the same opposition tries to take the credit of computerization and telecom. The reality is that they do not have any vision; they do not have any far sighted ideas. They just deliver big speeches.

In the last ten years, we have initiated a new politics of granting rights to the people. We gave people rights in job, education, land and in food. Several people could come out of poverty. Our next goal is to ensure people’s right in health. There is a new class emerging – just above poverty line but below the middle class. We want to uplift them too by giving them proper education and training. We want to listen to their issues and support them.

I want to reiterate that we cannot move forward without empowering our women across the country. Wherever there is women empowerment we can see progress there.  A BJP leader talks about development in Gujarat, but it developed because of the women there. I do not talk about myself. I do talk about women, youth and the poor. I stress for their empowerment. If we have developed that is because of the blood and sweat of the people and not due to any individual. He may be thinking that progress took place due to his efforts but he is wrong. It is the people who did it. Congress will use the power of the people to build the nation.

BJP talks loud on corruption. But it was the Congress which gave the nation the most powerful tool to fight corruption – the RTI. It was the Congress which brought Lokpal.

How is RTI functioning in Gujarat? They do not have proper RTI commissioners there. It took 9 years to have a Lokayukta in Gujarat. Even that Lokayukta is not powerful; it is highly under the control of a single person.

There are six anti-corruption bills pending in the Parliament. I had tried my level best to persuade the opposition to get those bills passed. I had shared about it with media too. But the opposition showed no seriousness, instead, kept on stalling the Parliament. We will not move back. Now we are exploring the Ordinance route.
BJP does not see the corruption of Yeddyurappa in Karnataka. The large scale corruption in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is not visible for them. They see only the power.  They will do anything to grab power. They make people fight each other. If we want to reform the system, we must stand as one. We want unity, not division, to progress.

I had recently met some disabled persons at India Gate. They want the bill connected with their issues to be passed by the Parliament. The women want the passage of women reservation bill. I am here with you in your fights. We must listen to the people, to realise their problems. That has been the policy of the Congress. There may be some setbacks but we will never go back from our ideology. The opposition is not serious for people’s pain. They indulge in divisive tactics. While Congress wants to empower people, the opposition wants to grab people’s rights. Their aim is just to grab power by any means. They think that if they get PM post, all problems will be solved.

BJP wants to finish Congress. But they do not understand the Congress’ ideology; love each other, respect others –is the vision of India. It is ages-old ideology. Budha, Ashoka, Mahadev also had the same vision. But the opposition forgets this. This is our battle to protect this years-old ideology. We must fight for it. No one can kill this concept and anyone tries to finish Congress, will get finished. Congress’s vision will always remain here.

Kochi (Kerala). Congress President and UPA chairperson launched Congress campaign in Kerala by addressing a massive party rally at Kochi.

She said, I congratulate the Chief Minister on my own behalf and your behalf. I also want to make my appreciation to put place before you, my appreciation for the hard work that Ramesh Chennithala has been putting in this last 8 years in spite of many challenges. My appreciation also for tireless manner in which Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is working for the welfare and the well being of the people of Kerala. I am sure all of you will work as a team and lead our party to success. Very soon we will be facing the 2014 Lok Sabha election. As he mentioned before, Kerala in 2009 gave us a huge mandate. The big challenge before us today is to repeat that performance again and I was assured by Prof. Thomas that we will repeat that performance and we may even win more seats. We will be going of course to the people to seek a new mandate with confidence. Confident of our achievement both state and national level and we do have many- many achievements. You all are aware of them. But 2014 election is not just about our records as I said we have many achievements, we have lot to be proud of. These elections are more important I would say than any other elections because these elections are about our country’s future. What kind of India do we want? The congress party has stood for 128 years for its idea of India. This is an idea that finds its expression in the state of Kerala. It is the idea of one nation made of many- many diverse people. We are all here today because we believe in an India where it doesn’t matter what religion you practice, what language you speak? It doesn’t matter what caste you are born into or what colour of your skin is. Its only matters that you are Indian. This is what we mean when we speak of secularism. We speak the value and traditions of our society. Tradition and values taught to us by our freedom fighters, by our great leaders and enshrine in our constitution and protected by our democracy. We speak of safeguarding an India which not only respect our diversity but also celebrate this diversity. This idea of our India today is under a threat from those who seek not just to rule but change India’s very heart, India’s very soul. What we want, what Congress party wants is an India, is unity in India. What they want, they want uniformity. We believe in an India that unites our people they seek to divide us. Our ideology binds people together, theirs separate one from another. What we believe in is this strengthening our democratic institution at all levels. They seek to weaken those institutions. What we believe in is leadership that empowers people and harnesses their collective strength in the pursuit of the national objectives. Dear friends and colleagues the choice is before you, the choice before the nation is clear to vote for a party that embodies hope or the one that promotes fear. The choice is either to support an India united in striving or an India divided by the hatred; an India that belong to all of us or an India to belong the some and serves the interest of few. The Congress party stands for democracy, diversity, development; that is the India our leaders work and sacrifices for; that is the India we fight for till our last breath. Friends, Congress drives its support and strength from all sections from our diverse society. The Congress always follows the policy that promote high economic growth but that it ensures that the benefit of growth are enjoyed by all particularly by the poor, by the disadvantage. Here in Kerala our principle opponents claim to speak for the poor but I want to ask what they have done for the poor, what are they doing for the poor? They oppose every single scheme that sets out for the poor. And this is as far they are concerned working for the poor. The people of Kerala can chose a party that is building an India for the 21st century or a party imprisons an ideology that has become irrelevant today. They can vote for a party that is always responded to changing circumstances creatively or one that is stuck with tired slogans of the past. You are all Congress men and women. You belong to party founded on the principles of non violence. What does our principles opposition in Kerala do? They reject the principle of non violence. We settle differences through dialogues and discussions; they settle them through brutal act to murder, with killings.   Friends, last ten years has been period of profound transformation in our country. We have had unprecedented economic growth. It is because of this growth that UPA, under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh ji, has been able to launch and to implement a large number of programs in different areas like rural employment, urban infrastructure, water supply, sanitation, education and health and it is the economic growth that has enabled the centre to provide all states without making any difference with much greater assistance than ever before for development work. We now have record production of food grains and over the last decade procurement prices of rice and wheat have been more than doubled. Wages in rural areas have also increased benefitting lacs and lacs of workers. Beginning with the historic right of information or RTI a series of laws has been passed, like the NAREGA, the forest right act, the right to education act, the national food security act and the new Land acquisition act. And this is not just charity like our opponents are telling everybody. These acts empower our people. They give them rights, they give them legal entitles as they have never had before. Our opponents speak of corruption. At every instance when a case of corruption that comes to our notice we have taken action, I want to know what action have they taken when they were in government here or in West Bengal. What action is BJP taking in their state, the state run by them? They have taken no action. They are only capable pointing fingers at us. The Lokpal act has become a reality. Now in Kerala we will have a Lokayukt act very soon in keeping with this Lokpal legislation. There are many - many other bills to deal with corruption; they are waiting approval in the parliament. But as you well know our opposition is not interested in fighting corruption. They do not want these bills to be passed and every day they are stalling the parliament in order to ensure that these bills are not passed. In last three years the record of UDF government under the leadership of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy ji has also been noteworthy. I don’t need to list out everything but just as few examples, the metro rail project is proceeding rapidly, 8 new medical colleges have been launched, new initiatives have been taken in health care. Kannoor has become first district in India to be a zero landless district. Thiruvananthapuram is now model capitol. I am aware that despite all this progress challenges still remain both national and state levels. I wish to reassure you that for us protecting the livelihood of tribals, of schedule caste, of farmers, of fisher man and of women are absolutely priority. Well we must preserved our environment, forest and preserve our bio-diversity, livelihood security is most important, is paramount. We must and we will find ways to ensure that both objectives are fulfilled in a more harmonious manner. So friends, in next few weeks are going to be very challenging. Our rivals will argue that after ten years of UPA rule, it is time for a change. But I want to ask you a change to what? Do the people of India truly want to give up the values we have cherished for six and a half decades, for the untested promises of those who have built their careers on falsehood, on lies, for those who assume many masks only to pursuit for electoral gain, for those who pretend to be moderate only on electoral convenience. We must resist them with all our might. I am sure you will join me in resisting them with your might with our hard work and our commitment. We will fight to pull our secular ethos, the principles enshrine in our constitution and protected by our democracy.   We must strive for unity and not for division. We must continue to work for India of the fusion and not be the hostage to the dogmas of the past. I know that the Congress party always risen to the education. To me there is no this group or that group, we are all one group; we are Congress men and women. And that is how we will fight this coming electoral battle and that is how we will win this coming electoral battle. I thank you for your warm welcome. I join you to fight, to face the coming challenge, to fight altogether as one group as the Congress party group as the only group, the Congress party group, that is the way we will win this battle, that is the way we will bring the Congress party back. 

Belgaum (Karnataka). Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday addressed a massive party rally in Karnataka’s Belgaum and slammed the BJP’s double speak on corruption.

He said,The relationship of Congress with this region is very old. In 1924 Gandhi Ji had visited Belgaum. I also take this opportunity to remember Chittoor rani Chennama Ji. Karnataka is such a state which has been fast growing. It also achieved good development in IT industry. This state developed due to the hard work the people, it developed due to their sweat and blood. You developed not just in 2-3 days, but after fighting for long days. Congress also has an important role in this. It worked alongwith the people for development in the state.  I just want to point out some examples.

It was the Congress which established BHEL, HAL factories in Bangalore. After that the Congress fought for the rights of the poor. The then Chief Minister Devraj Urs had put in sincere efforts for the upliftment of the poor, labourers, Dalits and weaker sections. He fought for the lands for the poor. His Congress government had initiated several policies like what all we have been doing now. In 1980 Rajiv Gandhi had initiated IT and computers. But you must be remembering that the opposition, the BJP, laughed at him by saying that India do not require computers. They had said that computers will kill the jobs. The most important fact is, Rajiv Ji had also said, that that the strength of Hindustan is in its people. India cannot stand on its own leg if we do not use this strength properly, uplift the poor and take its entire people together. This has been the ideology of the Congress. We must help the poor, the women and the weaker sections.  We must carry all the people together and use their strength.

But what does the opposition say? They tell us to forget the poor, weak, labourers and farmers. They want to form a government of the selected people, of the corporate, the elite and want to ignore India. This is the difference between Congress and the opposition. We do not need an India where a handful of people become rich and our farmers, Dalits and weaker sections live in distress.    We need such a country where every citizen has respect, every religion has respect, every ideology has respect, every woman and youth have respect. We will fight for such an India. This has been the concept of India and it is more than 3000 years old.  Ashoka, Budha, Gandhi Ji and Geeta, all taught us this ideology. But the opposition makes one person fight with other. They ignore your strength. They want to grab power while people are fighting each other.  Karnataka witnessed a huge growth in its IT industry. This achievement took place because we took everyone along, the poor, the weak and the business houses.

Now BJP leaders deliver big speeches roaming across the country. They say that India can become a great IT hub.   But who initiated this? It was the Congress which started work in this direction. It was the people, the youth who had helped Karnataka to become a prominent place in the IT sector. It took a long time to achieve this, about 60 years. But the BJP leaders, who were against computers, now want Karnataka to become IT Centre. They do not think who had initiated this. They forget that it was the Congress which had the vision for it. Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts made it possible.  

Now we see a BJP leader has been roaming around the country and talks about corruption but the large scale corruption, that took place in Karnataka when they were in power, is not visible for him. They forget that their BJP Chief Minister was sent to jail for corruption. They do not see that 16 ministers had to resign.  They do not see corruption in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The people of Karnataka threw the BJP govt out of power, mainly because of the massive corruption under its rule. And now the former Chief Minister, who was in jail on corruption charges, is back in BJP.  The BJP leaders, but, do not realise it. They see corruption only in the Congress-ruled states and ignore it in the BJP states.

BJP had promised 24 hour electricity in Karnataka. But the reality was that the people received only 3 hour electricity under BJP regime. The previous BJP government was not of the people of Karnataka; it was the government of Bellari. It mortgaged the entire state to Bellari and told them to forget the people, the women, the youth and allowed them to loot the state. Today, BJP leaders travel across the country and talk loud against corruption! The Congress, in the last 10 years, has been running a pro-poor, pro-people government at the Centre. We initiated the process to grant rights to the people. We implemented MNREGA to guarantee jobs to the rural masses. The people of Karnataka now get rice for Rs. 1 a kg. The Central government enacted Food Security law to make sure that no one lives hungry in our country. Who brought RTI Act? It was the Congress which did it. It empowered people and ensured transparency in government administration. Any citizen can gather any information about the government using RTI. It is the Congress which enacted Lokpal.  Now, there are six bills on corruption pending in the Parliament. Congress wants to get those passed. But it is the opposition and the BJP which are blocking its passage. They do not let the Parliament to function.

BJP talks a lot but only Congress delivers and brings in development. I want to assure you that the Karnataka government will work for all. We will ensure that the poor, labourers and weaker sections of the society get respect. We will try to incorporate people’s strength in developing Karnataka. We will empower the people to our maximum.  The present government has been giving focus on this. It concentrates on irrigation, farmer welfare, loan-waiving and  the welfare of the poor. We will further boost the IT industry here. We will, together work, for the development here. We will not let anyone to slip back. We want to instil confidence among the people so that they feel their role in nation building and in development.

In 2014, Congress is going to form a government at the Centre and we will continue with our pro-poor policies. We will continue our efforts for the upliftment of the youth and the women. We will get the Women Reservation Bill, which ensures 33% reservation for women, passed in the Parliament.  We will empower you more so that we can have more women MPs and MLAs.