Media News Archive

Lok Satta opposes Jamiat call for10 pc quota

HYDERABAD: Lok Satta Party on Monday opposed the demand for 10 per cent reservation to Muslims and other minorities in education and government
jobs made by Jamiat Ulama- e- Hind at the two-day meeting organised here on Sunday.

Addressing media, Lok Satta president Jayaprakash Narayan said the Supreme Court had imposed a cap of 50 per cent on reservation. " Even, if such a quota is feasible, experience shows that only well-educated and economically well-off sections were enjoying its fruits", he said.

He also felt that such demands would trigger social discord and the issue would be used for vote bank politics. Instead, he suggested that 10 per cent bonus marks in admission to higher educational institutions irrespective of caste and religion, would help the minorities. It was high time to organise an open debate on reservations, he said.

Welcoming the Jamiat declaration that terrorism was the biggest crime as per Quran, Jayaprakash said the acts of terror, violence and brutality were perpetrated against innocent citizens by criminals and fanatics and not by Hindus or Muslims. He said Jamiat statement was in consonance with "Wahabism" in Saudi Arabia which has declared that terrorism has no place in Islam.

Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/Lok_Satta_opposes_Jamiat_call_for10_pc_quota/articleshow/3696529.cms

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 13:53

GHMC drop boxes conspicuous by their absence

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) seems to be taking people for a ride. While inaugurating the drop box at IMAX cinema theatre in the presence of Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao, to facilitate enrollment of unregistered voters in the twin cities and also for obtaining Electoral Photo Identity Cards, GHMC Commissioner S P Singh had announced that 2,000 drop boxes would be set up at different places in the twin cities for a period of one month.

They would be placed at all nationalised banks, e-seva centres, fair price shops, post offices, shopping malls and petrol bunks, he had said, but one can hardly find them at the above mentioned spots. Even a few drop boxes found at the GHMC head office, zonal offices and other places are not serving any purpose as one can hardly find electoral forms like 6, 7 and 8 at such places.

Yuva Satta, the youth wing of the Lok Satta Party, which inspected the above mentioned places, pointed out that drop boxes were available only at 15 to 20 places.

Yuva Satta volunteers inspected over 1,050 petrol bunks, post offices, banks, ration shops and super bazaars in 21 constituencies of the city. They found that drop boxes were available only at five post offices, six petrol bunks and four super bazaars.

GHMC officials told ENS that it would take a while to set up drop boxes at important places to help unregistered persons enroll as voters.

Courtesy : Expressbuzz.com

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 13:15

Lok Satta poser to PR

PR asked to spell out welfare policies, programmers

Chiru asked how he would rescue poor/middle classes

HYDERABAD: The Lok Satta Party on Friday ‘counselled’ the Praja Rajyam by asking it to capture people’s hearts by spelling out policies/programmes, rather than by demonstrating its strength.

In a statement, party spokesmen B. Krishna Reddy and K. Srinivasa Rao said people expected to hear from political parties as to how they proposed resolve their problems, instead of seeing a show of strength.

They were referring to the Praja Rajyam’s announcement of its leader K. Chiranjeevi’s second leg of ‘Praja Ankitha Yatra’ to cover Telangana districts.

Mr. Reddy asked Chiranjeevi to spell out how he would go to the rescue of the poor and middle classes, who were ‘crushed’ by the steep price rise and list out measures to bail out distressed farmers driven to suicide.

He asked how Praja Rajyam would tackle the menace of belt shops, which played havoc with the lives of millions.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/25/stories/2008102554110400.htm

Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 19:13

Lok Satta seeks probe into benami compensation

HYDERABAD: Lok Satta Party charged that some people's representatives in collusion with officials had drawn compensation in the names of benami farmers in the land acquisition for the proposed aluminium factory by the Jindals in Boddavara region of S. Kota mandal in Vizianagaram district causing a financial loss to the tune of Rs 10 crore to the government of the Rs 22.44 crore paid as compensation.

While some fake landholders managed to get huge compensation, some genuine farmers were paid only nominal or nil compensation, it said in a release.

A five-member committee headed by the party's Vizianagaram unit, Bhisetty Babji, had conducted an inquiry in which the irregularities came out and they submitted a report to party president Jayaprakash Narayan. Although he had forwarded the report to the chief minister on September 8 seeking an inquiry, no action has been taken.

Now the party has demanded an immediate inquiry into this and action against the guilty and justice to the displaced farmers.

According to the report, in five villages, 12 benami farmers were paid Rs 35 lakh as compensation. Further, it was paid only for a part of the land acquired from D patta holders. Even in their case, officials handed over cheques to brokers instead of landholders so that they could have their cut. B Memo land holders were not paid any compensation at all.

Moreover, there were no proper records concerning land acquisition. Also, the records available did not tally with one another and some records looked apparently newly forged, said the report.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/Lok_Satta_seeks_probe_into_benami_compensation/articleshow/3686519.cms

Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 13:24

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