Press Releases Archive

Publish white paper on loans to Farmers, demands Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today demanded that the Government publish a white paper on bank loans to farmers during the kharif season.

Talking to the media, party General Secretaries V. Laxman Balaji and G. Malyadri said that the banks had not distributed Rs.12000 crore as claimed by the Government. The banks included regular gold loans given to farmers as agricultural loans and boosted their total loan figures.

The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that the Government had not been able to make banks grant loans to 50000 tenants as planned. According to field reports, banks had granted loans only to 10 to 15 percent of them.

There were no signs of the Government distributing fodder for cattle. Farmers had sold away as many as 8 lakh head of cattle to slaughterhouses, unable to feed them. Power supply continued to be erratic causing untold misery to farmers.

The Lok Satta demanded that the Government convene a meeting of the State-level Bankers’ Committee to ensure that loans were distributed to farmers and tenants as planned, that fodder distribution be taken up on a war footing and that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is effectively implemented.

Saturday, September 12, 2009 - 18:20

Human Rights Commission acts in harassment case

Justice Subhashan Reddy, Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission, today directed the Visakhapatnam District Collector to extend financial assistance and police protection to Madhurima of Peda Waltair in Visakhapatnam city.

The commission held a hearing today on a complaint lodged by the Mahila Satta. Since Madhurima was too sick to be physically present, her mother Swarnakumari represented her at the hearing, with the help of Visakhapatnam Mahila Satta President Umadevi.

The Mahila Satta had complained that an NRI, Baru Chakravarti, married Madhurima concealing the fact that he had already been married and subjected her to brutal harassment.

Giving this information to the media, Mrs. K. Geetha Murthy and Mr. V. Laxman Balaji said the Commission had directed the Visakhapatnam Collector to register a case under Sec. 494 I. P.C. and arrest the boy’s parents also and arrange her medical treatment under Aarogyasri. The case was adjourned to October 12 for further hearing.

It may be recalled the Mahila Satta had taken up the case with the DGP, the Home Minister and the Human Rights Commission as the police in Vizag did not act with alacrity.

Friday, September 11, 2009 - 20:25

Resume voter registration, Urges Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today requested the Election Commission and the State Government to resume voter registration on a continuous basis.

Talking to the media, party spokespersons V. Laxman Balaji and Mrs. K. Gita Murthy said that not a new single voter identity card had been issued after the 2009 general elections.

Following nine years of persistent Lok Satta struggles, the Election Commission of India agreed to make post office the nodal agency for voter registration, beginning with Hyderabad, on the eve of the 2009 general elections. The move elicited tremendous response in that tens of thousands of people put in their applications in post offices beginning on November 17, 2008. Far from extending the move to cover all the 16,000 post offices in the State in phases as promised by the Election Commission of India, only about half of the 350,000 postal applicants in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area had been issued voter identity cards. The others had been left high and dry so far.

The Lok Satta leaders said the voters’ lists continued to be riddled with mistakes even during the 2009 general elections. Such mistakes could be rectified only when the accessible and nearby post office is made the nodal agency for voter registration and related matters. A survey conducted by the Lok Satta in the Sanatnagar Assembly constituency in 2004-05 revealed that 13 percent of the eligible did not have votes while nine percent of the 185,000 voters were ineligible.

The party spokespersons wanted the authorities to ensure that all the eligible who had applied for voter registration received their voter ID cards and that postal services were utilized on a permanent basis.

Friday, September 11, 2009 - 20:24

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