Maharashtra Election Updates

• After Prithviraj Chavan’s resignation from CM’s chair, President’s rule has been imposed in Maharashtra on September 28, 2014. 
  
• M. Mallikarjun Kharge, INC leader of parliament, has slammed the Union Government’s decision to impose President’s rule instead of allowing Prithviraj Chavan to continue his tenure as head of the caretaker government till the formation of the new one.Maharashtra is going to witness a 5-cornered contest during October 15 Assembly Election. A total of 7,666 candidates have filed nominations this time.

Republican Party of India, which has great support base among Dalits, has pledged support to BJP. This has led to split in Dalit vote bank. While some dalit groups have supported Congress, others have decided to contest as independent candidates.  Sulekha Kumbhare, dalit leader from Vidarbha region and former INC minister, has offered ‘unconditional’ support to BJP during upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election. Referring to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s grass root hold, experience, wisdom, and stature, Nationalist Congress Party’s leader Majid Memon has referred his chief as the ‘tallest leader’ of Maharashtra.

• After the bitter split of 25 year alliance of BJP with Shiv Sena, the former has decided to hold 300 rallies in just 2 days throughout Maharashtra. 
  
• Congress will start its Maharashtra campaign from September 30, 2014. It will be started by Prithviraj Chavan from Taljapur. While INC President Sonia Gandhi will address more than 10 rallies, Vice President Rahul Gandhi will address many rallies after that.
  
• Raj Thakarey, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Chief, has attacked BJP for taking away their MLA Ram Kadam, on one hand, and ditching Shiv Sena, on the other. 
  
• NCP and INC leaders who flocked to BJP have got candidature in more than dozen constituencies. 
  
• Anandiben Patel, Gujarat CM, has said that Maharastra voters need BJP because they want the same party in both state and center for achieving more good things.

New PF Facility Expected to be Launched on October 16

An ambitious project by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to provide portable universal PF account numbers (UAN) to its subscribers is likely to be launched on October 16.

Besides, the government will launch unified web portal LIN (labour identification number) for simplifying business regulations and bringing in transparency and accountability in labour inspections by various agencies and bodies under the administrative control of the Labour Ministry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to launch both LIN web portal and UAN on October 16 as per the Plan chalked out by the Labour Ministry.

"Labour Secretary had called a meeting for the launch of UAN and LIN yesterday. The ministry has planned to launch both LIN portal and UAN on October 16," a senior official said.

According to him, the Prime Minister will be invited to launch the LIN portal and UAN in the presence of Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other top brass of the Labour Ministry.

UAN will give the facility of collation of accounts, viewing of updated accounts as well as downloading the same and collation of pensionable service. It will be portable throughout the working career of members and can be used anywhere in India.

Thus, workers in the organised sector would not need to apply for transfer of PF account claim on changing jobs.

At present, the retirement fund body has already captured bank account details in respect of 1.80 crore employees, PAN details in respect of 86.9 lakh employees and Aadhar number in respect of 28.2 lakh employees.

It is in the process of making UAN operational for its 4.17 crore contributing subscribers by October 15.

EPFO had started the process of seeding the 4.17 crore UANs with subscribers bank account numbers, PAN, Aadhaar and other know-your-customer (KYC) details to improve the delivery of its services in July this year.

The unified LIN web portal will operate through a unique LIN (Shram Pehchan Sankhya) for each employer.

The employers will be allotted LIN after registration on web portal. The enforcement agency will upload the data of inspection on the web portal which will be updated periodically.

This web portal will provide for filing of single harmonised annual returns by the employers.

This portal will provide for online reporting of harmonised inspection report by labour inspectors and inspecting officers of other bodies like EPFO administered by Labour Ministry.

It will also provide for online grievance redressal system.

Planning Commission Replacement Must be 'Lean and Thin': Economist

A replacement for the Planning Commission must be "lean and thin", a top Indian-American economist has said, even as he listed fiscal consolidation, and trade and FDI liberalisation, as key areas the government should focus on to return to high growth.

Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, termed as "brave" the decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do away with the 1950-dated institution and said the body that takes its place should start "anew".

Addressing a gathering at the Chazen Institute of International Business here, he suggested that Mr Modi should put in "as lean and thin a team" for the planning body's replacement with 10-12 people and "lots of resources so that they can draw on the experts as necessary" and then periodically that team should meet with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

He further said the new body should have "in the background enough research agenda (on) how to design the reforms taking into the account the political economics".

Mr Panagariya, however, cautioned that the replacement of the Planning Commission should start "anew" as reforming the existing one would ultimately have the "same players" and that "needs to get changed".

Discussing the policy package that India should put in place to revive growth, he said a "reform menu" for

the country should include fiscal consolidation, trade and foreign investment liberalisation, amendment in the Land Acquisition Act, labour market reforms, privatisation and decentralisation of higher education.

He said while fiscal consolidation is underway, some movement has also happened in foreign investment under the new government which has opened the defence sector up to 49 per cent and insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

He, however, said that in his view, the government could have opened the insurance sector even more for foreign investment. Mr Panagariya also pointed out that there is need to reform the labour market as many of the labour laws are "incredibly constraining".

Making a strong case for amending the Land Acquisition Act, the economist said the act is "incredibly draconian".

"If everything under the current law goes smoothly, (there are) no challenges by NGOs, courts, it will still take five years (to acquire land). Nobody will dare initiate land acquisition under those circumstances."

He listed infrastructure development and privatisation as key areas that require immediate government attention.

On higher education, he expressed pessimism and said the sector seems to be going in the wrong direction.

"Indian system is highly centralised. What India needs is decentralisation" in the education sector, he added.

Mr Panagariya further said while these are the set of reforms that need to be done, there are issues that can go wrong and "implementation" is the key problem.

While Gujarat as a state succeeded by improving governance and controlling corruption, "at the Centre, we need policy changes", the economist added.

India Working on Visa on Arrival Facility For US Tourists: Sources

India is working on a proposal for Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility for US tourists, one of the big-ticket announcements expected to be made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's high-profile visit to the US, beginning on September 26.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is working overtime to finish the work on the VoA proposal to finalise it in time for the Prime Minister's visit, according to government sources.

The MHA, in consultation with the Tourism ministry, is working on the Tourist VoA under which visa can be granted to US citizens who do not have a residence or occupation in India and whose sole objective of visiting India would be recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends and relatives, etc, the sources said.

Under the new proposal, which is still being worked out, the stay limit is expected to be 30 days.

Initially, in January 2010, the VoA scheme was introduced for citizens of five countries and now, the facility is available for citizens of 11 countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.

However, even despite being strategic partners, there is no VoA facility for the citizens of India and the US in each other's country. As per some estimates, the annual flow of US tourists stand around 10 lakh, currently.

The Prime Minister will be on a five-day visit to the US during which he will address the UN General Assembly in New York and then travel to Washington where he would hold bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama, who invited PM Modi for a meeting during a call to wish him on his victory in the Lok Sabha polls nearly four months ago.

President Obama will host a dinner for PM Modi on his arrival in Washington on September 29 from New York. Significantly, the US President's dinner meet is not a usual practice and is normally accorded to foreign visitors on state visits.

The dinner meeting would be the first opportunity for PM Modi and President Obama to interact with each other and will set the stage for the summit meeting on September 30.

Vice-President Joe Biden will host a working lunch for PM Modi on September 30 after which the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a business event before leaving for India.

PM Modi's visit, which is taking place at a time when ties between New Delhi and Washington have cooled somewhat over the arrest and strip-search of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York late last year in an alleged visa fraud case, will provide an opportunity to the two sides to strengthen ties and focus on strategic areas of economic, defence, civil nuclear cooperation and trade and technology.

Maharashtra Alliance Crisis: PM Modi, Amit Shah Attend BJP Meet to Resolve Stand-Off

The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun its brainstorming session to resolve a crisis with its oldest ally in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the party's central election committee meeting to discuss ways to convince the Sena to accept its formula of contesting 135 seats each in next month's assembly election in Maharashtra.

"The big question is whether the alliance with the BJP will survive," admitted the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today, making yet another "final offer" on seat sharing to the BJP. One that he said was a supreme concession to his ally "for the sake of Maharashtra".

The Sena made a fresh offer to its partner, but the BJP is not ready to buy it. At a national executive meet of his party, Mr Thackeray said his party was ready to contest 151 of Maharashtra's 288 seats, considerably less than the 169 it had fought the last time. He said the 18 extra seats from the Sena's kitty could be given to their allies in what is called the 'Mahayuti' alliance, leaving 119 for the BJP to contest - exactly the number it had fought in 2009. The BJP, its ally, would not then have to shell out any seats to the smaller allies.

Soon after the BJP indicated that it was not impressed.

"The BJP has a higher percentage of seats it won in comparison to the Shiv Sena," said Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde, two of the party's top leaders from Maharashtra. The BJP argues that after its superior performance in the Lok Sabha elections four months ago it cannot be counted as the junior partner in the state anymore and wanted both parties to contest 135 seats each, leaving the rest for smaller allies. The party then even agreed to contest 130 seats, giving the Sena 140.

The BJP said there was a rationale to its formula. "The Shiv Sena has never won on 59 seats, while that number is 19 for the BJP. If these were to be re-allocated then we would all benefit," explained Mr Khadse and Mr Tawde.The Sena takes that as a huge slight and says its cadres will rebel.

At stake is the post of chief minister; the partner that will win the most seats will get the post should the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition come to power.

The BJP leaders also told the Sena to, "make offers face-to-face, not through TV".

J&K Flood Helpline Records Reports of 347 Missing People

The dedicated helpline center set up by the Jammu and Kashmir government to trace people missing in the floods has so far registered reports of nearly 350 people still untraceable in the worst deluge the region has seen in more than a century.
  
"We have received 282 calls from various parts of the country and recorded reports of 347 people missing in the floods in J&K," said Amit Sharma, Special Secretary to J&K Government, Animal Husbandry Department.

The state government had on Tuesday setup a 24x7 dedicated helpline centre in order to trace people who went missing after the floods hit the state.

The helpline through J&K Connect Centre has been established at the ground floor of the Office Complex of Divisional Commissioner at the Rail Head Complex in Jammu.

The data of missing persons is shared with all police chiefs and district magistrates of the districts in J&K, besides the Army and NDRF in a bid to reach out to them, Mr Sharma said.
   
"In one specific case, the Centre received a call about a group of 11 people and they were rescued after we forwarded the case," he said adding "it was a moment of happiness for us."

"We are even calling for the record of about 2,000 missing persons, for which calls were received by previous helpline centre setup at Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC)," he said.

The Centre has come up on the advise of the Prime Minister's office on the pattern adopted by Uttrakhand government during the Kedarnath tragedy.

A secretary level officer of the Uttrakhand government had come to Jammu on the direction's PMO to facilitate setting up of the centre for missing persons.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Offers to Help Monitor Jan Dhan Yojana

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has offered to help in monitoring of the progress made with regard to Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the flagship financial inclusion scheme of the government.

"BMGF can help in mapping the different sites across the country and can inform wherever a saturation level with regard to opening of accounts has reached or likely to reach so that focus can be made in other areas," Microsoft founder Bill Gates said during his interaction with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday.

Bill Gates was accompanied by his wife Melinda Gates. PMJDY was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month to promote financial inclusion.

The Finance Minister welcomed the offer of Gates and said that the proposal will be duly considered.

Similarly, Gates also expressed his desire to extend help in Swach Bharat abhiyan and health related programmes. Mr Jaitley appreciated the work done by BMGF for the people at large in the field of health care, sanitation and financial inclusion.

The main features of the PMJDY scheme include Rs. 5,000 overdraft facility for Aadhar-linked accounts, RuPay Debit Card with inbuilt Rs. 1 lakh accident insurance cover.

Besides, account holders under the scheme will get life insurance cover of Rs. 30,000. This was additional benefit announced by the Prime Minister during the launch of the scheme.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates today announced an emergency relief fund of USD 700,000 for the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir.

The help came in response to a request from Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir.