Punjab, Haryana announce Rs 2,500 an acre incentive to stop stubble burning

MP farmers may move SC for inclusion; UP to set up biomass plants; farmers say relief too late for this year.

Following the Supreme Court rule to boost ranchers for halting the consuming of paddy crop stubble to check air contamination, the legislatures of Punjab and Haryana have reported a reward of Rs 2,500 a section of land for little and negligible ranchers who are yet to begin such movement.

Rancher bunches state the motivating forces could have kept ranchers from consuming stubble in the event that it had gone ahead time. More, they need the impetus to be a lasting element.

In Madhya Pradesh, which has of late additionally observed developing occasions of stubble consuming, rancher bunches have chosen to appeal to the Court to remember them also for such a bundle.

In Haryana, the state government has reported an extra Rs 1,000 a section of land motivating force for custom-enlisting focuses and straw baler units, to help their operational expenses. The Rs 2,500 a section of land has been determined by expecting 25 quintals of paddy is reaped from a section of land of land in Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, news organization PTI reports that to guarantee the pay, ranchers need to fill a self-announcement proforma with their panchayat office by November 30. The sum would be legitimately credited to the ledger of the qualified rancher.

Uttar Pradesh, which additionally faces the issue of stubble consuming has chosen to set biofuel plants in each locale, where ranchers can sell their waste stubble for age of power. Boss Minister Yogi Adityanath said two such units are coming up in Sitapur and Gorakhpur; this will be reached out to different locale.

In Punjab, up until now, around 48,000 episodes of homestead fires have been accounted for this year, higher than a year ago. It was less in Haryana and UP. The all out zone under paddy in Punjab is around 3,000,000 hectares, of which straw administration is required on around 2,000,000. In the rest of the territories, ranchers have possess game plans for straw administration. The state delivers around 20 million tons of paddy straw every year.

In Haryana, the region under paddy for the most part is 1.3 million hectares, from which around 12 million tons of straw is delivered each year.

This year, up until now, authorities said of 2.9 million hectares in which paddy is planted, the yield has been collected in very nearly 90 percent of the zone, which implies that there is plausibility of stubble consuming in 10-15 percent of the rest of the territory (30,000-35,000 hectares) if ranchers don't assimilate remedial measures on schedule.

Business Standard

Adityanath sees Bulandshahr violence as 'accident', locals smell conspiracy

In the villages at the eye of the storm, residents struggle to protect themselves from repercussions of the violence.

While Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has identified the raising of a mob and the killing of a police inspector as an ‘accident’, nervous locals smell a larger conspiracy.

In the open courtyard of a former village head’s house in Mahaw, a group of Jat farmers’ leaders and village elders sat in a circle on plastic chairs. Visibly agitated, they were discussing the scrutiny that has suddenly fallen on their village.

“They want to turn Bulandshahr into Muzaffarnagar,” a Jat leader told The Wire. “This was an attempt to turn Jats against Muslims.”

He was referring to the 2013 communal rioting in the nearby Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, which claimed more than 60 lives and tore apart the local communities of Muslims and Hindu Jats.

In Mahaw, the Jat leaders requested anonymity, saying they would speak out openly once they mobilised more support through panchayats.

Fear and panic among villagers

On December 3, near the Chingrawathi police post near Mahaw, a mob raised to protest alleged cow slaughter attacked policemen – leaving 18-year-old Sumit Singh and police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh dead.

The FIR in the case mentions 60 unnamed people. In Mahaw and the adjacent Chingrawathi village, most of the men have fled in fear of being arrested as suspects, even if they had no part in the violence.

The atmosphere of panic is palpable, and most resident speaking to the media asked for anonymity, fearing reprisals from either the police or ‘those responsible for the violence’.

There is also a clear sense of anger towards the administration, and local activists of the Bajrang Dal, whom police eyewitnesses have named as instigating the mob.

“Those who were behind this will get away, this will further embolden them,” Ajay Kumar, the pradhan of Chingrawathi told The Wire. “Our people are the ones whose lives will be destroyed, even those who were innocent bystanders.”

The violence took place on the last day of ‘Tabligi Ijtema’, a three-day Islamic religious congregation in Bulandshahr. More than one million Muslims had gathered in the city and many were on their way back on the same highway crossing through Chingrawathi when they were diverted to avoid that route.

“We tremble at the thought of what would have happened had the Muslims returning from Itjema not been diverted before reaching here. Some anti-social elements had deliberately planned this,” Kumar said. “A great tragedy was averted.”... Read More

Business Standard

Amit Shah bets on UP for Modi govt's return in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP on its way to secure a comfortable majority in Parliament. Its ally, Apna Dal, won two seats in the politically crucial state.

With the 2019 Lok Sabha election less than a year away, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah bet on Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the party repeating its 2014 performance and returning to power at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting at Chandauli district in eastern UP, on Sunday, Shah recalled that in run up to the 2014 poll, he had said the path to victory in Lok Sabha poll would traverse through UP.

“I am repeating the same today for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll that UP would play a key role in forming the next government at the Centre and re-electing the Narendra Modi government,” he added.

In 2014, the BJP had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, ally Apna Dal won two. Shah said he was confident the tally would rise to 74.

On the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) combine, Shah said even if the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress joined hands with them, the BJP would emerge victorious.

He said the Modi government had given over Rs 8 trillion to UP, compared to Rs 3.3 trillion by the Manmohan Singh government during 2004-2014, even though the state had friendly regimes of the SP or BSP.

“The BJP government has given projects like the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor and Purvanchal Expressway to the state for faster socio-economic development,” he said. The Expressway would transform the state's economic landscape in future, he said.

Shah was in Chandauli district to attend a programme to rename Mughalsarai railway junction after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay. The function was attended by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other seniors.

Amit Shah mounted attack on Gandhi over National Register of Citizens (NRC) controversy in Assam, saying he had repeatedly asked the Congress president to clarify his stand but there was no response. 

He flayed opposition parties for allegedly siding with illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who, according to the BJP chief, would be identified and evicted. In his address, Goyal said under the Modi regime, the railways had been allocating development projects worth Rs 55 billion every year to UP against Rs 10-11 billion during the previous Congress-led government. “The Dedicated Freight Corridor which is being developed would touch most of the regions in UP and contribute to economic development,” he said.

“UP is the first state in the country to facilitate Direct Benefit Transfer of about Rs 1 trillion, against the earlier regime that was marked with anarchy, crime, riots, caste-based politics and nepotism,” he said.

Article Source BS

UP rains: 14 more killed in last 24 hours; death toll rises to 106

Over 80 cattle lost their lives and over 600 houses were damaged in rain-related incidents.

Fourteen people were killed and seven others injured in rain-related incidents in different parts of Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 106 since the last week, official sources said today.

According to reports, two people were killed each in Farukhabad and Bahraich while one each in Kheri, Raebareli, Lucknow, Kanpur Dehat, Barabanki, Sitpaur and Sultanpur.

"The toll since the last week in such incidents has reached 106 while the total number of those injured is over 100," they said.

Over 80 cattle lost their lives and over 600 houses were damaged in rain-related incidents.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed senior officials of all the districts to alert people and asked them to undertake extensive tours of the affected areas and identify dilapidated buildings and get them vacated, a government spokesperson said here.

He also directed officials to provide immediate financial and medical assistance to people severely affected by rains.

Article Source BS

CM Adityanath announces plastic ban in Uttar Pradesh from July 15: Report

The UP government's order comes after the Maharashtra government's state-wide ban on the use of plastic items.

Plastic Ban : After Maharashtra, the Uttar Pradesh government has banned the use of several plastic products, news agency ANI reported on Friday.


"We have issued an order to ban the use of plastic across the state from July 15," Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was quoted as saying by ANI. "After July 15, plastic cups, glasses, and polythene should not be used," said Adityanath, adding, "For this, we should all work together."


The UP government's order comes after the Maharashtra government's state-wide ban on the use of plastic items, including carry-bags and thermocol, came into effect from June 23.


Subsequently, Maharashtra eased its ban against single-use plastic, following what a Reuters report said was intense lobbying by multinational companies and plastic industry bodies for softer rules and extensions.

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