by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
By Jaideep Sarin,
Chandigarh : Two years ago, when the Congress party was losing elections and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was surging ahead on its theme of making a ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ (Congress-free India) a reality, one leader stood up, reversed the trend and delivered when the party was in the dumps at the national level.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh won the state for the Congress in the February 2017 assembly election with a thumping majority and gave the leadership hope that the BJP onslaught could be checked.
Known for taking a clear stand on issues, even if it means commending the actions of his political opponents, Amarinder Singh spoke to IANS on national and state issues.
Q: You halted the BJP’s march towards a ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ by winning Punjab with a thumping majority. What do you have to say to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah today?
Amarinder Singh: That it’s important to feel the connect with the voters, and feel the pulse of the people. Elections aren’t won on slogans, unless people can relate to those slogans. That means that promises are meant to be kept. In Punjab, the SAD-BJP regime had failed, in 10 years, to deliver on their pre-poll promises. So the people of Punjab rejected them.
Another message that the Punjab Assembly elections sent out, and which I think PM Modi and the BJP president should have read, is that the democratic, constitutional and secular fabric of our nation is much bigger than any vote bank. The people of Punjab did not want divisiveness, they wanted progress, and voted for that. In its bigger manifestation, the same applies to the nation.
That is why every political party needs to respect the spirit of the Constitution and the sentiments of the people if they are to win, and win again.
Q: How do you expect the Congress to fare in the coming Lok Sabha polls since it is not in a strong position in states like Uttar Pradesh?
Amarinder Singh: The Congress, under Rahul Gandhi, is fully geared to win, and win resoundingly. After what happened in (last year’s assembly) elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, any political party that writes off the Congress would do that at its own peril. And any political pundit who thinks Congress is not in the game would be doing an injustice to his/her own intelligence and acumen. There is a palpable change in the mood of the people across the country, and even more so in Uttar Pradesh since Priyanka Vadra’s formal entry into the political arena.
Q: Punjab is under a debt of over Rs 2 lakh crore. What is the Centre’s response to your demand for a relief package? How do you plan to take Punjab out of the debt trap?
Amarinder Singh: The Centre, unfortunately, has not been forthcoming with help and we’re left fighting a lone battle. I have personally met the Prime Minister to seek settlement of the Rs 31,000 crore legacy debt which we inherited from the previous government but even that issue has not been resolved, though the 15th Finance Commission has responded to our pleas and set up a committee to address the problem on priority. I hope that works out and we get the much-needed support from the Centre.
Having said that, let me tell you we, in the state, are stretching ourselves to the maximum to resolve the issue. Streamlining of revenue, curtailment of non-essential costs, besides more prudent approach to budgeting and expenditure are just some of the ways we’ve managed to ease the pressure, and we shall continue to do so in the coming months. Of course, this is a tough and long-drawn process but unless the central government comes to our rescue, we have no other option.
Q: Does the Congress face a threat from SAD and AAP in the coming elections?
Amarinder Singh: I don’t think anyone sees either SAD or AAP as any kind of threat. Both the parties are split down the centre, with no clear leadership in command. They are like rudderless ships, with no concrete agenda, no issues to talk about, and nothing to offer to the people of Punjab. The people rejected these parties two years ago, and in these two years the two parties have gone further downhill, with no hope of revival in the near term.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Chandigarh : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said that he and President Ram Nath Kovind will jointly lay the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor project in Dera Baba Nanak area of Gurdaspur district on November 26.
“Happy to share that I’ll be joining President Ram Nath Kovind ji in laying foundation stone for Kartarpur Corridor to International Border at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur, on November 26. It will be a great moment indeed for all devotees of Sri Guru Nanak Dev,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to develop the corridor from Gurdaspur in Punjab to the International Border (IB) to facilitate the passage of pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara in Pakistan as part of the 550th birth annversary celebrations of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, next year.
However, the Centre clarified that India’s decision was not in response to any proposal from Pakistan.
The resolution was passed after many weeks of internal consultations and preparations within the government.
The gurdwara is significant for the Sikh community since Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life in Kartarpur till he died in 1539.
It is located around 2 km from the IB between both countries and can be seen from the Indian side.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
Representational image
Chandigarh : The Central government has acceded to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s request not to cap the educational concession provided to children of armed forces’ personnel, a state government official said here on Wednesday.
“Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has written to the Chief Minister to convey the Union Government’s decision to continue the said concession without capping it at Rs 10,000 per month,” a spokesman of the Chief Minister said here on Wednesday.
Welcoming the decision, the Chief Minister said it would go a long way towards boosting the morale of the armed forces and their families, particularly the children of martyrs and disabled soldiers.
“The Defence Minister’s communication is in response to Captain Amarinder’s letter dated December 1, 2017, urging her to revoke the decision to put a cap of Rs 10,000 per month on the combined amount of tuition fee and hostel charges under the scheme of educational concession to such children.
“Expressing serious concern about the proposed move of the Defence Ministry, the Chief Minister had then said it would make a mockery of the objective behind the scheme which was announced in the Lok Sabha in 1971,” the spokesman said.
Amarinder Singh felt that the move would “undermine the sacrifice of the defence personnel, and amounted to a shameful disregard for the contribution of the armed personnel to the country and its citizens”.
He was of the opinion that the “fee being paid to the children of martyrs and disabled soldiers was a small price in exchange for what they had given, and continued to give, to the nation”.
The educational concession was initially being given to the children of armed forces personnel killed/missing or permanently disabled in 1962, 1965, 1971 wars, Operation Pawan and Operation Meghdoot.
In August 2003, the Defence Ministry extended the concession to the children of armed forces personnel who were killed/declared missing or permanently disabled during all post Meghdoot operations in India and abroad, including counter insurgency operations.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodities, Commodities News
Chandigarh : The Punjab cabinet, chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Saturday approved the policy for smooth procurement of 130 lakh tonnes of wheat during the forthcoming Rabi Marketing Season 2018-19, an official said.
The procurement of wheat will officially begin on April 1. Bulk of wheat arrival will take place after Baisakhi (April 13).
The cabinet directed officials concerned to ensure timely payment to the farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 1,735 per quintal as fixed by the Central government.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said elaborate arrangements had been made to procure 130 lakh tonnes of wheat by six procurement agencies, including Food Corporation of India and five agencies of the Punjab government as per allocated target during the season.
The two-month long procurement season will end on May 31.
A total of 1,835 mandis have been notified for the smooth procurement of wheat, the spokesperson said.
Agrarian state Punjab, known as the ‘Green Revolution’ state, contributes nearly 50 percent food grains (wheat and rice) to the national kitty despite having just 1.54 percent of the country’s geographical area.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Finance, News, Politics
Amarinder Singh
Chandigarh : Appealing to the state’s angry debt-ridden farming community, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday urged them to shun the path of agitation and said his government could not afford to waive off any more of their debts at the present juncture.
Reiterating that his government was committed to alleviating all their woes at the earliest, Amarinder Singh said that despite the severe financial crunch faced by the state government, Punjab had waived off more debts of its farmers than the other states.
He cited the examples of Maharashtra (up to Rs 1.5 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (up to Rs 1 lakh), Rajasthan (up to Rs 50,000), Madhya Pradesh (up to Rs 1 lakh) and Karnataka (up to Rs 50,000) to point to the extent to which his government had stretched itself to fulfill this important promise of the Congress to the farming community.
He urged the protesting farmers to appreciate the government’s efforts. The Chief Minister appealed to the farmers not to be misled by the opposition parties and some Kisan Unions, who he said were spreading false propaganda on the issue of farm debt waiver in order to promote their vested political interests.
“Considering the financial problems which my government had inherited from the Akalis, and also considering the lack of support on the issue from the central government, it is not possible, at present, to extend the debt waiver scheme to more farmers or to waive off more than Rs 2 lakh,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement here.
The Chief Minister sought more time from the farmers to implement farm debt waiver in toto, saying his government was working towards reviving the state’s economy so that all sections of the society could be brought back on the track of development.
“The thrust, at the moment, is on helping out the worst affected small and marginal farmers,” Singh said, adding that all the farmers would eventually be covered by the debt waiver scheme, once the state’s economy starts stabilizing.
Observing that the state exchequer had a debt of Rs 46,000 crore when he demitted office after his earlier stint in 2007, the Chief Minister said that his government was hit by a debt trap of over Rs 2 lakh crore when it took over from the SAD-BJP government in 2017.
“This has prevented his government from full implementation of its farm debt waiver promise in one go,” he added. “Nevertheless, of the 10.25 lakh farmers who are eligible to be covered under the debt waiver scheme announced by his government in its maiden budget, 5.63 lakh were slated to benefit in the first phase itself,” he pointed out, adding that his government had somehow managed to generate Rs 2,700 crore needed in this phase. “Unfortunately, however, the government is not in a position to garner more funds in the prevailing circumstances, and hence could not accept the demand of the farmers for total waiver,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that only the big ones among the 17.5 lakh farming families in the state had so far been left out of the waiver scheme, and they were the ones who were quite capable of taking care of themselves.
—IANS