by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has decided to form a new Spiritual Department as per the Congress manifesto.
The Religious Trust and Endowments and Happiness Department will be merged in the new department. Directorate of Religious Trusts and Endowments, Pilgrimage and Fair Authority, Directorate of Mukhya Mantri Teerth-Darshan Yojana and Rajya Anand Sansthan working till now will also be included in the new department.
New department to be made for Sarvadharma Sambhav
The objective of the formation of Spiritual Department is to strengthen inter-communal harmony and Sarvadharma Sambhav in the state covering all religions, sects and faiths. In many countries the Department of Spiritual Affairs is working under different names in America, England, Argentina, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Myanmar, Tunisia, Indonesia, Denmark etc.
The functions of Religious Trust and Endowment Department include restoration of government-controlled temples, honorarium to priests, construction of Dharmashalas, tours to religious places, work of pilgrimage and fair development. The objective of the Happiness Department is also to provide a prosperous and complete life to the citizens. This objective will also be included in the proposed Spiritual Department itself. Spirituality is not anti-religion, but it emphasizes the experience of a divine and universal consciousness. There is a Department of Spiritual Care in different hospitals in developed countries also.
Objectives of Spirituality Department
The objectives of the proposed Spiritual Department include the development of a common vision and apathy in all communities, developing mutual understanding and harmony while respecting the diversity of people of different backgrounds and circumstances, development of responsible citizens, embryo killings, cleanliness mission and maintaining peace during communal tension, inspiration from various religious leaders on subjects like “Gau-vansh” protection, creative use of strength of saints, proper management of Public Trust, Auqaf, religious fairs, pilgrimages, etc. planning, policy fixation and implementation of the concept of Happiness.
Main functions of Spirituality Department
The main functions of the proposed Spirituality Department include sustained efforts for the development of composite culture of Madhya Pradesh and India, development of peace and friendly atmosphere among various communities, strength of saints power of various religions to obtain important social and citizen targets, proper maintenance of movable-immovable properties of government “devasthans” and conservation and development of religious places, scientific evaluation of places of worship, development of socio-economic presence of places of worship, coordination with Tourism Department to encourage religious tourism, arrangement of honorarium to priests, Sevadar, Mujabirs, formation of welfare schemes, administration of religious and former trusts, revival of temple gardens in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture and the revival of temple sarovars in collaboration with the Rural Development Department, development of Maa Narmada Trust Act and various legal systems etc.
Also, the proceedings of the formation of Suryaputri Maa Tapti River, Maa Mandakini River and Maa Kshipra River Trust will also be carried out. Law will be made to make holy rivers of the state a living unit. Special package for the maintenance of government and historical places of worship, development of the districts falling in the state of Rampatha Gaman, crowd and security management at fairs organized on religious sites, coordination of Revenue and Urban Administration Department to free the properties of the shrines from encroachments, travel and management of pilgrim sites identified outside the state and within the state, identification of norms and programmes of happiness measurement, coordination between various departments to spread happiness and working as a knowledge resource centre for the subject of Happiness.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kamal Nath
Bhopal : Immediately after taking over as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath on Monday waived loans of farmers to the tune of Rs 2 lakh each, delivering on the Congress pre-poll promise of cancelling farm loans within 10 days of coming to power.
“The Madhya Pradesh government hereby takes the decision of waiving of loans taken by farmers up to Rs 2 lakh from nationalised and cooperative banks,” read the letter signed by Rajesh Rajora, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Food Processing.
Kamal Nath, who was instrumental in the Congress’ victory in Madhya Pradesh, was on the day sworn in as its 18th Chief Minister, bringing to an end 15-year Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in the central state.
Riding on its promise of farm loan waiver, the Congress won 114 seats, two seats short of majority in the 230-member House.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kamal Nath
New Delhi : In a video which went viral on social media on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh state Congress President Kamal Nath is seen asking Muslim workers of his party to ensure “90 per cent polling” in the community-dominated booths to “save” the party from a “big loss”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to give a communal colour to the video and terms the video as “disgusting and divisive”.
The video purportedly shows Nath asking workers to take out the figures from last elections and do a “postmortem” as to why the polling percentage was only 50-60 per cent in the Muslim majority booths.
“Resolve today that you would ensure 80-90 per cent polling in your booths. If we don’t get 90 per cent votes of the Muslim community, we may suffer a big loss,” he is seen telling the workers.
“…You (Muslim Congress workers) will have to take care of your own society, not just for the Congress but for the whole state,” he said.
The meeting where the video was shot apparently took place in October.
Reacting to the video, BJP Spokesman Sambit Patra accused the Congress of indulging in “politics of appeasement”.
“It is absolutely disgusting and divisive. What Kamal Nath is saying is just an extrapolation of what his party President Rahul Gandhi has said during a meeting with Muslim intellectuals that Congress is indeed a party of the Muslims,” Patra said in Indore.
Madhya Pradesh will vote on November 28 in a single phase to elect a new Assembly.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Kamal Nath
By Prashant Sood and Sidhartha Dutta,
New Delhi : Newly-appointed Congress President in Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath says that it is not a practice in his party to declare a chief ministerial candidate in a poll-bound state and Rahul Gandhi will do so in the state, if the need is felt.
He also says that the people in Madhya Pradesh are angry with the “thuggery” of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and the Congress is much better organised to defeat it in the assembly polls to be held later this year.
“Well, there is no doubt the time is short. But I am confident that we will be able to strengthen the party at the village level. This is a contest against the BJP’s organisational strength and their money power,” he said in an interview with IANS.
Kamal Nath, 71, who is MP from Chhindwara and has been elected to the Lok Sabha nine times, said that the decision about changes in the state unit should have been made “much earlier” in view of the coming elections but he was not going to look back and think why the decision was not made.
The former union minister, who was appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress chief on April 26, said he has no faction, has good relations with all leaders and does not have to strive to bring about factional unity.
Kamal Nath appeared to be keeping open the option of contestng the Assembly polls. “I have been fighting for 40 years. I am the longest serving MP.” Asked if party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest, he said, “I don’t know”.
Asked about the party not declaring a chief ministerial candidate and if the appointment of Scindia as head of the Campaign Committee was a balancing act, he said: “Madhya Pradesh is a complex state and no one face can win you the election. You need several faces. And that’s what has been done.”
Asked if he would have liked the party to have declared a CM candidate, he said that the strategy varies from state to state.
“It is sometimes necessary, sometimes not necessary. Who did BJP have as a chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh? Who did they have their CM candidate in Uttarakhand. They never had a chief ministerial candidate. So, it depends,” he said.
On his earlier views in an interview that party should define in every state who the leader is, Kamal Nath said: “If a need is felt, the Congress President will declare one.”
Kamal Nath said his priorities as PCC chief will be to strengthen the party at the village level. “Election has become very localised. This we must understand.”
“Every section of society in MP is in distress, farmers, the youth, traders, the labourers, women. Never in the history of politics, has there been a situation where every section of society is against you. The people of Madhya Pradesh are simple and docile. They sometimes will accept being disappointed, but will not accept being thugged. The voters are feeling that they have been thugged,” he added.
Asked about the strategy to defeat the BJP with about seven months left for the polls, he said: “We have a strategy to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. There is a micro strategy which obviously is to be kept within our party.”
The Congress has lost the last three assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh to the BJP.
Kamal Nath alleged that all promises of BJP government have fallen flat.
“We are better organised this time and all the announcements and promises made by the BJP have fallen flat on their face. On the ground there is nothing. When every section of society is against them, then what is there,” he said.
“Organisationally we are better organised. Do you think we have been battling for this election for the last one year. It’s not that. We started much earlier maybe under a different PCC leadership. But everybody is working,” he added.
Answering a query about former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and his role, he said: “Everybody is close with me, remember that. Make no mistake. Digvijay Singh has large organisational knowledge of the state. And he will need to be active. He has already announced that he is not for any post or position.”
Asked if wide acceptability was a reason for his appointment as PCC chief, Kamal Nath said, “Whatever the reason that Rahul Gandhi will tell you but the fact is this that I am one person who has very good relations with everybody. So for me it is not a challenge to bring unity to the party. I am fortunate that there is no need for me to do it. There already is unity.”
Kamal Nath said his contest is against the incumbent Chief Minister unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns it into one against him.
Asked if there were internal differences in the party with Scindia feeling that he has lost out, Kamal Nath said he did not think so.
He said Scindia was in Bhopal during a road show to mark fresh appointments in the state and they met every few days.
(Prashant Sood can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in and Sidhartha Dutta at sidhartha.d@ians.in)
—IANS
