CRACKING ROADS & HEATWAVE IN FEB

l Death-benefit scheme for fishermen and a `3,000-crore project for strengthening the state of rural roads l Recipients of Lakshmi Bhandar shall receive `1,000 per month after attaining 60 years by way of automatic transition to the oldage pension scheme recipients of Lakshmi Bhandar shall receive `1,000 per month after attaining 60 years by way of automatic transition to the old-age pension scheme,” she said.

There was another booster for the TMC recently when ahead of the Panchayat elections, BJP MLA from Alipurduar, Suman Kanjilal, defected to the TMC recently. He became the third saffron party MLA from North Bengal to join the Mamata Banerjee-led party since the 2021 state Assembly elections. Altogether, six state BJP MLAs have switched to the TMC so far since the 2021 polls. However, three days after Kanjilal’s defection, a section of TMC leaders from North Bengal held a press conference in Siliguri, where they said the BJP must come clean on the demand for statehood for North Bengal.

Fresh cracks have surfaced in roads leading to the Badrinath shrine from Joshimath where cracks in buildings and houses not long ago had sparked fears that the town was sinking. The Border Roads Organisation has been instructed to examine the cracks and fix them before pilgrims begin their journey to the holy shrine. As there is no information about the Uttarakhand government restricting the number of pilgrims and heavy vehicles, fear about their safety is quite palpable.

Add to this the fury of Nature in several states which are witnessing heat waves in February or record temperatures earlier than normal.

It may be noted that to the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a section of the BJP leaders had spoken in favour of the demand for a separate North Bengal state in a bid to woo the Rajbanshi community and Gorkhas in the region, many of whom have been pressing for it for quite a long time now and expectedly, the BJP swept the region, winning seven of the its eight parliamentary seats. Of the state’s total 42 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP won 18 as compared to the TMC’s 22. However, the TMC swept the 2021 Assembly polls, bagging 211 of the total 294 seats as against the BJP’s 77. The BJP still had an upper hand in North Bengal, winning 29 of its 54 seats while the TMC managed 24 seats in the region. However, the TMC has

Fresh cracks have surfaced in roads leading to Badrinath shrine from Joshimath where cracks in buildings and houses not long ago had sparked fears that town was sinking

The unprecedented change signals early onset of summer and increases concern about the damage that has been caused to the environment. The immediate adverse fallout of this weather pattern may be on the standing wheat crop. According to private weather forecaster Skymet, temperatures in the wheat growing states are 2 to

IN-DEPTH

Congress Rattled As Raids Carried On Its Leaders In Coal Levy Case

A senior TMC leader said, “We have already entered the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) in North Bengal’s hills. Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha ruling GTA is our ally. So, we are hopeful that for 1st time we would win Darjeeling LS elections.”

He also said, “From the North Bengal’s plains, three BJP MLAs joined the TMC, even as we also won the Dinhata by-election. People of this region are eager to see development and we are also campaigning on this issue. So, in 2024 LS polls, too, we would perform better than expectations.” Another TMC section however sounds cautious in its assessment. A party veteran said: “Notwithstanding over leverage with GTA, we should not forget that various regional rivals such as Bimal Gurung, Binay Tamang and Humro Party chief Ajoy Edwards have now joined hands and are again raking up the demand for the Gorkhaland state. Such a situation will again help BJP.”

However, BJP’s state general secy Dipak Burman, who is also an MLA from North Bengal, said, “Our three MLAs went to TMC, but people’s support is with us. If they cast their votes in Panchayat polls and next year’s Lok Sabha elections, BJP will sweep every part of North.”

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

3 degrees higher than normal. India’s wheat production had fallen from 109.59 mt to 106.84 mt last year due to the heat wave.

The Skymet pinned the blame on dry weather in several states to the “largely rain deficit December” in 2022. The seasonal shortfall was carried forward in January as well, albeit to a lesser extent, it said. It is this absence of rain which is causing “heat stress” and impacting wheat and other rabi crops. Worse, chances of rain are “unlikely” over parts of Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. To compound India’s problems El Nino is expected to “knock the wind out of its monsoon sails”.

On Monday the Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at 13 premises in Chhattisgarh in connection with the coal levy case. The ED’s case is that a levy of Rs 25 per tonne of coal was being charged by some middlemen in connivance with politicians and bureaucrats. Some Congress leaders’ residences were among those raided. The ED had arrested Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia pointing a suspicious finger at the high office. The ED may term the raids as routine investigation into alleged money laundering but their timing raises doubt. With the All India Congress Committee’s plenary session due to be held in Raipur soon, the Congress has reason to doubt ED’s intent. Senior leader of the party Jairam Ramesh hit out at the BJP’s “third-rate politics of vendetta, vengeance and harassment”. Ramesh alleged that under BJP the ED has come to mean “eliminating democracy”. The raids may weaken the Congress in the state which goes to poll this year.

Spiritual Speak

Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet. Buddha

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