Page 5 - Jharkhand

The people of Jharkhand have made a mark for themselves: CM Hemant Soren

CM Soren added that the state is all set to welcome people from across the nation and one must visit Jharkhand to explore its natural resources, beauty and charm

Meritocracy & reservations

Has merit become a bad word in India? For India's exceptional human resources to remain in the country, it needs to phase out all caste, community, and income-based reservations

ED demystifies code word in illegal mining, extortion case in Jharkhand

For instance, the officers involved in the scam used the code word 'Kilo' for a lakh rupees while transferring the amount to each other

BJP takes to street to protest against Hemant Soren govt in Jharkhand

Jharkhand BJP kicked off its state-wide 'Akrosh' rally from Ranchi on Monday against the Hemant Soren led UPA government in the state. Hundreds of BJP workers congregated at the city's Morabadi ground and later they marched towards the district collectorate raising slogans 'Hemant Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao.' The agitation was led by BJP state president Deepak Prakash. He was accompanied by Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth, MLA CP Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Aditya Sahu, Hatia MLA Navin Jaiswal and Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjiv Vijayvargiya. Addressing party workers, Prakash said, "The Hemant Soren led ruling coalition -- JMM, Congress and RJDis a team of 'Ali Baba Chalis Chor.' The corruption is at its peak under Soren's regime. Mines and minerals including sand, stone, coal and iron are being looted." He said, "The current government is anti-women, tribal and dalit. Crime against women has increased manifold in the state in past 34 months. The unemployment is at its peak." The BJP's Akrosh rally, whi

BJP to launch district-level agitation against Jharkhand govt from tomorrow

BJP will launch a statewide agitation against the Hemant Soren govt at the district level starting tomorrow following the allegations of corruption, party's state president Deepak Prakash said

Security forces detect 120 IEDs planted by Maoists in Jharkhand's Latehar

Security forces engaged in anti-Naxal operation detected 120 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Maoists in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said. The security forces detected the IEDs planted by the Maoists to target them in Budapahad area of Latehar district, which was earlier a den of the Maoists, on Friday, the police said. The IEDs have been defused, they said. The Budapahad area was earlier a stronghold of the Maoists but now the security forces have established a camp in the area. The security forces on Thursday also detected and seized a 15 kg cooker bomb, a claymore mine, three detonators, one Motorola wireless set, two ammunition pouches, and naxal literature in Latehar and Garhwa districts, a police statement said. Security forces have also launched an operation in Kolhan area of West Singhbhum district to apprehend top Maoist leader Misir Besra alias Sagar, carrying a reward of Rs one crore on his head. In course of the operation in Kolhan, security for

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren questions ED's claim in illegal mining case

Soren wrote a letter to Enforcement Directorate assistant director Deovrat Jha and said it was impossible to evade royalty of Rs 1,000 crore in two years in Sahibganj

Jharkhand CM Soren launches projects, schemes for state on Foundation Day

Chief Minister Hemant Soren Tuesday launched a number of projects and schemes for the development of Jharkhand at the 23rd statehood day function here. Soren said the government is committed to the welfare and overall development of the people and the work plans of the schemes and projects have been drafted in a way so that the poor and the deprived sections of the society can be uplifted. Governor Ramesh Bais, who was the chief guest at the function, however, gave it the miss. The governor was with President Droupadi Murmu at Khunti in the morning. After returning from there, he was not feeling well. So he could not take part in the programme, a Raj Bhawan official told PTI. Murmu, who paid her maiden visit to the state on Tuesday after assuming office, went directly to Ulihatu, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda in Khunti district and paid her respects to the freedom fighter and leader on his birth anniversary, which is celebrated as 'Janjaitya Gaurav Divas'. Murmu, who w

Sec 144 imposed in Jharkhand's Chaibasa after Giriraj Sena chief's murder

Earlier on Saturday, Hindu organisation Giriraj Sena's chief Kamal Giri Dev was assassinated in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district

President Droupadi Murmu's Jharkhand visit rescheduled to Tuesday

President Droupadi Murmu's Jharkhand visit has been rescheduled and she may now arrive on Tuesday, officials said on Sunday. The President is not coming on Monday. The revised schedule of her visit is awaited, a senior state official said. Earlier, officials had said that the former Jharkhand governor would arrive at Deoghar airport on Monday afternoon and offer prayers at Baba Baidyanath Dham temple. The Deoghar administration had ensured elaborate security arrangements in view of her visit and barred the entry of devotees to the temple from 9 am to 3.30 pm. Deoghar Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri said the President's Deoghar visit has been cancelled. The President may also not take part in the state function of Jharkhand Foundation Day at Morabadi Ground in Ranchi on Tuesday. However, she is likely to visit Birsa Munda's village Ulihatu in Khunti district on the occasion of the legendary tribal freedom fighter's birth anniversary on Tuesday, another official said. Ranc

Jharkhand may witness 5% rise in aerosol pollution in 2023, says study

Aerosol pollution is expected to rise by five per cent in Jharkhand next year, which may lead to a drop in visibility levels and pose a host of health problems for its citizens, a study by a premier research organisation said. Such pollution is likely to remain in the "highly vulnerable" red zone in the eastern state, it said. The study found that emission from thermal power plants was the main contributor to high aerosol amounts comprising particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), sea salt, dust, sulphate, black and organic carbon. Rising aerosol pollution might aggravate asthma, lung and cardiovascular diseases. Children, women and elderly people might be the worst sufferers, Kolkata-based Bose Institute's associate professor of environmental sciences Dr Abhijit Chatterjee told PTI. He also said, Aerosol pollution is expected to rise by five per cent, pushing the AOD level over 0.6 within the vulnerable (red) zone in 2023. Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is a quantitative estimate of the

Jharkhand assembly passes bill to raise reservations for categories to 77%

A bill was passed in the Jharkhand assembly on Friday to raise the total reservation offered to different categories to 77 per cent. In a special session, the assembly passed an amendment to the Jharkhand Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services Act, 2001, raising the reservations for STs, SCs, EBCs, OBCs and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs from the present 60 per cent. The bill proposes that the state will urge the Centre for changes in the Ninth Schedule of Constitution. In the proposed reservation, local people of the SC community will get a quota of 12 per cent, STs will get 28 per cent, Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) 15 per cent, OBCs 12 per cent, and EWS barring those from the other reserved categories 10 per cent. At present, the STs get a 26 per cent reservation in Jharkhand, while SCs get 10 per cent quota. The OBCs currently get a 14 per cent quota in the state, and increasing it was an electoral promise of all mainstream parties in 2019, .

Jharkhand Cabinet approves four ambitious schemes for students and youths

The Jharkhand Cabinet has approved four ambitious schemes to promote education and skill development of students and youths, an official said. The schemes include Higher and Technical Education department's Mukhya Mantri Shiksha Prothsahan Yojana (MMSPY), Eklavya Prasikshan Yojana (EPY) and Guruji Student Credit Card Yojana (GSCCY), and Labour department's Mukhya Mantri Sarathi Yojana (MMSY). "President Droupadi Murmu will officially launch these schemes on Jharkhand's Foundation day on November 15," cabinet secretary Vandana Dadel said on Thursday. The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday approved the four schemes and 34 other agendas. Under the MMSPY, class 10 pass students will be provided free coaching at Jharkhand-based institutions of national repute for entrance examinations of engineering, medical, common law admission test, mass communication, fashion designing, hotel management and chartered accounting. "Along with free coaching, a provision

Rs 100cr worth unaccounted transactions post raids on J'khand MLAs: IT dept

The Income-tax department has detected "unaccounted" transactions and investments worth more than Rs 100 crore after it raided two Jharkhand Congress MLAs, their alleged associates and linked coal and iron ore businesses across the state last week. The CBDT said in a statement on Tuesday that 50 premises in Ranchi, Godda, Bermo, Dumka, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa in Jharkhand, Patna (Bihar), Gurugram (Haryana), and Kolkata (West Bengal) were covered during the searches launched on November 4. The two MLAs, on the day the searches were initiated, were identified by the officials as Kumar Jaimangal alias Anup Singh and Pradip Yadav. Jaimangal, a legislator from Bermo seat, also spoke to reporters outside his Ranchi residence that day confirming the action, saying he was extending all cooperation to the raiding teams. Yadav, who joined the Congress after splitting from the JVM-P, represents Poriyahat assembly seat. The Congress is a partner of the JMM-led ruling alliance in the state led

BJP has formed PIL gang against UPA govt in Jharkhand: Hemant Soren

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren hit out at the opposition BJP, accusing it of "forming a PIL gang" to disturb the UPA government in the state. Soren also claimed that the saffron party had been "looting" the state since it was formed. The chief minister, who was addressing a public meeting here on Monday after the Supreme Court allowed his appeal in a mining lease case, alleged that the BJP, "hell bent" on destabilising the democratically elected government in the state, was misusing central agencies like the ED and Income Tax department to serve its interests. The BJP, he alleged, had "ruled and looted the state for 20 years and did nothing for the rural masses, the poor, the farmers, youths and the old". The saffron party, in a retort, said the Soren government, instead of fulfilling the promises it made to people, was "busy grabbing the limelight". The apex court on Monday allowed Soren and the state government's appeals against a high court order which had accepted the .

Mining lease row: Relief for Jharkhand CM Soren; SC sets aside HC order

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the appeals of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the state government against a high court order accepting the maintainability of PILs for a probe in the mining lease issue. It also set aside the Jharkhand High Court's June 3 order. "Satyamev Jayate," Soren, who has been accused of granting himself a mining lease as the state's mining minister, said on Twitter after the Supreme Court's ruling. We have allowed these two appeals and have set aside the June 3, 2022 order passed by the Jharkhand High Court, holding that these PILs were not maintainable, the bench said. A bench of Justices U U Lalit, S R Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia had reserved its judgement on August 17 on separate pleas of the Jharkhand government and Soren against the high court's order that accepted the maintainability of the PILs. The apex court had earlier restrained the high court from proceedings with the PILs seeking a probe against Soren in the mining lease issue. Sen

Have sought copy from EC of guv's request for second opinion: Soren

Amid a deepening political crisis in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren Sunday said he has sought a copy from the Election Commission of Governor Ramesh Bais's request for a "second opinion" in a office-of-profit case through his counsel. The request comes in the wake of Bais saying on October 27 that he has sought a "second opinion" in the case and claiming that an "atom bomb could explode any time in Jharkhand", apparently indicating towards his pending decision in the matter. "I have sought a copy from EC of Governor Ramesh Bais's request for second opinion in office-of-profit case through my counsel," Soren told PTI. "The counsel has placed on my behalf that the EC will provide an opportunity for fair and effective hearing before giving any opinion pursuant to the second request made by the governor," he said. Following a petition by the BJP seeking Soren's disqualification from the Assembly in the office-of-profit case, the EC had sent its decision to the Jharkhand governo

Huge cache of explosives seized in Jharkhand's Latehar district: Police

A huge cache of explosives were seized in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Jharkhand Police and CRPF raided Budha Pahad area, once considered to be a hotbed of Maoist activities, and unearthed the hidden cache, a police officer said. Latehar Additional Superintendent of Police (Operations) Santosh Kumar Mishra said that IEDs and detonators of various kinds were seized from the spot, which is around 160 km from Ranchi. This was the second major haul of explosives from the area in recent times. A week ago, a huge cache of arms and ammunitions, including 17 rifles and 200 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized from the area.

I-T dept searches on Jharkhand Congress MLAs over tax evasion charges

The Income Tax Department on Friday conducted searches at properties linked to Jharkhand Congress MLAs Kumar Jaimangal and Pradip Yadav, officials said. Jaimangal alias Anup Singh is a legislator from Bermo, while Yadav who joined Congress after splitting from the JVM-P represents Poriyahat. Congress is a partner of the JMM-led ruling alliance in the state. The searches were conducted at the properties of the legislators in Ranchi, Bermo and Patna, officials said. Some private people, including an iron ore trader in Chaibasa, were also searched by the I-T Department, they said. Jaimangal said he was extending full cooperation to the I-T Department which is conducting the searches as part of an investigation into tax evasion charges. "The searches were carried out under the pressure of the BJP. Such action will have to be faced by those who are against BJP. I am against BJP and so, I am facing it. But, it can't scare me," he told reporters. Jaimangal was the MLA who in August lod

Army land grab case: ED raids multiple locations linked to Amit Agarwal

The businessman, Amit Agarwal, is alleged to have illegally grabbed land owned by the Indian Army in Jharkhand