Chandigarh :
A huge “scam” involving Aadhaar seeding of a large number of ration cards with unique identity (UID) numbers of those not entitled to subsidised ration has come to light in the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department.

Department Director Sanjeev Verma has requested the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to block the e-KYC functionality issued in user IDs of all Assistant Food and Supplies Officers (AFSOs) and Inspectors as their complicity is being suspected.
Sources said the Sirsa DFSC flagged the matter when he stated in a letter dated April 30 that ration had been drawn against a large number of ration cards not seeded with Aadhaar by mentioning wrong UID numbers allegedly in connivance with officials.
The revelation put under the scanner nearly 15.11 lakh beneficiaries who had been added in the past one year. The state government had claimed that after Aadhaar seeding of ration cards, 42 lakh of the 1.37 crore beneficiaries had been eliminated.
The department feared that many of the 15.11 lakh beneficiaries added after May 12 last year could be fake, using the Aadhaar numbers of some other persons not eligible for subsidised ration.

Elaborating the modus operandi, the sources said the state had 26.64 lakh cardholders with 1.37 crore beneficiaries. As on May 12 last, 41.99 lakh beneficiaries were termed as eliminated as they did not get Aadhaar seeding of their ration cards.
However, data of these beneficiaries was not removed from the system, leaving it up to junior officials to include any eliminated ration card in the list by mentioning an Aadhaar number against it.

The sources said the Sirsa DSFC had revealed that certain officials, in connivance with junior programmers and fair price shop owners, had given Aadhaar seeding to a large number of unseeded ration cards by mentioning UID numbers of other persons to siphon off subsidised wheat.

The demand for subsided wheat came down from 6.6 lakh quintal per month to 4.9 lakh quintal on May 12 last. However, the demand had gone up to 5.3 lakh quintal per month after seeding.

Verma said that he had taken the matter very seriously and asked the Sirsa DFSC to provide specific details and lodge an FIR against those involved in the “scam”.
“I have constituted a committee comprising Guru Prasad, Senior Technical Director, NIC, Haryana, and Subhash Sharma, consultant in the department, to look into the matter and suggest whether bulk authentication of ration cards was needed,” he said.
Verma said the government would come down heavily on the guilty if any irregularity was proved, but could not stop Aadhaar seeding to genuine beneficiaries who had been left out due to some reason. He was not certain at this stage whether there was a “scam” or all 15.11 beneficiaries were genuine.

15.11 lakh beneficiaries under scanner

• On May 12 last year, 41.99 lakh subsidised ration beneficiaries termed as eliminated for not getting Aadhaar seeding of their ration cards
• Data not removed from the system, leaving it up to junior officials to include eliminated ration cards by mentioning Aadhaar numbers
• Certain officials, junior programmers, fair price shop owners give Aadhaar seeding to many ration cards with UID numbers of others
• Demand for subsided wheat, down from 6.6 lakh quintal per month to 4.9 lakh quintal on May 12 last, now 5.3 lakh quintal a month

Vote Voice News
New Delhi :
The Haryana BJP will rope in ministers from the state to propagate among masses “people-oriented” policies and measures undertaken by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state.
State BJP president Subhash Barala told The Tribune: “The ministers will make field visits and propagate policies and administrative decisions of the two governments. The BJP is preparing their tour and campaign programme.”

He said the party had expanded its base till the booth level. “A team of local BJP workers at each polling booth — 17,000 in all (as per the last Assembly elections in Haryana) — has been constituted. They have been briefed about governments’ policies.”

Khattar will also tour the state to reach out to the masses.

All this points to BJP’s preparations for the Assembly elections due in October 2019. The parliamentary polls are scheduled for April next year.

Barala said, “Senior BJP leaders are getting a good response during their camps in villages dominated by Scheduled Castes. Gram sabhas are convened during the visits to identify area-specific development plans and projects.”

On whether BJP’s campaign during the Assembly elections would hinge on the Modi factor, he said: “The BJP is fortunate to have a charismatic leader in Modi. Khattar, too, has an unblemished record.”

On the INLD-BSP tie-up, Barala said: “The INLD is facing an existential crisis, while the Congress is a divided house. It is not in a position to challenge the BJP.”

Vote Voice News
Kurukshetra :
Students of Shri Krishna AYUSH University took out a march here on Monday, demanding an increase in internship remuneration from Rs 4,500 to Rs 10,000.
A large number of students from the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and other streams gathered on the university premises in the morning.
Raising slogans, the protesters marched through the city with banners. They sat on dharna on the university premises.

The students said they would not join their classes and internship programmes till their demand was met by the authorities.

University sources confirmed that the students had been staying away from their internship assignments since May 3.

An official said the state authorities were apprised of the issue and efforts were being made to resolve the issue.

The last year of the five-and-a-half-year BAMS course was for internship, with students spending six months each at the civil hospital and the ayurvedic institute hospital.
Student leader Amit Verma said the Delhi Government and other adjoining states had been paying more than Rs 12,000 to BAMS interns. “Students have been demanding better allowance for the last almost a decade, but state governments have ignored this demand. It is exploitation of students as we attend daylong duty with doctors,” he said.

Verma said the students of the DPharma course had extended their support to the BAMS students.

Vote Voice Bureau

Rewari :

The police have arrested a woman for getting a false rape case registered against five persons, including a policeman and two teachers, over two years ago with an intention to extort hefty money from them. An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Haryana Police has been booked for assisting the woman in the crime but is yet to be arrested.

Priyanka, Investigation Officer (IO), said that the woman had accused five persons of manhandling and raping after holding her hostage at a house in Uttam Nagar here in March 2016. All accused were booked under various Sections of the IPC on her complaint and arrested, he added.

“The court found the allegations to be false in November 2017 and acquitted all accused. It directed the Rewari police to hold an inquiry against the woman. The police inquiry revealed that an ASI, identified as Naresh Kumar, was assisting the woman in the crime. Hence, a case has been registered against him,” said Priyanka. The woman was on Monday produced before a court that sent her to police custody. Efforts were being made to arrest the ASI, she added.

New Delhi : After Congress president Rahul Gandhi winds up his election campaign in Karnataka, he would have to turn his attention to faction-ridden Haryana unit where leadership tussles have been brewing for a long time now.

A change in the state organisation has been necessitated by the exit of Kamal Nath, former Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana, who has since been appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress president.

Over the past few days, Haryana leaders and MLAs have been meeting Rahul to voice their opinion on the changing political scenario in the state. All eyes are now on the Congress president for the long anticipated overhauling of the state unit currently headed by Ashok Tanwar.

Among those who met Rahul recently are MLAs Uday Bhan, Jaiveer Singh, Geeta Bhukkal and Shakuntla Khatak, all representing reserved segments in the Assembly. Former minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav also met Rahul so did Congress Legislature Party Leader Kiran Choudhry.

The group of four senior Dalit lawmakers from Haryana are learnt to have impressed upon Rahul to make an early decision on the state leadership and enable the new organisation to deliver in the next state elections. It is learnt that these MLAs have batted for leadership change to be “in accordance with the people’s aspirations”. This camp of MLAs is loyal to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and has been insisting, along with a section of others, for Hooda to be made Haryana Congress chief.

Ajay Yadav is reported to have urged Rahul to take serious note of the INLD-BSP pre-poll tie up announcement which could be detrimental to Congress prospects in the state. Yadav urged Rahul to factor in the Dalit and OBC leaders to counter the impact of the Chautala-Mayawati tango in Haryana. The state has around 18 per cent SCs.
Kiran Choudhry, meanwhile, discussed Haryana’s political situation with Rahul and also the fact that the recent Jan Aakrosh rally in Delhi was a huge success. Haryana Congress workers participated in large numbers in this rally and for the first time the Hooda and Tanwar camps lay low and desisted from personal political grandstanding.

AICC sources privy to discussions on Haryana Congress affairs meanwhile say the first priority for Rahul is to appoint a state in charge. Organisational reshuffle will follow. It’s equally important to see how Rahul balances the need to counter the BJP’s growing non-Jat appeal in Haryana. The Congress has a strong Jat leadership in the state with Hooda and Congress’ national media in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, both seen as potential leaders in this segment. There is however a debate in the party on the urgency to balance the Jat and non-Jat factor. In the latter category, Kumari Selja and Kuldeep Bishnoi are strong leaders.

Recent events, however, give the Hooda camp a lot of hope considering nine-time Lok Sabha MP Kamal Nath managed to become Madhya Pradesh Congress president despite a formidable younger competitor in Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is known for his closeness to Rahul.

State presidency is a key post in Congress affairs as the party constitution mandates the state chief to sit in the meetings where Assembly tickets are decided and finalised. It is for this reason that the post of state campaign committee chief doesn’t enthuse veteran leaders much. In Punjab, too, Capt Amarinder Singh had insisted the state reins to be handed over to him if he was expected to deliver. In Haryana, Hooda’s situation is akin to Singh’s.

Congress MLA Uday Bhan on Friday told The Tribune that the Jan Kranti Yatra which had to be postponed due to ill health of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would now resume from Samalkha in Panipat district on June 3.
Priority: To appoint state in charge

After the election campaign in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi to turn his attention to faction-ridden Haryana unit.

AICC sources say the first priority for Rahul is to appoint a state in charge. Organisational reshuffle will follow.