No mourning for Chhattisgarh MPs in Parliament
In what is being described as the callous attitude of the state government, no homage was paid to Keyur Bhushan, 90, a Member of Parliament and a freedom fighter, on the opening day of the monsoon session of Parliament. Bhushan passed away recently. This is the third time the ‘customary obituary references’ were not given. Questions are being raised on why the state failed to send the details of the MPs who had passed away to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats. “Such neglect is really sad and unacceptable as two former MPs from the state were also earlier deprived,” alleged Uchit Sharma, a social activist. Besides Bhushan, the two deceased MPs were Purushottam Kaushik, who died in October 2017, and Tarachand Sahu, who expired on 11 November, 2012.
Jogi gets a rousing welcome
Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) supremo Ajit Jogi got a rousing welcome from his party’s supporters on his return to Raipur after 52 days. He was away in Delhi seeking treatment for a serious illness, followed by a physiotherapy session. With Jogi’s party in the Assembly election fray, the contest in Chhattisgarh is poised to become triangular. Jogi quit the Congress in June 2016 and floated his own regional outfit. A symbol has been allotted to his party by the Election Commission.
President Kovind’s first visit to Bastar
Chhattisgarh will get an opportunity to showcase Bastar to the country as a place where the ground situation has “much improved”, through the eyes of President Ramnath Kovind, who will be on a two-day visit to the strife-torn zone on July 25 and 26. Prior to him, four presidents have visited Bastar, but he will be the first to have an overnight stay there. He will be visiting Jagdalpur, the district headquarters of Bastar and Dantewada. Besides some known tourist spots, the President will be interacting with tribals and farmers. He will also pay a visit to Education City. Adequate security is being deployed ahead of the President’s visit.
SKYHACK-2018 to trigger innovation
In an attempt to spark innovative ideas, the state has launched ‘SKYHACK-2018’, where unconventional original ideas from youth have been invited to create an app ecosystem and make a positive impact on more than 50 lakh people across the state. With Soochna Kranti Yojana (SKY), under which the state will distribute 55 lakh smartphones, the aim is to promote the goal of creating an ecosystem of enabling mobile applications to assist citizens in living a better life, know about welfare schemes, and connect with the government easily through government-to-citizen services.