MP, Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan, CM

All’s well
A routine traffic stop in Bhopal turned out to be a social media spectacle just before rakshabandhan. A traffic rule violator was stopped outside the Vidhan Sabha in Madhya Pradesh's capital city. The offender claimed he was the brother-in-law of state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and threatened to call him. The entire incident was filmed by passers by and traffic cops and at some point it was uploaded on social media. While the nature of the traffic offense could not be ascertained, the video showed traffic slowing down on the busy road as cops and people gathered around the key actors. Later, when Chouhan was told about the episode, he said: “I have crores of sisters in MP and I am a brother-in-law to many. Let law take its course”.

A last-ditch effort?
Many were surprised when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati (pictured) was seen last week celebrating rakshabandhan with Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala’s son Abhay Chautala. Efforts by the largely Jat-centric INLD to be seen close to Mayawati are being interpreted as a last-ditch effort by the party to come back in the reckoning in Uttar Pradesh after a decade-and-a-half of being in the wilderness. The Balmikis account for about 19 per cent of the Scheduled Caste votes in the state. The last time INLD joined hands with the BSP, the results were worth the effort. The INLD, known as Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) in 1998, won four of the seven Lok Sabha seats it contested in Haryana, while the BSP won Ambala (reserved) seat of the three it contested.

Farmers' strike in MP to increase veggie prices; BJP dubs it Cong agitation

On the first anniversary of the death of seven farmers due to beating and firing by police in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh on June 6 last year, the farmers are going to launch "Gaon Bandh" (village blockade) agitation from Friday, said a farmer representative on Thursday.

During the period, no eatables would be supplied from villages to cities in the state. Although the state government has made arrangements to minimise the impact of agitation, cities are set to see shortage of items like vegetables and milk.

Chief of Aam Kisan Union, Kedar Sirohi told IANS that the agitation enjoys the support of more than 150 farmers organisation. Besides, all 50 Panchayats of the state have also announced to fight for the rights of farmers.

"The government responds to the rightful demands of the farmers with lathis and bullets. June 6 is a black day for farmers. Nothing will be supplied by villages to cities for the next 10 days, neither will anything be brought from the cities during the period," Sirohi said.

Shivraj govt bows to Hindu 'saints'; makes five of them MoS: 10 highlights

A day after getting the 'Minister of State' status, two religious leaders on Wednesday cancelled their proposed stir against an alleged scam in the Narmada conservation programme, while a third one said he would not avail the benefits as MoS. Seeking to downplay the controversy over grant of MoS status to five 'saints,' Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said his government wanted to rope in people from all walks of life for welfare and development. Elsewhere, Bhayyu Maharaj, one of the five religious leaders accorded MoS status, said he would not avail of the benefits associated with the MoS status.

Ahead of the state assembly elections due later this year, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had on Tuesday accorded the MoS status to five Hindu religious leaders - Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant. On March 31, the five were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation. As members of the committee, they were being given the MoS status, an official of the General Administration Department had said yesterday.

MP journalist death: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan orders CBI probe

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of a Bhind-based journalist.

Earlier, Chouhan had assured strict action against the culprit and said, "Security of journalists is our priority and strict action will be taken against the culprit."

Sandeep Sharma, a journalist with a national news channel, who was probing a possible nexus between the police and sand mafia, was mowed down by a speeding truck in Bhind district on Sunday.

In a chilling CCTV footage that surfaced on Monday morning, Sharma was seen riding a motorcycle when a truck mowed him down.

Sharma had reportedly informed the police in the past about a threat to his life.

Meanwhile, the driver of the truck which ran over the journalist was arrested by the police on Monday night from Bhind.

Shatrughan joins Yashwant Sinha's farmer protests in MP, questions Modicare

Joining fellow disgruntled BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in a protest over farmers' issues, MP Shatrughan Sinha today questioned viability of the health insurance scheme announced in the Union Budget.

The actor-turned-politician today reached Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh, where former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has launched a sit-in protest for farmers whose lands would be acquired for a thermal power plant.

The National Health Protection Scheme announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley would require Rs 1.25 trillion for premium payment, which is more than the allocation for health sector in the budgets of the Centre and the states put together, Shatrughan Sinha said.

Patanjali to invest Rs 5,000 cr in current fiscal year, says MD Balkrishna

Patanjali Ayurved's managing director Balkrishna said here today that the company is planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in the country in the current financial year.

"We are exploring possibilities to set up units in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh," he told reporters here.

If all goes well, the company's food processing unit at Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 30 km from here, would be up and running by March, he said.

"Hopefully, the food processing unit will start production by March 2018 with an investment of Rs 500 crore," he said.

The plant will produce biscuits, suji, noodles and flour. It would process 1,000 tons of wheat daily, Balkrishna added.

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has allotted 40 acres of land to Patanjali at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per acre, he said.

The company would also explore the possibility of processing fruits and vegetables in the state, he said.

"If the government provides us land, we will also set up a cow shelter in the state," he said.

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Swine flu claims 44 lives in Madhya Pradesh since July 2017

Swine flu has claimed 44 lives in Madhya Pradesh with five patients each succumbing to the deadly H1N1 virus in Bhopal and Indore districts since July 1 this year, a senior official said today.

So far, 226 positive cases of swine flu have been reported from different districts of Madhya Pradesh, state health services director Dr K L Sahu said.

"The H1N1 virus claimed 44 lives in the state so far since July 1 this year while 226 positive cases of swine flu were found during this period. The highest number of deaths, five each, have been reported in Bhopal and Indore districts," Sahu said.

"Besides, three swine flu patients each died in Jabalpur and Sagar and the remaining in other districts of the state," he said.

Sahu said 45 patients were found infected with the H1N1 virus in Bhopal and 36 in Jabalpur. In Indore, 17 positive cases of swine flu were detected during the period.

The cases of swine flu were also reported from Sagar, Ujjain, Gwalior, Satna, Shahdol, Damoh and some other districts.

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Gujarat, MP have the cleanest cities in India, UP has the dirtiest

Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have emerged as the top two states with most number of clean cities, 12 and 11, respectively, in India’s top 50 clean cities, according to Swachh Survekshan 2017, an annual survey aimed at capturing the outcomes on ground of the ongoing efforts to make urban areas open defecation free and improve door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of municipal solid waste.

Indore in Madhya Pradesh was ranked India’s cleanest city among 434 cities and towns representing 60% of urban population in the country.

Cities and towns were judged on their performance based on making habitations open defecation-free and solid waste management, citizen feedback and independent observations.

While in 2016, there were 1,000 marks for the self-assessment data from municipal bodies, 500 marks for data collected through independent assessment and 500 marks for citizen feedback, the 2017 survey scored cities and towns for a maximum of 900 marks for data provided by the municipal body, 500 marks for data collected through independent assessment and 600 marks for citizen feedback. As the parameters in the self-assessment questionnaire were updated in 2017, a direct comparison of performance year-on-year is not possible.
As many as 3.7 million citizens provided feedback on cleanliness for Swachh Survekshan 2017 while Quality Council of India, an autonomous government body for quality assurance, deployed 421 assessors for on-site inspection of cleanliness in 434 cities and towns and another 55 for real-time monitoring of progress of survey and field inspections.

The other top ten clean cities in order were Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Surat (Gujarat), Mysuru (Karnataka)–which was last year’s cleanest city–Tiruchirapally (Tamil Nadu), New Delhi Municipal Council (Delhi), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), Vadodara (Gujarat) and Chandigarh.
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January-December fiscal year gets thumbs-up from exporters

Exporters have said that any change in the financial year to align with the calendar one is a welcome move.

On Tuesday, the Madhya Pradesh government became the first state to announce that it is shifting to the January-December cycle.

On a national level, the Centre has also started making preparations for switching over to a similar financial year cycle. It had also constituted a high-level committee under former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya to examine the possibility of making such a move.

“Since most other countries follow a January-December financial year, any move in this direction will be helpful,” said Ajay Sahai, director general, Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

This will allow for a proper mapping of India’s foreign trade vis-à-vis global trade, something which is difficult to do right now, he added.

However, on the business side, the move is not expected to impact exporters much, he added.

Economists also supported the argument that companies would not see minimal, if any, changes to their profitability and ease of doing business.

“Apart from some multinational companies who now have to do their tax and accounting in line with the financial year followed by their parent company based abroad, firms will not see any significant changes in their operations, said Devendra Pant, chief economist, India Ratings & Research.
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