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Punjab resolution demands Agnipath roll-back

LG approves a 66% hike in the Delhi MLA’s salary
Anjali Bhatia

New Delhi, June 30

The Delhi Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena approved a bill for a 66.67 percent salary hike for Delhi lawmakers on Thursday. The Delhi government has called a two-day session of the Delhi assembly from Monday where a bill on the revision of legislators’ salaries and allowances will be tabled and passed paving the way for the salary hike pending for nearly seven years.

Earlier in May, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA), had cleared it, paving the way for the revision.

If the bill is passed, lawmakers in Delhi will get Rs 90,000 a month, up from the existing Rs 54,000, an official in the Delhi assembly told the media.

“The LG has recently approved a proposal for increasing the salary and allowances of MLAs from the existing Rs 54,000 per month to Rs 90,000 per month. Accordingly, a bill for the hike of salary and allowances is likely to be tabled in the upcoming assembly session and passed,” added the official.

The Delhi government in December 2015 proposed Rs 2.10 lakh a month as salary and allowances for the MLAs, but the MHA did not agree with the proposal.

On May 5 this year the then LG Anil Baijal’s office forwarded a letter to the department of law, justice and legislative affairs of the Delhi government from the MHA regarding the salary revision.

Punjab resolution demands Agnipath roll-back

Amid opposition by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, the Punjab Assembly, on Thursday, passed a resolution urging the Union government to immediately roll back the ‘Agnipath Scheme’ in the larger interest of the country.
Punjab is the first state to pass such a resolution, which was supported by the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal besides the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, against the Agnipath scheme in the Assembly.
Moving the resolution in this regard on the floor of the House on Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the unilateral announcement of the Union government to introduce the ‘Agnipath scheme’ in the Armed forces has witnessed widespread violent resistance across the country including Punjab.
The resolution said the Punjab Assembly strongly feels that the scheme where youth will be employed in the Armed forces only for a period of four years and out of which only 25 per cent will be retained, is neither in the interest of national security nor of the youth of this country.
It said this policy is likely to create dissatisfaction among the youth who wish to serve the Armed forces of the nation throughout their life.
The CM said more than one lakh soldiers from Punjab serve the Armed Forces of the nation and the youth of Punjab consider it a matter of pride and privilege for them to serve their motherland by joining the Indian Armed Forces.
Mann said this scheme has crushed the ambitions of several youths of Punjab who have been aspiring to join the Armed Forces as regular soldiers.
“The Punjab Assembly urges the Union government to roll back the Agnipath scheme immediately” read the resolution moved by the CM.
Meanwhile, training his guns against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for this “whimsical move”, Mann dared the BJP leaders to enroll their own sons as Agniveers before supporting this “anti-youth move”.
Mann advised the BJP leaders to stop building castles in air to support this irrational move which is detrimental to the interests of the country. He said this scheme is against the ethos of love and passion of a youth for his country and Armed forces.
The CM asked the BJP leaders to explain how the country will combat its infiltrators and enemies with an ‘Army on rent’. He cautioned them that this move will prove fatal for the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country in the coming times.
Mann said he will soon call on the Prime Minister and Union home minister to impress upon them for rolling back this move or referring it to the Defense Committee of the Parliament.

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