September 25, 2025 • 21 mins
First, we talk to The Indian Express' Damini Nath about the new feature that has been introduced by the Election Commission of India on their app and site as a way to eliminate gaps in their system, so that voters cannot be deleted off the voting lists without them getting informed.
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Raakhi Jagga about the current situation in Punjab which is reeling from the aftermath of the massive floods that devastated the state last month. She talks about the rehabilitation efforts and how the state is coping. (7:21)
Lastly, we talk about the protests happening in Ladakh, with people demanding statehood and protection under the sixth schedule. (16;38)
Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Niharika Nanda and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Raakhi Jagga about the current situation in Punjab which is reeling from the aftermath of the massive floods that devastated the state last month. She talks about the rehabilitation efforts and how the state is coping. (7:21)
Lastly, we talk about the protests happening in Ladakh, with people demanding statehood and protection under the sixth schedule. (16;38)
Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Niharika Nanda and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode, we talk about rehabilitation efforts in Punjab
post last month's devastating floods. We also talk about the
protests happening in Ladakh. But we begin today by talking
about the efforts being made by the Election Commission of
India to address the gaps in the system post Rahul
Gandhi's allegations. Hi, I amed Hari Kananda and you are
(00:25):
listening to three things. In an Express News show earlier
this month, the leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged that
in Karnatka's a length constituency, the names of over six
thousand voters were deleted in twenty twenty three by filling
out online forms on their behalf without their knowledge. He
(00:48):
also claimed that the state's CID had written eighteen letters
to the Election Commission over the matter, but received no response.
Now less than a week after these allegations, the Election
Commission has introduced a new e sign feature on its
portal and app aimed at addressing some of the gaps
in the system. To talk about this new feature, Mike
colleague Shashank Pargev speaks to The Indie Express's Domini Nats,
(01:11):
who broke the story for the paper Dominie.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Could you tell our listeners what exactly has been the
procedure to delete names from an electoral role.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So the electoral role of a constituency is maintained by
the electoral registration officer, who is usually a state government
official of that area. It is an eerro's job to
update and correct the electoral role, so they can do
it on their own. Also if they have some information,
if say somebody has shifted or somebody has passed away,
(01:42):
they're supposed to fill the forms and make the corrections
or deletions. And any elector who is registered in that
constituency can fill something known as a Form seven and
apply for deletion, either for their own name in case
they want to move and want to get get their
name deleted from one constituency, or to have another elector
of that constituency's name deleted if that person has died,
(02:04):
moved away, or is found to be ineligible which means
that they're not an Indian citizen or are not eighteen
years of age.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And one of the things you've written about is that
there have been a number of these gaps in this
entire process, right, especially when we talk about someone filling
the Form seven, so talk about what these gaps have been.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So the Form seven can of course be filled physically
and handed over to the booth level officer or to
the ERRO, And in twenty eighteen the ECI came out
with the centralized system for filling these forms and processing,
which basically means that the ros can receive these forms
and process them and have them sent to BLOS for inquiry.
(02:45):
Through this system, it was called the ERRO net the
sport So the Form seven in that basically required you
to just have a phone number and an EPIC number,
which is a voter ID number. You could connect your
voter ID number with your phone number and with that
you could access this portal to fill a form to
delete a name in your constituency. So till very recently,
(03:06):
there was no verification of whether that phone number and
epic number actually belonged to you. So theoretically you could
use somebody else's phone number and EPIC number to register
on the portal and then fill up a deletion form,
which should make it difficult or nearly impossible for the
easy to track down who actually fill the form.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But does that mean that I could just fill up
this form online and delete you as a voter from
your electoral role.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, you could fill up the form, but you would
not be able to delete me directly. The form would
still go to the ERRO and the BLO to process.
So this is what the EASY has been saying all along,
that yes, there was a gap in the system. But
their argument has been that at the end of the day,
the BLOW will still go and conduct an inquiry on
the ground. So you may fill a form to have
(03:53):
my name deleted, but the BLOW of my area will
have to still come and check whether that actually is
true or not.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And also can anyone fill up this form to delete
someone from an electoral role.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So only those people who are registered in the same
constituency can fill the form to have someone's name deleted
in that constituency. How the portal works is that you
have to first put in your own epic number. Once
you do that, the portal recognizes your constituency, and then
you have to either use the epic number of the
person whose name you want deleted, or if you search
(04:26):
for their name, it'll list out all the people with
that name in your constituency. So you're sitting in Delhi
cannot fill a form to have somebody in Kerala deleted,
it has to be in your constituency only.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And in this context, what has been Rahul Ganti's allegations
is he alleging that ers didn't check things properly. What
does he say about how these six thousand voters were deleted?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Raul Gantia hasn't specified what he really means when he says,
quote and quote, someone tried to do this. But from
his press conference, what we can understand is that he
believes that there was concerted effort to have bulk forms
filled misusing the epic numbers of local electors, using phone
numbers of people who were not in that state and
(05:10):
who actually were not voters in that area. So he
clearly believes that there was a planned or systematic attempt
to fill these forms in an illegal manner. It's not
clear whether he is blaming the Election Commission or ARROWS
or another party or agency who could be behind filling
these forms. As you know, there's an FIR in this matter,
(05:31):
so we don't really know exactly what happened, but the
EC says that the process was stopped when they figured
out that these forms were actually not being filled by
local electors and it was the EC's own er who
actually file the fire and.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Talk about what has happened. Now, what is this latest
feature that the ec has introduced to its app and portal?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
So, like I was telling you, there was a er
O net portal in twenty eighteen, and earlier this year,
the CI came out with something called the ECI net,
which is its portal and app which brings all of
its earlier portals and apps on one platform. So voters
as well as parties as well as officials all have
now one common portal called the ECI Net. So earlier
(06:15):
this week, the ECI added this e sign feature on
its eci net portal which basically means that if you
have to fill a form for a new voter of
a deletion of a correction in your voter ID, now
you were required to complete an e sign which basically
means that you will have to have an AD linked
phone number and before you submit a form, an OTP
(06:37):
will be sent to your ATHER linked phone number, so
it is one extra step. So if somebody was trying
to commit fraud and connect somebody else's phone number with
an EPIC number. Now they would also need to have
that person's Adhar and the correct phone number because OTP
will only go to the Adhar linked phone number.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And nomini after ec dig. This has them Rist Party
or Rahul Gandhi himself reacted to this.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Ral Gandhi has reacted to this. He basically has seen
this as an admission by the Election Commission that his
allegations were actually correct and the Election Commission has moved
to fill the gaps in its system only after he
raised this point at his press conference.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Next, we turn our attention to Punjab, which has been
grappling with the aftermath of the massive floods that hit
nearly all its districts late last month. The state actually
saw record rainfall of over two fifty three millimeters, the
highest in twenty five years. Now, as the waters received,
families are leaving relief shelters and returning home and the
(07:46):
process of rehabilitation has only just begun. And during this time,
what's particularly striking is the scale of support, with citizens, NGOs,
corporations and even celebrities pitching in to help those most
affected in the state. To understand these efforts and how
the state is scoping in the aftermath, we speak to
the Indian expresses raki jagga raki.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now that the.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Reigns have stopped, what is the current situation as far
as rehabilitation is concerned.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
The current situation is that people have moved back to
their villages and the water has receded. But I mean
now they are coming to the terms. The houses are
in damaged position and a lot of their belongings either
they have been damaged or they can't even use them
because of the heavy sludge and all which had come
in their houses.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
The houses which have been damaged, they need to be repaired.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Known government organizations, political parties and even the state government.
Everyone is chipping in to help people rehabilitate and the
work has already started in a number of villages in Gurdaspur,
Amritsar and in Pasilka and Throws Poor the work is
yet to take off because although the water has receded
from the houses and all the roads, but the water
(08:59):
is still existing in the fields. So on exact pace,
the rehabilitation work is slow in those districts because they
are at the tail end. And once Pasil Khai is
free from the floodwater, we can say that Punjab is
free from the floodwaters.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And you write that during this time, many resorts, colleges
go downs and even community halls have been converted into
storage units. Tell us about that and how has it
helped in the relief efforts.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah, if I talk about Ahmitsir, there is one resort
called Babu Resort and the owner is Harmindhar Singhbabu. He
has given his resort at nominal prices to the Amadmi
parties Rajasaba member Vikhrimji Singhsani to be used as a
warehouse for flood relief work. And there are colleges, as
you said, in Ludhana, there was a Gurmath Missionary College
(09:49):
which was being used.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
As a warehouse.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
But now the entire material from that college has been
taken out and distributed. And there is one more resort
in Gurdaspur which is being us as a warehouse by
Global Sick enginew and in Jalanda there are eight warehouses.
These are not exactly the marriage peaces. I mean these
are the locations created by the BGP supporters where.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
They have created these eight warehouses and they have stored the.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Needed flood relief material like the beddings, woolens because winters
are approaching and victims they must be needing the woolens
because lots of their clothes they have been damaged, and
the utensils, gas stoves, fogging machines for the villages, I
mean the big fogging machines for the villages. Because of
the floods. There is a lot of moisture now in
(10:38):
the air and they need mosquito repellents and also as
to fight with the diseases like Dengi and malaria.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So this is how they are stalking the things.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And gradually as in when the nearest village is where
they are feeling like that the families need immediate help.
So the distribution process has also been started in many
a vialities.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah and raki, you understand that a number of celebrities
have also made contributions to these efforts, right yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
I mean certain celebrities. They have not done anything directly.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
They have gone through the angios only like a number
of Punjabi film stars. They the Sange Nimbri Kera and
even run the Hudha Bollywood star that even visited also
a number of villages along with the global sick guys Gival.
A lot of them approached the Angio Global six and
there is one more Enjo Initiators of Change. So they
(11:33):
approach the Angios which were actively working in the area
and through them they are providing their relief to the
flood affected people. And because the Angos on their own
can't raise so much of funds, the corows and crows
of funds for the victims.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Like initiators of change.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Guys got of Deep Singh and he told me that
his Angio plans to rebuild or repair around sixty five
hundred houses and he said that out of them, ten
houses have been promised by the Indian hockey team. Even
the other like Lilji No Sancho himself had announced that
he'll be adopting few villages. So although they are adopting
(12:11):
the villages, but they're outing themselves through the Angios.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And what kind of steps have been taken by the
state government to help those who have been affected by
the floods.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
The state government they announced to give twenty thousand per
acred relief to the farmers whose crop is damaged between
seventy five percent two hundred percent. This announcement was done
a day before Prime Ministerner in Remodi's visit to Punjab
and this is the highest ever compensation announced by the government.
Last was seventeen thousand per acre compensation which was given
(12:45):
by Congress government when Tcharanji Channey was the Chief Minister.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And twenty thousand is the highest ever.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
And out of this, sixty eight hundred per acred is
likely to be contributed by the Center government as per
the s D the State Disasterly Fund rules and the
rest may be contributed by the state.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
And apart from that, they have started a mission chat
the colum through which.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
They have raised an appeal to people to generously contribute
for this cause and maybe they are likely to use
this fund for the rehabilitation works of the flood affected
families and in a number of villages of Patanko, the
BGP team they told that they have distributed the entire
household items starting from the folding beds, the kitchen utensils,
(13:32):
gas stoves and the woolens, blankets, clothes, even the rubber sleepers.
They said they plan to cover one and a half
black families and each and every family will be given
the material which I've mentioned irrespective of the fact whether
any injury has already given them. And even so kuer Badel,
who is a president of Sirmania Khalidel, he is also
(13:55):
actively distributing the relief material I mean, on Sunday and
even on Monday, he plaged off a number of trucks
from Boxer to distribute May's seeds to the farmers in
Gnadaspur area in Amritsar Aria. And he has already given
cash amount to number of village punchayats who said that
we need some money for the repair box of the
(14:16):
embankments near their villages. And even he contributed in giving
the diesel to the villagers.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Right and apart from this, big corporations are also helping
people repair their electronic items for free. Some are helping
in cleaning services and providing rustion kids.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
But also Raki.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The last time when we talked about the floods, C M.
Bagunt Man had asked the central government for the money
that was due to the state and which could now
be used in the relief efforts. So did the state
government receive that amount?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
I mean that sixty thousand corol is a matter of
politics only, I mean in the state government they said
that our amount is pending and the Center says that
they are given the misleading pacts. So this flood politics
statement they are on and on between the BGP as
well as the Amamni Party.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
But on September ninth.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Prime Minister Narendromodhi had visited Gurdaspur area and he had
done an aerial view of the flood affected area as
well in that region. So at that time he had
announced an immediate relief of sixteen hundred corodes to the
state over and above the SDRF share which Punjab gets.
I mean every state gets an SDRF share, so this
(15:31):
sixteen hundred carole was over and above whatever the.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
State's share is.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And at the same time, Narendromodi gave us statement at
that time that Punjab is already having twelve thousand SDRF
ones lying with them in their accounts and why are
they not using it for the flood relief work and
instead they are putting up a blame game. And also
this flood politics between both the political parties is going on.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So sixteen hundred corod was.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
A immediate help which was announced Pender in their moodia
and apart from that, he announced that the roads which
have been damaged, they can be repaired from the Rural
Development Fund team. The houses which have been damaged, they
can be repaired from the Prime Minister Avarco Jina. And likewise,
a lot of center government schemes are running and he
(16:24):
has said that the state government can make the project
reports and send it to them and under those schemes
they'll be continue sanctioning funds and so that all that
damaged infrastructure can also be repaired.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And in the end, we turn our attention to Ladakh,
where police have launched a crackdown after violent protests left
four people dead and more than fifty injured this week.
The demonstrations were part of an agitation demanding statehood for
Ladakh and six schedule protections. During this crackdown, a congress
counselor stands in Sepag has been booked for allegedly instigating
(17:06):
the protests, and according to a report by Basharat Masoud
from the Indian Express, more political leaders are expected to
face action. Violence broke out on Wednesday when protesters set
fire to the local BGP office and clashed with security forces,
prompting police to open fire. Authorities say that they have
already detained over fifty people and warned that those behind
(17:28):
the violence will face consequences. Ladakh's Lieutenant Governor, Kavender Gouppa
said that the protesters were responsible for the debts and
that the curfew measures will remain in place. The protests
came just ahead of an October sixth meeting between the
Union Home Ministry and Ladakh representatives. This current agitation was
called by the lay Apex body in support of climate
(17:50):
activists Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a thirty five
day fast over Ladak's demands. Wang Chuk, however, has been
left out of the delegation heading to Delhi, which underlines
the tensions between him and the Center. Now, the core
issue remains Ladak's demand for statehood an inclusion under the
sixth Schedule, which grants special protection to tribal areas. Earlier
(18:12):
this year, the Center had offered alternative safeguards such as
domicile based job reservations and recognition of local languages, but
groups led by wang Chuk insist only the sixth Schedule
can secure Ladakh's land, jobs, and cultural identity. Talks between
the Home Ministry and local groups have been installed since
May largely due to the center's discomfort with wang Chuk's participation. Now,
(18:35):
what's important to remember is that the demand for Ladak's
statehood actually started shortly after the bifurcation of Jamu and
Kashmir back in twenty nineteen, which is when Ladakh was
turned into a Union territory.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
He in fact, initially there is a lot of euphoria
about Ladak being turned into Union territory because it was
actually one of the demands in Ladakh that Ladakh should
be turned into a Union territory because they felt that
they were not getting their due from the Jamun Kashmir government.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's the Indian expresses Diepimari, who had spoken to us
about this issue earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
And there was a lot of concentration on Kashmir region itself,
and you know, if at all something when it went
to Jamu and Ladak actually you know, was sort of ignored.
The representation was low, that it's a sparsely populated region,
you know, geographically very widespread out but population density is
very low, so they had very few MLAs and so
they thought that you know, their voices were not heard,
(19:33):
so they thought that you know, becoming a union territory
would be great. We would be directly administered by Derry.
But once it actually became a Union territory, they realized
that it was worse than being under a Jerman Kashmir
government because you know, they did not get any statehood.
It was not even a Union territory with an assembly.
So they suddenly found themselves that now nobody was reasoning
(19:54):
to them. You know, earlier attrist them could sit on
a dharana, or could go and raise an issue in
the assembly, or you know, make noise about something, as
public representatives do and it is their job. So the
initial euphoria quickly dissipated, and they realized that bureaucracy can
actually be quite removed from the people because it is
(20:14):
more used to dealing with files than people. So they
felt that they were not being heard. And so the
initially this demand started that you know, you give us statehood.
Then it transformed into give us six schedule, you know,
and then slowly transformed into either six schedule or statehood.
You give either of the two, because basically people wanted
(20:36):
participation in administration of their own region. So you know,
initially there was not a very positive or great response
from the minility of home affairs because even a committee
to discuss these issues were sort of formed only after
four or five years. Then it slowly transformed into a
public agitation in La dak And it was famously led
(20:58):
by the climate activists. Wangchuk is one of the most
prominent faces coming from the region and it continues to
go on.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You were listening to three things by then. Express Today's
show was edited and mixed by Surish Bavar and produced
by Shashank Pargev and Nina Hari Kananda. If you like
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(21:30):
tweet us at Express Audio and write to us at
podcasts at Indian Express dot com.
In this episode, we talk about rehabilitation efforts in Punjab
post last month's devastating floods. We also talk about the
protests happening in Ladakh. But we begin today by talking
about the efforts being made by the Election Commission of
India to address the gaps in the system post Rahul
Gandhi's allegations. Hi, I amed Hari Kananda and you are
(00:25):
listening to three things. In an Express News show earlier
this month, the leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged that
in Karnatka's a length constituency, the names of over six
thousand voters were deleted in twenty twenty three by filling
out online forms on their behalf without their knowledge. He
(00:48):
also claimed that the state's CID had written eighteen letters
to the Election Commission over the matter, but received no response.
Now less than a week after these allegations, the Election
Commission has introduced a new e sign feature on its
portal and app aimed at addressing some of the gaps
in the system. To talk about this new feature, Mike
colleague Shashank Pargev speaks to The Indie Express's Domini Nats,
(01:11):
who broke the story for the paper Dominie.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Could you tell our listeners what exactly has been the
procedure to delete names from an electoral role.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So the electoral role of a constituency is maintained by
the electoral registration officer, who is usually a state government
official of that area. It is an eerro's job to
update and correct the electoral role, so they can do
it on their own. Also if they have some information,
if say somebody has shifted or somebody has passed away,
(01:42):
they're supposed to fill the forms and make the corrections
or deletions. And any elector who is registered in that
constituency can fill something known as a Form seven and
apply for deletion, either for their own name in case
they want to move and want to get get their
name deleted from one constituency, or to have another elector
of that constituency's name deleted if that person has died,
(02:04):
moved away, or is found to be ineligible which means
that they're not an Indian citizen or are not eighteen
years of age.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And one of the things you've written about is that
there have been a number of these gaps in this
entire process, right, especially when we talk about someone filling
the Form seven, so talk about what these gaps have been.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So the Form seven can of course be filled physically
and handed over to the booth level officer or to
the ERRO, And in twenty eighteen the ECI came out
with the centralized system for filling these forms and processing,
which basically means that the ros can receive these forms
and process them and have them sent to BLOS for inquiry.
(02:45):
Through this system, it was called the ERRO net the
sport So the Form seven in that basically required you
to just have a phone number and an EPIC number,
which is a voter ID number. You could connect your
voter ID number with your phone number and with that
you could access this portal to fill a form to
delete a name in your constituency. So till very recently,
(03:06):
there was no verification of whether that phone number and
epic number actually belonged to you. So theoretically you could
use somebody else's phone number and EPIC number to register
on the portal and then fill up a deletion form,
which should make it difficult or nearly impossible for the
easy to track down who actually fill the form.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But does that mean that I could just fill up
this form online and delete you as a voter from
your electoral role.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, you could fill up the form, but you would
not be able to delete me directly. The form would
still go to the ERRO and the BLO to process.
So this is what the EASY has been saying all along,
that yes, there was a gap in the system. But
their argument has been that at the end of the day,
the BLOW will still go and conduct an inquiry on
the ground. So you may fill a form to have
(03:53):
my name deleted, but the BLOW of my area will
have to still come and check whether that actually is
true or not.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And also can anyone fill up this form to delete
someone from an electoral role.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So only those people who are registered in the same
constituency can fill the form to have someone's name deleted
in that constituency. How the portal works is that you
have to first put in your own epic number. Once
you do that, the portal recognizes your constituency, and then
you have to either use the epic number of the
person whose name you want deleted, or if you search
(04:26):
for their name, it'll list out all the people with
that name in your constituency. So you're sitting in Delhi
cannot fill a form to have somebody in Kerala deleted,
it has to be in your constituency only.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And in this context, what has been Rahul Ganti's allegations
is he alleging that ers didn't check things properly. What
does he say about how these six thousand voters were deleted?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Raul Gantia hasn't specified what he really means when he says,
quote and quote, someone tried to do this. But from
his press conference, what we can understand is that he
believes that there was concerted effort to have bulk forms
filled misusing the epic numbers of local electors, using phone
numbers of people who were not in that state and
(05:10):
who actually were not voters in that area. So he
clearly believes that there was a planned or systematic attempt
to fill these forms in an illegal manner. It's not
clear whether he is blaming the Election Commission or ARROWS
or another party or agency who could be behind filling
these forms. As you know, there's an FIR in this matter,
(05:31):
so we don't really know exactly what happened, but the
EC says that the process was stopped when they figured
out that these forms were actually not being filled by
local electors and it was the EC's own er who
actually file the fire and.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Talk about what has happened. Now, what is this latest
feature that the ec has introduced to its app and portal?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
So, like I was telling you, there was a er
O net portal in twenty eighteen, and earlier this year,
the CI came out with something called the ECI net,
which is its portal and app which brings all of
its earlier portals and apps on one platform. So voters
as well as parties as well as officials all have
now one common portal called the ECI Net. So earlier
(06:15):
this week, the ECI added this e sign feature on
its eci net portal which basically means that if you
have to fill a form for a new voter of
a deletion of a correction in your voter ID, now
you were required to complete an e sign which basically
means that you will have to have an AD linked
phone number and before you submit a form, an OTP
(06:37):
will be sent to your ATHER linked phone number, so
it is one extra step. So if somebody was trying
to commit fraud and connect somebody else's phone number with
an EPIC number. Now they would also need to have
that person's Adhar and the correct phone number because OTP
will only go to the Adhar linked phone number.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And nomini after ec dig. This has them Rist Party
or Rahul Gandhi himself reacted to this.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Ral Gandhi has reacted to this. He basically has seen
this as an admission by the Election Commission that his
allegations were actually correct and the Election Commission has moved
to fill the gaps in its system only after he
raised this point at his press conference.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Next, we turn our attention to Punjab, which has been
grappling with the aftermath of the massive floods that hit
nearly all its districts late last month. The state actually
saw record rainfall of over two fifty three millimeters, the
highest in twenty five years. Now, as the waters received,
families are leaving relief shelters and returning home and the
(07:46):
process of rehabilitation has only just begun. And during this time,
what's particularly striking is the scale of support, with citizens, NGOs,
corporations and even celebrities pitching in to help those most
affected in the state. To understand these efforts and how
the state is scoping in the aftermath, we speak to
the Indian expresses raki jagga raki.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now that the.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Reigns have stopped, what is the current situation as far
as rehabilitation is concerned.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
The current situation is that people have moved back to
their villages and the water has receded. But I mean
now they are coming to the terms. The houses are
in damaged position and a lot of their belongings either
they have been damaged or they can't even use them
because of the heavy sludge and all which had come
in their houses.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
The houses which have been damaged, they need to be repaired.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Known government organizations, political parties and even the state government.
Everyone is chipping in to help people rehabilitate and the
work has already started in a number of villages in Gurdaspur,
Amritsar and in Pasilka and Throws Poor the work is
yet to take off because although the water has receded
from the houses and all the roads, but the water
(08:59):
is still existing in the fields. So on exact pace,
the rehabilitation work is slow in those districts because they
are at the tail end. And once Pasil Khai is
free from the floodwater, we can say that Punjab is
free from the floodwaters.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And you write that during this time, many resorts, colleges
go downs and even community halls have been converted into
storage units. Tell us about that and how has it
helped in the relief efforts.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah, if I talk about Ahmitsir, there is one resort
called Babu Resort and the owner is Harmindhar Singhbabu. He
has given his resort at nominal prices to the Amadmi
parties Rajasaba member Vikhrimji Singhsani to be used as a
warehouse for flood relief work. And there are colleges, as
you said, in Ludhana, there was a Gurmath Missionary College
(09:49):
which was being used.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
As a warehouse.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
But now the entire material from that college has been
taken out and distributed. And there is one more resort
in Gurdaspur which is being us as a warehouse by
Global Sick enginew and in Jalanda there are eight warehouses.
These are not exactly the marriage peaces. I mean these
are the locations created by the BGP supporters where.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
They have created these eight warehouses and they have stored the.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Needed flood relief material like the beddings, woolens because winters
are approaching and victims they must be needing the woolens
because lots of their clothes they have been damaged, and
the utensils, gas stoves, fogging machines for the villages, I
mean the big fogging machines for the villages. Because of
the floods. There is a lot of moisture now in
(10:38):
the air and they need mosquito repellents and also as
to fight with the diseases like Dengi and malaria.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So this is how they are stalking the things.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And gradually as in when the nearest village is where
they are feeling like that the families need immediate help.
So the distribution process has also been started in many
a vialities.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah and raki, you understand that a number of celebrities
have also made contributions to these efforts, right yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
I mean certain celebrities. They have not done anything directly.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
They have gone through the angios only like a number
of Punjabi film stars. They the Sange Nimbri Kera and
even run the Hudha Bollywood star that even visited also
a number of villages along with the global sick guys Gival.
A lot of them approached the Angio Global six and
there is one more Enjo Initiators of Change. So they
(11:33):
approach the Angios which were actively working in the area
and through them they are providing their relief to the
flood affected people. And because the Angos on their own
can't raise so much of funds, the corows and crows
of funds for the victims.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Like initiators of change.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Guys got of Deep Singh and he told me that
his Angio plans to rebuild or repair around sixty five
hundred houses and he said that out of them, ten
houses have been promised by the Indian hockey team. Even
the other like Lilji No Sancho himself had announced that
he'll be adopting few villages. So although they are adopting
(12:11):
the villages, but they're outing themselves through the Angios.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And what kind of steps have been taken by the
state government to help those who have been affected by
the floods.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
The state government they announced to give twenty thousand per
acred relief to the farmers whose crop is damaged between
seventy five percent two hundred percent. This announcement was done
a day before Prime Ministerner in Remodi's visit to Punjab
and this is the highest ever compensation announced by the government.
Last was seventeen thousand per acre compensation which was given
(12:45):
by Congress government when Tcharanji Channey was the Chief Minister.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And twenty thousand is the highest ever.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
And out of this, sixty eight hundred per acred is
likely to be contributed by the Center government as per
the s D the State Disasterly Fund rules and the
rest may be contributed by the state.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
And apart from that, they have started a mission chat
the colum through which.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
They have raised an appeal to people to generously contribute
for this cause and maybe they are likely to use
this fund for the rehabilitation works of the flood affected
families and in a number of villages of Patanko, the
BGP team they told that they have distributed the entire
household items starting from the folding beds, the kitchen utensils,
(13:32):
gas stoves and the woolens, blankets, clothes, even the rubber sleepers.
They said they plan to cover one and a half
black families and each and every family will be given
the material which I've mentioned irrespective of the fact whether
any injury has already given them. And even so kuer Badel,
who is a president of Sirmania Khalidel, he is also
(13:55):
actively distributing the relief material I mean, on Sunday and
even on Monday, he plaged off a number of trucks
from Boxer to distribute May's seeds to the farmers in
Gnadaspur area in Amritsar Aria. And he has already given
cash amount to number of village punchayats who said that
we need some money for the repair box of the
(14:16):
embankments near their villages. And even he contributed in giving
the diesel to the villagers.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Right and apart from this, big corporations are also helping
people repair their electronic items for free. Some are helping
in cleaning services and providing rustion kids.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
But also Raki.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The last time when we talked about the floods, C M.
Bagunt Man had asked the central government for the money
that was due to the state and which could now
be used in the relief efforts. So did the state
government receive that amount?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
I mean that sixty thousand corol is a matter of
politics only, I mean in the state government they said
that our amount is pending and the Center says that
they are given the misleading pacts. So this flood politics
statement they are on and on between the BGP as
well as the Amamni Party.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
But on September ninth.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Prime Minister Narendromodhi had visited Gurdaspur area and he had
done an aerial view of the flood affected area as
well in that region. So at that time he had
announced an immediate relief of sixteen hundred corodes to the
state over and above the SDRF share which Punjab gets.
I mean every state gets an SDRF share, so this
(15:31):
sixteen hundred carole was over and above whatever the.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
State's share is.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And at the same time, Narendromodi gave us statement at
that time that Punjab is already having twelve thousand SDRF
ones lying with them in their accounts and why are
they not using it for the flood relief work and
instead they are putting up a blame game. And also
this flood politics between both the political parties is going on.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So sixteen hundred corod was.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
A immediate help which was announced Pender in their moodia
and apart from that, he announced that the roads which
have been damaged, they can be repaired from the Rural
Development Fund team. The houses which have been damaged, they
can be repaired from the Prime Minister Avarco Jina. And likewise,
a lot of center government schemes are running and he
(16:24):
has said that the state government can make the project
reports and send it to them and under those schemes
they'll be continue sanctioning funds and so that all that
damaged infrastructure can also be repaired.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And in the end, we turn our attention to Ladakh,
where police have launched a crackdown after violent protests left
four people dead and more than fifty injured this week.
The demonstrations were part of an agitation demanding statehood for
Ladakh and six schedule protections. During this crackdown, a congress
counselor stands in Sepag has been booked for allegedly instigating
(17:06):
the protests, and according to a report by Basharat Masoud
from the Indian Express, more political leaders are expected to
face action. Violence broke out on Wednesday when protesters set
fire to the local BGP office and clashed with security forces,
prompting police to open fire. Authorities say that they have
already detained over fifty people and warned that those behind
(17:28):
the violence will face consequences. Ladakh's Lieutenant Governor, Kavender Gouppa
said that the protesters were responsible for the debts and
that the curfew measures will remain in place. The protests
came just ahead of an October sixth meeting between the
Union Home Ministry and Ladakh representatives. This current agitation was
called by the lay Apex body in support of climate
(17:50):
activists Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a thirty five
day fast over Ladak's demands. Wang Chuk, however, has been
left out of the delegation heading to Delhi, which underlines
the tensions between him and the Center. Now, the core
issue remains Ladak's demand for statehood an inclusion under the
sixth Schedule, which grants special protection to tribal areas. Earlier
(18:12):
this year, the Center had offered alternative safeguards such as
domicile based job reservations and recognition of local languages, but
groups led by wang Chuk insist only the sixth Schedule
can secure Ladakh's land, jobs, and cultural identity. Talks between
the Home Ministry and local groups have been installed since
May largely due to the center's discomfort with wang Chuk's participation. Now,
(18:35):
what's important to remember is that the demand for Ladak's
statehood actually started shortly after the bifurcation of Jamu and
Kashmir back in twenty nineteen, which is when Ladakh was
turned into a Union territory.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
He in fact, initially there is a lot of euphoria
about Ladak being turned into Union territory because it was
actually one of the demands in Ladakh that Ladakh should
be turned into a Union territory because they felt that
they were not getting their due from the Jamun Kashmir government.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's the Indian expresses Diepimari, who had spoken to us
about this issue earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
And there was a lot of concentration on Kashmir region itself,
and you know, if at all something when it went
to Jamu and Ladak actually you know, was sort of ignored.
The representation was low, that it's a sparsely populated region,
you know, geographically very widespread out but population density is
very low, so they had very few MLAs and so
they thought that you know, their voices were not heard,
(19:33):
so they thought that you know, becoming a union territory
would be great. We would be directly administered by Derry.
But once it actually became a Union territory, they realized
that it was worse than being under a Jerman Kashmir
government because you know, they did not get any statehood.
It was not even a Union territory with an assembly.
So they suddenly found themselves that now nobody was reasoning
(19:54):
to them. You know, earlier attrist them could sit on
a dharana, or could go and raise an issue in
the assembly, or you know, make noise about something, as
public representatives do and it is their job. So the
initial euphoria quickly dissipated, and they realized that bureaucracy can
actually be quite removed from the people because it is
(20:14):
more used to dealing with files than people. So they
felt that they were not being heard. And so the
initially this demand started that you know, you give us statehood.
Then it transformed into give us six schedule, you know,
and then slowly transformed into either six schedule or statehood.
You give either of the two, because basically people wanted
(20:36):
participation in administration of their own region. So you know,
initially there was not a very positive or great response
from the minility of home affairs because even a committee
to discuss these issues were sort of formed only after
four or five years. Then it slowly transformed into a
public agitation in La dak And it was famously led
(20:58):
by the climate activists. Wangchuk is one of the most
prominent faces coming from the region and it continues to
go on.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You were listening to three things by then. Express Today's
show was edited and mixed by Surish Bavar and produced
by Shashank Pargev and Nina Hari Kananda. If you like
the show, then do subscribe to us wherever you get
your podcasts. You can also recommend the show to someone
you think will like it, share it with a friend
or someone in a family. It's the best way for
people to get to know about us. You can also
(21:30):
tweet us at Express Audio and write to us at
podcasts at Indian Express dot com.
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