Rath Prabhari appointment row: The latest point of contention between the ruling Bhartiya Janata party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition INDIA bloc is the appointing of officers of the ranks of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary as “rath prabhari“.
Reacting Congress’s accusation, BJP leader and their IT cell head Amit Malviya has backed the Centre in its directions asking bureaucrats to talk about the programs and schemes implemented by the government. He said that bureaucrats are duty bound to serve the people, as the elected government “deems fit”.
BJP national President JP Nadda also tweeted, “It baffles me to see the Congress Party have an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes. If this not the basic tenet of governance, what is? Regarding opposition to a ‘Rath’ it is a fit use of public resources unlike using warships as personal yachts :)”
What is the Rath Prabhari issue?
-The post shared by Pawan Khera is an internal order of the agriculture secretary of October 14 regarding showcasing or celebrating the achievements of the last nine years of the Modi government through the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra” proposed to be organised across the country for disseminating information, awareness and extending services at the gram panchayat level from November 20 to January 25.
“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!
What Congress says?
–Congress leader Pawan Khera took to microblogging site X to share an order dated 18 October of the Department of Revenue in the finance ministry regarding the nomination of officers of the ranks of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary pertaining to various services to be deployed as “rath prabhari” (special officers) in each of the 765 districts in the country, covering 2.69 lakh gram panchayats.
-Slamming the Centre, Khera wrote, “How can civil servants be ordered to do political propaganda for a government going into elections?”
-The Congress has accused the BJP of appointing officers as part of ‘political propaganda’
Mallikarjun Kharge writes to PM Modi
-As part of the discontent, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his government’s orders saying that all agencies, institutions, arms, wings, and departments of the government are now officially ‘Pracharaks’.
-Congress president Kharge also said that in view of protecting democracy and the Constitution, it is imperative that the orders which would lead to the politicising of bureaucracy and our Armed Forces must be withdrawn immediately.
What India government says?
-Modi has set a target of six months to ensure the full saturation of his government’s welfare schemes, PTI reports
-The government will launch a mega drive — Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra — across all 2.7 lakh panchayats in the country to reach out to the beneficiaries and enroll them.
-PTI reports, citing people in the know, the exercise will begin after Diwali next month and continue for several weeks.
-Specially-fitted “raths” (chariots) will reach the beneficiaries across the country, they said.
“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Updated: 23 Oct 2023, 11:29 AM IST