While the whole country is debating petrol-ethanol, the bros from Madhya Pradesh have already pulled off what is arguably India's first major ethanol scam, not counting you know who.
There is a govt policy that surplus rice in govt warehouses can be sold to ethanol manufacturers at subsidised rates to prevent it from rotting.
According to a Dainik Bhaskar report, the scam began when some officials allegedly (willingly?) ignored the rules and allocated "newly procured" fortified rice (not even regular rice, but fortified rice) for ethanol production. The rice, bought at a high price (₹4,000 per quintal), was sold at a throwaway price (₹2,320 per quintal) to ethanol plants.
The ethanol plant operators allegedly knew it was fortified rice, so instead of using it to make ethanol, they sold it to rice millers at ₹2,800 per quintal, and instead bought cheap broken rice (₹2,100 per quintal) from the open market for ethanol production, making an overall profit of ₹700 per quintal.
The rice millers allegedly repacked the fortified rice in new gunny bags and supplied it back to the govt as freshly milled rice. The govt paid them milling charges, while the govt supplied paddy they were actually supposed to mill was allegedly sold in the open market for another round of profit.
So the same bag of rice allegedly kept changing hands: govt warehouse to ethanol plant to rice mill to back to govt warehouse. Everyone in the chain allegedly made money.
The MP govt formed an SIT. So far, four people have been arrested and 12 trucks seized. Investigators suspect that up to 50 lakh quintals of govt rice, worth around ₹1,160 crore, may have been diverted through this alleged racket.
Police have arrested this cook who was preparing food in the kitchen of Hotel Flourish Stays, where the fire reportedly started.
Next, they should arrest the vegetable, grocery, and dairy suppliers. Had they not supplied ingredients that day, there would have been no cooking and no fire.
After that, they should arrest the farmers who grew the vegetables, the factory owners who produced the grocery items, and the cows that gave the milk.
Sabko pakad lena. Kisi ko mat chhodna. Except, of course, the officials whose job it was to inspect such establishments and flag safety violations before a tragedy occurred.
“… Utkal is not yours, Bengal is not yours…”
Anti-Bengal @MamataOfficial Mamata Banerjee’s favourite fawning flatterer mocks at BJP and swears that she will see to it that the Modi Govt and the BJP are put on the proverbial funeral pyre.
Bengal and Bengalis have responded.
महुआ मोइत्रा के साथ फ्लाइट में जो हुआ मैं उसे सही नहीं मानता लेकिन जो इकोसिस्टम आज छाती पीट रहा है वो उस वक्त कुणाल कामरा को हीरो बना रहा था जब उसने फ्लाइट में अर्नब के साथ बदसलूकी की थी।
इनका डबल स्टैंडर्ड ही यही है। और इसी लिए इस इकोसिस्टम को और इसके नेताओं को पब्लिक ने नकार दिया है।
जब महिला पत्रकारों के पीछे पीछे भीड़ जा कर उन्हें डराने का प्रयास करती है तो ये लोग कहते हैं कि गोदी मीडिया यही डिजर्व करती है और जब इनके साथ ये सब होता है तो झुंड में छाती पीटने आते हैं।
इनके लिए कुछ भी ग़लत तभी ग़लत है जब इनके साथ हो।
Suvendu Adhikari has once again defeated Mamata Banerjee in a direct contest.
In the 2021 elections, he defeated her in Nandigram. She then had her party’s winning candidate from Bhabanipur vacate the seat, contested the bypoll, and won.
This time, Suvendu reached Bhabanipur and defeated her there as well.
What a fighter and a leader!
A spectacular sight on Mumbai roads ia Mukeshbhai’s convoy. There was his bullet and bomb proof Benz. Countless cars in front and behind. The security guys were driving G wagons and Range Rovers worth crores.
They were driving peacefully, orderly - no wrong side driving, no over speeding, no unnecessary honking or getting on footpaths. All this civil behaviour, despite some people joking he owns the country.
So yeah, if you are one of those people with Thar or Creta or Fortuner or whatever chillar money SUV you have - please stop acting like you own the road 😏
ओवरलोडेड है ट्रक, अवैध है, किंतु दुर्घटना का ओवरलोडिंग से कोई लेना-देना नहीं। बोलेरो चालक (SDO की गाड़ी) ने न तो इंडिकेटर दिया, न ही समय रहते मुड़ा (अत्यंत धीमा), न ही साइड मिरर देखा। जबकि इन सारी ही स्थितियों में बोलेरो वाला आराम से बच सकता था।
I was contacted by @AirIndiaX by 2 AVPs from their headquarters.
However, the only thing they wanted to convey was that what happened was the actions of an individual, and not what the company stands for, and that they will fully co-operate with the police.
I totally respect that and agree with it too. Here is what I conveyed to them:
🔸 While the actions of the pilot do not reflect the beliefs of the company, he was on official duty (entering as staff). Thus they cannot shirk responsibility.
🔸 AIX has to publically declare a date by which their internal investigation will be complete, and it cannot be too far into the future.
🔸 At the declared date, AIX has to inform the public of the action they have decided to take against Virender Sejwal.
At the same time, I once again ask @DelhiAirport to release the CCTV footage.
"Airport hawa me nahi, zameen pe banta hai aur Bihar sarkar zameen de nahi rahi " ..... Aviation Minister bluntly puts the blame on the state government (in Hindi) for the condition Patna airport.
@nildeoreIAS when will Patna airport be safe ?
Whosoever is affected by IndiGo’s delays or cancellations should form an alliance, and drag the airline to court to make an example out of it.
Screaming at ground staff achieves nothing except giving IndiGo a convenient escape while ordinary employees absorb the public’s anger for decisions made by a dysfunctional management. The people at the counter have no authority over the mess operations creates; they can’t summon an aircraft or override safety and scheduling rules.
All that rage only slows things further because staff must handle confrontations instead of trying whatever limited fixes they can offer. Aim at the airline’s leadership, not at the people forced to stand between you and IndiGo’s mismanagement, unless venting is all you wanted.
A sitting MLA is unable to read her own oath clearly. It’s ironic that in a country where even a peon is required to have a matriculation certificate for a govt job, our MPs and MLAs face no mandatory educational qualification whatsoever.
One could argue that this flexibility made sense in the years immediately after independence, when large sections of the population had limited access to education. But that rationale holds no weight today. With literacy levels dramatically higher and educational access far wider, why should elected representatives, who make laws, shape policy, and allocate public resources, not be held to at least a basic minimum educational standard?
Glad to see Laalu alive to see his family getting decimated at the polls.
Thousands of 90s kids who had to live away from their parents in boarding schools just to avoid getting kidnapped, thousands who had to forfeit their ancestral land as a bribe to get a clerical job, millions who studied hard under a lantern or a petromax to somehow escape the jungle raj. All of them, across the world, doing well, now looking at their phone screens and the numbers, and smiling. This is victory.