Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed a post Budget press conference, at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on July 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on July 23 described the Union Budget, as having unlimited development potential. He said it will fulfil the aspirations of 140 crore Indians and help achieve Amritkaal.

“Under the guidance of the respected prime minister, the all-encompassing, all-inclusive, and development-oriented General Budget 2024–25 presented by the Union Finance Minister is going to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of 140 crore Indians and all the resolutions of Amritkaal,” said Mr. Adityanath.

“The budget will aid the overall development of different sections of society, including people in villages, the poor, farmers, women, and youth. It is a vision to become self-reliant in every field and a roadmap to free the deprived from deprivation,” the U.P. CM wrote in a post on X.

“The budget will promote the development of villages, the poor, farmers, women, and youth. It has a vision of self-reliance in every field and provides a roadmap to end deprivation,” the U.P. CM wrote in a post on X.

Youth ignored

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav criticised the Union Budget, alleging it ignored the interests of the youth and farmers, adding Uttar Pradesh was totally sidelined in the Union Budget. ‘It is good that Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have been linked to special schemes, but is there anything in the budget for the farmers of Uttar Pradesh? Looking at Uttar Pradesh, what is the investment situation? Ongoing projects are never completed on time. The youth and farmers have been completely ignored,” he alleged.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati claimed that the budget lacks reformist measures for the upliftment of underprivileged sections. “Today’s Union Budget follows the same old pattern, where except for a handful of wealthy people, it offers little hope of better days to the nation’s poor, farmers, unemployed, women, labourers, the marginalised and neglected communities and is full of disappointment for them,” Ms. Mayawati wrote, on X.

Nagina MP and Azad Samaj Party (ASP) leader Chandra Shekhar Aazad said that marginalised sections, including Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), have been ignored. “Today’s budget is going to please the industrialists and disappoint the country’s labourers, farmers, youth, unemployed, women, and Bahujans. The budget has not lived up to the expectations that the people of the country had of it, and they feel cheated. In this budget, no separate provision has been made for the economic development of the poor, the deprived, SC, ST, OBC, and the minority community,” said the Nagina MP.

Muzaffarnagar:

He went to bed as a man but woke up as a woman. For 20-year-old Mujahid, life took a drastic turn when he was deceived into undergoing gender reassignment surgery. This was orchestrated by another man in collusion with doctors from a local medical college in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar.

This sensational case has sparked outrage and led to protests by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).

The incident took place at Begrajpur Medical College in Mansoorpur. Mujahid, 20 and resident of Sanjak village, alleged that he was deceived by Omprakash on June 3. Omprakash allegedly convinced the doctors at the medical college to perform surgery on Mujahid, which involved the removal of his genitals and a forced gender change.

Mujahid claims that Omprakash had been threatening and harassing him for the past two years. Mujahid was falsely told that he had a medical issue requiring hospital inspection. Accompanied by Omprakash, he visited the facility where the hospital staff allegedly administered anaesthesia and performed the sex-change operation.

“He brought me here, and the next morning I had an operation. When I regained consciousness, I was told that I had been changed from a boy to a girl,” Mujahid recounted. 

Omprakash allegedly told him that he would now have to live with him, adding that no one from his family or community would accept him anymore. Omprakash also threatened to shoot Mujahid’s father and seize his share of the family land.

“He said, ‘I changed you from a man to a woman and now you have to live with me. I have prepared a lawyer and prepared a court marriage for you. Now I will shoot your father and the land of your share will be named after me and then I will sell it and go to Lucknow’,” Mujahid recalled.

In response to the incident, BKU workers, led by farmer leader Shyam Pal, staged a protest at the medical college, demanding immediate action against Omprakash and the involved doctors. The police have assured the demonstrators that a thorough investigation would be conducted.

According to Shyam Pal, this incident points to a larger issue of organ trafficking in the hospital. He claimed that there is a racket operating within the hospital that targets individuals for organ harvesting and gender reassignment without consent. 

“It is very unfortunate. We want this illegal business of selling body parts to be stopped immediately. All those involved, including the hospital management and those who facilitated this crime, should be held accountable and punished,” Mr Pal demanded.

Mr Pal said that Mujahid’s father had filed a police complaint on June 16, which led to Omprakash’s arrest. However, Mr Pal criticised the police for their lax attitude and called for stricter action. He also demanded compensation of at least Rs 2 crore for Mujahid, whose life has been severely affected by this traumatic incident.

“All the allegations made by the family and the protestors will be thoroughly investigated, and appropriate legal actions will be taken against those found guilty,” Senior Muzaffarnagar police officer Ramashish Yadav said.

Besides arresting Omprakash, the police are also investigating the hospital staff involved in the case.  

 

Lucknow:

Union Minister Kaushal Kishore’s son has been charged under the Arms Act, a day after a 30-year-old man was shot dead under mysterious circumstances at his home in Lucknow, the police said on Saturday.

Three men were arrested in connection with the case on Friday, the police said. According to the minister, his son Vikas Kishore lives at his Lucknow residence but he was in Delhi when Vinay Srivastava, described as his friend, was murdered at the house.

The pistol used by the accused to shoot Vinay is a licensed weapon owned by his son, according to his father. His arms licence was valid only in Uttar Pradesh, so he did not take the pistol with him, Mr Kishore claimed.

“On September 1, Vinay was killed at Vikas Kishore’s residence in which his licensed pistol was used. A case has been filed against the licensee under section 30 of the Arms Act (punishment for contravention of licence or rule),” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Lucknow West) Rahul Raj.

The victim had a single gunshot wound to his head, the police said.

The report for cancellation of the licence has been forwarded to officials, he said.

On Friday, three men — Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma, and Shamim alias Baba — were arrested in connection with the murder that took place at the minister’s house in the early hours of the day, the police said.

According to a complaint filed by the victim’s brother, the three men had invited Vinay for dinner at the minister’s residence, where an altercation took place in the course of gambling.

In the initial investigation, it was revealed that before the incident took place, Vinay, Ajay, Ankit, Shamim and two others — Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty — were playing cards for money and also had alcohol, the police said.

After some time, at the instruction of Ajay, Ankit and Shamim, Saurabh and Arun took their win and left, they said, adding that Vinay had lost Rs 12,000 in gambling.

Vinay got angry at this and confronted the three with accusations of ganging up against him, they said.

“Because of you, I have lost money, if the game was on, I would have won back the amount, Vinay had said,” the police said in a statement.

This led to a fight among them, blows were exchanged, and Vinay lost a button of his shirt in the fight, which enraged him, police said.

As the fight went on, Ankit took out the licensed revolver of the minister’s son which was kept under a pillow. The three caught hold of Vinay, and Ankit shot him in the head, killing him immediately, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Akash Kulhary said, adding the incident happened around 4 am.

The CCTV footage showed Saurabh and Arun leaving the house before Vinay was shot, police said.

Police recovered a .32 bore revolver, ammunition, a pack of cards and Rs 2,000 cash from the spot on Friday.

Police officer Vikash Rai told news agency PTI that “the pistol (used in crime) was manufactured in Kolkata”.

The land on which the house is built belongs to Kaushal Kishore, the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs and BJP MP from Lucknow’s Mohanlalganj (SC) constituency. But the house is yet to be registered, said Jai Devi, the minister’s wife.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)