On 23 February, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray has decided to set up a high-power committee comprising of all three ruling party members of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, to discuss the controversial points of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Population Register, and the National Register of Citizens, before taking any cognize of their implementation in the state.
“CAA will be implemented in Maharashtra. However, the NPR and census are different. If there are objectionable columns in the NPR survey, the government will not go ahead,” stated CM Thackeray, while addressing to a press conference on Sunday evening. He further stated that although the States have no right to change the columns decided by the Centre, the people of the State have the right to live.
Thackeray also criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the violence in States, where the party is in power. While citing the violence in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, he stated that there have been protests in Maharashtra too, but no violence. The attack on the JNU students in Delhi was no less than a terror attack, he said.
Further, during the press conference, Thackeray’s government has announced that the first list of 20,000 beneficiaries under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule crop loan waiver scheme (a rollout of the loan waiver scheme for farmers), will be announced on 24 February. He further stated that banks have submitted a list of 35 lakh accounts that have loans up to Rs 2 lakh to the government.
“We have decided to select two villages from each district on a trial basis for the first list, which will be announced on Monday. The trial is to check whether the system set up is working smoothly. The second list will be announced on February 28. We aim to complete the procedure by April-end, unlike the previous government which took years,” stated the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
