Motor Vehicles Act: UP police finding themselves in a sticky situation

After they started slapping stringent penalties on offenders under the amended Motor Vehicles Act, the police in Uttar Pradesh are finding themselves in a sticky situation. There have been many instances when the aam janta has filmed police persons flouting traffic rules and posted them online. There are also videos of alleged extortion. To preempt such cases, UP DGP O P Singh has announced that cops found breaching traffic rules would be fined twice the amount applicable as penalty. Traffic policemen have been directed not to "harass" people in the guise of checking vehicles; they must stop vehicles only when there is proof of wrongdoing.

Deb's darbar now across Tripura

Following in the footsteps of Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has declared that he will henceforth hold a janata darbar in all the districts of the state. "I couldn't meet the people of my state properly due to a shortage of time. But when they seek help on my Facebook page, I immediately respond. I will start the janata darbar soon in every district to communicate directly with people at the grassroots level and address their problems," Deb said while inaugurating the new building of the West Tripura District Court on Saturday. Since coming to power in the state in 2018, Deb has held his janata darbars in Agartala.

Owners versus tenants

A debate over "owners" and "tenants" is raging within the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expanded his cabinet last week. Party old-timers who led the agitation for a separate state allege they have been left out in the cold. Many senior leaders have openly expressed their discontent over the fact that some newcomers who defected from parties such as the Congress and Telugu Desam Party have been given a cabinet berth. Former home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, who didn't make it to the cabinet, described the new entrants as "tenants". "How long these tenants will stay I do not know,” he told a party gathering. Social media is abuzz with speculation about the possible defection of some TRS leaders to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The two parties have dismissed this as just "rumour".