Wayanad landslides: Early warning was given to Kerala on July 23, says Union home minister Amit Shah ::::: "If we perform well, national politics will undergo a transformation", says Sonia Gandhi

Wayanad landslides: Advance warning given to Kerala on July 23, says Home Minister Amit Shah

“Members have raised questions about the Government of India's warning system. They are shouting ‘please listen to us,’ but I want to tell them, please read the warning sent to the state,” Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha.

He said that many state governments have followed the Centre's warnings, resulting in zero casualties in disaster management.

“When Odisha was being governed by the Naveen Patnaik-led government, we had sent an alert about the cyclone almost seven days in advance and unfortunately only one person lost life,” said Amit Shah.

Shah said that the Government of India has had an early warning system after 2014 and ₹2000 crore has been spent on it and warnings are being sent to every state and available on the website also.

He informed the Rajya Sabha that there is a system in place for rains, heatwaves, storms and lightning also.

“Nine NDRF teams were sent by the Centre on July 23 fearing there may be landslides. What did the Kerala government do? Why did not Kerala government evacuate people?” said Shah

 Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat says, "... The World Heritage Committee meeting was held in India for the first time. 

The 'Moidams' in Assam's Charaideo district, belonging to the Tai Ahom dynasty, who ruled the region from the 6th to 12th century, the burial grounds created by them have been listed in the World Heritage Sites list. 

This would be the 43rd heritage of India to be included in the list... India has submitted 53 more sites on the tentative list...".   

At the CPP meeting, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi says, "In a few months, elections will be held in four states. We must sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for us in the Lok Sabha elections.   We must not become complacent and over-confident. 

The ‘mahaul’ does favour us, but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose. 

I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation."   

West Bengal ration distribution case: ED tracks two more Shahjahan-like networks  

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked the network which built empires over ill-gotten proceeds in the ration-distribution case similar to that of Sheikh Shahjahan, the arrested and suspended Trinamool Congress leader from Sandeshkhali.

The ED officials detected this during their day-long raid and search operations at ten places in two districts of West Bengal on Tuesday, said sources. Incidentally, the native district for these two empires is also North 24 Parganas and both have very strong ruling party connections.