This year, Durga Puja has been listed as a heritage site by the UNESCO. (Image: PTI/File)
The West Bengal CM held a meeting with the puja organisers on August 22 and said there will be a discount on the electricity bill during this year's puja
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced Rs 60,000 each to 43,000 Durga Puja committees in the state. But soon after the announcement, three PILs were filed against her decision.
The chief minister held a meeting with the puja organisers at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on August 22 and said there will be a discount on the electricity bill during this year’s puja. The Kolkata and the state electricity boards have been requested to give a 60 per cent discount on bills to puja committees. This time, Durga Puja has been listed as a heritage site by the UNESCO.
Petitioner Subir Kumar Ghosh appealed to the court asking the government to withdraw the grant. In this same context, another PIL was registered on Wednesday and Thursday. A question as to why donations are being given to pujas instead of paying dearness allowance (DA) to government employees was raised following the court order. The litigant also questioned why the discount is given on the electricity bill. The possible hearing date of this case is on Friday. The PILs also stated that where many people were still not getting food, clean water, electricity, and medicine, donation was a luxury.
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US federal student debt tops $1.6 trillion, counting over 43 million Americans who have federal student debt, more than half of whom owe less than $20,000.
Biden's plan would likely eliminate student debt entirely for millions of Americans and wipe away at least half for millions more.
(Evan Vucci / AP)
US President Joe Biden is set to announce his long-delayed move to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loans for many Americans and extend a pause on payments to January, according to three people familiar with the plan.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Biden's intended Wednesday announcement ahead of time.
The precise details of Biden's plan, which will include an income cap limiting the forgiveness to only those earning less than $125,000 a year, were being kept to an unusually small circle within the Biden administration and were still not finalised on the eve of the announcement.
Down-to-the-wire decision-making has been a hallmark of the Biden White House but the particular delay on student loans reflects the vexing challenge confronting him in fulfilling a key campaign promise.
The plan would likely eliminate student debt entirely for millions of Americans and wipe away at least half for millions more.
Biden has faced pressure from liberals to provide broader relief to hard-hit borrowers, and from moderates and Republicans questioning the fairness of any widespread forgiveness.
The delay in Biden's decision has only heightened the anticipation for what his own aides acknowledge represents a political no-win situation.
US President Biden has suggested cancelling debts of $10,000 per borrower, while facing pressure from some Democrats, including some of his closest aides, to increase this figure to $50,000.
How much student debt is there in the US? We take a look 👇— TRT World (@trtworld) May 23, 2022
Ballooning federal student debt
The nation’s federal student debt now tops $1.6 trillion after ballooning for years.
More than 43 million Americans have federal student debt, with almost a third owing less than $10,000 and more than half owing less than $20,000, according to the latest federal data.
The continuation of the pandemic-era payment freeze comes just days before millions of Americans were set to find out when their next student loan bills will be due. This is the closest the administration has come to hitting the end of the payment freeze extension, with the current pause set to end on August 31.
Wednesday’s announcement has been set for the White House after Biden returns from vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden was initially skeptical of student loan debt cancellation as he faced off against more progressive Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders who had proposed cancellations of $50,000 or more, during the 2020 primaries.
As he tried to shore up support among younger voters and prepare for a general election battle against then-president Donald Trump, Biden unveiled his initial proposal for debt cancellation of $10,000 per borrower, with no mention of an income cap.
Last minute push for bigger debt relief
But Democrats, from members of congressional leadership to those facing tough re-election bids this November, have pushed the administration to go as broad as possible on debt relief, seeing it in part as a galvanising issue, particularly for Black and young voters this fall.
Although Biden’s plan is narrower than what he initially proposed, Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, described student debt as a “gateway issue” for younger voters, meaning it affects their views and decisions on housing affordability and career choices.
However, John Della Volpe, who worked as a consultant on Biden’s campaign, said the decision was more about "trust in politics, in government, in our system ...”
Republicans, meanwhile, see only political upside if Biden pursues a large-scale cancellation of student debt ahead of the November midterms, anticipating backlash for Democrats — particularly in states where there are large numbers of working-class voters without college degrees.
Critics of broad student debt forgiveness also believe it will open the White House to lawsuits, on the grounds that Congress has never given the president the explicit authority to cancel debt on his own.
Source: AP
Recent decisions violate the Turkish minority's right to establish, manage and inspect their own schools, says the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tanju Bilgic, urged Greece to put an end to its discriminatory policies toward Turkish minority schools year after year.
(AA)
Türkiye has condemned Greece's decision of closing four more primary schools belonging to the Turkish Muslim minority in Western Thrace for the ongoing school year.
“With this latest decision, more than half of the Minority primary schools have been closed. Thus, Greece's policy of closing primary schools belonging to the Turkish Muslim Minority in Western Thrace through 'temporary suspension' has proven to be systematic,” Tanju Bilgic, the country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday.
Bilgic reiterated the Turkish minority's right to establish, manage and inspect their own schools in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne signed in 1923 – which eventually paved the way for an independent Turkish republic.
He said the recent moves show the “discriminatory and oppressive policies” implemented against the Turkish minority in the field of education.
“While Greece closes primary schools with the pretext of insufficient number of students, it ignores, on the other hand, the demands for opening new Minority secondary/high schools despite the obvious need, and violates the education rights of Minority children,” Bilgic noted.
He urged Greece to put an end to its discriminatory policies toward Turkish minority schools year after year.
“Republic of Türkiye will continue to support the Minority's struggle for its rights and justice, both in bilateral contacts and international platforms,” he added.
Greece's Western Thrace region is home to some 150,000 Muslim Turks, whose rights to elect their own religious leaders, found Turkish associations, and have their own schools have been denied by Athens, in violation of European court orders.
