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Archives for September 2018

Americans don’t trust Trump: Indian-American Congresswoman

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Americans are recognizing that they don’t trust the US President who has maintained that he knew nothing about what was went on in his campaign, Indian-American Congressman Pramila Jayapal has said.

Her comments came after Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges last week.

He also agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigations about the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“You see people recognizing they don’t trust the President. They believe that Bob Mueller is doing a good job and that the investigation should continue. People are saying, look, this is outrageous,” the first Indian-American woman elected to the US House of Representatives told CNN on Sunday.

“This level of corruption, greed, some of the individual charges that are outlined in the Manafort, charging document really show that this guy (Manafort)… is in jail because of jury tampering.

“When you think about this, it isn’t just the individual pieces that we’re seeing, but what we’re seeing is top advisers, people who ran the campaign, the campaign manager, the deputy campaign manager, the President’s personal lawyer who have all pleaded guilty.

“… And you have to begin to wonder how it could possibly be the case that the President knew nothing about what was going on,” asked Jayapal.

She praised Muller for doing a “great investigation”.

“I think Bob Muller has been doing a great investigation. I think he was just handed the keys to the castle, not just with Manafort but also with Michael Cohen.”

In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating election laws and said he had been directed to do so by the President. He had also admitted paying hush money to two women to keep them from talking about their affairs with Trump during the presidential campaign.

“They (people) see the chaos of the last 18 months. They don’t want it. They don’t like shattering of norms. What does a person who has the biggest bully pulpit of the White House do? They don’t like the tweets that come from the President, contesting what happened in (Hurricane) Maria,” Jayapal said.

She said that people want Trump to be focussed and to be presidential, but “he is none of those things”.

“In addition to that, people are not seeing their own lives changing. Healthcare is the number one issue on the table.

“When you look at what Republicans have done to undermine healthcare costs, to drive premiums up, to strip pre-existing, the ability to qualify for healthcare with pre-existing conditions, these are things that Americans care about. They do not see healthcare getting better,” she said.

(IANS)

Will simultaneous polls save costs? EC not sure

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Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat says the issue whether simultaneous polls will help cut costs will need a systematic study before it can be established.

However, he feels that apprehensions aired by some political parties over one-nation, one-poll were borne out of a “status quoist” attitude and that simultaneous polls did not pose any threat to the federal freedom.

“Actually, not much exercise (study) has been done on this. The issue has many dimensions,” Rawat said in an interview with IANS when asked if simultaneous elections will actually save costs.

“Initially, it will require more money to procure so many machines (voting and paper audit trail machines). It will require more warehouses to store these machines,” he said.

He said once the required Constitutional amendments are in place for simultaneous elections, the government will have to provide the logistics.

“The logistics include the EVMs, CAPFs (central armed police forces), vehicles, polling personnel… Because wherever we go, the parties tell us to deploy central police forces. They say they don’t have faith in the state police,” he said.

The CEC said that tentatively, the Election Commission would need around 30 lakh EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trail) if polls to the Lok Sabha and all the state Assemblies were held together.

“I can’t tell the exact number (of machines needed). But tentatively we will need 30 lakh machines. Right now, we are managing with around 20 lakh machines. We use 10 lakh machines for Lok Sabha and two-three lakh for the states going to the polls along with parliamentary polls. The remaining machines are kept in reserve. But if you are holding it all at the same time, it means 20 lakh machines, plus the reserve ones,” Rawat said.

The cost of EVMs has been tentatively fixed at about Rs 17,000 per unit. So procuring 10 lakh more machines would cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 1,700 crore. An EVM has a stipulated life of 15 years, after which it has to be discarded.

“So in the case of simultaneous polls, these machines would be used only thrice in their lifetime, assuming that elections are held just once every five years.”

Rawat said that apart from this initial cost, there would be savings in the form of deployment of central armed police forces, transportation and campaign cost.

“But if you consider other things, CAPF will be utilised only once, so will be the polling personnel… So one has to work out all these expenses; how much you are saving there,” the CEC said.

On the regional parties’ apprehensions of being wiped out if polls in their states were held with that of the Lok Sabha, Rawat said it was a baseless fear.

“I call this the fear of the unknown. We have had simultaneous elections in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967. There were regional parties, they were also gaining seats. Another thing is that when five states went to the polls in 2014 along with Lok Sabha, BJD won in Odisha, TRS in Telangana and TDP in Andhra. So I just call it the fear of the unknown,” Rawat said.

“Generally, we resist change. We are always happy with the status quo,” he added.

(IANS)

Congress played big role in freedom struggle: Mohan Bhagwat

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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday not only acknowledged Congress’s contribution in freedom struggle but also admitted that the grand old party contributed to the country post Independence in a big way.

His remarks came here during his address on the first day of the three-day lecture series on “Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective”.

“Under Congress, a big movement started in the country. There were many great personalities who sacrificed their lives and who still inspires us. They inspired many common people to come forward for Independence. That stream (Congress) made a big contribution,” he said.

He said that the Rashtriya Swayansevak Sangh (RSS) does not believe in its own domination but in strengthening and enabling the society to take the nation forward.

Presenting the Sangh’s way of working and its views, Bhagwat said the Sangh’s work is so unique that its comparison with any other organisation is not possible.

“I will explain the working of the Sangh. My intention is not to convince you. Your judgement is your own prerogative. If you want to check out the facts that I give you, you must come closer to the Sangh and check for yourself,” he said.

“To understand the Sangh, one must understand its founder — Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar,” Bhagwat said and went on to relate the life and experiences that shaped Dr. Hedgewar.

He related various anecdotes about Dr Hedgewar’s life, his participation in the independence struggle and how he became convinced about the imperative need to train the people to create a strong and united society.

He quoted many leaders and thinkers such as Rabindranath Tagore, communist thinker M.N. Roy, former President Dr Abdul Kalam, who came to believe that the society needs to be awakened to realise the strengths of its traditional values.

Hedgewar, he said, interacted copiously with different ideologists and came to believe that all ideologies must come together to form a strong nation.

Bhagwat said Dr Hedgewar felt the need to train people to work towards positively transforming the society and the nation.

“It was with this objective that he announced the formation of the Sangh on Vijayadashmi day in 1925,” he said.

“RSS is a methodology. It’s only work is ‘vyakti nirman’ (making good human beings). There should be good Swayamsevaks in every village and mohalla,” he said.

To bring out a positive change in the society, he said, the RSS objective is simply to motivate and train every Swayamsevak.

Prominent personalities who attended the lecture series were Metro man E. Sreedharan, Manisha Koirala, Malini Awasthi, Anu Malik, Anu Kapur, Manoj Tiwari, Chetan Chauhan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amar Singh, Swapandas Gupta, Madhur Bhandarkar, Hansraj Hans, Gajendra, and BJP leaders Ram Madhav, Ram Lal and Subramaniam Swamy.

Several Union Ministers including Harshvardhan, Vijay Goel, Arjunram Meghwal and Alphons Kananthanam also attended the event.

(IANS)

Varanasi to be ‘gateway to East India’: Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the Centre was making serious efforts to develop Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, as the “gateway to East India”.

Addressing a large gathering at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) amphitheatre, the Prime Minister detailed the many projects being launched and inaugurated in the city and nearby villages so that the face of Varanasi could change.

He said in the bid to make Kashi a smart city, care was being taken not to disturb the ancient flavour of the temple city and conserve its rich history and culture.

The Prime Minister who celebrated his 68th birthday on Monday with school children and party workers in the city, also said he was “doubly” delighted each time he saw the people of Varanasi posting pictures of the city on social media.

“The changed face of the city can be seen by people right from the time they step down from the trains that bring them here,” the Prime Minister said alluding to the pictures of the railway stations here posted on the social media.

He also exhorted the people to roll out a never-before hospitality to the hundreds who would coming here for the ‘Uttar Pradesh NRI (Non-Resident Indian) Diwas’ in January 2019.

Modi also launched and inaugurated projects worth Rs 557 crore.

He was earlier welcomed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and gifted a ‘Panchmukhi Hanuman’ (five-faced Hindu monkey god) made of wood, a major handicraft product of the region.

Modi started his address in Bhojpuri, much to the delight of the hundreds of youngsters present at the rally.

The Prime Minister was on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency. On his birthday he visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple to propitiate Lord Shiva and seek his blessings.

Modi is slated to leave for New Delhi in the afternoon.

(IANS)

Russian military plane disappears from radar off Syria

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A Russian military aircraft with 14 people on board has disappeared from the radar after flying over Syria, Moscow’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

“Connection has been lost with the crew of the Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea,” the Ministry said.

Contact was lost at about 11 p.m. on Monday, reports the BBC.

The incident reportedly occurred about 35 km from the Syrian coast as the aircraft was returning to the Hmeimim airbase near the north-western city of Latakia.

According to state-run TASS news agency, trace of the Il-20 on flight control radars disappeared during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets on Syrian facilities in Latakia.

“At the same time Russian air control radar systems detected rocket launches from the French frigate Auvergne, which was located in that region,” it added.

A search-and-rescue operation is underway, the BBC said.

Russia began military strikes in Syria in 2015 after a request from President Bashar al-Assad, who has stayed in power despite seven years of civil war.

(IANS)

FIR registered against Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari

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Police on Tuesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari for illegally breaking the lock of a sealed house.

“An FIR has been registered against Manoj Tiwari on the complaint by Deputy Director MCD, North Zone in Gokulpuri police station,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Thakur told IANS.

A video footage of Tiwari breaking a sealed lock of a house in an unauthorised colony during his Sunday visit to Gokulpuri went viral on social media.

Tiwari was also seen protesting against municipal officials “pick and choose” system.

He has been booked under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 461 and 465 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act.

(IANS)

CS ‘assault’ case: Court summons Kejriwal, 12 AAP MLAs on Oct 25

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A court here on Tuesday issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 11 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs as accused in an alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal accepted the charge sheet and asked all 13 to appear before the court on October 25.

The Delhi Police in August chargesheeted Kejriwal, Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania.

The accused have been chargesheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for voluntarily causing hurt and obstructing a public servant to deter him/her from doing duty, wrongful confinement and assault.

They have also been accused of insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, punishment of abetment and unlawful assembly among others.

The AAP has called the case a “midnight conspiracy to defame the Delhi Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and 11 MLAs in a false and laughable case”.

The Delhi Chief Secretary in February had alleged that he was beaten up by AAP MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal at the Chief Minister’s residence on the night of February 19 where he had been called for a late-night meeting.

The case was filed the next morning and Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Later, they were released on bail.

(IANS)

Nun rape case: Bishop moves Kerala HC for anticipatory bail

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Bishop Franco Mulakkal who has been named in a sexual abuse case by a nun, on Tuesday moved the Kerala High Court seeking an anticipatory bail.

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar would be appearing before the police probe team on Wednesday.

The bail plea would be heard by Justice V. Raja Vijayaraghavan, later on Tuesday.

Franco has asked the court to see that he is not arrested until the anticipatory bail plea is finally disposed.

He said the complaint against him is false and a concocted one, meant to harass him.

A Kerala nun has accused Mulakkal of repeatedly sexually abusing her between 2014 and 2016.

An FIR was registered against the bishop and a 114-page detailed statement was taken from the nun and other inmates of the convent.

Franco was also questioned by the police in August at his Jalandhar office.

(IANS)

Indian, Pakistani troops trade fire on LoC

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Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Tuesday.

Defence sources said that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Gulpur area at around 1 a.m.

“Firing exchanges continued till 3.30 a.m. No casualty or damage was reported on our side,” the sources added.

(IANS)

Child death below 5 declined faster in India: UN

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Death of children below the age of five continues to steadily reduce in India, declining from nearly 22 per cent in 2012 to 18 per cent in 2017, which is now for the first time below the one million mark, the UN said in a new report.

“The under-five mortality rate of India at 39 per 1000 now equals that of the world, highlighting the much faster decline by India in the last five years as compared to the global decline. (Under-five mortality of India: 39 per 1,000 and global also is 39 per 1,000),” it said.

According to the report, the gender gap in child survival has reduced almost four-fold in the last five years, with under-five mortality of girl child now being 2.5 per cent higher, compared to nearly 10 per cent in 2012.

However, as per the report released by Unicef, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Population Division and the World Bank Group, an estimated 6.3 million children under 15 years of age died in 2017 and the vast majority of these deaths — 5.4 million — occurred in the first five years of life, with newborns accounting for around half of the deaths.

“Without urgent action, 56 million children under five will die from now until 2030 – half of them newborns. We have made remarkable progress to save children since 1990, but millions are still dying because of who they are and where they are born. With simple solutions like medicines, clean water, electricity and vaccines, we can change that reality for every child,” said Laurence Chandy, Unicef Director of Data, Research and Policy, in a statement.

Globally in 2017, half of all deaths under five years of age took place in sub-Saharan Africa, and another 30 per cent in Southern Asia.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one in 13 children died before their fifth birthday. In high-income countries, that number was one in 185.

In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died in their first month. A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in Southern Asia was nine times more likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country.

As per the UN, most children under five die due to preventable or treatable causes such as complications during birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea, neonatal sepsis and malaria.

Under-five mortality rates among children in rural areas are, on average, 50 per cent higher than among children in urban areas. In addition, those born to uneducated mothers are more than twice as likely to die before turning five than those born to mothers with a secondary or higher education.

(IANS)

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