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TN announces Rs 1,000 cr assistance for cyclone relief

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Monday announced a sum of Rs 1,000 crore for carrying out relief works in the cyclone Gaja affected districts.

He also said the death toll due to cyclone has gone up to 46.

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said a solatium of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the families of the dead, Rs 100,000 to those who are severely injured and Rs 25,000 for those who have suffered minor injuries.

Cyclone Gaja crossed the Tamil Nadu coast last Friday leaving a trail of destruction in several districts.

Palaniswami said a total of 11 districts — Nagapattina, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Dindigul, Trichy, Sivaganga, Cuddalore, Karur, Ramanathapuram and Theni — were affected by cyclone.

He also listed out the amount of compensation to be paid for those who had lost their homes, household items, livestock, crops, coconut trees and others.

IANS

It’s clear case of terrorism: Amarinder on grenade attack 

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 Even as the Punjab Police maintained that some leads were being investigated, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said the grenade attack on a religious congregation of the Nirankari sect was a clear case of terrorism and there was no religious connection to it.

“It is a clear case of terrorism. This has been carried out to create panic. There is no religious link to it,” Amarinder, who visited the grenade attack spot at Nirankari Satsang Bhawan in Adliwal village near Rajasansi, told the media.

Three persons were killed and 20 injured when two motorcycle-borne youths threw a grenade at a Nirankari congregation about 15 km from Amritsar. All victims were sect followers from nearby villages who had gathered for the weekly Sunday religious meeting.

The Chief Minister visited the injured in the hospital here and announced a government job to next of the kin of the three people killed in Sunday’s grenade attack.

Amarinder had earlier on Monday announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh to anyone giving information regarding the two youths who carried out Sunday’s grenade attack on the Nirankari prayer meeting.

The Punjab Police, which has remained clueless for the last over 24 hours regarding who carried out the attack, has formed several teams to investigate the grenade attack. CCTV footage of places near the blast was being scanned to know more about the two masked attackers.

Forensic teams and a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached the spot late on Sunday to investigate the attack.

Inspector General (Border Range) S.P.S. Parmar told the media on Monday that the probe would look at all angles and police teams were trying to trace the culprits.

The attack at the compound located in the rural belt, around three kilometres from the Guru Ram Das Jee Amritsar International Airport, created panic.

Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora, who rushed to the spot on Sunday along with senior officers, admitted that it was a “terror act”.

The Punjab Police has drawn flak for intelligence failure regarding the attack despite the border state being on high alert since November 14 over reported movement of six to seven terrorists in the state.

Eyewitnesses told the police that two youths on a motorcycle, with their faces covered, forced their entry into the sect compound by pointing a pistol at a woman volunteer at the gate. There were around 200 followers in the compound at the time.

Amarinder Singh, who on Sunday directed the police to immediately enhance security arrangements at all sensitive places, terming it “the first such indiscriminate attack on innocent people in recent past”, said that the “possibility of involvement of ISI-based Khalistani/ Kashmiri terror groups can’t be ruled out”.

The Nirankari sect, with headquarters in Delhi, has millions of followers across the country and abroad.

In the last few months, Khalistani and Kashmiri activists have been trying to foment trouble in Punjab, which shares a 553-km barbed wire-fenced international border with Pakistan.

The state police, along with its Jammu and Kashmir counterpart, had busted two modules of Kashmiri students who were studying in institutions in Punjab and having links to terrorist outfits in troubled Kashmir. The Maqsudan Police Station was targeted by Kashmiri terrorists on September 14 with hand grenades though no one was injured in the attack.

Posters of Kashmiri terrorist Zakir Mussa had mysteriously appeared in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district on Friday saying that he had been seen in Punjab.The Chief Minister said 15 terror modules had been busted in the past 18 months, including those with Kashmiri terror links.

IANS

Congress-led opposition to intensify stir over Sabarimala

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With the BJP-RSS going hammer and tongs at the Pinarayi Vijayan government over the way the police is handling the Sabarimala pilgrimage season, the Congress-led United Democratic Front has decided to intensify its protest.

It demanded that the Chief Minister give up the Home portfolio.

The Sabarimala temple opened its doors at 5 p.m. on November 17 for two months.

The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since September 28 when the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that had banned menstruating females aged between 10 and 50.

The apex court on November 13 refused to stay that verdict and made it clear on Monday that they would not reconsider this decision as the case has been posted to be heard on January 22.

While the Kerala government is trying hard to see that the apex court verdict is implemented, the opposition parties are up in arms against violation of the temple tradition.

On Sunday night, the police arrested 72 pilgrims after they refused to leave the temple premises as they were singing Lord Ayyappa hymns well beyond the scheduled closure of the temple at 10 p.m.

The UDF meeting decided to first send a team led by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who will reach the temple town on Tuesday to assess the situation there.

Speaking to reporters here, leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala said that they will be forced to violate the prohibitory orders that are now in force in and around the temple town.

“The prohibitory orders should be withdrawn immediately as there is no need for it. Vijayan has made a complete mess of the Sabarimala pilgrimage season as the police is creating havoc and has turned the temple town into a terror zone. Vijayan has lost control and he should demit the Home portfolio,” said Chennithala.

The statement of Chennithala came after the Kerala High Court, while hearing a batch of petitions, came down heavily on the Kerala police for their unruly behaviour against the pilgrims.

However, the court also pointed out that some of those who have come with the petition are also partly responsible for turning the temple town into a battleground.

The court advised political parties, police and the state government to work together to restore the temple town into a friendly pilgrimage place.

In a related development, three young women had to face the ire of protesters in front of the Press Club here when word spread that these women wished to go for Sabarimala darshan.

The women informed the media that they had wanted to go for a darshan and had undertaken the required penance for it, but had abandoned their plans for the moment due to tension prevailing in the temple town.

More than a hundred people, including a large number of women, had gathered in front of the Press Club, singing Lord Ayyappa hymns and protesting against the three women.

The police came to their rescue, forming a ring around them and helping them leave the venue safely.

State Minister for Devasom (Temples) Kadakampally Surendran said that the government will make all the arrangements for the three women if they wished to reach the temple town to worship Lord Ayyappa.

The Chief Minister reiterated the stand of the government and said that they will abide by the apex court’s verdict.

“When the Kerala High Court ruled that all women cannot be given entry to the Sabarimala temple, the state government abided by that and today the apex court has ruled otherwise and the state government will abide by it. Those who are creating trouble at Sabarimala are not pilgrims,” said Vijayan.

IANS

Amritsar grenade attack: Congress MLA lodges FIR against AAP’s HS Phoolka for his remarks on Army chief

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A day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader HS Phoolka accused the Army chief of “orchestrating an attack” Congress MLA Rajkumar Verka has lodged an FIR against the former.

Speaking to media on Monday, Verka said, “On whose instructions is Phoolka giving such statements? Is Kejriwal going to answer? Is he in agreement with his statement? No one can tolerate such words for the army, we will register an FIR against Phoolka.”

Phoolka, however, tendered an apology for his remarks against the Army Chief.

“My statement has been totally misunderstood. Please see the full video, the whole statement was actually against the Congress, and not against the respected Army Chief. Still, it was an inadvertent comment and I regret it,” Phoolka told ANI.

On Sunday, Phoolka had said, “Army Chief came and made a statement. To prove his statement, he could have orchestrated the attack. This matter should be looked into. Did government do it (attack)? Did the earlier government do it now? It is wrong to repeatedly say that Punjab’s atmosphere is not good. We must get to the root of it. Government must get to the root of it. Those who made false statements about Maur blast, what action has been taken against them? Punjab is a sensitive state. One must not make statements without facts. One must not make accusations. Get to the root of it – who did it?”

Later Phoolka tweeted to clarify: “Please see whole video. An inadvertent statement made standing on road is being blown out of proportion. I have stated that history is evidence of that fact that governments in the past have caused violence to further their interest. Like in last year’s Maur blast no one should reach a conclusion without detailed impartial investigation. Even a moderate person like me who has always been against Khalistan thinks so. I regret statement that may have purported to be against the Army Chief.”

The AAP leader stirred the controversy with his statement following a blast on Sunday at the Nirankari Bhawan in Rajasansi village in Amritsar.

In Phoolka’s defence AAP leader Sanjay Singh told media, ” HS Phoolka has regretted his statement, he shouldn?t be defamed on the basis of an impromptu comment. He?s been fighting for justice for 84 riots victims for last 35 years, he should be given credit for it. He shouldn?t be targeted in this manner.”

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday did not rule out the involvement of ISI-backed Khalistani or Kashmiri terror groups in the blast at Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar’s Rajasansi village that took place earlier on Sunday.

The Chief Minister said, “The possibility of involvement of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed Khalistani or Kashmiri terror groups cannot be ruled out. Police teams have been rushed to raid suspected hideouts of the assailants and multiple teams are investigating various angles to crack the case.”

Punjab Chief Minister has already announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased and free treatment for those who got injured in the blast.

Following the blast, Punjab’s Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora also visited the incident spot. He said that the incident was being “counted” as a terror act and more details would be found after investigation.

“We are taking this incident as a terror act. At this stage, it is difficult to establish the link but we will find out in further investigation. It will be too early to come to any conclusion. Overall we know that efforts were being made but in this particular case unless or until we come to the conclusive evidence we cannot say anything at this point in time. Let’s not get into presumptions. As far as this incident is concerned, I would say that we will find out the truth and then will come back,” DGP Arora said.

Two assailants on bike threw grenades at the Nirankari Bhawan, where few hundred people were gathered for a religious congregation, killing three and injuring as many as 20 people.

ANI

Akshay Kumar’s big comment on women at 3rd Lux Golden Rose Awards

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Lending his support to gender equality, actor Akshay Kumar said that strong women make stronger countries.

Akshay along with a bevy of Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Vicky Kaushal, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt, gathered on Sunday night to attend the 3rd Lux Golden Rose Awards to extend their support to the United Nations’ campaign #HeForShe.

Talking on the subject, Akshay said: “When women are strong, families become strong and countries stronger. I am happy to be a part of a family which has many strong women like my mother, my wife, my sister and my mother-in-law.”

The campaign celebrates the contribution of women to society.

Talking about the role of female actors in the industry, Shah Rukh said: “These women have contributed to making me a better human.”
Gen-next stars like Taapsee Pannu, Nushrat Bharucha, Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Rakulpreet Singh, Ada Sharma too were present at the event.
Janhvi, daughter of producer Boney Kapoor and late veteran actress Sridevi, bagged the Lux Golden Rose Emerging Beauty Of The Year.

She said the award was “encouraging”.

“My parents have always maintained that a good artiste is a reflection of a good and honest person and I hope to prove myself by doing exactly that,” she added.

Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini bagged the Lux Golden Rose Iconic Beauty Over The Decades award.

The star-studded evening became much entertaining when Kareena performed on stage on the super hit tracks of her male co-stars like Shah Rukh, Salman Khan and her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan.

Kareena also won the award of Lux Golden Rose Confident Beauty Of The Year alongside Shikha Talsania and Swara Bhasker.

Others who were seen shaking a leg at the gala were Varun Dhawan, who paid a tribute to his co-stars like Taapsee and Alia; and Madhuri, who enthralled the audience by dancing on tracks like “Dream girl”, “Laila main laila” and “Yeh mera dil”.

I-League: Mohun Bagan take on Real Kashmir in a mid-table clash

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 Former champions Mohun Bagan travel here to take on Real Kashmir at the TRC Ground on Tuesday in a mid-table clash of the I-League season.

Both teams have played three games so far. Mohun Bagan are one of the three unbeaten teams in the league and are lying fifth while debutants Real Kashmir are at seventh place with four points.

Both teams have good support all around and it promises to be a battle of attrition in cold climes.

For the visitors, there would not be a better time to test some untested resources, given Kashmir have not looked like routing sides even at home yet. Youngsters like Azharduddin Mallick, William Lalnunfela and Shilton Dsilva, for example, have hardly got game time.

Abinash Ruidas has also been drafted in recently and coach Sankarlal Chakraborty will be tempted to use more of his young resources at this stage of the league than be caught unawares at critical junctures later. Either Dalraj Singh and Amey Ranawade can also be played at defence.

Sankarlal, however, did not appear to be planning to take any chances.

“The way Kashmir played the last game was really good. They have a good combination of both Indian and foreign players. Their defenders, midfielders are very strong. We hope we put up a good game against them and win the three points,” he said.

The forward line of Mohun Bagan with Cameroonian Dipanda Dicka and Ugandan Henry Kisseka remains lethal. To add to that the flair of Pintu Mahata and the possibility of Sony Norde joining the attack at any stage, will keep the host’s chief strategist David Robertson wary throughout the game.

“Hopefully, we find a balance between the game and the weather. I think we have played good enough in our last match. The biggest achievement for me is that Kashmiri people are coming to support us and are enjoying the environment,” opined the former Aberdeen and Queens Park Rangers man in a pre-game chat.

Scotsman Robertson has to make his team believe that they can score without over-dependence on Ivorian target man Gnohere Krizo. He will have to energise the likes of Danish Farooque and Farhan Ganie to put in better shifts in order to convert the possession they have been enjoying into results.

Centre-backs Loveday Okechukwu and Mason Robertson might want to do better with their height coming forward in set pieces. Kashmir also have the opportunity to test some of their untested reserves.

The likes of Nadong Bhutia, who scored a bunch of goals in Kashmir’s winning campaign in the second division last season is yet to get a game and there is talent in midfield with Nagem Tamang, Surchandra Singh and Shahnawaz Bashir warming the benches so far.

Kashmir are going to stay at home for a while now and it would be ideal to get as many players to get a taste of playing big teams before tougher assignments away.

Coach Robertson though also seemed in no mood of letting up, “Mohun Bagan are a strong team and we hope to create more chances against them. The problem will arise if we don’t create chances. The more chances we create, the more we have the opportunity to score. If we continue to play the game the way we are playing, we hope we can win.”

Mohun Bagan look the better side on paper, but given alien conditions and the grit that Kashmir has shown so far, it is likely to be a close game in front of a packed crowd.

Sankarlal summed up the task for his side and the spirit of the game at hand aptly when he said: “We are trying to cope with the weather and the synthetic turf. But the most difficult part is the Real Kashmir team.”

IANS

Phool Waalon Ki Sair: An offering of communal unity at altar of secular India

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 When Syed Fariddudin Qutbi, the “khadim” (attendant) of the shrine of 13th century sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Meharauli, stepped out after offering a floral “chhatra” (a flower-embellished umberella) at the ancient Yogmaya temple located at a stone’s throw from the dargah, all he had to say was that in the small temple sanctum sanctorum suffused with a strong incense and jasmine fragrance, he felt the same tranquility and a “magnificent, invisible power” he feels at the dargah.

Part of the annual cultural festival “Phool Walon Ki Sair” (Festival of Flower Sellers), an initiative that promotes communal harmony and positive cultural exchanges since early the 1800s, many like Qutbi go beyond the bounds of religious identity, and encourage members of other communities to offer flowers and “pankhas” (fans) at places of worship that are considered not “their own”.

The roots of the festival go back to the reign of one of the last Mughal emperors and Bahadur Shah Zafar’s father, Akbar Shah II, who was buried next to the dargah.

Legend has it that when his son Mirza Jahangir was imprisoned on the orders of the British, Akbar Shah’s wife vowed that she would offer a blanket at the sufi saint’s dargah upon his release. As fate had it, Shah’s son was released and the blanket was offered. Upon imperial orders, floral offerings were also made at goddess Yogmaya’s temple, which sparked public enthusiasm, causing it to become an annual tradition.

The festival was stopped in the 1940s when the British started their polarising efforts in line with their “divide-and-rule policy” that led to deep rifts between India’s two major religious communities, Mirza Mohtaram Bakht, secretary of the Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan, the organisers of the fair, told IANS.

He said the festival was revived in 1961-62 by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It has, since then, been a regular occurrence and brings together hundreds of Delhi residents each year, Bakht said.

In today’s deeply polarised milieu where hate crimes against specific communities are just as rampant as the venom spewed against them on social media, the assimilating significance of the week-long festival takes a new turn.

“When our Hindu brothers offer a blanket of flowers at the dargah, members of the Muslim community take a step back and let them take the lead. Similarly, Muslim people are encouraged to offer a floral ‘chhatra’ to Devi Yogmaya. It’s a communion of hearts, and that can only happen if there’s ‘pakeezgi’ in people’s souls,” Qutbi told IANS, adding that he recommends extremists of all religions to at least experience other cultures once.

Rajnish Jindal, another resident of Mehrauli, who has been visiting the festival for 15 years, said that it was a matter of developing comfort with all religions and people from all walks of life.

“You go into a gurdwara, you find peace and comfort, that’s your ‘mahzab’ (faith); same is with a mosque or a temple or a church. It should be a matter of personal belief,” he said.

Not surprisingly, the path of “Phool Walon Ki Sair”, is often laden with thorns and threats.

“People say ‘tum karke toh dikhao, hum dekhte hai tum kaise karte ho’ (We’ll see how you do it); not everyone wants a secular nation that celebrates all its religions. It often happens covertly; 11th-hour permissions, indifference and excuses create hurdles for us, even if there is no direct visible opposition.

“We, however, give it back with our enthusiasm. Truth is always victorious. They can’t stop our caravan,” Bakht, a former geologist and a “proud Delhi-wallah”, said.

Kite flying competitions, processions, wrestling bouts, kabbadi and shehnai recitals mark the first four days of the seven-day festival, with offerings in the dargah and the temple earmarked for the fifth and sixth days.

This year, Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal offered the floral blanket at the dargah on Thursday, and Delhi government’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot offered a floral “chhatra” on Friday, along with members of both communities.

“Phool Walon Ki Sair” closed on Saturday with tableaus from over 11 states and a night-long qawwali singing programme.

Sensex jumps amid bets of RBI-government truce

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 Key equity indices jumped amid bets the government and the Reserve Bank of India will bury their differences at a crucial central bank board meeting on Monday.

Subdued global oil prices, and foreign fund inflows amid a stable domestic currency also burnished the appeal of stocks.

The government has been demanding that the RBI make liquidity available, especially to the shadow banks after a series of defaults by the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) triggered a scare and precipitated a credit crunch.

The Centre has also reportedly demanded that the RBI hand over a significant chunk of its reserves, which was subsequently denied by the Union Finance Ministry as “misinformed speculation”.

RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya had warned of economic consequences if the central bank’s autonomy was encroached upon.

Interest-rate sensitive stocks like banking, automobile and capital goods rose, while the oil and gas sector came under pressure.

The S&P BSE Sensex settled up 317.72 points or 0.90 per cent at 35,774.88, from its previous close of 35,457.16 points.

NSE’s Nifty50 gained 81.20 points or 0.76 per cent to finish at 10,763.40.

IANS

Tutor caught on CCTV beating boy in UP

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 A tutor in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district was caught on CCTV camera brutally beating up a seven-year-old boy, police said on Monday.

In the CCTV footage, the teacher named Kamal is seen hitting the boy with shoes.

The assault came to light after the boy’s parents noticed bruises on his body, the police said.

The parents informed the district police chief of the incident and showed the CCTV footage after which a case was registered.

The teacher, who had been teaching the boy for the past six months, is absconding.

IANS

Karnataka CM to hold talks with sugarcane farmers on Tuesday

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Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will hold talks with agitating sugarcane farmers on their demands for a higher minimum support price and settling dues from state-run and private mills, said an official on Monday.

“Kumaraswamy has called for a meeting with sugarcane farmers, mill owners and officials at the state secretariat on Tuesday to discuss their demands and problems, said the official from the chief minister’s office in a statement here.

The meeting has been convened a day after hundreds of farmers, including their womenfolk on Sunday staged protests at Belagavi against the state government’s alleged indifference over ensuring minimum support price (MSP) for their cane and settling their dues from mill owners.

The Chief Minister also advised the farmers staging the protest in the city on Monday to have patience and sought time to address their demands, including loan waiver, higher MSP for sugarcane and supply of seeds and fertilizers for the rabi crop.

“I appeal to the farmers to be patient as the government is committed to find solutions to their problems. I held meetings with officials and stakeholders on demands of sugarcane growers. I have directed the district deputy commissioners to resolve their issues,” said the statement citing the Chief Minister.

Though debt waiver was not a solution to the farmers’ woes, Kumaraswamy said the state government was working hard to waive off farm loans taken from cooperative, scheduled and state-run banks.

“I hope the waiver will enable the farmers to seek fresh loans for the next crop. The loan waiver will begin soon as the process is at the final stage,” said the chief minister.

Claiming that the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government was pro-farmer, Kumaraswamy said a permanent solution was being worked out to ensure that farmers would not have to protest or resort to an agitation.

“I have been always on the side of farmers and don’t have bias against those from the northern or southern regions of the state. All are equal and same for me.

Terming the police action against protesting farmers at Belagavi on Sunday when they barged into the premises of the district secretariat, Kumaraswamy said in a democracy everyone had the right to protest but not break the law.

“As the loan waiver amount is about Rs 48,000 crore, we need time and workforce to verify each account. I want farmers to be patient and not be desperate,” added the Chief Minister.

IANS

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