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Tigress Sundari to be shifted to Nandankanan: Minister

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The Odisha government has said the Royal Bengal Tigress Sundari, which allegedly killed two persons, will be shifted from Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar.

Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray on Monday said once it is tranquilised, the tigress will be shifted to a well-protected environment in the zoo.

“Our plans are to keep Sundari in Nandankanan and we will inform National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) about the decision. If they do not accept our proposal, we may consider sending back the tigress to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh from where it was brought as a part of tiger translocation programme,” informed the Minister.

He said efforts are on to capture the elusive tigress in Satakosia wildlife sanctuary in Angul district.

Meanwhile, two experts team from Pench and Kanha tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh arrived to tranquilise tigress Sundari.

The Odisha Forest Department had requested its Madhya Pradesh counterpart to send two teams to capture the tigress.

The Royal Bengal tigress was brought from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve on June 28 in a pilot inter-state transfer project to increase the big cat population in Odisha. It was released into the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

However, locals demanded to shift the tigress after it allegedly killed two persons inside the reserve.

IANS

Meeting between top Congress leader, ex-Goa CM triggers speculation

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A meeting between state Congress president Girish Chodankar and former Chief Minister and disgruntled BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar has triggered political speculation in Goa, especially with the state likely to see two Assembly by-polls soon.

When asked about his meeting with Parsekar, who has publicly threatened to defeat Dayanand Sopte, a now former Congress MLA who was inducted into the BJP two weeks back and is likely to contest a by-poll from his Mandrem assembly constituency, Chodankar said: “I have been meeting lots of people because our ultimate target is to fulfil the wishes of the people of Goa. Ever since these two MLAs have resigned, there is tremendous anger in the people of Goa… We are ready to work with anyone who is ready to defeat them (BJP).”

On Sunday, Chodankar met Parsekar, where sources said the two discussed ways and means to defeat Sopte in the yet-to-be-scheduled Mandrem by-poll.

Parsekar has already claimed that he was meeting political leaders from across the spectrum because he has shared a healthy relationship with them. “I am opposed to their ideology. But that does not mean I can’t meet them,” he said.

Sopte, who was elected to the state Assembly on a Congress ticket from Mandrem — a seat formerly represented by Parsekar — resigned as an MLA and from the Congress party before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid drama.

Parsekar, who served as CM from 2014-17, has already slammed the state BJP leadership of trying to “finish him” and has openly threatened to work against the party to defeat Sopte as and when the Assembly by-polls are held.

Parrikar who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer has been in an out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi. His absence has created a political leadership vacuum in Goa, with several leaders in the BJP as well as the ruling coalition parties eyeing the top political position.

The BJP earlier this month was forced to induct two Congress MLAs into the party and get them to resign from legislatorship, so as to bring the legislative strength on par with the Congress with 14 MLAs in the state Assembly, which currently has 38 MLAs.

IANS

Delhi man was piloting crashed Indonesian plane

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Bhavye Suneja, the pilot of Indonesian Lion Air Boeing passenger plane which crashed on Monday with 189 people onboard, was a student of Ahlcon Public School in Delhi till 2005.

Sources in the school, located in Mayur Vihar of east Delhi, confirmed that he was an alumnus but did not share further details.

According to Suneja’s LinkedIn profile, he received his pilot’s licence from the US-based Bel Air International in 2009.

He was associated with Lion Air as an airline pilot since March 2011. Prior to that, he served as a trainee pilot with Emirates for three months in 2010, the profile showed.

However, Emirates in a statement said that the pilot was never an employee or trainee with the airline.

The passenger plane crashed into the Java Sea on Monday shortly after take-off. Authorities said they had not found any survivor.

Suneja was living in Jakarta with his wife while his parents were in Delhi when the disaster took place.

“Our deepest condolences on the tragic loss of lives in the Lion Air plane crash, off the coast of Jakarta today. Most unfortunate that Indian Pilot Bhavye Suneja who was flying JT610 also lost his life… Embassy is in touch with Crisis Center and coordinating for all assistance,” the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said in its official twitter handle.

IANS

HC initiates contempt proceedings against Chennai journalist

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The Delhi High Court on Monday initiated contempt proceedings against Swaminathan Gurumurthy, Editor of a Chennai-based Tamil weekly news magazine “Thuglak”, for his tweets against sitting judge Justice S. Muralidhar.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the issue, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Yogesh Khanna has asked Gurumurthy, who is also a Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s part-time non-official Director, to file a response on the contempt proceedings.

The court has listed the matter for further hearing on December 11.

The court order came after receiving a letter from advocate Rajshekhar Rao, who sought contempt action against the scribe and requested to remove the tweets and online video against the judge.

Gurumurthy had shared a tweet alleging bias by Justice Muralidhar while delivering an order on October 1.

On October 1, a division bench headed by Justice Muralidhar set aside a lower court order allowing the Maharashtra Police to take Navlakha to Pune and said Navlakha’s detention had exceeded 24 hours which was “untenable” in law.

Karnataka seeks drought relief aid from Centre

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Karnataka on Monday sought drought relief aid of Rs 2,434-crore from the National Disaster Response Fund of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to compensate for the crop losses in drought-hit districts.

“The southwest monsoon has been very erratic. The prolonged dry spell in north and south interior Karnataka during August and September has resulted in huge agricultural and horticulture crop losses,” the state’s Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande said in a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, shared with reporters here.

While pegging the losses incurred due to drought situation in 100 sub-districts (taluks) in 24 of the state’s 30 districts at Rs 16,500-crore, the state has requested the central government for a relief of Rs 2,434-crore.

“A total of 26.18 lakh hectares of agricultural area and 1.94 lakh hectares of horticulture area have suffered greater than 33 per cent crop loss with an estimated loss of more than Rs 16,500-crore,” Deshpande stated in his letter.

The letter was also sent to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

Eleven of the 16 weeks of southwest monsoon season were largely dry, leading to soil moisture stress and crop loss, according to the state government’s estimates.

“I request you to depute an inter-ministerial central team for first-hand assessment of large scale agriculture and horticulture crop losses,” Deshpande wrote in his letter to the Union Agriculture Minister.

With depleting ground water levels, the state is supplying drinking water to 159 villages and has dug 203 private bore-wells to make drinking water available in the rural areas, and few of the urban areas facing water shortage, according to the letter.

The state also anticipates a fodder shortage in the coming days, with a total livestock of 75.31 lakh cattle and 114.35 lakh fodder dependent animals living in the 100 drought-affected sub-districts of the state, and has distributed 8.11 lakh fodder seed kits to overcome the shortage, Deshpande’s letter informed the Union Ministers.

A total of Rs 50-crore worth funds were released from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), providing Rs 50-lakh to each of the drought-hit sub-districts to carry out immediate relief measures such as augmenting existing water supply scheme, drilling new bore wells, the letter added.

IANS

NIA raids Srinagar businessman’s residence

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A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team on Tuesday raided the residence of a businessman here.

An NIA official in New Delhi confirmed that the raid was being conducted at Fayaz Ahmad Mir’s residence in the city’s Lal Bazar area.

The team was accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel.

No other details of the raid were immediately available.

The agency has been carrying out raids at the offices and residences of separatists and businessmen in connection with the hawala scam that the NIA has been investigating.

Two months ago, the NIA raid the residence of another businessman in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area.

IANS

Khaleda Zia’s jail term doubled in orphanage graft case

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A Bangladesh court on Tuesday doubled the jail term of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia from five years to 10 in an orphanage graft case following an appeal by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

On February 8, a special court sentenced Khaleda, the chief of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to five years in jail for embezzling funds of around $200,000 meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, reports bdnews24.

A bench of the Bangladesh High Court comprising Justices M Enayetur Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman pronounced the decision on Tuesday.

“Khaleda Zia was the key suspect in the case, which is why we demanded increasing her punishment. The High Court granted our appeal scaling up the punishment to 10 years from five. As a result, all defendants have the same punishment — 10 years. The bails for other defendants were also rejected,” Khurshid Alam, a lawyer for the ACC, said after the verdict.

Khaleda’s son Tarique Rahman and four others were also sentenced for 10 years.

On Monday, she was sentenced to seven years in jail in a corruption case.

The temporary court set up at the old central prison here found Khaleda and three others guilty of using their political clout to raise funds of around 31.5 million taka ($375,000) from unknown sources for the Zia Charitable Trust.

The case was filed against Khaleda by the ACC eight years ago.

IANS

Blast in Meghalaya

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A low intensity blast using improvised explosive device (IED) took place in the East Garo Hills district headquarters in Meghalaya late on Monday, police said on Tuesday.

However, no one was injured in the Williamnagar blast.

“The explosion occurred around 10.35 p.m. in front of a shack behind the State Cooperative building where some carpenters were sleeping,” district police chief Ringrang Momin told IANS.

This was the third such explosion in the area, he said.

The explosion site was about 50 metres away from the office of the Superintendent of Police in-charge of the district.

“The blast was of low intensity and no one was hurt. The shack which is made of corrugated galvanised iron sheets was also not damaged apart from a small dent due to the explosion,” Momin said.

A probe was underway. “A motive is yet to be established. Search parties have intensified patrolling,” Momin said.

IANS

6.1-magnitude quake jolts New Zealand

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An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale jolted New Zealand’ North Island on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, which occurred at 2.13 a.m., was initially centered at 39.0541 degrees south latitude and 174.9766 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 227.28 km, reports Xinhua news agency.

There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties.

IANS

Poll ranks India the world’s most dangerous country for women

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India is the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour, according to a poll of global experts.

Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of 548 experts on women’s issues, followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

The only western nation in the top 10 was the US, which ranked joint third when respondents were asked where women were most at risk of sexual violence, harassment and being coerced into sex.

The poll was a repeat of a survey in 2011, in which experts saw Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the most dangerous countries for women.

Experts said India moving to the top position showed not enough was being done to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus made violence against women a national priority.

“India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated,” said Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka state government.

“The (world’s) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technology is shamed for violence committed against women.”

Government data shows reported cases of crimes against women in India rose by 83% between 2007 and 2016, when there were four cases of rape reported every hour.

‘It’s everywhere – in factories, in the bedroom’: fighting India’s gender violence – podcast
The survey asked respondents which five of the 193 UN member states they thought were most dangerous for women and which country was worst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditional practices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and human trafficking.

Respondents also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex and domestic slavery, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.

India’s ministry of women and child development declined to comment.

Afghanistan fared worst in four of the seven questions, with concerns over healthcare and conflict-related violence.

The country’s public health minister, Ferozuddin Feroz, said the deteriorating security situation was making life difficult for women, with large parts of the country still in Taliban control after nearly 17 years of war.

“Nowadays, suicide bombings and armed conflict are the third [highest] cause of deaths and disability in Afghanistan,” he said.

“Instead of focusing on maternal health, on nutritional status, we spend it on trauma.”

The seven-year war drove Syria into third place in the survey, amid concerns over access to healthcare and both sexual and non-sexual violence.

“There are so many dangers for girls and women,” said Maria Al Abdeh, executive director of Women Now For Development, which supports women’s centres in Syria.

“There is sexual violence by government forces. Domestic violence and child marriage are increasing and more women are dying in childbirth. The tragedy is nowhere near an end.”

Somalia, where more than two decades of war has fuelled a culture of violence and weakened institutions meant to uphold the law, was again named as one of the five most dangerous countries for women.

Saudi Arabia ranked fifth, with analysts saying there had been some progress. But the recent arrests of female activists ahead of the lifting of the driving ban on women showed more needed to be done.

“One of the worst laws that prevent women from having equal opportunities is guardianship – because every woman is subjected to a male guardian. She cannot get a passport, cannot travel, sometimes she cannot work,” said Ahlam Akram, founder of British Arabs Supporting Universal Women’s Rights.

“We need to completely obliterate this system. I think change is coming, but it takes time.”

Experts said the surprise addition of the US in the top 10 came down to the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns against sexual harassment.

“People want to think income means you’re protected from misogyny, and sadly that’s not the case,” said Cindy Southworth, of the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Others in the top 10 were Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen and Nigeria.

India, Libya and Myanmar were considered the world’s most dangerous nations for women, who were exploited by human traffickers in a global crime worth an estimated $150bn (£114bn) a year.

“In many countries the simple fact of being female creates a heightened risk of becoming a victim of slavery,” said Nick Grono, chief executive of the Freedom Fund.

Respondents included aid professionals, academics, healthcare staff, non-government organisations, policy-makers and social commentators.

This article originally appeared on the Thomson Reuters Foundation site.

 

 

 

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