Archives for June 2021

Political cartoonist Manjul received an e-mail from Twitter saying the Centre had told the micro-blogging site that the content on his Twitter page violated the laws of the country. 

“We understand that receiving this type of notice can be an unsettling experience. While Twitter is not able to provide legal advice, we want you to have an opportunity to evaluate the request and, if you wish, take appropriate action to protect your interests. This may include seeking legal counsel and challenging the request in court…,” Twitter wrote in the e-mail. 

PATNA: After waiting for almost two years, the Bihar government will start receiving application for recruitment of nearly 1.25 lakh teachers in government-run schools.

The National Federation of the Blind-Bihar had filed a petition challenging the recruitment process of teachers alleging that no reservation was granted for the differently-abled aspirants.

As a result, the recruitment was stalled for two years. The matter was taken up in the Patna High Court.

Finally, the court directed the state government to ensure four per cent reservation for the differently-abled and visually impaired candidates and grant them 15 days to apply.

On Friday, education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that the process has been started to publish the merit list, keeping the high court’s decsion to grant 4 per cent reservation to the differently-abled and visually impaired in mind.

“We have moved the recruitment process of physically challenged aspirants who were left last time from applying for the jobs. We will tentatively start receiving the applications from June 9 by offline and online modes. A time of 15 days has been granted following the court’s direction. We will continue receiving applications,” claimed Chaudhary.

Now, the differently-abled and visually impaired candidates, who could not apply in 2019, will be able to apply for recruitment from June 9.

Meanwhile, the education minister told the media that a new advertisement of Covid-19 vaccines for physically challenged candidates will be published both offline and online after June 8.

He also hoped that if no unforeseen crisis hit the state, the entire recruitment for 1.25 lakh teachers in the government-run primary to high schools will be completed in next 2 to 3 months.

Around 90,000 teachers for primary and 30,000 for middle schools would be among the 1.25 lakh recruitments.

DEHRADUN: The coronavirus battered tourism industry of Uttarakhand is pinning its hope on a relief package for hoteliers, owners of roadside eateries, tour and travel operators and people connected with adventure tourism who are facing a livelihood crisis.

“Tourism is our bread and butter and it has suffered at multiple levels due to the pandemic. A relief package at this stage will do a world of good to people in the sector,” Maharaj told PTI in an interview. Citing the findings of a study conducted by IIM, Kashipur, the minister said Covid caused losses worth Rs 1600 crore to the tourism industry of Uttarakhand in 2020 besides rendering around 23000 people jobless.

He said that the losses caused by the second wave of corona this year have not been estimated yet.

The relief package has been sought for hoteliers, owners of roadside eateries, tour and travel operators and people connected with adventure tourism like rafting and trekking who are facing a livelihood crisis with no tourists arriving due to the pandemic.

“While Kumbh had to be scaled down for people’s safety due to a raging second wave, the Chardham yatra has been hit hard by the COVID induced restrictions for the second consecutive year. It has been a big blow to the tourism industry,” the minister said.

Hotels in tourist hubs like Nainital and Mussoorie have suffered bulk cancellation of bookings in recent months due to the second wave of the pandemic which had shown signs of abating in February-March. Tour and travel operators have also suffered with no tourists around.

Covid curfew has been in force in Uttarakhand for several weeks now and vehicle operators are almost off the roads, he said.

“A relief package for the tourism industry at this hour will give it the much needed shot in the arm,” Maharaj said adding that the chief minister has also been asked to include folk artistes as beneficiaries of the relief package as they do not get a chance to perform and earn with no cultural programmes being held by the tourism and culture department for more than a year.

Maharaj said he has also requested the chief minister to go for a phased opening of the Chardham Yatra after the Covid curfew is lifted in the state. Although the famous Himalayan temples of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are open for daily prayers, they have been kept out of bounds for pilgrims in view of COVID.

Pilgrimage to the Himalayan temples faced similar hurdles last year and opened finally with mandatory restrictions like a negative RT-PCR test report which limited the footfall of devotees to around 3.5 lakh only during the entire yatra season.

However, the minister said the tourism scenario though bleak should not lead to despair. “COVID is a global crisis. Many tourist hubs in the world have battled it and overcome the challenges. We should draw inspiration from them and look forward with hope,” he said citing the instance of Dubai where the tourism industry is already showing signs of recovery.

CHANDIGARH:  Even as Punjab unit of the Congress is in the thick of an internal turmoil, three rebel AAP MLAs Sukhpal Khaira (Bholath), Pirmal Singh (Bhadaur) and Jagdev Singh Kamalu (Maur) joined the party on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The inductions are seen as a shot in the arm for the beleaguered CM just before he flew to Delhi to meet the three-member AICC panel set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to resolve the infighting in the party. He is expected to meet the panel led by Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday.  

Amarinder said the joining of the three legislators had the approval of the Congress president. After the induction ceremony, Patiala MP and Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur said, “These legislators who have joined will be a big asset to the party.”

Congress sources said that by choosing to induct the rebel AAP legislators at this juncture, Amarinder had tried to convey a message to the party brass that leaders from other parties were willing to join even as “our own leaders” were claiming that his Congress government was losing the game of perception.

It’s a homecoming for Khaira who had quit the Congress in 2015 to join the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP. He said he and his colleagues had decided to return to the Congress in the larger interest of the country as well as Punjab. 

It was a political blunder to join the AAP presuming that Arvind Kejriwal would bring about a qualitative change in the political culture of India, he said.

KOLKATA: Four senior leaders, facing trial in the Narada case, appeared before the special CBI judge at a court in Kolkata on Friday. Judge Anupam Mukerjee had on April 17, while ordering interim bail to the four leaders, directed them to physically appear before the court on June 4.

State ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former city mayor Sovan Chatterjee appeared before the judge and left the Bankshall court premises after a while. Judge Mukherjee said that the next date for the hearing of the matter will be fixed later in the day.

A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court granted interim bail on May 28 to the four leaders, who were arrested on May 17 by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on an order of the high court.

The special CBI court had granted them bail on that day itself, but the order was stayed by the high court, which remanded them to judicial custody.

Production of the four before the special CBI court was held virtually on May 17 as the investigating agency claimed it was unable to produce the accused in court physically owing to protests outside its office at Nizam Palace by a mob of 2,000-3,000 people.

Chargesheet in the Narada sting case was also submitted against the accused before the special court on that day. The special court, granting interim bail, had fixed the next date of hearing on June 4, when the accused were to appear before it.

They were placed under house arrest on May 21 by a division bench of the high court, which modified its earlier stay on interim bail granted to the four leaders by the special CBI court. The matter was referred to a larger bench of five judges after the judges of a division bench presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal differed on granting interim bail to the four accused.