Archives for November 2021

New Delhi: Former cricketer and BJP MP Gautam Gambhir on Sunday received another death threat allegedly from ‘ISIS Kashmir’, the third in six days, police said.

“Your Delhi Police and IPS Shweta (DCP) cannot uproot anything. Our spies are also present in the police. All the information is being received about you,” the e-mail, which Gambhir received from isiskashmir@yahoo.com at 1.37 am, read.

A senior police officer said they had received the content of the e-mail and were investigating the matter.

The cricketer-turned-politician had received death threats on Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to a police complaint filed by Gaurav Arora, Gambhir’s personal secretary, the MP received the first death threat on his official e-mail ID at 9.32 pm on Tuesday. The e-mail, allegedly from ISIS Kashmir, read, “We are going to kill you and your family.”

“On receiving the complaint, the district police increased (Gambhir’s) personal security as well as the security of his residence in Rajinder Nagar area. The police are currently inquiring into the source of the complaint,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan had said.

Soon, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit of the Special Cell wrote to Google seeking information on the account handlers and the registered e-mail ID through which the alleged mails were sent.

Police said the DCP was informed over a phone call about the second death threat from the same e-mail ID at 2.32 pm on Wednesday.

According to the complainant, the second e-mail was attached with a video of Gambhir’s residence.

“We intended to kill you, but you survived yesterday. If you love the life of your family, stay away from politics and Kashmir issue,” the second e-mail read.

Chandigarh: Some village children on Sunday got a pleasant surprise when they were invited by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to fly with him in a government helicopter at Punjab’s Morinda.

Channi had gone to Morinda. He saw there some children hailing from a village “playing near the helicopter”.

He asked them to get inside the helicopter and fly with him.

“During my visit to Morinda, saw children playing near the helicopter. When I was young, I used to see planes & think that one day I too would get a chance to sit in it. Reminiscing about the same, I made a few village children fly with me in helicopter & fulfilled their dream,” said Channi in a tweet.

He also shared photographs of children along with him in the helicopter.

Channi further said while interacting with them, he felt that there was no dearth of talent in Punjab.

“But there is a need to give proper guidance to these children. I promise all children of Punjab that I will do my best to create a bright future for them,” said Channi in another tweet.

Ever since Channi has become the chief minister of Punjab, he has been projecting himself as an “aam aadmi” (common man).

From being spotted performing Bhangra at an event, Channi has grabbed limelight on social media for stopping his vehicle to wish a newly married couple and joining villagers in rescuing a cow trapped in a pit.

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Sunday reported 315 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths, taking the caseload to 29,95,600 and the toll to 38,198.

Discharges numbered 236, taking the total number of recoveries to 29,50,542, leaving 6,831 cases, a health department bulletin said.

Bengaluru Urban remained the major contributor of coronavirus cases with 152 fresh infections. Both the deaths were from the city.

Other districts too reported fresh cases, including Dharwad 49, Mysuru 26, Dakshina Kannada 19, Tumakuru 11 and 10 each in Shivamogga and Udupi.

There were zero fatalities in 30 districts.

While 12 districts reported zero infections and nil fatalities, 14 had cases in single digits.

The positivity rate for the day was 0.42 per cent and the Case Fatality Rate was 0.63 per cent, the bulletin said.

A total of 77,818 samples were tested in the state, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 5.31 crore.

The number of vaccinations administered till date rose to 7.32 crore, with 1,83,255 people being inoculated on Sunday, the bulletin said.

New Delhi: Over 30 per cent women from 14 of the 18 states and Union Territories that were surveyed justify men beating their wives under certain circumstances, while lesser percentage of men rationalised such behaviour, according to the recent National Family Health Survey (NHFS).

According to NHFS-5, over 75 per cent women justified men beating their wives in three states — Telangana (84 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (84 per cent) and Karnataka (77 per cent).

Manipur (66 per cent), Kerala (52 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (49 per cent), Maharashtra (44 per cent) and West Bengal (42 per cent) were the other states and Union Territory where a large number of women justified men beating their wives.

To a question by the NFHS, “In your opinion, is a husband justified in hitting or beating his wife…?”, over 30 per cent women from as many as 14 states and Union Territories said, “yes”.

The survey put forward the probable circumstances under which a husband beats his wife: if he suspects her of being unfaithful; if she disrespects in-laws; if she argues with him; if she refuses to have sex with him; if she goes out without informing him; if she neglects the house or the children; if she doesn’t cook good food.

The most common reasons given by the respondents to justify beating were neglecting the house or children and showing disrespect to in-laws.

Of the 18 states, women respondents in 13 — Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Gujarat, Nagaland, Goa, Bihar, Karnataka, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana, Nagaland and West Bengal — cited ‘disrespect to in-laws’ as the main reason to justify beating.

The lowest population of women that justified beating by husbands was in Himachal Pradesh (14.8 per cent).

Among men, 81.9 per cent respondents from Karnataka said such behaviour is justified as against 14.2 per cent in Himachal Pradesh.

Ushasree, director of ‘Roshni’, a Hyderabad-based NGO which provides counselling and other services to those in emotional distress, said her organisation has seen a rise in sexual abuse and domestic violence during COVID-19.

“Some men appear to vent their frustration, caused by loss of income and other reasons due to the pandemic, on their family members,” she said.

“There is an increase in the number of calls we received because friction has grown among family members as they stay confined within four walls round-the-clock due to the pandemic,” she said.

Though the number of calls is on the decline of late, women are generally facing domestic violence, she said.

Roshni is a member of Befrienders Worldwide, an international organisation. It has two helpline numbers, 040-6620 2001 and 040-6620 2000, she said.

In Telangana, where as much as 84 per cent women justified beating by their husbands, the government runs various schemes, some with the support of the central government, for protection and empowerment of women.

The schemes include Sakhi – One Stop Centre, Women Helpline – 181, Swadhar Greh and Ujjwala Homes, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) and Mahila Shakti Kendras, official sources said.

Amita Pitre, lead specialist, Gender Justice: Oxfam India, said the organisation’s work in five states shows that harmful gender social norms help justify violence against women and girls.

“They are the tools of patriarchy and women are as much a part of the patriarchal society as men. In fact, women are trained in society to be strict guardians of these norms, especially for daughters and daughters-in-laws, and that is one of the most common ways they are perpetuated,” Pitre told PTI.

“All the reasons cited to justify violence on women are a product of these norms: if she neglects the house or children, if she refuses to have sex with the husband, if she doesn’t cook food properly… all these define how women should behave in society. It is as important that women move away from such thinking as men if gender-based violence against women has to stop,” she said.

New Delhi: Popular stand-up comedian and activist Kunal Kamra on Sunday said the laughter is costing comedians more and more with every passing year. His statement comes on a day comedian Munawar Faruqui’s show in Bengaluru was called off by the organisers after the city police served them notice.

In their letter to the organisers of the show, the Bengaluru Police had cited the law and order situation in the city while also claiming that Munawar was a controversial comedian who had complaints registered against him for hurting the religious sentiments of people.

The cops had also cited that several organisations in the city were against the show and the comedian was banned in several states of the country.

Reacting to the development, fellow comedian Kunal Kamra shared a note through a Facebook post stating that laughter was costing comedians more and more with each passing year.

“With every passing year I feel laughter is costing comedians more & more. It’s costing them their spontaneity and its costing them their impulse. I have even heard some comedians telling jokes to their lawyers and showing their video to a legal team before they release it online,” (SIC) he wrote in his post.

“The impulse of any artist to be so calculative, a move in itself is the slow death of the art from. Laughter is beautiful, honest & most spurred by spontaneity – if a comedian is calculating what should they present to the audience for the audience to laugh at, the audience will also soon think what should they laugh on.” (SIC) he added.

He then quoted a Zen master and further wrote “A zen master once quoted “when you’re laughing you can never be in the past or the future”. That immense, confounding, timeless beauty of laughter is being penalised & criminalised. Imagine you reaching out to a comedian for a quote and comedian is not even trying to joke & is giving a serious calculated response, not a ephemeral, human reaction.” (SIC) he further added.

New Delhi:he government on Sunday decided to review the decision on resuming scheduled commercial international passenger services as well SOP on testing and surveillance of incoming passengers, especially from countries identified as ‘at risk’, in the wake of the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant of concern ‘Omicron’.

The decisions were taken at an urgent meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and attended by various stakeholders, an official spokesperson said.

The meeting was held a day after a high-level review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the new COVID-19 variant of concern ‘Omicron’.

After a long hiatus of more than 20 months, the government had on November 26 announced the resumption of scheduled international commercial flights from December 15.

The home ministry spokesperson said at the meeting, chaired by the home secretary, the overall global situation in the wake of the Omicron virus was comprehensively reviewed and various preventive measures in place and to be further strengthened were discussed.

The government will review the decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services as per evolving global scenario, the spokesperson said.

The new, potentially more contagious B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 24 and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.

It was on Friday designated as a “Variant of Concern” by the WHO, which named it Omicron. A variant of concern is the WHO’s top category of worrying COVID-19 variants.

“Government to review Standard Operating Procedure on testing and surveillance of incoming international passengers, especially for those countries identified ‘at risk’ category,” the spokesperson said in a series of tweets.

The government has also decided that the genomic surveillance for variants will be further strengthened and intensified and Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitised for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports and seaports.

“Decision on effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service, to be reviewed, as per evolving global scenario,” the spokesperson said.

A closer watch on the emerging pandemic situation within the country will be maintained, the spokesperson said.

The meeting was held with various experts including V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister, senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other Ministries.

Agartala: The ruling BJP on Sunday swept the civic body elections in Tripura, having won all the seats of the 51-member Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and clinching several other urban local bodies.

The opposition TMC and CPI(M) failed to open their account in the AMC.

The saffron party secured all the wards in the 15-member Khowai Municipal Council, 17-seat Belonia Municipal Council, 15-member Kumarghat Municipal Council and nine-member Sabroom Nagar Panchayat, state election commission officials said.

The party made a clean sweep in the 25-ward Dharmanagar Municipal Council, 15-seat Teliamura Municipal Council and 13-member Amarpur Nagar Panchayat, they said.

Sonamura Nagar Panchayat and Melaghar Nagar Panchayat became opposition less with the BJP having won all the 13 seats each. It also bagged the 11-member Jirania Nagar Panchayat.

The party secured 12 seats of Ambassa Municipal Council, while the TMC and the CPI-M won one seat each and another went to an independent candidate.

The BJP also won 16 seats of Kailashahar Municipal Council and the CPI(M) got one.

In Panisagar Nagar Panchayat, the BJP emerged victorious in 12 seats, and the CPI (M) bagged one.

The saffron party had fielded candidates for all the 334 seats of Agartala Municipal Corporation, 13 municipal bodies and six Nagar Panchayats in the state where its nominees won in 112 places uncontested. Elections to 222 seats were held on November 25.

The ruling BJP is locked in a battle with the Trinamool Congress, which is foraying into the North east and elsewhere to establish itself as a national party, and with the CPI(M), which the saffron camp had dethroned from power in the state some years ago.

The TMC, which alleged vote-rigging and intimidation in the elections, had demanded countermanding of the entire polls. The CPI(M) had sought fresh elections in five municipal bodies. including the AMC.

Both parties had claimed that the authorities remained silent spectators as BJP supporters attacked political rivals and rigged the elections. The saffron camp, however, stoutly denied the charges.

Reacting to the impressive performance by his party in the elections, BJP vice president Dilip Ghosh said in Kolkata that the results of Tripura civic polls have exposed the “hollowness” of TMC’s claims of having made inroads into the northeastern state. He said people there have faith in the saffron party.

Describing TMC workers campaigning in Tripura as “hired people”, Ghosh told reporters his party shares a “strong bond” with the residents of that state.

“The civic poll results are on expected lines. The TMC did not have any chance to open its account in Tripura, they only made noises. This verdict shows hired people from West Bengal cannot help a party create a base in a state, which has faith in the BJP,” Ghosh added.