Archives for November 2021

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh is set to become the first state in India to have five international airports, as PM Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar on November 25. 

Earlier, it had two international airports in Lucknow and Varanasi. The third has come up in Kushinagar and a fourth in Ayodhya is likely to become operational early next year. This Noida airport — the second international airport to come up in Delhi-NCR — will help decongest the IGI Airport.  

Spread over more than 1,300 hectares of land, the first phase of the airport will serve about 1.2 crore passengers annually. The first phase costing over Rs 10,050 crore is scheduled to be completed by 2024. 

Cricket Australia (CA) is set to appoint a new captain after Tim Paine stepped down from the post in the wake of a ‘sexting’ scandal. Fast bowling spearhead Pat Cummins has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Paine and former skipper Steve Smith is also in the reckoning.

Clarke pointed out how Ricky Ponting became one of Australia’s greatest captains after overcoming an erratic start to his international career. “Go back in my time even to Ricky Ponting. If that’s the case, he never would have captained Australia,” Clarke told ‘Big Sports Breakfast’.

“He had a punch up in the middle of a Bourbon & Beefsteak. Are you not going to give him the job because of that? He’s a great example. He’s shown you how time, experience, maturity, playing at the highest level and even the captaincy turned him around,” he added.

Paine is the only specialist wicketkeeper in Australia’s 15-man squad to face England in the upcoming Ashes but chairman of selectors George Bailey said he is not final for the first Test starting in Brisbane on December 8.

Clarke admitted that the Australian Test captain needed to be held to a high standard, but he said the team would end up with few options if it has unrealistic expectations. “Of course, you have to uphold certain standards but are you going to say: ‘He can change, he can mature. Where is the backing of the player as well? You’ll be looking for 15 years (if you want a captain who hasn’t done something wrong), we won’t have a captain,” he said.

Clarke said he was still confused as to why Paine resigned over the 2017 incident. “I don’t get it. If Cricket Australia were there telling him he had no choice, then he should’ve stood there and said: ‘Listen, that’s on you. You guys sack me, go for it but I gave you this information four years ago. I handed it to you, I was open, I was honest, I was straight and I was cleared’,” he said.

“Just because it’s the public, the rules of engagement are different? I don’t think so. It seems to me Cricket Tasmania are saying exactly that, hang on, you cleared him four years ago,” Clarke said.

Parmesh Jain

Economy of the state is recovering after suffering setback during the Covid pandemic,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Speaking to media persons after visiting rain affected areas of Kolar district he said, “economy of the country and the state suffered huge setback over the last 2 years due to Covid pandemic.

Economy of the state in all sectors is showing good recovery after successfully managing the vaccination campaign.”

GST collection had touched Rs.1,30,000 crore last month and it is expected to be around Rs.1,20,000 crore this month.

Targets have been set on tax collection and action is being taken to ensure better compliance. State is getting its share of GST collection every quarter, the Chief Minister said.

Progress of Housing Projects

Replying to a question on providing houses for those who have been rendered homeless, Bommai said, cabinet had cleared construction of 5 lakh houses.

Respective district administration had been instructed to select the beneficiaries from each Gram Panchayat limits. Of these 4 lakh houses would be in rural areas and 1 lakh in urban areas.

Parmesh Jain

It is a day to resolve for adopting Kanakadasa’s Principles,Tripadis(three lined poems) and literature in life, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

He was speaking to media persons after garlanding the portrait of the saint poet in Legislators’ Hostel premises as part of Kanakadasa Jayanthi on Monday.

Kanakadasa is the greatest among the Dasa saint poets.His contribution for Kannada Dasa literature is immense.

He was a great philosopher,social reformer who propagated the ideals of social equality and universal brotherhood, Bommai said.

Kanakadasa who was born at Shiggavi made Kaginele as his Karmabhoomi.He enlightened the masses about the true meaning of life through his Dasa Padas to eradicate caste and class barriers in the society.

His literature including Ramadhanya Charitha is a beacon of light in the path of our life, Bommai said.

Sangolli Rayanna Sainik School

A palace and memorial has been built at Kaginele to spread his philosophy.Similarly a tomb and museum is being built in honour of Sangolli Rayanna who fought gallantly against the British.

A Sainik School in the name of Sangolli Rayanna is also being built at a cost of Rs230cr to inspire patriotism and discipline among the youth.

We intend to hand it over to the Defence Ministry after completing the works and I have held talks with Defence minister Rajnath Singh in this regard,” Bommai said.

Parmesh Jain

A 46-year-old receptionist at GKVK was hacked to death at his house in Yelahanka new town by a gang of four armed men for allegedly molesting his minor daughter.  

The deceased has been identified as,Deepak Kumar Singh,46,hailing from Bihar.

The police have detained five persons including a 17 year old daughter for questioning.

The murder came to lighy when both the girls ran to the neighbouring house in Attur layout at around 1.30 am and knocked the door informing that their father has been attacked.

The residents rushed to the help and saw Deepak Kumar Singh in a pool of blood.The Yelahanka new town police rushed to the spot and conducted a detailed probe .

The girls told the police that a gang of four armed youths barged into the house and attacked their father with lethal weapons while one of them threatened them with a sword not to shout.

Repeated questioning about the incident led the police to suspect the involvement of eldest daughter and questioned her to reveal the plot behind the murder.

Senior officer told reporters that the deceased Deepak Singh is native of Bihar and living with his wife and two daughters aged 14 and 11 years old.

Singh’s wife was away and had gone to her native when the incident occurred.The deceased was molesting the eldest daughter and even the wife was aware of this and the couple had fought and were not on good terms,a senior police officer said .

The eldest daughter studying Ist PU had shared her harrowing experience with her friend and classmates who were enraged and decided to teach him a lesson.

We have secured the accused and recovered the weapon along with the victim of sexual assault and conspirator of murder,the officer said adding that the accused would be produced before the JJ board for further legal action.

Betul (MP): Apparently upset over missing his school bus, a class 9 student committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.

This incident occurred on Monday at Aamdoh village under the Ghodadongri police post, located 40 km away from the Betul district headquarters.

“A 14-year-old boy, who was the student of class 9 in a private school, committed suicide by hanging on Monday,” said Ghodadongri police post in charge Ravi Shakya.

He said the boy had left him home for school but missed the bus.

“His family members told the police that he was very punctual about attending his school. He was upset after he missed the bus,” the police officer said.

According to his family members, he returned home crying on Monday. He was later found hanging from a tree in the backyard of his house, Shakya said.

The deceased boy’s uncle said he was very good in studies.

“He was found hanging from a mango tree in the backyard still wearing his school uniform,” he said.

Teenagers sometimes take such extreme steps under pressure from their parents to excel in their studies. Besides, too much exposure to social media may also trigger such tendencies, a child specialist said.

Idukki: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday morning opened one shutter of Mullaperiyar dam due to rising water levels in the reservoir following heavy rains there, the district administration here said.

Tamil Nadu had announced it would be raising the shutter at 8.00 AM by 30 centimetre to release 397 cusecs of water, a release by the Idukki District administration said and asked residents on both sides of the Periyar to be vigilant.

The water level in the reservoir at 8.00 AM had reached 141.40 feet. 

Ujjain (MP}: Bowing to protest by seers in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, the IRCTC on Monday evening said it will change the saffron attire of waiters on board the Ramayan Express, which had invited the ire of a section of sadhus.

The seers, earlier in the day, had taken strong objection to the saffron attire of waiters on board the IRCTC-operated Ramayan Express and dubbed it as an “insult” to Hindu religion.

They had threatened to stop the train in Delhi on December 12 if the dress code was not withdrawn.

We have written a letter two days back to the Union Railway Minister lodging our protest against waiters in saffron serving refreshments and food in the Ramayan Express.

“Donning saffron attire with sadhu-like headgear and wearing ‘malas’ (necklaces) of ‘rudraksha’ (sacred seeds) is an insult to Hindu religion and its seers, Ujjain Akhada Parishad’s former general secretary Avdeshpuri told PTI.

He said seers will stop the train at Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station if the saffron dress code of the waiters was not changed, adding it was necessary for protecting the Hindu religion.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), in a retweet to a media outlet which ran this agency report, said, It is to inform that the dress of service staff is completely changed in the look of professional attire of service staff.

When contacted for his reaction on the IRCTC announcement about the change in attire, a delighted Avdeshpuri said, “It is a victory of (Hindu) religion and ‘sanskriti’ (culture)” and that it was his duty to raise the issue.

Ujjain city, where the famous Shree Mahakaleshwar temple of Lord Shiva is located, hosts Simhastha Kumbh Mela every 12 years.

The country’s first Ramayan circuit train chugged off on a 17-day journey from the Safdarjung railway station on November 7, and will visit 15 places associated with the life of Lord Ram.

Covering a distance of more than 7,500 km, the train will take the pilgrims to places such as Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Nandigram, Janakpur, Chitrakoot, Sitamarhi, Nashik, Hampi and Rameshwaram.

The Ramayan Express is equipped with first-class restaurants, a library and shower cubicles.