Archives for 2022

Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh minister and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan joined the Samajwadi Party on Sunday, days after he resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

On Friday, former ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, five BJP MLAs and one from the Apna Dal (Sonelal) joined the Samajwadi Party.

Apna Dal (Sonelal) is an ally of the BJP.

Besides Chauhan, Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA from Vishvanathganj Assembly constituency in Pratapgarh district R K Verma too on Sunday joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led party which has emerged as the main challenger to the BJP in the state.

While joining the Samajwadi party, Chauhan trained his guns at the BJP, saying, “When the BJP formed government in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, it gave the slogan ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’… But, ‘vikaas’ (development) of a handful of people was done and the rest were left to their fate.”

Terming the Samajwadi Party as his “old home”, he said, “We will change the politics of Uttar Pradesh, and make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh once again.”

Hyderabad: A massive fire broke out at the heritage Secunderabad Club building here in the early hours of Sunday damaging most parts of the structure, police said. However, there were no casualties, they said.

A police patrol team noticed the blaze at around 3.15 AM and alerted the Fire department and seven fire engines including one from the Army were rushed to the spot and flames were extinguished by 6 AM, a police official told PTI.

It was a major fire and based on preliminary investigation the cause of the fire is suspected to be a short circuit, the official said.

Visuals on social media showed the building completely engulfed in flames.

According to Secunderabad Club website, the Secunderabad Club was established by the British in 1878 and it is one of the oldest clubs in India. Located on a 22-acre campus, the Club’s century old Main Club House, carefully and aesthetically maintained, has been given Heritage status by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority.

The club boasts of dining, reading, indoor and outdoor sports with its own cricket field and many recreational facilities. It may be the only members club to have its own dedicated Sailing Annexe, its website says.

BEIJING: The India-China bilateral trade touched a record high of over USD 125 billion in 2021, crossing the USD 100 billion-mark in a year when the relations hit a new low due to the prolonged standoff by the militaries in eastern Ladakh, while India’s trade deficit too mounted to over USD 69 billion, according to official data released on Friday.

The total trade between China and India in 2021 stood at USD 125.66 billion, up 43.3 per cent from 2020, state-run Global Times reported, quoting data from the General Administration of Customs.

China’s exports to India from January to December rose 46.2 per cent to USD 97.52 billion, while India’s exports to China grew by 34.2 per cent to USD 28.14 billion.

The trade deficit for India grew to USD 69.38 billion in 2021.

India has been highlighting its concerns over the growing trade deficit with China for over a decade and calling on Beijing to open its markets for India’s IT and pharmaceutical products.

Observers say much of China’s exports increase this year to India was attributed to the import of medical products and raw materials for India’s burgeoning pharmaceutical industry due to the massive second wave of COVID-19 and recurring bouts of the virus in the country.

The landmark increase of the bilateral trade crossing USD 100 billion went without much fanfare as the relations remained frosty over the lingering military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

The border standoff between the armies of India and China erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas and both sides have gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in the Gogra area in August and in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake in February.

The two sides held the 14 round of Corps Commander-level talks on January 12 to resolve the standoff in the remaining areas and agreed to hold a new round of talks soon.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the mountainous sector.

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government is likely to cancel a rally to mark legendary freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23 as well as curtail the Repuplic Day programme on Red Road here, owing to the surge in COVID-19 cases, a state secretariat source said on Saturday.

Discussions regarding the possible measures were held during a meeting of senior officials, including Chief secretary H K Dwivedi and Home Secretary B P Gopalika late on Friday, he said.

“The situation is not favourable for celebrating Netaji’s birthday and Republic Day in a grand manner, as Covid infections are on the rise again and large gatherings cannot be allowed.

The rally on January 23 that was scheduled to be held from Red Road to Shyambazar is likely to be cancelled… The Republic Day programme could also be limited to only 30 minutes,” the source said.

The final call, however, will be taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

West Bengal had on Friday reported 22,645 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 18,63,697.

The death toll climbed to 20,013 after 28 more fatalities were reported.

CHANDIGARH:  The problems of Punjab Congress do not seem to end. Another controversy is in the making as the draft of the proposed manifesto for the upcoming election, which was sent to party high command by the manifesto committee headed by MP Partap Singh Bajwa, doesn’t contain the announcements made by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu.

The Congress high command had set up the manifesto committee headed by Bajwa. The panel prepared the draft and sent it to the Punjab in-charge Harish Chaudhary.  Sources said the recent announcements made by Channi and Sidhu, including the ‘Punjab Model’ of the latter, are not part of the proposed manifesto.

“Both Channi and Sidhu neither attended the meetings which were called by Bajwa to discuss the manifesto nor did they send any documents of their announcements to the committee, hence their points were not incorporated in the draft manifesto,” said a leader.

Sources said either Chaudhary might send the draft manifesto back to the committee so that the announcements made by Channi and Sidhu could be incorporated or the high command would make the changes accordingly.

SRINAGAR: A fortnight after Kashmir Press Club (KPC) was granted re-registration under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and a day after the management of the top journalists’ body announced elections, the authorities put in abeyance the re-registration of the KPC as a society.

In its January 14, 2022, order to put re-registration of KPC on abeyance, Registrar of Societies, Director Industries and Commerce Kashmir stated that the re-registration granted under number 7427-Sof 2021 dated December 29, 2021, to KPC has hereby been kept in abeyance till the receipt of the final report from the Additional District Magistrate of Srinagar.

The KPC had on December 29, 2021, received a re-registration certificate under the Societies Registration Act 1860 from the Registrar of Societies Kashmir Division, Government of J&K.

After being granted re-registration, the KPC had announced the holding of elections on February 15, 2022.

The KPC elections were scheduled for July 2021 after the end of the two-year term of the first-elected body of journalists. However, the election got delayed due to the pending re-registration process of the Club.

The KPC, which has over 300 journalists as members, held its first election in the erstwhile state of J&K in 2019.

The Kashmir Press Club has called a meeting of its management body as well as the executive Committee members today to discuss the latest development. “The club management was legally bound and also had the mandate of the majority of its members to safeguard the interests of the Kashmir Press Club when it applied for re-registration following due course of law. The management body had been waiting for the official formalities to be put in place and as soon as that was communicated to it last week, the decision to hold the elections was taken and announced. However, with the new unfortunate development, the registration of the society has been put on hold which has advertently also stalled the election process for the new body that was set in motion,” reads a statement issued by KPC.

It stated that the management committee wants to put this on record that during its tenure it has run the KPC with professionalism and integrity. “It hopes that the institution, which has been established after a lot of efforts by the fraternity, continues to be allowed to function in the best interests of its members”.

Meanwhile, three local newspaper editors – Arshid Rasool of Daily Gadyal, Farooq Wani of Brighter Kashmir and Shafat Kira of Kashmir Vision — have written a letter to District Magistrate Srinagar alleging that the journalist fraternity of Kashmir is bereft of the proper and legal executive body of the Kashmir Press Club in the wake of the end of the two-year term of the previous body, which was running the affairs of the club.

The three editors have nominated an interim committee comprising nine people to run affairs of the Kashmir Press Club till elections are held.