Archives for 2022

NEW DELHI: The world’s fourth largest railway network, the Indian Railways, has also registered a big increase of around 38.2% in accidents in 2021 compared to the previous year. Most such accidents were reported from Maharashtra, accounting for 19.4% of the reported 17,993 accidents. “Maharashtra reported 3,488 railway accidents,” according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The bulk of accidents come amid claims of adopting all safety measures across the railways to reduce accidents that involve negligence or trespassing of the tracks, falling off running trains and others.
The National Crime Records Bureau’s 69th edition in its latest data said: “The 17,993 railway accidents caused injuries to 1,852 people and caused deaths to 16,431 people during 2021. In 2019, 24,619 railway accidents were reported, including 1,762 accidents from railway crossings,” the NCRB data shows.

After Maharashtra, West Bengal accounted for 13.5% of total reported cases of accidents in railways in 2021. West Bengal added a total of 2,425 cases of accidents in the total count from across the railways.

The National Crime Records Bureau report shows that Maharashtra reported 2,535 deaths out of the total 3,488 rail accidents while West Bengal figures stood at 2,282 out of 2,424 cases of accidents in 2021. The striking feature is that 957 people out of a total 1,852 injured in accidents were reported from across Maharashtra alone in 2021.

“October 2021 was a cruel month as it reported 1,729 cases of railway accidents, which contributes around 9.6% of total railway accidents,” said a railway official quoting the NRCB data. According to data, a total of 11,036 persons lost their lives due to either falling off trains or collisions at railway tracks.

Other factors that added to the accidents were the fault of drivers, sabotage, signalman’s error and mechanical failures. Uttar Pradesh reported a maximum number of 575 railway crossing accidents, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 196 and West Bengal 164 accidents.

TRACK RECORD

Most accidents reported from Maharashtra, accounting for 19.4% of the reported 17,993 accidents

W. Bengal accounted for 13.5% of total reported cases

11,036 persons lost their lives due to either falling off trains or collisions at railway tracks

Uttar Pradesh reported a maximum number of 575 railway crossing accidents

The 17,993 railway accidents caused injuries to 1,852 people and caused deaths to 16,431 people during 
2021

Maharashtra reported 3,488 railway accidents

Oct. 2021 was a cruel month as it reported 1,729 cases

NEW DELHI: As massive floods impact Pakistan and parts of India, causing heavy loss of life and property, experts say that extreme events like flash floods due to heavy precipitation are expected to intensify in coming years with global warming impacting the track of the monsoon systems and they advocated for enhancing operational flood forecast in South Asia to contain the damages

According to the IMD, 2022 has seen the second-highest extreme events since 1902. The latest countrywide rainfall data shows that only one-third of the states have received normal rainfall while the rest of the country (63 per cent) has seen either deficit or excess rainfall this monsoon season so far. This March, India saw the highest temperature in 122 years, impacting wheat production, and now experts fear that rice production in UP, Bihar, and Jharkhand could be affected due to deficient rain.

The stark images of the deluge in neighbouring Pakistan with houses being washed away, leaving hundreds dead and thousands homeless, and flooded streets of several big cities in the country, reflect the growing catastrophe due to the heating of the planet. On the contrary are images of drying up rivers and water channels in China and several European countries.

Reports say that Europe’s drought is set to become the worst in 500 years. Meteorologists are citing concerns over changes in the track of Monsoon weather systems across the country. The trend has become more and more visible in the last 4-5 years, with the 2022 season being the latest one. In fact, recent Pakistan floods have also been a result of this change.

“During the last six months, entire South Asia has been reporting a series of extreme weather events. While Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India have battled severe floods, China is reeling under massive drought-like conditions. These are big onsets of climate change. You would never know when we will be caught off guard no matter what we do, we will never be able to fully prove ourselves,” said Anjal Prakash, research director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business and IPCC lead author.

Monsoon in India has undergone several changes over the years. Most of the monsoon low-pressure areas or depressions are now travelling south of their position, across Central India keeping the rain restricted to the region. Most importantly, this also triggered massive flash floods in Sindh and Balochistan regions, which have reportedly claimed over 1000 lives.  

Subimal Ghosh, Professor, IIT Bombay, and IPCC Working Group- I report lead author, says that the western Indian Ocean is warming at a high rate creating huge moisture flux that is resulting in extreme rainfall over the Indian landmass. He says that with such events set to increase, the focus should be on improving the rain early warning forecast system and evacuation strategy.

IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING

The latest countrywide rainfall data shows that only one-third of the states have received normal rainfall while the rest of the country (63%) has seen either deficit or excess rainfall this monsoon season so far. 

According to the IMD, 2022 has seen the second-highest extreme weather events since  1902

This March, India saw the highest temperature in 122 years

The latest countrywide rainfall data shows that only one-third of the states have received normal rainfall.

500 reports say that Europe’s drought is set to become the worst in years

During the last six months, entire South Asia has been reporting a series of extreme weather events. 

While Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India have battled severe floods, China is reeling under massive drought-like conditions.

The western Indian Ocean is warming at a high rate

Experts say that extreme events like flash floods due to heavy precipitation are expected to intensify in coming years

NEW DELHI: Freebies are extended utilising taxpayers’ money and may push the State towards “imminent bankruptcy”, the Supreme Court said on Friday, as it directed that the pleas against the practice of political parties promising pre-election handouts be listed before a three-judge bench

Observing that issues raised before it require an “extensive” hearing, the top court said though all promises cannot be equated with freebies as they relate to welfare schemes or measures for the public good, fiscal responsibility cannot be dispensed with under the guise of electoral promises.

It said these schemes are not only part of the Directive Principles of State Policy but are also a responsibility of the welfare state.

“Freebies may create a situation wherein the State Government cannot provide basic amenities due to lack of funds and the State is pushed towards imminent bankruptcy. In the same breath, we should remember that such freebies are extended utilising taxpayers’ money only for increasing the popularity of the party and electoral prospects,” a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said.

The court order on Justice Ramana’s last day in office comes against the backdrop of the freebies versus welfare scheme debate that has sparked a political slugfest in recent weeks.

The apex court said that there can be no denying the fact that in an electoral democracy, the true power ultimately lies with the electorate.

“It is the electorate that decides which party or candidate comes to power, and also judges the performance of the said party or candidate at the end of the legislative term, during the next round of the elections.

“This Court has generally stayed its hand when confronted with issues relating to a policy or fiscal matters concerning the State, as the same falls outside the ambit of the Court’s jurisdiction,” the bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and C T Ravikumar, said.

The top court said the issues raised by the parties require an “extensive hearing” before any concrete orders can be passed.

It noted there are certain preliminary issues that may be needed to be deliberated upon in these petitions.

The issues included the scope of judicial intervention with respect to the reliefs sought in these pleas, whether any enforceable order can be passed by this court in these writ petitions and whether the appointment of a commission/expert body by the court would serve any purpose.

The bench said it was argued before it that the 2013 judgement delivered by a two-judge bench of the apex court in the matter of S Subramaniam Balaji vs The Government of Tamil Nadu and others required reconsideration.

“Looking into the complexities of the issues involved and the prayer to overrule the judgement rendered by a two-judge bench of this court in Subramaniam Balaji, we direct listing of the set of petitions before a three-judge bench after obtaining the orders from the Chief Justice of India,” it said.

In its 2013 judgement, the apex court had noted that after examining and considering the parameters laid in section 123 of the Representation of People Act(RPA), it arrived at a conclusion that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be read into section 123 for declaring it to be a corrupt practice.

The apex court on Friday said the pleas would be listed after four weeks.

The bench was deliberating on pleas including the one filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay opposing promises of freebies by the parties during polls.

The petitions wanted the Election Commission to invoke its powers to freeze the election symbols of these parties and cancel their registration.

While hearing the matter on August 23, the apex court had observed that all political parties were in favour of freebies and due to this a judicial attempt has been made to deal with it.

“On this issue, I can say all political parties are on one side including BJP. Everybody wants freebies. That is the reason we made an attempt,” the bench had observed.

PANAJI: The Goa Police on Saturday detained a North Goa restaurant owner and a suspected peddler, who had allegedly supplied drugs to the two accused arrested in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat murder case, a senior officer said

The suspected drug peddler, Dattaprasad Gaonkar, was detained from Anjuna after the accused duo “confessed” in their statement that they had procured drugs from him, the officer said.

Another man who has been detained is identified as Edwin Nunes, the owner of Curlies restaurant, where Phogat was partying late at night on August 22 before her death under mysterious circumstances.

Goa Police had arrested Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh accompanying Phogat, a popular TikTok star who hailed from Haryana to Goa.

Phogat, 42, was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.

The police on Friday said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some “obnoxious substance” in water and forced Phogat to drink it while partying at Curlies restaurant on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, adding they have been charged with murder.

The motive behind the alleged murder of Phogat could be “economic interest”, a senior police officer had said.

“Many politicians said that her death was due to a heart attack. But finally, it has been revealed as murder. There is more to this murder than meets the eye and every angle needs to be investigated. These kinds of cases need to be investigated by the CBI to unravel the truth,” Goa Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo told PTI.

NEW DELHI: Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India on Saturday, will be the sixth head of the Indian judiciary to have a tenure of less than 100 days

Lalit will demit office on November 8 with a tenure of 74 days.

Supreme Court judges retire on attaining the age of 65 while high court judges retire at 62.

Justice Kamal Narain Singh, who was the CJI between November 25, 1991 and December 12, 1991, had a tenure of 18 days.

Justice S Rajendra Babu had a tenure of 30 days as the chief justice of India between May 2, 2004 and May 31, 2004.

Justice J C Shah had a tenure of 36 days when he was the CJI between December 17, 1970 and January 21, 1971.

Justice G B Patnaik had a 41-day tenure as the head of the Indian judiciary when he held the office of the CJI from November 8, 2002 to December 18, 2002.

Justice L M Sharma had a tenure of 86 days as the CJI when he was in office between November 18, 1992 and February 11, 1993.

Lalit intends to work on three key areas, including listing of cases and mentioning of urgent matters in the Supreme Court, during his 74-day tenure as the head of the judiciary.

Justice Lalit, who became the second CJI to be directly elevated to the apex court bench from the Bar, had on Friday highlighted the three areas, saying he would strive hard to ensure that at least one Constitution bench was functioning in the top court throughout the year.

Justice S M Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court bench in March 1964.

Justice Lalit will have a brief tenure of less than three months as the CJI, and he would retire on November 8.

The retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court is 65.

While speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Friday to bid farewell to his predecessor Justice N V Ramana, Justice Lalit said, “….

I must assure you that we will strive hard to make the listing as simple, as clear and as transparent as possible”.

During Justice Lalit’s tenure as the CJI, several important cases, including Constitution bench matters, are likely to come up for adjudication before the apex court.

The top court had recently notified that 25 five-judge Constitution bench matters would be listed from August 29.

Among the important five-judge bench matters which have been listed is a plea challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which provided reservation to Economically Weaker Sections, the challenge to the WhatsApp privacy policy, and the issue of parliamentarians or legislators claiming immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to give a speech or a vote in the House.

Justice Lalit, who was a senior advocate before being appointed a judge of the apex court on August 13, 2014, has been part of several path-breaking verdicts, including the one which held the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims illegal and unconstitutional.

In January 2019, he recused himself from hearing the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute in Ayodhya.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party in the matter, had told the Constitution bench that Justice Lalit appeared as a lawyer for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in a connected matter in the year 1997.

One of the path-breaking verdicts Justice Lalit was part of was the August 2017 judgement by a five-judge Constitution bench which by a 3:2 majority ruled the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ as “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.

While the then Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer were in favour of putting on hold the judgement for six months and asking the government to come out with a law to that effect, justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman, and Lalit held the practice as violative of the Constitution.

Justices Khehar, Joseph, and Nariman have since retired.

Recently, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had assembled at 9.30 am, an hour earlier than the usual working hour of the apex court, to hear matters.

“In my view, ideally we should sit at 9 in the morning.I have always said that if our children can go to school at 7 in the morning, then why can’t we come at 9 am,” Justice Lalit had observed.

On August 22, a bench headed by Justice Lalit fixed the Amrapali homebuyers matter for hearing from 10.30 am to 1 pm on September 3 (Saturday), which is not a working day in the top court.

Among the other important judgements, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled the erstwhile royal family of Travancore has the management right over the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the richest shrines, holding that the rule of “heritability must get attached to a right of Shebait” (servitor) of the temple.

In another significant judgement, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled that touching sexual parts of a child’s body or any act involving physical contact with ‘sexual intent’ amounts to ‘sexual assault’ under section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the most important ingredient is sexual intent and not skin-to-skin contact.

Quashing the controversial ‘skin-to-skin’ judgements of the Bombay High Court in two cases under the POCSO Act, the bench had said the high court erred in holding that there was no offence since there was no direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact with sexual intent.

Born on November 9, 1957, Justice Lalit enrolled as an advocate in June 1983 and practised in the Bombay High Court till December 1985.

He shifted his practice to Delhi in January 1986, and in April 2004, he was designated as a senior advocate by the apex court.

He was appointed a special public prosecutor for the CBI to conduct the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

“Congratulations,” President Murmu said after Justice Lalit signed the register of oath following the swearing-in.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former president Ram Nath Kovind, former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu and Union ministers, including Kiren Rijiju, were present at the ceremony.

Justice Lalit’s predecessor, Justice N V Ramana, was also present.

After being sworn in, Justice Lalit sought the blessings of his family elders by touching their feet, including that of his 90-year-old father and former high court judge Umesh Ranganath Lalit.

As the CJI, Justice Lalit will have a tenure of 74 days and would demit office on November 8 on attaining the age of 65 years.

Justice D Y Chandrachud, the senior-most judge after Justice Lalit, is next in line to be the chief justice of India.

Speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to bid farewell to Justice Ramana on Friday, Justice Lalit said he has always believed that the role of the top court is to lay down law with clarity and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible so that the issues get clarified immediately.

“So, we will strive hard to say that yes, we will always have at least one Constitution bench functioning all throughout the year,” he said.

Justice Lalit said one of the areas in which he intends to work is about the listing of cases before the Constitution benches and matters which are specially referred to three-judge benches.

On the issue of listing of matters, he said, “I must assure you that we will strive hard to make the listing as simple, as clear, and as transparent as possible”.

Regarding mentioning of urgent matters, Justice Lalit said he would certainly look into it.

“I will have a word with all my learned colleagues on the bench and we will certainly sort that out and very shortly, you will have a clear-cut regime where any urgent matter can freely be mentioned before the respective courts,” he said.

During Justice Lalit’s tenure as the CJI, several important cases, including Constitution bench matters, are likely to come up for adjudication before the apex court.

The top court had recently notified that 25 five-judge Constitution bench matters would be listed from August 29.

Among the important five-judge bench matters which have been listed is a plea challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which provided reservation to Economically Weaker Sections, the challenge to the WhatsApp privacy policy, and the issue of parliamentarians or legislators claiming immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to give a speech or a vote in the House.

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s decision to walk out of the Congress was not wholly unexpected. In fact back as in late January. That Azad was unhappy was evident when he joined other dissenting party colleagues two years ago in dashing off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding an organisational overhaul, a more effective leadership and internal elections in the party.

The Denial of Rajhya Sabha Seat  further added to Azad’s frustration and it soon became clear that the veteran was looking at options outside the Congress.

When Azad finally did choose to call it quits on Friday, he made sure he did so with a bang. The furious leader penned a five-page letter to the Congress president in which he launched a scathing attack against Rahul Gandhi. Describing the Nehru-Gandhi scion as “childish and immature”, Azad charged that Rahul Gandhi had singlehandedly demolished “the consultative mechanism within the party”. He further lashed out at the former Congress president for publicly tearing a copy of an ordinance approved by the then Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, stating that “this one single action more than anything else contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014”.  He also recalled how Rahul Gandhi had insulted senior party functionaries at an internal meeting when he stepped down in a huff three years ago.

Though Rahul Gandhi was the target of his attack, Azad also took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi, pointing out that she was serving as a nominal figurehead and that all decisions are being taken by Rahul Gandhi or “worse still his security guards and personal assistants”. Placing the blame on Sonia Gandhi for the current drift in the party, Azad said the Congress had lost elections in a humiliating manner under her stewardship and that the party has now reached a point of no return. Azad also hit out at the Congress leadership for not holding internal elections in the party and described the ongoing organisational polls as a “sham and giant fraud”.

Azad’s angry tirade has successfully put the spotlight once again on all that is ailing the Congress. Issues that were, so far, being discussed in hushed tones in private conversations among frustrated party leaders, are now out in the open. The fact that such a searing letter has been written by a senior leader, who was associated with the party for 50 years, held key positions both in the organisation and successive Congress governments and was considered a diehard loyalist, points to the deep rot in the party. 

For there is no denying that there is an element of truth in what Azad has to say. 

In critiquing Rahul Gandhi, Azad has expressed the sentiment of a large section in the Congress that is disillusioned with the Gandhi scion’s style of functioning and who are increasingly convinced he does not possess the necessary skillsets to lead the party. 

Rahul Gandhi’s inaccessibility, frequent travels abroad, his perceived lack of urgency in streamlining the organisation, and, most importantly, his poor oratory and inability to win elections has added to the frustration in the party rank and file. Questions have also been raised about his inept handling of political crisises as proved recently in Punjab when his decision to sack Amarinder Singh and hand over the party’s reins in the state to Navjot Singh Sidhu proved disastrous for the party. 

With little or no effort being made by the leadership to put its house in order, the Congress organisation today is in poor shape, the party’s state units are mired in factional battles while the rank and file has lost all connection with the common man. The uncertainty on the leadership front – with Rahul Gandhi unwilling to lead the party and Sonia Gandhi’s inability to continue as Congress chief due to health reasons – has only worsened matters. 

The former Congress president’s disdain for senior leaders, who he believes are responsible for the party’s steady decline, has led him to surround himself with persons described in Congress circles as “non-political”. Instead of reaching out to the old guard and working on a smooth generational transition, Rahul Gandhi only succeeded in widening the gap between “Sonia loyalists” and his proteges. It’s a different matter that several young leaders, once dubbed as core members of Rahul Gandhi’s team, were among the first to leave the Congress. 

Though Rahul Gandhi is presently in the line of fire, Sonia Gandhi is equally responsible for the current state of the Congress. Undoubtedly, she led the party to two successive electoral victories in 2004 and 2009 but it is also an inescapable fact that instead of building and strengthening the organisation during the ten years the Congress was in power, she neglected the party organisation. Her desire to hand over the Congress leadership to her son has cost the party dearly.

But for all the home truths which have been listed by Azad, they will not be taken with the seriousness they deserve. This stems from the senior leader’s own credibility. If Azad is today hitting out at the “darbari” culture in the Congress, he will be reminded that he was very much part of it over the 50 years he spent in the Congress, working with virtually all Prime Ministers, beginning with Indira Gandhi. He has served as Union minister in all their Cabinets, has been entrusted with key responsibilities in the Congress organisation and was appointed Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

Consequently, Azad’s rant against sycophancy as well as the lack of internal democracy in the Congress, has a hollow ring to it. Azad has been a senior member of the coterie of every Congress leader when the party was in power. Moreover, he has been a beneficiary of the party’s convention of nominating leaders to the various organisational panels. It is also ironic that Azad woke up to the drift in the Congress eight years after the party has been out of power. And only when the party denied him another term in the Rajya Sabha.

But despite all this, the interests of the Congress leadership would be better served if instead of hitting out at Azad, it took note of the issues raised by him in his letter and initiated urgent steps to revive the party. But predictably, the party refuses to learn from its mistakes.