Archives for 2022

BENGALURU:  Member Secretary, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), Srinivasulu on Wednesday said that along with weather reports, pollution updates with various parameters too should be released. This will help citizens convert the information into action and instead of engineering-focused solutions alone, people also can find solutions from an ecological perspective, he said.

Speaking at the India Clean Air Summit-2022, organised by the Centre for Air Pollution Studies (CAPS) at the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Srinivasulu said the current situation of pollution and climate change is purely due to ignorance. “Changing our behaviour and perception can lead to an overall change in how we perceive and act in a situation. Acting to protect ourselves from air pollution and climate change need to be localised,” he said.

Dr Pratima Singh, Head of CAPS, said looking at air pollution using a climate lens can help find a way to a secure and sustainable environment. “Working in silos is no longer an option if we want implementable solutions. By bringing together different communities, the gaps in knowledge can be bridged and solutions that work can be found,” she said.

At the day-long conference, experts examined how India’s energy transition to renewable energy would impact the dual crises of air pollution and climate change and what measures would help this transition.
KV George, Senior Principal Scientist and Head, Air Pollution Control Division, CSIR- NEERI said, “When a technology is implemented, behavioural change is needed. Studies should be undertaken to ensure that the measures are locally relevant and usable by the people. We cannot impose our solutions on people. The ground level analysis is a must.”

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he is sending $2.98 billion in new military aid to Ukraine that will enable forces there to fight for years to com

In a statement, Biden said the aid will allow Ukraine to acquire air defence systems, artillery systems and munitions, drones and other equipment “to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term.”

The announcement comes as Ukraine is celebrating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks,” Biden said. “But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence.”

The aid package is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Officials said it will include money for the small, hand-launched Puma drones, the longer-endurance Scan Eagle surveillance drones, which are launched by catapult, and, for the first time, the British Vampire drone system, which can be launched off ships. Several officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the aid before its public release.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on, U.S. security assistance is shifting to a longer-term campaign that also will likely keep more American military troops in Europe into the future, U.S. officials said. Wednesday is Ukraine’s independence day holiday and the six-month point in the war.

Unlike most previous packages, the new funding is largely aimed at helping Ukraine secure its medium- to long-term defence posture, according to officials familiar with the matter. Earlier shipments, most of them done under presidential drawdown authority, have focused on Ukraine’s more immediate needs for weapons and ammunition and involved material that the Pentagon already has in stock that can be shipped in short order.

Besides providing longer-term assistance that Ukraine can use for potential future defence needs, the new package is intended to reassure Ukrainian officials that the United States intends to keep up its support, regardless of the day-to-day back and forth of the conflict, the officials said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted the more extended focus Tuesday as he reaffirmed the alliance’s support for the conflict-torn country.

“Winter is coming, and it will be hard, and what we see now is a grinding war of attrition. This is a battle of wills and a battle of logistics. Therefore we must sustain our support for Ukraine for the long term, so that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent nation,” Stoltenberg said, speaking at a virtual conference about Crimea, organized by Ukraine.

Six months after Russia invaded, the war has slowed to a grind, as both sides trade combat strikes and small advances in the east and south. Both sides have seen thousands of troops killed and injured, as Russia’s bombardment of cities has killed countless innocent civilians.

There are fears that Russia will intensify attacks on civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days because of the holiday celebrating Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union and the day marking six months since the invasion.

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and the State Department issued a new security alert for Ukraine that repeated a call for Americans in the country to leave due to the danger.

“Given Russia’s track record in Ukraine, we are concerned about the continued threat that Russian strikes pose to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it said.

Other NATO allies are also marking the independence day with new aid announcements.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is providing more than 500 million euros (nearly $500 million) in aid, including powerful anti-aircraft systems. The aid will include rocket launchers, ammunition, anti-drone equipment, a dozen armoured recovery vehicles and three additional IRIS-T long-range air defence systems, the German news agency DPA reported.

The funding must still be approved by parliament, and some of it won’t be delivered until next year.

And Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $3.85 million for two Ukraine projects through the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program. It includes about $2.9 million in funding for the ongoing development of Ukraine’s national police force and other emergency services and about $950,000 to help advise Ukraine’s defence ministry.

To date, the U.S. has provided about $10.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including 19 packages of weapons taken directly from Defense Department stocks since August 2021.

U.S. defence leaders are also eyeing plans that will expand training for Ukrainian troops outside their country, and for militaries on Europe’s eastern and southern flanks that feel most threatened by Russia’s aggression.

RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a man identified as Prem Prakash in connection with its ongoing money-laundering probe into an illegal mining case in Jharkhand, officials said on Thursday.-

Prakash was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) around 2 am on Thursday and will be produced before a Ranchi court where the federal agency will seek his custody, they said.

This is the third arrest in the case.

Earlier, the ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Mishra’s associate and muscleman Bachhu Yadav.

The agency had on Wednesday launched searches at premises linked to Prakash in Ranchi, apart from a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, and recovered two AK-47 rifles and 60 bullets from a house linked to Prakash in the state capital here.

The weapons belonged to two Jharkhand Police constables, who were suspended after the ED made the recoveries.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government has warned media houses of taking legal action for news reports linking Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s name to a person against whom ED conducted raids in multiple locations and recovered two AK series rifles.

The Enforcement Directorate raided various places in Jharkhand and several other states on Wednesday and recovered the rifles from a house here as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal mining in the state.

However, the Ranchi police later said that the weapons belonged to the force and two constables were suspended in this connection.

“Certain news reports by media platforms including a few national TV channels point to a misleading ploy and attempt to intentionally link the Chief Minister of Jharkhand to a private individual” against whom the ED raids were conducted, the CM’s secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.

Describing this as unfortunate and condemnable, the statement said if the state government comes across “any further malicious reports and tweets/ digital posts (by media platforms), it will be dealt with as per due legal provisions”.

It said the Jharkhand government has provided cooperation to all investigations undertaken by central agencies and it supports freedom of the press.

The rifles were found in a house in Ranchi, owned by a person named Prem Prakash.

As it was raining, two constables while returning from duty on August 23 had left their weapons with Prakash’s staff whom they know, Ranchi police said.

The two constables were suspended with immediate effect, police said.

The ED searches were carried out after fresh information came to the fore following the questioning of two persons arrested earlier in the case.

NEW DELHI:  The Aam Aadmi Party’s apex political organisation, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning the misuse of ED-CBI and called out BJP’s attempts to poach AAP MLAs by offering them crores in cash.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also summoned the AAP Legislative Party for a meeting at 11 am on Thursday to determine the next steps that will be taken in this direction.

AAP PAC Member and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh informed that the PAC has noted with displeasure that a bogus FIR was filed against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid was ordered against him; and that the PAC has reinforced its trust and confidence in the Delhi Dy CM, noting how the CBI failed to find anything against him in the raid.

Referring to and reading from the PAC’s resolution, Sanjay Singh said, “BJP sent a message to Dy CM Manish Sisodia asking him to defect from AAP to BJP if he wants all cases against him to be closed; offered him CM post against the toppling of AAP Government.

After Sisodia’s refusal, BJP contacted several AAP MLAs, threatening them to join BJP by accepting 20 crores in cash or else face harassment and arrest like the Deputy CM. The senior members at the PAC meeting said, “We appeal to the Prime Minister that instead of toppling the state government and sending the CBI and ED after political leaders, you should spend your time-solving people’s problems.”

“People are suffering from both unemployment and inflation today, and you are devoting all of your time to destabilising the governments that have been elected by the masses. The nation wants to know where the crores of rupees that are being spent to buy MLAs are coming from and how has so much money been amassed,” they added. 

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP stepped up its attack on the AAP government by launching its Jan Chaupal protest from Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s Assembly constituency Patparganj on Wednesday, alleging it was “shocking” to see that those who came to cleanse the politics were involved in a liquor scam.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had promised that he will not let a single tainted MLA to sit in the Assembly but has maintained two of his ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain in his cabinet, despite corruption charges against them, said Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta.

“Its shocking to see that Kejriwal who came to power promising to fight corruption and his party government are involved in scams,” Gupta charged and claimed that the liquor scam involved Rs 10,000 crore.

The CBI currently probing alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Kejriwal government’s new excise police has named Sisodia who holds the Excise portfolio, as one of the accused in its FIR.

The agency had also conducted a raid at the Deputy CM’s residence last Saturday.

“People of Patparganj are ashamed to see that a person whom they thrice elected as MLA is today an accused of liquor scam,” Gupta said.

The AAP has hit back at the BJP saying it was using agencies like CBI to stop Kejriwal in his tracks to make sure the saffron party does not lose the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls.

Gupta claimed that the Kejriwal government went against the recommendations of a committee formed by it to prepare Excise Policy 2021-22.

“Sisodia not only handed over wholesale liquor trade to private operators but increased their commission from 2 per cent to 12 per cent,” he charged.

“Be it the benefit of Rs 144 crores provided to liquor traders in the name of covid impact, refund of Rs 30 crores to airport zone bidder, or rebate of Rs 50 per carton allowed on imported beer, it all indicated corruption in government policy implementation,” he charged.

Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said it was regrettable that a government which came to power assuring a health and education revolution has instead pushed Delhi towards alcoholism.

LUCKNOW:  With speculations rife about Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya playing a crucial role in the selection of the new BJP state chief, his tweet posted on Sunday has created flutters in the political circles.

“Party organisation is bigger than the government,” Maurya tweeted in Hindi, leaving many to believe that he could be a potential name to head the party in UP.

The BJP high command is believed to be in the process of selecting the state chief after Swatantra Dev Singh sent his resignation to party president JP Nadda on July 27.

It was only last week that Maurya had met Nadda. While the BJP leaders remain tight-lipped, sources say the party is weighing its options after considering caste equations of various party leaders for the key seat.

On Sunday, BJP’s newly-appointed state secretary, organisation, Dharampal Singh Saini held a meeting of office bearers of western UP and Brij regions in Ghaziabad.

Both the deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak —  along with Swatantra Dev Singh attended the meeting, after which Maurya posted the cryptic tweet.

Maurya had led the party into 2017 state assembly elections when the BJP stormed to power winning 312 seats on its own.

Maurya has emerged as a key OBC face in the party’s plan to consolidate the non-Yadav OBC vote bank in UP.

The BJP has reiterated its OBC narrative through the appointment of Saini, an OBC, as the new state general secretary, the organisation.

Among the OBC leaders being considered for the post of UP BJP president are Union minister of state for cooperation, BL Verma, a Lodh; and UP minister Bhupendra Chaudhary, who is a Jat.

NEW DELHI: India logged 8,586 new coronavirus infections taking total tally of cases to 4,43,57,546 while the active cases have declined to 96,506, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 

The death toll climbed to 5,27,416 with 48 fatalities which includes six deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases comprise 0.22 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.59 per cent, the health ministry said.

A decline of 1,142 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.19 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.31 per cent, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,37,33,624, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.

According to the ministry, 210.31 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year.

The 42 new fatalities include seven from Delhi, six each from Karnataka and Punjab, four each from Rajasthan and West Bengal, three from Haryana, two each from Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one each from Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.

MADIKERI: Ahead of a massive protest and awareness rally planned in Madikeri by the Congress and BJP, section 144 prohibitory order has been imposed in Kodagu from August 24 to August 27.-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 

Further, the Kodagu district administration also banned sales of liquor on August 25 and 26.

Following the egg-throwing issue at Siddaramaiah on August 18 in Kodagu, the state Congress leaders including the opposition leader Siddaramaiah had called for the ‘Madikeri Chalo’ movement to host a protest in front of the SP Office in Madikeri on August 26. The Congress leaders declared that over one lakh Congress workers would join the protest in Madikeri.

Meanwhile, the Kodagu district BJP members including the MLAs called for a massive awareness rally in Gandhi Maidan in Madikeri on August 26. This rally was also likely to be participated by state BJP leaders, even as the event declared to create awareness against Tipu Jayanthi.

Stating that the two events posed a risk to the communal harmony in the district, Kodagu DC Dr BC Sateesha has passed a prohibitory order to control the situation. He has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CRPC from 6 am on August 24 to 6 pm on August 27.

All public gatherings, private and political gatherings, market day and other rallies have been banned on these days. Display of political party flags or black flags, display of black clothes leading to protests, bursting of crackers and gathering of more than five people in a group is banned under the order.  Planned wedding ceremonies and other personal functions are, however, exempted from the section.

Further, the administration has banned the sales of liquor from August 24 (midnight) to August 26 as a precautionary measure.

NEW DELHI: Among the hundreds of farmers who began their demonstration at the Jantar Mantar over a slew of issues, 64-year-old Sriaj Kodyuriv from Kerala garnered the most attention with his ‘Adivasi’ attire Kodyuriv reached Delhi on Monday after covering a three-day train journey from Kerala

For several hours, he stood at Jantar Mantar holding placards that read Implement MSP, Save farmer’.

“Farmers are closest to nature. If they abandon their farm equipment, we won’t be getting any food. I am here for this,” Kodyuriv said.

Asked why he chose the ‘Adivasi’ attire, he said: “This is to send a message that the farmers and tribal people deserve their rights.

“Jantar Mantar buzzed with voices of dissent on Monday as farmers from all over the country gathered here demanding a law ensuring minimum support price for crops, farm loan waiver, and sacking of Union Minister Ajay Mishra.

Ajay Mishra is the father of Ashish Mishra, an accused in a case related to mowing down four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh during a farmer protest last October.

Farmers, hundreds in number, launched their protest amid heavy security arrangements in a called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) at Jantar Mantar.

They waved flags, wore caps with the name of their farm organisations inscribed on them, and raised slogans for farmer unity and against the Centre accusing it of not coming good on its promises.

CHANDIGARH: BJP leader from Haryana and actor Sonali Phogat died of a heart attack in Goa, police said on Tuesday.

Phogat, a former Tik Tok star who had joined the BJP in 2019, was on a visit to Goa along with some of her staff members.

On Monday night, she was brought to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district after she complained of uneasiness, sources said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Mapusa) Jivba Dalvi said she was brought dead to the hospital.

“Prime facie, the cause of death is established as heart attack but further medical examination is on,” he said.

The postmortem would be conducted at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim, the official said.

“She has passed away. I have been given information that she was in Goa,” Haryana BJP chief O P Dhankar.

BJP Hisar district president Capt Bhupender said, “Sonali ji was in Goa. I spoke to her assistant and he said that she died of a heart attack”.

Phogat had unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly election from Adampur Assembly constituency against Kuldeep Bishnoi.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal and lawyer Aparna Bhat against the grant of remission and consequent release of the convicts in the case.

“We are only challenging the remission and not the Supreme Court order. The Supreme Court order is fine, My Lords. We are challenging the principles on the basis of which remission was granted,” Sibal said.

The apex court had earlier asked the Gujarat government to consider the plea of remission.

Bilkis Bano, who was pregnant at the time, was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod during violence that broke out across the state after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra and 59 passengers, mainly ‘kar sewaks’, were burnt to death.

Meanwhile, a discussion was held at the National Human Rights Commission here on Monday and the release of the 11 convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case figured in it, sources said.

NHRC chairperson Justice (retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra headed the discussion, they said.

However, there was no official version from the NHRC on the discussion.

The 11 convicts walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.

They had completed more than 15 years in jail.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family.

Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning.