Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / 2023 / Archives for December 2023

Archives for December 2023

Father of Mahadev app scam accused found dead in Chhattisgarh cops suspect suicide

by

Durg: The father of a man named as an accused in the Mahadev betting app scam has been found dead under suspicious conditions at a village in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district, a senior police official said.

The body of Sushil Das (62), who was missing since the last two days, was found in a well at Achhoti village under Anda police station limits on Tuesday afternoon and prima facie it looks like a case of suicide, Durg Senior Superintendent of Police Ram Gopal Garg said.

The deceased was the father of Asim Das, an alleged cash courier in the case arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Sushil Das, who worked as a security guard in a private company, was missing since Sunday evening, Garg added.

Prima facie, it seems to be a case of suicide, but the exact reason behind the death was yet to be ascertained, the official said.

The body was sent for post-mortem examination and further investigation was underway, he added.

Asim Das and another accused, constable Bhim Singh Yadav, were arrested by the ED on November 3.

The ED claimed that a forensic analysis and a statement made by cash courier’ Das had led to “startling allegations” that Mahadev betting app promoters have paid about Rs 508 crore to outgoing Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel so far, and that “these are subject matter of investigation”.

Baghel had stoutly denied the allegations and accused the BJP of misusing the ED.

Asim Das was arrested by the central agency in Raipur after it claimed to have recovered Rs 5.39 crore in cash from him.

He was allegedly sent by the app promoters from the UAE “especially, to deliver a large amount of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress Party”, according to the ED.

“Asim Das has admitted that the seized funds were arranged by the Mahadev app promoters to be delivered to one politician ‘Baghel’ for upcoming election expenses in the state of Chhattisgarh,” the agency had said in a statement issued before the two-phase polling on November 7 and 17.

On November 25, Das had submitted before a special PMLA court that he had been framed as part of a conspiracy and he had never delivered cash to politicians.

Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan among 7,000 invited for Ram temple consecration

by

Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan among 7,000 invited for Ram temple consecration
Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar

Ayodhya: The Ram temple trust has invited 7,000 people including cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani to the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple, sources said on Wednesday.

Actors Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia, who played the roles of Lord Ram in the famous TV serial “Ramayan”, have also been invited to the ceremony that will be held on January 22, 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already been invited.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration. The families of kar sevaks killed in the police firing in Ayodhya will also be invited to the ceremony, the sources said.

Among the VVIPs are RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Yoga guru Ramdev, industrialists Mukesh Ambai, Ratan Tata and Gautam Adani, they said.

The trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country.

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai said, “Efforts are also being made to invite one representative each from 50 countries for the consecration ceremony.”

“Family members of the 50 kar sevaks who lost their lives during the Ram temple movement have also been invited. Invitations have also been sent to judges, scientists, writers and poets,” he said.

Besides, saints, priests, shankaracharyas, religious leaders, former civil servants, retired Army officers, lawyers, musicians and Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardees have been invited.

VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma said, “We have also invited journalists who supported the Ram temple movement through their newspapers, writings and reporting. Without them, this struggle for the Ram temple would have been incomplete.”

VVIPs will get entry through bar code passes.

“Out of the 7,000 invitees, about 4,000 will be religious leaders from across the country and the remaining 3,000 will be VVIPs from different areas. A registration link will be shared with the invitees ahead of the ceremony. Once they register, a bar code will be generated and it will serve as the entry pass,” Sharma said.

Champat Rai, secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said, “Ramlala will be seated in the Ram temple as a 5-year-old boy. For this, three idols are being carved from two rocks — one each from Karnataka and Rajasthan.”

“The idols are 90 per cent ready and are being given the final touches. The most attractive idol will be selected for the consecration,” said Champat Rai.

The North Korean leader calls for women to have more children to halt a fall in the birthrate

by

The North Korean leader calls for women to have more children to halt a fall in the birthrate
North Korean leader Kim Jong

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said it is a duty of women to halt a fall in the country’s births in order to strengthen national power, state media said Monday, as his government steps up the call for the people to have more children.

While getting a detailed read on North Korea’s population trends is extremely difficult because of the limited statistics it discloses, South Korea’s government assesses that the North’s fertility rate has declined steadily for the past 10 years. That is a concerning development for a country that depends on mobilized labor to help keep its broken, heavily sanctioned economy afloat. Kim’s latest appeal for women to have more children was made Sunday during the country’s National Mothers Meeting, the first of its kind in 11 years.

“Stopping the decline in birthrates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers,” Kim said in his opening speech.

According to South Korea’s government statistics agency, North Korea’s total fertility rate, or the average number of babies expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime, was at 1.79 in 2022, down from 1.88 in 2014. The decline is still slower than its wealthier rival South Korea, whose fertility rate last year was 0.78, down from 1.20 in 2014. South Korea’s fertility rate, the lowest in the developed world, is believed to be due to a potent cocktail of reasons discouraging people from having babies, including a decaying job market, a brutally competitive school environment for children, traditionally weak child care assistance and a male-centered corporate culture where many women find it impossible to combine careers and family.

While North Korea is one of the poorest nations in the world, the change in its demographic structure is similar to that of rich countries, some observers say. “Many families in North Korea also don’t intend to have more than one child these days as they know they need lots of money to raise their kids, send them to school and help them get jobs,” said Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea. Ahn, who has interviewed many North Korean defectors, said the smuggling of a vast amount of South Korean TV dramas and movies in the past 20 years that showed an elevated social status for women has also likely influenced women in North Korea not to have many children.

North Korea implemented birth control programs in the 1970-80s to slow a postwar population growth. The country’s fertility rate recorded a major decline following a famine in the mid-1990s that was estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people, the Seoul-based Hyundai Research Institute said in a report in August. “Given North Korea lacks resources and technological advancements, it could face difficulties to revive and develop its manufacturing industry if sufficient labor forces are not provided,” the institute report said. According to North Korean state media reports this year, the country has introduced a set of benefits for families with three or more children, including preferential free housing arrangements, state subsidies, free food, medicine and household goods and educational perks for children.

South Korea’s statistics agency estimates the North’s population at 25.7 million. The Hyundai institute report said that North Korea was expected to experience a population shrink from 2034 and forecast its population would decrease to 23.7 million by 2070.

Ahn, the website head, said that Kim Jong Un’s repeated public appearances with his young daughter, Ju Ae, are also likely be efforts to encourage families. Other experts said the daughter’s appearances were more likely an attempt to show she’s her father’s heir.

Yatnal approaches HC again against withdrawal of Govt sanction to prosecute DK Shivakumar

by

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition by BJP leader and MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal challenging the State Cabinet decision to withdraw the sanction accorded to the CBI to prosecute deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar.

The bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said it would first decide on the maintainability of the petition before going into its merits.

Yatnal had earlier filed an intervening application in the appeal filed by Shivakumar challenging the sanction.

Shivakumar had withdrawn the appeal on November 29 following the withdrawal of sanction by the Government. Yatnal then filed a petition which was mentioned before the single judge bench on Wednesday. The Court questioned the maintainability of such a petition by a person who is not party to the case.

Challenging the November 28 order of the Government withdrawing consent, the petition states that the “Impugned order is highly illegal and not even worth the paper on which it is printed because such executive order is directly in conflict with law of the land as declared by Apex Court.”.

Based on the Income Tax Department raids and Enforcement Directorate’s probe, the CBI sought sanction from the State Government to file an FIR against Shivakumar which was granted by the then BJP government on September 25, 2019.

The sanction was withdrawn by the Congress government, which came to power in May this year, on November 28, 2023.

Mangaluru: Health department officials raid illegal clinic and health centers, cease their operation

by

Mangaluru: In an operation to combat functioning of illegal clinics and laboratories in the city, Health Department officials on Wednesday conducted raids at several locations and ceased operations of several health centers running without proper authorisation.

The officials during their operation ceased a clinic and a Laboratory in Moodushedde and a clinic operating in the Hampankatte in the city, for not having proper authorisation from either from Dakshina Kannada District Administration or from the District Health Family Welfare Department. The health centers had also not been registered under the KPMEA (Karnataka Private Medical Establishments) Act-2017.

Allopathic clinics, Ayush clinics, dental clinics, genetic laboratories, physiotherapy centers, lab collection centers, and similar organisations in Mangaluru city and rural areas that have not registered under the ‘KPMEA Act’ have been given a one-week time to complete the registration process. District health and family welfare officials have warned that if these clinics and private health institutions fail to register within this period, action will be taken under the ‘KPME Act.’

Karnataka proposes 10 yr jail term, Rs 10 crore fine to curb exam offences, bill tabled in Assembly

by

Belagavi: Aimed at curbing rampant irregularities and use of corrupt and unfair means in public examinations in the state, the Karnataka government on Wednesday tabled a bill in the Assembly proposing strict provisions of imprisonment up to 10 years and fine up to Rs 10 crore.

Provisions in the bill, titled Karnataka Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Corruption and Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023, also include confiscation of property.

The bill in its statement of objects and reasons states that it has been proposed to provide for effective measures to prevent and curb the offences of leakage of question papers and use of unfair means at public examinations for the purpose of recruitment to any posts under the state government including autonomous bodies, authorities, boards, or corporations.

The new law will work as a deterrent against the rise and trend of unfair means in public examinations and also works as a deterrent for the examinees and criminal masterminds who resort to such tactics, it said.

A designated court for the trial of such offences is provided in this law.

There is no extra expenditure involved in the proposed legislative measure, the bill added.

The government also tabled the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, replacing an ordinance notifying 28 per cent GST on online games, horse racing and casinos.

Hat-trick in states guarantee of hat-trick in 2024: PM Modi

by

Hat-trick in states guarantee of hat-trick in 2024: PM Modi

New Delhi, Dec 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed BJP’s big win in the assembly polls as a victory for his government’s agenda of self-reliant India, asserting that its hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of its hat-trick of Lok Sabha poll wins in 2024.

“The results show popular support for our battle against corruption,” he told a crowd of cheering supporters at the BJP headquarters here, adding that they have served a lesson to the Congress and the opposition’s INDIA bloc that mere collecting some dynasts on dais may make for a good photograph but cannot win people’s confidence.

Voters have delivered a warning to these parties involved in corruption to mend their ways or people will finish them off, he said.

No one should come in between the Centre’s development and people, or the masses will remove them, Modi said in a stinging attack on opposition parties.

Some people are already saying our hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of hat-trick in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, he said.

He told opposition parties to not support those working against the country’s interests at a time when development is taking place at a fast pace.

Addressing a big gathering of BJP members, including many Union ministers, Modi said these results will ensure the world’s belief in India and infuse more confidence into global investors for the country.

It shows that people are increasingly supporting our agenda for a developed India, he said.

The world is watching that people are voting for a stable government which enjoys a strong majority, he said.

People can distinguish between selfish politics and the politics of national interest, Modi said, asserting that they have realised that a strong BJP leads to the development of the country and every family.

He reiterated that women, youth, the poor and farmers are the four biggest castes and their empowerment will lead to the country’s empowerment.

Noting that most members of Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes belong to these categories, he said they have endorsed policies and roadmap presented by the BJP.

Every farmer, young voter and the poor and deprived are saying that they have won, Modi said, adding that the youth looking for a better future and every citizen wanting a developed India by 2047 is feeling successful following the poll results.

“I want to tell you with full honesty that your dream is my resolve,” he said, noting how the country’s infrastructure is undergong a transformation while its economy remains the fastest growing in the world.

Hat-trick in states guarantee of hat-trick in 2024: PM Modi

by

Hat-trick in states guarantee of hat-trick in 2024: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed BJP’s big win in the assembly polls as a victory for his government’s agenda of self-reliant India, asserting that its hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of its hat-trick of Lok Sabha poll wins in 2024.

“The results show popular support for our battle against corruption,” he told a crowd of cheering supporters at the BJP headquarters here, adding that they have served a lesson to the Congress and the opposition’s INDIA bloc that mere collecting some dynasts on dais may make for a good photograph but cannot win people’s confidence.

Voters have delivered a warning to these parties involved in corruption to mend their ways or people will finish them off, he said.

No one should come in between the Centre’s development and people, or the masses will remove them, Modi said in a stinging attack on opposition parties.

Some people are already saying our hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of hat-trick in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, he said.

He told opposition parties to not support those working against the country’s interests at a time when development is taking place at a fast pace.

Addressing a big gathering of BJP members, including many Union ministers, Modi said these results will ensure the world’s belief in India and infuse more confidence into global investors for the country.

It shows that people are increasingly supporting our agenda for a developed India, he said.

The world is watching that people are voting for a stable government which enjoys a strong majority, he said.

People can distinguish between selfish politics and the politics of national interest, Modi said, asserting that they have realised that a strong BJP leads to the development of the country and every family.

He reiterated that women, youth, the poor and farmers are the four biggest castes and their empowerment will lead to the country’s empowerment.

Noting that most members of Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes belong to these categories, he said they have endorsed policies and roadmap presented by the BJP.

Every farmer, young voter and the poor and deprived are saying that they have won, Modi said, adding that the youth looking for a better future and every citizen wanting a developed India by 2047 is feeling successful following the poll results.

“I want to tell you with full honesty that your dream is my resolve,” he said, noting how the country’s infrastructure is undergong a transformation while its economy remains the fastest growing in the world.

Telangana: Congress candidate Azharuddin loses to BRS party’s M. Gopinath

by

print sharing button

Telangana: Congress candidate Azharuddin loses to BRS party’s M. Gopinath
Former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin

Hyderabad: After a close rectangular contest, Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi’s sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath triumphed the Jubilee Hills seat, defeating Mohammad Azharuddin.

In the meantime, BJP’s Lankala Deepak Reddy secured the third spot in the contest.

While the BRS reaffirmed its support to Maganti Gopinath, who has been an MLA twice before, as their candidate. Gopinath previously won as a TDP candidate in 2014. On the other hand, the Congress party selected former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin, to run for the same seat. The competition became even more intriguing when the AIMIM decided to rope in Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin as their candidate from the constituency.

From ABVP member to Cong CM contender, Revanth Reddy’s journey has weathered turbulent tides

by

From ABVP member to Cong CM contender, Revanth Reddy's journey has weathered turbulent tides
Anumula Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad: Anumula Revanth Reddy, whose political trajectory has surged from student activism with the ABVP to a brief period of incarceration amid allegations of bribery, now finds himself on the brink of a potential chief ministership.

The 56-year-old Congress leader is known among fellow politicians, partymen and people for his never-say-die attitude.

A fierce critic of BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, Reddy, the Telangana Congress chief, is often the target of virulent political attacks by the BRS and the AIMIM.

The BRS leaders attack him for changing parties, with regard to the 2015 ‘cash for vote’ case in which he was arrested and for allegedly being the “agent of” TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi targets him over his ABVP background.

Reddy, who was briefly in BRS (then TRS) was first elected to a political office in 2006 when he was successful in a Zilla Parishad election. He was elected as a Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member then as an independent.

He was elected to the legislative council in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2007 as an independent.

Reddy had joined the TDP and became a confidante of party chief and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Reddy, a graduate in arts, was elected to the Legislative Assembly on a TDP ticket in 2009 and later in 2014 when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

He faced the biggest challenge of his political life in 2015 when he was allegedly caught on camera trying to bribe a nominated MLA to vote in favour of the TDP in a legislative council election.

He was sent to a jail in Hyderabad but was released after he secured bail.

Revanth Reddy lost the 2018 Assembly poll to the BRS candidate and remained in political wilderness for a while.

He quit the TDP and joined the Congress in 2017-18 in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.

Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 elections from Malkajgiri here, described as a ‘mini-India’ in view of the presence of people from all over the country in the constituency.

Reddy was appointed the PCC president in 2021 in spite of being a junior in the Congress. This has led to a heartburn among many seniors in the state Congress unit.

He had the unenviable task of reviving the fortunes of the Congress amid challenging circumstances and succeeded in bringing together the party leaders.

The ruling BRS was at the pinnacle of its power and glory after a resounding victory in the 2018 Assembly polls and 12 Congress MLAs joining the ruling party in 2019.

The Congress continued to face setbacks as the BJP scored major wins in the bypolls to two Assembly constituencies and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election during 2020 and 2021 after Bandi Sanjay Kumar took over the reins of the BJP in Telangana.

Undaunted, Reddy continued to lead the party in the face of stiff challenges and the Congress in Telangana saw a change in its fortunes after the Karnataka elections in May this year.

After the momentum generated following the Karnataka win, the graph of Congress rose further in Telangana in view of a perception among people and political circles about an alleged tacit understanding between the BRS and the BJP, especially with regard to allegations against MLC and CM KCR’s daughter Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy case.

Reddy, a football lover, who is considered to be close to Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, could well become the chief minister in view of the Congress coming out on top in the Assembly polls.

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives