Beijing: China on Thursday said India has “slapped its own face” by deciding to build a road near Pangong Lake in Ladakh and it would only worsen the Doklam dispute.

Beijing said the western sector of the boundary where India plans to build a road is not “delimited”. It warned that the move was not “conducive” to peace in the region.

India’s Home Ministry has reportedly approved the building of a road from Marsimik La to Hot Spring in Ladakh. Marsimik La is about 20 km from Pangong Lake, where Indian and Chinese troops scuffled last week.

India and China have a dispute over the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of Ladakh.

“It seems that the Indian side is slapping its own face,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said reacting to the development.

“The Indian side is closely following China’s road building, but India’s action itself has proven that the Indian side says something and does another,” she added.

“Its words are complete contradictions to its deeds on the border issues,” she added.

“Now, the current road construction in that area by the Indian side is not conducive to peace and stability in that area.”

“It will not help with settlement of the current situation,” Hua said referring to the Doklam crisis.

“I should stress that the western section of the China-India boundary has not been delimited and the two sides have agreed to uphold peace and tranquillity before the disputes are setlled,” Hua said.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a standoff at Doklam in the Sikkim section for the past three months, which has led to escalation in bilateral tensions.

The dispute began when India stalled the construction of a Chinese road in Doklam, which lies in the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan. Bhutan has also protested China’s road building activity in its territory.

New Delhi perceives the Chinese road in Doklam a threat as the region is very close to its Siliguri corridor which connects India’s northeast with rest of the country.

The 3,488 km de facto India-China border is divided into three sectors: west, middle and east.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling on the right to privacy, saying the decision was “a major blow to fascist forces” and the rejection of BJP’s ideology of “suppression through surveillance”.

“Welcome the SC verdict upholding right to privacy as an intrinsic part of individual’s liberty, freedom and dignity. A victory for every Indian,” said Gandhi on Twitter.

“SC decision marks a major blow to fascist forces. A sound rejection of the BJP’s ideology of suppression through surveillance,” he added.

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right and is an integral part of the right to life and liberty.

(IANS)

Patna: The alleged NGO scam in Bhagalpur rocked both Houses of the Bihar legislature for the second day today with opposition Congress and RJD raising slogans and demanding resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi.

As soon as the Assembly met for the day, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav drew the attention of Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary to an adjournment notice given by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) over the alleged scam and urged him suspend the Question Hour and take up the issue.

The Speaker said the adjournment notice would be allowed at a proper time and urged the agitating members to allow the House to run. However, RJD members trooped in to the Well of the House raising slogans and demanding resignations of the CM and the deputy CM. Congress MLAs too joined them in the Well.

The protesting members claimed that pictures of Kumar and Modi were used at a function of NGO ‘Srijan’ in Bhagalpur. They alleged government money was fraudulently transferred to bank accounts of the NGO by a “well-oiled racket comprising government employees and bank officials”.

The chief minister was not in the House at the time. But, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was present. As the opposition MLAs continued raising slogans, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 pm.

BJP minister Nand Kishore Yadav rebutted Tejashwi saying “those acquiring benami properties through corrupt means have no moral right to speak on such a subject”.

In the Legislative Council, the matter was raised by Congress member Dilip Kumar Chaudhary. RJD and Congress members tropped into the Well of the Upper House shouting slogans against the government.

RJD leader Rabri Devi attacked Sushil Modi in the Legislative Council over the alleged scam. Later, talking to reporters outside the House, she demanded resignations of the chief minister and his deputy.

Modi had earlier said, “They should show documentary evidence in support of the charge against me or the CM. Merely shouting (slogans) by showing some photographs of some events showing our participation does not mean our involvement in the scam.”

(Agencies)

(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Pallekele: India will once again be expected to be at their ruthless best when they take on a Sri Lanka, which has hit the nadir in both form and confidence, in the second one day international, here tomorrow.

After a lop-sided 3-0 Test series victory, the script did not change much in the opening ODI, where India steamrolled the opposition by nine wickets.

Such has been Sri Lanka’s performance that supporters stopped the team bus demanding answers for a shoddy show. Chief coach Nic Pothas pointed out in no uncertain terms that all is not well within the team, indirectly pointing fingers at the interference from team manager Asanka Gurusinha.

Like it has happened during the past few months, Shikhar Dhawan pummelled the Lankan bowlers into submission with an unbeaten 132. For skipper Virat Kohli, it was business as usual with an unbeaten 82.

As such, it is tough to foresee any changes to the Indian playing XI. Only one out of five games have been played yet, and even in West Indies, Kohli resisted the urge to chop and change too much.

It is a similar scenario here as well. At Dambulla, India didn’t prefer to go in with either two leg-spinners or two left-arm spinners, thus forming the Chahal Patel’s orthodox leg break-left arm spin combination. Additionally, the ODI wickets in Sri Lanka do not afford the luxury of playing three spinners. Thus, unless the Pallekele wicket is exceptionally dry, Kuldeep Yadav can expect to be left out once again, along with Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur.

It will be interesting if Kohli shuffles his batting order a bit to give a KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav, some batting time considering the inept Sri Lankan bowling which has failed to get the ‘Men In Blue’ out. There have been questions raised about Sri Lanka’s team selection policies. Test skipper and one of Sri Lanka’s most attacking batsmen Dinesh Chandimal was left out of the playing XI as ODI captain Upul Tharanga – generally an opener – came out to bat at No 4, where Chandimal bats.

This has set tongues wagging that all is not well in the Sri Lankan dressing room and that the coach and captain are being over-ridden by others. Pothas openly questioned the decision of leaving out Chandimal in the post-match conference. When asked about the influence of team manager Gurusinha and chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, he came up with the classic “too many cooks” quote.

However, it doesn’t take the spotlight away from the simple fact that Sri Lanka once again failed to provide adequate challenge for the Indian team. If the Test series was evidence of the gap between the Nos 1 and 7 ranked teams, then on evidence of the Dambulla game alone, the ICC ODI rankings of India and Sri Lanka – Nos 3 and 8 respectively – are justified too.

This series too has all the makings of another one-sided contest and is not making for a good spectacle for the home fans, who clearly let their displeasure known during the first One Day International. Sri Lanka needs to win two ODIs in this series to make sure that West Indies do not overhaul them in the ODI ranking and gain automatic qualification for the 2019 ODI World Cup before the September 30 deadline.

The hosts need more responsibility and stability in their batting ranks and could look to bring back Chandimal if only to quieten down the heated atmosphere surrounding the team’s dismal performances recently. It is tough to see who will be left out though as the top-order did well enough to put the Indian attack under pressure until at least the 28th over when Lanka was placed at 150/3, thanks to the exploits of Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis.

They had resisted the Indian pace attack as well as one-half of their spin duo to lay the foundation of a decent- enough target, only to be let down by the lower order. In keeping with the coach’s words, some responsibility lies with the trio as well, for one of them was expected to hold one end together and go on to play big innings. This lack of in-game maturity, and experience as a whole is what sets them apart from the Indian top-order at present.

While Lanka will once again be struggling with these questions of overcoming self-doubt, the Indian camp will be wondering if they will be challenged at all during this tour. The Test series proved to be a cakewalk, and in that light, the selectors’ call to rest senior bowlers and experiment with younger blood has been justified. Whether the hosts step up or not, this is vital game time for the likes of Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, with the Men in Blue already stepping up their preparations for the next World Cup.

Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (c), Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Milinda Siriwardana, Malinda Pushpakumara, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Justice Kempanna Commission has reportedly given clean chit to Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and other cabinet ministers’ inconnection with Arkavathy layout denotification case. According to the media reports, chief minister hasn’t violated law instead some error had been occurred following mistakes by low rank state government officials.

Final report on Arkavathy denotification case with 1861 pages handed over by the commission to Karnataka state Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia on Monday, according to a previous order by the state government. The commission stated that the denotification process was completed within the framework of the law and no violated law in the case.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu today offered to resign taking moral responsibility of recent rail accidents in Uttar Pradesh. Suresh Prabhu, in a series of tweets, said he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi but was asked to wait before putting in papers.

“I met the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking full moral responsibility. Hon’ble PM has asked me to wait. I am extremely pained by the unfortunate accidents, injuries to passengers and loss of precious lives. It has caused me deep anguish,” Suresh Prabhu said.

“In less than three years as minister, I have devoted my blood and sweat for the betterment of the Railways. New India envisioned by PM deserves a railways which is efficient and modern. I promise that is the path, on which railways is progressing now,” Prabhu said on Twitter.

“Under leadership of PM, tried to overcome decades of neglect through systemic reforms in all areas leading to unprecedented investment and milestones,” the minister added.

The development came hours after Railway Board chairman Ashok Mittal submitted his resignation to Suresh Prabhu on a day when Indian Railways witnessed yet another accident in Uttar Pradesh. Nine bogies of Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya district early today injuring over 70 people.

Last week, 22 people were killed and dozens injured when Haridwar-bound Kalinga-Utkal Express jumped off tracks in Khatauli in Muzaffaragar district. Top railway officials were suspended after this accident which according to initial probe occurred due to negligence of concerned officials.

Suresh Prabhu’s three year tenure has been marred with numerous rail accidents.

A timeline of some of the big rail accidents in the last few years:

January 22, 2017: Jagdalpur-Bhubaneshwar Express derailed near Kuneru station in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. Forty one people were killed.

November 20, 2016: Indore-Patna Express derailed in Pukhrayan near Kanpur, killing 150 people and injuring another 150.

August 4, 2015: Two passenger trains, Kamayani Express and Janata Express, derailed in Madhya Pradesh. Thirty-one people were killed, and more than 100 were injured.

May 25, 2015: Rourkela-Jammu Tawi Muri Express derailed in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. Eight bogies of the train derailed, leaving five dead and more than 50 injured.

March 20, 2015: Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. Death toll was 58, while more than 150 passengers were injured.

February 13, 2015: 10 people killed, nearly 150 injured when nine bogies of Bangalore-Ernakulam Intercity Express derailed on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

(Agencies)