Bengaluru: Karnataka signed an agreement to foster economic ties with Wielkopolska region in Poland, Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande has said.

“The agreement will catalyse in forging business opportunities and establishing flourishing business relations between our regions,” said Deshpande on Wednesday on the occasion at Poznan in Poland.

Recalling his meeting with Wielkopolska delegation in Mumbai last November, Deshpande said leading Polish firm Ekolog chose Bengaluru to set up a clean energy technology plant with INR 3,329.54-million investment under the ‘Make in India’ programme.

“I am informed that Poland is interested in ‘Make in India’ and has initiated ‘Go India’ which helps Polish firms to look towards us for investments,” noted Deshpande.

Lauding the progress Poland made in the post-war period, especially over the last two decades, the minister said Indo-Polish trade had been thriving, with India exporting commodities, textiles, drugs, machinery and auto parts and importing artificial resins, non-ferrous metals and machine tools from the Eastern European nation.

“Indian software majors like Wipro and TCS have their presence in Poland. India has signed high value arms deals with your country for supply of air defence missiles, armoured recovery vehicles and tank upgrades,” Deshpande told Poznan international trade fair deputy Chief Executive Tomasz Kobierski and Wielkopolska board member Leszek Wojtasiak on the occasion.

Noting that Poland was the second highest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) contributor from the Central European nations to India, as evident from INR 41,286.33 million over 15 years from 2000-2015, the minister said India had, however, invested INR 199.77 billion in Poland during the same period.

“Several Indian firms, including Reliance, Ranbaxy, Videocon, Zensar Technologies and KPIT Cummins have invested in Poland, while Polish firms like Can-Pack Poland, Inglot, Geo Fysika have presence in our country,” asserted Deshpande.

Reiterating that huge opportunity was present in IT, solid waste management, clean technologies and renewable energy, the minister told Polish stakeholders to explore potential areas for collaborations and investments in the state.

“As Bengaluru is the world’s second largest IT cluster and leading start-up hub, Aour state has a good industrial and technology based ecosystem, which attracted global firms to set up their R&D and innovation centres in this tech hub.

Indian Ambassador to Poland Ajay Bisaria was also present on the occasion.

(Agencies)

Kannur: An SDPI activist was hacked to death in Kannur on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as Farooq, president of SDPI Neerchal branch.

Though he was admitted at the AKG Hospital with serious injuries on his neck and stomach, his life could not be saved.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Muslim Personal Law Board said on Thursday that a Law Commission questionnaire, to gauge public opinion on triple talaq and some other practices across religions, is a “fraud”, that it will boycott it and that a uniform civil code is not good for India.

The Muslim Law Board also said that the law commission isn’t acting independently and is instead acting at the behest of the Centre, which last week opposed the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court and said it can’t be regarded as an essential part of religion.

“A uniform civil code is not good for this nation. There’re so many cultures in this nation, (they) have to be respected. India can’t impose a single ideology,” said the Board’s Hazrat Maulana Wali Rahmani at a press briefing today.

The Commission in its questionnaire asks whether triple talaq – which according to Islamic law based on the Koran permits a husband to pronounce talaq three times to instantly divorce his wife – should be abolished altogether, retained only in customs without legal sanctity, or retained with suitable amendments.

The Muslim Law Board has consistently said that triple talaq is a ‘personal law’ and hence cannot be modified by the Centre.

“We are living in this country with an agreement held by the constitution. The constitution has made us live and practice our religion. In America everyone follows their personal laws and identity, how come our nation doesn’t want to follow their steps in this matter?” Rahmani said.

The Centre has countered the claim of the Muslim Law Board and said, “practices of triple talaq, polygamy and nikah halala cannot be regarded as essential part of religion and hence get no protection under fundamental right to religion.”

Rahmani and other Board officials today also indicated that they feel Muslims are discriminated against.

“Muslims equally participated in India’s freedom struggle, but their participation is always underestimated,” a Board official said.

The Commission, though, said its questionnaire asks for opinion on practices across religions – not just Islam – that many call anti-women, Justice BS Chauhan, chairman of the Law Commission, said earlier.

For example, while one question on the list of 16 is about triple talaq, another is asking the public what steps are needed to “ensure that Hindu women are better able to exercise their right to property, which is often bequeathed to sons under customary practices”.

Justice B S Chauhan, chairman of the Law Commission, said that formulating the questions was an elaborate affair involving several meetings of the Commission, in addition to consultations with numerous experts in the field.

“It took us two months to frame the questions keeping in mind prevailing customs and practices in different religions to elicit meaningful responses from the public,” he said.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: Indian socialite, philanthropist, and wife of Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group, Parmeshwar Godrej breathed her last on Monday night at Breach Candy hospital, it’s been reported.

According to a reports, Godrej (70) was suffering from a degenerative ailment in the lungs.

Former Minister of State with the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Milind Deora also expressed his condolences to Adi Godrej and family on Twitter

Parmeshwar Godrej was known for her work combating AIDS in India through the Heroes Project, an initiative she launched in 2004 with Hollywood actor Richard Gere. The initiative also garnered support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.

Before being married to Adi Godrej, Parmeshwar Godrej was one of the first air hostesses for Air India.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: Sakshi Dhoni, wife of India’s limited overs cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has been named in a multi-crore fraud case and an FIR has been filed against her.

The case, under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), was registered against Sakshi and three others on the complaint of Dennis Arora, a resident of Gurugram’s Nirvana Country township, according to a media report.

Sakshi, Arun Pandey, Shubhawati Pandey and Pratima Pandey are co-directors in Rhiti MSD Almode Private Limited, which has shares in Sportsfit World Private Limited, a gym and fitness centre. Sportsfit World, on the other hand, is co-directed by Dennis, and his father Vikas Arora owned 39 percent shares in the company, the report continues.

The directors of Rhiti MSD Almode Private Limited had decided to buy Vikas Arora’s shares from him.

Dennis alleged that while the agreement was for approximately Rs 11 crore, the directors of Rhiti MSD Almode Private Limited have paid only Rs 2.25 crore so far, and missed the 31 March deadline for clearing the dues. A complaint has been filed against Sakshi and her co-directors at the Sushant Lok police station in Gurugram, according to the report.

Arun Pandey, one of the directors of Rhiti MSD Almode Private Limited, however, said that they had paid more than the shares Vikas Arora had transferred.

Pandey added that Sakshi had left the company almost a year ago and the case could not be registered against her. Moreover, as the case is pending for arbitration after the Delhi High Court’s order, no FIR should have been registered.

Sakshi has so far not reacted to the allegations. Police are investigating the matter and at the moment there is no confirmation of Sakshi’s involvement in the case.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Holding multinational companies (MNCs) responsible for the “present agrarian crisis” that has forced over three lakh farmers to commit suicide in the last two decades, environmentalists and activists on Monday sought a NHRC probe into the “epidemic”.

Vandana Shiva of Navdanya and Krishan Bir Chaudhary of the Bhartiya Krishak Samaj submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission, urging it to probe the epidemic of farmer suicides in India, and direct the government to stop violations of the human rights of farmers.

The complaint highlights various aspects of human rights violations by MNCs and how each of these actions has resulted in the present agrarian crisis. It is prepared in compliance with the standards set forth in the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, as amended in 2006, and the NHRC (Procedure) Regulations, 1994, as amended in 1997.

“We have submitted lists of farmers who committed suicide since 1995, largely due to a debt trap created by dependence on high-cost seeds and chemicals,” said Shiva.

“With over 300,000 farmer suicides in India since 1995 and about 84 per cent of them in the Bt Cotton belt, there is ample proof that Bt Cotton is directly responsible for trapping farmers in debt and suicide cycle,” she said.

“Bt Cotton seeds are seeds of suicide. Wherever they are grown they have only brought death and debt to the farmers. If you look at Punjab or Vidarbha the number of suicides has increased, debt has risen and the rural economy has been ruined,” said Chaudhary.

The petitioners called on the NHRC to probe these issues as the violations of the human rights of farmers.

(IANS)