NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi Wednesday alleged the government legitimate demand and said the Congress has its task cut out for next year’s general elections both as a party and as an INDIA bloc member.

Noting that the assembly election results being very disappointing is an understatement, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson urged party MPs to channel their disappointment into a positive drive for next year’s general elections.

Later on Wednesday, Congress MPs held a protest against the suspension of opposition members outside Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex.

Addressing party MPs at the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Central Hall of Parliament, Gandhi said, “To say that the assembly election results in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been very disappointing for our party is an understatement.”

“The Congress president has already had a first round of reviews to understand the reasons for our poor performance and to draw the needed lessons for our organization,” she said.

“We are facing enormous challenges. Yet, I am confident that our fortitude and resilience will see us through. Our ideology and our values are our guiding light at this difficult time. We must never forget that our leaders fought against insurmountable odds with great courage and fortitude to give us freedom.”

Gandhi told the MPs to “channel the disappointment into a positive drive for the coming general elections”.

The former Congress chief targeted the BJP government at the Centre over the “soaring” inflation and said the poor are suffering and economic inequalities are rising.

“There is a significant gap between the prime minister’s boasts on economic growth and ground reality,” she said.

Gandhi also said the passage of the in Parliament with a rider was an eyewash to mislead women and garner their votes. There is no time to waste and reservation for women must be implemented immediately, she said.

She said the Congress’s position on Jammu and Kashmir has been clear and consistent, asserting that full statehood must be restored immediately and elections be held there at the earliest.

News portal NewsClick have claimed that the company’s bank accounts have been “virtually frozen” by the Income Tax department, restricting it from paying salaries to employees and consultants. NewClick also said that it will undertake legal measures against this ” unjust” and ” cruel” action.

As of the evening of December 18, NewsClick has been unable to make any bank payments due to action by the Income Tax Department
 
Calling the move a seeming continuation of its “administrative-legal siege” by the government, which it said started in 2021 and included the confiscation of its contributors’ devices earlier this year, NewsClick said its employees now faced an uncertain future.

“Coming at the year-end festive season, this sudden action has left all our employees shocked. Since there is no indication of when our accounts will become accessible, there is uncertainty in the minds of all employees and their families, especially those who are completely dependent on salaries from NewsClick,” it said.PauseUnmuteLoaded: 5.96%Remaining Time -9:42Close Player

It said the organisation did not receive any intimation of the freezing of accounts and the staff discovered it by chance while trying to make routine payments on Monday evening.

NewsClick and its legal counsel are reviewing the developments, it said, adding that legal appeals against this “unjust and cruel” measure will be initiated at the earliest.

the editor-in-chief and founder of the portal, and administrative officer Amit Chakraborty were arrested by the Delhi Police after the October searches. They are in judicial custody at present.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reportedly lost his temper during a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders on Tuesday after DMK leaders requested for his speech to be translated into English. The DMK delegation, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Rajya Sabha MP TR Baalu, was present at the meeting.

According to reports, a wilfully nescient Nitish went on to say that Hindi is the national language and that everyone should learn it after Baalu had asked RJD’s Manoj Jha to translate the JD(U) President’s remarks.
When Jha reportedly volunteered to translate, Nitish rudely suggested that leaders from the South should learn Hindi and directed the RJD MP to refrain from translating.

Reports indicate that Nitish displayed dissatisfaction throughout Tuesday’s meeting amid speculation about the JD(U) chief and his party’s role in the alliance. Since the formation of INDIA, Nitish has reportedly pitched himself for the role of bloc’s convenor and is among the potential contenders for the Opposition alliance’s Prime Ministerial face.

Posters calling for assigning a big role for the Bihar Chief Minister were seen in several parts of Patna on Tuesday when the JD(U) leader was away to attend the INDIA bloc meeting. Kumar had hosted the first meeting of opposition leaders in Patna in June.

On Tuesday, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal—two likely PM aspirants in the INDIA bloc— sprung a surprise by proposing Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial candidate, saying he can be India’s “first Dalit prime minister.”

However, Kharge reportedly turned down the suggestion and said the issue will be decided later and their first priority is to try and get a majority by working together.

Notably, India does not have a national language. 

However, it has two official languages at the national level—Hindi and English—and 22 designated official languages, including Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, as per the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Similarly, Article 343(3) grants Parliament authority to legislate the continued use of English for official purposes, while Section 3(3) mandates the obligatory use of Hindi and English for specific purposes, including resolutions, general orders, contracts, and official papers presented to Parliament.

Many states have their official languages, and the constitution recognizes linguistic diversity by providing for the use of several languages for official purposes at the state and union territory levels.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday launched the distribution of Rs 6,000 cash assistance to families affected by cyclone Michaung induced rains and flood.

Stalin gave away the cash dole to women heads of families at Velachery, one of the badly affected areas due to heavy inundation, marking the launch of disbursal of flood relief to people in Chennai and nearby areas falling under the districts of Chengelpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.

The exercise of distribution of tokens, specifying the date and time of cash distribution at jurisdictional ration shops, started a couple of days ago. Those who have not received the token may submit applications at fair price shops to avail the cash assistance, a government press release said.

Nagpur: Nine people were killed and three others seriously injured in a blast at an explosives manufacturing factory in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district on Sunday, police said.

Nine people were killed

The incident took place at the unit, located 40 km from here, causing severe damage to the building, an official at Kondhali police station said, adding that 12 workers were present in the unit at the time of the explosion.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a post on X termed the incident as unfortunate and condoled the death of the nine people.

The state government will provide an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has approved the decision, he said.

Fadnavis said nine people, including six women, died in the blast at Solar Industries.

It is a company that manufactures drones and explosives for the armed forces, he said.

The state government stands firmly with the families of the victims on this sad occasion, he said.

“I am in touch with the Nagpur collector and superintendent of police. The IG, SP and collector are at the site,” Fadnavis added.

Solar Industries senior general manager Ashish Shrivastav told reporters that the incident occurred in the building where boosters used in coal mines are produced.

The incident took place when sealing work of the product was going on, he said.

Thiruvananthapuram: Around 10 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who were arrested earlier this month from near the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in the Indian Ocean, and tried and fined 60,000 Pounds Sterling, were on Sunday handed over to the Indian Coast Guard.

The fishermen had ventured into fishing areas in the deep sea, around 230 nautical miles near the BIOT — an archipelago of 58 islands covering some 640,000 sq km of ocean, a defence statement said.

The area is a British Overseas Territory, located approximately halfway between East Africa and Indonesia, and administered from London, the statement said.

The fishermen were arrested on December 6, tried at BIOT and fined 60,000 Pounds Sterling, it said and added that information regarding the same was communicated to the Indian Ocean Directorate of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on December 14.

The fishermen’s boat has been seized as the fine was not paid and the 10 crew were released, it said.

The fishermen have 30 days from December 12 till January 11, 2024 to pay the fine, the statement said.

They were brought off Vizhinjam on BIOT patrol vessel ‘Grampien Endurance’ and were handed over at sea to Indian Coast Guard ships ‘Arnavesh’ and ‘C 427’, the statement said.

The fishermen are expected to arrive at Vizhinjam around 10 am where they will be medically examined and interrogated by agencies concerned.

Subsequently, they will be handed over to the Fisheries Department for safe passage to Tamil Nadu, the statement added.

In a similar incident, around 35 fishermen who were arrested in September for attempting to fish near the BIOT area were released to the Indian Coast Guard on November 20.

Surat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Surat Diamond Bourse, the world’s largest and modern centre for international diamond and jewellery business.

The Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) building, the world’s largest office complex with more than 67 lakh square feet of floor area, is located at Khajod village near Surat city.
It will be a global centre for trading of both rough and polished diamonds as well as jewellery, as per an official statement.

It will comprise a state-of-the-art ‘Customs Clearance House’ for import and export, jewellery mall for retail jewellery business and facility of international banking and safe vaults, it said.

Several diamond traders, including those based in Mumbai earlier, have already taken possession of their offices, which were allotted by the management after auction, SDB’s media convener Dinesh Navadiya said in a statement recently.

The SDB is part of the Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City.

Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel in February 2015 performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the SDB and DREAM City project.

With 67 lakh square feet of floor space, the SDB is now the world’s largest office building having nearly 4,500 diamond trading offices, a release said.

The mega structure, built on a plot of 35.54 acres inside the DREAM City, has nine towers of 15 floors with office spaces ranging from 300 sq ft to 1 lakh sq ft.