PRATAPGARH:  A 15-year-old Dalit girl has been allegedly raped by two minors of her village in Pratapgarh District, police said on Monday.

The girl had gone out for defecation on Saturday night when the two minor accused, aged 14 and 17 years, from the Jethwara village of the district, forcibly raped her, Station House Officer (SHO), Ajit Shukla said.

The girl, on returning home, informed her relatives about the incident and they took her to the police station on Sunday and filed a complaint, he said.

On the basis of the complaint, an FIR has been filed under the relevant sections and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the girl was sent for a medical examination.

Action will be taken on the basis of the medical examination report and statement, the SHO added.

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will be leaving for Delhi on Monday evening to meet and discuss the Karnataka- Maharashtra border issues with senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.

Ahead of the case coming up in the Supreme Court on November 30, Bommai is expected to discuss the ongoing issue and the next steps to be taken by Karnataka.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Bommai said that he has taken an appointment with the senior advocate. He said he would also meet BJP National President JP Nadda during his visit to Delhi. “I have sought time with Nadda, hoping that he would give permission for a talk,” Bommai said. 

Sources from BJP said he is likely to discuss the cabinet expansion issue with Nadda. CM said he is also meeting Union minister Piyush Goyal.

It can be noted C.M alleged incidents of the painting of Karnataka buses with pro-Maharashtra slogans. He had even appealed to the Eknath Shinde government to take immediate steps to put a stop to this. Bommai also said that such incidents will create a division among the states and hence Maharashtra should act swiftly.

Bommai has been under intense pressure for some time now, over the expansion and rejig of the Cabinet not taking place, to make way for the fresh faces, ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

There have been some reports of possible cabinet expansion by filling in six vacant posts or a kind of a rejig by dropping a few and inducting an equal number of new faces.

There were also talks in some quarters that a Gujarat-like complete top to bottom overhaul of the state ministry may take place.

However, many aspirants feel it is “too late now” with polls fast approaching.

Meanwhile, as the state is all set for a legal battle with neighbouring Maharashtra over the border dispute, the Chief Minister will be meeting senior advocate Rohatgi during the visit, to discuss it.

Bommai on Sunday had chaired a meeting with senior advocates and officials here in the wake of the case coming up before the Supreme Court for hearing on November 30.

Reacting to a question on Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah accusing the BJP of “distorting” the Constitution, Bommai said, “It is the Congress which did it, during the emergency by curtailing individual freedom and sending everyone to jail. We need not learn from them.”

Anurag Kashyap, in a recent interview, talked about the time he went through a low phase in life and also went to rehab three times. He shared how he suffered from depression for about three years. The Ugly director also recalled the time he went off Twitter in 2019 after his daughter was getting rape threats on the social media platform.

“This was the time I went off Twitter because my daughter started getting trolled, getting rape threats and she started getting anxiety attacks… So, I went off Twitter in August 2019 and I went to Portugal. I was shooting this (Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat) in London and then, when the whole Jamia Millia thing happened, I came back to India. I was like, ‘yeh mujh se bardaaasht nahin ho raha hai, koi kuchh bol nahin raha hai (I can’t bear it that no one is speaking up)’. I started speaking (on Twitter) again,” he told The Indian Express.

The director also spoke about suffering a heart attack last year, and how his health deteriorated. 

“I went into rehab three times, had a heart attack, my health went down, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. Then slowly, I crawled back. I’m myself now.”He also spoke about recuperating and returning to films. He said, “Unlike other people, I don’t have the luxury to sit and wait.”

Anurag’s latest Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat featuring Alaya F and Karan Mehta recently had its world premiere at the 19th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival. His last directorial was Dobaara with Taapsee Pannu.

NEW DELHI: The legendary PT Usha is set to become the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as she emerged as the lone candidate for the top post for the December 10 elections.

The 58-year-old Usha, a multiple Asian Games gold medallists and a fourth-place finisher in the 1984 Olympics 400m hurdles final for the top job on Sunday, along with 14 others from her team for the various posts.

The deadline to file nomination papers for the IOA elections ended on Sunday. IOA elections returning officer Umesh Sinha did not receive any nominations on Friday and Saturday but 24 candidates filed nominations for various posts on Sunday.

There will be contests for one post of vice president (female), joint secretary (female). There were 12 candidates in the fray for four executive council members.

The IOA polls will be held to elect one president, one senior vice-president, two vice-presidents (one male and one female), one treasurer, two joint secretaries (one male and one female), six other Executive Council members, out of which two (one male and one female) shall be from the elected SOMs.

Two members of the Executive Council (one male and one female) will be the Athletes’ Commission representatives.

GUJARAT: Congress MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani feels a “silent wave” has gripped the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat where a change is inevitable, and the upcoming state Assembly polls will give a new direction to the country. 

The Congress will win 120 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in the state polls, scheduled in two phases on December 1 and 5, he claimed.

“This election is against autocracy, unemployment and price rise,” he said.

Mevani (41), who is eyeing a second term from Vadgam, this time on the Congress ticket, is slogging it out in the poll arena, covering around 10 villages in a day in his Assembly seat, reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.

He was elected as an independent MLA from the same seat in 2017 with the Congress’s support.

“This time there is a silent revolution, a silent wave has gripped the state. People have made up their mind as they think that enough is enough,” Mevani claimed in response to a question that the BJP is considered unbeatable in Gujarat.

Mevani said the “Gujarat elections will give a new direction to the country”.

The MLA said his assessment is that the Congress will win 120 Assembly seats and lay the foundation for rebuilding Gujarat.

“A change is inevitable,” he said.

“Though the BJP is trying rake up emotional issues such as Hindutva, this time it won’t work,” the Congress leader said, adding he has been telling people to vote for him keeping in mind the price of a gas cylinder.

“People elected (Prime Minister) Modiji with great love, not once but twice, but after so many years unemployment has not decreased, price rise has not stopped,” he said.

“Now, people have witnessed that they are a repressive government as they started targeting those who raise their voice against them including opposition leaders, advocates, journalists. They (people) understood that this is a dictatorial government,” he said.

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi having a fan following and an aura of unbeatability in Gujarat, Mevani claimed, “He does not have an aura, but it has been built by the use of money power, public relations and image building.

“It is to be seen how many people will come to listen to him on their own if he does a public meeting without using officials (machinery) and keeping buses to ferry the people,” he said.

Mevani claimed the time has come for the prime minister to ‘retire’.

“He should retire as he does not have anything new to say now, nothing to offer, people do not have much expectations from him,” the legislator said.

“He (Modi) said they will make smart cities, where are smart cities? They said they will give employment to two crore people, where are two crore jobs? They said they will give everyone Rs 15 lakh in their account where is the money? What have people got with his model of vikas (development)? What happened to his slogan of ‘acche din’– nothing,” Mevani added.

He also dismissed claims of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party being a third force in the state.

“There is no race here. Mark my words, the AAP will not win even a single seat in Gujarat,” he said.

“No party can win elections in any state by social media campaign for two-four months and organising a few town hall meetings. Where are their workers, they are nowhere to be seen here (in Vadgam),” he said.

But, Mevani acknowledged that All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) can eat into his votes in the Vadgam seat.

The Asaududdin Owaisi-led AIMIM has fielded 13 candidates in the state, including one from the Vagdam seat.

“The AIMIM will spoil my votes personally and of other Congress candidates (in other seats), They cannot win here, what else can they do? But they can only make the BJP win by splitting the votes. Those who are in the fight against fascism, those who want to save democracy and the Constitution do not do this,” he said.

Mevani’s supporters want to see him as the chief minister of Gujarat if the Congress comes to power and they are telling this to voters in his village meetings.

Asked about this, the MLA said, “It is for the Congress high command and party MLAs to decide who will be the chief minister of Gujarat. First let Congress get a majority and only then do all these questions come. Mevani expressed confidence he will win with a thumping majority for the second time from Vadgam. The atmosphere here is in my favour more than what I had expected,” he said.

NEW DELHI: In a sequel to the chair-car version of Vande Bharat (VB) trains, the Railway Ministry is working to rollout the latest sleeper class version by January 2024, prior to the announcement of parliamentary elections, a senior official of the railway ministry said. A design of this train has already been prepared and will soon get approvals for test and subsequent serial production, he added.

The Vande Bharat trains are expected to be a big upgrade from the premium Rajdhani Express service. The sleeper class-version of these trains will be run on the routes to cover overnight rail journey like New Delhi-Patna, New Delhi-Lucknow and others.

India’s first and the second semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains have covered a cumulative distance of more than 18 lakh route kms since it started in 2019 till date.  The total distance- covered by these two VB trains, is almost equivalent to orbiting the earth 42 times! In next few years, these trains will be able to cover the distances worth orbiting the Earth and the Moon together at least 100 times.

After four years of intensive work and planning, country’s first and the second Vande Bharat trains as electric multiple units at semi-high speed, were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 on the New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi-Katra in J&K routes.

The first VB train was flagged on the New Delhi-Varanasi route and the second one was on New Dehi-Katra route to provide fast rail transportation to these pilgrim cities. The railway ministry is also working towards exporting these trains by 2026 to cover the international markets of South Africa and European countries and rolling out more than 100 VB trains and running them for at least one lakh route kms.
Sources also said that the announcement for rolling out the second lot of 350-400 new Vande Bharat is expected to be part of the next Union Budget 2023-24.

New VB trains to cover overnight rail journey
The Vande Bharat trains are expected to be a big upgrade from the premium Rajdhani Express service. The sleeper class version of these trains will be run on the routes that  cover overnight rail journey like New Delhi-Patna, New Delhi-Lucknow and other similar routes. 

NAVSARI(S.GUJARAT) : A centre of tribal politics in Gujarat, Vansda is about 340 km from Ahmedabad. Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party chief CR Patil has ‘adopted’ the Vansda assembly; little doubt, then, the BJP is trying its best to capture the seat.

Pradeep Garasia, president of the Samast Adivasi Samaj Sansthan,’ is fighting for the rights of tribal community for years. “Not only Vansda, look at the condition of tribals across Gujarat and India. In the name of development, just any project is announced for the area without asking the tribal communities,” says Garasia.

“If you look at Vansda, Tapi, Navasari, Dang, and the entire tribal belt of south Gujarat, you will understand what is wrong with the government approach. First, the government took up the project of displacing the people of 69 villages in the name of Par-Tapi river link. When tribal opposition grew against it, the government decided to drop it,” says Garasia.

Eventually, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel announced in May that the project was being scrapped, but how much damage the entire decision-making has caused would be clear only after the Assembly results. “The project would have damaged our land, rivers and the environment. What kind of development was it?” asks Garasia.

Anant Patel, a Congress leader, has stood up for the tribals regardless of whether his party opposes the project or not. Patel, 45, is an MLA from Vansda constituency and has been at the forefront of protests in Navsari and Valsad districts against land acquisition for highway projects. Patel heads the Gujarat Congress’ Adivasi (tribal) Cell.

Nikunj Patel, a social worker and computer engineer, says the protest against the river linking project was against the entire tribal community. “I want to ask the government that if development is to go on, then why do you choose tribal land?” he says.

This time BJP has given the ticket to Piyush Patel, a former government officer. “During his stint, he never listened to us. So, what will he do if he becomes MLA?” asks Nikunj.There are 141 villages in the Vansda assembly constituency, which is considered a stronghold of the Congress. Over 90% of the population in Vansda taluka is tribal. Political observers say the river-linking project is going to cost heavily for BJP, not only in Vansda or Dang but in many tribal belt which stretches from Ambaji in the north to Umergam in the Valsad district, which has 27 reserved seats. In 2017, Congress won 15 of them while BJP won eight.

ADR: BJP gets max corporate donations in Guj between ’17-’21
The BJP has got a maximum of corporate donations from Gujarat between 2017 and 2021. According to Association for Democratic Reform (ADR), it is 16 times higher than Congress corporate donations.On Sunday, ADR released the data saying, “During the five years, maximum corporate donations worth Rs 163.544 cr were declared by BJP from 1,519 donors. The BJP received highest donations in FY 2018-19 of Rs 46.222 cr from 524 donations, whereas Congress got 10.46 crore during the period between 2017 and 2021. Four political parties – BJP, Congress, AAP and SKM – received corporate donations worth Rs 174.06 crore from 1,571 donors from Gujarat between FY 2016-17 and 2020-21. The report said between FY 2016-17 and 2020-21, six Gujarat-based companies donated to political parties via Prudent Electoral Trust, Torrent Power Limited, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Torrent Pharma Limited, Cadila Healthcare Limited, Essar Bulk Terminal Paradip Limited, and Act Infraport Ltd.