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Five Mumbai youth swept away at Juhu Beach, one rescued

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Five youth were swept away at the famed Juhu Beach on Thursday evening and while one was rescued from the waters, the four are still missing, an official said.

According to the BMC Disaster Control, the incident occurred around 5.30 p.m. when the five youth had gone for a swim in the rough and swirling waters of the Arabian Sea.

However, they were reportedly swept away in the depth by the huge waves witnessed at that time even as the lifeguards posted on the beach jumped in the water and saved one.

Identified as Wasim S. Khan, 22, he told the Juhu Police that four other teenaged friends were still missing after they went in the sea near the Godrej Bungalow area.

The BMC has mobilized help from the Fire Brigade, the Indian Navy and other agencies to start a hunt for them even as the darkness complicated the rescue efforts.

The missing teenagers are identified as Fardeen Saudagar, Sohail S. Khan, Nazir Gazi and Faisal Sheikh, all aged 17, and residents of DN Nagar in Andheri west.

American father-daughter duo bring ‘technological difference’ to remote Arunachal village

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National Geographic explorer Mike Libecki and his 14-year-old daughter Lilliana are essentially travellers who have been to several remote corners of the world. But it is not just the high-ranging mountains or far-flung seas that have a distinct pull for the American father-daughter duo; in fact, most of their travels are humanitarian- and- philanthropy-based expeditions.

In their latest venture, they collaborated with Dell as a part of its Give Back Project and worked in a remote village of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

At Jhamtse Gatsal’s Children’s Community, which is home to about 90 children, the father-daughter duo, along with Dell employees, have installed 20 new laptops, new printers, internet access and are imparting computer education to kids and teachers in Tawang.

They have also installed new solar power panels and solar generators for the computer centre and other buildings in the community.

“We worked closely with the community. All of the kids at the community are orphans or they have come to live there because they have family issues. They are all first-generation learners, none of the families of these kids have had an education.

“We came here to provide solar energy, a new computer lab with computers and internet installed, because the goal of the orphanage is to provide education to the kids. They want the children to go to college; without having computers and internet, they will lag behind and not be able to do. In the times that we live in, we need to be technologically advanced and savvy to make progress,” Mike told IANS.

Maintaining that progress is not possible without access to technological tools such as computers and the internet, Mike explained that all the equipment was shipped from the United States to Tawang and Dell employees were on ground to help in the installation process.

“But just installing the computers wasn’t enough. We needed to ensure that the children are able to use them… that they are trained properly and, whenever the situation arises, they should have help from technicians. We also had to ensure that these systems run on solar power because remote areas like these do not have electricity running most of the times,” he said.

And so when they set out on what turned out to be a very enriching and satisfying experience, there was a lot of anticipation in the air as many of the kids at Jhamtse Gatsal’s Children’s Community were seeing computers for the first time.

When the young children saw Lilliana, who at the age of 14 has already been to 26 countries, all seven continents, five major expeditions and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, helping her father set up the computers and teach not just the kids but also the teachers and other workers at the community on how to go about using the computer and accessing the internet, their faces lit up with brightness and, in Mike’s words, “They learnt to aspire.”

“Everytime we connect with a community and we try to give back, we get more than we give. We have opportunities that they don’t and making a little impact on their lives really leaves us with a great feeling of satisfaction. We are giving them computers and internet.

“Think about you and I, we have access to these technological boons but we take it for granted every day. We never think what our lives would be had we been unfortunate too. We just have these at our disposal. So why should other human beings not have them too?” he asked.

Mike said that just like the word “technology” comes from the word “tool”, they envisaged a similar approach towards this project.

“We are using technology as a tool. These kids want to go to college, just like anybody else. Why shouldn’t the most remote and poor kids have the same opportunity that you and I have? So we want to do our part. If we are doing our part and impacting one community may be we are impacting thousands of people because initiatives like these create a ripple effect. The one who has been benefited will, some day, if he/she has an opportunity to, make a difference in the lives of others,” Mike said.

Jhamtse Gatsal’s Children’s Community is located in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The nearest town is Lumla, less than half an hour away by car, or an hour or two by foot. It is a community, a school, and a home for about 90 children ranging in age from toddler to adolescent.

Most of the children at the community have a background of adversity and the driving goal of the community is to provide these children with better lives, helping them to achieve their fullest potential.

Modi condemns Jalalabad attack, Sushma meets victims’ kin

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday “strongly” condemned the terror attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city that killed at least 19, including many Sikhs on Sunday, and offered India’s assistance to Kabul.

“We strongly condemn the terror attacks in Afghanistan yesterday. They are an attack on Afghanistan’s multicultural fabric. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that the injured recover soon.

“India stands ready to assist the Afghanistan government in this sad hour,” Modi said on Twitter.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also expressed her “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims and that the government was with “with them in this hour of tragedy”.

She later met a delegation of representatives of SGPC, Sikh community from Afghanistan and relatives of the victims.

“Condemning the suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 members from the Afghan Sikh community, EAM @SushmaSwaraj expressed sincere condolences during her meeting with a delegation of representatives of SGPC, Sikh community from Afghanistan and relatives of the victims,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Jalalabad, where President Ashraf Ghani was to hold a meeting with provincial officials. A Sikh candidate for the upcoming October parliamentary polls was among those killed.

Drug issue is back, and now haunts Congress in Punjab

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once caused a stir by claiming over 70 per cent Punjab’s youth were addicted to drugs. The party, which returned to power in March last year, had used every political trick to highlight the rampant drug abuse in the state during the campaign for the assembly polls. The issue has now returned to haunt its leaders.

With over 30 deaths linked to drug abuse being reported in June from different parts of Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is facing an onslaught from the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for his government’s failure to curb the menace.

Before coming to power, Amarinder Singh had, in December 2015, publicly taken a religious pledge by holding a copy of the “Gutka Sahib”, a Sikh holy book, and saying that if he came to power, he would wipe out the scourge of drugs from Punjab within four weeks.

His Congress government is now over 15 months old, and has clearly failed to contain the drug menace.

Faced with criticism and pressure from the opposition, Amarinder hurriedly called a special meeting of his cabinet on Monday to address the issue.

However, other than making statements and claims, and passing the buck to the central government by suggesting stronger laws against drug peddlers and smugglers, the Amarinder government has failed to do enough to contain the drug problem, say opposition leaders.

Be it heroin or “Chitta” (a white powder drug), other lifestyle chemical drugs and opium, the supply chain has not been broken in Punjab despite the Amarinder government’s claim that there has been a crackdown on those dealing in drugs.

The Chief Minister has, however, gone on record to claim that thousands of people linked to the drugs trade had been arrested.

“The intensive action plan unfolded and executed by us during the last over a year has resulted in arrest of 18,977 drug peddlers and treatment of more than two lakh drug victims,” Amarinder said this week.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday, the Chief Minister pointed out that the existing Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, provides for death penalty for certain offences if these are committed for a second time.

“This means that a person can indulge in these nefarious activities and get away at least once, causing substantial damage to the youth and the society,” Amarinder pointed out, adding that a harsher penalty for first-time offenders in drugs could be a deterrent to those indulging in this illegal activity.

For the past over two decades, the unholy nexus of the drug peddlers and smugglers with police officials and politicians has been alleged but it has not been broken.

The Congress and AAP leaders used to accuse an Akali Dal minister of being involved in the drugs racket. The drug trade in Punjab has also been linked to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and other countries.

Leader of Opposition and AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira is not impressed by the statements being issued by the Amarinder government.

“The government is not doing anything concrete at the ground level. None of the so-called big fish in the drug trade have been arrested so far,” Khaira pointed out.

The government started on a positive note last year by setting up a Special Task Force (STF) to deal with the drugs menace.

A year down the line, the STF finds its wings clipped and its chief, senior police officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu, is not being allowed to use his powers to get to the bottom of the drug trade.

Indonesia Open: Sindhu, Prannoy reach quarters; Saina bows out

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Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V.Sindhu rang in her 23rd birthday with a straight-game win over Japan’s Aya Ohori, while H.S. Prannoy notched up a brilliant come-from-behind win over Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei to enter the quarter-finals of the $1,250,000 Indonesia Open here on Thursday.

But it was curtains for London bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who lost in straight games to China’s Chen Yufei 18-21, 15-21 here.

World No.3 Sindhu, who had reached the semi-finals at Malaysia Open last week, completed an easy rout of No.17 Ohori with a 21-17, 21-14 win in a 36-minute women’s singles match. This is Sindhu’s fifth win over the Japanese in as many meetings.

In the quarters, Sindhu will be up against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-15, 21-12 in a 32-minute battle.

In another women’s singles tie, Saina, who crashed out of the second round of Malaysia Open last week, failed to find the momentum going against the Chinese Chen Yufei, losing in straight games.

In men’s singles, World No.14 Prannoy then recovered from an opening game loss to outwit No.17 Wang 21-23, 21-15, 21-13 in an entertaining men’s singles contest that lasted an hour.

He will meet third seed and All England champion Shi Yuqi of China in the quarters.

However, the other Indian in men’s singles action — Sameer Verma proved a no-match for World No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who dominated the 39-minute match 21-15, 21-14 to advance to the quarters.

Indian wins lottery before leaving UAE

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An Indian expatriate won a 7 million dirham ($1.9 million) lottery for a ticket he purchased at the Abu Dhabi International Airport just before boarding a flight for India, a media report said on Wednesday.

Tojo Mathew, a 30-year-old Abu Dhabi-based civil supervisor, had the winning ticket number on Tuesday at the monthly Big Ticket raffle draw conducted at the airport, reports Khaleej Times.

“I bought the ticket at the Abu Dhabi airport just before boarding the flight for India on June 24. I was leaving the UAE for good to join my wife, who got a job in New Delhi. I still cannot believe I won,” Mathew told the daily over the telephone from Delhi.

Mathew and his friends received the news on Tuesday morning when they checked the Big Ticket website.

Mathew said his big dream was to own a house in his home state Kerala. “That has been my long pending dream. Now it can be a reality with the raffle money.”

Nine others won 100,000 dirhams at the draw on Tuesday. They included five Indians, one Pakistani and a Kuwait resident.

Engineering course fees increased by 10%

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Students willing to apply for engineering courses in Karnataka will see a fee hike of 10% from that of the past academic year. The decision was gone up against Thursday after a meeting between private school management and the State government.

Senior authorities in the Higher Education Department said that fees for seats overall quotas will see a hike of 10%. But, management of a few private building schools are not satisfied.

“College management had really looked for a 20% hike in fee structure, however, the government has consented to top it at 10%. A consensual understanding in such manner is probably going to be marked on Friday itself,” said an administration individual from a private engineering school.

Rs 550 cr in Karnataka budget for sustainable farming

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The Karnataka budget for 2018-19 on Thursday allocated Rs 550-crore for progressive and sustainable farming after waiving a whopping Rs 34,000 crore loans of 17-lakh farmer families across the state.

Presenting a pro-farmer budget in the assembly, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who holds the Finance portfolio, told lawmakers that Israeli model of sustainable irrigation could suit the state’s farmers in improving their lives.

“I visited Israel last year and studied their farm practices myself. I have no doubt that Israeli model of irrigation would protect the crops and make farmers’ lives better,” he saidin his two-hour long budget speech.

The budget allocated Rs 150 crore for creating Israeli model of irrigation, which makes use of drip irrigation methods to conserve water, in 5,000 hectares of dry land in each of the districts of Kolar, Chitradurga, Koppal and Gadag.

Another Rs 150 crore has been set aside to implement the same model of farming in 5,000 hectares land in each of Karwar, Tumakuru, Yadgir and Haveri districts.

The Chief Minister proposed that the state implements zero budget natural farming on the lines of Andhra Pradesh for better yields with lesser investment.

Rs 50 crore was allocated to implement zero budget natural farming in the state, with the support of United Nations Environment Programme which is offering technical assistance through Sustainable India Finance Facility.

The budget also made Rs 190 crore provision for coconut farmers, who have been witnessing unproductive crops due to shortage of rain in the state.

In health sector, the budget made provisions of Rs 10 crore for strengthening drug control, Rs 30 crore for heart, kidney, liver transplantation for the poor, Rs 40 crore for a 300 bed super speciality hospital in Ramanagara, and Rs 200 crore for new hospitals in Gadag, Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Belagavi, Mysuru and Kalaburagi.

Mother and child health services and mental health protection services will be integrated with the Emergency Response Services available through ambulance and helpline numbers, Kumaraswamy said.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 150 crore package for infrastructure repairs of state-run primary schools, high schools and pre-university college buildings.

Another Rs 250 crore was set aside for development and infrastructure repairs of state-run graduate and post-graduate colleges.

Classes in English medium will be held along with Kannada in 1,000 state-run primary schools on an experiment basis, which will attract children to state-run schools, Kumaraswamy said.

The budget provided Rs 5 crore to install biometric instruments in all 48,000 government schools of the state to monitor the attendance of teachers and students.

Through the ‘Chief Minister’s Mathrusree Scheme’ announced in the budget, Rs 1,000 per month will be transferred to the bank account of pregnant women from below poverty line (BPL) families for three months prior to the delivery and three months for the lactating mother, Kumaraswamy said.

Rs 350 crore has been earmarked for the scheme, which will be implemented from November 1.

Abducted J&K policeman killed by militants

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The body of a local policeman abducted by militants was found on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, police said.

Javaid Ahmad Dar was abducted on Thursday evening from his home in Shopian district’s Vehil village.

Dar’s body was found in Kulgam’s Pariwan village, the police said.

Meanwhile, militants fired at Muhammad Ashraf, a cleric, in Pulwama district. His condition is said to be critical.

Chief Justice is master of roster: SC

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The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that the Chief Justice alone was the “master of roster” and have powers to allocate cases to different benches.

It also cautioned against any “tinkering” as it could hurt the independence of the judiciary.

“Although the Constitution is silent on the role of the Chief Justice as ‘master of roster’ but it is based on healthy practice to maintain the discipline and decorum of the court,” said Justice A.K.Sikri.

Justice Ashok Bhushan in a concurring but separate judgement said that it is difficult to accept the interpretation that the CJI means entire collegium. Such an interpretation would make day to day functioning difficult.”

Both Justice Sikri and Justice Bhushan rejected the plea that the Supreme Court should adopt some of the practices prevailing in the top courts of other countries.

They said that there could not be a “mechanical imitation” or import of practices prevailing in the courts overseas but admitted that there was scope for improvement which they said was always happening.

The court said this while disposing of a petition by senior counsel Shanti Bhushan contending that the Chief Justice should exercise his power to allocate the cases in consultation with the four other judges in the collegium.

He had contended that the collective opinion of the collegium was much safer than the opinion of the Chief Justice alone.

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