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Archives for November 2018

Kerala protests as 68 Sabarimala pilgrims arrested

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Sabarimala Over 60 pilgrims have been arrested from Sabarimala after they failed to comply to prohibitory orders in place at the temple leading to protests here and across Kerala, police said on Monday.

While angry Hindu acitivists took to streets, raised slogans and held prayer sessions in front of police stations across the state, Union Minister K.J. Alphons criticised the state government for the action.

As news spread about the arrests, in Thiruvanathapuram protesters assembled near Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s residence and shouted slogans.

The situation started growing tense late on Sunday, when despite prohibitory orders in and around the temple town, over 200 pilgrims did not vacate the premise and started singing Lord Ayyappa hymns .

They continued with the chants even after being requested, forcing the police to take action and forcefully evict them. As many as 68 devotees were also arrested.

They were taken to the Maniar Police Camp in Pathanamthitta district and were to be produced before a court later Monday.

Superintendent of Police Prathish Kumar told the media the arrests were made as protesters even after being informed to disperse once the temple closed at 10 p.m, did not move out.

Forces of the sangh parivar has announced to hold protests on Monday across the state. Security has been heightened for Vijayan, who has official engagements in Kozhikode.

Speaking to the media at Nilackal, Alphons on Monday said: “I fail to understand why the Kerala Police has clamped prohibitory orders.

“This is not the way things should be handled. Sabarimala pilgrims are not extremists. You cannot use force in this place.”

He also said that he would inspect how the state has utilised the Rs 100 crore-relef fund from the Centre. “I will go around the temple town to make sure how the funds have been used.”

The Sabarimala temple opened its doors at 5 p.m. on November 17 for two months.

The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since the September 28 when the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged between 10 and 50.

The apex court on November 13 refused to stay that verdict.

While the Kerala government is trying hard to see that the apex court verdict is implemented, the BJP/RSS, sangh parivar forces and the Congress-led UDF are up in arms against violation of the temple tradition.

(IANS)

Fire at Varanasi airport

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Varanasi, Nov 19 A fire broke out at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport here in Uttar Pradesh on Monday at the Air India ticket selling counter creating panic, police said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot, an official said, adding that no officer or staff was present at the counter at the time of the incident as the first flight of Air India comes from New Delhi at 11.35 a.m.

Some furniture and computers were damaged. The reason behind the fire was not known.

(IANS)

Karnataka farmers protest government apathy over support price for sugarcane

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Belagavi (Karnataka) Hundreds of farmers, including the womenfolk, on Sunday staged a protests here against the state government’s alleged indifference over ensuring minimum support price for sugarcane and in getting their arrears released from the mill owners.

“In view of the production glut and falling price, the state government should ensure a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 3,000 per tonne for sugarcane with 9.5 per cent recovery and help us get arrears for the cane supplied to mill owners last year,” farmer leader Siddanna Gouda told reporters here, about 500km northwest of the state.

The previous Congress government had fixed Rs 2,500 per tonne as MSP last year.

With input costs, including harvesting and transporting the cane to the mills going up steeply, Gouda said growing sugarcane was no longer remunerative, as mill owners were unwilling to pay more and settle the arrears.

“We suspended on Saturday our agitation launched on November 15 for higher MSP and recovery of arrears on the assurance of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy that he would meet us here on Monday. But he has now backed out,” alleged Gouda.

As a mark of protest against Kumarswamy cancelling his visit to the city on Monday, about 20 farmers drove trucks laden with sugarcane into the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, which is the state legislative and secretariat building for the region.

“We will disrupt the winter session of the state legislature here next month if the state government does not resolve our issues by November 30, as we cannot keep the cane in the fields longer from harvesting as recovery will be less if delayed,” added Gouda.

The opposition BJP condemned the JD-S-Congress coalition government’s indifference to the plight of the sugarcane farmers in the state.

“The coalition government’s approach to farmers’ plight is reprehensible. Scores of farmers, including their womenfolk, were arrested at Belagavi for staging a protest,” said Karnataka BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa in Bengaluru.

Mocking at Kumaraswamy and the JD-S for claiming to be a party for farmers, by farmers and of farmers, Yeddyurappa said the former told a woman agitator that he was not responsible for what happened to them over the last four years as he became chief minister only 5 months ago.

Kumaraswami has also cast aspersions on the integrity of the farmers, which is unacceptable.

“By calling farmers ‘goondas’ (goons), Kumaraswamy has indulged in an outrageous act. This shows the contempt his party has for farmers,” added Yeddyurappa.

(IANS)

Delhi’s air quality worsens again, no imminent improvement seen

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New Delhi Air quality in Delhi and the adjoining areas worsened to the ‘very poor’ category on Sunday, after a 3-day respite, and pollution is expected to increase over the next few days due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Official report claims “significant drop” in stubble burning in neighbouring states. Delhi is currently suffering with the pollution generated from the local sources.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi on Sunday was 311, considered ‘very poor’, while on Saturday it was 267 or ‘poor’, on a scale of 0 to 500.

The major pollutant PM2.5 or particles with diameter less than 2.5mm also intensified over the day as the Westerly winds brought along moisture.

“Air quality is ‘very poor’ and expected to remain in the same category, with a gradual increase for the next three days as surface winds will be declining slowly,” said a forecast by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

SAFAR said that high humidity is unfavourable for dispersion of the pollutant.

“Delhi currenlty is polluted with its own pollutants. Stubble burning has negligible effect on it,” said Mahesh Palawat, a director at private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

With wind speeds set to fall till November 20, the pollution may rise.

“However, air quality will improve with Delhi receiving fresh north-westerly winds from November 21,” Palawat added.

The average presence of the major pollutant PM2.5 was 163 microgrammes per cubic meter in Delhi. Across over 40 regions in the National Capital Region (NCR) it was 160.

Across NCR, Gurugram with an AQI of 255 or ‘poor’ had the cleanest air. The AQI was 335 in Ghaziabad, 313 in Greater Noida, 336 in Noida and 308 in Faridabad.

SAFAR has issued an advisory cautioning people in Delhi to avoid outdoor physical exercises.

[IANS]

Reddy and Sommanna’s Controversial statements cost party bypoll loss

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BJP leaders alleged that the statements given by two of the BJP party member cost them heavily in the bypolls held on November 3 and utmost care would be taken to avoid such mistakes in the forthcoming elections.

BJP sources on Thursday, November 15  told that BJP would have won in Jamakandhi and Ballari constituency if two of its leaders had not given any controversial statement just few days ahead of the elections. Former minister Janardhan Reddy and V Sommanna hurt the feelings of the people as a result of which BJP lost the bypolls.

Janardhan Reddy’s statement about the death of former CM Siddaramaiah’s son and V Sommanna’s statement that Sriramulu will be the next Chief Minister resulted in the division of votes of people belonging to Kuruba and Lingayat community informed sources.

PTI

 

Kerala HC rejects anticipatory bail appil of activist Rehana Fathima

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The Kerala High Court Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of activist Rehana Fathima, who had made an attempt to enter into Sabarimala when the temple was opened for monthly puja in October after the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women in the age group of 10 and 50 into the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

The activist was booked by the police in Pathanamthitta on the basis of a complaint filed by Radhakrishna Menon alleging some of her Facebook posts hurt religious sentiments.

She was booked under Section 295A of IPC (outraging religious feelings).

Anticipating arrest, she moved the high court seeking anticipatory bail.

Dismissing the bail plea, the court directed that the police can take appropriate steps in the case.

Fathima, a model and activist who was part of “Kiss of Love” movement in Kochi in 2014 against alleged moral policing, was among the two women who had reached the hilltop on October 19 but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.

Fathima and Hyderabad-based journalist Kavitha were taken to the hills with heavy police protection.

Meanwhile, the high court has granted bail to six people arrested for allegedly attacking police and preventing devotees at Nilackal, near Pamba, when the temple doors were opened for monthly puja last month.

Several journalists were attacked by devotees when the temple was opened for six days on October 17 for the first time after the Supreme Court order.

On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine but a section of devotees is protesting the decision.

PTI

Over 100 suspected Rohingya arrested in Myanmar

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According to the UN, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 [AP]

Myanmar immigration authorities arrested more than 100 suspected Rohingya on board a boat off Yangon, officials said, raising fears of a fresh wave of dangerous voyages after a 2015 crackdown on people smugglers.

The boat carrying 106 people was stopped some 30 kilometres south of Myanmar’s largest city and senior police officials were on the way to investigate them, Kyaw Htay, an immigration officer from the Kyauktan township, told Reuters news agency.

“It’s possible that they are from Rakhine. Like in previous years, it is possible they are Bengali from Rakhine,” Kyaw Htay was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Many people in Myanmar refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali”, implying they are undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state last year, according to United Nations agencies.

The Rohingya said soldiers and local Buddhists massacred families, burned hundreds of villages, and carried out gang rapes.

UN-mandated investigators have accused the Myanmar army of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar has denied almost all of the allegations, saying security forces were battling “terrorists”.

Attacks by Rohingya armed groups calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army preceded the crackdown.

Officials and aid workers told Reuters last week that dozens of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh had boarded boats to try to reach Malaysia in recent weeks, after the end of the monsoon rains in early October.

Observers warn that because the smuggling routes to Thailand have been disrupted and the journey is treacherous and expensive, more and more Rohingya are opting for a cheaper and shorter trip along the Bay of Bengal coast south to Yangon.

Aye Mya Mya Myo, a lower house legislator for Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party from Kyauktan, posted pictures of a rickety boat crammed with women wearing headscarves, men and children on Facebook.

Will UN’s Myanmar ‘genocide’ accusation amount to change?

On some images, police officials kept watch over squatting people from the boat.

She said there were 50 men, 31 women and 25 children on the boat.

It resembled vessels the Rohingya typically use to escape the apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine, where they are denied free movement and access to decent education and healthcare.

For years, Rohingya on both sides of the border have boarded boats organised by smugglers in the dry months between November and March, when the sea is calm. The perilous journey to Thailand and Malaysia, often undertaken in overcrowded vessels, has cost many lives.

Thailand cracked down on the trade after discovering a series of mass graves in 2015, leading to a crisis when smugglers abandoned their human cargo and left boats adrift in the Andaman Sea.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s neighbouring country, Indonesia, said it is ready to help resolve the Rohingya crisis.

“Indonesia is ready … to help the Myanmar government to create a conducive condition in the Rakhine State, where freedom of movement should be respected,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo was quoted by the country’s Antara news agency as saying, at the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore on Friday.

Aljazeera

India has Rs 1,500 cr bank guarantee on offsets in Rafale deal

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 India has secured a bank guarantee for about Rs 1,500 crore from Dassault in the Rafale jet deal as a safeguard against any violations of the offset policy prepared in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), a leading financial daily said on Friday.

A special clause in the deal, which mandates that five per cent of the total offset value be kept as a buffer in case of non-performance, was invoked after officials insisted that the safeguard was needed to protect interests, it added.

According to The Economic Times, this was in line with similar provisions that are in place when it comes to direct government defence deals with the US.

The 185 million euro bank guarantee has been deposited and will remain valid for seven years, the report said citing people familiar with the deal.

This is in addition to the “letter of comfort” given by France that would underwrite the sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

The government had told the Supreme Court earlier this week that there was no sovereign guarantee from France in Rafale deal but there was a letter of comfort.

The report said that the Defence Ministry would reserve the right to cash the bank guarantee if it feels that the offset guidelines have been violated or that the French manufacturers have not executed them in the quantum promised.

It said that the special clause was put in place as per the 2013 DPP that mandates that the vendor shall be required to furnish a performance bond equal to five per cent of the offset obligation, which is required to be fulfilled during the period of the main procurement contract.

The report said that offsets have been a part of most major defence deals since 2006 but the ministry has faced major problems in implementing the offsets policy, mostly due to the large quantum to be discharged and a rigidity of rules that do not give flexibility to foreign vendors.

It said that the US companies Lockheed Martin and Textron have been slapped with penalties for failing to meet offsets.

These penalties were recovered from the five per cent bank guarantees that had been secured at the time of the contracts.

The deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France in 2015.

The Indian Negotiating Team (INT) held 74 meetings in 12 months from May 2015 to April 2016, including 48 internal meetings and 26 meetings with the French side and the proposal was presented to the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) thrice for getting approvals on various aspects of negotiations.

The proposal to purchase the fighter jets under an inter-government agreement (IGA) was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in August 2016.

IANS

Andhra bars CBI officials from entering state without permission

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In an unprecedented move, THE Andhra Pradesh government has barred the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from conducting raids or carrying out investigations in the state without its permission.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government issued the orders withdrawing ‘general consent’ to CBI officers to exercise jurisdiction in the state to investigate corruption charges against officials of central government and private persons.

The move by THE Chandrababu Naidu government came amid the continuing crisis in THE CBI in the wake of allegations of corruption against its director Alok Verma by his deputy Rakesh Asthana.

The Principal Secretary (Home) in Andhra Pradesh, A.R. Anuradha, issued the orders dated November 8, exercising powers under Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946,

The state government on August 3 this year had issued orders giving its general consent to the CBI to exercise its powers and jurisdiction in the state. The same has now been revoked as per Section 6 of the DSPE Act.

It is under this Act that CBI exercises its jurisdiction in states. The state governments every year issue notifications to give ageneral consent’ to the investigating agency to probe corruption cases.

Official sources said the move was necessitated by the fact that CBI had lost its credibility and integrity in the wake of recent developments.

The latest move by the TDP government is seen as another flash-point between the state and the Centre after TDP pulled out of BJP-led NDA in March this year.

TDP President and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had been accusing the Modi government of misusing central agencies to target TDP leaders for demanding special category status to the state.

There have been a series of Income Tax searches at the offices and residences of TDP leaders in recent weeks. TDP leaders had also voiced the apprehension that the Centre could use CBI and other agencies to target top leadership of the party.

Following the recent developments in CBI, Naidu had targeted Modi government for what he called damaging the credibility of the premier investigation agency.

Naidu, who is trying to mobilise all opposition parties to form a front against the BJP, alleged that Modi was weakening the central institutions.

IANS

Congress does not want to credit people for choosing ‘chaiwala’ PM: Modi

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Exploiting to the hilt Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s recent remarks that a “chaiwala” became PM because of Jawaharlal Nehru’s commitment to democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress saying it was not ready to credit people for this but only a dynasty.

He challenged the Congress to appoint someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family as party President for five years. He would then accept that Nehru had built a democracy legacy.

“Do a little thing, if you respect democracy. If a chaiwala or Modi became the Prime Minister because of your faith in democracy, policies, role in constitution and due to Nehru, make any good Congress leader the President of your party for at least five years.

“I will accept that Nehruji had such a commitment to democracy that has led to a dedicated Congress leader becoming the President of the party,” Modi said at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur.

The Prime Minister’s attack came after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s remarks while re-launching his book “Nehru: The Invention of India” on November 13 that a chaiwala became the Prime Minister because of Nehru’s policies and institution-building that provided for a democratic framework.

Modi said it will be good for the country if a person outside from the Nehru family became President of the Congress.

“I know it will be good when the country gets out of dynasty politics. But, they are not ready to give credit for this to the 1.25 crore people of this country that a chaiwala became the Prime Minister. They do not want to give credit to BJP and Modi. This is the result of their undemocratic thinking. For this too, they want to give its credit to Nehru,” he added.

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