IPL matches have been shifted to another venue amid the ongoing Cauvery protests.
Indian Premier League (IPL) matches which are scheduled to be held in Chennai have been shifted to another venue amid the ongoing Cauvery protests,
Recently, political parties and fringe groups have been demanding cancellation or postponement of all seven IPL matches in Chennai till the Centre constitutes the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). They have even asked spectators to boycott the matches.
Archives for 2018
Will lack of a Muslim leader hurt Congress in Hyderabad-Karnataka region?
Will the lack of a Muslim leadership in the Hyderabad-Karnataka/Northeast Karnataka region hurt the prospects of the Congress party. The region comprising Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Gulbarga and, Bellary districts play a crucial role in shaping the prospects of any political party.
On one hand, the Congress government in its attempt to divide dominant community Lingayat – which plays a decisive role in the election- apparently ignored to find a new Muslim leader in the region who can consolidate Muslim votes in the upcoming elections. With the passing away of former chief minister Dharam Singh and the senior most Muslim leader from the region Qamar ul Islam, the party is being crippled by the absence of tall leaders who can bring together Muslim community.
Dharam Singh hailed from the Rajput community, whose numbers are very low in the state. However, he knew the art of winning over political rivals. Qamar ul Islam a well-known name in the region, was elected six times from Gulbarga North constituency. According to reports, Khaneez Fathima, the wife of late Congress leader and minister Qamar ul Islam, has been convinced by senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge to accept a ticket if given one from Gulbarga North, the constituency Islam represented.
“The process of finding a new leader is not going to be a cakewalk for the Congress. The party wants to ride on a sympathy wave in Gulbarga North by giving the ticket to Khaneez Fathima but internal revolt cannot be overruled if the ticket is given to her. For the leadership vacuum in the region, late Qamar ul Islam has to share the blame too. He had followers but, did not groom second rung Muslim leadership in the region.”
In absence of two tall leaders, now the gigantic responsibility lies on the shoulders of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyanka Kharge who is currently a minister in the Congress government. Besides, recent induction of Mallikarjun Khuba, Nagappa Saloni, Basavaraj Patil Anwari and Malikayya Guttedar to the BJP has mounted pressure on the Congress leadership in the region.
Political analyst Mahadeva Prakash blamed Mallikarjun Kharge and Dharam Singh for the leadership crisis in Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Mahadeva Prakash said, “Both of them have grown like a banyan tree in the party. But they never allowed others to grow politically either Lingayats, backward class and minority. In fact, they restricted Qamar ul Islam to Gulbarga North. Qamar ul Islam’s wife may win with the help of sympathy wave. However, he ruled out opposition to her candidature.” It may be recalled that the Congress had won 27 seats out of 40 seats in 2013. The rise in the number of seats was attributed to division in BJP vote back due to Lingayat leader BS Yeddyurappa’s faction Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). In fact, traditionally Muslim voters have always stood by the Congress in the region. This time they may have to vote for the Congress without a prominent Muslim face around.
High Court asks govt to confirm its stand on bandhs
The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the state government to file a written statement over its stand on Bandhs. It wanted the government to clarify its stand on granting permission to bandhs by pro-Kannada organisations, including Vatal Nagaraj’s outfit, over Cauvery issue on April 12th. The directive came as result of a batch of petitions challenging the permission to bandh were filed with the court.
The hearing included a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice B M Shyam Prasad. At the hearing the advocate representing one of the petitioners submitted that the pro-Kannada organisations call bandh over and over again in violation of the court order.He contended that the state government had failed in controlling such bandhs and on contrary have supported the bandhs called by Vatal Nagaraj who also blackmails the government.
Justice Maheswari responded to the submission and observed that the court has already passed an order on February 2 in connection with the bandhs and no bandhs have been conducted since. “If you (petitioners) have proof to show that government has not taken any steps to control bandhs, submit that to the court,” he told them.
Justice Maheshwari observed that a Supreme Court order had been passed stating that bandhs called by any person or organisations is unconstitutional since they have no constitutional right to do so. Yet, petitions are being filed before the court.
The bench directed the advocate representing the state government to file a written statement over its stand on bandh. The case was adjourned to Wednesday 11th April.
C Raja, president of Rajajinagar Shradha Poshakara Sangha and others have challenged the pro-Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj and other organisations call for bandh on April 12 following the Cauvery water dispute.
Indians disappoint in lawn bowls events : CWG 2018
India experienced a miserable campaign in lawn bowls events on day 7 of the 21st Commonwealth Games, losing all their matches at Broadbeach here on Wednesday.
The Indian women’s triples team comprising Farzana Khan, Nayanmoni Saikia and Pinki went down 10-19 to Canada, while in men’s Fours sectional play, the men’s team lost 8-12 to Australia.
In men’s singles sectional play, Krishna failed to open his account against New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy to go down 0-21 in a tie that only lasted for nine rounds.
Mcilroy began his domination right from the start even as the Indian was struggling to open his scoring at Broadbeach here.
With the loss, Krishna’s journey at the Commonwealth Games men’s singles events have come to an end.
Meanwhile, in women’s pairs sectional play round 4, India’s Lovely Choubey and Rupa Rani Tirkey went down narrowly 17-19 to South African duo of Nicolene Neal and Colleen Piketh.
India had earlier beaten Jersey 22-12 in round 2 and in round 1, the Indian duo won over Wales 20-16. They however, lost the round 3 tie against Northern Ireland 14-15 on Tuesday.
Setback for Kerala, as HC rules in favour of plantation major
In a setback for the Kerala government, the High Court on Wednesday cancelled an order that had enabled it take over 38,000 acres of land belonging to a plantation major in the state.
A division bench cancelled the order of a single bench that had earlier directed the takeover of the plantation land of diversified agri-major Harrison Malayalam Limited (HML), a part of R.P.G Enterprises.
Coming down heavily on the state government, the bench directed it “not to play Robin Hood”, as big companies have to exist in the state.
The court also struck down the report by special officer M.G. Rajamanickam on which the earlier judgment was based.
The report had said that foreign companies were holding land by flouting the rules and all treaties and agreements had become null and void with the Indian Independence Act of 1947.
Hence agreements prior to Independence stood cancelled and the ownership of such land should remain with the government.
HML Vice President V. Venugopal, in a statement on Wednesday said: “Being in the business for over a century in the country, the lands held by us are all legitimately held. We have always complied with statutory regulations without any default.
“Through this high court order, all the doubts raised against our company is laid to rest and it will allow us to carry on with our normal business and focus more on growth and development of its estates protecting thousands of workers and their families.”
SM Krishna contradict rumours of rejoining the Congress
Veteran leader and former Chief Minister SM Krishna is continually in news particularly in light of his nonappearance from dynamic political scenes.
Krishna, who had joined the BJP in the wake of breaking all ties with the Congress around one year back has been passive in his ‘new house’.
Gossipy tidbits are overflowing that the veteran pioneer, who quit the Congress referring to that he has been sidelined, keeps on being sidelined even in the new party. Before long, news of Krishna wanting to backpedal to the Congress has been making rounds. As indicated by late reports, KPCC Chief Dr G Parameshwar and Minister DK Shivakumar had held one round of talks with the veteran pioneer and persuaded him to join the party once more. It is said that AICC Chief Rahul Gandhi has given green flag for the same.
However, SM Krishna himself has negated each of this statements. Responding to media reports of a crack between the BJP government and him, Krishna has said that he has been far from the political show and battling because of ‘time compels’.
“I will crusade for the saffron party if time permits,” Krishna has said.
Google celebrates K.L. Saigal’s 114th birthday
Google on Wednesday paid a Doodle tribute to the legendary singer-actor Kundanlal Saigal, considered India’s first ‘superstar’, on his 114th birth anniversary.
The Doodle, designed by Vidhya Nagarajan depicts Saigal sporting a kurta and a ‘gamcha’, with his well-oiled shiny hair side-parted to the right — as was his style — his spiritually dreamy eyes gazing up as he croons a number on a traditional microphone, against the backdrop of the Calcutta (Kolkata) of the early 1900s with visible road traffic.
The Indian film industry was born in Kolkata, before it gradually shifted to Mumbai in the mid-1930s to grow into Bollywood — the world’s biggest in terms of the sheer number of films produced and released annually.
Born on April 11, 1904 in Jammu, Saigal used to be accompanied his devout mother Kesarbai to various religious functions, while his father Amarchard remained busy as a courtier with the Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja.
He would listen keenly to the bhajans, kirtans and devotional songs often accompanied by classical music and dance, and also occasionally acted as Sita during the Ramlila celebrations in Jammu.
Dropping out after early schooling, the young Saigal took up odd jobs and tried to indulge in his passion for singing whenever he got a chance. He then met a businessman, Mehrchand Jain, and they became longtime friends, attending music concerts (mehfils and mushairas). They then shifted to Calcutta and Jain coaxed Saigal to pursue his singing career seriously — a fact later gratefully acknowledged by the legendary singer.
In the early 1930s, a classical exponent and music director, Harishchandra Bali, gave him his first break in singing, introduced him to well-connected people and Saigal landed a singing contract with B.N. Sircar’s New Theatres company on a fabulous salary of Rs 200 per month.
At that time, the silent films era, cradled by the venerable Dhundiraj Govind alias Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913 with “Raja Harishchandra”, was setting with the country’s first talkie, “Alam Ara”, released in 1931.
With his powerful, canorous, nasal yet mellifluous voice, Saigal easily managed to carve a niche for himself at the dawn of the talkie era.
Around that time, the Indian Gramophone Co. released Bali’s album comprising a couple of Punjabi songs rendered by Saigal, but it was only in 1932 that he first acted and sang under the screen name of ‘Saigal Kashmiri’ for three films — “Mohabbat Ke Aansu”, “Subah Ka Sitara” and “Zinda Laash”.
Unfortunately, all bombed at the box office and in 1933, he changed to his original name, Kundanlal Saigal, under which he acted and sang for “Yahudi Ki Ladki” and “Puran Bhagat”.
A set of four bhajans by Saigal in “Puran Bhagat” became a national rage, and after his next venture, “Chandidas” (1934), a new superstar was born in the fledgling Indian film industry.
Saigal then played the career-defining role of an alcoholic torn between the love of his life and a nautch girl in “Devdas” (1935), based on the similarly titled immortal classic by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The film was directed by P. C. Barua.
Though Saigal picked up Bengali well during his sojourn in Calcutta, the country’s first Nobel laureate, litterateur Rabindranath Tagore, first heard out Saigal before giving permission to a non-Bengali to sing his compositions.
Saigal did not let him down, and the singer became the darling of all Bengalis with his 30-odd songs in their ‘matrabhasa’ (Mother Tongue).
In those days, it was the norm to sing ‘live’ before the camera that recorded all, which finally gave way to ‘playback’ singing, till 1938, Saigal continued in the traditional style.
In 1941, he moved to Bombay (Mumbai) where the modern-day Bollywood had already taken strong roots with several top production houses churning out films in quick succession.
However, by that time, Saigal had become an incurable alcoholic which affected both his physical and professional health — there was a time when he could not sing a word before a taking a long swig.
In his short life-span of just 42 years, including 15 years as a professional actor-singer, Saigal left a treasure trove of over 36 films including 28 in Hindi, seven in Bengali and one Tamil, besides around 185 songs, many of which are hummed even today.
Among the best remembered films are: “Puran Bhagat”, “Devdas”, “President”, “Streetsinger”, “Chandidas”, “Tansen”, “Bhakta Surdas”, “My Sister”, and his final “Parwana” before his demise on January 18, 1947, when India was standing at the doorstep of Independence.
His songs include: “Ek Bangla Bane Nyara”, “Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya”, “Do Naina Matwale Tihare”, “Main Kya Janoo Kya Jadu Hai,” “Hum Apana Unhe Bana Na Sake”, “Babul Mora”, etc.
Besides bequeathing his own films and songs and inspiring many others like Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and more, with Mukesh even styling himself after Saigal in his early career.
There are thousands of Saigal fan clubs or music clubs, including in Mumbai, which congregate regularly to render his melodies and remember one of the greatest singers of India.
Yoga guru among 3 killed in UP accident
Three persons, including a yoga guru and a Congress leader, were killed on Wednesday in a three-vehicle pile-up on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district, police said.
The incident took place near Faguha Bhatia when a car was hit by another car coming from the wrong side. A third car also hit it from the rear.
Yoga guru Laxmipati Verma, who was a close associate of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, died on the spot along with Congress leader Dharam Raj Verma. Hari Mohan Agarwal (58), who was in another car, was also killed.
Six others who were critically injured were rushed to a hospital.
ED questions Delhi Minister Jain in money laundering case
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday questioned Delhi Health and Power Minister Satyendar Jain in connection with its probe into a money laundering case.
The agency had questioned Jain, an Aam Aadmi Party leader, on April 3 also for over five hours and recorded his statement in the alleged ‘proceeds of crime’ case.
The ED booked Jain and five others in the case last August after taking cognisance of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR against the AAP leader.
The CBI, in April last year, registered a Preliminary Enquiry against Jain on the basis of what it termed evidence it had collected in connection with the laundering of Rs 46.3 million in 2015-16.
Jain is accused of involvement in the crime through Kolkata-based Prayas Info Pvt Ltd, Akichand Developers and Mangalyatan Project Pvt Ltd. Jain and his wife were allegedly holding one third shares in these companies during the period.
Jain is also accused of laundering Rs 117.8 million in 2010-12 through these companies and Delhi-based Indo-Metal Index Pvt Ltd.
The Delhi Minister was accused of giving the money in cash through his employees and public associates to Kolkata-based entry operators and shell companies. Thereafter, the entry operators routed the black money in the form of investment in shares of Prayas Info Pvt Ltd, Akichand Developers, Mangalyatan Project Pvt Ltd, and Indo-Metal Index Pvt Ltd — all allegedly controlled by Jain.
“The shares were bought at a premium of 60 times the unit price,” the CBI had said.
Jain had technically resigned from the directorship of the companies in view of the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, the CBI official had said, adding that the money received back in the form of investment in shares was used by him for purchasing agricultural land valued at Rs 276.9 million in Delhi in the name of companies controlled by him.
Jain was accused of misusing his powers as Minister to get the agricultural land declared as residential land by the Delhi government to gain huge financial benefits.
The matter was referred to the CBI by the Income Tax Department under the new Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act.
The I-T Department in September 2016 summoned Jain for questioning on his alleged links with the firms under the scanner over hawala transactions of nearly Rs 170 million.
Jain had earlier said he made investments in these companies as an investor four years back but had withdrawn since 2013 and that he had done nothing wrong.
Wipro, SBI commit to electric vehicles globally
Global software major Wipro and India’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday committed transitioning their respective global fleets into electric vehicles by 2030.
Both became the first major Indian businesses to join the international non-profit organisation, The Climate Group’s, global electric vehicles initiative, EV100, for accelerating the roll-out of electric vehicles worldwide.
Wipro will begin rolling out its plan in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, involving nearly 2,000 vehicles, before addressing international markets, according to The Climate Group. It has already leased around 50 electric vehicles in Hyderabad and New Delhi.
In addition to transitioning to electric vehicles, SBI will also set up charging stations in major residential spaces to support the uptake of electric vehicles by its staff.
The news follows the launch of Centre’s National E-Mobility Programme in March, which will see the government purchasing 20,000 electric vehicles.
This is in line with India’s most recently stated ambition of ensuring that 30 per cent of all vehicles on the road are electric by 2030.
Through EV100, leading businesses can help increase demand for electric vehicles and improve the availability of charging infrastructure, currently a significant barrier to electric vehicle adoption in India.
The announcement by Wipro and SBI comes as The Climate Group has started rolling out EV100 in India, following its global launch in New York in September 2017.
“We are thrilled to welcome Wipro and SBI to EV100. Their leadership on electric vehicles will send a strong demand signal to the market in India and beyond,” The Climate Group India Director Jarnail Singh said.
“We expect many more companies to follow their lead, joining hands with the government to bring about a faster roll-out of electric vehicles, boosting low-carbon economic development for all,” added Singh.
To encourage employees to use electric vehicles, Wipro has also launched corporate vehicle ownership and lease programmes and installed charging points at all its major facilities in India.
(IANS)
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