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Archives for March 2019

India, Pakistan to discuss Kartarpur corridor

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C Indian and Pakistani officials will meet at Attari, near Amritsar, on Thursday for their first meeting to finalize the modalities of the Kartarpur corridor to enable Indian pilgrims to pray at the historic Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan.

The meeting, amid heightened tensions between both countries, is being held to discuss the draft agreement for setting up a dedicated corridor that will allow pilgrims from India to visit the Sikh shrine located in Pakistan without obtaining a visa.

Officials from the Home and Foreign Ministries of both countries will attend the meeting at Attari, 30 km from Amritsar.

Both sides will also have a technical level discussion on the alignment of the project.

The meeting will take place exactly a month after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed, triggering India-Pakistan tensions.

While Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has welcomed the decision of the Home Ministry to fasttrack the Kartarpur corridor, he wants “passport and visa free `khule darshan’ for pilgrims”.

Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) is highly revered.

The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, located about 4.5 km from the international border near the border town of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and was his final resting place.

The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara, located in Narowal district of Pakistan. The demand for this has been made by the Sikh community for the past over 70 years.

Kashmiris unhappy with Mirwaiz summons

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Srinagar, Nasheman News : The Kashmiri business community on Tuesday took strong exception to NIA summons issued against Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, terming it an “act of harassment” and said the government must “act more cordially” in the prevailing “abnormal conditions”.

“The business community in Kashmir believes that the NIA notice served to Mirwaiz is merely to harass him,” vice chair of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Abdul Hamid Mir said at a media conference here.

Referring to the socio-religious role played by the institutions headed by the Mirwaiz, Mir said: “These institutions uplift the poor, support orphans and impart education and Islamic values to a majority of the population.

Their contribution is unparalleled, the influential body of businessmen and industrialists claimed. 

“Any attempt to weaken these institutions and their leaders by making motivated accusations is a direct interference in our religious affairs.

“We firmly believe that under the present abnormal conditions prevailing in the state, the government should act more cordially to avoid harassment of Kashmiris,” Mir said.

“A concerted attempt is being made to cause disruptions and to provoke the peace-loving people of the valley. There are instances of assaults on Kashmiris outside the state.”

Hardik Patel Joins Congress

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Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who shot to fame by spearheading a quota stir in Gujarat, today joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi during the party’s Working Committee meet in Ahmedabad.

“Mahatma Gandhi started Dandi March this day and said he (Mahatma Gandhi) will overthrow the British. I am joining the same Congress party which, in the past, has been led by Subhash Chandra Bose, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, the people who worked to strengthen our country,” Hardik Patel said.

Mr Patel, 25, had last week made his intention to contest Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat’s Jamnagar constituency.

The Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by Poonamben Maadam of the BJP.

Hardik Patel had risen to prominence when he led an agitation by the Patidar community in 2015, demanding that the community should get benefits of the quota for backward castes.

He had backed the Congress in the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections in which the party gave a stiff competition to the BJP, winning 81 out of 182 assembly seats.

The Congress is eyeing the sizable Patidar votes for the upcoming polls to revive the party that had drawn a blank in the Lok sabha Election 2014.

The BJP had won all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the previous elections.

Ayodhya mediation begins, 3-member team aims to resolve mandir dispute

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The three-member Supreme Court appointed mediation team in the decades old Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case reached ground zero in Ayodhya on Tuesday.

The two mediators – senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – will oversee preparations being done by the state government ahead of the formal start of the mediation process. Meanwhile there are reports that former Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla would be reaching Ayodhya on March 15.

According to reports, the Yogi Adityanath government has come up with a mini secretariat inside the Awadh university campus to assist the Ayodhya mediation panel in its task. SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that a panel headed by former SC judge F M Kalifulla and comprising spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and well-known advocate-cum-mediator Sriram Panchu could conduct a dialogue with contending parties to arrive at a negotiated settlement. [Who are the mediators in Ayodhya dispute case?]

The mediation process will take place in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, and will remain confidential and closed to the media. The panel has been directed by the court to submit the status report within four weeks and the final report within eight weeks. Earlier on March 6, with Hindu parties, except the Nirmohi Akhara, steadfastly opposing mediation, terming it a futile exercise, and Muslim parties expressing willingness, the five member bench had reserved its verdict on the desirability of mediation for the contentious dispute and told the litigant parties to give names of mediators.

Agencies

Mayawati aide raided by Income Tax wing

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Nasheman News : The Lucknow and New Delhi residences of retired IAS officer Net Ram, a close aide of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, were raided by the Income Tax department on Tuesday, officials said.

IT officials said the raids were unleashed for suspected tax evasion running into several crores of rupees. More than a dozen locations were searched in all.

Considered close to the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, the 1979-batch IAS officer was part of a group of powerful bureaucrats who ran the show when Mayawati was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. 

He was Principal Secretary (Home) in 2007-12 and later rose to became Mayawati’s Principal Secretary. Post retirement, he advised Mayawati and was reportedly contemplating the Lok Sabha polls on BSP ticket.

Long weekend may affect voter turnout in city

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Bengaluru, the tech city, will hold the Lok Sabha elections on April 18. The polling date, however, is wedged between holidays — Mahaveer Jayanti on April 17 and Good Friday on April 19. It is a long weekend too.

Despite the election commission’s awareness campaigns to bring more voters to polling booths, the city is known for its poor voter turnout during elections.  In the 2018 assembly election, only 54.76% of residents voted in the city.

Now, the election commission will be creating awareness among people, so that the residents avoid going away on long picnics, therefore ensuring they do not skip the voting. 

“The whole country is going to an election in seven phases and the dates have been fixed accordingly. To improve voter turnout, we will be conducting various awareness programmes and campaigns,” BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, the district election officer.

“We have planned radio talk shows, TV shows and street plays to create awareness including a demonstration on voting to encourage the public to participate in the electoral process,” he added.

Veenapani, member of the Voters Forum said: “During these dates, there are school holidays. There is a chance of people planning picnics. This will affect the voter turnout in the city.”

There are 88,81,066 voters in Bengaluru, said Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad. The commissioner, who is also the district election officer (DEO), told reporters that out of the total voters in the city, 46,32,900 are male and 42,48,166 are female.

The commissioner, who is also the district election officer (DEO), told reporters that out of the total voters in the city, 46,32,900 are male and 42,48,166 are female.

Three Lok Sabha constituencies – Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Central, and Bengaluru South comes under the ambit of the DEO. “The polling in the three constituencies will be held on April 18. The residents can enroll themselves till March 16,” Prasad a…

“Citizens can call toll-free number ‘1959’ regarding any issue relating to the election,” he added. The city police will monitor the law and order. “We have taken action against 400 rowdy sheeters so far. Licensed firearms should be deposited at the police stations soon. We had registered 300 cases in the last election and 299 cases have been disposed of,” said T Suneel Kumar, city police commissioner.

Agencies

Businessman Dies After Hair Transplant.

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In a bizarre turn of events, a businessman from Mumbai’s Saki Naka died nearly two days after a hair transplant, as reported by a leading daily. The exact reason behind the death still remains a mystery as the autopsy findings are inconclusive.

However, doctors at the hospital where the hair transplantation was performed said the death was likely due to a strong allergic reaction.

43-year-old Shrawan Kumar Chaudhary reached Powai’s Hiranandani Hospital on Friday with breathing difficulty and swelling on his face and throat. Apparently, the doctor-on-duty had identified the signs like that of a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.

On reaching the hospital, Chaudhury went into a state of shock and a cardiologist was also summoned to revive his heart, but he passed away on Saturday around 6.45 AM. According to police, Chaudhary was implanted with 9,500 hair grafts in a procedure that lasted for over 15 hours.

A similar incident took place in the year 2016 when a final year medical student in Chennai, died after getting a hair transplant. 22-year-old Santosh died within two days after the surgery. The victim’s mother had said her son developed a fever immediately after the 10-hour-procedure that involved around 1,200 hair transplants.

Agencies

Woman dragged by robbers on bike on Women’s Day

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A 53-year-old woman who was waiting on a roadside in Delhi’s Janakpuri area was dragged by two men on their bike as she tried to stop them from snatching her purse, a video of which has gone viral.

On Friday around 4 pm, Shobha Kanwar was waiting outside a residential colony in Janakpuri area after getting down from a cab.

While she was on phone, confirming the address she had to visit for a meeting, two men came on a bike and tried to snatch her purse, police said.

As Kanwar held on to the bag, she fell down and was dragged for about 20-25 metres.

However, the bike-borne men managed to flee with the bag, which had about Rs 20,000 in cash, police said.

Kanwar alleged that no one came to her help despite the incident happening in a posh residential area of the national capital in broad daylight.

A CCTV footage of the incident has gone viral on social media websites.

In the video, several onlookers could be seen unmoved by the incident even as the woman gets dragged on.

Police have registered a case and is on lookout for the accused, who have been identified.

Kanwar, who runs a pre-nursery school in Najafgarh, claimed she lost a few essential documents, which were in the bag.

She sustained severe injuries on knees, hands, waist and face, officials said.

However, she immediately dialled police helpline number 100 and also lodged an e-FIR.

A case of theft was initially registered.

However, the e-FIR was later converted and sections of robbery have also been added, Sameer Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) said.

Police said the woman was initially hesitant in filing a case thinking of the process that it takes.

After 10 years, India no longer world’s top weapons importer

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India is no longer the world’s largest importer of weapons, a position it held for over a decade, with Saudi Arabia topping the global share of arms imports between 2014 and 2018, a leading Stockholm-based think tank that measures weapons imports over five-year periods said in a new report on Monday.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 12% of the global share of arms imports in that period, followed by India in second place with a 9.5% share, reveals the new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). With imports pegged at 4.2% of the global share, China is the world’s sixth-largest buyer of weapons.

Indian arms imports fell 24% between 2009-13 and 2014-18, the report said, adding that this was partly because of delays in deliveries of fighter jets and submarines produced under licence from Russian and French original equipment manufacturers.

While India has been trying to reduce its reliance on imported weapons, experts said the development could be considered noteworthy only if India stopped importing a particular weapon system because it was being manufactured locally under the Make in India initiative.

“The rider that imports may have fallen due to delayed deliveries can’t be ignored. It will be a little premature to start believing that the indigenous defence manufacturing activity has taken off,” said Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.

Russia’s arms exports to India fell 42% between 2009-13 and 2014-18, the report said. Russia, the country’s top arms supplier, accounted for 58% of India’s arms imports during the last five years, compared to 76% in the previous five-year period (2009-13), according to the report. Russia accounted for 70% of Chinese arms imports in 2014-18.

Russia’s arms sales to India have fallen in recent years with India looking to diversify its arms purchases and also seeking specialised weaponry. India has also started buying more from the US as strategic relationships between the two countries have improved.

Sipri said the US, Israel and France increased their arms exports to India in 2014-18.

Pakistan recorded a 39% dip in arms imports in 2014-18 compared to 2009-13, with the US becoming “increasingly reluctant” to provide military aid or sell arms to Pakistan, the report said. “US arms exports to Pakistan fell 81% between 2009-13 and 2014-18. Pakistan has instead turned to other suppliers. For example, in 2018 it ordered four frigates and 30 combat helicopters from Turkey,” it said, adding that Pakistan was the main recipient (37%) of arms from China during the last five years. China has become the primary exporter of unmanned combat aerial vehicles, it said.

Agencies

Lok Sabha poll : 600 all-women polling booths to be set up

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A total of 600 polling booths out of the 58,186 voting stations to be set up for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 18 and 23 will be managed by women personnel, an election official said on Monday.

“As part of ensuring gender equality and constructive participation of women in the electoral process, the Commission has directed to set up ‘all-women managed polling stations’,” said a statement from the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar’s office.

These booths will have women as polling staff, police and security personnel.

The state will have 58,186 voting stations for election to the 28 Lok Sabha seats in two phases — on April 18 for 14 seats and on April 23 for another 14 seats. Vote count will be held on May 23.

The southern state has a total of 5.03 crore registered voters.

The number of voting stations to be set up has been increased by 7%, from 54,265 polling booths in 2014 general elections, the statement said.

While this initiative has been taken to ensure participation of women in the electoral process, it should be noted that not many have been actively engaged in politics. Seeking reforms to the way political parties distribute seats, women from the state had taken to protests at Freedom Park on Friday demanding that political parties be mandated to reserve 50% of seats for women candidates. The protest was organised by ‘Shakti’ a non-partisan political collective, created to empower and enable more women to foray into politics.

The women took to sitting on one knee during the protest to highlight the lack of female representation in parliament, with several noting that women do not have 50% representation. 

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