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Late anti-freebie crusader Balaji is ‘Sarkar’ hero

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Nearly a year after the demise of 44-year-old anti-freebie crusader-advocate S. Subramaniam Balaji, Tamil movie “Sarkar” has stirred a controversy over the freebie schemes of the state government.

Protesters outside theatres in Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai have been
damaging the film’s banners and demanding the removal of certain scenes from A.R. Murugadoss directed political thriller that hit the screens this week.

The ruling AIADMK is angry at the Vijay starrer for criticsing their schemes. Many AIADMK ministers and party cadres expressed their displeasure over certain scenes by damaging banners of the film and cut-outs of the actor.

It is, however, neither Vijay nor Murugadoss, but the late Balaji, who deserves credit for this anti-freebie crusade. The political activist-lawyer died on November 2017, couple of months after meeting with a road accident and suffering head injuries.

Balaji had fought against the freebie schemes of the both the key Tamil Nadu parties — DMK and the AIADMK’s governments — going up to the Supreme Court.

The apex court in 2013, while not banning freebie schemes, had ordered the Election Commission to frame guidelines for political parties to announce freebies in their election manifestoes.

Balaji had strongly felt a golden opportunity was lost to reign in political parties from creating private assets out of public money to be in power.

The top court had observed that promising freebies in the election manifesto doesn’t amount to corrupt practice under Section 123 of the Representation of Peoples Act, while ordering the Election Commission to frame guidelines for political parties.

The court gave the ruling after Balaji filed the case against the distribution of free colour television sets by the DMK to the people as part of its pre-election promise in 2006.

In an attempt to outdo DMK, the AIADMK then under late J. Jayalalithaa promised mixers, grinders, fans and laptops and other freebies during 2011 assembly polls.

Cheap rice, free TV, free power, free stove, cash dole promises by political parties is nothing but “bribery”, Balaji had contended.

So, it is neither Vijay nor “Sarkar” director A.R. Murugadoss who could be termed as anti-freebie fighters but the young crusader Balaji.

A government cannot enrich private individuals out of consolidated funds. Giving free land or free TVs or monthly cash doles are precisely that, Balaji had said.

Hailing from a family of lawyers, Balaji’s father N. Sivasankaran is a High Court lawyer, his elder sister Mahalakshmi Ramaswamy is a lawyer, too.

IANS

Modi greets nation on Bhai Dooj

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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on the occasion of Bhai Dooj, a festival that celebrates the special bond between a brother and sister.

“Greetings to you all on the special occasion of Bhai Dooj, a festival that celebrates the strong brother-sister bond,” Modi said.

Besides Modi, several other political leaders also extended greetings.

“Wishing you lots of love, prosperity and happiness on the auspicious occasion of Bhai Dooj,” Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted.

“On the occasion of brother-sister’s precious relationships, I greet all the citizens on this occasion, this unbreakable bond of affection and trust will live long,” Union Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.

Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani also took to twitter and wrote: “Heartfelt greetings to all the people of Bhai Dooj festival, symbolizing the affection of brother and sister.”

Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also greeted tha nation on the occasion.

“Best wishes on the occasion of Bhai Dooj, a parv which strengthens the pious bond of love and affection between brothers and sisters. Happy Bhai Dooj,” Gehlot tweeted.

 

IANS

Temperatures improve in J&K

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 Ahead of the fresh spell of rain and snow forecast next week, minimum temperatures across Jammu and Kashmir improved on Friday.

Srinagar and Jammu recorded 1.0 and 12.5 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperatures, respectively, improving from Thursday’s minus 0.4 and 11.5, Met said.

“The lowest temperature was recorded in Kargil on Friday at minus 7.4, followed by Leh at minus 5.1 which was better than Thursday’s at minus 8.6 and minus 6.5, a Met official said.

The minimum temperature was 12 in Katra, 6.7 in Batote and 4.0 in both Bannihal and Bhaderwah towns.

Pahalgam and Gulmarg in the valley recorded minus 1.0 and minus 3.5, respectively.

From November 12 to November 14 rains and snow have been predicted for the state, with maximum activity on Tuesday.

IANS

 

Google CEO unveils new policy to address sexual harassment at workplace

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 Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said the company has worked out a new comprehensive policy to address diversity and sexual harassment that became a great concern of Google employees.

In an email to Google workers, Pichai on Thursday admitted that Google has “not always gotten everything right in the past,” for which he felt “sincerely” sorry and vowed to make some changes, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pichai’s disclosure came after over 20,000 Google employees worldwide walked out last week in protest of sexual harassment at the company and its improper handling of sexual misbehaviour allegations against top executives.

Google “will provide more transparency on how we handle concerns. We’ll give better support and care to the people who raise them,” said the Google CEO.

He said Google will take more powerful steps to address sexual harassment, including making arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims.

“We’re revamping the way we handle and look into your concerns… we will update and expand our mandatory sexual harassment training,” he said.

“We will double down on our commitment to be a representative, equitable, and respectful workplace,” Pichai promised.

The new policy changes unveiled by Google have virtually met most of the requirements by Google protesters, except the one that demanded a place for an employee representative on the company’s board.

Organisers of last week’s massive protests called for more transparency in handling sexual harassment, employee empowerment, and inequality over pay and work opportunities.

The global walkout spread to many countries in Europe, North America and Asia, including Britain, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and Google’s headquarters in Mountain View in northern California.

Case filed against BJP leader over Sabarimala remarks

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The Kerala Police on Thursday registered a case under non-bailable charges against state BJP President P.S. Sreedharan Pillai who has claimed that the Sabarimala issue provides a “golden opportunity” for the BJP to grow in Kerala.

The police have registered the case under Section 505 1(b) of the Indian Penal Code which refers to comments that can cause fear or alarm in the public and disturb peace.

The police action came after a media professional filed a complaint against Pillai for his inflammatory speech of last week.

Pillai said in a speech at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha here that he told the Sabarimala temple ‘tantri’ that it would be best to shut down the hill shrine if any woman in the 10-50 age tried to enter it following a Supreme Court verdict.

Pillai also said that the Sabarimala issue provided a “golden opportunity” for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to expand its political footprint.

When the case was registered, Pillai, a lawyer, was on a ‘rath yatra’ that was flagged off from Kasargode and will reach Pathanamtitta district, where the Sabarimala temple is located, on November 13.

IANS

Next big Himalayan earthquake: Doon Valley watch out

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The Garhwal-Kumaon segment of the northwest (NW) Himalayas is seismically the “most vulnerable section” of the region with a potential to generate great earthquakes, warns a new study by researchers from multiple institutions in India.

Their findings, reported in the journal “Earth and Planetary Science Letters”, is based on analysis of five years (2013-2018) of continuous GPS measurements from 28 stations located in the Garhwal-Kumaon Himalayas and the adjoining Indo-Gangetic plains.

Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate, the Himalayan mountain range runs in an arc, about 2,400-km long, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.

Partly in India and partly in western Nepal, the NW Himalayas have not experienced a great earthquake since at least 1505, Vineet Gahalaut director of the National Centre for Seismology in New Delhi and corresponding author of the paper, told this correspondent.

An analysis of GPS measurements of crustal deformation suggests “strong seismic coupling” underneath Garhwal-Kumaon region, he said. Strong inter-plate coupling means the fault below Garhwal-Kumaon segment is “locked” and capable of accumulating stress. The width of the coupled region, according to the report, is estimated to be about 85 km.

This strongly-coupled region must have accumulated a “slip” of more than 7 meters since the last earthquake in 1505 “which is enough to produce a great earthquake in the region”, the researchers claim. Slip is the relative displacement of formerly adjacent points on opposite sides of a fault.

According to their report, GPS measurements found the convergence rate in this part of the Himalayas is about 18 millimeters per year which has continued for more than 500 years — making this slice of the geological fault “one of the most earthquake-vulnerable segments of the Himalayan arc.”

The network of GPS sites in the Garhwal Himalayas, the densest anywhere along the Himalayan arc, “provides the most reliable estimate of spatial variations of site velocities in the Himalayas,” the authors say.

“The derived coupling map from GPS measurements has implications for seismic hazard in the Garhwal-Kumaon region,” says the report, adding that the regions of high-coupling would be the regions of high seismic energy release during future earthquakes.

“Taking the analogy from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake and 1985 Mexico earthquake, the sediment filled valleys, such as the Dehradun valley in the Garhwal region, are expected to be the regions of potentially more damage in future events.”

This has serious implications in terms of seismic hazards, the report says, “as the population density is higher in the frontal Himalayas and its contiguous Indo-Gangetic plains, thus exposing more people to high, near-field ground shaking.”

Besides this, the unconsolidated sediments in the Indo-Gangetic plains can cause more structural damage during earthquakes and also liquefaction — wherein saturated soil behaves more like a liquid than a solid — as happened in the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake, says the report.

Besides Gahalaut, the study team included scientists from Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar; National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad; V.C.S.G. Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Pauri; Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun and G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development, Almora.

Chittenipattu Puthenveettil Rajendran, seismologist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, says the study “reiterates an earlier premise that the central Himalaya is strongly coupled and is waiting to break in a great earthquake anytime sooner”.

The Garhwal-Kumaon segment of the Himalayan arc (including parts of Nepal and India) never had a great earthquake during the last 600-700 years, Rajendran told this correspondent. “That means more than 20 meters of seismic slip is accumulated over these years, which can be released only by one or more great earthquakes (Mw >8.5) in the region.”

“This poses a serious hazard for the Himalayan region and the heavily-populated adjacent Gangetic alluvial plains — not seriously considered by the government,” Rajendran noted.

IANS

SC ban on firecrackers flouted, air pollution increased six times

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The Supreme Court ban during Diwali was violated in full swing across Delhi and NCR with people bursting firecrackers till late night leading to thick haze on Thursday morning and deteriorating air quality, which experts say was six times higher than normal.

“The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi and National Capital Region between 8 and 9 p.m. on Wednesday was recorded around 150-160. It continued increasing slowly and crossed 250 (severe category) by 3 a.m. The AQI crossed 300 (very severe category) by 6 a.m. The AQI index increased because of bursting of firecrackers,” a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) official told IANS requesting anonymity.

Asked if the CSE has any data on bursting of firecrackers in Delhi and NCR, the official said: “CSE is not taking much stand exactly on firecrackers this time but it (pollution) was 6.5 times higher in Delhi and NCR than the standard (60) category within 24 hours.”

Delhiites continued to burst firecrackers on Diwali long after the 10 p.m. deadline set by the Supreme Court. Despite the apex court’s order imposing stringent rules on sale of firecrackers and its use, people managed to buy it illegally from the sellers in neighbourhood markets.

Violations of the Supreme Court order were reported from the areas comprising IP Extension, Mayur Vihar’s Phase I, II and Extension in east Delhi, Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, Lutyens Delhi, Dwarka in west Delhi and most of the sectors in Noida.

The police admitted that there were violations, adding that they would take serious legal action against sellers.

The Supreme Court had allowed bursting of firecrackers from 8 pm to 10 pm only on Diwali and other festivals. It had also allowed the manufacture and sale of only “green crackers”, which have a low light and sound emission and less harmful chemicals.

The court had asked the police to ensure that banned firecrackers were not sold and said in case of any violation, the station house officer (SHO) of the police station concerned would be held personally liable and it would amount to committing contempt of court.

Delhi Police said it seized over 1,300 kg of firecrackers during overnight operation on Diwali across the city following tip off, arrested over 50 people and registered more than 25 cases.

Of the seizure, over 700 kg of firecrackers were seized from south Delhi, 140 kg from North West Delhi, 200 kg from Dwarka, 278 kg from South East and 72 kg form North Delhi, said police.

The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) department said it received a total of 501 calls within 32 hours — between 12.1 a.m. on Wednesday and 8 a.m. on Thursday — on the occasion of Diwali. It was all time higher since 2007.

The DFS said it received 271 calls — 256 related to fire and 15 of rescue and other — between 12.1 a.m. to 11.59 p.m. on Wednesday. From 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. the DFS said to have received 230 fire calls.

The number calls received by DFS during Diwali was 204 in 2017 and 243 in 2016, 290 in 2015, 211 in 2014, 177 in 2013, 184 in 2012, 206 in 2011, 169 in 2010, 207 in 2009, 158 in 2008 and 184 in 2007.

Chief fire officer (DFS) Atul Garg told IANS the fire related calls were received from all across the national capital and the peak time was between 6 p.m. on Wednesday to 6 a.m. on Thursday. “A total of 223 calls were received during this period.”

IANS

MP polls: BJP releases 3rd list of 32 candidates

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The BJP Thursday released its third list of 32 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election slated for November 28, fielding Akash Vijayvargiya, the son of the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, from Indore-3 seat and former minister Rakesh Choudhry from Bhind.

With this list, the party has so far released the names for 226 seats in the 230-member MP House. The party has fielded former Bhopal Mayor Krishna Gaur from Govindpura seat of Bhopal in place of former chief minister and her father-in-law, Babu Lal Gaur.

It has denied a ticket to minister of state Surya Prakash Meena from Shamshabad seat in Vidisha district. Akash Vijayvargiya is contesting his maiden election, and has been fielded from the tough Indore-3 seat which has a sizable population of the minority community.

The party’s fiery leader, Usha Thakur, who had wrested the Indore-3 seat from the Congress in 2013 Assembly polls has been shifted to Mhow seat, also in Indore district. Mhow seat is currently held by Kailash Vijayvargiya. Mhow is the birth place of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar. Choudhry Rakesh Singh has been nominated from Bhind.

Ajit Borasi, the son of former Congress MP Premchand Guddu who joined the BJP recently, has been fielded from Ghattiya (SC) seat in Ujjain district in place of Ashok Malviya who was given the party ticket in the first list announced on November 2, party sources said.

Ghattiya seat at present is represented by Satish Malviya of the BJP who has been denied a ticket this time. From Rajpur seat in Barwani district, the BJP has fielded Antar Patel in place of his father Devi Singh Patel, who was declared as the party candidate in the first list but died recently.

Among the 32 names announced Thursday, the BJP has dropped its sitting MLAs Narendra Singh Kushwah from Bhind, Babulal Gaur from Govindpura, Mukesh Choudhry from Mehgaon, Kailash Vijaywargiya from Mhow, Satish Malviya from Ghattiya, Ghanshyam Pironiya from Bhander (SC) and Sanjay Sharma from Tendukheda. Sanjay Sharma had joined Congress recently.

The other sitting MLAs who have been dropped are Govind Singh Patel from Gadarwara, Suryaprakash Meena from Shamshabad, Inder Singh Parmar from Kalapipal and Shantilal Bilwal from Jhabua. “Now only six seats are left for which the BJP has to declare candidates. These are Panna, Lakhnadoun, Seoni Malwa, Bhopal North, Mahidpur and Garoth,” state BJP spokesperson Sarvesh Tiwari said.

The party has reposed faith in 11 sitting MLAs by renominating them from the respective seats they won in 2013. These include Anil Jain from Niwadi, Lakhan Patel from Patharia, Moti Kashyap from Badwara, Arun Bhimawat from Shajapur and Rajendra Verma from Sonkutch.

The other sitting MLAs to be have been renominated are Manoj Patel from Depalpur, Sudarshan Gupta from Indore-1, Ramesh Mendola from Indore-2, Indore Mayor Malini Gaud from Indore-4, Mahendra Hardia from Indore-5 and Rajesh Sonkar from Sanver.

IANS

Demonetisation anniversary: Congress tears into Modi

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 Ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “knowledge of economics”, the Congress on Thursday ripped into him for the “reckless” decision of demonetisation that it said wrecked the economy and consumed many lives.

On the second anniversary of the Modi’s 2016 decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, the Congress launched a campaign “Destruction by Demonetisation” highlighting the havoc caused by the move and how it was a complete failure.

The party will also hold a nationwide protest on Friday.

A host of party leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came out in stringent criticism of demonetisation.

Calling it an “ill-fated” and “ill-thought” exercise, Singh said the scars and wounds of the decision were only getting more visible with time and its deeper ramifications were still unravelling.

He asked the government not to indulge in any further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that could cause more uncertainty in the economy and financial markets.

Singh said November 8 was a day to remember how economic misadventures can roil the nation for a long time and asked the government to restore certainty and visibility in economic policies.

“Today marks the second anniversary of the ill-fated and ill-thought demonetisation… The havoc that it unleashed on the Indian economy and society is now evident to everyone.

“It is often said that time is a great healer. But unfortunately, in the case of demonetisation, the scars and wounds of demonetisation are only getting more visible with time,” he said in a statement.

Singh said that beyond the steep drop in headline GDP growth numbers after demonetisation, the deeper ramifications of note ban were still unravelling.

“Small and medium businesses that are the cornerstone of India’s economy are yet to recover from the demonetisation shock,” he added.

“Notebandi (note ban) impacted every single person, regardless of age, gender, religion, occupation or creed.”

Addressing the media, former union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma held Modi solely responsible for the note ban and called it a money laundering scheme that helped the BJP and its industrialist cronies.

“It was an arbitrary and reckless decision that led to economic disaster and misery, deaths of large number of citizens, loss of millions of jobs and wiping out of small traders and businesses,” said Sharma.

“The PM will never oblige with answer either to the media or Parliament. He is less than literate in economics and less knowledgeable in history. So he makes his own history and his own economics. He thinks he is wiser then (John Maynard) Keynes when it comes to economics because no PM in the world would do what he has done,” he said.

Sharma also said that Modi’s claims that the Indian economy was running on black money tarnished the country’s image globally.

The Congress leader also ridiculed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who on the day sought to justify demonetisation saying it was aimed at “formalising the economy”.

“The Finance Minister should stay away from defending the decision as he was never consulted before when it was taken. His defences are an insult to the people of the nation who suffered countless miseries.

Never before a finance minister has been reduced to an apologist of an arrogant Prime Minister,” said Sharma dismissing Jaitley’s arguments in support of demonetisation.

IANS

Pak seizes Indian and other DTH worth Rs 7.83 cr in nation-wide crackdown

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Pakistan authorities have seized smuggled Indian and other Direct-To-Home (DTH) equipment worth Rs 7.83 crore from various markets in a nation-wide crack down against the illegal devices, revealed a report.

The report was submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday after it took up a suo motu case relating to easy availability of Indian DTH or magic box in the Pakistani market.

The DTH Satellite TV is the latest technology to deliver digital TV satellite service to households.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan was also told that 30 FIRs had been lodged during the crackdown and 39 people arrested by the Customs Department and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Dawn reported.

The report, which was furnished before the apex court through Additional Attorney General Nayyar Abbas Rizvi, said that the nationwide enforcement operations has ended the commercial sale and availability of smuggled DTH equipment in the local markets.

During the last hearing, the apex court had constituted a committee consisting of member (customs), the FIA’s additional director general and a member of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to find out the source of smuggled goods and to take steps to curb the smuggling.

The report recalled that the Federal Board of Revenue has also enhanced enforcement measures adopted by the customs field formations which resulted in seizures of goods and other contraband items, including DTH equipment worth Rs24.8 billion during 2017-18.

However, the report conceded that mere enforcement measures would not be sufficient to completely root out the transportation or availability of DTH equipment used for illegal broadcasting of Indian content in the country. Therefore, a holistic strategy needs to be worked out by all agencies/regulators to address this issue.

The committee constituted by the apex court proposed measures like the PEMRA’s suggestion to grant concessions from duty or taxes for the import of equipment and other accessories to successful bidders in the awarding of DTH licences a process which is in progress and likely to be completed soon.

In the absence of local DTH, the subscribers were opting for other illegal means, which include Indian DTH services, the report said.

The PEMRA has also suggested a technological solution which can effectively disrupt the reception and rebroadcast of Indian content using smuggled DTH equipment or those imported through regular channels after modifications by the local vendors, the report said.

However, the report called for support from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for blocking the internet protocols addresses of the websites which were either running the illegal C-Line/CC-CAM or advertising the illegal Indian DTH in Pakistan.

PTI

 

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