After nearly a decade, Rashtrapati Bhavan will not host an Iftar party this year with President Ram Nath Kovind stating that there should no religious observance at taxpayer’s expense at the public building.

“After the President took office in July 2017, he directed Rashtrapati Bhavan being a public building, there would be no religious observances at taxpayer expense. This is in keeping with the principles of a secular state and applies to all festivities, irrespective of religion,” Ashok Tandon, Press Secretary to the President, said in a tweet.

He said that the President wishes all fellow citizens on all major religious festivals.

“Officials and employees living in the President’s Estate premises are absolutely free to celebrate any religious festival of their choice in the privacy of their homes. President’s Estate has religious institutions, such as a temple, a gurdwara and a masjid, erected by and for residents. On major festive occasions, the President does visit these to wish people. For example, he recently visited the masjid to mark the holy month of Ramadan,” he added.

Officials said that Iftar parties have been traditionally hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan except during the term of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2002-2007).

The opposition disrupted the Kerala Assembly on Monday demanding a CBI probe into the alleged honour killing of a 24-year-old man in Kottayam district for which four policemen have been suspended.

The opening session of the assembly ended early as the Congress-led opposition went up in arms staging protests near the Speaker’s podium, as P. Sreeramakrishnan adjourned the house for the day after quickly running through the listed business.

On 28 May, the Kerala Police had fished out the body of Kevin Joseph, who had married Neenu Chacko, 20, belonging to a higher caste. His autopsy revealed he was tortured to death, allegedly by the bride’s kin.

Replying to an Adjournment Motion moved by Kottayam MLA and senior Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said strict action has already been initiated against erring police officers. The District Superintendent of Police has also been transferred.

“We see the accused as murderers, most of them have been arrested who were part of the heinous killing of a young man who married, which was not digested by the girl’s family, who resorted to annihilation of the man.

“This is an incident which should never have happened in our state. Already action against the erring policemen have begun. The accused have been arrested and please don’t bring in politics into the case.

“If you do so, then it should be noted that the key accused in the case have Congress affiliations. We see the accused as murderers and there will be no let down in the probe in the case,” said Vijayan.

Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala, however, pointed out that the prime accused in this case was none other than Vijayan, himself, who has been an abject failure as the Home Minister.

“In the past months, Vijayan has apologised for the failure of the police on several occasions and the situation today is it has now become a habit.

“The need of the hour today is to find out the real cause, on what has happened to the Kerala Police. The arrested police officers in this case have now secured bail. The truth in the case will not come out, hence only a CBI probe would suffice,” said Chennithala.

Soon after his speech, the opposition legislators shouting slogans approached the Speaker’s podium, who then adjourned the House.

Those arrested in the case include Neenu Chacko’s father, brother and eight hired killers who were responsible for the abduction and death of Kevin Joseph

Customs Department proposes new simplified procedures for exports through India Post
Indian Customs and Department of India Posts held a First ever Joint Conference at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi to deliberate on streamlining of imports and exports by post. Commissioners of Customs from all the States having Foreign Post Offices (FPOs) were present along with their counterpart Post Master Generals.

Imports and exports by post are the 6th highest cited citizen grievances under CPGRAMs. Customs and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) have worked together since a year to liberalise, reform and align laws relating to imports by Post. Since 2016, e-Commerce exports had been allowed through FPOs under MEIS incentives from the post offices at Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.

Now, Customs may be leading the reform race by permitting e-commerce exports through all FPOs, though without MEIS benefits for now. One of the major bottlenecks in the Postal System is the absence of Professional Logistics Companies which can facilitate SMEs going global through online presence and leaving postal logistics to third parties.

In order to cater to the SMEs and what may come as a major boost to the Make in India program, Customs are proposing new simplified procedures for exports through India Post. In a progressive move, Amazon and DHL had been invited for making presentations on global best practices and identifying bottlenecks faced by exporters in India.

“From a private sector perspective, it was great to see customs and posts coming together to find solutions for Indian e-commerce”, said Dr. Pritam Banerjee, Director (South Asia) from DHL.

Chief Commissioner of Customs, Sunil Sawhney, said that improvement in infrastructure at Foreign Post Offices and leveraging strengths of postal department’s pan-India outreach can unlock massive export potential.

Customs is planning some of these initiatives on the back of introducing non-intrusive technologies like x-ray scanning at Foreign Post offices to expedite release of goods. These measures are also likely to control smuggling of narcotics, as evidenced from the recent seizure of 300,000 tablets of psychotropic substances. In order to strengthen law enforcement, Customs will scan mail bags at the airports itself for identifying suspect consignments and contraband items.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Voting began across Karnataka on Saturday to elect its 15th legislative assembly amid tight security and heightened vigil.

“A single-phase polling began at 7.00 a.m. in 222 of the 224 assembly constituencies, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST),” said an official.

Polling in Bengaluru’s Raja Rajeshwari Nagar segment has been postponed to May 28 in the voter ID cards case and countermanded in the city’s Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

The state has over 5.07-crore electorate, including 2.62-crore men and 2.5-crore women. New voters are 15,42,000 in the 18-19 age group.

Voting is being held in 58,008 polling stations of 30 districts across the state, with 600 of them as pink booths, manned by all-women personnel, and 28 ethnic booths.

IANS

a press conference here she disclosed that the law and order situation in the state is under control and adequate measures have been taken well in advance keeping the requirements in this connection.

In fact preparations for the polls has begun since January itself and several rounds of preparatory meetings have been conducted in this connection she informed.Even much before the notification was issued preparatory work has commenced she said.

Along with the state policemen central contingents and 585 Central Reserve Police units,Chattisgarh,Goa,Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu.Kerala and Telangana policemen are being deployed for providing security to the poll process.

In addition services of 22,000 Home Gaurds staff is being made use of while 82,157 cops are entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to the polling booths,told the state Police chief.

In addition the services of Fire Fighting Squad and Prison department is also being made use of while for the first time Lokayukta policemen are involved in providing security to the poll process.

All along the state borders help from the neighbouring states security personnel has been sought while CISF staff have been given the role of providing security to the Strong Rooms housing the EVMs’.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

The Prime Minister of Nepal K.P.Sharma Oli has said that he is looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his State visit to Nepal.
In a tweet, Oli said that he is confident that PM Modi visit will contribute to further deepen mutual goodwill, understanding and cooperation between the two countries.
Nepalese PM also said that he expects that development journey of India and Nepal will benefit from Modi’s vision of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Today we have with us Mr. Vinod the manager of sherlock’s pub kammanahalli talking to Vanessa George a correspondent from NASHEMAN.IN
Sherlock’s opened in 2016 august 7th and Vinod has been working there from august 16th 2016, he says he’s happy with his job and the owners are very helpful and are opened to suggestions. He says that sherlocks (kammanahalli) has always been a safe place for women and for families but it depends on the people who come in because in all pubs we do get unpleasant crowd at times. They have a few regular people who keep an eye on everything as well as bouncers who stay in the crowd and hidden cameras to replay any unforsaken scene and their employees are briefed about everything including safety measures. Vinod says sherlock’s (kammanahalli) is definitely safe for women, every Thursday is laddies night and on that day the staff wear pink t-shirts which says we care for women’s safety.
Views of a regular customer- on the whole the place is amazing and safe, the staff are incredible and very friendly, she says she is truly a very happy regular customer because the place feels like home.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today that constitutional posts must be respected and their propriety should not be questioned, amid a raging debate over a demand by a few opposition parties led by the Congress to impeach Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Singh said Congress president Rahul Gandhi is doing politics over “non-issues”.

“By levelling these allegations, people cannot be misled. Issue-based politics should be done. This is a result of Rahul Gandhi’s disappointment as he has no issue (to talk on),” he said. “Our government gives full respect to constitutional posts and their jurisdictions. We must respect their decisions,” he said in response to a question by a reporter.

Singh’s reaction came in the backdrop of a notice submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on April 20 by seven opposition parties led by the Congress to impeach CJI Misra. The unprecedented petition against a sitting chief justice had listed five allegations of “misbehaviour”.

On April 23, Naidu rejected the notice, saying the petition lacked “substantial merit”. He had held consultations with legal and constitutional experts before taking the decision. The Union home minister, who was in Mirzapur to attend a wedding, also said that India’s relations with China “is moving in the right direction” and Beijing has assured full cooperation.

“Hence, the preparations going on in areas bordering China will continue,” Singh said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from China yesterday after holding their first-ever informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting has raised hopes of bilateral relation improving following tensions on a host of issues, including the Doklam military standoff last year.

On the Kashmir issue, Singh said the “military action in Kashmir is moving in the right direction and we will continue with this action”. “We do not believe in expansionist policy and there is no change in our Kashmir policy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently chairing a Cabinet meeting during which an ordinance to award death penalty to those convicted of raping a child up to 12 years of age is likely to come up for discussion.
Against the backdrop of outrage over the incidents of rape of minors in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao and Jammu’s Kathua, the government reportedly plans to bring the ordinance to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act). While the meeting is underway, another rape case, this time of a four-month-old baby in MP’s Indore, has triggered outrage. Sources added that the Union Cabinet is also likely to discuss an ordinance on preventing loan defaulters from leaving the country since the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 could not be taken up in the disruptions-hit Budget Session.

There are contradicting records of the numbers of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in stock, their costs, their mode of transportation and other details, as per replies received under the Right to Information Act.

Further, it has emerged that no audits have been conducted by the State Election Commissions of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh on EVMs.

Seeking to corroborate the information received from Election Commission of India (ECI), Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bengaluru, Mumbai RTI activist Manoranjan S. Roy had sought information on EVMs from two major states — Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh — and received alarming replies.

The Maharashtra State Election Commission (M-SEC) informed on May 2, 2017 that since 2014-2017, it had not conducted any audit pertaining to the number of EVMs, their cost, the security staff, mode of transportation of the EVMs, etc.

However, M-SEC confirmed it is in possession of 76,250 Balloting Units (BUs) and 76,050 Controlling Units (CUs) — the two parts of the EVM system. Additionally, the ECI had provided it with another 15,000 BUs and 110,000 CUs, each costing Rs.9,200 (BU+CU). But it gave no information on the number of defective EVMs lying with it.

When probed further on this, major differences came up in the information provided by the ECI on March 03, 2017 and July 01, 2017 — which points a needle of suspicion towards misuse of EVMs, Roy contended.

In response to a query, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that for corporation elections on February 21, 2017, it had set up 7,304 polling centres in which it deployed 8,161 BUs and 7,304 CUs.

At that time, 136 BUs and 752 CUs were were found to be defective prior to the elections and another 16 BUs and 15 CUs broke down on election day.

To similar queries, the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission (UP-SEC) said on 08-05-2017 that it had deployed a total 159,791 BUs and 147,164 CUs in the February-March 2017 assembly elections.

Like M-SEC, the UP-SEC also stated that no audits were conducted for the same, adding the (audit) could be available with ECI.

There were differences in the number of EVMs the UP-SEC said it had received from ECIL in 2012, since the ECIL had already made it clear it had not supplied any EVMs to any state during 2006-2013.

Also, the ECI and UP-SEC figures differ vastly on number of polling booths. According to UP-SEC, the total number of polling booths set up were 190,388 in Assembly elections 2017 while the ECI said the number of booths were 11,356 — an obviously incorrect figure.

For those elections, the BEL supplied 139,438 BUs and 105,218 CUs of Model M2MEK, and ECIL supplied 84,480 BUs and 85,170 CUs from five different states, totaling to 224,918 BUs and 190,388 CUs for the assembly polls.

Again at variance with the ECIL’s replies, the UP-SEC said on 30-10-2017 that in 2011, the company had supplied 16,730 BUs and 12,100 CUs for a payment of Rs 142.86 crore plus transportation and VAT of Rs 32,276.

The ECIL had earlier stated that from 2006-2013, it had not supplied any EVMs to any state, as per RTI reply of 16-09-2017.

No transportation details were provided by UP-SEC on grounds that the EVMs were received from different states across India.

The UP-SEC said for the 2017 elections, it received 6,000 BUs and 3,000 CUs from Maharashtra plus another 81,800 BUs and 47,750 CUs from the ECIL, contradicting the UP-SEC’s own figures which said on 08-05-2017 it had deployed a total 159,791 BUs and 147,164 CUs in the assembly elections.

On January 11, 2018, the Madhya Pradesh-State Election Commission (MP-SEC) had supplied on loan 50,000 BUs and 25,000 CUs of EVM Model M1 to the UP-SEC.

“The RTI replies by both Maharashtra and UP SEC’s show they have not conducted audits, maintained proper accounts, there are contradictions galore among all the concerned agencies on the number of EVMs supplies Or received, raising serious doubts on where such huge amounts of public money have actually gone,” Roy said.

“There are absolutely no records of which EVMs were actually used for elections, how many are defective or defunct, why and which different models were deployed, who has approved these different models, the type of software-hardware used and whether they are hack-proof, whether the software is dedicated (exclusive) or purchased from the markets, etc,” Roy said.

The net result is that large stocks of unaccounted EVMs along with BUs/CUs are lying with various state elections commissions all over India and prone to severe misuse by vested interests during different elections where they are deployed, he explained, adding that Karnataka elections are coming up in May 2018.

Moreover, since the past 30 years, there is continuous purchase of EVMs by the ECI for the elections, but even the basic details are missing.

“There’s clearly (unexplained discrepancy) running into many thousands of crores of rupees, blatantly going on since nearly three decades. If this is the situation in just two states, the state of affairs in all other states can well be imagined,” Roy said.

All this calls for a thorough review of the authentic stock position of all EVMs from 1989, the number of non-functional or defective EVMs of both the suppliers and the available stocks with all states, the models and software installed, etc, well before the next general elections, Roy demanded.

Roy has filed a Public Interest Litigation in Bombay High Court, seeking directions to all parties to provide all records/documents pertaining to EVMs, setting up of a suitable probe panel to ban EVMs till the logical outcome of the probe.