A Mangaluru City Councillor has filed a police complaint on Monday against Union minister Ravishankar Prasad, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and MP Shobha Karandlaje for using her picture in BJP’s ‘chargesheet against Congress government’.

In her complaint submitted to Police Commissioner T.R. Suresh on Monday, Congress Councillor from Hosabettu ward Prathiba Kulai alleged that the BJP has wrongly used her photograph in the charge sheet referring to the alleged harassment to BBMP councillors Manjula Narayanaswamy and Mamata Vasudev.

Ms. Kulai said that BJP has defamed her. She has sought action against Mr. Prasad, who released the booklet and also against Mr. Yeddyurappa and Ms. Karandlaje.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: After widespread criticism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday withdrew within hours his government’s order that threatened to take away the accreditation of journalists found propagating fake news.

“(The) Prime Minister has directed that the press release regarding fake news be withdrawn and the matter should only be addressed in the Press Council of India,” an official source said.

The order issued on Monday night warned that journalists would be denied access to the government even on mere accusations of spreading fake news and could lose their accreditation for a limited period or permanently.

Journalists and opposition parties took a serious note of the order issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and described the guidelines as an attack on press freedom.

(IANS)

Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit questioned the Central government’s new guidelines to check the fake news.

“What is the definition of fake news? In a democratic system, any kind of restrictions on the media is equal to killing democracy” she said.
She added “Today, we only get to see the news that is pro-govt. India has always believed in a free media and that should continue.”

In an effort to check the spread of fake news in electronic and print media, the government on Monday came out with new guidelines for issuing and withdrawing Press Information Bureau accreditation to journalists.

Under the new guidelines, any complaints regarding fake news will be referred to the Press Council of India (PCI) for print media and to the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) in case of electronic media.

The two bodies will determine whether the news is fake or not.

The determination is expected to be completed within 15 days. Once the complaint is registered for determination of fake news, the correspondent or journalist whoever created or propagated the fake news will, if accredited, have the accreditation suspended till such time the determination regarding the fake news is made by the regulating agencies mentioned above.

The Accreditation Committee of the PIB, which consists of representatives of both PCI and NBA, will be reached out for validating the accreditation request of any news media agency.

“While any confirmation of publication or telecast of fake news having been confirmed by any of these agencies, the accreditation shall be suspended for a period of six months in the first violation and for one year in the case of second violation and in the event of third violation it would be cancelled permanently,” the release added.

The press release further justified the amendment by claiming, “While examining the requests seeking accreditation, the regulatory agencies will examine whether the `Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ and `Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’ prescribed by the PCI and NBA respectively are adhered to by the journalists as part of their functioning. It would be obligatory for journalists to abide by these guidelines”.

New Delhi: Keeping up his offensive against the BJP, Congress president Rahul Gandhi today targeted Union minister Piyush Goyal for his alleged links to the promoter of a company in default of Rs 650 crore.

Gandhi used the hashtag PiyushGhotala in his tweet, which also mentioned BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son Shaurya Doval and fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi.

After Shah-Zada’s interesting tales, Shaurya-Gaatha’ and Chhote Modi”s’ big exploits, BJP presents Shirdi ka Chamatkar’, Gandhi said on Twitter.

He attached a media report alleging that the promoter of a company, which had Shirdi in its name and was in default of Rs 650 crore, has ties with Goyal, the union minister for railways and coal.

The Congress chief has earlier attacked Jay Shah over the sudden increase in the turnover of his company and Shaurya Doval for “conflict of interest” for allegedly getting funds for the “India Foundation”, which is run by him and has several union ministers and top BJP leaders on its board.

Gandhi and the Congress have dubbed Nirav Modi, an accused in the multi-crore fraud involving PNB, ‘Chhota Modi’.

The Congress chief has launched an offensive against the BJP and its leaders over allegations of graft while seeking to puncture the claim that there is no corruption in Narendra Modi-led government.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: Swaraj India, led by psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav, would contest in a dozen seats in the May 12 Karnataka Assembly election, said an official on Tuesday.

“As a new and young party, we are making a modest beginning to contest in a dozen assembly constituencies in the state to usher in probity, transparency and accountability in electoral politics,” Swaraj India Spokesman B. David told IANS here.

Releasing the first list of candidates, Yadav said the party would contest two seats in Mandya district, one each in Bengaluru, Chamarajanagara, Chitradurga and Yadgir districts.

The contestants are Darshan Puttannaiah from Melukote and S.H. Linge Gowda from Maddur in Mandya, K.P. Bhoothaiah from Challakere in Chitradurga, S. Srikantaswamy from Hanur in Charamajanagar, Ramesh Chandra from Mahadevapura in Bengaluru and Vaijanath Patil from Yadgir in the state’s northwest area.

The 18-month-old party will declare the remaining six or more candidates in the ensuing days, as the Election Commission will notify the Assembly election on April 17, with April 25 the last date for submitting names and April 27 for withdrawal in the single-phase poll. The counting of votes is on May 15.

Deploring the ideological and political vacuum in the country, Yadav told about 200 members of the party’s state unit that there was no political force in the country to strengthen democracy, diversity and development.

The party’s state unit coordinator Devanoor Mahadeva said the country was facing a strange situation due to global warming.

“This is not a political issue for polls but the absurd development was causing inequality, new diseases and challenges across the country,” he said.

Darshan Puttannaiah is the son of the state’s farmer leader late K.S. Puttananaiah, who was a member of the outgoing state assembly. He represented the Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha which merged with Swaraj India in March 2017.

(IANS)

The government announced on Tuesday it will not conduct any re-examination for Class 10 maths paper despite an alleged leak of the question paper.

“Consequent to the preliminary evaluation of the impact of reportedly leaked CBSE Class 10 maths paper and keeping in mind the paramount interest of students, the CBSE has decided not to conduct re-examination even in Delhi, NCR (National Capital Region) and Haryana. Hence, no re-exam for Class 10,” Human Resource Development Ministry Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.

The government had earlier said it may re-conduct the maths examination possibly in July for Delhi, NCR and Haryana.

A youth rally led by All India Mahila Empowerment Party’s (MEP) Vice President Mr. Khan, today in Bengaluru was a huge success, drawing crowd from all corners.

The rally which started from Jayanagar concluded at Freedom Park.

Mr. Khan, said that his party is confident of winning over 150 seats, in its maiden elections.

He said that the party’s President Dr. Nowhera Shaikh has been a social activist for the past 20 years, and her objective is to get justice for women and whole humanity.

School students protesting against the government’s handling of the CBSE paper leak were detained here on Monday.

Around 70-80 students, gathered at the Shastri Bhawan which houses the Human Resource Development Ministry, were taken by police in buses to the nearby police station.

Some students also alleged that they were beaten up by police and at least one was injured in the head.

Harried with a series of paper leaks in the ongoing CBSE exam, class 10 and 12 students are now demanding an assurance from the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Education Ministry that the leaks will not happen again. They have also sought a meeting with the board chairperson.

Kashmiri traders and manufacturers on Monday protested against the killings of four civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district during operations against militants by security forces.

Srinagar traders and manufacturers started a protest march from the city centre Lal Chowk shouting slogans against the unending cycle of violence in the Kashmir Valley.

Police intervened at Polo View area on Residency Road as traders tried to move towards the headquarters of UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) in Sonwar area.

The protest march was dispersed by police and some protesters were taken into preventive custody.

Srinagar city and the rest of the Kashmir Valley observed a shutdown on Monday against Sunday’s killings in Shopian district.

Markets, roads, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed in large numbers to maintain law and order.