[Nasheman news] Chennai  The city police on Thursday booked Sabareesan, son-in-law of M.K. Stalin for allegedly spreading rumours about Deputy Speaker V. Jayaraman.

Jayaraman had lodged a complaint against Sabareesan for linking him and his family members to the Pollachi sexual absuse-cum-blackmail case.

Sabareesan has been charged for wantonly giving provocation for creation of riot, forgery for harming reputation, use of forged document as genuine one and for spreading rumours.

On his part Stalin has sent a legal notice to Jayaraman demanding apology for making slanderous statement against him, the DMK said in a late night statement on Thursday.

Jayaraman has charged the DMK behind is defaming him and his family.

In the legal notice to Jayaraman, the DMK President said the former had made false allegations in the media that he, his family members and his party are behind the sexual abuse case and are attempting to protect some accused involved in the criminal act which are defamatory.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign, in a counter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s “chowkidar chor hai” jibe.

“Your Chowkidar is standing firm and serving the nation. But, I am not alone. Everyone who is fighting corruption, dirt, social evils is a Chowkidar. Everyone working hard for the progress of India is a Chowkidar,” Modi said in a series od tweets.

“Today, every Indian is saying. Main Bhi Chowkidar,” he added.

With the tweet, the Prime Minister also shared a 3.45-minute video, urging people to particiapte in the campaign.

As part of the campaign, Modi is slated to interact with people across the country via video on March 31.

Bharatiya Janata Party sources said the campaign was launched as part of its strategy to turn the tables against Gandhi’s jibe as it did in 2014 by aggressively countering former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “chaiwalla” jibe.

[Nasheman news]Mumbai  Six people have been reported dead and 32 injured in the past 12 hours since a portion of an overhead pedestrian bridge outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus came crashing down here.

Police registered cases against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Indian Railway officials charging them with culpable homicide.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia each to the kin of deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured. He has also ordered a high level probe into the Thursday’s incident.

Railways, senior police officials, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and BMC teams were overseeing operations on Friday. 

This was the third footbridge collapse in the city in the last 18 months — occurred around 7.35 p.m. as the bridge was reportedly overloaded with commuters hurrying to their homes, the BMC Disaster Control said.

The victims identified so far include three women — Apoorva Prabhu, 35, Ranjana Tambe, 40, and Bhakti Shinde, 40. The two men dead are Zahid Siraj Khan, 32 and Tapendra Singh, 35.

Connecting the CSMT’s suburban platform No. 1 with the B.T. Lane near The Times of India Building and the Anjuman-e-Islam School, it was used by thousands of daily commuters rushing to catch the local trains on Central Railway and the Harbour Line.

Though debris have been cleared, traffic restriction on D.N. Road continues, a traffic official said. 

Nasheman News : Exactly a month after the Pulwama terror attack killed 40 CRPF troopers, Indian and Pakistani officials met on Thursday here, near Amritsar, to finalise modalities of the corridor to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara.

This is the first time the two sides met after tension escalated between the neighbours.

Nasheman News :The government on Wednesday made it clear that operations of all Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft will be suspended at 4 p.m.

Late on Tuesday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted: “DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has taken the decision to ground the Boeing 737-MAX planes immediately. 

In a continuation to its Tuesday’s call to ground the B737 Max operations, the Ministry on Wednesday added: “B737Max operations will stop from or to all Indian airports. 

“Additionally no B737 Max aircraft will be allowed to enter or transit the Indian airspace effective 1600 hours Indian time or 1030 UTC.”

In India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft. While SpiceJet has 12 aircraft, Jet has five planes of this type.

On Tuesday the DGCA tweeted: “These planes will be grounded till appropriate modifications and safety measures are undertaken to ensure their safe operations.”

“The time line is to cater to situations where aircraft can be positioned at maintenance facilities and international flights can reach their destinations.”

The suspension came after several countries including the UK, Australia, Italy, Singapore restrained their airlines from operating the aircraft type.

Globally many countries have banned the operations of the aircraft after an Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 MAX flight crashed on Sunday killing all 157 people on board. It came just months after an Indonesian flight met with the same fate.

On Tuesday, the EU, joined a number of other countries in banning Boeing 737 Max planes from operating in or over its airspace.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi In a stern message to social media platforms, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that these platforms will have to respect the sovereignty and constitutional norms of privacy laid down by the Supreme Court.

“Abuse of these platforms will not be tolerated in election time. I believe in the wisdom and maturity of the people of India. They are mature enough to decide what is right and what is wrong,” the Minister said at the “Digital India Summit 2019” organised by Times Network here.

The country, he said, will not compromise on the freedom to access Internet and data imperialism by anyone.

At the rate at which the country’s digital economy was growing, India could be a $3 trillion economy in the next four to five years, Prasad emphasised.

“Average data usage per month has grown from 89 megabytes in 2014 to 5 gigabytes in 2018. The digital appetite of Indians has to appreciated,” he said, adding that the country offers the cheapest data rates in the world.

Prasad said the number of mobile phone factories had grown from two in 2014 to 127 now.

“India is now the second biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, employing 5-6 lakh people. Noida and Greater Noida area alone have 94 mobile factories,” he said, adding that the country would push the “Make in India” initiative if the NDA comes back to power.

“We will come back with a thumping majority,” he added.

Dismissing allegations of Aadhaar data leaks, Prasad said the Aadhaar data was “billion per cent safe”.

Nasheman News : An important characteristic of multi-phase elections is the traction the political rhetoric gets. Extended elections in multiple phases allow political parties and formations malleability and ductility. Size is obviously the biggest determinant in such an exercise for Indian states are vast with different kinds of topography. Analysts point out the high stakes: the game is afoot for 220,000 polling booths across the country.

The polarizing potential of incendiary statements and the resultant divisiveness are amplified over a prolonged period, whose consequences are evident when the results are out. A case in point is the controversial statement of BJP leader Dayashanker Singh, whose sulphurous invective against Mayawati during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls led to a furore. High-profile BJP leaders had remained largely silent as chastising such leaders publicly would have demoralized the cadre. Such kinds of outbursts are commonplace in Hindi heartland and are used to galvanize cadre and voters.

Then, there’s the question of law and order. The Naxal angle, for instance, cannot be ignored. Nor the communal incidents, which political parties and partisan politicians use to polarize themes. Messaging and communication stratagems still work as they did during the protracted UP assembly polls. Fractiousness brought about by such incidents influence voters, one can argue, more in urban agglomerates than in rural areas. The non-committed and the less committed can well be swayed by communal incidents or by results of, say, even local body polls.

Lumpen elements, the ‘mahabalis’ and the ‘bahubalis’ (the musclemen) also need to be controlled and bottled. That is why the Election Commission is using the gambit of multi-phased elections in states where violence is feared during polls.

Yet, multi-phase polls give parties an opportunity to reassess, regroup and revise their strategies for different phases. Throw in some word-of-mouth from on-ground cadre to jump-start both lazy and active voters, and you have a successful operation going.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other politicians, sportspersons, actors, business leaders to encourage maximum voter engagement in 2019 general elections in April-May.

“I appeal to Rahul Gandhi, (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata (Banerjee), (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar, (BSP supremo) Mayawati, (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav, (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav and (DMK chief) M.K. Stalin to encourage increased voter participation in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. A high turnout augurs well for our democratic fabric,” he tweeted.

He also mentioned sportspersons P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, S..Kidambi; actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, business leaders Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra to encourage more voting in polls.

[Nasheman news] Due to the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Institute of Chartered Accountancy of India (ICAI) has postponed and rescheduled the crucial Chartered Accountants (CA) exams for 2019, an official notification said.

The exams due to be held between May 2-17, will now take place between May 27-June 12, in view of the 17th Lok Sabha elections across the country spanning seven phases from April 11.

This would include Students Examinations, Foundation Course (under New Scheme), Intermediate (IPC) Course (Old Scheme), Intermediate Course (New Scheme), Final Course under Old and New Scheme, and Members’ Examination, on various dates.

Accordingly, the revised dates for submitting examination forms are March 16 and with late fee, March 23, said the ICAI’s notification on Monday night.

While there will be no exam on June 5 on account of Eid, the ICAI made it clear that there will be no further change in the examination schedule for any date in case of declaration of a public holiday by the Centre, state or local governments.

The CA examinations will be conducted at 144 centres, including five at foreign locations.