[Nasheman news] ChandigarhThe Punjab Police on Monday conducted raids at various places in Ludhiana district after a young woman alleged she was gang-raped by 12 men at a farmhouse near Jagraon town after she and her male friend were attacked and abducted.
No arrests have been made so far.
The victim, aged around 20 years, told the police that she and her friend were going in a car from South City area of Ludhiana city towards Issewal village on Saturday night when their car was attacked with bricks by two men on a motorcycle.
The attackers, who were joined in by three others, then got into the car and beat up the man (male friend) and took the car to a farmhouse near Jagraon town, around 170 km from here.
They also called up a friend of the man from his mobile phone and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.
The couple, who were abducted, were allegedly beaten up at the farmhouse and the woman was gang-raped by five men.
She alleged that her attackers called seven other men who also sexually assaulted her.
The couple were set free on Sunday following which they complained to the police regarding the gang-rape and the abduction.
The police registered a case of rape at the Mullanpur Dhaka police station. Police officials said that raids were being conducted to nab the people behind the heinous crime.
Senior police officers from Ludhiana district reached the crime spot (farmhouse) on Monday as police teams started investigating the incident.
In Dubai, Pakistan prime minister warns of ‘painful’ reforms
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said his nation needed “painful” economic reforms to cut back on its debt soon after meeting the head of the IMF.
In a speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Sunday, Khan said his government faced a massive fiscal deficit when it took office in 2018 and was making efforts to slash it.
“I repeat the reforms are painful … It’s like a surgery. When you conduct surgery for a while, the patient suffers, but that improves,” Khan said.
“The worst thing that can happen for society is that you keep postponing reforms because of the fear that you would have opposition, the vested interests stand up and you don’t do reforms.”
Pakistan, the IMF and China: Imran Khan’s economic challenges
Before taking the stage, Khan met the head of the IMF Christine Lagarde.
‘Strong package’
Pakistan has about $100bn in external debt and liabilities, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
“I reiterated that the IMF stands ready to support Pakistan,” a statement from Lagarde said.
“I also highlighted that decisive policies and a strong package of economic reforms would enable Pakistan to restore the resilience of its economy and lay the foundations for stronger and more inclusive growth.”
Pakistan, a regular borrower from the IMF since the 1980s, last received an IMF bailout in 2013 to the tune of $6.6bn.
Forecasts by the IMF and World Bank suggest the Pakistani economy is likely to grow between 4.0 and 4.5 percent for the fiscal year ending June 2019, compared with 5.8 percent growth in the last fiscal year.
The annual World Government Summit sees global leaders cross paths at a luxury hotel near Dubai’s iconic, sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel.
Major investments
Two Saudi sources told the AFP news agency that heir apparent to the Gulf kingdom’s throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will visit Islamabad soon, without giving a date.
A number of major investment deals are expected to be signed during the visit.
“The outcome of the talks so far has been very positive and this is going to be one of the biggest-ever Saudi investments in Pakistan,” a senior finance ministry official was quoted as saying.
“We hope that an agreement to this effect will be signed during the upcoming visit of the Saudi crown prince to Pakistan,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Islamabad’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East, have offered Khan some $30bn in investment and loans.
Khan also visited Saudi rivals Qatar and Turkey, as well as China seeking investment in recent weeks.
Andhra CM hits back at Modi with personal attacks
Nasheman News : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has a estranged wife and has no respect for the family system.
With Modi making a stinging attack on Naidu at a rally in Guntur, the latter launched a counter-offensive at a public meeting in Vijayawada. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief even remarked that Modi is keeping his wife away without giving her divorce.
As Modi had addressed him as Lokesh’s father, Naidu retorted by calling him the Prime Minister husband of Jashodaben.
Referring to the legislation brought by Modi to criminalise triple talaq citing the injustice to Muslim women, Naidu told the gathering that Modi has a wife Jashodaben. “You are keeping her away. You are doing all this without giving her divorce.”
The TDP leader said that he avoids making personal attacks but since Modi made the comments, he is compelled to respond.
“He spoke about my son and called me Lokesh’s father. I am proud of being Lokesh’s father. You have no son, you have no family and no relationship,” he told Modi.
On Modi’s allegation that he backstabbed his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao, Naidu said Modi spoke in a manner which is unbecoming of a person holding the Prime Minister’s post.
The TDP leader said he never switched the parties or went back on his word.
He said he differed even with his father-in-law for state’s future and pointed out that he had the full support of the family and the party.
Naidu alleged that Modi insulted his “guru” L.K. Advani by not responding to his greetings at an event. He claimed that it was Advani who had saved Modi when then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee wanted to remove him as Gujarat Chief Minister following the riots.
Naidu said Modi calls himself “chowkidar” and “chai wala” but wears “suit boot” worth crores of rupees.
“He says one thing and does another. Did you ever see me in any other clothes even when I go abroad? Even this black shirt which I am wearing today (Sunday) is to protest Modi’s visit.”
The Chief Minister said Modi came to Andhra Pradesh just to criticise him and left without answering the question what he did for the state in the last five years.
Stating that the state was yet to get over Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre, Naidu said he would continue to fight for the state’s rights. “Are we not paying taxes to the Centre? Are we not part of this country?”
He rubbished the allegations of corruption levelled by Modi and said there is an independent body Comptroller and Auditor General to audit the accounts of both state and the Central governments.
“We are not bound to give accounts to anybody as there is CAG to audit the same,” said Naidu on Modi’s allegation that he is afraid as the Centre is seeking account for the money being given to the state.
Lets begin a new politics: Priyanka ahead of UP visit
Nasheman News : A day ahead of her mega road show in Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday called on party workers to initiate a “new kind of politics” which listens to the voices of the poor and the marginalised.
“I have hope in my heart that together we will start a new kind of politics, a politics in which all of you will be stakeholders — my young friends, my sisters and even the weakest person, all their voices will be heard.
“Come, let’s build a new future, new politics with me,” she said in an audio message.
In her first visit to the state after being given the charge of east Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi, along with brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia, will hold a road show in Lucknow ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Scindia, who has been given the responsibility of western UP, also shared a similar audio message.
Both the General Secretaries will also interact with the party cadres on February 12, 13 and 14.
Priyanka Gandhi’s much-awaited political plunge has created a lot of buzz within the party as well as in the rival camps and the party has made hectic preparations for the visit, with which the Congress will kick off its campaign in the state which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
Priyanka’s entry won’t impact LS polls outcome: Sushil Modi
Nasheman News : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday said Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics will not have any impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Priyanka Gandhi will not be able to make any impact on the outcome of Lok Sabha polls,” Sushil Modi said here.
The Congress may have appointed Priyanka Gandhi as the General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, but it would make no difference for the BJP in polls.
Sushil Modi said people would vote for a strong and capable government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
97 die in UP-Uttarakhand hooch tragedy, 215 arrested
Lucknow/Dehradun, Feb 10 (IANS) The death toll in the moonshine tragedy in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand rose to 97 on Sunday even as 215 people were arrested in a sweeping police crackdown on illicit liquor in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
Simultaneously, as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) blamed the ruling BJP in both states for the mass deaths, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said he smelt “a conspiracy” in which the SP may be involved.
He said in Gorakhpur that a probe had been ordered. “Such incidents have happened in the past too where many times SP workers were involved. The guilty will not be spared.”
The death toll in Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh remained unchanged at 36, but 18 deaths were reported from the Meerut Medical College where many had been brought after consuming the illicit liquor on Thursday.
Meerut’s Superintendent of Police Ranvijay Singh confirmed the hospital deaths and said 14 others were still undergoing treatment at the medical facility and were in critical condition.
A hospital doctor told media that 17-18 of the 22-24 people brought after taking the moonshine had died.
Saharanpur District Magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey told IANS that post-mortem had confirmed 36 deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor.
Eleven persons also died in Kushinagar district.
A total of 32 people died in Roorkie and Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
All the deceased had crossed over to Balupur in Roorkie in the neighbouring hill state on Thursday for an after-death ritual where they were apparently served the spurious liquor.
In the crackdown following the deaths, a total of 9,269 litres of moonshine was seized in Uttar Pradesh and 1,066 litres in Uttarakhand.
A total of 215 persons were arrested in Uttar Pradesh while cases against 297 others have been filed. In Uttarakhand, 49 cases have been registered.
The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a magisterial enquiry into the tragedy and many police and excise department officials have been suspended.
Police raided many places in Banda, Gorakhpur, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Basti, Deoband, Maharajganj, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Meerut.
In a joint raid conducted by the police and excise department, in Nagla Madhya village of Etah district, 50 litres of spurious liquor was seized on Sunday and three persons arrested.
The deaths ignited a blame game.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in both the states ruled by it and said the BJP has to own up the responsibility for the tragedy.
“BJP is in power in both these states. If anyone is responsible, it is the BJP,” he said, and asked the state governments to hike the compensation announced to the bereaved families from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
He charged that so much trade in illicit liquor could not have been “done without government protection and patronage”.
BSP supremo Mayawati also come down heavily on the government over the deaths.
“The tragedy is not only unfortunate but heart rending and shameful. These incidents are the result of a callous and unconcerned BJP governments,” she tweeted.
The four-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh demanded that Excise Ministers of both the states should be immediately relieved of their duties and a CBI probe ordered to ensure a fair investigation.
Meanwhile, a press conference called by Uttar Pradesh Excise Minister Jai Pratap Singh on Sunday noon was called off at the last minute without any explanation.
Modi launches hospital, metro rail, airport, oil projects in TN
Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu), Feb 10 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a host of new as well as completed projects in Tamil Nadu from here as he kicked off his 2019 election campaign in the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
This was his first visit to Tamil Nadu since the presentation of the Interim Budget for 2019-20.
In his last stopover at Tiruppur — a major export hub for knitted garments, about 470 km from Chennai, Modi laid the foundation of a 100-bed Employees State Insurance Corp (ESIC) health facility.
The hospital will cater to the needs of over 100,000 workers and their family members in the hosiery town and nearby areas would be covered under the ESI Act.
The brief function in Perumanallur village was also attended by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Union Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan and others.
The Prime Minister also laid foundation stones for a new integrated building of the Trichy Airport and for modernisation of the Chennai airport via video conference.
Post expansion, the Trichy Airport would be able to handle 3,000 passengers in peak hours, up from 500 passengers now.
The PM also dedicated to the nation, a 470-bed ESIC Hospital and the Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd’s Ennore Coastal Terminal in Chennai.
He also inaugurated a crude oil pipeline from the Chennai Port to the Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL)’s Manali refinery in Chennai.
The pipeline, built with enhanced safety features, will ensure reliable supply of crude oil to Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring states.
He also flagged off a passenger service between a 10-km section of the Chennai Metro Rail — AG-DMS Metro Station to Washermenpet Metro Station.
BJP leader Roy named in TMC MLA murder case
Nasheman News : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy was named in a police complaint here on Sunday in the Trinamool Congress legislator Satyajit Biswas murder case, police said.
Biswas, a popular Dalit leader, was shot dead by unidentified assailants while he was attending a Saraswati Puja programme in the Nadia district on Saturday.
Biswas represented Krishnaganj constituency in the West Bengal Assembly.
“Two accused, Kartick Mondol and Sujit Mondol, have been arrested,” a senior police officer said.
According to locals, there was several “load shedding during the programme” and they smelt a conspiracy behind the outages.
The TMC and the BJP have been engaged in a bitter war of words since the killing.
While the TMC has alleged a BJP hand behind it, the latter has blamed the murder on the TMC’s internal feud.
Need to do away with sub-optimal performance in education: Naidu
Nasheman News : We need to do away with our sub-optimal performance in education if we are to avoid becoming irrelevant in the fast-changing landscape of the jobs market, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday.
Addressing the students and faculty here at the CMR University, Naidu said: “We need to make good on the demographic dividend of being one of the younger nations on earth, starting with investing in children at the primary education level.
“We are at a juncture in our history where we can’t continue with sub-optimal efficiency. We need to focus on quality of education.”
There is a mounting concern that future growth could turn out to be jobless due to the fourth industrial revolution and technological progress, he noted.
“The only way to realize this demographic advantage is to educate and skill this energetic youth populace so that they are well prepared to face the challenges of the 21st Century,” Naidu said at the university which he was visiting to inaugurate one of its campuses.
The Vice President said that this opportunity — of being a young nation — cannot be wasted for want of resources and called for a government and private partnership in the field of education.
Earlier in his speech, stressing India’s unique position in the world, Naidu said: “India has a tremendous demographic dividend that is waiting to be realised. In an ageing world, India has one of the youngest populations. By 2020, the median age in India will be just 28, compared to 37 in China and the US, 45 in western Europe and 49 in Japan.”
Kejriwal, Mamata, Naidu to hold rally in Delhi next week
Nasheman News : Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) will address a ‘Remove Dictatorship, Save Democracy Rally’ at Jantar Mantar here on Wednesday, the AAP said on Sunday.
Main leaders of other non-BJP parties will also take part in this rally, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said.
“India is currently passing through a decisive phase. The Modi-Shah duo is bent upon destroying the Constitution and democracy, which our country succeeded in achieving due to the sacrifices of millions of freedom fighters,” AAP leader Gopal Rai said.
“Today it is the duty of every patriotic Indian to stand up for safeguarding the country’s Constitution and democracy.”
He also said that to achieve this, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and West Bengal will address the ‘Remove Dictatorship, Save Democracy Rally’ on February 13.
In a statement, Rai said that Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress chief, was coordinating with non-BJP parties for their participation in the rally.
“Elected governments of non-BJP parties have been targeted by the Narendra Modi government, which has made a mockery of the federal structure of the Constitution,” Rai said.
“The Modi government has crossed all limits through blatant misuse of central agencies to throttle political opponents and it has no respect for the rule of law,” he said.