[Nasheman news] New Delhi It was a cold Tuesday morning in the national capital with the minimum temperature recorded at 5.4 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, the weather office said.
“There was shallow fog in the morning and there will be haze throughout the day,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 19 degrees Celsius.
At least 16 Delhi-bound trains were delayed on Tuesday morning due to fog.
At 8.30 a.m., humidity was recorded at 91 per cent while visibility was at 1,000 metres.
Monday’s maximum and minimum temperature was recorded four notches below the average at 18.9 degrees Celsius and 5.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Kovind, Modi pay homage to Fernandes
[Nasheman news] New DelhiPresident Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi along with many others from across political lines paid homage to former Union Minister George Fernandes, who died on Tuesday after prolonged illness.
Modi called the 88-year-old long-time socialist a “fiery trade union leader”, who resisted the Emergency “tooth and nail”, while Kovind described him as a “champion of democracy”.
The President said he was distressed to learn of Fernandes’ death, who served India in many capacities, including as the Railway and Defence Minister.
“He epitomised simple living and high thinking. And was a champion of democracy, during the Emergency and beyond. We will all miss him,” the President’s office tweeted.
Modi said the former Minister represented the best of India’s political leadership.
“Frank and fearless, forthright and farsighted, he made a valuable contribution to our country. He was among the most effective voices for the rights of the poor and marginalised,” he said in a tweet. “Saddened by his passing away.”
The Prime Minister said the former Samata Party leader fought for justice, and could humble the mightiest of politicians at the hustings; a visionary Railway Minister and a great Defence Minister who made India safe and strong.
He said Fernandes never deviated from his political ideology during his long years in public life.
“He resisted the Emergency tooth and nail. His simplicity and humility were noteworthy. My thoughts are with his family, friends and lakhs of people grieving. May his soul rest in peace,” Modi said.
On Facebook, Gandhi said: “I am sorry to hear about the passing away of former Parliamentarian and Union Minister, George Fernandesji. My condolences to his family and friends in this time of grief.”
With the demise of Fernandes, India has lost a stalwart of its socialist movement, said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Twitter.
“He led many labour movements and fought against the injustice towards them… May his soul rest in peace,” he said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is the Janata Dal-United chief and has worked closely with Fernandes for three decades, described his death as the “loss of the tallest socialist leader”.
All official programmes of the Bihar Chief Minister were cancelled for the day.
Former JD-U chief Sharad Yadav remembered Fernandes as “a rare leader, who fought for working people for years”.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee tweeted that she was “very saddened” at Fernandes passing away and recalled him as the “much admired trade unionist”, whom she had known for decades.
Other senior JD-U leaders K.C. Tayagi, party state president Vashist Narain Singh and former Minister Shayam Razak also condoled the death.
Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and had been out of the public eye. He was been bedridden for more than eight years, family sources said.
Fernandes rose to political prominence when he led the Bombay Taxi Unions Association and defeated S.K. Patil, a Congress heavy-weight in the 1967 general election.
A fire-brand and hardworking Fernandes, only 37 then, campaigned tirelessly, covering large swathes of the constituency with his workers getting a 48.5 per cent of the votes.
Fernandes later joined the Janata Dal. He served as Railway Minister in the V.P. Singh government from 1989 to 1990. He was instrumental in setting up the Konkan Railway project, connecting Mangalore and Bombay.
In 1994, Fernandes formed the Samata Party, which later allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
He was appointed convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and served as the Defence Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government for two terms, between 1998 and 2004.
His term was eventful as it witnessed the Kargil War and the Pokhran test.
Ex-Union Minister George Fernandes dead at 88 (Lead)
[Nasheman news] New Delhi Former Defence Minister George Fernandes, long-time socialist and a trade unionist, who fought the Congress all his life died on Tuesday after prolonged illness. He was 88.
Fernandes, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, has been out of the public eye and has been bedridden for more than eight years, family sources said.
He had a cold and cough and was taken to the Max Hospital in Saket by his wife, Liela Fernandes, earlier in the day, when doctors said that the veteran leader was already dead.
His son, who lives in New York, is expected back in a day or two, after which the funeral will take place, the sources said.
Fernandes, a long-time socialist, rose to political prominence when he led the Bombay Taxi Unions Association and defeated “uncrowned king of Bombay” S.K. Patil, a Congress heavy-weight in the 1967 general election.
A fire-brand and hardworking Fernandes, only 37 then, campaigned tirelessly, covering large swathes of the constituency with his workers. And when the results were declared, he unseated the ‘king’ with 48.5 per cent of the votes.
Fernandes later joined the Janata Dal. He served as Railway Minister in the V.P. Singh government from 1989 to 1990. He was instrumental in setting up the Konkan Railway project, connecting Mangalore and Bombay.
In 1994, Fernandes formed the Samata Party, which later allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was appointed convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and served as the Defence Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government for two terms, between 1998 and 2004.
His term was eventful as it witnessed the Kargil War and Pokhran test.
Facebook to launch transparency tools for electoral ads in India
[Nasheman news] New Delhi Facebook will launch transparency tools for electoral ads in India next month to help prevent foreign interference and make political and issue advertising on its platform more transparent.
Advertisers will need to be authorised to purchase political ads and the social networking giant will give people more information about ads related to politics and issues.
“We will create a publicly searchable library of these ads for up to seven years. The library will include information on the range of the ads’ budget, number of people they reached and demographics of who saw the ad, including age, gender and location,” Samidh Chakrabarti, Director of Product Management, Civic Engagement at Facebook, said in a blog post on Monday.
Facebook said it is planning to set up two new regional operations centres, focused on election integrity, located in its Dublin and Singapore offices.
“This will allow our global teams to better work across regions in the run-up to elections.A
“These teams will add a layer of defence against fake news, hate speech and voter suppression, and will work cross-functionally with our threat intelligence, data science, engineering, research, community operations, legal and other teams,” explained Katie Harbath, Global Politics and Government Outreach Director at Facebook.
The company said it will continue to expand its third-party fact-checking programme which covers content in 16 languages.
“We have rolled out the ability for fact-checkers to review photos and videos in addition to article links, because we know multimedia-based misinformation is making up a greater share of false news,” said Facebook.
The company said it will organise a series of workshops over the next six months in Singapore, Delhi, Nairobi, Berlin, New York, Mexico City and others, inviting experts and organisations who work issues such as free expression, technology and democracy, procedural fairness and human rights.
One-way traffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway
[Nasheman news] Jammu One-way traffic will move on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Tuesday from Srinagar to Jammu, a traffic department official said. No vehicle will be allowed in the opposite direction.
“Traffic from Qazigund will move onwards after 1 p.m. as many trucks moving towards Srinagar as per Monday’s schedule have not crossed the Jawahar Tunnel yet,” he added.
Reports also said a fresh landslide has hit the road at Anokhi Fall in Ramban district and clearance operation was underway.
The strategic highway was closed for six consecutive days and was partially restored from Jammu to Srinagar on Monday.
Siddaramaiah manhandles woman for questioning his performance
Siddaramaiah is seen snatching a mic from the woman which results in her dupatta coming down.
Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lost his cool while interacting with a woman on Monday. A video of the incident has gone viral.
In it, Siddaramaiah is seen snatching a mic from the woman which results in her dupatta falling down.
The Congress leader was furious with something that the woman had said and did not even seem to realise what just happened. Siddaramaiah then asked her to shut up and sit down.
The incident took place in Mysuru.
The woman in question was complaining about the lack of developmental work in the constituency. Angry over her questions, the honourable former chief minister leaped forward to pull the mic from her hand.
The news of Siddaramaiah misbehaving with the woman comes just two hours after Siddaramaiah preached Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde about public decency.
In a tweet, Siddaramaiah said: “Ananth Kumar Hegde is not fit to be an MP. He should apologise and resign immediately for his insensitive comments towards @dineshgrao and also for his provocative statements aimed at creating social conflicts.”
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to slam Siddaramaiah for his act. The BJP called him a modern day Dushashan (brother of the Kuravaa king Duryodhan who outrgaed the modesty of Draaupadi in Mahabharat). The BJP said the present JDS-Congress governmnet in Karnataka is no different from the rule of the evil Kauravas in Mahabharat.
“He is Siddaramaiah threatening and abusing a women openly. Demon Dushashana is finally reborn and (has) resumed power in the governmnet of Karnataka,” the Karnataka BJP said in a tweet.
“This is how Congress-JDS treats women,” the BJP said.
On the other hand, the Congress has justified Siddaramaiah’s action. Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao told news agency media that at times people start behaving in a rough manner while asking question and you want to pull the mic from them.
Agencies
Bharti AXA Life acts against mis-selling and insurance frauds
Nasheman News : Leading private life insurer Bharti AXA Life Insurance has embarked upon a public awareness drive to fight against spurious calling and mis-selling with a view to making customers alert and aware about fake insurance offers and unscrupulous returns by fraudsters.
Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French insurance major AXA, is one of the few life insurers to have lodged complaints with the police in many parts of the country after receiving information about fraudulent cases.
“Mis-selling and spurious calling have become a significant problem in the domestic insurance industry. As a responsible insurance company, we have a zero-tolerance policy towards mis-selling or any illegitimate inducements. Our sales teams help customers take an informed decision on the back of full product and services disclosures,” Vikas Seth, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, said here on Monday.
The company is organising customer care camps and programmes across all its branches in the country on regular intervals for sensitising insurance buyers against misleading offers and gains.
“We are making policyholders and customers alert and aware through our public awareness programmes and also informing them about the modus operandi and modus vivendi of perpetrators involved and spurious callers, who lure people through misleading information and bogus offers. We are also registering complaints with the police wherever it is required and seeking their assistance to act against these offenders,” Seth added.
Bharti AXA Life has set up a pre-issuance video verification call system to help customers understand the terms and benefits of the insurance policy and empower them to take an informed decision.
“It is our endeavour to ensure that customers are provided with adequate information required to take a well-informed decision. We have taken several steps, including policy on-boarding stage, post-issuance call for welcoming policyholders and formation of grievance redressal cell, during the policy life cycle to reduce mis-selling,” said Ishita Mukherjee, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance.
After welcoming policyholders during post-issuance stage, the company provides policy contracts via instant messaging platform WhatsApp that helps them immediately review insurance policy terms and conditions.
Apart from setting up a robust pre and post verification and due-diligence process, the company also trains its workforce and advisers to act in the interests of insurance buyers.
“We always urge the customers to be alert on their part too and not fall prey to any individual or firm claiming superfluous gains. As part of our check and balance strategy in the interest of the customers, we help them choose and get the right policy, encourage them to fill in forms with complete and accurate details, understand policy terms and benefits and ask them to pay through cheques or digital money,” Mukherjee added.
Pakistan team to visit India to inspect hydel projects
Nasheman News : A three-member Pakistani delegation will leave for India on Sunday to inspect hydro-power projects in the Chenab basin in Jammu and Kashmir.
The team of experts will be headed by Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Mehr Ali Shah, reports Dawn news.
“We are going to India on Sunday via the Wagah border,” Shah told Dawn on Saturday.
The general tour for inspection of Indian hydro-power projects by Pakistan experts was finally confirmed by the New Delhi’s Commissioner for Indus Waters Pradeep Kumar Saxena in a letter earlier this month.
The team will inspect the projects from January 28 to 31 and will return to Pakistan on February 1.
According to Shah, the tour was not limited to only the 1,000 MW Pakal Dul and the 48 MW Lower Kalnai. The team might also visit Ratle and other hydro-power projects.
As a result of the 115th meeting of the Permanent Commission for Indus Waters (PCIW) in Lahore last August, India had scheduled inspection of the projects by Pakistani experts first in September and then in October.
But it was postponed.
Rahul Gandhi fit to be PM: BJP ally
Nasheman News : Om Prakash Rajbhar, a BJP ally and an Uttar Pradesh Minister, on Monday said that he found Congress President Rahul Gandhi fit to be the Prime Minister.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief, who is at daggers drawn with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on many issues, told reporters in Ballia, “I find Rahul Gandhi fit to be Prime Minister. The final word rests with the people and they will decide who will be India’s next Prime Minister.”
In an embarrassment to the BJP, the Minister also accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of “misleading people” on the Ram temple issue in Ayodhya.
Responding to a question by the media on Adityanath’s statement that given a chance he will solve the Ram temple issue in 24 hours, Rajbhar said if that was indeed the ability of the BJP, why had it not been done do so in the past five years of ruling India.
The Backward Welfare Minister said: “When the central government could not do anything in five years, what will the Chief Minister do in 24 hours?”
Asked to comment on the political debut of Priyanka Gandhi and its effect on voters, he said only time will tell if she was just a crowd puller or can also convert it into votes.
Priyanka Gandhi was appointed the Congress General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh by her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi on January 23.
Fed up of paper leaks, youths demand ‘Pradhan Mantri CHEAT Fund Yojna’
Nasheman News : Youths from across the country gathered here on Sunday to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a Pradhan Mantri CHEAT Fund Yojna for job aspiring youths who cannot afford the high cost of buying a leaked paper.
The meet, in which over 60 youth representatives from across the country participated, was organised at Delhi’s Constitution Club by Yuva-Hallabol to highlight the frustration and disappointment among the educated unemployed youth.
Yuva-Hallabol is a nationwide movement against unemployment that includes aspirants to the SSC, UPSC, state agencies, railways, police and teachers.
Yuva-Hallabol, in its letter to Modi, mentioned: “Today, we write to you with a lot of pain and hope. We want to serve the nation too. We are educated and skilled. There are over 24 lakh vacancies in government sectors. Yet we are not able to secure a job.”
“One of the major reasons we are not getting a job is the wide-spread corruption and irregularity in recruitment exams. Just over the past year, more than two dozen exam papers have leaked,” the letter read.
“Please announce and launch a Pradhan Mantri CHEAT Fund Yojna, PMCFY for the job aspiring youth who cannot afford the high costs of buying a leaked paper. It would be very helpful if you implement this welfare scheme with immediate effect,” it said.
“We will apply for a loan to buy leaked papers and secure the jobs. Once we get a job, we give you 100 per cent guarantee that we repay all the money loaned by the government,” Yuva-Hallabol said in the letter.
Yuva-Hallabol leader Anupam told media: “…the educated unemployment rate has reached 16 per cent, the unemployed youth are ready to expose the failures and hollow claims of this government.”
The government has also been urged to implement a Model Exam Code to ensure all recruitment processes are completed within a time-frame of 9 months.
Yuva-Hallabol also requested Modi to respond to their situation, and the letter, by February 27.