Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a “Yoga for Peace” event after his arrival here to participate in the G20 summit during which he will hold several bilateral meetings, said an official statement on Friday.

In the event on Thursday night, Modi said that issues such as global economy, sustainable development, climate change and economic fugitives, which are of interest to the entire global community will come up for discussion at the two-day summit that will begin on Saturday.

The event featured a mass yoga demonstration by 600 people and a song by famous Argentine singer Patricia Sosa, a chanting of “Om Namah Shivaya” and a short Indian classical dance performance.

Congratulating “The Art of Living” for organising this event, the Prime Minister said that yoga improves the health of both mind and body.

He described yoga as India’s gift to the world for health, wellness and peace and said: “Today, yoga is joining India and Argentina with a spiritual bond.”

Modi spoke of Argentina’s interest in Indian philosophy, art, music, and dance; and the immense popularity of Argentine football stars, such as Diego Maradona, in India.

The Prime also congratulated the Argentine hockey team for winning their first match during the Hockey World Cup held in Odisha.

Modi is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the summit.

IANS

 For the third consecutive day the Congress-led opposition disrupted the Kerala Assembly over the Sabarimala issue forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House within 20 minutes after it met on Friday.

As soon as Speaker P. took his seat, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala demanded that either the Chair should suspend the question hour or allow an adjournment motion during the zero hour to discuss the “poor facilities” being provided in the temple town and end the prohibitory orders in place in Sabarimala.

“Yesterday the State Minister of Devasoms Kadakampally Surendran told the media that we (opposition) ran away.

“We are very much here, but you do not give us the time and the space to present our case. We demand that we be given time today,” said Chennithala and blamed the Speaker of prejudice in his attitude towards the opposition.

Sreeramakrishnan then told the opposition that it was flouting all the accepted norms of the legislature and was behaving irresponsible.

“This issue has already been discussed for more than eight hours and there has been no new development at all. We will allow you to raise this issue as a submission,” said the Speaker.

This led to sloganeering by the opposition near the Speaker’s podium, forcing Sreeramakrishnan to rush through the day’s business and adjourn the House till Monday.

The Kerala Police has clamped prohibitory orders at the temple town till Friday midnight following ongoing protests by Hindu groups and some political parties that began in there on September 28 when the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged 10-50.

IANS

 Thousands of farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural workers on Thursday converged in the heart of the city at the end of a two-day long 52-kilometer march from Singur in West Bengal’s Hooghly district.

The ‘Singur to Raj Bhavan’ campaign, which culminated at Rani Rashmoni Road, pressed for a eight-point charter of demands that included remunerative prices for farmers and industrial jobs for rural youth.

Communist Party of India-Marxist peasant bodies in West Bengal All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) organised the march that began on Wednesday from Singur.

“Around 50 thousand farmers took part in the march,” said a CPI-M leader.

ACPI(M) West Bengal state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) state Secretary Amal Halder, All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU) State Secretary Amiya Patra, AIAWU State President Tushar Ghosh addressed the gathering at Rashmoni Road.

The campaign was a corollary to the all India ‘Kisan Mukti March’, that started in New Delhi on Thursday. The New Delhi farmer mobilisation is being organised by the All India Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella organisation of over 200 organisations.

Left leaders at the rally strongly condemned the Trinamul Congress for running a campaign against Tata Motors’ small car manufacturing project in Singur, and forcing them to abandon the plant.

The situation in Singur is bleak as landholders who gave up their plots can no longer cultivate on the destroyed soil, even as their children scrounge around for jobs, they said.

Mishra strongly condemned the present Trinamul Congress government for its failure to create employment in the state and for its pro-farmer pretentions.

He said, instead of focusing on core issues, both Trinamul Congress, and BJP, are now playing dangerous communal games.

“The Trinamool- BJP nexus is continuously trying to dismantle the secular fabric of the state. BJP is supposed to take out three Rath Yatras from the three different corners of West Bengal. We warn them, that if they try to destroy communal harmony and peace, then people of Bengal will simply smash their chariots,” said Mishra.

The marchers are demanding the state’s present rulersAtake initiative to set up industries on lands earlier acquired by the state government for industrialisation includingASingur.

Among other demands of the marchers areAwork for all, waiver of agricultural debt, end of discrimination amongASingur’s farmers, peasant and sharecroppers in providing government welfare schemes and implementation of the M S Swaminathan Commission recommendations.

IANS

Mahim Jame Masjid has installed and inaugurated a 15 KW solar power generation system that will help save electricity bills annually. Provisions have been made for extending the capacity to 10 KW more in the second phase.

It’s a 600 years old Mosque (Masjid) called MAHIM Jame Masjid situated near the MAHIM coastline, beside MAHIM Dargah. It’s one of the older masjids of the island city.

The idea is to spread awareness about environment protection among devotees, so they reduce their dependency on polluting sources such as electricity. Lights, fans and air conditioners at all common areas within the mosque will be powered by solar power. Apart from the monetary savings, the idea is to tell devotees about the importance of reduction in carbon emissions from the environment. We hope that the efforts are replicated and moving to solar becomes a mass movement, at least for all religious institutions in the city. Any other power generation, apart from solar energy, requires burning and releasing of gases such as carbon dioxide. Solar power plants doesn’t require anything, as it is an independent source of energy. The concept of going solar has now been accepted by the entire Muslim community.

The Inauguration was done with the hands of Trustees & Chief Imam:
Rahmatulla Mukri Sahab
Justice Shafi Parkar (Former High Court Judge)
Habib Fakih (Former WAKF Board Member)
Fahad Khalil Pathan (Managing Trustee)
Arif Pathan Sahab

Chief Imam: Mohammed Saad Pathan Al-Azhari.

The Donors for this initiative and the Residents of Mahim were present for the Inauguration ceremony.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy on Wednesday, November 28 expressed that Aniruddh’s statement against him and the state government has hurt him a lot.

Addressing the press persons after paying his last respects to JD(S) senior leader H S Prakash, Kumaraswamy said that whatever the government does is for the betterment of its people so  Aniruddh, son-in-law of late actor Vishnuvardhan should think before he speaks anything against the government.

” He referred to me as ‘udaaphe CM’ (negligent chief minister), his statement hurt my feelings. Aniruddh should have control over his language” said Kumaraswamy.

Following Kumaraswamy statements on Anirudh, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan apologized to Kumaraswamy on behalf of Anirudh. She further requested that her husband Vishnuvardhan’s memorial should be built in Mysuru and not in Kanteerava Studio.

PTI

Thousands of farmers from across the country started to converge in Delhi on Thursday for a two-day protest rally to press for their demands, including debt relief and remunerative prices for their produce.

Farmers, from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states, will march on four different routes in the national capital, starting at three major railway stations Anand Vihar, Nizamuddin and Bijwasan and at Sabzi Mandi, their leaders said.

All the marchers will pour in at Ramlila Ground in the heart of the city by evening. Farmers from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana started trickling in by 10:30 am.

The two-day rally will be “one of the largest congregations of farmers” in Delhi, the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) claimed on Wednesday.

The AIKSCC, which claims to be an umbrella body of 207 organisations of farmers and agricultural workers, said a cultural programme would be held at Ramlila Ground on Thursday, the first day of the protest, where prominent singers and poets from rural India would perform.

Police said they have made elaborate arrangements for the rally on Friday, when the farmers will begin their march from Ramlila Ground to Parliament Street. Support for farmers have started pouring with activists taking to Twitter to ask the general public to join the march.

“Women farmers greet us this morning from Brijwasan as they are all set to embark on #KisanMuktiMarch. Join us even if you are not a farmer. Join the hands that toil to feed us. Jai Kisan!,” tweeted political activist Yogendra Yadav. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan also tweeted in solidarity with farmers.

“Over 3L farmers have committed suicide in India in last 15 yrs,due to successive govts betraying them. Tomorrow 1 lakh farmers from across the country are marching to Delhi to ask for fair prices& freedom from debt. Let’s stand in solidarity with them,” he said.

PTI

 Suffering from depression, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Delhi Police on Thursday committed suicide here by jumping from the 10th floor of the Police Headquarters, police said.

Prem Bhallabh, 55, was being treated for depression at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital for the last 28 days, ACP Anil Mittal said.

The incident occurred at 10 a.m. The deceased jumped from the window of his office, Mittal said.

Police personnel deployed at the ground floor heard a loud thud and rushed to the spot. They rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

Prem Bhallabh was posted in the Crime and Traffic wing of Delhi Police.

IANS

A Court of Inquiry will look into IAF trainer aircraft’s crash near Hakimpet Air Force Station outside Hyderabad in Telangana earlier in the day.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) Kiran trainer aircraft had taken off from Hakimpet Air Force Station at 11.30 a.m. on a routine training mission. It crashed in the local flying area 20 minutes later.

The pilot ejected safely, the IAF said.

“There are neither injuries reported from the civil populace nor any damage to property. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the accident,” an official statement said.

IANS