Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday paid glowing tributes to Kailash Mansarovar, saying there was no hatred at the holy place.

Now on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Gandhi tweeted: “The waters of lake Mansarovar are so gentle, tranquil and calm. They give everything and lose nothing. Anyone can drink from them. There is no hatred here. This is why we worship these waters in India.”

He attached pictures of the Mansarovar lake and Kailash mountain.

“A man goes to Kailash when it calls him. I am so happy to have this opportunity and to be able to share what I see on this beautiful journey with all of you,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi left on the pilgrimage on August 31.

The Eastern Railway has asked the state-run RITES Ltd to probe the collapse of the Majherhat bridge here and examine the safety of railway operations in it wake, an official said on Wednesday.

“Our chief bridge engineer along with RITES team will be visiting the spot and it is a fact-finding team. The collapsed bridge was not under the Eastern Railway, but it was a railway over-bridge. That is why concerns are there,” an Eastern Railway spokesperson said over the phone.

RITES Ltd, under the aegis of Indian Railways, is a multi-disciplinary consultancy organisation in the fields of transport, infrastructure and related technologies.

“They will investigate the possible reasons that caused the collapse and also examine the safety of railway operations under the bridge,” the official said.

A portion of a 40-year-old bridge collapsed in South Kolkata on Tuesday afternoon, crushing a man to death and leaving 19 injured and several vehicles damaged.

(IANS)

Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi on Tuesday urged various ministries to offer full support to the ongoing ‘Rashtriya Poshan Maah’ with outreach activities.

Under Poshan Abhiyan, this September is being celebrated as the National Nutrition Month across the country to address the nutritional challenges, the Ministry said, adding that 100 community radio stations were also participating in the campaign.

“I request you to undertake outreach activities in your constituencies. Your participation in this mission will enable common citizens to associate with the objective of eliminating malnutrition,” Gandhi said in a statement.

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched this programme on March 2018 to bring convergence amongst various ministries to reduce malnutrition.

The Minister said the programme was aimed at making people aware of the importance of nutrition and giving individual families easy access to government services to supplement nutrition for their children and pregnant/lactating mothers.

According to the Ministry, the ‘National Nutrition Month’ has eight key themes including antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, complementary feeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, education, diet and right age of marriage for girls, hygiene and sanitation and food fortification.

A crucial meeting of the Telangana cabinet is likely to be held on Thursday to recommend dissolution of the state assembly to pave way for early polls.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked his cabinet colleagues to be available at 6 a.m. on September 6 for the cabinet meeting, according to sources in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The TRS chief considers ‘6’ as his lucky number and that’s the reason cited for not taking the decision during the cabinet meeting on September 2, which was held hours before the massive public meeting by the ruling party to sound the poll bugle.

The cabinet is expected to pass a resolution recommending to Governor E. S.L. Narasimhan to dissolve the assembly. The term of the assembly is till May, 2019 and the elections in normal course have to be conducted along with the polls for Lok Sabha.

On the eve of the cabinet meeting, the state capital on Wednesday witnessed hectic activity in the political circle. Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Chief Advisor to government Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, S. Narsing Rao and Legislative Assembly Secretary Narasimhacharyulu called on Narasimhan on Wednesday.

KCR also had a series of meetings with top party leaders.

A day after recommending dissolution of assembly, KCR will be launching the election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district on September 7.

Christened ‘Prajala Aasirwada Sabha’, this will be the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over next 50 days.

Political observers say TRS is keen for early assembly elections as it believes that simultaneous elections to assembly and Lok Sabha may not help it in properly highlighting the welfare and development works undertaken during last four years.

The political circle has been abuzz with the talks of early polls for the last few weeks with KCR himself giving strong hints with his two meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August, announcement of sops for various sections of people and transfer of top police and civil officials.

There was strong possibility of a decision in the cabinet meeting before September 2 public meeting, attended by lakhs of people and claimed to be mother of all rallies.

While the cabinet took no decision, KCR kept the suspense by telling the party cadres that the party leaders have empowered him to take a decision and that they would soon hear it (decision on early polls).

At the public meeting, the TRS chief highlighted the achievements of his government since it took reins in the newly created state in 2014.

He sought fresh mandate to continue the good work and achieve the goal of ‘Bangaru Telangana’ or golden Telangana. He urged people to protect their ‘self-respect’ by rejecting the parties from Delhi who want to make them slaves.

Politician and author Shashi Tharoor’s book “Why I Am A Hindu” will be made into a web series with National Award-winning producer Sheetal Talwar as showrunner. The Congress MP will also narrate it.

Taking head-on the current misinterpretation and misappropriation of Hinduism, Tharoor’s book is about the history of Hinduism and its core tenets, as well as socio-cultural developments in India that relate to Hinduism and his own religious convictions.

The book is a repudiation of Hindu nationalism, and its rise in Indian society, which relied upon an interpretation of the religion which was markedly different from the one with which he has grown up, practiced and had studied.

On its adaptation, Tharoor said in a statement to IANS: “In any time and era, an adaptation of this book into film would be relevant, but in the current political, social and cultural environment it is imperative that the message of true Hinduism – the Hinduism of acceptance reach the widest audience possible.”

“I am glad that Sheetal and I – who share a similar belief system – are collaborating on this effort,” he added.

Talwar, who will be seen producing in India after nearly 7 years, says when he gave “Why Am I A Hindu” a read, it shook him.

“I was ashamed that as someone whose profession is to voice, I had not raised my voice and done nothing while the inherent integrity of our pluralism was being threatened.

“After ‘Dharm’ and ‘Rann’, it is after years that I have been so excited about a subject. I am glad that I could convince Shashi to not only make this into a web series, but also offer his time as a narrator to the series.”

The series will headline numerous known filmmakers film an episode each. It is set to be made in various Indian languages and will be released in the first quarter of 2019, the statement read.

A bridge has collapsed in West Bengal capital Kolkata. Many are feared to have been trapped. A large crowd has gathered at the spot near to where the bridge collapsed. Commuters travelling on cars and bikes have been feared to be trapped. Rescue operations are said to be underway. A segment of the bridge suddenly collapsed, according to early reports. Reports also say around six are said to have been injured.

A bridge collapsed in Majerhat in south Kolkata and a large section of it crashed, leaving many cars trapped. The flyover collapsed in the middle, according to witnesses.
Six people are believed to be injured and many are feared trapped.

The bridge, which is among the busiest in the city, collapsed over rail tracks in the Alipore area. Rescue operations are on.

The area is surrounded by half-constructed buildings, scaffolding and pillars.

(PTI)

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu criticised the Narendra Modi-led government on Monday for a continuous rise in fuel prices and said that petrol would be sold at Rs 100 per litre. The Chief Minister said that in addition to petrol prices, the rupee value would also touch Rs 100 against one US dollar.

In the wake of the Reserve Bank of India’s report on demonetisation, Chandrababu Naidu said the Centre was unable to “properly manage demonetisation.”

“What have we achieved from demonetisation? We are seeing the condition of banks today. Big notes should be abolished. What is the need for having Rs 2,000 note? The Modi-government could not properly manage demonetisation,” he said, adding that he doesn’t have any problem if digital currency comes fully into existence, “but there needs to be proper balancing between digital and physical currency,” he added.

Chandrababu Naidu also said cash shortage was still prevalent in many parts of the country, adding that the recent growth in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was a result of the “basic strength” of people, and “not due to NDA’s achievements.”

“(Prime Minister) Modi is not disciplined, it is inability. Even today, cash shortage is prevailing in ATMs. Nation’s growth rate came down after NDA came into power. If the Centre is disciplined, why is corruption taking place? Why are banks getting insolvent? Modi is not eligible to speak about sincerity, truthfulness, and discipline,” he noted.

With regards to schemes and measures implemented during his tenure as Chief Minister, Naidu said that efforts were channelised towards increasing the earthen water table.

“Our efforts are turning fruitful. This year, almost 2,000 TMC of Godavari water flew into the sea. Projects on Krishna river – Srirsailam and Nagarjuna Sagar – are fully filled up. 12 projects are ready for inauguration in September. We will inaugurate three projects in October and one in November, Naidu said, adding, “As of now, we have spent Rs 58,024 crore for irrigation projects, mostly in Rayalaseema and North Coastal regions.”

(PTI)