Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday said that he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find speedy solutions to issues pertaining to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) including the dilution of the anti-atrocities Act.

As many as 27 SC and ST MPs of ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) including BJP Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal attended an informal meeting held by Paswan at his residence to voice their concerns over dilution of provision of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court, the UGC’s decision affecting quota, and reservation in promotion.

“These MPs have spoken about the anger among SC, ST people. Some organisations are planning to hold agitations on August 9. We want the government to solve the problems as soon as possible. We are going to write to the Prime Minister. We will meet him to apprise him of the situation,” Paswan told reporters after the meeting.

A total of 70 MPs were invited but just 27 turned up for the meeting. Paswan said some MPs also demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss these issues.

Criticising the BJP for increasing number of lynching incidents across the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the party should control its leaders instead of just condemning the incidents.

Responding to a query on alleged lynching incident in Alwar, she said: “(Union Home Minister) Rajnath-Ji (Singh) condemned the incident in Parliament. Instead of condemning these incidents, why are they not able to control its leaders from the upper to lower level? Charity begins at home.”

She said many people were killed because of their “hate campaign” and this should be stopped.

A 28-year-old man was beaten to death by suspected cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, A

“It is a serious phase, we are passing through,” Banerjee said, adding that strict action would be taken against those found to be involved in such incidents in the state.

“Law and order is a state subject. We do not discuss anything on cows. We treat cows as our mothers,” she said, adding that fake news and rumours were spread through social media platforms for incidents of lynching.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the central government is taking the incidents of lynching “very seriously” and might bring a law, if necessary, to stop it.

“I want to make it clear that we are not just concerned but have taken lynching incidents very seriously,” Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha after opposition members raised the issue days after a cattle farmer was killed allegedly by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar.

The Home Minister said the government on Monday formed a panel that would suggest measures to stop mob violence in the country.

He said the Home Secretary-led panel would give its recommendations to a Group of Ministers within four weeks.

“We will also bring a law if that is required.”

Rajnath Singh said the biggest incident of lynching had occurred in 1984 when thousands of Sikhs were killed in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He said such incidents have been happening in the past.

Former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, who is in New Delhi met Congress Supremo Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political developments in the state.

Reports said that, in the meeting which went on for about thirty minutes, the two leaders examined the proposition for filling vacant ministerial posts in the Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition government and different posts.

Siddaramaiah is additionally the chairman of the co-ordination committee of the coalition government in the state. He informed Rahul about the political development in the state after the formation of the coalition government.

The Congress on Sunday said that Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwals remarks that more incidents of lynching would take place with the rise in popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, indicated that a “failed” government was trying to polarise the society.

Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said that every time a Minister makes such loathsome comments, he/she is “rewarded with a better portfolio”.

“The tragic part is that Modiji trains his Ministers to say more bitter, more provocative and more divisive things every day. Every time a Minister makes a remark which is per se against all sensibilities as also the very concept of humanity, then he/she is rewarded with a better portfolio by the Prime Minister.

“This emanates on account of the entire DNA of a failed Prime Minister who has let the country down and is now trying to divide it on communal lines,” he said.

Surjewala said that the Congress would continue to take the discourse back to farmers, jobs, atrocities on Dalits and minorities, failed economy, to the way GST and demonetisation had hurt the businesses and to issues affecting the people.

“We will not be deterred by the provocative, communalising, divisive traps being set by the Prime Minister. But it shows the mentality of a failed Modi government to polarise the society,” he said.

Meghwal had on Saturday said : “The more popular Modiji becomes, the more such incidents will happen. Prime Minister Modi gave several schemes, their effects can be seen, this (lynching) incident is just one reaction to it.” he said.

The minister was reacting to the killing of a Muslim man lynched by a mob of cow vigilantes on Friday night in Rajasthan’s Alwar over rumours that he was smuggling cows.

In a clear warning to some of its “loose cannons”, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stressed that it expected its leaders and workers to “toe the party line” on larger political issues and maitain discipline in their public interactions.

Sources said former Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed concern over discipline in the party, terming it “the need of the hour”.

In the meeting of the newly formed Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet, party President Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlot both emphasised in their respective addresses that party leaders and workers should observe discipline.

Recently, a controversy raged over Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s remark that a Hindu Pakistan would be created if the BJP returned to power. The Congress had advised him and its leaders to “exercise restraint, caution and choose their words and statements wisely”.

“The Congress President clearly said, he gave a friendly advice, and he hopes that all leaders of Congress party in view of the larger goal, that is, 2019 elections, will maintain discipline in both their language and conduct,” Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said while briefing the media after the meet.

“There is full freedom of expression but as far party line (on various issues) is concerned, the Congress leadership will expect from its leaders and workers that they maintain the dignity of the language as well as that of conduct,” he added.

Surjewala said that Gehlot, in his address, underlined that first this discipline would be expected from the leaders and then from the workers.

Sources said Gandhi also asked the party leaders if they had any issues, grievances or wanted to express anything with regard to the party, they should talk to him personally instead of airing their views in the media.

He also said if any leader gives a wrong remark, he will not hesitate to take action against the person, said a source.

In the past, certain comments by some Congress party leaders have cost the party dearly with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quickly encashing on the same, such as the BJP starting its “chai pe charcha” (discussion over tea) campaign in 2014 Lok Sabha elections after Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “chaiwallah” (tea vendor).

According to a source, CLP leader from Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Lallu made a very important observation in the CWC meeting, saying that after Congress forms a government in any state, the party loses connect with its workers. This was agreed by all the members present in the CWC meeting and stressed that such an attitude needs to be changed.

Senior party leader Kamal Nath raised the issue of booth management during elections and said Congress was not on par with BJP in this regard. Many other leaders raised concerns over strengthening booth management of the party during elections.

Over 1.9 billion users are logging into Google-owned YouTube each month and on average, users now watch over 180 million hours of YouTube on TV screens every day, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has said.

“Our overall interactions, such as likes, comments, and chats, grew by more than 60 percent year over year. More and more creators are building their businesses and discovering that they can shape the global conversation with just a phone and an Internet connection,” Wojcicki said in a mid-year update over the weekend.

“We made a conscious effort to respond on social media, and we answered 600 percent more tweets through our official handles (@TeamYouTube, @YTCreators, and @YouTube) in 2018 than in 2017 and grew our reach by 30 percent,” Wojcicki informed.

YouTube has built a new feature that enables it to deliver relevant information in YouTube Studio (formerly known as Creator Studio).

“In February, we began testing a new dashboard with a small group of creators. The dashboard, which was launched for all English channels, will soon be available in an additional 76 languages in the next two weeks,” she noted.

When it comes to channel membership, viewers pay a monthly recurring fee of $4.99 to get unique badges, new emojis, Members-only posts in the Community tab, and access to unique custom perks offered by creators.

“We worked with a small group of creators to develop this service and are expanding it to eligible channels with more than 100,000 subscribers and even more creators in the coming months,” the YouTube CEO said.

Every day, over 60 million users click on to engage with YouTube Community posts.

“Live streaming continues to be an area of growth for creators, with watch time of live streams increasing by 10X over the last three years,” Wojcicki added.

With the increasing penetration of smartphones, data becoming affordable and ever-growing availability of content, 80 percent of internet users across all age groups in the country are accessing YouTube, Google India said on Friday.

YouTube’s monthly user base has touched 225 million in India, reaches 80 percent of the Internet population.

The platform recently announced a “Copyright Match” tool, which uses the matching power of Content ID to help creators find copies of content when it’s been uploaded by other channels.

With this tool, after a new video is uploaded, YouTube would run a scan to see if there is any other video that resembles the uploaded video very much or is the same and if there is a “match”, it would appear on the “matches” tab.

“We’ve been testing this tool with a thousand creators over the last year to tailor it to your specific needs and is a great complement to the range of copyright tools we provide,” Wojcicki said.

The army chief, Gen Bipin Rawat, on Sunday emphasized on battle focused training and mental mobility in operations to ensure a decisive victory.

His remarks came during his visit to the 1 Corps HQ at the Mathura Military Station where he appreciated the measures being undertaken to improve operational readiness and training of the Corps and also the efforts made to improve the quality of life of soldiers as well as their families, an official statement said.

“The Army chief emphasized on battle focused training to ensure decisive victory and mental mobility to exploit opportunities in operations to ensure decisive victory over our adversary,” it said.

During his visit, Rawat also interacted with the formation commanders and the officers of 1 Corps. He also visited “The Heritage” which is the archive of the 1 Corps memorabilia.

Received by South Western Command chief, Lt Gen Cherish Mathson and 1 Corps commander, Lt Gen Taranjit Singh, Rawat was briefed extensively on operational preparedness and training activities in the Corps zone, the statement said.

The Army chief was accompanied by his wife Madhulika Rawat, the President of the Army Wives Welfare Association.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi congratulated Asharam Choudhary, the son of a ragpicker in Madhya Pradesh, who cracked the AIIMS MBBS entrance test in his first attempt and hoped that he would contribute to nation-building and inspire many in future.

“I congratulate you on clearing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) entrance test in your first attempt and getting selected at Jodhpur AIIMS to pursue Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)… I extend my best wishes to you and hope you will contribute to nation-building,” Gandhi said in the letter.

“I am aware that despite all challenges you were able to secure good rank. It is a testament to their dedication and your hard work that you have performed so well,” he said, adding it gave him immense pleasure to note how Asharam’s village doctor and parents inspired him in his journey and Dakshana Foundation supported him financially.

Choudhary also cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), conducted on May 6, bagging the 803rd rank in the OBC category and 2,763 overall.

In his letter, the Congress President said, “I hope one day, you will also be in a position to inspire other children to take up medical profession and serve the people of India. You remind me of Mahatma Gandhi who used to say: ‘Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from the indomitable will’.”

In another letter to Chief Election Commissioner O. P. Rawat, Gandhi said:”I write this letter to commend you on the excellent initiative of the Election Commission in Karnataka. The issuance of the Braille EPIC cards to the visually impaired voters is a step in the right direction, which will make elections and voting accessible to all voters.”