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President nominates 4 to Rajya Sabha

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President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday nominated four eminent people, including noted classical dancer Sonal Mansingh and sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra, to the Rajya Sabha.

The nominations which came four days ahead of the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament also include three-time MP Ram Shakal and author Rakesh Sinha, an official release said.

Mansingh is among India’s foremost exponents of the Bharatnatyam and Odissi dance forms. She is also a well-known choreographer, teacher, orator and social activist.

Mohapatra is an internationally renowned authority on stone carving. He has contributed to the preservation of traditional sculpture and ancient monuments, and has worked on the beautification of the Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri.

His famous works include a six feet high statue of the Sun God carved in grey sandstone in the Central Hall of Parliament; and the Wooden Buddha, Buddha Temple, Paris.

Shakal, a three-time MP and farmer leader from Uttar Pradesh, is widely respected for championing the cause of labourers, migrants and the Dalit community.

While Sinha is a widely read author and the Founder and Director of the Delhi-based think-tank India Policy Foundation. He is also currently a member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

The opposition is expected to press for early elections to the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman during the monsoon session as the post fell vacant after retirement of P.J. Kurien on July 1.

How can the Congress shed its ‘Muslim party’ image?

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Ever since the A.K. Antony committee identified the Congress’s Muslim “appeasement” tag as a major reason for its electoral reverses, the 133-year-old Grand Old Party (GOP) has been unable to formulate a clear-cut policy on the country’s largest minority community.

In a transparent attempt to shed the derogatory label given by its opponents, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has engaged in what has been called “temple hopping” and has even expressed a desire to go on a pilgrimage to Kailash Manasarovar, the ultimate pilgrimage destination in Tibet for Hindus.

The chances, however, of these gestures persuading Hindus to turn away in droves from the avowedly pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and support the Congress are minimal. Instead, the latter’s new Hindu card may confuse the Muslims.

Rahul’s father, Rajiv Gandhi, also made the mistake of following a muddled policy when he opposed the Supreme Court’s judgment in favour of a divorced Muslim woman, Shah Bano, at the behest of Muslim fundamentalists and then ordered the opening of the locks of the Babri Masjid to please their Hindu counterparts.

However, the fact that religious overtures do not matter if the nation is seen to be advancing economically was proven in 2009 when the Congress increased its tally of Lok Sabha seats at a time when India was experiencing the fastest-ever reduction of poverty, according to Arvind Subramanian, the former Chief Economic Adviser of the Narendra Modi government.

Yet, only five years later, the Congress suffered its worst ever defeat largely because of the “socialistic” policies favoured by Sonia Gandhi advocated by the crypto-communist members of her National Advisory Council at the expense of economic reforms.

What these ups and downs show is that economy is the key. There is no need either to display an overt devotion to Hinduism or hold a meeting with a select group of Muslim intellectuals, as Rahul Gandhi has done, to find out what their community wants.

It is another matter that at the moment, the Muslims want a sense of security, which was pointed out by former Vice President Hamid Ansari. Their angst is understandable at a time when a Union minister garlands a group charged with killing a Muslim.

But, in the long run, the most palpable sense of safety is provided by a buoyant economy as it fosters a feeling of wellness which few want to disrupt through targeted violence.

The BJP’s success in 2014 was the outcome of Modi’s appropriation of the economic reforms which the Manmohan Singh government had neglected in its twilight years when, as former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said, the government made the mistake of taking its foot off the accelerator of reforms.

It is patent enough that the BJP would not have fared so well in 2014 if large sections of the Muslims had not voted for it. If they are now feeling uneasy, as Ansari has said, the reasons are not only the sporadic acts of violence of the saffron activists, but also that the reforms have not delivered to the extent they were expected to do.

As the original initiator of the reforms, the Congress’s focus should be on ways to rev up the economy and not on photo-ops at temples and powwows with Muslim notables. If the party can generate enough confidence about its ability to do what it alleges the Modi government has failed to do, there will be no need for any kind of religious overtures.

Along with the articulation of development-oriented ideas, the Congress will have to be less apologetic about its pursuit of secularism. While Jawaharlal Nehru’s Fabian socialism can be discarded when it doesn’t exist even in the fatherland of the creed, his secularism has to be preserved and nurtured.

If the Congress earned the reputation of being a “Muslim party”, as Sonia Gandhi has said, it is because of the misapplication of the secular principles as the Shah Bano fiasco showed, for the doctrine does not entail pandering to the Muslim hardliners as was done in the mid-1980s but to the ordinary members of the community.

Their value is immense not because they constitute 14.2 per cent of the population, numbering 172.2 million, second only to Indonesia (209 million) and ahead of Pakistan (167.4 million), but because of their contributions to India’s art, architecture, cuisine and culture. Moreover, their interest lies in advancing in step with the rest of the country as M.S. Sathyu’s iconic film, “Garam Hawa”, depicted in the 1970s.

The Congress, however, made the mistake of seeing the community through the lenses of the bigoted and bearded maulvis (clerics) and abiding by their prejudices. Hence, the “Muslim party” nomenclature because the BJP was quick to capitalise on the GOP’s lapses in judgement.

It is time for the Congress to clarify that secularism does not stand for appeasement of minorities but ensuring that they have a place of honour in the country.

1st Haj batch from J&K to leave for Saudi Arabia

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The first batch of 820 pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir will be leaving for Saudi Arabia on Saturday to perform this year’s Haj pilgrimage.

Special buses from the Srinagar Haj House in Bemina area took the pilgrims to the Srinagar International airport early on Saturday.

Authorities said four Air India flights will be carrying them to the West Asian nation.

The last flight of Haj pilgrims will leave on July 25.

After an additional quota of 250 seats was allowed to the state by the All India Haj Committee, over 10,000 pilgrims from the state were able to perform this year’s pilgrimage.

The first flight carrying the pilgrims will return here on August 25 and the last on September 7.

Over 2,500 children separated at US border awaiting reunification

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More than 2,500 children are waiting to be reunited with their parents after being separated at the US border, according to the latest government estimate.

The number was revealed for the first time on Friday as the US government gave its first indications of how reunions of those thousands of parents and children could go, reports CNN.

There are about 2,551 children between the ages of five and over in government custody who could be eligible for those reunions, administration officials wrote in a court filing on Friday.

The reunions of those children with their parents will occur in six to eight designated Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, according to the filing.

Officials will use a new, streamlined vetting process to facilitate reunions by the court-ordered deadline of July 26.

In a statement following the filing, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said: “This number represents the total possible cohort of minors who could potentially be subject to the court order, and, based on past experience, includes a significant number of minors who cannot or should not be reunified with the adults in question.”

The government noted that things will proceed differently for these reunions from the ones for the children under age five, because of previous rulings in the ongoing lawsuit over family separations at the border and lessons learned from the earlier reunions, which numbered fewer than 60.

The new steps does not include DNA-testing and background checking of the families, CNN reported.

President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy to prosecute all adults crossing the border illegally resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their parents after entering the US, though this case was filed long before that policy and affects almost all families separated at the border still in government custody.

After an initial backlash, Trump signed an executive order aimed at keeping families together at the border.

(IANS)

HC to hear on July 16 plea against Netflix series ‘Sacred Games’

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today said it will hear on July 16 a plea seeking removal of certain scenes from the Netflix series ‘Sacred Games’, claiming that some of its content was derogatory to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The matter came up before a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar which said it will go through the petition and CD and listed it for Monday.

The plea, which alleged that certain scenes and dialogues in the show defamed the late Congress leader, yesterday came up before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, which said it be listed before another bench. The acting chief justice had recused from hearing it without assigning any reason.

Petitioner advocate Nikhil Bhalla, in the petition filed through advocate Shashank Garg, contended that the show, starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, “incorrectly depicts historical events of the country like Bofors case, Shah Bano case, Babri Masjid case and communal riots”.

The plea has sought directions to Netflix Entertainment, the show’s producer — Phantom Films Production Ltd — and the Centre to ensure “in toto” removal of the allegedly offensive scenes and derogatory remarks made directly or indirectly against the former prime minister or his family.

The first season of the show, comprising eight episodes, was released on July 6 and is available in 190 countries in four languages, the petition has said.

(PTI)

SC worried over groundwater depletion, seeks action plan from Centre, Delhi

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Central and Delhi governments and the capital’s civic agencies for blaming each other but doing nothing to reduce water consumption and preservation of groundwater, and sought action plan to check its depletion.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said that groundwater depletion is a serious problem here and asked the Centre for immediate, intermediate and long-term measures to check its depletion.

The bench took into note a NITI Aayog report which said that various authorities were passing the buck and shying away from their responsibility.

The report said there was over-exploitation of groundwater in several cities, especially Delhi, said the court, adding there would be no groundwater in Delhi by 2021 which means that “people cannot survive” here.

“The person who is responsible, says I am not responsible for this. Everybody has to be blamed in this country, except the person in-charge,” said the bench which was upset with authorities for passing the buck to each other and not doing anything on groundwater depletion.

It observed: “Have you seen the NITI Aayog report? It says that there will be no ground water in Delhi. There is pollution. Perhaps you will shift the capital. From where will groundwater come. Muhammad bin Tughluq was smart and 400 years ago, he had shifted the capital from Delhi.”

The bench said the suggestion given by the Ministry of Water Resources are nothing but an essay which anybody, even a schoolchild, can give.

“Anybody walking on the street can tell all this. We do not want an expert to say these things. You ask a schoolchild to write an essay on water problem in Delhi and the child will give all these suggestions. These are the kind of experts we have… that is why we are facing so many problems.”

Upset that authorities were not realising the seriousness of the situation, the bench had earlier said the critical decline in groundwater level in Delhi could lead to a “water war” for every drop.

The Central Ground Water Board had told the court that groundwater here was “over-exploited” and the level had declined to “very critical” stage.

Due to excess extraction of groundwater, almost 90 per cent of Delhi is in a “critical” situation, its report had said.

(IANS)

Chidambaram accuses ED of witch-hunt in Aircel-Maxis case

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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of a witch-hunt in the Aircel-Maxis case since there was no FIR in the matter.

“In the Aircel-Maxis case, there is no FIR mentioning a scheduled offence and no public servant has been named. The ED is on a witch-hunt and the allegations will be answered in court,” the former Union Finance Minister tweeted.

A special court here on Tuesday extended till August 7 the interim protection from arrest granted to P. Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

Special Judge O.P. Saini directed Chidambaram to join investigations, whenever required.

The ED had claimed the former Finance Minister and his son Karti were evasive in their replies and as such the ED would not be able to get to the truth if they were granted bail.

(IANS)

Major disaster averted in Bengaluru airspace as two IndiGo flights come face to face

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Nearly 330 passengers had a narrow escape after two IndiGoNSE 4.69 % planes averted a mid-air collision over the Bengaluru airspace on Tuesday, prompting authorities to launch a probe into the incident, industry sources said.

The aircraft involved in the incident were operating on Coimbatore-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Cochin routes.

An IndiGo spokesperson confirmed the incident. The Hyderabad-bound plane had 162 passengers while the other aircraft was carrying 166 passengers.

Sources told that the vertical separation between the two aircraft was only about 200 feet and a mid-air collision was averted after the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alarms went off.

Sources said Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) has started an investigation into the incident that happened on July 10.

“The TCAS-Resolution Advisory system was triggered on two of our aircraft operating Coimbatore-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Cochin routes, respectively, on July 10, 2018.

“Following normal procedure this has been reported to the regulator,” the airline spokesperson said in a statement.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the aviation regulator.

(PTI)

India refuses entry to British MP

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New Delhi: India on Wednesday refused entry to British MP Lord Carlile, a member of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s legal team, on charges of having an invalid visa.

“Lord Alexander Carlile, a British national, arrived in New Delhi on July 11, 2018 without having obtained the appropriate Indian visa,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said ina response to queries.

“His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application,” Kumar said.

“It was therefore decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival.”

Lord Carlile was scheduled to address the media in New Delhi on Thursday.

According to the Dhaka Tribune, he wanted to “explain the complexities of Khaleda Zia’s case to the international media community”.

(IANS)

Two Indian-origin women on Forbes list of America’s richest self-made women

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New York: Indian-origin technology executives Jayshree Ullal and Neerja Sethi have made it to the Forbes’ list of America’s 60 richest self-made women, with 21-year-old reality-TV star and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner the youngest to be featured in the power list.

Ullal is ranked 18th in the list of 60 self-made women, having a net worth of 1.3 billion dollars while Sethi is ranked 21st with a net worth of a billion dollars.

“America’s top female entrepreneurs have shattered ceilings and scaled new heights, creating companies and building fortunes in everything from genetic testing to aerospace. Increasingly these self-made starters are tapping social media to cement their brands and build businesses ever more quickly. That in turn has helped the nation’s most successful women become richer than ever before,” Forbes said.

Born in London and raised in India, Ullal, 57 has been president and CEO of Arista Networks, a computer networking firm, since 2008.

The publicly-traded company recorded revenues of USD 1.6 billion in 2017. Forbes said Ullal owns about five per cent of Arista’s stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece and nephew.

Sethi, 63, is the vice president of IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel, a company she cofounded with her husband Bharat Desai in 1980 in their apartment in Troy, Michigan.

Starting out with an initial investment of just USD 2,000, they pulled in a mere USD 30,000 in first-year sales. Syntel racked up USD 924 million in 2017 revenues and has 23,000 employees, 80 per cent of whom are in India, Forbes said.

The combined net worth of the 60 women on the list is a record USD 71 billion, 15 per cent more than in 2017. The minimum net worth to make Forbes’ fourth annual ranking of these top women jumped 23 per cent to a record USD 320 million.

Twenty-four of these women are billionaires, another record, up from 18 last year. Seven newcomers joined the ranks, including four Instagram-savvy makeup moguls. The richest of these new faces is billionaire Anastasia Soare, whose cosmetics company Anastasia Beverly Hills, best known for beautifying eyebrows, now has more than 17 million followers on Instagram.

The youngest is Jenner, who turns 21 in August. Half-sister of Kim Kardashian West, who is also on the list for the first time, Jenner has leveraged her massive social media following (110 million followers on Instagram) to build a USD 900 million cosmetics fortune in less than three years.

“That makes her worth more than twice as much as her more famous sister,” Forbes said.

Taking the number one spot is Diane Hendricks, a Wisconsin billionaire who owns ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows in America.

The vast majority of list members hail from California – 27 altogether. Although 17 list members made their fortunes in fashion and retail, 13 including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg built fortunes in technology, while 10 including Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift made it in media and entertainment, Forbes said.

The list also includes immigrants who have achieved success and created wealth not only for themselves but for their employees too.

Fourteen of the top 60 women entrepreneurs were born outside of the US, including Eren Ozmen, the majority owner of aerospace and defence business Sierra Nevada Corp who is now gambling hundreds of millions to take on Elon Musk and others in space.

Ozmen arrived from Turkey in her 20s and held down several part-time jobs while attending business school, selling homemade baklava at a bakery and even working as a night janitor at Sierra Nevada, years before she and her husband bought it.

(PTI)

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