Curfew was imposed in some parts of Meghalaya’s state capital Shillong on Friday following a violent clash that broke out between the police and an unruly mob in the city’s Motphran area.

“Curfew has been imposed in areas under Lumdiengjri police station and Cantonment Beat House from 4 a.m. this (Friday) morning in view of the breakdown of law and order in Shillong city (Motphran, Mawkhar and adjoining areas) following the violent clash on Thursday night,” Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills district, Peter. S. Dkhar said.

The police used tear gas to disperse the mob but they did not move out of the area.

The clash erupted after a bus conductor was allegedly assaulted by a group of people residing at Them Aew Mawlong (Harijan’s lane).

However, the situation turned volatile later in the night when the mob attempted to march towards Them Mawlong and started pelting stones at the police deployed in the area.

A journalist and four civilians were injured in the clash.

“We (police) have tightened the security all over the city after miscreants set four vehicles on fire in four different locations at Motphran, Umsohson, Rynjah and Nongmynsong,” Davies Marak, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills said

Three stone pelters’ were arrested. The police seized petrol bombs and other sharp weapons from their possession.

After the Rashtriya Janata Dal wrested the Jokihat Assembly seat from the ruling JD-U in Bihar, a senior Janata Dal-United leader blamed rising prices of petrol and diesel for the drubbing.

A day after Shahnawaz Alam won the seat by over 41,000 votes, JD-U General Secretary K.C. Tyagi on Friday said: “Rising price of petrol and diesel mainly angered people that led to our defeat in Jokihat and NDA elsewhere” in the bypolls held on May 28.

Tyagi said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre should take measures to control and check the price hike which is “directly impacting rural economy and common man”.

He said the BJP “should go for more coordination and meetings with its allies before taking any decision”. The JD-U is an ally of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre, besides operating an alliance in the state.

Another BJP ally Lok Janata Party also said that rising prices of petrol and diesel is bad sign and main cause behind growing anger among people.

LJP state president Pasupati Kumar Paras, who is also a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, said the BJP should take spiralling price hike seriously.

Two months ago that RJD had defeated JD-U in bypolls to Jehanabad assembly seat and the Araria Lok Sabha seat.

Union Textile minister Smriti Irani today called upon the Indian jute growers to catch up with the latest fashion trends of the world to overcome stiff competition from a ‘galloping Bangladesh’ with better products.
Addressing members of the city’s premier Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) at a special session here today on “Recent Development in the Textile Industry : The Road Ahead”, the Union minister regretted that in spite of being the largest producer of Jute in the world, India continued to lag far behind a galloping Bangladesh in terms of exporting jute related products to every corner of the globe with quality products.
Referring to the possibility of improving the quality of Indian jute in the midst of a stiff competition, Irani suggested that the issue could be taken up in consultation with the union ministry of Agriculture so that a better seed could be produced for a better end product.
In this connection she urged the West Bengal based jute growers to take the initiative for producing a much better quality jute as suggested by the experts Agricultural ministry, as the state was the largest producer of this fibre based product involving millions of farmers.
The Union minister who at the beginning of her brief address invited queries from the audience, comprising a number of experts in the jute and textile industries about the problems facing the sector, highlighted the growing importance of ‘technical textile’ which could be used in a wide range of products at minimum cost.
Technical textile was now the in thing in the textile industry, she said and referred to its vast utilisation in a variety of items – from garments to door mat and from bed cover to car seat cover – apart from many other items of every day use.
The government of India had earmarked a huge sums of money of more than Rs 17,288 crores for its further development and proper utilisation, Irani said and called upon the players in small and medium scale industries in textile sector to make full use of them for a double digit growth.
Earlier replying to a variety of queries from those related with the textile industry, particularly the possibility of early refund under the new GST regime,the minister said though the final decision in this regard was vested on the all powerful GST Ministerial Council,she could forward their recommendations to the concerned authority for an early result.
In this connection she informed the gathering about the latest decision of the GST Council as well as the Union Finance ministry allowing self certification to seek refund for those whose annual business turnover was less that Rs 20 lakhs.
Earlier, welcoming the guest MCCI Senior Vice President Vishal Jhanjharia highlighted the problems facing the world’s second largest producer of textiles and garments after China with an annual turnover of over three trillion dollars, and sought the ministry’s intervention for their early solutions.

Hindusthan Samachar/Ankur/Shri Ram Shaw\

The JD-S will get the Finance portfolio in Karnataka and the Congress the Home department, highly placed sources in the parties said here today.

The power-sharing arrangement between the two alliance partners is being finalized and is in the final stages, the sources added.

The leaders of the two parties have held five rounds of talks here since yesterday to finalise the portfolio sharing arrangement between the two alliance partners.

Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and his deputy Dr G Parameshwara

Sources said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is on board on the issue and has spoken to leaders on phone from the United States, where he travelling with his mother, who has gone for a medical check-up.

We have held five rounds of talks with each other and have decided that the JD-S will get the Finance portfolio. I will be now travelling to Bengaluru to hold further talks within our party, JD-S leader Danish Ali told PTI.

He said he would meet both Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

Amidst death of 13 people and Tamil Nadu government’s order shutting down of the 22-year old plant, P. Ramnath, CEO of Sterlite Copper says that “false propaganda dominated over the truth about the company”.

“We are deeply saddened and aggrieved by the loss of 13 innocent lives in the unfortunate incident on May 22, 2018 at Tucorin town, a few kilometers away from our plant. While it is an irreparable loss to these families, Vedanta as a responsible corporate citizen and on humanitarian grounds, would like to extend all possible support to families of deceased and severely injured,” Ramnath told IANS in an email response to queries.

“The basic premise of protest was unfortunate, as the plant was non-operational, awaiting Consent to Operate from TNPCB (Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board). False propaganda dominated over the truth about the company, we will continue to bring out the truth to the general public and explore all options,” he added.

Sterlite copper is a unit of Vedanta Ltd part of Vedana group headed by Anil Agarwal.

Ramnath said the company was always willing to have a dialogue with the protestors and address their concerns.

“We were always willing to have a dialogue with the protestors and address their concerns. This was even communicated to the general public and other stakeholders through print media. We invited them to come and visit our facilities to see for themselves how we have undertaken environmental friendly initiatives. They did not respond,” he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami on May 29 said the order issued by the state government for shutting down the Sterlite Copper plant was legally valid and blamed the DMK for the violence in Thuthookudi or Tuticorin on May 22.

Ramnath said the company is still deciding on its future course of action regarding the plant closure order.

“Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state’s socio-economic development. We will decide on the future course of action,” he said when asked whether the company would move the courts regarding closure.

The decision of the Tamil Nadu government to shut the copper smelter plant in Tuticorin would have serious economic ramifications by pushing India’s annual import bill by an estimated $2 billion, Ramnath had said earlier.

“While an estimated 30,000 direct and indirect jobs are now on the line, a large number of small to medium enterprises that are dependent on our smelter for copper are also likely to suffer due to supply disruptions. Since Vedanta Sterlite is one of the largest copper producers in the country, manufacturers in sectors ranging from electrical to defence will have to turn to imports and that will push up the nation’s annual import bill by an estimated $2 billion based on the current price,” he had said.

In a second successive blow to Vedanta Ltd, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) on May 29 cancelled, “in larger public interest”, the land allotted in Thoothukudi for the expansion of Sterlite Copper’s smelting plant.

Asked why the company did not move well in time to answer the allegation against it on pollution and environment degradation, Ramnath said: “Since the beginning of the protests our team has met with the protesting villagers and the various stakeholders to dispel their fears. We had published a series of advertorials to reach out to the general public and even had debates on regional TV channels, however anti-development associations/groups have whipped up the emotions of the public by citing completely baseless and unfounded health hazards.”

He also clarified that the company was not complacent regarding the simmering tension.

“There is no room for complacency in such matters and our team has been constantly engaging with all the stakeholders.”

The Vedanta copper smelter serves over 800 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the downstream industry for the electrical sector. The bulk of supplies to the electrical sector are to units in northern and western regions.

The ordinance imposing the death penalty for raping a child was in the pipeline for long and was not brought because of the nationwide outrage over the rape and murder of a minor in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, a top official in the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry has said.

“It was a criminal law amendment bill piloted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). And we (WCD ministry) extended our full support to it. The introduction of the new amendment has nothing to do with the Kathua rape incident,” WCD Secretary Rakesh Srivastava told IANS.

“Our minister (Maneka Gandhi) had pitched about it earlier much before the ordinance came into action. We had already moved the suggestion to the law ministry and it was announced on due time,” Srivastava added.

The ordinance, which amended the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Posco), brought down the age of the victims from 18 to 12 years. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a statutory body under the WCD ministry, has been mandated to monitor Pocso.

However, the government’s move has not been welcomed by lawyers, NGO workers and human rights activists. According to them, the existing act was strong enough and the new law will have a negative impact on the minds of both the victim and the accused.

“Different viewpoints have emerged when the new amendment came into limelight but we haven’t examined all the opinions. I agree we didn’t consult with the NGOs or human rights activists before enforcing the act which we should have done, but we always go through all the ideas which are suggested to us,” he pointed out.

Asked whether the death penalty is the ultimate solution to curb rape cases and reduce incidents of sexual harassment, the secretary insisted that the new act will serve as a deterrent both for criminals and the judiciary with a timeframe now being laid down for trying cases under the act.

“The stringent act will force the criminals to think before committing the heinous crime; there will be a fear of facing the death penalty. This will reduce the rate of crimes against children in the country,” he maintained.

Recently a court in Madhya Pradesh sentenced to death a man found guilty of raping a minor. Pointing to this, the Secretary said that the district courts have started to act quickly on such cases and they are serious about the issue.

However, currently over 112,000 cases under the Pocso are pending before various district courts and High Courts. As per the NCRB data, the pendency rate of Pocso act cases was 89 per cent whereas conviction rate was only 29.6 per cent.

According to activists and lawyers, lack of professionals for Pocso cases at the district level often leads to delays in proceedings.

When asked whether the ministry is working on bringing a quick solution to the large number of pending cases, Srivastava said that the WCD is also pitching for fast track courts so that day-to-day hearings can be conducted.

“Also the time limit for hearing a case has been decided at two months,” he noted.

The secretary also added that the ministry is equally concerned about the sexual abuse that boys below the age of 12 face and are therefore working towards bringing another amendment in the Pocso.

“It (Pocso) has always been gender neutral. Sexual harassment during childhood is faced equally by boys and girls. Under Section 5 of the Pocso act, Criminal Law Act 2013 will undergo the change and it will be introduced by WCD only,” he stated.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the “self-proclaimed chowkidar”, take immediate action against Defence Ministry officials for allegedly receiving kickbacks of Rs 17.5 crore in purchase of spares for the IAF’s An-32 transport aircraft.

“Ministry Of Defence, India (MODI) officials, accused of making millions of dollars in kickbacks via Dubai by Ukrainian government in An-32 deal. Modiji, as our self proclaimed chokidar, I urge you to take immediate action against your corrupt MODI officials,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

He attached a report by The Indian Express which said that Ukraine is probing the alleged kickbacks in India’s purchase of spares for military transport aircraft An-32 in which its anti-corruption bureau suspects involvement of Indian Defence Ministry officials.

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said the victory of the combined opposition candidates in the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly by elections is a “befitting” reply to the BJP and those who sought to divide the country.

“I want to congratulate all the people, farmers, Dalits etc. who voted for us. This is a defeat for those who do not believe in democracy. People have given a befitting reply to the BJP. The people who were trying to divide the nation have got a befitting reply,” the former Chief Minister told reporters here.

He said that people of the state have taught the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a lesson for “betraying” on all the poll promises.

“People of the state have taught them a lesson for betraying them,” Yadav said, adding, “UP government has repeatedly fooled the people. Farmers were told that their loans were waived but instead they lost their lives.”

The SP leader congratulated the voters in Noorpur and Kairana. “This is a victory for the farmers, the neglected, the poor and the Dalits.”

He thanked the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) Chief Ajit Singh, RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary for holding the fort against the BJP in Kairana and recalled the legacy of former Prime Minister Charan Singh.

The SP leader also thanked the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mahan Party, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Nishad Party, Peace Party, Left parties and the COngress for supporting the opposition candidates in the by-polls.

The main opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday won the bypolls to both the Gomia and Silli Assembly constituencies, a poll official said.

In Silli, JMM candidate Seema Mahto defeated ruling ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) President Sudesh Mahto by 13,508 votes.

She received 77,121 votes while Mahto secured 63,613 votes.

In Gomia, which the ruling alliance partners BJP and AJSU contested separately, JMM candidate Babita Devi won by 1,800 votes, defeated AJSU candidate Lambodar Mahto, while BJP’s Madavlal Singh came third.

The polling for the two seats took place on May 28.

Silli and Gomia had witnessed 75 and 62 per cent polling respectively.