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Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief MohanBhagwat on Thursday
said theword “nationalism” is nowa-days equated with
Hilter’s“nazism” or Mussolini’s “fas-cism” and it is better to
avoidthis word, stressing on usingsome alternative terms.
Bhagwat’s remark cameamid continued protests inseveral cities of
the countryagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, which isbranded
by those opposingthe CAA as a reflection of“Hindutva nationalism”
thatis detrimental to Muslims.
Besides, analysing theresults of this month’s DelhiAssembly
polls, the BJP’s ide-ological mentor RSS said in aneditorial in its
mouthpiece onThursday that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and
HomeMinister Amit Shah cannotalways help the BJP winAssembly
elections.
Recalling an RSS event inthe United Kingdom (UK),Bhagwat said,
“During myrecent visit to the UK, I wasadvised by an RSS worker
notto use the word ‘nationalism’ asEnglish is not our language
andit could have a different mean-ing in England. It's okay to
saynation, national and national-ity but not nationalism.Because it
means (alludes to)Hitler, Nazism and Fascism (in
England).” Calling upon RSS mem-
bers to connect with peopleirrespective of their caste,
lan-guage, religion or region,Bhagwat said India’s charac-teristic
is to bind everyone inone thread following the prin-ciple of
“VasudhaivaKutumbakam” (the world is afamily).
“We (Indians) live for eachother, not for ourselves. Webelieve
that the world has madeus and we have to give back toit. We look at
the world withgratitude,” he said.
Sharing an anecdote, hesaid, a Muslim intellectual fromthe
country once went for Hajand was sent to jail on blas-phemy charges
for wearing a“locket”. The then ForeignMinister, Sushma Swaraj,
inter-vened and got him releasedwithin eight days, he
said,apparently suggesting thateveryone from India is con-sidered a
Hindu outside thecountry.
“...Because Bharatiya san-skriti (Indian culture) is alsoknown
as Hindu sanskriti,reflecting its values, ethos and
culture,” he said.The RSS chief also gave a
call to make India a super-power.
Bhagwat said, “The aim ofthe Sangh is to unite Hindusociety. The
Swayamsevaks arededicated to their aim. By feel-ing proud of the
culture of ourcountry we have to work totake the country to
newheights. We have to make Indiaa world ‘Guru’. It is time tomake
India a superpower, butnot like other superpowersthat misuse their
influence.”
����� ."���"2*�
Rahul Gandhi is all set to beback as the Congress chiefin the
party’s plenary session inApril. Rahul had quit the postfollowing
the Congress rout inthe Lok Sabha polls last year.
Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) hadappointed Sonia Gandhi
asinterim president of the partyin August last year. But as
theunwell Sonia had to skip theparty’s campaign in the
recentAssembly polls, the calls forRahul to head the party
havebecome stronger.
The Congress on Thursdaysaid Rahul was a clear choicefor the
party president’s post.Party sources said Rahul wasthe only
contender, hintingthat elections in that case maynot even be
necessary.
“Rahul has acceptabilityacross the country and also
thecapability to lead the party,”said a senior Congress leader.
Several party leaders havecalled for the appointment of
afull-time party president. OnThursday, former UnionMinister Shashi
Tharoor, whohas been advocating elections
to the CWC, said, “I renew myappeal to CWC to hold lead-ership
elections to energiseworkers and inspire voters.”
“I was referring to my ear-lier call — eight months ago —for
elections among the 10,000party workers who constitutethe ‘AICC
plus PCC delegates’list. These should be for theelected seats in
the CWC aswell as for the party presiden-cy,” said Tharoor.
Former MP SandeepDikshit has accused seniorleaders of failing to
find a newpresident because they are“scared who will bell the
cat”.
Reacting to the remarks,Tharoor tweeted, “WhatSandeep Dikshit
said openly iswhat dozens of party leadersfrom across the country
aresaying privately, includingmany with responsible posi-tions in
the party. I renew myappeal to CWC to hold lead-ership elections to
energise
workers and inspire voters.”Asked about the remarks
made by Tharoor and Dikshit,Congress chief spokespersonRandeep
Surjewala said theCWC will decide on theCongress chief post.
“If anyone has any doubtsabout this, he should kindlyread the
resolution of the CWCbefore giving any statements inpublic,”
Surjewala said.
“Instead of giving state-ments on social media andinterviews in
the media, ifSandeep Dikshit works hard inhis own constituency and
polit-ically encash the work initiat-ed during Sheila Dikshit’s
rule,the Congress will emerge vic-torious. It is my appeal toevery
leader like Dikshit thatinstead of giving knowledge tothe entire
country, they shouldfirst show the benefits of theirown work done
in their con-stituencies,” he said.
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The mediation attempt bySupreme Court-appointedinterlocutors
advocates SanjayHedge and SadhanaRamachandran to persuadethe
Shaheen Bagh protesters tolift blockade of the Delhi-Noida main
road remainedfutile for the second day onThursday. The
protesterspatiently expressed theiranguish but refused to budgefrom
their Day 1 demand thatthey would end protest onlyafter the CAA is
repealed andproposed NRC is shelved.
After holding talks with theprotesters, Hegde andRamachandran
left for the day.It is understood they are like-ly to visit the
sit-in protestwhich has been going on sinceDecember 15 again on
Fridayto find an amicable solution toend the impasse.
Like Wednesday, Hedgeand Ramachandran expressedtheir
unwillingness to talk withprotesters in the presence of themedia.
As Ramachandranstarted addressing the protest-ers reporters
surrounding thedais tried to suggest her on howto hold talks. It
angered her,and she asked the media per-sons to leave the tent
where thetalks were to be resumed.
Ramachandran began
addressing the protestors say-ing, “Aapne bulaya, hum chaleaaye
(You called us and we arehere)”. Hegde said the SC hasrecognised
their right toprotest, but added “the rights ofothers have to be
respected”.
“When Shaheen Bagh hasbecome an example of protestsin India, let
us set an exampleof a protest that does not dis-turb anybody. You
all must berest assured that we are here tofight for you. Don’t
think if youchange your spot, your fightwill die down,” Hegde
said.
“We have seen many PMscome and go. Whoever comesin power and
runs the country,sometimes some could be rightand some could be
wrong.Whatever you are saying thewhole country and the PM
arelistensing,” he added.
Ramchandran said she iswaiting for that day when thecountry’s
atmosphere willchange. Then an elderly manexpressed his fear, “I am
veryscared... I am very scared formy children. Madam save me,”he
said.
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BJP and BJD membersexchanged heated wordsover funding of
OdishaAdarsha Vidyalayas in the StateAssembly on Thursday.
While Leader ofOpposition (LoP) PradiptaNaik alleged that the
StateGovernment is establishingand running AdarshaVidyalayas with
the interestmoney earned from Centralfunds, BJD members
PradeepAmat, Amar Prasad Satpathyand Bhupinder Singh demand-
ed factual figures fromNaik.
“The State Governmenthas disengaged MCSCoordinators appointed
bythe Centre. While theUnion Government hadpaid Rs 43 crore, the
StateGovernment has neitherutilised it nor returned it tothe
Centre. The StateGovernment is earning inter-est from the fund and
runningAdarsha Vidyalayas,” said Naik.
Raising a Point of Order,Amat said, “Adarsha Vidyalayashad been
proposed during theUPA Government. However,when the BJP-led
NDAGovernment came to thepower in 2014, the then UnionFinance
Minister stopped theprojects despite repeatedrequests from Odisha
and other
States. Then, Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik resolved toestablish
such a school in eachof 314 blocks. As of now, 190schools are
operating in Odishafor which the UnionGovernment has not give a
sin-gle penny,” said Amat, also aformer Finance Minister.
Subsequently, Satpathy andSingh said the post of Leader
ofOpposition is very important inthe House. Thus, Naik shouldnot
make untrue claims and he
should substantiate hisclaims with factual figures.They demanded
that theSpeaker ask him to furnishfactual figures against hisclaim.
As they kept demand-ing it, Speaker SurjyaNarayan Patro
suggestedNaik to give a clarificationon a later date.
Earlier, Naik had alsoalleged that the StateGovernment has
failed in pro-viding jobs to youths duringthe last 20 years.
“While22,57,000 boys and girls haveregistered their names
withdifferent EmploymentExchanges, the Governmenthas given jobs to
26,350 only.Corporate houses are also notgiving jobs to youths as
peragreements made with theGovernment,” he alleged.
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The State would have aBiotechnology Park inBhubaneswar with the
BharatBiotech partnering it. An incu-bation centre would also
comeup at the Institute of LifeSciences, said Science andTechnology
Minister AshokChandra Panda on Thursday.
He was addressing thevaledictory session of Bio-Asia2020, an
event focusing onbiotechnology and bio-indus-tries held in
Hyderabad.
The three-day-long eventbrought together globalbiotechnology
industries andpharmaceutical houses hostedby the Government
ofTelangana. Minister Panda, asguest of honour, said theOdisha
Industrial PolicyResolution-2015 recognises thebiotechnology sector
as a pri-ority field and extends all fis-cal incentives, special
incentivesand other support measures forits growth.
About 100 speakers, 800corporate leaders and 350CEOs
participated in the sum-mit.
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The Odisha Government ispreparing for an EasternZonal Council
(EZC) meetingscheduled to be held here onFebruary 28.
A high-level meeting inthis regard was held under
thechairmanship of ChiefSecretary Asit Tripathy at theLok Seva
Bhawan on Thurdaywherein Home Secretary SanjivChopra outlined the
issues fordiscussion. The Chief Secretarydirected the concerned
depart-ments to feed updates on thestatus of various issues likely
tocome up in the meeting to theHome Department.
The EZC meeting wouldbe held at the new ConventionCentre of Lok
Seva Bhawan.Delegates from West Bengal,Bihar, Jharkhand and
Odishaalong with officials of
Government of India wouldparticipate in the meeting.Various
inter-State concernsalong with issues relating todevelopmental
schemes andprogrammes would be delib-erated in the meeting, which
isto be addressed by UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.
Issues relating to adoptionof postage stamp method forunified
power tariff in differentStates, disaster-resilient
infra-structures, rail link projects,operation of mines,
financialinclusion, grants to gram pan-chayats under the 14th
FinanceCommission, devolution ofpowers to panchayat bodies,coal
royalty, implementation ofDirect Benefit Transfer, telecomand
internet connectivity, useof Aadhaar database, timelyrelease of
Central grants mayfigure in the deliberations,sources said.
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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) wouldprobe into the financial
trans-actions of arrested self-styledgodman Jyoti Ranjan Beuraalias
Golden Baba.
He was arrested by theChandrasekharpur police onDecember 31 last
for allegedlyduping people and severalcompanies on the pretext
ofsanctioning loans from financecompanies. After luring a min-ing
company to sanction aloan of Rs 110 crore, he hadtaken 12 cheques
with a value
of Rs 12.4 crore each.Beura had also signed
agreements with a Hyderabad-based construction company,
aThane-based private hospitaland two medical equipmentsuppliers in
Odisha to provideloans worth Rs 300 crore.
Later, more than a dozencases surfaced against himfrom various
police stations inBhubaneswar and other partsof the State.
The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of the CrimeBranch had frozen
his sevenbank accounts having depositsof Rs 51 lakh.
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Even as the Governmentclaimed that Odisha hasrecorded the
highest povertyreduction during the last 20years and the process of
devel-opment is speeding up,Opposition BJP and Congressmembers
pooh-poohed theclaim saying 70 lakh familiesare still in utter
penury in the
State.Opposition and ruling
members debated the issue onan Adjournment Motionbrought by the
BJP in the StateAssembly on Thursday.
“People are still going out-side in search of work. Morethan 1.5
lakh Governmentposts are lying vacant for long.There have been
irregularitiesin selection of beneficiariesunder various schemes.
Eligiblepoor people are not gettingGovernment benefits. PC tak-ing
has been a practice duringthe last 20 years,” alleged BJPchief whip
Mohan Majhi.
He alleged that 90 per centof tribals and dalits have not
gotbasic amenities yet.
Another BJP memberBishnu Charan Sethi slammed
the Governemnt for importingpotato and flower from WestBengal,
pulses from UttarPradesh, fish and vegetablesfrom Andhra Pradesh
andonion from
Congress Legislature Partyleader Narasingha Mishra
alsocriticised both the UnionGovernment and the StateGovernment,
saying that theUnoin Government has notprovided required support
foreradication of poverty and theBJD Government has failed tobring
an inclusive growth.
Another Congress mem-ber, Suresh Routray slammedthe Government
for incurringloans.
BJD members AmarPrasad Satpathy, DhrubaCharan Sahoo, Prafulla
Samal
and Aswhini Kumar Patra par-ticipating in the discussionrefuted
the charges.
In his reply, Planning andConvergence MinisterPadmanabha Behera
said therate of poverty was reducedfrom 57.20 per cent in 2004-05to
32.59 per cent in 2011-12and the reduction of 24.61 percent was
highest among Statesin the country.
Behera also claimed thatOdisha has emerged as a foodsurplus
State from a food defi-cient on. He said the figuressubmitted by
him are based onthe survey report of the UnionPlanning Commission
and theNITI Aayog.
Expressing dissatisfactionover the Minister’ reply, the
BJPmembers staged a walkout.
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Obtaining an admit cardfraudulently to appear inthe annual
matriculation exam-ination for her boyfriendproved a girl dear as
she wascaught red-handed during theexamination.
The incident was reportedfrom Dhanupali in Sambalpur.Preliminary
investigation sug-gested that the girl from Tiliavillage under the
Rengali policelimits was appearing in theexamination in place of
herbeau.
Both the girl and the boywere arrested being bookedunder
Sections 419, 420, 468and 471 of IPC read withSection 9 of the
Orissa Conductof Examination Act-1988.
The boy candidate LaxmanMeher of Mahulmunda vil-lage under the
SambalpurTown police station who wasreading at the State Institute
ofOpen School had been allottedhis examination centre at
theCommissioner Colony HighSchool in the Dhanupali area.
But his girlfriend Kamala Sethallegedly obtained a forgedadmit
card in his name andwent to sit for the examination.
During verification ofadmit cards before com-mencement of
examination,the girl identified herself as‘Laxmi Meher’ as
mentioned inthe document. When theexaminers raised suspicionover
the candidate, she evadedtheir question saying ‘error’ inthe
original admit card, whichwas issued in name of ‘LaxmanMeher’.
The girl’s claim was provedfalse during scrutiny as thedetailed
information men-tioned in the original admitcard available with the
Board ofSecondary Education (BSE)authorities was mismatched
with her admit card.The examination invigila-
tor left the candidate’s answersheet unsigned and informedthe
examination centre super-intendent in this regard, fol-lowing which
a written com-plaint was lodged with theDhanupali police.
The police registered a caseand arrested Laxman Meherand Kamala
Seth. During inter-rogation, the girl confessed tothe malpractice
she attemptedto help her boyfriend pass theexamination.
Kamala forged the originaladmit card by editing her nameand the
photograph of theactual candidate. She wascaught by the invigilator
of theexamination centre, accordingto police.
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CCTV cameras installed atsome of the matriculationexamination
centres to checkmalpractices have been dam-aged
“intentionally”.
In a letter to all DistrictEducation Officers, theController of
Examinations,Board of Secondary Education(BSE) said, “It has come
to thenotice that some of the CCTVshave been damaged intention-ally
and it may happen insome other centres in the com-ing days
(too).”
In the case of damage toCCTV cameras, the centre andconcerned
attached schoolsshall be held responsible for it,the Controller of
Examinationssaid in the letter, adding thatthe cost of damage shall
be col-lected from them and results ofthe concerned candidates
shall
be kept withheld.The BSE official issued
strict instructions for safe-guarding the CCTV camerasand other
connected equip-ment installed at the examina-tion centres. It has
been direct-ed not to switch off DVRs ofthe cameras.
Notably, the BSE hasinstalled CCTV cameras at1,000 sensitive
examinationcentres of the annual HighSchool
Certificate(Matriculation) examinationswhich commenced onFebruary
19 and is scheduledto conclude on March 2.
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Ganjam BJD womanleader MeenakshiMishra, who hadattempted
self-immola-tion on February 12, diedwhile undergoing treat-ment at
a private hospi-tal in Bhubaneswar onThursday.
She had been admitted tothe hospital with 95-per centburn
injuries.
“Meenakshi had set herselfon fire to seek justice for herson.
She was undergoing treat-ment at the SUM Hospital. Thedoctors tried
to save her life butfailed. She breathed her last at9.55 am,” the
deceased’s sistertold mediapersons.
On the fateful day,Meenakshi had attempted self-immolation by
pouringkerosene on her body in frontof the Brahmapur SP Office.
She was rescued in criticalcondition and rushed to theMKCG
Medical CollegeHospital. Later, she was shift-ed to a private
hospital as hercondition deteriorated.
According to reports,Meenakshi’s son Raja wasarrested for his
alleged involve-ment in an altercation overparking issue on January
28 inBrahmapur. Protesting hisarrest, she attempted self-immolation
in front of the SPoffice.
She alleged that her sonwas brutally assaulted up bygoons with
cricket bat in broaddaylight. The CCTV footageshowed that her son
was thevictim in the incident, butpolice arrested her son.
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In what appeared as a bizarreact, hundreds of currencynotes of
Rs 500 denominationwere found dumped near abridge at Tumbesingha
hereon Thursday morning.
Sources said that the cur-rency notes amounting toover Rs 1 lakh
were damagedby termites. The notes hadbeen dumped in the aban-
doned area four days ago,said a local. However, whoand why has
dumped thenotes was yet to be ascer-tained.
On receiving information,the Sambalpur Sadar policereached the
spot, seized thenotes and began a probe intothe matter. Meanwhile,
it wassuspected that a person mighthave disposed of the notes
toevade Income Tax.
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A58-year-old woman, Archana Das, ofBadamanmgalapur village of
Jajpur districtis appearing for the High School Certificate(HSC)
examination at the Jajpur GovernmentHigh School through
corresponding courses.
“I had a dream to pass matriculation exam-ination and I hope to
fulfil my mission. I mar-ried at the age of 19. But my marriage
wentwrong as I separated from my husband sixyears back. I joined as
an ASHA Worker in theCommunity Health Centre at Dharmasala. Ihave a
son and a daughter. Both are graduates.Now, I am residing in the
house of mynephew Prabodh Das at Dharmasala,” saidArchana
Archana is now a role model for thewomen who discontinued their
study after theirmarriage, said social worker Randhir Das. “Itgives
us much pleasure to see her write the exam-ination at such an age,”
said Archana’s nephew
Prabodh Das, who works in the police depart-ment at Jaraka.
Archana proves that there is no age for read-ing, said Dr
Basudev Das, a noted writer and aMember of the Odisha Sahitya
Akademi.
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APort Health Unit headedby a Port Health Officerwould come up in
a four-roombuilding of the Paradip PortTrust (PPT) located at
BhuyanChhak, Madhuban. An MoU inthis regard was signed betweenthe
PPT and the Port HealthOrganisation (PHO) of theGovernment of India
onThursday.
PPT Senior AEM BiswajitMishra and Senior Regional
Director, RoH & FW, UnionMinistry of H&FW Dr SK
Karsigned the agreement in thepresence of PPT ChairmanRinkesh Roy
and PPT HospitalCMO Dr P Panda. This part-nership is part of the
obligationof India under the InternationalHealth Regulation
2005.Describing it as a historic day,PPT Chairman Roy said, “ThePHU
will be responsible for thehealth and sanitation in the shipscoming
to Paradip, food safety,health and hygiene in Paradip
apart from many more func-tions.” Roy had been chasing it upwith
the Ministry for the last fouryears since all the other MajorPorts
have this kind of facility.
Breaking the news aboutanother achievement in termsof cargo
handling, Roy said thePPT on the day crossed 99-MMT mark in this
fiscal; andwithin next three days, it wouldreach the coveted
100-MMTmark and would, thus, make ahatrick in three consecutive
fis-cals.
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In the backdrop of novel coronavirus claim-ing over 2,100 lives
in China, two shipsanchored on the coast off Dhamra in
Bhadrakdistrict have led to panic among locals.
The vessels from Hong Kong reached herevia Chittagong in
Bangladesh on Wednesday.
After coming to know that the ships havecome from China, panic
spread among the localsabout the new strain of corona virus
spreading.
However, the district administration allayedthe fears. ADM
Shyambhakt Mishra said, “Ispoke to the Dhamra Port Company
Ltd(DPCL) authorities. They said two ships fromHong Kong have
arrived here and the crewmembers have undergone screening for
thedeadly virus. There is no such indication andpeople shouldn’t
panic.”
The ships would leave the coast after load-ing cargo from here.
As they don’t have immi-gration passes, the crew members won’t
beallowed to disembark, the port authorities
said.Notably, Hong Kong is controlled by the
People’s Republic of China after it was liberat-ed as a British
colony in 1997.
Earlier this month, the Paradip Port Trusthad not allowed crew
members of seven shipsto disembark at the port town in view of
therapidly spreading infection in Wuhan in centralChina. The ships
had come from China,Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
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Baleswar would host an AquaExpo Odisha-2020 fromFebruary 22 and
24.
The mega event is jointlyorganised by the Sea FoodExporters’
Association, AquaFeed Dealers’ Association andOdisha Shrimp
Farmers’Association with the assistanceof the Balasore Chamber
ofIndustry and Commerce(BCIC) at the ITI field.
Organising secretary andSea Food Exporters’ AssociationState
vice-president SangramDas told reporters that about
4,000 farmers from the State areexpected to join the expo
whichexperts from across India andabroad would attend.
“The technologies, meansand methods are upgraded dur-ing the
three-day mega event,”said Das.
“The Odisha marineexport, which amounted to amere Rs 200 crore
in 1992, hasnow grown to Rs 3,000 croredue to the State and
CentralGovernments’ initiative. Theculture in Odisha is being
madein about 10,000 hectares ofland with a production of near-ly
60,000 MT per annum and
direct employment is for about2 lakh people," he said.
There is further scope of thegrowth in the sector and it couldgo
up to Rs 1,000 crore in nextfive years if the sector receivesa
wholehearted support of theGovernment, said expo con-vener Abhay
Mahapatra. Sincethe sector has scope of furthergrowth, the coastal
aquaculturehas resulted benefiting in use ofmarginal lands,
generation ofrural jobs, high infusion offunds into the local
marketthus strengthening the socialestablishments of rural
patches,he observed.
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Normal life in Nuapada dis-trict came to a standstillafter
farmers resorted to aroad blockades under the lead-ership of BJP in
several parts ofthe district on Thursday overdiscontinuation of
paddy pro-curement.
The farmers also demand-ed stoppage in Katni Chhatni(paddy
deduction duringweighing) by millers in addi-tion to reopening of
paddy pro-curement centres, which wereabruptly closed last
week.
"We are unable to sell hun-dreds of quintals of our pro-duce as
the Government hasstopped procurement abrupt-ly. The BJD Government
is runby the bureaucrats, who do notwant the farmers to grow,”
saidthe agitating farmers at Tukla
of Khariar block.The aggrieved farmers
everywhere blocked the roadby keeping paddy bags on theroad. The
State Highway atTukla, NH near Tikhali andNuapada and the RD roads
inSinapali and Komna wereblocked for more than fourhours. Officials
from differentblocks reached the spots and
received memorandum fromthe farmers. When KalahandiMP Basant
Panda led the farm-ers at Nuapada, former BJPMLA Hitesh Bagartti
led thefarmers at Tikhali and PruthirajMahanti at Tukla.
The agitators led by Pandastaged demonstration from 12am to 3 pm
and when there wasno response from the district
officials, he rushed with theagitators to the Collector'soffice.
District CollectorMadhusmita Sahu and SPVineet Agrawal arrived at
thespot and discussed with theMP. The agitating farmers wereassured
of in writing by theadministration that the paddylying in the
Mandis would beprocured immediately.
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The Satkosia sands resort atBadmul, an ecotourismproject in the
Satkosia TigerReserve, has earned a revenueof Rs 1 crore by
February 15.
The project was started in2016 with three tented accom-modations
on the sandbar ofriver Mahanadi with an invest-ment of Rs 2 lakh
and engage-ment of six villagers. And by2019, the project stands
with 19accommodations and annualincome of Rs1 crore with 34
vil-lagers directly drawing employ-
ment from it. The project isalso the indirect source
oflivelihood for 7-8 sanctuary vil-lages as they provide milk,
rice, dal, vegetables, non-vegarticles and travels, etc to
theproject on a daily basis.
By the end of financial
year 2018-19, the total numberof visitor was 4,450 with rev-enue
of Rs 1.3 crore and thisyear repeating the success story,
the revenue by Februaryhas already reached Rs1crore with more
than 4,500visitors. The locals engagedin the project have
beentrained and work in dif-ferent capacity like man-ager, cook,
service deliverypersonnel, receptionist,eco-guide and boatmanetc.
Most of the commu-nity engaged are ruralwomen.
Different programmeslike “Know Your Birds”,“Poacher
turnedProtectors”, “Walk in theJungle” etc are run by thecommunity
in the NatureCamp. Boating in Satkosiagorge, birding,
trekking,sports, library, canopywalk, bathing ghat in river
for tourists and farm visits etc,are the activities offered
totourists in the destination.
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The Bharatiya Academy inassociation with the Bodyand Organ
Donation Societyof India (BODI) will hold afelicitation programme
onMarch 8 on the occasion of theWomen's Day by awarding 20young
women below 40 years,who have achieved excellencein 20 different
categories.
The academy sought nom-inations from eligible achiev-ers in
fields like politics, sports,social work, film, education,art and
craft, print journalism,broadcast journalism, digital
media, change maker, innova-tion, culture, agriculture,industry,
business and litera-ture etc.
Eminent writer DrPratibha Ray, litterateur Dr ItiSamanta,
DoordarshanDirector Dr Dipti Mishra andactress Archita Sahoo
willgrace as guests on the awardgiving programme.
Interested applicants mayapply before February 27 iny o u n g w
o m a n a c h i v e r [email protected] statingtheir field of work,
age, expe-rience and achievements, saida release by the
organisers.
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Congress Legislature PartyLeader Narasingha Mishraon Thursday
alleged in theAssembly that the StateGovernment is violating
lawsand furnishing untrue datatime and again.
“I had asked a question toknow whether the MP LADfund is used
for temple pur-poses. In the answer, it camethat the MP LAD fund
can’t beused for construction of tem-ple or any structure in
templepremises and for repair of suchstructures. Again, it was
men-tioned that the fund can beused for such purposes in thename of
community centre.This way the Government hassuggested for violation
of law,”said Mishra.
He said the Government’sclaim of increasing MLA LADfund is not
true. “FinanceMinister Nirajan Pujari statedin his Budget speech
that theamount of MLA LAD fund hasbeen increased three-fold.
But
the fact is that MLAs were get-ting 1.50 crore a year fromwhich
the Government hasslashed Rs 50 lakh under ahead. Now, the
Governmenthas increased the amount Rs 3crore. How can it be said
thatthe MLA LAD fund increasedthree-fold,” wanted to
knowMishra.
He too refuted Pujari’sbudgetary hike claim forEducation and
AgricultureSectors. “It is mentioned that
the funds have been allocatedfor Education and
Agriculturesectors at 3.38 per cent and 3.25per cent of the State
GrossDomestic Products in 2020-21.However, the last year’s
figuresof two departments were 3.50per cent and 3.3 per cent
ofSGDP, respectively.
It is a sheer example of theState Government furnishinguntrue
information in theHouse,” alleged Mishra further.
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Much to the cheer for thecity’s music connoisseurs,the 8th
annual edition ofSamarpan Music Festival willbegin here from Friday
offer-ing an array of spiritual anddevotional music. The three-day
event is being hosted bycity-based six-decade-oldBhubaneswar Music
Circle(BMC).
“The only of its kind inOdisha, the BMC has beenhosting monthly
music con-certs and annual music festivalsin Bhubaneswar for many
yearsin its sole mission of promotionof Indian classical music and
itsawareness among the people ofthe State. Alongside the twomajor
music traditions of India- Hindustani and Carnatic -BMC has been
consistentlytrying to highlight Odishi as amajor Indian classical
musictradition. In recent years, wehave expanded our objectiveand
are trying to highlightother genres of music. The
Samarpan Music Festivalfeaturing Sufi and otherdevotional music
tradi-tions was the outcome ofBMC’s expanded out-look,” explained
its gen-eral secretary KhirodPatnaik.
Since its launch in2013, the festival has beengaining greater
demandwith each passing year forits message of universallove and
brotherhood.Observing its appeal, theDepartment of Tourismof the
OdishaGovernment has comeahead as its promoter, headded.
The inaugural evening onFriday will feature New Delhibased
Ghazal, Sufi and Bhajansinger Jitendra Singh who hailsfrom Jammu
and Kashmir. HisSufi musings concert will befollowed by “Music of
the Soulfrom Bengal” by immenselypopular Baul singer ParvathyBaul
who has been decoratedwith the coveted Sangeet NatakAkademi Award
recently.
The second evening of thefestival will commence with“Bhajans of
Bhakta Salabega”,the celebrated Muslim devoteeof Lord Jagannath, by
eminentOdishi musician GuruRamhari Das. His concertwould be
followed by “KabirVani” featuring bhajans of SaintKabir by
Mooralala Marvada,a popular Sufi folk singer fromKutch region of
Gujarat.
The third and final eveningof the event would showcaseSufi
kalams by Suresh KumarSethi from New Delhi whoworks as a staff
artist with theSong and Drama Division ofGovernment of India and
Sufiqawwali presentation by aseven-member troupe fromFatehpur Sikri
in Uttar Pradeshled by Jenab Saleem HasanChisti.
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The Brahmapur IndustrialTraining Institute (ITI)electrical trade
branch stu-dents have come out with alow-cost and
energy-efficientLED bulb.
The main aim behind themove is to conserve energy andbe self-
reliant. While the costof the bulb is around Rs 50, abulb can be
manufactured
within five minutesafter a training of oneweek, said
ITIPrincipal Rajat KumarPanigrahi.
“Our main aim isto bring out the entre-preneur in our stu-dents.
If required, theskill of manufacturingthis bulb will be pro-vided
in the villages,”said Panigrahi.
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The Odisha GovernmentCollege Teachers’Association
officer-bearers’election result was out onThursday.
According to a Pressrelease by the association, DrManas Behera
of the RDWomen’s College has beenelected as the president of
theassociation while Dr DebasisMohanty of the DhenkanalAutonomous
College was elect-ed as secretary. The other officebearers are
Rabindra KumarPradhan (vice president),Biswajit Pradhan (joint
secre-tary) and Abhisekh Upadhyaya(treasurer).
Similarly, three CentralCouncil members, four region-al vice
presidents and fourregional coordinators wereelected. The newly
formedcommittee will work for twoyears. The newly elected
officebearers will take oath at a cer-emony at Rajdhani
College,here, on February 23, added therelease.
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The Ladies’ Forum, UtkalChamber of Commerceand Industry (UCCI)
organi-aed an entrepreneurship devel-opment programme for stu-dents
of the Christ College,Cuttack, on Thursday.
Director-in-charge MSMEDr SK Sahoo and AGM,NABARD SS Panda were
chiefguest and guest of honorrespectively on the occasion.Christ
College Principal DrSiddharth Sahoo welcomedthe guests and
participants.
SS Panda deliberated onthe various schemes availablefor
entrepreneurs in agriculture
and other sectors, while Sahooencouraged the aspiring
entre-preneurs to build their ownenterprise that would makethem
independent and supporteconomic growth of the coun-try. He talked
about the role ofMSME for startup enterprise.
Deputy Director, MSME,Cuttack, Pragyan Smita Sarangigave an
audio visual presenta-tion on various schemes avail-able and also
implemented bythe Ministry of MSME.President, Ladies Forum, DrGeeta
Rani Padhi presented herexperience as entrepreneur.Forum secretary
Dr BharatiBehera proposed vote ofthanks.
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The Bharatiya BikashParishad has filed a petitionin the Orissa
High Court seek-ing quashing of the GeneralAdministration
(GA)Department notification issuedon August 28, 2019 appointingan
IAS Officer as transforma-tion and Initiatives (5T)Secretary.
Parishad secretarySurendra Panigrahi filed thepetition on Wednesday
allegingthat the appointment violatesthe Odisha Government’s
Rulesof Business, 1956 and Article166 of the Constitution.
As per the rule, theGovernment should open adepartment with
theGovernor’s consent andappoint a Minister in charge ofthat
department and after thatthe Government shouldappoint a Secretary,
anAdditional Secretary and otherofficials. But it has not beendone,
alleged Panigrahi.
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The Chhattisgarh policewould soon conduct Narcotest on double
murder accused,former MLA Anup Sai and hisdriver Bardhan Toppo.
Bilaspur IG DipansuKabra, who is supervising thecase along with
Raigarh SPSantosh Singh, on Thursday,said police are taking the
dou-ble murder case very serious-ly. “The Narco test analysis
willact as corroborative evidence tothe existing evidences
againstthe accused Sai and Toppo.”
He added that since thiswas a blind murder with no
eye-witnesses, hence buildinga tight case against the accusedis
important and that Narco testreport would help build astronger
case.
He said, “We have had evi-dence which pointed at the duowhich
finally led to theirarrests. Both have confessed tothe murders
during interroga-tion; But there have been cer-tain discrepancies
in theirstatements which we are tryingto check out.
Crime scene recreation hasalso been completed and we arealso in
the process of collectingother evidence to verify theinvolvement of
any other per-
son. The suspected Innova carused for the murder has alsobeen
seized,” he added. Kabraalso said that the former MLAand the
deceased Kalpana livedas a married couple inBhubaneswar and that
theysuspect that Sai had mentionedKalpana’s daughter as his ownin
official documents.
A team of the Chhattisgarhpolice is currently inBhubaneswar and
is trying toverify the same. Earlier, onWednesday, a police team
hadchecked the travel records ofSai and Kalpana at the BijuPatnaik
International Airportin the capital city.
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The BJD Government afterits 20-year-long reign hasbetrayed the
youths of theState. Due to the Government’sinefficiency, Odisha
hasbecome the number State inunemployment, said theBharatiya Janata
Yuva Morcha(BJYM) on Thursday.
The BJYM which held ademonstration at Lower PMGhere to protest
against unem-ployment said that from 2009to till date, more than
22.56lakh unemployed youths haveregistered their names in
theEmployment Exchanges in theState but only 26, 560 have
gotemployment.
The State Government’sSkilled Odisha programme hascompletely
failed. Thoughmore than Rs 62 crores havebeen spent, out of the 90,
011youths only 21, 681 have gotemployment, said BJYM Statepresident
Tankadhar Tripathy.
There are huge vacancies inthe different Governmentdepartments.
Besides, the Odiayouths are not getting employ-ment in the private
sector.The Government shouldimmediately fill up the vacantposts and
ensure engagementof youths in the private sectorcompanies.
Otherwise, theBJYM would be forced tointensify its agitation,
warnedTripathy.
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Amiddle-aged woman,Lalita Sethy, a resident ofKulakaijanga
village underBiridi block, committed sui-cide at her residence
onWednesday, after she failed torepay a loan she owed to a pri-vate
financial company here.
The deceased’s husbandSuryakanta Sethy lodged anFIR in Biridi
police station
stating that the financial com-pany was mounting pressureon
Lalita to clear the loan.“She was undergoing mentalstress over last
week and final-ly consumed poison onTuesday night,” al
legedSuryakanta.
Police rushed to Lalita’shouse, seized the body andsent it for
post mortem afterregistering an unnatural deathcase on
Wednesday.
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Police in Bhadrak district onThursday arrested an elder-ly man
for allegedly sendingobscene messages to women.The accused was
identified asSK Sarif, a resident of Erein vil-lage in the
district.
According to reports, Sarif,who works as a driver with theFood
Corporation of India(FCI), used to send messages toseveral women in
the areaproposing them to have phys-ical intimacy with him
andoffered Rs 2,000 for the same.
One of the women lodgeda complaint in this regard withthe
Bhadrak Town police onWednesday, on the basis ofwhich the accused
was arrest-ed and forwarded to court.
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The Haryana Cabinet onThursday approved theNew Excise Policy for
the year2020-2021 in which the totalnumber of liquor vends in
theState have been increased from2500 to 2600.
Talking to reporters,Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala, who
alsohas the Excise Department,said that as per the new ExcisePolicy
of the State, allotment ofliquor vends for the year 2020-2021 shall
be carried out in theunits of zones.
The number of vends perzone has been reduced fromsix vends to
two vends. It willfacilitate new entrepreneurswith modest means to
partic-ipate in the bidding processand would make the processmore
competitive. The practiceof allotment by way of e-ten-ders will
continue.
He said that to further
streamline the trade and as astep to ensure the quality ofliquor
to consumers, it hasbeen decided that retaillicensees shall issue
an invoiceof sales. A separate POS themachine will be required to
beinstalled for IMFL and coun-try liquor at the sale counter ofall
retail vends.
Chautala informed thattemporary one day license forserving of
liquor in functionsor parties in form L-12A shallbe made online.
The fee struc-ture has further been ratio-nalized. Now, the
commercialestablishments hosting func-tions and parties shall have
tomandatorily get themselvesregistered with the Excise andTaxation
Department.
He said that the quota ofIMFL in the State has beenreduced from
650 Lakh ProofLiter to 550 Proof Liter where-as no change has been
made inthe quota of country liquorwhich is retained at 1050
LakhProof Liter.
Duties on various cate-gories of low alcoholic drinkbeer have
been reduced. Theduty on beer with an alcoholiccontent between 3.5
percentand 5.5 percent has beenreduced from �50 per BL to�40 per
BL.
The duty of BL containingalcoholic content more than5.5 percent
has been reducedfrom �55 per BL to �45 per BL.A new category of
super mildbeer has been created withalcoholic content up to 3.5
per-cent. The duty of super mildbeer has been fixed at �35
perBL.
The hours of sales for barsoperating in Gurugram,Faridabad, and
Panchkula havebeen extended. Now, the barswould be allowed to
operate till1:00 A.M. in Gurugram,Faridabad, and Panchkula.These
timings in these districtscan be further extended byanother two
hours on paymentof an additional license fee of�10 Lakh per
hour.
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Amidst demand by theopposition parties, thePunjab Vidhan Sabha’s
Budgetsession has been extended tillMarch 4, adding three
moreworking days. Now, the sessionwould have nine workingdays.The
Finance MinisterManpreet Singh Badal will pre-sent the Budget
proposals for2020-21 on February 28, whichwas earlier scheduled
forFebruary 25.
The decision was taken bythe Vidhan Sabha’s BusinessAdvisory
Committee (BAC) withthe Speaker Rana Kanwar PalSingh as its
ex-officio chairman.The BAC has ParliamentaryAffairs Minister
BrahmMohindra, Finance MinisterManpreet Badal, Forest MinisterSadhu
Singh Dharamsot as itsmembers, besides Leader ofOpposition Harpal
SinghCheema, and Congress MLAKushaldeep Singh Kiki Dhillonas other
members.
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Punjab Government maysoon come up with a poli-cy to compensate
the farmersfor their land being used forinstalling towers by the
Statetransmission utility.
Announcing this on thefloor of the House on the firstday of the
Budget session, theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Thursday
made itclear that the Governmentwould consider compensationonly for
installation of towerson farmers’ land by the PunjabState
TransmissionCorporation Limited (PSTCL),but not for the land
fallingunder the transmission cables.
“It is not possible to givecompensation to farmers fortheir land
falling under thetransmission lines since a sub-stantial chunk of
105 acres ofagriculture land across theState is under the wires,”
saidthe Chief Minister whileresponding to the calling atten-tion
notice raised by AamAadmi Party MLAs.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Thursday dismissed theCBI’s plea
challenging thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt order by which it had
lastyear refused to interfere withthe Punjab Government deci-sion
to take back all sacrilegecases from the Central probeagency. A
Bench of Justices RF Nariman and S RavindraBhat dismissed the CBI’s
pleaon the ground of delay.
“...Special Leave Petitionsare dismissed on the ground ofdelay.
However, the question oflaw is left open. Pending appli-cation
stands disposed of,” theBench said. PTI
New Delhi: Former CongressMP Ashok Tanwar moved theSupreme Court
on Thursdayseeking contempt proceedingsagainst the DDA and the
DelhiGovernment for allegedly “wil-fully and deliberately
disobey-ing” its orders allowing con-struction of a permanent
struc-ture for the Guru Ravidas tem-ple at Tughlaqabad. The
templewas demolished by the DDA fol-lowing the SC’s August 9
lastyear direction which hadobserved that “serious breach”was
committed by Guru RavidasJayanti Samaroh Samiti. PTI
New Delhi: The SupremeCourt in its interim order onThursday
allowed theplea of the KarnatakaGovernment forimplementation ofthe
final award by atribunal for sharingof water betweenGoa, Karnataka
andMaharashtra from theMahadayi river.
The interim order waspassed by a Bench comprisingJustice DY
Chandrachud and
Justice Hemant Gupta afterhearing the counsel from
the three States. TheBench said the final
hearing in the mat-ter will take place inJuly.
It also said theinterim order is
subject to the finaloutcome of the peti-
tions filed by the threeStates against the tribunal’saward.
PTI
New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Thursday questionedthe issuance of
black warrantsby trial courts for execution ofdeath penalty even
before theexpiry of 60-day time periodfor filing of appeals in
theapex court by the convicts. Thetop court’s observation
cameduring the hearing of an appeal,filed by death row convict
AnilSurendra Singh Yadav, allegingthat the black warrant wasissued
by a Gujarat sessionscourt just 33 days after his con-viction was
upheld by the highcourt. PTI
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With Bihar Assembly pollclosing by, BJP presidentJP Nadda will
visit Patna onFebruary 22 to discuss hisparty’s strategy with State
lead-ers and that of NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)there besides
to inaugurateBJP’s new offices in 11 districts.
This would be Nadda’s firstvisit to Bihar after taking
overparty’s baton this year fromAmit Shah, the Union
HomeMinister.
“Nadda would be inaugu-rating the newly-built office ofthe BJP
in 11 districts in Bihar,including Samastipur, Siwan,Bhagalpur,
Arwal, Naugachhia,Lakhisarai, Gopalganj,Sasaram, Saharsa,
Aurangabad,and Sheohar by a remote con-trol at Patna office. These
newoffices are equipped with latestequipment, including an
e-library that would help partyworkers in advancing BJP ide-ology
in their districts,” saidParty’s General Secretary
andBihar-in-charge, BhupendraYadav .
Nadda will hold meetingswith members of the core com-mittee to
ensure the victory ofNDA with Nitish Kumar being
the Chief Ministerial face of theNDA alliance.
Picking its lessons from theDelhi poll debacle, BJP is keento
rein-in its motor mouthsand spoil its campaign in Bihar.Recently
Nadda had sum-moned union minister andMP from Begusarai
GirirajSingh’s controversial commentsagainst a prominent
minorityinstitution.
BJP intends to focus onstate and development issuesrather taking
up national agen-da in the forefront of its cam-paigning in the
Bihar poll. BJPwants to win to end it series ofreverses in
Maharashtra, Delhiand Jharkand by faithfullyaligning with the JDU
and notqueering its pitch on aNationalist agenda.
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Amid concerns and criti-cisms, Union Housing andUrban Affairs
MinisterHardeep Singh Puri onThursday said thatGovernment
infrastructure,including the North and SouthBlocks, was built more
than acentury ago and there is no rea-son why the Centre should
notgo for a new-look CentralVista aesthetically while pre-serving
the heritage.
Speaking at a function,Puri said that some people aretalking
about the Central Vistamakeover without knowingwhat is happening.
“Lookevery 100 years somebody hasto take charge and decide whatthe
city is going to look like.Delhi in its present from...Thecurrent
Delhi Governmentalinfrastructure (including)
Rashtrapati Bhavan, NorthBlock, South Block, were builtin 1910s
or 1920s,” Puri added.
The questions are beingraised by experts from variousquarters
that what is the needto do so and what’s the objec-tive and why it
is being imple-mented. “We are paying thou-sands of crores of rent
to houseGovernment buildings. Wehave the land, so there is noreason
why we can’t do it in anarchitecturally, aesthetic way,preserve the
heritage etc andcreate a New Delhi,” he said.
Sources said that the DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)has
received nearly 400 objec-tions to the proposed change ofland use
for 101 acres in cen-tral Delhi for the Centre’s ambi-tious Central
Vista redevelop-ment project. The objectionsrange from questioning
theneed for the project to itsimpact on environment andtraffic.
Some also stressed onthe need to protect heritage anddemanded a
proper assess-ment before going ahead withthe plan.
LokPATH (people forAppropriate Transformationof Habitat), a
collective ofurban development experts,which was formed
recently,has flagged the lack of trans-parency in the process of
landuse change. The Indian Societyof Landscape Architects(ISOLA)
has called the projectan “inappropriate planningdecision”. Many
have ques-tioned the need for the projectand said it contradicts
the pro-visions of the Master Plan ofDelhi 2021.
The redevelopment of theCentral Vista — the nation’spower
corridor in Delhi —envisages a triangularParliament building next
to theexisting one, a common CentralSecretariat for ministries and
therevamping of the three-km-long Rajpath - from RashtrapatiBhavan
to India Gate.
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With the discharge of a womanmedico, who was country’sfirst
novel coronavirus patient beingtreated at the Government
MedicalCollege hospital in Kerala onThursday, India may have
becomea pathogen-free country for now, butthe pathogen continues to
take itstoll in neighbouring nations.
One more Indian aboard aquarantined cruise ship off Japanwas
tested positive for the novelcoronavirus and shifted to
hospital,taking the number of Indian nation-als infected with the
virus on thevessel to eight, the Indian embassysaid on Thursday.
China has report-ed 2,118 deaths while the overallconfirmed cases
has climbed to74,576.
The Indian embassy said that atotal of 138 Indians, including
132crew and 6 passengers, were among
the 3,711 people on board theDiamond Princess cruise ship. In
atweet, the Indian embassy heresaid, “1 Indian crew who tested
pos-itive for #COVID19 among 79 newcases on #DiamondPrincess
yester-day too has been shifted to hospi-tal for treatment. All 8
Indiansreceiving treatment are respondingwell. Rest all Indians
on-board arebraving out the trying circumstances.”
Earlier, seven Indians were test-ed positive for the COVID-19.
Themission said that infected Indianswere responding well to the
treatment.
Many countries have bannedarrivals from China while major
air-lines have suspended flights to thecountry. In India, national
carrierAir India has announced that it isextending the suspension
of itsflights to the neighbouring countrytill June 30.
The discharge of the women
medico student marked the recov-ery of all three cases of
infection inIndia reported from Kerala. Twoother students — one
fromAlappuzha and another Kasaragod— had been discharged
recently
after they too tested negative for thevirus in fresh tests days
after beinginfected by it.
A total of 650 people werebrought back from Wuhan in Chinaon
February 1 and 2 in two 747
Boeing Air India aircraft after theoutbreak of coronavirus in
thatcountry.
Last month, the Air India hadsuspended its six weekly
Delhi-Shanghai flights from January 31 to
February 14. However, it did notrestart the flight operations
fromFebruary 15 onwards.
The national carrier had alsosuspended its Delhi-Hong
Kongflights due to the coronavirus epi-demic that has killed more
than2,000 people in China till date.
“Flight operations on bothroutes— Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi-Hong
Kong — have been suspend-ed till June 30,” an Air Indiaspokesperson
said on Thursday.
Earlier, IndiGo and SpiceJet hadsuspended their flight
operationsbetween India and China.
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Aday after US PresidentDonald Trump said inWashington that India
has nottreated his country “very well,”on issues of bilateral
trade, theMinistry of External Affairs onThursday said the context
inwhich the remarks were madewas balance of trade and therehave
been efforts to address theconcerns. The US President’sremarks came
days ahead of hismaiden two-day visit to Indiacommencing February
24.
Looking forward to hisvisit to India, Trump had saidIndia has
not treated his coun-try “very well” on the tradefront and
indicated that a “verybig” bilateral deal with NewDelhi may not be
signed beforethe American presidential elec-tion in November.
Trump, forcefully pursuinghis ‘America first” policy,
haspreviously described India as a“tariff king” for
imposing“tremendously high” tariffs onAmerican products, also
expressed dissatisfaction overthe US-India trade ties. “Well,we
can have a trade deal withIndia, but I’m really saving thebig deal
for later on,” Trumptold reporters at the Joint BaseAndrews outside
Washingtonon Tuesday when askedwhether he expects a trade dealwith
India before the visit.
Asked about his com-ments, the External AffairsMinistry
spokesperson RaveeshKumar said here it is importantto understand
the context inwhich the remarks were made.The context was balance
oftrade and efforts have beenmade to address concerns, hesaid.
India is eagerly awaitingPresident Trump’s visit and itwill
strengthen the bilateralglobal strategic ties, Kumarsaid. He also
said “we don’twant to create any artificialdeadline” replying to
questionon when India-US trade dealwill be signed.
On how many agreementswill be signed during Trump’sIndia visit,
Kumar said aroundfive MoUs were under discus-sion. Asked whether
the issuesrelating to H1B visa will figurein Modi-Trump talks,
Kumarsaid they could come up.
Trump will reachAhemdabad on February 24where a grand event -
called“Namaste Trump” - to welcomehim will “showcase India’s
richand diverse culture that willhave few parallels in India
orelsewhere”.
“US President Trump willland in Ahmedabad aroundnoon, from there
he will go tothe Motera Stadium to addressthe ‘Namaste Trump’
event.The route from the airport tothe stadium -- we expect a
large
number of people will line-up,”Ravish Kumar said.
Talking of the route fromthe Ahmedabad airport to thestadium, he
said, “We expect alarge number of people linedup along the route”.
So far, 28stages have been set up whichwill represent various parts
ofthe country, on which artisteswill be performing.
The roadshow will featureMahatma Gandhi’s life and theprogramme
at the MoteraStadium would be like the“Howdy Modi” event, he
saidreferring to the mega pro-gramme at Houston in US,where Trump
had shared stagewith Prime Minister NarendraModi and addressed the
assem-bled Indians.
The other stop on Trump’sschedule is Agra and the laststop is
New Delhi where Modiand Trump will hold talks onthe entire range of
bilateralissues including defence andtrade. Incidentally, it will
be thefifth meeting between Modiand Trump in the last
eightmonths.
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Days after the landmarkSupreme Court judgmentdirecting the
Government togrant permanent commissionand command postings towomen
officers, Army ChiefMM Naravane on Thursdaysaid his force has been
cham-pioning gender equality and theapex court verdict has given
theArmy clarity to move forward.
In a momentous ruling onMonday, the apex court onMonday had
called for a“change in mindsets” anddirected that women officers
ofthe Army, serving under ShortService Commission(SSC),
beconsidered for grant ofPermanent Commission, irre-spective of
tenure of service,and also for command posts innon-combat areas
since “anabsolute bar on women seekingcriteria or command
appoint-ments would not comport withthe guarantee of equality
underArticle 14.”
Making the Army’s standclear, the Army Chief said herethe Indian
Army does not dis-criminate any soldier based onreligion, caste,
creed, or evengender. The outlook of theIndian Army has been
through-out like this and “that is why westarted inducting women
offi-cers as early as in 1993.”
Outlining steps taken toinduct women in the force, hesaid the
Army has taken theinitiative to induct women inrank and file, and
the first batchof 100 women soldiers isundergoing training at Corps
ofMilitary Police Centre andSchool, he said.
Supreme Court’s decision isa welcome one as it brings outa sense
of clarity and purpose togainfully employ officers for bet-ter
efficiency of the organisa-tion. I must assure that every-body in
the Indian Armyincluding women officers will
be given equal opportunity tocontribute to the nation as
alsoprogress in their careers,” he saidhailing the verdict as
enabling.Naravane also said letters arebeing sent to women
officersasking whether they will preferpermanent commission.
The court has given threemonths’ time to theGovernment to
implement itsverdict and Naravane said aroadmap has been prepared
forits implementation. He alsosaid there is equal opportuni-ty for
everyone and there is nogender discrimination. “We
have drafted a plan” he stated.Same procedure for male
Short Service Commission(SSC) officers will be followedfor women
to give permanentcommission, the Army chiefclarified adding “it
will besame rule for everyone.”
Observing that the judge-ment is for those who havecrossed a
certain point in theircareer in the Army, he saidthose rules for
young officerswill not be applied on them. Inthe next batch of
women offi-cers trained all these factors willbe discussed, he
stated.
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Speaking on the situation inJ a m m u & K a s h m i r
,Naravane said terror inci-dents have seen a downturnand the Army
is maintainingpressure on terror groups.
There is an externaldimension to the decrease incross-border
terrorism, hesaid, in oblique reference tothe ongoing Financial
ActionTask Force (FATF) plenary.
Pakistan may have torethink strategy as even Chinarealised they
cannot back
their all-weather friend all thetime, the Army chief said onthe
FATF plenary.
On the health conditionof hardline Hurriyat leaderSyed Ali Shah
Geelani, thearmy chief only said securityforces are geared up to
takecare of any situation. On theproposed creation of a
theatrecommand exclusively forJammu and Kashmir, he saidthere will
be detailed discus-sions before anything isfinalised.
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Regarding the new ThalSena Bhawan to be built inthe Delhi
Cantonment, forwhich Defence MinisterRajnath Singh will lay the
firststone on Friday morning, theArmy Chief said the pro-posed
“Thal Sena Bhawan willbring all Army Headquarteroffices under
one roof there-by improving the working
efficiency, while reducing thecarbon footprint and
logisticsrequirements.”
However, he clarified thatthe office of the Army Chiefwill not
shift to the new build-ing, and will continue to beclose to
wherever the DefenceMinister’s office is. The newArmy Headquarters
will bespread over 35 acres and willbe built in five years.
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As China on Thursday object-ed to Home Minister AmitShah’s visit
to ArunachalPradesh, saying the visit had vio-lated its territorial
sovereigntyand “sabotaged” mutual trustwith India, New Delhi
assertedthe eastern State is an integralpart of the country.
Moreover,objection to an Indian Minister’svisit there does not
stand to rea-son, it reiterated.
The Home Minister is inArunachal Pradesh to attendfunctions
related to the 34thStatehood Day of the north-eastern state and
launched pro-jects including industry androad infrastructure. China
hasalways claimed the border Stateas part of south Tibet and
rou-tinely criticises the visit of anyIndian official to the
region.
Objecting to Shah’s visit,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson
Geng Shuangsaid “China’s position on theeastern sector of the
China-India boundary, or the south-ern part of China’s Tibet
region,is consistent and clear.”
Responding to a questionabout Shah’s visit, the
spokesperson said “the ChineseGovernment has never recog-nised
the so-called ‘ArunachalPradesh’ and is firmly opposedto the Indian
politician’s visit tothe southern part of China’sTibet region as it
violatedChina’s territorial sovereignty,undermined stability of
theborder area, sabotaged politi-cal mutual trust, and
violatedrelevant bilateral agreement,”Geng. The official also
saidIndia should stop taking anyaction that may “further
com-plicate the border issue.”
Asked about China’s objec-tion to Shah’s visit, Ministry
ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said here onThursday
India’s consistent posi-
tion has been that the State is itsintegral and inalienable
part.Objecting to visit to Arunachalby an Indian leader does
notstand to reason, he said.
China last year too raisedsimilar issue when DefenceMinister
Rajnath Singh visitedArunachal Pradesh to takestock of the security
situationin the frontier border region.
Earlier in 2019, customsauthorities in a northeasternChinese
city had destroyednearly 30,000 world mapsshowing Arunachal
Pradeshas a part of India and Taiwanas a separate country.
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The Indo Tibetan Border Policeon Thursday honoured itsdoctors,
paramedics, cooks andsanitation officials who served ina special
quarantine centre set uphere housing 406 people suspect-ed to have
been exposed to coro-navirus, a spokesperson of theforce said.
“Thank you for whatyou did. The country and the forceis proud of
you,” ITBP Director
General (DG) S S Deswal told thepersonnel after he held a
special‘sainik sammelan’ at the Chhawlacamp of the force. Deswal
gaveaway the top award of the forcecalled the ‘DG commendationdisc’
to 28 personnel, appreciationletters to three while 32 stafferswere
presented with cash rewards,ITBP spokesperson Vivek KumarPandey
said.
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Bengal is mulling enhancedsecurity for election strate-gist
Prashant Kishore, sourcesin the State Government saidadding already
the securitydirectorate has reviewed hissecurity status and
submittedits recommendations beforethe Government.
Accordingly, Kishore whohas reportedly been hired bythe ruling
Trinamool Congressto chalk out its strategy roadmap ahead of the
2021Assembly elections is likely toget ‘Z’ category security
coverwhich is provided among oth-ers former Chief MinisterBuddhadeb
Bhattacharjee,senior Ministers like ParthoChatterjee, Firhad
Hakim,Suvendu Adhikary, BCCI pres-ident Sourav Ganguly andanother
5-6 persons.
Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and his nephew andMP Abhishek
Banerjee gets ‘Z
Plus’ security cover.The security personnel will
be drawn from the trainedofficers of Kolkata Police andBengal
Police, sources saidadding the decision to providesecurity cover to
Kishore wastaken following a meeting ofthe security directorate
officials.
Significantly the meetingtook place following two devel-opments.
First, Kishore’s expul-sion from the Jantadal UnitedParty of Nitish
Kumar andsecond his decision to launch‘Baat Bihar Ki’.
“A meeting was calledwhere his security wasreviewed and its
upgradationwas recommended to the StateGovernment,” sources
said.
However officials inKishore’s election managementcompany said
they did nothave any information about thenew security
proposals.
Bengal has seen a lot ofpolitical murders over the pastone
decade or so. One such vic-
tim of recent escalated politi-cal hostilities was a
TrinamoolCongress MLA from Nadia.
Satyajit Biswas KrishanganjMLA was murdered near housein Nadia.
Local BJP MP whowas named among 43 otherswas recently grilled for
fourhours by the State CID regard-ing his alleged role in the
mur-der.
With TMC’s positionimproving since the losses itsuffered in last
year’sParliamentary elections—whenthe party conceded 18 out of
42seats to the BJP —thanksKishore’s reported strategicmanipulations
the Bengal rul-ing party wants him secured atany cost, experts
said.
One of the major reflec-tions of Kishore’s successeswith the TMC
was a remark-able comeback staged by theTrinamool in the recently
heldAssembly elections to threeseats in which the BJP
sufferedhumiliating defeat.
Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onThursday
wrote a letter toPrime Minister NarendraModi, expressing concern
over‘steady reduction’ of centralfunds to the State and
‘inordi-nate delay’ in their release.
The BJP called the letter a“political ploy to befool
people”ahead of civic polls in thestate.
In her letter, Banerjeeasserted that despite the declinein
central funds the state’sGSDP grew by 10.4 per centagainst the
national GDPgrowth of 5 per cent in 2019-20. “I write to you with
deepconcern regarding steadyreduction of central funds tothe state
and also inordinatedelay in release of funds to usfrom the
Government of India,”Banerjee wrote.
She said the state is yet toreceive its share of central
funds totalling �50,000 croretill January, 2020.
This “extradordinary situ-ation” is creating major diffi-culties
in meeting obligationsfor the welfare of the state, shesaid.
The letter said, “You will,no doubt, appreciate that boththe
central and the StateGovernments are expected tofulfil the
constitutional oblig-ations and the commitments tothe people, so
that respectivegovernments run smoothly ...However West Bengal is
beingdeprived of the huge out-standing dues.”
Banerjee said West Bengal’sindex of industrial production(IIP)
in April-November 2019-20 stood at 3.1 per cent againstthe national
figure of 0.6 percent, while growth of the ser-vices sector at 16.4
per cent wasmuch higher than the nation-al number of 6.9 percent.
PTI
Bengaluru: Leaving the organ-isers of an Event to protestagainst
the CAA, NRC andNRP here red-faced, a youngwoman on Thursday
raised‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan inthe presence of AIMIM
chiefAsaduddin Owaisi, whodenounced her action andasserted “we are
for India”.
The woman, identified asAmulya, asked people to shoutwith her
‘Pakistan Zindabad’after the organisers of the eventunder the
banner of “SaveConstitution” invited her toaddress the gathering
soonafter Owaisi came on the stage.
Soon Owaisi rushed tosnatchthe mike from her handsand was joined
by others whotried to remove her from thestate.
But the woman wasadamant and raised the sloganagain
repeatedly.
Later, the police stepped inand removed her from thedais.
Owaisi then addressedthe gathering, saying he did notagree with
the woman.
“Neither me nor my partyhas any link with her. Wedenounce her.
The organisersshould not have invited herhere. If I knew this, I
would nothave come here. We are forIndia and we no way supportour
enemy nation Pakistan.Our entire drive is to saveIndia,” the AIMIM
MP said.
JD(S) corporator ImranPasha claimed she was plantedby some rival
group to disruptthe event. The woman, he said,was not in the list
of speakersand demanded that the policeinvestigate the
matterseriously. PTI
Chennai: A road crash inTamil Nadu early Thursday left20 dead
and 28 injured as alorry collided with their busreducing it to a
mangled heap.
Police said the accidentoccurred on the Salem-Kochihighway at
Avinashi in Tirupuraround 4 am as the Kerala StateRoad Transport
Corporation(KSRTC) bus was proceedingto Ernakulam from
Bengaluru.Tirupur is located about 450km from here.
Most of the passengerswere asleep when the lorrycrashed into the
bus.
The lorry driver,Ernakulam n