Category: National

PTI

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday hit out at the Centre over the migrant crisis in the country, saying the BJP government is “solely responsible” for their plight.

A large number of migrant workers from major urban industrial centres in the country have been moving with their families towards their home states, often walking and also in cramped trucks and other vehicles, during the nearly two-month-long lockdown due to COVID-19.

“Today, for the first time after 1947, there is a migration of workers across the country. The government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is solely responsible for the barbaric treatment towards the migrant workers returning to their home states,” AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said.

He urged the BJP-led government to pay heed to the condition of the migrants.

“The BJP arranged luxurious ships and private chartered planes to bring the rich people and the capitalists back to India from abroad. But the BJP did not make any arrangements to send the poor labourers and migrants to their home states,” he told reporters.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of coronavirus, which has infected over 90,000 people and killed more than 2,800 people in the country till now.

Zakir Naik left India in 2016 and subsequently moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency.

PTI

London: UK’s media watchdog Ofcom has fined controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik”s Peace TV network 300,000 pounds for broadcasting “hate speech” and “highly offensive” content in the country.

The London-based regulator for the communications services in the UK has fined licence holders of Peace TV Urdu 200,000 pounds and Peace TV 100,000 pounds for breaking its broadcasting rules.

“Our investigations found that programmes broadcast on Peace TV Urdu and Peace TV contained hate speech and highly offensive content, which in one instance was likely to incite crime,” it said.

“We concluded that the content represented serious failures of compliance with our broadcasting rules, which warranted fines. Ofcom has today fined the former licence holders of Peace TV Urdu 200,000 pounds and Peace TV 100,000 pounds for breaking our broadcasting rules,” Ofcom said in a statement.

Peace TV is owned by Lord Productions Limited, and Club TV holds the licence of Peace TV Urdu. Both have the Universal Broadcasting Corporation Limited as their parent company which is owned by Naik, a 54-year-old televangelist and Islamic preacher from Mumbai.

“The former licence holders, Club TV and Lord Production must now pay 200,000 pounds and 100,000 pounds respectively to HM Paymaster General,” said the statement issued early this month.

Peace TV is a nonprofit satellite television network broadcasting free-to-air programmes in English, Bengali and Urdu languages from Dubai. The founder and president of Peace TV is Naik.

The controversial preacher has been wanted in India for money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches. He left India in 2016 and subsequently moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency.

Last week, India made a formal request to the Malaysian government for his extradition.

He was banned from entering into the UK in 2010 due to his “unacceptable behaviour”.

“Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude,” Afridi had written in his autobiography.

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Sunday hit back at former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi over his recently reported remarks against India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to a video clip reported by ABP news which is being shared on social media, Afridi was heard criticising PM Modi. In reply to Afridi’s remarks, Gambhir wrote: “Pak has 7 lakh force backed by 20 Cr ppl says 16 yr old man @SAfridiOfficial. Yet begging for Kashmir for 70 yrs.”

“Jokers like Afridi, Imran & Bajwa can spew venom against India & PM @narendramodi ji to fool Pak ppl but won’t get Kashmir till judgment day! Remember Bangladesh?” he added. 

Pak has 7 lakh force backed by 20 Cr ppl says 16 yr old man @SAfridiOfficial. Yet begging for Kashmir for 70 yrs. Jokers like Afridi, Imran & Bajwa can spew venom against India & PM @narendramodi ji to fool Pak ppl but won't get Kashmir till judgment day! Remember Bangladesh?

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 17, 2020

Gambhir and Afridi shared intense cricket rivalry when the two were playing for their respective countries. The former Pakistan allrounder in his autobiography ‘The Gamechanger’, which was published in April last year, had given his opinion about Gambhir, someone with whom he clashed several times on field during his career.

“Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude,” Afridi had written in his autobiography.

In April, Gambhir had replied to Afridi and said: “Someone who doesn’t remember his age how will he remember my records! ok. Shahid Afridi let me remind you one: 2007 T20 WC final, Ind vs Pak Gambhir 75 off 54 balls vs Afridi 0 off 1 ball. Most important: We won the Cup. And yes, I’ve attitude towards liars, traitors & opportunists,” he had said.

By: Hindustan Times

17-May-2020

Confirmed Cases: 90588
Total Deaths: 2874
Active Cases: 54521

The Ministry had last week announced that the pending exams would be conducted from July 1 to 15.

PTI

The HRD Ministry on Saturday postponed announcement of the exam schedule for pending class 10 and 12 board exams, saying the CBSE is still considering certain technical aspects before finalising the datesheet.

The Ministry had earlier announced that it would notify the schedule at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

“CBSE is taking into consideration some additional technical aspects before finalising the datesheets of the board exams of classes 10th and 12th, due to which, the datesheets will now be released by Monday i.e. 18-05-2020. Inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted (sic),” Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ tweeted.

The ministry had last week announced that the pending class 10 and 12 CBSE exams, which were postponed due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, would be conducted from July 1 to 15.

However, the schedule as well as the modalities and guidelines have not been announced yet.

While class 12 exams will be conducted across the country, the class 10 exams are only pending in north-east Delhi where they were affected due to the law and order situation.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed and exams postponed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which has now been extended till May 17.

The Board was not able to conduct class 10 and 12 exams on eight examination days due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Further, due to the law and order situation in north-east Delhi, the Board was not able to conduct exams on four examination days, while a very small number of students from and around the district were not able to appear in exams on six days.

The Board had last month announced that it will only conduct pending exams in 29 subjects which are crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions.

The modalities of assessment for the subjects for which exams are not being conducted will be announced soon by the Board.

The schedule has been decided in order to ensure that the board exams are completed before competitive examinations such as engineering entrance JEE-Mains, which is scheduled from July 18-23, and medical entrance exam NEET, which is scheduled on July 26.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines to universities that the new academic session for freshers will begin from September while for the existing students from August.

Rahul Gandhi repeated his earlier assertion that exiting the lockdown was not an event or an on-off switch.

The Government of India should not act as a sahukar (money lender) to be offering loans to citizens instead of helping them with direct cash transfer, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rethink his economic stimulus package.

Interacting with journalists of regional media via video conferencing, Mr Gandhi said as an Opposition leader trying to pressure on the government to directly transfer money into people’s hands and warned that an ‘economic storm’ was on its way.

Repeating his earlier assertion that exiting the lockdown was not an event or an on-off switch, the Congress leader said the government must get out it ‘intelligently’ that protects both India’s economy as well as the vulnerable sections.

“I don’t want to make a political statement but I have a serious reservation about the nature of the package that the Government has given and I would like the Government to reconsider,” Mr Gandhi said.

“I would like to appeal to the Government of India that you can surely offer loans but Mother India cannot act like a sahukar (money lender) to her children. Mother India should directly transfer money into the hands of her children. The migrant labourer walking on the street needs money, not debt. The farmer who is suffering needs money, not debt…If we do not, this will become a catastrophic problem,” he added.

Mr Gandhi, who had conceived the nyuntam aay yoana [NYAY] or minimum income guarantee before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, once pitched for it to be used to hep the poor.

“Do NYAY temporarily if you don’t want to do it permanently. But please start putting money into the small businesses, farmers, migrants’ bank accounts because if we do not then we will have a catastrophic result,” he said, adding it would cost the government ₹65,000-70,000 crores.

The Congress leader said though they have suggested doubling of work days to 200 days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), for migrant workers in urban workers only a monthly cash transfer of ₹7,500 can help.

It is heartbreaking to see millions of people walking on the highways without food and water, Mr Gandhi added and offered condolences to numerous tragedies migrant labourers have faced.

“This is a challenging problem and I don’t want to resort to finger pointing. I want to say we have to all help the people who are walking on the streets. The situation is that the BJP is in government and they have the tools. So, they have a bigger responsibility. It’s also our duty as we are in the Opposition. All of us jointly have to help them,” Mr Gandhi said.

Senior Congress Ahmed Patel, however, directly attacked the Centre over the migrants issue. “Migrant crisis is now as big as corona pandemic itself. Govt cannot be a bystander as poor either go hungry or lose their lives in accidents. Speeches are not a solution. ₹1000 cr of PM care funds must reach their hands. If need be govt must use Army to help migrants reach safely,” Mr Patel tweeted.

With inputs from The Hindu

We urge the Indian side to work with China and refrain from taking any complicating move so as to create enabling conditions for the development of our bilateral relations and peace and stability at the border areas

The Telegraph

‘The two sides stay in diplomatic communication on the relevant border issue’

Amid tensions between the Indian and Chinese soldiers at Pangong Tso lake area, China said on Wednesday that India should refrain from taking any action to “complicate” the issue and claimed that the PLA troops were conducting “normal patrol” on the Chinese side of the border.

Asked about the continued tensions along the border and whether the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops action was anyway related to the disagreements with the Indian government’s plan to lure business out of China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said both the countries were in diplomatic contact over the face-off between their troops.

“China’s position on the border issue is consistent and clear. Chinese border troops have been upholding peace and tranquillity along the border areas, Zhao told a media briefing here.

“China is conducting normal patrol along the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). We urge the Indian side to work with China and refrain from taking any complicating move so as to create enabling conditions for the development of our bilateral relations and peace and stability at the border areas, he said.

“The two sides stay in diplomatic communication on the relevant border issue, he said.

Since the tensions began at the Pangong Tso lake area in eastern Ladakh on May 5-6, China maintained steady silence over the incident while its official media has not reported it so far.

When asked about the incident on Monday, Zhao played it down saying Chinese troops there are “committed to uphold peace and stability”.

He said the most pressing issue for the world at present is the fight against the deadly coronavirus. We shouldn’t allow any politicisation or stigmatisation in a bid to create more differences or confrontation,” he said.

At least a couple of Chinese military helicopters were spotted flying close to the un-demarcated Sino-India border in the area after the fierce face-off on May 5 following which a fleet of Sukhoi-30 jets of the Indian Air Force too carried out sorties there, the sources said in New Delhi.

The troops on both sides held on to their respective positions and even reinforcements were brought in an apprehension of further escalation in tension, they said when asked about the face-off.

They said tension was still prevailing in the area, though both sides agreed to disengage during a meeting of local commanders on May 6.

“The situation remains tense,” said a source in New Delhi.

The sources said the spotting of Chinese helicopters in the area was nothing unusual as India too flies a fleet of military choppers in the area from three bases in the region.

On May 5, scores of Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting, sources said, adding a number of soldiers on both sides sustained injuries in the incident.

In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector of the Sino-India border on Saturday. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident.

The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff.

In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding.

Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Minister for Road Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari says the water from “eastern rivers” will be diverted to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

India will not allow its share of water from the Indus network of rivers to flow into Pakistan, Minister for Road Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

Mr. Gadkari reiterated India’s position that has been under consideration, saying the water from the “eastern rivers” that fell in the Indian share would be diverted to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, India has full rights to utilise the waters of the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj rivers, while the waters of the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum belongs to Pakistan.

“Under the leadership of Honourable PM Narendra Modi, our Government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,” Mr. Gadkari tweeted.

Dam construction

Mr. Gadkari announced that the construction of a dam had started at Shahpur-Kanti on the Ravi and the Ujh multi-purpose project would store the Indian share of the water for use in Jammu and Kashmir and the balance water would flow from second the Ravi-Beas link to provide water to other basin States. These schemes had been declared national projects.

On December 6, 2018, the Union Cabinet approved the implementation of the Shahpur-Kanti Dam Project with the allocation of ₹485.38 crore for five years. The project aims to minimise the wastage of water that now goes to Pakistan through the Madhopur Headworks downstream.

The Ujh Project in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, aims to irrigate about 30,000 hectares and produce 300 MW electricity from the waters of the Ujh, a tributary of the Ravi.

With inputs from The Hindu

Watch Video:

There may be considerable relaxations in green, orange zones.

The lockdown is likely to be extended till May 30 with considerable relaxations in the green and orange zones. An announcement to this effect is likely to be made on Saturday, officials told.

An official said lockdown 4.0 would be more about implementing its “spirit” than imposing restrictions.

The current third phase of the lockdown, which was imposed first on March 24 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ends on May 17.

Metro rail services in cities would continue to remain suspended as most routes fall in the containment zones, which would continue to be under “curfew-like” conditions.

Suggestions from States

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought suggestions from the State governments and they were asked to convey their views by 5 p.m. Friday.

“The suggestions from most States has been received and they have advocated an extension of the lockdown. Every official is concerned that if the lockdown is lifted in one go, the number of COVID-19 cases could spike. The medical infrastructure cannot deal with that kind of pressure”, said the official.

The guidelines to be followed during lockdown 4.0 would be finalised by the Prime Minister and released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday.

Air travel

The Union government was in favour of opening select routes for air travel but several States were opposed to the idea. “Ultimately, the States receiving and sending the passenger will have to decide. They are still reluctant but there are many cases where people are genuinely stuck and have to take the journey. May be, airline seats will come at a premium, as social distancing, such as keeping the middle seats vacant, will have to be followed”, said the official.

Buses would not be allowed in the red zones. Autorickshaws and cab aggregators were likely to be allowed in all the zones with maximum two passengers. Malls would continue to remain shut with few shops being allowed.

“Trains will continue to operate on the current model, only allowed on special routes. It will not be a free for all,” said the official.

“The issue of migrants walking on the road is a big issue. The States have been asked to utilise around ₹11,092 crore released to them under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for their welfare,” the official noted.

The zones

The green zones are districts with either zero confirmed cases till date, or no confirmed case in the last 21 days.

The red zones are defined as per the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts.

The districts, which are neither defined as red nor green, shall be classified as orange zones.

Presently, irrespective of zones, all forms of public transport- air, rail, metro and inter-State movement by road are suspended except those allowed in select cases.

Currently, private offices can open with 33% workforce and masks and social distancing are compulsory.

With inputs from The Hindu