President Ramnath Kovind presents Nari Shakti awar to 104-year old Man Kaur at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan on May 8, Sunday.
Month: March 2020
Cong-RJD Rift Out In Open Over Rajya Sabha Elections
The relations between Congress and RJD have soured in Bihar over seat-sharing in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Bihar has five seats in the Rajya Sabha election to be held on March 26. According to the mathematics of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, the JDU-BJP alliance is winning three of these seats while RJD is likely to bag two seats.
Congress wants RJD to leave one seat for it but RJD is not ready for this. This is the reason that in-charge of Bihar Congress, Shakti Singh Gohil, has issued an open letter in the name of RJD, reminding their ‘promise’ of giving one seat of Rajya Sabha to Congress.
In an open letter, Gohil has appealed to RJD to fulfil its ‘promise’. Gohil wrote: “During the joint press conference of the leaders of the Grand Alliance at the time of Lok Sabha elections, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had clearly said that one seat of Rajya Sabha from RJD quota will be left for a Congress leader of Bihar. It is said that ‘Pran Jaye par Vachan Na Jaye’ (Promise should not be dissolved even if life remains or not). Hopefully, RJD leaders will follow their word.”
Gohil has also made it clear in the letter that the Congress candidate will be a leader of Bihar. At the end of the three-paragraph letter, Gohil wrote, “The Congress candidate will only be a leader of Bihar if the party gets a Rajya Sabha seat. Anyone like me who is not a voter of Bihar will not be a Congress candidate.”
Talking about this issue, Gohil told ANI: “I saw the statement of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh in the media that RJD will not leave a seat for Congress in Rajya Sabha elections. After this, I issued an open letter reminding RJD of the promise.”
He said that if RJD does not fulfil its promise, then Congress will decide further.
The last date to file the nomination for Rajya Sabha is March 13 while voting is on March 26. (ANI)
Delhi Riots – ‘Left Only With The Clothes That I’m Wearing’
Between February 24 and 26, notheast Delhi witnessed its worst ever communal violence since 1984. Over 50 people were killed, hundreds of houses & shops gutted and several places of worship vandalized. One common refrain of most witnesses was that police either failed to respond to their distress calls or remained a mute spectator. LokMarg speaks to the victims from Ground Zero:
Yes Bank Crashes, RBI Steps In, FM Assures Depositors
After restrictions by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Yes Bank created panic situation among its customers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday assured that money of every depositor is safe.
She asserted that the steps have been taken in the interest of depositors, bank and the economy.
“I am in continuous interaction with RBI. RBI has assured that they will find a quick resolution. I want to also assure every depositor that their money shall be safe. Steps that are taken now are in the interest of depositors, bank and the economy. There are doubts among depositors but I assure their money is safe,” Sitharaman told reporters here.
“Reserve Bank has taken cognizance of the matter. RBI has gone over and over again to find out an amicable resolution and that has been over the past couple of months. So, it’s not as if it comes suddenly now. RBI Governor has assured me that the matter will be resolved soon,” she said.
The minister continued: “We have been monitoring the situation. Now, RBI has come up with a plan and a resolution will be found at the earliest. I along with RBI was monitoring the situation in the past couple of months and therefore we have a course which is in everybody’s interest.”
Earlier, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said that there is no need for depositors to panic and assured all depositors’ funds will remain safe.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that there will be a swift action from the central bank to put in place a scheme to revive Yes Bank.
“The 30 days which we have given is the outer limit. You will see very swift action from the RBI to put in place a scheme to revive. A market-based resolution of the problem, a bank-laid, investor- laid resolution of the problem is always preferable,” he said.
“You have to give time to the bank and management to take the steps. The RBI intervened when we found it was not working out,” Das said.
Yes Bank stocks plunged by 57.3 per cent intra-day to Rs 15.70 apiece today.
The move by RBI comes nearly six months after it did the same with Mumbai-based Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.
On Thursday, the RBI said a moratorium has been imposed on Yes Bank, stressing that the bank’s financial capability has undergone a steady decline largely due to the inability of the bank to raise capital.
During the period of moratorium, the Yes Bank Ltd will not, without the permission in writing of the Reserve Bank of India, make in the aggregate, payment to a depositor of a sum exceeding Rs 50,000 lying to his credit in any savings, current or any other deposit account.
(ANI)
Chidambaram Taunts Centre Over Yes Bank Crisis
Citing examples of crisis in PMC Bank and Yes Bank, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday slammed the BJP-led central government and asked whether there is a third bank in the line.
“BJP has been in power for six years. Their ability to govern and regulate financial institutions stands exposed. First, it was PMC Bank. Now it is YES Bank. Is the government concerned at all? Can it shirk its responsibility? Is there a third bank in the line?” Chidambaram tweeted.
“Will the government confirm that the Loan Book of YES Bank has grown under the BJP’s watch as follows: FY2014: 55,000 cr FY2015: 75,000 FY2016: 98,000 FY2017: 1,32,000 FY2018: 2,03,000 FY2019: 2,41,000. When overall bank credit during the above period grew by about 10 per cent, how did Yes Bank’s loan book grow by about 35 per cent?” he added.
Chidambaram later went on to question Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and tweeted, “I understand Finance Minister has made a statement blaming the UPA. That’s normal for a government living in ignorance. Does the Finance Minister know the numbers that I have tweeted? If she does, will she please explain how the loan book jumped in five years from Rs 55,633 crore to Rs 2,41,499 crore? Who knows, FM may blame the UPA for the miraculous jump between 2014 and 2019!”
Chidambaram further asked why the State Bank of India (SBI) should invest in Yes Bank?
“Is it correct that SBI is ‘exploring investment opportunity’ in YES Bank? Why should SBI invest in YES Bank? SBI should take over the loan book of YES Bank for one rupee, recover the loans, and simultaneously assure the depositors that their money will be safe and will be returned,” he tweeted.
After restrictions by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Yes Bank created a panic situation among its customers, Sitharaman earlier today assured that money of every depositor is safe. She asserted that the steps have been taken in the interest of depositors, bank and the economy.
“I am in continuous interaction with RBI. RBI has assured that they will find a quick resolution. I want to also assure every depositor that their money shall be safe. Steps that are taken now are in the interest of depositors, bank and the economy. There are doubts among depositors but I assure their money is safe,” Sitharaman told reporters here.
“Reserve Bank has taken cognizance of the matter. RBI has gone over and over again to find out an amicable resolution and that has been over the past couple of months. So, it’s not as if it comes suddenly now. RBI Governor has assured me that the matter will be resolved soon,” she said.
The minister continued: “We have been monitoring the situation. Now, RBI has come up with a plan and a resolution will be found at the earliest. I along with RBI was monitoring the situation in the past couple of months and therefore we have a course which is in everybody’s interest.”
On Thursday, the RBI said a moratorium has been imposed on Yes Bank, stressing that the bank’s financial capability has undergone a steady decline largely due to the inability of the bank to raise capital.
During the period of moratorium, the Yes Bank Ltd will not, without the permission in writing of the Reserve Bank of India, make in the aggregate, payment to a depositor of a sum exceeding Rs 50,000 lying to his credit in any savings, current or any other deposit account. (ANI)
23 Killed In Kabul In First Attack Post US-Taliban Deal
At least 23 people were killed and 33 others sustained injuries in an attack at a public event in Kabul on Friday, which had Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah in attendance, the head of the High Peace Council Mohammad Karim Khalili said.
The attack targetted a ceremony held to mark the 25th death anniversary of Abdul Ali Mazari, leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat party. Besides Abdullah and Khalili, the event also had former President Hamid Karzai, Second Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiq and a number of other politicians in attendance reported Tolo News.
The attack occurred at 11:20 am (local time) when Khalili was delivering his speech at the event.
Abdullah, Karzai, and Khalili are safe and have returned to their residence.
The Taliban has denied any involvement in the attack.
The event was also attacked last year and at least 11 people had been killed. (ANI)
Thappad: The Slap Is On Us
Contradictions constantly rush at one another in India where the most progressive and the most regressive trends co-exist at any given time. The context here is society and cinema.
It was Deepika Padukone and her film Chhapaak two months back. Now it is the turn of another landmark film, Thappad. The former was trolled and boycotted by those angry at Deepika’s expressing solidarity with agitating students and teachers at the turbulent Jawaharlal Nehru University. The latter faces similar wrath since its director Anubhav Sinha and many of the actors led by Taapsee Pannu were part of similar protests at Mumbai’s Gateway of India.
While Chhapaak reportedly suffered at the Box Office and bowed out of most cinema halls, Thappad is seemingly surmounting the boycott from quarters preoccupied with violence in Delhi and its aftermath. Taapsee has dismissed prospects of any damage to her film coming from “a few thousand trolls.”
ALSO READ: Deepika Chooses Conscience Over Caution
The basic argument of both the actors is that it is stupid to condemn and punish a film because those behind it have publicly expressed their views on issues that is controversial. But we are living in highly polarized times.
Coincidentally, but significantly, both films challenge set social norms and prejudices that presumably cause discomfort to the trolls, their allies across the social media and more importantly, their political mentors. Chhapaak, already written in detail in this space earlier, is about brutal acid attack on women who reject unwanted male advances. Thappad is about domestic violence and the impact on an individual’s sense of self-respect, especially when it comes from loved ones and life-partners.
Domestic violence afflicts all societies, but more so those where patriarchy rules, where men dominate, irrespective of their ability to earn and carry out other responsibilities as family persons, family heads in most cases. Inbuilt male supremacy boosts male ego.
ALSO READ: ‘We Rooted Out Domestic Violence’
One can argue endlessly whether it is prevalent more in traditional societies or those that follow Western norms, or whether it is in the joint family or a nuclear one. But the universality of it is not in doubt.
Conventional wisdom is that education (for all) and economic independence in the case of the woman help better relationship. But there is no rule of the thumb with changing societal values and perceptions and complexities of growing urbanization and the rate race to make it big in material terms. In India, dowry deaths and in-laws’ harassment may or may not have diminished, but a working woman’s autonomy to spend from her earnings does lead to domestic violence.
India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 begins and ends with the issue of violence. But it does not, and cannot, touch upon long-set social norms where a woman once married is expected to leave her parental home and not expect any relief or help if she is in trouble. They could include dowry demand, ill-treatment by in-laws who often side with the son against the daughter-in-law. Not just the mother-in-law, but the sister-in-law could also play a negative role. A daughter-in-law, but not daughter, is advised to accept a flawed relationship, occasional violence, even the son’s cheating. These are the realities.
ALSO READ: ‘I Wash Thrashed For Dowry, Given Talaq’
Traditional social norms in India have ensured that women by and large live with injustice and violence for fear of losing ‘izzat’ or else, being socially ostracized. A million women complained of domestic violence between the year 2005, when the law was enacted and 2016. Yet, the rate of reporting such incidents to the police are still considered small compared to the Western societies. Though illegal since 1961, dowry demand, at times camouflaged, remains ingrained in Indian society. Data reveals that 72 women die every day.
The law works, but only to the extent the society evolves and the State helps. For instance, “honour killing” is the norm, if not so much in India then certainly to its West where in some societies, women complaining of rape are punished.
This is all in the public domain, while domestic violence mainly occurs within the four walls of the home. In Thappad, it is a mix of the two. One tight slap falls on the cheek of a loving, caring wife from an equally loving, caring husband. It is delivered at home but in the midst of a party, before several guests.
It triggers a mini revolution. After failing to reconcile, the wife is determined to preserve her self-respect, even if it means a divorce. Just everyone, particularly women, including her woman-lawyer, dissuade her. Your place is there, not with us, parents tell her. All this is when each of them has story of aspirations suppressed at the altar of family life.
Reconcile and move on, the in-laws advise. All relationships are flawed, the lawyer counsels. Much ado over “just one slap?” she is told. “Not even one slap,” she responds. It is a wake-up call, not one to revolt. It’s a thin line, though.
The most effective parts of the film are the ones in which we are shown just how women are always being told how to feel, how to keep their feelings in check, how not to give into them.
Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta sums up: “Thappad bears its message, more essential than ever, on its chin: Women are not property. Wives are not owned. Dreams have no gender, and everyone is allowed to realise them. And how all it takes, from a woman who just wants self-respect, is a decision to say no, Not Even One Slap.”
Sadly, films speaking out against dowry are passé these days. But like domestic violence, there is another ‘No’, as more and more women join India’s work force. Pannu was the lead actor in another remarkable film, Pink (2016), about consent in sexual relationship. Amitabh Bachchan played the lawyer whose baritone “No means no. Only no”, drew the Lakshman Rekha.
All three films cited here are well-written, diligently performed, are not preachy, yet convey their respective messages forcefully.
This is where, and how, cinema comes, as it should. Undoubtedly, it has its limitations. The society cannot duck its responsibility. Not even when political leaders attribute increase in cases of rape and divorce to women going to work. The society has itself to set acceptable norms armed with legal sanctions and follow it diligently.
The writer can be reached at mahendraved07@gmail.com
7 Cong MPs Suspended From Rest Of Budget Session
Seven Congress MPs were on Thursday named by the Chair in Lok Sabha and suspended for the remaining part of the budget session for “gross misconduct” in the House.
BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, who was in the Chair, when the House reassembled at 3 pm, said the Congress members had behaved in a manner that had never happened before and had snatched papers from the podium during the proceedings when the House met at 2 pm.
She named the Congress members.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution to suspend the members from the remaining period of the budget session, which was adopted by the House.
“That this House having taken serious note of gross misconduct of Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, Benny Behanan, Manickam Tagore, Rajmohan Unnithan, Gurjeet Singh Aujla in utter disregard to the House and authority of the Chair and having been named by Speaker, resolve that be suspended from the service of the House for the remainder of the session,” Joshi said.
Lekhi then adjourned the House for the day.
BJP member Rama Devi was in the chair when the House met at 2 pm. Amid protests by the opposition, the House has taken up the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 for consideration and passage. The bill could not be passed amid the pandemonium.
The Lok Sabha has been witnessing continuous protests since it met on Monday at the commencement of the second half of the budget session. The opposition members have been pressing for immediate discussion on Delhi violence. The government has said it is prepared for discussion on March 11 after Holi.
The rules of conduct of business in Lok Sabha state that the Speaker, may if deemed necessary, name a member “who disregards the authority of the Chair or abuses the rules of the House by persistently and wilfully obstructing the business”.
The rules state that if a member is named, the Speaker shall on a motion put the question that the member be suspended from the service of the House for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.
The rules also state that the House may, at any time, on a motion being made, resolve that such suspension be terminated.
A member suspended under this rule shall withdraw from the precincts of the House. (ANI)
Expelled AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain Arrested
Expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain, who is an accused in the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the violence in north-east Delhi, was on Thursday arrested by the police following the rejection of his surrender application.
“We are taking appropriate legal action against Tahir Hussain. We will soon present him before the law,” Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava told reporters after the arrest.
Delhi Police is likely to produce Hussain in the Karkardooma court to seek remand.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vishal Pahuja dismissed the surrender application filed by advocates Mukesh Kalia and Javed Ali on behalf of Tahir Hussain.
In his surrender application, Hussain sought to join the investigation in the matter and protection to life and property.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court had on Wednesday deferred the hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of Hussain, who was earlier absconding, in the FIR lodged against him in the alleged killing of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma.
Sharma’s body was recovered from a drain in Chand Bagh on February 26 during the violence in north-east Delhi.
At least 47 people lost their lives and more than 200 people sustained serious injuries in the communal violence that raged for four days in north-east Delhi last week.
(ANI)
‘Bloodshed Forced Me To Come Out On Street With A Tricolour’
Mohammad Yusuf, 40, a resident of Yamuna Vihar in riot-hit northeast Delhi, felt devastated after watching the bloodshed and violence on TV channels. He decided to visit the affected localities with a Hindu neighbour to spread the message of peace
Yamuna Vihar is a mixed colony, with Hindus and Muslims living next to one another. We never saw each other from the view of one’s religious identity. The three-day violence on the streets so close our colony left me pained and heartbroken. This was not how we had grown up in our mohalla. I just could not sit at home watching the clashes on TV and feel safe.
I felt just as the rioters, peace-loving locals will also need to come out and counter the violence and stem the ill-feelings and hatred from spreading further among the community. We are Indian citizens first. If one tries to harm a person in his neighbourhood because of his religion, he or she will be ending up harming the fabric of India.
ALSO READ: ‘People Ask Us If We Help Only Hindus…’
I decided to visit the riot-hit areas on my bike with a Tricolour and a message of peace. I was accompanied in this by my neigbour Ashok Kumar, who felt equally revolted on the issue. We felt it as our duty save our home, that is our country, and our foremost challenge was to stop rumor-mongering in the area. Usually, small bit of misinformation and unverified message can fan violence in such times.
I must admit that my family members were a little concerned but our Hindu neighbours assured them that they will be the first to protect me from any untoward incident. I went to schools, areas where violence tool place, shops and houses that were torched and met the victims. People clicked photos with us. Students went home with a message of peace and love. It was a long day but I felt proud. This is what I always wanted to do.
ALSO READ: ‘We Lost Our Child, Save Others’
There is no religion bigger than humanity. We must understand the fact that if we don’t take care of each other, the world will not respect us. It is time for all communities to come together to fight the hate and rumor-mongering. I am worried about the children, they have seen and felt what they weren’t supposed to. They are our future, and our country’s future. Their minds are fragile and impressionable; they must be protected from harbouring hate.
During my visits, I saw many personal losses and tragedies from a close view. It had set in a sense of hopelessness. But we now have to look forward and ensure that this will never happen again, at least not under our watch.
ALSO READ: 1984 To 2020: Riot Machine At Work
I next want to setup a community watch group and invite people from all sections to join it. Such steps can identify the troublemakers and report them in time. For now, however, I am continuing with meeting the victims, listening to them and spread the message of peace. Hatred must not have any space in our society.