Month: September 2020

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday met leaders of Congress and some other opposition parties after Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced their boycott of proceedings in solidarity the opposition members of Rajya Sabha who boycotted the proceedings earlier in the day over the manner in which agriculture bills were passed.

Eight members of the opposition have also been suspended in the upper House for “disregarding the authority of the chair”.

The members put their grievances before Birla which he tried to address. While coming out of the meeting a senior leader said that no consensus has been reached and they will boycott the proceedings of the house.

“We would continue the boycott. We also protest against farm bills which are against the agrarian community,” the leader said.

Before Congress and other opposition parties decided to boycott proceedings, Chowdhury sought withdrawal of agriculture bills. He said the government can withdraw the bills as they have not been signed yet by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The opposition members sought to raise their concerns over farm bills soon after the House met for the day. As opposition members resorted to sloganeering, Birla adjourned the House for an hour to prevent social distancing norms from being violated.

When the House reconvened, the members again raised the issue of agriculture bills and referred to the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha but the Speaker said that no such reference will go on record.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said it was unfortunate that matters of the other House are being sought to be discussed.

DMP MP TR Balu said the agriculture bills can be sent for approval to the President only after they get “proper consent” from both Houses.

“These bills have not been given proper consent by the MPs,” he said.

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar targeted the Congress.

“Congress says one thing and does another. Those protesting are not farmers but related to Congress. PM Modi wants to increase the growth rate of agriculture. I am shocked to see reactions of Congress. The same Congress that was in favour of these changes,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha had witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday as Opposition members stormed the well of the House and came near the podium, where Deputy Chairman was seated, to protest against the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.

Eight opposition MPs were suspended by the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Monday over the ruckus created in the Upper House.

Congress and some other opposition parties on Tuesday boycotted the proceedings of Rajya Sabha after remarks of Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad. (ANI)

Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the sixth round of corps commander-level talks with India was held on September 21 wherein both countries agreed to continue talks and discussion on the border issue.

Global Times quoted Spokesperson Wang Wenbin as saying, “China and India held the 6th round of corps commander-level talks yesterday, in which the two sides exchanged their views on the current border situation before agreeing to continue talking and discussing on the issue.”

14 Corps Chief Lt Gen Harinder Singh and his likely successor Lt Gen PGK Menon along with a Joint Secretary from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had attended the meeting from the Indian side at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The meeting started on Monday at around 10 am and went on till 11 pm.

The Corps Commanders of the two sides met after more than a month as both sides had been engaged in at least three firing incidents that have taken place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Corps Commanders met at the Moldo hut opposite Chushul on the Indian side.

Prior to the meeting, the agenda and issues of the Indian side were discussed and finalized during a high-level meeting attended by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, last week on Friday.

The talks happened at a time when the Indian side has also occupied six major hill features which are helping the Indian Army to be in dominating positions on heights. (ANI)

Actor Huma Qureshi on Tuesday issued a statement in support of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and demanded people to protect the sanctity of the #MeToo movement.

The 34-year-old actor, who made her Bollywood debut with Kashyap’s ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ shared a detailed statement on Twitter. It read, “Anurag and I last worked together in 2012-13 and he is a dear friend and an extremely talented director. In my personal experience and to my knowledge he has neither misbehaved with me or anyone else. However, anyone who claims to be abused must report it to the authorities, the police and the judiciary.”

The statement further read, “I chose not to comment till now because I don’t believe in social media fights and media trials. I feel really angry at being dragged into this mess. I feel angry not just for myself but also every woman whose years of hard work and struggle get reduced to such baseless conjecture and allegations in their workplace. Please let’s refrain from this narrative.”

Qureshi added that it is the responsibility of both men and women to carefully protect the sanctity of #MeToo movement.

On Saturday, Ghosh accused Kashyap of sexual harassment. Speaking to ANI, she said, “Five years ago I met Anurag Kashyap regarding work. He called me to his house. When I went there, he took me to a separate room and tried to sexually assault me. He forced himself on me.”

“I request the authorities to kindly take action and let the country see the demon behind this creative guy. I am aware that it can harm me and my security is at risk. I am seeking action against him,” said Ghosh.

Post the allegations, Kashyap responded on Twitter in which he denied the allegations, claiming that they were ‘baseless’. “I neither behave like this nor do I ever tolerate this at any price,” he said. (ANI)

Megastar Hrithik Roshan recently came across a fundraiser for a 20-year old Indian ballet dancer who wanted to fulfil his dream and in the blink of an eye the actor reached out and helped him achieve his dream.

Kamal Singh is a 20-year old ballet dancer and a son of an e-rickshaw driver from Vikaspuri, Delhi. He is also the first Indian dancer to get admission in the prestigious English National Ballet School of London, England. But due to the shortage of funds, he was unable to achieve his dream and turn it into reality.

Kamal’s teacher Fernando Guilera took to Instagram and thanked Hrithik for his generous donation that brought him closer to achieving his goal.

He shared a snapshot of the money that came in and wrote, “Thank you so much @hrithikroshan @hrxfilms for supporting my student @noddy_singh_official”

The ‘War’ actor left no stone unturned when it comes to supporting young talent and has always showered them with immense love and encouragement.

Earlier this year, the ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ actor took to his social media handles and showered messages of appreciation and inspiration for dancer Yuvraj Singh and called him the “smoothest airwalker” he has seen. (ANI)

Actor Dia Mirza clarified on Tuesday that she has never procured or consumed any narcotic or contraband substance in any form in her life and “strongly refuted” any news claiming otherwise.

“I would like to strongly refute and categorically deny this news as being false, baseless and with mala fide intentions. Such frivolous reporting has a direct impact on my reputation being besmirched and is causing damage to my career which I have painstakingly built with years of hard work,” the 38-year-old actor wrote on Instagram and Twitter.

“I have never procured or consumed any narcotic or contraband substances of any form in my life. I intend to pursue the full extent of legal remedies available to me as a law abiding citizen of India. Thanks to my supporters for standing by me,” she added.

Earlier, some media reports claimed ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ actor’s involvement in drug consumption and suggested that the actor would be summoned soon for interrogation. (ANI)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that a decision would be taken in the next two to three days to visit Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said on Monday.

Addressing an international webinar on “Issues, challenges and protocols for conducting elections during COVID-19: sharing country experiences”, the CEC said the Commission would take a decision within the “next two to three days on visiting Bihar”.

The EC clarified that “the Commission’s schedule of visit to Bihar has no corelation with the announcement of dates of State Assembly polls”.

According to an official release of the ECI, while commenting upon the scale of the upcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar, Arora mentioned that the total number of electors is 72.9 million.

He highlighted how COVID-19 exigencies and social distancing measures necessitated a revisit of the ECI’s extant instructions.

“The maximum number of electors at a polling station was reduced from 1,500 to 1,000, and consequently, the number of polling stations jumped by 40 per cent, from 65,000 to 100,000. These changes have huge logistics and manpower implications,” Arora said.

The CEC also observed that the ECI has placed a “lot of emphasis on extending facilitation to senior citizens, women, persons with disabilities and in current circumstances, ensuring franchise to COVID-19 positive voters and those in quarantine”.

In this context, the CEC mentioned how, beginning with the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand in November-December 2019, and elections to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi in February 2020, the postal ballot facility was extended to voters who are aged more than 80 years, persons with disability and those who engaged in specified essential services.

“This facility of the postal ballot has been extended to COVID-19 positive electors who are in quarantine or are hospitalized,” he said.

Arora mentioned the specific and detailed guidelines that have been drawn up for conducting election during the time of COVID-19.

He also mentioned the successful conduct of elections to 18 seats of the Rajya Sabha in the month of June, 2020. He noted that elections are due in the States of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu in the first half of the year 2021.

Arora stressed on the commitment of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world for the conduct of free, fair, timely and participatory polls to strengthen the democratic system.

“CEC Sunil Arora underscored the commitment of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world, for the conduct of timely, free, fair and participatory elections to foster democracy in the world. He recalled former US President Abraham Lincoln’s allusion to democracies as — governments of the people, by the people, and for the people,” ECI said in a statement.

Speaking at the event, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said, “In the shadow of COVID-19, elections have not only to be free and fair but also ensure safety for the electors as well as polling officials and security personnel on duty. Presentations from various countries show comprehensive preparedness required before, during and after elections. The ultimate concern is to ensure that voters feel safe while voting in COVID-19 times.”

Over 120 delegates from 45 countries across the world participated in the Webinar.

The Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) is the largest association of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) worldwide. At present A-WEB has 115 EMBs as Members and 16 Regional Associations/Organisations as Associate Members. ECI has been very closely associated with the process of formation of A-WEB since 2011-12. (ANI)

Kerala will soon house one of the first medical device parks in the country, focusing on the high-risk medical device sector to provide a full range of services for the medical devices industry like Research and Development (R and D) support, testing, and evaluation.

According to an official release of the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation stone for Medical Devices Park on Thursday.

MedSpark, the medical devices park envisaged as a joint initiative of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GOI), and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), the industrial and investment promotion agency of the Government of Kerala is going to be established in the Life Science Park, Thonnakkal, Thiruvananthapuram.

“This medical device park will stand out with its emphasis on the high-risk medical device sector involving medical implants and extracorporeal devices, in which SCTIMST scores with its knowledge. The services available in the park can be utilized by the medical device industries located within the MedSpark as well from other parts of India. This will benefit small and medium-sized medical devices industries, which dominate the medical devices sector,” the release said.

MedSpark can leverage the existing advantage of the Kerala State in the high-risk medical device manufacture and develop it into the most sought after destination for setting up medical device industry in India, it said.

According to the release, Kerala has a number of medical device companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 750 crores, most of them operating with technologies transferred from SCTIMST.

It is expected that the project would provide direct employment to 1200 people. Besides, employment generation up to 4000-5000 jobs through the supporting industries like OEM suppliers, service providers, and marketing/post-marketing support activities, the release said. (ANI)

Residents of Chushul village in Ladakh are taking an arduous journey to a Himalayan mountain peak known as Black Top to provide supplies to Indian Army engaged in a standoff with Chinese troops in a bid to safeguard their village from coming under Chinese control.

According to a report in The Guardian, 100-odd men, women and young boys with unwieldy and overstuffed duffel bags, rice sacks, heavy fuel cans and bamboo canes strapped to their backs are moving upward to Black Top, where hundreds of Indian army tents are stationed on the horizon.

They are not taking this journey out of kindness, reported Guardian. In the coming winter months, temperatures here will drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius. The villagers fear that if they do not help the Indian Army secure their positions along the mountain ridges bordering China and help prepare the troops for the harsh winter ahead, their village might soon be under Chinese control.

“We want to help the Indian Army to secure their positions immediately,” said Tsering, a 28-year-old volunteer from Chushul. “We are carrying supplies to them, doing multiple rounds in a day, to ensure that the army doesn’t face too many problems.”

India and China have been engaged in major conflict near the Panging Tso and several other friction points from Sub Sector North to the Chushul area of Ladakh.

India also changed the rules of engagement of not using weapons during clashes with the Chinese after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) killed 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan valley in June.

Chushul, a hamlet of around 150 households, is one of the closest habitations to India’s border with China in eastern Ladakh. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met recently in Moscow to reduce the tension.

According to a joint press statement about the meeting, the two leaders had a “frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations.”

“The two ministers agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes,” it said.

But, according to the villagers, there is little evidence of disengagement on the ground.

Over the past week, Indian troops have continued to build-up along the border. A convoy of Indian Army vehicles has continued to bring supplies and ammunition to troops camped in posts along the border, and around 100 diggers have been brought in for the construction of roads and buildings, to further secure India’s position along the border.

“It is very clear that both sides are planning to stay there for winter; they seem to be anticipating that there will be no diplomatic outcome,” said Manoj Joshi, a security expert at the Observer Research Foundation.

This week, the villagers of Chushul have continued their non-stop efforts to bring supplies to the troops on Black Top, according to The Guardian.

There is no road access to the mountain ridges that have become the new frontline. “The area where the recent face-off took place is yet to have a road, let alone the infrastructure,” said Tsering. “How long will the Army keep supplies going like this?”

“The new places where China has engaged the Indian army don’t have proper living conditions. The army is being put up in tents. I do not know how they are going to build infrastructure good enough to live, when there is no road,” Konchak Tsepel, another villager, said. (ANI)