Month: September 2020

Highlighting the rising incidents of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, President of Baloch Voice Association, Munir Mengal, told United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) that people in the region are struggling to end oppression, suppression and forced annexation by Pakistan.

“Balochistan is suffering and the People in Balochistan are struggling to end oppression, suppression and forced annexation,” Mengal said during a session at UNHRC on Thursday (local time).

He further gave details of enforced disappearances by presenting the data of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), an NGO present in Balochistan data. He said that Balochistan needs practical and effective steps from this council to stop the systematic enforced disappearances in Balochistan

“The VBMP report shows, only in the past three months from June to August this year, more than 57 cases of enforced disappearance including 12 females, 4 children under 7 years were reported in Balochistan. FIR’s are barred, the region is blackout for media and raising voice against abuses is a crime against the state. Impunity prevails in every part of life,” he said.

“Pumping of four bullets in 4-year-old Bramsh body and the brutal murder of Hayat Baloch seethed Balochistan with anger. But more same style abuses were carried out in the following days,” he added.

Pakistan has a long history of enforced disappearances, many of which have targetted human rights and minority defenders critical of the government and the military, as well as persons suspected or accused of involvement in the opposition.

While successive governments have promised to criminalise enforced disappearance, none has taken concrete steps and the practice continues with impunity.

Early this month, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) had hit out at Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), saying it has failed to hold perpetrators responsible for the crime in the last several years.

In 2011, the COIED was formed to trace the whereabouts of missing persons and fix the responsibility of individuals or organisations responsible for the enforced disappearances.

According to a briefing paper titled ‘Entrenching Impunity, Denying Redress: The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan’, the ICJ noted that although the COIED had traced the whereabouts of the missing persons in a number of cases, there was no effort to fix the responsibility for the crime. (ANI)

By Kumar Gaurav

The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to conduct a 15-day public awareness campaign for farmers on the three agriculture-related legislation and to counter the Opposition parties agenda of misleading farmers on their objectives.

Party General Secretary Arun Singh has issued a circular to the state president, state organization and state in-charge of the Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to start a public awareness campaign on the September 25 to eradicate falsehood done by the Opposition on the historic agriculture-sector reform bills.

According to the party’s circular, farmers will be benefited from the Agricultural Reform Bill and it has been said that for decades, our farmer were stuck in many types of bonds, they had to face the middlemen, the bills passed in the Parliament would give the freedom, it will strengthen efforts to double the income of farmers and ensure their prosperity.

Apart from this, it has also been told in the circular how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continuously worked for the farmers for example Soil Health Card, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, changes in rules were brought to compensate farmers for the loss of crops, PM Kisan Rail Yojana, and a huge increase in MSP.

It has been said in the circular that according to the instructions of the national president JP Nadda, the Jan Jagran Abhiyan (AtmNirbhar Kisan) should be conducted in all these states for historical agricultural reforms.

On behalf of the party, the workers have been told to run a door-to-door connectivity scheme in every village, to organize a public meeting in every village and discuss agricultural reforms, to discuss this historical bill with farmer leaders and organizations.

Also, a press conference should be organized in every district and contacting journalists to discuss agricultural reform.

Not only this, the circular sent by the party also said that a congratulatory letter should be sent to the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar for this historic bill, Hoardings should be put up and Prime Minister should be greeted on a wide scale for the promotion of agriculture reforms.

It has also been ordered to organize the party’s Kisan Morcha on all fronts systematically.

Protests have broken out across various parts of the country including Haryana and Odisha against the farm bills.

On September 17, SAD leader and Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Union Cabinet, displaying her opposition to the three Bills.

According to the Centre, these Bills will help small and marginal farms by allowing them to sell produce outside mandis and sign agreements with agri-business firms and doing away with stock-holding limits on key commodities.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were passed by Parliament on Sunday. (ANI)

The harvesting season of the walnut crop has begun in Jammu and Kashmir, and farmers of Kralpora are expecting good profits as the weather conditions in the region has favoured their crop.

As per the farmers, the weather in the state had been pleasant throughout the year without any untimely rains, which has favoured both the walnut and almond crop in the region.

Speaking to ANI, Bilal Ahmad, a farmer from the area said, “This year the crop is very good because there wasn’t any untimely rain this season. Because of good weather, the crop did not suffer any damage or disease and we hope for good profits.”

A labourer Javaid Ahmad, who works throughout the year at various fields on different crops also echoed Ahmad’s sentiments and added weather has been favourable for the almond crop as well.

According to Dr Deshbeer Singh, Director, Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) in Srinagar, along with weather conditions, the variety of the plant also affects the quality of the harvest.

“The quality will depend upon the variety of the plant, but when the weather conditions are favourable and the crop gets the good nutrients and production increases,” he said. (ANI)

After Coca-Cola, now PepsiCo has decided to take an exit route from Kerala due to labour issues with its franchise Varun Beverages Ltd approaching Labour Department with a mandatory closure notice.

The PepsiCo unit located at Kanjikode Palakkad, operated by franchise Varun Beverages Ltd, is in a lockout from March 22 over various labour protests.

“M/s Varun Beverages Ltd manufacturing carbonated soft drinks and packaged drinking water, is intended to be closed down under section 25-O of the Industrial dispute Act 1947 (Act 14 of 1947) and necessary application is filed to the Government, of Kerala on 22.09.2020 stating clearly the reasons for the intended closure,” the closure notice, dated September 22, stated.

The notice also stated that all affected workmen shall be paid their respective dues/compensation in accordance with the provisions of Section 25-0 (8) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.

“The closure will come into effect on completion of 90 days of the above-referred date of 22.09.2020,” the notice further read, while its copy was also put up at the main gate of the plant, which the company said was for the information of all the 112 workmen.

The employees of the unions affiliated to Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), INTUC and BMS were on protest from last December, demanding wage hike and better service conditions for contract labourers.

With the protest intensifying and contract workers also joining the strike, the management declared a lockout from March 22.

However, CITU leader and Joint Trade Union Action Committee general secretary S Ramesh denied that the closure had anything to do with the strikes.

“We withdraw strikes in April and we hope that the management will go back from their move to close the plant. The closure would impact 700-odd employees who are directly or indirectly associated with the company. There are 112 direct employees and 250 contract employees besides others depending on the company,” he said.

He also said that many talks were held with management to find a solution but it didn’t yield results.

Earlier in 2004, Coca-Cola had winded up its operations at Plachimada in Palakkad owing to large scale protest from people over exploitation of groundwater. (ANI)

Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has passed away due to a cardiac arrest.

The former Australian cricketer passed away aged 59 and Star India is now currently in touch with Australian High Commission to make the necessary arrangements.

“It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing away of Dean Mervyn Jones AM. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest. We express our deep condolences to his family and stand ready to support them in this difficult time. We are in touch with the Australian High Commission to make the necessary arrangements,” Star India said in an official statement.

Jones was one of the great ambassadors of the game associating himself with the development of cricket across South Asia.

He was passionate about discovering new talent and nurturing young cricketers. He was a champion commentator whose presence and presentation of the game always brought joy to millions of fans.

Jones had become a household name by playing in an aggressive manner for the Australian side from 1980-1990.

Jones was selected on the 1984 tour of the West Indies after Graham Yallop had to pull out due to injury. He was not picked in the original XI but was drafted into the side after Steve Smith fell ill. Jones went on to score 48 on his debut and he hailed it as his best knock as he fell ill before the match. Between 1984 and 1992, Jones played 52 Test matches for Australia, scoring 3,631 runs, including 11 centuries, at an average of 46.55.

His most notable innings was in only his third Test against India in the Tied Test in Chennai (Madras) in 1986. Suffering from dehydration in the oppressively hot and humid conditions, Jones was seen frequently vomiting on the pitch.

Jones went on to score 210 and this innings of 210 remains the highest score by an Australian cricketer in India.

Jones also played 164 ODIs for Australia, managing to score 6,068 runs at an average of 44.61.

After his playing career, the former Australian batsman became a reputed commentator and also enjoyed a coaching stint in Pakistan Super League (ANI)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the experts believe the second wave of coronavirus is on the peak in the national capital and its intensity will be less in the coming days.

“From July 1 to August 17, cases were in control. We noticed that cases increased and it reached 4,500 new COVID-19 cases on September 17 and now coming down. So experts are believing that the second wave of coronavirus which had hit the Delhi is now on peak and its intensity will be less in the coming days,” Kejriwal said while speaking to media here.

Kejriwal said that the high-level virtual review meeting with Prime Minister Modi to review COVID-19 response and management was fruitful.

“When new COVID-19 cases were reported in the large number, we had controlled the coronavirus cases with the help of the central government, NGO and Delhites. I want to thank everyone for their efforts. As a responsible government, we had increased testing from 20,000 to 60,000 daily,” he said.

As per the Union Health Ministry, there are 30,836 active COVID-19 cases in Delhi. The number of recovered/cured patients stand at 2,20,866 and 5,087 have succumbed to COVID-19. (ANI)

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has accorded high priority for ending tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), said Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare.

Addressing ministers of Member Nations of WHO, Heads, and Representatives of UN Agencies and partner organisations, Dr Vardhan said, “In India, under the guidance of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, India has accorded high priority for ending tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).”

“Tuberculosis has been in existence since time immemorial and continues to remain a major global public health problem. Despite the progress made over the last decade, TB remains the leading infectious killer disease worldwide,” he said.

Lauding India’s efforts towards eradication of TB, Harsh Vardhan said, “With bold and innovative policies supported by commensurate resources, India has taken several critical steps towards ending TB. We have significantly reduced the number of missing TB patients from one million in 2016 to less than 0.5 million in 2019, with 2.4 million cases notified during the year. Most importantly, a third of these notifications were contributed by the private sector. With the scale-up of rapid molecular diagnostics in every district of the country, we were able to identify over 66,000 drug-resistant TB patients in 2019.”

He pointed out that poverty is a powerful determinant of tuberculosis and undernutrition an important risk factor of developing active TB disease. “To address this, we are providing cash incentives through Direct Benefit Transfers for nutritional support and since April 2018, Rs 7.9 billion (around USD 110 million) have been distributed to over 3 million beneficiaries. Affordable and quality TB care is a priority for our Government”, he stated.

The Minister further spoke about India’s fight against COVID-19 and said: “We reached a historic low in the month of April with lockdown in full force, but through sustained efforts, we have managed an increase of 43 per cent in May and another 25 per cent in June.”

To mitigate the impact, the government has been issuing constant advisories to the States to ensure convergence of TB case finding with COVID-19 efforts, he said adding that “we have initiated bi-directional screening among TB and COVID patients, and screening for TB among influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI).” (ANI)

Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal has said that Pakistan Army is planning to begin the most brutal genocide and ethnic cleansing in Pakistan Occupied Gilgit Baltistan of India.

Taking to Twitter, Namgyal said, “Gilgit Baltistan is an integral part of India. Pakistan Army plans to begin the most brutal genocide and ethnic cleansing in Pakistan Occupied Gilgit Baltistan of India. I support the people’s movement.”

On September 17, The Express Tribune had quoted Pakistan Minister Ali Amin Gandapur stating that the government has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) to the status of a full-fledged province.

He had said that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would soon visit the region and make a formal announcement in this regard.

Last month, condemning Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing Pakistan’s new political map laying untenable claims to Indian territories, India had termed the act as an “exercise in political absurdity.”

“We have seen a so-called “political map” of Pakistan that has been released by PM Imran Khan. This is an exercise in political absurdity, laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian state of Gujarat and our union territories of Jammu Kashmir and of Ladakh,” the Government of India had said in a stern statement.

India also slammed Pakistan for their malafide intentions and said it confirms the reality of “Pakistan’s obsession with territorial aggrandisement supported by cross-border terrorism.”

The Imran Khan government had released a new political map of Pakistan, claiming Indian territories of Junagadh, Sir Creek and Manavadar in Gujarat, of Jammu and Kashmir and a part of Ladakh.This came after the first anniversary of the Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 which gave special powers to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)

India’s imports from China during April-July 2020 decreased to US$ 16.60 billion from US$ 23.45 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The information was given by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply.

On Monday, on being asked about over 27 per cent reduction in imports from China from April to August and if it was step towards making India self-reliant, Goyal said the government was committed to making Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India a success.

He also said the government has rolled out Atmnirbhar Bharat package of Rs 20 lakh crore during the COVID-19 crisis. (ANI)