Month: February 2021

In a sharp attack on Central government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed that the government’s intent to privatise the Railways as a “threat” to millions of poor people who travel in trains.

“Railways are a fundamental part of our country. Railways do not belong to one person, they belong to the whole country. It allows millions of people to travel cheaply…I noticed in the last Budget that the government is intent on privatising this Indian asset,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a gathering in Malappuram.
“This is a threat to millions of poor people who travel using our Railways. It is also going to create a problem for millions of employees who work for the Railways,” the Congress MP added.

The Wayanad MP interacted with two children in Malappuram and said: “They are the country’s future. One wants to be a doctor, the other a Policewoman. She said she wants to be a Policewoman as she wants to protect the weak and poor. She did not say she wants to take what belongs to poor.”

Earlier in the day, the Congress leader said the three new farm laws passed by the Centre are “designed to destroy” the agriculture business.

Addressing an event in Wayanad, he said: “The entire world can see the difficulty faced by Indian farmers, but the government in Delhi is unable to understand the pain of the farmers. We have pop stars who are commenting on the situation of the farmers but the Indian government is not interested. They are not going to take back these three new laws unless they are forced and there is a reason for it.”

The reason is that these three new laws are designed to destroy the agricultural system in India and give the entire business to two or three of Narendra Modi’s friends,” he added. (ANI)

In a sharp attack on Central government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed that the government’s intent to privatise the Railways as a “threat” to millions of poor people who travel in trains.

“Railways are a fundamental part of our country. Railways do not belong to one person, they belong to the whole country. It allows millions of people to travel cheaply…I noticed in the last Budget that the government is intent on privatising this Indian asset,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a gathering in Malappuram.
“This is a threat to millions of poor people who travel using our Railways. It is also going to create a problem for millions of employees who work for the Railways,” the Congress MP added.

The Wayanad MP interacted with two children in Malappuram and said: “They are the country’s future. One wants to be a doctor, the other a Policewoman. She said she wants to be a Policewoman as she wants to protect the weak and poor. She did not say she wants to take what belongs to poor.”

Earlier in the day, the Congress leader said the three new farm laws passed by the Centre are “designed to destroy” the agriculture business.

Addressing an event in Wayanad, he said: “The entire world can see the difficulty faced by Indian farmers, but the government in Delhi is unable to understand the pain of the farmers. We have pop stars who are commenting on the situation of the farmers but the Indian government is not interested. They are not going to take back these three new laws unless they are forced and there is a reason for it.”

The reason is that these three new laws are designed to destroy the agricultural system in India and give the entire business to two or three of Narendra Modi’s friends,” he added. (ANI)

Police in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing have detained a popular blogger over social media posts regarding military casualties of Galwan valley clash with India.

The Nanjing Bureau of Public Security said on Saturday that Qiu Ziming, 38, was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a vague crime that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The authorities accused him of demeaning military casualties of the border clash, South China Morning Post reported.

Qiu, a former reporter with the weekly Economic Observer, had 2.5 million followers on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo when he published two posts on Friday that suggested a commander survived the clashes because he was the highest-ranking officer there.

He also suggested that more Chinese soldiers might have been killed in the conflict than those disclosed by the authorities.

On Friday, the Chinese military ended its months-long silence to say that four soldiers – Chen Hongjun, 33, Xiao Siyuan, 24, Wang Zhuoran, 24 and Chen Xiangrong, 18 – were killed in the conflict in the Galwan Valley in June. Their commanding officer Qi Fabao, 41, was badly wounded.

State media also released footage of the clash showing Qi walking with open arms towards Indian troops and trying to stop them.

Earlier in February, Russian news agency TASS had claimed that 45 Chinese soldiers were killed in the clashes at the Galwan Valley.

In a commentary on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua accused Qiu of “damaging the reputation of heroes, hurting nationalistic feelings and poisoning patriotic hearts” with his sensational posts.

The Chinese Communist Party has long been accused of suppressing the idea that could undermine the sweeping authority.

In just the past few years, the government has attempted to muzzle critics by making them disappear without a trace, ordering people to physically barge into their houses, or locking up those close to critics as a kind of blackmail. (ANI)

Amid the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meet on the fate of Pakistan, a group of terrorists ambushed a vehicle carrying women activists from a non-governmental organisation in a former northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing four of them and wounding the driver.

The attack took place in the village of Epi in Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan district on Monday.
Condemning the killing of four women social workers, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) tweeted: “The state must bring to book the perpetrators of this heinous crime. The re-emergence of terror groups in the area is a matter of grave concern.”

In another tweet, HRCP said, “It is the responsibility of the authorities to protect the lives and property of citizens at all costs. HRCP shares the grief of the families and colleagues of the four women who lost their lives”.

In a tweet, Pashtun human rights activist Gulalai Ismail said that the murder of the activist is so outrageous that it should spark countrywide protests. “The murder of four women; Javaria, Naheed, Ayesha and Irshad by the terrorists is so outrageous that it should spark countrywide protests. If it did not then it means our mother tongue and National tongue is only “SILENCE”.”

Afrasiab Khattak, Senator of the Kohat Division of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province tweeted, “Latest terrorist attack on women social activists in Waziristan is a tragic result of Pakistani support for Talibanization on both sides of the DL. Even after 3 years of its merger, the former FATA’s governance has yet to be transferred to civilians. The area remains a black hole”.

The four-day-long virtual FATF plenary began on Monday to consider cases of various countries on the grey list, including Pakistan and a decision will be made at the conclusion of the meetings.

Pakistan is unlikely to exit the ‘grey list’ of the FATF, the global watchdog for money laundering and terror financing, as some European countries have taken the stand that Islamabad has not fully implemented all the points of a plan of action set by it.

In the last plenary held in October 2020, the FATF concluded that Pakistan will continue in its ‘grey list’ till February 2021 as it has failed to fulfill six out of 27 obligations of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that include failure to take action against two of India’s most wanted terrorists – Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah head Hafiz Saeed. (ANI)

Bollywood star Nimrat Kaur on Monday dropped her character poster from the upcoming social comedy ‘Dasvi’.

The ‘Airlift’ actor hopped on to Instagram to share a poster of her. The poster sees the actor dressed in a saree as she donned a chunky pair of sunglasses and smilingly posed for the camera.

Taking to the caption, Kaur introduced her character in the film.

“Meet BIMLA DEVI #Dasvi Shoot Begins…” she noted alongside the poster.

Earlier in the day, Abhishek Bachchan and Yami Gautam also unveiled their posters and announced the commencement of the film’s shoot.

The movie is an upcoming project from the makers of ‘Hindi Medium’,’ Angrezi Medium’ and ‘Bala’. The hilarious social comedy also stars Yami Gautam.

Tushar Jalota is making his debut in the direction of the film, which is written by Ritesh Shah.

Jio Studios and Dinesh Vijan present ‘Dasvi’, produced by Dinesh Vijan, Sandeep Leyzell, and Shobhana Yadav. The movie is being produced under the banner of Maddock Films Production, and Bake my Cake films. (ANI)

The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail for six months to P Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case who had sought bail on medical grounds citing his deteriorating health.

Rao has been at the private hospital in Mumbai since November 2020 when he was shifted after his health deteriorated in Taloja jail where he was lodged as an undertrial.
The 81-year-old Rao was arrested in 2018 in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case registered in Pune and has been in jail since. Last year, Rao contracted coronavirus and was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai.

He has been granted bail on certain conditions, including that he has to remain in Mumbai and should be available for investigation. He is not allowed to talk to witnesses or interfere in the investigation process.

Speaking to ANI, advocate Anand Prakash said: “It is a historic judgment because for the first time in the history of independent India, and rightly so, the High Court of Bombay has said that a person who is actually ill and who can fall ill again due to lack of proper facilities in jail has to be released on bail.”

“There are a number of conditions which are imposed, most of those conditions are normally imposed so the family has no problem. He has to be in Mumbai, he cannot interfere with the investigation, he cannot talk to witnesses and he has to report to the police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) court etc,” he added.

Speaking to mediapersons, lawyer Indira Jaising stated: “From what I could hear, it is based on the right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the fact that we were in a position to prove that he (Rao) has been repeatedly falling critically ill and, of course, the fact that Taloja jail does not have the necessary facilities to deal with it. I think that the court has accepted the argument that prisoners have fundamental rights and they have the right to help and to life and liberty. It is a big day.”

She further said that many women imprisoned in connection to this case are suffering from severe medical ailments and jail authorities do not have the required facilities to deal with them.

Jaising also urged the media not to approach or persuade him for comment as Rao is not allowed to talk about the case in public.

Meanwhile, Rao’s daughter Pavna Pendyala has welcomed the bail and said his family was happy.

Rao was arrested in November 2018 along with five others, for alleged links with Naxals and for allegedly making provocative speeches on December 31, 2017 that police claimed incited the violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district the next day.

On January 1, 2018, the violence left one dead and several others injured including 10 policemen. Violence erupted after some people, reportedly with saffron flags, pelted stones at cars heading towards the village for the commemoration of 200 years of Bhima-Koregaon war on New Year’s Day. The police had filed 58 cases against 162 people. (ANI)

Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes will get the coronavirus jab after the vaccination of the COVID warriors.

“When the vaccination starts for others — after Covid warriors — we want to give it to our players first especially the Olympic-bound athletes. First of all, we have to ensure that Covid warriors get the vaccine because they are the ones who protect the society. Then the next turn will come to the athletes, we come at the last. Our athletes are in the forefront,” Rijiju told ANI.
Earlier, the Sports Ministry had requested the Health Ministry to put Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes on priority for the coronavirus vaccine.

“We have requested the Health Ministry to put athletes on priority. As of now, we are awaiting their reply. Once they respond, we will start executing the process. There is still time for the Olympics and we are hopeful that we will be able to do it. We are having discussions with all concerned departments regarding this and we are working on it,” a source in the Sports Ministry had told ANI.

Rijiju further lauded the upcoming international events that India is scheduled to host including the Shooting World Cup and India Open 2021.

“I have already given my support and approval to the NRAI for the Shooting World Cup and for the World Badminton Series India edition I’ve given my nod to the BAI. I’m encouraging more international matches in India and our teams are going out also but in the future I want more international games and competitions to be held in India,” he said.

ISSF World Cup is scheduled in New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range from March 18 to 29.

Further, Sports Minister confirmed that he will join President Ram Nath Kovind for the inauguration of the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium where the third Test between India and England will be played from Wednesday.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to Ahmedabad as a Sports Minister. It is a proud moment that we are going to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium. I’ll be joining the President,” Rijiju said. (ANI)

While the Pakistan government believes that it will be able to delist itself from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list”, it is unlikely that it will be able to do so as the European nations have said that Islamabad has not fully implemented all the points of a plan of action set by it.

Dawn quoted a Pakistani journalist based in Paris as confirming that some European countries, especially the host France, had recommended to FATF to continue to keep Pakistan on the “grey list” and had taken the position that not all points had been fully implemented by Islamabad. The stance has been supported by other European countries as well.

It is expected that Islamabad will not get support from the United States as well because of the recent acquittal of Omar Saeed Sheikh, one of the accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case. The Pakistani journalist further pointed that the US may “lobby for the continuation of Islamabad on the ‘grey list’ at least until June this year”.

The virtual FATF plenary will be held in Paris from February 22 to 25 to consider cases of various countries on the grey list, including Pakistan, and the decision will be made at the conclusion of the meetings, Dawn reported.

Citing the reason for France’s anti-Pakistan stance, the scribe said that Paris was not happy with the recent response of Islamabad on the cartoon issue.

The relations between France and Pakistan had worsened last year when an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher who had shown pupils cartoons of the prophet in a civics lesson on freedom of speech. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Paty, calling him a “quiet hero” dedicated to instilling the democratic values of the French Republic in his pupils.

In a subsequent terror attack, a knife-wielding attacker killed three people at a church in the French city of Nice on October 29.

Following the brutal religiously-motivated attacks, Macron vowed to ramp up the fight against radical Islamism and terrorism.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan hypocritically attacked the French President, saying that he had “chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims”.

Pakistan has not even posted a regular ambassador in Paris.

In October, the FATF decided that Pakistan will continue to be on its grey list and asked it to continue to work on implementing an action plan to address its strategic deficiencies including demonstrating that its law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest range of terrorist financing activity and demonstrating that prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

Pakistan has been on the FATF’s grey list since June 2018 and the government was given a final warning in February 2020 to complete the 27 action points by June in the same year.

Pakistan is facing the difficult task of clearing its name from the FATF grey list. As things stand, Islamabad is finding it difficult to shield terror perpetrators and implement the FATF action plan at the same time. (ANI)

Even as there are fears of a bloody military crackdown while a successful general strike with all business establishments shut down in protest in Myanmar, the ‘civil disobedience’ against the coup and for the restoration of democracy has spread across the countryside, in the border states, and in several towns and cities of Myanmar, beyond the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay.

Two protesters were shot dead in Mandalay, while a young girl was killed in the fortress-like capital, Nay Pyi Taw, where, despite its isolation and heavy military barricades, the peaceful protests have spread.

Sources within the various regions in Myanmar, including in the Shan State, informed Lokmarg that the military picks up people. Some of the prisoners are released in the night, even while streets have become battlegrounds. There are reports of houses being burnt in the night to scare the civilians, and entire towns are passing sleepless nights, even as the internet is shut for long hours.

The internet is apparently shut from 1 am to 9 am, whereby people are just not able to communicate, even if there is military action in the neighbourhood. People are resorting to beating pans and utensils to warn others.

“The civilians protest peacefully in the day and the military does arson in the night,” a young protestor in a border state close to China told Lokmarg.

“The media is not free anymore. Laws have been changed in the last 22 days,” sources said. They informed that some journalists have been arrested in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. There have been cases of police firing with civilian protesters being attacked by armed uniformed men in Myitkyina and Mandalay.

Videos show the police firing tear gas and what seem like bullets, with protesters running helter-skelter. One protester is being carried in a cart, his leg bleeding. “People are protesting peacefully. But they are not always using rubber bullets – they are real bullets,” a protester told Lokmarg. 

While tens of thousands of students led the protests in the big city Yangon, the former capital called Rangoon, the videos show that ordinary people have joined the movement with huge crowds, even in remote areas and the border states. The call of popular icon and leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi, now imprisoned in an unknown location, to protest and restore democracy, seems to have touched a chord across the nation, sick and tired of decades of military dictatorship.

Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan’s upcoming psychological-comedy-thriller titled ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is coming to spook the movie buffs on November 19, this year.

The team of the film had a quirky way to announce the release date of the upcoming outing. Kartik, director Anees Bazmee, producers Bhushan Kumar and Murad Khetani were all seen with skulls in their hands for the announcement post.
They also shared a still of the ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’ actor in the look of a godman with a skull in his hand.

Taking to the official T-series Instagram handle, the makers wrote, “The edge-of-the seat comedy psychological thriller starring Kartik Aaryan, Tabu and Kiara Advani will release in theatres on 19th November 2021. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani, and Krishan Kumar under the banner of T-Series and Cine 1 Studios, the film is directed by Anees Bazmee & written by Farhad Samji and Aakash Kaushik.”

The release date announcement came after Kartik on Saturday asked in a social media post, “Meri koi release date announce nahi ho rahi kya (Are none of my release dates being announced)?”

The hilarious post was a reaction to the slate of films being announced for a theatrical release this year by most of the top studios and producers.

‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is a sequel to the 2007 horror-comedy starring Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, which was directed by Priyadarshan. The Priyadarshan-directorial that released in 2007 was a remake of the 1993 Malayalam psychological comedy-thriller ‘Manichitrathazhu’.

‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under their banner T-Series and Murad Khetani of Cine 1 Studios.

The forthcoming film, also starring Tabu, Kiara Advani, Rajpal Yadav, and Govind Namdev in pivotal roles, is written by Farhad Samji and Aakash Kaushik.

For the unversed, the production of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ was halted in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The team was filming in Lucknow days before the nationwide lockdown was announced.

Meanwhile, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is Kiara’s second release for 2021 as ‘Shershaah’ co-starring Sidharth Malhotra is scheduled to release on July 2.

As for Kartik, the actor was last seen in Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘Love Aaj Kal’ alongside Sara Ali Khan. He has two films lined up for releases — Karan Johar’s film ‘Dostana 2’, and Ram Madhvani’s ‘Dhamaka’. (ANI)