Chinese Crackdown Shuts Hong Kong Media House

Critical of the Chinese government for decades, Hong Kong-based media house Next Digital has started taking steps to shut down as Beijing’s crackdown had left it with no way to operate, a media report said on Sunday.

The company’s board of directors called for the liquidation of the company and said that they had resigned, New York Times reported on Sunday quoting a statement from the board of directors.

“We have concluded that the best interests of shareholders, creditors, employees and other stakeholders will be served by an orderly liquidation,” the statement added.

Jimmy Lai, the founder of Next Digital is in jail. He has been charged with crimes that include violating the security law.

In June, Hong Kong authorities had frozen the outlet’s bank account and it resulted in the closure of its flagship newspaper Apple Daily.

Apple Daily faced advertising boycotts despite being widely read as the supporter of the Chinese government made it happen.

In June, Next Digital’s stock was suspended from trading.

Its stock soared at times over the past year, as supporters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy cause bought shares to show support for the company, said New York Times.

The supporters of Next Digital said that the Chinese government’s action against the outlet harm not only media freedom in the city, but also property rights and Hong Kong’s reputation as a good place to do business.

Next Digital had stressed that it had been forced to close before any of the cases against its senior figures had gone to trial.

Mark Clifford, an independent non-executive director of Next Digital, said: “When you abuse state power and freeze bank accounts and throw people in jail — the editor in chief, the chief executive, the founder — it smacks of a banana republic. This is not what made Hong Kong a center of international investment or the image that it prides itself in, with rule of law and protection of property rights.”

Later this year, Lai is expected to be tried on a fraud charge. It relates to a sublease of the company’s headquarters, as well as charges brought under the national security law, reported New York Times.

The company that became Next Digital was founded in 1990 by Lai. He started with a magazine.

Later it grew to include Apple Daily. The daily had also introduced an edition in Taiwan.

In recent months, various issues surrounded Next Digital.

Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, appointed an inspector to investigate the company’s financial affairs.

In August, Hong Kong’s auditing watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council also opened an investigation into the company, according to New York Times.

The company has been unable to pay outstanding wages to about 700 editorial employees as its bank accounts are frozen. (ANI)

Russian NSA On India Visit For Dialogue On Afghanistan

Russian Secretary of the Security Council General Nikolay Patrushev is visiting India for high-level Inter-Governmental Consultations on Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Patrushev is expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

“At the invitation of National Security Adviser Ajit K. Doval, KC, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Patrushev is visiting India for High-Level India-Russia Inter-Governmental Consultations on Afghanistan from 7-8 September 2021,” the MEA said in a statement.

The ministry said that these consultations are a follow-up to the telephone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 24.

The two leaders had expressed the view that it was important for the two strategic partners to work together and instructed their senior officials to remain in touch on Afghanistan. They decided to form a permanent bilateral channel for consultations on Afghanistan and Afghan-based terror.

Afghanistan has plunged into crisis after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. (ANI)

Chhattisgarh CM’s Father Arrested For Casteist Slur On Brahmins

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s father has been sent to 15-day judicial custody by a court in Raipur on Tuesday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Brahmin community.

“Nand Kumar Baghel, the father of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been sent to 15-day judicial custody by a court in Raipur today,” said Nand Kumar’s lawyer Gajendra Sonkar.
Earlier today, Nand Kumar Baghel was arrested by Raipur Police and produced before the court over his alleged derogatory remarks against Brahmins.

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister on Sunday after his father was booked for the case had said that no one is above the law adding that legal action will be taken in the matter.

“As a Chief Minister, I have a responsibility to maintain harmony among different communities. If he (the father) made a remark against a community, I feel sorry. Legal action would be taken against him,” he had told reporters.

Noting that everything is above the law, the Chief Minister had also tweeted, “As a son, I respect my father, but as a Chief Minister, none of his mistakes can be overlooked which disturbs the public order. No one is above the law in our government, even if he is the chief minister’s father.”

Nand Kumar Baghel during his tour in Uttar Pradesh had called to “boycott” Brahmins.

“Brahmins will be sent from Ganga to Volga river. They are foreigners. They consider us untouchables and are snatching away all our rights. I will urge villagers to not let Brahmins enter their village,” Nand Kumar Baghel had said.

Following his remark, an FIR was registered against Nand Kumar Baghel at DD Nagar police station in Raipur on the complaint of the Sarv Brahmin Samaj on late Saturday night.

Naveen Sharma of the Sarv Brahmin Samaj accused Nand Kumar of dividing the society.

“In a video, Nand Kumar Baghel made remarks against Brahmins, calling them foreigners and demanded that they should be sent out of India. His statement was aimed at dividing society. An FIR has been lodged against him at Deen Dayal police station,” Sharma had told ANI.

Speaking about the case, Yogita Khaparde, Police Station in-charge of DD Nagar in Raipur said, “On September 2, we received a complaint from Sarv Brahman Samaj, Sundar Nagar that Nand Kumar Baghel made remarks against the Brahmin community. The offence was registered on September 4. A probe has been initiated.” (ANI)

Deepika Padukone

Deepika To Launch Global Lifestyle Brand Rooted In India

Actor Deepika Padukone is all set to launch her lifestyle brand that is rooted in India.

According to a statement, the first category of launch will focus on beauty and skincare. This category specifically, while rooted in India, will be backed by science.

“India, I believe, has always been positioned uniquely. While we have tremendous access to the rest of the world, we are a country that is rich in values, culture and heritage; something we are extremely proud of. Therefore, our endeavour is to build a brand that is rooted in India yet global in its reach and appeal,” she said.

The name of the brand has not been revealed yet. It is expected to roll out in 2022.

Meanwhile, on the film front, Deepika will be seen in Shakun Batra’s project, co-starring Ananya Panday and Siddhamt Chaturvedi. She has also signed her second Hollywood film recently.

(ANI)

Moradabad Artisans Making Eco-Friendly Ganesha Idols

With Ganesh Chaturthi round the corner, artisans from Rajasthan who have come to Moradabad are making small and eco-friendly idols this year.

Speaking to ANI, an artisan in Moradabad said, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are not able to afford big and expensive idols of Lord Ganesha this year. So, we are making small and eco-friendly idols, painted with food colours.”
“We are hoping that the same number of buyers will come now as we are meeting their demands and making small idols,” he added.

According to the artisans of Moradabad, they have shifted from Rajasthan to Moradabad because of the low demand for Lord Ganesha idols in Rajasthan. Thus, they are making and selling the idols here to meet the hardships faced by them during the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ganesh Chaturthi, a 10-day festival that starts on the fourth day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month Bhadrapada, will start on September 10 this year. (ANI)

Reaching Karnal To Seek Justice For Farmer Killed In Protest: Tikait

Alleging that a 55-year-old farmer Sushil Kajal, died in the ‘brutal’ lathi charge by the Karnal Police, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitaik) leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday said that he is reaching Karnal to seek justice for the farmer’s death and urged people to keep a watch on the developments in the Haryana district.

Tikait today tweeted, “To get justice for Sushil Kajla, who was martyred in the brutal lathi charge by the Karnal Police, I am reaching Karnal in some time along with the comrades of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, all of you keep an eye on Karnal.”
Haryana Police had on August 28 conducted a lathi-charge on protesting farmers near the Bastar toll plaza in Karnal, where farmers had gathered in large numbers to protest against a programme that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was scheduled to attend.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) had alleged that Kajal, who belonged to Karnal district had “received severe blows in the atrocious police lathi charge” and died of a “heart attack”.

However, Haryana Police has denied the allegations of AIKS.

Meanwhile, Kisan Mahapanachayat is being held in Haryana’s Karnal to protest against the Centre’s three agricultural laws amid tight security.

A total of 40 companies of police have been deployed to maintain law and order in the district.

Karnal’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Ganga Ram Punia, while speaking to ANI assured that the police would take action if law and order are disturbed.

“District administration and police have made necessary security arrangements in wake of the Kisan Mahapanchayat. A total of 40 companies have been deployed to maintain law and order. Public activities are going on without interruption,” Punia said.

“We want Kisan Mahapanchayat to be conducted peacefully and conflict to be resolved through mutual conversation. We spoke with farmer leaders yesterday on the matter. Police will take action if law and order are disturbed,” he added.

Security personnel in large numbers have also been deployed in the new Anaj Mandi area in Karnal from where the farmers have plans to proceed to the mini-secretariat.

The State government has suspended mobile internet and SMS services in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind and Panipat to curb the “spread of inflammatory material and rumours” today.

In the Karnal district of Haryana, Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has also been put in. Under Section 144 public assemblies are banned, district officials said.

Traffic on National Highway 44, which connects Delhi to Chandigarh has been diverted from Karnal.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which is heading the farmers’ agitation against three farm laws, has given a call for gherao of the secretariat demanding registration of an FIR against those officers who had allegedly ordered a lathi charge on agitators during their protest against a BJP event in Karnal on August 28.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains. (ANI)

Sisodia Launches ‘Business Blasters’ Course For Schoolkids

In an effort aimed at helping youth acquire business skills, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday launched the ‘Business Blasters’ programme for Delhi government school students of classes 11 and 12.

“The Business Blasters program will serve as a milestone in the progress of the country. It has been launched for students of Delhi government schools of classes 11-12,” said Sisodia during the launch of the programme at Thyagaraj Stadium in the national capital.
Speaking on the occasion, he also laid emphasis on the youth becoming job creators rather than job seekers.

“That day is not far when youth will create employment instead of asking for it. We have to create an image that India is a country of literate and able youth who do not ask for jobs but create them,” he said.

Sisodia, who is also the Delhi Education Minister, said the country does not have enough jobs for the youth who have completed their education and added that the Delhi government will organise competitions at the district and state level for youth.

“Under this program, children will be trained for entrepreneurship skills. Competitions will be held at the district and state levels. A total of 1000 children will qualify for the district-level competition from which 10 winners be selected. These winners will get direct admission to Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), Delhi Technological University (DTU), Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) and Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT),” Sisodia noted.

The ‘Business Blasters’ programme was started at the School of Excellence in Khichripur under a pilot project. Its purpose was to inculcate the belief in children that whatever work they do, they should do it with an entrepreneurial mindset. In this project, nine groups of 41 children were formed and each child was given seed money of at least Rs 1,000. These children made huge profits in the project. (ANI)

Bangladesh Army Chief Pays Tributes At National War Memorial

eneral SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army on Tuesday laid a wreath and paid tributes to the fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.

Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army received Guard of Honour at South Block. He is on a three-day official visit to India.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Minister of Information and Broadcasting Hasan Mahmud is also on a four-day visit to India.

Earlier on Monday, Dr Mahmud, who was present in the national capital to inaugurate Bangabandhu Media Centre at the Press Club of India, said the event is of great significance for the two neighbouring countries.

India and Bangladesh have a close, long-standing relationship covering a wide spectrum of activities and interactions, which has strengthened over the years. (ANI)

Taliban Victory Puts Pakistan In A Spot

Pakistani government at the moment seems to be in a quandary. The manner in which it wanted to exploit the Taliban victory in Afghanistan has rebounded threatening to reinforce religious fundamentalists inclinations in Pakistan itself. US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan was due to the realisation that religious fundamentalism might not remain contained to Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan may give Pakistan a choice to look at its relationships with its neighbours, not just from an anti-India stance as it tries to rein-in and influence Taliban to remain pro-Pakistan and not adopt an independent policy of their own.

However, the religio-politico situation of the region which started rearing its head in 1980s with the help of US and Saudi-backed fanatical elements to drive out the Soviets from Afghanistan, has increasingly showed ripple effect in Pakistan, the Tehrik-e Taliban-e Pakistan (TTP) remains a prime example of such thinking.

Pakistan is seen as working in support of the Taliban as reports suggest that it was based on the advice of Pakistani military and government officials that the US generals stuck to the Taliban’s August 31 deadline for an end to US evacuation so that the group can move forward with forming a government.

In fact the Pakistani military started working on efforts to persuade the United States to negotiate an end to the war with the Taliban even before they gained control of Afghanistan, a development Pakistani officers believed was inevitable. Based on those inputs the US started to engage with Taliban in early 2019.

Commenting on the evolving situation Ayesha Siddiqa a geo-politics adviser at SOAS, UK said that Rawalpindi invested primarily in the Taliban as it knew that US would ultimately leave Afghanistan. Rawalpindi’s prime desire was to ensure a friendly establishment in its north-western neighbouring nation, which doesn’t get exploited against Pakistan’s interests, especially by India.

ALSO READ: ‘Afghanistan Papers Uncover The Dirty War’

However, the investment over 27 years has produced mixed results. It certainly did not translate into the Taliban doing Pakistan’s bidding. Ms. Siddiqa described Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid’s promise that Afghan media would be free as “a reminder of similar assurances about media freedom by Pakistan’s generals, which makes one realise the effort afoot to make a Taliban-led regime look increasingly like Pakistan (or even India): Hybrid-authoritarian and hybrid-theocratic… This is where the real problem for Pakistan begins.”

While Pakistani fears that the Taliban victory may give a violent boost to the TTP, the Pakistani Taliban that has close ties to their Afghan kin, the TTP had started to be active again inside Pakistan even before the Taliban capture of Afghanistan.

The Taliban victory benefits from decades in which religious fundamentalism was woven into the fabric of Pakistani society as well as some of its key institutions.

Ms. Siddiqa comments, “The fact remains that, notwithstanding the ambition to mellow the tone of religion in Afghanistan, Pakistan itself runs the risk of becoming more like its north-western neighbour – more religious and more authoritarian.”

Pakistan understands the complex situation very well and that’s why it was pushing the Taliban to opt for a truly inclusive government besides broadening its contacts with other Afghan groups. A visit last week to the Pakistani capital by representatives of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and other Afghan politicians is a pointer in that regard.

In discussing the fallout for Pakistan of the Taliban victory, analysts have by and large focussed on Pakistan as fertile ground for the spread of Taliban-style religious fundamentalism as well as concerns that it would enable TTP to rekindle their campaign of attacks in Pakistan.

The TTP is a coalition of Pashtun Islamist groups with close ties to the Afghan Taliban that last year joined forces with several other militant Pakistani groups, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a violently anti-Shiite Sunni Muslim supremacist organisation.

“Pashtuns of the Afghan Taliban will, after a few years in power, find common cause with their Pashtun kinsmen in Pakistan… There are plenty of Pakistani Pashtuns who would prefer the whole of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province) to be part of a wider Pashtunistan,” predicts scholar and former British ambassador to Pakistan Tim Willasey-Wilsey.

In fact, the events of the last 75 years confirm that the main focus of Pakistan’s foreign policy has always been anti-Indian in tenor and practice. It became a fertile ground for Mujahedeen in the 1970s, as it wanted to exert more influence on the Soviet state as compared to India besides stoking fire in Indian Kashmir.

Later it allied with the US just in order to belittle India, but the reality is that Pakistan has always tried to be involved in the Afghan affairs due to the economic gains also and this trend continues even now. The British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rabb, while in Pakistan last week, announced doubling of aid to Afghanistan to £286 million and released the first tranche of  £30 million of that to support Afghanistan’s regional neighbours including Pakistan. Thus, in a way the foreign aid has not only lined the pockets of Afghan gang lords and politicians but even the Pakistani generals and politicians.

Due to this complexity in the Afghan affairs and the recent announcements by senior Taliban leadership with regard to India puts Pakistan in a real quandary. Pakistan might also be concerned after a Taliban official Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai declared in a rare statement on foreign policy that “we give due importance to our political, economic and trade ties with India and we want these ties to continue. We are looking forward to working with India in this regard.”

Stanekzai is considered to have a soft corner for India, having trained at IMA, Dehradun during the 1980s, and it is Taliban officials like him and others who might be more pro-India, which puts Pakistan at unease along with the concern that one day the Taliban style thinking might spread through Pakistan also.

(Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on issues related to Muslims, education, geopolitics and interfaith)

Equitable, Inclusive Education Must For Development: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that for the development of any nation, education should be both equitable and inclusive.

“Education should not only be inclusive but also be equitable. For the same, the country is including talking books and audiobooks as part of education. Based on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an Indian sign language dictionary has been developed. For the first time in the country, Indian Sign language is being included as a subject in the curriculum,” the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the Shikshak Parv conclave.
PM Modi launched five initiatives on the occasion, including Indian Sign Language Dictionary (audio and text embedded sign language video for the hearing impaired, in conformity with Universal Design of Learning), Talking Books (audiobooks for the visually impaired), School Quality Assurance and Assessment Framework of CBSE, NISHTHA teachers’ training programme for NIPUN Bharat and Vidyanjali portal (for facilitating education volunteers/ donors/ CSR contributors for school development).

“Another major beginning taking place today is the School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework (SQAAF). There was no common scientific framework in our country for our schools and education. This is now being changed.”

PM Modi informed that the NISHTHA teachers’ training programme will help the teachers to develop their technical skills which are need for the hour.

He also informed that he had asked the Olympians and Paralympians to visit 75 schools as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and encourage the students to pursue sports in the future.

“I have asked all the Olympians and Paralympians to visit 75 schools to mark Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. I urge you all to get in touch with them. They will meet the students of the schools. These sportspersons might encourage students to pursue sports in the future,” PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister also congratulated teachers who received National Awards during his address.

“I want to congratulate the teachers who received National Awards. You have worked under difficult circumstances. Your efforts are commendable.”

The theme of ‘Shikshak Parv-2021’ is “Quality and Sustainable Schools: Learnings from Schools in India”. Its celebration will encourage innovative practices to ensure not only continuity of education at all levels but to improve quality, inclusive practices and sustainability in the schools across the country as well.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Ministers of State for Education Jitin Prasada were also present at the event. (ANI)