Month: March 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the students, teachers and parents across the country during the 5th edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ on April 1, according to information received by Education Ministry.

The Prime Minister had conceptualized the unique interactive programme in which students, parents, teachers across the nation and also from overseas interact with him to discuss and overcome the stress emerging out of examinations.

An online creative writing competition was conducted in December-January to select participants. Around 15.7 lakh participants had registered for the creative writing competition.

‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ has been organized successfully for the last four years by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. The first three editions of Pariksha Pe Charcha were held in New Delhi in a town-hall interactive format. The fourth edition was held online on April 17, 2021. (ANI)

Scores of people protested in front of National Museum, Shahbag in Dhaka to mark the genocide by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh in 1971 in which thousands of people, including children, were slaughtered.

The protest organised by Bangladesh Conscious Citizens Committee (BCCC), commemorating Genocide Remembrance Day, saw participation by prominient people including Muktijoddha Professor Dr Neemchand Bhowmik.

Leaders and participants of the human chain protest demanded international recognition of this genocide or Operation Searchlight – a planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistani Army. They also demanded an apology by the Pakistan Government and a trial of Pakistani War Criminals immediately.

The protest was addressed among others by political analyst FF Major General M A Sikder, Co-Convenor F F M D Salauddin, Member Secretary and Chairman of Bangladesh Bharat Sampriti Parishad FF Fazle Ali, Journalist Basudeb Dhar, Secretary-General of Bangladesh Bharat Sampriti Parshad FF Mehidi Hasan Chowdhury and HBCUP leader Nirmal Chatterjee, Professor Sadia Sharmin.

The leaders condemned the massacre of Bangladesh people by the Pakistan Army on March 25 in 1971 when a black veil just showed up over the history of mankind.

The Pakistan Army turned entire Bangladesh into a killing field with its indiscriminate killing, torture of innocent people and unprecedented scale of rapes for nine months.

That was the kickoff of one of the biggest genocides in the world, led by General Yahya Khan of Pakistan, causing the biggest ever humanitarian catastrophe after World War II. They killed 30 lakh people and violated two lakh women and children. Freedom fighters and researchers claim that still, many mass graves in the district and upazila levels remain unidentified. (ANI)

Actor Sobhita Dhulipala is currently going through a hectic work schedule.

On juggling between different sets, Sobhita said, “Switching between two completely different characters and worlds without any off days for the last few months has been quite intense and all-consuming but I feel greatly motivated. I’m beaming with excitement and cannot wait for the releases! This year is going to be special, fingers crossed.”

Sobhita has several projects in her kitty including Ronnie Screwvala’s ‘Sitara’, Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ (Tamil), Telugu film ‘Major’ with Adivi Sesh and a Hollywood project ‘Monkey Man’ directed by Dev Patel.

She will also be seen reprising her role in Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s ‘Made in Heaven’. (ANI)

All the five nominees of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), including former cricketer Harbhajan Singh were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.

With AAP registering a landslide victory in the recently-concluded Punjab elections and the party winning 92 out of 117 seats in the state Assembly, the election of AAP candidates into the Upper House of Parliament was a certainty.
Five out of the seven Rajya Sabha seats in Punjab will become vacant on April 9.

AAP nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha who is also AAP co-in-charge of Punjab, IIT Delhi Professor Sandeep Pathak, Chancellor of Lovely Professional University Ashok Mittal and founder of Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Care Charitable Trust Sanjeev Arora to these five vacant seats from Punjab.

Returning Officer-cum-Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha Surinder Pal said that as no candidate had withdrawn his nomination till March 24, the last day for doing so, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Raghav Chadha (first cycle), Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal and Sanjeev Arora (second cycle) were declared unopposed as winners.

Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and SS Dullo, BJP’s Shwait Malik, SAD’s Naresh Gujral and SS Dhindsa from SAD-Sanyukt are the five Rajya Sabha MPs who are retiring from the Rajya Sabha.

The term of SAD’s Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Congress leader Ambika Soni, who are also Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab, will end on July 4. Elections to these two seats would be held later this year. (ANI)

Actor Yami Gautam will be seen playing the role of a Haryanvi cop in the upcoming film ‘Dasvi’.

Talking about how she got the Haryanvi accent right for the movie, she said, “I took dictions classes from a teacher to get the nuances right, to get the diction right. We worked on each and every dialogue and also how much to hold back because how much only is required for the character I think that’s very important to identify. If it becomes too pure, if it becomes too detailed then it’s difficult for the pan India audience to understand which is not what we want.”

She added, “So we identified and marked a combination of which is you understand her background but for the same time, you also understand what she is saying. And where to put the stress, because Haryanvi has certain width to it so how can we add it and what that adds to the character, so, we did the work to that kind of depth.”

Helmed by Tushar Jalota, ‘Dasvi’ also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead roles. It revolves around a crooked yet witty politician (Bachchan), who decides to attempt his 10th board while serving a jail term.

‘Dasvi’ will release on Netflix and Jio Cinema on April 7. (ANI)

Actor Tiger Shroff is extremely excited to release his film ‘Heropanti 2’ on Eid 2022.

“Heropanti 2 is my first ever Eid release, a period that has been synonymous to Salman sir because of his blockbuster film releases. I am aware that the shoes are too big to fill but I’m glad that I got this opportunity to entertain the audience around a festive time like this. It’s a huge responsibility but the pressure reduces when I see all the love that is coming my way. I feel grateful,” he said.

Written by Rajat Arora and music by A R Rahman, Sajid Nadiadwala’s ‘Heropanti 2’ is directed by Ahmed Khan, who also directed Tiger’s last release ‘Baaghi 3’.

Apart from Tiger, ‘Heropanti 2’ also stars Tara Sutaria and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles. The film will hit theatres on April 29. (ANI)

The Indian Men’s Hockey Team will begin its FIH Hockey Pro League 2022/23 campaign against New Zealand and Spain as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced the schedule of the fourth edition of the tournament on Thursday.

India will host New Zealand and Spain in the tournament opener between October 28 and November 6 later this year.

The season, which will run from October 28, 2022, to July 5, 2023, will be divided into a series of date blocks, agreed by all parties, to assist with international and domestic competition planning, within which “mini-tournaments” will be played where several teams will gather in one venue to play two matches against each other.

This move will have a major positive impact on players’ welfare and the environment, thanks to a substantial reduction in the amount of travel needed for each team and the officials. Another great advantage of this revised format is that it increases the number of dates available for athletes to compete in their domestic leagues and club competitions.

The Indian team will play New Zealand in the first match on October 28, followed by the second match against Spain on October 30. They will play their return leg matches against New Zealand and Spain on November 4 and 6, respectively. Both the visitors New Zealand and Spain will also play a doubleheader against each other on October 29 and November 5.

Sharing his thoughts on the FIH Pro League 2022/23 schedule, the Indian Men’s Hockey Chief Coach Graham Reid stated, “Interesting to see the 22-23 Pro League schedule released today. As far as our draw is concerned, it is well spaced out and provides us with practice opportunity before the 2023 World Cup.”

In March 2023, India will play Germany and Australia at home. They will face off against Germany on March 10 and after a day’s break they will take on Australia in their first match of the two-legged tie. The second-leg matches against both Germany and Australia will be played on March 13 and 15 respectively. Germany and Australia too will play their FIH Pro League tie against each other in India.

In what appears to be an action-paced Olympic cycle, India will tour to Europe in May and June 2023 for their away matches against the teams like reigning Olympic Champions Belgium (May 26 and June 2), Great Britain (May 27 and June 3), Netherlands (June 7 and 10) and Argentina (June 8 and 11).

Reid opined that it’s good development of utilising multiple teams in one location.

“FIH is using the experience of utilising multiple teams in one location from this year, to provide more of a traditional tournament feel. I think it’s is a good development. This will also provide a different tactical preparation between games where traditionally the games against the same team are back to back,” he said. (ANI)

The oath-taking ceremony of the new BJP government in Uttar Pradesh on Friday is likely to be a grand event with the party deciding to invite representatives from a wide cross-section of society including industrialists and religious leaders.

Sources said that guests at the ceremony in which Yogi Adiyanath will take oath as Chief Minister for the second time also include professionals, leaders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and retired government officers.

Former Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai told ANI that leading industrialists are being invited to the ceremony as they have a role in creating employment and will help boost the state’s economy.

“We are inviting industrialists who would be keen to set up industries in Uttar Pradesh. Religious leaders are being invited in large numbers to seek their blessings for the government to work for the people of the state in the next five years,” he said.

The BJP leader said the party is planning to convert the oath-taking ceremony into a “mega-show” on a scale that has never happened before.

“The people of Uttar Pradesh have blessed us with a big win under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief JP Nadda. If we look at the preparations for the event tomorrow, it will be a show that has never taken place. The swearing-in ceremony will be one of its kind,” he said.

“We are also preparing to install digital screens in various districts for people to witness the ceremony in large numbers. Nearly 90,000 party workers from all the districts are attending the event,” he added.

Bajpai said that PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and BJP chief ministers will be present at the event.

The BJP won a second consecutive mandate in the state in the results of assembly polls declared earlier this month with Yogi Adityanath as chief minister. He would take oath for a second term at Ekana Stadium. (ANI)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed relations between the two neighbouring countries.

China took part in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting here though it is not a part of the group.

During the meeting between the two friendly nations, Bajwa praised and expressed support for China’s foreign policy, saying Beijing has pursued a balanced and steady foreign policy, while being committed to world peace and development and fulfilled its role as a responsible major country in international hotspot areas.

Interestingly, earlier Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had praised India’s foreign policy.

Meanwhile, Wang Yi said China appreciated the Pakistani military for its proactive effort and significant contribution over the years in consolidating and strengthening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, safeguarding the security and smooth progress of the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and ensuring the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan.

Wang also said that the Pakistani military has played the role of stabilizer in building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era. (ANI)