Month: March 2022

The polling for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections began on Thursday.

The voting began at 7 am today and will continue till 6 pm. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cast his vote at Primary School Gorakhnath Kanya Nagar Kshetra, in Gorakhpur.

Polling is being held for 57 Assembly constituencies spread across 10 districts including Gorakhpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ballia, Balrampur, Basti, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharthnagar.

The seats which are going to polls are Katehari, Tanda, Alapur (SC), Jalalpur, Akbarpur, Tulsipur, Gainsari, Utraula, Balrampur (SC), Shohratgarh, Kapilvastu (SC), Bansi, Itwa, Domariyaganj, Harraiya, Kaptanganj, Rudhauli, Basti Sadar, Mahadewa (SC), Menhdawal, Khalilabad, Dhanghata (SC), Pharenda, Nautanwa, Siswa, Maharajganj (SC), Paniyra, Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural, Sahajanwa, Khajani (SC), Chauri-Chaura, Bansgaon (SC), Chillupar, Khadda, Padrauna, Tamkuhi Raj, Fazilnagar, Kushinagar, Hata, Ramkola (SC), Rudrapur, Pathardeva, Rampur Karkhana, Bhatpar Rani, Salempur (SC), Barhaj, Belthara Road, Rasra, Sikandarpur, Phephna, Ballia Nagar, Bansdih and Bairiya.

A total of 2,14,62,816 electorates including 1,14,63,113 males, 99,98,383 females and 1,320 third genders are expected to exercise their right to franchise to decide the fate of 676 candidates.

With 676 candidates in the fray in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tops the chart of the prominent faces of this phase. The Chief Minister is contesting the polls from Gorakhpur Urban. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has pitted Khwaja Shamsuddin while Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Subhavati Shukla, who is the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath. Meanwhile, Congress’ Chetna Pandey will also fight against Adityanath.

Besides Adityanath, prominent faces in this phase are state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who is contesting from Tamkuhi Raj seat, Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit as minister to join the Samajwadi Party and is contesting from Fazilnagar seat, and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary, who is contesting from Bansdih seat.

Congress’ Ajay Kumar Lallu is facing BSP’s Sanjay Gupta and SP’s Udaynarayan Gupta on Tamkuhi Raj seat.

SP’s Swami Prasad Maurya will contest from Fazilnagar seat against BJP candidate Surendra Singh Kushwaha, the son of incumbent BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha. Maurya will face BSP’s Ilyas Ansari, Congress’ Sunil Singh and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Harish Chandra Yadav.

SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is facing Congress’ Puneet Pathak on Bansdih seat. Puneet’s grandfather, Bachha Pathak is a former vice president of the state Congress. His grandfather had been an MLA from Bansdih for seven terms between 1967 and 1996 and was also a minister in the UP government.

SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary also faces Nishad Party’s Ketki Singh and BSP’s Manti Rajbhar.

Polling for the seventh phase, which will be the last phase, will be held on March 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10. (ANI)

The World Bank on Wednesday (local time) has stopped all its programs in Russia and Belarus with “immediate effect” in response to Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine.

“The World Bank Group has not approved any new loans to or investments in Russia since 2014. There has also been no new lending approved to Belarus since mid-2020,” the international financial institution said in a statement.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and hostilities against the people of Ukraine, the World Bank Group has stopped all its programs in Russia and Belarus with immediate effect, the statement added.

Meanwhile, World Bank on Tuesday announced that it is preparing a USD 3 billion support package for Ukraine in the coming months, while the IMF also is preparing to provide emergency assistance to the country.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow.

These countries have also promised Ukraine to help with military aid to fight Russia.

The US, Canada and European allies agreed to remove key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT which means Russian banks won’t be able to communicate securely with banks beyond Russia’s borders. (ANI)

The government on Thursday said that the Indian embassy in Ukraine is in continuous touch with its stranded citizens, adding that it has not received any reports of students being held hostage in the war-hit country.

The government’s remarks came in response to media queries after the claims of the Russian embassy in India on Wednesday that the Indian students have been taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces to use them as a human shield.
Refuting the reports of Indian students being held hostage, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed that many students left Kharkiv yesterday with the cooperation of Ukrainian authorities.

“We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student. We have requested for the support of the Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for evacuating students from Kharkiv and neighbouring areas to the western part of the country,” he added.

Bagchi further said that the MEA has been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region, including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova, and expressed gratitude towards Ukrainian authorities for their help in the evacuation of Indians.

“A large number of Indian nationals have been evacuated from Ukraine in the last few days. We appreciate the help extended by the Ukrainian authorities to make this possible. We thank Ukraine’s western neighbours for receiving Indian nationals and accomodating them while they waited for flights to take them back home,” he stated.

Notably, the Russian embassy in India on Wednesday wrote in a tweet, “According to the latest information, these students are actually taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces, who use them as a human shield and in every possible way prevent them from leaving for Russia. Responsibility, in this case, lies entirely with the Kyiv authorities.”

However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet, said that the country has established an emergency hotline for African, Asian and other students wishing to leave Ukraine as the tensions between Moscow and Kyiv rages on.

Meanwhile, a total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.

Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting on the issue. The meeting was attended by Union Ministers S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other officials. (ANI)

Third Indian Air Force’s C-17 aircraft carrying 208 Indian citizens from Ukraine landed at Hindon airbase near Delhi from Rzeszow in Poland on Thursday.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt received the Indian citizens on their arrival and interacted with them.

While talking to ANI, students said that they brought pets along with them.

“I have brought my friend’s dog with me from Ukraine. Many people who had dogs left them behind in Ukraine but I brought back this dog along with me”, said Zahid, a student rescued from Ukraine.

Gautam, who has brought back his pet cat from Ukraine, said the cat had been with him for the last four months. He further said that the cat had stayed with him in the bunker.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued orders to the Air Force to pitch in the rescue operations to augment the level of Operation Ganga.

Notably, the American C-17 Globemasters and IL-76 transport aircraft are the most capable of flying long distances with around 400 passengers. The C-17 transport aircraft had helped in a big way in evacuating citizens and officials from Kabul when the Taliban captured Afghanistan and forced Americans to exit from there.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said nine flights took off on Thursday from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

“Nine flights have taken off today from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland, including IAF aircraft. 6 flights more are expected to depart shortly. Altogether, will bring back more than 3,000 Indian nationals,” tweeted Jaishankar.

A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting on the issue. The meeting was attended by Union Ministers S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other officials.

For the past few days, the Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities.

Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow. These countries have also promised Ukraine to help Ukraine with military weapons.

The US, Canada and European allies agreed to remove key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT which means Russian banks won’t be able to communicate securely with banks beyond Russia’s borders. President Putin has also signed a decree on special economic measures against the US and its allies. (ANI)

A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.

Flights under Operation Ganga have been increased. During the last 24 hours, six flights under Operation Ganga have landed in India, taking the total number of flights to 15. Out of these, 8 flights were from Bucharest, 5 from Budapest and 2 from Rzeszow.

The total number of Indians who have returned onboard these flights is 3,352. Out of these, 1796 were evacuated through Romania, 430 through Poland and 1126 through Hungary. As many as 15 flights are scheduled over the next 24 hours, many of which are already en route.

IAF has joined Operation Ganga, and the first C-17 flight from Bucharest is expected to return to Delhi from Bucharest later tonight. Three more IAF flights will be undertaken today, from Budapest, Rzeszow and Bucharest.

Humanitarian aid in form of medicines, medical equipment, tents, blankets, solar lamps and other materials is being sent to Ukraine in tranches. The first tranche weighing 2 tons comprising medicines was sent on March 1 through Poland and 3 more tranches (tents, blankets, sleeping mats etc – 16 x 2 tons) were sent on March 2 (1 by IAF flight) through Romania and Poland.

The MEA Control Room, as well as the Control Centres operated by Indian Embassies in Ukraine, Poland, Romania Hungary and the Slovak Republic, continue to operate on a 24×7 basis. The MEA Control Room has attended to 9,874 calls and 7,657 emails to date.

The embassy of India in Romania in coordination with Moldovan authorities is organizing the movement of Indian nationals stranded in Odessa (Ukraine) to Bucharest (Romania) via Moldova. Airspace in Moldova is closed so Indians are being sent to Bucharest

The embassy is organising two routes for buses — one set of buses for those crossing the Palanca border (Ukraine-Moldova) and being sent directly to Romania without stopping in Moldova. Another route is for those who are in the camps located in and around the capital Chisinau.

The bus services are being provided free of cost. Since March 1, about 250 students have crossed over to Romania. They have all been sent by buses organised by Embassy directly to Romania (Bucharest) from the border.

About 80-100 nationals are still left in and around Chisinau (capital) and most will be leaving by bus today (on March 2). In Bucharest, Indian Embassy is helping the Indian nationals with flights under Operation Ganga.

The embassy in coordination with Romanian authorities has ensured that no visa is required to exit Romania via special flights. (ANI)

As the Russia-Ukraine enters its seventh day, the tensions in Ukraine’s Kharkiv heightened with missiles damaging the government offices, residential buildings in the city. However, Kremlin has denied the reports of attacking infrastructure, residential areas in Ukraine.

Furthermore, a Russian missile struck a residential building in Zhytomyr located in the north of the western half of Ukraine. As per the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the airstrikes resulted in piles of debris, flattened homes and buildings.

Meanwhile, voting took place at United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday in the 11th emergency special session and fourth plenary meeting on the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Voting results displayed on screens at the UN General Assembly showed that 141 nations voted in favour of the move and five nations were against it, with 35 countries abstained.

As the crisis continues, US President Joe Biden extended the national emergency regarding Ukraine by one year due to extraordinary threat national security and foreign policy threats posed to the United States by the situation in the Eastern European country.

The permanent representatives of EU countries have agreed on new sanctions against Belarus, including the economic ones, the French Presidency of the Council of EU States said.

Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi also conducted consultations in order to address an overnight request from Ukraine’s nuclear regulator to extend immediate assistance to ensure the safety of Chernobyl NPP and other nuclear facilities in the country.

After the increased conflict in Kharkiv, Indian Embassy in Kyiv issued an ‘urgent advisory’ for its nationals stranded in Ukraine asking them to leave Kharkiv immediately and to proceed to settlements at Pesochyn, Babai and Bezlyudivka by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian Time) on foot if they are unable to find vehicles for commuting to specified locations.

The Embassy issued this ‘urgent advisory’ for Indian Nationals stranded in Kharkiv in view of the ‘deteriorating situation in the city.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been speaking to the leaders of several countries and has been sharing his concerns over the escalating turn of events in Ukraine.

Amid the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine, PM Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting on the issue. The meeting was attended by Union Ministers S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other officials.

For the past few days, the Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue.

PM Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv. Both the leaders also discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas.

“The leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas,” the PMO statement said.

MEA added that nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine’s border since the first travel advisory was issued by the Indian Embassy in Kyiv and as many as 15 flights were scheduled over the next 24 hours.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia also informed that a total of 6 flights with 1300 Indian students onboard from Bucharest (Romania) to India will be deported today. Scindia met Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in Romania and thanked the latter for facilitating the safe evacuation of Indian citizens amid heightened tensions in Ukraine.

Showing solidarity with the Indian students, Polish universities said that they will be opening their doors to Indian students evacuated from Ukraine so that they can finish their studies, informed Union Minister VK Singh.

Amid the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, the number of refugees is also rising by the day. Refugees from Ukraine do not need to go through the asylum procedure, and will receive immediate protection for up to three years in the European Union, German Minister of the Interior, Building and Community Nancy Faeser said.

“We provide help quickly and without bureaucracy. Refugees from Ukraine do not need to go through the asylum procedure. They receive immediate protection in the EU for up to three years,” Faeser tweeted.

As the temperature in conflict-ridden Ukraine continues to rise, in the latest development, the Ukrainian flag was removed from the flagpole of the Ukrainian embassy in Russia amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, state media reported on Wednesday. (ANI)

Amid ongoing Operation Ganga, the initiative launched by the Government of India to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) sent relief material to Ukraine on Wednesday.

The NDRF has provided relief material including blankets, sleeping mats, and solar study lamps etc. for the people of Ukraine.

The relief material was sent through a flight that left for Poland this morning and another on an Indian Air Force (IAF) flight that left for Romania this afternoon, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed today.

On February 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high level meeting to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all Indian nationals there are safe and secure.

The government also informed that the first consignment of relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation on Ukraine’s borders has been despatched.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities escalating the ongoing tensions between the two countries. Ukraine gained independence in 1991 after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Earlier in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that special military operations are being launched “to protect” the people in the Donbas region. He also warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences”.

Leaders from a number of countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. (ANI)

Turkey has closed an Uyghur elementary school in Istanbul after China complained of anti-Beijing instruction imparted in the institution.

Jilil Kashgary, writing in Radio Free Asia (RFA) said that on February 21, officials with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education locked the doors to the Hira Uyghur Elementary School and did not allow its more than 300 students to enter.

China said that the school violated Turkey’s own regulations, but some parliamentarians want it reopened. School officials said they were told that China had filed a complaint against the school.

Hira Uyghur School is located in a district of Istanbul where many Uyghurs have settled, some fleeing widespread persecution in Xinjiang.

It taught students the Uyghur language and other subjects and offered instruction for Uyghur children who do not have Turkish residency and therefore cannot attend public schools, said Kashgary.

It also taught English and Turkish as well as vocational skills like sewing and driving to adults.

In the complaint filed with Turkish government authorities, China also said the school violated Turkish rules by requiring pupils to wear military uniforms for a school ceremony in 2019, reported RFA.

Levent Yazici, who is the head of the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Education, told RFA that the school had not been shut down, although members of Parliament have publicly criticized its closure.

“Why would we have closed it? We haven’t closed it,” he said. “I am unaware of this matter. I have no connection to it. We’ll have to look into it and see.”

The dispute over the school comes as Turkey and China have grown closer in recent years, including through a bilateral agreement to exchange information on money laundering and terrorism financing.

As the two countries have grown closer, Uyghur migrants working in Turkey have been occasionally detained and placed in immigration detention centers.

Opposition party lawmakers in the Turkish Parliament who support the Uyghurs criticized the closure of the school, said Kashgary. (ANI)

The Central Government on Wednesday informed the Kerala High Court that 60 per cent of the stranded Indians in Ukraine have already crossed the borders and are safe.

Central Government informed this while the Court considering a plea filed by Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association (KHCAA) seeking a directive to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take steps in repatriating students from Kerala stranded in Ukraine.
The government further said, “The government is also taking necessary measures to evacuate the remaining 40 per cent of the Indians by utilizing all its means. More than half a million Ukrainians and other foreign expatriates fled westwards from conflict zones to land borders of neighbouring countries. This extraordinary exodus of lakhs clogged land borders. A number of Indians were also therefore stranded and initially experienced inconvenience on the land borders, particularly the land border with Poland, where lakhs had begun gathering from February 25.”

“The reports of difficulties at the borders faced by some of our students, including insensitivity by border guards may be seen in the context of the situation in a war zone, and is also attributed to the overwhelming numbers, breakdown of systems and extreme weather conditions,” the government added.

The petition cited that the children of two KHCAA members were also stranded there. The petition alleged that Indians are facing mass discrimination and the reason for this is the lack of presence of representatives of the Indian Embassy.

The petition contended, “Students are to bear the entire cost and risk of travelling in a warzone to the nearest border. Indians are faced with mass discrimination and torture by the Ukrainian army and the border patrol. The army and the border patrol have been opening gunfire towards the sky and spraying pepper at these children to neutralize them.”

“Indians are also being made to wait for hours in the extreme cold weather, which has led to a lack of sleep and food for most of these students, while some of these children have fainted and hence these people are facing extreme hardships at the border. There is a requirement that a specific direction is issued to the Ambassador of India in Ukraine that immediate steps be taken to evacuate the students, including by facilitating assistance and protection at border crossings and ensuring safe transport of the students from their respective locations to the neighbouring countries from where their air travel is being arranged,” it added.

The petition further pointed out, “The Centre is empowered under the Emigration Act, 1983 and the rules made thereunder, and can make use of the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) and other measures, to take steps necessary to protect Indian citizens who are in distress/stranded abroad.” (ANI)

Indian Embassy in Kyiv issued an ‘urgent advisory’ for its nationals stranded in Ukraine asking them to leave Kharkiv immediately and to proceed to settlements at Pesochyn, Babai and Bezlyudivka by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian Time) on foot if they are unable to find vehicles for commuting to specified locations.

The Embassy issued this ‘urgent advisory’ for Indian Nationals stranded in Kharkiv in view of the ‘deteriorating situation in the city.

“For their own safety and security, they must leave Kharkiv immediately repeat immediately in the light of the deteriorating situation. They should proceed to pesochyn, babai and bezlyudivka as soon as possible for their safety,” the advisory said.

“Those students who cannot find vehicles or buses and are in railway station can proceed on foot to pisochyn (11 km) babai (12 km) and bezlyudivka (16 km) Proceed immediately. Under all circumstances Indians must reach these settlements by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian time) today,” it added.

It alerts the Indian Nationals to proceed immediately. “Under all circumstances, Indians must reach these settlements by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian time) today,” the advisory statement read.

This is the second advisory issued by the Embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a total of 16 flights have already brought back stranded Indian nationals from Ukraine till today.