February 2023 - Page 21 of 50 - Lokmarg

India has shown world the real meaning of “anti-fragile”: PM Modi

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday explained the concept of “anti-fragile” related to the people of India in the context of challenges faced by the world in the last three years due to the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Welcoming business leaders from across the globle at ET Global Business Summit, PM Modi said, “Generally the span of three years is not very long time but if we look at the last three years, then it seems that the whole world has travelled a lot of time. When we met last time then masks were not part of our daily life. People thought that vaccines are only for children and for people suffering from deadly diseases. People must have planned their holidays. But after 5 days of ET summit of 2020, WHO declared COVID as a pandemic. Then we saw in small time the whole world changed. So too India also changed.”
“We have heard discussions about the concept of ‘anti-fragile’. A system that not only faces the adverse conditions but uses them and becomes stronger. When I heard the concept of ‘anti-fragile’ then I thought of the strength of the people of India,” he said.

PM Modi said that India has shown the world how to change any adversity into opportunity.

“In last 3 years, when the world was suffering sometimes from Covid pandemic, sometimes from war and sometimes from the challenges of natural disasters, India and Indians displayed unprecedented strength. India has shown the world the real meaning of anti-fragile,” PM Modi said.

“India has shown the world how to convert an adversity to opportunity. By studying the capability shown by India at the time of the biggest crisis in 100 years, humanity will be proud of it after 100 years,” he added. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Adani-Hindenburg Row: SC Refuses To Accept Centre’s Suggestion On Committee

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will not accept the sealed cover suggestion by the Centre on the appointment of the committee related to regulatory mechanisms to protect the investors in the backdrop of the Adani-Hindenburg case and said that it wants to maintain full transparency.

The court was hearing various petitions related to Hindenburg Research Report.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud reserved the order on the issue and the other issue of the appointment of the committee to oversee regulatory mechanisms related to the market.

One of the petitions filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari sought to Constitute a Committee under the Monitoring of the retired Supreme Court Judge to enquire and Investigate the Hindenburg Research Report.

During the hearing, CJI DY Chandrachud indicated by saying that they will not accept the sealed cover suggestion by the Centre because they want to maintain full transparency.

The court said, “If they accept suggestions in sealed cover it is like they have not kept it away from other side as people will think it is a government-appointed committee.”

CJI also indicated by saying that they will appoint the committee and its members on their own.

SG Mehta Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, submitted a sealed cover note and said, “Two intentions should be kept in mind, one is that truth comes out and a holistic view is presented and other one is there is an unintended impact on the markets.”

Petitioner and lawyer Advocate Vishal Tiwari demanded that the entire thing should be probed and a high-powered committee be constituted to look into it.

Appearing for another petitioner lawyer Prashant Bhushan said he wants to give suggestions on the names of some retired judges as members of the committee. But Supreme Court refuses to accept one of the petitioner lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s suggestion of names of some retired judges as members of the Committee.

Petitioner Jaya Thakur’s lawyer, advocate Varun Thakur demanded a fair probe.

Another petitioner, advocate ML Sharma, has sought a probe against the US-based firm, whose report has led to shares of Adani group plunging on the bourses.

One of the petitions was filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur. (ANI)

Bow And Arrow Symbol To Be Retained By Shinde Faction: ECI

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced that the party name “Shiv Sena” and the symbol “Bow and Arrow” will be retained by the Eknath Shinde faction.

Notably, both factions of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde (present Maharashtra Chief Minister) revolted against Thackeray last year.
The Commission observed that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic. It has been mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all. Such party structures fail to inspire confidence.

In a landmark decision with far-reaching implications on political parties and their conduct, ECI advised all political parties to reflect democratic ethos and principles of inner party democracy and regularly disclose on their respective websites aspects of their inner party functioning, such as organisational details, holding of elections, the copy of Constitution and list of office bearers.

“The constitution of political parties ought to provide for free, fair and transparent elections to the posts of office bearers and a further free and fair procedure for the resolution of internal disputes. These procedures ought to be difficult to amend and should be amendable only after ensuring larger support of the organisational members for the same,” the ECI said.

“The Constitution of SS amended in 2018 is not given to ECI. Amendments had undone the act of introducing democratic norms in the Party Constitution of 1999, brought by the Late Balasaheb Thackeray at the insistence of the Commission,” the ECI added.

The ECI observed that the undemocratic norms of the original Constitution of Shiv Sena, which was not accepted by the Commission in 1999 have been brought back in a surreptitious manner further making the party akin to a fiefdom.

The Rashtriya Karyakarini is a body which is ‘elected’ by a largely ‘appointed’ Pratinidhi Sabha. The Commission conveyed to Shiv Sena in the year 1999 on the draft amendments when Bala Saheb was made leader of Sena for life: “To put in a nutshell, the party Constitution envisages the President nominating the Electoral College that is to elect him. Therefore, any reliance on the ‘”Test of Party Constitution”‘ for determining the present dispute case will be undemocratic and catalytic in spreading such practices across parties.

The ECI said that the 2018 Constitution of SS, by way of its plain reading on the vital axis of remedy/modality of dissent, stifles all options of the rival group(s) in its very formulation. It confers widespread powers of making various organisational appointments on a single person.

“The 40 MLAs, supporting the Shinde faction, garnered 36,57327 votes out of a total of 47,82440 votes i.e ~76 per cent of votes polled in favour of 55 winning MLAs in the GA to the LA 19. This contrasts with 11,25113 votes garnered by 15 MLAs whose support is claimed by the Uddhav Thakre faction i.e ~ 23.5 per cent of votes polled in favour of winning 55 MLAs,” it said.

Further, as against 90,49,789, total votes polled by Shiv Sena in the General election to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra in 2019 (including the losing candidates), votes polled by 40 MLAs supporting the Shinde faction come to ~40 per cent whereas votes polled by 15 MLAs supporting the Uddhav Thakre faction come to ~12 per cent of total votes, the Commission said.

“The 13 MPs supporting the Shinde faction garnered 74,88,634 votes out of a total of 1,02,45143 votes i.e ~73 per cent of votes polled in favour of 18 MPs in the general election to the Lok Sabha, 2019. This contrasts with 27,56,509 votes garnered by 5 MPs supporting Uddhav Thakre faction (although claimed 6 and affidavits filed by only 4) i.e ~ 27 per cent of votes polled in favour of 18 MPs,” the Commission further stated.

Further, as against 1,25,89064, the total votes polled by Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha election, 2019 (including the losing candidates), votes polled by 13 MPs supporting the Shinde faction come to ~59 per cent whereas votes polled by 5 MPs (claimed 6 whereas affidavits of only 4) supporting the Uddhav Thakre faction comes to ~22 per cent, the Commission added.

Last month, both the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena submitted their written statements in support of their claims of control over the party name and symbol to the Election Commission.

The ECI had frozen the bow and arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena and had allotted the ‘Two Swords and Shield symbol’ to the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and the ‘flaming torch’ (mashaal) election symbol was allotted to the Uddhav Thackeray faction for the bypoll in Andheri East assembly constituency in November last year.

In November last year, Uddhav Thackeray had moved a writ plea in the Delhi High Court against the ECI decision to freeze Election Symbol of Bow and Arrow. However, the plea was dismissed by the court.

Notably, EC passed the interim order saying in Andheri East bypolls, neither of the two groups shall be permitted to use the symbol “Bow and Arrow”, reserved for “Shiv Sena”.

The Commission’s ruling had come amid the ongoing symbol war between the Uddhav Thackeray camp and rival Eknath Shinde camp. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Majors Interested In Deepwater India: Global Energy Giants Eye India Opportunity

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

Multinational energy giants like ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron are looking to tap into “deepwater opportunities” presented by India whose vast indigenous sources of energy and the government’s enhancements to facilitate ease of business is making the country attractive to these majors, according to a recent report by ‘Wood Mackenzie’, a global research and consultancy organization.

In its January 2023 report, “Why are the majors interested in deepwater India?”, Wood Mackenzie praised the reform measures taken by the Prime Minister’s office to make domestic oil and natural gas exploration competitive and accessible with a myriad of potential mutual benefits.
The consultancy, which provides market intelligence reports in the energy sector, highlighted that energy giants like ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron were looking at “deepwater opportunities” with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

“India’s vast energy market holds many attractions. Not just scale and growth, but also a compelling decarbonisation narrative as gas is required to displace coal,” the report stated.

According to the report there were 5 areas of attraction for the Oil Majors that made India appear on their radar. These were ‘New area access and geological prospectivity’, ‘fiscal and regulatory enhancements’, ‘gas pricing and marketing freedom’, ‘the Indian gas market’ and the possibility of ‘Bangladesh-collateral benefits’ being another area of operation.

The report also concluded that there was significant alignment from the Prime Minister’s Office down to the regulator that more offshore exploration was the need of the hour. A special mention was made about the recent efforts by the Indian government on the ‘India stack’, which is a catch all term of all the digital enhancements being made to facilitate the ease of doing business in the country.

“Other regulatory improvements include PARIVESH, an online portal to speed up environmental approvals, and a move to accept more documents from contractors on a self-certification basis,” added the ‘Wood Mackenzie’ report.

The report further states that with fiscal and regulatory enhancements the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government is making sure that “more offshore exploration is done, to secure affordable, sustainable and secure supplies of energy.”

The report stated that the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) in 2016 revived interest in the sector. It adds that gas pricing and marketing freedom since 2016 and evolving regulations as one of the reasons for India attracting interest of international oil companies. “An online portal for gas trading aims to increase transparency, and E&P companies can now auction and trade on the Indian gas exchange (IGX),” the report added

Taking to Twitter, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas posted a copy of ‘Wood Mackenzie’ report and said that the “World looks at Modiji’s leadership with confidence and hope.”

Recently, PM Modi inaugurated the India Energy Week 2023 in Bengaluru where top executives from the major energy companies attended and interacted with officials from the energy sector and the Prime Minister himself. The mega energy event received praise and ended on an optimistic note about the future of oil and natural gas exploration in India and her waters. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Turkey Deployed NDRF Rescue Team Arrives In India

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

The forty-seven-member team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) arrived in the country on Friday after conducting the 10-day-long rescue operation in the earthquake hit Turkey.

The NDRF team has come back along with the dog squad members Rambo and Honey.

Talking to ANI, Sub-Inspector of NDRF, Shivani Agrawal said that the team worked to help the affected persons and also extended them emotional support.

“My whole team has returned. The team included five women as well. The earthquake has devastated Turkey and the situation is very serious. We have worked as a team to help the affected persons and supported them emotionally,” NDRF Sub-Inspector Shivani Agrawal said.

#WATCH | Turkey: India's NDRF personnel were warmly welcomed at Adana Airpot after they returned from rescue & search operations in various earthquake-hit areas of Turkey. pic.twitter.com/eovdanIaS7
— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2023

The NDRF personnel were warmly welcomed at Adana Airpot after they returned from rescue and search operations in various earthquake-hit areas of Turkey.

The team had made an all-out effort to save lives and find a living soul in the rubble at the disaster site at Nurdagi and in different parts of Turkey which were badly affected by the earthquake on February 6.

A six-story building collapsed and turned into rubble at the Nurdagi site where the NDRF conducted search and rescue operations after the locals informed NDRF about surviving victims inside the debris, dog squad members Julie and Romeo were tasked to locate the surviving victims.

The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, left India on Tuesday for Turkey with two separate teams of NDRF– a 51-member team which arrived there in the morning and another 50-member team which reached by the evening.

While India’s National Disaster Response Force miraculously rescued a six-year-old girl and made headlines, a lot of the credit for the daring rescue ought to be reserved for ‘Romeo’ and ‘Julie’, part of the NDRF’s dog squad.

Romeo and Julie succeeded where machines failed. The dog squad was instrumental in detecting the little girl’s whereabouts under tonnes of rubble. Without their help, the little girl could not have survived.

India announced ‘Operation Dost’ shortly after the magnitude 7.8 quake-ravaged Turkey and sent a team from the Indian Army to set up 60 Para Field Hospital and the NDRF for search and rescue operations, including relief and humanitarian assistance to the ‘Dost’ country.

As Turkey continues to grapple with life in the aftermath of the earthquakes, help has been pouring in from all over the world. India has also sent relief material to Turkey and also dispatched National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team to assist in the rescue operations.

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has surpassed 41,000 as rescue efforts continue, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry has provided life-saving humanitarian medical Assistance to quake-hit Turkey and Syria under ‘Operation Dost.’ Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said that India is helping Turkey and Syria with medical equipment, and critical care drugs.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Mansukh Mandaviya stated, “India is helping Syria and Turkey with the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. @MoHFW_India provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc as part of India’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria.” (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Smriti Slams Billionaire Investor George Soros

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

Hitting back at George Soros over his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Friday slammed the billionaire investor saying the man who broke the Bank of England and a man, who is designated as an economic war criminal, has now expressed his desire to break the Indian democracy.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP’s Delhi headquarters on Friday, the Union minister said, “George Soros, who hedges bets against many countries, has now made known his ill intentions in the democratic processes of India.”
She added that Soros wants a government that is pliable to his needs for making his nefarious plans successful.

“It is evident from his statements that he has pronounced funding over one billion dollars to target leaders like PM Modi. This is significant,” The Minister said during the conference.

She said, “Those who support Soros need to know that democracy has prevailed in India and continues to do so and as a party worker of the BJP, I can say that these designs to weaken Indian democracy will be met by the might of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Soros at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday said Prime Minister Modi would be weakened by the stock woes of business tycoon and alleged close ally Gautam Adani, “opening the door” to a democratic revival in the country.

The 92-year-old billionaire philanthropist said in a speech on Thursday that Modi would “have to answer questions” from foreign investors and Parliament on allegations of fraud and stock manipulation at Adani’s industrial empire, noting that PM Modi had been “silent” on the topic.

Adani Group has come under fierce scrutiny since US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the company of engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud” over decades. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

M’rashtra Political Crisis: SC To Decide Later On Referring Pleas To 7-Judge Bench

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

The Supreme Court’s Constitution bench on Friday said it will decide later on referring the cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a larger seven-judge bench for reconsideration of a 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment on powers of Assembly Speakers to deal with disqualification pleas.

A five-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said the issue of reconsideration of Nabam Rebia case to the larger bench will be decided during the hearing of the case on merit.
The apex court said whether Nabam Rebia’s judgment be referred to a larger seven-judge bench or not can only be decided along with a hearing on the merits of the Maharashtra politics case.

It posted the next hearing of Maharashtra political crisis cases to February 21.

The top court said, “Issue of reference cannot be decided in isolation without facts of the case. Issue of reference will be decided only with merits of the case.”

On Thursday, the top court reserved the order after hearing arguments from rival Shiv Sena groups.

Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena sought that the five-judge Nabam Rebia case is referred to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration.

In the 2016 Nabam Rebia case, the five-judge Constitution bench had held that Speaker cannot initiate disqualification proceedings when a resolution seeking his removal is pending.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray camp of the Sena, submitted that there is an imperative need to reconsider the law laid down in the Nabam Rebia case.

“It’s time for us to relook at Nabam Rebia and the 10th Schedule because it has created havoc,” Sibal said.

The 10th Schedule of the Constitution provides for the prevention of defection of the elected and nominated members from their political party and contains stringent provisions against defections.

In 2016, a five-judge Constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case of Arunachal Pradesh, had held that the Assembly Speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking removal of the Speaker is pending decision in the House.

The Nabam Rebia judgment had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the chief minister of Maharashtra. The Thackeray faction had sought their disqualification even while a notice of the Shinde group for the removal of Maharashtra assembly deputy speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal, a Thackeray loyalist, was pending before the House.

During the course of the hearing, the apex court asked the arguing advocates to address whether the ‘tightening’ of the 2016 judgment can be undertaken by the five-judge bench currently hearing a batch of petitions arising from the 2022 Shiv Sena-rooted Maharashtra political crisis or be referred to a larger seven-judge bench.

2016 Nabam Rebia’s judgment was passed by a five-judge bench and a bench of the same strength cannot interfere with the judgment by a bench of the same strength.

Shinde group cited Nabam Rebia’s judgment stating that the deputy Speaker does not have the authority to decide disqualification when a notice for his removal is pending.

While Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena argued in favour of revisiting the 2016 verdict saying that a Speaker faced with a notice seeking his removal cannot exercise powers under the 10th Schedule, the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment was not relevant to the issues arising from Maharashtra political crisis.

The Shinde camp has defended the 2016 judgment as correct, which required no relook.

During the hearing of the case, the apex court on Wednesday said that issues arising from the Maharashtra political crisis rooted in the Shiv Sena feud are “tough Constitutional issues” to decide and observed that it may have “tightened” a 2016 judgement.

The apex court was hearing arguments on whether the matter should be heard by a seven-judge bench or a five-judge bench.

A five-judge Constitution bench was hearing a batch of petitions filed by rival factions Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in relation to the Maharashtra political crisis. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Charred Skeletons Found In Haryana; Teams Have Been Formed To Nab Suspects

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

A day after two charred skeletons were found inside a burnt car in Haryana, the Rajasthan Police on Friday said special teams have been formed to nab suspects based on an FIR filed by a family in Rajasthan alleging that the deceased had been kidnapped from the state’s Bharatpur district.

“A missing report of two men was filed in Gopalgarh Police Station in Bharatpur on Wednesday. The mobile phones of the two men were found switched off and when we started our search for them we were told that they were in a Bolero car and had been kidnapped and violently assaulted,” Gaurav Srivastava, Inspector General, Bharatpur Range, Rajasthan said.
Srivastava said that the SUV with the same engine and chasis number was found in a burnt condition in Loharu in Haryana’s Bhiwani district and there were two charred bodies found inside.

“Identification of the bodies would be done only after a DNA analysis,” IG Srivastava said.

“Special teams formed to nab those named in FIR filed by the family who is claiming the victims are Junaid and Nasir who were kidnapped. Junaid has five cases pertaining to cow smuggling against him,” IG, Bharatpur Range said.

No one has been detained in this case so far, the official added.

Police said a special team has been deployed to round up a few suspects named in the FIR filed in Rajasthan.

[{651f63d6-6f41-49f5-aa7d-64b2ce890d22:intradmin/ANI-20230217034236.jfif}]

On Thursday morning Haryana Police recovered two charred skeletons inside a SUV car near Barawas village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. The car had also been set on fire.

“Two skeletons were found in a charred Bolero in Loharu, Bhiwani district, today at 8 am (Thursday). There are chances that both victims died either due to a fire that broke out in the vehicle or were burnt to death,” Loharu Deputy Superintendant of Police Jagat Singh More said on Thursday.

A police team reached the spot with Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team experts to investigate the case and collect evidence.

“CCTV footage is being scrutinized on all the routes leading to the spot to find out what happened,” the Loharu DSP said. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/

Chetan Sharma Resigns From Of National Selection Committee Chairman

By LokMarg 17th February 2023

The chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) National Selection Committee, Chetan Sharma, has tendered his resignation, the Board’s Treasurer Ashish Shelar informed on Friday.

He sent his resignation to the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and it was accepted.
This resignation comes after Sharma disclosed behind-the-scenes talks regarding team selection and also made startling allegations on star batter skipper Virat Kohli’s alleged feud with former Board president Sourav Ganguly, to Zee News during a sting operation aired Tuesday.

He also alleged players in the Indian men’s national cricket team use injections to speed up their return to international cricket and often call up doctors on their own to get injected. (ANI)

Read More:http://13.232.95.176/