Month: March 2023

Out of the eight cheetahs from Namibia that were released on September 17, 2022 in Kuno National Park, a male cheetah Oban and a female cheetah Asha were released into the open forest, said Divisional Forest Officer Prakash Kumar Verma.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the eight cheetahs into Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park last year in December.
PM Modi released two cheetahs from enclosure number one and after that about 70 meters away, from the second enclosure released another cheetah.

The cheetahs were declared extinct from India in 1952 but today 8 cheetahs (5 females and 3 males) were brought from Africa’s Namibia as part of ‘Project Cheetah’ and the government’s efforts to revitalise and diversify the country’s wildlife and habitat.

The eight cheetahs were brought in a cargo aircraft in Gwalior as part of an inter-continental cheetah translocation project. Later, the Indian Air Force choppers carried the cheetahs to Kuno National Park from Gwalior Air Force Station.

Cheetahs have been brought under an MoU signed earlier this year.

Cheetahs will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India and will help conserve biodiversity and enhance the ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation.

Under the ambitious Project Cheetah of the Indian government, the reintroduction of wild species particularly cheetahs was undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.

India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures ‘Project Tiger’, which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem. (ANI)

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Singer Nick Jonas penned an appreciation for note for his wife Priyanka Chopra for hosting the South Asian Excellence Pre-Oscars Celebration.

Taking to Instagram, Nick wrote, “So proud of my incredible wife for putting this event on for the second year in a row to celebrate South Asian Excellence during Oscar’s week. Met so many amazing people and got to celebrate the remarkable South Asian nominees this year at Hollywood’s biggest night.”

He also dropped pictures of Priyanka. The first image shows Nick striking a stylish pose with Priyanka. The actress looked stunning in a white three-piece set from Falguni Shane Peacock India.

Priyanka hosted the Pre-Oscars event with Anjula Acharia.

As per Variety, Priyanka introduced the event by acknowledging that South Asian representation in Hollywood and at the Oscars has “been quite an arduous journey.” She said it would not have been possible without the South Asians who have “fought the stereotypes to ensure that our stories were not just a cliche, those of us who fought for actors to have bigger leading roles. Those of you who fought for stories of South Asian descent to be a norm, to not be an exception, but to be normal.”

It’s a special year for India at the Oscars. This time around, not just one, but three significant Indian movies are competing for the coveted Oscars Awards 2023 nominations.RRR is on the shortlist for Best Original Song for the dance song Naatu Naatu, which won the Golden Globe Award in the same category earlier this year.Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and Guneet Monga’s The Elephant Whisperers for Best Documentary Short.

Oscars 2023 is scheduled to take place on March 13. (ANI)

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Selena Gomez has claimed that she “lied” about being unaffected by body shamers’ disparaging remarks, revealing that she would be “crying” her “eyes out” in her room.

Page Six reports that Selena revealed it in her new documentary series being aired on Apple TV+.
“I lied. I would go online and I would post a picture and I would say, ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m not accepting what you’re saying,'” Selena said in her new docu-series ‘Dear…’.

According to Page Six, Gomez continued by saying that while showing herself as impervious to the internet trolls, she would still be in her room “crying” her “eyes out because no one deserves to hear those things.” Gomez has a history of shutting down body shamers.

“I was posting these things saying it doesn’t bother me because I didn’t want it to bother other people who are experiencing the same thing,” Gomez continued, adding, “Getting shamed for what they look like, who they are, who they love, I just think it’s so unfair.

“I don’t think that anybody deserves less than.”

She added, “I was being shamed for gaining weight because of my lupus.”

Gomez explained that her weight tends to go up on the scales when she takes her lupus medication.

“When I’m taking it, I tend to hold a lot of water weight, and that happens very normally. When I’m off of it, I tend to kind of lose weight,” she shared in a TikTok video, as per Page Six.

“I just wanted to say and encourage anyone out there who feels any sort of shame for exactly what they’re going through and no one knows the real story.”

“I just want people to know that you’re beautiful, and you’re wonderful,” she added. (ANI)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday complimented the team of Central Railway for achieving 100 percent electrification of the entire broad gauge network.

“Outstanding feat. Compliments to the entire team,” the PM said in a tweet, responding to the tweet by Central Railway.
As per the Central Railway, it has achieved 100 percent railway electrification on all Broad Gauge routes which is almost 3825 Kilometres.

The last non-electrified section of Central Railway i.e. Ausa Road- Latur Road (52 RKM) on Solapur Division was electrified on February 23 this year.

“Central Railway now fully electrified on all Broad Gauge routes has helped in reducing carbon footprints of 5.204 lakh tons every year and also saves Rs. 1670 crores annually. The pace of railway electrification, which is environment friendly and reduces pollution, has increased at 9X speed since 2014,” the Central Railways said.

Railways has planned the electrification of Broad Gauge routes, which will facilitate the elimination of diesel traction resulting in a significant reduction in its carbon footprint and environmental pollution.

The railway, where the first electric train ran in India between the then Bombay Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) and Kurla on the Harbour line on February 3 in 1925.

“The section was electrified on 1500 Volt DC. The conversion of DC traction on Mumbai Division of Central Railway to AC traction began in 2001 and progressively, without significant disturbance to the lifeline of the nation, i.e. suburban services, was completed in 2016,” it added.

Naresh Lalwani, General Manager, Central Railway said, “Railway is guided by a historical vision of being an environment friendly, efficient, cost-effective, punctual and a modern carrier of passengers as well as the freight in order to serve the growing needs of New India. This will also significantly reduce the fuel bill and earn carbon footprints”. (ANI)

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Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his kind and inspiring words after the player bid an emotional adieu to the sport in her hometown of Hyderabad at the venue where it all started for her as a 16-year-old.

PM Modi in a letter to Mirza said that as India’s best tennis player, she had left an indelible mark on Indian sports, inspiring the coming generations of athletes.
“I would like to thank you Honorable Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji for such kind and inspiring words. I have always taken great pride in representing our country to the best of my ability and will continue to do whatever I can to make India proud. Thank you for your support,” tweeted Sania.

The Prime Minister in his letter further called the tennis legend India’s pride whose success has filled the hearts and minds of every Indian with utmost joy.

“Tennis lovers will find it difficult to fathom that you will not be playing professionally from now onwards. But, through your career as one of India’s best tennis players, you have left an indelible mark on Indian sports, inspiring the coming generation of athletes. When you announced a “Life Update” on 13th January, you wonderfully expressed your journey from a six-year-old who had to literally fight her way to the courts to a world-class tennis player in the subsequent years. You wrote about how your biggest honour has been winning medals for India. I can say that you are India’s pride, whose success has filled the hearts and minds of every Indian with utmost joy,” read the PM’s letter.

Recalling her success in Wimbledon as a junior player, PM Modi said that her early success showed she was going to be a force to reckon with.

“You gave the people of India much to cheer about. Your early success in Wimbledon as a junior player showed that you were going to be a force to reckon with. Likewise, your triumphs in subsequent Grand Slam tournaments, be it the Women’s Doubles or Mixed Doubles demonstrated your skill and passion for the game. That you won in so many Doubles events also shows your temperament towards teamwork, which is an essential learning of sports,” it read.

“Due to twists of fate, you had to cope with injuries, but these setbacks only strengthened your resolve and you overcame these challenges with flying colours,” it read further.

Mirza played her two exhibition tennis matches on Sunday at the Lal Bahadur Stadium, where she made her WTA event debut back in 2003. She was playing as a wild-card entry at Hyderabad Open. A year later, she won the doubles title at the very same event with South Africa’s Liezel Huber.

It was the first title of Sania’s 44 WTA titles, out of which 43 came in doubles competition and only one in singles. She also clinched six Grand Slam titles and made four appearances at the summer Olympics in a decorated career that lasted for two decades.

Sania had earlier retired from professional tennis after the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this month.

Sania played two exhibition matches, featuring Indian men’s tennis player Rohan Bopanna, India’s 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and American tennis player Bethanie Mettek Sands – her ‘best friend’ and former doubles partner. She emerged victorious in both of her matches to the joy and delight of an excited home crowd.

Sania Mirza is unquestionably India’s most accomplished female tennis player.

Her most recent doubles victory came in 2021 at the Ostrava Open in the Czech Republic when she teamed up with China’s Zhang Shuai.

The crowd featured plenty of youngsters and schoolchildren, who were cheering for her. The 36-year-old Sania was accompanied by her son Izhaan Mirza Malik and turned emotional on witnessing their reception.

Prominent personalities like former Union Sports Minister and current Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, former Indian cricket skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, movie star Dulquer Salmaan and popular rapper MC Stan also attended Sania Mirza’s farewell in Hyderabad. (ANI)

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Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto referred to India as a “friend” for a brief moment and immediately rephrased his remarks and called India a “neighbouring” country while addressing a press conference on the outcome of the Women in Islam Conference and Commemoration of the First Islamophobia Day, on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

While speaking to journalists regarding the Kashmir issue, he said it is an “uphill task” that Pakistan faces to try and get Kashmir to the centre of the agenda at the United Nations.
“Whenever the issue of Kashmir is brought up, our friends……. (imperceptible stuttering )…… within neighbouring countries strongly object, vociferously object,” he seemed to be correcting himself.

Bilawal Bhutto addressed India as a “friend” and seemed to rectify his mistake the next moment after a brief smile and unanimously called India a “neighbouring country”.

He further alleged, “They (India) perpetuate a post-fact narrative where they try to claim that this is not a dispute for the United Nations, that this is not a disputed territory recognized by the international community.”

He blamed India for insisting “counter to the facts, counter to the reality that their usurpation of Kashmir should be endorsed.”

“We do find it difficult to get the truth across, we are persistent in our efforts. And at every opportunity, be it at the UN Security Council or at various events that I attend or address or chair, I do make an effort not only to mention the hypocrisy when it comes to applying to the people of Palestine but also to focus on the difficulties faced by the people of Kashmir,” he added. (ANI)

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha again on March 16 for questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.

K Kavitha left the ED office in the national capital after the officials questioned her in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case on Saturday.
Kavitha had asked the federal probe agency to postpone her questioning to Saturday, citing her hunger strike in Delhi on Friday.

The central agency agreed to her request and rescheduled the questioning for Saturday.

She had arrived in the national capital on March 8, hours after the ED issued a summons for questioning.

BRS leader KT Rama Rao on Friday also arrived at the residence of his father in the national capital.

Notably, former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been arrested by ED in the same case.

According to sources, Kavitha was to be made to sit face-to-face with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who was arrested in connection with the liquor policy case on Monday night.

The MLC had called the summons “tactics of intimidation” by the Centre against the Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS, adding that the party will continue to fight and expose the Centre’s failures and will raise its voice for a brighter and better future for India.

“I would also like the ruling party at the Centre to know that these tactics of intimidation against the fight and voice of our leader, CM KCR, and against the entire BRS party will not deter us. Under the leadership of KCR Garu, we will continue to fight to expose your failures and raise voices for a brighter and better future for India,” Kavitha said in a tweet.

On March 8, the BRS came down heavily on the Centre after the ED summoned Kavitha in connection with its ongoing probe in the Delhi excise policy case, saying that the central probe agencies have become an extended arm of the BJP.

Referring to the summons as “politically motivated”, BRS leader Ravula Sridhar Reddy had said that except ED and BJP, nobody really understands the case registered in connection with the new-withdrawn new Delhi excise policy.

In its investigation, ED has come to know that Pillai is one of the key persons in the entire scam involving payments of huge kickbacks and the formation of the biggest cartel of the South Group.

South Group comprises Telangana MLC Kavitha, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (MP, Ongole), his son Raghav Magunta, and others. The federal agency investigation has revealed that the South Group was being represented by Pillai, Abhishek Boinpalli and Butchi Babu.

Pillai along with his associates was coordinating with various persons to execute the political understanding between the South Group and a leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Pillai has been an accomplice and was involved in the kickbacks from the South Group and the recoupment of the same from the businesses in Delhi, ED investigation reveals.

The ED had earlier said that the South Group gave kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to AAP leaders.

Pillai is learnt to be a partner of 32.5 per cent in Indo Spirits, which had got an L1 licence. Indo Spirits is a partnership firm of Arun Pillai (32.5 per cent), Prem Rahul (32.5 per cent) and Indospirit Distribution Limited (35 per cent), wherein Arun Pillai and Prem Rahul represented the benami investments of Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and his son Raghava Magunta.

In December last year, Kavitha, a Telangana Legislative Council member, was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same case.

The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Delta Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

The Delhi government’s version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience.

The CBI had filed a case against alleged corruption in the 2021-22 excise policy. The excise policy was subsequently withdrawn by the AAP government.

Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI.

Excise officials, liquor company executives, dealers, unknown public servants and private persons were booked in the case.

It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy and undue favours were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc. (ANI)

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The government’s decision to make hijab a compulsory part of the uniform for female students and teachers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir showcases misplaced priorities in Pakistan, where the ground situation belies official figures on literacy, Just Earth News reported.

The PoK’s education department’s order on March 6 specifically targets co-education schools where girls and women teachers in rural areas are merged with the boys schools since their numbers and school infrastructure do not match the requirements. The decision applies to all female students and teachers.
Deevan Ali Khan Chughtai, the PoK’s Minister for elementary and secondary education, said, “We have done it exactly in observance of the injunctions of God and His Messenger (peace be upon him) […] The women have been ordained to wear veils and men have been ordained to lower their gaze,” Just Earth News reported citing Dawn report.

Chutgai further said that hijab should be enforced in universities but since the students in varsities are “mature enough” in comparison to the adolescent schools students. So, the decision has been enforced in high schools and high literacy, as per the news report.

Officially, PoK has 92 per cent literacy among boys and 90 per cent among girls and the Gilgit Baltistan region supposedly tops it, as per the Just Earth News report. However, on the ground, it demonstrates the overall neglect and paucity of infrastructure that school education suffers in Pakistan, where girls are in worse situation in comparison to boys.

“Too many children are being deprived of a chance in life,” Just Earth News cited Pakistan Today report of October 2. Abdul Rahman Shahbeer in the report said that has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children, which stands at 22.8 million children between the age of 5-16. The statistics represent 44 per cent of children not attending schools which implies that there are two kinds of out-of-school children.

Abdul Rahman Shahbeer noted that Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world and third most populous nation in Asia. However, Pakistan also recognized itself as a developing state on the map of the world.

Abdul Rahman Shahbeer said that Pakistan has been lying backwards in each development sector, including education system, health factor, industrial reforms, low economy and high poverty throughout the country. Shabeer said that there is a huge number of out-of-school children in Pakistan yet, however, Pakistani government expresses no concern over the alarming issue.

Last week, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government made Hijab mandatory for female students and teachers at co-educational institutions in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. A notification to this effect has been issued by the PoK government in this regard, Samaa reported. Action will be taken against the head of the institution over the violation of the orders, as per the Samaa news report. (ANI)

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