Month: August 2023

Will Donate Prize Money To Namami Gange Project: Modi After Receiving Lokmanya Tilak National Award

By LokMarg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said it was a memorable moment for him to be conferred with Lokmanya Tilak National Award.

He was addressing an event in Pune where he shared the stage with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stalwart Sharad Pawar.
“This is a memorable moment for me,” PM Modi said, adding, “While I am very happy to be here, I am also feeling emotional. Lokmanya Tilak is the tilak of our freedom struggle.”

“The role of Lokmanya Tilak in India’s independence, his contribution cannot be summed up in a few words or by illustrating a few incidents,” the PM said, invoking the freedom fighter, adding, “I pay homage to him and all our freedom fighters. I am honoured to be on Maharashtra soil. This is the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Jyotirba Phule.”

Prime Minister Modi added that he has decided to donate the prize money from the award to the Namami Gange project.

“I have decided to donate the prize money to the Namami Gange project. I want to dedicate this award to 140 crore people of the country,” he said.

“The vision of ‘Vyavastha Nimaan Se Sanstha Nirmaan’, ‘Sanstha Nirmaan Se Vyakti Nirmaan’, ‘Vyakti Nirmaan Se Rasthra Nirmaan’ is a roadmap for nation building. India is following this roadmap diligently,” PM Modi added.

The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak.

With this award, PM Modi became the 41st recipient of the award. The former recipients include luminaries such as Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pranab Mukherjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, NR Narayana Murthy, and E Sreedharan, among others.

Earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi reached Pune as part of a day-long visit. He is scheduled to launch various development projects later in the day.

He will also be taking part in different programmes in the city.

PM Modi was received by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

After reaching Pune, PM Modi reached Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Mandir and offered prayers.

During his day-long Pune visit, Prime Minister Modi will also flag off Metro trains and inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects, the official statement from the PMO said on Sunday. (ANI)

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Palestinian Lebanon

Lebanon: Clashes In Palestinian Refugee Camps Kill 11

By LokMarg

In a flare-up of violence that has left at least 11 people dead since it started, rival factions engaged in fighting in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon for a third consecutive day on Monday, the New York Times reported.

According to Lebanese state media and a commander for the Fatah division, another Palestinian gang killed a senior of the Fatah faction and four of his bodyguards on Saturday, sparking violence in Ein al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. The political group, Fatah, is in charge of the Palestinian Authority, which is in charge of running some of the occupied West Bank.
The Fatah commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claimed that his side was attempting to encircle the Jund al-Sham organisation, which he identified as being responsible for the attack on Saturday. An Islamist organisation called Jund al-Sham and Fatah had previously engaged in combat in Ein al-Hilweh, according to the New York Times.

“The clashes are expanding,” said Riad Abo Elaynein, an administrator at a private hospital near the camp, adding, “The sounds of shelling are still being heard from inside the camp.”

In an effort to advance towards Palestinian national unity, opposing Palestinian organisations such as Fatah and Hamas met in Egypt for reconciliation talks at the same time as fighting broke out. Since Hamas, the Islamist organisation that governs the Gaza Strip, won an election there and took over the coastal enclave from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, according to the New York Times, the Palestinian political establishment has been gravely shattered.

The Ein al-Hilweh camp is home to more than 63,000 people living in a small area of densely packed buildings, most of them Palestinians and their descendants who were forced to flee their homes in 1948 when the state of Israel was established, according to the United Nations. Clashes in the camp, which is under the administration of Palestinian groups, are not uncommon.

In 2017, following the dissolution of a joint security force in the camp that was aimed at preventing clashes between rival factions and cracking down on extremists, intermittent fighting over several months broke out between Fatah and Islamist groups, according to the United Nations. The fighting then left nearly 20 people dead and dozens injured, New York Times reported.

The regular Lebanese army forces rarely enter the camp, which is surrounded by a wall, according to the United Nations. Lebanon’s army is just one of many armed forces in the country, which include Shiite groups like Hezbollah that control large parts of the south and northeast. In addition, there are Palestinian factions that hold sway inside the various refugee camps around the country.

“We support what the Lebanese government is doing to impose law and order and we affirm our keenness on Lebanon’s sovereignty, including Palestinian refugee camps, and maintaining security and law,” the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement.

The clashes in the camp, which involved heavy weaponry — including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades — threatened to spill over outside the walls of the camp to the coastal city of Sidon, south of Beirut on the Mediterranean, the New York Times reported.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said the death toll rose to 11 on Monday, with 40 having been injured and some 2,000 residents fled their homes. A government hospital on the outskirts of the camp was evacuated and its patients were either sent home or to other hospitals, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Palestinian factions in the camp have been meeting to discuss a cease-fire.

Abbas and Fatah condemned the killing on Sunday saying it undermined the stability of the camp. He called it “a terrorist assassination” of Palestinian Authority security forces who were working to keep the camp safe.

The refugee agency opened schools to accommodate those fleeing the fighting, and ambulances were waiting at the camp entrance to treat and transport the wounded, New York Times reported.

Several Lebanese soldiers were injured after an artillery shell from the camp landed inside a military base and other army and observation posts came under fire, according to the Lebanese army.

“The Army Command warns of the consequences of exposing military posts and their personnel to danger, whatever the reasons, and stresses that the Army will respond to the sources of fire in kind,” the army said in a statement.

This news was penned down by Raja Abdulrahim. He is a Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem covering the Levant. (ANI)

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Delhi Services Bill

Delhi Services Bill To Be Introduced In LS, Could Trigger Fresh Fireworks

By LokMarg

Amid the continuing logjam in both Houses over the Manipur situation, the Parliament will reconvene on Tuesday with the contentious Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, over control of services in the national capital, likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to replace the Ordinance brought by the Centre in May, excluding certain services from the legislative competence of the Delhi legislative assembly.
According to the Lok Sabha legislative business notification, the Bill on the Delhi services is listed for introduction in the Lower House on Tuesday.

The Union Home Minister will move for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, while also tabling the draft of the Bill for the consideration of the House.

Union Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai will also table an explanatory statement (Hindi and English versions) showing reasons for immediate legislation by the promulgation of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023.

Ahead of its introduction in the House, certain key changes have been made to the Bill.

The Bill is expected to see fresh fireworks from the Opposition in the Lower House, amid the ongoing impasse over the Manipur situation.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had personally called on top Opposition leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stalwart Sharad Pawar, in a bid to solicit their support for the Centre’s Ordinance on the control of services in the national capital.

Opposition members from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A), including the Congress, have already cleared their stand over the Bill, saying they would oppose it as it will destroy the federal structure of governance.

Meanwhile, six bills are to be tabled in Rajya Sabha as per the listing of the legislative business in the House.

Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal is to introduce the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha today to amend the Advocates Act, 1961.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur will introduce the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha to provide for press, registration of periodicals.

Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal is to move the Mediation Bill, 2021 in the Rajya Sabha today for its consideration and passage to promote and facilitate mediation, especially institutional mediation, for the resolution of disputes, commercial or otherwise, enforce mediated settlement agreements, provide for a body for the registration of mediators, to encourage community mediation and to make online mediation as an acceptable and cost-effective process.

Amit Shah will also move the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha today for its consideration and passage to amend the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002. The Bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment, Bhupendra Yadav, will move the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha for its consideration and passage to amend the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The Bill was earlier passed by Lok Sabha.

Yadav will also move the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha for its consideration and passage to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The Bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Aam Aami Party MP Raghav Chadha filed a suspension of business notice in Parliament to discuss the “breakdown of law and order in the state of Manipur”.

“I hereby give notice under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) of my intention to move the following motion for suspension of business listed for August 1, 2023, that this House do suspend Zero Hour and relevant rules relating to Question Hour and other business of the day to discuss the violence in Manipur which has resulted in loss of precious lives in Manipur due to failure and incompetence of Central & State Government,” read the notice filed by Chadha.

Since the start of the Monsoon Session on July 20, both Houses of Parliament have seen repeated disruptions and adjournments over the Manipur issue, with the combined Opposition adamant on a debate and statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Opposition brought a no-confidence motion last week in a bid to compel PM Modi to speak on the Manipur issue in the Parliament. (ANI)

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Bajaur suicide blast

Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Bajaur Suicide Blast In Pakistan

By LokMarg

The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for the Bajaur suicide blast in Pakistan that killed 54 people, including 23 children, according to Al Jazeera.

The bombing targeted an election rally in Pakistan’s border district of Bajaur on Sunday in which nearly 200 people were wounded.
“A suicide attacker from the Islamic State [ISIL] … detonated his explosive jacket in the middle of a crowd” in the town of Khar, the armed group’s news arm Amaq said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

A bomber detonated an explosives-packed vest near the platform as some 400 members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, a significant government coalition partner led by hardline politician Fazlur Rehman, awaited the start of the speeches.

The gathering was hosted near a market beneath a huge tent, but Rehman chose not to go. Rehman has previously escaped at least two explosions that occurred at political rallies in 2011 and 2014, Al Jazeera reported.

Police took testimony from some of the injured on Monday at a hospital in Khar, the biggest town in Bajaur. The provincial minister of information, Feroz Jamal, stated that police were “investigating this attack in all aspects.”

A First Information Report on the blast was filed with the Counter Terrorism Department on Monday as the initial investigation, according to the police, indicated that the terrorist group ISIS was responsible for the suicide attack.

The suicide bomber detonated explosives when JUI-F members and supporters gathered in the town of Khar, near the border with Afghanistan. The convention started at 2 pm, and the explosion happened at 4:10 pm, according to the official.

The FIR has been filed by the KP CTD against unidentified persons on suspicion of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, and other offences, as per Geo News.

According to Shokat Abbas, additional inspector general for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), nearly 10–12 kg of explosives were used in the blast.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of the JUI-F, asked that Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, and Azam Khan, the interim chief minister of KP, look into the incident, Geo News reported.

The United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia have condemned the terror attack and have sent their condolences to the impacted families.

Since last year, when a truce between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad collapsed, attacks by extremists have increased in Pakistan.

More than 100 people were killed earlier this year in a Peshawar mosque blast, reported Geo News. According to a recent UN Security Council report, the TTP may be looking to unite with Al Qaeda to form a single entity that would house all militant organisations active in South Asia.

Although cross-border militancy persists, Pakistan has long held Afghanistan responsible for failing to uphold its promise to ensure that its soil was not utilised for terrorism in Islamabad. (ANI)

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girder launching machine in Maharashtra's Thane

Thane Girder Launching Machine Collapse: Death Toll Rises To 16

By LokMarg

The death toll in the collapse of a girder launching machine in Maharashtra’s Thane rose to 16 after two more bodies were pulled out from the accident site while the search and rescue operation continued on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The incident took place after a girder launching machine collapsed near Shahpur in Maharashtra’s Thane district late at night.
According to officials, the exact number of people who might still be trapped under the collapsed structure is not clear.

“Sixteen bodies have been recovered so far, while three persons are wounded. Six more people are feared to be trapped inside the collapsed structure,” the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) informed in a statement.

The officials said that two NDRF teams are engaged in a search and rescue operation.

Officials said that the machine was being used in the construction of Phase III of the Samruddhi Express Highway late at night. Initial reports confirmed the death of 14 workers while three others were injured.

“14 people died and three others were injured after a girder launching machine collapsed near Shahpur in Thane. The machine was being used in the construction of Phase III of the Samruddhi Express Highway,” Shahpur Police had said earlier.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 11:00 pm on Monday.

“We were working on the other side when the structure collapsed. Around 30 people were working there at the time when the incident took place,” an eyewitness said while speaking to ANI.

“Many of them were trapped under the structure with injuries on their legs, hands and head,” he said.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

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