Month: July 2024

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Sunday met representatives of different government school teachers’ associations and advised the Directorate of Education to take a fair view of the recent transfer orders concerning teachers.

Raj Niwas Delhi, run by Delhi LG Secretariat, took to its official X handle and said, “VK Saxena had received several representations from different government school teacher’s Associations and met their delegation today at Raj Niwas.”

The post added further, “VK Saxena, is consistently striving for better service conditions for government employees so that they can perform optimally.”

It said that Saxena has advised the Chief Secretary and Directorate of Education to take a sympathetic, holistic and fair view into the recent transfer orders about teachers. “He (VK Saxena) has suggested that in the interim, the orders be kept in abeyance.”

Delhi Education Minister Atishi on July 4 wrote to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and directed him to immediately withdraw the transfer order of teachers issued on July 2.

The Delhi Education Minister also asked to immediately hold on to any further compulsory transfer of teachers merely because they have completed 10 years in a particular school.

“Under clause 16 of this circular, all those teachers who have served for more than 10 years in the same schools were directed to compulsorily apply for transfer, failing which, they will be transferred to any school by the DoE,” said Atishi, adding that nearly 5,000 teachers who did not apply for any transfer were transferred to other schools invoking this contentious clause.

The Delhi Education Minister also directed the Chief Secretary to Initiate Disciplinary proceedings against the errant officers who willfully defied the direction dated July 1, 2024 concerning the implementation of compulsory transfer of teachers merely because they have completed 10 years in a particular school, and to Initiate Vigilance Inquiry against corruption and malpractice, if any, in the transfer matter of teachers. (ANI)

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit, which is scheduled to be held from July 9-11, will witness a discussion among the allies on increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, VOA reported.

The organisation, comprising 32 members, will also deliberate on strategies to offer military aid to Ukraine, which has been enduring war for over two years and strengthening security relations with South Korea and Japan.

This year, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, are invited to the NATO summit. The United States, Japan and South Korea plan to meet on the sidelines of the summit, according to VOA.

One of the key highlights of the summit will include a discussion on the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

Bruce Bennett, a senior defence analyst at the RAND Corporation, a think-tank, believes that the relationship between Russia and North Korea is a problem for NATO nations as well as Japan and South Korea.

“I expect that it will be discussed at this meeting. It may become a critical aspect of the meeting, if, by that time, intelligence is saying that North Korea is sending many military personnel to support Russia in Ukraine,” Bennett said, according to VOA.

Another expert, Matthew Brunner, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, emphasised that NATO allies will engage in discussions regarding the implications of Russia-North Korea relations and how to address associated risks.

“Risks primarily include material outcomes, such as how North Korea’s involvement will come to bear on warfighting in Ukraine. But there are also opportunities to be exploited, including how to use increased North Korean involvement to drive a wedge between China and Russia,” Brunner said, according to VOA.

Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on June 19 signed a comprehensive partnership agreement that supersedes previous accords from 1961, 2000, and 2001, Russian news agency TASS reported.

Elaborating on the agreement, Putin stated, “The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today includes, among other things, the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement.”

The Russian President had hailed the pact as covering political, trade, investment, cultural, and security spheres, and labelled it a “truly breakthrough document.” Putin also criticised joint military exercises involving the United States, South Korea, and Japan as “hostile” towards North Korea, characterizing US policy as “confrontational.” In response, Kim Jong-un praised the new “alliance” as a pivotal moment in bilateral relations.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday while previewing the summit, stressed that providing support to Ukraine will be the organisation’s “most urgent task.”

“I expect heads of state and government will agree on a substantial package for Ukraine. NATO will take over the coordination and provision of most international security assistance,” Stoltenberg had said.

The Secretary-General also said that he expects more immediate military support for Ukraine; more bilateral security agreements; and work on deepened military interoperability.

Talking about other key aspects of the summit, Stoltenberg said that allies are due to endorse a pledge to strengthen transatlantic defence industrial cooperation, to boost production. He added that NATO will further enhance ballistic missile defences with a new Aegis Ashore base in Poland. (ANI)

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the best players to ever grace the cricket field, turned a year older on Sunday. Marking his birthday, his wife Sakshi Dhoni dropped a cute video from the cake-cutting ceremony.

The video shows Dhoni cutting his birthday cake. After Dhoni cut the cake and shared a piece of it with Sakshi, his doting wife playfully touched his feet and sought his blessings.

Dhoni needs no introduction in the world of cricket and is famous for his calm and stunning captaincy skills on the field in his international and IPL days.

On August 15, 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, bringing down the curtains on an illustrious career. Under Dhoni’s leadership, India bagged the top prize in all formats.

Under his captaincy, India lead in the Test ranking for 18 months starting December 2009.

The side went on to win the 50-over World Cup in 2011, and the T20 world title on his captaincy debut in 2007. Dhoni has one of the most inspiring journeys in sports history. From working as a ticket collector at a railway station, he transformed into India’s biggest trophy collector, leading the team to the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 as skipper. He made his international debut in 2004 and made a name for himself as a ferocious hitter of the cricket ball, but mellowed down with time to a finisher who would guide his team to wins with his calculated aggression and amazing tactics. Dhoni, known as Chennai Super Kings’ “Thala” (leader), played 98 T20Is for India, scoring 1,617 runs at an average of 37.60, at a strike rate of 126.13. He has two half-centuries in the format, with the best score of 56.

Coming to his long format career, Dhoni played 90 matches, scoring 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09. He scored six centuries and 33 half-centuries, with the best score of 224. He is the 14th-highest scorer for India in Tests. As a captain, he led India in 60 Test matches, out of which they won 27 matches, lost 18 and drew 15. With a win percentage of 45.00, he is one of India’s most successful skippers across all eras.

He led Team India to the number one ranking in the ICC Test Rankings. He is also the only Indian skipper to whitewash Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, doing so in the 2010-11 and 2012-13 series.

The people’s favourite ‘Mahi’ led India in 72 T20Is, winning 41, losing 28, one being tied and two failing to produce results. His win percentage is 56.94. Besides guiding India to ICC titles, he has also guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to franchise glory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Champions League T20.

He has led CSK to five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Dhoni has also led CSK to two CLT20 titles in 2010 and 2014. Dhoni has played 264 IPL matches, mostly for CSK, other than a stint with Rising Pune Supergiant from 2016 to 2017. In these matches, he has scored 5,243 runs at an average of 39.13. He has also scored 24 half-centuries in the tournament. He also has 152 catches and 42 stumpings. (ANI)

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The representatives of the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) and Swedish Uyghur Committee (SUC) on Saturday organised protests in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Stockholm, Sweden, highlighting the atrocities of the Chinese authorities upon the Uyghur community of East Turkistan.

The protests by these Uyghur rights organizations were organised on the sidelines of the commemoration of the Urumqi massacre.

During the protest at Dam Square in Amsterdam, the Foreign Affairs Minister of ETGE, Salih Hudayar urged the Dutch government to put pressure on the Chinese government to immediately stop the ongoing genocide upon the Uyghur community.

“We urge the government to act against China’s ongoing campaign of colonization, genocide and occupation. We want them to support the people of East Turkistan to get their rights to independence and right to human dignity. The restoration of east Turkistan’s independence is the only way to ensure that their human rights, their resistance and their human dignity are guaranteed” Hudayar said.

The minister further noted that China has refused to implement and respect the fundamentals of the East Turkistani people.

“Unfortunately despite a lot of countries criticizing China and even the United Nations itself stating that China has been committing crimes against humanity, China has refused to implement and respect the fundamentals of the East Turkistani people,” he said.

The minister added that the only way to ensure our human dignity is by restoring our independence.

“By doing so they have shown once again that they intend to continue pursuing their objective to completely eradicating the people of East Turkistan. Hence the only way to ensure our human dignity is by restoring our independence”, he added.

In another protest by the Swedish Uyghur Committee (SUC) outside the Swedish Parliament, a protestor recalling China’s genocidal acts during the 2009 Urumqi massacre said, “On that unfateful day hundreds if not thousands of Uyghurs were massacred and tens of thousands were arrested across East Turkistan. Since then the Chinese occupational forces have implemented an even more oppressive surveillance-driven police state, laying a groundwork for the ongoing genocide”.

The protestor further referred to the Chinese so-called operation of ‘People’s War’ in East Turkistan initiated in 2014 which has marked an even more systematic pattern of genocide.

The protester lamented that millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic people in China have been subjected to mass internment in concentration camps and prisons, where they endure forced mitigation, indoctrination, torture, rape, organ harvesting and executions.

“Many are enslaved in factories and forced labour camps under abhorrent conditions, and the scope of this genocide is staggering. During 2016-17 the Chinese regime forcibly collected DNA, voice prints and retina scans from over 36 million individuals aged between 12 to 65. Millions of poor men have been forcibly sterilized, and over a million Uyghur children have been separated from their families and have been placed in state-run facilities to be raised as loyal Chinese citizens,” he said.

The protester continued that over 60,000 mosques and other cultural sites have been destroyed in an attempt to erase our cultural heritage. (ANI)

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday assured that strict action would be taken against the culprits behind the hit-and-run case in Mumbai which claimed one life.

“The BMW car belongs to a leader of a political party based in Palghar and his son was sitting in the car with the driver. The deceased woman has been identified as Kaveri Nakhwa (age 45), a resident of Worli Koliwada. Further investigation is underway,” Mumbai Police said.

A woman was killed, earlier today, after a luxury car crashed the bike she was riding with her husband in the Worli area of Mumbai; the deceased’s husband sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at a hospital, said the police.

“The Mumbai hit-and-run case that has happened is very unfortunate. I had a conversation with the police. Whoever is guilty, action will be taken against them…We treat everyone equally. Whatever happens will be legal”, CM Shinde said while speaking to the media.

The incident took place earlier today at around 5:30 a.m. when the couple riding on a bike were passing in front of Atria Mall in the Worli area of Mumbai.

According to the police, “A BMW car ran over two people riding a bike. The woman died in this incident and the other person was injured. This incident took place at 5:30 am this morning when the couple riding on a bike were passing in front of Atria Mall in Worli”, a statement from the Mumbai Police said.

The police further added that the diver fled from the spot following the incident.

“After the incident, the driver fled from the spot with his car. The accident happened when the couple from the fishing community was returning home after buying fish. The husband managed to jump off the speeding vehicle. The woman injured in the accident died during treatment. The deceased woman has been identified as Kaveri Nakhwa (45), a resident of Worli Koliwada. Worli police are investigating the matter further”, added the police.

The police emphasized that the luxury car belonged to the leader of a political party based in Maharashtra’s Palghar.

“The luxury car belongs to a leader of a political party based in Palghar and his son was sitting in the car with the driver”, said the police.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

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Actor Sonakshi Sinha on Sunday shared some heartwarming pictures from her wedding day with actor Zaheer Iqbal.

The monochrome pictures showcased the emotional moments spent between Sonakshi and her mother Poonam Sinha and father, Shatrughan Sinha.

In the caption, she shared how her mother was in tears when she realised that her daughter would be moving out of the house after the marriage.

“At the wedding, Maa started crying when it hit her I would be moving out of the house, I told her Maa, don’t worry… Juhu to Bandra only 25 mins,” she wrote.

She added, “Missing them a little extra today, so I’m telling myself the same thing. Hope there’s Sunday Sindhi curry made at home…See you soon… zoom zoom zoom.”

Sonakshi and Zaheer got married on June 23 in the presence of their loved ones at their residence in Mumbai. It was an intimate wedding.

The civil wedding was followed by a wedding bash at Bastian which saw numerous Bollywood celebrities in attendance.

The reception was attended by a constellation of Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Vidya Balan with Siddharth Roy Kapur, and veteran actress Saira Banu, among others, who came to congratulate the couple and celebrate their union. Sonakshi and Zaheer, who have been together for seven years, sealed their love in an intimate ceremony attended by close family and friends.

The couple recently shared glimpses of their wedding on social media, marking June 23 as a day etched in their hearts forever.

Sonakshi expressed her joy in a heartfelt Instagram post, reflecting on their journey of love and togetherness.”On this very day, seven years back (23.06.2017) in each other’s eyes, we saw love in its purest form and decided to hold on to it. Today that love has guided us through all the challenges and triumphs… leading up to this moment… where with the blessings of both our families and both our gods… we are now man and wife. Here’s to love, hope and all things beautiful with each other, from now until forever. Sonakshi Zaheer23.06.2024,” Sonakshi wrote announcing her marriage to Zaheer.

Sonakshi and Zaheer dated for seven years before solemnising their relationship.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonakshi will be seen in ‘Kakuda’, which is directed by Aditya Sarpotdar and will be out on ZEE5 on July 12. The film also stars Riteish Deshmukh and Saqib Saleem. (ANI)

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Actor Manushi Chhillar started her Sunday morning by attending a fitness-oriented event in her hometown, Haryana.

Manushi was quite happy to be back in her home state.

Taking to Instagram, she dropped a picture from her car and wrote, “Nothing feels better than being in my home state.”

At the “walkathon” event, Manushi met with her fans and greeted them. She also shook her leg on the stage to one of her songs from ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’.

“Here they have organised such an important walkathon event…I have come here to support it,” Manushi told media at the event.

Meanwhile, on the film front, Manushi was last seen in ‘Operation Valentine’ and ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’.

The story of ‘Operation Valentine’ revolves around the indomitable spirit of Air Force heroes on the frontlines and the challenges they face protecting the nation.

Talking about her preparation, Manushi earlier said, “My prep for Operation Valentine included a lot of basics just to simply understand the structure of the Air Force, understand what a radar officer is supposed to do, basic things like body language, the tonality of your voice and how to give a certain command. These are the few things that I had to work on.”

“Fortunately, we had someone from the Indian Air Force team on set. So, I always had that guidance on set whenever we needed any extra information or wherever I was going away from how a normal radar officer would do a certain thing. So, it was learning a lot of basics. It was not just learning how to portray a radar officer, but also learning the things that happen in the Air Force, or what basic terms like an evacuation and the kind of planes that are flying. So, just understanding all of that was a completely new world. I am a DRDO kid, so obviously, I know things from the surface, but this was me going deep into it,” she added.

Manushi made her Bollywood debut in 2022 opposite Akshay Kumar in Samrat Prithviraj. Prior to it, she stole spotlight with her Miss World win in 2017. (ANI)

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Ola-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said that the company has developed a cutting-edge lithium cell battery named “Bharat cell”, which is currently undergoing trials in an advanced stage and can be a gamechanger for the Indian electric mobility ecosystem once it is launched on a full scale.

“This is the 5G of lithium cells, if I can say, it in a very simple way. This is the cutting-edge technology that we have made in India. Globally, only a few companies have this technology capability,” Bhavish Aggarwal told ANI in a podcast session.

And for this technology, Ola’s founder apprised that it had not done any partnership for its development.

The Bharat Cell reportedly received certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards, which is a mandatory requirement before commercial production starts at its Ola Gigafactory.

India, which largely imports lithium cell batteries, does not make any as of now. Batteries make up a significant part of the cost of manufacturing a unit electric vehicle.

Aggarwal said his electric mobility company Ola Electric’s mission statement is to make India the global EV hub.

“…to make India use EVs, we’ll have to build the products India wants, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, other products, which is more India-centric. And by extension, Global South will use those products. But not limit ourselves to the product. In the end, what will define success in Ola Electric is whether, and the whole EV game is, whether we can build a lithium technology in India. So we’ve backward integrated into lithium technology,” Aggarwal said, as he showcased the Bharat Cell during the podcast to the viewers.

Currently, the 2170 battery is dominating the market and it is expected that 4680 will soon replace it, particularly because of its added advantages – more energy capacity, fast charging abilities, and low cost (both manufacturing and retail).

“Bharat Cell” will find its use case in vehicles, for energy storage at home, besides going into grid energy storage.

“This (Bharat Cell) is five times more energy than this. And since one unit has five times the energy, the cost is lower. This has better fast charging capability. Charging speed is important in EVs,” Aggarwal asserted, holding one such battery on his hands.

“It has less cobalt, so the cost is lower. Energy density is a very important paradigm in cells. Its energy density is 250 Watt hour per kg. This has 275 Watt hour per kg. So that means more energy in the same weight. Cost comes down, performance goes up,” he further explained the advantages.

The Bharat Cell will be produced in its 1500-2000 acre size EV hub in Tamil Nadu.

Further, when asked what is the important component of the Bharat cell battery, he explained it is cathode-anode technology.

“So, in this, we make the cathode anode ourselves. But not the material which goes into making the cathode anode. The material comes from outside. Some from Japan, some from Korea, some from China, some from Europe.

“(The material that is imported) is called a cathode active material, anode active material, which itself is a combination of like nickel, cobalt, manganese or anode is graphite. So electrolyte will have different salts. Now India has a very good pharma ecosystem, a pharmaceutical ecosystem, which will be a very good enabler for things like electrolytes. So India’s traditional chemical industry, that will actually benefit from cell manufacturing in India. So we are looking to work with the Indian ecosystem to localize the supply chain also one by one,” Aggarwal outlined.

China is a leader in manufacturing this key material, and Aggarwal believes India will be able to localise it in the next four to five years.

“We’ve made the anode-cathode, but the anode-cathode material still comes from outside. That also is the midstream where China leads today. So we will have a three, four, five-year journey to localize it step by step,” the Ola founder added.

In January 2011, he co-founded Ola Cabs with Ankit Bhati in Bengaluru. Aggarwal was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2018.

Aggarwal received his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay, in 2008. (ANI)

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Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Sunday announced that the Outpatient Department (OPD) services would start soon at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Vijaypur, Jammu and that efforts are underway to recruit more distinguished faculties.

Addressing at the AIIMS Jammu, Nadda said that he would not compromise on the quality of AIIMS.

“Today we have 22 AIIMS in the country. I will do everything for the development of AIIMS. OPD will be opened within a fortnight shortly. We are working on the recruitment of staff. Medical institutions do not develop in a day, it needs at least a decade…We will not compromise on the quality of AIIMS,”

Nadda, Union Minister Jitendra Singh and BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh visited state of the art digital library and lecture hall at AIIMS Jammu.

He further said that AIIMS facilities, infrastructure, equipment, appliances and logistics are of world standard.

“We are trying to get more faculties here. The faculties who have come here so far are India’s best faculties. Providing professional education is our privilege. Witnessing world-class medical facilities here is gratifying,” Nadda added.

Earlier today, JP Nadda chaired a meeting with the leaders of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. The meeting was held in Jammu.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Jammu and Kashmir party President Ravinder Raina, and party’s National General Secretary Tarun Chugh were present at the meeting.

J-K is likely to see its first Assembly election in September this year, according to the timeline fixed by the Supreme Court after the erstwhile state’s special status was scrapped in 2019. The last Assembly election in the erstwhile state was held in 2014.

The BJP-led government scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 and bifurcated the state into two union territories. There have been demands from political parties for early assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the restoration of statehood. Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission of India and the Centre to conduct polls by September. (ANI)

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