Robert Vadra appears before ED for 13th time

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June 4, 2019

Robert Vadra, ED, Enforcement Directorate, money laundering — Image Courtesy: Social News XYZ

Robert Vadra again appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering case linked to purchase of alleged illegal assets in London.

It is remarkable that before deposing before the agency on Tuesday, Robert Vadra issued a statement on social media. He said that he was undertaking the questioning exercise for the 13th time “post almost 80 hours with the Enforcement Directorate, answering any number of questions, amidst sensation and unnecessary drama around, I stay focused and calm.”

He said, “But blatantly and carelessly airing my health matters is not correct…but my time spent with people with worst problems, ailing, blind and orphaned kids to see them still smile, gives me the strength to go on.”

According to officials of the ED, Robert Vadra arrived at the agency’s office near India Gate around 10:45 AM. His statement was recorded by the investigating officer. Prior to this, Robert Vadra was interrogated for about five hours last Thursday when the investigating officer of the case recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He had skipped the summons on May 31 on bad health ground. A Delhi court on Monday allowed him to travel abroad for six weeks for a checkup and obtain a second opinion on his ailment.

The ED case against Vadra relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Squareworth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which is allegedly owned by him. Vadra has denied the allegations of possessing illegal foreign assets and termed them a political witch hunt against him.

Madhoo, Kainaat Arora, Rajniesh Duggal, Rajpal Yadav, Vijay Raaj, Ekta Jain, Yasmeen Khan shoot for Khalli Balli

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Web Team

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June 4, 2019

Kamal Kishor Mishra of One Entertainment Film Productions and Prachi Movies along with Writer-Director Manoj Sharma kept the shoot of their Horror comedy film Khalli Balli at O 2 Villa, Madh Island where an important scene was picturised. Madhoo Shah was very excited as her introduction scene was picturised . Madhoo is shooting in Hindi film after eight years. Madhoo Shah, Rajniesh Duggal, Kainaat Arora, Rohan Mehra, Vijay Raaj, Rajpal Yadav, Hemant Pandey, Yasmeen Khan, and Ekta Jain interacted with media while shooting. Kainaat Arora is playing the main lead in this film opposite Rajniesh Duggal. Yasmeen Khan and Rajpal Yadav are playing care taker of the Bungalow. TV actor Rohan Mehra also plays a key role in the film.

Here are some moments:

Avoid a summer trip to Kerala as Nipah virus strikes again

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Web Team

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June 4, 2019

If you are planning to spend your summer vacation in Kerala, be alert and try to avoid this trip. Deadly Nipah virus is spreading in the state once again. Nipah virus had killed 17 people last year.

Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja has confirmed that 23-year-old college student is suffering from Nipah virus. She said that Pune based the National Institute of Virology (NIV) has confirmed the presence of the virus. The patient is admitted in a private hospital in Ernakulam.

The Kerala government has asked people not to panic. A control room has been set up by the district administration in Ernakulam to clear all apprehensions about the virus. Public have been advised to call 1077 to clear doubts. The 23-year-old studied in a college in Thodupuzha in Idukki . He had stayed in Thrissur recently. According to Thrissur district medical officer, the student was in Thrissur only for four days and had been suffering from fever.

The government has sent an alert to all District Collectors of the state. Cough corners have been set up across hospitals in Kerala. Isolation wards have been arranged in Medical Colleges in Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.

At present, four more people, including two nurses, are down with fever. Two of them had come in contact with the 23-year-old man. Over 80 people, among them 22 students, were put under surveillance on Monday.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he is in touch with the Kerala Health Minister. “The centre will send monoclonal antibody (medicines) to Kerala. Everything that needs to be done in a scientific manner has been initiated. Nothing to panic,” Harsh Vardhan said. He said the wildlife department has been told to catch bats to test presence of the virus.

It is remarkable that Nipah virus is transmitted from animals to humans and then spreads through people to people contact. It is associated with fatal encephalitis and respiratory illness. In initial stages, it causes fever, headache, muscle pain, dizziness and nausea. There is no known vaccine against the virus.

Congress’ silence worries BJP?

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Suraj Chandran

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June 3, 2019

The Congress party’s decision to stay away from TV debates for a month has adversely affected the Television Rating Points (TRP) of mainstream news channels. The party has taken this decision after suffering severe drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha polls. According to the party sources, some of the media is biased towards the Modi government. This is another reason for the party to stay away from the media. Congress party workers also have decided to boycott social media. According to reports, many leaders from the party had decided not to participate in debates because of the pending restructuring of the party’s communication system. Senior leaders of the party stated that the entire organisation would be restructured and communication department will witness radical changes. As Congress party is staying away from debates on TV channels, hence BJP too is not finding any topics to attack the former. Will Congress’s hibernation from media work in favour of the party and create a disadvantage for BJP?

Congress party communications chief Randeep Surjewala had tweeted, “The Congress has decided not to spend spokespersons on television debates for a month. All media channels/editors are requested not to place Congress representatives on their shows.”

Maharashtra Mahila Congress Committee President Dr. Charulatha Tokas said, “It is our policy decision and senior leadership has taken this decision. It will be reviewed after one month. The elections have concluded, the result has come, and the party has gone into introspection mode. People are aware of the truth. We abide by the verdict but our fight will continue.”

The Congress party has gone into introspection mode after suffering a massive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The party’s decision to go into hibernation mode has evoked a mixed response from TV channels. This is the first instance when Congress has decided to withdraw from TV debates. Earlier, the party had boycotted certain channels and programmes when the party found that some of them were tarnishing its reputation. The party had stopped sending any of its spokespersons to Republic TV and Zee news. It had also withdrawn from Rohit Sardana’s show on Aaj Tak. Ever since the election began, the party was miffed with several channels for projecting it in a negative light.

BJP MP Gopal Shetty said, “People have asked Congress party workers to take some rest. It’s the Congress party’s decision not to send its spokespersons on TV debates. They are respecting the public mandate. We have several issues to attack the Congress party. People have given a mandate to the BJP for working for their welfare. We are doing our job.”

Congress party’s decision to stay away from media debates has not gone down well with BJP too. All the conversations happening on TV channels are turning out to be one-sided and viewers too are staying away from them. Earlier, the Congress used to send its spokespersons and they used to aggressively take their stand on various issues affecting the nation. Both the Congress and BJP spokespersons would get into a long debate over various topics. The Congress after suffering massive defeat in Lok Sabha polls has learnt that this is not the right time to take an anti-BJP stand on media. Since BJP has won people’s mandate so the Congress won’t stand to gain anything by criticising the former. Therefore, Congress is keeping a safe distance from the media. The Congress is currently facing a crisis with Rahul Gandhi offering to resign after poll debacle winning just 52 seats and its state governments facing an uncertain future.

Criminal lawyer Advocate Majeed Memon said, “TV channels were trying to overuse the comments flowing from various political parties. One major opposition party Congress having barred the spokesperson and directed him to refrain from participating in any debate has certainly deserted the debate arrangement by the television channels. During the polls, it was observed that the electronic channels with barely a couple of exceptions were being misused by those who are in power. This seems to be a good trend and it is hoped that the TV channels would follow self-regulatory method to avoid any further criticism.”

Many Congress leaders are also staying away from Twitter. Several of them have stopped tweeting on social media. Congress social media in-charge Divya Spandana has deleted her twitter handle along with her tweet history. Twitter was abuzz with speculation over her political future as none of her tweets were available on the microblogging site.

AN-32 transport with 13 people on board goes missing

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Web Team

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June 3, 2019

An AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force with 13 people on board lost contact with ground agencies around 35 minutes after it took off from Jorhat in Assam on Monday.

According to official, the aircraft has been reported missing after it took off from the Jorhat on Monday afternoon around 12:25 pm. It lost all contacts with ground staff at around 1 PM. A total of eight crew and five passengers were on board the aircraft.

The Indian Air Force has launched the search and rescue operation to trace the missing the aircraft. According to the IAF, all available resources have been employed to locate the aircraft. A Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft and C-130 Special Ops aircraft have been deployed to locate the AN-32 aircraft.

Prior to this, on 22 July 2016, an Antonov An-32 twin engine turboprop transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force disappeared while flying over the Bay of Bengal. The aircraft was en route from Tambaram Air Force Station in the city of Chennai. There were 29 people on board. The search and rescue operation became India’s largest search operation for a missing plane on the sea in history

PM Modi reappoints Ajit Doval as NSA

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Web Team

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June 3, 2019

On the expected lines, the Modi 2.0 government has reappointed Ajit Doval as National Security Advisor. Doval is considered to be very close to the PM Narendra Modi.

According to a Personnel Ministry order, Ajit Doval has been given a five-year extension. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment with effect from May 31, 2019. He has also been given Cabinet rank in the government in recognition of his contribution in the national security domain. Earlier, his rank was of minister of state. “During the term of his office, he will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister,” the order said. Ajit Doval is the former IB chief.

It is remarkable that in the guidance of Ajit Doval, the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes took place. He is also credited with solving the Doklam standoff between India and China in 2017 when the two countries were engaged in a bitter turf war for several months. He was appointed National Security Advisor in May 2014.

PM Modi took over office on May 30 for second term. He gave the Home Ministry to his close confident Amit Shah, while Ajit Doval is again awarded National Security Adviser’s job. His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the prime minister.

Debt-ridden Bengaluru man forcefully hangs 12-year-old son

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Web Team

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June 3, 2019

In a disturbing incident a debt-ridden man of Bengaluru forcefully hung his 12-year-old son to a ceiling fan. The incident was shot on phone by the accused’s teenaged daughter.

The 3 minute, 47 second video shows Suresh forcefully hanging Varun from the ceiling fan as Geetha and his daughter cry and move around. The daughter is heard pleading in Marathi to leave her brother. The video ends abruptly when Geetha snatches the phone from her daughter’s hand. After the death of her son, Geetha committed suicide. Suresh also tried to kill himself but the daughter stopped him in doing so.

According to police, Suresh Babu, 43, is a sales executive while his wife Geethbai worked as a house help in a nearby residential locality. The couple was running a chit fund, in which they faced heavy loss. They had borrowed money from money lenders. When they failed to repay it, Suresh and his wife decided to kill themselves and their 17-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, Varun. On investigation, police found that it was a mass suicide attempt. Suresh has been arrested and charged with murder and abetment to suicide.

PM Modi the most popular national figure in Indian Politics — Part II

By

Vinod Dixit

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June 3, 2019

Prime Minister Modi has the utmost zeal and enthusiasm to serve and help the people in need. His initial hardships of life not only taught the value of hard work but also exposed him to the avoidable sufferings of the common people. This inspired him from a very young age to immerse himself in service of people and the nation. One would find that he is a complicated man — isolated, a blend of populist, nationalist and a self-made success story. He has tried to make the country’s notoriously sluggish bureaucracy more efficient, implementing an online system to track when bureaucrats actually arrive at work. The most important quality in his is that whatever assignment or schemes for implementation he takes, he makes sure it is well completed and will always be behind that person till it is completed.

Modi has taken pains and has made commendable efforts to get a record-breaking election where people have voted across caste, class, region, and religion to unseat the Congress and bring in the BJP-led NDA government. Every time he was given a responsibility in the party – whether at organising a rally or an election campaign in a hostile region – he always exceeded expectation. His powerful ‘personal connect’ with the people on the ground is complemented by a strong online presence.

PM Modi has asserted for global peace and regional peace and India is capable and strong. According to Forbes survey, PM Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping and has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as warming affects millions of his country’s rural citizens.

He is well known for his public speaking abilities, as he speaks, he very easily connects with his audience. His speeches are inspiring, powerful and optimistic. As people had high expectation from him and he did fulfilled them and still he is fulfilling them and may keep it on. His public speeches show us the direction in which we should lead our lives and we can make our lives better. He is an all-rounder who tries to cover every aspect of development from education to health, as he believes nothing should be left when it comes to development. His way of looking at life should be followed by everyone. His life and he himself have become an inspiration for everyone. His personal honesty is unquestionable. He has an open personal life. It is an open book. He has also kept his team from any corruption and one would have found that none of his team or the officers are charged with corruption and has so far maintained corruption-free government. He is able to read the mind of the people and adjust himself accordingly.

PM Narendra Modi has taken India’s global standing to newer heights with the world applauding his transformational leadership. He is known for his trim beard, stern demeanor, and imposing a rhetorical style. There is no doubt that Modi will rejuvenate India and will make it a bright beacon to the world. He has the capacity to convert every adversity into an opportunity.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 03 June, 2019

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Web Team

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June 3, 2019

Allocation of ministries

The newly inducted 57 cabinet members is a welcome step with a combination of experienced and fresh faces as ministers. It was obvious that one didn’t expect any major reshuffles within the incumbents for vying top cabinet rank portfolios. The appointment of the experienced diplomat S.Jaishankar as Minister of External Affairs comes at a crucial stage as India now looks forward to strengthen and renew the foreign policy matters, especially related to oil import sanction imposed from Iran amongst the other issues which require a prime focus now.

Also with the creation of the new Jal Shakti (Water Resources) ministry and allocation of an experienced minister to look after the newly formed Ministry of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is a surprise move. The PMO until now was headed by the Hon’ble PM and the day to day affairs was looked after by the Ministry’s senior bureaucrat. With the allocation of a minister to PMO, it needs to be seen as to how the matters amongst the various ministries will be taken care through active co-ordination.

While it is good to know that the most of incumbents have retained their initial ministries allotted previously, it is also surprising that many key portfolios like Civil Aviation, Women and Child Development, Communications, Law, I&B etc have been allotted with an additional responsibility to many ministers. Some of the portfolios will now see upto 4 ministries being handled by an incumbent and on an average of 2 portfolios allotted to the ministers.

The size of such a jumbo cabinet may have shrinked by giving additional portfolios but it is high time to follow the principle of one man one portfolio aided by Independent/MoS rank ministers. Such a move will help in speedy delivery of day to day services of the respective Ministries and Departments and may also help and quick disposal of cases. It may further help the Ministries to function in an effective manner under a single functioning minister with the support of atleast 2 Independent/MoS ministers respectively, if reduction of size of the cabinet is otherwise is not possible.

Varun Dambal

Hike in scholarship for martyrs’ children a right step

It is welcome step that new Union Cabinet in its very first meeting paid practical tribute to those brave persons having martyred their lives fighting against terrorism and Naxalites by increasing scholarship-amounts for their children to rupees 2500 and 3000 respectively for boys and girls thus further depicting sincerity towards girl child through such distinction in amounts.

But providing annual grant of rupees 6000 to all farmers by removing capping of two-hectare land will make even those turning farmers to convert their black money into white by showing agricultural income from produce in their lavish farm-houses and purchase of agricultural-land only for tax-evasion. Policy should provide relief to actual farmers by subsidy on input-items needed for agriculture on production of affidavits about income. A small sum of rupees 6000 per annum that too paid in instalments of rupees 2000 is practically meaningless even though it costs heavily to public-exchequer. However burden on the exchequer should be compensated by permitting say rupees five lakhs annually as tax-free agricultural income to avoid misuse of limitless exemption for turning black money into white.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Nitish Kumar will again deceive BJP: Upendra Kushwaha

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Web Team

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June 3, 2019

upendra khushwa — Image Courtesy: Varthabharthi.in

Former Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha has cautioned the BJP that Nitish Kumar will deceive it again and it should be ready for “Dhokha number 2” from him. Rashtriya Lok Samata Party is former ally of the BJP. In seat sharing, Upendra Kushwaha did not get expected seats in the Lok Sabha elections and finally quitted the NDA. Later on, he joined the Mahagathbandhan led by RJD and the Congress.

Kushwaha said, “I want to tell BJP people that Nitish Kumar has been known for disrespecting the people’s mandate. Betraying people’s mandate and alliance partners are his old habits. BJP should be ready to witness ‘Dhokha number 2’Aisa koi saga nahi jisko Nitish ne thaga nahi (There is nobody who has not been cheated by Nitish). Hence, the BJP should remain “cautious.” Kushwaha said that Nitish Kumar’s remark that the JD-U would not join the Modi cabinet reminded him of ‘sour grapes’.

It is notable that Nitish Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP in June 2013 after Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, was made the BJP’s campaign committee chairman for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He later joined hands with the RJD and the Congress to form Grand Alliance in Bihar which won the last state assembly elections. In July 2017 Nitish Kumar deserted the RJD and resigned. Thus, the government of Grand Alliance collapsed. Within hours, he joined hands with the BJP and became chief minister again.

Relations of the BJP and JD-U are tense after Nitish Kumar rejected the offer of one cabinet berth in the Modi 2.0 government. In the reaction to this, he expanded his cabinet in Bihar and offered the BJP just one cabinet berth, while 8 ministers of JD-U were sworn in.