Sudha Bhardwaj moves to HC for bail in Elgar Parishad case

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February 6, 2019

Human rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj has moved the Bombay High Court to seek bail after being arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

Justice N W Sambre wil take up the plea for hearing on Wednesday.

Yug Chaudhary, lawyer of Bhardwaj, challenged the decision of Pune court that had rejected her bail plea in October last year.

Chaudhary told the bench that the Pune court, while denying the bail to Bhardwaj, had relied upon four letters produced as incriminating evidence by the Pune Police.

However, Chaudhary said he wanted to show to the high court that the letters could not be accepted as admissible evidence under the Indian Evidence Act.

The bench is likely to hear the plea in detail on February 18.

Bhardwaj was arrested along with several other activists by the Pune Police last year after Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017, which, the police alleged, triggered violent clashes the next day at Koregaon- Bhima village in Pune district of Maharashtra.

At the event, some activists made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that contributed to the January 1 violence, they had said.

The Pune Police also alleged that the event was funded and supported by Maoists and Bhardwaj played a role in mobilising party cadres and funds for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The police claimed it came to the conclusion after raiding the houses of several of these activists and chancing upon some letters that revealed, among other things, a conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kunal Khemu to shift gears with crime series ‘Abhay’

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February 6, 2019

After featuring in a string of comedy films, Kunal Khemu is ready to shift gears with a crime show as he believes it is important to experiment as an artiste.

A former child star, Kunal started his career as a male lead with films like “Kalyug” and “Traffic Signal”. His career, however, hit a rough patch with his next few movies failing to leave a mark at the ticket windows.

He found success again with comedy films “Go Goa Gone” and “Golmaal” series.

“‘Golmaal’ and ‘Go Goa Gone’ are great franchise films to have as an actor but it is nice to experiment with something that puts me in a different zone and the upcoming series ‘Abhay’ is one of those,” Kunal told agencies in an interview.

Kunal will next be playing an investigative officer in Zee5’s crime thriller series “Abhay”.

“I wasn’t looking for something different or doing something in the serious zone. I liked the whole space of the show. I knew it will be a break away for me as for the last few years I have been concentrating on comedy. It was interesting to be in this intense space”.

The series marks the digital debut of Kunal and he hopes that things change for him professionally, just like it did wonders for Saif Ali Khan after “Sacred Games”.

“I am an ardent watcher of lot of series on the web platform. I enjoyed watching ‘Mirzapur’, ‘Sacred Games’. There are interesting shows.

“It is a new space and people are experimenting with stories. I don’t know how the economics of it works, like how we have box office for films.”

The eight-episode crime thriller premieres on Zee5 from February 7 with two episodes each month.

The 35-year-old actor says “Abhay” is inspired by true crime cases.

“I am a fan of crime investigative series. There is a different case in every episode. But what remains constant is Abhay and his life and there are things about his life that you understand layer by layer.

Hubble finds dwarf galaxy in our cosmic neighbourhood

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February 6, 2019

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a dwarf galaxy in a globular cluster which is only 30 million light-years away.

The team used the NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) telescope to study white dwarf stars within the globular cluster NGC 6752.

The aim of their observations was to use these stars to measure the age of the globular cluster, but in the process they made an unexpected discovery, according to the study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

In the outer fringes of the area observed with Hubble’s camera, a compact collection of stars was visible.

After a careful analysis of their brightnesses and temperatures, the astronomers concluded that these stars did not belong to the cluster — which is part of the Milky Way — but rather they are millions of light-years more distant.

The newly discovered cosmic neighbour, nicknamed Bedin 1 by the astronomers, is a modestly sized, elongated galaxy, the study said.

It measures only around 3, 000 light-years at its greatest extent — a fraction of the size of the Milky Way. Not only is it tiny, but it is also incredibly faint.

These properties led astronomers to classify it as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are defined by their small size, low-luminosity, lack of dust and old stellar populations.

The international team of astronomers that carried out this study consists of researchers from University of California Los Angeles, University of Bonn in Germany and Universite de Montreal in Canada, among others.

Milky Way galaxy is ‘warped, twisted’ not flat: Study

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February 6, 2019

The Milky Way’s disk of stars is not stable or flat but instead becomes increasingly “warped” and twisted far away from the galaxy’s centre, according to astronomers.

“We usually think of spiral galaxies as being quite flat, like Andromeda which you can easily see through a telescope,” said Professor Richard de Grijs from Macquarie University in Australia.

To understand, the team used 1,339 “standard” stars, each up to 100,000 brighter than our sun, to map the real shape of our home galaxy.

The new 3D map of our galaxy showed that the warped Milky Way disc also contains young stars and confirmed that the warped spiral pattern is caused by torque from the spinning of the Milky Way’s massive inner disc of stars, accordoing to the study published in the Nature Astronomy journal.

From a great distance, our galaxy would look like a thin disk of stars that orbit once every few hundred million years around its central region, where hundreds of billions of stars, together with a huge mass of dark matter, provide the gravitational “glue” to hold it all together.

But the pull of gravity becomes weaker far away from the Milky Way’s inner regions. In the galaxy’s far outer disk, the hydrogen atoms making up most of the Milky Way’s gas disk are no longer confined to a thin plane, but they give the disk an S-like warped appearance.

“It is notoriously difficult to determine distances from the Sun to parts of the Milky Way’s outer gas disc without having a clear idea of what that disc actually looks like,” said Xiaodian Chen from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

“This research provides a crucial updated map for studies of our galaxy’s stellar motions and the origins of the Milky Way’s disk,” added Licai Deng, also from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Astronomers have observed a dozen other galaxies which showed similar progressively twisted spiral patterns in their outer regions. So our Milky Way’s twists are rare but not unique, they said.

Global warming increases air pollution

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February 6, 2019

A new University of California, Riverside study now finds that while climate change is warming the ocean, it’s warming land faster.

The study, published February 4 in Nature Climate Change, shows that the contrast in warming between the continents and sea, called the land-sea warming contrast, drives an increased concentration of aerosols in the atmosphere that cause air pollution.

Aerosols are tiny solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the atmosphere. They can come from natural sources, like dust or wildfires, or human-made sources such as vehicle and industrial emissions.

They affect the climate system, including disturbances to the water cycle, as well as human health. They also cause smog and other kinds of air pollution that can lead to health problems for people, animals, and plants.

Speaking about it, first author Robert Allen said, “A robust response to an increase in greenhouse gases is that the land is going to warm faster than the ocean. This enhanced land warming is also associated with increased continental aridity.”

The increase in aridity leads to decreased low cloud cover and less rain, which is the main way that aerosols are removed from the atmosphere.

The results show that the hotter Earth gets, the harder it’s going to be to keep air pollution down to a certain level without strict control over the sources of aerosols.

Because the researchers wanted to understand how greenhouse gas warming affects air pollution, they assumed no change to human-made, or anthropogenic, aerosol emissions.

“That’s probably not going to be true because there’s a strong desire to reduce air pollution, which involves reducing anthropogenic aerosol emissions,” cautioned Allen. “So this result represents an upper bound.”

But it also suggests that if the planet keeps warming, larger reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions will be required to improve air quality.

“The question is what level of air quality are we going to accept,” said Allen. “Even though California has some of the strictest environmental laws in the country we still have relatively poor air quality, and it’s much worse in many countries.”

Unless anthropogenic emission reductions occur, a warmer world will be associated with more aerosol pollution.

Rookie keeper Seifert smashes 84 as New Zealand score 219/6 vs India

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February 6, 2019

Unheralded wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert took the Indian bowling attack to cleaners with a scintillating 84 off 43 balls as New Zealand scored a commanding 219 for 6 in the first T20 International at Wellington on Wednesday.

Seifert, whose previous best score in T20 Internationals happens to be 14, was promoted to open alongside Colin Munro (34 off 20 balls) and they added 86 runs in only 8.2 overs in a whirlwind start.

Seifert’s knock had seven fours and half a dozen of sixes, setting the tone for a big total.

Seifert showed the intent straightaway as he gave Bhuvneshwar Kumar the charge as he picked the knuckle ball early, dispatching it over mid-wicket for a six. The next shot was a four as he stood and hammered past the bowler.

With Munro hitting Khaleel Ahmed (1/48 in 4 overs) for two successive sixes, New Zealand were off to a blazing start scoring 44 off the first four overs.

Seifert was lucky to survive when Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped a sharp chance as the batsman had edged one off Krunal Pandya (1/37 in 4 overs).

But he promptly put the next delivery into the stands moving across towards off and sweeping it over backward square leg.

There wasn’t a sign of overt footwork but he shuffled enough inside the crease to make room for the big shots and in the process disturb the line and length of the bowlers.

When Hardik Pandya (2/51 in 4 overs) drifted on the leg stump, he was flicked behind the square and when he pitched wide outside off-stump, he lofted him cover point region.

In Hardik’s next over, he again hit the bowler for a boundary and a flicked six. In between, his elder brother Krunal was switch hit for a boundary.

The elder Pandya finally got a breakthrough as Munro was caught in the deep off Vijay Shankar.

But Seifert never let the momentum drop as he hit two more sixes off Krunal, who just kept on pushing the ball through a flatter trajectory.

The normally dependable Yuzvendra Chahal (1/35 in 4 overs) also was slog swept over mid-wicket for the sixth maximum apart from being hit over extra cover for a boundary.

Just when it looked that a century was there for the taking, Khaleel bowled one in the block hole coming wide off the crease to clean Seifert up.

Once Seifert was gone, skipper Kane Williamson (34 off 22 balls) took charge and Scott Kuggeliejn (20 no off 7 balls) finished with a flourish.

Nashik Congress President vows to end factionalism in party

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February 6, 2019

Ahead of the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections, newly-appointed Nashik district Congress President Tushar Shevale has said that ending factionalism in the party unit will be his priority.

Shevale, who replaced Rajaram Pangavhane as part of the organisational changes made by party President Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday took charge at the Nashik party office.

Nashik Lok Sabha constituency is currently represented by Hemant Godse of Shiv Sena.

“My first priority is to end the internal differences and groupism in the party unit,” Shevale told reporters Tuesday evening.

Nashik was represented by the Congress for last time in 1998 when the seat was won by Madhav Patil, before the 1999 split that led to formation of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by Sharad Pawar.

The constituency comprises assembly segments of Sinnar, Nashik East, Nashik West, Nashik Central, Deolali and Igatpuri.

LS adjourned for day after paying homage to sitting BJD member from Orissa

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February 6, 2019

LokSabha payed obituary to sitting BJD member from Odisha Ladu Kishore Swain.

The proceedings of Lok Sabha were adjourned for the day on Wednesday after paying obituary to sitting BJD member from Odisha Ladu Kishore Swain.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan informed members about the demise of the Biju Janata Dal member in Bhubaneshwar on Wednesday morning.

The MP from Aska was 71 and was a member of the Odisha Assembly from 2004 to 2009. Swain was a member of the parliamentary committee on Rural Development and OBCs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among members present when the obituary reference was made.

Now, the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to the joint sitting of Parliament is likely to continue on Thursday.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to reply to the debate.

Two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100 reveals Study

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February 6, 2019

Two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers, the world’s “Third Pole”, could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced, scientists warned in a major new study issued on Monday.

And even if the “most ambitious” Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is achieved, one-third of the glaciers would go, according to the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment.

Glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region are a critical water source for some 250 million people in the mountains as well as to 1.65 billion others in the river valleys below, the report said.

The glaciers feed 10 of the world’s most important river systems, including the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Mekong and Irrawaddy, and directly or indirectly supply billions of people with food, energy, clean air and income.

Impacts on people from their melting will range from worsened air pollution to more extreme weather, while lower pre-monsoon river flows will throw urban water systems and food and energy production off-kilter, the study warned.

It was published by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, one of eight countries on the front line.

Five years in the making, it involved more than 350 researchers and policy experts, 185 organisations, 210 authors, 20 review editors and 125 external reviewers.

“Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks… cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century,” Philippus Wester of ICIMOD said in a statement.

“This is the climate crisis you haven’t heard of.”

Delhi court to hear JNU sedition case on Feb 28

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February 6, 2019

A Delhi court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police to urge the Delhi government to expedite the sanction process to prosecute former JNU Student’s Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a sedition case.

The matter is related to anti-national slogans allegedly raised during a February 2016 event on the campus of JNU. Subsequently, the case was filed against Kumar among others.

During the hearing at the Patiala House Court today, the Delhi Police told the court that the sanction is still pending and was hoping to obtain the same very soon.

The court also rapped the Delhi government, saying it cannot sit on a file for an indefinite time.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat adjourned the matter to February 28, granting more time to the Delhi Police for obtaining the sanction for prosecution.

On January 24, Delhi Law Minister Kailash Gehlot sent a show-cause notice to Principal Law Secretary AK Mendiratta for clearing without his approval the sanction to prosecute former JNU students in the sedition case.

Gehlot sought an explanation from the Law Secretary for sending the file directly to the Principal Home Secretary, stating that Mendiratta deliberately did to bypass him.

On January 14, the Delhi Police had filed the charge sheet in the court stating the sanction for prosecution was pending before the government.

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, the court cannot take cognisance of the police charge sheet without sanction from the home department of the state concerned.

As per the 112-page charge sheet, Kumar was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus during an event held in February 2016.

Police also charged former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans during the event to mark the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru.