Shut madrasas to check ISIS influence on Muslim children: UP Shia board chief writes to PM

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January 22, 2019

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Shia Central Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi has demanded shutting down of primary-level madarsas across the country in order to check terror group ISIS’ influence on Muslim children.

Rizvi, who has supported the demand for Ram temple in Ayodhya and uniform civil code, said Muslim children, if they want, can take admission in madarsas after completing high school.

“It can be seen that children are soft targets for running any mission and at this point of time ISIS is a dangerous terror organisation which is gradually getting hold over the Muslim population across the world.

“…if madarasas are not shut down, about half of the country’s population will become supporters of the ISIS ideology in 15 years’ time,” Rizvi said in the letter.

Stressing that the support to the ISIS is clearly visible in Kashmir, where through the monetary support to the children attending madarsas, they are being alienated from people of other religion in the name of Islamic education, he said.

“In the rural areas of the country also, the primary madarasas in the name of donations are harming the future of our children and promoting fundamentalist thinking…this is damaging both the country and the Muslim children,” he said.

Taking admission in madrasas after schooling will not only help them take normal education till the high school-level along with children of different sections of society and religion, but also will deter them from getting easily influenced by fundamentalist thinking.

He has previously supported building of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and a mosque ‘Masjid-e-Aman’ in Lucknow.

TDP suspends MLA Mallikarjuna Reddy

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January 22, 2019

The ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh Tuesday suspended its MLA and the Government Whip in the Assembly Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy from the party amid reports that he was ready to join the opposition YSR Congress.

“Mallikarjuna Reddy is ineligible to continue in Telugu Desam,” party president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced.

There was no place in the TDP for anyone who caused trouble to party workers, he said without elaborating.

The announcement was made after Naidu held a meeting with party workers from Rajampet, the assembly constituency in Kadapa district represented by Reddy, in the backdrop of reports that he was set to join the YSR Congress.

Reddy was the lone TDP MLA to be elected from Kadapa district in the 2014 assembly elections. He was made the government whip.

For five years, he enjoyed everything. We made him the whip and his father Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board member. But, as elections are nearing, he left the party, Naidu said, according to a TDP release.

He told the workers that the TDP would win not only Rajampet but also other segments in Kadapa in the coming assembly elections, saying the government did a lot for the development of the district.

Gifts received by PM to be auctioned, funds raised to be used for ‘clean Ganga’ project

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January 22, 2019

The government will be auctioning about 1,900 gifts received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the funds raised will be used for the project to clean river Ganga, according to a statement.

The items that would be auctioned include paintings, sculptures, shawls, pagris, jackets and traditional musical instruments from across the country.

“The physical auction will be conducted on January 27 and 28, 2019 at National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi from 12.00 pm onwards. The e-auction will take place subsequently from January 29-30, 2019 for remaining items left after physical auction,” the statement said.

The items are currently on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art, which comes under the Ministry of Culture.

AP govt to provide 5% quota for Kapus out of 10% EWS

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January 22, 2019

The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to earmark five per cent reservation for upper caste Kapus out of the ten per cent quota for economically weaker sections provided by the Centre recently.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who made the announcement, said the state government had urged the Centre to earmark the quota for Kapu community a long time ago, but the Narendra Modi government had not acceded to it.

“We had requested the Centre to extend five per cent reservation to the Kapu community long ago but the BJP leaders did not agree.

“Now, out of the 10 per cent reservation provided by the Centre to the economically weaker sections, we will give five per cent to Kapus and the balance to the EWS,” Naidu told TDP leaders during a teleconference.

Parliament earlier this month passed a Constitution amendment bill providing for 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and education for economically weaker sections in the general category.

The bill was subsequently forwarded to the Centre seeking a Constitutional amendment to include the community in the backward classes list under Schedule IX of the Constitution as it would exceed the 50 per cent ceiling for reservation imposed by the Supreme Court.

The Centre did not accept the state’s plea on the ground that it violated the apex court judgement.

Earlier, the AP State Commission for Backward Classes had submitted a report recommending the reservation.

However, the Commission’s then Chairman Justice K L Manjunatha was not a signatory to the report and it was submitted to the state government by two other members.

After passage of the bill in the assembly, the Naidu government had been claiming it had honoured its promise on reservation and that it was the Modi government that did not approve the quota for Kapus.

Ellen Page felt ‘depressed’, ‘anxious’ in her 20s

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January 22, 2019

Actor Ellen Page has revealed that during her early 20s she felt “very depressed and very anxious” due to the constant media scrutiny in her sexuality.

The 31-year-old actor, who came out as a homosexual in 2014, told The Observer that it would have been “very harmful” for her if somebody had revealed her sexuality before her.

“I have a responsibility to be out now, because I have these resources. I can access therapists and security and support. But the reality is a lot of people can be in severely grave danger. I think, for instance, it would have been very harmful for me if someone had outed me earlier.

“When I was 20, someone wrote an article with the headline: ‘The Ellen Page Sexuality Sweepstakes’ in the Village Voice. ‘Is Juno a you know?’ I never even touched a woman outside until I was 27. I was very depressed, and very anxious. I was not well,” she added.

When the #MeToo movement started in Hollywood in 2017, Page was one of the women who had accused director Brett Ratner of inappropriate behaviour.

In a lengthy Facebook post Page accused Ratner of making the slur about her to another actors during the first day of filming the movie, in which she was starring as Kitty Pryde.

Recalling the incident, Page said, “Something had switched. I wanted to talk about the sh**tiness I’d seen. I’ve dealt with these difficult things, whether it’s directors trying to sleep with me when I was 16, or stalkers. But there are people in society who deal with far, far worse and cannot access the resources I have.”

“What changed for me after publishing that was the realisation how much crazy s**t happened that was so normalised. And I internalised it. It’s disturbing. Then, talking about it does really open something in you, which is painful in many ways. But that’s what’s letting us all connect and have the conversations, about intersectional feminism, etc,” she added.

Emma Stone steps out for date night with beau Dave McCary

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January 22, 2019

Hollywood actor Emma Stone stepped out with her rumoured beau Dave McCary for a rare public date night and it seems like the two don’t want to keep their relationship under wraps anymore.

Stone and McCary, who have been in a romantic relationship since October 2017, were spotted at a Basketball game. The two sat courtside and were seen having a great time.

The ‘Lala Land’ kept it casual dressed in a grey coat, blue jeans coupled with a black turtleneck for the game. Sitting right next to her, the 33-year-old filmmaker donned jeans, plaid button-down and an army green jacket paired with white sneakers.

While the two are seeing each other for about two years, they have been rarely clicked together in public. According to a source, Stone and McCary want to keep their relationship away from the spotlight.

Kylie Jenner working on secret project, denies Second Pregnancy

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January 22, 2019

Kylie Jenner on Monday announced that she is about to come up with a secret project that is still in the pipeline and concurrently also dismissed rumours about her pregnancy.

Announcing her upcoming project, without giving any specific details away, the reality star tweeted, “I have something really exciting I get to share soon with you guys! I’ve been cooking this up for a while I can’t wait to share my new project alreadyyy.”

Commenting on the tweet, a user, out of curiosity asked her if she is “pregnant again.” The ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ star washed away all the speculation about her pregnancy by replying with a simple “Noooo lol.”

While fans and followers kept scratching their heads wondering what the big news is, Kylie clarified that the new project has nothing to do with Kylie Cosmetics.

However, her upcoming secret project is not the only thing that has managed to hog the headlines and her fans’ attention lately.

Just last week, the reality TV star was all over the internet and news after a photo of an egg surpassed a photo of Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott’s baby girl as the most liked Instagram post of all time as of Sunday.

Vin Diesel ‘crowdsources’ casting call for ‘xXx 4’

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January 22, 2019

Vin Diesel has invited casting suggestions for the next “xXx” movie from his fans on social media.

The actor, who headlines the action film franchise, teased his Instagram followers about the plans for “xXx 4” by asking them to help him choose the cast.

On January 20, Diesel shared a photograph of himself alongside Deepika Padukone, who played Serena Unger in “xXx: Return of Xander Cage”.

“Heading into a xXx meeting this weekend… Who would you like to see added to the xXx League?” he captioned the post.

Names such as Jason Momoa and Tom Hardy ruled the list of suggestions.

Some fans rooted for Diesel’s co-stars from the “Fast and Furious” franchise – Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba. The troika will feature in the spin-off movie “Hobbs & Shaw” later this year.

Chris Hemsworth, Dave Bautista, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon also received a mention or two.

Padukone, who made her Hollywood foray with the third installment of the series in 2017, will return for the fourth part, director DJ Caruso had confirmed last year.

Taiwanese actor-pop star Jay Chou and Chinese actors Zoe Zhang and Roy Wang are also part of the new project.

TMC has done nothing; BJP will grant all Bengali refugees citizenship: Amit Shah

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January 22, 2019

While kick-starting the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal on Tuesday, party chief Amit Shah said that all the Bengali refugees will be granted citizenship with the passage of the Citizenship Bill. Speaking at a rally in Malda, Shah took on the ruling Trinamool Congress and said that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be for restoring democracy in the state.

I want to assure that all the Bengali refugees will be given citizenship under the Citizenship Bill. The TMC government has done nothing for the refugees but we will give them citizenship. However, taking a jibe at the rally of opposition parties in Kolkata, he said that the anti-BJP parties did not utter ‘Bharat Mata ki jai or ‘Vande Mataram’ even once during the public meeting, but kept chanting ‘Modi Modi’.

He also alleged that the ‘mahagathbandhan’ of opposition parties was meant for gaining power and serving personal interests. Mahagathbandhan is all about greed and lust. They want to remove Modi, while we want to remove poverty and corruption. Describing the Trinamool Congress dispensation as a government that facilitates murders, he further said that the party will be ousted in the general elections.

RBI proposes to relax norms for new players’ entry in retail payment

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January 22, 2019

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed to relax norms for entry of new players in the retail payment systems with a view to give a boost to innovation and competition. The RBI has been issuing guidelines for various payment systems and grants authorisation to non-banks for setting up and operating payment systems.

Licensed banks also need to obtain specific permission from Reserve Bank for setting up and operating a payment system. At the end of 2018, there were 89 authorised non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs).

The RBI’s policy paper on ‘Authorisation of New Retail Payment Systems’ proposes a multi-pronged policy action for a more appropriate level of retail payment systems and operators.

With regard to entry point norms for entities, the paper said a judicious approach needs to be adopted with regard to networth criteria.

“For all payment systems it would be desirable that they have (a) physical presence in the country, (b) impeccable track record, and (c) are likely to conform to the best overall standards, including those pertaining to customer service and efficiency,” the paper said.

It also makes a case for alignment of regulatory framework to encourage enhanced participation of both bank and non-bank entities.

Earlier in June last year, the RBI had announced that it would encourage more players to participate in and promote pan-India payment platforms and would bring out a policy paper.

The objective, it said was to minimise the concentration risk in the retail payments market from a financial stability perspective and to give a fillip to innovation and competition.

The central bank has invited comments on the policy paper by February 20.