Home Blog Page 1339

Bihar oppositions alleges Centre’s quota move as electoral stunt

By
Web Team
-

bSoon after declaring 10 per cent reservation to the economically backward among the upper castes, the Opposition parties in Bihar, which have come together and formed a Grand Alliance to take on the BJP-led NDA in the next Lok Sabha polls, on Monday dismissed the Modi government’s move as an electoral stunt.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha, who was a Union minister till a month ago, said while in NDA whenever I sought to draw the governments attention towards inadequacy of the 50 per cent ceiling on quotas, I was offered the alibi that it was fixed by the Supreme Court and breaking the barrier would require a constitutional amendment.

Now, I wonder how they are going to implement this proposed quota unless they bring in the necessary constitutional amendment. It is, of course, an electoral stunt, another example of jumlebaazi (rhetoric). A similar gimmick was resorted to by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a few years ago when he set up a Savarna Ayog. Nobody knows what happened to that, Kushwaha told reporters.

The NDA is in dire straits and Lok Sabha polls are round the corner. The move is a desperate attempt to win over a section of the society with a misleading promise. But the upper castes are never found to be wanting in discernment. They would see through the game, he claimed.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said Ambedkar had envisaged reservations as a measure to remove social and educational inequality. And that aim remains still unrealized as just a 50 per cent quota has been set apart for a social segment that comprises about 85 per cent of the total population.

To a pointed query as to whether he was in support of extending reservation benefits to the poor among the upper castes, Yadav the leader of the opposition in the state assembly and a former Deputy CM shot back the 50 per cent that falls outside reserved category has remained open for the 15 per cent.

Moreover, if the Modi government is so sincere about improving the peoples economic condition, he should fulfil his own promises of two crore jobs and a cash transfer of Rs 15 lakh into the account of every poor Indian.

Yadav also reiterated his partys demand for making the report of caste census public and revision of reservation quotas for respective social groups accordingly.

Former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) founding president Jitan Ram Manjhi said I say you do not give 10, but 15 per cent reservations to the poor among the upper castes. But before that please raise the limit for reserved seats to 90 per cent so that all segments of the society get their due. Unless this is done it will be seen as an electoral stunt.

Besides RLSP, RJD and HAM the “Mahagathbandhan” in Bihar comprises Congress and lesser-known parties like LJD and VIP. The Congress has called the proposed quotas an “election gimmick”.

Meanwhile, State minister and JD(U) leader Jai Kumar Singh thanked the Narendra Modi government for the move saying our victory in the state as well as at the Centre depends a lot on the support we enjoy among the upper castes.

Not involved in rescinding Sahgal’s invite to meet: Maha CMO

By
Web Team
-

nayantaraAmid flak by opposition leaders and authors over rescinding the invitation to author Nayantara Sahgal to inaugurate the 92nd all-India All Marathi literary meet, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) Monday distanced itself from the controversy.

In a statement, the CMO said that the decision on who to invite for the meet is taken by the organisers and the state government has no role in it.

The CMO statement came after the organisers invited Sahgal, 91, to attend the meet, scheduled this week at Yavatmal, and later cancelled it, citing law and order issues.

Opposition leaders like Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam alleged the invitation was cancelled at the behest of the ruling BJP.

The CMO statement said a section of media is dragging the state government’s name in the controversy. The Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Mahamandal (which organises the meet), is an autonomous body and neither the CM nor the state government interfere in its functioning, it said.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP was not impressed by the government’s statement and said the invitation was cancelled “out of fear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi” would not like if Sahgal, niece of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, attended the literary meet.

The NCP said Modi always speaks against Nehru and asked Fadnavis to re-invite Sahgal for the meeting.

The noted English-language author who was at the forefront of the ‘award-wapsi’ (returning of awards) campaign, was to inaugurate the meet on January 11 in the presence of Fadnavis.

In 2015, several writers returned their awards to protest against what they described as “rising intolerance and growing assault on free speech” under the Narendra Modi government.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “The way Sahagal’s invitation was cancelled by the organisers of the meet, the government’s hand is there somewhere (in this).”

“Modi always speaks against Nehru. Sahgal belongs to Nehru’s family. There is a fear in the mind of the Maharashtra BJP and the chief minister of Maharashtra that if Nayantara Sahgal attends the meeting, Modi won’t be happy,” Malik said.

The invitation was cancelled after a member of the MNS threatened to disrupt the meeting opposing Sahgal’s presence, the NCP leader said.

“If the invitation was cancelled in the name of law and order, it is the responsibility of the Chief Minister, who is also home minister of the state, to convince Sahgal to attend the function,” Malik said.

2 directors of property development firm booked for cheating

By
Web Team
-

67423339

Police have booked two directors of a real estate development firm for allegedly cheating 16 people to the tune of Rs 47 lakh, an officer said Monday.

According to the complainants, they were neither given possession of the promised plots under a project in Shahapur in Thane district nor the amount deposited by them ever returned in the last nine years.

A case was registered against Madhukar Pawal and Santosh Padwal of VMC Developers under sections 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Thane Police PRO Sukhada Narkar said.

The complainants claimed that though they had paid for the purchase of the plots, they were never given possession of the said property since 2010.

“They claimed that the firm never returned them the amount deposited by them,” Narkar said.

No arrest has been made so far.

Officials of the firm could not be reached for comment.

BJP-Sena recriminations a Laurel and Hardy drama, says NCP

By
Web Team
-

NCPThe NCP on Monday mocked the latest duel between the BJP and the Shiv Sena over forging alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as a “Laurel and Hardy” drama–a popular comedy duo act of the early American cinema known for its slapstick comedy.

The ridicule came a day after BJP president Amit Shah said that if an alliance happened, the party will ensure victory for its allies, but if it did not, the party will thrash its former allies in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

“The way Shiv Sena is giving a statement, that it is not bothered about the alliance and the way Amit Shah said yesterday that it will rout Sena, I think Laurel and Hardy drama is on in Maharashtra,” NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik told reporters.

Laurel and Hardy was a comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema and became known through 1920s to 1940s.

Speaking before Shah in Latur city Sunday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had set the BJP workers a target to win 40 of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

Reacting to the statements, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had said it was ready to take on opposition.

Meanwhile, Malik dismissed reports that the NCP was mulling over to give a ticket to renowned lawyer Ujjwal Nikam to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

“The party has not given any such proposal to allot him (Nikam) a ticket. There is no decision made internally to give him candidature. The party won’t give candidature (to Nikam),” he said.

Malik further said NCP and Congress are currently holding discussions with like-minded parties to share seats, and the contours of the alliance would be finalised by January 15.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel had last week said his party and Congress have reached a consensus on 40 Lok Sabha seats.

In 2014 polls, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 42 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, with BJP winning 23 seats and Sena 18.

The Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, which was an NDA ally, had won a seat. Shetti left the NDA in 2017 citing dissatisfaction with the Modi government over handling of agrarian issues.

HC lawyers claim ‘brewing scam’ in Navi Mumbai civic body

By
Web Team
-

navi mumbai

Two lawyers from the Bombay High Court Monday alleged the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has been illegally granting work orders to a tainted private contracting firm, which they claimed was responsible for causing the death of an 11-year-old boy in 2018 by negligence.

The lawyers, Mayuri Patil and Vallari Jathar, have written a letter to the NMMC Commissioner requesting him to look into a “brewing scam” into the civic body.

In May last year, 11-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary died and his friend sustained injuries when an iron gate of an under-construction civic school, located in sector 11 of the Koparkhairane area in the satellite town of Mumbai, fell on them.

Addressing a press conference, Patil and Jathar claimed that an internal enquiry conducted by the NMCC last year had fixed the responsibility of the incident on the private contracting company that had constructed the civic school gate.

“Yet, an FIR against the accused is yet to be registered, and the NMCC continues to award work contracts for new projects to the said firm,” the lawyers said quoting their letter.

They have urged the NMCC Commissioner to take appropriate action to ensure that such accidents do not recur.

To highlight farm woes, man jumps into Mantralaya safety net

By
Web Team
-

mantralay

A 40-year-old man Monday jumped into a safety net at Mantralaya in order to attract the Maharashtra government’s attention to issues like farm suicides and agricultural distress, police said.

Incidentally the safety net was placed across an open space on the first floor of the state secretariat by the Public Works Department early last year following instances of disgruntled people jumping off the corridors of the sprawling south Mumbai building.

Police identified the man as Laxman Chavan, a resident of Pune, and said he jumped off the second floor of Mantralaya into the safety net.

Chavan moved to the centre of the net and started shouting out his demands to the hundreds of visitors present there at the time, an official said.

A police team arrived at the spot and detained him, he added.

Senior Inspector Shivaji Phadtare of Marine Drive police station said Chavan’s statement was being recorded and further legal action would follow later.

Demand to fill vacant posts of Information Commissioners at Konkan, Pune, and Nagpur

By
Web Team
-

cis 1Government of Maharashtra had established Maharashtra State Information Commission for providing Right To Information Act to public. In his letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, RTI activist Anil Galgali has demanded to fill the vacant positions of State Information Commissioners at Konkan, Pune, and Nagpur.

In his letter to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, RTI Activist Galgali has stated that apart from the position of Chief Information Commissioner, there are a total of eight posts of Information Commissioners earmarked as necessary. But apart from the State Chief Information Commissioner, only five Information Commissioners are operational and the load of work due to vacant posts at Konkan, Pune, and Nagpur falls upon other State Information Commissioners, as a result they are burdened with extra cases with resultant delays and increase in number of appeals being filed.

The RTI activist has demanded that rather than filling the vacancies of State Information Commissioners from superannuated government officials consideration should be given to fill the same from accomplished candidates with experience in social work or other spheres or from amongst those with a deep sense of social responsibility by due process of advertisement.

Popular Bengali novel gets contemporary spin in Srijit’s next

By
Web Team
-

srijit mukherjee

Filmmaker Srijit Mukherjee has said his latest venture ‘Shah Jahan Regency’, the contemporary adaptation of author Shankar’s timeless classic ‘Chowringhee’, is free from commercial trappings.

The novel revolves around the experiences of the characters author Shankar meets while working at a reputed hotel in Kolkata.

‘Shah Jahan Regency’ mirrors socio-political situation in modern-day Kolkata, while retaining the spirit of ‘Chowringhee’ based in the metropolis of 1950s, Mukherjee said recently on the sidelines of a programme.

The national award-winning director stressed that he has put equal emphasis on all key characters in the fiction, unlike the 1968 film based on the same novel with matinee idol Uttam Kumar in the lead.

The film is slated for release on January 19.

Mukherjee also clarified that he has retained the essence of the characters, while reinterpreting them.

“There is a big difference between the Kolkata of 1950s and now. The city had more spacious roads in 1950s, which has changed vastly in the present times. When we give a contemporary spin to the timeless tale, the retro look does gel with the film’s premise,” he said.

Role of a lifetime: Vivek Oberoi on playing Prime Minister Modi

By
Web Team
-

vivekoberoimodi 634298859 6

Vivek Oberoi is set to portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an upcoming biopic and the actor, a self-confessed fan of the leader, calls it a role of a lifetime.

The biopic will be directed by Omung Kumar, who has films such as “Mary Kom” and “Sarbjit” to his credit.

At the poster launch of the film, Vivek said that he hopes to become a better person by the end of the shoot.

“I am extremely fortunate. Today, I am feeling like I felt 16 years ago, during ‘Company’ days. I am feeling the same kind of excitement and hunger because this is a role of a lifetime for any actor. I truly believe at the end of the journey, I pray that I become better actor and a better human being,” the actor told reporters.

“Narendra Bhai is one of the tallest leaders in the world and to bring his personal qualities on screen is an incredible challenge and I want all your blessings that we can complete this incredible journey,” he added.

The film’s poster was launched in the presence of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in 27 languages. It features Vivek, dressed in a yellow kurta with tricolour in the backdrop. The tagline reads, “Deshbhakti ki meri shakti hai.”

Actor Suresh Oberoi, Vivek’s father, is co-producing the film along with Sandeep Ssingh. The film is yet to go on floors.

 

Win against Thailand best match of my career: Chhetri

By
Web Team
-

chetriIndian football captain Sunil Chhetri on Monday said that his team’s first win in the Asian Cup after more than five decades was the best match of his illustrious international career in which he has out-scored superstar Lionel Messi.

India thrashed Thailand 4-1 in their group opener on Sunday. The 34-year-old goal machine struck on either side of the lemon break in the country’s stunning win, the first in Asian Cup since 1964.

“It (Thailand match) stays right top there. I’m fortunate to play a lot of good games for my country but this game is right top there. It’s one of those games where the team did really well,” Chhetri told agencies from Abu Dhabi when asked to rate the Group A match.

In the process, he became the second highest international goal-scorer among active players with 67 strikes from 105 matches. He went past Argentine superstar Messi, who has scored 65 from 128 matches. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest scorer with 85 from 154 matches.

Chhetri, who made his India debut in 2005, said that his side did not expect to win against Thailand by such a big margin.

“We were confident of a good show but honestly speaking, we did not think it could have been 4-1. They (Thailand) are a very good side, technically very good. I’m sure none of us could think of a 4-1 win but we were confident of a good outing,” he said.

“I am very happy with the performance and it has been a great start for us. I think the team unity, team understanding and spirit played the role behind the win. The indomitable spirit of the team actually is one of the important reasons why we won the game,” he added.

Thailand, with three players Japanese J-League players in their ranks, dictated the pace of the match in the first half with smooth passing but the Indians turned the game on its head with three second half goals that left the Thais shell-shocked.

Asked what transpired between head coach Stephen Constantine and the players at half-time, Chhetri said, “We just made sure that we can’t allow them to play their natural game. In the first half, they kept the ball and they were pretty strong. We knew that this is their strong point.

So we had to press them and not allow to play their natural game, that’s what we did. Sandesh (Jhingan) and Anas (Edathodika) were pretty brave telling us to go and press to make the team narrow.

“It’s not an easy job but it was one of the reasons which helped us get the win,” said the striker from Delhi who is nearing former captain Bhaichung Bhutia’s (107) most number of India appearances record in this Asian Cup.

The team man he is, Chhetri said that he wanted to celebrate more when his colleagues got the goals.

“Udanta’s cross, man, was something outstanding,” he said about his second goal in the 46th minute from the Manipuri winger’s assist.

“I think I celebrated the third goal most because I was so happy with the build-up and (Anirudha) Thapa scoring. There are some goals which you just celebrate because of the team-effort behind that and Thapa’s goal was one of them. I always feel happy when someone from my team scores a goal,” he said.

“Then comes Jeje (who scored the fourth goal)! I’m so happy for him. The superstar came and delivered as he does so often. He is one of the best players in our team and it showed how confident he was coming off the bench and scoring the goal.”

Asked about the personal milestone of becoming the second highest goal scorer for the country among active players, he brushed aside any comparison with Messi.

“I love to play for my country and whenever I have been given an opportunity, I try my best to score for my country. As far as comparisons are concerned, I don’t take them seriously. There’s no comparison, whatsoever, between me and Lionel Messi. I’m just happy and honoured to play and score for my country.”

A draw against either hosts United Arab Emirates (January 10) or Bahrain (on January 14) could see India through to the round of 16, which, if achieved, will be a historic first for the country.

Chhetri refused to predict anything but said the team will take one game at a time. He, however, agreed that the goal difference of three from the Thailand match could be useful later.

“…we can’t predict anything right now. We take one game at a time. As I said, we might not be the strongest team in the group but we’ll fight till the end. We are not thinking about qualifying now but just concentrating to do well in the next match and then we’ll see where we land,” he said.

India finished runners-up in the 1964 edition of the Asian Cup in Israel which was played among just four teams in a round-robin format. In 1984 and 2011, India were knocked out of the group stage.

1...1,3381,3391,340...5,577Page 1,339 of 5,577