The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it would hear on November 13 the petitions challenging its Sabarimala verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the temple.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul told lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara that it has already passed an order with regard to the listing of petitions on November 13.
Earlier the court had noted that there were 19 review petitions pending in the matter, filed by National Ayyappa Devotees Association and others seeking a review of its verdict.
A five-judge constitution bench by a ratio of 4:1 had held that women of all age groups should be allowed entry into Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple.
The air quality of Delhi nosedived on Tuesday just a few days after scores of effigies were burned across the region on the occasion of Dussehra.
According to the latest System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) data, the air quality in capital’s Lodhi Road area showed levels of prominent pollutants PM (particulate matter) 10 and PM 2.5 at 237 and 214, respectively.
The AQI between the range of 51 to 100 is considered as satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 falls under the poor category, whereas 401-500 range is severe.
The organisation has adviced the people residing in Delhi to avoid all outdoor physical activities. It has warned all asthmatics to keep relief medicines handy. “Stop any activity level if you experience any usual coughing, chest discomfort, wheezing, breathing difficulty, or fatigue,” it added.
On a related note, SAFAR has also conducted a scientific study which revealed that 41 per cent of the pollution in the national capital is caused by the transport sector. It also said that “after transport, wind-blown dust is the second major contributor with 21.5 per cent followed by industries at 18.6 per cent. The other minor contributors are power and residential sectors contributing about 4.9 and 3 per cent, respectively. Others contribute about 11 per cent. The residential sector includes slum, crop residue, cow dung, a street vendor, household, DG Set, wood burning, etc while other sectors include MSW Plants, MSW open burning, crematory, aviation, incense sticks, brick kilns”.
On the contrary, air quality has shown a slight improvement in Mumbai with PM 10 at 137. Though it is not as severe as Delhi but is quite high considering the fact that Mumbai is along the sea. Tomorrow, air quality is expected to be around 141, SAFAR said.
According to a May 2018 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Delhi featured in the list of the 20 most polluted cities in the world.
Barcelona’s lowest ebbs are invariably followed by questions about Lionel Messi but the issue of over-reliance may become clearer over the coming weeks.
The sight of Messi on the ground, grasping his right arm, during Barca’s win over Sevilla on Saturday prompted reactions inside Camp Nou normally reserved for the conceding of goals.
Hands behind heads, fingers over mouths, the concern became real shortly after the final whistle when the club confirmed Messi had fractured his radial bone.
His absence leaves Barca vulnerable when they need him most, for a run of fixtures that includes Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, the Clasico against Real Madrid on Sunday, before a return match against Inter in Italy at the start of next month.
If he takes longer than expected to recover, he could miss tricky games against Real Betis and Atletico Madrid in La Liga too.
Barcelona have grown used to accusations of dependence, not least when results have taken a turn for the worse.
When Ernesto Valverde left Messi on the bench for the 1-1 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao last month, the argument was given added weight by him coming on and making the assist for their equaliser.
“This is Barcelona,” Messi afterwards.
“We have a strong team and we have enough not to have to depend on one player.”
The same point was raised last season, when Messi, as a substitute, inspired a late fightback from two goals down against Sevilla and scored in the 89th minute.
He played the entirety of the Champions League collapse against Roma but then the criticism was Barca had failed to find the answer when Messi had not provided it.
There is no team in the world that would not look worse with Messi extracted.
The new H-1B visa rules could make life very difficult for Indian IT firms. Photo: Shutterstock
Tata Consultancy Services is the only Indian company among top 10 firms to get foreign labour certification for the H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2018, according to data from the US Department of Labour.
The H-1B visas are the most sought-after among Indian IT professionals.
The visa programme allows employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in the US on a non-immigrant basis in speciality occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability.
London-headquartered Earnest and Young, a multinational professional services firm, has emerged as the top employer to have received the certification.
In fact, Ernest and Young with 151,164 H-1B specialist occupation labour certifications accounted for the 12.4 per cent of all foreign labour certification for the H-1B work visas for the fiscal year 2018 ending on September 30, according to the latest annual report released by the Department of Labour early this month.
Ernest and Young are followed by Deloitte Consulting which received 69,869 H-1B speciality occupations labour conditions programme.
Indian-American owned Cognizant Technology Corp comes at number three with 47,732 speciality occupations labour conditions programme, the Department of Labour said in its latest annual report.
Cognizant is followed by HCL America (42,820), K Force Inc (32,996), and Apple (26,833).
India’s Tata Consultancy Services or TCS is the only Indian company in top 10 for the year 2018.
According to the Department of Labour in the fiscal year 2018, ending on September 30, TCS had received 20,755 H-1B speciality occupation labour certifications.
Qualcomm Technologies (20,723), Mphasis Corporation (16,671) and Capgemini America (13,517) are the other companies in top 10.
In the 2018 fiscal year the Department of Labour’s Office of Foreign Labour Certification processed 654,360 applications for the H-1B speciality occupations labour conditions programme, of which 599,782 were certified, 8,627 were denied and 45,951 were withdrawn.
It received requests for 1,266,614 position of which 1,223,053 were certified.
Among the positions certified, software developers and applications accounted for nearly one-fourth with 285,963 positions being certified.
This was followed by computer systems analyst (176,025), Computer Occupations (120,736), Software developers, system software (67,262), accountants and auditors (54,2410 and computer programmers (53,727).
California with 309,205 certifications topped the list of States for getting maximum H-1B labour certification, followed by Texas (115,484), New York (95,722), New Jersey (65,232), Illinois (56,196), Washington (52,522) and Pennsylvania (51,471).
According to Department of labour, a speciality occupation requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialised knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in the specific speciality (e.g. sciences, medicine, health care, education, biotechnology, and business specialities, etc.).
Congress has limited the annual number of qualifying foreign workers who may be issued a visa or otherwise be provided with the H-1B status to 65,000 with an additional 20,000 under the H-1B advanced degree exemption.
Before applying for the H-1B visas the employer submits a labour condition application to the Department of labour. Companies can proceed with the H-1B petitions, only after they receive such a certification by the Department of labour.
China on Tuesday officially opened the 55-km-long sea bridge, said to be the world’s longest, connecting Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.
President Xi Jinping inaugurated the USD 20 billion bridge at a special ceremony held in Zhuhai, in southern China’s Guangdong Province, attended by about 700 guests, including the leaders of Hong Kong and Macau.
It was opened with a one sentence speech by Xi, the Hong Kong-based, South China Morning Post reported.
The construction of the bridge started in December 2009 and was to be completed in 2016.
Situated in the Lingdingyang waters of the Pearl River estuary, it will be the world’s longest sea bridge, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
China claims credit for building the world’s longest bridge, the 164.8-km-long Danyang-Kunshan Grand viaduct on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.
The bridge, which will be opened for regular traffic from Wednesday, will slash the travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to just 30 minutes, it said, adding it will further integrate the cities in the Pearl River Delta.
Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng said the bridge would bring Hong Kong and mainland China closer in terms of economic and trade activities.
Describing the bridge as a sign of successful cooperation between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau he said, it is a demonstration of China’s engineering capabilities.
Han, Beijing’s man-in-charge of regional economic integration, said that the 55-km-long bridge could facilitate the development of “one country, two systems”, a framework that allows Hong Kong and Macau a certain degree of autonomy.
He said it was the first time the three sides had worked together on a major infrastructure project.
“It opens up all three places for greater exchange in trade and economics. It also enhances the competitiveness of the Pearl River Delta,” the Post quoted him as saying.
The bridge would help Hong Kong and Macau be integrated to mainland China, he added.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-Ngor highlighted the three cross-border infrastructure projects the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai boundary control point which will open early next year.
But, the critics have called the bridge a “white elephant” and a “blood and sweat project”, noting 10 workers have died and more than 600 were injured during its construction, the Post reported.
Additional concerns surfaced earlier this year when officials revealed that estimates for the amount of traffic expected for the bridge had been cut.
A 2008 consultancy study had predicted that 33,100 vehicles and 1,71,800 passengers would cross the bridge daily by 2030.
But the estimate was lowered to 29,100 vehicles and 1,26,000 passenger trips in a 2016 study, down 12 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, the report said.
Children playing with fireworks in Delhi (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Refusing to impose a blanket ban on the sale and use of firecrackers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said only green firecrackers, which are less polluting, will be allowed to be sold in the country.
The Court, however, banned the sale of firecrackers on e-commerce websites.
The court order is not limited only to Diwali; durations have been fixed for the bursting of crackers on all events and festivals. On Diwali, crackers are allowed between 8 pm and 10 pm. On Christmas Eve and New Year, it will be allowed only between 11.45 pm and 12.45 am.
The Bench of Justice A K Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan had, after hearing the petitioners, firecrackers manufacturers, the Centre and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on August 28, reserved its order on the plea for a countrywide ban on firecrackers to curb the deteriorating air pollution.
The Bench had earlier said that there was a need to strike a balance between the right to health and the right to carry on a trade or profession. The firecracker manufacturers had told the court that crackers were not the sole cause of rising pollution during Diwali. It was one of the contributing factors and that an entire industry could not be shut down on this count.
One of the pleas filed by a child, Arjun Gopal, represented by lawyer Gopal Shankarnarayan, had sought a ban on the possession of firecrackers in the National Capital Region as that was contributing to an already alarming level of air pollution in the area.
In 2017, the apex court had prohibited the sale of firecrackers in NCR-Delhi during Diwali.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission will organise an international conference titled “Better Elections for Healthier Democracy” to celebrate the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India, state Election Commissioner J S Saharia said on Monday.
It will be held in Mumbai on October 25-26 and will involve discussions on reforms in electoral procedures, he added.
He said that representative from various democracies across the world, officials from other election commissions and state legislators will participate in the conference.
Saharia was speaking on Monday at the release function of the logo of the international conference.
He said the five themes of the conference are “Public Ownership of Democracy”, “How to Check Misuse of Money Power”, “Inclusiveness”, “How to Control Menace of Social Media and Fake News” and “Role of Various Stakeholders”.
Maharashtra governor C Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will address the conference, he informed.
Jainism emphasises the importance of non-violence for human welfare and compassion, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday.
The President was speaking after inaugurating the ‘Vishwashanti Ahimsa Sammelan’ (world peace and non-violence conference) at Mangi Tungi in Nashik district.
The event was organised by the Bhagwan Shri Rishabhdev 108-feet Vishalkai Digambar Jain Murti Nirman Committee.
The President said in the Jain tradition, the principle of ‘Ahimsa Paramodharma’ (non-violence is the highest religious principle) is aimed at human welfare and compassion and not just shunning physical violence.
He said Bhagwan Mahavir gave special importance to ‘Apirigraha’– not taking more than what is essential to survive.
“Humankind is exploiting nature indiscriminately. Ruthless consumption and accumulation of resources is increasing. Due to this, phenomena like climate change is emerging as a challenge. Following the Jain tradition shows us the way out,” Kovind said.
Jainism teaches people to live and let live, Kovind added.
At the event, the President presented the first Bhagwan Rishabhdev International Award, comprising Rs 11 lakh and a citation to the Teerthanker Mahaveer University at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. The university chancellor Suresh Jain accepted the award.
Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured adequate funding for the development of the Jain religious place Mangi Tungi.
During his two-day Maharashtra visit, the President will Tuesday attend the convocation ceremony of the Symbiosis International University in Pune.
After the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh renamed Allahabad and Mughalsarai railway station, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh has demanded that changes should be made in all names associated with Mughals. The ruling BJP government in Himachal Pradesh is also considering a proposal to rename Shimla as Shyamala. Is the BJP government bringing name change to hide its failures of demonetisation, Rafale deal, farmer suicides, fall of rupee, and rising fuel price? Other issues like the #MeToo movement and Sabarimala Temple protest have garnered headlines in the last few days.
Congress spokesperson Pranav Jha said, “After failing on all fronts and being constantly hammered and cornered by the vigilant oppositions, the BJP resorts to their old tactics of diversion so that they are not held accountable throughout for not fulfilling the promises on major issues like bringing the ISIS down, issues like women’s security and safety, teaching a lesson to China and many more.”
“Now that the elections are approaching, BJP is digging up issues like Ram Mandir and renaming of several places. But the question which arises here is that how is it going to help the development of the nation? Also, what difference will it make in voters’ lives”, he asked.
Has name change become more important for the government instead of providing good governance? Will renaming a place ensure its development? Netizens criticised the government’s decision to rename Allahabad and said that name change won’t make any difference to the city. They said that the government should focus on improving governance instead of going on a name changing spree.
NCP leader Vidya Chavan said, “It shows the failure of the BJP that they could not do anything at all in these five years tenure. Their electoral agenda during 2014 for the development has also suffered a misfortune in all the sectors and now BJP is back to their old strategy to divert the attention from the core issues.”
“Although now people are aware of these tactics and it won’t help them garner the votes for the elections ahead as their true colours are revealed. Mughals have created a history and it is impossible to change or erase just by changing the names,” she added.
Why is the honest taxpayers’ money being wasted on changing names of the city? The process of changing names of the city is not an easier task as several changes have to be made in various documents, railway stations, bus stands etc. Thus, a huge amount of expenditure is incurred for the name changing process. Also, confusion prevails among citizens after name change as they are accustomed to using the old names of the cities.
Even after trying repeatedly to contact BJP leaders, they refused to comment anything stating their cluelessness on the same.
Even though four years have passed ever since the Modi government has come to power, it has failed to fulfil promises made by it to citizens. While campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi had promised to create 2 crore jobs. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh criticised the Modi government’s failure to create jobs and said that the nation is yet to see even 2 lakh jobs. Thus, the nation is witnessing a jobless growth.
The government has failed to improve the business environment in India. Citizens had to bear the brunt of hastily implemented demonetisation campaign as many of them had to stand in queues outside banks to deposit or exchange their hard earned money. Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced without ironing out the glitches as many business units had to shut down. The government has been unable to control the rising fuel prices and failed to arrest the slide of rupee. The government had promised to setup Lokpal to fight corruption. However, despite the passage of over four years, the government has failed to keep its promise.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court to ensure that the trial in the Malegaon 2008 blast case is conducted without delay.
Six persons were killed and over a 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon in Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
A bench of Justices SS Shinde and AS Gadkari on Monday directed advocate Sandesh Patil, who appeared for the NIA, to ensure that the agency did not seek any adjournment on Friday, October 26, the next date of hearing in the case.
The special court is likely to begin framing of charges against the accused persons on October 26.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by Sameer Kulkarni, one of the accused in the case, seeking that the trial be expedited and that the special court be directed to conduct daily hearings in the matter.
The bench, however, refused to grant Kulkarni’s plea for a day to day hearing. Instead, it noted that since there already existed a 2015 order of the Supreme Court directing that the trial in the case be conducted expeditiously, the special court must “ensure” that the order was implemented.
“The high court also said that the NIA must not seek any adjournments and let the framing of charges begin as scheduled on October 26. We gave our word to the court that we will not be the reason for any delays in the hearing. Besides, all parties and the NIA court have to implement the SC order and conduct the trial expeditiously,” Patil told agencies.
The accused persons in the case are PragyaSingh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
All the above persons will face trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder and criminal conspiracy.
The special court had, last week, rejected their pleas on the applicability of UAPA against them.
Barcelona’s lowest ebbs are invariably followed by questions about Lionel Messi but the issue of over-reliance may become clearer over the coming weeks.
China on Tuesday officially opened the 55-km-long sea bridge, said to be the world’s longest, connecting Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.
