Army rescues over 80 stranded students, staff amid a storm in Jammu's Banihal 2
After a heavy snow storm and landslide in Jammu, army troops rescued over 80 students and faculty staff who found themselves stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, officials said on Thursday. Heavy snowfall and roadblocks caused by landslides on Wednesday left many commuters stranded along the treacherous Jammu-Srinagar highway, among them were 74 students of a law college and seven of its staff members, the officials said. Army troops acted swiftly and rescued the panicked staff and students of the Rajasthan Law College from NH44, which was blocked.
Professor Kalpesh Nikawat, Principal of Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur hailed the Indian army for its rescue feat. ”I have no words to express my thanks to the Army which came forward for our rescue in such inclement weather and provided food and shelter to us…Hats off to Army,” Professor Nikawat said.
He said the students and the staff had a wonderful trip to Kashmir but got stranded in Qazigund for three days due to closure of Jammu-Srinagar national highway amid heavy snowfall. ”A landslide occurred just 500 metres in front of our vehicle after crossing Banihal, leaving us frightened,” one of the students said. Praising the army, Professor Priyadarshi Nagda said the personnel responded to their desperate call for help within a couple of hours and provided blankets, food and shelter to the students and the staff.
One of the students, Ashutosh Shastri, who was also caught in the snow storm, said he was thankful to the army for their support, calling his stay at the army camp home-like.
Vidarbha Shiv Sena (UBT) leader quits party, accuses colleagues of hatching conspiracies 4
A Shiv Sena (UBT) leader on Thursday quit the party claiming her colleagues were hatching conspiracies against her.
In a letter to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shilpa Bodke, who is an office bearer of the party’s east Vidarbha unit, also accused the leadership of using her as ”tissue paper”.
Some leaders are busy hatching conspiracies rather than working towards the party’s expansion and more importance was being given to them, she claimed in the letter.
Maryam Nawaz set to become first woman CM of Pakistan's Punjab provincial assembly 6
Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, is set to become the first woman chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province following the summoning of the inaugural session of the provincial legislature on Friday.
Out of five assemblies in Pakistan that went to the polls on February 8, the Punjab Assembly is the first house convening its opening session.
“Punjab Governor Balighur Rahman has called the Punjab Assembly session for Friday, in which newly elected members of the assembly will swear in and formation of the new government will begin,” a spokesperson for the Governor’s House said on Thursday.
Maryam, 50, is also senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. She is considered to be the political heir of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who surprisingly nominated his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif as his party’s prime ministerial candidate.
The PML-N has nominated Maryam as the chief ministerial candidate of the party in Punjab, a province of over 120 million people.
The PML-N won 137 seats while independents backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 113 in the Punjab Assembly. Separately, 20-odd independents, not PTI-backed, have already joined the PML-N.
The PTI-backed independent candidates have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to get reserved seats for women and minorities besides saving their elected members from being forced to change their loyalty by the military establishment.
However, the SIC may not get reserved seats for women and minorities, leaving the PML-N with a simple majority in Punjab.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan is likely to notify allocation of reserved seats in the Provincial Assembly on Thursday. The SIC is unlikely to get its share amid legal questions as its head himself had not contested on his party ticket and the deadline to submit a list of candidates for reserved seats has passed,” an official source told Press Trust of India here.
Punjab Assembly’s outgoing Speaker Sibtain Khan said since the PTI-backed MPAs-elect have joined the SIC, the party should be allocated reserved seats. “A constitutional crisis will follow if the reserved seats of SIC/PTI are given to other parties,” the speaker said.
Meanwhile, Maryam has already been given security usually provided to the chief minister and she is holding meetings with the top bureaucracy of the province.
Congress-AAP talks on seat sharing in Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana in final stages: Sources 8
The Congress and AAP are likely to have a seat-sharing pact in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana, and the decision is likely to be made public very soon, top sources said here on Thursday.
Talks between AAP and the Congress over seat sharing in Delhi and some other states for the Lok Sabha polls are in final stages and the two sides are likely to announce their tie-up soon, sources said.
Both sides have agreed on the seats to be contested by each party, they said. AAP will field candidates from the South Delhi, West Delhi, North West Delhi and New Delhi seats, while the Congress will contest from the Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and North East Delhi constituencies, the sources in AAP said.
All the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital are currently held by the BJP.
The Congress has also decided to give one seat to AAP in Haryana and two in Gujarat. While the Haryana seat is likely to be either Gurugram or Faridabad, those in Gujarat include Bharuch and Bhavnagar. Former senior party leader Ahmed Patel’s son and daughter were the contenders for the Bharuch seat.
AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that the talks over the alliance were delayed and hinted at fresh developments in the next one or two days.
Earlier this month, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak declared Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas as the party candidate from the South Goa Lok Sabha seat.
He also declared AAP’s Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava as party’s candidate from the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat and Botad MLA Umeshbhai Makwana from the Bhavnagar seat in Gujarat.
Previously, the party announced its three Lok Sabha candidates in Assam – Manoj Dhanowar from Dibrugarh, Bhaben Chowdhury from Guwahati and Rishi Raj from Sonitpur constituencies. The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May.
This incident happened in a society on Mira Road. An 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl live next door and as their parents both go to work, they stay alone at home after school. Of course, the neighbors used to keep an eye on them, but today’s children are so independent from childhood that they don’t need anyone’s help. Both of them used to look at something on their mobiles all day long. One day, when their maid suddenly entered the house, she noticed that both of them were watching a dirty movie and that they were also lying on top of each other. As soon as the woman entered, both of them were scared. The next day, she informed the parents of those children, and when the father looked at the mobile phone, he was shocked to see what the children were looking at. They used to watch pornographic serials on OTT every day. well! They were known to me because of a common friend, the children were sent for counseling, and their parents gave them a warning, but I am sure things are not going to stop here. The dark side of the OTT platform will surely spoil this generation, because when the mobiles were taken off, both the children rebelled and became abusive towards their parents.
Children may accidentally come across age-inappropriate content while exploring OTT platforms. And then they get curious, and that curiosity makes them addicted. In Mumbai, almost all the children stay at home alone and parents go to work. Everyone has their own financial problems. Either they leave the children in the care of a neighbor or maid, or all the children in the neighborhood live together. At such times, there is no guarantee of who will do what. In a separated family, there is no one to tell the children what is good and what is bad. Their mental balance deteriorates from a young age, they start growing up way beyond their age.
Addiction to OTT streaming is a common fear, as individuals often find themselves spending extensive hours engrossed in their favorite shows. This addictive behavior can result in decreased productivity, isolation from social activities, and, in some cases, contribute to feelings of misery. As the OTT is easily accessible, we might not be aware of what kind of content they are watching when parents are not available. Undeniably, people are consuming a variety of content on OTT platforms, with an enormous viewership. These platforms have unleashed incalculable content choices for their audiences. The supply and demand for content have been huge in the last few years.
India is a country of values and ethics with various cultural and religious sensitivities. Concerns arise when content on OTT platforms is offensive, disrespectful, or contrary to traditional values, leading to potential social and cultural pressures. Unfortunate or vulgar content on OTT platforms can have an impact on children and young audiences who may access such content. There are concerns about the exposure of underage viewers to age-inappropriate material and the potential influence it may have on their behavior, attitudes, and moral values.
In response to these concerns, the Indian government has introduced new guidelines and regulations to regulate content on OTT platforms. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, aim to ensure responsible content moderation, establish a grievance redressal mechanism, and address concerns related to explicit, offensive, or vulgar content. It’s important to note that the perception of what constitutes obscene or vulgar content can vary among people and societies, and matching freedom of expression with social feelings is a huge challenge. The implementation and impact of regulations and guidelines will continue to be a subject of debate and discussion in India’s evolving digital media landscape. Rules are made but still, in the name of freedom, there are random violations. What’s the point? If you really think. Your kids at home should be shoved into these kinds of programs, do watch and feel sorry for the new rule.
The problem is that unsavory and vulgar content just to attract the audience and disturb the mental balance is dangerous. In a report, it was stated that a lot of criminals who have committed rapes and crimes have watched these things or have taken inspiration from such content, which is unhealthy for any civilization. And another big problem is that it doesn’t have a proper regulation for age determination, which results in small kids watching such things sneakily and since we all know that these kids will be the future of this nation, it may prove really harmful to us. If something is uncontrollable or something that destroys the harmony of the nation (by inciting violence) or hurts the Indian sovereignty or is not in the good faith of its people, then the government should ban it.
On February 25, the Save Bharat Save Culture Foundation and Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti organized an event to save Mother India from an impending cultural disaster. They will be having discussions on “Misdeeds of OTT & Filmy Duniya – Enablers of Increased Rapes.”. Their aim is to stop the epidemic that is prompting rousing rape, even in small kids and students. Several recent cases came to light where sexually perverted content on mobile was a common factor in rape and crime incidents. Such efforts by civil society can make a good impact if we, the responsible citizens, participate in the cause.
Ashok Chavan leaving Congress can be big dent to the party 12
After a lot of speculation, finally Ashok Chavan joined the BJP, leaving Congress in the muddle. Chavan’s exit is a big loss for the Congress. Chavan was one of the prominent leaders of Congress. Chavan’s were very close Gandhis, his father and the former chief minister, Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan, served as the chief minister of Maharashtra twice, from 1975 until 1977 and from March 13, 1986, until June 26, 1988. He was the finance minister of India from 1988 to 1989 in the Rajiv Gandhi ministry. He also served as the home minister of India twice, from December 31, 1984, to March 12, 1986, in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and from June 21, 1991, to May 16, 1996, in the P. V. Narasimha Rao cabinet. Ashok Chavan has a strong political legacy, one that he did not waste. He was one of the Congress party’s most prominent faces in Marathwada, especially after senior politician and former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh’s demise in 2012. Chavan is credited with retaining a strong grip over his family assembly seat, Bhokar, and influencing the Congress party’s electoral outcomes in both his home district of Nanded as well as the larger Marathwada region, which elects 46 of the 288 state legislative assembly members.
Chavan has a grip in Maharashtra and under his leadership, Congress managed to win a reasonable number of seats in the state. With his exit, Congress will have a lot of challenges in leadership. The remaining big leaders in Congress, like Prithviraj Chavan, state party president Nana Patole, and former minister Balasaheb Thorat, are doing their best but they don’t have Chavan’s status. There are several next-generation leaders but they do not have any base or identity beyond their constituencies.
Ashok Chavan is also a Maratha face in the state. In the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, he was heading the state subcommittee on the Maratha reservation. His identity also gives him a solid stand in the state and the upcoming polls, in which the issue of the Maratha reservation will play a crucial role. Moreover, many Congress leaders who are very close to Chavan may follow in his footsteps by ditching Congress. Chavan has served as a minister in three successive Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-led state governments since 1999, holding portfolios including industries, urban development, tourism, and transport. He was picked as chief minister of Maharashtra in 2008 after Deshmukh was forced to step down after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai that year. Within a few months of taking over, CM Chavan effectively led the Congress in the 2009 general election, and in the assembly polls later that year. In both elections, Congress emerged as the largest party in Maharashtra, bagging 17 Lok Sabha seats and 82 legislators, nearly 20 seats more than its ally, the NCP.
While Chavan won a second tenure as Maharashtra CM after these elections, he had to step down in 2010 after his name cropped up in the Adarsh housing scam. Many within the Congress feel that Chavan’s ouster from the CM’s post without a formal indictment from the investigative agencies proved to be detrimental for the party.
Surprisingly, all the so-called corrupt leaders who were on the radar of BP have now joined hands with them. Prithviraj Chavan’s tenure was marked by Congress-NCP infighting and political scams like irrigation. While Prithviraj had a clean image, he did not have a hold over district-level politics or insight into electoral management. Besides the Modi wave, this lack of strong leadership in the state post Deshmukh’s demise in 2012, coupled with the shelving of Chavan, cost them in the 2014 polls and they haven’t recovered since then. Congress in the state is hapless on many fronts, internal politics is another curse to the party. On the other hand, the BJP is playing smart by picking suitable leaders for their camp, ignoring how corrupt they were.
Chavan understands state politics, he also has a good grip on electoral rallying and strategy, which is greatly lacking in the remaining state Congress leaders. He still enjoys the support of at least seven to eight MLAs, so he was an obvious choice for the BJP to plunder. In Madhya Pradesh, one of the tallest leaders of Congress, Kamalnath, will be joining the BJP. In a nutshell, Congress needs to make lots of efforts to retain its leaders.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the seven BJP MLAs, suspended from the Delhi assembly for repeatedly interrupting Lieutenant Governor’s V K Saxena’s address at the start of the Budget session, to meet the speaker after it was informed that the LG has accepted their apology.
The counsel for the MLAs told the court they would meet Speaker Ram Niwas Goel during the day.
When Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the MLAs to meet the speaker, their counsel said, “As legislators, I don’t think we should have any difficulty in meeting the speaker. However, what we are concerned and aggrieved about is our continued suspension.” Senior advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for the MLAs, said they have submitted a letter of apology to Saxena who accepted it. He said a letter was also sent to Speaker Goel.
“Though we don’t think we did anything wrong, it was meant as an apology,” he submitted.
The high court was hearing the pleas by seven BJP MLAs — Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, O P Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Bajpai, Jitender Mahajan and Vijender Gupta — challenging their indefinite suspension from the assembly.
During the hearing, the MLAs’ counsel said, “Although the court was told that it (their suspension) wasn’t political, we felt otherwise. We wrote a letter to the LG. The LG accepted it. However, there are two developments. Political comments are being made… political messages are floating…” Initially, Mehta said since the legislators have been barred, they cannot go inside the assembly premises.
Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, representing the legislative assembly, however, said the suspended MLAs can go and meet the speaker in his office but they cannot enter the legislative chamber.
As the lawyer suggested that the MLAs should go and meet the speaker with a letter of apology, the judge said he will not say anything on the nature of the proposed meeting but the legislators should go and meet Goel.
”I am not interested in the nature of the meeting. I am not interested in what transpires in the meeting. I am only saying go and meet the speaker,” the judge said, adding the court is not a political platform.
The court said it deals with law, and if an issue can be resolved outside the court, an attempt should be made.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on Thursday.
It had on Tuesday asked the seven BJP MLAs if they were willing to apologise to the LG.
The court had asked the senior counsel appearing for the suspended legislators to take instructions on this aspect after the senior lawyer for the assembly said a similar approach was adopted in the Supreme Court in the case of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha.
The MLAs’ counsel had said there was no difficulty in apologising to the LG.
The MLAs had contended their suspension till the conclusion of the proceedings before the privileges committee was in violation of the applicable rules.
The BJP lawmakers had interrupted Saxena multiple times during his address on February 15 as he highlighted the achievements of the AAP government, while they attacked the Arvind Kejriwal government on a range of issues.
I-T has withdrawn Rs 65 crore from banks 'undemocratically', alleges Congress 15
The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the Income Tax department has ”withdrawn” a sum of Rs 65 crore from its accounts in different banks ”undemocratically” even when the case pertaining to their return for previous years is sub judice.
Party treasurer Ajay Maken has claimed that ”democracy will be over in the country if the action of probe agencies goes unchecked” and said the Congress has full faith in the judiciary.
”The Income Tax department had written to various banks to withdraw a sum of Rs 65 crore from different bank accounts of the Congress and Indian Youth Congress in view of the demand raised by the Income Tax authorities earlier, despite the appellate authorities hearing the case,” Maken told PTI.
He said even when the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which the Congress had moved against the Income Tax department’s claim of Rs 210 crore as recovery for ”discrepancies” in previous tax returns has been stayed and a lien has been marked, the tax authorities have resorted to ”undemocratic action” by taking out the amount from their accounts.
He said the banks have been directed by the tax authorities to take out the money in the form of demand drafts in favour of the Income Tax department.
The Congress leader said the party had written to its bankers not to withdraw any amount as the case was sub judice and hearing in the case before the I-T Tribunal was still on.
”Yesterday, the Income Tax department mandated banks to transfer over Rs 65 crores from Congress, IYC and NSUI accounts to the government – Rs 5 crore from IYC and NSUI and Rs 60.25 crore from INC, marking a concerning move by the BJP government,” Maken said in a post on X.
”Is it common for national political parties to pay Income Tax? No. Does the BJP pay Income Tax? No. Why then is the Congress Party facing an unprecedented demand of Rs 210 crore,” he asked.
”During today’s ITAT proceedings, we presented our case. The hearing is set to continue tomorrow. The funds in question were raised through grassroots efforts, including crowd funding and membership drives by the IYC and NSUI,” the Congress leader said.
”This situation raises a crucial question about the state of democracy. Is it under threat? Our hope now lies with the judiciary. #Democracy #Judiciary,” he said in the post.
Giving further details, he said while Rs 60.25 crore has been taken out in the form of demand drafts from Congress’ three bank accounts, a sum of Rs 5 crore has been withdrawn from the accounts of Indian Youth Congress.
He said while the sum of Rs 17.65 crore has been taken from the Bank of Baroda, K G Marg, Connaught Place branch; Rs 41.85 crore from Union Bank of India, Connaught Place branch; and another Rs 74.62 lakh from the Punjab National Bank account of the Congress party, totalling Rs 60.25 crore.
”Alarming Update: Concerns rise over the actions of Central Government agencies, potentially threatening the multi-party system in India. If unchecked, democracy in India will be over.
”Without intervention of judiciary, our democratic principles will be endangered,” Maken said in a post on X.
In another post in Hindi, he said, ”Since yesterday evening, Congress has been a victim of the anti-democratic attitude of the government machinery.
”We have full faith in the judicial system of India,” he said, adding that he would share more information on the issue soon.
The Income Tax authorities heard the matter on Wednesday and the hearing will continue on Thursday.
The Congress’ main bank accounts were frozen on Friday over an Income Tax demand of Rs 210 crore but an I-T appellate tribunal later allowed it to operate them pending a further hearing next week, a huge relief for the party which said the move had impacted all political activity.
Maken, who had earlier addressed a press conference to announce that Income Tax authorities had frozen its accounts, said the tribunal has put a lien of Rs 115 crore on its accounts and the party has been allowed to spend over and above that.
Party leader Vivek Tankha, who appeared before the tribunal against the order, earlier said he told the tribunal that the Congress would not be able to participate in the ”festival of elections” if its accounts remain frozen.
Several party leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, expressed their outrage and alleged that the government’s move was an attack on democracy.
Maken said democracy was in danger in the country and detailed the tribunal’s order.
Supreme Court declares AAP's Kuldeep Kumar winner of Chandigarh Mayor poll, quashes result 17
In a major development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the winner of the Chandigarh Mayoral polls. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra quashed the decision by Returning Officer Anil Masih by which be declared BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar as Chandigarh Mayor on January 30.
The order of the apex court came as it found that the Returning Officer had deliberately defaced eight ballots that were cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar so as to make them invalid. The apex court today physically examined the ballot papers and found that they are not defaced. It directed that Kuldeep Kumar be declared as mayor with 20 votes (12 votes which he received and 8 which were for him and were defaced by Masih).
“The eight votes which were treated as invalid by making those markings… counting the eight votes for the petitioner (AAP candidate Kumar) will make him have 20 votes. We direct that the election result by the Returning Officer is quashed. The petitioner is declared to be the winner of the Chandigarh mayoral polls,” the bench said in its order. It further directed the Registrar Judicial to issue notice to Anil Masih for perjury proceedings under Section 340 CrPC for making a false statement before the court that the mark was made on eight ballots as they were defaced.
The bench slammed Masih saying he had “unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election”. The apex court during the hearing noted that eight ballots were cast in favour of the AAP Mayor candidate.
Court rejects CBI’s plea seeking to stop broadcast of docu-series on Indrani Mukerjea 19
A special court on Tuesday rejected a plea moved by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking a stay on the broadcast of a documentary series on Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
CBI special judge S P Naik-Nimbalkar said the court does not have the “inherent power” to stop the broadcast, and asked the probe agency to approach an appropriate forum if advised.
The judge held that the prosecution had not brought to his notice any legal provision for such directions. The docu-series, titled ‘The Indrani Mukerjea Story: The Buried Truth’, delves into the disappearance of 25-year-old Bora and is scheduled to premiere on streaming platform Netflix on February 23. In its application filed through public prosecutor C J Nandode, the CBI had asked the court “to issue direction to accused and others concerned for staying/stopping the featuring of the accused persons and the persons connected with the case in the documentary by Netflix and its broadcasting on any platform till the conclusion of the ongoing trial”.
Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012. Bora was Indrani’s daughter from her previous relationship. Her body was burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district. The murder came to light in 2015, after Rai revealed about the killing following his arrest in another case.
Indrani was arrested in August 2015, and granted bail in May 2022. The other accused in the case, Rai, Khanna and Peter Mukerjea, are also out on bail.
