Home Blog Page 4252

If quota is reviewed, it should be to help development: Hardik Patel

By
Afternoon Voice
-

Hardik Patel, spearheading an agitation for reservation for Patels, on Friday said that if the quota system is to be reviewed then the exercise should be done in a manner that helps development.

“Mohan Bhagwat’s statement is political, we have nothing to do with that. If the reservation system is to be reviewed, then it should be done in a way that helps achieve development and not in a political manner to do away with reservation,” Hardik told reporters when asked about the RSS chief’s recent remarks.

ISIS may attack India using Pak sleeper cells: Subramanian Swamy

By
Afternoon Voice
-

In the backdrop of reports claiming that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threat is looming over India, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ponder upon those options which could be used by these dreaded militants to take Pakistan’s help to accomplish their mission.

Swamy took to microblogging website Twitter urging PM to step up action against ISIS and wrote: “Now PM must analyse options to meet ISIS proposed terrorist attacks on India using Pak sleeper cells and counterfeit money.”

Recently, according to an internal recruitment document of the feared group which also seeks to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror, had reportly said that the ISIS is preparing to attack India to provoke an Armageddon-like confrontation with the US.

An investigative story published by the USA Today and reported by American Media Institute refered to a 32-page Urdu document obtained from a Pakistani citizen with connections inside the Pakistani Taliban.

“The document warns that ‘preparations’ for an attack in India are underway and predicts that an attack will provoke an apocalyptic confrontation with America,” the report said.

“Even if the US tries to attack with all its allies, which undoubtedly it will, the ummah (Muslims) will be united, resulting in the final battle,” it added.

The document was reviewed by three US intelligence officials, who said they believe the document is authentic based on its unique markings and the fact that language used to describe leaders, the writing style and religious wording match other documents from the ISIS, USA Today added.

Earlier, Swamy had expressed his pleasure in one of his tweets which he had posted after PM Modi had first time hit out at ISIS, saying global response was required to effectively combat international terrorism propagated by outfits like the Islamic State.

Rita Ora found love again?

By
Afternoon Voice
-

RitaRita Ora has found love again after long-time in musician Travis Barker, as she has been repeatedly spotted getting cozy with the drummer since meeting him at the Power 106 All-Star Game in Los Angeles.

A source close to the music artists informed that the ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ hit-maker and the Blink-182 frontman have been together ever since the All-Star Game and are very much into each other, says report.

Barker performed his new single “100” at the game while Ora introduced the charity match’s players and cheered them on.

The source added that the 39-year-old American drummer finds the singer interesting and beautiful.

Barker, who was married to Shanna Moakler from 2004 to 2009, was previously linked to UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste, whereas Ora recently split from her boyfriend of over a year, Tommy Hilfiger’s son Ricky.

Would have loved to date George Clooney if I was a woman, says Hugh Jackman

By
Afternoon Voice
-

Hugh-JackmanHugh Jackman says he would have loved to date actor George Clooney if he was a woman because he finds him ‘naughty’ and ‘cheeky’.

Jackman shared a part of one of his interviews on his Twitter account.

It read: “Who would I date if I was a woman? I reckon George Clooney because he’s funny and he’s naughty and he’s kind of cheeky. And he just looks like fun.”

Clooney, who married Amal last September, says that he is having a “fun” marriage.

“We sure are having fun. We had a beautiful anniversary, and we’re having fun,” Clooney said.

Shedding crocodile tears over farmers

By
Afternoon Voice
-

Politicians are shedding crocodile tears over farmer’s lot. The farmers can be saved only if there is large scale industrialization and dependence on agriculture in traditional way is reduced. Agriculture will cease to be a viable mode of income to sustain family given the small land holding and vagaries of nature. Old methods of cultivation have not lost its relevance and can provide value for money to farmers. In the olden days farmers earned profit and never struggled for survival.

Even though the government has been announcing packages for farmers to face drought conditions but there is no perceptible difference. Farmers in the state have lost confidence in the system and have been committing suicides as they have been unable to repay their debts.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar had toured parts of Marathwada and took out a morcha to the divisional authorities to seek immediate attention of the state government to drought like conditions prevailing in the state. Even though people appreciated Pawar for bringing the drought issue to the forefront but he also received flak for failing to take steps to address this problem when he was the agriculture minister in the erstwhile UPA government.

Despite spending thousands of crores for providing irrigation facilities, the state government has not been in a position to create adequate irrigation facilities in the state. Maharashtra is already known for its farm crisis and reports the highest number of farmer’s suicides in the country.

The position of farmers is precarious. Bankers can camp in areas where the number of suicides are on the higher side. Loans can be waived on deserving cases and in case of need additional funding can be done to make them secured and clear of liabilities. Modern methods of cultivation just like the Japanese way of cultivation can be followed. In barren lands provision for water can be made by installing pump sets. Agriculture officers in Banks can take the lead role in this direction.

Unless areas of cultivation is pulled up and true concept of SHG is implemented no other method will work wonders.  Soil in water conservation with judicious use of chemicals, supplemented with animal husbandry and more emphasis to activities related to Horticulture may bring some positive result. Again, during the off season, the farmers will be compelled to do some useful work to sustain their earnings and not go jobless.

The drought in Maharashtra is a result of climatic and manmade reasons. Amongst manmade reasons, incomplete irrigation projects and overutilization of irrigation resources for water guzzling crops like sugarcane, are some major reasons. Sustainable agriculture and a change in cropping pattern are needed to ward of more severe droughts. The challenges call for a plan on utilising resources and putting to use Maharashtra’s huge irrigation infrastructure which lies incomplete.

C.K. Subramaniam

I’ll Make a rainbow and let Sunshine through?

By
Afternoon Voice
-

What is love? Is it only about union of man and women? Is it about marrying the person in the same community, same religion and same cast? Or can one really look for love outside these boundaries. Who has made these boundaries of love? Is it the society we live in or is it we who have built these walls around love? These were some thought that came to my mind when Humsafar trust asked me to make a dance drama for them.

Issues regarding Gay and Lesbianism are hot topic of discussion today and when Ashok Row Kavi, Vivek Anand, Pallav Patankar and Sonia Giani the main authorities of Humsafar trust that deals with LGBT issue met me to make a musical for them, I went into deep thought. I wanted to come up with a story that would talk about the issue in a very sensitive manner and not make fun of homosexuality like it is mostly done in Bollywood films.

Every dancer is inspired by mythology and I am no different. As a dancer I always look for pieces from myths and history to make my dances more realistic and heartfelt. Being an avid reader of world mythology for the last 35 years, I decided to pick up a heart warming love story from the Greek Myth. The story of god of light and art – Apollo and his gorgeous lover Hyacinth.

The myth says that Hyacinth was a beautiful youth and lover of the god Apollo, though he was also admired by West Wind, Zephyr. Both Apollo and Zephyr loved Hyacinth and proposed love to him, Hyacinth announced that whoever proved their strength to him he would give his heart to that person. Zephyr showed his strength and power by destroying things on earth where as Apollo created music. Hearing and seeing the wonderful creation of music by Apollo, Hyacinth fell in love with him leaving Zephyr jealous and angry. One day after making love, Apollo and Hyacinth took turns throwing the discus, Hyacinth ran to catch it to impress Apollo and was struck by the discus as it fell to the ground, and died. A twist in the tale makes the wind god Zephyrus responsible for the death of Hyacinth. His beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo’s discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth. When he died, Apollo did not allow Hades to claim the youth; rather, he made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood. It is said that, tears of Apollo stained the newly formed flower’s petals with the sign of his grief.

This sensitive story talks about Greek gods having gay relationships and I found it to be apt for Humsafar trust new musical. I finally got  ago ahead from them and I feel humbled to inform you all that this is the first musical in the history of Indian theatre that is crowd funded by 68 people through wishberry. The show will open for public on 4th October in Mumbai and then travel to cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and also do its international rounds next year.

The most difficult task as a choreographer for me was to set the story in a dance manner, the script that I have written is very poetic and the music too is very European, so what dance to use was a big question? Along with my assistants Ankita Dolawat and Ashutosh Arya I sat for days wondering and finally I decided. That being a ballroom dancer, I had to be more inclined towards using the dances that I am trained in. So I decided to show the entire love between Apollo and Hyacinth using the dance of Love Rumba which is said to be the most sensual dance in the world. For the introduction of God Apollo played by Mithun Purandare and God Zephyr played by Yuvraaj Parashar, I used moves of the foxtrot and tango but solo, this is something that I too tried for the first time. Normally foxtrot and tango are couple dances but making someone dance it alone was a challenge, but I must say the look of it solo is very unique and different. Times when Hyacinth played by Raj Kumar Singh is introduced and is enjoying with his friends is depicted with the naughty and flirty cha cha cha, which add more fun to the character of Hyacinth. And the character of Love played by Jesse Randhawa who as the sutradhar of the story appears on stage she performs the contemporary dance, here I have tried to use all the elements of contemporary dance the sad one to the happy one, from improv to Japanese Butoh I have used it all. To show the destruction by Zephyr I used Krumping as a dance known for its power and anger, but for me the most beautiful part was the dance of creation by Apollo where I used the traditional Chinese Long Sleeve dance a dance ideal for this act because as per my script Apollo while proposing to Hyacinth says ‘I will make a rainbow and let the sun shine through’ and during this dance Apollo along with the dancers makes a rainbow using his Chinese long sleeves.

This is my 8th dance drama and I must confess it has been the most challenging one for me. Firstly because I have for the first time mixed varied forms of world dances into the play and secondly I will not be dancing in this one creation of mine, so as an audience I had to be very careful that the show appeals to one and all and at the same time talks about the LGBT issue in a very sensitive and correct manner. I have always believed that good wishes and blessings of people are important to make any project successful and I am writing this today asking you all to bless this play which is made with loads of emotions and a kind thought of raising awareness about a cause that needs attention in our country today.

Artscape By Sandip Soparrkar

Government has cheated people : Chavan

By
Afternoon Voice
-

By levying new taxes the government has cheated the people and is imposing an additional burden on them says Ashok Chavan.

Ashok-ChavhanMaharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Ashok Chavan has alleged that Fadnavis government has levied surcharge on petrol and diesel and increased VAT on liquor, cigarettes and beverages for celebrating its first anniversary. By levying new taxes the government has cheated the people and is imposing an additional burden on them. Chavan had criticised the state government for curtailing funds for the social welfare schemes. He said that when a state like Bihar was able to receive package for development Maharashtra was unable to do the same. Despite having the same government at the centre and state Maharashtra has been sidelined and farmers are suffering hardships due to drought. The Devendra Fadnavis government will complete a year in the office on October 31.

Chavan criticised the state government for deceiving the people by abolishing Local Body Tax on petrol and diesel but levying surcharge on these products. He wanted the state government to withdraw the levy and VAT failing which the Congress will organise an agitation in the state on 5th and 6th October.

“The money which will be spent on organising the state government’s first anniversary celebrations could be utilised for providing financial assistance to drought hit farmers. The government is least bothered about the plight of farmers. Even though the petrol and diesel prices have fallen in the international market but Indian people have not derived any benefit out of it as the government had increased excise duty four times” said Chavan.

Chavan asked why the state government has failed to impose a ban on Sanatan Sanstha and whether it is backing the outfit. “Why has the government failed to take action against the outfit even though it has threatened police and journalists?” asked Chavan.

Leader of Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil charged that the government planned to advertise its “so called” performance, and slapped the additional taxes to raise funds for it.

“I wonder why the government, which has steadfastly refused to waive crop loans of farmers who are reeling under drought, readily gives tax concessions to rich businesses,” he said, alleging that the state government, however, had reduced fund allocation for social justice schemes.

Patil said the government rejected Congress’s demand for farm loan waiver, but revoked the Local Body Tax on petrol and diesel.

“The government will have to bear a burden of Rs 350 crore, but the common man will not benefit by this decision. It plans to use the funds from additional taxes to celebrate its first year in the office,” he said.

By levying additional taxes the state government is expected to mop up revenue of Rs 1,600 crore.

State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked all departments to make a list of how to generate more revenue and cut down on expenditure. We will have a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the same next month.”

Mungantiwar said fiscal burden was about Rs 7,500 crore due to various steps being taken by the government to mitigate hardships of the farmers reeling under unseasonal rains, drought, crop loss and water scarcity.

He rebutted the charge, saying no special provision for celebrating first year in office had been made. “There is no provision other than what is budgeted to propagate the government schemes. Government is a trustee of people’s money,” he said.

Black Money in BJP’s kitty

By
Vaidehi Taman
-

Government said it received an amount of Rs. 3,770 crore from 638 declarations under the one-time black money compliance window that closed recently. “These figures are subject to final reconciliation,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement based on figures provided to it by the CBDT. It added that tax at the rate of 30 per cent and penalty at the rate of 30 per cent is to be paid by December 31, 2015.

The Narendra Modi-led central government is determined to tackle the black money issue, and their election agenda was based on this issue. Since, they came to power they gave different theories on Black money and some of its leaders went on saying this was just a gimmick. They always blamed that previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government failed to tackle the issue of black money.

The window, created under the new anti-Black money Act, saw a hectic rush as declarants made a beeline to meet the deadline at the only I-T office designated for the task. Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (the Act) has been enacted to deal with the menace of black money stashed abroad. The Act also provided for a compliance window for a limited period to persons who have undisclosed foreign assets which they had not disclosed for the purposes of Income-tax so far. The compliance window opened on 1st July, 2015 ended on 30th of September 2015. It said the officer designated to receive declarations worked till midnight even as the e-filing portal was also open till midnight to receive the declarations.

The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015, popularly known as Black Money Bill was passed in Lok Sabha, Black Money doesn’t necessarily have to be owned in foreign countries. Is the government forgetting the point that most of the black money in foreign countries is rather owned in India and saved abroad? There are millions of people here in India who evades tax in the name of sole-proprietorship and what happens to that? Isn’t that money black and not under the purview of this bill? If this bill is aimed only at foreign deposits, then this is another bill wrongly passed and just for namesake. In a step towards delivering on the BJP’s poll promise of unearthing black money stashed abroad, government has introduced the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015, in the parliament.

Tax on all foreign income will have to be paid at the flat rate of 30 per cent without any exemption, deduction, and set off or carry forward losses that the Income Tax Act permits. Enhanced punishment of jail for 3-10 years for willful evasion of tax on foreign income along with a penalty equal to three times the amount of tax evaded or 90 per cent of the undisclosed income or the value of the asset, there is a limited compliance window offer. Offenders would have to pay tax at the rate of 30 per cent but concessional penalty would be equal to the tax amount. Failure to file returns of foreign income or assets will attract a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh. Second and subsequent offence will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment of 3-10 years with a fine of up to Rs. 1 crore. Undisclosed holdings of less than Rs. 5 lakh at any time during a year not reported out of oversight or ignorance will not entail penalty or prosecution.

This black money recovery is just a tip of an iceberg, when this country’s parallel economy is moving on black money. The politicians-businessmen-bureaucrat nexus is main beneficiary of it. I’m sure they are not included in the last of these 638 people. India has been made grazing field by above trio and are deeply involved in this racket of black money. However, none of the central government is sincere and honest to probe them and seize illegal money looted by these people by abusing power. These steps are just an eye wash to fool and deceive people. Even, BJP government is fooling people in the name of black money.

The Bill empowers the Centre to enter into agreements with other countries for the exchange of information, recovery of tax and avoidance of double taxation. To include tax evasion under the proposed legislation as a scheduled offence the Bill proposes to amend the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The right to appeal will be to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and to jurisdictional High Courts and the Supreme Court on substantial questions of law. The tax authorities will have powers of discovery and inspection, issue of summonses, enforcement of attendance, production of evidence and impounding of account books and documents.

The amounts declared cannot be said to be substantial by any standards. In comparison, a tax amnesty scheme called the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) held in 1997 had fetched over Rs. 10,000 crore. Anyway, this can be a big achievement of Modi government. However, focus should be on black money in domestic economy rather than harassing those holding in dollars.

AAP disbands Maha unit; Gandhi says Kejriwal destroying party

By
Afternoon Voice
-

MayankThe Aam Aadmi Party dissolved its Maharashtra unit, triggering a sharp reaction from its National Executive member Mayank Gandhi, who said the party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is “hell-bent on destroying” the organisation by playing “gutter politics.”

The decision, posted on AAP website, said the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) has dissolved “all bodies in Maharashtra.”

Reacting to the development, Gandhi, the most prominent face of AAP in Maharashtra, alleged that Kejriwal is determined to finish the party’s root in the state.

“AAP people had entered politics by forming a party to clean the gutter, but unfortunately on the contrary, members got overpowered by the gutter politics,” Gandhi said.

He took to twitter to express his resentment and said “Beautifully functioning Maharashtra teams dissolved. Sad that politics has won!.”

“Let the high command expel me from the party, but the truth is that the high command himself is hellbent to finish the party’s root in Maharashtra,” he said.

Gandhi had strongly spoken against removal of founder members of AAP like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the PAC in March and said he will continue to raise his voice.

In a veiled reference to Kejriwal, Gandhi said, “It is now true that AAP has only one voice in the party. Whosoever, puts different voice, not matching with high command, he is kicked out.”

“Two type of politics, one that works with the people on the ground and other that do chaplusi in Delhi. The second type has won. Jai ho.,” (sic) he tweeted.

Punish real perpetrators in Mumbai train blasts case: Owaisi

By
Afternoon Voice
-

OwasiMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said the sentence in Mumbai train blasts case was reflection of “misrule” of Maharashtra’s erstwhile Congress-NCP government and called for punishing the real perpetrators to give justice to the victims.

Reacting to sentence pronounced by special MCOCA court sending five convicts to the gallows and seven others to life terms in the case relating to July 11, 2006 blasts which killed 189 people and injured 829, he said punishing others in place of the guilty was injustice.

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader hoped that the high court will do justice by taking into account the fresh evidence in the case.

“#Mumbai train blast verdict is reflection of governance of Congress & NCP this will raise Qs about their bias, botched investigations,” the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

Owaisi later told reporters that the Indian Express in its expose revealed that Sadiq Sheikh, an alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative, stated in a video recording in 2009 that IM group carried out the blasts to take revenge for Gujarat riots.

He noted that then Crime Branch head Rakesh Maria filed a charge sheet saying Sadiq Sheikh and IM carried out blats while Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Raghuvanshi in his charge sheet named 12 others.

“This latest evidence shows the rampant corruption, misgovernance and miscarriage of justice with Muslim youth during 15-year rule of Congress and NCP,” he said.

The MIM chief said many Muslim youth were still in jails without evidence. He also cited the example of Malegaon blast as it is still not clear whether it was carried out by a Muslim or Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Col. Prasad Purohit (retd.). “ATS says one thing and NIA says something else.”

Owaisi hoped that Himayat Baig, who was sentenced to death in the Pune blast case, will also get justice when the case comes to a conclusion.

He said Himayat Baig case, train blasts case, Aurangabad arms haul case and both bomb blasts in Malegaon happened under Congress-NCP rule and all were busted up due to confusion. “Innocents are going to jail while the real perpetrators are not being punished,” he said and asked the two parties to react in view of the new evidence in train blasts case.

1...4,2514,2524,253...5,575Page 4,252 of 5,575