This temple trust got Rs. 3.8 crores in cash donation on Gurupurnima

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August 3, 2015

The Saibaba Sansthan trust has received Rs. 3.8 crore cash, gold and foreign currency donations from devotees during the three-day ‘Gurupurnima Utsav’, an official said Monday.

Apart from the Rs. 3.8 crores cash, the trust also received 312 gms of gold (ornaments), four kgs of silver (various items) and cash donations in about 50 different foreign currencies from devotees during the three-day event held from July 30 to August 1, Sansthan’s chief accountant Dilip Zirke said.

Giving a break-up of the Rs. 3.8 crores, Zirke said Rs. 2.25 crores were counted in cash boxes, Rs. 75 lakhs were received at the Sansthan’s various donation counters (for which a receipt is issued) and Rs. 8.54 lakhs were donated by devotees online.

The value of foreign currencies received in cash boxes will be calculated later, he said.

During the Gurupurnima, the trust distributed free prasad (holy food) of ‘laddoos’ to 2.27 lakh devotees while 1.92 lakh devotees availed free meal, Sansthan’s executive officer Rajendra Jadhav said adding that they also sold 93,000 ‘laddu’ packets and 38,000 breakfast packets during the three-day festival.

ABVP members behind lingering strike at FTII?

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

The students’ strike at FTII is “apolitical” but is not getting resolved due to the “reported presence” of same set of ABVP members on the campus who had attacked them two years back, a note from a senior official of the premier institute to the government says.

The note detailing the status of the agitation, before Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Institute, says attempts have been made by most political parties to come and join the protests, but students have, by far, restrained themselves from taking their support.

“They did, however, allow (film maker) Anant Patwardhan and Yogendra Yadav (ex-AAP leader) to visit the campus on the first and second day of the strike respectively, which led many to believe that it is a leftist movement of some sorts. As I understand the protest appears to be apolitical,” the unsigned note by the official to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry said.

The note has been forwarded by the I&B Ministry to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Director FTII has been asked to monitor the situation sincerely and keep this ministry posted regularly,” K Sanjay Murthy, Joint Secretary (Films), said in a brief Office Memorandum to PMO on June 26 to which the FTII official’s note was annexed.

The note, accessed as file noting under the Right to Information Act, said the recent resistance by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students against appointments of certain members of FTII society is “coloured” by their past experience.

“Strong perceptions were formed which were reinforced by some press statements coming after the start of agitation and attributed to some society members that they would teach FTII students a lesson in nationalism etc.”

“Further, on and off, reported presence of same set of ABVP members in campus, who had allegedly attacked the students two years back (as per the statements by students and even posed by media as a question to me yesterday evening) is not helping towards an early movement towards a solution,” said the note.

ABVP is the students’ wing of Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sevak, which has strongly defended the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chief, a move which has crippled the functioning of the premier institute.

Shiv Sena to build memorial for freedom fighter Nana Patil

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

Describing freedom fighter Nana Patil as a man who jolted the British rule in the country, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday announced that his party will build a befitting memorial for the independence activist.

“When I accepted the invite to be a part of this event, someone asked me Nana Patil was a communist and Shiv Sena is against communists. I told him, yes, we are against communists. But, this man (Patil) understood that the British will not leave the country only by Swaraj and peaceful means and they need to be given a jolt, which he did,” Uddhav said.

He was addressing a gathering here on the 115th birth anniversary of Patil, who was popularly known as ‘Krantisinha’ (revolutionary lion).

Thackeray further described Patil, who was a CPI MP from Satara, as a man who lived for the poor and dedicated his life for the country.

“I do not care if he was a communist. What is more important is that he was a freedom fighter. Today it is our government at the Centre and in the state. We also have hold over the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). We will construct a befitting memorial for Nanasaheb in Mumbai that will make the whole country proud,” he said.

Patil was born on August 3, 1900, in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. He was the founder of the revolutionary ‘Prati-sarkar’ movement.

He died on December 6, 1976.

‘I pardon you’ was the last words of Yakub Memon before hanging

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

You people are just doing your duty, so I forgive you – said Yakub Memon just before he was hanged in Nagpur Central Jail on July 30, 2015.

He also said that only he and his God knew the truth.

Yakub, the lone 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict was hanged after dramatic last-ditch legal manoeuvres by his lawyers to stall his execution ended in failure.

The report also quoted sources as saying that Yakub was composed just before his hanging and was not shaky.

Memon turned 53 on the day he was at 7 am, the hour set by the TADA court for execution of his death warrant.

His body was later handed over to his brother Suleman and cousin Usman and was then flown to Mumbai for the last rites.

The execution of Yakub had been described by the Supreme Court as the “driving spirit” behind the 12 coordinated blasts on March 12, 1993, that left 257 dead and 713 wounded.

Astrology on news channels, a revenue gimmick?

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Vaidehi Taman

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August 3, 2015

My first job after getting up from the bed is to switch on the television set for daily dose of news which I missed while sleeping followed by any other routine work of morning. Today, while browsing through the channels, I was stuck on India TV, a news channel headed by Rajat Sharma. Here, an astrological programme was going on. Some Acharya was giving ‘BHAVISHYAVANI’ on the news channel. He claims to be a fortune teller and astrologer who predicts your horoscope and numerological fortune and reveals the connection between your celestial mechanics and the terrestrial dynamics. He guaranteed 99 per cent success, if you followed his instructions. He was giving tips on how to possess a man whom you love. He gave one remedy and some pooja methods to perform in the evening. I wish if I follow that remedy and method I might get Julian Assange. I really had crush on him. If this astrologer gives 99 per cent guarantee of his methods and predictions, then at least I should reach Assange’s gate. These kinds of shows are nothing but a TRP gimmick, if this astrologer is so perfect in predicting things and has solutions and remedy for whatever you want you can possess then he should actually try to own that channel 24/7 and telecast his rubbish thing. As he has all the remedies, I am sure he won’t need to struggle much to earn money, because he has given lots of such tips earlier to bring wealth in life. Indian Ministry of Information & Broadcasting should issue advisories to these TV channels for spreading “misinformation, fear and horror”. Every morning you inject fear in common man’s mind with these programmes. If one news channel says that today your lucky colour is white, then other channel’s astrologer says green. Whom should we trust and from morning 7 to 9 are such a vital time of your life and they waste it for such scrap. I know, we are not forced to see such programmes but it’s a psyche of a common man. Everyone is in distress today and these stupid things make you believe in the astrologer’s comments.

These are minor predictions; recently I saw a bunch of astrologers on Aaj Tak and India TV were predicting that the world will come to an end. People panicked, this programme was telecasted repeatedly. The world has not moved anywhere, it’s still there but the astrologers changed. And new programme started with Indu Jain. It’s too funny. One woman called Indu asked how she will get her missing son home. She predicted and said you have to keep some coins in the right direction of main door and your son will come back. Hello Indu Jain, every day minimum four children are reportedly missing from Mumbai and they have not returned so far, why don’t you ask police to follow these remedies?

One woman suspects her hubby having extra marital affairs, and she again gives solution and promises her that her hubby will henceforth never look at any woman further. Solutions work or not I don’t know but that particular call charges are Rs. Six per minute. At least, you have to hold on the phone for 5 minutes means you will definitely lose minimum Rs. 30 from your balance. Such telecast generates lakhs of rupees through these types of programme. I think, family court should hire people like Indu Jain to solve divorce issues and resettle the families with her remedies.

The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) members should be more caution while broadcasting such content. Moreover, hardcore news channels should stop practicing such things. The commercial aspects of news channels are sucking the brains of common man by installing such superstition. They claim that daily dose of ‘Bhavishyavani’ aims to give you practical solutions to all your problems. Just dial 0120 – 2517251 and make a refreshing start to know your stars, just a phone call away. How emotional fools we are? They want to extract benefits by pinching your pocket early in the morning, and for one in ten thousands by fluke if that works, he becomes publicity manager for the TV channels and astrologers. The much faster and effective publicity is word of mouth publicity, these entire bunch of astrologers are very good at social engineering. They are better than even Kevin Mitnick. They are the real hackers, they hack your faith, your emotions and over all, the revenue from your pocket without your knowledge. I don’t know anyone who gets to reach their destination through these programmes. On the other hand, we take miracle dose to combat our problems, but nothing actually works. One of my employees took Rs. 7000 loan from office. The very next day, I got to know that he has taken the loan to buy an astrological stone to make his stars bright. His faith was forcing him to invest in stone for easy money and quick remedy. He wore that stone, still working on same profile, every month Rs. 2000 is deducted from his salary against that loan and poor guy still waiting for that golden moment where he can scale to his career peak with the help of stone. As a boss, I know only of one miracle which will bring success in your life, and that is hard work. Finally, he got frustrated and wanted to sell the stone back, he got only 30% return, 70% of his money was falsely wasted in superstition. Imagine, how many like him must be getting fooled every day?

I remember an astrologer called Dr. Sharma predicted the occurrence of a mass casualty in the country within the time span of 90 days in his programme “Rashichaal” on “Sahara Samay”, on the eve of Shani Amavasya. And on the very same day, there was bomb blast attack in Pune. And the next day, the channel announced this is the first major terror strike since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks killing at least eight and injuring 53 lives. It came true on the very same day with the occurrence of our astrologer’s predictions. Damn fools, so many such terror incidences happened in our country without any predictions, and moreover his 90 days period to make believe about such predictions because India is under threat and terror attack. Why he failed to predict who, when and where the terror attack gonna take place. At least, police force would have blessed him in abundance. If these astrologers can really guarantee and predict such big things then shouldn’t they be recruiting them in police force, CBI and with undercover agents, so the investigation may come up with accurate results. No astrologer ever told when Kasab will be hanged, what would be the fate of Afzal guru, are we going to get money back from Swiss Bank or not. Why none of the astrologer predicted about J Dey’s murder?

Why these astrologers predict only on channels with specific numbers and they are not providing their personal numbers? Television is the next fastest-growing medium. It is also the largest contributor to global growth; television’s share of the global ad market has risen steadily over time and shows no sign of reaching a plateau. The amount of time viewers spend watching television continues to increase, and even though viewers are presented with a wider choice of channels than ever. The biggest television show attracting record audiences is astrology and predictions; one of the major revenue chunks is earned by these scraps.

BJP does U-turn, likely to accept UPA’s 2013 Land Acquisition Bill structure

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

In an apparent u-turn by the Narendra Modi government, it appears to have given in to the demands of the Congress party on the Land Acquisition Bill.

According to sources, the NDA government has accepted UPA’s 2013 Land Acquisition Bill structure.

Sources said all the 11 BJP members in the Joint Committee of Parliament on Land Bill moved amendments seeking to bring back social impact assessment and consent clause.

With BJP retracting from its previous position, there is likelihood that the panel headed by BJP MP S S Ahluwalia will come out with a consenus report by August 7.

“It’s as good as our own Act of 2013,” a Congress member of the committee said after the meeting expressing total agreement with the amendments moved by the ruling BJP.

Out of the total 15 amendments in the NDA bill, nine were substantial in nature that have been opposed by Congress and a number of Opposition parties.

Out of these nine six including the provisions dealing with consent clause, social impact assessment, replacing the term private company with private entity were discussed and a consensus has emerged on them, Congress members claimed.

Earlier in the day, news had come in that the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Land Acquisition Bill got an extension of four more days to submit its report on the controversial legislation.

A motion seeking a fresh extension was moved by committee chairman SS Ahluwalia of BJP in Lok Sabha, amid din created by Congress members over Lalit Modi controversy and Vyapam scam issues.

“That this House do extend time for presentation of the Report of the Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 up to 7 August, 2015,” read the motion which was adopted by a voice vote.

Ban on porn anti-freedom, impractical: Chetan Bhagat

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

Author Chetan Bhagat on Monday criticised the government’s decision to make porn sites inaccessible in India, and called it an “anti-freedom and impractical” move.

“Porn ban is anti-freedom, impractical, not enforceable. Politically not very smart too. Avoidable. Let’s not manage people’s private lives,” Bhagat said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Most internet service providers — including Vodafone, MTNL and BSNL — are showing blank pages instead of porn sites. The matter came to the limelight late on Saturday, when a number of internet users across the country could not access pornographic websites.

Bhagat further said that instead of banning porn, the government should “ban men ogling”, “molesting”, and “raping women”.

“Don’t ban porn. Ban men ogling, leering, brushing past, groping, molesting, abusing, humiliating and raping women. Ban non-consent. Not sex,” he wrote on Twitter.

Filmmaker Onir too shared a post on his Twitter page against this ban.

“Would #Kamasutra books be banned for propagating #Unnaturalsex ? #pornban”, he wrote.

Earlier on Sunday, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma loathed the move and said “depriving consenting adults” of watching porn is equivalent to what “Taliban and ISIS is doing to freedom”.

The hashtag #PornBan became a top Twitter trend on Sunday morning. Now, #NextBanIdea is trending on the social media site, with many users posting sarcastic tweets as to what the government should ban next.

“Dear politicians, why the idea of banning corruption never crosses your mind,” wrote a Twitter user, while another Twitter user said: “#NextBanIdea Elections! Democracy already seems dead.”

Government agrees to help deaf-and-dumb Indian girl stranded in Pakistan

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

In a pleasant development, the Government of India has reportedly agreed to help a deaf-and-dumb young Indian woman, who has been in Pakistan for at least 15 years, unite with her family members.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed the development on Monday by tweeting that the Indian High Commission to Pakistan will meet the girl soon and try to help her.

“I have asked Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr TCA Raghavan to go to Karachi and meet this girl,” Swaraj tweeted.

EAM’s tweet was in response to a query made by renowned human rights activist and Pakistan’s ex-minister Ansar Burney in connection with the case earlier.

The development came in view of a fresh campaign launched by some Pakistani activists to unite the hearing and speech impaired Indian woman, who is now 23 years old and stranded in the neighbouring country for at least 15 years.

The renewed push to unite the woman with her parents comes to light soon after the success of Bollywood film ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’.

As per a report in the Express Tribune newspaper, the girl is believed to have crossed into Pak territory as a child.

The Pakistan Rangers brought her to the Lahore centre of social welfare group Eidhi foundation.

As per Faisal Eidhi of the foundation, all her efforts to locate her family or hometown have gone in vain.

First brought to an Edhi Centre in Lahore, the girl was shifted to the shelter in Karachi where Bilquis Edhi named her ‘Geeta’ and has become quite close to the girl.

Using her fingers and facial expression, Geeta says she has seven brothers and four sisters.

Human rights activist and former minister Ansar Burney, who has raised Geeta’s issue three years ago during a visit to India, is now running a Facebook campaign for her.

The foundation activists persuaded Geeta to begin a new life in Pakistan by getting married to a Hindu boy. In her sign language, she refused and made it clear that she will only get married once she returns home.

Speaker suspends 25 Congress MPs for unruly behaviour; TMC, AAP to boycott LS for five days

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

Both houses of Parliament witnessed uproarious scenes on Monday as Congress-led Opposition continued to press for resignations of tainted NDA leaders allegedly involved in Lalitgate and the Vyapam recruitment scam. The all-party meeting called by the Centre also failed to end the ongoing stalemate in Parliament even though the government threw indications that PM Narendra Modi may intervene and make a statement over a host of issues, including the ‘Lalitgate’ controversy and the Vyapam scam.

Congress-led opposition parties continued to stall the proceedings of Parliament, inviting the ire of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who went on to suspend at least 25 opposition MPs for five days.

Reacting to the decision of the Lok Sabha Speaker to suspend the MPs, Congress president Sonia Gandhi termed it as a “black day in the history of India’s Parliamentary democracy”.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also decided to boycott Lok Sabha proceedings for five days to show solidarity with suspended Congress members.

Condemning the decision of the Speaker, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused Mahajan of “not allowing the opposition to speak”. “Democratic processes are not being respected. It is a black day, they want to suppress and oppress us,” he said.

Kharge further said that protesting and raising banners was nothing new. “The Lok Sabha Speaker herself used to get out of her seat to protest when she was a member of opposition,” he said.

Mahajan, however, defended her decision, saying “this is the best I could do”.

“This is a message to every MP who will behave like this. I do agree it is a stringent act, but I was left with no option,” said Mahajan.

This came even as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made a brief statement in Rajya Sabha, claiming she never requested the UK government for former Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi’s travel papers. Her remarks were, however, drowned by Opposition sloganeering.

Earlier on Monday, the opposition parties targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the “brazen attitude” of the government.

Questioning PM Modi’s silence on the issue of Lalitgate and Vyapam, Sonia Gandhi said, “The champion of Mann Ki Baat retreats into Maun Vrat when there’s scandal involving his ministers.”

Left leader Sitaram Yechury also hit out at Prime Minister Modi, saying he becomes “Maunendra Modi on issue of corruption”.

We are boycotting Speaker’s decision. We are supporting Congress on this issue, says Kalyan Banerjee of TMC.

She (Speaker) is guardian of Parliament, our suspension has send a wrong message, will protest for 5 days, says Ninong Ering.

In the last two decades, I have not seen such a thing. The voice of Opposition is being muzzled, says Rajeev Shukla of Congress.

Kate Moss cancels Ibiza trip to be with family

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Afternoon Voice

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August 3, 2015

Supermodel Kate Moss cancelled a trip to Ibiza this weekend after her estranged husband Jamie Hince was spotted with ‘Victoria’s Secret Angel’ Jessica Stam.

The 41-year-old was supposed to visit White Isle with singer Rita Ora and TV presenter Nick Grimshaw for an event. However, she was so worried “all eyes would be on her” so she went to Genoa, Italy with her daughter Lila and her father Jefferson Hack, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“Kate is not in a great place at the moment and she couldn’t face a weekend of partying. She felt that all eyes would be on her and if she looked miserable, it would get back to Jamie. To say she’s going through a difficult time would be an understatement,” The Sun newspaper quoted the source as saying.

Ora tried to persuade her to go to Ibiza as it would “cheer her up”, but it didn’t change her mind.

The source added: “Rita was desperate for Kate to still come to Ibiza, as she thought it would really cheer her up. Even yesterday she was trying to convince her to change her mind.”

She “hated it when other women flirted with Jamie” and so when photographs surfaced of him with Jessica, it “really hurt her”.