The Opposition members on Tuesday staged a walk out in the Maharashtra legislative Assembly to express their dissatisfaction with the financial assistance announced by the state government to rain-affected farmers.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had earlier announced that the state government has doubled the sum of compensation mentioned in the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) norms.
The state government will also offer assistance to farmers in places that recorded less than 65 mm rains in 24 hours, but witnessed 33 per cent loss of actual sown soil, he said.
People who lost their houses and other similar projects will also get Rs 15,000 as one-time assistance, Shinde said. Expressing his dissatisfaction, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said, “The government has not announced a wet drought in the state despite witnessing excess rainfall. This is highly unfair.” “The financial assistance announced by the Shinde government is inadequate and will be of no help to farmers. Hence, we are walking out of the House to mark our protest,” he said.
A government school teacher in Bharatpur was suspended for allegedly molesting girls on the school campus, said officials on Tuesday. “The villagers have complained that a senior teacher Iqbal Khan used to molest young girls.
There’s also a complaint against a member of the School Management Committee as well.
The officials reached the spot and both the accused have been suspended, the principal of the school has also been directed to take note of the SMC and there will be further investigations accordingly on both,” said Sub Divisional Magistrate, Kapil Sharma.
The villagers and locals blocked roads and barricaded the area as they demanded action against the teacher.
The school principal however restrained from committing on any FIR. “I have been told today, the girls confirmed the situation. We will see if a complaint is to be registered or not,” said Madan Meena, school principal.
As per reports, the miscreant molested the girls under the pretext of sweeping and cleaning the area. ” I have had a word with the girls. They confirmed the sad incident. We will thoroughly investigate the matter. I have also informed the higher authorities about the issue. The teacher has been suspended with immediate effect,” said Raghunath Khatik (District Education Officer).
The Supreme Court on Thursday referred to a five-judge Constitution bench the issues involved in the petition filed by rival groups of Shiv Sena in connection with the Maharashtra political crisis.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli referred the petitions to a five-judge bench and said the case will be heard on August 25 by the bench.
The apex court also ordered the Election Commission of India not to decide till August 25 the application filed by Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp for recognition as the ‘real Shiv Sena’ party and allotment of the bow and arrow symbol to it.
The top court, on the request of senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the Thackeray camp, posted the matter before the Constitution bench on Thursday for interim relief on Shiv Sena’s symbol issue.
Uddhav Thackeray-led camp of Shiv Sena had sought stay on the proceedings before the Election Commission of India on Eknath Shinde group’s claim for recognition as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena.
The order of apex court came on several pleas filed by both the factions of Shiv Sena.
Earlier, the Supreme Court three-judge bench had said that some of the issues involved in the Maharashtra political crisis may require a larger Constitutional bench for consideration.
It had also asked the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Rahul Narwekar not to take any action on the new disqualification notices issued against the members of Shiv Sena.
There are various petitions pending before the apex court filed by both the factions of Shiv Sena.
Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had approached the top court challenging the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government and also the Speaker’s election and floor test. Recently they had challenged Shinde group approaching the poll panel claiming they are ‘real Shiv Sena’.
They had also challenged the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s action recognising the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena. The plea said the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognise whips nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of Shiv Sena official party.
Thackeray camp’s Sunil Prabhu had filed a plea seeking suspension from Maharashtra Assembly of new Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs against whom disqualification pleas are pending.
The Shinde group challenged the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker to 16 rebel MLAs as well as the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader, is also pending before the apex court.
On June 29, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. Refusing to stay the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30, the bench had issued notice on Prabhu’s plea against floor test.
After the apex court’s order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister.
On June 27, the top court had granted interim relief to Shinde and other rebel MLAs to file their reply on disqualification notices issued to them by Deputy Speaker by July 12, 5.30 pm. Earlier, Deputy Speaker had granted them time to file reply by June 27, 5.30 pm.
10 people died in a fire at the general district hospital. Health department of the state took this seriously and ordered a fire and electronic audit . Out of 1839 health centers 1667 centers registered for fire audit till the end of May 2022.
Out of 1667 health centers 123 centers have got fire NOC. The government asked for details from the district magistrate of allot required funds to install fire equipment and check the fluency of electricity and do it if not.
In an operation similar to those seen in Bollywood movies, Mumbai police personnel donned outfits of Zomato delivery boys in order to arrest two chain-snatchers who had several chain snatching cases registered against them.
Somnath Gharge, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) from Mumbai Police Zone 12, gave information about the episode. He said that during July and August, 3 incidents at Kasturba Marg police station and 1 incident at Bangur Nagar police station of chain snatching were registered.
After this, the team of Om Totavar and Rahul Valuskar got into action. For proper identification, they went through 300 CCTV footages. During the investigation, police found that a bike, which was also used for the crime, was parked at a railway station. The DCP said the police were sure that the accused would come to take their bike back.
After that, the whole unit of Kastoorba Police donned outfits of Zomato delivery boys and waited for around 3 days around Vithalwadi and Ambivli. When one of the accused came to take their bike, he wasn’t able to flee, as the police had taken out the plug of the bike. The other accused was nabbed later, the police said. They were caught red-handed and two bikes and stolen chains were also recovered.
The DCP said they are extremely clever thieves. They used to go to Ambivli West after parking their bikes at Ambivli East, after committing the crime, to create confusion.
Even after catching them red-handed, the police had to face stiff resistance from the local Ambivli women, who were against their arrest.
The arrested have been identified as Firoz Nasir Sheikh and Jafar Yusuf Jafri. Both are residents of Vithalwadi and Ambivli respectively. They were history-sheeters and had their names registered in more than 20 cases of robbery. Both accused are in police custody.
National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party Tarun Chugh slammed former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah over his local and non-local voters remark and said that no ISI or Afghan terrorist has been made a voter in the region. “Farooq Abdullah’s statement is unfortunate.
He being such a senior leader refers to non-local and local voters. The Constitution of India gives the right to vote to all citizens of India,” said Chugh. He alleged that the voting rights of people who had been staying in the valley for decades were withheld by Abdullah.
“Farooq Abdullah had withheld the voting rights of the people. Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba are spreading the poison to locals and non-locals. The citizens of India have now got their right to vote while under your leadership they were left for terrorists from Afghanistan and ISI and were given the title of refugees,” he added.
He also stressed that the President of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Farooq Abdullah would be given voting rights across various regions in the country as a citizen of India and he thus questioned the credibility of his ‘non-local voters remarks.’
The BJP secretary’s remarks came as an all-party meeting was held at the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Srinagar over the “registration of new voters in Jammu and Kashmir. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also present for the meeting.
The meeting was convened following remarks by the Union Territory’s chief Electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar on the addition of voters to the revised electoral rolls after which the Jammu and Kashmir’s Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) issued a clarification stating that there is no change in the special provisions for the enrolment of Kashmiri migrants.
“There is no change in the rules regarding the buying of property and jobs in the Jammu and Kashmir’s government,” it added. “We will see what all parties think about this law,” National Conference leader AM Sagar said ahead of the meeting.
The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone, however, did not participate in the meeting.
“We as a party neither accept the clarification given by the government in totality nor do we reject it. We know the current administration here or in Delhi doesn’t hold political parties in Jammu and Kashmir in high esteem,” Lone said.
“It’s not the law that’s a threat to us. We’re scared of those implementing the law. If we feel there is demographic intervention or the rights of the people of J&K are compromised, then we will sit on hunger strike in front of Parliament in Delhi,” the JKPC leader said.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party president Ravinder Raina also called a meeting of top party leaders at the party headquarters in Trikuta Nagar.
The agenda of the meeting was to chalk out a counter strategy against the all-party meeting called by Farooq Abdullah and others in Srinagar. Notably, Election Commission on August 17 announced the schedule of the Special Summary Revision in Jammu and Kashmir and announced that the people who were not voters in the Assembly after the abrogation of Article 370 from the region can now be named on the voter’s list.
According to an official, the person need not be a “permanent resident” of the Union Territory for the same.
The move was opposed by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti who called it the “last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy”.
Addressing a press conference last week, Hirdesh Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, J-K and Ladakh, said, “After the abrogation of Article 370, many people who weren’t voters in the Assembly can now be named on the voter’s list to cast their vote… and no person needs to be a permanent resident of the state/UT.”
According to the schedule, Integrated Draft Electoral Roll would be published by all Electoral Registration Officers on September 15, 2022.
The period between September 15 and October 25 has been earmarked for filing claims and objections and all disposals in this regard would be completed by November 10.
Checking of health parameters and obtaining the Commission’s permission for final publication, updating the database and printing of supplements are to be done by November 19, 2022.
The Final Electoral Roll would be published on November 25. The Chief Electoral Officer reiterated that any person attaining the age of 18 years on or before October 1, 2022, who is otherwise qualified to be enrolled as an elector in the Electoral Roll, can apply for his registration during this special summary revision.
The final electoral roll after due disposal of all claims and objections filed within the stipulated time period would be published on November 25, 2022.
Thane police have arrested a man who allegedly killed his wife by pushing her before a moving train at Vasai Road railway station in neighbouring Palghar district of Maharashtra, an official said on Tuesday.
A CCTV footage of the incident, that took place around 4 am on Monday, showed the man, in his 30s, waking up his sleeping wife, dragging her to the edge of the railway platform and pushing her on the tracks in the path of the Awadh Express train. A video of the horrifying incident had gone viral on social media platforms.
The victim died on the spot and the badly mutilated body was later sent for postmortem.
The CCTV footage also showed the man picking up his two children with a backpack and fleeing the platform after the incident.
The man was later spotted boarding a train to Dadar in Mumbai and from there to Kalyan in Thane.
The preliminary investigation also indicated that the man doubted his wife’s character and this led to the incident, he said.
A case was registered against the man under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, the official said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Railway Sandeep Bajibakhre lauded the police team which nabbed the accused.
The Vasai Railway Police has confirmed registering a case against the man who killed his wife and is now absconding with two of his children.
The Government Railway police gave information about the case. They said that the accused killed his wife by pushing her under a train. The incident happened at the Vasai station.
The police said that a case has been registered against the accused under section 302 of the IPC
The police also informed that the accused is still absconding with two of his children and the police search is ongoing.
“Vasai Railway Police registered a case u/s 302 of the IPC against a man who killed his wife after pushing her under the train at Vasai station and absconded with 2 of his children, search on for the accused husband,” the Government Railway police said.
Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid tests positive for COVID-19 10
Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid has tested positive for COVID-19.
He tested positive for the virus in a routine test conducted ahead of the team’s departure to the UAE for Asia Cup 2022.
“Team India Head Coach Rahul Dravid has tested positive for COVID-19 in a routine test conducted ahead of the team’s departure to the UAE for Asia Cup 2022,” read a statement from the BCCI.
Dravid is under the supervision of the BCCI Medical team and has mild symptoms. He will join the team once he returns with a negative COVID-19 report.
The rest of the team will assemble in UAE on August 23, 2022.
Asia Cup 2022 will be played in UAE, starting from August 27 through September 11.
The six teams are divided into two groups with India, Pakistan and a qualifying team in Group A; and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form Group B. Each team plays the other once in the group stage with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Super 4 round. The top 2 teams from Super 4 will qualify for the final.
India is the current defending champion, having won the 2018 edition of the tournament, its seventh title. It is the most successful team in tournament’s history.
India squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
The US government has recovered over 300 documents marked as classified from former President Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, including material from the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI.
In January, National Archives retrieved over 150 classified materials, which triggered the criminal investigation that led FBI agents to raid Mar-a-Lago this month seeking to recover more, The New York Times reported.
The first batch of documents returned in January, another set provided by Trump’s aides to the Justice Department in June and the material seized by the F.B.I. in the search this month, people familiar with the matter said.
The previously unreported volume of the sensitive material found in the former president’s possession in January helps explain why the Justice Department moved so urgently to hunt down any further classified materials he might have.
The Justice Department investigation is continuing, suggesting that officials are not certain whether they have recovered all the presidential records that Trump took with him from the White House.
Even after the FBI initiated to execute a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, investigators have sought additional surveillance footage from the club, New York Times reported citing people familiar with the matter said
It was the second such demand for the club’s security tapes, said the people familiar with the matter, and underscored that authorities are still scrutinizing how the classified documents were handled by Trump and his staff before the search.
Meanwhile, Trump requested a Special Master be appointed to review the evidence taken by the FBI during a raid and a more detailed receipt of seized property was provided, Sputnik reported citing the court filings.
Trump filed a motion in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Monday seeking an order that appoints a special master and requires federal authorities to provide a more detailed receipt of seized property.
The motion also requested an order requiring the return of any item seized that was not within the scope of the government’s search warrant and as per the court filings, the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago are “presumptively privileged” as presidential materials and must be evaluated by a neutral Special Master reviewer.
“Only an evaluation by a neutral reviewer, a Special Master, can secure the sanctity of these privileged materials,” the filings said.
The government initially informed Trump’s lawyers that it planned on using a “filter team” to review the seized materials, however, Trump’s team argued in the filings that their protocols do not ensure that prosecution team members will not become aware of privileged materials.
FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home which is a mansion with approximately 58 bedrooms, and 33 bathrooms, on a 17-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida on August 8.
