Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Raksha Bandhan with young girls at his residence in the national capital on Thursday.
This was a special Raksha Bandhan as these girls were the daughters of sweepers, peons, gardeners, drivers, working at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PMO shared a video on the occasion in which PM Modi was seen celebrating the festival with the young girls.
The Prime Minister was seen interacting with them as they came forward one-by-one to tie Rakhi.
The Income tax department has seized Rs 56 crore in cash and jewellery worth Rs 14 crore after it raided a Maharashtra-based business group engaged in steel and real estate, officials said Thursday.
The raids were launched last week on the business entity based in Jalna district of the state after actionable inputs of alleged tax evasion were received against it, they said.
A senior official said Rs 56 crore cash and jewellery of Rs 14 crore has been seized till now.
Documents and digital data have also been seized.
Pakistan’s paramilitary forces were responsible for 48 cases of killings, including 11 cases of extrajudicial executions in July, according to the Human Rights Council of Balochistan.
The rights group said 45 cases of involuntary disappearances were recorded in the month. “Systematic killings and enforced disappearances are considered to be the most pervasive state violations against the people in Balochistan, affecting hundreds of thousands of civilians.
These crimes are largely carried out by Pakistani security forces and their affiliated militias locally known as death squads,” the Human Rights Council of Balochistan said in its report.
These groups are operating as part of a deliberate and planned strategy often in a sweeping indiscriminate manner to instill maximum terror and fear into the largest possible number of people in Balochistan.
During the month of July, protesting families of the victims of enforced disappearances went through trauma and anguish all-over again as Pakistani security forces massacred 11 people in a fake encounter, labeling them as terrorists of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
According to the rights group, the forces claimed that they were involved in the kidnapping and murder of lieutenant colonel Laiq Mirza Baig.
“Though there is no evidence yet to prove these allegations. In the following days, seven of these victims were identified by their families as previously disappeared persons with the help of doctors and the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP),” the Baloch council said.
The victims were identified as Shams Satakzai, Salim Karim, Dr Mukhtar, Shehzad Khuda Bakhsh, Shah Bakhsh Marri, Jumma Khan, and Muhammad Khan.
After the identification, the families of the victims took to the streets in protest saying their loved ones were already in the custody of security forces and demanded a judicial commission to investigate the massacre, assurance that the victims of enforced disappearance would not be extrajudicially killed and provide information about the whereabouts of the disappeared persons.
But in retaliation, the police charged the protesting women and children with batons and fired tear gas.
The families have been on a sit-in protest for the last 19 days in front of Governor and Chief Minister Balochistan house however, their demands have not been accepted yet. In July, Pakistani security forces forcibly disappeared forty-five persons including ten students.
Fifteen people were released later while the whereabouts of thirty-five people remain unknown. July witnessed an increase in the cases of killings as compared to the previous months. Human Rights Council of Balochistan documented forty-eight cases of killings, including five women while fourteen dead bodies remained unidentified.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday rejected claims by Bharatiya Janata Party MP and his former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi that the JD(U) had split with the NDA as the chief minister was not made the Vice President.
Dismissing it as a totally bogus claim Nitish Kumar told reporters: “You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say that I wanted to be Vice President. What a joke! I have no such desire. Did they forget how much our party supported their President and Vice-President candidate? We were waiting for the election to be over and then convened our meeting.”
“Let them talk so much about me that they may get a position,” Kumar said On Wednesday, Sushil Modi, claimed that Nitish Kumar wanted to be the Vice President of India, an election which was held on August 6, in which NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar emerged victorious defeating Opposition candidate Margaret Alva.
“Nitish wanted to become Vice President of India. Many JDU senior leaders had sent feelers to BJP Ministers to see if it was possible,” Sushil Kumar Modi said in a tweet.
Kumar was sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister again yesterday after parting ways with the BJP and joining the RJD-led Grand Alliance to form government in the state.
Kumar parted ways with the BJP alleging that the party was trying to break the JD(U), and joined hands with the political opponents RJD in the Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday.
Speculation was rife regarding his future with suggestions of his “national ambitions” doing rounds in the political sphere.
The BJP alleged that by joining with the RJD, Nitish Kumar had disrespected the mandate given by the people.
Meanwhile, soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Kumar said that the party made the decision together to leave the BJP.
“The party made the decision together (to leave BJP). I did not want to be the Chief Minister after the previous election. But a lot of pressure was put on me to handle the post. When there were talks with them (points towards Tejashwi Yadav), the decision was made. whether I will stay or not (till 2024)…they can say what they want, but I will not live in the year 2014,” the Chief Minister said.
Kumar also called for a united Opposition ahead of the General elections scheduled to be held in 2024.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal who is known to be a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in connection with the cattle smuggling case.
The TMC leader is now being taken for a medical examination.
Earlier today, a team of CBI arrived at Mondal’s residence in Birbhum’s Bolpur. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 5 had sent a notice to Mondal for interrogation in connection with a cattle smuggling case, sources said.
Mondal was asked to appear in the CBI office at Nizam’s Palace in Kolkata on Monday, August 8.
The CBI on September 21, 2020, had arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant, in connection with illegal cattle smuggling across the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Anubrata Mondal’s name came under the scanner during the investigation of the case, the sources added.
Vice President-elect Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday paide tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
The former West Bengal Governor and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is set to take oath as the 14th Vice President of the country today.
President Droupadi Murmu will administer the Oath of Office to the elected Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 11:45 am today.
Dhankhar was elected as the Vice President on August 6. He defeated the Opposition’s Margaret Alva to emerge as a winner.
On August 7, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey jointly signed the ‘Certification of the Election of Jagdeep Dhankar as the next Vice President of India’.
The BJP-led NDA candidate won the election comfortably with 528 votes against Alva’s 182. The Vice President is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Dhankhar secured 74.36 per cent. He has the highest winning margin in the last six vice presidential elections held since 1997.
The returning officer of the vice presidential election said of the total 780 electors, 725 cast their ballots but 15 votes were found to be invalid.
The turnout was 92.94 per cent, he said, adding that a candidate needed 356 votes to get elected. The Trinamool Congress, which has a total of 36 MPs, including 23 in Lok Sabha, had abstained from the election.
However, two of its MPs had cast their ballots. As many as 55 MPs did not vote in the vice presidential election.
Born on May 18, 1951, in an agrarian household in a village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, Dhankhar completed his school education from Sainik School, Chittorgarh.
After finishing his graduation in physics, he pursued LLB from the University of Rajasthan. Despite being a first-generation professional, he became one of the leading lawyers in the state.
Dhankhar, 71, has practised in both the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He entered public life after getting elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections on a Janata Dal ticket.
He also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. His politics was initially influenced by former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.
Dhankhar, who belongs to the Jat community, later shifted focus to state politics and was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly in 1993 from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.
Dhankhar was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal in 2019. He resigned from the post of West Bengal Governor on July 17 after his name was announced as the vice Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Vice President of India, which is the second-highest constitutional post in the country, is elected through an electoral college consisting of members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
The Vice President is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Dhankar will preside over the proceedings of the Upper House of Parliament at a time when there are apparent divisions between the treasury benches and the opposition.
With Dhankhar’s election as Vice-President, the presiding officers of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be from Rajasthan.
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time after forming a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties.
Kumar ended his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance and rejoined hands with RJD. According to the top source of the Congress from Bihar, the screenplay for the political change in the State was written by a courtesy call. This call was made from Nitish Kumar to Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi when she was battling COVID-19.
During this call of Nitish Kumar to Sonia Gandhi to inquire about her health, the Bihar Chief Minister referred to the pressure being put on him by the BJP, during his political conversation with Sonia Gandhi and he said that the BJP is trying to break his party.
He sought cooperation from Sonia Gandhi for change in Bihar. Sonia Gandhi asked him to contact Rahul Gandhi as well.
However, Kumar gave the responsibility to contact Congress leader Rahul Congress to Tejashwi Yadav. Tejashwi immediately contacted Rahul Gandhi.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi agreed to be in touch with the party in-charge of the state Bhakta Charan Das. After this talks took place and the script for the change was ready. Nitish wanted such a majority so that the BJP could not topple the government by making a dent in it, so remained silent till the figure reached 164 through the Left and Congress and the bet was played as soon as he got the chance.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi suggested that the fallout between his party and Nitish Kumar could be linked to the Bihar chief minister’s desire to become the country’s vice president. Kumar parted ways with the BJP alleging that the party was trying to break the JD(U), and joined hands with the political opponents RJD in the Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday.
Speculation was rife regarding his future with suggestions of his ‘national ambitions’ doing rounds in the political sphere. Kumar was a long-time BJP ally before snapping ties in 2013.
He later joined hands in 2017. Kumar said that there was a unanimous decision in the party meeting in the morning “to break off ties”.
JD-U and BJP had fought the 2020 assembly polls together and Nitish Kumar was made the chief minister of the alliance though the BJP had won more seats. Nitish Kumar’s ties with BJP stretched to over two decades and he was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996.
JD-U leaders indicated that factors including the developments related to the exit of RCP Singh from the party had soured the ties with BJP.
JD-U leaders have also been chaffing at the role of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan during the 2020 assembly polls and have indicated that his putting up candidates from seats contested by the party had damaged it.
JD-U and RJD had fought the 2015 Bihar polls together. JD-U has 45 and the RJD has 79 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly. JD-U is the third major ally to leave the BJP in the past over three years after Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.
TMC workers start cleaning chocked gutters in mid monsoon.
When asked a worker said the gutters get chocked in monsoon as well.
Other senior worker said we have no right to question we do what TMC says.
It’s clear that TMC not doing their job well.
Inefficient work of TMC is seen clear as cleaning works should have done before monsoon and not mid monsoon.
Bombay High Court granted an anticipatory bail to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya who were booked for cheating as they were collecting money for the restoration of the INS Vikrant, Indian Navy’s first aircraft carrier. Mumbai police is investigating this case in which they informed the court as of now they have not received any evidence to prove the charges applied on Kirit Somaiya and Neil Somaiya.
Anil Kokil corporator of Shiv Sena told Afternoon Voice “ It is easy to get a bail especially if person is seeking bail from the BJP party”
A case which was registered against the BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and Neil Somaiya are under sections 420 for cheating, dishonesty, inducing the delivery of the property, 406 for the punishment of the criminal breach of trust and 34 acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in Mumbai at Trombay Police station. INS Vikrant is an aircraft carrier which played an important role during the war in Bangladesh in 1971 after which it was not used. In the year 2013 ship’s maintenance was becoming difficult so it was sold to a private company for approximately 60 crore.
Nationalist Congress party leader Clyde Crasto told Afternoon Voice that “Justice should be equal for all and not to favour anyone and when the government did give permission to collect the funds for INS Vikrant one needs to know”.
Anant Bhiku Nar corporator from Shivsena said “ All the documents, in this case, should be checked thoroughly and also it should be checked on which grounds the anticipatory bail was requested”
Somnath Sangle ex- corporator with shiv sena party told afternoon voice “Investigation is not done properly in a biased manner and when Sena leader Sanjay Raut spoke about kirit Somaiya’s case and its investigation at that time he was further taken for the investigation in patra chawl case”
Balchandra Mhatre shiv sena corporator told Afternoon Voice “Shiv Sena party has trust in Sanjay Raut and why the investigating team not checking all the details of BJP party leaders”
Imagine one transgender women lodged among hundreds of male prisoners how much risk is involved to his/her life. Complaining would mean only one thing – get raped. Frustrated male prisoners can never be kind to them. They are subjected to all sorts of abuse. Not that they would not attack her otherwise, but being silent at least reduces the physical harm. There are hundreds of such horrors in the prison. The transgender prisoners regularly face mental and sexual assaults.
They have to live among several convicted and under trial prisoners, and jail staff – all men – of molesting and raping them. They drop complaint letters in the grievance box, placed under the vigilance of a closed-circuit TV (CCTV) camera and meant to be accessed only by the designated visiting magistrate. Similar complaints were also made to the prison superintendent. However, neither the prison authority nor judiciary came to their rescue. In 2020 petitioning the court or informing the lawyer became difficult as a lockdown was imposed and jail mulakat (visits) were abruptly stopped.
Finally, some relief five more Central jails in Maharashtra have been identified by the prison department for housing transgender inmates. At present, transgender persons apprehended from any part of the state are brought to three prisons – Thane, Yeravada and Nashik – and are kept in cells separate from male and female prisoners. Creating spaces for transgender inmates in more prisons would reduce the possibility of any overcrowding in future if their numbers were to rise. Further, it would become possible to lodge them in a facility closer to their hometown, making it easier for friends and family to visit. At least they can feel protected.
Understanding how transgender people, who committed criminal offenses and are detained in prison is real concern. They need counselling, they are already stigmatised by society by and large and in such circumstances when they commit crime and reach prison they are treated in human because their sexual orientation is not normal. For trans women who survive on traditional systems like badhai and mangti, being uprooted from their immediate ecosystem meant not just a loss of livelihood but also exposure to bodily threats. Attacks and public humiliation have been a common experience.
In jail, the transwomen were placed in a “separate ward” assigned only to those suffering from infectious diseases like tuberculosis, leprosy, scabies and HIV. The prisoners here are neglected, and so is the barrack and they would be in a constant fear of getting infected. Transgender woman needs constitutional provision to safeguard transgender women’s rights in prison? Are they not Indian citizens? Are they placed among male prisoners only to satiate the lust of prison officials and other prisoners? Government should grant them dignity to live in each circumstance.
