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Virushka celebrates second wedding anniversary with heartfelt messages

December 11, 2019

Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma shared an extremely adorable throwback picture along with a heartfelt note for her dearest husband and Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, on their second wedding anniversary.

The 31-year-old actor hopped on to Twitter and wrote,” To love another person is to see the face of God” -Victor Hugo. The thing about love is that it’s not just a feeling, it’s much more than that. It’s a guide, a propeller, a path to the absolute truth. And I am blessed, truly, wholly blessed, to have found it (with a heart emoji).”

“To love another person is to see the face of God” -Victor Hugo
The thing about love is that it’s not just a feeling , it’s much more than that . It’s a guide , a propeller, a path to the absolute truth . And I am blessed , truly , wholly blessed, to have found it ❤ ? pic.twitter.com/FGgarCdlm6

— Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) December 11, 2019

The picture which is shared by Anushka is from their wedding shows the two love birds posing affectionately for the camera.

Virat also posted a picture on Instagram and wrote- “In reality, there is only love and nothing else. And when God blesses you with the person who makes you realise that everyday, you have just one feeling, gratitude.”

View this post on Instagram

In reality there is only love and nothing else. And when god blesses you with the person who makes you realise that everyday, you have just one feeling, gratitude❤️

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Dec 10, 2019 at 8:39pm PST

In the picture shared by the cricketer, Virat is planting a kiss on Anushka’s forehead, while the actor is seen looking affectionately into his eyes with a smile on her face.

The ethereal couple secretly got married in a fairytale wedding which was only attended by the couple’s family and friends on this day in 2017. Post their nuptials in Italy, the couple hosted grand receptions in Delhi and Mumbai.

Sara Ali Khan shared picture of herself, wrote sasti Rekha in fiery shayari

Web Team

December 11, 2019

Sara Ali Khan is not just appreciated for her acting skills, but also for her amusing sense of humour. The actor had the Internet chuckling away on Wednesday after she posted a picture flaunting her poetic skills. She shared two beautiful close-up pictures of herself on Instagram, and made a rather unusual comparison with the yesteryear’s gorgeous actor Rekha.

Her caption made sure that the focus was on what she wrote and now how she looked. Addressing it as “sarakishayari”, she really focused on keeping the rhyming scheme intact in her caption.

“इन आँखों की मस्ती ?
Rekha Ji se hai Sara bahut सस्ती ?
Luckily, voh apne aap pe hi हस्ती ?
She says all this and then voh फस्ती ?
#sarakishayari #ShouldWriteADiary #UffSoFiery
?: @dop007”

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इन आँखों की मस्ती ? Rekha Ji se hai Sara bahut सस्ती ? Luckily, voh apne aap pe hi हस्ती ? She says all this and then voh फस्ती ? #sarakishayari #ShouldWriteADiary #UffSoFiery ?: @dop007

A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) on Dec 10, 2019 at 7:31pm PST

On Sara’s post Varun Dhawan, who will share screen space with her in their upcoming flick ‘Coolie No. 1’ took a dig at Sara and, along with an emoji, wrote, “U have alot of free time.”

Citizenship Bill is a positive step taken by the centre

C K Subramaniam

December 11, 2019

After over seven-hour-long debate, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha that seeks to grant citizenship to refugees from the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Bill was passed 311-80 with zero abstentions after the Opposition put up a spirited attack against it.

It is of utmost importance to provide relief to thousands of helpless Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and adherents of other faiths fleeing from state sponsored persecution and violence in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is indeed a real test for political parties. Politics apart, will decide where their soul, heart, mind and vision is. The present set of parliamentarians must be congratulated for initiation to set right a Himalayan blunder of partition. Opposition must introspect whether they are willing to repeat the blunder. Citizenship Bill is an impartial positive step taken up by the Centre to help those who possesses the eligibility with their birth right and it will benefit if properly implemented. It is a right step in the right direction.

This is a simple amendment but hits at illegal migrants. This will benefit the Bengali refugees the most. There is no need to fear as of now. And anyone who has or does not have document is welcome. Refugees need not fear but those coming here illegally are not welcome. The majority of parties representing the northeastern States supported the Bill, as their concerns had been taken care of.

Constitutional validity of the Bill is subject to scrutiny by Supreme Court. However the Bill has the merit of safe guarding persecution of minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who used to come to India as refugees. Opposition parties outcry is not acceptable and some of them are staunch anti-Hindus. After all, the two nation theory was based on religious lines. It was the stupidity of Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan for not insisting complete population exchange. The treaty was worthless as the paper on which it was written on. Hindus were wiped out in Pakistan whereas, the Muslims flourished in India. As a result, we are faced to bear the brunt of unequal population and stress on limited resources, not to mention terrorism.

Millions of citizens of undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in the said areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh when India was partitioned in 1947. The constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh provide for a specific state religion. As a result, many persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities have faced persecution on grounds of religion in those countries. Some of them also have fears about such persecution in their day-to-day lives where right to practice, profess and propagate their religion has been obstructed and restricted. Many such persons have fled to India to seek shelter and continued to stay in the country even if their travel documents have expired or they have incomplete or no documents.

Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 after a rich and extensive debate. I thank the various MPs and parties that supported the Bill. This Bill is in line with India’s centuries old ethos and has strong belief in humanitarian values.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 11 December, 2019

Web Team

December 11, 2019

Morale booster for the BJP

The victory of the BJP and that too in a stupendous manner in the Karnataka by poll goes to show that the people especially the commoners still believe in the leadership of the party and they are positive that the outfit will deliver what the common man wants. The ruling BJP on Monday had swept the Assembly by polls in Karnataka winning 12 of the 15 seats to help the four-month-old Yediyurappa government retain majority. The victory in fact comes as a breather and a morale booster for the saffron party after its recent setback in Maharashtra. The results also expose the pathetic picture of the Congress winning only two seats and it has lead to the resignation of two of its stalwarts Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao. The oldest party didn’t foresee such a plight as it thought that the ” script ” worked in Maharashtra may do wonders in Karnataka, only to get dismayed that such ‘ piggy ride ‘ and “odd coalition” strategies do not work often and it is high time it goes for a mighty revamp or else go into oblivion. For the BJP this is a good lesson and the leadership must now fulfill the promise and pledges given to the people. The saffron party has to realise that in spite of severe criticism on Article 370, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill , economical crisis and price hike still the people supported BJP as they do believe that the party can fulfill their hopes and wishes. The leaders of the party must not get conceited and vainglorious and it is high time for the party and it’s helmsmen both in the state and the centre, to really feel the pulse beating of the people and try their level best to mitigate the woes of the citizens.

M Pradyu

Provision of filing time-consuming mercy-petitions should be abolished

Supreme Court should instead of wasting precious court-timings on hearing a review-petition by last of the four convicts in infamous Nirbhaya rape-cum-murder case, should rather impose exemplary cost on filing a review-petition on totally baseless grounds like likely auto-death by pollution and reduced life-expectancy in present era as compared to millions of years ago. Notably Supreme Court has already dismissed review-petitions on death-sentence filed by other three convicts in the case.

Even setting up of fast-track court in the matter took seven long years on likelihood of the four convicts to be hanged to death in near future. Since before Supreme Court, the matter has crossed two stages of trials at trial-court and High Court with both of these confirming death-sentence, it is grossly unjustified to defer the matter further in name of review. System should be to allow filing of review-petition on death-penalty earlier confirmed by the Supreme Court only in cases where either of trial-court or High Court might not have concurred with Supreme Court. Provision of filing time-consuming mercy-petitions should be altogether abolished. Some early and extra hangings that too to deserving ones will practically save lives of many more by preventing rapes and murders as criminals will then only be fearful against death-penalty.

Madhu Agrawal

Fielding is key to success in T-20 games

Every run counts in a format that is limited to 20 over games. Captain Virat Kohli has reasons to be frustrated as our teams fielding has not been upto the mark and this can cause India dearly in next year’s T20 World Cup. Perhaps the boys are playing too much cricket and they show lack of efforts due to fatigue. Physical conditioning camp too is important to test agility and mental balance.

We have a good batting and bowling unit but we need a good fielding coach like Jonty Rhodes to keep the boys on their toes all time. Every run saved is like an extra run scored and Kohli who himself is an fitness fanatic apart from being an excellent fielder should work on his teams fielding abilities as margin of error in fielding department if substantial can cost India many matches in T-20 tournaments!

S.N.Kabra

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

2002 Gujarat riots: Modi-led government gets clean chit

Web Team

December 11, 2019

Today, the report of the Nanavati-Mehta Commission that was tabled in the Gujarat assembly has given clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

Reportedly, the minister of state for Home, Pradeepsinh Jadeja tabled the report in the House five years after it was submitted to the then state government.

It is reported that in 2014, retired justices G T Nanavati and Akshay Mehta had submitted their final report on the 2002 riots. In this report, it was mentioned that over 1,000 people who mainly belonged to the minority community were killed when Anandiben Patel was the chief minister of the state.

The commission was appointed in 2002 by the then state chief minister Narendra Modi to probe the riots that had taken place after the burning of two coaches of the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra railway station in which 59 ‘karsevaks’ lost their lives.

#SuitcaseTrend – Three incidents in as many as 2 days

Hema Singh

December 10, 2019

The #SuitcaseTrend, sounds something interesting, right? However, the incidents that have happened in Mumbai and its adjoining areas are indeed spine-chilling crimes. Within 48 hours, the police have registered three cases related to dead bodies found in suitcases. As per a report, in the past two days, the police have received calls from different, locations of the city about the same kind of crime (body found in suitcases). All these incidents are both shocking as well as brutal.

List of incidents:

Panvel

An unidentified decomposed body of a man who would be around 35 year old was found inside a rexine suitcase near a stream that lies between Harigram and Panvel.

According to police, the incident came to light when a tribal boy, who had gone to catch crabs from the river, spotted a hand hanging out of a suitcase. The curious boy then called the Panvel police and informed them about the bag. On receiving the phone, the police immediately rushed to the spot and saw the decomposed body of a man inside the bag.

The senior police inspector Ashok Rajput of the Panvel police station said, “The suitcase was found in the bushes just seven feet below the road and a few feet above the river. This particular area is less frequented by people. The incident came to light when a local boy, who had gone to the river to catch crabs, noticed the suitcase. He informed the police about the incident.”

The police feel that the suitcase might have been thrown out from a moving vehicle as it was found among the bushes. Currently, the police have registered a case against an unknown person. Further information in this matter is awaited.

Thane

A-47-year-old man has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing and chopping the body of his
22-year-old daughter in Thane. As per the police report, the accused identified as Arvind Tiwari after killing his daughter, chopped the body and stuffed it into a suitcase. With the suitcase in his hand, Tiwari boarded a rickshaw. Getting a little curious, the driver asked Tiwari as to what he was carrying in the suitcase as it was emitting foul smell. Hearing this, the accused panicked and fled the scene leaving the suitcase behind. After that, the driver opened the suitcase and found the chopped body parts of the woman. Following this, he informed the police about it.

It is reported that, only the bottom part of the lady’s body was recovered. The body was chopped into three parts to fit into the suitcase.

The Kalyan police started the investigating the case with the help of a CCTV camera which is installed near the Kalyan railway station from where the accused had fled. The footage was recovered from Titwala railway station from where he boarded the train with the suitcase. The CCTV footage also showed the area from where the accused had boarded the rickshaw. And with the help of the CCTV footage, the police arrested the accused.

During the interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. The accused admitted that the deceased was his daughter whose body he had chopped. According to the police, the accused killed the daughter as she was in relationship with a man of whom he disapproved. And this led to an altercation between him and his daughter and in fit of rage, he killed her.

Reportedly, the accused’s daughter had come from her native place in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh four months ago after completing her graduation. The accused and deceased stayed in Titwala while his four daughters and wife stayed in Jaunpur. The deceased Princey worked in a Bhandup-based private firm as a clerk. The accused said that despite repeated warnings, when his daughter did not listen to him, he killed her.

Mahim

Last Saturday, the Mumbai police arrested a teen and her boyfriend for killing and chopping a guitarist and stuffed his body in suitcase. After killing the man they threw the suitcase in a river.

Earlier on December 3, the police had recovered the suitcase that carried the body of the same man from Makhdoom Shah Baba Dargah in Mahim. Then they found the man’s leg, a hand and mutilated private part inside. Following this, police had started their investigation. Police on Tuesday recovered a suitcase from Mithi river in BKC area containing a limb and an arm of Benett Rebello.

The body of the deceased was covered with sweater inside the suitcase and that became a clue for the police in solving the gruesome crime. The sweater was stitched at a shop in Kurla called ALMO Men’s Wear. From there, the police found a receipt in the name of one Bennett and finally reached the accused.

Reportedly, the accused identified as Aradhya Jitendra Patil and her 16-year-old boyfriend killed Bennett Rebello on November 27 at his house at Dwarka Kunj in Vakola. They killed the 59-year-old man with a knife and bamboo stick.

The police said that the girl was adopted by Rebello. The girl and her boyfriend have alleged that Rebello had sexually assaulted her and opposed their relationship as the boy was younger than her.

Bar Bala and Betrayal

Vaidehi Taman

December 10, 2019

One night around fifty bar girls were paraded on highway between Dahisar checkpoint and Kashimira junction, the girls were picked from their workplace, and led to the police station at night. Although police officials shrugged off the action as routine, which was intended to deter illegal activities in the orchestra bars, the unusual ‘procession’ has ignited a major controversy. But this act of police has brought lot of a embarrassment for these females. The spectators were watching them; the cops were not even kind in their approach. Though dancing in bar is not illegal. The Supreme Court has already struck down a state government’s imposed ban on dance bars as it violated bar dancers’ right to earn a livelihood. So they drafted some rules, which have put bars in an awkward situation. The draft rules restrict the number of dancers on the floor and also prescribe a minimum distance between the performers and the audience, meaning customers can’t dance on the floor. Further, smoking would not be allowed inside dance bars, nor would flashing of currency notes be permitted.

The state government draft specified that every dance bar must have CCTVs with the feed beamed live to the nearest police station. Since dance bars were always a guilty pleasure, the rules were unlikely to attract any customers with cops watching the proceedings all the time. Striking down all these old rules now SC says alcohol is allowed, no CCTV in Maharashtra dance bars. While the Court set aside the condition to install CCTV cameras in the bars on grounds of privacy, it prohibited showering of currency notes on the dancers, which is likely to be impossible to follow. The bench also quashed the provision mandating that dance bars in the state should be located at least one km away from religious places and educational institutes.

With the ban on bar Mumbai was at peace for some years, suburban areas were clean. Crime ratio gone down and glamour and glitz city was limited to pubs, parties and movies. On the other hand, those who survived on bar dancing got into prostitution or sex slavery. More than a few hundred young women were migrated from Kolkata to Mumbai. After the Maharashtra government shut down Mumbai’s dance bars in the garb of curbing ‘immoral activities’ they all were sent back to their native place. Some went to foreign land. Pimps and flesh traders flourished exploiting these women. Mumbai is already cursed with many illicit activities. All former agents who switched to better jobs returned to their original profession and will be busy gathering bar dancers. After the dance bars reopened with fewer rules to follow, they’ll all be accommodated eventually. Relocation means occupying flats in Mira Road and Navi Mumbai like areas, where low-income middle class families reside. Return of bar dancers may hike the property prices. Estate agents prefer to allot houses to these dancers for more money. The common public may suffer. But looking at larger picture, even these bar professionals too hail from middle class community, who needs to survive.

Any law or ban made on a purely moral basis should be struck down. After all, morality is relative, and should not be enforced. Plus, banning these activities will lead to only further exploitation of the said women, as they would be pushed into illegal work options. What is really needed is the enforcement of law and order, which ensures that the women work in a secure environment. Legislature, Executive and judiciary are the three important structures of the government. I understand judiciaries stand, but why are they not equally prompt over other corruption and crime issues? If the logic is accepted then the government of India should start dance bars all over India and grant loans for this business to attract FDI. If the Supreme Court’s verdict of opening closed dance bars and having easy rules is applauded, but SC should now legalize prostitution. There is nothing wrong in working as a bar girl and making wealth and living lavishly. Bar girls have their way to sex trading, many men were cheated and looted by these girls.

We have seen many criminal cases in the past. The question here, is this the only way we can liberate poor women? Somewhere we are confusing issues. While women need right to work, safety and dignity at work place, dance bars surely don’t fall in that category. Bars are fronts for destructive men. Moreover, many of them are run on investments by the cops themselves supported by the sleaze money that flows through the system. The dancing women may be making gold jewellery but quite a few men who become addicted to these dancing beauties have pauperized themselves and their families. The need of the hour is to evolve a code of conduct for running the dance bars so that anti-social elements do not find the hide out a refuge for illegal activities with the connivance of the bar owners and staff. As long as the dignity of women is not violated there is no harm in pursuing the dancing profession in bars. But the harsh fact is that, no such profession is blessed with dignity. Both the woman who wants to earn quick money and man who wants to live so called happy lusty moments are aware this is not the dignified place. We talk morals and liberty when it comes to other woman and benefit to a man himself, but he will keep a tight eye on his own female family member if she wishes to pursue dancing in Bar as a profession.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Four fake doctors held for running illegal clinic in Sion

Hema Singh

December 10, 2019

The Crime branch of the Wadala police station arrested four fake doctors who were practicing allopathy in Sion on Tuesday. They were illegally running clinics without any medical degree. According to a press release of the crime branch, they got a tip from their sources and sent a dummy customer at a clinic for confirmation. Following this, they conducted raid at the four places in Sion.

The police said that the accused are only 12^th passed. The arrested four were identified as Rakesh Raghunath Tiwari (44), Dalsingh Sitaee Yadav (59), Motilal Videshi Maurya (59) and AnilKumar Jagdishprasad Bind (41). The cops also seized several injections and various tablets from them.

Sub-police inspector of Wadala crime branch 4, Santosh Rastogi said, “The three accused were running the clinic at Jaibharat Matangar which is besides the Dalda Company while AnilKumar was arrested from Omprakash Society in Sion West.”

Police have produced the accused before local Court which remanded them to police custody till December 12. They have booked all the accused under Section (336), (419), (420) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 33 of Maharashtra Medical Protection Act.

Judiciary has failed the people of India

Jayanthy Subramaniam

December 10, 2019

Justice cannot be immediate. But we must also stand beside the victims and those whose rights have been violated. One must also ask why in some cases, justice is slow to pronounce? Is it a question of organization? Or do other factors interfere with the functioning of judiciary? When freedom is threatened to say nothing else, can it be said that it takes time to decide about the verdict of a case.

There are circumstances that require justice to be pronounced quickly. Elsewhere in the world, constitutional Courts, have procedures for delivering justice in a timely manner. Criminal justice system is underfunded, behind times, too many Court holidays, public prosecutors offices and judges don’t attract the best talent and constant adjournment and delays of decades is unacceptable. Justice delayed is justice denied! Both the government and the courts are to be blamed. The public is helpless here. It is time to act in a fitting way.

I agree with the view that justice cannot be instant. However, it cannot be delayed too. It is not a job of the police or someone else to decide in what way punishment should be given to those accused of a crime. However, let us not overlook a few ground realities. During last seventy years after Independence, we have refused to implement legal reforms; we have not implemented police administration reforms; we have refused to have in place a judicial system and procedures which ensure speed and efficiency and which do not allow someone with right political connections to deny justice to victims of any crime.

It is time our lawmakers as also other important stakeholders civil society do some critical introspection and take self-correcting measures as suggested by Chief Justice of India. All bigwigs have to put their heads together and remove the red tape and sluggishness.

Otherwise, people will decide this way only.

Slow delivery system (both criminal and Civil), lack of seriousness about social evils, absence of spirit of the rule of law, unconcerned about economic impact are some of the lacunae in our Judiciary system that has led to citizens to take law into their hands. It will be really grave if Judiciary does not introspect and correct its functioning.

If justice comes after 10, 7 or 8 years what is the need of that justice. Strict guidelines should be framed by Court regarding delivering justice. At first if crimes have been proved against a person, then there is no need to grant him bail. Second, the whole appeal scenario from district to High Court and from there to Supreme Court and then review and mercy petitions further worsen the case. It is not the way good governance work. This whole exploitation of power by politicians, relatives of politicians further aggravates the situation. Setting of fast track courts is of no solution till process of appeal continues. Instead of that, when the victim on the death bed had disclosed the name of accused, a fast track court under supervision of High Court consisting of reputed and senior judges should be constituted whose orders remain unchallengeable.

One would agree that justice cannot be instant. But the Chief Justice of India should be aware that it should not take such a long time of over five to seven years for delivering justice. People have by and large lost faith in the way in which judiciary is functioning and cases prolonged for indefinite period. The administration of justice requires thorough overhauling. It should not take more than three months for delivering justice to the victims of heinous crimes like rape and murder. The judiciary has failed the people of India. People of the country are afraid of saying this lest they will be hauled up for contempt. Judiciary should remain sensitive to the feelings of the people.

Every citizen can understand that justice is never instant but government and judiciary should also understand that importance of time limit.

1) Even after 7 yrs, the Nirbhaya Case culprits are not brought to justice.

2) The main culprit of the Nirbhaya Case has escaped punishment by playing the juvenile card.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 10 December, 2019

Web Team

December 10, 2019

There is no value of human life in our country

The Delhi Anaj Mandi inferno in which 43 innocent people perished and several injured does not come as a shock as we as a nation give scant respect for safety standards be it fire or on any other parameter. Human beings in our country are treated as cattles and do not get the respect associated with humanity. Delhi is the capital city of our country and if laws are not followed here, then less said the better about smaller metro cities and towns.

Corruption rules the roost in our country and laws are overlooked by accepting bribes for petty gains. Citizens too are to be blamed as bribes are accepted if somebody is willing to pay them and there is no value for human life in our country. Our legal and bureaucratic system needs reform and accountability is the need of the hour. Let us not be penny wise and pound foolish and come out with stringent laws to safeguard human lives.

S.N. Kabra

Varsities need a big revamp

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at a convocation a few days ago lamented that very few Indian universities figured among the top 300 in this year’s Time World University Ranking and urged that a complete revamp is needed to enhance quality education in our higher education institutions so that our universities get into the top hundred in the world.
The vice president was addressing students at the 16th convocation ceremony at Symbiosis International University when he mentioned the plight of our universities.
The VP rightly said that, “We have to again make India a Vishwa guru and for that to happen, we have to improve the quality of education in Indian universities. We need to think about the factors responsible for this”.
Our nation stood proud as the education capital of the world in the past with excellent ancient universities like Nalanda, Taxila, Valabhi and Vikramshila and many others spreading its radiance around the globe. They perished with invasions and colonialism. The British era saw a number of Varsities sprout and though they did cater to standard education, these were based on the British educational system and sadly the rich traditional and heritage education of India went into oblivion. Post independence our nation saw the birth of many higher education institutions and they did produce a good number of intellectuals and academicians but somewhere in the line these have become just “degree producing factories ” moulding individuals sans intellectuality. A number of problems have resulted in our varsities losing their sheen. Faculty examination system, inadequate funds or funds not being used effectively, quota system, lack of infrastructure, laxity and sluggish attitude regarding the planning of curriculum are some of the main problems posing as hurdles in the progress of our varsities. Politics is another distraction creating unwanted chaos in the campus. Political interference must be stopped for the smooth functioning of Varsities. Varsities must cater to the need of the society. ! It is high time our Varsities go for a complete change and if this doesn’t happen now the educational scenario of India is bleak.

M Pradyu

Simplify CPGRAM web portal

It refers to modifications done in web-portal Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAM) wherein just 500 characters are allowed to be posted as complaints for six departments namely Post, Telecommunication, Banking, and Insurance attracting maximum use of web-portal. For rest others normal 3000 characters are allowed on posted complaints.

It is rather impossible to convey a complaint in just 500 characters. Department of Administrative reforms and public Grievances managing CPGRAMS portal should restore character-limit of 3000 for these important departments. Also web-portal should be further simplified by removing restriction of special characters in posted complaints. Portal should also incorporate feature to accept suggestions like exists on similar web-link available on website of Prime Minister.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

Providing citizenship rights for only non-Muslims is discriminatory

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was tabled by the government in Lok Sabha, is the most divisive and fissiparous move in the country’s legislative history. The Union cabinet has approved the Bill which has provisions that strike at the very idea of India envisaged in the struggle for freedom, ordained by the Constitution and lived by the people for decades, and even centuries. Last year also, the government had introduced the Bill but it was referred to a joint parliamentary panel. The Bill seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have suffered religious persecution and have come into India. Citizenship of India is not based on religion and so providing for citizenship rights for only non-Muslims is discriminatory. It violates the right to equality and other rights and ideals, including secularism, which form the basic structure of the Constitution. But I sincerely request the parties which have promised support for the Bill should seriously consider what it means for the very soul of this country

T Anwar

Help Delhi fire incident victims

At least 43 people have died and around 50 wounded after a major fire broke out in Anaj Mandi area in Central Delhi. It is extremely tragic news for the country I think that this time we should help victims and order for magisterial probe into this incident. It is unfortunate that political parties began to play blame game with each other, the BJP holding the Kejriwal government responsible for the incident. But on the other hand, Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe and sought a report within seven days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh and Rs10 lakh each, respectively, for the families of the deceased. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each deceased from Bihar.

M Qasmi Nadwi

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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