Teen who fled from Punjab home raped in Mumbai, arrested

By

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November 18, 2019

An 18-year-old girl from Punjab was allegedly raped by a 45-year-old man under the pretext of food and accommodation. The accused was arrested by police after the victim lodge a complaint at Nagpada Police Station.

According to Police, on November 9 the girl had run away from her residence and landed at Mumbai Central station. At that time the accused Akhtar Qureshi approached her.

The victim said in her complaint that, “My father and mother do not share a cordial relation and I was tired of seeing them fight. On October 17, after I fought with my mother, I took Rs 10,000 cash from the house and left.”

The girl narrated her ordeal to the police and said Akhtar bought breakfast for her and took her to Kamathipura. Later on, he took her to a room where he raped her.

Based on complaint, police caught the accused and took him to the police station. The police registered a case against the Akhtar under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.

Every hour, 40 people under age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe

By

Vaidehi Taman

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November 17, 2019

Road safety is evolving as a major social concern in India and our government has been attempting to tackle this crucial issue for several years. The Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014 was to provide a framework for safer, faster, cost-effective and inclusive movement of passengers and freight in India. In July 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government will soon introduce laws to enhance road safety as traffic fatalities and injuries mount. A new Road Transport and Safety Bill is under preparation and a group of experts underlined the “urgent” need of a comprehensive national road safety legislation. Embarq India, an initiative from the World Resources Institute (WRI), has developed significant expertise in conducting road safety audits on a number of bus rapid transit systems in India. Arrive SAFE is an NGO who works as a pressure group to give a wake-up call to authorities concerned and shake the bad driving habits of Indian people. Indian driving schools focus on youth to enhance the art and skill of efficient driving. Many multinational companies fund NGOs as part of their own road safety initiatives but nothing much has changed. Henkel has launched a road safety initiative in an effort to address the topical issue of safety standards on the road in India. More than 13,000 people were killed in 35,957 road accidents in 2018, up from the 12,511 deaths in 36,056 mishaps in 2017, according to the data from the Maharashtra highway traffic police. As per the Maharashtra highway police officers, who collect data on all road accidents and analyse them, human error such as drink driving, lane-cutting, speaking over the phone while driving, etc. emerged as the main cause behind majority of the mishaps. Officers said their main focus this year is to increase enforcement and crack down on over-speeding.

According to government data, in 2015, 400 people were killed in road accidents every day, there are no comprehensive road safety legislation in the country yet. Its India’s worst kept secret we have the world’s most unsafe roads and the situation seems to be getting worse by the year. Data submitted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Rajya Sabha indicates just how alarming the situation is. 1,46,133 people were killed in road accidents in India in 2015, a 4.6 per cent rise over 2014 when 1,39,671 people were killed. In the past one decade, over 1.3 million people have been killed in road accidents but there is still no comprehensive road safety legislation in the country. According to the 234th report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture which has recently been tabled in Parliament, there are several stumbling blocks for replacing the existing Motor Vehicles Act with a proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015. However, this has not been possible because “the main hitch is on sharing of revenues between the Centre and the state” in implementing the changes which have been proposed. In an effort to still try and push the safety measures through, the government claims it is trying to focus on noncontroversial, achievable goals such as “an increase in the penalty for drunken driving or increasing the penalty for unauthorized driving, minor driving.” While it is well established that our roads and highways are deadly to travel on, according to the data, the states with the highest number of road accidents in 2015 are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. These states contribute 29.66 per cent to the total number of accidents recorded nationwide. The same states also recorded the highest number of injuries at 2,75,873 in 2015. This has been revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its first ever Global Status Report on Road Safety. The report pointed to speeding, drunk driving and low use of helmets, seat belts and child restraints in vehicles as the main contributing factors. Every hour, 40 people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe. According to the WHO, this is the second most important cause of death for 5 to 29 year olds. In India alone, the death toll rose to 14 per hour in 2009 as opposed to 13 the previous year. The total number of deaths every year due to road accidents has now passed the 135,000 mark, according to the latest report of National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB. While trucks and two-wheelers were responsible for over 40 per cent of deaths, peak traffic during the afternoon and evening rush hours is the most dangerous time to be on the roads. Drunken driving is a major factor, the NCRB report further states that drunken driving was a major factor for road accidents. Joint Commissioner of Police Maxwell Perreira maintains that there has to be a change in drivers mindsets. Trucks are responsible for many road accidents in India. Campaigns against drunken driving have not proved effective. And the increasing number of prosecutions for drunken driving has also not been a deterrent. Road safety experts also warn that the real numbers of fatalities could be much higher since many cases are not even reported. There is no estimate as to how many people injured in road accidents die a few hours or days after the accident. And their deaths are then no longer linked to road traffic accidents. Penalise the driver heavily.

Availability of cheap labour is a bliss to India. Deploy police at known traffic jam creating junctions. Deploy police at known accident-prone zones. Keep spare ambulances around that area to provide immediate response. Once traffic officer himself is witness to accident, pursuing the incident legally becomes easy for government. Follow up on recorded offenses. If person doesn’t pay fine, ignoring the court summons, catch him when he comes for passport application; don’t accept his application, catch him when he shows his aadhaar card for gas cylinder; don’t give him gas till he pays the fine, or fights the violation in court and proves himself innocent. Anyway, create a network of vehicle tower. Wrong side driving spotted by any officer, stop him, call the vehicle tower and have his vehicle towed. That vehicle can be retrieved only after a month. That inconvenience, added with fines for the violation, will sober people up. Yes, you will have to build huge garage and manage influx of towed vehicles, but hey you are making people live longer!

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

Maharashtra is second worst in road fatalities

By

Afternoon Voice

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November 17, 2019

Mumbai is one of the worst cities when it comes to roads and infrastructure. Many tourists who visit city made fun of Mumbai roads; Maharashtra gained the dubious discrepancy of being the second worst in road fatalities. Recently, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways showed an 8.1 percent increase in accident deaths in the state in 2018, as compared to 2017, when it held third rank in the country. Devendra Fadnavis during the year 2014 came up with election promise of making Mumbai pothole free but he failed to fulfill the same. There is always a giant potholed sized mystery about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In responses to RTI queries, it has regularly claimed to have addressed over 99 per cent of complaints about the craters that dot every road in the city and its suburbs, and yet there are thousands of potholes all across Mumbai. And it is not as if only aesthetics are in question; there have been pothole-caused fatalities on the roads. Just this year, at least five deaths have been reported in Mumbai and MMR areas of Thane, Bhiwandi, Belapur, Mira-Bhayandar due to accidents caused by potholes. So are people not complaining enough, or are the complaints not being given due attention? This seemed to be the central question that India’s richest municipal corporation was trying to answer earlier this month when it announced its Pothole Challenge 2019, a public road crater spotting competition that dangled the carrot of Rs 500 to every complainant whose pothole was not fixed within 24 hours. What’s more, this prize money was to come out of the local engineer’s salary.

Two-wheelers made up the biggest share of accidents and Maharashtra ranked second where deaths of motorcyclists is concerned; 5,938 two-wheeler riders were killed last year. Highways accounted for nearly 60 percent of all accidents.

When asked a senior traffic official told AV, “At least 25 accidents reported in the state last year had more than five fatalities each. This led to the overall number of fatalities shooting up, the over speeding is a prime cause. Indiscipline driving could be another, officers added.”

In July 2018, 33 passengers were killed after a private bus carrying employees of a Dapoli college plunged into a deep gorge at Ambenali Ghat in Poladpur. Only one person who was thrown out of the bus window survived. In another accident in Buldhana, 15 were killed when two private luxury buses collided. Over speeding at highways takes many lives, 100kmph on expressways and 50kmph on hilly roads and Ghats. On national highways, the limit is 90kmph and on urban roads 60kmph, but people don’t follow rules.

Superintendent, highway police Vijay Patil said, “We strongly recommend driving licenses for suspension of those found speeding, jumping signals, drunk driving or talking on the phone while driving. The suspensions, made by RTO, would last for three months. Another reason for surge in accidents is wrong overtaking by smaller vehicles. When heavy vehicles are moving on the right side of the road, smaller vehicles tend to overtake from the left. We have been carrying out awareness campaigns throughout the year about disciplined driving”, “As junctions are where maximum fatalities occur, we have written to agencies like NHAI, PWD and MSRDC to put in speed calming measures at junctions. Wherever dividers are absent, flexible dividers can be brought in as a temporary measure,” Patil added.

Overall, 35,717 accidents were reported in the state last year, which was a slight dip from 35,853 in 2017. The highest at-risk road users in 2018 were those aged 25-35 as 3,129 fatalities were reported in the age group. The evening peak hour period of 6 pm-9 pm turned out to be the worst time of the day for road-users as 6,112 deaths were reported. Traffic Police have started a mechanism to recover pending e-challans from motorists, hoping this will act as a deterrent and bring down serious violations that could result in deaths.

Road accidents in India are a major source of deaths, injuries and property damage every year. As India is growing economically, so are the road accidents.

Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share (33.9%) in total accidents and fatalities (29.8%) in 2017.

Year- Road accident deaths

2005- 94968

2006–105749

2007- 114444

2008- 119860

2009–125600

2010–134513

2011–142485

2012–138258

2013–137572

2014–139671

2015–146133

2016–150785

2017–147377

2018- 13095

2019-1,50,000

In 2015

Two Wheelers Road Accidents: 43,540 deaths
Trucks/Lorries Road Accidents: 28,910 deaths
Cars Road Accidents: 18,506 deaths
Buses Road Accidents: 12,408 deaths

In 2016

The NCRB 2016 report states that road accidents accounted for 464,674 accidents which caused 148,707 traffic-related deaths in India.

In 2017

According to the report prepared by the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2017 nearly three persons died every ten minutes in road accidents across India.

In 2018

More than 13,095 killed in road mishaps in Maharashtra in 2018. More than 13,000 people were killed in 35,957 road accidents in Maharashtra in 2018.

In 2019

400 deaths a day are forcing India to take car safety seriously. Many small vehicles sold in India a zero-star safety rating, an assessment that there could be life threatening injuries in a crash at 40 miles per hour. In India, more than 150,000 people were killed this year in traffic accidents.

VHP clarifies, no funds being collected for Ram temple in Ayodhya

By

Hema Singh

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November 17, 2019

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), on Sunday, clarified that it is not collecting any fund for the construction of the proposed Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.

The international secretary-general of VHP Milind Parande, said in a statement, “Since 1989, neither VHP nor Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas had collected or made any announcement to collect funds for the Temple at the birthplace of Bhagwan Shri Ram.”

He further continued stating, “In the present time too, VHP or Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas had neither made any such appeal nor doing so.”

On that VHP Spokesperson, Vinod Bansal said, “Vishva Hindu Parishad today clarified that we are not collecting TAGS VHP Ram temple Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi any fund for Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple.”

Reportedly, On November 9, the Supreme Court gave the historic verdict on the disputed land in Ayodhya to the Hindu side. It directed the Centre to set up a trust within 3 months for the purpose of the construction of the Ram temple in the once disputed land. Also, the apex court further directed the Central Government to give a suitable plot of land measuring five acres to the Sunni Waqf Board.

It is reported that, on December 6, 1992, thousands of Kar Sevaks who pledged their allegiance to VHP had demolished the Babri Masjid which stood at the disputed land.

The pain of being caught up in property-divorce legal battle

By

Vaidehi Taman

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November 17, 2019

Advocate Pratibha Bangera, practicing lawyer at Family Court, stresses upon the importance of property dispute settlement to speed up divorce with our Editor-in-Chief Dr Vaidehi Taman

How are property disputes resolved in divorce matters?

The concept of “Marital home” protects wife and children from being dishoused provided the wife and children have been continuously staying in that house for at least six months.

The wife can make an application before the concerned family court for permission to continue to reside as well as apply for a Stay or injunction against the husband from creating third party rights in the “marital house” or from selling it or transferring it to any other person’s name.

What is the right of a wife in her husband’s property and in the property belonging to her in laws?

In several judgement it has been upheld that, a “marital house” of the wife is the same where the husband resides. A wife can get specific reliefs to continue staying at her marital house along with her children even if the house is registered in husband’s single name and he has inherited or acquired the property.

However there cannot be specific reliefs which wife can seek on house and properties which are self acquired by her in laws with their own money.

It is due to this reason that most husbands transfer their property to parents or siblings by way of gift or release deed to defeat the claim of wife in such properties.

However if the wife has been continuously residing at the same house, it is considered as her “marital home” and the wife can make applications to court for non interference with her stay in such homes.

Does a husband also have similar right on the wife’s property?

If a husband has contributed to a property which is registered in the single name of the wife or in joint names, he may have to show proof of such payments made by him towards purchase or transfer of such property to the extent that he has paid and ask for refund or adjustment of such amounts with maintenance amount or alimony sought by wife if wife wants him to vacate or leave or relinquish his rights. And if he has been residing in wife’s self-acquired home, it is his “marital house” as well.

What is ancestral property, does a wife or husband have a right to ancestral property of other spouse?

Yes, both spouses have right to ancestral property “inherited” upto extent of their share as per their “Personal law” and as per provisions of succession Act and it is not a subject matter of family court but it will attract other civil case.

What happens to the rights of children after divorce between parents?

The right of a child to inherit parent’s property has nothing to do with divorce. A child’s right of inheritance is independent of the legal custody.

If custody of the child is with the mother after divorce can the child inherit right to father’s property?

Yes a child of such parent can inherit even if he has attained age of majority. However if the father remarries and has further children, share if child’s right in such property will reduce.

In such cases the surviving stepmother, her children will also be in the line of heirs simultaneously. i.e if the child’s father has not already made a will or distributed his assets before his death between his new family members .

How can a property dispute delay divorce?

Property and maintenance are the main areas which involve money and if these two issues are not amicably resolved between husband and wife, the litigation can continue for a longer duration and both parties are forced to suffer repurcussions resulting out of contested divorce

What if the husband and wife own property in joint names?

If a property dispute cannot be resolved between the husband and wife themselves, the court may direct parties to apply for division of property before appropriate court or grant reliefs or Order of Stay or injunction to secure the wife and children .

What is the right of a surviving spouse when one party dies during pendency of divorce?

If one party dies during pendency of divorce, the other spouse will inherit property as if they are still legally wedded. A person will be treated as married till a “divorce and decree” is finally granted by Court. Also right of a widow will survive to ancestral property.

Is there a specific law as to manner of division of property during divorce?

Every personal law has defined rights, but we do not have uniform law. In some personal law right of a wife to husband’s property ends with divorce as marriage is contractual eg Muslim personal law.

What is the “residence order” given to a wife?

Under the protection of women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, if the victim of violence makes application for residence order, the court may direct husband to stay away from the house where the wife and children reside or ask the husband to make arrangements for an alternate accommodation for the wife and children.

Does the family court or criminal Court have right to order sale of a property?

Property partition or sale are matters of civil court and a family court or criminal court does not interfere with “title rights” of property .

How can a wife whose name is in a joint marital property affect a wife, if the husband is paying for EMI of home loan?

Any loan outstanding in the name of husband or wife will reflect in the CIBIL score of husband as well as wife. There are cases where husband stops maintenance and takes top up loan without wife’s knowledge and thereby causing deep prejudice to wife’s right to take personal or property loan for herself.

Goodbye Surgery

By

Nava Thakuria

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November 17, 2019

There are more than 285 million people worldwide who have vision problems. According to the Fred Hollows Foundation, an estimated 32.4 million people around the world are blind. Ultimately, 90 per cent of these people live in developing countries, and cataracts cause more than half of these cases of blindness. Indeed, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world. Most of us take our vision for granted. As a result, we take the ability to read, write, drive, and complete a multitude of other tasks for granted. However, sight is not so easy for everyone. Indeed, for many people, simply seeing is a struggle.

Fortunately, there is a treatment; however, the only option is surgery, and it is prohibitively expensive. This means that, unfortunately, for individuals in developing nations, who often lack access to basic medical care, treatment is not an option. But of course, this isn’t just a problem faced by developing nations.

It could mean a cheap, painless way to restore vision to thousands.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, nearly 22 million Americans who are over age 40 have cataracts. By the time they reach 80, more than half of all Americans will have cataracts, and many will have to undergo painful and expensive surgery or suffer severe vision problems. There are, however, other treatment options. Researchers based in the US have created a drug that can be delivered directly into the eye via an eyedropper. And it can dissolve cataracts. Despite its remarkable promise, the treatment has yet to be tested on humans. The drug is slated to enter clinical trials, but because of the strict regulations put in place to ensure there are no extreme side effects associated with new drugs, it will be some time before these drops make it to market and can be utilised as a viable alternative to surgery. Regardless, this is a great step forward.

How It Works?

Cataracts result from the structure of the crystallin proteins that make up the lens in our eyes. Specifically, they form when this structure deteriorates, which causes the proteins to clump together, forming a milky layer over the eye that obstructs vision. Scientists aren’t entirely sure what causes the proteins to do this (in other words, they’re not entirely certain why cataracts form in the first place). That said, there are some ideas, and this is where the new drug comes in. This treatment was created based on a naturally occurring steroid, which is known as “lanosterol.” Scientists recently discovered two siblings who had cataracts when their parents did not. These siblings shared a mutation that stopped the production of lanosterol. Notably, their parents did not have this mutation. The scientists then thought, if the parents are producing lanosterol and don’t have cataracts, then perhaps their kids have cataracts because they aren’t producing lanosterol. Thus, adding lanosterol to the eye (or something that is similar to it) might stop the crystallin proteins from clumping together and forming cataracts. The scientists tested this hypothesis on rabbits, and the results were very promising. After just a week, all but two of their 13 test subjects had gone from having severe cataracts to mild cataracts (or none at all). This drug was also tested on dogs, and it had the same results. If the trials on humans are successful, and they make it to market, these eye drops could be used to change the lives of millions around the globe. It could literally mean the difference between blindness and sight. Ruben Abagyan, who co-authored the paper, hopes that the lanosterol drops will have the same impact on cataracts in humans. In the press release, he states, “I think the natural next step is looking to translate it into humans. There’s nothing more exciting than that.”

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

BJP’s marginal victory revitalizes opposition

By

Faheem Usmani Qasmi

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November 17, 2019

Over five months ago, Lok Sabha elections polls in May, 2019 were out, and BJP has won a full majority. Not only BJP did manage to get an almost clean swipe in most of the states, but it also appeared on the verge of making history by garnering so many votes. Even after the results, one question that lingered in the air to many was Why did the opposition fail miserably even in states where their own government was functioning at the state level?

It is admitted fact that for a healthy democracy, a healthy opposition is as important as that of the ruling party. It plays an effective role in providing practical criticism of the ruling party. They ensure that the acts of the ruling party are not detrimental to the public interests or nation at large. So, for a democratic country, an alive and powerful apposition is of much significance, to protect its democratic values and fundamental rights. The absence of oppositions weakens the country if it is not able to put a unified front against the ruling party. They do not allow the governing party develop arrogant and autocratic deviations by assessing their policies objectively and also giving important inputs.

The history suggests that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so the opposition’s role is indispensable to pre-empt of the party in power to act against the will and interests of the people.

With an absolute majority of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, generating muscular power at the Centre, the danger of the tyranny of the majority loomed larger over the head of the Indian nation. So the country today is in a desperate need to have united, strong, committed, credible, and responsible opposition particularly when the ruling party BJP may try to take more vigorous decisions to assimilate the nation and to secure a “Hindu Rashtra”.

The Lok Sabha electoral scenario had painted a grim picture in this regard as the opposition parties achieved a miserable defeat and were left with no hope of recovery. The Congress, the biggest party in opposition, faced a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha and shrunk to 52 seats. As for the other major players, they are ridden with factionalism, casteism, self-centrism and infighting, thereby making them a laughing stock at this critical juncture.

The verdict from the recent assembly polls in Maharashtra revitalized the opposition parties once again. NCP stalwart leader Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, and Congress Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda together with youthful newbie Dushyant Chautala of the JJP in Haryana exposed the BJP’s all agendas with outstanding performances that left incumbent chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Manohar Lal Khattar grasping as they failed to touch the majority mark.

However, what the Maharashtra and Haryana polls have shown is that regional political parties along with their satraps are alive and kicking particularly when they were pushed to the wall. NCP president Sharad Pawar drew the attention of all people who ran an energetic campaign at the age of 79 and boosted himself as the leading face of the opposition. One of his images from Satara stunned every one where he stood in the pouring rain and invoked Marathas. Hooda and Dushyant Chautala too campaigned vigorously in Haryana. Although they did not touch victory mark but managed to slow down the Modi juggernaut.

All the opposition parties and regional leaders should review their political strategies to give a tough fight in the current political arena because a strong and effective opposition is the need of the hour to nail the elected government down to be transparent, responsive and accountable and does not let it assume arbitrariness in its actions neglecting the interests of the nation.

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

Letters to the Editor: 17 November, 2019

By

Web Team

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November 17, 2019

Public hospitals should be privatised for efficiency and accountability

Public hospital lack accountability which is the reason for increasing cases of medical negligence at these establishments. A two month old child lost his arm when an EGG machine malfunction resulted in a fire at KEM hospital recently and the death of a patient who died in an MRI machine at Nair hospital is still fresh in our memories. Negligence mishaps due to carelessness cannot be excused. Stringent punishment for non performance of expected duties with heavy penalties and fines would bring in professionalism.

Administration of public hospitals should be handed to private corporates for efficiency and accountability. A healthy nation is a progressive nation and it is the government’s responsibility to provide top medical facilities to its citizens at affordable cost. Cheap medical services doesn’t mean substandard facilities and a public -private partnership is the need of the hour to provide efficient medical aid to people where costs for poor are subsidised by the government through insurance schemes without compromising on medical facilities which should be the best and comparable with global standards.

S.N. Kabra

A great discovery

A 3000-year-old city, believed to be the remains of Alexander the Great, has been discovered in a joint excavation by archaeological experts from Pakistan and Italy in northwest Pakistan. Experts say that it is the city of Bazeera that they have discovered and this is a region, located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which already made into the headlines earlier for its rich connection and bounty of human history of a civilisation five thousand years old. The discovery at Bazeera has traces of Hindu Temples and Life of Alexander the great and life even before that pinpointing to the historic richness of the place which definitely, if properly and diligently researched can reveal unraveled facts of the great history of our Indian subcontinent and facts specially linked to Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam before Alexander’s invasion. The UNESCO should directly monitor the work done in the site and must cooperate with the Pakistan government to monitor and see that damages aren’t caused by extremists or vandalists. Indian archeologists also must join the excavation as studies related to the site can truly help students of history and will be beneficial to the coming generations to know about our rich past.

M Pradyu

Regulate pricing of printer-cartridges

Largest-selling foreign company Hewlett-Packard (HP) marketing computer-printers in Indian market has Maximum-Retail-Price printed on ink-cartridges exorbitantly high even though it’s original cartridges available in wholesale markets of Nehru place and Nai Sarak in Delhi at much-much less than printed MRP. Even wholesale price for its ink-cartridges remain much higher around Rs 3000 making some Indian manufacturers marketing re-filled cartridges at around Rs 700 or so. Even re-fill can be done at just Rs 200 or so. But using re-filled ink-cartridges result in termination of warranty.

Condition should be imposed to allow manufacture of ink-cartridges in India by desiring Indian companies. Indian companies should also be authorised refill ink-cartridges without affecting warranty of printers. Maximum trade margin between ex-factory or import price and printed MRP should be fixed also to check bribing due to abnormally high printed MRP. Any foreign company selling its products manufactured in country other than that of the company, should be asked to set up its manufacturing unit in India like was done by Samsung to set up biggest unit for mobile-phones in the world in Noida (UP-India).

Bureau of Indian Standards BIS should call meeting of printer-manufacturers including representatives of foreign companies to minimise types of ink-cartridges. Presently HP has too many types of ink-cartridges of similar shape and size for their vast range of inkjet and laser printers. It is not difficult to standardise so many ink-cartridges in a limited number to be used uniformly in different models of inkjet and laser printers. Such standardisation will heavily bring down cost of ink-cartridges.

Madhu Agrawal

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

Junior Doctor of KEM hospital committed suicide by injecting himself poison

By

Hema Singh

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November 17, 2019

A trainee doctor of KEM Hospital in Parel in central Mumbai allegedly committed suicide by injecting himself with poison at his hostel terrace, police said on Saturday.

According to police the deceased Pranay Jaiswal, who was a resident of Amravati and was pursuing a course in the general surgery department at KEM hospital.

Police said from the past six months Jaiswal was under depression due to a family dispute.

As per police report, on Saturday around 11:30 am they have found Jaiswal’s body on the terrace hostel building with and a syringe used for intravenous injection was found lying near his body. No suicide note has been recovered so far, an officer said. According to the postmortem report, Jaiswal had committed suicide at least 12 hours before his body was found.

Officer further continued stating, “He was an inmate of the hostel for the past three years. On Friday night, he did not return to his room and his colleagues mounted a search. His body was found on the terrace of the hostel on Saturday morning.”

Katy Perry thanks KJo for B-Town warm welcome

By

Web Team

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November 17, 2019

American singer Katy Perry thanked Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar for the “warm welcome” and a grand party he hosted at his residence in Mumbai on Thursday evening.

American singer Katy Perry got a warm welcome from Bollywood on Thursday. She was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar at his residence. He organised a special party for the singer, and the do saw Alia Bhatt, Jacqueline Fernandez, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kajol, Malaika Arora, Ananya Panday, Kunal Kemmu and many others in attendance.

Turning the best host in the town, the filmmaker threw a bash welcoming several B-towners along with the American singer who became the centre of attraction!

On Sunday, she put out a picture of her hugging close to the host Karan on the Instagram story and wrote, “Thanks for the warm welcomes.”

While several stars had already posted pictures with her on the same night, Perry too shared a glamorous still from the party with the “Bollywood babes.”

Katy’s recent trip to India came after a long gap of seven years . Apart from the party, the singer roamed around on the streets of Mumbai and shared the same on social media.

Perry along with British singer Dua Lipa delivered a power-packed “sweaty” performance at the D Y Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday night.