Stalin along with 400 party workers detained

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DMK working President MK Stalin launched a scathing attack on government for arresting him after holding a protest in the state on June 22,218. The party is protesting as they believe that the governor Banwarilal Purohit is interfering too much in the administration of the state’s affairs. He also claimed that the ruling government headed by Edappadi K Palaniswami has taken this move after getting scared of revelations of its corrupt activities.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president MK Stalin has been detained by the local police along with 400 others for protesting in Chennai on June 22, 2018. According to a report, they were protesting against the detainment of 300 party cadres in Trichy also called Tiruchirappalli. These party workers were put behind bars after raising a black flag during Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s visit to the city a day recently. On a closer look, these DMK has been critical of the Governor’s interference in the administration of the state’s affairs. MK Stalin yesterday condemned the detainment of his party cadres.

According to a report, LG Purohit had visited Namakkal district in order to inaugurate PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat programme. While on his way to the inauguration event, scores of DMK supporters showed black flags and tried to disrupt the convoy.
Stalin later launched a scathing attack on the ruling government and justified his move by citing that even former prime minister Indira Gandhi too raised a black flag for marking a protest but was never detained by the authorities. Outraged by the move by the government, he also demanded a resignation of Banwarilal Purohit.

While addressing a press conference, MK Stalin and Sasikala nephew also slammed Tamil Nadu’s CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam for directing authorities to arrest him and his co-party workers. These people are afraid of their corruption case getting exposed in front of general public, added Stalin.
DMK had been protesting against the frequent review meetings being called by Tamil Nadu Governor and claimed that these meetings are a challenge to state’s autonomy.

History “Re-Written”

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The Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) has made changes to content related to legendary Rajput queen Padmini in the latest edition of the Board’s Class XII history textbook.

Unlike last year’s textbook, in the 2018 edition of ‘Bharat Ka Itihas’ (History of India) the part dealing with queen Padmini has no mention of an alleged incident when Alauddin Khilji saw her reflection in a mirror.

The new edition of the book, distributed by the Rajasthan State Textbook Board, appeared in the market recently.

The changes come a year after protests against the Hindi film ‘Padmaavat’.

The story of Padmini is mentioned in the chapter ‘Mughal Akraman: Prakar aur Prabhav’ (Mughal invasion: Type an effects) under the section ‘Padmini ki Kahaani’ (story of Padmini).

Rawal Ratan Sinh

“Aath varsh tak ghera daalne ke baad bhi jab Sultan Chittor ko nahi jeet paaya to usne prastav rakha ki yadi ussey Padmini ka pratibimb hi dikha diya jaye to vah Delhi laut jayega (Even after laying siege to Chittor for eight years, when the Sultan couldn’t win, he proposed a that if he is allowed to see the reflection of Padmini, then he will return to Delhi),” the 2017 edition of the book said.

Thereafter, it stated, “Rana ne is prastaav ko swikar kar liya. Darpan me Padmini ka pratibimb dekhkar jab Alauddin wapis laut raha thha, us samay usne Ratan Singh ko qaid kar liye aur rihai ke badle Padmini ki mang ki (The Rana accepted this proposal. When Alauddin was returning after seeing Padmini’s reflection in a mirror, he captured Ratan Singh and asked for Padmini in exchange of his freedom).”

There’s no mention of this incident in the 2018 edition of the textbook.

“Aath varsh tak ghera daalne ke baad bhi jab Sultan Chittor ko nahi jeet paya to usne sandhi prastav ke bahane dhokhe se Ratan Singh ko qaid kar liye aur rihai ke badle Padmini ki mang ki (Even after laying siege to Chittor for eight years, when the Sultan couldn’t win, he captured Ratan Singh on pretext of an offer of truce),” reads the 2018 edition of the book.

In the latest edition, a line is added at the start of the topic, stating that the description of Padmini is according to the book ‘Padmaavat’ written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540.

To save 20 Billion units annually ministry suggests to keep AC temperature at 24 to 26 degrees

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The power ministry is considering making the default temperature setting for air conditioners at 24 degrees Celsius. Power Minister R K Singh, during a meeting on Friday, said the mandate will benefit consumers, both from a health and financial point of view. The ministry also wants AC manufacturers to add a label on the product indicating the optimum temperature setting for consumers. If the move is approved, it is likely to come into effect in a few months.

The ministry’s suggestion comes based on recommendations in a study conducted by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). Its report suggests temperature settings to be in the range of 24 to 26 degree Celsius.

According to the ministry, the higher the temperature of the air conditioner, the lesser electricity consumed. This translates to saving at least six per cent of electricity consumed with an increase of just one degree in temperature. Singh explained, “Every one-degree increase in the air-conditioner temperature setting results in saving of 6 per cent of electricity consumed.”

Further, the minister said it is both uncomfortable and unhealthy to be in colder temperatures. “The normal human body temperature is approximately 36-37 degrees Celsius, but a large number of commercial establishments maintain a temperature around 18-21 degrees Celsius. This is not only uncomfortable but is actually unhealthy,” Singh said. He pointed out that wearing warm clothing or using blankets in a colder temperature is a waste of energy.

Singh’s campaign, which promotes energy efficiency, is likely to result in substantial energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emission.

According to BEE, only six per cent of households in the country use air conditioners. If all consumers adopt a default temperature setting, India could save 20 billion units of electricity annually.

The report states that the current estimate total installed air conditioner capacity is 80 million TR (tonne of refrigerator), which is likely to increase to nearly 250 million TR by 2030. Taking into account the huge demand, India can save around 40 million units of electricity usage per day.

he move towards making the default setting on air conditioners 24 degree Celsius will begin by issuing an advisory to all establishments and manufacturers, particularly airports, hotels, shopping malls, offices and government buildings. This will be followed by an awareness campaign, held over four to six months. The ministry will then gather feedback from the public before mandating a default setting.

This practice is followed in other countries, such as in Japan, where the government has regulated temperatures at 28 degree Celsius.

We are not averse to forming a coalition government with the CPM in the state: Mishra

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Being pushed to the margins, the West Bengal Congress unit has sent a report to the AICC proposing a 21-step approach to defeat the “TMC-BJP nexus” in the state, including an alliance with Left parties and the opening of common offices.

West Bengal Congress general secretary O P Mishra, who dispatched the report June 13, told media “We have sent the report to New Delhi and are awaiting a response. The main thrust of the report is to not only look at the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but draw a long-term plan to see how we can make a recovery in the 2021 assembly elections, defeat the TMC and come to power. We are not averse to forming a coalition government with the CPM in the state.’’

Last month, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had announced that his party intended to unite all non-TMC, non-BJP parties in the state. He said a decision had been taken after a meeting with all Congress MLAs and district leaders, and Mishra had been asked to draw up a plan of action. The report sent to the AICC is a result of that decision.

The 21-step approach proposes “central office points’’ in Kolkata, Asansol, Berhampore and Siliguri; dedicated website, Facebook page and Twitter handle for the political front; development of a 50,000-strong volunteer force, cutting across non-TMC, non-BJP parties, by October 2018 for the alliance work.

“The methodology may involve enlisting the support of 1,000 core political party activists distributed throughout the state, encouraging each of them to enlist 10 volunteers and then subsequently each of the 10,000 volunteers to help enlist 5 volunteers each. The volunteers may be supporters or sympathizers of any political party. Details related to enlisting and joining of volunteers and Dos and Don’ts related to them to be prepared in writing,’’ the report states.
Details of each volunteer is to be maintained in a centralised manner accessible to all parties and “work/activity’’will be given to each volunteer on continuous basis including pamphlet and literature distribution, collection of resources and visiting “victims of human rights violations, police excesses and those accused of false cases”.

Volunteers will also be engaged in booth-wise collection of organisation data and will, in turn, recruit volunteers at the booth level. The alliance, according to the report, will compile all “political and false police cases since 2011 throughout West Bengal against political activists/human rights activists/general public’’ and provide “dedicated financial resources for the legal and medical expenses of all victims of TMC’s physical attacks’’.

At the level of the state and central leaderships, Mishra’s report has proposed deliberations to draw up a common agenda between the parties as well as deliberations with trade unions, farmer organisations, student bodies as well as those of professionals such as doctors and teachers.

The plan also proposes that all cases related to the panchayat polls and pending cases of corruption against the state be fought together by these political parties. Alleging that there is a tacit understanding between the TMC and the BJP in West Bengal, Mishra says an alliance between the Congress and the TMC for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is not desirable. “A TMC-Congress-Left tie-up. This is problematic and has the potential to produce the opposite of the result anticipated. Such a formulation may even serve the BJP and may amount to ceding the Opposition space to BJP.”

He has alleged that the TMC’s objective to retain power, and shield its leadership from investigation, detention and conviction in corruption cases by the CBI in the Sarada and Narada scandals has made the party “compromise with the political interests of BJP in the state’’.

The report claims that the rise of the BJP in Bengal has been “artificial’’, and not organic. “In 2014, BJP had secured 17.2 per cent votes in the Lok Sabha elections — the highest ever vote share of BJP in the state. When Congress and Left political parties reached state-level electoral understanding and contested the 2016 assembly election, securing about 39 per cent vote share, BJP’s vote share was reduced by about 40 per cent, from the high of 17.2 to 10.5 per cent. The 6 per cent gap between TMC and Congress-Left combine resulted in a huge victory for TMC which secured 211 seats. TMC leadership realized that any further strengthening of Congress-Left combine would jeopardize their electoral success and hence decided to encourage BJP’s ‘rise’,’’ it claims.

“At the national level, in Parliament, TMC has given tacit and indirect support to BJP on a number of occasions through occasional but calculated abstention, not joining the other Opposition parties against the government on crucial issues and, more recently, by trying to subvert and weaken efforts at Opposition unity by flouting political formulations that may indirectly benefit the BJP’s quest for power in 2019 Lok Sabha election,’’ the report states.

 

Khattar for new city near Gurugram in 50,000 Hectare

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To leverage the potential of the region, the Haryana government plans to develop a new city next to Gurgaon in the National Capital Region. The new city, which is expected to be larger than Chandigarh, will also be planned and developed in a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has been asked to finalise a consultant to prepare the master plan for this new city, for which the report is expected in six months. Narhari Banger, additional managing director, HSIIDC, who is also the nodal officer for the bids, said, “It is going to be a world-class city, which will have all sorts of facilities including education and health. We will not acquire a single-inch of land for this. The city will come up in PPP mode. The other aspects of developing the city in a planned manner will be prepared by the consultant in the detailed master plan.”

The new city is likely to be spread across at least 50,000 hectares, which is larger than Chandigarh (11,400 hectares) but smaller than Gurgaon (73,200 hectares). The proposed city is located south of New Delhi and will share boundaries with the Gurgaon-Manesar urban area to the North and the Aravalli hills to the North-East. Sources said that NH-8 will define the western boundary of the city while the eastern and the southern sides will adjoin agricultural land.

 

 

Officials said the proposed city will be well connected to neighbouring urban centres through national and state highways, the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway and other major districts roads. The Managing Director of HSIIDC has been tasked with carrying out the process to select an appropriate consultant and prepare the master plan for the proposed new city. Sources said HSIIDC has initiated the procedure of selecting the consultant and that bids have been invited till July 3.

Besides preparing the master plan, the consultant is required to prepare the zoning regulations for the proposed city including various development control regulations, height restrictions, ground coverage, setback regulations and global land use based Floor-Area-Ratio.

Sources said that the consultant for the project will also be required to propose alternative approaches to land-use change based on four major criteria – social acceptability, economic viability, environmental sustainability, and financial feasibility.

The consultant is also expected to suggest the road network plan, metro rail plan, required rail and road linkages and public transportation for the proposed city and assess the proposed social, economic and physical infrastructure.
The Opposition in Haryana has already raised questions about the proposed new city. “It is not even the mandate of the HSIIDC to invite bids for developing a new city. It is the job of the Town and Country Planning Department and Haryana Urban Development Authority. Why has the incumbent government thought of this new city with barely a few months of their tenure left. It appears that it is being done to oblige some of their favourites by appointing them as consultants for this coveted project”, said RS Chaudhary, INLD’s National General Secretary.

Seychelles President Danny Faure visited Sabarmati Ashram

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On the second day of his six-day tour to India, Seychelles President Danny Faure paid a visit to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and recorded his message in the visitor’s book that underlined the tenets of Gandhian ideals. “The principle of non-violence is what we need to teach the children of our world, and what was expressed by Gandhi many years ago remains relevant today,” he wrote.

At the end of his note in the visitor’s book, President Faure underlined the futility of revenge, called for non-violence and signed off with a quote commonly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “An eye for an eye will make the world blind”.

The Seychelles President is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on diverse areas of cooperation, with geopolitical issues being the primary focus.

Faure’s visit is being perceived as significant in the light of Seychelles Parliament recently blocking a joint defence project that involved both the Indian Ocean region countries cooperating to jointly develop infrastructure for a naval base on Seychelles’ Assumption Islands.

At a press conference on June 4, Faure had stated that Seychelles will develop military facilities at Assumption Island on its own and that the project with India ‘will not move forward’. He also said that the issue would not be discussed with the Indian leadership during his visit to New Delhi.

India has been eager about facilitating a deal with the African nation so as to augment its strategic hold in the Indian Ocean region as it faces tough competition from China which has been expanding its military presence across the ocean.

Back in 2015, India and Seychelles had signed an agreement on the Assumption Island project during PM Modi’s visit to the country. Earlier this year, an updated version of the original deal was finalised by the two countries.

Dr SP Singh Oberoi has saved 15 Indians, including 14 Punjabis, from the gallows in UAE

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Dubai-based hotelier Dr SP Singh Oberoi has saved 15 Indians, including 14 Punjabis, from the gallows in UAE and brought 14 of them back home to reunite with their families. Dr. Oberoi presented the youth in front of the media on Friday at a press conference in Jalandhar.

Some of them were meeting their families after 8-9 years. The youth were sentenced to death in two separate cases of murder, one of a Pakistani national and the other from Uttar Pradesh. “Blood money” was paid in both cases to save them from the gallows.

The youth were arrested in two cases registered at Shahrjah and Al-Ain cities in Abu Dhabi, and the court had awarded death sentence to them. The first case, registered in Shahrjah in November 2011 was of the murder of Virendra Chauhan (38), originally from Shekhapura village in Azamgarh district of UP. Five youth, namely, Dharmender Kumar of Chhapra in Bihar state, Harvinder Singh of Ajnala in Amritsar, Ranjit Singh of Jinsara of Nawanshahr district, Dalwinder Singh of Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district, and Sucha Singh of Jassomajra of Patiala district were sentenced to death in this case.

In the second case, 10 Punjabi youth were sentenced to death in the murder of Muhamad Farhaan of Peshawar in Pakistan by an Ai-Ain court in 2016. In this case, Satminder Singh of Thhikriwal in Barana district, Chander Shekhar of Nawanshahr, Chamkor Singh of Malerkotla, Kulwinder Singh of Ludhiana, Balwinder Singh of Chilang village, Dharamvir Singh of Samrala, Harjinder Singh of Mohali, Tarsem Singh of Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh of Patiala, Jagjit Singh of Gurdaspur, and Kuldeep Singh of Tarntaran district were sentenced to death.

Dr. Oberoi said that all were brough back except Dharamvir, who will return as soon as the legal formalities are completed.

In both cases, Dr. Oberoi filed the appeals after their death sentence and visited the families of the deceased a number of times to persuade them to accept the blood money. A hefty amount was paid to the families of the deceased and that money too was organised by Dr. Oberoi through his Sarabat Da Bhala trust.

Till date, Dr. Oberoi has saved 93 Indians, mostly Punjabis, from the death sentence by paying blood money worth Rs. 20 crore and by fighting their cases in the courts free of cost. Also, his trust has brought back the bodies of 63 Indians, mostly Punjabis, from Arab Countries who died there due to unknown reasons. His trust even perfoms the last rites as well as adopts the families of such youth if their economic condition is bad.

The families of these youth were also present in the press conference and they said that Dr. Oberoi had given them a second life by bringing their children back from the jaws of death.

He said that boys from Punjab must focus on their work whenever they go to these countries instead indulging in criminal activities. He said that the families of these boys send them abroad with great expectations of a good future and they must keep that in mind.

पाकिस्तान ने उच्चायुक्त को गुरूद्वारे जाने से रोका

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पाकिस्तान में भारतीय उच्चायुक्त अजय बिसारिया को गुरुद्वारा जाने से रोके जाने की खबर आ रही है. जानकारी के अनुसार बिसारिया को अनुमति मिलने के बाद भी उन्हें गुरुद्वारा जाने से रोक दिया गया है.

सूत्रों की मानें तो, बिसारिया को पाकिस्तान के हसन अब्दाल में पंजा साहिब गुरुद्वारा जाने की अनुमति मिल चुकी थी, उसके बाद भी उन्हें वहां जाने से पाकिस्तानी अधिकारियों ने रोक दिया. यहां चर्चा कर दें कि इससे पहले भी पाकिस्तान में भारतीय उच्चायुक्त को गुरुद्वारा जाने से रोका जा चुका है. भारत और पाकिस्तान के बीच डिप्लोमेट विवाद कोई नया नहीं है. इससे पहले अप्रैल में भारतीय उच्चायु्क्त को वैशाखी मनाने पाकिस्तान गये भारतीय सिख श्रद्धालुओं से मिलने से रोका गया था.

पाकिस्तान ने उस समय बिसारिया को गुरुद्वारे में प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया था जिसके बाद भारत ने पाकिस्तान की इस हरकत पर कड़ी आपत्ति व्यक्त की थी. वहीं, कुछ माह पहले की बात करें तो दोनों देशों ने अपने डिप्लोमेट्स और उनके परिवार के साथ उत्पीड़न और धमकी जैसे मामले एक-दूसरे से शिकायत कर चुके हैं.

पाकिस्तान में राजनयिक अशिष्टता को लेकर भारत कई बार आपत्ति जता चुका है. भारत के मुताबिक, पाकिस्तान लगातार 1961 के वियना कनवेक्शन का उल्लंघन करता आया है.

a man arrested for making obscene gestures and passing lewd remarks in sector 19 park

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A 25-year-old man has been arrested for taking off his pants, making obscene gestures and passing lewd remarks at women in a park near the Sector 19 church on Thursday morning. Police produced the accused in court on Friday and it remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.
Devinder Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Sector 19 police station, said the accused had been identified as Ravi Inderjit Raj, 25, a resident of Sector 19. The SHO said the accused was unemployed and used to sleep in a temple in the same sector. He said the accused was not under the influence of alcohol or any other drugs at the time of incident and was conscious.
In her complaint, a woman said she was strolling in the park and there were other women and children present there when the accused started passing lewd comments, singing vulgar songs and making obscene gestures at women. Initially, people ignored him. Later, accused put off his trousers and underpants before women and started making vulgar gestures.
The woman said in her complaint that she then phoned the police. A PCR team reached the spot and took the accused to the police station. The complainant later recorded her statement. The accused has been booked under Section 294 (obscene acts or words in public) of IPC.

620th Birth Anniversary of Saint Kabeer

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Bharatiya Janata Party S C Morcha is going to celebrate 620th Birth Anniversary of Sant Kabir Ji today ie (23-6-2018) Saturday at party office Kamalam Sector 33A, Chandigarh at 4.15 pm.
Sh O P Dhankad, Agriculture Minister Government of Haryana will be the Chief Guest of the programme and Sh Sanjay Tandon, State President BJP Chandigarh will be the Guest of Honour