Overseas NGOs are on their work as usual

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

No one disagrees that every act of violence against women is a matter of great shame for all 1.2 billion Indians. But to be labelled the world’s most dangerous country for women ahead of Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria — according to a study by the Thomson Reuters Foundation — and all the other countries in the United Nations is a load of crock.

The unrealistic data provided by these overseas or so called International NGOs which actually work as the agent of the bigger fishes and their hagemoney.

One does not know the measures used or the size of the survey but in many other nations women cannot even breathe without permission. So let’s not get too enamoured by our affection for self-flagellation.

We have this predilection to wallow in western assessments, which is why the BBC has so often taken the mickey out of us with their cruel documentaries. Remember the one it did on the Taj hotel?

Of course we have problems: Our population and our gender prejudice are well recognised and on the front burner for resolution. A work in progress. If you go by the numbers, we’d probably be way up there as a nation fighting for women’s empowerment to make it a given and not a concession.

Millennials see no difference between men and women. We are moving rapidly into mass education where even those from disadvantaged financial backgrounds are making their mark. Girls top the mark lists and good on them. Women in India are in every field of endeavour and their collective voice gets more articulate and vociferous by the day. So be it.

Surveys like this are grossly hurtful, far too casual and slippery in their conclusions. Despite our aberrations and horror stories that hit us in the solar plexus now and then, it is a safe bet that 95 percent of Indian men respect their women, take care of their families and are good providers (as much as possible). For every issue over dowry and violence there are a thousand husbands who get up in the morning and go to work to ensure there is food on the table for their wives and daughters. A hundred thousand sons work in the Gulf to send remittances home to ailing mothers and to get sisters wedded.

Women are rising in politics, media, business, the armed forces, and farming. Our most firebrand politicians are women. Even in rural areas, the quota system is giving women an assertiveness and empowerment per se is no longer just a label but a national movement. In sports, in executive ladder, in science, in the arts, in cinema and theatre, women are on top right across the board.

There are a lot more consequences for those who engage in the unspeakable. The open house on what women can do in India and are doing and reaching for newer heights of achievement makes this dubious first rank border on the absurd. Especially when you compare the situation to their lives in restrictive societies. Of course, we are far from perfect but we are working on it and our women are held in a lot higher esteem then we give ourselves credit for because we don’t hide our flaws.

Show me a country where there is no violence. Show me a country where women are pushing upwards as powerfully as in India. One can fling a hundred statistics about the lot of women in India improving in the six parameters used in the survey: Violence, human trafficking, cultural conditions, healthcare, gender bias and sexual assault. And they would be valid. What’s the point in being defensive?

Fact is, such skewed surveys — from the West — always have ulterior motives. They detract from the efforts of millions who eschew violence. Because they are so superficial in the parameters used they actually harm efforts to move upwards and forward because they indict with a certain insouciance and arrogance and are patronising.

While we must not shut our eyes to reality and keep on fighting the good fight, we must keep in mind that the Thomson’s survey is not gospel.

Vijay Mallya, a ‘fugitive economic offender’ seeks Settlement

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Vijay Mallya offers to sell assets to repay bank loans, says he has become ‘poster boy’ of default

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya Tuesday issued a statement saying he “will continue to make every effort to settle with the public sector banks” adding that the bulk of the claims of the PSBs were on account of interest and that he was being made a “Poster Boy” of bank default and a “lightning rod of public anger”.

Mallya’s statement comes after the Enforcement Directorate last week filed an application before a special court in Mumbai seeking to declare Vijay Mallya, a ‘fugitive economic offender’, under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018. Under its provisions, the ED has sought an order for confiscating all Mallya’s properties including those indirectly controlled by him, even before the trial begins against him. This is the first application in the country under the Ordinance so far.

In London, where Mallya currently lives, a lower court is likely to deliver its verdict on the extradition plea on July 31.

Mallya, in his statement, said that along with United Breweries Holdings Limited (UB Group) he has filed an application before the Karnataka High Court on June 22 to sell assets worth about Rs 139 billion. He said he requested court permission to allow the sell of the assets under judicial supervision and repay creditors, including PSBs. Mallya also shared letters he wrote to then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister  Narendra Modi in April 2016.

Mallya has been facing investigation for alleged siphoning and diversion of funds granted as loans to Kingfisher Airlines. The ED claims that in the guise of lease rental payments for aircraft and misrepresentation before banks for payments towards ground handling of airlines, loan money was used for his personal benefits including diversion of money for his Indian Premier League cricket team. The ED has told the court that the extradition hearings against Mallya are being heard before a London court. The court is still to hear and decide on the application.

Nirav yet to be red cornered

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Nirav Modi – PNB fraud case: The ED has filed a prosecution complaint against Nirav Modi and a non-bailable warrant has also been issued against him. The agency had sent a request for an RCN against Modi, but the Interpol is yet to issue this.

While the Interpol is yet to issue a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against absconding jeweller Nirav Modi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved a Mumbai special court on Monday, seeking his extradition from the UK and Hong Kong.

Modi is currently reported to be in Belgium, where he is said to have fled from the UK on June 12. Confirming that an application was filed before the special court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Monday afternoon, Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, who represented the ED, said: “We have sought permission from the court to seek extradition of Nirav Modi, who is an absconding accused in the case. The application seeks for him to be extradited from the UK.”

A senior ED official, however, said the application also mentions Hong Kong. “Also, we have kept our application open-ended. On Tuesday, when it is heard in the court, we may add names of more countries,” he said.

The ED has filed a prosecution complaint against Modi and a non-bailable warrant has also been issued against him. The agency had sent a request for an RCN against Modi, but the Interpol is yet to issue this.

Earlier, the CBI, ED, and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had discussed that extradition requests should be sent only after an RCN is issued against Modi, as he is constantly on the move. If an RCN is issued, it would restrict him to the country where the extradition request is sent.

However, ED sources said, in the face of delay by the Interpol to issue an RCN against Modi, the agency has been considering sending extradition requests to multiple countries where Modi could go.

The issue, sources said, was discussed with the authorities in the UK, who said London would entertain the request if it came through a court, even without an RCN. It was, however, underscored that Modi was not present in the country.

Notably, the extradition request against liquor baron Vijay Mallya was sent to the UK without an RCN being issued. The extradition case against Mallya is currently in the final stages at the Westminster Court in London. Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are key accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Probation cops visited Gurudwara Sahib

/0 Comments/in /by

Auckland :

Photo feature by Ranjit Ahluwalia, DF Head(Aus,Nz,Fizi)

The newly recruited on probation cops visited the Sikh Gurudwara sahib and several religious centres as per their curriculum and training program.


Their they were made aware of the religious practices and we also taught that how to deal with the believers of the particular community while keeping in mind that their sentiments and their religious norms are not hurt or violated.


They were also told about the religious symbols of Sikhs and their significance
The probationary cops were accompanied by their senior officers .


They also interacted with the members of the community.

INDO-US strategic clinchs even more tighter

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

 

 

  • The UPA had stonewalled attempts by the US to ink the three so-called “foundational military agreements” during its 10-year tenure on the ground that it would “compromise the strategic autonomy” of India
  • The NDA govt inked the first one on reciprocal logistics support – Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with India-specific safeguards in 2016

The strategic clinch with the US is set to get even tighter, with India signalling its readiness to ink two more bilateral military pacts, procure helicopters worth $3 billion and participate in a joint tri-Service amphibious exercise for the first time.
Top government sources said “substantial progress” had been made towards finalising the Communications, Compatibility and Security Arrangement (COMCASA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) between the two countries.

The previous UPA regime had stonewalled all attempts by the US to ink the three so-called “foundational military agreements” during its 10-year tenure on the ground that it would “compromise the strategic autonomy” of India. But the NDA government went ahead and inked the first one on reciprocal logistics support – Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) – with India-specific safeguards in 2016.

Now, the stage is being set for the other two, COMCASA and BECA, which the US contends will allow India more access to advanced military technologies and platforms with encrypted communications like Predator-B and MQ-9 Reaper drones, as was earlier reported by TOI.

“The broad contours of COMCASA have been finalised… only some text-based negotiations are left. The BECA draft is also under discussion. We have insisted on India-specific assurances, much like what was done in LEMOA, and a status on par with the US’s closest allies,” said a source.

This comes ahead of the first India-US ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman with their American counterparts, Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis, in Washington on July 6.

Sources said the two countries had also decided to hold their first-ever mega tri-Service amphibious exercise to supplement the flurry of war games they already hold every year from the top-notch naval Malabar (with Japan as the third participant) to the counter-terror Vajra Prahar and Yudh Abhyas between their armies.

This will be only the second time that India will deploy assets and manpower from its Army, Navy and IAF together for an exercise with a foreign country, after the Indra war games with Russia in Vladivostok last year.

Seychelles President Danny Faure visited Sabarmati Ashram

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

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

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

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

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

 

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.

Swiggy raised $210 million of investments

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Swiggy raised $210 million from a group of investors, catapulting India’s largest food delivery service provider into a select club of startup unicorns with a valuation of $1 billion or more. The latest funding, led by Naspers and billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global, values Swiggy at roughly $1.3 billion, surpassing rival Zomato’s $1.1 billion valuation based on a February fund-raising round. China’s Meituan-Dianping has also invested in the latest funding round, along with new investor Coatue Management.

Swiggy, founded in August 2014, is one of the fastest entrants into the unicorn club. The latest fund-raising will add pressure on Zomato to raise additional funds quickly to keep pace with its Bengaluru-based rival in the online food-delivery business.  On 2 April that Zomato was in talks to raise $200-400 million.

Swiggy, which has emerged as the breakout consumer internet start-up of the past five years, has easily been the most prolific food delivery start-up in terms of its ability to continue raising funds from deep-pocketed foreign investors. It has raised about $465 million till date, according to Mint research. Barely four months ago, Swiggy raised $100 million from South African media giant Naspers.

Swiggy, which is by far India’s best-funded food delivery start-up, plans to use the funds to ramp up its supply-chain network and expand to new markets, the company said in a statement.

“With this investment, we will continue to widen Swiggy’s offerings, along with bolstering our capabilities and plugging the gaps in the on-demand delivery ecosystem,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO and co-founder of Swiggy.

Mint had first reported on 2 April that both Swiggy and Zomato were in talks to raise more money. In early February, Zomato raised $150 million from Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group, valuing the food-tech start-up at about $1.1 billion.

Swiggy, which operates in 15 cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, claims to have more than 35,000 restaurant partners on its platform and a delivery fleet of over 40,000.

Founded by Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy is one of the few consumer internet start-ups from 2014 that is thriving and consistently chased by large global investors. Smaller peers such as food-ordering app TinyOwl, grocery-ordering app PepperTap and real estate platform Housing.com have either been shut down or sold in distress deals. Some others, such as online grocery start-up Grofers, are struggling to attract new investors and have been unable to find a sustainable long-term business model.

Now this is what we call “INTOLERANCE”

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Pakistani newspaper Dawn has been facing disruptions in its circulation in “targeted cities and towns” for the past month ahead of the July general election, its management saidin a statement on Tuesday.

The management of Pakistan’s oldest newspaper has also alleged that vans and hawkers distributing its copies have been denied entry to cantonment areas for “several months” and government officials in parts of Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan are now also stopping them from delivering copies to regular subscribers ahead of the 25 July polls.

“Multiple reports are also coming in of officials posted in many cities and towns in Punjab, arbitrarily summoning newspaper agents, hawkers and salesmen, and warning them not to distribute copies of Dawn, threatening them with consequences if disobeyed,” it added.

Calling attempts to forcibly deny newspaper access to the citizens a “categorical violation of the Article 19”, Dawn urged caretaker prime minister Nasirul Mulk, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa and Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to take strong notice “without any further delay of this hostile situation”.

‘Cannot withstand an engineered election’

In Pakistan, Article 19 of the Constitution grants its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression, and the freedom of the press. This freedom is subject to any “reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, (commission of) or incitement to an offence.”

He added that if this campaign continued, the holding “free, fair and just elections” will become next to impossible. “Let such forces be warned that the social and political fibre of Pakistani society and the polarisation within the Federation cannot withstand an engineered election,” he said.

The background

In May, several reports stated that copies of Dawn “vanished” from Balochistan. It was reported then that the distributors were told to stop its circulation because the newspaper was ‘pro-Nawaz Sharif’.

On 12 May,

dawn published an interview with the former prime minister which purportedly did not go down well with the Pakistan’s military establishment; Nawaz questioned the military’s commitment to curbing terrorism. “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-State actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai (2008 attack)? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?” Sharif asked in the interview.

The Pakistan Army enjoys considerable influence over policy decisions in Pakistan and has virtually ruled the country for much of its life since it gained independence 70 years ago.

Following the Dawn interview, the Press Council of Pakistan notified the newspaper’s editor that the publication has breached the ethical code. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders lashed out at the authorities over the reports of blocking of Dawn’s circulation. “It is clear that the military high command does not want to allow a democratic debate in the months preceding a general election,” it said in a statement.

Other media organisations cry censorship

Apart from Dawn, journalists and other media organisations have claimed censorship and acts threatening their freedom ahead of the July election.

On 6 June, senior journalist Gul Bukhari — known for her criticism of the Pakistan Army — was abducted for several hours while on her way to record a TV programme late at night. Another journalist Asad Kharal was physically assaulted in Lahore the same day.

In April, Geo News was blocked in many parts of Pakistan. Reports claimed that cable operators were being forced to suspend the channel on orders of the Pakistan military.

Media watchdogs such as Amnesty and International Press Institute (IPI) expressed their concerns over these incidents.

“These actions deny the public’s fundamental right to receive news and information and to participate in informed debate about matters of public interest, in particular the military’s role in civilian affairs”, IPI executive director Barbara Trionfi said in a letter sent to Mulk, Nisar, Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza, Senate chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, and the Leader of Opposition Sherry Rehman.

Amnesty International South Asia deputy director Dinushika Dissanayake said: “Key freedoms are under relentless attack in Pakistan, with the authorities cracking down on dissent, whether it takes place on the streets, on television news channels, in newspaper columns, or on social media.”