India

Shivamogga (Karnataka), Sep 3 (IANS) The Karnataka government has decided to hand over the investigation of the stabbing case following the row over installation of Veer Savarkar's flex in Shivamogga to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Saturday stated that, "the incident of stabbing to Prem Singh in connection with Veer Savarkar flex removal will be handed over to the NIA soon."

"The prime accused in the stabbing case Jabiulla's connections with terrorists have come to light. There is peace in Shivamogga. These incidents will take place accidentally," the Home Minister maintained.

Karnataka police had shot the main accused Jabiulla in leg in connection with the case of stabbing on August 15. The police shoot-out had helped in restoration of law and order situation in Shivamogga, which threatened to go out of control.

Jabiulla is a resident of Marnamibail in Shivamogga. A special police team after gathering definite inputs had zeroed in on the main accused Jabiulla. When the police tried to arrest him, the accused allegedly tried to attack them and he was shot in leg by the police inspector Manjunath Kuri.

The police arrested and shifted him to the Meggan hospital. Later, after the treatment, the accused Jabiulla was transferred to the jail ward of the hospital.

ADGP Alokkumar had stated that the political connection or attachment to any organisation by the accused will be probed. He further stated that apart from lodging cases, a decision will be taken to attach the properties of the accused after discussing with the district commissioner.

Jabiulla with others had stabbed 20-year-old Prem Singh while standing before his house. He was admitted to the Meggan hospital in Shivamogga.

According to police, Veer Savarkar's flex was installed at the Amir Ahmad Circle in Shivamogga city as part of celebration of 75th year of India's Independence. However, few youth objected to it and took away the flex of Savarkar. They attempted to put up Tipu Sultan's flex in its place leading to violence and stabbing.

Two incidents of stabbing of youth were reported in the violence that broke out. 27-year-old Praveen, a shop owner in Gandhi Bazar area, was closing his shop and returning home when he was also stabbed in Shivamogga.

The Shivamogga city had witnessed large scale violence after the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 3 (IANS) The Bombay High Court has issued notices to the Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the Centre in a case filed by an Aurangabad man alleging that his medico daughter died due to the side-effects of the Covishield vaccine and sought Rs 1,000-crore as compensation.

The petitioner is Dilip Lunawat, who has contended that his daughter Snehal Lunawat, 33, who was also a Senior Lecturer at the SMBT Dental College & Hospital in Nashik, was compelled to take the vaccine along with all other healthworkers there.

Dilip Lunawat said that his daughter was assured that the vaccines were completely safe and posed no risks/threats to her body, and attached his daughter vaccine certificate (January 28, 2021), and how she died on March 1, 2021, due to the alleged side-effects of the Covishield vaccine.

A few days later, she suffered severe headaches and vomiting and was rushed to a hospital where doctors detected bleeding in her brain and she later succumbed owing to the purported aside-effects of the vaccine', as per Lunawat's plea.

He also cited the views and interviews of experts like the Drug Controller-General of India, Dr. V.G. Somani, and AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria, making them respondents along with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and how the incident figured in the Centre's own Adverse Events Following Immunisation Report of October 2, 2021.

In his petition filed in February 2022, Dilip Lunawat said that in 2020, the SII, Pune entered into a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up the process of manufacture and delivery of upto 100 million doses of Covishield vaccines in India and for other third world countries.

"The petitioner lost his elder daughter. His loss can neither be explained in words nor can be compensated in terms of money.

Only some sort of succour can be done by awarding compensation," said the plea, seeking Rs 1,000crore as interim compensation to the family.

Dilip Lunawat also sought a declaration that the state authorities are responsible for causing his daughter's death "by false narratives", the authorities should initiate steps to stop further deaths of citizens and publish the side-effects of the vaccines.

The plea urged that the state authorities should be given the liberty to recover the compensation amount from SII, which manufactured the Covishield vaccine.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) Former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who has been brought to the forefront by the BJP high command ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, on Saturday claimed that he will ensure thumping victory for the saffron party.

Yediyurappa, who has been nominated to the party's highest decision-making bodies, the Parliamentary Board and the Election Committee at the national level, was seen sharing dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the frontline in Mangaluru on Friday.

During Prime Minister Modi's last visit to Bengaluru and Mysuru cities, Yediyurappa was only seen at the airport receiving him and could not be seen anywhere during his two-day visit on the occasion of celebration of International Yoga Day.

Sources in the BJP said that this time, seating arrangements were made as per the wishes of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi was seen holding hands of Yediyurappa at the time of his arrival and talking to him dearly.

Yediyurappa told Prime Minister Modi that he would meet him after the public rally. However, the Prime Minister took him to the rally and ensured he sat in the frontline, the sources added.

Yediyurapppa attended the government function without an invitation and protocol was also sidelined. He was seated next to the Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot.

Speaking to reporters in Shivamogga, Yediyurappa said, "I will travel the length and breadth of the state and ensure victory for the party in upcoming assembly elections in 140 seats," he stated.

Yediyurappa further stated that, "Prime Minister Modi has set a target of winning 140 seats out of 224 assembly constituencies in the state. Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would also arrive for campaigning. We will form a government in the state after the next assembly elections in 2023."

He also announced that he would organise a rally of 1 lakh people in Shivamogga in a short time after discussion with party leaders.

"Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would visit the state once in a month in the coming days. We will invite Modi Ji," Yediyurappa said.

The Central leadership is listening to Yediyurappa's strategies for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

The response of the huge crowd in the form of clappings, whistling and celebrations, whenever Yediyurappa's name was mentioned at the Prime Minister's rally was testimonial to his popularity in the state.

When Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's name was called out, the crowd was silent and even during his speech, he did not get any attention from the crowd, the sources added.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on Saturday alleged political motive behind the release of Bilkis Bano's convicts.

Addressing a press conference, JIH Vice-President Engineer Saleem said: "The role of the Gujarat government in ensuring the release of those convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and the murder of seven members of her family is deplorable."

"Such decisions that are aimed at reaping political dividends to appease a particular constituency are highly objectionable,"

He said the JIH condemns the decision and hopes that the apex court intervenes in the matter to reverse this grave injustice carried out under the guise of official government policy.

"The remission policy should be applied to those languishing in jails for petty crimes not for heinous crimes like rape and murder. " he said.

If state governments are allowed to free criminals of their choice through a remission policy despite being convicted for crimes like rape and murder, then this will make a mockery of our judiciary and the citizens will lose hope in the supremacy of the law.

"This is bound to embolden criminals and their masterminds as they will be confident of being bailed out by the system sooner or later despite committing the most heinous crimes." added Saleem.

The manner in which these convicts are being felicitated and lauded is quite reprehensible.

Jamaat-e Islami Hind has sought the President's intervention in reversing the decision of releasing the convicts to save the system of justice and governance from becoming paralysed an ineffective.

Notably, Bilkis Bano was 19-years-old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning in Gujarat in 2002.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Aiming to build capacities of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials, across all government departments, the Ministry of Information Technology organised a cyber training programme, 'Cyber Surakshit Bharat'.

The initiative has been conceptualised with the mission to spread awareness about cyber-crime and build capacities of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials, across all government departments, for ensuring adequate safety measures to combat the growing menace, and for organisations to defend their digital infrastructures and become future-ready in tackling cyber-attacks.

Operating on the principles of awareness, education and enablement, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), under its capacity building scheme, organised the 30th CISO Deep-Dive Training programme from August 22-26.

Held at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi, the intensive 5-day training programme was designed for designated CISOs from Central and State/UT Governments, subordinate agencies/PSUs, including public sector banks and insurance companies, technical wings of police and security forces, CTOs and members of technical/PMU teams; as well as officers responsible to observe security of IT systems in their respective organisations.

The Deep-Dive Training specifically aimed at educating and enabling CISOs to understand cyber-attacks comprehensively and thoroughly, get necessary exposure in latest technologies of safeguard, and translate the benefits of a resilient e-infrastructure to individual organisations and citizens at large.

The training also focussed on providing a holistic view of legal provisions, enabling CISOs to formulate policies in the domain of cyber security and build concrete cyber crisis management plans.

Launched in 2018, the CISO training is the first-of-its-kind of partnership between the government and industry consortium under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Since June 2018, these programmes have capacitated 1,224 senior officials to secure digital infrastructure and systems of their respective organisations.

--IANS
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By Sheikh Qayoom
Srinagar, Sep 3 (IANS) All the traditional political combinations and permutations went for a toss in Jammu and Kashmir after the former senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad decided to throw his hat into the electoral ring here.


After standing steadfast with the Congress for 52 long years, Azad has become the most serious challenge faced by the party in J&K.

Already many senior leaders of the Congress have resigned to join Azad who is likely to announce a new political party this week on his arrival in Jammu.

The turbulence that has hit the Congress is likely to upset the political equations of the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if not in the Valley, but definitely in the Jammu division.

The Muslim vote becomes a decisive factor in the Chenab Valley districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban.

Azad has personal influence and goodwill in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Udhampur and Reasi districts as well.

This personal goodwill might not necessarily translate into the number of assembly seats his party wins in these 7 districts but it could decide who loses the elections in those districts.

The BJP is well entrenched in Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Udhampur and Reasi where its arch rival till yesterday, the Congress, will now have to dig in its feet to register some electoral victories.

Interestingly, the Congress in the Jammu division is likely to face an electoral challenge from the hitherto unknown Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that has gradually spread its influence to Jammu, Samba and Kathua after its victory in the neighbouring Punjab.

So far as the impact of the AAP on the ground level support of the BJP in these districts is concerned, it is unlikely that the BJP will concede seats to the AAP.

This clearly indicates that the loss of the Congress could well be the gain of either the BJP or the AAP.

Even in these seats, Azad can upset traditional equations because of his support, though limited, among both the Hindu and the Muslim voters.

In the districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban, Azad's entry into the electoral fray is likely to become an elephant in a china shop.

He is likely to win seats in these three districts. How many seats would his party win can be debated, but how many will the NC and the PDP lose in these districts because of Azad's presence must worry the two otherwise Valley-centric regional parties.

In Poonch and Rajouri districts, the NC has been winning at least 5 to 6 seats in the past. Once the Muslim vote gets divided between the NC and Azad, the BJP would stand to gain in these two districts.

The Peoples Conference (PC) headed by Sajad Gani Lone and the Apni Party headed by Syed Altaf Bukhari are likely to win around half a dozen or more seats in assembly constituencies in the Valley.

These 2 parties are still to establish themselves firmly in the Jammu division.

In a nutshell, Azad could well be an elephant in the political china shop of the Congress, NC and the PDP especially in the Jammu division that has 43 seats in the 90-member UT assembly.

--IANS
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London, Sep 3 (IANS) Britain has dropped behind India to become the world's sixth largest economy, according to Bloomberg.

India toppled the UK from its position in the final three months of 2021 to become the fifth-biggest economy. The calculation is based in US dollars, and India extended its lead in the first quarter, according to GDP figures from the International Monetary Fund.

This news comes as a further blow to the government in London as it grapples with a brutal cost-of-living shock, Bloomberg reported.

The IMF's own forecasts show India overtaking the UK in dollar terms on an annual basis this year, putting the Asian powerhouse behind just the US, China, Japan and Germany. A decade ago, India ranked 11th among the largest economies, while the UK was 5th.

The UK's decline down the international rankings is an unwelcome backdrop for the new Prime Minister. Conservative Party members choose Boris Johnson's successor on Monday, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss expected to beat former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in the run-off.

The winner will take over a nation facing the fastest inflation in four decades and rising risks of a recession that the Bank of England says may last well into 2024.

By contrast, the Indian economy is forecast to grow more than 7 per cent this year. A world-beating rebound in Indian stocks this quarter has just seen their weighting rise to the second spot in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, trailing only China's.

The calculations were done using the IMF database and historic exchange rates on the Bloomberg terminal.

The UK is likely to have fallen further since. UK GDP grew just one per cent in cash terms in the second quarter and, after adjusting for inflation, shrank 0.1 per cent. Sterling has also underperformed the dollar relative to the rupee, with the pound falling eight per cent against the Indian currency this year.

--IANS
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Patna, Sep 3 (IANS) Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister, Giriraj Singh has demanded a survey of madrasas and mosques in Bihar similar to that in Uttar Pradesh.

"We demanded from the Nitish Kumar government to conduct survey on the madrasas and mosques of Bihar, especially in Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region. We must have data about who are running madrasas and mosques in these regions and who are staying in them," Singh said.

"The Yogi Adityanath government has taken the right decision and is conducting the survey of madrasas and mosques in Uttar Pradesh. We need the approach in Bihar as well to check at least those who are taking shelters in madrasas and mosques," the Union MInister added.

Seemanchal region of Bihar is considered Muslim dominant area of Bihar where more than 60 per cent population belongs to Muslim community. Moreover, a large number of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals are also residing there illegally.

--IANS
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Gandhinagar, Sep 2 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday made five "key promises" to farmers in Gujarat while addressing a rally at Dwarka town in the state's Saurashtra region.

He said if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power, his government will procure wheat, rice, cotton, groundnut etc. at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The other promises include waiving farm loans, re-conducting the survey of agricultural land earlier conducted by the BJP government which will be scrapped and re-survey will be hold.

The AAP leader has promised to give power supply during day time for 12 continuous hours apart from giving assistance -- if crop fails -- Rs 20,000 per acre.

"Narmada projects field canals will be completed in entire Narmada command area," he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister has reiterated to give stipend to unemployed youth and will create 10 lakh government jobs in one year. The AAP leader has appealed to give his party one chance in Gujarat.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit on Friday said that 1,293 miscellaneous matters, 106 regular matters, and 440 transfer matters were disposed of by the apex court in the last four days.

In his address at a felicitation function organised by the Bar Council of India, he said the apex court is giving more and more emphasis to dispose of regular matters and added that his Secretary General has put figures that last four days show that 1,293 miscellaneous matters, 440 transfer matters were disposed of, and in the last two days, 106 regular matters were disposed of.

The event was attended by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, BCI members, representatives from various state Bar Councils and members of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

The Chief Justice, thanking all the representatives of state Bar councils, said that he would sincerely do his best to live up to their expectations, and the apex court would try to dispose of as much matter as it can.

On August 26, then Justice Lalit, speaking at the farewell function of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana organised by the SCBA, had said that he intends to make the listing of cases clear and transparent, a clear regime for mentioning urgent matters before respective benches, and one Constitution bench functioning throughout the year.

On August 27, President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice U.U. Lalit as the Chief Justice of India.

On August 13, 2014, he was elevated to the apex court directly from the Bar. Chief Justice Lalit would be having a short tenure of less than three months as the CJI. He will retire on November 8.

After Chief Justice S.M. Sikri, who was appointed directly from the Bar to the apex court, Justice Lalit is the second CJI directly appointed from the Bar. Chief Justice Sikri was the 13th CJI from January 1971 to April 1973.

Chief Justice Lalit, who specialises in criminal law, was designated as a senior advocate by the Supreme Court in April 2004. He was appointed as the special public prosecutor by the top court for the CBI in all the 2G spectrum scam cases. He had also worked with former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee between 1986 and 1992.

--IANS
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