India

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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Aligarh, Sep 2 (IANS) In a rare show of communal harmony, a Muslim woman in Aligarh has brought Ganpati home for seven days as part of the ongoing Ganesh Utsav.

Ruby Asif Khan, a resident of ADA colony under Rorawar police circle, brought a Ganesh idol to her home and set it up with all rituals.

"We will keep the idol for seven days before immersing it in water on September 6. I and my family do 'puja' every day as per rituals and offer 'modaks' to the Lord," she said.

Ruby said that she had immense faith in Lord Ganesh and her family did not object to her bringing the Lord home.

She said that she and her family celebrated all festivals, irrespective of religion.

Her husband, Asif Khan said that he supported his wife's belief and the whole family was participating in the festivities.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Twitter, which is locked in a legal battle with the Indian government over content blocking orders, banned 45,191 accounts of the Indian users in the month of July over violation of its guidelines, the microblogging platform said in its monthly compliance report on Friday.

Twitter suspended 42,825 accounts for promoting child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and similar content in India, while blocking another 2,366 accounts for promoting terrorism, it said in its monthly compliance report as per the new IT Rules, 2021.

The microblogging platform received 874 grievances in the country through its local grievance mechanism between June 26-July 25, and took action on 70 complaints.

In June, Twitter had banned more than 43,140 accounts of the Indian users.

"While we welcome everyone to express themselves on our platform, we do not tolerate behaviour that harasses, threatens, dehumanises, or uses fear to silence the voices of others," Twitter said in the report.

Under the new IT Rules 2021, big digital and social media platforms, with more than 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Twitter receives complaints in its Grievance Officer-India channel that relate to account verification, account access, or seeking assistance or information regarding an account or Twitter's enforcement actions.

In addition, Twitter processed 124 grievances which were appealing account suspensions.

"These were all resolved and the appropriate responses were sent. We overturned none of these account suspensions after reviewing the specifics of the situation," said the company.

The compliance report came as whistleblower Peiter Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, alleged that the Indian government forced the platform to "hire a government agent on its payroll" and "grant access to sensitive user data", a claim which has been dismissed by Twitter.

In May, Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court against the Indian government's order to take down some content on its platform.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 2 (IANS) Hundreds of newly-hatched Indian Cormorant chicks were killed and numerous eggs destroyed when a tree was felled for widening of the National Highway in Kerala's Malappuram district.

The Kerala Forest Department has initiated a legal action against the "guilty" contractor.

Indian Cormorant (known as Neerkaka in Malayalam) comes under Schedule 4 of Indian Wildlife Protection Act.

Expressing their ire, scores of locals gathered at the location where the chicks were lying dead.

"The Forest department officials owe us an answer on how this happened. The breeding season of these birds takes place between June and November and it is rather unfortunate that at the peak of the breeding season, this happened," the angry locals said. Better sense should have prevailed, they added.

Directing strict action against the guilty, State Public Works Minister P.A.Mohammed Riyas has sought an explanation from the National Highway Authority of India officials on the incident.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Noting the "shocking data" of decreasing water quality in Yamuna river, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said it shows "utter lack of adequate action" and monitoring by higher authorities of Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

The green court made the remark while dealing with a plea against pollution of Yamuna.

"Delhi has many areas that don't have a proper sewer network. Over 20 per cent of the population is yet to get a proper sewer network. Moreover, over 80 per cent of the sewage treatment plants (STP) don't meet the standards," the plea pointed out referring a DPCC official.

The greivance also highlighted a media report published in January which mentioned that the pollution in Yamuna has worsened with the faecal bacteria level being at a record high of 14 times than what existed three months ago.

In the order recently passed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar, it was noted that unfortunately the authorities concerned did not consider the sensitivity of the matter.

Noting that the grim situation, the tribunal directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi to ascertain latest factual position and submit his report via mail within two months with explanation as to why coercive and penal measures be not taken in terms of fixing accountability for such blatant failure of the authorities in protecting the water quality of the Yamuna.

It may also be necessary to seek similar reports from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The reports of Chief Secretaries may be in a consolidated manner in the light of inter-departmental review and ground realities, the court said.

"It remains a matter of concern that authorities should not be able to maintain river flowing in the Capital of India clean inspite of clear roadmap Afor its rejuvenation and clear directions of Tribunal," the order said.

"How the continuing loss to environment and public health should be ignored is beyond anyone's comprehension. It is shocking to note the data relating to water quality of Yamuna and the pollution load posted by DPCC on its website depicting that drains remain un-trapped even after a year of the last order. This shows utter lack of adequate action and monitoring by higher authorities," the order read.

Further the green court asked Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to review the situation at higher levels and take remedial action and also sought the earlier-appointed Central Monitoring Committee to file its latest status report.

--IANS
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New York, Sep 2 (IANS) For the first time, astronomers have used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system.

The exoplanet called 'HIP 65426 b' is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable.

The exoplanet is about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter, and these observations could help narrow that down even further.

It is young, about 15 to 20 million years old, compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old Earth.

"This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb but also for astronomy generally," said Sasha Hinkley, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter in the UK.

The image, as seen through four different light filters, shows how Webb's powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond our solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets, the space agency said in a statement.

This image shows the exoplanet 'HIP 65426 b' in different bands of infrared light.

A set of masks within each instrument, called a coronagraph, blocks out the host star's light so that the planet can be seen.

Astronomers discovered the planet in 2017 using the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and took images of it using short infrared wavelengths of light.

Webb's view, at longer infrared wavelengths, reveals new details that ground-based telescopes would not be able to detect because of the intrinsic infrared glow of Earth's atmosphere.

Since 'HIP 65426 b' is about 100 times farther from its host star than Earth is from the Sun, it is sufficiently distant from the star that Webb can easily separate the planet from the star in the image.

"It was really impressive how well the Webb coronagraphs worked to suppress the light of the host star," Hinkley said.

Taking direct images of exoplanets is challenging because stars are so much brighter than planets.

The 'HIP 65426 b' planet is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in the near-infrared, and a few thousand times fainter in the mid-infrared.

"Obtaining this image felt like digging for space treasure," said Aarynn Carter, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In July, James Webb Space Telescope produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date.

--IANS
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