India

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 4 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged the southern states to explore joint solutions to issues related to sharing of river water. He was speaking while chairing the 30th Southern Zonal Council meeting of southern states and Union Territories in Kerala's state capital on Saturday.

Shah also appealed the southern Chief Ministers to tackle the drug menace that is plaguing the country in a joint manner. He urged the states to hold regular meetings of the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) for tackling the problem of narcotics. He said that the Union Home Ministry had tried to crack down on the issue of narcotics trade with full focus.

During the 30th meeting of Southern Zonal Council, 26 issues were discussed, nine issues resolved and 17 issues reserved for further consideration. Of these, 17 issues reserved for consideration, nine were related to reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh.

The Union Home Minister urged Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to mutually resolve pending issues related to the bifurcation of the state. He said that there was huge potential for trade and export of marine products in the region and added that of 3,461 fishing villages in the country, 1,763 were in south India.

He said that QR-enabled PVC Aadhaar cards have been issued to more than 12 lakh fishermen. The Union Home Minister added that this would help their identification and also increase the country's maritime security.

Shah said that states should provide banking facilities within five kilometre of every village. He also urged the state Chief Ministers to persuade cooperative banks to open branches.

He added that if banks are opened in villages with good frequency, it would enable the direct transfer of government schemes directly to the beneficiaries.


--IANS
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Patna, Sep 3 (IANS) A day after five of the six Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MLAs in Manipur merged with the ruling BJP, Bihar Chief Minister and senior JD-U leader Nitish Kumar on Saturday slammed the BJP, saying that this is the reason why he snapped ties with the saffron party.

"Till Thursday, the JD-U MLAs in Manipur were ready to come to Patna for the national executive committee meeting. They were happy about coming to Patna. But the BJP snatched them from us. They do not believe in democracy," Nitish Kumar said after the national executive committee meeting on Saturday.

"The game begins here, and you would see what happens in the future," Kumar added.

"I am going to Delhi to meet the opposition leaders. The opposition parties are getting united to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. We will defeat the saffron party in the 2024 polls," the Chief Minister said.

JD-U has 6 MLAs in Manipur and BJP snatched 5 of them on Friday.

The five JD-U legislators in Manipur who joined the BJP are Khumukcham Joykisan Singh (Thangmeiband), Ngursanglur Sanate (Tipaimukh), Md. Achab Uddin (Jiribam), Thangjam Arunkumar (Wangkhei) and L.M. Khaute (Churachandpur).

BJP MP from Buxar, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, said: "The Manipur incident was just a tailor, you will see several JD-U MLAs in Bihar joining the BJP soon."

Vijay Kumar Sinha, the leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly, said: "Nitish Kumar forgot morality. He acted against the people's mandate and formed the government in Bihar with the Mahagathbandhan. People will teach him a lesson. Manipur was a small incident, many JD-U MLAs will soon join the BJP in Bihar."

--IANS
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By Kumar Vikram
New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Have you ever thought of flying from Mumbai to Ahmedabad for just Rs 1,400, or between Mumbai and Bengaluru for around Rs 2,000 or even less?


This has now become possible as cut-throat competition in the aviation sector has led to a price war among the airlines to attract fliers.

A close look at air fare disclosed that a ticket from Mumbai to Ahmedabad is costing Rs 1,399 on Go First and Rs 1,497 on new entrant Akasa Air for a journey on September 9. IndiGo, the largest domestic airline, is offering ticket on the same route for Rs 1,609.

Similar is the case on the Mumbai-Bengaluru route with tickets available in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200. While Akasa Air is offering a ticket for Rs 1,997 for a journey on September 9, a ticket on IndiGo is available for Rs 2,208.

The price war among the Indian airlines was expected following the removal of air fare cap by the Ministry of Civil Aviation from August 31 onwards.

Industry experts said that high competition among the airlines may lead to benefits for the fliers and many airlines may offer discounts as per demand.

Interestingly, the prices have slipped mostly on the routes on which the newly-launched Akasa Air has started its operations.

An expert said the Aviation Ministry's move has given flexibility to the airlines in deciding air fares as they can now charge as per their policies.

The entry of Akasa Air has increased competition in the aviation sector. To attract fliers, some airlines have already started offering tickets at lower rates.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Ministry had said that after a review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel, it has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding air fares with effect from August 31.

The ministry had imposed lower and upper limits on air fares after the resumption of services in May, 2020 following the initial two-month nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. Thereafter, the limits were relaxed in a phased manner according to the improvement in air traffic in the country.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Over 9,000 Congress members would vote to elect the next party President, election for which would be held after a long gap 22 years on October 17.

In the last such election that was held in 2000, current interim President Sonia Gandhi had defeated Jitendra Prasada, who managed just 94 out of 7,542 votes.

Prior to that, Sitaram Kesri had defeated Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot by securing 6,224 votes. Pawar had secured 882 votes, while Pilot got 354 votes.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has, however, declined to run for the party chief's post this time even as efforts are on to persuade him.

Senior leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge and Salman Khurshid have said that they will try to convince Rahul Gandhi on the matter.

Ahead of the notification on the election, some Congress leaders have raised the issue of electoral rolls, saying it should be made public.

Party leaders such as Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor have already expressed their opinion on the issue of electoral rolls.

They have urged the party's Central Election Authority (CEA), headed by senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry, to make the electoral rolls public by making them available on the Congress website.

However, the CEA has said that these rolls would be made available only to the candidates contesting the poll.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation), K.C. Venugopal, said that it (the list) is an internal matter and hence, it cannot be made public.

"The schedule for the party chief's election has already been announced, and those who want to contest for the post should file the nomination before September 30," he said.

Underlining the need of a well-defined electoral college, Karti Chidambaram said any ad hoc electoral college is meaningless.

He said: "Every election needs a well defined and clear electoral college. The process of forming the electoral college must also be clear, well defined and transparent. An ad hoc electoral college is no electoral college."

Leaders of the Congress' G-23 camp are also planning to contest the presidential polls slated for October 17 with former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan being considered as "key candidates", sources said.

However, there was no clarity on the situation while the G-23, which had sought wide-ranging reforms in the party that has lately been hit by the departure of senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and others.

Tharoor had apparently dropped hints on contesting for the top party post in an article on Monday but has not clearly indicated if he would be jumping into the fray.

According to party sources, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has emerged front-runner for the post of the Congress President -- being seen as choice of interim chief Sonia Gandhi even as some want the return of Rahul Gandhi.

Interestingly, Gehlot has also proposed the Gandhi scion's name. Keeping that in mind, the G-23 was understood to had decided to filed a candidate if no Gandhi stands in the poll for Congress president.

However, it remains to be seen if the G-23 camp would do so as Sonia Gandhi's choice is unlikely to be challenged.

According to poll schedule, the date of issuance of notification is September 22, while nominations can be filed between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. from September 24 to 30. The scrutiny will be done on October 1. The last date of withdrawal is October 8.

The polling would be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on October 17 at all Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters.

The counting of votes will be held on October 19.

--IANS
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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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