Supaul (Bihar), Feb 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Kanhaiya Kumar's anti-CAA rally in Supaul was stoned in which three people, including a woman, were injured. The incident took place on Wednesday evening at Mallik Chowk of Sadar police station. Kumar left for Saharsa with the convoy after addressing a public meeting in Supaul.

JNU alumni association president Kanhaiya Kumar had a meeting on Wednesday at Sisouni Nemanama in Kishanpur block. Kanhaiya Kumar left for Saharsa with his convoy after the meeting at around 5.30 p.m. There was also tight security in front of the convoy.

At the Mallik Chowk near the Sadar police station in the city, youths were raising slogans in support of the CAA, NRC. As soon as Kumar's vehicle arrived, first some people threw black ink on it. The vehicles involved in the convoy were jammed there. Police started to remove vehicles.

Meanwhile some people from behind started pelting stones breaking the glasses of the vehicles in the Jan Man Gan Yatra and another vehicles. Three people including a driver suffered injuries. It also includes social worker Mandvi.

All vehicles were later evacuated amidst tight security. DM Mahendra Kumar, SP Sudhir Kumar Porika arrived there with police force in large numbers as soon as the incident was reported.

However, the situation became normal after Kumar's convoy left. No one has been taken into custody regarding the incident.

Source: IANS

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By Narendra Puppala

New Delhi, Dec 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The President of India signed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on December 13, which was a Friday. For those who are superstitious, the timing of the law couldn't have been more grim. Since then, vociferous protests and violence leading to many deaths, primarily in three states -- 5 in Assam, 18 in Uttar Pradesh and 2 in Karnataka.

The CAA grants citizenship to six persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh which are all Muslim-majority countries. The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was steered through both Houses of Parliament by the BJP-led government before it finally became law.

From its conception, to enactment and beyond, the controversial law's journey has been accompanied by protests and violence in many places. But while protests have manifested in most parts of the country, they have for the most part been peaceful and orderly.

So the unprecedented protests in the three BJP-ruled states are all the more intriguing. The Popular Front of India (PFI), a fundamentalist organisation, has emerged as a common thread in these three states.

The most intense violence was initially reported from several parts of the northeast, notably Assam and to some extent Tripura. Guwahati in Assam was the epicentre of the anti-CAA protests, with Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal's home district of Dibrugarh also witnessing violent protests. Protestors blocked roads and public property was vandalised in mayhem unleashed in the aftermath of the CAA.

The BJP-led state government accused the Congress and the PFI of being behind the unprecedented protests.

Uttar Pradesh has the largest Muslim population in India, and understandably the CAA has stoked fears in the community, leading to widespread protests in several parts of the state. The violence saw protestors indulging in heavy stone pelting and setting vehicles ablaze after which police got into action.

The Uttar Pradesh death toll has been put at 18 with several people still under treatment in hospitals. The BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath is unwilling to back down on the issue. The Chief Minister announced tough measures in the wake of the rioters and penalties levied on those identified as indulging in violence.

Meanwhile, intelligence sources have pointed out the growing influence of PFI in Uttar Pradesh.

Karnataka, the only south Indian state with a BJP government at the helm, was the other major centre of anti-CAA protests in the country. Two people died in police firing on violent protestors in Mangalore. Karnataka's coastal belt, where Mangalore is located, has a significant Muslim population and witnesses communal tensions occassionally.

Here too, the government has taken a tough stand on the anti-CAA protests. The compensation announced for the victims of police firing has been kept on hold after video footage showed them indulging in violence during the protests.

Incidentally, coastal Karnataka is contiguous to neighbouring Kerala where the PFI has made its presence felt in the past.

Some of the biggest protest-related violence has taken place in Delhi and attracted the attention of people within and outside the country. But while Delhi state is ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), New Delhi as the seat of the government, is a target of the anti-CAA protests.

In recent days, the PFI has been named as a major factor in the protests ringing out in academic institutions, especially in the Jamia Millia Islamia.

While the opposition Congress has been raising its voice against the CAA, there was a conspicuous absence of high voltage action in protests across Congress-ruled states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even in Maharashtra.

The intensity of protests and violence in BJP-ruled states when juxtaposed against the relatively peaceful protests in other states has raised doubts over the apparent spontaneity of the protests and the related violence in these three states. The emergence of the PFI as a common factor in all these states points to a troubling conclusion that cannot be ignored.

Source: IANS

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By Mohammed Shafeeq

Peddapalli (Telangana), Dec 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Three years is a brief period in the life of a district but in this short span of time, Peddapalli not only emerged as a model for the entire state of Telangana but also attracted national attention by bagging the cleanest district in India award.

Declared the overall best performing district under the Swacch Sarvekshan (Gramin) of the Swacch Bharat Mission, it is showing to the entire country how change can be brought about if the district administration has the will and commitment to make use of available resources.

A silent revolution is sweeping through the district as all 263 villages have undergone a total makeover, helping the district win six national awards in two years.

Avenue plantations on either side of the roads with tree guards bearing names of the donors greet visitors to the villages in the district. A toilet, a soak pit, a compost pit, a kitchen garden in every rural household, a 'beautiful' and well-maintained community toilet in every village and other initiatives have changed the face of the district.

The transformation is visible as one drives through Kalvacherla, a village with a population of over 4,500. Women returning from a local programme were seen carrying their belongings in non-woven bags as an alternative to plastic bags while a roadside container had waste plastic items, waiting to be picked up by sanitation workers.

Carved out of Karimnagar district as part of the reorganisation of districts in India's youngest state in 2016, Peddapalli began the journey from scratch with hardly any infrastructure and few officials willing to work in a place lacking even a good hotel to eat.

Once a hotbed of Maoists, the district with a population of nearly eight lakh was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) in 2017, but it was still a long way from reaching ODF+ goals.

Today, it stands as a role model thanks to the path-breaking initiatives taken in sanitation, waste management, menstrual hygiene, greenery and other areas in last two years under the leadership of District Collector A. Devasena.

Under her dynamic leadership, the district turned free from open drain. All household drain water is routed to a soak pit, eliminating the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

"At a time when entire Telangana is battling unprecedented rise in the incidence of dengue, Peddapalli succeeded in bringing down mosquito borne diseases by 85 per cent this year," Devasena told IANS at a shed serving as her temporary office.

Only last year, Peddapalli was declared a high-risk district for dengue.

The individual soak pits and community soak pits also ensured percolation of water into the ground, thus helping in water conservation.

Under another major activity, about 1,000 km of staggered trenches, contour trenches and boundary trenches were constructed across the hills and hillocks, facilitating percolation of rain water in the trenches.

A unique activity called 'seed bombing' was taken up for greening of the hilly areas. Under this ancient technique, seeds of forest species are tucked into mud balls, made of a mixture of clay and red soil, which is mixed with Jeevamruth (an organic liquid manure), dried in the shade and then dispersed over hills and hillocks. A record number of 2.24 crore seed balls were prepared and dispersed on the hills and hillocks with 60 to 80 per cent plant survival rate.

The district administration also ensured plantation of six lakh plants with the participation of women.

Going beyond sanitation, Peddapalli also became the only district in the country to have its own brand of sanitary napkins called 'Sabala'. A women's self-help group (SHG) is running the plant, manufacturing hygienic, high quality, affordable and biodegradable sanitary napkins.

"This initiative for women by women has ensured that menstrual hygiene is available at the doorsteps of women in every household through the extensive SHG network," Devasena said.

According to the Collector, this has significantly reduced the number of women visiting government hospitals with infections of reproductive and urinary tracts, mostly caused due to insanitary methods.

The district also earned appreciation from the Unicef for this programme as the administration succeeded in breaking taboos attached to the use of sanitary napkins and women began talking openly about it.

SHGs were also roped in to manufacture non-woven, cloth, jute and paper bags, plates and glasses made of biodegradable materials to replace plastic as the district administration has banned single-use plastic.

Distribution of separate bins for wet and dry trash, collection of plastic items by the local authorities, use of kitchen waste for waste compost to make manure for kitchen gardens helped in waste management, explained Prem Kumar, consultant to the Collector.

All villages have community toilets constructed and maintained by village-level elected bodies. The district also bagged national award for beautification of community toilets.

The Collector and her team succeeded in motivating the sarpanchs or village heads to the extent that they are competing to make their villages the best in the district. The sarpanchs are spending money from their own pockets.

In Lonkakesram village, for instance, sarpanch Mohammed Manzoor spent about Rs 8 lakh from his pocket on sanitation related works.

"This is the village of my forefathers and doing something to serve the village and its people gives me immense satisfaction," he said.

Maidam Kumar, sarpanch of Adiwarampet village, is keen to see his village become the best. He spent Rs 10 lakh of his own money for various works.

What makes the district's achievements commendable is that the works were undertaken without putting any additional financial burden on the state government.

"The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has an excellent setup. It can be tapped for a whole lot of activities for development of villages," said the Collector.

The district achieved another international recognition by successfully implementing the concept of 'tail to head', a technique of improving user efficiency and productivity of water under the ayacut of Sriram Sagar Project.

It irrigated 46.28 per cent more area under the ayacut with a savings of 48 per cent of water utilised. It recorded the highest ever production of 2.80 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the 2018 Rabi season, while productivity per acre doubled to 40 quintals per acre.

Peddapalli got an opportunity to showcase its development activities at the international forum when the Collector was invited to be part of the Indian delegation at the prestigious World Water Week event held at Stockholm, Sweden, in September, in recognition of her contribution towards the sectors of water and sanitation.

The district has now embarked on linking its achievements to self-respect of every individual and the district as a whole. With intensive information and education campaigns, it is trying to build a sense of pride and responsibility among the people.

The houses in the district are being pasted with 'stickers of honour', listing 'pancha soothras' or five principles. The administration is making sure that all households become compliant with five principles -- use toilet in the house, soak pit as well as a compost pit, a kitchen garden, segregation of waste and use of 'Sabala' sanitary napkins.

A recipient of various awards for the works done in Peddapalli, Devasena is keen to sustain the achievements on a permanent basis.

"Qualitative change in the district is the biggest achievement, but sustaining it is the key. It should not be person oriented. If I leave or some other official leaves, it should not be back to square one," she said.

(This feature is part of a positive-journalism feature by IANS and supported by the Frank Islam Foundation)

(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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By Pankaj Gupta

Narsinghpur (MP), Dec 6 (IANS/ 101Reporters) India's government schools are usually synonymous with dilapidated classrooms, dingy buildings, disinterested teachers and truant students. However, a government school in Madhya Pradesh boasts of such advanced facilities it can give the best of private schools a run for their money.

In fact, such is the reputation of Khamariya government school in Narsinghpur district that no private school has opened or is functioning in the 15 surrounding villages.

Established in 2012, the school is equipped with closed-circuit cameras for security, and classrooms with smart class technology, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TVs, skill development classes and even vocational training for the students. To overcome irregular electricity supply, the school has power backup too.

The man behind the vision, headmaster Narayan Gupta, wanted to improve not only the academics but also the all-round development of students. Besides main exams, students here are offered career-oriented classes in the field of computers, health and engineering. Not only this, they also have gym classes. Currently, with a strength of 3,117 students, the school is one of the most sought after schools in the region.

Headmaster Gupta, himself a former student of the school, highlighted that the school used to be a mud-tiled hut. He said the initiative to revamp it started in 2012 when they crowdsourced more than Rs 1.5 lakh. He credited the locals for enabling the development of the school, saying they chipped in with not only money but also physical labour. Whether it's the installation of tiles or the construction of classrooms, public support has always been crucial, he stated.

He informed that in 2013, CCTV cameras were installed in the entire campus, then came the sound systems, the projectors and the LED TVs. He said that every year, they make it a mission to improve one facility in the school. He added that a National Cadet Corps unit was started in recent years and nine students have already decided to join the military forces.

Nazmi Khan, a teacher at the school, emphasised on the importance of both theory and practical classes to impart knowledge. With regards to healthcare classes, he said, the students are taught how to deal with emergencies and then we show them how the knowledge gained from books is used in hospitals so that they have a better understanding of the topic.

Vocational courses teacher Ankit Jaiswal informed that vocational training is provided to students from class nine to 12 so that students can earn a living when they grow up. Most classes have theory and practical examinations, he added.

The school lays emphasis on environmental education too. There is greenery around the school, with a special focus on cleanliness. A student of class 11, Hemlata Patel, stated they are taught everything from cleanliness and hygiene to primary medical courses and sports with the help of smart technology. She added that the computerised health centre has helped a lot of students develop skills in that area. She said it might prove to be useful later.

Hemlata's father Ramsevak Patel stated that conducting smart classes in a government school in a small village to impart training based on vocational education is unprecedented. He boasted that the students of the school are leaving the students from urban areas behind.

Even the officials with the district education department speak highly of the institute and believe that the facilities in the school are helping increase student participation. Arun Ingale, district education officer (Narsinghpur), stated that the school itself is unique because it is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment by funds collected from the residents. The district has the highest recorded number of rural schools, the biggest reason being that this school is completely digital and it has emerged as a model school in the state, he commented.

Source: IANS

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Kathmandu, Dec 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Nepal's Gadhimai temple is all decked up for a five-yearly sacrificial ritual that will see over 30,000 animals, including buffaloes, sacrificed over two days at a massive slaughterhouse set up at the temple premises, ignoring protests by animal rights groups and an apex court order.

Gadhimai, located in Bariyapur 100 km from Kathmandu, comes alive every five years when the mass slaughter is held. However, since 2009, there has been increasing pressure on the temple authorities to ban the wanton animal sacrifice.

The festival, which takes place in honour of the goddess of power Gadhimai and is attended by millions of people from across Nepal and India, is being celebrated on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thousands have already arrived at the temple premises with their animals meant for sacrifice.

In August 2016, Nepal's Supreme Court directed the government to stop animal sacrifices at the Gadhimai temple fair.

In response, the Gadhimai Five-yearly Festival Main Committee has said that it will follow the court's order and has decided not to kill pigeons this year.

The mass slaughter is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday. The slaughter will begin after sacrificing seven animals - "mice, pigeons, chickens, ducks, pigs, and buffaloes."

The last festival saw an estimated 10,000 buffaloes slaughtered, along with thousands of other animals at the Gadhimai temple fair, which is considered the world's biggest sacrifice of animals at any one site.

The temple slaughterhouse presently houses 3,000 buffaloes, guarded by police and a wire fence, waiting to be slaughtered.

Journalists and the public are not allowed to enter or take photos, the Himalayan Post reported.

Five years ago, after protests by animal rights activists, numerous reports in the media had claimed that the Gadhimai Temple had banned all animal sacrifice. But the herd of buffaloes awaiting sacrifice at the slaughterhouse speaks another story.

Sacrificing animals, including buffaloes, goats, chickens, ducks and pigeons, has been a longstanding feature of the festival.

Mangal Chaudhary, the main priest at the temple, said the "auspicious date" to sacrifice buffaloes is Tuesday, while Wednesday is for other animals.

Anticipating protests, security has been beefed up around the temple, with 1,500 security personnel deployed. Around 70 closed-circuit cameras have been installed and security along the Nepal-India border has also been tightened, the daily reported.

The Animal Welfare Foundation, an animal rights organisation, has launched a campaign against the sacrifice. But the campaign has not really taken off, said Sneha Shrestha, chair of the foundation.

Source: IANS

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By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Nov 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Indian space agency has a busy launch schedule this fiscal with about 13 missions on its menu, said a top official.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned 13 missions during this fiscal -- six launch vehicle missions and seven satellite missions before March 2020, said its Chairman K. Sivan post the successful launch of Cartosat-3 and 13 nano satellites from the US.

According to P. Kunhikrishnan, Director, U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO said four more satellites are under development simultaneously.

The Indian space agency will soon be launching radar imaging satellites RISAT-2BR1, RISAT-2BR2.

The space agency had earlier said it would send up its new rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) with a carrying capacity of 500 kg.

Source: IANS

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By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Nov 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) All future Indian rockets will be fitted with the indigenously designed and built Vikram Processor that guided the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C47 (PSLV-C47) on Wednesday to complete its mission successfully.

India's PSLV-C47 rocket on Wednesday morning successfully put into orbit the country's advanced earth observation satellite Cartosat-3 and 13 nano satellites from the US.

The rocket for the first time was fitted with Vikram Processor designed, developed and fabricated by the Chandigarh based Semi-Conductor Laboratory coming under Department of Space.

"All the future Indian rockets will fly guided by the indigenously developed Vikram Processor," a senior official of Indian Space Research Organsation (ISRO) told IANS.

India has two family of rockets -- PSLV and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The ISRO is also developing a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) with a capacity to carry 500 kg satellites.

The Vikram Processor is used for rocket's navigation, guidance and control and also for general processing applications.

According to B.R. Biju, Mission Director for Cartosat-3 Mission, for the first time the indigenously designed Vikram Processor was used in PSLV-C47 rocket and its performance was fantastic.

Interestingly, the Vikram Processor has brought in an added cheer for the Indian space officials after another Vikram -- the moon lander -- that crash landed on the lunar surface this September putting the officials into a gloomy mood.

Source: IANS

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By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) Nov 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) India on Wednesday crossed the milestone of launching 300 foreign satellites on Wednesday morning when its rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) put into orbit 13 nano satellites from the US.

With this successful launch India has till date launched 310 foreign satellites for a fee.

The American satellites were piggy backing on the rocket's main luggage, India's advanced earth observation satellite Cartosat-3.

Prior to this mission, India with its PSLV rocket has put into orbit 297 foreign satellites.

Curiously, the order to launch the American satellites was bagged by the NewSpace India Limited formed only in March 2019, with an almost identical business plan to that of Antrix Corporation, the first commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Since its incorporation in 1992, Antrix Corporation has handled such third party satellite launch contracts, leasing of communication satellite transponders, marketing of data from remote sensing satellites, building and marketing of satellites as well as satellite mission support services, and establishing ground infrastructure for space applications.

In addition to the above lines of business, NewSpace India will also be the nodal agency for the production of PSLV and Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLV) through industry consortiums and partners.

For the year ended 2017-18, Antrix Corporation had logged a turnover of Rs 2,039.33 crore and a net profit of Rs 211.52 crore.

Source: IANS

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Mumbai, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata on Tuesday paid homage to the "spirit and sense of unity" of Mumbai on the 11th anniversary of the dastardly 26/11 attack.

"A lot has been said about the tragedy of 26/11. The memory of the carnage and loss of life, is still painful. We won't forget the needless suffering caused across the city. But we remain proud of the spirit and the sense of unity of Mumbai.

"We can be hurt, but not knocked out," Tata said in a tweet, attaching a photo of he standing with policemen out the iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel. The Tata property was one of the key targets of the 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan who went on a murderous rampage across the city November 26-28, 2008, killing 166 people, including foreign nationals, before being overcome by security forces.

The terrorists entered the hotel near the Gateway of India by breaking down a side door, attacking guests around the swimming pool before moving inside to the bars and restaurants. Two of the terrorists entered through the front door and started shooting and throwing grenades. They killed at least 31 people.

The terrorists set off bombs under the hotel's central dome, setting off a massive blaze, which later raged through the top floors.

The hotel was later stormed by commandoes who helped to evacuate people trapped inside their rooms.

Hotel General Manager Karambir Kang did his best to help the trapped guests, despite losing his wife and two sons in the attack.

Source: IANS

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By Vishnu Makhijani

Mumbai, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Hemant Karkare, the head of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) was midway through his dinner when he was informed around 9.45 p.m. of the attack on the Chhatrapti Shivaji Terminus (CST), one of the first targets of the 26/11 attackers. He switched on the TV as the first images came on about what would turn out out to be one of the worst terrorist assaults on Indian soil. With his driver and his bodyguards, he immediately left for CST, where he donned a flak jacket and a helmet and helmet and entered Platofrm No 1 but found it deserted.

Karkare was then informed that the terrorists had moved to the Cama and Albless Hospital next to the Azad Maidan police station. Accompanied by Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar, Karkare headed for the spot but came under a hail of fire in a narrow lane between St. Xavier's College and Rang Bhavan, a stones throw away from the Crime Branch office. All three died.

Eleven years after that horrific night, Karkare's daughter has penned a moving tribute to her father in "Hemant Karkare: A Daughter's Memoir" that she says was "very difficult" to write but is "satisfied" she has been able to complete it.

"It was certainly very difficult because at first I did not know what I should be writing about; what was happening on 26/11. And then I thought I should only write about what I know about my father's life. So, the focus of my book is about my dad's journey, how he moulded himself to become what he was, focusing on the positives and providing an inspirational story for all," Navare told IANS in an interview.

"Hemant Karkare: A Daughter's Memoir", published by The Write Place, was released at the Crossword Book Store in Mumbai on Monday.

Navare, 38, had got married in 2007 and moved to Boston with her husband, an investment banker. The couple has two daughters aged eight and five. On a visit to India soon after her father's death, she found the diaries he had written when he was in his early 20s and the seed for the book was laid.

"I found his diaries he wrote when he was 21 and 22 and I was fascinated by how he minutely planned his day even when he was so young. For example, he would participate in a debate and immediately write about the things he did well, what were the things he did not do well and so on. I mean very basic things like you should be using simple sentences and the like.

"He wrote these diaries in 1977 and then in 1983 he reviewed those diaries. So he always constantly looking at things...how he could improve. That was the most important lesson that I learnt - that you have to keep on introspecting and seeing how best can you improve upon things. That was what fascinated me," Navare said.

The book brings to life a stalwart of the Indian Police Service (IPS) who was well-respected not only for his immaculate and noteworthy professionalism but also for his creativity in art, culled from the Maoist-infested jungle of Chandrapur, where he was posted in 1991.

The heart-warming memoir pays tribute to Karkare's myriad roles - as an exemplary police officer, a family man, an artist, a dog lover, a social worker, a book lover and above all, a good human being.

Navare's lasting memory of her father was when he visited her in Boston in July 2008 four months before 26/11.

"The most recent memory I have of him was when he visited me in Boston in July 2008. He was in Boston for 15 days and that was the last time I saw him and I still remember those days because he was on a vacation and he had the entire day available for me. We used to go for long walks together; me, my mom and my father - the three of us. We went to visit the Niagara falls. That was the first and last time he visited me so I often think of those days," she said.

Speaking of her early days, Navare recalled how her father constantly egged her on as she constantly had to change schools whenever he was posted to a new place.

"I studied in 10 different schools all over Maharashtra so every time we moved to a new place I had to start all over again...make new friends. When I spoke about this to my dad he said try to look at it this way that every time you move to a new place, you're learning so much more, you're able to adapt to a new environment. He said that is very important in today's life and you're someone who can easily adapt to any new environment and you will learn so much," Navare said.

What of the future?

"Right now I am happy that I have completed this book about my father. This was my first book and it was a very difficult book to write because of the subject but at the same time, I am satisfied that I was able to complete it. Hopefully I'll plan to continue writing. Fiction or non-fiction? I don't see myself writing fiction as of now. Subjects? I like reading inspirational stories about people like my dad and I think that would be a subject that i would be interested in writing about," Navare concluded.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) While Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation on Tuesday to pay tributes to those killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks 11 years ago, Twitterati too joined in.

Hashtags MumbaiTerrorAttack were trending with 57.5K tweets, #MumbaiAttacks with 23.1K tweets, #2611attack with 7692 tweets, and #HemantKarkare with 2444 tweets.

Twitter users posted pictures of the terror attack along with pictures of security personnel who fought against the terrorists and those who were killed in action.

At least 166 people, including foreigners, were killed when 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists attacked five major sites in Mumbai 11 years ago.

Union Minister of State Babul Supriyo tweeted: "Tributes to our brave security personnel who sacrificed their lives for our security. Let us vow to stand united against terrorism and be prepared to defeat cowardice acts like these. #2611attack#MumbaiAttacks"

US Ambassador to India, Ken Juster, wrote on @USAmbIndia to remind that November 26 marks the 11th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack.

"As we remember and honor the victims and stand side-by-side with the people of India, we must remain strong and united in the face of terrorism, and more determined than ever to defeat it. #2611Attack," he posted.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said: "Heartfelt tributes to the valiant martyrs of the #2611Attack on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy in Mumbai. We will never forget their sacrifice ? their sacrifice unites us against the forces which intend to divide us with terror."

Industrialist Anand Mahindra posted pictures and posted a couplet. He commented: "On 26/11 there is no other subject to tweet about. We remember their battle; we remember their courage; we remember our debt to our heroes..."

Bollywood actress Koena Mitra said: "Paying tribute to the valour and sacrifice of our heroes of 26/11. Condolences to the families who lost their loved ones."

Source: IANS

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By Rajnish Singh

New Delhi, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) As many facts related to 26/11 attack in southern part of India's financial capital are known, the National Investigation (NIA) agency investigators said Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency played crucial role in the terror attack operationalised by LeT.

They are among those nine named in the NIA chargesheet which was filed in Delhi's Patiala House court almost three years after the 26/ 11 attack.

According to an NIA investigation into the 26/11 case, they plotted the strikes on Mumbai by sending in a US citizen to India for reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and later sent in a group of terrorists by sea to India's financial hub on the west coast.

The two Pakistani officers remain just names with India not having any further clue of their identity or photographs.

The names of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, mastermind of the attack Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and the two officers of Pakistan's ISI are categorically mentioned in the NIA chargesheet too.

Others named in the chargesheet are David Coleman Headley, the American who was later arrested by the US and is currently in a jail there. Headley's confidante Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and Pakistani army deserter, and HuJI commander Illyas Kashmiri are among others named in the document.

The NIA had registered a case against Headley and Rana on November 12, 2009.A

Headley's handler Sajid Malik and former Pakistani army officer Abdul Rehman Hashmi were also named in the NIA chargesheet.

Investigators said the ISI operatives hatched the conspiracy in or around "2005" by LeT and HuJI leaders such as Saeed, Lakhvi and Kashmiri.

Their role came to light when the NIA interrogated Headley in 2010 in which he had provided the details of his Mumbai visits, financed by Major Iqbal, for reccee of potential targets.

Following each trip, the video and photographs were provided to his ISI handlers.

Rana was providing material and financial support to Headley for carrying out the terror attacks on Mumbai and Denmark.

The Pakistani-American jihadist, Headley (original name: Daood Gilani), was arrested in October 2009 for planning a Mumbai-style terrorist attack in Denmark. While in US custody, he claimed that he had been an informant of the American Drug Enforcement Agency, tasked to infiltrate the criminal underworld in Pakistan.

Headley had the advantage of his Caucasian looks, American upbringing and accent and US citizenship, however, Rana had the benefit of a network which he had developed while running an office and doing business for an immigration consultancy in Chicago which was the major plan of the ISI operatives to save them of coming into the radar of Indian agencies, said an investigator.

Headley undertook several trips to Mumbai over the course of three years, beginning in 2006 and continuing until after the 26/11 attack.

It was due to his reconnaissance videos and photographs that LeT was able to plan and rehearse for a precision-strike, said the investigator.

It was also learnt that the NIA had registered a case against Headley and Rana before the larger part of the conspiracy was revealed.

As per their plan Rana was tasked to visit India on November 13, 2008, and then asked to leave Mumbai five days before the 26/ 11 attack.

The investigators consider the information relvant in context of the November 26, 2008 night attack which occured eleven years ago on this day when 10 heavily armed Pakistan-based terrorists sailed into Mumbai and unleashed a wave of violence in the city that left around 160 people dead, including more than a dozen police officers, and hundreds injured.

They struck several targets in a series of co-ordinated attacks, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Leopold Cafe- a popular restaurant among tourists and Nariman House- a Jewish cultural and religious centre.

The ten hand grenade lashed amd Kalashnikov assault rifles wielding terrorists -- belonged to Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attacked Mumbai.

The dramatic scenes were beamed live on television as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen and guests tried to escape out of windows using bed sheets.

Nine of the 10 terrorists were killed, and one was arrested.

The arrest of this gunman, whose name was Ajmal Kasab, was a game-changer as India, for the first time, had captured a participant in a suicidal attack with high interrogation value, said another investigator.

Following the attack, suspicion swiftly focused on LeT, a vast jihadist group based in Pakistan.

Although notionally banned by the Pakistani government since 2002, LeT held ostentatious fund-raising rallies and operated urban recruitment centres without any official interference.

(Rajnsh Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Mumbai/New Delhi, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Terror struck Mumbai on the night of November 26, 2008, when 10 Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists from Pakistan attacked India's commercial capital, striking simultaneously at five major locations, and shooting dead 166 people, including many foreign nationals.

The 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists had traveled from Karachi to Mumbai on a fishing trawler they had hijacked. They killed the four crew members, throwing their bodies overboard, and slit the throat of the captain.

They docked the tug at the Mumbai waterfront near the Gateway of India monument.

The terrorists hijacked cars, including a police van, and split into different groups to carry out the attacks.

The targets they attacked were two luxury hotels, Oberoi-Trident Hotel and Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, a Jewish cultural centre - Chabad House at Nariman, ACafe Leopold - frequented by Western backpackers, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the main railway station and the site of most of the killings, and Cama Hospital.

The terrorists used automatic weapons and grenades to storm the sites.

Nine of the gunmen were killed during the attacks, while Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was captured alive. He was executed in November 2012.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus was the site of the first attack. At around 9.20 p.m. Kasab and another Pakistani terrorist opened indiscriminate fire into the teeming crowds at the station. The attack lasted about 90 minutes, leaving 58 people dead and over 100 injured.

The second attack was reported about 8-10 minutes later -- the Nariman House business and residential complex housing the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch outreach centre.

Before attacking it, the terrorists blew up a gas station. They killed the rabbi, his wife and five Israeli hostages during a three-day siege. The two-year-old child of the rabbi survived after his Indian nanny Sandra Samuels smuggled the baby to safety.

At around 9.40 p.m., four terrorists struck the upscale and popular Leopold Cafe. They sprayed gunfire on the diners, killing 10 of them. The attack lasted between 10 to 15 minutes. The terrorists also planted bombs in two taxis that killed five people and injured 15.

They then proceed to the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel.

The terrorists entered the hotel by breaking down a side door. They first attacked guests around the swimming pool and then moved inside to the bars and restaurants. Two of the terrorists entered the hotel through the front door and started shooting and throwing grenades. They killed at least 31 people in the four-day siege.

The terrorists set off bombs under the central dome of the Taj Mahal hotel, setting off a massive fire, which later raged through the top floors of the Taj.

The hotel was stormed by commando troops who helped to evacuate people trapped inside their rooms.

The Oberoi-Trident Hotel was attacked by two terrorists who entered the hotel through the restaurant, and fired on the crowd. They later moved through the hotel looking for targets.

They killed approximately 30 people in a siege that lasted three days.

After attacking CST railway station, Kasab and his fellow terrorist Ismail Khan targeted the Cama Hospital. They arrived at the back gate of the hospital, but the alert hospital staff had locked all the doors. The two men then ambushed a police team outside the hospital, killing six of them, including ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and hijacked their jeep.

Kasab and the other terroritst Ismail Khan were intercepted near Girgaum Chowpatty, where police constable Tukaram Omble grabbed the barrel of their rifle. This gave the police team time to overpower Kasab and capture him. The other terrorist was killed.

Kasab was tried and sentenced to death in May 2010. He was hanged at the Yerawada jail in Pune in November 2012.

India had permitted the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to interrogate Kasab directly.

A team of FBI officials flew in from New York to learn what they could about the attack. Kasab independently confirmed to the FBI what he had told the Indian police -- that he was a Pakistani citizen and a member of LeT, and the attack was being directed in real-time from the Pakistani port city of Karachi via mobile and Internet telephony.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) : The force which is "With You, For You, Always", was once with itself too.

There was a time when the Delhi Police took a strong stand even against MPs during a face-off.

In 2002, a rally led by the then MP Devendra Kumar at Jantar Mantar turned violent and attacked policemen with stones and lathis when they were prevented from moving towards Parliament.

Around 15 policemen, including DCP Manoj Lall, were injured. To control the violence, the police had to use water cannons and tear gas.

A Parliamentary Committee ordered Lall's suspension for the police action.

As the news of the DCP's suspension spread like wildfire, top officials rushed to the police headquarters to meet the police commissioner and asked him to save the force from feeling demoralised and demotivated.

Senior officials of the force condemned the move to suspend the DCP.

From top officials to the junior most ranks, everyone slammed the decision of the Committee, saying it was a big blow to the morale and honour of the force which had always given its supreme sacrifice to safeguard the national capital.

Subsequently, Lall's suspension was revoked.

In contrast, after the violent clash between cops and lawyers at the Tis Hazari court complex on November 2, the Delhi Police was on the receiving end.

On November 2, a minor argument between some policemen and a lawyer over parking at the Tis Hazari court complex flared up, leading to violence and arson. A lawyer was also left with a bullet injury.

The police alleged that the advocates assaulted them and set ablaze some police vehicles.

"Twenty police officials, including one Additional DCP and two SHOs have sustained injuries. Eight advocates have also sustained injuries. In the fire, 12 private motorcycles, one QRT gypsy of the police and eight jail vans outside the lock-up were damaged," the police said.

A Special Investigation Team comprising officials of the Crime Branch and headed by Joint Commissioner of Police (Jt. CP) will be formed to probe the sequence of event. Action will be taken on the findings of the SIT.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Same location, almost similar incidents but different outcomes in two different cases of clashes between the Delhi Police and the lawyers of Tis Hazari.

Probably this was the reason that Delhi Police's field officers decided to stage protest against its own top brass and gave calls for "return" of retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who is now Lt Governor of Puducherry.

During the protest by the Delhi police personnel and their families about two weeks back, what caught the eye of most of the media was the police personnel placing Kiran Bedi's poster prominently and asking her to return to forces.

The men in Khaki raised slogans like "Kiran Bedi sherni hamari" and "Humara Commissioner of Police kaisa ho, Kiran Bedi jaisa ho".

This love and belief in Kiran Bedi by policemen after the current top brass let them down was because she is regarded as one of the most prominent reasons that in almost similar Tis Hazari in the past, the force held its head high and did not bow to the protesting lawyers rather it protected them.

The case dates back to January 1988 when the Delhi Police arrested an advocate named Rajesh Agnihotri. The lawyer was allegedly caught stealing from a ladies common room of St. Stephen's college.

However, the controversy erupted when the accused lawyer was produced before Tis Hazari court handcuffed. His colleagues argued that the police should not have brought a lawyer in handcuffs, as they argued, it was illegal.

Two days later the lawyers announced strike demanding action against the police officials, who handcuffed a lawyer.

But this is when Bedi held her ground and two days she announced that the police actions were justified as they did not know the accused was a lawyer.

However, the statement did not go down well with the lawyers as they marched towards Bedi's office which was situated on the second floor of the Tis Hazari court, but according to lawyers the police lathi-charged on them leaving many injured.

The scuffle left a big impact for over two months, the lawyers continued their strike, and demanded Bedi's resignation.

It was this case that earned Bedi, the image that made protesting police officers to demand her return in the forces.

The policemen argued that if it was Bedi in place of their current top brass, the outcome of the incident would have been different as she would have not bowed before lawyers and no complaints would have been registered against the policemen nor would some of them have been transferred.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) An unprecedented protest by the men in Khaki against its own department made it clear that everything was not right within the Delhi Police and the way top brass maintains relations with its subordinates.

The protest by the lower rung of the Delhi Police and their families took place after action was taken against some cops following a violent clash between police personnel and lawyers at Tis Hazari Court complex on November 2.

The protesters alleged that the top brass of police was not protecting the juniors and rather acting against them only.

IANS tried to trace the chain of events which might have triggered such massive protest by the juniors of the Delhi police against their senior officers nearly two weeks back.

Here are some such incidents:-

Mukherjee Nagar - In a minor incident of road rage that turned into a major clash, it was alleged that policemen posted in Mukherjee Nagar police station, both uniformed and plain clothes, allegedly assaulted auto driver Sarabjeet Singh, who, along with his son, allegedly used a sword to hit some of them.

The incident, which reportedly took place on a busy road, was also recorded on CCTV.

But what caught the eye was the way top brass of the police department suspended its personnel, even after details emerged where the civilian was found involved in various other cases of scuffle, in one of which he allegedly also broke a man's arm.

DCP slapping traffic inspector-
In March 2019, reports emerged where a traffic inspector of the Delhi Police filed a complaint against the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of New Delhi district, Madhur Verma accusing him of slapping him multiple times.

The matter came to the fore when a three-page letter by the traffic inspector went viral on various WhatsApp groups, alleging misconduct by the DCP.

The traffic inspector said in the letter that he was deployed at Tughlaq Road Circle, when he intercepted an SUV with a Punjab number for driving on the wrong side resulting in a traffic jam. When he stopped the car and questioned the driver, Rohit, the said SUV's driver said he was Verma's driver.

According to the complaint, Rohit threatened the inspector and abused him. Minutes after the incident, the traffic inspector was asked to come to the Parliament Street police station by Verma at around 11 p.m.

He alleged that Verma not only snatched his mobile but also abused and slapped him inside the police station. He added that he was detained unlawfully as well.

Although no PCR call was made, the inspector filed a complained and also expressed apprehension of deletion of CCTV footage of the incident.

Meanwhile, DCP Verma has also filed a complaint against the inspector for misbehaving with the Delhi Police staff and also for thrashing Rohit.

Traffic cop breaks down on camera-

In May, 2019, a traffic police cop of Delhi Police posted a video online where he alleged that his seniors harassed him. It was in the video that he broke down while narrating the hardships that he was facing from within the force.

In the video uploaded on Internet, the cop was seen crying and alleging that he was being marked absent from work by an ACP rank officer.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) In any of the cheapest areas in the South Delhi, renting an unfurnished room set with liveable conditions would cost about Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per month for a person but if you are a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) you might just get the room for as little as Rs 20 per month -- and if you are willing to share space with another person, then room rent would be Rs 10 a month, with furniture and utilities included.

The university is located in south Delhi. Up ahead is Vasant Vihar, a coveted address for India's rich and famous. A short distance away are India's glitziest malls.

Though the JNU administration has now decided to hike prices and bring up the rent to Rs 300 and Rs 600, respectively, for double sharing and single rooms, the move has brought the varsity back on the boil, as students believe this is an unjustified hike.

At the heart of the controversy is the new hostel manual approved by the Inter-Hall Administration (IHA) Committee which proposed a fee hike of the hostel room from Rs 10 to Rs 300 for a double sharing room and Rs 600 from Rs 20 for a single-seater.

Some other updates in the manual which was not revised for over 14 years are the utility charges (electricity and water charges) which students did not pay for so far but will have to do so now -- by paying actuals. Service charge (sanitation, maintenance, cook, mess helper, etc) was nil all these years but has now been revised to Rs 1,700 per month, which the administration has said is based on estimated amount as per actual.

The big change in the new hostel manual is the one-time mess security fee which has been raised to Rs 12,000 from the earlier Rs 5,500. This has to be paid up front but is refundable.

The students have claimed that the fee hike is about 999 per cent, including all utility charges, which the students will have to incur once the new manual is put to function.

"They claim that the students have to pay about Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 annually but according to our calculations the amount will rise to about Rs 70,000 to Rs one lakh annually," N. Sai Balaji, AISA member and former President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, told IANS.

Balaji did not comment on how the figure was arrived at.

The JNU administration is firm on its stand and has refused to roll back the hike, as they claim it is "completely justified" and there had been no revision over 14 years.

"How can you expect to live on the same rent as you were living 14 years ago? Are the electricity rates same? Does your food cost the same? Or do sanitation workers charge the same amount as salary?" a senior official in the JNU administration said.

The Democratic Students' Federation (DSF) which has been active in JNU politics has made calculations to show that in the first year, those occupying single-seaters will face a 411 per cent hike and those in double-seaters 374 per cent hike. From the second year onwards, the DSF says those occupying single-seaters will have to pay 999 per cent more and those in double-seaters 911 per cent more as compared to the earlier hostel charges.

The DSF said that if the fee hike was implemented, a large number of students would have to leave the university.

On Monday when the Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhiryal 'Nishank' were in the university to attend its convocation ceremony, thousands of students gathered outside the venue and blocked the road to protest against the hike in hostel charges.

The agitating students confined the Union Minister along with various other alumni in the building for about five hours and the minister could only be escorted out after senior Delhi Police officers reached the spot and escorted the minister and Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh kumar out of the All India Council for Technical Education hall (AICTE hall) where the convocation ceremony was being held.

Established by an act of Parliament in 1966, JNU came into existence in 1969 and is financed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) which comes under the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.

The varsity was ranked number one in India by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with a Grade Point of 3.91 (on a scale of 4) and was ranked no 3 among all universities in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, Government of India, in 2016 and no 2 in 2017. JNU also received the Best University Award from the President of India in 2017.

Source: IANS

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By Rohan Agarwal

New Delhi, Nov 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration may have announced a 50 per cent concession in hostel fee rates for students belonging to Below Poverty line (BPL) but economists say there is currently no measuring stick in the country to classify the BPL line, especially for the poor in Urban region.

The University, which has announced the concession, is itself unaware of how it will pass on the benefit to students and how it will identify students from a poor family background.

This was clear from JNU Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar's response to a query by IANS as how the BPL category would be identified for providing the concession.

"We will cross the bridge when it comes," Kumar said.

Earlier, the government used to identify the weaker section of the society by the Suresh Tendulkar formula or after that Rangarajan Committee, both of which are not in use after huge backlash against them.

The Tendulkar formula had come under attack across the spectrum because, according to it, only those spending less than Rs 1,000 a month on a certain basket of goods and services in urban areas and Rs 816 a month in rural areas would be considered poor.

This was broken down into a per day expenditure of Rs 33 and Rs 27 and generated much outrage.

After Tendulkar drew flack from every corner, the then UPA government announced the Rangarajan Committee to decide upon the measuring stick for BPL.

Rangarajan committee went back to the calorie consumption-based estimation.

On this basis, it has worked out a monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs 972 (Rs 32 a day) in rural areas and Rs 1,407 in urban areas (Rs 47 a day).

This method was also scrapped by the Union government, and currently none of these are being used by the government to classify BPL.

Economists also confirm the same as they say the BPL category is not defined and the only measuring stick available for the authorities to pass on benefits to the weaker sections of the society is the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, which is also limited to only the residents of rural areas and do not cover weaker sections of society living in urban regions.

"At the moment, there is no BPL line to identify poor in the country, but the government employs SECC to pass on benefits in educational institutes or in other terms to a person from a weaker section of society," former Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen told IANS.

However, Sen was quick to highlight the loopholes in this system, especially when it comes to getting 50 per cent concession in JNU hostel fee.

"First of all, SECC is a qualitative measure-driven method, where the person conducting survey would decide on the basis of the quality of housing that a person lives and various social indicators. So there is very less space for identifying a person through his income or expenditure," he added.

Sen also made it clear that if the University decides to employ SECC to extend the benefits of the concession to BPL students as they have proposed, the problem will not end as there is another major drawback in the survey, especially when using to avail concession offered by the JNU administration.

"Another problem here is that the SECC is limited only on the rural population. So someone from Delhi or any other urban area would be automatically cut-off from the benefit even if he is from a severely poor family background," he emphasised.

Another economist, who did not want to be identified, echoed Sen's views.

"There is currently no measure that could possibly tell you who comes under Below Poverty line or who does not. So if you ask about whom the varsity will extend the benefit to, I would say, .... no idea," the economist said.

The concession to BPL students was announced by the varsity after a huge protest by the agitating students over the proposed hostel fee hike.

The protest had led to Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' and the Vice-Chancellor being confined to University campus for over five hours after the students staged a huge protest right outside the AICTE hall where the minister had arrived to attend the third convocation ceremony of the varsity.

The university administration two days later announced a 50 per cent concession for the BPL students bring the hostel rent down to Rs 300 from Rs 600 for a BPL student renting a single occupancy room in the hostel and Rs 150 from Rs 300 for a double occupancy room.

(Rohan Agarwal can be contacted at rohan.a@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) A massive hike in hostel room charges is what has led to a stand-off between the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration and its students. But despite this hike in fees, the varsity continues to be the cheapest one when compared to many other central-run universities.

What do other universities charge as hostel fees:

Jawaharlal Nehru University: Right in the centre of the turmoil over hostel fee hike, JNU has decided to raise its hostel fees from Rs 20 to Rs 600 for a single occupancy room, while for double occupancy it will be Rs 300 as compared to Rs 10 charged earlier.

The new rates made the hostel fee Rs 7,200 per annum for a single occupancy room. This includes establishment charges which remain unchanged at Rs 1,100 per semester, and annual charge Rs 2,200, apart from these, one has to pay for crockery Rs 250, and newspaper Rs 50.

The total amount payable is Rs 9,700 per annum for a single occupancy room, while for a double room the annual charge stands at Rs 6,100.

Other universities in national capital:

Delhi University: Founded in 1922, the Delhi University is one of the largest varsities in India with over 14 faculties and 86 academic departments. It is currently home to over 79 colleges and draws more than 2,20,000 students from all over the country.

The University does not have uniform hostel charges for its colleges, but instead its colleges decide their own hostel fees which range from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000.

For instance, hostel fees in the St Stephen's College stand as high as Rs 60,000 per annum.

Jamia Millia Islamia: Considered hub of research scholars and one of the best universities for the mass media studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, charges about Rs 30,000 per annum.

Constituting these charges are Rs 1,000 as room rent, Rs 1,400 as hostel maintenance charges among others. Unlike JNU, Jamia would not extend a concession of 50 per cent to its BPL students.

Universities outside Delhi:

Banaras Hindu University: Situated in Varanasi, BHU is also known as the capital of knowledge and is considered as one of the oldest Universities in India. BHU homes thousands of students from across India, and for their accommodation, the university charges about Rs 27,000 per annum, and there have been no instances of protest by students for hostel fee.

Aligrah Muslim University: Closest to the JNU in terms of the hostel fee is the Aligrah Muslim University, which charges about Rs 14,400 per annum.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) From being known as one of the most prominent educational institutes in the country to being one of the most controversial Universities in India, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has travelled a long way within about three years.

The unwanted journey, began with the infamous 2016, 'Tukde-Tukde' episode which allegedly brought University the 'anti-national' which the varsity is yet to recover from.

Although the 'Tukde-Tukde' episode might be one of the biggest news stories of 2016, the University has managed to put its administration and students face to face on almost every turn of the journey.

The lockdown of its administration block multiple times to the Union HRD Minister getting stuck for over six hours at the venue of JNU's convocation and then to the vandalism in University by its own students, the JNU has seen almost all now.

It was in 2016, the administration and students locked horns over holding an event against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, though the admin denied permission for the event, the students held a debate on February 9, 2016, during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, leading to several university students charged with sedition charges.

Another major controversy that University is still get rid of is the unsolved case of a missing JNU student , Najeeb Ahmad, who went missing from the university campus after a brawl with members of RSS-affiliated ABVP. Since then it's been three year that Najeeb is missing.

Najeeb is though not forgotten by the students of the university, as his name comes up in almost every protest, even in the latest defacement of administration block where walls of the admin block were painted with graffiti, Najeeb name found space in most walls. "Bring Back Najeeb," students wrote on the wall of the block.

Apart from Najeeb, the students and the administration have always found a way to initiate battle against each other, as in March 2019, the Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar levelled charges against students that they confined his wife inside his residence after they broke into the house, to protest against Mamidala's decision to ban protest in vicinity of Administration block.

Just a few months later, the university administration announced that walls of the varsity will not be used to put up posters or to write slogans for any protest. The students saw the step as an attempt to cut-short their right to expression, while the university admin argued that it was step to stop defacement of University's property.

The matter was still on boil when the Hostel draft manual was dropped by the administration which proposed hike hostel fee along with other changes like hostel curfew timings, dress code for mess.

It is the proposed hostel draft manual, which might have brought biggest controversy for the university. In attempts to oppose the hike fee structure for hostels, the students went ahead to first confine a female associate professor in a classroom for about 20 hours. The professor was rescued by a Station Head Officer of Vasant Kunj police station along with an ACP rank official.

Later, the students went ahead to confine Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' who was inside the AICTE headquarters, the venue for JNU convocation.

The minister was confined in the venue for over five hours as a protest by the JNU students against a steep hostel fee hike escalated.

But the protest did not stop here, just two days after this incident, the students of the university allegedly broke into the administration block of the university, beat up female security guards present at the venue and defaced entire block with graffiti.

In the quest the students allegedly also vandalised and defaced the yet to be inaugurated Vivekananda statue installed in the vicinity of the block.

The university administration has now decided to file FIR for alleged vandalism of the administration block by some of its students, who the varsity claim it has identified.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Kartarpur corridor, inaugurated with much fanfare on Saturday to mark the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, saw India and Pakistan holding three rounds of high-level discussions at the joint secretary level before signing of the agreement.

Though India and Pakistan have not resumed official dialogue, both sides held conversations for the past year on the modalities for opening the corridor. Besides the JS-level talks, they also held technical level discussions on the modalities of the corridor and the provisions for Sikh pilgrims.

The corridor comes in response to demands by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and political leaders to build the pathway to allow Indian pilgrims to cross into Pakistan to visit the Kartarpur Sahib shrine, in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab, and return the same day.

The gurdwara, located on the banks of river Ravi in Pakistan, is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, and about 120 km northeast of Lahore. Guru Nanak had lived there for 18 years until his death in 1539.

In November 2018, India decided to build the corridor to mark Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary. India and Pakistan both agreed to build the corridor on their respective boundaries.

India and Pakistan held the first round of talks on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on March 14, 2019, exactly a month after the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

During the second round of talks on July 14, held at Wagah on the Pakistani side, Pakistan agreed to allow 5,000 pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara per day. Pakistan also agreed in principle to allow visa-free, year-long travel to the Kartarpur gurdwara for Indian passport holders and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders.

Pakistan also assured the Indian delegation that "no anti-India activity would be allowed".

The second round of talks were earlier set to be held on April 2, but were postponed after India voiced concerns over the presence of separatist Khalistani members in the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC). India had raised objections to the presence of pro-Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla in the PSGPC.

Ahead of the July 14 talks, Pakistan reconstituted the 10-member PSGPC, removing Chawla's name. But it included the name of another pro-Khalistani leader Ameer Singh in the panel.

During the talks, India handed over a dossier to highlight its concerns on the presence of Khalistanis in Pakistan "who could try to disrupt the pilgrimage and misuse the opportunity to play with the sentiments of the pilgrims".

Ahead of the talks, India banned the foreign-based pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) for supporting militancy and secessionism in Punjab.

During the July 14 meeting, India had also conveyed its concerns regarding the possible flooding of the Dera Baba Nanak shrine and adjoining areas on the Indian side as a result of an earth filled embankment road or a causeway that is proposed to be built by Pakistan.

The third round of talks was held on September 4 to discuss and finalise the draft agreement for the operationalisation of the corridor.

A 20-member Pakistani delegation crossed over to India for the joint secretary-level meeting at Attari in Amritsar.

During the talks, Pakistan insisted on charging $20 fee per pilgrim. India requested that the fee be reconsidered. However, Pakistan has stuck to its stand.

Pakistan said the fee is being charged "to supplement the enormous expenditure which the Government of Pakistan has undertaken to complete and maintain the Kartarpur Saheb Corridor and to provide services to the pilgrims".

Pakistan's decision to charge $20 has been slammed by many Sikhs in India, including Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The two sides inked the MoU on Kartarpur on October 24 at 'zero point' on the border.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) The presence of Khalistani elements in Pakistan, including separatists arriving from countries like the US, UK and Canada, and the possibility of their mingling with Sikh pilgrims from India in Kartarpur has been a matter of concern for India.

Intelligence agencies have warned that Sikh fundamentalist organisations like Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) plan to use the Kartarpur corridor to further their secessionist agenda.

The SFJ is supported by Pakistan-based handlers to provide money and logistical support to local terrorists in Punjab to carry out subversive activities.

India has raised the alarm that several gurdwaras in Pakistan are being used to promote pro-Khalistan messages and have shared inputs regarding pamphlets being distributed on the so-called "Sikh Referendum 2020", for a separate state.

The SFJ is headed by Avtar Singh Pannun and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocate a separate Khalistan state.

India is concerned over attempts by Pakistan to revive other banned organisations like Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).

Some Pakistan-based terrorist groups were found to be engaged in smuggling weapons into India in the aftermath of the August 5 revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Intelligence agencies are also worried over drones carrying weapons coming from Pakistan. Two drones apparently smuggling weapons into India from across the border were recovered near the India-Pakistan border. The drones were spotted in Jhabal town in Tarn Taran district.

India also raised concerns with Pakistan after Gopal Singh Chawla, a known separatist and aide of terrorist Hafiz Saeed, was made a member of a 10-member committee for managing the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.

Pakistan's official video on Kartarpur, released on November 1, featured Khalistani terrorists and anti-Indian elements including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. his military adviser Shabeg Singh, who were killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984. It also featured a poster by the banned Sikhs for Justice group.

India lodged a protest over the presence of these "objectionable" elements in the video.

The presence of a poster on an 'Indian bomb' next to the Durbar Sahib Gurdwara in Kartarpur has also raised eyebrows in India.

A board erected by Pakistani authorities next to an exhibit featuring a small bomb, claims that it was dropped on the shrine by the Indian Air Force during the 1971 war.

The poster, with lines in Urdu, Gurmukhi and English, is titled "Miracle of Wahe Guru ji".

It says: "Indian Air Force dropped this bomb during 1971 at gurdwara Darbar Sahib Sri Kartarpur Sahib with the aim to destroy it. However, this evil design could not be materialised due to blessing of Waheguruji (Almighty Allah). The said bomb landed into Sri Khoo Sahib (sacred well) and the Durbar Sahib remained unheart (sic). It is pertinent to mention that this is the same sacred well from where Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji used to get water to irrigate his fields."

The bomb has been placed within a glass case placed atop a small pillar decorated with the 'khanda', a symbol representing the Sikh faith.

There is apprehension that Pakistan wants to create leverage within the Sikh community using the corridor. Pakistan has also laid the foundation stone for a Guru Nanak Dev University in Larkana town.

Source: IANS

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BY VISHAL GULATI

Dera Baba Nanak (Punjab), Nov 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) For a Sikh visiting Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan is like fulfilling the one lifetime wish of a Muslim to pay obeisance in holy Mecca.

This was the hope of almost every Sikh settled across the globe to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, situated just a few kilometres from the Indian border in Narowal district.

The shrine, originally known as Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, is among the holiest of holy shrines and is believed to be the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh religion, whose 550th birth anniversary falls on November 12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Kartarpur Corridor on Saturday when the first lot of 550 Indian pilgrims, led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visited the holy shrine across the border.

"The Kartarpur Corridor is an auspicious link between two nations," Chandigarh-based Indo-Pak peace activist and journalist Chanchal Manohar Singh told IANS over phone from Lahore.

He said opening of the border by Pakistan from the Indian side for visiting devotees from across the globe has been a big achievement since both nations separated in 1947.

"Since the propaganda of hate by vested people on both sides, we are fortunate to see direct link between two historically important Sikh shrines -- Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara," Singh added.

The sacred shrine of Kartarpur Sahib is built on the historic site where Guru Nanak Dev settled after his 'Udasian' (missionary travels) and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.

The original structure of the Kartarpur Sahib was once destroyed by floods. It was reconstructed by Bhupinder Singh, the then scion of Patiala and grandfather of current Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The shrine was closed to people coming from across India's border after the partition in 1947.

The gurdwara was opened to pilgrims after repairs and restoration in 1999, and Sikh ?? 1/2 jathas' have been visiting the shrine regularly ever since.

A 500-year-old well, believed to have been built during the lifetime of Guru Nanak Dev, was discovered near the Kartarpur gurdwara in April.

The well was discovered while digging the enclosure of the shrine.

Sikh ?? 1/2 jathas' from India travel to Pakistan on four occasions every year -- Baisakhi, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev.

Before the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, Pakistani authorities normally clear the tall grass from time to time, enabling the devotees from India to view the shrine with the help of a telescope.

The Indian devotees, especially the Sikhs, have been demanding a visa-free "khule darshan" (free obeisance facility) at the gurdwara for all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week by crossing the international border from Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.

Keeping mind the huge sentiment of people of Punjab, India first proposed the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in 1999 when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus ride to Lahore.

However, it did not make much progress before last year when the proposal was renewed and given a push by India.

Pakistan agreed to the proposal and foundation stones were laid for the corridor on both sides of the border in November last year.

India and Pakistan last month signed an agreement to operationalise the 4.2 km Kartarpur Corridor to allow Indian pilgrims a visa free day-long visit on foot to the holy Darbar Sahib.

However, the ticklish issue of a $20 service fee imposed by Islamabad remained unresolved.

(Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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BY VISHAL GULATI

Chandigarh, Nov 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) "Good conduct is in itself the praise of God." This is the teaching of the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak Dev, whose 550th Prakash Purb (birth anniversary) falls on November 12.

"The Guru is God, ineffable, unsearchable. He who follows the Guru, comprehends the nature of the universe," one of his quotes say.

The three guiding principles of Guru Nanak Dev are: 'Naam japana, kirat karni, vand chhakana' i.e. to repeat God's name, to be ready to engage in the labour of one's hands and to be willing to share with others what one has gathered are said to be the three principles underlying Sikh ethics and way of life.

The 550th birth anniversary is being celebrated with great devotion and fervour since November 23, 2018, by the Punjab government.

The main function is being held at Sultanpur Lodhi town from November 1 to 12.

Various developmental works worth more than Rs 3,200 crore have been initiated across the state by the government led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Special projects are being undertaken in 70 villages and towns visited by Guru Nanak Dev, a spokesperson for the government told IANS.

Guru Nanak Dev was the first Guru and founder of Sikhism, a poet, a wandering religious teacher, a social reformer and a householder.

The experience of one God, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and beyond all form and name, determined every thought and deed of Guru Nanak.

According to state's government official website dedicated to the celebrations, the social doctrine denying caste which Guru Nanak preached must be seen in the light of his experience of a God before whom all men are equal.

His wanderings should be acknowledged as an attempt to engage in dialogue with others and to spread his belief in one God who teaches tolerance.

Guru Nanak's later life as a householder should be perceived as his compliance of God's command to all men to act responsibly within the world.

Finally, the 'bani' Guru Nanak composed and the passing of his 'Guruship' to his successor can only be understood as devotional acts meant to instill among his followers a continued dedication to the God.

Guru Nanak Dev is one of the most travelled persons of his times.

He spent almost 20 years of his life in travelling.

The earliest accounts of Guru Nanak Dev's travels are mentioned by Bhai Gurdas.

'Janamsakhis' also provide information relating to his travels.

The 'Udasis' (travels) of Guru Nanak Dev began from Sultanpur Lodhi following the bestowal of the divine commission upon him.

In his first long journey, Guru Nanak Dev traversed Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Bangladesh.

In his second leg, he covered areas in the south up to Sri Lanka.

Some historians believe the east and south were covered in one 'Udasi' over an extended period of 12 years.

This appears to be more reasonable as a person who is to visit south need not come back to Punjab to resume his journey for South India.

Some important places associated with Guru Nanak Dev's visit in Sri Lanka are Batticaloa (Mattiakullam), Kurukul, Madap, Katargama, Nuwara Eliya, Avisvella (Sitawaka), Anuradhapura and Mannar.

The third tour or 'Udasi' of Guru Nanak Dev was towards the interior of the Himalayan region where he visited the Kangra Valley, the Kulu Valley, Western Tibet, Ladakh, Kashmir and West Punjab (Pakistan).

After returning from the Himalayan tour, Guru Nanak Dev spent some time at Talwandi in Punjab and then decided to tour the countries of West Asia.

Wearing a dress of a Muslim devotee, he travelled to Sind, Baluchistan, Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

According to Janamsakhi of Meharban and Bhai Mani Singh, he also travelled to Palestine, Syria and Turkey.

Some writers extend the range of Guru's travels to other countries of Central Asia as well.

Some prominent places connected with this tour of Guru Nanak Dev are Multan, Uch, Lakhpat, Hinglaj, Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Mashad, Herat, Kandhar, Kabul, Parachinnar and Gorakhhatri (Peshawar).

With the completion of his western tour, Guru Nanak Dev finally settled down at Kartarpur Sahib (now in Pakistan).

From Kartarpur, Guru Nanak Dev occasionally undertook short tours within Punjab.

One of them, according to Bhai Gurdas, was to Achal Batala and another to Multan.

According to a post on the government website, the word 'Gurdwara', which stands as the amalgamation of the words 'Guru' and 'Dwara', has its literal meaning the 'Gateway to Guru'.

All gurdwaras worship the holy book of Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, which is placed at the high pedestal of worship.

Out of the many famous gurdwaras throughout the world, Gurdwara Janam Asthan, also referred to as Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, is a highly revered shrine that was built at the site where the Guru Nanak Dev was believed to be born.

The shrine is located in the city of Nankana Sahib, near the city of Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Another highly revered shrine in Pakistan is Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib, also called Kartarpur Sahib.

It is situated at Kartarpur in Narowal district of Punjab province.

It is built on the historic site where Guru Nanak Dev settled after his 'Udasian' (missionary travels) and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.

The shrine is located along the Ravi river.

A corridor which will give round-the-year access to Indian pilgrims to the Kartarpur gurdwara was inaugurated on Saturday.

(Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The judgement by the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya title dispute case marks culmination of a seven-decade-old legal battle in the hugely sensitive case.

The legal case, revolving around the dispute over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya, dominated political discourse since the 1980s.

Hindu groups wanted control of the land, saying a temple existed there, but Muslim groups claimed there was no proof that a temple existed there.

In 1992, Hindu groups demolished the 16th century Babri mosque which they believed was built on the ruins of an ancient temple that marked the birthplace of the Lord Ram.

It was in 1822, Faizabad court offical first claimed that the mosques stood on the site of a temple.

Eventually this led to the first recorded incidents of religious violence at the site in 1855.

In 1859, the British colonial administration set up a railing to separate the outer courtyard of the mosque to avoid disputes.

The status quo remained in place until 1949, when idols of Rama appeared inside the mosque. It is allegedly that idols of Rama was placed there by the volunteers of the Hindu Mahasabha.

This instigated an uproar, with both parties filing civil suits laying claim to the land.

The site was declared to be in dispute, and the gates to the Masjid were locked.

On December 23, 1949, Gopal Singh Visharad, a devotee of 'Ram Lalla', filed a case in Faizabad court, claiming the ownership of the disputed land and to seek enforcement of the right to worship of Hindus at the disputed site. Following this, the government locked the site.

From here the legal battle started.

The Allahabad High Court verdict prescribing a three-way division of the disputed land in September 2010 failed to satisfy the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla, the parties involved in the dispute.

Ram Lalla and Nirmohi Akhara also remained at loggerheads, none willing to compromise on its claim on the disputed site.

And all three parties have moved to the Supreme Court.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya title suit comes nine years after the 2:1 judgement of the Allahabad High Court that ordered a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acres of land between the three parties -- Ram Lalla, Sunni Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara.

The Lucknow Bench of the High Court, on September 30, 2010, held that Hindus and Muslims as joint title holders of the disputed land.

The High Court held that the land below the central dome, where idols of Lord Ram and other gods have been placed in a makeshift temple, belongs to Hindus.

The three judges agreed that Hindus should get the portion under the central dome.

The Allahabad High Court judgement ran into excess of 6,000 pages.

The High Court verdict was challenged in the Supreme Court, which ordered a stay on it on May 9, 2011.

Advancing their arguments in Supreme Court, the Hindus parties have told the apex court that the faith of Hindus cannot be partitioned and claimed possession over the entire dispute site.

Nirmohi Akhara, which claims to be 'Shebait' (a devotee who serves the deity), has contested the maintainability of the Ram Lalla lawsuit.

Akhara has told the apex court that the piece of land is the birthplace of Lord Ram and it belongs to it.

"It (the place) is in possession of the Akhara which was also acting as its Manager through its Mahant and Sarbrahkar who had been managing and receiving offering, " said Akhara in its pleadings.

Ram Lalla counsels argued that Shebait for the time being is the only person competent to safeguard the interests of the idol, his possession of the dedicated property is the possession of the idol.

"And, no dealing of his (Shebait) with the property dedicated to the idol could afford the basis of a claim by him for adverse possession of the property against the idol," claimed Ram Lalla counsels while vehemently stating that the land under the central dome of the disputed site is a juristic entity, which is subject to law; and it is revered among Hindus for its divinity.

The Muslim parties' counsel have majorly argued in reply to Hindu parties' lawsuits.

"The present suits concerning the disputed structure along with the inner and outer courtyard were all filed with different prayers. While Suit 1 was filed solely for claiming right to worship, Suit 3 (Nirmohi Akhara) was filed for 'management & charge' of the alleged temple. It is only in Suit 4 (Sunni Waqf Board) and Suit 5 (Ram Lalla) that the parties claimed title of the disputed property", claimed the Muslim side.

Sunni Waqf Board expressed its dissatisfaction with High Court judgement.

It claimed that the title of the mosque vests with the almighty, and the mosque being a Sunni Waqf is covered within the supervisory sphere of the board.

The Sunni Waqf Board in its suit prayed for a declaration that the disputed site was a public mosque.

Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered mediation to resolve the vexed issue but it failed. Finally in August, the top court began hearing in the case.

This politically-sensitive matter has already been the second-longest case heard by the apex court in its history.

Source: IANS

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By Anindya Banerjee

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) "There is no confusion regarding removing the lesson on Tipu Sultan. (Education Minister S) Suresh Kumar told me that a committee has been formed. Based on the committee's report, a decision will be taken," Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa reignited the Tipu Sultan debate with these words, suggesting that it was time the "glorification" of the historical character needed to be undone.

But this is not the first time, Tipu Sultan, the erstwhile ruler of Mysuru, irked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leadership in the state.

Soon after coming to power, the then BJP government led by Yediyurappa had decided to scrap the Tipu Jayanthi, which was celebrated amid much fan fare. This time, the incumbent BJP government which came to power in the state after dislodging an unstable Congress-JDS government in Karnataka wants to up the game by tinkering with text books.

This anti-Tipu salvo 2.0 by the BJP started with Madikeri's BJP MLA Apachu Ranjan writing to the state's Education Department. He sought the removal of any references to Tipu Sultan from state syllabus school text books.

"Tipu Sultan was concerned about expanding his kingdom and his religion but he has not fought for the freedom (of the country). We cannot call him a freedom fighter," declared the BJP leader.

The crux of this BJP Vs Tipu Sultan 2.0 is based on allegations and claims by Kodavas, a local tribe which claims they were forcibly converted into Islam en mass?, during Tipu's reign in Srirangapatna, the then capital of the Mysore kingdom. The number of forcible conversions allegedly stands in hundreds of thousands, giving the BJP a reason to demand, "stop glorifying Tipu".

A final call on this is yet to be taken.

But the BJP, in its strongest opposition of Tipu Sultan, is not without its share of inconsistency and hypocrisy. While the party's legislative council member Arun Shahpur was okay with the BJP's opposition of Tipu, a strong move to remove him from textbooks did not go down well with him.

Recently in Bijapur, the BJP leader said: "No one can question the existence of Tipu Sultan. We neither need to glorify him nor show him in a poor light.

"School textbooks should carry his life's story and mention his contributions without tweaking any facts."

The Chief Minister himself has in earlier instances dressed as Tipu Sultan, the 18-century leader his government wants to out to wipe out off text books.

This July, hours after Yediyurappa had ordered the Kannada and Culture Department against celebrating Tipu Jayanti in Karnataka, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to call out the former's double standards. He said: "B.S. Yeddyurappa took a sword in his hand and disguised himself as Tipu. Now he has cancelled Tipu Jayanti to please the Sangh Parivar."

Earlier in 2017, Union Minister and the emerging face of Hindutva in Karnataka, Ananth Kumar Hegde had refused to join the birthday celebrations of Tipu Sultan. He requested to keep his name off the list for the event.

Even before that, Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan and former Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashok were clicked in a photo where the two were seen sharing the stage of an event on Tipu.

Even BJP leaders Jagdish Shettar were clicked wearing headgear and posing with a sword, imitating Tipu which has over time exposed the saffron party's inner contradictions when it comes to its stand on the erstwhile Muslim ruler.

But politics is a game where public memory is short lived and changing goal posts are considered natural. Hence, the BJP is once again out to espouse the anti-Tipu Sultan politics, even though it had celebrated him in the past.

Source: IANS

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Bengaluru, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Tipu Sultan, the erstwhile ruler of the Mysore kingdom, was the first Indian who developed rockets and fired them in the wars he fought against the British in the 18th century.

According to the state Archaeology Department's Assistant Director R.S. Nayaka, Tipu made hundreds of war rockets secretly and stored them at an armoury he built in his kingdom's capital Srirangapatna near Mysore, about 120 km southwest of Bengaluru.

"Over 1,000 corroded rockets of Tipu were found in an abandoned open well at Bidanooru fort near Nagara in the state's Shivamogga district during its excavation," Nayaka told IANS on phone from Malnad, about 275 km northwest of Bengaluru.

A chance discovery of 160 unused rusted rockets in the vicinity in 2002 and their identification after a five-year research in 2007 with the Tipu era made the department explore if more such ammunition was lying buried in the fort.

"Digging of the dry well where its mud was smelling like gun powder led to the discovery of the rockets and shells in a pile, each filled with potassium nitrate, charcoal, and magnesium powder used to fire or lob them using an artillery," said Nayaka.

A 15-member team of archaeologists, excavators and labourers took three days in mid-July 2018 to unearth the rockets along with gun powder and cast in rustic iron.

"The rockets are in different sizes, measuring 23-26 cm or 12-14 inches. They were found buried in a secure place in the well-shaped place beneath the surface," noted Nayaka.

The rockets are kept for public display at the Department's museum at Shivamogga.

"The iron-cased rockets showed the technology Tipu used in making them. Some of them could even belong to Keladi dynasty and the Wodeyar rulers of the Mysore kingdom after Tipu's reign," added Nayaka.

The department's records show that the Malnad region, including the fort area in Shivamogga, was part of Tipu's Mysore kingdom from 1750-99 and the rockets were used in the wars he fought against the East India Company of the British empire.

Tipu was killed in the fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 at Srirangapatna near Mysore after successive victories in battles against the British rulers.

A pioneer in using rocket artillery, Tipu used to deploy the rockets to deter the British forces from advancing into his kingdom.

For developing the rockets, Tipu took the help of the French army, which used the British Congreve rockets in the wars its commander-in-chief Napoleon Bonaparte fought in Europe.

Source: IANS

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Bengaluru, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) The 225-year-old majestic armoury of 18th centurys Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan was translocated intact from its original location at Srirangapatna to make way for a railway track between Mysore and Bengaluru.

"The masonry structure, where Tipu stored his arms, ammunition and weapons, including rockets and missiles during his 17-year reign (1782-99), was lifted from the ground and moved 130 metres (390 feet) from its original location to lay the track in March 2017," a South Western Railway (SWR) official told IANS here.

Eldest son of Sultan Hyder Ali, Tipu (1750-1799) was the king of then Mysore region in southern India and died in the fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 at Srirangapatna, about 20 km from Mysore, after series of victories in battles against the British rulers.

The 'Tiger of Mysore' also fought against Hindu kingdoms in the Deccan region to protect and enlarge his suzerainty.

Mysore is about 150 km southwest of Bengaluru.

"The 1,000-tonne square-shaped structure measuring 12 metres wide and 10 metres tall, came in the way of a 138 km railway line doubling project near the Srirangapatna railway station between Bengaluru and Mysuru, necessitating its translocation," recalled the official.

The track doubling project got delayed for 10 years as the armoury had to be shifted from the historic spot, which is 1.7 km away from the Cauvery bridge at Srirangapatna, Tipu's summer capital.

Though the Karnataka government permitted the railways to translocate the armoury to clear the place for laying the track, it had to take the consent of the National Monument Authority of India, as the structure was a rare heritage.

A project of this nature was unprecedented in India, prompting the railways to rope in the Institution of Engineers (India) for consultancy services and contact agencies executing such projects in the US.

The railways selected a joint venture company, India-based PSL Engineering and the US-based Wolfe for the project.

In March 2017, applying Unified Jacking System technology, PSL - Wolfe translocated the armoury at a cost of Rs 14 crore, with help of iron poles, rollers, jacks and hydraulic crane among others in nine days, moving at a snail's pace to prevent damage to its structure.

According to locals, the armoury, however, remains neglected as it has been abandoned by the authorities concerned.

"The armoury is in ruins as evident from weeds and shrubs that have grown in and around it since it was re-located two years ago. The surroundings also become a dumping spot for all in the absence of a watchman or security," a resident told IANS on phone.

"As the armoury is a protected monument, the Archaeological Survey of India should maintain it with the help if the state government," added the official.

Source: IANS

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By Sharon Thambala

Bengaluru, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Tipu Sultan, the 18th century monarch of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom in southern India, was indeed a "tiger" whose roar frightened even the British empire, which lost three wars and eventually failed to make him surrender.

Instead, Tipu attained martyrdom in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 at Srirangapatna, about 20 km from Mysore in southern Karnataka.

"Tipu hurt the British empire where it mattered the most by stalling its East India Company's political and economic interests," recalled a historian.

Eldest son of Sultan Hyder Ali, Tipu (1750-1799) also fought against the Hindu kingdoms in the Deccan region to protect and enlarge his suzerainty.

Mysore is about 150 km southwest of Bengaluru.

According to chroniclers of his times, Tipu in 1785 restrained the local merchants from trading with the British and stopped them from exporting sandalwood, pepper and cardamom from the western ports.

It was not surprising that Tipu cultivated the French as his ally, as they were arch rival to the British, which was preying on the same resources in his kingdom.

Much to the chagrin of the British, the 'Tiger of Mysore' took the help of the French to fortify and modernise his armed forces in the 18th century.

Allying with the French also brought Tipu in direct conflict with the British, who considered him and his father Hyder Ali arrogant, dangerous and ambitious.

To annex Mysore, the British had to fight four wars with Tipu and his father during 1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and finally in 1799.

Ali joined the Mysore state army of the Wodeyars as a soldier and rose up the ranks to become its Commander-in-Chief (Dalavayi).

With his exceptional military skills, Ali scaled heights to be appointed the chief minister of Mysore, relegating its Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar-II who reigned between 1734 and 1766 as a titular head and emerge as the de facto ruler of the kingdom.

During his reign, Ali made a strategic move to be friendly with the French and train his army like a European powerhouse.

With a strong and modern army, Ali annexed neighbouring regions and expanded his kingdom to include Bidnur, Canara, Sera, Malabar and Sunda.

Provoked and threatened by Ali's actions, the British formed a tripartite alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad to declare a war on Mysore, thus setting off the first Anglo-Mysore war in 1767.

Ali's skilful diplomacy hoodwinked the British by winning over the Nizam and the Marathas to his side even as his son Tipu was advancing towards Madras against the English.

Finally, the British under General Smith defeated Ali.

The first Anglo-Mysore War ended in 1769 with the Treaty of Madras, mandating the return of the conquered territories to each other and an agreement to come to the aid of each other, Mysore state and the British, in case of a foreign attack.

Ali hated the British and turned into their foe after they betrayed the agreement with him when the Marathas attacked him and annexed his territories, forcing him to buy peace at Rs 36 lakh and conceding an annual tribute.

Meanwhile, the British attacked Mahe, a French possession in Ali's dominion, resulting in Ali declaring a war against them in 1780, which was the second Anglo-Mysore war.

Ali formed an alliance with the Nizam and the Marathas to defeat the British forces in Arcot in then Madras Presidency.

During the war, Ali died in 1782, forcing Tipu to carry on the fighting.

The war ended abruptly between Mysore and the British, with the Treaty of Mangalore, which mandated both the parties to return the occupied territories and the prisoners of war.

Mysore waging a battle against the British ally Travancore in 1789 was the main reason for the third Anglo-Mysore war (1786-1792), provoking Bengal governor General Lord Cornwallis to fight Tipu.

A defeated Tipu was forced to retreat, empowering the British to advance towards his capital Srirangapatna in 1792.

Fearing another invasion, Tipu inked the Treaty of Srirangapatna with the British in 1792.

According to the Treaty, Tipu had to give up half of his kingdom, comprising the regions of Malabar, Dindigul, Coorg and Baramahal to the British in 1792.

The British also levied a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Tipu, forcing him to surrender his two sons until he paid the war indemnity.

As years passed, the Treaty of Srirangapatna turned ineffective to bring peace between Mysore and the British, paving the way for the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War in 1799.

When Tipu refused to sign the Subsidiary Alliance and aligned with the French, the British attacked Mysore from all sides.

The Subsidiary Alliance treaty enabled the British to control the foreign policy and defence of an Indian kingdom, which entered into the agreement, while the Indian king was allowed to rule their region with reduced powers.

From the north, Marathas and Nizam pummelled Mysore, outnumbering Tipu's soldiers in the ratio of 4:1, resulting in a decisive victory to the British in the battle for Srirangapatna.

After Tipu's death and the fourth war, the Mysore territory was distributed between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the British.

The core area around Srirangapatna and Mysore was, however, returned to the Wodeyar dynasty, which reigned before Ali's de facto rule.

The Wodeyars inked the Subsidiary Alliance with the British, placing a British resident in the Mysore court.

Mysore remained a princely state until 1947, when it joined the Indian union after the Independence.

Source: IANS

The post Tipu — Tiger of Mysore whose roar frightened even the British appeared first on Social News XYZ.

By Fakir Balaji

Bengaluru, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) With the Karnataka government banning the celebration of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultans 270th birthday on November 10 and mulling to drop history lessons on him from school text books, the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have begun sparring over the controversial king.

"As Tipu was a tyrant and a religious bigot who forcibly converted hundreds of Hindus into Muslims, his birthday should not be celebrated any year as a mark of tribute to all those who suffered or died because of him and his heinous crimes," the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit spokesman G. Madhusudan told IANS here.

Accusing the BJP of being anti-national and communal to ban 'Tipu Jayanthi' across the state, the Congress said the ruling party was insulting a great ruler who fought the British for protecting his kingdom.

"Tipu was the first freedom fighter who not only fought against the East India Company troops, but also laid down his life in the fourth battle of Srirangapatna near Mysore in 1799 than surrender to the invading Englishmen," Congress spokesman Raju Gowda told IANS.

Eldest son of Sultan Hyder Ali, Tipu (1750-1799) was the king of then Mysore region and died in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in 1799 at Srirangapatna, about 20 km from Mysore, after a series of victories in battles against the British rulers.

The 'Tiger of Mysore' also fought against Hindu kingdoms in the Deccan region to protect and enlarge his suzerainty.

Ever since the then Congress government (2013-18) began celebrating Tipu's birth anniversary as an official event from November 2015, ostensibly to honour him for his valour and patriotic spirit, the BJP, which was in opposition then, has staged protests and held processions in the old Mysore region, especially Kodagu where hundreds of Kodavas suffered persecution during his 17-year reign from 1782-1799.

"The Congress deliberately revived Tipu Jayanthi to appease the minorities and indulge in vote-bank politics. Just to woo Muslims, then chief minister Siddaramaiah ignored our appeals and hurt the sentiments of Hindus whose forefathers suffered or lost their life for defying the tyrannical king and resisting his forcible conversions," recalled Madhusudan.

Protests by the BJP and the right-wing organisations even led to the death of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member on November 10, 2015 at Madikeri in Kodagu district.

Nestled in the southern Western Ghats region, Madikeri is about 270 km southwest of Bengaluru and a popular tourist destination for most of the year for its salubrious climate.

"Tipu was a traitor and cannot be termed a freedom fighter, as the first war of independence began in May 1857 with the Sepoy Mutiny and ended after 90 years of freedom struggle in August 1947," Madikeri's BJP legislator Appachu Ranjan told IANS.

Defending Tipu's celebration, opposition leader in the state Assembly Siddaramaiah, however, said that the erstwhile Mysore king was a great warrior who also fought against the British rulers to protect his people from the invaders.

Slamming the BJP for politicising the Tipu fest, Siddaramaiah said when Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was in the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) in (2012-13), he wore an attire similar to that of Tipu and also held a sword in his hand to pose for a photograph.

"When former Mangalore and Goa universities' Vice-Chancellor Sheikh Ali wrote a book on Tipu Sultan, BJP leader Jagadish Shettar, who was then chief minister (2012-13), had written a foreword to the book, praising the ruler's valour . Shettar had called Tipu a patriot. Now, he has changed his tune," recalled Siddaramaiah in Mangaluru on October 23, 2017.

"Those who do not have knowledge of history cannot create history. Tipu had fought against the British and was a true patriot. Hence, the Congress celebrates his birth anniversary. By politicising his birth anniversary, the true face of BJP leaders has come to the fore."

The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), however, remained away from the controversy, ostensibly for not offending both the communities.

In November 2018, then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S stayed away from the state-sponsored Tipu Jayanthi. However its ally Congress celebrated in Bengaluru and other district headquarters across the state under the aegis of the state Kannada and Culture Department.

Ignoring the BJP's opposition, when then Congress government decided to go ahead with Tipu Jayanti in November 2016, the Karnataka High Court questioned the state government's reason as the erstwhile ruler was not a "freedom fighter" like others, who fought for the country's independence.

"What is the logic behind the state government's decision to celebrate Tipu's birth anniversary (Jayanti) as he was only a king and not a freedom fighter," asked then Chief Justice S.K. Mukherjee hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the event on November 2, 2016.

K.P. Manjunathja, a citizen from Kodagu filed the PIL opposing the state government's decision to celebrate Tipu Jayanti as the ruler was a monarch who fought against the British to protect his own kingdom.

Challenging the then Congress government's decision, the petitioner's counsel Sajan Poovaiah said Tipu was a tyrant ruler who killed hundreds of people belonging to other communities, including Kodavas, Konkanis and Christians during his 17-year rule.

"Tipu's rule in Kodagu resulted in conversion of Kodavas to Islam. He was an invader and a dictator and glorifying such a person is a matter of shame," the PIL contended.

"Even the Nizams and other monarchs of then princely states across the country fought against the British during the 18th century and the 19th century to safeguard their own interests," recalled Justice Mukherjee.

Manipal Global Education Chairman and former Infosys Director T.V. Mohandas Pai also slammed the Congress celebrating Tipu Jayanti, saying it amounted to celebrating the birth anniversary of Aurangzeb, the 17th century Mughal Emperor, who was a tyrant and a staunch religious fundamentalist.

"The state government, instead, should celebrate the birth anniversaries of benevolent rulers like the Wodeyars of Mysore and their Diwan (Prime Minister) Mirza Ismail," said Pai in November 2016.

Accusing the government of playing politics over Tipu Jayanti, Pai said celebration of such a ruler would dived the people as Tipu had killed people of different communities and forcibly converted people to Islam.

"I am a Konkani and feel offended that the Congress celebrates somebody's (Tipu) who did wrong to both communities," lamented Pai.

Pai also recalled that Tipu butchered Coorgis and Christians in Kodagu and Kerala and destroyed Konkani temples near Sultan Bathery and Kasargod in north Kerala.

Source: IANS

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By Sumit Saxena

New Delhi, Nov 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is in the reckoning as Delhi grapples with a forced public health emergency due to severe quality of air. Though, experts claim GRAP helps in mitigating rising air pollution, as a policy measure, but its utility in drastically improving the air in the city is still under the cloud.

In Delhi, the air quality began deteriorating ahead of the winter season. GRAP, which is incremental in nature, mean stringent measures to combat the menace of air pollution, which come into force in Delhi-NCR as part of the action plan. It was approved by the apex court in 2016 as emergency measure, and kicks-in as the air quality breaches very poor category.

Its implementation include rolling out stricter measures, which includes - discouraging private vehicles on roads, stop the entry of trucks, curbing use of diesel generators, closing brick kilns and stone crushers. Since early October, Delhi air quality is swinging between poor and very poor category until it crossed the severe plus category, which led to a public health emergency.

According to the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) the share of Biomass burning PM2.5 concentration, most hazardous to human health, was recorded at a peak of 46 per cent on November 1.

According to a senior-level CPCB official, implementation of GRAP does help in combating air pollution and its continuity is paramount. "A comparative analysis of GRAP of the years, especially 2018 and 2019, indicates that it does help in reducing the air pollution. But, dust and stubble burning is something very serious, which drastically depletes the air quality", said the CPCB official.

The effectiveness of GRAP is also hurt when people resort to burning of solid waste, garbage, dry leaves, and plastic, rubber and carry out un-monitored construction activities. "Local burning of waste is major challenge before the implementation authorities. This smog is dangerous to health. People should assist agencies in combating pollution", added the official. GRAP had come into force in the Delhi-NCR region on October 15, as the air quality tanked in poor category.

GRAP creates step-by-step plan for Delhi-NCR region and brings together several agencies -- pollution control boards, industrial area authorities, municipal corporations, regional officials of the India Meteorological Department, and others.

According to Sambhavi Shukla, Centre of Science and Environment, GRAP is definitely helpful in combating air pollution, but the quality of air in Delhi is extremely poor. "The air quality is severe plus category bringing it down to normal category is a tall task. GRAP cannot immediately improve air quality, bring it down from severe category to good quality, but it certainly helps. Pollution from transport is also a major for air pollution", said Shukla.

GRAP has faced criticism for its unilateral focus on Delhi, while other states delayed several measures, citing lack of resources. Pollution triggered by accumulation of dust particles in addition with stubble burning grapple GRAP from being effective.

The Centre, in its latest affidavit in the Supreme Court, said in order to prevent stubble burning it has approved a new central sector scheme on "promotion of agricultural mechanization" for in-situ management of crop residues in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for 2018-19 and 2019-20, with an outlay of Rs 1,151.8 crore.

"Under this scheme, the agricultural machines and equipments for in-situ crop residue management such as super straw management system for combine harvesters, Happy Seeders, Hydraulically Reversible MB Plough, paddy straw chopper, mulcher, rotary slasher, zero till seed drill and rotavators are promoted with 50 per cent subsidy to individual farmer and 80 per cent subsidy for establishment of custom hiring centres for these machines", said the affidavit.

(Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS

The post Can GRAP deliver: Improve air quality drastically? appeared first on Social News XYZ.

BY VISHAL GULATI

Chandigarh, Nov 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) Farmers in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana that are considered the granaries of India are forced to burn paddy residue in the open owing to lack of technology for its management and no cash incentive to dispose it scientifically, believe agricultural experts.

But citing helplessness in terms of burning being the only way, the governments are blaming one another for failure to check the stubble burning.

The farmers are caught were caught in a vicious time-cycle as they have to harvest rice from mid-October to mid-November each year and cultivate wheat in a space of 10-15 days.

"Rice straw is not used for fodder, so we have to dispose after every harvest. Since the government is not coming up with any cash incentives, most of the farmers prefer to burn it despite the ban," Ajaib Singh, a 65-year-old farmer who owns 10 hectares on the outskirts of Punjab's Khanna town, the biggest grain market in Asia.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been seeking cost compensation of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy from the Centre to motivate the farmers against burning of residue in the fields.

A sum of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy should be given to farmers so that they can arrange to manage the stubble without resorting to its open burning by using the compensation money to meet the paddy straw management cost, the Chief Minister said in his letter to the Prime Minister on September 25.

Agriculture officials told IANS every year after post-paddy harvest Punjab faces the challenge of managing nearly 20 million tonne of paddy straw.

Going by estimates, about 85-90 per cent of this paddy straw is burnt in the fields.

On its part, the state is doing all it could to check the problem of stubble burning by providing around 28,000 paddy straw management machines to the farmers last year on subsidy ranging from 50 to 80 per cent.

Another 26,000 machines would be supplied to them this year, in addition vigorous campaigns at the grassroots to sensitize farmers against stubble burning, and its ill effects on environment and human health.

The situation is a far cry as majority of farmers struggle for survival in Punjab and Haryana.

An additional cost of using the machines that is between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per acre, which the farmers could not afford.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday directed authorities to apprise the farmers about options for the management of crop residue to conserve the environment.

Thirty-four per cent decline of field fires have been registered in Haryana till October 22 compared to the corresponding period in last year.

Last year, crop residue burning was reported on 57,000 hectares compared to only about 38,000 hectares this year.

Khattar directed officers of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department to visit top 10 villages of the state where the maximum crop residue burning have been reported to ascertain the reason behind the activity.

He announced a cash incentive of Rs 1,000 to those who provide information about the stubble burning and the identity of that person would be kept secret, apart from exploring possibilities of utilization of residue in sugar mills for power generation.

Terming the AAP's protest against stubble-burning in the national capital an obvious political stunt with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections there, the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder lashed out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal over his "brazen lies on the grave issue of air pollution".

"The air pollution in the capital was directly related to the rampant construction activity, widespread industrialisation and total mismanagement of the city traffic," he said, hitting out at Kejriwal for "trying desperately to divert public attention from his own government's failures by indulging in such outright lies".

"By blaming others for his own lapses, Kejriwal was showing signs of his poor leadership," Amarinder Singh said.

Kejriwal's claim that "stubble burning in neighbouring states was responsible for the horrendous situation in Delhi was absolutely ludicrous", especially considering that the number of farm fires in Punjab had actually been the same as last year, he said.

If stubble burning is the primary cause of Delhi's air pollution, as Kejriwal claims, then how can he explain the atrociously high AQI (air quality index) in the national capital even during December and January, Amarinder Singh asked.

Taking a jibe, six-time BJP legislator and former state Health Minister Anil Vij asked Kejriwal that he should find causes of air pollution in Delhi itself instead of blaming the neighbouring states.

"When there is no burning of stubble, at that time why the pollution level of Delhi is alarmingly high," he said, adding Kejriwal should look into the causes of pollution in Delhi itself rather than blaming farmers of Haryana and Punjab.

"This is the style of Kejriwal's politics that he blames the entire world for everything," added Vij, who is quite popular with his action-oriented style of functioning and for his no-holds barred comments, including on his own government and colleagues.

(Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS

The post Punjab, Haryana farmers caught in vicious time-cycle web appeared first on Social News XYZ.

By Vishal Gulati

Chandigarh, Nov 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) The cases of crop residue fire -- a major air pollutant in Delhi-NCR -- saw a 30 per cent rise in Punjab after the harvest season this year compared to last year.

The substantial increase was recorded despite Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's fervent appeals to the farmers not to go for the quicker option of getting rid of the crop residue by setting those afire.

He even invoked the holy celebrations of 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, beginning November 9, saying he had advocated protecting natural resources.

As per official records, over 19,860 cases of stubble burning have been reported in Punjab from October 15 till October 31.

The figure is 30 per cent higher than those reported during the corresponding period last year, officials said.

Last year, Punjab saw 50,495 cases throughout the rice harvesting season that lasts till November 15.

Burning of crop residue, a common practice by Punjab and Haryana growers, leads to an estimated economic loss of over $30 billion annually, besides being a leading risk factor for acute respiratory infection, especially among children, a study at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and its partner institutes said this year.

Punjab's Tarn Taran district, bordering Pakistan, reported the highest number of farm fire cases at 2,520, followed by Ferozepur (2,269) and Sangrur (2,157).

Pathankot district saw the minimum two cases.

As per the Punjab Agriculture Department, farmers have harvested 110 lakh tonne of paddy and 70 lakh tonne is remaining.

"This time we are expecting that there will overall fall in cases of residue burning throughout the season," Secretary Agriculture K.S. Pannu told IANS.

In neighbouring Haryana, 4,200 cases of stubble burning have been reported against 4,360 in 2018 till October 30.

The districts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hisar, Jind, Palwal and Panipat, which have 13 lakh hectares under paddy cultivation, see high cases of residue burning.

About 50 per cent of the crop in the state has been harvested, an official told IANS.

Smoke from the burning of agricultural crop residue by farmers in Haryana and Punjab contributes to Delhi's poor air, increasing the risk of acute respiratory infection by three-fold for those living in districts with intense crop burning.

"Poor air quality is a recognized global public health epidemic, with levels of airborne particulate matter in Delhi spiking to 20 times the World Health Organization's safety threshold during certain days," IFPRI Research Fellow and the study co-author Samuel Scott has said.

The study, "Risk of acute respiratory infection from crop burning in India: Estimating disease burden and economic welfare from satellite and national health survey data for 250,000 persons", used NASA satellite data on fire activity to estimate the health impact of living in areas with intense crop burning by comparing them with areas not affected by crop residue burning.

The researchers observed that as crop burning increased in Haryana, respiratory health worsened.

Farmers try to maximize their yields by planting the next crop as soon as possible after the previous crop has been harvested (generally wheat after rice).

To quickly clear the field for the next crop, they burn the leftover stubble rather than using the traditional method of clearing it by hand.

A new analysis of the air quality life index (AQLI) by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) on October 31 showed the average citizen living in the Indo-Gangetic plain region can expect to lose about seven years of life expectancy.

Particulate pollution is high in Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

It showed a 72 per cent increase in pollution from 1998 to 2016 in the region that is home to about 40 per cent of India's population.

To ensure zero crop-residue burning, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has adopted 100,000 acres of farmland in nearly 100 villages in Ludhiana, Barnala and Patiala districts of Punjab and Rohtak, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts of Haryana.

It is proactively engaging with over 15,000 farmers to provide farm machinery, organise technical training programmes as well as massive awareness drives in these villages of Punjab and Haryana, a CII statement said.

Equipment has been installed to monitor village-level air pollution data as well as to measure the impact of reduced stubble burning.

The Punjab government has already warned many a time the farmers against stubble burning and said those cultivating panchayat lands would be barred from taking it on lease if found indulging in crop residue burning.

Nearly 1.37 lakh acres of panchayat land is under agriculture.

The state has also ordered impounding of combine harvesters functioning without a super straw management system.

Even the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), considered a mini Parliament of Sikh religious affairs, has asked the farmers not to burn crop residue in the fields.

It said the preservation of clean and green environment is of foremost significance in view of Guru Nanak Dev celebrations.

The SGPC has instructed all the managers of Sikh shrines that they should ensure strict compliance of directions against stubble burning on the agriculture lands owned by the gurdwaras.

On its part, the Punjab government last year supplied 28,609 agro-machines to the farmers last year for zero stubble burning on subsidy ranging from 50 to 80 per cent.

This fiscal the government aims to provide 26,000 machines for in-situ management of paddy straw.

The area under paddy cultivation in Punjab 30 lakh hectares, a marginal decline from last year's 31.03 lakh hectares.

Farm organisation Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) General Secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri said the farm machines manage only 9 per cent of the total stubble. A major portion is set afire in the fields alone.

(Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS

The post 30% rise in stubble burning cases in Punjab appeared first on Social News XYZ.

New Delhi, Nov 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) A heavy smog is holding crores of men, women and children captive in Delhi-NCR. Majorly constituted of dust and smoke from stubble burning this grey cover appears unlikely to retreat in the next few days.

Dust, which majorly comprises of loose soil, has emerged as a major contributor to air pollution. Unpaved roads and digging activities for various infrastructural construction exposes the loose soil, contributing as much as 17 per cent of the particulate matter (PM) in the air, resulting in an increase in hazardous PM2.5, which is adverse to human health.

According to a senior official in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), dust pollution and waste burning, which includes plastic and dry leaves, is a serious concern for the department, as many strategies have been put in place, but it is yet to produce results.

"It is unlikely the smoke enveloping the region will loosen its grip in next few days. The air quality has even breached the severe category, it cannot be brought down instantaneously.

"We advocate for penalizing the defaulters, but a cohesive approach from the concerned agencies is yet to come," said the senior CPCB official.

The after-effects of dust become extremely dangerous when it combines with vehicular and industrial pollution.

"People should use public transport as much as possible, as the air quality is extremely bad. We need to major cut-down in pollution from various vehicles," said another senior-level CPCB official.

According to Sambhavi Shukla, Centre of Science and Environment, a TERI-ARAI study published in 2018 on PM 2.5 emissions showed that transport contributed 39 per cent, road dust 18 per cent, construction activities 8 per cent, followed by power plants 11 per cent to the air pollution in Delhi.

The study also documented the data in the National Capital Region -- 12 per cent transport, industries 23 per cent, residential 24 per cent, agricultural burning 19 per cent and 8 per cent by power plants.

The Centre in an affidavit informed the Supreme Court stubble burning has declined by 41 per cent in the last two years in the capital's neighbouring states -- Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Shukla though insisted that stubble burning incidents have not come down drastically.

The Centre has already released Rs 1,100 crore to the states departments concerned to mitigate crop burning, but it is yet to show any effect.

According to government agency System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the share of stubble burning from the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana in Delhi's pollution rose to 46 per cent on Friday, which it referred to be the highest this year.

And as a consequence the air quality in the national capital nose-dived, causing burning sensation in eyes and throat, forcing the Delhi government to order closing of schools till November 5.

Therefore, it is apparent that farm fires continue to rage in Haryana and Punjab. The Centre's stand appears inconsistent in the backdrop of these varying data and the depleting air quality index (AQI).

The Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) on Friday declared a public health emergency in Delhi-NCR due to severe air pollution and advised people here, especially children and the aged, to limit their exposure to the environment.

In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Haryana, the Supreme Court mandated panel EPCA asked the respective governments to direct implementing agencies to take immediate stringent actions to stop stubble-burning.

The CPCB said the overall air quality index of Delhi was recorded in the 'severe' category at 484 at 3 p.m., and almost all monitoring stations in the city recorded "severe" air quality.

Source: IANS

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