Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said the boat found with some semi-automatic weapons off the Raigad coast was owned by an Australian woman.
The boat drifted due to the inclement weather and came to the Raigad coast, Fadnavis informed the state Assembly.
The state home minister made the statement after NCP legislator Aditi Tatkare raised the issue in the House.
“The boat found drifted off the Raigad coast is owned by an Australian woman. Some semi-automatic weapons have been found on it,” he said.
“Central agencies and the state police have started an investigation into the matter, he added.
Earlier, a Coast Guard official said there was no security threat.
According to officials, the crew members of this boat had been rescued in June this year near the Oman coast.
It later drifted and grounded ashore, a Coast Guard official said.
Some locals spotted the boat, having no crew member, in Shrivardhan area, located more than 190 km from Mumbai, and alerted security agencies.
Raigad Superintendent of Police Ashok Dudhe and other senior officials rushed the spot and searched the boat.PTI.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear during the day itself the appeal of the Indian Olympic Association challenging the Delhi High Court direction for setting up of a three-member Committee of Administrators (COA) to take over the affairs of the sports body.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the appointment of the CoA may lead to the Association’s suspension by the International Olympic Committee as it happened in the case of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) recently.
The bench agreed to hear the appeal of the IOA during the day after finishing the hearing of listed matters.
The Delhi High Court on August 16 had ordered the setting up of a three-member CoA to manage the affairs of the IOA.
The high court said the persistent recalcitrance of the IOA to comply with the Sports Code made it imperative that its affairs be put in the hands of the COA comprising former Supreme Court judge Justice Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, and former Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to host the UN chief and Turkey’s leader Thursday for talks on the recent deal to resume Ukraine’s grain exports, the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant and efforts to help end the nearly six-month-old war.
UN Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres arrived Wednesday in Lviv, near Ukraine’s border with Poland, where he will meet Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that among other issues, Guterres will discuss “his overall efforts to do what he can to essentially lower the temperature as much as possible with the various authorities.
Last month, Turkey and the UN helped broker an agreement clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck in its Black Sea ports since Russia invaded February 24.
A separate memorandum between Russia and the UN aimed to clear roadblocks to shipments of Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.
The war and the blocked exports significantly exacerbated the global food crisis because Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers.
Grain prices peaked after Russia’s invasion, and while some have since returned to prewar levels, they remain significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Developing countries have been hit particularly hard by supply shortages and high prices. Even though ships are now leaving Russia and Ukraine, the food crisis hasn’t ended.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters this week that Guterres’ trip to Ukraine will allow him to see first-hand the results of an initiative that is so critically important to hundreds of millions of people.
Dujarric added that he expects the need for a political solution to the war to be raised in Thursday’s talks.
He said the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Europe’s largest, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling.
In his nightly video address Wednesday, Zelensky reaffirmed his demand for the Russian military to leave the plant, emphasizing that only absolute transparency and control of the situation at and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for the Ukrainian state, for the international community, and for the IAEA can guarantee a gradual return to normal nuclear safety. The International Atomic Energy Agency is a UN agency.
Russia has rejected the demand.
Erdogan’s office has confirmed that he would discuss the grain deal during the talks as well as ways to end the war through diplomatic means.
Earlier this month, the Turkish leader met on the same issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In March, Turkey hosted a round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, who discussed a possible deal to end the hostilities. The talks fell apart after the meeting in Istanbul, with both sides blaming each other.
Erdogan has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has provided Ukraine with drones, which played a significant role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, but it has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war.
Facing a major economic crisis with official inflation near 80 per cent, Turkey increasingly relies on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas covers 45 per cent of Turkish energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
During their meeting in Sochi this month, Putin and Erdogan agreed to bolster energy, financial and other ties between their countries, raising concerns in the West that Ankara could help Moscow bypass the US and European Union sanctions. PTI
Actor Tanushree Dutta has alleged she is being targeted and harassed by “Bollywood mafia and the old political circuit of Maharashtra” for taking a stand against injustice.
In 2018, Dutta triggered India’s #MeToo Movement by reviving a decade-old case of alleged harassment against actor Nana Patekar.
“The Bollywood Mafia, the old political circuit of Maharashtra (which still has influence here) and nefarious anti – national criminal elements together usually operate like this to trouble people (sic),” the former Miss India wrote in a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday.
From her films being sabotaged to attempts on her life, the 38-year-old alleged she was being targeted in a systematic manner.
“The #metoo culprits & the NGO who I exposed” were responsible for her troubles, she said, without taking any names.
“I’m very sure the #metoo culprits & the NGO who I exposed are behind all this because why else would I be targeted & harassed like this??
“Shame on you all…. It’s severe mental, physical & psychological harassment. What kind of place is this where young boys and girls can just be harassed and killed for standing against injustice? (sic)” she added.
Known for films such as “Aashiq Banaya Aapne” and “Chocolate”, Dutta said those who were trying to pull her down won’t succeed.
“I’m not going to commit suicide for sure yeh kaan kholkar sun lo sab log!! Nor am I leaving & going anywhere. I’m here to stay & resurrect my public career to greater heights than ever before!”
The actor also said people would now try to “dismiss” her claims but she has been posting updates about her life for a long time.
Dutta said she would now focus on her well-being, new business and work opportunities.
The government is ready for a debate in Parliament on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from COVID-19, the BJP asserted on Wednesday and targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying he may be “unproductive politically” but should not hurt the legislature’s productivity.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Smriti Irani hit out at opposition parties as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha saw little transactions for the third straight day due to their protests on the issues of price rise and the imposition of GST on many pre-packaged and labelled food items.
Both Goyal and Joshi noted that it is Sitharaman who will reply to a debate on the matter and asserted that the government is willing for the discussion as demanded by the opposition once she recovers and is back in Parliament.
They refuted the opposition’s charge that the government is running away from a debate and attacked the Congress, the largest opposition party.
“The Congress has a destructive attitude towards democracy. It was exposed from Jairam Ramesh’s tweet that the Congress was successful in not allowing the House to function,” Goyal, who is the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, told reporters outside parliament.
The government is not running away from any debate, he said.
Joshi said the Congress is not interested in a constructive debate but in “destructive damage”.
He said the opposition should follow the procedure for having the debate. The Rajya Sabha Chairperson and the Lok Sabha Speaker have also expressed their readiness for the discussion but the opposition should follow the norms, he said.
Earlier in the day, Irani launched a sharp attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his party members’ vociferous protests in Parliament leading to frequent adjournments in both Houses.
“He may be unproductive politically but he should not dare to continuously curb Parliament’s productivity,” she said, alleging that Rahul Gandhi’s political life has been dotted with a show of disrespect to parliamentary procedures and traditions.
He is now adamant to bring down the productivity of Lok Sabha, she told reporters.
As an Amethi MP between 2004 and 2019, he never posed any questions in Parliament and when he “abandoned” the constituency and became the MP of Wayanad, his attendance in Lok Sabha was less than 40 per cent in the winter session in 2019, Irani said.
He has also never proposed any private member’s bill, she added.
Irani had defeated Gandhi in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The minister also took a dig at him over his frequent foreign visits and said this has become a matter of worry for his own party.
“His political life has been spent disrespecting parliamentary traditions. Now he is dedicating himself to ensuring that parliamentary proceedings and debates do not take place,” she said.
The opposition has demanded the rollback of five per cent GST on pre-packaged and labelled food items such as cereals, pulses and flour weighing less than 25 kg. For a commodity measured in litres like curd and ‘lassi, the limit is 25 litres.
Its members have also highlighted the general rise in prices of different essential commodities. They carried packaged milk, curd, butter and buttermilk during their protests in both Houses besides banners to highlight their demands.
Goyal pointed out that the ministers of the Congress-ruled states were part of the GST council, which gave the nod for the levy.
Citing the results of local elections in Madhya Pradesh and other states in which the BJP has trounced its rivals, Goyal said they show on whose side the people are.
Objecting to the opposition disrupting important proceedings like the Question Hour, Joshi said the one-hour session in which government ministers concerned reply to members’ queries is the “heart” of parliamentary proceedings.
The opposition is depriving MPs of exercising their rights, he alleged, adding, “even Congress MPs are not happy with this.
In a shameful display of negligence the MVA Sarkar seems to have lost control of electricity discom Adani Power as it has repeatedly and maliciously cut power to the Dalit Neighborhood of Siddharth Colony since 17th May. It is appalling that in Mumbai the capital of Maharashtra, the state of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar that Dalits are being subjected to such inhuman cruelty. In a press conference along with the residents of Siddharth Colony the Aam Aadmi Party demanded that Adani Power be charged under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Atrocities Act, power be restored & the discom be dismissed as a power supplier for cutting power to those households who have paid their power bills. If the MVA sarkar fails to take immediate and concrete action the Aam Aadmi Party threatened to take to the streets along with residents.
In a written submission to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray by the Aam Aadmi Party it was pointed out that without getting into details of who has paid their bills or not Adani Power has punished the whole of Siddharth Colony for a few defaulters and they have only had the courage to do so as they know the residents who live there are poor Dalit people and will not be able to fight back. Hence this amounts to an offense under the Prevention of Atrocities Act since they have singled out a community and abused their ability to distribute power. The government is well aware that the nearly 3,500 households of Siddharth Colony have a long standing dispute of unpaid power bills with the electricity company. Many politicians including the local MP Rahul Shewale have failed to resolve this issue. There are three kinds of residents in Siddharth Colony. One, who have been paying their bills right from the start. Two, a bulk of the population who have been paying their bills right from 2019. Three, a few who have sporadically paid or not paid their bills.
“Without getting into details of who has paid their bills or not Adani Power has punished the whole of Siddharth Colony for a few defaulters and they have had the courage to do so as they know the residents who live there are poor Dalit people and will not be able to fight back. Hence this amounts to a Dalit atrocity since they have singled out a community and abused their ability to disperse power.” said AAP Mumbai President and National Executive member Preeti Sharma Menon. “We demand that this matter be resolved and be charged with the Dalit Atrocities Act. They should also be dismissed as a power supplier for cutting power to those households who have paid their power bills.” added Menon.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre to ascertain the feasibility of enacting a stringent population control law to secure fundamental rights for citizens.
The plea filed by spiritual orator Devkinandan Thakur said there is a need to control the population explosion to secure the basic rights of the citizens as this is the root cause of all the problems.
“The facts constituting the cause of action accrued on December 10, 2020, when the Centre said that it is against the forcing of family planning and won’t take coercion action. Centre passed its obligation though ‘Population Control & Family Planning’ is mentioned in the concurrent list. Hence Centre can make laws and regulation policies to control population explosion, which is the biggest menace to democracy and socio-economic development. It has not even drafted a Bill till date.
“The injury caused to citizens, particularly women, is extremely large. The perils of population explosion on the economy and its ramifications are often discussed. But, the impact that repeated childbearing has on women are seldom highlighted outside the niche areas. Incidence of grand multiparity, which is defined as more than 4 viable births, in developing countries like India is 20 per cent while it is only 2 per cent in developed countries,” the plea filed through advocate Ashutosh Dubey said.
The plea has submitted that the right to clean air, drinking water, health, and livelihood guaranteed under Articles 21-21A, can’t be secured to all citizens without effective population control.
It has also sought directions to the Law Commission of India to examine the population control laws and population control policies of the developed countries and suggest steps in order to secure the fundamental rights.
The Centre in another petition had earlier told the top court that India is unequivocally against forcing family planning on its people and any coercion to have a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the health ministry had said that the family welfare programme in the country is voluntary in nature, which enables couples to decide the size of their family and adopt family planning methods best suited to them, according to their choice and without any compulsion.
The submission was made in response to a PIL filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay challenging a Delhi High Court order that dismissed a plea seeking certain steps, including the two-child norm, to control the country’s growing population.
Shimla/New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) Veteran Congress leader from Himachal Pradesh and former Union minister Sukh Ram died early Wednesday at a Delhi hospital. He was 94.
The Congress leader, who was airlifted and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on May 7 after suffering a brain stroke in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, died at the hospital at 1:35 am, hospital sources said.
Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma said his body will be kept at Seri Manch in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi to enable people to pay their last respects on Thursday.
“Goodbye grandfather, the phone won’t ring now (alvida dadajee, abhi nahi bajegee phone ki ghanti),” Sharma said in a Facebook post around 2 am on Wednesday.
In another post, Sharma said Sukh Ram’s body will reach his home city Mandi on Wednesday at 6 pm.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur expressed condolences over Sukh Ram’s demise.
In a tweet in Hindi, he said, “I am grief stricken to hear the news of death of former union minister and veteran leader from Mandi Pandit Sukh Ram Jee.”
His contribution to politics was very vital and will be always remembered, he added.
“May Ishwar provide place to his departed soul at His feet and his bereaved family get strength to bear the irreparable loss,” he added.
Thakur had on May 7 provided a state helicopter for airlifting the veteran political leader to Delhi for treatment.
Sukh Ram was the Union minister of state communications (independent charge) from 1993 to 1996. He was a member of the Lok Sabha from the Mandi constituency.
He won five assembly elections and was thrice elected to Lok Sabha.
In 2011, Sukh Ram was sentenced to five years imprisonment for corruption during his tenure as communications minister in 1996. His son Anil Sharma is a BJP MLA from Mandi.
Born on July 27,1927, Sukh Ram had represented the Mandi assembly seat from 1963 to 1984. During his tenure as state animal husbandry minister, he was credited with bringing cows from Germany which led to an increase in income of farmers.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984 and served as a junior minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government. Sukh Ram served as minister of state for defence production and supplies, planning and food and civil supplies.
While Sukh Ram represented the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, his son Anil Sharma contested and won the assembly seat in 1993. The Congress leader had won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in 1996, but he and his son were expelled from the party after the telecom scam.
Subsequently, they floated the Himachal Vikas Congress Party, which entered into a post-poll alliance with the BJP and joined the government.
In 1998, Sukh Ram contested the assembly elections from Mandi Sadar and won by a huge margin. His son Anil Sharma was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998.
Sukh Ram along with his grandson rejoined the Congress right before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to get a Congress ticket for Aashray Sharam but he could not win.
Sukh Ram’s other grandson Aayush Sharma is an actor and married to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s sister Arpita.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai unit went across to all flood prone areas and inspected the rivers, nallahs and storm water drains (SWDs) that cause the flooding in the respective areas and were shocked to find out that there is absolutely no pre monsoon de-silting done!
Merely two weeks are left for the onset of the Monsoon Season in Mumbai but once again BMC has failed to clear the rivers, nallahs and SWDs of silt and debri – which means they will overflow and once again major areas of the city will have to face floods. Even by the BMC’s own figures major nallahs and SWDs in the city are far from desilted. If the BMC’s own documents and their online tracker are to be believed only 43% of the city’s nallahs & SWDs and only 84% of Mithi River have been desilted! As per BMC large parts of nallahs including the Poisar river, Chandravarkar Nallah & 48 other nallahs have not even begun desilting. Only 28 % of South Mumbai’s nallahs and SWD’s have been desilted. Only 58% of the Eastern Suburbs nallahs and SWDs have been cleaned. Similarly in the Western Suburbs 50% of the nallahs and SWDs have not been cleaned. In total even the BMC admits it has only cleaned 55% of the city’s minor nallahs.
The shocking truth is that even these figures are fake and nowhere near ground reality!! AAP volunteers and leadership went to various spots along the Mithi and saw that the river is still hopelessly choked up at Jogeshwari, BKC, Bandra East & Kalina – this poses a major threat to all Western Suburbs. Even smaller Nallahs & SWD’s are still choked up across the city nullahs. The Eastern Suburbs are worse off as none of the nallahs have even been attempted and the 58% claim is totally fake!
“The Shivsena Government has shown complete apathy to the death and devastation caused in Mumbai year after year. In power in BMC for three decades and now in the State too, their only interest is in looting the BMC and their utter recklessness in ignoring the pre monsoon preparation is nothing short of malafide criminal intent. It is time to bury the ghost of the “Spirit of Mumbai” and file criminal charges against those responsible for the floods that we are inevitably going to face.” said Mumbai President Preeti Sharma Menon.
“The sheer lies behind the reportage of the cleaning of the Mithi River proves that there is something rotten in the BMC. There seems to be a massive nexus between the contractors cleaning the river and Municipal Authorities and they think the lives of Mumbaikars is a cheap price to pay.” said AAP Leader and Mumbai’s Riverman Gopal Jhaveri.
The Aam Aadmi Party demands that an external independent body be appointed to audit the pre monsoon preparation and all the contractors and officers who have failed to do the work and those that have misreported the figures be tried for attempted murder. And, if the city floods again this monsoon, criminal negligence cases should be filed against the Councillors of those wards. It is time that Mumbaikers put these criminals in jail!
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