Archive For The “General” Category
New Delhi, Sep 22 : Five people were on Tuesday detained for allegedly vandalising the Delhi residence of AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi, the police said.
The incident happened at around 4 p.m.
when members of Hindu Sena were staging a protest outside Owaisi's house, located adjacent to the Election Commission headquarters on the Ashoka Road.
DCP, New Delhi, Deepak Yadav told IANS that they have detained five people and an FIR under relevant sections was registered against them.
The protesters shattered a lamp atop the main gate and the nameplate of the parliamentarian.
The white pieces of the lamp could be seen strewn across the road.
Hindu Sena national President Vishnu Gupta told IANS that he was not aware of the incident and came to know about it through multiple media reports and other sources.
He confirmed that some workers of his outfit went to protest there.
"Asaduddin Owaisi has been constantly making anti-Hindu statements and workers might have been feeling agitated due to this," Gupta said adding, however, one should not adopt unlawful ways to register their protest.
Owaisi, meanwhile, in a series of tweets came down heavily on the present dispensation.
"My Delhi residence was vandalised today by radicalised goons.
Their cowardice is well known (and) as usual they came in a mob, not alone. They also chose a time when I was not home. They were armed with axes and sticks, they pelted stones at my house, my nameplate was destroyed," he posted on Twitter.
The AIMIM chief alleged the caretaker of his house was assaulted.
"The mob shouted communal slogans and threatened to kill me. Raju's (caretaker's) grandkids are living in fear now. Raju has filed a complaint with police. Hope action will be taken," he wrote.
Owaisi said that this is third incident when his residence, which lies in a high security area, has been vandalised by 'miscreants'.
Calling the people who attacked his house as 'thugs', Owaisi said he won't stop his fight for justice and such incidents do not scare him.
--IANS
uj/shs.
Source: IANS
The incident happened at around 4 p.m.
when members of Hindu Sena were staging a protest outside Owaisi's house, located adjacent to the Election Commission headquarters on the Ashoka Road.
DCP, New Delhi, Deepak Yadav told IANS that they have detained five people and an FIR under relevant sections was registered against them.
The protesters shattered a lamp atop the main gate and the nameplate of the parliamentarian.
The white pieces of the lamp could be seen strewn across the road.
Hindu Sena national President Vishnu Gupta told IANS that he was not aware of the incident and came to know about it through multiple media reports and other sources.
He confirmed that some workers of his outfit went to protest there.
"Asaduddin Owaisi has been constantly making anti-Hindu statements and workers might have been feeling agitated due to this," Gupta said adding, however, one should not adopt unlawful ways to register their protest.
Owaisi, meanwhile, in a series of tweets came down heavily on the present dispensation.
"My Delhi residence was vandalised today by radicalised goons.
Their cowardice is well known (and) as usual they came in a mob, not alone. They also chose a time when I was not home. They were armed with axes and sticks, they pelted stones at my house, my nameplate was destroyed," he posted on Twitter.
The AIMIM chief alleged the caretaker of his house was assaulted.
"The mob shouted communal slogans and threatened to kill me. Raju's (caretaker's) grandkids are living in fear now. Raju has filed a complaint with police. Hope action will be taken," he wrote.
Owaisi said that this is third incident when his residence, which lies in a high security area, has been vandalised by 'miscreants'.
Calling the people who attacked his house as 'thugs', Owaisi said he won't stop his fight for justice and such incidents do not scare him.
--IANS
uj/shs.
Source: IANS
Hyderabad, Sep 21 : The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) restored 100 per cent services in Greater Hyderabad Zone from Tuesday.
With the reopening of educational institutions, TSRTC authorities decided to operate 100 per cent buses in and around the state capital.
The state-owned transport body will operate 1,286 TSRTC buses and 265 hired buses every day.
According to officials, these buses will be making 18,478 trips covering 4.25 lakh km in Greater Hyderabad Zone (GHZ).
The bus services connect various parts of Hyderabad and surrounding villages and mandals.
TSRTC officials said since schools re-opened from September 1 and other business-related activities were returning to normal, they decided to resume 100 per cent bus services.
The cash-strapped TSRTC has been operating partial services for more than a year.
Only 50 per cent of the buses were being operated since June 20 this year after the lifting of the 39-day lockdown.
TSRTC buses had remained off the roads in the city for six months last year.
Though services resumed partially across the state in May last year after nearly two months due to the lockdown, the city services resumed only on September 25.
The pandemic caused a loss of Rs 2,600 crore to TSRTC, which was already making losses.
Lockdown, post-lockdown restrictions, drop in occupancy added to the losses.
It tried to minimize the losses by launching parcel cargo and courier services.
Last month, the TSRTC's per day revenue peaked at Rs 13.04 crore, the highest since the pandemic.
The occupancy also reached 78 per cent, the highest in more than a year.
Before the pandemic, the transport body had 10,460 buses and it used to ferry a little over one crore people every day across the state.
The daily revenue was over Rs 14 crore.
Greater Hyderabad Zone used to contribute Rs 3.2 crore to the transport entity's overall daily revenue.
In the State Budget for 2021-22, TSRTC was allocated Rs 1,500 crore and the government also promised another Rs 1,500 crore through other resources like loans.
Of this the government has arranged Rs 1,000 crore as loans to pay salaries and meet other liabilities.
Recently, the TSRTC decided to purchase 280 new buses for Rs 100 crores.
--IANS
ms/bg.
Source: IANS
With the reopening of educational institutions, TSRTC authorities decided to operate 100 per cent buses in and around the state capital.
The state-owned transport body will operate 1,286 TSRTC buses and 265 hired buses every day.
According to officials, these buses will be making 18,478 trips covering 4.25 lakh km in Greater Hyderabad Zone (GHZ).
The bus services connect various parts of Hyderabad and surrounding villages and mandals.
TSRTC officials said since schools re-opened from September 1 and other business-related activities were returning to normal, they decided to resume 100 per cent bus services.
The cash-strapped TSRTC has been operating partial services for more than a year.
Only 50 per cent of the buses were being operated since June 20 this year after the lifting of the 39-day lockdown.
TSRTC buses had remained off the roads in the city for six months last year.
Though services resumed partially across the state in May last year after nearly two months due to the lockdown, the city services resumed only on September 25.
The pandemic caused a loss of Rs 2,600 crore to TSRTC, which was already making losses.
Lockdown, post-lockdown restrictions, drop in occupancy added to the losses.
It tried to minimize the losses by launching parcel cargo and courier services.
Last month, the TSRTC's per day revenue peaked at Rs 13.04 crore, the highest since the pandemic.
The occupancy also reached 78 per cent, the highest in more than a year.
Before the pandemic, the transport body had 10,460 buses and it used to ferry a little over one crore people every day across the state.
The daily revenue was over Rs 14 crore.
Greater Hyderabad Zone used to contribute Rs 3.2 crore to the transport entity's overall daily revenue.
In the State Budget for 2021-22, TSRTC was allocated Rs 1,500 crore and the government also promised another Rs 1,500 crore through other resources like loans.
Of this the government has arranged Rs 1,000 crore as loans to pay salaries and meet other liabilities.
Recently, the TSRTC decided to purchase 280 new buses for Rs 100 crores.
--IANS
ms/bg.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Sep 21 : Manoranjan Byapari, who educated himself while in prison for participating in a tribal movement against feudal landlords, once worked as a rickshaw-puller and as a cook, is today the award-winning author of a dozen books and hundreds of short stories and is a member of the West Bengal Assembly.
One of the most prominent writers of Dalit literature in Bengali, the English translation of his searing exploration of day-to-day living in the Bengali novel "Chhera Chhera Jibon" has just been published by Eka/Westland as "Imaan".
The protagonist, Imaan, enters Central Jail as an infant -- in the arms of Zahura Bibi, his mother, who is charged with the murder of his father.
He leaves 20 years later, having spent his time thus far shuttling between a juvenile home and prison.
With no home to return to, Imaan ends up at the Jadavpur railway station, becoming a ragpicker on the advice of a consummate pickpocket.
The folk of the railside -- rickshaw-pullers, scrap dealers, tea-still owners, those who sell corpses for a little bit of money -- welcome him into their fold, but the world of the free still baffles him.
Life on the platform is disillusioning, and far more frightening than the jail he knew so well. This free world too is a prison, like the one he came from, only disconcertingly large. But no one went hungry in jail -- and everyone had a roof over their heads.
Unable to cope in this odd world, Imaan wishes to return to the security of a prison cell. He is told that while there is only one door out of prison, there are a thousand through which to return.
Is Imaan -- whose name means honesty and conscience -- up to the task?
It's a novel written in Byapari's inimitable style, translated by Arunava Sinha, where irony and wry humour are never too far from bitter truths.
Byapari was born in the mid-fifties in Barishal, in the former East Pakistan that is now Bangladesh.
His family migrated to West Bengal when he was three. They were resettled in Bankura at the Shiromanipur Refugee Camp and later were forced to shift to the Gholadoltala Refugee Camp in the 24 Parganas, where they lived till 1969.
However, Byapari had to leave home at the age of 14 to do odd jobs. In his early 20s, he came into contact with the Maoists and with the famous labour activist Shankar Guha Niyogi, founder of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha at the Dalli Rajhara Mines, who was leading a revolution to reclaim lands of the tribals from feudal lords who had captured them by unfair means.
Byapari was sent to jail during this time, where he taught himself to read and write. Later, while working as a rickshaw-puller in Kolkata, Byapari had a chance meeting with the renowned Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, who urged him to write for her journal Bartika.
He has published 12 novels and over a hundred short stories since. Some of his important works include "Ittibrite Chandal Jibon" (memoir), the "Chandal Jibon" trilogy (novels) and "Motua Ek Mukti Senar Naam".
Until 2018, he was working as a cook at the Hellen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind in West Bengal.
In 2014, Byapari was given the Suprabha Majumdar Prize, awarded by the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi. He also received the Sharmila Ghosh Smriti Literary Prize in 2015. In 2018, the English translation of his memoir, "Ittibrite Chandal Jibon" (Interrogating My Chandal Life), received the Hindu Prize for nonfiction.
In 2019, he was awarded the Gateway Lit Fest Writer of the Year Prize.
The English translation of his novel "Batashe Baruder Gandha" (There's Gunpowder in the Air) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019, the Crossword Book Award for Best Translation 2019 and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Prize 2020.
He was appointed chairman of the newly-instituted Dalit Sahitya Akademi in Bengal in 2020. Several of his books will be appearing in Bengali, English, Hindi and Malayalam this year. Two of his novels will be published in the US by the independent publisher AntiBooks Club in the spring of 2022.
Byapari was elected a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly on a Trinamool Congress ticket in May 2021.
--IANS
vm/dpb.
Source: IANS
One of the most prominent writers of Dalit literature in Bengali, the English translation of his searing exploration of day-to-day living in the Bengali novel "Chhera Chhera Jibon" has just been published by Eka/Westland as "Imaan".
The protagonist, Imaan, enters Central Jail as an infant -- in the arms of Zahura Bibi, his mother, who is charged with the murder of his father.
He leaves 20 years later, having spent his time thus far shuttling between a juvenile home and prison.
With no home to return to, Imaan ends up at the Jadavpur railway station, becoming a ragpicker on the advice of a consummate pickpocket.
The folk of the railside -- rickshaw-pullers, scrap dealers, tea-still owners, those who sell corpses for a little bit of money -- welcome him into their fold, but the world of the free still baffles him.
Life on the platform is disillusioning, and far more frightening than the jail he knew so well. This free world too is a prison, like the one he came from, only disconcertingly large. But no one went hungry in jail -- and everyone had a roof over their heads.
Unable to cope in this odd world, Imaan wishes to return to the security of a prison cell. He is told that while there is only one door out of prison, there are a thousand through which to return.
Is Imaan -- whose name means honesty and conscience -- up to the task?
It's a novel written in Byapari's inimitable style, translated by Arunava Sinha, where irony and wry humour are never too far from bitter truths.
Byapari was born in the mid-fifties in Barishal, in the former East Pakistan that is now Bangladesh.
His family migrated to West Bengal when he was three. They were resettled in Bankura at the Shiromanipur Refugee Camp and later were forced to shift to the Gholadoltala Refugee Camp in the 24 Parganas, where they lived till 1969.
However, Byapari had to leave home at the age of 14 to do odd jobs. In his early 20s, he came into contact with the Maoists and with the famous labour activist Shankar Guha Niyogi, founder of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha at the Dalli Rajhara Mines, who was leading a revolution to reclaim lands of the tribals from feudal lords who had captured them by unfair means.
Byapari was sent to jail during this time, where he taught himself to read and write. Later, while working as a rickshaw-puller in Kolkata, Byapari had a chance meeting with the renowned Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, who urged him to write for her journal Bartika.
He has published 12 novels and over a hundred short stories since. Some of his important works include "Ittibrite Chandal Jibon" (memoir), the "Chandal Jibon" trilogy (novels) and "Motua Ek Mukti Senar Naam".
Until 2018, he was working as a cook at the Hellen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind in West Bengal.
In 2014, Byapari was given the Suprabha Majumdar Prize, awarded by the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi. He also received the Sharmila Ghosh Smriti Literary Prize in 2015. In 2018, the English translation of his memoir, "Ittibrite Chandal Jibon" (Interrogating My Chandal Life), received the Hindu Prize for nonfiction.
In 2019, he was awarded the Gateway Lit Fest Writer of the Year Prize.
The English translation of his novel "Batashe Baruder Gandha" (There's Gunpowder in the Air) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019, the Crossword Book Award for Best Translation 2019 and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Prize 2020.
He was appointed chairman of the newly-instituted Dalit Sahitya Akademi in Bengal in 2020. Several of his books will be appearing in Bengali, English, Hindi and Malayalam this year. Two of his novels will be published in the US by the independent publisher AntiBooks Club in the spring of 2022.
Byapari was elected a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly on a Trinamool Congress ticket in May 2021.
--IANS
vm/dpb.
Source: IANS
Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 21 : Twenty persons, accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, have been acquitted by a local court here.
Additional district and sessions judge, Baburam, acquitted them on Monday saying that the prosecution had failed to provide evidence against them.
District government counsel (DGC) Rajeev Sharma said that all the witnesses and complainant turned hostile in the matter.
Giving details, additional district government counsel (ADGC) Narendra Sharma said that Sirajuddin, a resident of Kutbi village, lodged a complaint at Shahpur police station on September 8, 2013, alleging that a mob had burned down their homes, tried to kill them and looted their valuables.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the riots cases had filed a charge sheet against 21 people under IPC's sections 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house,), 392 (robbery), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 295 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class).
One person died during the pendency of the case.
According to sources, in the last eight years, 1,117 people accused in 97 cases related to murder, rape, robbery and arson connected with the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots have been acquitted due to lack of evidence or witnesses turning hostile.
The police had registered 510 cases and arrested 1,480 people in connection with the riots.
After investigation, the SIT filed charge sheets in 175 cases.
As many as 60 people were killed and more than 50,000 displaced during the Muzaffarnagar riots that took a communal turn.
--IANS
amita/in.
Source: IANS
Additional district and sessions judge, Baburam, acquitted them on Monday saying that the prosecution had failed to provide evidence against them.
District government counsel (DGC) Rajeev Sharma said that all the witnesses and complainant turned hostile in the matter.
Giving details, additional district government counsel (ADGC) Narendra Sharma said that Sirajuddin, a resident of Kutbi village, lodged a complaint at Shahpur police station on September 8, 2013, alleging that a mob had burned down their homes, tried to kill them and looted their valuables.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the riots cases had filed a charge sheet against 21 people under IPC's sections 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house,), 392 (robbery), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 295 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class).
One person died during the pendency of the case.
According to sources, in the last eight years, 1,117 people accused in 97 cases related to murder, rape, robbery and arson connected with the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots have been acquitted due to lack of evidence or witnesses turning hostile.
The police had registered 510 cases and arrested 1,480 people in connection with the riots.
After investigation, the SIT filed charge sheets in 175 cases.
As many as 60 people were killed and more than 50,000 displaced during the Muzaffarnagar riots that took a communal turn.
--IANS
amita/in.
Source: IANS
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 20 : Confusion continued over the winner of the Rs 12 crore Kerala Lotteries Onam bumper, after a Dubai resident Sayed Alavi, who hails from Wayanad, said he was the owner of the ticket.
The lottery result was announced on Sunday evening.
Priced at Rs 300, the ticket was sold from Meenakshi Lotteries, Tripunithura, which is on the outskirts of Kochi.
The distance between Tripunithura and Wayanad is around 280 kms.
Incidentally, the draw of the lucky winner was overseen by two State Ministers on Sunday evening and the winning ticket's number was announced.
Soon the over a dozen News TV channels got down to find the owner of the ticket and the only information which they had was it was sold from Tripunithura.
Social media also joined in locating the owner issue.
On Monday morning, the wait got over when the TV channels showed the winner and said it was Alavi.
"Yes, I am the winner of the ticket and I took the ticket through my friend, who is from Kozhikode and paid the money online.
I spoke to my family and my friend said later on Monday the winning ticket will be handed over to my family in Wayanad," said Alavi.
So far, Alavi's friend has not come out before the public.
Expressing happiness, Alavi said he will build a house of his own as presently he doesn't have one.
Alavi has been working in Dubai as an assistant cook in a hotel for the past 11 years.
Back home at his rented house in Wayanad, his family members are perplexed by the windfall.
"I have no clue and only when my husband called me and passed the news that the ticket he has purchased has won the first prize, we came to know about it," said his wife.
Now all eyes are on Alavi's friend as it was he who according to Alavi had purchased the ticket.
All are waiting to hear from him the details, like when he purchased the ticket as the place is more than 200 kms away from Kozhikode, where he does his own business.
According to sources in the know of things, Alavi after taxes will be getting around Rs 7.50 crore for his investment of Rs 300.
The total revenue generated from the sale of Onam bumper lottery tickets is around Rs 140 crore, of which, after all expenses the state exchequer will get around Rs four crore only.
--IANS
sg/dpb.
Source: IANS
The lottery result was announced on Sunday evening.
Priced at Rs 300, the ticket was sold from Meenakshi Lotteries, Tripunithura, which is on the outskirts of Kochi.
The distance between Tripunithura and Wayanad is around 280 kms.
Incidentally, the draw of the lucky winner was overseen by two State Ministers on Sunday evening and the winning ticket's number was announced.
Soon the over a dozen News TV channels got down to find the owner of the ticket and the only information which they had was it was sold from Tripunithura.
Social media also joined in locating the owner issue.
On Monday morning, the wait got over when the TV channels showed the winner and said it was Alavi.
"Yes, I am the winner of the ticket and I took the ticket through my friend, who is from Kozhikode and paid the money online.
I spoke to my family and my friend said later on Monday the winning ticket will be handed over to my family in Wayanad," said Alavi.
So far, Alavi's friend has not come out before the public.
Expressing happiness, Alavi said he will build a house of his own as presently he doesn't have one.
Alavi has been working in Dubai as an assistant cook in a hotel for the past 11 years.
Back home at his rented house in Wayanad, his family members are perplexed by the windfall.
"I have no clue and only when my husband called me and passed the news that the ticket he has purchased has won the first prize, we came to know about it," said his wife.
Now all eyes are on Alavi's friend as it was he who according to Alavi had purchased the ticket.
All are waiting to hear from him the details, like when he purchased the ticket as the place is more than 200 kms away from Kozhikode, where he does his own business.
According to sources in the know of things, Alavi after taxes will be getting around Rs 7.50 crore for his investment of Rs 300.
The total revenue generated from the sale of Onam bumper lottery tickets is around Rs 140 crore, of which, after all expenses the state exchequer will get around Rs four crore only.
--IANS
sg/dpb.
Source: IANS
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 20 : Confusion continued over the winner of the Rs 12 crore Kerala Lotteries Onam bumper, after a Dubai resident Sayed Alavi, who hails from Wayanad, said he was the owner of the ticket.
The lottery result was announced on Sunday evening.
Priced at Rs 300, the ticket was sold from Meenakshi Lotteries, Tripunithura, which is on the outskirts of Kochi.
The distance between Tripunithura and Wayanad is around 280 kms.
Incidentally, the draw of the lucky winner was overseen by two State Ministers on Sunday evening and the winning ticket's number was announced.
Soon the over a dozen News TV channels got down to find the owner of the ticket and the only information which they had was it was sold from Tripunithura.
Social media also joined in locating the owner issue.
On Monday morning, the wait got over when the TV channels showed the winner and said it was Alavi.
"Yes, I am the winner of the ticket and I took the ticket through my friend, who is from Kozhikode and paid the money online.
I spoke to my family and my friend said later on Monday the winning ticket will be handed over to my family in Wayanad," said Alavi.
So far, Alavi's friend has not come out before the public.
Expressing happiness, Alavi said he will build a house of his own as presently he doesn't have one.
Alavi has been working in Dubai as an assistant cook in a hotel for the past 11 years.
Back home at his rented house in Wayanad, his family members are perplexed by the windfall.
"I have no clue and only when my husband called me and passed the news that the ticket he has purchased has won the first prize, we came to know about it," said his wife.
Now all eyes are on Alavi's friend as it was he who according to Alavi had purchased the ticket.
All are waiting to hear from him the details, like when he purchased the ticket as the place is more than 200 kms away from Kozhikode, where he does his own business.
According to sources in the know of things, Alavi after taxes will be getting around Rs 7.50 crore for his investment of Rs 300.
The total revenue generated from the sale of Onam bumper lottery tickets is around Rs 140 crore, of which, after all expenses the state exchequer will get around Rs four crore only.
--IANS
sg/dpb.
Source: IANS
The lottery result was announced on Sunday evening.
Priced at Rs 300, the ticket was sold from Meenakshi Lotteries, Tripunithura, which is on the outskirts of Kochi.
The distance between Tripunithura and Wayanad is around 280 kms.
Incidentally, the draw of the lucky winner was overseen by two State Ministers on Sunday evening and the winning ticket's number was announced.
Soon the over a dozen News TV channels got down to find the owner of the ticket and the only information which they had was it was sold from Tripunithura.
Social media also joined in locating the owner issue.
On Monday morning, the wait got over when the TV channels showed the winner and said it was Alavi.
"Yes, I am the winner of the ticket and I took the ticket through my friend, who is from Kozhikode and paid the money online.
I spoke to my family and my friend said later on Monday the winning ticket will be handed over to my family in Wayanad," said Alavi.
So far, Alavi's friend has not come out before the public.
Expressing happiness, Alavi said he will build a house of his own as presently he doesn't have one.
Alavi has been working in Dubai as an assistant cook in a hotel for the past 11 years.
Back home at his rented house in Wayanad, his family members are perplexed by the windfall.
"I have no clue and only when my husband called me and passed the news that the ticket he has purchased has won the first prize, we came to know about it," said his wife.
Now all eyes are on Alavi's friend as it was he who according to Alavi had purchased the ticket.
All are waiting to hear from him the details, like when he purchased the ticket as the place is more than 200 kms away from Kozhikode, where he does his own business.
According to sources in the know of things, Alavi after taxes will be getting around Rs 7.50 crore for his investment of Rs 300.
The total revenue generated from the sale of Onam bumper lottery tickets is around Rs 140 crore, of which, after all expenses the state exchequer will get around Rs four crore only.
--IANS
sg/dpb.
Source: IANS
Agra, Sep 20 : For the fourth time in its 135-year-old history, the historic 'Ram Baraat' in Agra has been cancelled in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Ramlila committee, headed by Agra Mayor Naveen Jain, took the decision after consulting with the state authorities.
According to sources, theevent was not organized last year due to the Covid outbreak.
It had earlier been cancelled in 1947 and 1948, due to the Partition of India and communal violence.
Rajvir Agrawal, general secretary of the Ram Baraat organising committee said: "Considering the fact that lakhs of people participate in the event, the decision has been taken not to organise the event following the threat of the Covid."
However, to continue with the tradition, all the programs of Ram Lila and the Ram Baraat will be organised in a symbolic manner at the Mankameshwar temple.
Arrangements to telecast the events on social media are also being made.
Ram Baraat is a unique, yearly festival in which the wedding ceremony of Ram and Sita is reconstructed, right from the baraat procession to 'bidai'.
The baraat passes through different parts of the city, and receives a grand welcome by locals and businessmen.
Artists and tableaux portraying various characters of the Ramayana are a major attraction.
Following this, a grand reception ceremony takes place at the Janak Mahal to mark the culmination of the event.
--IANS
amita/ksk/.
Source: IANS
The Ramlila committee, headed by Agra Mayor Naveen Jain, took the decision after consulting with the state authorities.
According to sources, theevent was not organized last year due to the Covid outbreak.
It had earlier been cancelled in 1947 and 1948, due to the Partition of India and communal violence.
Rajvir Agrawal, general secretary of the Ram Baraat organising committee said: "Considering the fact that lakhs of people participate in the event, the decision has been taken not to organise the event following the threat of the Covid."
However, to continue with the tradition, all the programs of Ram Lila and the Ram Baraat will be organised in a symbolic manner at the Mankameshwar temple.
Arrangements to telecast the events on social media are also being made.
Ram Baraat is a unique, yearly festival in which the wedding ceremony of Ram and Sita is reconstructed, right from the baraat procession to 'bidai'.
The baraat passes through different parts of the city, and receives a grand welcome by locals and businessmen.
Artists and tableaux portraying various characters of the Ramayana are a major attraction.
Following this, a grand reception ceremony takes place at the Janak Mahal to mark the culmination of the event.
--IANS
amita/ksk/.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Sep 19 : The bar and restaurants in Delhi have been granted permission to reopen dine-in spaces at 50 per cent occupancy after being shut for nearly two months.
However, the owners now pin their hopes for full occupancy as they consider the 50 per cent restriction to be a major hindrance for getting business back on track.
Most of the restaurant and bar managers in the city think that though the businesses are coming on the track slowly in the post-lockdown era, relaxation in occupancy in dine-in service can prove a boon for the industry.
Pushpendra, manager at dine-out 38 Barracks restaurant in Connaught Place, said, "The business is getting normal now, but we are compelled to follow the rule of only 50 per cent of occupancy which affects our daily sell out."
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has extended the opening hours for restaurants and bars in the capital city.
The restaurants and bars are now allowed to remain open till their normal closing timing at 12 in midnight with 50 per cent seating capacity restriction.
The SinCity club official said, "The extended timings till midnight have proved good for our business, but we expect better in the post-lockdown period.
The 50 per cent occupancy restriction impacts the business."
OMG cafe manager in Connaught Place B.S.
Rawat said, "We get good footfalls on weekends, but on weekdays we see a considerable decline in the number of people visiting the bar.
Even Corporate meetings and parties are not being held because of social distancing norms which have a telling impact on the industry," he said.
"As we have witnessed two surges of Covid, people are facing budget constraints and they are willing to save for the future.
If tourists start visiting the restaurants, we can be hopeful for revival in the industry", said Rawat.
A multi cuisine Mamagota Restaurant manager in Khan Market, Satyendra says that almost 90 per cent of businesses have come back on track.
The restaurant serving Asian Continental food has waiting of one hour on a regular basis. "As we have the restriction of only 50 per cent of occupancy," he says, "The food delivery service is on the rise which ultimately makes up for our revenue in total."
Prashant, manager at The Chatter House, told IANS, "The industry has revived up to 70 to 80 per cent as we have long waiting hours at the restaurant.
However, we follow the 50 per cent occupancy norm. The footfalls are increasing every day which results in long waiting times," he said.
Hiritk Choudhry, who is a manager at the Italian restaurant Tera Vita in Khan Market says that the guests are not hesitant any more to come out and enjoy themselves.
They no longer fear Covid infections as most of them now have been vaccinated fully and also the daily cases are on the decline.
He said that the restaurant is completely packed up on weekends and 80 to 90 per cent footfall is on the weekdays.
Even with a limited seating capacity and other safety protocols like social distancing in place, the bar and restaurant industry are on the track to revive in the post-lockdown era in Delhi.
However, they pin hopes on full occupancy to see the business flourish again like the pre-Covid times.
--IANS
avr/msk/dpb.
Source: IANS
However, the owners now pin their hopes for full occupancy as they consider the 50 per cent restriction to be a major hindrance for getting business back on track.
Most of the restaurant and bar managers in the city think that though the businesses are coming on the track slowly in the post-lockdown era, relaxation in occupancy in dine-in service can prove a boon for the industry.
Pushpendra, manager at dine-out 38 Barracks restaurant in Connaught Place, said, "The business is getting normal now, but we are compelled to follow the rule of only 50 per cent of occupancy which affects our daily sell out."
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has extended the opening hours for restaurants and bars in the capital city.
The restaurants and bars are now allowed to remain open till their normal closing timing at 12 in midnight with 50 per cent seating capacity restriction.
The SinCity club official said, "The extended timings till midnight have proved good for our business, but we expect better in the post-lockdown period.
The 50 per cent occupancy restriction impacts the business."
OMG cafe manager in Connaught Place B.S.
Rawat said, "We get good footfalls on weekends, but on weekdays we see a considerable decline in the number of people visiting the bar.
Even Corporate meetings and parties are not being held because of social distancing norms which have a telling impact on the industry," he said.
"As we have witnessed two surges of Covid, people are facing budget constraints and they are willing to save for the future.
If tourists start visiting the restaurants, we can be hopeful for revival in the industry", said Rawat.
A multi cuisine Mamagota Restaurant manager in Khan Market, Satyendra says that almost 90 per cent of businesses have come back on track.
The restaurant serving Asian Continental food has waiting of one hour on a regular basis. "As we have the restriction of only 50 per cent of occupancy," he says, "The food delivery service is on the rise which ultimately makes up for our revenue in total."
Prashant, manager at The Chatter House, told IANS, "The industry has revived up to 70 to 80 per cent as we have long waiting hours at the restaurant.
However, we follow the 50 per cent occupancy norm. The footfalls are increasing every day which results in long waiting times," he said.
Hiritk Choudhry, who is a manager at the Italian restaurant Tera Vita in Khan Market says that the guests are not hesitant any more to come out and enjoy themselves.
They no longer fear Covid infections as most of them now have been vaccinated fully and also the daily cases are on the decline.
He said that the restaurant is completely packed up on weekends and 80 to 90 per cent footfall is on the weekdays.
Even with a limited seating capacity and other safety protocols like social distancing in place, the bar and restaurant industry are on the track to revive in the post-lockdown era in Delhi.
However, they pin hopes on full occupancy to see the business flourish again like the pre-Covid times.
--IANS
avr/msk/dpb.
Source: IANS
Evacuation of the last American soldiers from Kabul in what was a messy situation to say the least -- created by a combination of flawed assessment, inconsistency of policy and a wrong belief that the more resourceful side would win a non-traditional war -- calls for a reevaluation of the entire course of developments in Afghanistan during the two decades of the 'war on terror', a conflict that seemed to have gone on there 'forever'.
It was an 'asymmetric' war in terms of the destructive capabilities of the two sides, global support enjoyed by the US-led 'World Coalition' and the logistic strength that the Americans could muster to keep their troops in Afghanistan.
However, the 'asymmetric' nature of the combat worked in favour of the Al Qaeda-Taliban combine in three ways -- the Mujahideen could take to the path of 'covert' attack on their enemy at a place and time of their choosing, the Islamic radicals acted as a one-man army needing only automatic guns, grenades and minimal food sustenance to keep going with the driving force of Jehad and the militants had the implicit backing of the native Afghans whereas the US and NATO troops would count only on the government's machinery and security forces.
In Afghanistan, the West facing an environ of insurgency by Islamic revivalists ran into three basic problems -- there was a deficiency of Intelligence, city-focused operations of door-to-door searches did not weaken the stronghold of the Mujahideen in the sprawling rural Afghanistan and the Pentagon had a misplaced reliance on Pakistan in the matter of preventing the use of Pak-Afghan border by the Taliban whose stronghold lay in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP).
In Afghanistan the Taliban can be said to have emerged victorious in the 'war on terror' by default since it was the US that consciously decided to pull out of the 'battleground' for reasons of its national policy that was against keeping American soldiers unprofitably engaged in distant lands just for the sake of 'policing the world'.
The Islamic radicals got a certain degree of political legitimacy when the US directly engaged Taliban for peace talks at Doha and agreed on a time-bound withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in return for a guarantee that Taliban would not allow Al Qaeda to use the Afghan soil for another attack on America.
Pakistan was able to mediate in this exercise because of a poor Intelligence reading in the American camp about the Taliban-Al Qaeda relationship and also about the duplicitous role of Pakistan in the 'war on terror' because of which the Pentagon continued to accept Pakistan as an ally like before.
The Taliban got back the Afghan Emirate on its terms and unlike in 1996 it had an open support from Pakistan this time -- the Pak backing was from behind the scenes earlier.
In 1996, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had recognised Taliban rule -- the last two did it on the persuasion of Pakistan.
However, as the Taliban opened its radical fangs against these two US allies in the Muslim world, an adversarial relationship developed between them -- this hostility only intensifying with the passage of time.
In a significant geopolitical alignment, the Kabul Emirate invited both China and Russia, besides Pakistan to its inauguration and added Iran, Turkey and Qatar to the list of invitees.
While the anti-US profile of the Taliban remains as strong as in the past, the latter evidently mentored by Pakistan has made some sure-footed moves to handle the global political scene.
In a move designed to flaunt its new strength before the US, the Taliban even tinkered with the idea of fixing the swearing-in of its cabinet for September 11.
The US would do well to realise the long-term threat it faces from Islamic radicals and the danger that the rise of Islamic militancy posed to the democratic world particularly after the advent of Sino-Pak military alliance.
Both Communist China and fundamentalist Pakistan are on the side of Islamic radical forces giving a new direction and strength to the emerging bipolarity between the US-led democratic order and the camp led by China -- with Xi Jinping making no secret of his ambition of presiding over the second superpower.
The developments in Afghanistan leading to the installation of an Emirate at Kabul under the complete sway of Pakistan, affect India's security much more than whatever long-term threat they might pose to the US because of the anti-West legacy of radical Islam.
Even during the peace negotiations at Doha, Pakistan had questioned the presence of India in Afghanistan -- Prime Minister Imran Khan describing Afghans as his 'brothers in faith'.
Communal militancy growing into a faith-based terror is the phenomenon that Pakistan has used as the instrument of its 'proxy war' against India and there is little doubt that a new level of threat to Kashmir has risen from the Talibanisation of the Pak-Afghan belt.
For India, this danger is both external as well as internal because of the mischief Pak ISI was capable of doing on the domestic turf here.
Apart from stepping up counter-terror operations in Kashmir and elsewhere, we need to get Islamic institutions and Idaras in India to express themselves clearly against the advocacy of Jehad for solving political disputes of our times.
India and the US representing the leadership of the democratic world must work together to get the Muslim countries owing allegiance to the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to take a similar line.
The two largest democracies cannot silently watch the 'war on terror' moving in the direction of a faith-based warfare between Islamic 'revivalists' and the democratic order.
The Taliban-led Emirate of 1996 had unleashed its ire against the US and the symbols of idol worship in Afghanistan because of its ingrained hostility towards both.
At present the Communist dictatorship of China, which is in alliance with Pakistan, is happily watching the conflict between the Islamic extremists or radicals and the US-led West which represents a potential 'clash of civilisations' -- presently masked by the 'political' contest between democratic values on the one hand and the dictatorship of Communism and Fundamentalism, on the other.
Geopolitics is running into an entirely new kind of global polarisation in which Islamic fundamentalists tutored by Pakistan are on the same page as Communist China -- because of the Sino-Pak axis -- amidst the latter's push towards becoming another superpower.
China has already set off the process of securing an economic hold on Afghanistan through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
There would be a time when Islamic revivalists might confront both the West -- with which they had a historical score to settle -- and the 'godless' realm of Communism that they would never accept but the democratic world cannot put up with the dark horizon of blind violence seen in the present and must strategise to mitigate it through counter-operations, diplomacy and closer exchange of information.
Meanwhile, in South Asia there is work for India waiting to be put on a faster completion.
In the subcontinent and also through the Act East initiatives, the danger of radicalisation had to be explained on various forums and bilateral and multilateral cooperation for mutual economic benefits emphasised in a more intense fashion.
India's full participation in Quad would have a natural follow-up in building special friendships with countries like Vietnam, Myanmar and Australia -- this is already being done -- and strengthening cooperation with Indian Ocean Rim countries.
Internal security is extremely important now. Fortunately, our Intelligence coordination is excellent at present -- a fuller attention is required for ensuring an integral action in which the first responders varied from the state police to the army on land or the Coast Guard on the marine front.
Use of drones by Pakistan in aid of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir has necessitated new counter-measures to make under-radar detections possible.
In border states where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is applied, a key step is to wean the youth from anti-national influences through a mix of economic, disciplinary and legal measures -- winning over the families wherever possible.
In Kashmir, the average Muslim likes to follow the tradition of visiting the shrines and Mazars of Pirs and saints -- this important element of Kashmiriyat had been suppressed by the radicals and deserved to be patronised.
An interactive administrative machinery has a role to play in complementing the deterrence created by tough policing.
Development promotes security and vice versa. In the context of Kashmir, India has to send a message again that cross-border terrorism will invite more surgical strikes deeper down in the enemy territory.
While on the LAC our military build-up is meant to 'check and balance' the Chinese activity, a punitive approach to any Pak mischief on the LOC is quite in order.
Above all, India has to be ready to deal with security threats all on its own.
(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)
--IANS
pathak/am.
Source: IANS
It was an 'asymmetric' war in terms of the destructive capabilities of the two sides, global support enjoyed by the US-led 'World Coalition' and the logistic strength that the Americans could muster to keep their troops in Afghanistan.
However, the 'asymmetric' nature of the combat worked in favour of the Al Qaeda-Taliban combine in three ways -- the Mujahideen could take to the path of 'covert' attack on their enemy at a place and time of their choosing, the Islamic radicals acted as a one-man army needing only automatic guns, grenades and minimal food sustenance to keep going with the driving force of Jehad and the militants had the implicit backing of the native Afghans whereas the US and NATO troops would count only on the government's machinery and security forces.
In Afghanistan, the West facing an environ of insurgency by Islamic revivalists ran into three basic problems -- there was a deficiency of Intelligence, city-focused operations of door-to-door searches did not weaken the stronghold of the Mujahideen in the sprawling rural Afghanistan and the Pentagon had a misplaced reliance on Pakistan in the matter of preventing the use of Pak-Afghan border by the Taliban whose stronghold lay in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP).
In Afghanistan the Taliban can be said to have emerged victorious in the 'war on terror' by default since it was the US that consciously decided to pull out of the 'battleground' for reasons of its national policy that was against keeping American soldiers unprofitably engaged in distant lands just for the sake of 'policing the world'.
The Islamic radicals got a certain degree of political legitimacy when the US directly engaged Taliban for peace talks at Doha and agreed on a time-bound withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in return for a guarantee that Taliban would not allow Al Qaeda to use the Afghan soil for another attack on America.
Pakistan was able to mediate in this exercise because of a poor Intelligence reading in the American camp about the Taliban-Al Qaeda relationship and also about the duplicitous role of Pakistan in the 'war on terror' because of which the Pentagon continued to accept Pakistan as an ally like before.
The Taliban got back the Afghan Emirate on its terms and unlike in 1996 it had an open support from Pakistan this time -- the Pak backing was from behind the scenes earlier.
In 1996, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had recognised Taliban rule -- the last two did it on the persuasion of Pakistan.
However, as the Taliban opened its radical fangs against these two US allies in the Muslim world, an adversarial relationship developed between them -- this hostility only intensifying with the passage of time.
In a significant geopolitical alignment, the Kabul Emirate invited both China and Russia, besides Pakistan to its inauguration and added Iran, Turkey and Qatar to the list of invitees.
While the anti-US profile of the Taliban remains as strong as in the past, the latter evidently mentored by Pakistan has made some sure-footed moves to handle the global political scene.
In a move designed to flaunt its new strength before the US, the Taliban even tinkered with the idea of fixing the swearing-in of its cabinet for September 11.
The US would do well to realise the long-term threat it faces from Islamic radicals and the danger that the rise of Islamic militancy posed to the democratic world particularly after the advent of Sino-Pak military alliance.
Both Communist China and fundamentalist Pakistan are on the side of Islamic radical forces giving a new direction and strength to the emerging bipolarity between the US-led democratic order and the camp led by China -- with Xi Jinping making no secret of his ambition of presiding over the second superpower.
The developments in Afghanistan leading to the installation of an Emirate at Kabul under the complete sway of Pakistan, affect India's security much more than whatever long-term threat they might pose to the US because of the anti-West legacy of radical Islam.
Even during the peace negotiations at Doha, Pakistan had questioned the presence of India in Afghanistan -- Prime Minister Imran Khan describing Afghans as his 'brothers in faith'.
Communal militancy growing into a faith-based terror is the phenomenon that Pakistan has used as the instrument of its 'proxy war' against India and there is little doubt that a new level of threat to Kashmir has risen from the Talibanisation of the Pak-Afghan belt.
For India, this danger is both external as well as internal because of the mischief Pak ISI was capable of doing on the domestic turf here.
Apart from stepping up counter-terror operations in Kashmir and elsewhere, we need to get Islamic institutions and Idaras in India to express themselves clearly against the advocacy of Jehad for solving political disputes of our times.
India and the US representing the leadership of the democratic world must work together to get the Muslim countries owing allegiance to the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to take a similar line.
The two largest democracies cannot silently watch the 'war on terror' moving in the direction of a faith-based warfare between Islamic 'revivalists' and the democratic order.
The Taliban-led Emirate of 1996 had unleashed its ire against the US and the symbols of idol worship in Afghanistan because of its ingrained hostility towards both.
At present the Communist dictatorship of China, which is in alliance with Pakistan, is happily watching the conflict between the Islamic extremists or radicals and the US-led West which represents a potential 'clash of civilisations' -- presently masked by the 'political' contest between democratic values on the one hand and the dictatorship of Communism and Fundamentalism, on the other.
Geopolitics is running into an entirely new kind of global polarisation in which Islamic fundamentalists tutored by Pakistan are on the same page as Communist China -- because of the Sino-Pak axis -- amidst the latter's push towards becoming another superpower.
China has already set off the process of securing an economic hold on Afghanistan through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
There would be a time when Islamic revivalists might confront both the West -- with which they had a historical score to settle -- and the 'godless' realm of Communism that they would never accept but the democratic world cannot put up with the dark horizon of blind violence seen in the present and must strategise to mitigate it through counter-operations, diplomacy and closer exchange of information.
Meanwhile, in South Asia there is work for India waiting to be put on a faster completion.
In the subcontinent and also through the Act East initiatives, the danger of radicalisation had to be explained on various forums and bilateral and multilateral cooperation for mutual economic benefits emphasised in a more intense fashion.
India's full participation in Quad would have a natural follow-up in building special friendships with countries like Vietnam, Myanmar and Australia -- this is already being done -- and strengthening cooperation with Indian Ocean Rim countries.
Internal security is extremely important now. Fortunately, our Intelligence coordination is excellent at present -- a fuller attention is required for ensuring an integral action in which the first responders varied from the state police to the army on land or the Coast Guard on the marine front.
Use of drones by Pakistan in aid of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir has necessitated new counter-measures to make under-radar detections possible.
In border states where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is applied, a key step is to wean the youth from anti-national influences through a mix of economic, disciplinary and legal measures -- winning over the families wherever possible.
In Kashmir, the average Muslim likes to follow the tradition of visiting the shrines and Mazars of Pirs and saints -- this important element of Kashmiriyat had been suppressed by the radicals and deserved to be patronised.
An interactive administrative machinery has a role to play in complementing the deterrence created by tough policing.
Development promotes security and vice versa. In the context of Kashmir, India has to send a message again that cross-border terrorism will invite more surgical strikes deeper down in the enemy territory.
While on the LAC our military build-up is meant to 'check and balance' the Chinese activity, a punitive approach to any Pak mischief on the LOC is quite in order.
Above all, India has to be ready to deal with security threats all on its own.
(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)
--IANS
pathak/am.
Source: IANS
Itanagar, Sep 18 : Supercars, including Ferrari and Porsche, sped past the high altitude roads in the treacherous terrains of Arunachal Pradesh amid steady drizzle, leaving the Chief Minister and netizens delighted.
Thrilled Chief Minister Pema Khandu posted videos on social media of the luxurious sports cars speeding away in the hilly roads in Upper Siang district bordering China, with John Denver's 'Rocky Mountain High' playing in the background.
"With these beauties rolling on the Damroh-Mariyang highway, the view becomes much more amazing and splendid.
We are proud to say, Arunachal is able to offer itself as one of the best driving destinations for supercars," the Chief Minister said.
While luxurious sports cars may not be noticed by too many people in metropolitan cities, for the residents of hilly Arunachal Pradesh, it was a sight to behold.
Earlier on Thursday, the Chief Minister had treated his followers with a video of colourful supercars, including Ferrari, Aston Martin, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini, parked on a tarmac at the Pasighat airport in East Siang district.
Khandu had tweeted: "A testimony of improving road quality in Arunachal.
For the first time, Supercars touches down in Arunachal. The club will be riding 1,000 kms in eastern Arunachal roads. Those riding Supercars, enjoy the mesmerising roads running alongside breathtaking sceneries."
As the video clips went viral, it created a huge buzz online.
According to media reports, some of the cars belong to Gautam Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director of The Raymond Group, who is reportedly on a holiday here with his friends.
These deluxe cars passed through 1,000 km of picturesque and treacherous terrain across eastern Arunachal Pradesh before participating in a private event.
--IANS
sc/arm.
Source: IANS
Thrilled Chief Minister Pema Khandu posted videos on social media of the luxurious sports cars speeding away in the hilly roads in Upper Siang district bordering China, with John Denver's 'Rocky Mountain High' playing in the background.
"With these beauties rolling on the Damroh-Mariyang highway, the view becomes much more amazing and splendid.
We are proud to say, Arunachal is able to offer itself as one of the best driving destinations for supercars," the Chief Minister said.
While luxurious sports cars may not be noticed by too many people in metropolitan cities, for the residents of hilly Arunachal Pradesh, it was a sight to behold.
Earlier on Thursday, the Chief Minister had treated his followers with a video of colourful supercars, including Ferrari, Aston Martin, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini, parked on a tarmac at the Pasighat airport in East Siang district.
Khandu had tweeted: "A testimony of improving road quality in Arunachal.
For the first time, Supercars touches down in Arunachal. The club will be riding 1,000 kms in eastern Arunachal roads. Those riding Supercars, enjoy the mesmerising roads running alongside breathtaking sceneries."
As the video clips went viral, it created a huge buzz online.
According to media reports, some of the cars belong to Gautam Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director of The Raymond Group, who is reportedly on a holiday here with his friends.
These deluxe cars passed through 1,000 km of picturesque and treacherous terrain across eastern Arunachal Pradesh before participating in a private event.
--IANS
sc/arm.
Source: IANS