India News
Five states get new Governors, Admiral (retd) DK Joshi made Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Madhya Pradesh and Telangana remain under additional charge of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh governors respectively
President Ram Nath Kovind, on Saturday, appointed governors for five states and lieutenant governor for Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The appointments were necessitated as most of these states did not have full-time Governors and the charge was being shared by individuals holding the office in other states.
Banwari Lal Purohit, who was serving as Governor of Assam, has now been appointed as the governor of Tamil Nadu, reliving his Maharashtra counterpart of additional charge of the southern state that he had been holding since August 2016.
Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, who is currently serving as the Lt. Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands will replace Purohit in the Raj Bhawan of Assam. Decorated Naval officer, Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi who retired Chief of the Naval Staff in 2014 will take over from Mukhi as the new Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Other new gubernatorial appointments include those of BJP leaders Satya Pal Malik who gets charge of the Raj Bhawan in Bihar and former Bihar legislative council member Ganga Prasad who has been appointed as Governor of Meghalaya, Brigadier (retd) BD Mishra will be the new Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh and Telangana remain under additional charge of the Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh governors respectively and the vacancies are likely to be filled soon.
Banwarilal Purohit
A three-time former Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur (twice as a Congress candidate and once on a BJP ticket), Purohit has also served a minister in the Maharashtra government from 1982 to 1984. He is credited with revival of the English daily ‘The Hitavada’, a newspaper founded by freedom fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale, which under Purohit’s stewardship in recent years saw new editions being started from Bhopal and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
Ganga Prasad
Prasad was a key face of the BJP in Bihar, having been a member of the state’s Legislative Council for 18 years after being first elected as an MLC in 1994. Prasad also served as the leader of opposition in the legislative council during the RJD regime of Lalu Prasad Yadav and as leader of the council during the Nitish Kumar-BJP led coalition government.
Admiral (retd) Devendra Kumar Joshi
Admiral DK Joshi was Chief of Naval Staff from August 31, 2012 to February 26, 2014. As Lt Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Joshi returns to the union territory for a second stint, having served earlier as the Commader-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Island Command. A highly decorated Naval officer, Joshi is the recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) and several other honours. He has also previously served as Defence Adviser in the Indian High Commission in Singapore from 1996 to 1999 when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the NDA regime in New Delhi.
Jagdish Mukhi
Formerly a BJP strongman in Delhi, Mukhi had joined active politics during the Emergency and worked. He was a member of the BJP’s previous avatar – the Jana Sangh – and had worked closely with leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and VK Malhotra in strengthening the BJP in Delhi. Mukhi represented the Janak Puri constituency in the Delhi assembly for a record seven terms between 1980 and 2015. Mukhi faced his lone electoral defeat since becoming an MLA, in 2015 when he lost to Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Rajesh Rishi in the state polls in which AAP won a record 67 of Delhi’s 70 seats. Mukhi had served as leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly and the state finance minister under BJP chief ministers Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj but was never considered by his party to lead as its chief ministerial candidate in Delhi despite his personal winning streak as an MLA.
Brigadier (retd)) BD Mishra
Brigadier Mishra began his stint in the Indian Army as an infantry officer in 1961 and retired from the force as a brigadier in 1995. During his 34-year-long career in the forces, he served in several wars and major operations. He had earned then Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao’s appreciation for his role in the counter-hijack Operation Ashwamedh conducted on April 24 and 25, 1993 that saw 141 hostages aboard and Indian Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft being rescued by NSG Commandos at the Amritsar airport. The lone hijacker, an alleged Hizbul Mujahideen operative identified as Yunus Shah, had been injured in the operation and succumbed to his bullet wounds while being taken to a hospital.
Satya Pal Malik
A former Member of Parliament from the BJP, the 71-year-old Malik has also served as Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms – from 1980 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1989 – and a Lok Sabha MP for a little over a year, between 1989 and 1990.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
India News
Rajya Sabha passes Women’s Reservation Bill, all it now needs is President Murmu’s assent
The Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill unanimously on Thursday. A voice vote was taken with Chairman of the House Jagdeep Dhankhar declaring the ayes have it. Then it was voted on with 215 in support and zero against.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill unanimously on Thursday. A voice vote was taken with Chairman of the House Jagdeep Dhankhar declaring the ayes have it. Then it was voted on with 215 in support and zero against.
Just before the vote, drawing the two-day discussions in both Houses to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the members and political parties for their constructive suggestions. He noted some 132 members spoke in both Houses of Parliament.
The synergy of the government and the Opposition over women’s reservation was a confidence-building measure, he said. This sends a new message to the people, he added. The Lok Sabha had cleared the Bill yesterday with 454 votes in favour and 2 against.
Earlier in the Rajya Sabha, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said with 33% reservation for women in the country, India will steal a march over developed nations which don’t have such measures.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wondered why the reservation was being promised after Census and delimitation. He demanded that the House be told when the reservation will be in effect as to the date and month and year when it will come into force.
Kharge joked if like the Rs 15 lakh and the 2 crore job promise of the BJP ahead of elections, this would also be an election jumla as said by party leaders. He said almost every party supports you on the Bill but let our support not go waste in election propaganda of the BJP. Raising each and every point, Kharge kept repeating that he was supporting the Bill in a scene reminiscent of Mark Antony’s speech from the play Julius Caesar. Pushing for the OBC quota, he said even SC/ST officers don’t even make it to joint secretary level.
Kharge asked if you can come up with the sudden demonetisation of 2016, why didn’t you bring this Bill then? There was no Opposition to you in the first term in the Lok Sabha, he charged.
Congress MP KC Venugopal mocked the BJP for its pro-women stance by saying that its stalwarts Vajpayee, Advani and Jaswant Singh voted against women’s quota in 1989.
Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the BJP has been consistently in support of women’s reservation. She said the BJP doesn’t like to bring politics in women-related matters.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi slammed the UPA government for not supporting the Bill in the Lok Sabha. He said its allies did not want this Bill to be passed.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan noted that when a similar Bill was presented in the House in the presence of CPM leader Brinda Karat and late Sushma Swaraj but failed to pass. Bachchan said the SP is not against the Bill, her party has some concerns as echoed by other parties as well.
Before this, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien and Dhankhar had an altercation over time allotted to MPs to speak on the issue.
Independent MP Kapil Sibal demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah if they do not complete the process of delimitation and implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill by 2029.
India News
Mumbai Police arrest two people who kidnapped, raped 14-year-old girl in moving taxi
Police have identified the two accused as Shiv Prakash Pandey and Salman Shaikh. Both of them are aged 25 years and 27 years respectively.
Mumbai Police have registered a case against two people who kidnapped and then raped a 14 year old girl in a taxi. According to the police the girl had a fight with her family members. She decided to go in Malvani in Malad to meet her relative. On seeing the girl alone a taxi driver asked to drop her off to Malwani. The girl agreed and started going to Malwani with him.
The accused taxi driver took the taxi to Dadar. The Taxi driver stopped and made the accused Salman Shaikh sit with him. The family came to know about the girl’s disappearance. The girl’s family members contacted the Malabar Hill police station. They informed the police about the kidnapping.
A case was registered by the police as the girl was underage. A technical investigation was started by the police and came to know the girl had gone to a relative’s place in Malad. A team of police officers was sent to Malad to bring back the girl. Situation became serious when the girl revealed what happened on her way to Malad.
A police officer added two men were present inside the taxi. One was the taxi driver and the other man raped the girl at the back seat of the car. Different teams were formed to carry out the investigation in the case. The CCTV footage of the area was also used. According to the police the incident took place between Malad and Dadar.
Police have identified the two accused as Shiv Prakash Pandey and Salman Shaikh. Both of them are aged 25 years and 27 years respectively. According to the police Salman Shaikh works in a hotel in Dadar. The victim gave a statement on the basis of which a case has been registered in related POCSO section and section 376 of IPC. The accused have been produced in court where the court sent them to police custody till September 25.
India News
Punjab: CM Bhagwant Mann hands over Rs 1 crore cheques to Anantnag encounter martyrs families
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also assured all possible help and support to the families of the martyred soldiers.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday handed over cheques of Rs 1 crore each to the bereaved families of martyrs Colonel Manpreet Singh and martyr Pradeep Singh. They were among the soldiers who laid their lives in protecting the nation in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.
The anti-terror week-long operation in the Garol forests in the Anantnag district ended on Tuesday. The operation began when Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer, 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Ashish Dhonchak and deputy superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat were killed by terrorists.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also assured all possible help and support to the families of the martyred soldiers. He expressed that martyr Colonel Manpreet Singh and martyr Pradeep Singh will always live in their memories.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the Chief Minister conveyed that he met the families of Colonel Manpreet Singh of Kharar Constituency and Shaheed Pradeep Singh of Samana Constituency. He added that the families were handed over cheques of Rs 1 crore from the government as an honorarium.
According to reports, Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer of the Rashtriya Rifles (19 RR) and a recipient of the prestigious Sena Medal (Gallantry), spoke to his family, just hours before dying of gunshot wounds. He is survived by wife, 2-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son, mother and a brother.
The body of martyred soldier Pradeep Singh was recovered on Monday, after he went missing on the first day of the encounter. Martyr Pradeep Singh was with the Sikh Light Infantry and was a part of 19 Rashtriya Rifles. Reportedly, the 27-year-old soldier served in the Indian Army for seven years. He hailed from Patiala in Punjab and is survived by his wife.
Addressing a function late on Sunday evening, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha expressed that every drop of blood of the slain security personnel will be avenged and the terrorist handlers will have to pay a heavy price. He added that they have complete faith in the soldiers and the entire nation stands in solidarity with them.
