Top Stories
Santoor maestro Pandit Bhajan Sopori passes away at 74
Reports said he was going under treatment at Fortis Hospital.
Santoor maestro Pandit Bhajan Sopori passed away on Thursday in Gurugram. He was 74.
Reports said he was going under treatment at Fortis Hospital. His cremation will take place on Friday, June 3. Sopori is survived by his wife and two sons Sorabh and Abhay.
Over the years, Bhajan Sopori won several prestigious accolades for his contributions to Indian classical music. He delivered his first performance at the age of 5 in 1953. In his career spanning more than a decade, Sopori performed across the world including Egypt, Germany, England, and the US.
Bhajan Sopori learnt to play Santoor and Hindustani music from his grandfather SC Sopori and father SN Sopori. He mastered the instrument and was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2004.
Sopori was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992. In 2011, he was honoured with the MN Mathur award 2011 for his notable contribution to Indian classical music and Jammu & Kashmir Government Civilian Award. Besides, he was also honoured with a Doctorate of Literature by Utkal University (Odisha), National Flag Honour of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and others.
Pandit Bhajan Sopori has been accredited with several patriotic songs for India including Hum Honge Kaamyaab, Vande Mataram, Bharat Bharat Hum Iski Santaan, Naman Tujhko Mere Bharat, and others. He has also recomposed like Kadam Kadam Badhaye Jaa, Vijayee Vishwa Tiranga Pyaara, Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna, and Bharat Ki Beti for national integration.
He also composed anti-terrorism songs like Savdhan Mere and Jannath Mere Kashmir for the National Network.
India News
Liquor policy case: ED raids AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s Delhi’s residence
The Delhi government’s 2021 liquor policy, which was later abandoned, was the subject of the excise policy litigation.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh’s home is being searched in connection with a money laundering investigation involving the Delhi liquor policy issue. Early in the morning, Enforcement Directorate (ED) agents arrived at the Rajya Sabha MP’s Delhi residence.
After Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister in the AAP government in Delhi, was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February, Singh is the most recent AAP leader to be under investigation by the federal agencies in the liquor policy case.
The Delhi government’s 2021 liquor policy, which was later abandoned, was the subject of the excise policy litigation. In the same case in April, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also questioned for over nine hours.
One of the case’s approvers, the businessman Dinesh Arora, alleged that Singh had introduced him to Sisodia, the excise minister at the time.
However, despite the ED having filed three chargesheets in the case, he was never included as an accuser. Although he was mentioned in the chargesheets, he was neither summoned nor did his testimony in this matter be recorded.
The CBI claims that the excise policy, which would have generated a 12% profit for the companies, was drafted with the involvement of the alcohol industry. According to the FBI, a spirits lobby it called the South Group received bribes in exchange for it. According to the organisation, of the anticipated 12% profit, 6% was transferred through middlemen to public employees.
The alleged laundering of the kickbacks is being looked examined by the ED.
The BJP said that when the strategy was abandoned, the Delhi administration reinstated the previous liquor regulations in order to hide the corruption. His party said that Sisodia’s arrest was a attack on the Delhi model of governance notwithstanding his denial of any illegal activity.
India News
Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hits out at Congress, accuses party of dividing Hindus
PM Modi quoted his predecessor PM Manmohan Singh and said the minorities had the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi added Congress is now saying the population of the community will decide who will have the first right to the country’s resources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Congress after the Bihar government’s caste census results were declared. He said the Congress party is dividing the Hindus as the poor people formed the largest part of the population. PM Modi was addressing a rally in Poll bound Chhattisgarh Jagdalpur
PM Modi quoted his predecessor PM Manmohan Singh and said the minorities had the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi added Congress is now saying the population of the community will decide who will have the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi asked if the Congress party wanted to decrease the rights of the minority. He further inquired whether the Congress party wanted to remove the minorities.
PM Modi continued to his attack on the Congress and asked whether the Hindus who formed the largest section of India’s population come forward and take their rights. PM Modi further added the Congress party is not run by its people and has been outsourced. He said senior Congress leaders did not have their say in the decisions made by the Congress party.
PM Modi said the Congress party is trying to divide the Hindus. He added the Congress party is dividing the poor. They are trying to destroy the country. PM Modi slammed the Congress party for playing with the emotions of the poor. He added the Congress party has divided India on the basis of caste lines for sixty years.
The Bihar government released the findings of its caste census. According to the survey extremely Backward classes (EBC’s) and other backward classes (OBC’s) constitute 63 percent of total population of Bihar. The Congress party has promised a caste based census in the country if it came to power at the Centre.
India News
India-Canada ties: India asks Canada to withdraw 40 diplomats by October 10
Canada has currently a total of 62 diplomats in India. New Delhi has instructed Canada to decrease the number to 41 at their high commission.
India has asked Canada to withdraw around 40 diplomats by October 10 as the diplomatic row between the two nations over Ottawa’s allegations of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. According to reports India has threatened to remove the diplomatic immunity of any candian diplomat if they remained in India after October 10.
Canada has currently a total of 62 diplomats in India. New Delhi has instructed Canada to decrease the number to 41 at their high commission. Boehm said PM Justin Trudeau does not expect to back down. He added India sees Canada as an easy mark. He said India is aware of Ottawa’s limited capacity to retaliate because of the presence of a minority government in Canada.
Trudeau is the leader of the Liberal Party. He shares power with Canadian Sikh leader and Indian origin Jagmeet Singh who is the head of the New Democratic Party in Canada. India had previously said it wanted an equal number of diplomats posted in the country and Canada. At the High commission in Delhi Canada has many diplomats compared to what India has in Ottawa.
Diplomatic crisis between Canada and India emerged after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said the Canadian agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegation of a potential link the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Indian government. India had stated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India rejected Canada’s allegations and called them motivated and absurd.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). He was shot dead outside a Gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada in the month of June. Ottawa expelled an Indian official over the case. India in response expelled a Canadian diplomat. Visa services were also expelled by the Indian government for Canadian citizens.
