by admin | May 25, 2021 | Finance, News, Politics
New Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that the 2016 demonetization was “an important step” in tackling black money and corruption in the country.
Addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the start of the Budget Session, Kovind said: “Demonetization was an important step in the campaign by the government against black money and corruption. It led to an attack on the parallel economy and it brought unaccounted cash back to the system. It eliminated the forces that were weakening the country.
“My government has taken strong measures against black money,” he said. Agreements have been signed with countries considered as tax havens. As many as 3.38 lakh shell companies have been shut, he added.
The President said the government had seized properties worth over Rs 50,000 crore under Benami Transactions Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and other laws to deal with fugitive economic offenders.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday termed the Modi government’s decision to provide 10 per cent quota to the economically backwards sections among upper castes as “historic” and said it will help provide justice to the poor.
Addressing the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members at the beginning of the Budget Session of Parliament, Kovind said: “This historic decision will serve as justice to those poor girls and boys, who due to poverty felt deprived of their rights.”
Kovind said that the government has been making efforts to get the Triple Talaq Bill passed which is currently pending in the Rajya Sabha.
“To help Muslim women get over a life of fear and give them the right to live like other women, my government is making efforts to get the Triple Talaq Bill passed.”
He also spoke of efforts to expedite justice in cases of crimes against women and said capital punishment in aggravated rape cases has acted as a deterrent.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Islamabad : Pakistan’s Foreign Office has rejected objection raised by India over Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s telephone call to Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
The row started after Qureshi called Farooq on Tuesday and spoke about Islamabad’s efforts to “highlight” the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir internationally.
In reaction, India told Pakistan on Wednesday to lay off on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood.
Gokhale condemned in “the strongest terms this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India’s unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister”.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office, however, dismissed India’s objection in a statement, saying: “Kashmir is an unresolved issue between Pakistan and India and acknowledged as such through UN Security Council resolutions, including the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.
“We also categorically reject any insinuation that seeks to project as ‘terrorism’ the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination. This is an outright travesty.
“Pakistan will maintain its support and solidarity till the time the Kashmir dispute is resolved peacefully, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the people of the occupied valley,” it added.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also justified the telephone call, asking why was New Delhi so upset.
New Delhi-Islamabad ties are frosted after repeated cross-border terror attacks from Pakistan-based terror outfits.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Jaipur : The Congress on Thursday won the Ramgarh Assembly seat in Rajasthan, taking its tally in the 200-member house to 100.
Congress candidate Shafia Khan won by a margin of 12,228 votes after polling 83,311 votes. Her nearest rival, BJP’s Sukhwant Singh, got 71,083 votes.
Jagat Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) finished third with 24,856 votes.
An overjoyed Shafia Khan said: “This is a victory of the people. I congratulate the people for this victory.
“The BJP talks too much and does little. They closed the schools which we had started, they were biased in implementing the social welfare schemes and hence people wanted to come out of the polarized environment they had created.
“So people have voted unitedly for the Congress,” she added.
While Shafia Khan got 44.77 per cent of all votes, the BJP’s vote share was 38.20 per cent.
Overall, 241 votes went to NOTA (None of the Above).
Senior Congress leader Suresh Chaudhary told IANS: “The Congress has built its credibility amongst voters by fulfilling all its promises made in its manifesto. People in the state are fed up with the polarization prank being played by the BJP.
“This broad margin of victory speaks the story,” he said.
Counting of votes was held at the Babu Shobharam Government Arts College in Alwar amid tight security, said Ramgarh Returning Officer Pankaj Sharma.
The election on this seat was scheduled on December 7 along with the rest of Rajasthan Assembly seats but was postponed after BSP candidate Laxman Singh died due to cardiac arrest.
Eventually, polling was held on January 28 with a high voter turnout.
There are 20 candidates in the fray but the main contest involved Shafia Khan, Sukhwant Singh and Jagat Singh.
The Congress aimed to win the seat to hit a century mark in the 200-member House. This win will limit its dependency on anti-BJP parties.
For a simple majority on its own, the party needs 101 seats.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
M.J. Akbar (left) and Priya Ramani (right)
New Delhi : A Delhi court on Tuesday issued summons to journalist Priya Ramani in a defamation case filed by former Union Minister M.J. Akbar.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal asked Ramani to appear before the court on February 25, noting that the the allegations of sexual harassment by Ramani were prima facie defamatory and refers to complainant Akbar.
“All that is necessary to take a prima facie view that the offence of defamation has been committed against the complainant, by the respondent Priya Ramani exists on record, and therefore there are sufficient grounds to proceed against her,” the court said.
“Accordingly, Priya Ramani is summoned for commission of offence of defamation under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.”
Akbar has denied the allegations made against him said that they were false and imaginary.
“These defamatory statements have been published, widely read and particularly by the witnesses examined who deposed that the reputation of the complainant was lowered,” the court said.
The court also said that at this stage, it only has the version of the complainant, who has on oath deposed that all the allegations made are false and further brought witnesses to vouch for his impeccable and unblemished reputation.
The witnesses also proved that the reputation of the complainant was lowered in their eyes — again an essential requirement of the offence of defamation.
“A person cannot be defamed in his own eyes. A man’s reputation is the estimate in which others holds him, not the good opinion which he has of himself,” the court said.
“There has to be other reasonable, prudent and right thinking members of society who say that the reputation of a person aggrieved is lowered in their estimation.”
Akbar’s counsel and senior advocate Geeta Luthra and lawyer Sandeep Kapur told the court that Ramani had damaged Akbar’s reputation which he had built over the years through hard work.
The counsel argued that the allegations made in the article in Vogue and the subsequent tweets were defamatory on the face of it as Akbar has deposed that the allegations were false and imaginary.
The counsel also submitted that the subsequent publications based on the Ramani allegations further aggravated defamation.
The counsel argued that Ramani has herself admitted that she didn’t name the complainant earlier as he didn’t do anything to her. The counsel said then what was the basis for her to make such allegations which completely injured and demolished his reputation for eternity.
Ramani was the first in a long list of women journalists to accuse the former Minister of State for External Affairs and journalist-turned-politician of sexual harassment.
The statements of seven witnesses, including that of Akbar, who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party, have been recorded.
The Rajya Sabha member has denied all charges against him as “false, wild and baseless”.
—IANS
