Gangtok, Jan 24: Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling said the state government would provide a vehicle in each Assembly constituency for bringing fresh organic produces to the market.
The state government’s decision is apparently aimed at mitigating shortage of vegetables and fruits in the market in future, as supply of non-organic produces from outside Sikkim will be banned from April 1, 2018.
Opposition parties have raised concerns over the likely shortage and its effect on the prices of the agricultural products.
The system of government vehicles bringing organic produces to markets would help Sikkim become a self-sufficient and self reliant state in agriculture and horticulture sectors, Chamling said at a programme in Yangang in South Sikkim yesterday.
A magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit the Gulf of Alaska in the early hours of Tuesday, prompting authorities to warn people in the area to move away from the coast in case it causes a tsnuami. The quake hit 256 km (157 miles) southeast of Chiniak, Alaska at a depth of 10 km at 0931 GMT, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Tsunami warnings for parts of Alaska and Canada and a tsunami watch for the entire U.S. west coast and Hawaii were issued. “Based on all available data a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicenter,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
Japan’s meteorological agency said it was monitoring the situation but did not issue a tsunami alert.
Mumbai, Jan 23 : The Shiv Sena today passed a resolution not to align with the BJP and go solo in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls next year.
The resolution was moved by Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who said the BJP had been demoralising the party for the last three years.
The resolution was passed unanimously in the party’s National Executive meet here.
“I moved the resolution for the Shiv Sena to fight the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls on its own in 2019,” Raut said.
He said the party will win at least 25 Lok Sabha seats (out of a total 48 in Maharashtra) and 125 Assembly seats (out of a total 288) in the state.
“The BJP allied with the Sena in the name of Hindutva and the Sena kept patience for Hindutva. However, the BJP in the last three years has been demoralising the Sena and using power to do so,” Raut said.
Senior Sena leaders backed Raut’s resolution.
The Shiv Sena is holding internal polls to elect its party president and other functionaries today, the birth anniversary of its founder Bal Thackeray.
Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to be re-elected as there is no other nomination for the post, party sources earlier said.
New Delhi, Jan 23: Six teachers of Delhi government schools have been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Teaching Fellowship.
These teachers from Delhi are the only Indian teachers who have been chosen for the programme. They will travel to the US to attend special programs at various universities.
“These teachers will receive intensive training in teaching methodologies, lesson planning, teaching strategies for their home environment, teacher leadership, and the use of instructional technologies,” an official statement said.
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia invited the teachers to his residence and congratulated them.
“This is a proud moment for Delhi, since this is the first time that all teachers chosen from India are from Delhi government schools. It is heartening to see they are receiving international recognition for their service to Delhi’s children,” he said
New Delhi, Jan 22 : With rise in personal disposable income post 7th Pay Commission, the income tax exemption limit needs to be raised by Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh, a SBI report said today.
The move will benefit around 75 lakh people, it said.
The SBI’s Ecowrap report further said that if the exemption limit of interest payments under housing loan is increased to Rs 2.5 lakhs for existing home loan buyers, from Rs 2 lakhs now, it will benefit 75 lakh home loan buyers and cost the government just about Rs 7,500 crore.
Sanaa, Jan 22: The United Nations on Sunday made what it said was a record appeal for aid to Yemen, calling for nearly USD 3 billion in humanitarian relief for the war-torn country.
The USD 2.96 billion will be used to respond to an ever- broadening crisis in Yemen, where war, looming famine and cholera have killed thousands and put millions of lives at risk.
The appeal, made on behalf of UN agencies and humanitarian partners, came as 11.3 million people “urgently require assistance to survive”, UN aid agency OCHA said in a statement.
“A generation of children is growing up in suffering and deprivation,” OCHA said.
“Nearly two million children are out of school, 1.8 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 400,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are 10 times more likely to die if they do not receive medical treatment.”
More than 9,200 people have been killed in Yemen since 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to back the country’s internationally-recognised government against Iran-backed rebels.
Another nearly 2,200 Yemenis have died of cholera amid deteriorating hygiene and sanitation conditions, the World Health Organisation says.
Over the past year, the United Nations’ efforts to address what it has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis have been hampered by a crippling blockade of rebel-held ports by the Saudi-led coalition.
More than three-quarters of Yemen’s population — 22.2 million people — are now dependent on some form of assistance in Yemen, the United Nations says.
Some 8.4 million Yemenis are also at risk of famine, according to OCHA.
In 2017, international donors provided 1.65 billion of the USD 2.34 billion requested by the United Nations and humanitarian partners in Yemen.
New Delhi, Jan 22: Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari today welcomed the presidential nod to the Election Commission’s recommendation to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs, saying that the decision has “protected” India’s democratic values.
Tiwari demanded for repaying of the benefits enjoyed by the disqualified MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.
“People of Delhi feel that the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs must now return all financial benefits they were given from the day they were appointed as parliamentary secretaries,” said Tiwari.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday accepted the Election Commission’s recommendation to disqualify 20 MLAs of Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party for holding offices of profit.
A notification issued by the law ministry quoted the president as saying that in the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission (EC), the 20 members of the Delhi legislative assembly have been disqualified.
Srinagar, Jan 20:l Cold wave conditions persisted in most parts of the Kashmir valley as the mercury continued its downward spiral, even as there was marginal respite in the Ladakh region.
The minimum temperature across Kashmir valley dropped last night, except in Gulmarg, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
Srinagar the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius last night – over a degree down from minus 3.1 degrees Celsius the previous night, he said.
The night temperature in Qazigund, in south Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 4.0 degrees Celsius a degree down from the previous day. The neighbouring Kokernag town registered a low of minus 2.2 degrees Celsius last night, compared to the previous night’s minus 1.8 degree Celsius, the official said.
He said Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 4.0 degrees Celsius down by a degree from the previous day.
The night temperature in Pahalgam – the famous health resort which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra settled at minus 6.3 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg the famous ski-resort in north Kashmir – recorded the minimum temperature of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius an increase of over three degrees from yesterday’s minus 8.6 degrees Celsius, the official said, adding that Gulmarg was the only place in the valley where the night temperature improved last night.
The night temperature in Kargil, in the frontier Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 19.6 degrees Celsius last night marginally up from minus 20.0 degrees Celsius the previous night, he said.
Kargil was the coldest recorded place in the state, he added.
The nearby Leh town was the second coldest as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 13.5 degrees Celsius slightly up from minus 13.8 degrees Celsius last night.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, a 40-day period of harshest winter when the chances of snowfall are maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
However, about a month into the period, the weather has largely remained dry, especially in the plains.
It ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that period in the valley.
The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long Chillai Khurd (small cold) and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold).
The MET Office has forecast mainly dry weather in Kashmir till January 22, after which, it said, there was a possibility of light rains or snowfall, especially in the higher reaches of the state, for a day or two.
Dhaka, Jan 19 : Hundreds of Rohingya refugees staged protests in Bangladesh against plans to send them back to Myanmar, where a military crackdown last year sparked a mass exodus.
The refugees chanted slogans and held banners demanding citizenship and guarantees of security before they return to their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar.
The protest came ahead of a visit by UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee to the camps in southeastern Bangladesh where around a million of the Muslim minority are now living.
Bangladesh has reached an agreement with Myanmar to send back the around 750,000 refugees who have arrived since October 2016 over the next two years, a process set to begin as early as next week.
But many Rohingya living in the crowded, unsanitary camps have said they do not want to return to Rakhine after fleeing atrocities including murder, rape and arson attacks on their homes.
Rights groups and the UN say any repatriations must be voluntary.
They have also expressed concerns about conditions in Myanmar, where many Rohingya settlements have been burned to the ground by soldiers and Buddhist mobs.
New Delhi, Jan 19 : In a blow to Delhi’s ruling Aam Admi Party, the Election Commission on Friday recommended to the President the disqualification of 20 of its MLAs for holding office of profit, setting the stage for their ouster from the Assembly
In its opinion sent to President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday morning, the Election Commission said the MLAs, by occupying the post of parliamentary secretaries between March 13, 2015 and September 8, 2016, held office of profit, and were liable to be disqualified as legislators, highly-placed sources said
The President is bound to go by the recommendation of the Commission. Under the rules, petitions to the President seeking disqualification of lawmakers are referred to the EC
The poll panel takes a decision and sends its recommendation to the Rashtrapati Bhavan which is accepted
In the present case, the petition was made to disqualify 21 MLAs, but one resigned a few months back
Once the President accepts the opinion, by-elections will have to be held for the 20 Assembly seats
The AAP has a massive majority in the 70-member Delhi assembly with 65 seats, and the impending disqualification will not endanger the Arvind Kejriwal government though the number of party MLAs will come down to 45.
Washington, Jan 20 : The US government officially shutdown on Saturday for the first time in five years after the Senate rejected a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running, marking a chaotic end to Donald Trump’s first year as president
The shutdown began at 12:01 am (local time) after a few Republicans joined Democrats in blocking the crucial measure would have provided short-term funding for the Pentagon and other federal agencies
Trump blamed the Democrats for the shutdown which comes exactly a year after he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States
“Dems want a shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the tax cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy,” he said
Despite last minute bipartisan meetings, the bill to fund the government until February 16 did not receive the required 60 votes. The Senate voted 50-48 to block the stopgap funding measure
The short-term spending bill was passed by the House on Thursday
This is part of the Democrats strategy to force President Trump and the Republicans to negotiate with them on illegal immigrants who are facing deportation
The effect of the shutdown would be felt most from Monday when the federal government employees would not be able to join for their work and be forced to stay at home without pay
It is estimated that more than 800,000 federal employees would be furloughed. Only the essential services would be open
The last time that a government shutdown happened was in 2013
Earlier in the day, the Office of Management of Budget said it was preparing for “what we’re calling the Schumer Shutdown”
The Director of Office of Management of Budget Mick Mulvaney told reporters that efforts were being made to have the government shutdown less impactful than it was in 2013
“We’re going to manage the shutdown differently. We are not going to weaponize it. We’re not going to try and hurt people, especially people having to work for this federal government. But we still need Congress to appropriate the funds,” he said
Military will still go to work, the border will still be patrolled, fire folks will still be fighting the fires and the parks will be open. But in each of these cases people will not be paid, Mulvaney said
Fanny and Freddy will be open, the post office will be open, the TSA will be open, but again all of these people will be working for nothing, which is simply not fair, he said
US Postal Services would be working
The last government shutdown lasted for 16 days in October 2013. The previous shutdown before that was for 21 days that ended on January 6, 1996
However, this is for the first time in recent history that a shutdown has taken place when both the House and the Senate as well as the White House is controlled by the same party
“This is completely unfair and uncompassionate for my Democratic colleagues to filibuster government funding, harm our troops, and jeopardise health coverage for nine million children because extreme elements of their base want illegal immigration to crowd out every other priority,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said
He argued that immigration reform needed to be handled separately from the spending bill
Trump has cancelled his scheduled weekend trip to Mar-a- Lago in Florida. However, he would continue with his trip to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meeting next week
“Democrats can’t shut down the booming Trump economy. Are they now so desperate they’ll shut down the government instead?” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and described it as a “Schumer shutdown”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer is the Senate Minority Leader
“Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown. Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans,” Sanders said
“We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behaviour of obstructionist losers, not legislators,” Sanders said in a statement
“When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform
During this politically manufactured Schumer Shutdown, the President and his Administration will fight for and protect the American people,” the White House said
Earlier, Trump held a last-minute meeting with Schumer to avert a government shutdown
“We had a long and detailed meeting. We discussed all of the major outstanding issues, we made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue,” Schumer said soon after his meeting with Trump.