Junior Digest

Kolkata, April 16,2022: West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress has taken an unassailable lead in both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly constituencies as in Asansol, yesteryear’s noted Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is contesting on the Trinamool Congress symbol, is leading over his nearest rival Agnimitra Paul of BJP by over 2 Lakh votes and in Ballygunge, Babul Supriyo – in the fray as Trinamool candidate – is leading by more than 19,000 votes over CPI-M’s Saira Shah Halim.

In the Lok Sabha polls around three years back, BJP’s Babul Supriyo won the Asansol LS seat by a 1,97,637 margin over then Trinamool nominee actress Moon Moon Sen.

New Delhi, April 1,2022 : Amid fresh debate over the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir after the recent release of film ‘The Kashmir Files’, a Private Member Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on Friday to ensure rehabilitation of the community, which also provides for giving minority status to them in J&K, and a white paper on the issue. The Kashmiri Pandits (Recourse, Restitution, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Bill, 2022 was introduced by Congress MP Vivek K Tankha. It aims to provide for social, political and economic rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits. The Bill also provides for protection of their property, restoration of their cultural heritage, ensuring their safety and security, provision of rehabilitation and resettlement package to them and for matters. The Bill provides for granting minority status to Kashmiri Pandit, declaring the community as victims of genocide and changing their official nomenclature to ‘Internally Displaced Persons’. It also provides for releasing a white paper on the issue of Kashmiri Pandits documenting all events in the Kashmir valley pertaining to the atrocities and plight of the Kashmiri Pandits starting from the year 1988. For the white paper, the Bill has provision for creating a high level committee, comprising of a retired Chief Justice of India as the Chairman, two retired judges of the Supreme Court of India, two sitting Members of Parliament, two former members of Parliament, four sitting or former Members of Legislature/Council of Jammu and Kashmir and four other individuals as may be nominated by the Advisory Committee as members. “The Government, in consultation with the Advisory Committee, shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish an environment of economic justice, prosperity and security, for Kashmiri Pandits,” the Bill said. It provides for creation of an appropriate corpus fund for the purpose of grants to be given to five thousand small or cottage industries owned by Kashmiri Pandit, land and other capital expenditure, interest free loans and other assistance. It also provides for sanctioning an enhanced medical allowance to those who are economically weak and in need of medical attention as well as provide insurance coverage to all Kashmiri Pandits. The Bill has provisions for restoring religious places and other heritage belonging to Kashmiri Pandits, and measures to ensure their safety and security, and setting up an Inquiry Commission to investigate atrocities against Kashmiri Pandits. “Thirty-two years ago, what took place in Kashmir on the night of January 19, 1990 lives fresh in the minds of Kashmiri Pandits as a night of barbarism, terror and mass killings. Kashmiri Pandits suffered the horrors of genocide and exodus at the hands of militants, thousands were brutally killed, women were raped, houses and temples burnt, lives disrupted,” Tankha said in the statement of purpose and objectives of the Bill. “This inhumane attack on life and honour of a minority population, who were inhabitants of the region for thousands of years, led to a complete breakdown of law and order and forced them to leave their motherland, their culture, and their homes behind. Most could never return. Over six lakhs Kashmiri Pandits still live in exodus and yearn to return and resettle in their motherland,” he said A private member’s bill is a bill introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not a part of government. Only 14 such bills have been passed by both Houses since 1952.

New Delhi, Mar 01,2022: Naveen Shekharappa, a medical student from Karnataka lost his life at Kharkiv, Ukraine on Tuesday morning.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office, Naveen is from Chalagere village of Ranebennur taluk in Haveri and he was studying medicine at the Kharkiv National Medical University for the past four years.

Naveen had stepped out from the Arkhitektora Beketova Metro station bunker to bring groceries following which he died in a shell attack on the streets of Kharkiv. The news of his death was conveyed to his family by a friend of his who is studying first year medicine.

“With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Naveen’s body has been shifted to a mortuary in Kharkiv city. Since it is a war zone, the body cannot be brought back immediately. The MEA has assured that all efforts would be made to preserve the body and arrangements will be made to bring it back.

Mar 18,2022: After Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has bought two million barrels of Russian crude oil as Indian refiners stepped up efforts to secure Russian oil available at deep discounts.

Just like IOC, HPCL also bought Russian Urals crude through European trader Vitol, sources with knowledge of the development said.

Separately, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has floated a tender seeking one million barrels of similar crude oil.

Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has prompted many companies and countries to shun its oil. This has led to Russian crude being available in the market at deep discounts.

To capture the opportunity, Indian refiners are floating tenders to buy such discounted oil. The tenders are mostly won by traders, who would have stocked inventories of the cheap Russian oil.

The sources said IOC, the nation’s top oil firm, late last week bought three million barrels of Urals through Vitol for May delivery at a discount of USD 20-25 a barrel to dated Brent.
HPCL this week made the rare purchase of two million barrels of Urals crude for loading in May, they said.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, may avoid buying Russian fuel as it has huge exposure in the US and the sanctions against Moscow may impact its business.

Since 2020, IOC has had a term or fixed volume deal to buy crude oil from Russias Rosneft. But, it rarely imported volumes under the term deal as the cost of transporting the oil from Russia made it uneconomical.

But, with discounts of USD 20-25 per barrel have turned the tide in favour of Russian crude and Indian refiners are lapping it up, the sources said.

New Delhi has historic diplomatic and defence ties with Moscow and has called for an end to the violence in Ukraine but stopped short of condemning the invasion.

Many countries, including European nations, remain heavily dependent on fuel from Russia, the world’s second-largest crude oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia. However, only one per cent (nearly 45,000 barrels a day in 2021) of India’s total crude oil imports come from Russia.

Its decision to take up discounted Russian oil will not violate any of the US sanctions on Moscow, the White House has said.

Guwahati (Assam), March 15,2022: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that looking at the importance of ancient wisdom of the indigenous tribal faith and culture, his government has taken the decision to create a department to work for the promotion of faith and culture of anthropologically indigenous and tribal communities.

“Assam is a microcosm of a bigger region where people belonging to different indigenous and tribal faith and culture reside for ages. However, as a manifestation of different factors, the younger generations seem to have been losing touch with the ancient faith and practices,” said Sarma.

Interacting with the representatives of 30 tribal communities of the state in Guwahati, Sarma discussed with them different measures to preserve and promote the faith and culture of anthropologically indigenous and tribal communities. The Assam Chief Minister said that the department would create an action plan for the State government to enrich the state’s demography and its bouquet of indigenous and tribal culture.

“The department will essentially undertake deep research and lay a strong foundation to achieve its mandate of helping the younger generation to imbibe the virtues of ancient faith and culture,” said Sarma.

He asked them to register their organizations with the department to enable the government to provide institutional support to the organizations that have been engaging in the preservation and promotion of indigenous and tribal faith and culture.

He also told them that the tribal communities that are still preserving and practicing their ancient religion, faith, and culture can also apply for government support through a portal.

Stating that Assam has a rich repository of indigenous and tribal knowledge, the Assam Chief Minister said that the state government will initiate adequate steps for their studies by the younger generation so that the society at large gets benefitted.

He also said that the government in the coming days will also hold a mega exhibition encapsulating in miniature the characteristics, creations, art, and culture of indigenous and tribal faith to create more patronage for them.

Feb 19,2022: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will inaugurate over 12,000 smart classrooms in 240 government schools in the national capital on Saturday. This comes a day ahead of the Assembly polls in Punjab where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is contesting.
A total of 12,430 new smart classrooms will be inaugurated today following which the tally of new classrooms built by the Kejriwal government will reach 20,000 which is synonymous with 537 new school buildings, said a statement issued by the Delhi government. The specialities of the new building constructed by the government include the designer desk in the classrooms, libraries, multipurpose halls for the conduct of events, added the statement.

Feb 23,2022: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea to cancel Class 10 and Class 12 offline Board exams saying it cannot become a norm and that such petitions cause confusion in the system.

“This cannot become the norm. Such petitions give false hope to students. They will be misled by such petitions,” the bench added as it also refused to entertain the petition that sought alternate mode of assessment.

The physical examinations of Class 10 and 12 are to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and other state boards.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the dates for class 10 and 12 term 2 exams. The term 2 exams will be held from April 26.

Mar 1,2022: The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government is likely to take key decisions in its first Cabinet meeting on Saturday, informed sources. The first meeting of the council of ministers will be held after the expansion of the Cabinet with the swearing-in of 10 ministers, which will take place around 11 am today.

According to the sources, the Bhagwant Mann government is likely to take the decision in the Cabinet meeting to implement one of the election promises of the Aam Admi Party (AAP). Among other poll promises of the AAP in Punjab, the national convenor of the party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised to improve the condition of government schools and hospitals in the state, generate employment avenues, free electricity up to 300 units per billing cycle and also promised Rs 1,000 per month to women above 18 years.

He had also promised a corruption-free government and controlling drug menace in the state. Earlier on Thursday, the Punjab Chief Minister announced that an anti-corruption helpline will be launched in the state on ‘Shaheed Diwas (Martyr’s Day)’ on March 23.

Mann had said that the people will be able to lodge complaints against corruption via WhatsApp. A day after Mann assumed office, the AAP-led Punjab government took the first step towards fulfilling the promises which it had made in the run-up to the state Assembly polls – a corruption-free government and controlling drug menace in the state that shares a border with Pakistan.

Earlier, on March 17, Punjab’s newly-elected MLAs, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, took oath as members of the Legislative Assembly. The AAP leader and the party’s face for recently held Punjab Assembly polls took oath as the Chief Minister of the state on March 16.

The AAP won a landslide victory in the recently concluded Punjab Assembly polls, winning 92 seats, pushing most of its rivals to the margins of the electoral politics in the state.

April 16,2022: After a brief period of decline in Covid-19 cases, Delhi is once again witnessing rise in Covid-19 cases and due to this the Arvind Kejriwal Government has said that it is gearing up to deal with the situation and has asked all hospitals to be on alert.
This development comes at a time when Delhi recorded 366 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of nearly four per cent (3.95%). The national capital has been witnessing an uptick in coronavirus cases over the last few days. With this, Delhi’s Covid-19 tally has increased to 18,67,572. The death count is at 26,158 with no deaths in a day.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said, “the Delhi Government is closely monitoring the situation and the government does not want to take any risk. We have completely overhauled our health infrastructure. Along with this, all hospitals have been advised to remain alert amidst increasing cases of Covid-19 in Delhi.”

Ahmedabad:Feb 18,2022: A special court here on Friday awarded death sentence to 38 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, which claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured.

The court sentenced 38 of the 49 convicts to death under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The 11 others were sentenced to life in jail till death.
Judge A R Patel also awarded compensation of Rs one lakh each to those killed in the blasts, and Rs 50,000 for each victim with serious injuries and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor ones.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh each on the 48 convicts.

Patel had on February 8 declared 49 of the total 78 accused as guilty under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, including for murder, sedition and waging war against the state, as well as under offences of the UAPA and Explosive Substances Act.

Bombs went off in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, at various spots including the state government-run civil hospital, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital, on buses, parked bicycles, in cars and other places, killing 56 persons.

Mar 04,2022: In a major blow to the Jaganmohan Reddy government’s plan of constituting three capitals, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has ordered the continuation of construction and development works in the Amaravati capital city and capital region.
The three-member division bench headed by chief justice P K Mishra declared that the Andhra Pradesh state legislature “has no legislative competence to enact any law for shifting the three organs of the state.”

Delivering its verdict on a bunch of petitions filed by farmers and others opposing the capital shift, the court directed the government and the AP Capital Region Development Authority to construct and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months time, as agreed in the earlier terms and conditions.

In 2015, during the Chandrababu Naidu government, Amaravati farmers had parted with their farm lands for the mega capital city. They were promised developed plots in return, among other benefits. But after coming to power in 2019, Reddy stopped the work on Amaravati and brought in a law allowing a three capital set up.
“Change of government is not a ground to change the policy. The present government is under statutory legal obligation to complete the projects undertaken by the earlier government, unless they are contrary to any statutory or constitutional provisions,” the court observed in its 307 page order on Thursday.
Stating that the government violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners “as they surrendered their only source of livelihood i.e. agriculture under the Land Pooling Scheme,” the court ordered payment of Rs 50,000 to them.
The government was also asked to file affidavits on the progress made in its directions. Amaravati region villagers, who have been agitating since December 2019 against Reddy’s plans, celebrated the verdict with sweets.