Railway officials said incoming and outgoing trains running between Amritsar and Delhi were affected after 12.30 pm in the wake of the farmers’ protest.

They said all trains on this particular section here are being diverted.

KMC spokesperson Gurbachan Singh Chabba said the farmers are protesting on the compensation issue in connection with the acquisition of land for the Bharatmala project.

He said that government was acquiring the land but not paying adequate compensation as desired by farmers.

The protest at Devidaspura, around 20 kilometres from here, was led by KMC leader Sarwan Singh Pandher.

Chabba also alleged that a woman farmer was slapped by a policeman in Gurdaspur district, accusing police of using force against protesting farmers.

“The highhanded attitude of the government and its police which applied force to uproot the farmers from their agriculture land is condemnable,” he said.

Chabba alleged that police cane charged farmers who were protesting peacefully against the government for acquiring their farmlands for the expansion/construction of the Delhi-Katra national highway.

He said the incident occurred at Cheema Khudi village in Gurdaspur.

When asked for how long the farmers will continue to block the railway traffic, Chabba said a series of meetings between the farmers’ outfit and the administration were going on and the final decision would be taken by evening.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Commenting on the changes in the history books of NCERT, noted historian Irfan Habib said that the BJP government is trying unsuccessfully to communalise education. In a special conversation with NewsClick, Habib said that after the changes, the image of India will be tarnished in front of the world.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Chennai: A day after the spat between the ruling DMK and Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on the floor of the state Assembly, “#GetoutRavi” posters, prominently featuring Chief Minister M K Stalin surfaced in some parts of the city.

The hashtag was trending on Twitter on Monday following Ravi’s face-off with the state government in the Assembly where Stalin, also president of the ruling DMK piloted a resolution against the Governor’s deviation from his customary address to the Legislature and retain the draft prepared by his government.

However, in Pudukottai, posters were put up by local BJP functionaries hailing Ravi. Many BJP Twitter handles backed him and slammed the ruling DMK over the matter.

Stalin’s son and state Minister Udhayanidhi hailed what happened in the Assembly on Monday and said it was an “unprecedented event” in the history of the House.

“Normally our leader (Stalin) makes the Opposition run with his replies (in the Assembly) but this time he made the Governor run,” he quipped at an event, in an apparent reference to Ravi staging a walking out from the Assembly on Monday.

Stalin will be the first CM to voice concern whenever “our rights” are affected, he added.

A senior TN BJP functionary filed a police complaint against some MLAs of the ruling DMK.

In a tweet, A Ashvathaman, State Secretary, said he has filed the complaint under Section 124 of the IPC, which deals with “assaulting President, Governor, etc., with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power.”

Protests were held in Coimbatore against the Governor by the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam where the agitators attempted to burn an effigy of Ravi. Elsewhere, local BJP workers staged a demonstration condemning the incident. Police detained the respective activists separately.

Meanwhile, another row erupted over the Raj Bhavan’s Pongal celebrations invitation allegedly not containing the state government emblem. The invitation contained only the national emblem, many alleged.

Courtesy: newsclick.in

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Representational use only.Image Courtesy:Flickr

Protesting the Taliban’s hard-line strictures against women’s education, a Kabul University professor tore up his diplomas on live TV saying that he doesn’t “accept this education” if his “mother and sister can’t study”.

After seizing power last August, the Taliban have brutally clamped down on women in several ways, including a ban on returning to secondary schools in March and university education this month.

In a viral clip from the TV show, the professor shows his diplomas and then tears them one by one.

“From today, I don’t need these diplomas anymore because this country is no place for an education. If my sister & my mother can’t study, then I DON’T accept this education,” he says in the video, tweeted by Shabnam Nasimi, former policy adviser to the minister for Afghan resettlement and minister for refugees.

“Astonishing scenes as a Kabul university professor destroys his diplomas on live TV in Afghanistan,” Nasimi tweeted along with the video. 

Astonishing scenes as a Kabul university professor destroys his diplomas on live TV in Afghanistan —

“From today I don’t need these diplomas anymore because this country is no place for an education. If my sister & my mother can’t study, then I DON’T accept this education.” pic.twitter.com/cTZrpmAuL6

— Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) December 27, 2022

Last week, minister for higher education Neda Mohammad Nadeem issued a letter to all government and private universities banning university education for Afghan women. “You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” Nadeem wrote.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) had termed the ban a “shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan”.

“The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don’t respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,” HRW said in a statement.

The US state department condemned the Taliban’s “indefensible decision to ban women from universities” as well.

After the Taliban takeover, women have been barred from working in most sectors, require a male guardian for long-distance travel and have to cover their faces in public.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Mumbai: Jailed human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who was last week allowed to be placed under house arrest for a month by the Supreme Court owing to his medical condition, is yet to walk out of Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison, where he is lodged in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, as formalities for his release are still under process.

The 70-year-old activist, who claims to suffer from multiple ailments, is in custody since April 2020 in the 2017-18 case. On November 10, the Supreme Court allowed Navlakha to be put under house arrest for a month with certain conditions and had said its order should be implemented within 48 hours.

However, till Monday evening he was still in prison as formalities for his release could not be completed.

According to his lawyer, formalities for Navlakha’s release from jail were initiated on Monday  before a special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court in Mumbai that is hearing the case against  him.

Once released from prison, Navlakha will be staying at Belapur in Navi Mumbai under surveillance. The septuagenarian shall not be allowed to leave Mumbai, as per the SC order.

His lawyer on Monday apprised special NIA Judge Rajesh Katariya, presiding over the case, of the Supreme Court order on house arrest and initiated the process for filing surety as per the condition set by the apex court to complete his release formalities.

The SC had imposed a slew of conditions by which Navlakha would have to stay in Mumbai, deposit Rs 2.4 lakh as expenses for security, CCTV cameras would have to be installed outside the rooms and at entry and exit points of the house where he will be staying.

Navlakha will not be allowed to leave the house except for walks in the company of police personnel, but permitted to meet his lawyers as per Jail Manual rules and inform cops in case of a medical emergency, the apex court said last week.

It also said the activist will not be allowed to use a computer or the internet during the period of his house arrest.  He will, however, be permitted to use a mobile phone without the internet provided by police personnel on duty once a day for ten minutes in their presence.

Access to television and newspapers will be allowed, but these cannot be interest-based, the SC maintained in its order.

It also allowed the Maharashtra police to search and inspect the residence and said the accommodation would be under surveillance.

The Supreme Court has listed the matter for hearing in the second week of December by when the prosecuting agency NIA has been asked to obtain a fresh medical report on the accused.

Navlakha had sought to be shifted from the Taloja prison and placed under house arrest owing to ill health.

The activist moved the SC against the April 26 order of the Bombay High Court dismissing his plea for house arrest over apprehensions of lack of adequate medical and other basic facilities in the Taloja jail.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon -Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

According to the Pune police, people linked to banned Naxalite groups had organised the programme.

The case, in which over a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was later handed over to the NIA.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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New Delhi: Police have detained and started investigation against a Chitradurga-based prominent Lingayat mutt seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on Monday for alleged sexual abuse of minor girls, according to reports. The Mysuru police registered a case under the POCSO Act against the Murugha Mutt seer on Sunday.

The case has been registered at the Nazarbad Police Station in Mysuru, based on a complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit, The Hindu reported. The warden of a hostel run by the mutt was among the five accused, police sources told PTI. The seer was detained after the case was transferred to the Chitradurga police.

The police said the complaint is based on the statement of the two girls who accused the seer of ‘sexually abusing’ them for nearly couple of years now and others of allegedly cooperating with the act, PTI reported.

The girls reportedly approached the ‘Odanadi Seva Samsthe’, a Mysuru-based NGO, and narrated their ordeal during counselling on Friday night. Following this, the organisation approached the authorities.

The two girl victims then reached Chitradurga on Saturday night and were placed in the district Bala Mandira and brought to the child welfare committee. Their statement was recorded before the child welfare committee and the district police, following which a medical examination was conducted on them at the district hospital.

According to the police complaint, the girls are aged 15 and 16 and were staying at the hostel run by the Murugha Mutt. The two were sexually abused for over three-and-a-half-years, as per an India Today report.

The Chitradurga police have also registered a complaint against S K Basavarajan, former MLA and administrator of the mutt, on charges of kidnapping the victims and trying to sexually assault a woman warden of the said hostel, The Hindu reported.

The case against S K Basavarajan was registered by the warden of Muruga Mutt at Chitradurga rural police station under IPC Sec 354(A),504,506,363, & u/s 120(B), India Today reported. The warden alleged that the two minor girls from the Muruga Mutt hostel were kidnapped and later found at Cottonpet Police Station in Bengaluru. She alleged that Basavarajan has been accused of sexually abusing the children and the warden from the day he took over as administrator of the Muruga Mutt.

Protests in City

The city saw two different protests seeking justice for the seer and the victims, according to The Hindu‘s report. While one group comprising some seers and politicians protested the seer’s arrest and claimed that allegations against him were false and baseless, the other group of protesters held a demonstration before the child welfare committee and demanded a fair and transparent probe. Some protesters belonging to the latter group also demanded a judicial probe into the case citing a lack of confidence in the local police. 

There is a possibility of the provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/STs Act being invoked against the seer because one of the victims is from the Scheduled Caste.

Meanwhile, Murugha Sharanaru has responded to the allegations claiming they were a part of a “big conspiracy” against him, according to The Hindu.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Representational Image. Image Courtesy: NDTV

Bengaluru: In another blow to the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government, two associations representing at least 13,000 schools in Karnataka have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the administration of corruption.

According to a report by NDTV, the Associated Managements of Primary And Secondary Schools and the Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association have urged PM Modi to look into alleged bribes that are being demanded by the state education department to issue recognition certificates to educational institutions.

“Unscientific, irrational, discriminatory and noncompliance norms are applied to only unaided private schools and huge corruption is in place,” the letter read.

“The education ministry is impatient to listen and understand the actual pathetic situation of the whole system and resolve the issues. Two different BJP ministers literally caused lots of damage to budget schools rather than those schools that are commercialising education by allowing more and more investors to set up, directly costing more fees per child for parents,” the letter added.

The associations claimed that multiple complaints and pleas to state education minister BC Nagesh have gone unattended, and demanded his resignation.

The associations also alleged that government-prescribed textbooks have still not reached the schools despite the beginning of the new academic year.

“The education minister has no concern to liberalise the rigid norms and frame rules and regulation that both public and private schools can practically and physically implement without burdening parents and students,” read the complaint.

The school associations have urged PM Modi to look into the allegations and launch an investigation into the affairs of the Karnataka education ministry.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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New Delhi: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has strongly condemned the deportation of Emmy-nominated India-origin American journalist Angad Singh back to New York within three hours of his flight landing at Delhi’s IGI Airport on Wednesday night as government “vendetta and harassment”.

Terming the “gravely disturbing” episode as part of the “ongoing trend of government authorities harassing and intimidating journalists”, IJU president and former Press Council of India member Geetartha Pathak and secretary general and International Federation of Journalists vice-president Sabina Inderjit said in a statement on Friday: “The action of the Union home ministry smacks of vendetta and harassment.”

Singh, employed with VICE News, has made several documentaries on the 2020 Shaheen Bagh protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and published a video on the 2021 Delta wave that won him the Emmy nomination recently. His family alleged that Singh was recently denied a visa he needed to make a documentary film about Dalits in the country.

“It is his award-winning journalism that scares them. It is the stories he did and the stories he is capable of. It is the love for his Motherland that they can’t stand. It is the cutting edge reporting of #ViceNews that gets to them,” Singh’s mother Gurmeet Kaur posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

Demanding reasons from the ministry for the “ad hoc deportation, which is “unacceptable in any free society”, the IJU said that Singh, who is with VICE News, was “only doing his job and should have been allowed to visit his family as it was a personal visit”.

Linking the incident with the “ongoing trend of government authorities harassing and intimidating journalists,” the IJU said: “Recently, two Kashmiri journalists Aakash Hassan and Sanna Matoo were prevented at the IGI Airport from flying to Sri Lanka and Paris, respectively, due to their work. In both cases, no reason was given and exceptions are becoming a rule!” 

Singh’s family members in Punjab told The Indian Express that authorities didn’t provide any reason for his deportation. He had come to India for a family reunion, they claimed. Immigration officials are yet to respond to questions asked by the newspaper.

The US Embassy spokesperson told The Hindu that he was unable to comment “due to privacy concerns” regarding US citizens.

Mentioning how Singh’s back hurts during long flights, Kaur posted on Facebook: “He is 6’5” tall. His back hurts from riding long rides in such small spaces. He must be wanting to lay down.”

Explaining how one has to pay a price for speaking truth, Singh mother posted: “It’s not easy to be a Sikh, a Gursikh on top, a journalist, a warrior of truth and justice. Speaking truth has a price. We must pay it. I am comforting your back. See you in the land of free. Ps: So which story do you think pissed them off?”

Singh had shared several VICE videos exposing flaws in India’s COVID-19 response—from overwhelmed crematoriums to the oxygen shortage during the Delta wave.

On July 28, Singh tweeted that VICE’s coverage of the Delta wave had been nominated for an Emmy: “Emmy nominated for our coverage on India’s deadly delta wave. What a recognition to more than a dozen brave, and talented reporters, producers, camera ops, editors and assistants that made our reporting possible.

Singh also produced a video on the country’s farm distress earlier his year. “India’s farming is on the brink of collapse,” he tweeted in February.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Thousands of Anganwadi workers will gather in Delhi on July 26 under the banner of AIFWAH. What is the reason for this demonstration? What are the demands of these workers? NewsClick spoke to AR Sindhu to find out. 

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Why are Anganwadi Workers Gathering in Huge Numbers in Delhi From July 26? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s recent announcement on divesting two state-run companies, Air India and BPCL has created a furore. The decision would help the government meet its divestment target of Rs 1 lakh crore in the current fiscal year. With the Reliance Industries expected to play a role in the deal, the question arises that will Reliance become the ultimate beneficiary of the deal? 

Courtesy: News Click

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