The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 19

The International News Weekly india
November 03, 2017 | Toronto 10
Congress is a laughing club
out on bail, says Modi
Agencies
KANGRA: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on
Thursday tore into the
Congress government
in poll-bound Himachal
Pradesh, saying the party
leadership had made
itself a "laughing club"
that vows zero tolerance
towards graft but was
out on bail on corruption
charges.
"We all need to look at
the Congress. We should
appreciate their courage.
Yesterday, they released
a manifesto vowing zero
tolerance on corruption
if the Congress returns
to power. They have a
gall to claim there will
be zero tolerance against
corruption," Modi told an
election rally in this town
ahead of Himachal's November
8 Assembly polls.
He targeted Chief Minister
Virbhadra Singh,
who has been charged by
the CBI of holding assets
disproportionate to his
known sources of income:
"Singh 'saheb' is claiming
there will be zero tolerance
against corruption.
Can anyone believe him?
Can you digest it?"
Modi asked this to the
crowd repeatedly.
"The Congress has
become a laughing club.
Their Chief Minister has
a corruption case against
him. He is out on a bail.
Nothing is left for them
and they have lost their
hold from every part of
the country."
He said this was not
the Congress of Mahatma
Gandhi or of freedom
fighters "but of corruption,
dynasty politics and
casteism.
"The Congress is an
epitome of rotten thought.
When we say we want the
country rid of the Congress,
we mean to rid the
country of this rotten
thought."
Modi said the Congress
needed to introspect
why a "forgiving country
like India" was out to punish
its leaders "by turning
away from them one by
one".
Donning a Himachali
cap, the Prime Minister
called the state a land of
"martyrs and soldiers"
and said the Congress
government had patronised
"mafias in the Devbhoomi".
"There are five
monsters in Himachal
Pradesh - mining mafia,
forest mafia, drug mafia,
tender mafia and transfer
mafia.
"These five monsters
are looting your resources,
future, spreading corruption
and nepotism and
snatching away the future
of the youth."
The BJP's Chief Ministerial
candidate Prem Kumar
Dhumal and former
Chief Minister Shanta
Kumar were present at
Modi's rally. Trying to reconnect
with voters, the
Prime Minister said: "I
have worked extensively
in Himachal Pradesh, am
familiar with its cities
and know each and every
street here. On November
9 you have the opportunity
to bid farewell to the
people who have looted
the state. "The lotus will
bloom in Himachal and
there will be an end to
corruption," he said.
He also took a dig at
Congress Vice President
Rahul Gandhi for meeting
the Chinese Ambassador
at the height of a military
standoff between Indian
and Chinese troops in
Doklam.
He alleged that Gandhi
sought Doklam details
from the Chinese
envoy but didn't believe
what the government had
to say about the disputed
plateau.
"Instead of asking Indian
diplomats and the
foreign ministry, you
go and ask the Chinese
envoy. Isn't it insulting
when these people talked
to Chinese on Doklam instead
of asking the elected
government?
"Sorry to say, this
shows lack of primary understanding.
The country
knows how the Doklam
issue was dealt with, but
the Congress even questioned
that," he added.
As tomato price hits Rs 100, Chandigarh app offers it at Re 1
Indo-Asian News Service
CHANDIGARH: With people
feeling the pinch after tomato
prices soared to Rs 100
per kg, an "on-demand hyperlocal
transport and logistics
app" Jugnoo has offered to
make doorstep delivery of
tomatoes at just Re 1 per kg.
With its "Tomato Loot" initiative,
Jugnoo has offered to
deliver tomatoes at only Re 1
per kg for one week (November
3 to 10).
Samar Singla, CEO and
founder of the app, said: "We
are increasing the supply
and reducing prices to bring
relief to the people, so that
skyrocketing prices of such
common vegetables don't discourage
them to buy these."
About two years back,
Jugnoo had launched a similar
campaign to sell onions at
lower prices when the company
noticed a spike in the
market.
"The recent increase in
the prices of two most commonly
used vegetables in the
Indian household -- tomatoes
and onions -- is predicted to
remain high this month. Offering
tomatoes at such a low
price, Jugnoo aims to benefit
the residents of the city,"
Aditi Arora, a senior executive
with Jugnoo, told IANS.
The company was ready to
leverage this opportunity to
build its customer base and
create a buzz in the market,
she added.
"The traders and vendors
blame this increase in
price to limited supply owing
to weather conditions including
unseasonal rains but
past data shows that hike in
prices is now an annual feature,"
Singla said.
Founded in 2014 by two
IIT graduates and headquartered
in Chandigarh, Jugnoo
is an on-demand hyper-local
transport and logistics app
that thrives on its expansive
network of auto-rickshaws.
Rapist mamas get life term after
10-year-old victim gives birth to baby
Continued from page 01
The police had initially
arrested one uncle
based on the victim's
statement. However,
when the DNA of the newborn
did not match with
that uncle, the case took a
curious turn.
The Central Forensic
Sciences Laboratory
(CFSL) report, which was
submitted before a trial
court here in October,
had pointed out that the
DNA sample of the child
and the alleged rapist (uncle),
arrested earlier, did
not match.
The Chandigarh Police,
which launched reinvestigation
into the
matter, arrested the second
uncle in October,
nearly two months after
the rape victim delivered
the child. The DNA
of the second uncle, who
is the younger one of the
two, matched with the
newborn. The prosecution
told the trial court
that the younger uncle
had first raped the girl in
December last year. The
older uncle raped her repeatedly
from April to
July this year.
The girl had told her
parents and police investigators
earlier that her
maternal uncle (cousin
of her mother) had raped
her. She had also identified
the accused.
The victim's plight
made national headlines
after the Supreme Court
on July 28 disallowed her
advanced pregnancy to be
terminated. The victim
delivered a girl child in
the Government Medical
College and Hospital in
Sector 32 here on August
17. The girl's pregnancy
was discovered in July
after her parents took her
to the hospital when she
complained of stomach
pain. They discovered
that the child had been repeatedly
raped.
A medical board, set
up by Chandigarh's Postgraduate
Institute of
Medical Education and
Research (PGIMER) on
the court's orders to examine
the pregnant child,
warned that an abortion
would risk the girl's life.
The order came on
a PIL by advocate Alok
Srivastava, who moved
the top court after a plea
for the medical termination
of pregnancy was refused
by a district court
in Chandigarh on July 18.
The plea was made
while pointing out that
the victim's body was not
ready for child birth.Continued
on page 06