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Issue No : 57 

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AAP crisis in Punjab 

At Khaira's Bathinda convention, AAP rebels declare state unit 'autonomy' 

Indian-origin couple in 

Canada threatened: ‘I 

will kill your children’ 

Indo-Asian News Service 

LS passes amendment 

bill on OBC Commission 

Chandigarh : The split in the 

AAP rank and file in Punjab was out 

in the open once again on Thursday 

as party MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira 

held a convention in Bathinda, 

in a show of strength, which was 

attended by six other party legislators. 

On the other hand, 11 of the 

remaining 13 AAP legislators had 

gone to Delhi to express solidarity 

with the AAP central leadership. 

Khaira, a former Leader of Opposition 

in Punjab Assembly, organised 

the party volunteers' convention 

in Bathinda town, where Aam 

Aadmi Party (AAP) rebels passed 

resolutions granting "autonomy" to 

the party's Punjab unit. The convention 

also dissolved AAP's organisational 

structure in the state and rejected 

the unceremonious removal 

of Khaira as Leader of Opposition 

by the central leadership. 

The AAP national leadership 

dubbed the event as "anti-party" activity 

and blamed the SAD-BJP combine, 

RSS and the Bains brothers of 

Lok Insaaf Party of "trying to split 

the main opposition party". 

Khaira said the convention was 

organised to show to the AAP central 

leadership that the party's state 

leaders and activists had the freedom 

to express their opinion. 

Seven AAP legislators, including 

Khaira, attended the convention 

along with scores of other party 

leaders and activists. 

Khaira said: "My fight is for the 

interests of Punjab. I am not after 

any post. I will speak for all Punjabis. 

This state has been ruined by 

the misrule of the Badal family and 

(Chief Minister) Amarinder Singh. 

This is not my fight but the fight for 

Punjab." 

Eleven of the 20 AAP legislators 

on Thursday had a breakfast meeting 

with party National Convener 

and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal 

in Delhi. These AAP legislators later 

said that they had told the party 

leadership that those attending the 

Bathinda convention were their 

"brothers" and were "misled". 

Continued on page 08 

Ontario : An Indian-origin 

couple in Canada was 

harassed by a man on Sunday, 

who yelled at them 

to leave the country and 

threatened to “kill” their 

children. The incident 

took place at the parking 

lot of Walmart Supercentre 

in Hamilton, Ontario, 

according to news agency. 

A scuffle broke out 

while the couple was trying 

to park and reportedly 

got in the way of 46-yearold 

Dale Robertson. 

In a video that has gone 

viral on social media, Robertson, 

47, who is driving 

a silver truck, can be seen 

accelerating towards the 

woman before hitting the 

brakes. He is heard yelling 

at the couple, who has not 

been identified. 

“What kind of example 

are you setting for your 

children?” the Indian man 

is heard asking the other 

as his wife recorded the 

video. 

As Robertson slowly 

drives away, the Indian 

man is heard asking, “You 

want me to go to my own 

country? I’m a Canadian 

citizen.” 


Navjot Singh Sidhu Praises Pakistan's 

Imran Khan 'Sahab': He Can Be Trusted 


New Delhi : The Lok 

Sabha on Thursday 

passed an amendment 

bill to give constitutional 

status to the OBC Commission 

negating the 

amendments approved 

by the Rajya Sabha 

and adopting alternate 

amendments. 

The Constitution 

(One Hundred and Twenty-third 

Amendment) 

Bill was passed following 

a division with 406 members 

voting in favour 

of the motion and none 

against it. 

Replying to the debate, 

Social Justice and 

Empowerment Minister 

Thaawarchand Gehlot 

said that the rules will be 

framed in a way that one 

of the members of the 

commission is a woman. 

He said the Narendra 

Modi government was 

committed to grant constitutional 

status to the 

National Commission 

on Backward Classes 

(NCBC). 

The official amendment 

moved by the minister 

negated the amendments 

made by the Upper 

House when it passed the 

bill on July 31 last year. 


Chandigarh : Cricketer-turnedpolitician 

Navjot Singh Sidhu on 

Thursday said that Pakistan Prime 

Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan's 

invite for the oath-taking ceremony 

is a personal one. While addressing 

a press conference here, Sidhu said, 

"He (Imran Khan) has risen from the 

scratch in politics, he has exhibited 

great character. I see him as a ray of 

hope." 

"It is a huge honour for me. It is a 

personal invitation from him and not 

a political one. I respect the foreign 

policy of the Government (of India) 

and the country, but this is a personal 

invitation. I believe sports persons 

and artistes break barriers," he added. 

Sidhu said on Wednesday that he 

would attend the swearing-in-ceremony 

of Imran Khan which is scheduled 

on August 11. 

Calling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 

(PTI) chief as 'a man of character', Sidhu 

asserted that the leader could be 

trusted. "It is a great honour and I accept 

the invitation. Men of genius are 

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admired, men of power are feared but 

men of character are trusted. Khan 

Sahab is a man of character. He can 

be trusted," Sidhu said. 

Imran Khan has also invited 

former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar 

along with actor Aamir Khan 

for his oath-taking ceremony. PTI 

yesterday confirmed that the Prime 

Minister-in-waiting will take oath at 

the President House in Islamabad. 

Imran Khan had earlier conveyed his 

desire to take oath at the D-Chowk or 

Parade Ground. Quoting sources in 

the President House, Geo News however 

reported that the location of the 

ceremony would not be shifted. 

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The International News Weekly Canada 

02 

August 03, 2018 | Toronto 

Smoking can affect breastfeeding habits: Study 

Toronto, Aug 2 (IANS) Women, 

please take note. New mothers 

exposed to cigarette smoke in 

their homes may stop breastfeeding 

sooner as compared to those 

who are not exposed to secondhand 

smoke, a new study suggests. 

The study, published in the 

journal Breastfeeding Medicine, 

found that exposure to household 

smokers had a substantial negative 

effect on breastfeeding practices. 

"Our study showed that just 

being in a smoking household 

-- whether it was the husband, 

mother or member of the extended 

family -- reduced the time that 

a child was breast fed," said lead 

author Marie Tarrant, professor 

at the University of British Columbia's 

Okanagan Campus in 

Canada. 

"In fact, the more smokers 

there were in the home, the shorter 

the breastfeeding duration," 

Tarrant added. 

For the study, the research 

team involved more than 1,200 

women from four large hospitals 

in Hong Kong. 

The researchers found that 

more than one-third of participants 

had partners or other 

household members who smoked. 

And fathers who smoked were 

significantly less likely to prefer 

breastfeeding when compared 

with non-smoking partners. 

"Our study did show that 

smoking partners may affect the 

mother's decision to stop breastfeeding 

and that paternal and 

household smoking exposure is 

strongly associated with a shorter 

breastfeeding duration," Tarrant 

said. 

According to the researchers, 

nicotine is transmitted in the 

breastmilk to the child and it may 

reduce the overall quantity of 

the breastmilk. There is also the 

concern regarding the environmental 

exposure of second-hand 

smoke on the child 

"We know the effects of environmental 

tobacco smoke on 

young babies is very detrimental 

as babies who are around smoking 

are more like to get respiratory 

infections and other experience 

other respiratory problems," 

Tarrant said. 

"However, if a mother is 

breastfeeding, the benefits 

of her doing that still outweigh 

the negative effects of the 

smoking as long as she 

maintains good smoking hygiene 

and doesn't expose the baby to tobacco 

smoke." IANS 

Canada border authorities use 

DNA tool to detect nationality 


Ottawa : Immigration 

officials in Canada have 

been using DNA testing 

and ancestry websites 

to try and determine migrants 

nationality, according 

to the Canada 

Border Services Agency 

(CBSA). 

The agency's actions 

have raised concerns 

about the privacy of the 

data held by the sites involved 

in the process. 

The agency has not 

kept statistics on how 

often the tools had been 

applied, but they were 

being used on those who 

run afoul of the country's 

immigration laws, the 

Guardian reported. 

The CBSA said the 

tools also come in handy 

"whenever other avenues 

of investigation have 

been exhausted". 

Vice News first reported 

the story after speaking 

to two immigration 

lawyers whose clients 

had been investigated 

through DNA tests submitted 

to FamilytreeD- 

NA.com. 

The CBSA described 

the tools "as part of a suite 

of investigative techniques" 

used to ascertain 

a person's identity. 

"DNA testing assists 

the CBSA to focus further 

lines of investigation on 

particular countries," the 

CBSA spokesperson said. 

The agency obtains 

consent from the migrants 

before submitting 

their information the 

sites. 

"The CBSA does not 

publicly discuss the mechanics 

of its investigative 

techniques in a 

public forum, as doing 

so could render them ineffective," 

the Guardian 

was told. 

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Indian-origin couple in 

Canada threatened: ‘I 

will kill your children’ 

Continued from page 01 

“Show me. Prove it. I don’t believe you,” Robertson 

is heard yelling in the video. “You don’t talk 

like a Canadian. I’m racist. I don’t like you, I don’t 

like her. I would kill your children first.” 

The Indian couple has been living in Canada for 

the past seven or eight years and possesses Canadian 

citizenship, according to agency. 

The Hamilton police, which is investigating the 

incident, has classified it as hate crime. Detective 

Paul Corrigan said that the couple was traumatised 

by the incident. “It hit them really hard. They were 

extremely shocked by it, they had not experienced 

(something like this) before,” he is quoted as saying 

by agency. Robertson has been arrested and 

charged with threatening death, dangerous driving 

and failing to remain at the scene of an accident. 

At least 58 cases of hate incidents have been 

recorded in 2018. Hamilton is rated as the secondhighest 

in police-reported hate crime in the country. 

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The International News Weekly August 03, 2018 | Toronto 

03 

Candidate seeks injunction to delay Ontario's 

plan to cut size of Toronto city council 

Toronto: A lawyer vying 

for a spot on Toronto city 

council is taking legal action 

to delay the Ontario government's 

plan to redraw the 

city's political map. 

Rocco Achampong, a 

candidate in Ward 13, Eglinton-Lawrence, 

applied for 

an injunction at the Toronto 

division of Ontario Superior 

Court at noon on Tuesday 

looking to suspend legislation 

put forward by the 

Progressive Conservative 

government "until it can be 

heard on the merits." 

The PCs on Friday 

moved to redraw Toronto's 

ward boundaries, cutting 

the number of councillors 

nearly in half, from 47 to 25, 

less than 90 days before the 

Oct. 22 municipal election. 

The proposed Better Local 

Government Act would see 

Toronto's municipal ward 

boundaries mirror those of 

provincial ridings. 

If successful, the injunction 

would see Toronto's election 

proceed according to the 

established boundaries. 

Ontario Premier Doug 

Ford, himself a former member 

of Toronto council, says 

it will make city hall more 

efficient. 

The move has drawn 

both ire and praise. Achampong 

says he was blindsided 

by the change. 

"I thought that was a bit 

wild and a tad lacking in 

process since we have administrative 

procedures that 

Ontario launching 

constitutional challenge 

of federal carbon tax plan 

The Canadian Press 

Ontario : Government says it will be moving 

forward with a constitutional challenge to a federal 

plan to impose a carbon tax on provinces that 

don’t have their own carbon pricing system. 

Environment Minister Rod Phillips and Attorney 

General Caroline Mulroney made the announcement 

in Toronto this morning. 

They said the constitutional challenge is in addition 

to Premier Doug Ford’s decision to join a 

similar legal battle launched by the government of 

Saskatchewan. 

Ford vowed to fight Ottawa’s carbon pricing 

plan and eliminate Ontario’s cap-and-trade system 

during the spring election campaign. 

His Progressive Conservative party’s platform 

budgeted $30 million for the court challenge and 

Mulroney said she believes it will cost less. 

Ford’s government has introduced legislation 

to scrap cap and trade and cancel programs 

financed through its revenues, which include rebates 

for energy-efficient renovations, transit projects 

and a fund for school repairs. 

Change of name 

I, Balvir Kaur wife of Sikander Singh, Village Chhotian- 

Chokian Hazara, Distt Ropar (Punjab) India, have changed 

my name as Balvir Kaur Dhamrait. All Concern please 

note. 

governments go through to 

effect change, namely consultations 

and stakeholder 

inputs being sought," he said. 

"That was not done here 

and it seemed unilateral." 

Achampong said his 

problem isn't necessarily 

with Ford's decision — he 

doesn't entirely disagree that 

council could be run more efficiently 

— but rather with 

Ms. Ruby Sahota, Member 

of Parliament for Brampton 

North, alongside the Honourable 

Navdeep Bains, Minister 

of Innovation, Science and 

Economic Development and 

Member of Parliament (Mississauga–Malton), 

announced that 

the Government of Canada is 

providing $380,000 to the Sikh 

Heritage Museum of Canada 

for its project “Becoming Canadians 

Eh! The Sikhs.” Minister 

Bains made this announcement 

on behalf of the Honourable 

Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of 

its suddenness. 

Ward 13 is the redrawn 

version of what was Ward 15, 

where Coun. Josh Colle is the 

incumbent. Colle announced 

last week he would not run 

again, and on the same day, 

his father and former city 

councillor and MPP, Mike 

Colle, signalled his plans to 

run in the same race. 

"Some people are for it, 

Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism. 

The project will aim to create 

a Canadian Sikh Heritage 

Trail and a travelling Canadian 

Sikh Timeline Exhibition, 

along with a web portal and 

interactive mobile application 

showcasing facts, figures and 

personalities that have shaped 

the civic life of Canada. The 

project will allow current and 

some people are against it, 

but they are surprised that 

it happened in such a chaotic 

way. It strikes at the sense of 

fairness," he said. 

The city is named as a 

respondent in the injunction 

application, he said, to 

force it to take a position on 

whether to take the province 

to court. 

"It strikes me as slightly 

lacking that a lone citizen of 

Toronto is taking on the government 

of Ontario and the 

city council has yet to get up 

and take a firm position," he 

said. 

His move comes one day 

after the council conveyed its 

opposition to Ford's plan and 

asked its solicitor to examine 

his bill's validity and constitutionality. 

The solicitor is expected 

to report back on Aug. 20. 

A spokesperson for the 

Ford government says the 

province plans to move 

ahead with its legislation. 

In a statement Wednesday, 

a city spokesperson said 

the city does not comment on 

legal actions of "outside parties," 

adding that the mayor 

has written a letter to the premier 

relaying council's opposition 

to the proposed change 

in the size of council. 

City councillors recently 

voted to request the province 

to conduct a binding referendum 

on the number and 

boundaries of wards before 

passing the Better Local Government 

Act. 

The Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada Receives 

Support from the Canada History Fund 

future generations of Canadians 

to learn more about the 

struggles, sacrifices and successes 

of Sikhs in Canada. 

This funding is being provided 

through the Canada History 

Fund, administered by Canadian 

Heritage. The Canada 

History Fund encourages Canadians 

to learn about this country’s 

history, civics and public 

policy. The Fund supports the 

production of learning materials, 

the organization of learning 

activities and the creation or 

maintenance of networks.

The International News Weekly EDIT 

04 


The 

w w w . canadianparv asi. c o m 

Publisher & CEO 

Associate Editor 

Editor (India) 

Online 

Graphic Designer 

Official Photographer 

Contact 

Editorial 

Sales 

Rajinder Saini 

Meenakshi Saini 

Gursheesh 

Kshitiz Dalal 

Naveen 

Bashir Nasir 

editor@canadianparvasi.com 

sales@canadianparvasi.com 

RC Football 

Assam exercise is becoming a 

focal Lok Sabha poll issue in 

unfortunate ways 

With the National Register of Citizens draft 

list leaving out 40 lakh applicants, a big political 

row has erupted in the country. While BJP 

has defended the NRC exercise with party 

president Amit Shah calling it the soul of the 

1985 Assam Accord to identify illegal migrants, 

Congress has criticised the process saying that 

genuine citizens have been left out. Meanwhile, 

Trinamool Congress head and Bengal chief 

minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the 

exercise has been carried out to divide people. 

Political parties are formulating their respective 

positions on NRC with an eye on the 

next Lok Sabha elections. The Assam-specific 

exercise is perfect for more widespread dogwhistle 

signalling. For example, BJP clearly 

plans to politically cash in on the issue by projecting 

itself as the party that finally took decisive 

action against illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. 

The subtext here is that Muslim migrants 

from neighbouring countries have no place in 

India. This was underlined by Amit Shah himself 

as he reiterated that changes were being 

made to the Citizenship Act for Hindu and Sikh 

refugees. 

Congress, while critical of NRC, finds it 

hard to dissociate itself from the Assam Accord 

that Rajiv Gandhi had signed. Hence the party’s 

recourse to technical flaws of the exercise 

in the hope of appealing to both for and against 

NRC constituencies. And Trinamool’s forceful 

rejection of NRC positions it as a party for 

the aggrieved – particularly Bengali speaking 

Muslims in Assam and Bengal. Adding to the 

politicking is the fact that the final NRC list is 

expected by the end of the year – close to the 

tentative Lok Sabha poll schedule. 

Notably, none of the parties have spoken 

about solutions for those who will be left out of 

the final NRC. 

If Trinamool genuinely cared, why is Bengal 

among the worst defaulters in NRC verification, 

returning only 6% of the documents 

sent to it for authentication? Similarly, the 

Supreme Court which is overseeing the exercise 

– and has said no coercive action should be 

taken based on the draft list – should have been 

more proactive in preventing anomalies. Taken 

together, the NRC has become a convenient 

political tool. Bengal BJP has now proposed 

an NRC for that state should it come to power 

there. Such proposals have no legal basis and 

only aim to whip up hysteria. The people, as 

usual, remain the political football. TNN 

Draft That’s Daft 

An ecommerce policy that won’t produce local 

champions & will discourage foreign investors 

Saubhik.Chakrabarti@timesgroup.com 

On business matters, 

governments think wrong 

and do wrong frequently. 

They think right and do 

right a few times. And 

sometimes they think right 

but do horribly wrong, like 

in the draft ecommerce 

policy. 

GoI wants locallyowned, 

locallymanaged 

ecommerce success stories. 

That’s right thinking. 

But the draft policy goes 

about this spectacularly 

wrongly. If this is the final 

policy, India won’t get 

what it should, and will 

lose what it has. 

What India’s ecommerce 

market has is plenty 

of foreign investment. 

What it should have, while 

keeping foreign investors 

interested, are locally 

owned and managed competitors 

to firms backed by 

outside capital. 

Given this, the draft is 

really smart on only one 

count – the suggestion that 

startups can issue shares 

with differential voting 

rights. The aim is to provide 

Indian founders of 

successful online ventures 

more control over companies 

they have built even if 

foreign investors have put 

in most of the capital. So, a 

share owned by a founder 

will carry more weight 

than, say, a share owned 

by a Chinese venture capital 

firm. 

Shareholding structures 

that restrict voting 

rights of foreign investors 

are not unusual. Some 

hugely successful startups 

in the US and China, the 

world’s two largest internet 

economies, have shareholding 

rules that allow 

founders with minority 

stock to call the shots. 

Will large investors 

lose interest if they can’t 

be the boss of a company 

they put money in? Not at 

all. As is the case in China 

and the US, India can attract 

large investors in 

ecommerce under rules 

that favour more control 

for local entrepreneurs, 

provided the returns on 

investment are potentially 

high. 

So, that was good thinking. 

Now for the really bad 

bits of the draft policy – 

socialism-type restrictions 

on pricing strategies, a 

completely needless additional 

layer of regulation, 

silly dos and don’ts on 

what can be sold and how, 

etc, etc. Space for this column 

is limited, and silly 

suggestions abound in the 

draft. So, we will pick just 

a few examples to demonstrate 

our argument. 

Take the recommendation 

that deep discounting 

– selling goods really, really 

cheap – must be thoroughly 

discouraged. This 

seems aimed principally at 

pricing strategies of Amazon 

India and Walmartowned 

Flipkart – two 

American giants. 

Of course, Amazon 

India and foreigninvestor 

controlled Flipkart 

use capital available from 

abroad to sell stuff really 

cheap. And of course, 

that’s one of the big reasons 

they control nearly 

threefourths of India’s 

online market. But even 

locally-backed and locallymanaged 

online shops 

would want to do the same 

thing. Deep discounting 

is a universal ecommerce 

strategy. It’s employed 

to win customer loyalty, 

more so in markets where 

online commerce is still a 

small part of overall retail. 

India’s online retail is just 

3% of total retail sales. 

Therefore, a policy that 

targets discounting will 

actually harm future local 

entrepreneurs. 

People who made this 

recommendation forgot 

basic economics, which is 

that government intervention 

in pricing, especially 

in consumer market pricing, 

always ends up disastrously. 

Local startups 

won’t flourish if they as 

well as Amazon and Flipkart 

can’t sell products 

cheap. 

A smarter way to level 

the playing field against 

deep-pocketed foreign investors 

who can afford 

deep discounting is to 

have a policy that allows 

firms to offer steep price 

cuts only when all or most 

of their capital is locally 

sourced. This will truly 

discourage capital dumping 

from abroad, without 

ridiculous interference in 

firms’ pricing strategies. 

But won’t that be unfair 

to an Amazon or a 

Walmart? No. They are 

free to offer deep discounts 

but the capital deployed in 

Amazon India or Flipkart 

must be raised locally. 

They will compete with local 

firms for capital, and 

they may actually attract 

more investor interest. 

But that’s wholly fair. 

Amazon or Walmart 

won’t like it. But they will 

have to balance their loss 

of the capital dumping option 

against giving up on 

one of the world’s most 

exciting online marketplaces. 

That’s smart policymaking. 

Terribly unsmart, too, 

is the draft policy’s idea of 

a new regulator for ecommerce. 

Governments love 

new regulators by instinct, 

and also because bureaucrats 

who make policy 

know every new regulator 

means a bunch of nice jobs 

for retired administrators. 

Why do you need a new 

ecommerce regulator? All 

transactions in an ecommerce 

play are covered by 

existing laws. If there’s a 

contractual violation by 

any party in the buy-sell 

chain, there are consumer 

courts and courts. If there 

are disputes over, say, 

shareholding patterns in a 

listed startup, there’s Sebi, 

the stock market regulator. 

If there are questions 

over data storage, there’s a 

new law on data protection 

coming up. 

Indeed, that the policy 

suggested data storage 

norms different from those 

suggested just days before 

by the Srikrishna committee 

seems to suggest those 

writing the draft were in 

some other world. 

In this world, an ecommerce 

policy for India 

shouldn’t be a nanny state 

in dotcom disguise. Indian 

startups need a few regulations, 

like those against 

capital dumping, and a 

committed government 

push to creating an environment 

rich in capitalraising 

possibilities. It’s 

the lack of local capital 

that’s holding back creation 

of local champions. 

But guess what? The draft 

policy has almost nothing 

to say on this. 

The draft, that’s why, is 

pretty daft. 

Source Credit: This article 

was first published in 

The Times of India. 

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The International News Weekly World 

05 


India all set to get waiver relief 

from US sanctions against Russia 


WASHINGTON : The US 

Senate has passed a bill that 

gives India a partial waiver 

relief from sanctions against 

Russian firms and oligarchs, 

allowing it to keep buying 

Russia-made weapons in a 

landmark decision that is 

seen as a big diplomatic win 

for New Delhi. 

The defence spending 

bill, which now goes to President 

Donald Trump before it 

becomes a law, also seeks to 

"strengthen and enhance" defence 

partnership with India. 

It was passed by the House 

last week. 

The National Defence Authorization 

Act was passed on 

Wednesday with overwhelmingly 

bipartisan support - a 

vote of 87-10 in the Senate and 

359-54 in the House. The bill 

authorizes a $717 billion US 

defence budget to rebuild its 

military and "strengthens our 

alliances and partnerships 

and reforms the way we do 

business", Secretary of Defence 

James Mattis said in a 

statement. 

He said the bill "provides 

waiver relief to key US partners 

and allies from certain 

Russian-related sanctions under 

the Countering America's 

Adversaries through Sanctions 

Act" (CAATSA). The 

CAATSA amendment allows 

countries like India to continue 

buying military equipment 

from Russia provided they 

fulfill certain conditions, like 

reducing defence purchases 

from Russia. 

The law, which came into 

effect in 2018, sanctions some 

Russia firms, including staterun 

military hardware makers, 

and some businessmen, 

for alleged meddling in the 

2016 US Presidential elections. 

Indian-Australian, 3 others 

win ‘Nobel of maths’ 

NYT & AGENCIES 

New York : Every four 

years, at an international 

gathering of mathematicians, 

the subject’s youngest 

and brightest are honoured 

with the Fields Medal, often 

described as the Nobel 

Prize of mathematics. 

This year’s recipients, announced 

on Wednesday at 

the International Congress 

of Mathematicians in Rio de 

Janeiro, include renowned 

Indian-Australian mathematician 

Akshay Venkatesh. 

New Delhi-born Venkatesh, 

36, who is currently 

teaching at Stanford University, 

has won the Fields 

Medal for his “profound contributions 

to an exceptionally 

broad range of subjects 

in mathematics” and his 

“strikingly far-reaching conjectures”. 

From being a child prodigy 

to becoming one of the 

most renowned researchers 

in the field of mathematics, 

Venkatesh’s journey has 

been full of achievements and 

accolades. Having moved to 

Perth with his parents when 

he was 2, he participated in 

physics and math Olympiads 

— the premier international 

competitions for high school 

students — and won medals 

in the two subjects at ages 11 

and 12, respectively. 

He finished high school 

when he was 13 and went to 

the University of Western 

Australia, graduating with 

first class honours in mathematics 

in 1997, at the age of 

16. In 2002, he earned his PhD 

at the age of 20. Since then, 

he has gone from holding a 

postdoctoral position at MIT 

to becoming a Clay Research 

Fellow and, now a professor 

at Stanford University. 

Venkatesh has worked at 

the highest level in number 

theory, arithmetic geometry, 

topology, automorphic forms 

and ergodic theory. His research 

has been recognised 

with many awards, including 

the Ostrowski Prize, the Infosys 

Prize, the Salem Prize and 

Sastra Ramanujan Prize. 

Recently, Venkatesh and 

one of his former graduate 

students found a different 

way to prove a groundbreaking 

theorem from the 1980s 

that stated that one could tell 

whether a set of equations 

had a finite number of solutions 

or infinitely many just 

by looking at the form of the 

equations. Although the result 

is not new, their novel approach 

could lead to further 

progress in understanding 

the solvability of equations. 

“He truly is a universal 

mathematician,” said Jordan 

Ellenberg, a mathematician 

at the University of Wisconsin, 

who has worked on problems 

with Venkatesh. “His 

work has gone in a lot of different 

directions.” 

The other Fields medalists 

this year are Peter Scholze, 

30, of the University of 

Bonn; Caucher Birkar, 40, of 

the University of Cambridge 

in England; and Alessio Figalli, 

34, of the Swiss Federal 

Institute of Technology in 

Zurich. 

At 30, Scholze is one of 

the youngest ever recipients 

of the award. The youngest 

winner, Jean-Pierre Serre 

in 1954, was 27. By custom, 

Fields medals are bestowed to 

mathematicians 40 years old 

or younger. Scholze gained 

prominence when he was still 

in graduate school in 2010, 

simplifying a complicated 

booklength, 288-page proof to 

a novella-size 37-page version. 

In his mathematics, he works 

with fractal structures that he 

calls perfectoid spaces. 

Kurdish refugee turned 

Cambridge University professor 

Birkar’s field is algebraic 

geometry, which investigates 

connections between numbers 

and shapes. 

The medal, first awarded 

in 1936, was conceived by 

John Charles Fields, a Canadian 

mathematician. Each 

winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar 

cash prize. 

The act also forbade thirdparty 

countries from doing 

"significant transactions" 

with Russia in military and 

intelligence sectors through 

the threat of secondary sanctions. 

Now the modified version 

of the act requires presidential 

certifications allowing 

key US allies to trade with 

Russia. 

"I am grateful for the 

strong commitment of members 

on both sides of the aisle 

to pass this year's NDAA in 

record time. Together, they 

have demonstrated the deep 

and abiding bipartisan support 

our military enjoys," 

Mattis said. 

"It is now our duty to implement 

these policies responsibly 

and ensure a culture of 

performance and accountability." 

Among the first in 

the line of fire of anti-Russia 

sanctions was India, which 

is all set to buy five Russianmade 

S-400 Triumf advanced 

air defence systems. 

An agreement for the deal 

is expected to be signed when 

Prime Minister Narendra 

afpxy pirvfr dIaF 

KLusLIaF surwiKaq kro 

Modi visits Moscow later this 

year. Significantly, the bill 

also proposes to "strengthen 

and enhance" America's major 

defence partnership with 

India and "work toward mutual 

security objectives". 

It talks about the strategic 

Quadrilateral Dialogue 

between the US, India, Japan, 

and Australia for "expanding 

engagement in multilateral 

frameworks". 

Also known as the Quad, 

the grouping first established 

in 2007-08, was revived last 

year amid China's assertive 

maritime strategy expansion, 

land reclamation and territorial 

claims in and around the 

South China Sea. 

Thieves flee in speedboat with 

Swedish crown jewels 

AGENCIES 

Stockholm: Two 

men walked into a small 

Swedish town’s medieval 

cathedral on Tuesday and 

stole “priceless” crown 

jewels dating back to the 

early 1600s before escaping 

by speedboat, police said 

on Wednesday. 

The two vanished after 

the noon heist into a vast 

patchwork of lakes around 

Strangnas, 60 km from 

Stockholm. 

They snatched two 

gold crowns and an orb 

made for King Karl IX and 

Queen Christina in the 

daring robbery. The king’s 

crown is made of gold 

and features crystals and 

pearls, while Christina’s is 

smaller and made of gold, 

precious stones and pearls. 

The stolen items were 

on display at an exhibition 

in the cathedral. 

Visitors were inside at 

the time when the alarm 

went off as the burglars 

smashed the security glass 

and stole the artefacts. 

However, no one was hurt 

in the robbery. Police said 

the thieves could have fled 

further on jet skis. 

While the items are of 

great historic value, police 

expressed doubt whether 

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the burglary would bring 

the perpetrators financial 

gain. 

The items are a “national 

treasure” and hence 

“impossible to sell” because 

of their uniqueness 

and high visibility, Maria 

Ellior of the Swedish police’s 

National Operations 

Department said. The theft 

would be logged at Interpol, 

enabling an international 

search. 

Gursimrat Grewal 

Email:- info@familyprotectiongroup.ca 

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The International News Weekly August 03, 2018 | Toronto 06 

Bank of England raises 

UK interest rates 

Posing As A Sikh, 

Bangladeshi Man Tries To 

Rob Shop In Singapore 

London : The Bank of 

England (BoE) on Thursday 

raised its key interest 

rate by a quarter of a percentage 

point, from 0.5 per 

cent to 0.75 per cent -- the 

highest level since March 

2009. 

It is only the second 

increase in the bank rate 

since July 2007. The move 

will increase the interest 

costs of more than threeand-a-half 

million residential 

mortgages that have 

variable or tracker rates, 

the BBC reported. 

The bank's nine-member 

Monetary Policy Committee 

(MPC) voted unanimously 

for the increase, 

judging that the economy 

had bounced back from a 

soft patch earlier this year 

triggered by the freezing 

weather and heavy snowfall 

from the "beast from 

the east", according to the 

Guardian. 

While warning Brexit 

could blow the economy 

off course, the MPC said recent 

readings for economic 

growth "appear to confirm 

that the dip in output in 

the first quarter was temporary, 

with momentum 

recovering in the second 

quarter". 

The BoE said in a statement 

that the committee 

"continues to judge that 

the UK economy currently 

has a very limited degree 

of slack" and labour demand 

growth remains "robust". 

This reflects tightening 

in the labour market, with 

indicators of pay growth 

strengthening and pay 

growth projected to rise 

further. That combined 

with subdued productivity 

growth, is contributing to 

rising domestic cost pressures, 

the bank said. 

Decision makers said 

that Consumer Price Index 

(CPI) inflation was currently 

2.4 per cent (the latest 

figures in June), above 

the BoE's target of 2 per 

cent. 

The Bank's latest decision 

came amid growing 

fears over Brexit, with 

Prime Minister Theresa 

May facing parliamentary 

divisions over her plan. 

Raising interest rates 

will mean higher borrowing 

costs on mortgages and 

loans for hard-pressed consumers 

and businesses as 

they adapt to Britain leaving 

the EU, the daily said. 

John McDonnell MP, 

the shadow chancellor, 

said the rate rise would be 

bad news for hard-pressed 

households: "Given recent 

revelations that households 

are spending more 

than they receive in income 

for the first time 

since 1988, today's rise 

will be a blow to those facing 

high levels of personal 

debt." 

The British Chamber 

of Commerce said the increase 

was ill-judged and 

could hit confidence in the 

economy. 

Suren Thiru, head of 

economics at the BCC, 

said: "The decision to 

raise interest rates, while 

expected, looks ill-judged 

against a backdrop of a 

sluggish economy... It 

risks undermining confidence 

at a time of significant 

political and economic 

uncertainty." 

US tariff plan doomed to 

be futile: China 

Beijing: The US is playing 

hard and soft tactics 

with China on the trade 

issue, but such a two-faced 

approach is doomed to be 

futile and will disappoint 

countries and regions opposing 

the trade war, China's 

Ministry of Commerce 

said on Thursday. 

The comments came 

after the US threatened to 

raise tariffs on $200 billion 

worth of Chinese goods 

from 10 per cent to 25 per 

cent and later spread the 

news that it wants to restart 

negotiations with 

China. The US act set aside 

the interests of its own 

farmers, business owners, 

consumers and the interests 

of the world, the ministry 

spokesperson was 

quoted as saying by Xinhua 

news agency. 

"Facing such an escalating 

trade war threat, 

China has made full preparations 

and will be forced 

to take countermeasures 

in order to defend national 

dignity, the interests of its 

people, free trade and the 

multilateral system, as 

well as the common interests 

of all countries," the 

spokesperson said. 

He said that China 

believes in solving differences 

through dialogue, 

but that should come with 

the prerequisite of equal 

treatment and honouring 

commitments. 

The ultimate purpose 

of the US' baseless accusations 

against China is to 

suppress the latter's peaceful 

development, according 

to the spokesperson. 

"We always believe 

that bad things can be 

turned into good things 

and challenges can be converted 

into opportunities. 

We have full confidence in 

achieving the high-quality 

economic development target," 

he said. IANS 

AGENCIES 

Singapore: A Bangladeshi 

national disguised 

as a Sikh was arrested 

for trying to steal 

from a pawn shop, Singapore 

police said today. 

Sheikh Md Razan, 

29, who was working as 

a construction worker 

previously and had overstayed 

since last December, 

was arrested yesterday 

evening. 

Razan, wearing a 

pink turban, entered a 

'ValueMax' pawn shop 

outside Boon Lay Mass 

Rapid Transit station at 

about 4.30pm on July 28 

armed with a knife and 

a replica of a gun, which 

later turned out to be 

made of plastic. 

Pawn shop is a shop 

or business common for 

exchanging jewellery for 

cash in Singapore. 

On barging in the 

shop, he demanded that 

the shop's employee 

hand over to him all the 

cash and jewellery. 

When the employee 

refused, the man allegedly 

said he would blow 

up the shop, claiming he 

had an explosive device. 

He then allegedly threw 

the object onto the counter 

and fled without taking 

any items. 

The workers immediately 

threw the object 

out of the shop and called 

the police. No one was 

injured in the incident. 

The object contained 

electrical components. 

After the foiled robbery 

attempt, the suspect 

allegedly went to 

an apartment block in 

the industrial district of 

Jurong West, within the 

vicinity of the train station 

left his backpack, 

discarded his clothing 

and turban behind the 

potted plants outside a 

residence. 

The items, along with 

a chopper, were found in 

the backpack behind the 

plants. A few hours later, 

when a resident noticed 

the backpack, the police 

was alerted. 

This gave a clearer 

picture of what Razan 

looked like, the police 

said during a press conference. 

Deputy Commissioner 

of Police and Director 

of the Criminal Investigation 

Department Florence 

Chua said the suspect 

was quite surprised 

when he was caught. 

"He didn't think we 

had caught on to his disguise," 

she said. 

Bacteria too can become extinct, says study 

Toronto, July 31 

(IANS) Bacteria do become 

extinct at substantial 

rates, finds a new 

study, contradicting widely 

held scientific thinking 

that the microbes rarely 

die because of their very 

large population. 

For the study, published 

in Nature Ecology 

and Evolution, the 

team used massive DNA 

sequencing and big data 

analysis to create the first 

evolutionary tree encompassing 

a large fraction of 

Earth's bacteria over the 

past billion years. 

"Bacteria rarely fossilise, 

so we know very 

little about how the microbial 

landscape has evolved 

over time," said lead author 

Stilianos Louca, from 

University of British Columbia 

(UBC) in Canada. 

"Sequencing and math 

helped us fill in the bacterial 

family tree, map how 

they have diversified over 

time, and uncover their 

extinctions," she added. 

Despite the frequent, 

steady extinction of individual 

species, the study 

shows that overall bacteria 

have been diversifying 

exponentially without interruption. 

The team estimated 

1.4-1.9 million bacterial 

lineages exist on Earth 

today. However, 45,000 

to 95,000 extinctions occurred 

in the last million 

years. 

"While modern bacterial 

diversity is undoubtedly 

high, it's only a tiny 

snapshot of the diversity 

that evolution has 

generated over Earth's 

history,"Louca said. 

The researchers suspected 

that competition 

between bacterial species 

drive the high rate of microbial 

extinctions, leaving 

them less prone to sudden 

mass, multi-species 

extinctions.IANS


07 

Kapil, Gavaskar, Sidhu, Aamir get Imran invite 


Islamabad : Pakistan 

Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) 

party on Wednesday was 

waiting for the nod of 

the Foreign Office to invite 

Indian PM Narendra 

Modi even as it has already 

sent out invitations 

to some Bollywood and Indian 

cricket stars for PMelect 

Imran Khan’s oath 

ceremony next week. The 

PTI is likely to form a coalition 

government headed 

by 65-year-old cricketer-turnedpolitician 

Imran 

Khan. 

The guest list, sources 

said, includes some of 

Khan’s contemporaries in 

the cricket world, cricketers 

Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar 

and Navjot Singh 

Sidhu, and actor Aamir 

Khan whose blockbuster 

movie “Lagaan” was centered 

around cricket in 

colonial India. Sources 

said the invitations to the 

Indian celebrities were 

sent out on the basis of 

the good rapport Khan 

shares with them. In his 

victory speech after polls, 

Khan reminded his media 

critics that his link with 

Indians was from the days 

of playing cricket. 

Though the invites 

to the non-governmental 

guests have already been 

sent, PTI has asked the 

Foreign Office (FO) to 

confirm whether foreign 

heads of states could be 

invited to the swearing-in 

ceremony, scheduled to 

take place in Islamabad 

on August 11, three days 

before the country’s Independence 

Day. Sources 

said PTI leaders in a meeting 

with FO on Wednesday 

sought permission to 

invite Modi and heads of 

other Saarc states to the 

ceremony. 

However, a day earlier, 

PTI denied reports it 

was considering inviting 

Modi and other heads of 

Saarc countries. 

In an informal conversation 

with reporters outside 

Supreme Court after 

meeting the Chief Justice 

of Pakistan Mian Saqib 

Nisar, PTI’s spokesperson 

Fawad Chaudhry said the 

party has asked the FO 

if it would be possible to 

invite foreign dignitaries, 

including Modi, at a short 

notice. 

“The FO is yet to respond 

on the matter and 

we are waiting for it,” 

Aamir Khan denies receiving invitation to 

Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony: I am 

not going to Pakistan 

Aamir, in a statement given in to News18, said, "I am not going to 

Pakistan. Haven't received an invitation for Imran Khan's swearing 

in. He also added that in the event of him getting an invite, he is "too 

busy to go". 

" Among those reportedly invited, Navjot Singh Sidhu accepted the 

invitation on Wednesday, calling Imran a "man of character". 

The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled to be held on 11 August, the 

announcement of which was made by Imran during an interaction 

with party members of provincial assembly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on 

Monday. 

Although the PTI emerged as the single largest party in the National 

Assembly after the 25 July polls, the party is still short of numbers 

to form its government independently, according to the final results 

issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan. PTI 

Chaudhry said. He said 

the party had already 

invited celebrities like 

Aamir Khan, Kapil Dev 

and Sunil Gavaskar. 

On Tuesday, Iftikhar 

Durrani, PTI’s media 

head, said, “We have not 

extended any invite nor 

was this issue discussed 

during Monday night’s 

telephonic conversation 

between Khan and Modi.” 

The trend of inviting 

Saarc heads was started 

by Modi in 2014 for his 

oath ceremony. Former 

Pakistan prime minister 

Nawaz Sharif attended 

the event. 

Meanwhile, Navjot 

Singh Sidhu, when asked 

about his invite to the 

swearing-in ceremony, 

said: “It is a great honour, 

I accept the invitation.” 

Praising his old cricketing 

rival Imran as a “man 

of character,” Sidhu said 

“sportsmen build bridges, 

break barriers and unite 

people.” 

Respect CM, but have not 

'put a lid' on my mouth: Sidhu 

Chandigarh : Punjab 

minister Navjot Singh Sidhu 

said today he respected 

the decisions taken by Chief 

Minister Amarinder Singh 

but that did not mean he had 

"put a lid" on his mouth. 

The cricketer-turnedpolitician 

asserted he was 

answerable to the people 

who did not vote for "us" to 

become "deaf and dumb". 

"I am answerable to the 

people. I also respect CM Sahib. 

He has his opinion and 

I have my own," said Sidhu 

when asked that Amarinder 

Singh had reportedly not 

shown "inclination" to act on 

his allegations against the 

previous Badal government. 

"If any politician or officer 

is found to be involved 

in looting the state then he 

should not go scot free. His 

properties should be attached. 

Punishing the wrong 

doer is justice...I do not consider 

it vendetta. I consider 

it justice," said Sidhu who 

had made several allegations 

against the Badals earlier. 

I respect 'CM sahib' because 

his is the final authority, 

said Sidhu. 

On the policy of regularisation 

of illegal colonies, 

Sidhu said, "we all respect 

whatever decision is taken 

by the CM". But it does not 

mean that I've put a lid on 

my mouth, he said. 

Did people vote for us to 

become deaf and dumb? he 

asked. 

Sidhu said he had expressed 

his dissent on the 

contentious policy for regularisation 

of illegal colonies. 

"I gave my dissent and said 

it is not a futuristic decision. 

The final decision is 

to be taken by the CM. I can 

only put forth my view," said 

Sidhu. 

Sidhu in the last state 

cabinet meeting had questioned 

that why the responsibility 

of officers who 

helped colonisers build illegal 

colonies should not be 

fixed. 

Asked if he was being 

targeted within the party, 

Sidhu said the more he was 

criticised, the more determined 

he would become. 

However, he added that 

his suggestions on the sand 

mining policy were not rejected 

by the CM. 

"Whether it is a sin to 

give a trolley of sand at Rs 

800 to Rs 1000. Telangana 

state earned revenue of Rs 

1,400 crore against Rs 40 

crore earned by Punjab. 

Rates are linked with supply. 

When we have sand 

which can meet requirement 

for 200 years, then why 

rates should go up," he said. 

Sidhu said he had suggested 

that government 

should have a stockyard for 

sand. 

"Whatever the cabinet 

decides, it is a joint decision 

and it is collective responsibility 

and I am not separate 

from the cabinet," said 

Sidhu. 

He also demanded leaders 

allegedly involved in 

drug trade should be arrested. 

On the issue of turmoil in 

AAP, Sidhu alleged the party 

was 'team B' of the Akali Dal. 

"I consider it a conspiracy of 

the Akali Dal and it (AAP) is 

a team B of Akali Dal...When 

rift takes place in the party, 

who will become the Leader 

of Opposition," Sidhu asked. 

It would be Sukhbir Singh 

Badal, he said answering the 

question. 

Sidhu expressed confidence 

that Rahul Gandhi 

would become the next 

prime minister. 

"Why am I upbeat about 

Rahul? It is his thought process 

which is connected with 

the young India. He talks to 

me about what the youth 

want. The more you meet 

him, the more you trust him. 

He is the future," said Sidhu. 

He accused Prime 

Minister Narendra Modi of 

failing to honour his promises, 

including jobs to the 

youth. 

Asked to comment on 

Imran Khan's (who is set to 

become Pak's PM) stand on 

Kashmir, Sidhu said that he 

was always with the government 

of India on this issue. 

Pakistan welcomes 

Modi's phone call 

to Imran Khan 

Islamabad : Pakistan on Thursday welcomed Indian 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's congratulatory 

phone call to Prime Minister in-waiting Imran Khan 

earlier this week and said it hopes that the gesture will 

pave the way for bilateral talks. 

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Muhammad 

Faisal during a weekly briefing here said that he hoped 

the phone call will help improve ties with South Asian 

Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member 

states. 

Modi, in his phone call, had told Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf 

(PTI) chief Khan that India was "ready to enter 

a new era of relations with Islamabad" and that both 

countries should adopt a joint strategy for progress in 

bilateral ties. 

Islamabad's ties with Saarc member states have been 

tenuous since the 19th summit which was supposed to be 

held in Pakistan in 2016. It was cancelled after India boycotted 

the event, causing Afghanistan, Bangladesh and 

Bhutan to also pull out, according to Dawn newspaper. 

Earlier this week, the PTI had been deliberating inviting 

foreign dignitaries including heads of Saarc member 

states to Khan's oath-taking ceremony, but decided 

against it on Thursday. 

In earlier discussions with the Foreign Office, PTI 

leaders were told that extending invitations to heads of 

state was "a sensitive matter". IANS

The International News Weekly india 

August 03, 2018 | Toronto 08 

SC/ST amendment bill to be introduced 

in Parliament in this session: Rajnath 

LS passes amendment 

bill on OBC Commission 


' 

New Delhi: Home Minister 

Rajnath Singh on Thursday 

said a bill to amend the 

SC/ST Atrocities Prevention 

Act, approved by the Cabinet 

on Wednesday, will be introduced 

in Parliament in the 

ongoing session for consideration 

and passage. 

The Leader of Congress 

in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun 

Kharge, asked why the 

ordinance route was not 

adopted in this "important" 

case when the government 

brought six ordinances in 

several other bills. 

"I am surprised... I don't 

know why the members 

are raising this issue now. 

I think they are aware and 

they have the knowledge 

that the Union Cabinet under 

the chairmanship of Prime 

Minister Narendra Modi approved 

The Scheduled Castes 

and the Scheduled Tribes 

(Prevention of Atrocities) 

Amendment Bill," Rajnath 

Singh said in the Lok Sabha 

during Zero Hour. 

He said the country 

knew that the Supreme 

Court had diluted the SC/ST 

Act through its ruling that a 

preliminary enquiry was required 

to arrest any person 

even under the SC/ST Act 

meant for preventing atrocities 

against those covered 

under the Act. 

"The Prime Minister had 

said if there is any dilution in 

the Act, we will bring a bill. 

And there is no if and but in 

it, he (Modi) had promised. 

He also said the government 

will not allow dilution of SC/ 

ST Act," Singh said. 

"We will introduce the 

Bill in this session of Parliament 

to make it a law." 

Kharge, who raised the 

issue during Zero Hour 

in Lok Sabha, said: "Four 

months have passed but no 

action has been taken by 

the government to nullify 

the Supreme Court order, 

which was a dilution of the 

SC/ST Act. They brought six 

ordinances, but why no ordinance 

in such an important 

matter." 

Kharge pointed out ordinances 

were brought in 

Insolvency and Bankruptcy 

Code (Amendment) bill, National 

Sports University bill, 

Homeopathy Central Council 

(Amendment) bill, Fugitive 

Economic Offenders bill, 

Criminal Law (Amendment) 

bill and Commercial Courts, 

Commercial Division, Commercial 

Appellate Division 

of High Courts (Amendment) 

bill. "Atrocities against SC/ 

ST are increasing in the 

country. Bring a bill tomorrow, 

and we will pass," said 

Kharge. 

"The government has not 

done anything to nullify the 

Supreme Court order. You 

bring ordinances for every 

small issue, why didn't you 

bring an ordinance for this 

issue," he said. 

The Home Minister's remarks 

come a day after the 

Union Cabinet decided to restore 

a provision of the SC/ 

ST Act allowing the arrest 

of accused persons without a 

preliminary enquiry or prior 

approval that was struck 

down by the Supreme Court. 

The preamble of the 

amendment says that the 

decision to arrest or not to 

arrest cannot be taken away 

from the investigating officer, 

a power given under the 

Criminal Procedure Code in 

which there is no provision 

for a preliminary enquiry. 

Under the new provision, 

no preliminary enquiry will 

be required for registering 

FIRs against the accused and 

arrest of persons accused 

under the SC/ST Act and 

this will not require any approval. 

The provision of anticipatory 

bail shall not be 

available to the accused notwithstanding 

any court judgment. 


The bill was passed by Lok Sabha on April 10, 

2017. 

Gehlot took a dig at Congress, saying its members 

had supported the bill in Lok Sabha last year but had 

changed their position in the Rajya Sabha. 

Congress members in the Rajya Sabha had moved 

an amendment to clause 3 of the bill seeking to provide 

for appointment of all the five members of the 

commission from the OBC community, including a 

woman and a person from the minority community. 

Gehlot said that the suggestion for "religionbased 

reservation" in composition of the commission 

was unconstitutional. 

He said once the OBC commission gets constitutional 

status, 80 per cent of the demands of members 

will be met. 

BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab said states 

should not be forced to come to the central government 

to about their lists of OBCs. 

Gehlot said the Commission will decide on the 

central list and states will need to come to it if they 

want OBCs from their list to be included in the central 

list. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the Lok 

Sabha when the amendment bill was passed with a 

majority of total members present and not less than 

two thirds of those present and voting. 

The bill is seen to be a push by the BJP to consolidate 

its support among OBCs ahead of state elections 

this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2019. 

The bill seeks to grant NCBC constitutional status 

at par with the National Commission for Scheduled 

Castes (NCSC) and the National Commission for 

Scheduled Tribes. 

AAP crisis in Punjab 


They said that they 

impressed upon the central 

leadership not to initiate 

action against legislators 

and leaders who attended 

the Bathinda event. 

After various leaders, 

including Khaira, had addressed 

the convention, 

resolutions were verbally 

moved and passed by the 

gathering. AAP legislator 

and former journalist Kanwar 

Sandhu read out the 

resolutions. 

One resolution dissolved 

the party's organisational 

structure in Punjab 

and authorised the event 

organisers and legislators 

present to prepare a blueprint 

for the new party 

structure in Punjab. 

Through another 

resolution, the convention 

rejected the removal of 

Khaira as Leader of Opposition 

and appointment of 

Dalit leader Harpal Singh 

Cheema in his place. 

The convention demanded 

a meeting of party 

legislators in Chandigarh 

to elect the new incumbent 

for the post. 

With its Punjab unit 

amid a crisis, the AAP 

blamed the Rashtriya 

Swayamsevak Sangh, Shiromani 

Akali Dal, Bharatiya 

Janata Party and MLAs 

Balwinder Singh Bains and 

his younger brother Simarjeet 

Singh Bains for trying 

to split the party. 

The AAP became the 

main opposition in Punjab 

Assembly after elections in 

March last year, winning 

20 seats in the 117-member 

house.

The International News Weekly india 


09 

Akali Dal demands citizenship for 

displaced Afghan Sikhs, Hindus 

New Delhi : A Delhi 

Court allowed Congress MP 

Shashi Tharoor, accused of 

abetment to suicide of his 

wife Sunanda Pushkar, to 

visit foreign countries. 

Additional Chief Metropolitan 

Magistrate Samar 

Vishal at the Patiala House 


Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali 

Dal (SAD) on Thursday urged Union 

Home Minister Rajnath Singh to grant 

citizenship to all Afghan Sikh and 

Hindu families who have taken refuge 

in India after fleeing persecution in 

Afghanistan. While demanding that 

the country must come to the aid of all 

these displaced persons, a SAD delegation 

met the Minister in New Delhi on 

Thursday. 

The delegation, which included 

union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat 

Kaur Badal, MPs Sukhdev 

Singh Dhindsa, Prem Singh Chandumajra 

and Naresh Gujral and other 

senior SAD leaders, said there were 

around 35,000 Afghan Sikh and Hindu 

families currently living in India. 

The delegation apprised the Home 

Minister that these people had fled 

Afghanistan after the Taliban took 

control in 1989. They pointed out that 

Courts granted the 

permission to Tharoor, 

asking him to 

furnish a fixed deposit 

receipt (FDR) 

of Rs two lakh which 

would be refunded after his 

return. Tharoor's counsel 

and senior advocate Vikash 

Pahwa had moved 

the application 

seeking permission 

for eight visits to 

five different countries 

including the 

US, Canada and Germany, 

till December. 

The court has directed 

these families faced harassment and 

persecution in the war-torn country 

due to forced conversions and danger 

to their womenfolk. 

Harsimrat Badal urged Rajnath 

Singh to grant passports to all these 

displaced persons besides rehabilitating 

them by offering a comprehensive 

package to them as was done in 

the case of Kashmiri Pandits and Sri 

Lankan Tamils. 

The Home Minister promised to 

form a committee comprising Sikh 

representatives to examine the entire 

matter and make recommendations 

for resolving it. 

Court allows Tharoor to go abroad 

8-month pregnant woman 

gang-raped in Maharashtra 

Tharoor to provide the tavel 

details to the investigating 

officer. It also asked the accused 

not to tamper with 

the evidence or influence 

the witnesses in the case. On 

June 5, the court took cognizance 

of the charge sheet 

filed by the police. 

Kejriwal alleges Modi 

government killing 

independent media 


New Delhi : Days after two eminent journalists of a 

TV channel quit their jobs, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind 

Kejriwal on Thursday alleged the Modi government was 

behind their resignation and that the Centre was killing 

independent media in the country. 

In a tweet, Kejriwal said: "Free media is life-line of 

democracy. But Modi government is hell-bent to kill independent 

media. The resignation of two eminent TV 

journalists from ABP News in two days is another proof. 

Media should rise now, otherwise it will be too late." 

Within two days, ABP's editorial head Milind 

Khandekar and anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai have resigned 

from the channel and the ABP's flagship show, 

'Masterstroke' is taken off. 

In one of its shows, it had covered Prime Minister 

Narendra Modi's interaction with a Chhattisgarh woman 

who claimed her agricultural income had doubled after 

she switched from paddy to 'sitafal' farming. 

A report broadcast by Masterstroke later interviewed 

the same woman, who claimed that officials from Delhi 

had 'tutored' her before her interaction with the Prime 

Minister to falsely claim that her income had doubled. 

As the news spread widely on Twitter, Union Minister 

Rajyavardhan Rathore slammed the media organisation 

and questioned its journalistic ethics. 

Days later, viewers complained that they were facing 

difficulties in watching the programme because of 'disturbance 

and blackouts.' 

Mumbai/Sangli: A 

shocking case of an eightmonth 

pregnant woman 

from Satara being gangraped 

by eight men in 

Sangli has come to light. 

Taking serious note, the 

Maharashtra State Commission 

for Women on 

Thursday sought a report 

from the local police. 

The incident occurred 

around 6 a.m. on Tuesday 

when the 20-year-old woman, 

along with her hotelier 

husband, had gone to Turchi 

Phata in Tasgaon for a 

business meeting. 

An official of Tasgaon 

police station told IANS 

that the hotelier and his 

wife were on the lookout to 

hire a couple for their hotel 

business. 

One of the accused, 

Mukund Mane, had called 

him (the hotelier) to Turchi 

Phata claiming such a 

couple was ready to work 

for them and asked him to 

bring Rs 20,000 as advance 

payment for them. 

When they reached 

the location, Mane and his 

men pounced on the hotelier 

couple, assaulted them 

with pipes and sticks, 

robbed them of the cash 

besides the woman's gold 

ornaments. 

Then they tied up 

the husband, gagged and 

locked him inside his vehicle 

and then allegedly 

gang-raped the woman. 

They ignored her repeated 

pleas to let her go 

since she was eight months 

pregnant and after committing 

the crime escaped 

from there. The attackers 

threatened them against 

informing the police claiming 

"they were locally very 

influential and nobody 

would listen to them". 

Later, the couple managed 

to reach the Tasgaon 

police station and registered 

a complaint. The 

woman has named four 

of the eight accused - Mukund 

Mane, Sagar, Javed 

Khan and Vinod - in her 

FIR. 

Nearly 48 hours after 

the incident, the police 

have yet to make arrests.


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