16 - 31 March 2020 The Asian Independent

22 16-03-2020 to 31-03-2020 WORLD
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s sister
to join Bhim Army chief’s party
New Delhi : Thirty-six years
after Kanshi Ram floated the
Bahujan Samaj Party, his sister
Sarwan Kaur is set to join Bhim
Army chief Chandrashekhar’s newly
floated Azad Samaj Party (ASP) in a
major blow to the BSP-led by
Mayawati. Seen as an upcoming
alternative to the Mayawati-led
BSP, ASP is expected to induct sister
of BSP’s founder Kanshi Ram as
Patron of the party Mayawati’s BSP
has lost back to back elections in its
homeground Uttar Pradesh. Many
feel the Bahujan Samaj Party that
was founded on the birth anniversary
of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar
on April 14, 1984, by Kanshi Ram,
who named former schoolteacher,
Mayawati, as his successor in 2001
is not what it used to be.
According to source close to the
Bhim Army chief, Chandrashekhar
has already left for Punjab for the
same and the induction ceremony of
Kanshi Ram’s sister Sarwan Kaur is
expected to happen on Monday afternoon
at an undisclosed location
there. Kaur has been a vocal critic of
Mayawati. Kaur had even gone
ahead and accused Mayawati of murdering
her brother to hijack the
movement started by him. "Kanshi
Ram was a leader for you but he was
a brother for me. Mayawati backstabbed
him and destroyed his movement.
She murdered him," Kaur said
for the first time in 2015, since then
she has been working in Punjab. She
also extended her support on various
occasions to leaders and parties that
she claimed are aligned with Kanshi
Ram’s ideology. "Chandrashekhar
has been inviting her as a speaker in
various protests and public meeting
of the Bhim Army and now with
Azad floating his party, Sarwan Ji
was the best to lead us," a senior
functionary in the Bhim Army and
close associate of Chandrashekhar
told IANS. The exact post for Kaur is
not known but many in party say she
would be inducted as ’Sanrakshak’
(Patron) or ’Sanyojak’ (Convenor) to
suit her seniority and also to pay her
respect for her struggle during these
years.Chandrashekhar was one of the
most prominent faces of countrywide
protests against the citizenship law,
and on Sunday he launched his political
group, which he called the "Azad
Samaj Party".
The launch took place on the
birth anniversary of BSP founder
and Dalit icon Kanshi Ram. The
Bhim Army, Azad said, will run parallel
to the party and continue to
fight for Dalit rights and enrol new
members. The party flag is a white
band between two blue strips, with
Azad Samaj Party written in the
middle.
Over 81,000 posts vacant
in Pak federal govt
Islamabad : Of the total 663,234 sanctioned posts in the
Pakistan federal government, over 81,000 were currently vacant,
according to official data. According to data issued by the
Establishment Division on Wednesday, the total number of sanctioned
federal government posts stood at 663,234 but 581,755
employees and officers were available for these positions, showing
a vacancy of about 81,479 posts, or 12.29 per cent of the total,
reports Dawn news. Similarly, a total of 399,265 employees were
working in 206 autonomous bodies and corporations of the federal
government against the sanctioned strength of 515,174, showing a
shortfall of 115,909. In the previous year, there were 492,564 sanctioned
posts, of which 397,487 were occupied. This shows an
increase of 4.59 per cent in the sanctioned and 0.45 per cent in the
actual working strength for government bodies. It follows that the
public sector employment situation is a mixed trend of increase and
decrease in the number of civil servants over the past 10 years. The
job opportunities in public sector almost remained fluctuant
between 2009-10 and 2018-19.
However, during the last five years, from 2014-15 to 2018-19,
the size of the federal government in respect of its sanctioned and
actual strength of employees shows an upward trend of 6.17 per
cent and 5.96 per cent (on average basis), respectively. Meanwhile,
there are 16,612 non-Muslim employees in the federal government,
while 14,989 are Christians, 297 Ahmadis, 1,073 Hindus (caste),
173 Hindus (non-caste), 18 Sikhs and 62 belong to other religions.
Tahir Hussain
arrested for IB
staffer’s murder
New Delhi : Suspended
AAP councillor Tahir Hussain
was on Monday arrested in
connection with murder of
Intelligence Bureau (IB)
staffer, Ankit Sharma, during
the recent violence in the
national capital. "He has been
arrested," a Delhi Police official
told IANS.
The police have sought his
custody for five days in connection
with the case. He is
also accused for involvement in
instigating the violence.
The police had registered a
criminal case against him on a
complaint filed by deceased IB
staffer’s father. As per the postmortem
report, Sharma sustained
51 injuries and died due
to haemorrhage. Salman alias
Haseen is also in police custody
in connection with the murder.
The police had, last week, told
the court that he will soon be
confronted with Hussain to
unearth the conspiracy.
Hussain’s brother, Shah
Alam, was also arrested in connection
with the riots and is
currently in judicial custody.
Cab driver makes
containment
compartment in
car to cover himself
New Delhi : Amid coronavirus scare, a video is
doing the rounds
on the social
media which
shows a cab
driver making a
container with a
plastic sheet to
cover himself
completely.
An Instagram
user @phildoeshair
shared the
video of the
scene with the
caption, "My
Lyft driver created
this airtight
seal in his car. If
anyone out there is doing Lyft or Uber for work, you
may consider doing this to protect yourself and others.
Just wanted to post this so you can see how one
guy is helping keep himself and others safe." In the
shared video, the man can be seen driving the car --
fashioned inside a self-containment compartment
made out of plastic and tape with a box of tissues sitting
at his side.
As the post went viral, social media has been
abuzz with reactions. "That’s not obstructing his rear
view mirror?" asked one user.
Another wrote, "Air tight...how’s the dude breathing
then?"
A post read, "That’s ridiculous. He should just
wear a face mask if he’s that paranoid. Clownworld."
"Good on him for doing the best he knows how!" a
user remarked.