01-10-2022 The Asian Independent

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Vol : 06 : #101 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

Cong to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti

with eye on Assembly polls

Bhopal : On Sunday (October 2),

the nation will celebrate the 153rd

birth anniversary of the Father of

Nation -- Mahatma Gandhi.

This year on the occasion of

Gandhi Jayanti, political parties as

well many politicians in Madhya

Pradesh have made plans to organise

special programmes.

To begin with, the grand old party,

which still claims to be moving on the

Gandhian path or ideology, has made

elaborate plans to kick start its programmes

on Gandhi Jayanti.

However, the plan is completely

focused on Assembly elections scheduled

to be held towards the end of

2023. The Madhya Pradesh Congress

will kick start its mega plan of organising

’Gandhi Chaupal’ across the

state. The event that will continue till

January 30, aims to reach out to the

people of the state ahead of upcoming

New Delhi : Refuelling at

petrol pumps in the national capital

will not be possible without

Pollution Under Control (PUC)

certificate from October 25, the

AAP government said on

Saturday.

"In a bid to curb vehicular pollution,

the government in Delhi

has decided that petrol and diesel

will not be provided without PUC

certificate at petrol pumps in the

national capital from October 25",

Delhi Environment Minister

Gopal Rai said here.

Rai said that a notification in

this regard will also be issued

soon. He said that a meeting of

officials from environment, transport

and traffic departments was

convened on September 29 to discuss

the implementation and

modalities where it was decided to

go ahead with the plan from

October 25.

The minister further said no

proposal for odd and even is being

considered by the Government

this time. But, the government is

focussing on GRAP formula which

will be applicable on AQI basis.

He also said that the Delhi government

will launch its 24X7 war room

on October 3 to combat pollution and

ensure effective and serious implementation

of amended Graded

Response Action Plan (GRAP).

assembly polls. The Congress plans to

reach out to people of all 23,000 villages

by holding ’Gandhi Chaupal’,

during which programmes like Gandhi

No fuel at Delhi petrol pumps without

PUC certificate from Oct 25

"If the AQI remains

between 200-300, then as

per GRAP, strict compliance

will be taken on the

dust generation from the

construction, waste management

and order can be

issued to stop the generator

set", Rai said addressing the

media.

He further elaborated if

the AQI goes between 300-

400 level, a ban on tandoor,

diesel set will be imposed

and parking fee will have to

be increased along with riding

the metro trips.

Vehicles coming from

outside will be banned if

AQI goes 400-500 and the

big vehicles of Delhi will

be closed, he added. If AQI

goes more than 450, more

strict steps will be taken,

said Rai, adding that there

is no consideration of the

odd-even formula now.

The minister said that an

anti-dust campaign will

also be launched in Delhi from

October 6, where sudden inspections

will be conducted at construction

sites to check the dust pollution.

Chikkaballapur, (Karnataka) :

Ten persons have been booked in connection

with alleged inhuman act of

tying a 14-year-old Dalit boy to the

pole and thrashing him in this district

of the state, police said on Saturday.

According to police, the incident

took place in the limits of Chintamani

Rural Police Station. The accused,

belonging to the upper caste, had

allegedly assaulted the Dalit boy suspecting

him of theft.

Yashwanth, a resident of

Kempadenahalli, was playing with

other boys and girls of his age. It was

alleged that Yashwanth had stolen gold

earrings of a girl

belonging to the

upper caste.

Suspecting the

boy’s role, the

upper caste group

had dragged the

victim boy and

tied him to an

electrical pole and

thrashed him. His

mother was also

beaten up when

she came running

to rescue her son.

Yashwanth and

Bhajan - ’Vaishnav Jan To Tene

Kahiye’ would be chanted along with

villagers.

For this purpose, the Madhya

Pradesh Congress Committee

(MPCC) has directed it district and

block-level cadre in advance to get

prepared. "It would be mandatory for

all Congress leader and workers to

attend Gandhi Chaupal. District and

block level workers would fix a particular

date and will send it to the state

committee. Chaupal will be held

between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., during

which Gandhiji’s mantra and bhajan

would be chanted along with people of

villages," MPCC’s notification to district

party headwaters issued last

month stated. Besides, Mahatma

Gandhi’s bhajans and Vande Matram,

social programmes would also be

organised in all regions in local

dialects. The ’Nukkad Natak’ (programmes)

on subjects like freedom

fighters belonging to the particular

region, struggle of the Congress for

the freedom of the country, current

social and cultural scenario and many

more will be organised.

Madhya Pradesh’s ruling BJP has

also planned to observe Gandhi

Jayanti with special announcement of

government schemes.

On the other hand, senior BJP

leader and former Madhya Pradesh

Chief Minister Uma Bharti would

begin her "silent protest" on October

2, as she has announced during a press

conference in Bhopal on September 9.

Bharti, who has been taking on the

Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government

on its liquor policy, later softened

her attack. However, she has

mentioned that she would continue her

fight against the use of drugs and

liquor across the state.

Suspected of theft, Dalit boy tied

to a pole, thrashed in K’taka

his mother have been admitted to a

government hospital. The incident had

taken place on Thursday and it came to

light now. Chintamani Rural Police

have recorded the statements of the

victim boy and his mother.

They have lodged a police case

against 10 persons belonging to the

upper caste and are investigating the

matter. Notably, upper caste people had

imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on a Dalit

boy’s family for touching the idol of

Hindu God in Chikkaballapur district.

The boy’s family was also boycotted

and the issue was resolved after intervention

of government agencies.

2

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS

www.theasianindependent.co.uk

Suriya on winning

NATIONAL AWARD: This

one's for you, dear fans!

Prices of essential food

items significantly spike

Chennai : Actor Suriya, who received the National Award for

Best Actor from President Draupadi Murmu for his sterling performance

as 'Maara' in director Sudha Kongara's Tamil film

'Soorarai Pottru', has dedicated the award to his 'Anbaana fans'.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday to express his gratitude, Suriya

said: "Ever grateful Sudha! Hearty congratulations to all the

winners. This one's for you Anbana fans!! #SooraraiPottru

#NationalFilmAwards." The actor also responded to a tweet by

Ajay Devgn, who had along with Suriya jointly won the Best

Actor Award for his role in the Hindi film, 'Tanhaji - The Unsung

Warrior'. Ajay Devgn had initially tweeted: "It was fantastic to

share time with my esteemed colleague & fellow best actor

award winner, Suriya. Deeply respect his talent and love his

movies."Suriya responded to Ajay's tweet: "Thank you for the

love and warmth sir! So nice to have shared this moment with

youa Lots of respect. Waiting for 'Kaithi' and the next

'Singham'." 'Soorarai Pottru', which was partly inspired by

events from the life of Air Deccan founder Captain G. R.

Gopinath, swept five National Awards including the awards for

Best Feature Film, Best Actor and Best Actress at the 68th

National Film Awards.

New Delhi : The average

retail prices of essential food

items, including rice, wheat

and atta, have significantly

increase in the last one year.

The prices of wheat and atta

have gone up considerably in

the last few months and as per

traders in wholesale markets

in the national capital, wheat

rates have seen a spike crossing

a record Rs 2,560 per

quintal due to slower supplies

and robust demand.

According to traders in Delhi,

the heatwave earlier this year

led to lower production of

wheat impacting the domestic

supplies of the agricultural

produce.

Jai Prakash Jindal of Delhi

Lawrence Road Mandi said

that the prices are set to spike

further.

"Currently, wheat prices is at Rs 2,560

per quintal. It is likely to rise further to the

level of Rs 2,600 in the coming days during

this festive season," he said.

The mandi prices were ruling at around

Rs 2,150-Rs 2,175/quintal since the ban on

wheat export was imposed on May 14.

Jindal said that production was at a

lower side this year and the government

did not stop the export at a right time.

"A lot of wheat was already exported by

the time the government imposed the ban.

It should have been done earlier," he said.

Government data also showed a similar

trend in the average retail prices of rice,

wheat and atta.

As per the data of the Consumer Affairs

Department, the average retail price of atta

was Rs 36.13 per kg. Similarly, the average

retail price of rice on Friday was Rs 38.2

per kg and that of wheat was Rs 31.

Traders said that while wheat prices

have registered a rise of nearly 14-15 per

cent, the rates of atta have gone up by nearly

18-19 per cent. Similarly, retail prices

have also gone up by nearly 7-8 per cent in

Delhi retail markets.

Traders said that the reasons for the

increase in wheat prices include various

factors like international demand-supply

situation, rise in global commodity prices

and the Russia-Ukraine war.

103-year old voter honoured in poll-bound Himachal

Shimla : In the run up to the

Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh,

Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg

on Saturday felicitated 103-year old

retired government teacher Pyar

Singh, who has been declared district

icon, by visiting his house in Chamba

town.

All voters above the age of 80 years

were honoured across the state with a

citation signed by Chief Election

Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at functions

to mark the International Day of

Older Persons.

Singh first voted in year 1952 and

since then he has never missed an

opportunity to cast his vote. He normally

walks to the nearest polling

booth at Hatnala Mohalla to cast his

vote. He is a retired school teacher

from Government Boys School in

Chamba. "It is a unique initiative of

Election Commission of India (ECI)

to honour and thank the elderly voters

on October 1, which is marked as

International Day for Older Persons

and the day inspires millions of young

voters," said Garg. He said the contribution

of elderly voters in the

electoral process is important.

The CEO also released

an election mascot bearing a

tagline "Mu Bi Gaana Vote

Paana" (I will also go to vote)

under SVEEP activities for

awareness of the people.

It is an SVEEP mascot,

named 'Bholu' dressed in traditional

Gaddi attire, urging

voters to go and cast vote and at the

same time giving a message for the

conservation of brown bear, an endangered

species mostly found in the

Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary of Chamba.

The hill state, which is likely to go to

the polls for 68-member Assembly in

November, has 122,093 voters above

80 years of age. A total of 1,190 of

them are above 100 years.

The Sullah Assembly constituency

in Kangra district has 2,936 elderly,

while Fatehpur seat in Kangra has 72

centenarian voters, the highest in the

state.

Team AI :

Devinder Chander

Editor-in-chief

Columnists

V.B. Rawat

Farzana Suri

Arun Kumar

Rahul Kumar

Head Office

Samaj Media Enterprise Ltd.

46 Summer Road

Erdington, Birmingham UK

B23 6UR

+44 7878 456 484

+44 121 565 4810

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Worst is yet to come for global

economy: Credit Suisse

New Delhi : In emerging economies,

weaker external demand and dollar

strength will weigh on growth, foreign

brokerage Credit Suisse said in a report.

Inflation has likely peaked in most

emerging economies, but central banks

should continue hiking at least through

the end of 2022, the report said.

"Overall, the economic environment

for risk assets is deteriorating.

Stagnating global industrial production,

persistent cost pressures, and rising

financing costs all suggest a prolonged

period of low risk appetite," Credit

Suisse said.

"High inflation and tight labour markets

lead us to raise our forecasts for

interest rates significantly higher.

Global central banks are now hiking at

the fastest pace since 1979. We see little

prospect for any pivots toward easing.

We have cut our GDP growth forecasts.

More tightening, rising real yields, energy

price shocks in Europe, and China's

ongoing property market stress and

Covid lockdowns have led us to cut our

GDP growth forecasts," Credit Suisse

said.

Global GDP is set to grow 2.6 per

cent in 2022 and just 1.6 per cent in

2023. The US has entered a prolonged

period of below-trend growth.

"A recession is not our base case, but

the probability is rising. Tighter financial

conditions are causing cyclical

spending to contract. However, healthy

household and business balance sheets

provide a buffer. The Fed is expected to

continue to tighten aggressively to a terminal

rate of 4.5-4.75 per cent.

"The Euro area and the UK are

already in recession. Recent fiscal

measures should mitigate the depth of

the downturn from the energy shock.

However, inflation is broadening and

FX weakness adds to price pressures, so

monetary policy will continue to tighten

aggressively. We forecast the ECB to

hike to 3 per cent and the BoE to hike to

4.5 per cent by early 2023," it added.

"China is in a growth recession.

Lockdown disruptions, low passthrough

from infrastructure stimulus,

and insufficient support to the real estate

sector have led us to cut our GDP

growth estimate for this year to 3.5 per

cent," the report said.

* The Asian Independent and people associated with it are not responsible for any claims made by the advertisers and do not endorse in any products or services advertised. Please visit www.theasianindependent.com/tc for more information.


Meth, cocaine valued

at over Rs 1K cr seized

in Navi Mumbai

ASIA

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

3

Black Cocaine valued at

Rs 13cr seized; 2 foreign

nationals held

New Delhi : The Mumbai

zone of the Narcotics Control

Bureau (NCB) has busted an

international drugs syndicate

and arrested its two members

including a Bolivian woman

and a Nigerian national who

were smuggling 'Black

Cocaine' valued at Rs 13 crore,

an official said on Friday.

The Black Cocaine is a rare

drug which is a mixture of regular

cocaine with other chemicals

to dodge the sniffer dogs,

and also manipulate dosage as

per target consumer.

A senior NCB official said

that they got a tip-off that a

South American national would

be arriving at Mumbai through

flight with a consignment of

drugs which would be further

passed around Mumbai and in

nearby states.

"The input was closely monitored

and carefully analysed

after which a Bolivian lady

who was to be travelling from

Brazil to Goa with layovers at

Addis Ababa and Mumbai was

identified. The official laid a

trap and the woman was

caught," said the NCB official.

The woman was held on

September 26 shortly after her

flight landed. She was moving

around to board the connecting

flight to Goa but was nabbed.

The official said that she was

questioned in routine manner

about her purpose of visit and

contents in her luggage to

which she could not give any

satisfactory reply.

"Consequently, a thorough

search of her luggage led to discovery

of false cavities wherein

12 packets were stored. Upon

checking the packets, black

coloured substance was found.

She eventually confessed that

the material is (3.2 kg) Black

Cocaine. She confessed that

she was supposed to deliver the

said consignment to an foreign

receiver in Goa," the official

said.

The NCB officials later also

identified the receiver of Black

Cocaine in Goa.

A trap was laid out at a hotel

in Goa and an Nigerian national

was apprehended.

The Nigerian national also

confessed about being part of

the international drug syndicate.

The seizure comes at the

onset of the festive and party

season in the region and since

the type of drug is new, it

would have been sold off easily

into the market.

The trend is being initiated

by various drug syndicates to

attract newer consumers.

New Delhi : The Directorate

of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)

on Saturday said it has recovered

198 kg crystal methamphetamine

and 9 kg cocaine

valued at Rs 1,476 crore in

Navi Mumbai. A DRI official

said that it was one of the

biggest seizures of methamphetamine

and cocaine in the

country. "Based on intelligence

inputs, surveillance was maintained

for 10-13 days looking

for the consignment of fruits

being cleared from some cold

shortages. On Friday evening,

the team of DRI Mumbai officers

intercepted a truck in

Vashi, carrying imported

oranges. On thorough checking

and examination, a huge quantity

of drugs was found concealed

in the cartons carrying

Valencia oranges," the official

said. The official said that the

said truck had left the Prabhu

Hira Ice & Cold Storage in

Vashi along with goods laden.

This is a new kind of modus

operandi involving concealment

of drugs in the boxes of

"Valencia Oranges" imported

from South Africa.

After clearance of such

oranges from Customs area, the

goods used to get stored in

some cold storages located in

Vashi. "The importer of the

goods has been nabbed and is

being questioned. Further

search operations for identifying

and nabbing the people

involved in running this chain

of smuggling of drugs is underway,"

the DRI official said.

TDP Twitter account

targetted by hackers

Amaravati : The Telugu

Desam Party's official Twitter

account, @JaiTDP, was targeted

by hackers on Saturday. The

Twitter handle displayed the

user ID 'Tyler Hobbs' instead

of the political party's username.

Alleging that supporters

of the ruling YSRCP in Andhra

Pradesh are behind the hacking

attack, the TDP supporters

have lodged a complaint with

the police, party sources said.

Efforts were on to restore the

Twitter account.

TDP supporters realised the

party Twitter account was

hacked after noticing that the

party-related posts had been

replaced by posts about the

visual arts on Saturday.

The hackers' bio on the

TDP handle stated "Visual

artist working with algorithms,

plotters, and paint. Sometimes

I write about art on my site.

Creator of Fidenza, co-creator

of QQL".

The TDP Twitter had suffered

a hacking attack in the

past too.

On an earlier occasion, the

party managed to restore the

account within a few hours.

Delhi: DCPs told to present

reports on sexual harassment

cases of last 5 yrs

New Delhi : Delhi Police

Commissioner Sanjay Arora

has directed all the Deputy

Commissioners to file a

detailed report on all sexual

harassment cases that were

reported to the internal complaint

committee in the last five

years.

The order was reportedly

issued by the top cop on

September 30 to all the district

DCPs. The DCPs were asked to

maintain a data of the sexual

harassment cases reported to

the internal complaint committee

till September.

The DCPs will have to file a

report about the action they

took against the accused

involved in the matter. They

will also have to mention how

many complaints were disposed

off.

Recently, the Delhi High

Court issued notice to Delhi

Police Commissioner, Delhi

Government and Deputy

Commissioner of Police, South

District in this regard.

A woman had moved a plea

before the Delhi High Court

seeking redressal of her complaint

lodged against a Sub

Inspector (SI) before the internal

complaint committee.

Her plea read that the internal

complaint committee

should have been established as

per the guidelines of the apex

court. She mentioned in the

plea that in her case, there was

no such committee.

4

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 ASIA


Canada marks 2nd National Day

for Truth and Reconciliation

Ottawa : Canada marked the second

National Day for Truth and

Reconciliation, honouring the children

who died while being forced to attend

residential schools, as well as survivors,

their families and communities.

The federal statutory holiday, also

known as Orange Shirt Day, was

established last year, reports Xinhua

news agency.

According to a statement issued on

Friday by Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau, at least 150,000 First

Nations, Inuit, and M?tis children

were forcibly removed from their families

and communities between 1831

and 1998 to attend residential schools,

where they had to abandon their languages,

beliefs, cultures, traditions

and identities, reports Xinhua news

agency. Many experienced physical,

emotional, and sexual abuse, and

thousands never came home.

"The experiences and intergenerational

trauma of these so-called

schools continue to live on for

Indigenous Peoples across the country

every single day," said Trudeau.

"It is our shared responsibility to

confront the legacy of residential

schools and the ongoing impacts on

Indigenous Peoples, so we can truly

move forward together.

"Reconciliation is not the responsibility

of Indigenous Peoples. It is the

responsibility of all Canadians. It is

our responsibility to continue to listen

and to learn," the Prime Minister

added. He said the government will

continue to support "the painful but

necessary work to locate unmarked

graves, and to support survivors as

they tell their stories".

In an interview with the local

media, Assembly of First Nations

National Chief RoseAnne Archibald

said on Friday that the day was about

residential school survivors as well as

the children who never returned from

them. "It's their day, especially those

who suffered in those institutions and

survived and then I also feel that it's

for all the little ones who died in those

institutions and didn't make it home,"

Archibald said. Governor General

Mary Simon, an Indigenous person,

said people wear orange shirts to show

that every child matters, which is

important to do because of how traumatic

residential schools were to

Indigenous children.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous

Relations Marc Miller, Minister of

Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu,

Minister of Northern Affairs Dan

Vandal and Minister of Canadian

Heritage Pablo Rodriguez also issued

a joint statement saying the government

must work faster and harder to

address the harms and intergenerational

trauma caused by Canada's

colonial legacy.

The locating of unmarked graves at

former residential schools shocked

and saddened Canadians, as it marked

the first time many faced this stark

truth. For Indigenous Peoples across

the country, it brought back painful

memories as many have shared their

stories for decades only to be ignored,

the statement said. Under the leadership

of survivors, their families and

communities, the government will

continue working in partnership to

support their efforts at their pace.

Mass fish deaths in European

river blamed on toxic algae

Berlin : The recent mass fish

deaths in the Oder river that runs

through Poland and Germany were

caused by the proliferation of brackish

water algae, which in turn was

triggered by a sudden increase in the

river's salinity levels, according to a

report.

Fishermen first discovered dead

fish in the river near the Polish town

of Olawa at the end of July, reports

Xinhua news agency.

The fish deaths down the river in

Germany were only reported around

two weeks later.

Tonnes of dead fish have been

pulled from the Oder river as the

micro-algae at issue -- known as

Prymnesium parvum, or golden alga

-- produces a toxic substance that is

lethal to fish and other aquatic

organisms.

A Polish-German expert group

was subsequently set up to investigate.

The fish deaths in the Oder are a

"serious environmental catastrophe",

Germany's Minister for the

Environment Steffi Lemke said on

Friday, stressing that it was "caused

by human activities".

Alongside attempts to fully

understand what happened, the

focus now is on the regeneration of

the Oder river.

The exact cause of the high salinity

level could not be determined

"due to a lack of available information",

the Ministry for the

Environment (BMUV) and the

German Environment Agency

(UBA) said in a statement.

It also remained unclear about

how the algae, which naturally

occurs in salty brackish water near

coasts, reached the Oder river.

Salinity levels in other rivers in

Germany are also too high without

the phenomena occurring.

Putin makes all-out

attack on West, cites

'plundering of India'

Mocow : Russian President Vladimir

Putin on Friday fulminated against the

West's record, singling

out the US use of

nuclear weapons in the

closing days of the

Second World War, and

then western nations'

centuries of "colonialism",

"slave trading"

and the "plundering of

India".

In his speech after

signing treaties on the

inclusion of four former

Ukrainian regions into

the Russian Federation -

the start of the formal

process of their accession

- after the Russian-conducted referendums,

he asserted that Russia is ready

for talks with Ukraine, but "will defend

our land with all the powers and means

at our disposal".

Hitting out at the US, he said that it is

the only country in the world that has

twice used nuclear weapons, destroying

Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities,

and setting a precedent.

"Even today, they actually

occupy Germany,

Japan the Republic of

Korea, and other countries,

and at the same time

cynically call them allies

of equal standing," he said.

"The West... began its

colonial policy back in the

Middle Ages, and then followed

the slave trade, the

genocide of Indian tribes

in America, the plunder of

India, of Africa, the wars

of England and France

against China...

"What they did was hooking entire

nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate

entire ethnic groups. For the sake

of land and resources they hunted people

like animals. This is contrary to the

very nature of man, truth, freedom and

justice," Putin said.


Arrest warrant issued against

Imran for controversial remarks

on female judge

Islamabad : A magistrate

of Islamabad's

Margalla police station has

issued an arrest warrant

against PTI chief Imran

Khan, media reports said on

Saturday.

The area magistrate

issued the arrest warrant in

the case registered on

August 20 against Khan for

his remarks on Additional

District and Sessions Judge

Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported. The FIR includes four

sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including 506

(punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional

insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat

of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order

duly promulgated by public servant).

The former Prime Minister is facing contempt charges for

his controversial remarks against Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News

reported. The court has issued the warrant for Khan's nonappearance

in court. Following the issuance of the warrant,

PTI leader Asad Umar warned the government not to arrest

Khan, saying that it will "regret" the decision.

Meanwhile, former Information Minister Fawad

Chaudhry said the issuance of a warrant in such a "weak"

case was pointless. "A circus has been created in the media

by issuing warrants over pointless legal clauses and a foolish

case which was not needed," he wrote on Twitter, Geo News

reported. Refuting all claims that Khan has left his residence

for an unidentified location, Senator Shibli Faraz shared a

picture of the PTI chief feeding his dogs at his residence.

Pakistan wants China to

rollover $2bn deposits

Islamabad : In a bid to materialise financing requirements

under the IMF programme, Pakistan Finance Minister

Ishaq Dar has sought the support of the Chinese Ambassador

Nong Rong for securing the rollover of State Administration

of Foreign Exchange

(SAFE) deposits of $2 billion

due in March 2023,

state media reported.

As per the IMF's condition,

Pakistan will have to

secure a rollover of $2 billion

in SAFE deposits for

the current fiscal year, Geo

News reported.

The development came

after US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken called on

Pakistan to seek debt relief

from its close partner China

in view of the countrywide cataclysmic floods. Blinken

made the remarks after talks in Washington with Pakistan's

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on September 16.

According to an official statement issued by the Pakistan

Finance Ministry, Chinese Ambassador called on Pakistan's

Finance Minister at the Finance Division, The News reported.

Ishaq Dar apprised the Ambassador of the damages

caused by the unprecedented floods in Pakistan affecting the

infrastructure, agriculture, lives and properties and cost to

the economy at large.

He also appreciated the support extended by the Chinese

leadership in the refinancing of the syndicate facility of

RMB 15 billion ($2.24 billion) to Pakistan and further

sought the support of the Ambassador in facilitating the

rollover of SAFE China deposits of $2 billion in March

2023, The News reported.

In line with the dominant trend over the last several

weeks, the country's foreign exchange reserves held by the

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) once again declined by 4.07

per cent. On September 23, the foreign currency reserves

held by the SBP were recorded at $8,005.9 million, down

$341 million compared with $8,346.4 on September 16, data

released by SBP showed on Thursday.

NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

Hindi cinema's favourite

Chinaman: Madan Puri

and his onscreen villainies

Hindi movies are known for their

heroes/heroines, but the villains, or rather,

actors in villainous roles, are the heavy

lifters. As against Dilip Kumar's around 70,

Rajesh Khanna's over 170 and Amitabh

Bachchan's 250-odd films, Prem Chopra

appeared in 370-odd over 60 years, Pran -

the template for the Hindi film villain - in

over 380 films in 67 years, and Madan Puri

went on to clock well over 400 in more

than four decades.

With his pervasive presence in movies,

of all types from the 1940s to the 1980s, a

popular saying in the times was -- "if you

wanted to make a movie then all you needed

was an Arriflex camera, some raw film,

and Madan Puri".

Whether the film was mythological or

historic, a social or family drama, a romantic

or crime thriller, featuring secret agents,

hippies or NRIs, a gem of a parallel cinema,

or the angry young man era, Madan He was also the "Captain", of an Dr. Acharya in the Agatha Christie-influenced

remote isle murder thriller

Puri - who has the unique distinction of unnamed enemy power, in the spy flick

acting both with K.L. Saigal and Amitabh "Aankhen" (1968), starring Dharmendra "Gumnaam" (1965), the volatile henchman

Bachchan - could be somewhere in it, and and Mala Sinha.

Balbir in "Waqt" (1965), the lecherous

not necessarily in a negative role.

Coming from a family, broadminded Madan Chicagowala in "Shagird" (1967),

Born on this day (September 30) in (for those days) enough not to scorn the and rival gang-leader Samant in "Deewaar"

1915 in Punjab's Nawanshahr, Madan Puri, acting profession - since his cousin was the (1975), among others.

who is now chiefly known as the elder legendary K.L. Saigal, Madan Puri was On the other hand, Madan Puri also

brother of Amrish 'Mogambo' Puri, was a fond of acting since his early days with his made his mark as the faithful employee -

versatile and multi-facetted actor, whose first starring performance being a 1936 for a change - in Shammi Kapoor's

"everyman" face could turn saturnine, sinister,

devious, haggard, or kindly, when the female lead!

tor Khanna in terse murder mystery/court-

play at Simla's Gaiety Theatre - Pran was "Kashmir Ki Kali" (1964), public prosecu-

needed. That enabled him to portray corrupt

businessmen, edgy doctors, knifelings

to join and shine in films - eldest London-based expatriate Sharma in "Purab

Though he was not the first of his sibroom

drama "Ittefaq" (1969), the nostalgic

happy gangsters, stern fathers, amiable brother Chaman Puri was a character actor Aur Paschim" (1970) - who listens to

uncles, conscientious or corrupt police in several films - Madan Puri moved to Saigal records!, the second of three

officers, heartless money-lenders, eccentric Bombay in the early 1940s, when he was Mahesh Jetleys, who are "conspiring to

scientists, seedy night-club owners, sneering

pimps, brutal jailors, duplicitous politi-

After some uncredited bit roles from Dilip Kumar's henchman Khushiram

helped into films by Saigal.

murder their wives" in "Hulchul" (1971),

cians, devious foreign agents, bloodthirsty "Khazanchi" (1941), he, like many others, Khusal Singh in "Vidhaata" (1982), and

dacoits and many more.

wanted and began as a hero, but these films many more.

Madan Puri also had to his credit a double

hat-trick of playing a Chinese villain, villain - on the suggestion of Dev Anand. "Majboor" (1974), "Manoranjan" (1974),

never clicked and he found his niche as a His other prominent films include

playing the role in at least six notable Hindi Thus began an eventful career that "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan" (1974), "The

films - John Chang in Ashok Kumar- spanned four decades, mostly as an egregious,

and chronic villain, though he later "Mehbooba" (1976), "Kalicharan" (1976),

Godfather"-inspired "Dharmatma" (1975),

Madhubala crime noir "Howrah Bridge"

(1958), Chang in international caper switched to roles of a kindly elder, and "Shirdi Ke Sai Baba" (1977), "The Great

"Singapore" (1960) and Joseph Wong in only came to an end when he succumbed to Gambler" (1979), "Jaani Dushman"

the noirish "China Town" (1962), both starring

Shammi Kapoor, Comrade Chang in His notable villainous roles, apart from Chor" (1980), "The Burning Train" (1980),

a sudden heart attack in 1985.

(1979), "Noorie" (1979), "Alibaba Aur 40

spy thriller "Shatranj" (1969), yet another the Chinese appearances, were as the jealous

rich man Manilal in "Jhanak Jhanak "Hero" (1983), and "Aaj Ka M.L.A. Ram

"Kranti" (1981), "Andha Kanoon" (1983),

Chang in Dev Anand's "Prem Pujari"

(1970), and then Wong again in "Saazish" Payal Baaje" (1955), blackmailing employee

Rajan in Kishore Kumar-starrer science was "the aloo-pyaz that can be put in any

Avtar" (1984). As Madan Puri once said, he

(1975), an international crime caper starring

Dharmendra and Sairu Banu. fiction comedy "Mr. X in Bombay" (1964), Bollywood dish".

Myanmar extends Covid restrictions until Oct 31

Yangon : Myanmar has extended its

Covid-19 preventive measures until

October 31, according to a government

agency. In a statement on Friday, the

Central Committee on Prevention, Control

and Treatment for Covid-19 said the extension

applies to all the restrictions that

expired on September 30, except the ones

that will be eased, Xinhua news agency

reported.

The statement added that the extension

covers all orders, announcements, directives

previously issued by respective government

organisations and Ministries in order to contain

the pandemic. The Southeast Asian

country confirmed 364 new Covid-19 cases

in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally

to 623,166, official data showed. The total

number of deaths reached 19,459 after one

additional fatality was registered in the

same period. According to the Health

5

Ministry, a total of 598,126 infected patients

have recovered in the country so far.

6 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 ASIA


RAJASTHAN casts dark shadow as

Kharge looks set to be Cong Prez

New Delhi : The Congress will witness a

contest for the party president's post between

Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, both

having filed their nominations on Friday.

However, with senior leaders siding with

Kharge and the Congress G-23 group too

endorsing his candidature, it leaves fellow

member Tharoor to fend for himself.

The G-23 leaders are the main proposers of

Mallikarjun Kharge along with Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for the Congress

presidential poll. Digvijaya Singh who also

collected the nomination papers for himself

ended up becoming a proposer for Kharge. He

is tipped to become the Leader of Opposition

in the Upper House when Kharge vacates the

position after being elected Congress president.

In the set of nominations, the names of the

proposers include Anand Sharma, Bhupinder

Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Akhilesh

Prasad Singh, Mukul Wasnik and Manish

Tewari, who were in the G-23. Others who

signed the nomination papers include Ashok

Gehlot, who opted out of the race on Thursday

after meeting Congress interim president

Sonia Gandhi.

Almost all the G-23 leaders were present at

the Congress headquarters at the time of

Kharge's filing of nomination, signalling an

end to the stalemate since 2020 when the

group wrote a letter demanding elections in

the party. The group, however, has not come

out in support of Shashi Tharoor who was part

of it.

Gehlot, who was initially the frontrunner,

opted out after Sunday's fiasco in Jaipur

where MLAs loyal to him boycotted the CLP.

Gehlot's supporters demanded that the issue of

Chief Minister should be decided after

October 19 but Congress state in-charge Ajay

Maken wanted a one line resolution.

Ashok Gehlot opted out and said, "In this

circumstances I don't want to contest and the

issue of chief ministership will be decided by

the party high command. Whether I remain

the CM will be decided by Madam (Sonia

Gandhi)... I am a loyal soldier of the Congress

from Indiraji's time. I have expressed regret

and sadness over whatever happened in

Jaipur."

Earlier, while entering Sonia Gandhi's residence

at 10 Janpath, Gehlot was seen carrying

a set of papers. On one of the papers, it was

written "Whatever has happened is sad and I

am also hurt."

"I have always acted as a loyal soldier of

the party. The incident that happened on the

day of the legislature party meeting has left

everyone shaken. It gave a message as if I

wanted to continue as the Chief Minister, so I

apologised to her," Gehlot said after the meeting.

In Rajasthan, amid the full blown controversy,

the Congress has had to issue gag

orders against making public statements. The

Congress on Tuesday served show-cause

notices to Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs

Minister Shanti Dhariwal, party chief whip

Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman

Dharmendra Rathore for holding a parallel

meeting of party legislators in Jaipur.

The notice issued to Dhariwal said that he,

being the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, has

committed "grave indiscipline" by hosting a

parallel MLAs meeting at his residence and

thus "pressuring MLAs not to attend the official

meeting".

"As Parliamentary Affairs Minister, hosting

the unofficial meeting confused the Congress

MLAs as to which one was convened officially,"

the notice reads.

The notice that has sought a response within

10 days also noted that Dhariwal's action

(parallel meeting) came even when senior

party leader Mallikarjun Kharge and

Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken repeatedly

clarified that they have come to speak to each

MLA "individually and impartially" and

report to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Similarly, the notice addressed to Joshi stated

that he, as Chief Whip, has conducted

"grave indiscipline" by boycotting the official

CLP (Congress Legislature Party) meeting

and by participating in and convening a parallel

meeting of the MLAs at the time when the

officially appointed observers were waiting

for the official meeting to start.

"As Chief Whip your presence at the unofficial

and illegal meeting confused the MLAs

as to which one was convened officially,"

added the notice.

In the show-cause notice to Rathore, he was

accused of making all the logistical arrangements

and was held responsible for being

behind the entire planning of the unofficial

meeting of the MLAs.

Maken has recommended disciplinary

action against Dhariwal, Joshi and Rathore

whom he blamed for holding the parallel

meet.

Maken, in his report to the party president,

has reported "grave indiscipline" on their part.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,

sources said, has been exonerated in the report

submitted to Sonia Gandhi.

The official meeting of the Congress

Legislature Party was to be held at 7 p.m. on

Sunday at the Chief Minister's residence in

Jaipur, but before that Gehlot's loyalists gathered

at Dhariwal's residence. From there, they

went to Speaker C.P. Joshi's residence and

collectively submitted their resignations to

him.

The other contender for the Chief

Minister's post, Sachin Pilot on Thursday met

Sonia Gandhi and said that everyone has to

work together for the party to come back to

power in 2023.

Pak-Taliban alliance under unprecedented strain as their interests diverge

New Delhi : Since the Taliban

seized power in August 2021, its ties

with Islamabad have deteriorated

amid deadly border clashes. More

recently, the militants have accused

Islamabad of permitting its air space

to be used by US drones to strike

targets in Afghanistan. In turn,

Pakistan has accused the Taliban of

harbouring terrorists, media reported.

Experts say the longstanding

alliance, which dates back to the

emergence of the Taliban in southern

Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, is

coming under unprecedented strain

as their interests diverge. "The

Taliban may have accepted

Pakistani support for years but do

not wish to be Pakistani proxies forever,"

said Husain Haqqani of the

Washington-based Hudson Institute

who previously served as Pakistan's

ambassador to the United States,

RFE/RL reported.

Last month, the Taliban accused

Pakistan of allowing US drones to

use its airspace to conduct strikes

inside Afghanistan. The August 28

claim came after an American drone

strike in Kabul killed Al-Qaeda

leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in July.

Islamabad has denied involvement

in or advanced knowledge of the

strike.

On September 14, Islamabad

accused the Taliban government of

harbouring Masood Azhar, head of

the Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM)

extremist group and a UN-blacklisted

terrorist. The Taliban strongly

rejected Pakistan's claims, RFE/RL

reported.

In his speech to the UN General

Assembly on September 23,

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz

Sharif said Islamabad "shares the

key concern of the international

community regarding the threat

posed by major terrorist groups

operating from Afghanistan."

Sharif mentioned the Islamic

State-Khorasan (IS-K), the Tehrik-e

Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al-Qaeda,

the East Turkistan Islamic

Movement and the Islamic

Movement of Uzbekistan as groups

based in Afghanistan that "need to

be dealt with comprehensively, with

the support and cooperation of the

interim Afghan authorities."

The speech provoked a sharp

rebuke from the Taliban, with

Deputy Foreign Minister Sher

Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai on

September 27 claiming Islamabad

was "receiving millions of dollars"

from Washington for allowing

American drones to conduct flights

over Afghanistan.

"How long can we tolerate this?"

Stanikzai asked a gathering in

Kabul. "If we rise against this

(Pakistani interference), no one will

be able to stop us."

Experts say another source of

tension is the Taliban's unwillingness

to crack down on the TTP, a

close ideological and organizational

ally. From its bases inside

Afghanistan, the extremist group

has intensified its insurgency

against Islamabad in recent years,

RFE/RL reported.


ASIA

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

7

How Priyanka has gone

wrong in Uttar Pradesh

Ranchi : Despite being an ally in

the JMM-led government in

Jharkhand for nearly three years, the

Congress is not in a powerful position

in the state.

In all the big decisions taken by the

JMM-Congress-RJD government,

Chief Minister Hemant Soren has

been successful in leaving imprint of

his showmanship. However, the

Congress always abides by Soren's

decisions, sometimes under compulsion

or sometimes agreeing to it.

Congress ministers, MLAs, leaders

and party workers are also aware of

their "political weakness". Their pain

has also reflected in their statements

on many occasions.

When the Hemant Soren government

approved a policy that makes the

1932 land records the basis for domiciles,

it did not go down well with the

many in the Congress.

Congress MLA Geeta Koda, her

husband Madhu Koda and Jharia

Congress MLA Purnima Neeraj Singh

termed this policy impractical.

Congress minister Banna Gupta

was present in the Cabinet meeting

which approved the the new policy but

from the next day onwards, he started

Lucknow : For almost a decade

before 2019, the refrain in the Uttar

Pradesh Congress was 'Priyanka lao,

desh bachao' and 'Desh ki aandhi hai,

aaj ki Indira Gandhi hai'.

As the party graph gradually

slipped down in UP, party workers sincerely

believed that it was the charisma

of Priyanka Gandhi that alone

could salvage the situation for the

party. Priyanka's arrival in Uttar

Pradesh in 2019, expectedly,

unleashed euphoria as she held meetings

that continued till the wee hours,

met party workers who arrived in

droves and promised to bring back the

glory days of the party.

As the weeks rolled by and the

Congress suffered a humiliating defeat

in Amethi in the Lok Sabha elections,

things began changing.

The then UP Congress president

Raj Babbar put in his papers, Priyanka

shut her doors to veterans, Ajay

Kumar Lallu became the new UPCC

president and finally Priyanka

Gandhi's coterie led by her personal

secretary Sandeep Singh took over the

UP Congress completely.

The arrogance and dominance of

Sandeep Singh and his men created a

turmoil within the party.

Ten senior Congress leaders were

expelled merely because they held a

meeting to celebrate Nehru Jayanti on

November 14, 2019.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and

Priyanka Gandhi refused to meet the

veterans which further emboldened

the 'emerging coterie' within the party.

Being brusque, abusive and arrogant

was the new behaviour code.

Expulsions became the order of the

day and the young and the old were

told to keep away.

Priyanka's visits to UP were closely

guarded by loyalists and no one had

any access to the leader.

As the 2022 assembly elections

approached, Priyanka launched the

ambitious campaign of 'Ladki hoon

lad sakti hoon' that went completely

awry with the party giving tickets to

women who were totally undeserving.

They got tickets only because they

were women.

Allegations of tickets being sold for

a price were also levelled on the social

media but the party leadership simply

looked away.

A clear divide had developed by

now between what is called the

'Priyanka Congress' and the 'Rahul

Congress'. Senior Congress leaders

like Annu Tandon, Jitin Prasada, R P N

Singh, Laliteshpati Tripathi walked

out of the Congress and blamed

Priyanka's style of functioning for

their decision. In the 2022 assembly

polls, the Congress hit rock bottom by

winning just two of the 403 seats and

merely 2.3 per cent votes.

Nearly 387 party candidates forfeited

their deposits. In ten seats, the party

candidates got less votes than NOTA.

saying that every person residing in

Jharkhand is a "Jharkhandi".

Earlier, in the month of May and

June, tension simmered between the

JMM and Congress over a Rajya seat.

Amid the infighting, Hemant Soren

met interim Congress president Sonia

Gandhi and the very next day, he

announced JMM's candidate for the

Rajya Sabha election.

The Congress first expressed displeasure

over it and then during filing

of nomination by the candidate for the

Rajya Sabha, the grand-old party distanced

itself from the JMM.

At that time, it was felt that the

JMM-Congress partnership may

sever, but after two days when the

result for the Rajya Sabha election was

out, Congress took part in the celebration

of the JMM candidate Mahua

Majhi's win.

In the month of July when the JMM

decided to vote in favour of the BJP's

Presidential candidate Droupadi

Murmu, the Congress reminded it of

the UPA's coalition dharma but due to

political compulsion, the Congress

was not in a position to sever ties with

the JMM.

Even nine of the 18 Congress

MLAs in the state defied party's

instructions and cross voted in favour

of Murmu.

Though the Congress had said that

action will be taken against MLAs

who have cross voted but in vain.

Earlier, in the month of February in

Giridih's Madhuban, the Congress had

organised a three-day Chintan Shivir

in which Banna Gupta had said that

Hemant Soren is responsible for decimating

the Congress in the state.

Many other leaders in the Shivir

had said that Congress does not have

strong position in the JMM government.

Post this Shivir, the Congress party

leaders held a meeting with Hemant

Soren after which a decision was taken

to form a coordination committee of

all the allies following which everything

turned normal.

Displeasure against the team that

handled the elections is growing by

the day and there are almost no leaders

even left to be expelled.

It is almost six months since the

Congress faced its worst-ever drubbing

in the assembly elections and

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has simply

stayed away from Lucknow.

Her political activity is restricted to

Twitter and her 'team' is having a free

run in Lucknow.

"Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not even

willing to listen to what party workers

have to say. She has not come to

Lucknow after the election results

were announced and her coterie is

happily taking action against anyone

who speaks up. I was an AICC member

but was expelled by her team even

though it is against the rules. If they

feel that by expelling dissenters, they

will save the Congress, they are mistaken,"

says Zeeshan Haider, a senior

party leader who recently resigned.

He said that ever since Priyanka

Gandhi was appointed general secretary

in charge of Uttar Pradesh, around

9,000 party leaders and workers have

either left or have been pushed out.

"The Gandhis, it seems, are not

willing to address the issues and problems.

For them it does not matter that

the party is almost over. The Congress

president neither replies to our letters

and nor does she agree to meet us," he

added. Another former Congress MP,

who spoke to IANS on condition of

anonymity, said, "Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra should have called meetings of

candidates and senior leaders to discuss

the reasons for the debacle. We

are about a year and a half away from

the Lok Sabha elections and if this

head-in-the-sand attitude continues,

the Congress will be relegated to the

dustbin of history."

Another veteran leader said, "Just

like a child gets tired of an old toy,

Priyanka Gandhi seems to have lost

interest in UP politics. She is directly

responsible for the demolition of

Congress in UP, taking the party away

from power in Punjab and it was her

insistence on Imran Pratapgarhi's candidature

for Rajya Sabha in

Maharashtra that dismantled the

Thackeray government there. We are

now watching what happens in

Himachal Pradesh where Priyanka has

considerable interests."

According to senior party leaders,

the problem with Priyanka is that she

refuses to interact with party workers

and depends solely on whatever feedback

she receives from her coterie.

"She is not a people's leader but a

leader of only her team. The magic has

waned and the Congress will have to

rebuild itself from scratch now," said a

party leader.

The state unit is also in a state of

limbo after Uttar Pradesh Congress

Committee president Ajay Kumar

Lallu was asked to resign in March.

The party remains completely headless

and directionless.

"It is a free-for-all situation here.

None of the party leaders visit the

party office and there is no political

activity happening after the polls,"

said an employee at the UPCC office.

Despite sharing power in Jharkhand, Cong still not a force to reckon with

Recently, Jharkhand saw political

uncertainty when the Election

Commission recommended for

Hemant Soren's assembly membership

disqualification. In the tough times,

the Congress stood by Soren but the

grand old party had to try hard for

"saving" its MLAs from the

"Operation Lotus". To keep the MLAs

united, they were stationed in a resort

in Chhattisgarh's Raipur.

Earlier, there were rumours about a

deal between the BJP and a group of

Congress leaders. On July 30, three

Congress MLAs (Irfan Ansari, Rajesh

Kachhap, Naman Bixal Kongari) were

arrested from Kolkata along with Rs

48 lakh they have allegedly got as first

installment as per the deal. After this

incident, the Congress had suspended

these three MLAs.

Congress Legislature party leader

Alamgir Alam has given a written

application to the Speaker's tribunal

demanding cancellation of their

Assembly membership.

A senior Congress leader on condition

of anonymity told IANS that if the

assembly membership of the said

MLAs is cancelled, then rebellion will

be witnessed in the party.

8 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


Bouncing back from 2020 crisis, Kamal

Nath re-energising party cadre for 2023

Bhopal : At a crucial juncture

when the Congress leadership is making

all out efforts to revive the grand

old party with the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

led by Rahul Gandhi, crisis broke out

in Rajasthan, which led to twists and

turns in the filing of nomination for

the Congress presidential poll scheduled

on October 17.

Factionalism that came to the fore

in Rajasthan over the conflict between

two camps led by Chief Minister

Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy

Sachin Pilot brings back the memory

of what had happened in Madhya

Pradesh in 2020, when Jyotiraditya

Scindia jumped ship to the BJP, resulting

in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led

Congress government within 15

months of assuming power.

However, senior Congress leaders,

including Kamal Nath, said the situation

in Rajasthan is not what it was in

Madhya Pradesh.

Commenting on the comparison

between the current crisis in Rajasthan

and what happened in Madhya

Pradesh in 2020, Kamal Nath recently

said, "Sachin Pilot didn't do anything

wrong. He was asked to be at the party

headquarters and he followed the

instructions of the party chief. There is

no basis of comparing Rajasthan's situation

with happened in Madhya

Pradesh."

With Assembly elections scheduled

in Madhya Pradesh next year, the

Congress led by Kamal Nath seems to

be leaving no stone unturned to return

to power, and more importantly, reviving

the grand old party.

Hopes are pinned on the Congress

leadership in Madhya Pradesh as a

victory in the Assembly polls will

energise the entire party cadre ahead

of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Perhaps this was the reason why

Kamal Nath distanced himself from

the race to be the next Congress

President, despite his name doing the

rounds, from Bhopal to Delhi.

Kamal Nath kept saying that he

would focus on Madhya Pradesh

Assembly elections, making it clear

that he is not interested to become the

next Congress chief.

"I have repeatedly said that I am not

interested in contesting the AICC

presidential poll. Instead, I want to

India reports 3,805 fresh

Covid cases, 26 deaths

New Delhi : In the last 24 hours, India reported 3,805 fresh

Covid-19 cases ad 26 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said on

Saturday. The new fatalities pushed the nationwide death toll to

5,28,655. The active caseload stood at 38,293, accounting for 0.09

per cent of the country's total positive cases.

The recovery of 5,069 patients in the last 24 hours took the

cumulative tally to 4,40,24,164. Consequently, India's recovery

rate stands at 98.73 per cent. The country's daily and weekly positivity

rates were 1.29 per cent and 1.39 per cent, respectively.

Also in the same period, a total of 2,95,416 tests were conducted

across the country, increasing the overall tally to over 89.53

crore. As of Saturday morning, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage

exceeded 218.68 crore. Over 4.10 crore adolescents have

been administered with a first dose of Covid-19 jab since the

beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.

focus on Madhya Pradesh only.

Assembly elections are just one year

away and a lot of work needs to be

done to bring the party back in power,"

Kamal Nath had said after meeting

Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Wednesday.

The senior Congress leader has

been reiterating that the party will

form the government in Madhya

Pradesh after the 2023 elections, even

making promises like reintroducing

the 'old pension' system for the state

government employees.

Hyderabad : Four of the five children

in conflict with the law (CCL) held as

accused in the Jubilee Hills gang rape-case,

are to be tried as adults, the Juvenile Board

ruled on Friday.

The five along with a sixth person had

been held in the sensational case that had

rocked the state a few months ago.

The fifth CCL, who is the son of an

MIM lawmaker is to be tried as a juvenile,

ruled principal magistrate G Radhika. His

case is to be transferred to the children's

court.

The magistrate did not concur with a

board member who had opined that the

children in conflict with the law (CCL)

may have been lured by the welcoming

approach of the victim and that they do not

have legal education and hence unable to

understand the legal consequences."

Noting that CCL were neither under the

influence of alcohol or other substances,

the principal concluded there were no compelling

circumstances for them to commit

the crime.

The sensational case had the opposition

parties attacking the ruling TRS party in

Although the veteran Congress

leader has been a nine-time MP from

his hometown Chhindwara, Kamal

Nath became active in Madhya

Pradesh politics in 2018 after he

became the state head of the party in

the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections.

In 2018, Kamal Nath was sworn-in

as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya

Pradesh, bringing to an end 15 years

of BJP rule in the state which had

become the saffron party's stronghold.

Telangana and the police department

shielding the MLA's son by invoking

However, in 2020, 22 Congress

MLAs resigned along with

Jyotiraditya Scindia, resulting in the

collapse of the Kamal Nath-led government

and bringing back BJP's

Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the Chief

Minister for a fourth term.

Political observers believe that after

the collapse of the 15-month-old government,

the biggest challenge before

Kamal Nath was to keep the leaders of

different factions united and to ensure

that no factionalism emerges within

the party.

Kamal Nath remained the MPCC

President even after his government

collapsed, and thereafter he also led

the party in the Assembly as the leader

of opposition before stepping down in

April 2022, when voices were raised

for ?one man one post' in the party.

And his efforts bore fruits after veteran

party leader Digvijaya Singh

repeatedly said that Congress will

contest the 2023 Assembly elections

under Kamal Nath's leadership.

After being nominated unanimously

to lead the party in the run-up to the

2023 Assembly elections, Kamal

Nath's first step was to form a committee

to oversee the political developments

in Madhya Pradesh. The

committee includes all senior party

leaders in the state who have been

assigned different tasks.

Stepping up to strengthen the party

ahead of the Assembly elections,

Kamal Nath has made several structural

changes, especially in the lowerlevel

party cadre. District and block

heads have been appointed on the

basis of their performance reports.

Bouncing back from the 2020 crisis,

Kamal Nath seems to be re-energising

the party cadre ahead of the

2023 Assembly elections.

Four of five CCLs in Hyderabad

gang-rape case to be tried as adults

milder sections of the law against him.

www.theasianindependent.co.uk ASIA 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 9

Rahul's Bharat Jodo Yatra energises

Congress workers in K'taka

Bengaluru : Unfazed by criticism

that the ongoing Bharat

Jodo Yatra is failing to resonate

with people, Congress party

workers in Karnataka are

upbeat about the outcome of the

21-day padyatra being led by

their leader Rahul Gandhi.

Once again, the Gandhi scion

has displayed his negotiating

skills by brokering peace

between warring factions of

state president D.K.

Shivakumar and Opposition

leader Siddaramaiah.

Candidature of Mallikarjun

Kharge for the post of AICC

chief has also created a

favourable vibes across the

oppressed communities, which

are now with the BJP.

The response that the yatra is

generating among the party

workers and commoners is giving

anxious moments to the ruling

BJP, insiders say.

Rahul Gandhi's interaction

with the families of the victims

of the oxygen tragedy that

claimed 24 lives in

Chamarajanagar has also not

gone unnoticed. Moved by the

children's account of their lives

without their fathers, the

Congress leader empathetically

assured government jobs to

family members of the deceased

has also touched people.

Recalling the human tragedy,

the organisers slammed the saffron

party over its apathy for the

victim families. They expressed

their ire against the party for

trying to brush the issue under

the carpet and refusing to accept

that oxygen shortage had led to

the fatalities.

Videos of children recounting

the trauma and emotional

breakdown of the affected families

during the interaction have

gone viral on social media triggering

a barrage of comments

lambasting the BJP.

According to sources in

Congress, the party which

gained public attention with the

PayCM campaign, offending

the ruling BJP and Chief

Minister Basavaraj Bommai

will go much more offensive in

days to come.

Deriding the Bharat Jodo

Yatra as "Bharat Todo yatra",

chief minister Bommai has

announced to embark on a statewide

tour with party old horse

B.S. Yediyurappa immediately

after Dussehra festivities. With

its mega event in

Doddaballapur on the completion

of one year term, the ruling

party tried to get its roots in

south Karnataka where

Congress and regional party JD

(S) dominate. BJP which has

never gained a simple majority

in Karnataka in general assembly

elections and managed to

get to power only through operation

lotus, was hopeful of

breaking the jinx and attaining

simple majority.

Winning assembly seats in

south Karnataka is crucial to

attain the dream but the Bharat

Jodo Yatra will prove to be a big

roadblock to the saffron party

according to political pundits.

However, byoued by the

response, Rajya Sabha Member

and former Union Minister

Jairam Ramesh has asserted the

with the Yatra, the party will

gain momentum like it managed

to get with the victory of late

former PM Indira Gandhi in

Karnataka's Chikkamagalur

parliamentary constituency

after the emergency.

Prithvi Reddy, President of

Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka,

told IANS that the Congress has

been the biggest strength of ruling

BJP. The present mess in the

state is not only the failure of

ruling party BJP but has

stemmed from the failure of the

opposition party.

The ruling BJP which is blatantly

corrupt asks the Congress

party whenever it is questioned

on corruption that how about

you? When Shivakumar talks

about corruption there are no

takers. Congress has failed to

raise people's issues, he

explained.

On the pretext of Bharat Jodo

Yatra, the Congress is actually

trying to unite the party and

hence it is a "Congress Jodo

yatra". People of Karnataka are

fed up with three parties, BJP,

Congress and JD (S). The people

don't see hope in the

Congress party. The response

from the people is also lukewarm,

Prithvi Reddy explained.

Taking a dig at the grand-old

party, former Chief Minister

H.D. Kumaraswamy of regional

party JD (S) said that he did not

know when the country got

divided for the Congress party

to organise a Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The state is dogged by many

crisis situations. Is it possible

for the Congress party to

resolve this crisis situation

through the Bharat Jodo Yatra

and PayCM campaign?,he wondered.

10 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 ASIA


NGT asks panel to inspect

river pollution allegedly caused

by U'khand ashram

Mukesh Ambani

promises 5G

across India by

December 2023

New Delhi : The National Green

Tribunal (NGT) has directed a joint committee

to look into a plea alleging pollution

in Uttarakhand's Bhagirathi river caused by

an ashram engaging in the commercial

manufacture of soap.

In the plea, applicant Madan Singh

Gusain said that Arya Vihar Ashram, situated

on the banks of the river and running the

soap manufacturing unit, is discharging

untreated effluent in Eco-Sensitive Zone. It

has no Environmental Clearance or consent

from the competent statutory regulators

under the provisions of the Water

(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,

1974 and Environment (Protection) Act,

1986, the applicant alleged.

The NGT bench comprising Judicial

Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert

Member A. Senthil Vel noted that a committee

need to check the issue.

"In our view, a substantial question

relating to environment arising from the

enactments scheduled in NGT Act, 2010

has arisen. We, however, find it appropriate

to first obtain a factual report for which

purpose we constitute a joint Committee

comprising Uttarakhand State PCB and

District Magistrate, Uttarkashi who shall

visit the premises and submit a joint report

within one month," the recent order said.

The matter will be further heard on

November 10.

New Delhi : Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on

Saturday announced that his telcom firm Reliance

Jio will launch 5G services across the country by

December 2023.

Jio is rapidly progressing to roll out 5G services

within this month.

Speaking at the IMC 2022 event, Ambani said

Jio will launch affordable 5G services and cover

every nook and corner of the country by December

2023.

Bharti Airtel launches 5G in 8 cities

Bharti Airtel is launching 5G telecom services

in eight cities, including four metros, on Saturday

and will progressively cover the entire country by

March 2024, its chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.

Speaking at the IMC 2022, he said the nation's

oldest private telecom operator is launching 5G

mobile services in eight major cities and will cover

most parts by March 2023 and the entire country

by March 2024.

UK unveils new coins

featuring King Charles III

London : The UK has unveiled new 50p coins

featuring the portrait of King Charles III which will

enter general circulation within weeks.

On its Twitter handle on Friday morning, The

Royal Mint, official maker of British coins, said:

"We are proud to unveil the first official

coin portrait of King Charles III which

has been designed by Martin Jennings

FRSS and personally approved by His

Majesty.

"The first coins to feature the effigy

are part of a memorial collection for Her

Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."

According to the BBC, the coins follow

centuries of tradition with the

monarch now facing left, the opposite

way to his predecessor.

As with previous British kings, and

unlike the Queen, he wears no crown.

The reverse of the new coin shows two

new portraits of the Queen, charting her

journey from a young monarch to a long-standing

head of state.

The coins will be sold to collectors by The

Royal Mint from early next week.

The 50p coin will be available for general use

well before the end of the year, distributed according

to demand by banks, building societies and post

offices.

They will co-circulate with coins featuring the

late Queen, so those 27 billion coins will still be

accepted in shops.

Anne Jessopp, chief executive of

The Royal Mint, said that coins

generally lasted for 20 years, so

both Queen Elizabeth and King

Charles coins will be in circulation

together for many years to come.

"People should not worry if they

have coins with the Queen on. We

will keep those coins in circulation,"

the BBC quoted Jessopp as

saying.

"We are seeing people moving to

different forms of payment, but

people really like to use coins as

well for lots of different reasons."

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ASIA

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

11

THOUSANDS of disgruntled

farmers paralyse Islamabad

Islamabad : Over 25,000 farmers

from Pakistans Punjab province

have staged a protest sit-in in

Islamabad, paralysing the capital

city and creating travel woes as

authorities have blocked roads with

containers.

The farmers, under the umbrella

of Kisan Ittehad, have refused to

leave the capital until their demands

are met by the government.

This is the second time that tens

of thousands of farmers have made

their way to the capital since

September 21 after the government

failed to meet their demands, mutually

agreed through negotiations.

This has prompted the government

to take preventive steps,

including shutting road access to the

fortified Red Zone with containers,

while main highways and expressways

have also been blocked.

"Farmers came from across

Punjab province and demanded

restoration of the previous tube well

electricity tariff of Rs.5.3 per unit

and abolishing of all taxes and

adjustments," said an official of the

capital administration.

"An end must be put to the black

marketing of fertilizers and reduction

of urea rate, which has

increased by at least 400 per cent."

According to the farmers'

demands, the rate of wheat should

be fixed at 2,400 PKR per mound

and that of sugarcane at 280 PKR.

"We also demand that the blockade

of canals should be removed

and water released immediately in

the area. Moreover, they said, agriculture

should also be given the status

of industry," said one of the

protesting farmers. The sit-in has

now entered the second day as the

protesters vow to continue with it

until the government ministries and

politicians do not come to the negotiating

table. The protest is also supported

by opposition parties, who

have slammed the government for

failing to provide relief to the public

and masses at large and pushing

them into further sufferings through

inflation.

On kanshi TV

channel 772.

SATURDAY at

6 :00 pm

SUNDAY at

6 :00 pm

Ambedkarites News and Views

by

BUDDHIST INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Mob : 07411 251 804, 07847 307 059

12 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


TN man sentenced to 40

years jail for sexual

exploitation of minor girl

Chennai : A

court in Tamil

Nadu's Dindigul

convicted a man for

sexually assaulting

a minor girl in 2016

and sentenced him

to 40 years rigorous

imprisonment.

It also handed

down a 10 year jail

sentence to his

woman accomplice.

The woman

police station in

Dindigul had registered

a case against

Vinoth, 32, and

Savitha, 37, on November 28, 2016, for sexually assaulting

a minor girl in his neighbourhood.

The Dindigul woman court also fined Vinoth Rs 40,000

and Savitha Rs 10,000. The duo was charged under Sections

366 (kidnapping, abducting, or inducing woman to compel

her marriage) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in

confinement, kidnapped or abducted) of the Indian Penal

Code and Section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative

sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

Punjab Assembly passes

Bill to empower

Vigilance Commission

Chandigarh : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann

on Friday moved the Punjab State Vigilance Commission

(Repeal) Bill, 2022, that was passed unanimously.

Moving a resolution to this regard, Mann said that the

main function of the Punjab State Vigilance Commission

is to enquire or cause enquires into complaints alleging

commission of offences by a public servant under the

Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Prevention of

Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

He said the commission is also empowered to exercise

superintendence and control over the functioning of the

Vigilance Bureau and police establishment in so far it

relates to corruption cases

Mann said the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act

2020, which was supposed to be enacted on the lines of

the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, suffers from

serious deviations.

The Chief Minister said the Vigilance Commission

constituted under this Act is, therefore, not serving any

useful objectives except being a burden on the state

exchequer. He said as there are multiple agencies in the

state to deal with same set stakeholders, including fullfledged

Vigilance Department.

Therefore, Mann said to avoid overlapping, contradictory

findings, resultant delays and gaps in communication,

it has become necessary to repeal the Punjab State

Vigilance Commission Act 2020.

Victory shines over Sharifs as

court overturns Maryam Nawaz's

conviction in corruption case

Islamabad : In a massive shift of

tides in Pakistan's political turmoil, the

Islamabad High Court (IHC) has overturned

the June 2018 decision of the

Accountability Court against former

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter

Maryam Nawaz and her husband

Capt (retd) Safdar Awan in the

Avenfield Apartments corruption case.

After almost five years, the Sharif

family is celebrating victory against

what they term as their legal battle

against Imran Khan and his influenced

accountability process, that started targeting

them in the Panama Gate case.

As per the latest order of the

Islamabad High Court (IHC), Maryam

and her husband stands clear of all

allegations and convictions in the case.

The decision came after the National

Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor

failed to satisfy the court with the

presented evidence, which led to the

conviction of the Sharif family.

It was the same case that led to sentencing

of Nawaz Sharif to at least 10

years in jail, nine years for Maryam

Nawaz and one year for Safdar on

charges of being found guilty in corruption

charges, concealing evidence

and non-cooperation with NAB in

establishing or countering its claims.

NAB has contested that Avenfield

apartments were bought in 1993, for

which, Nawaz Sharif paid the property's

payment and Maryam Nawaz was

the beneficial owner of the property.

The Bureau maintained that the former

Prime Minister did not declare

these properties that he had bought

New Delhi : Aiming to bolster its

international footprint, Air India on

Friday announced 20 additional flights

every week to Birmingham and

London in the UK and San Francisco in

the US.

This is part of the flag carrier's ongoing

endeavour to reclaim its position as

a leader on the international aviation

map.

The additional flights will be introduced

in a phased manner from

October to December.

With five additional flights a week

to Birmingham, nine to London and six

to San Francisco, Air India will be able

to offer over 5,000 additional seats

every week to customers and ensure

ample choice in terms of connectivity,

convenience, and cabin space.

Air India's current schedule of 34

flights every week to the UK will now

go up to 48 flights. Birmingham will

receive an extra five flights per week,

three from Delhi and two additional

from Amritsar. London will receive

while he held office.

However, PML-N supremo maintained

that he had no connection to the

apartments buying process as the companies

owned by his son Hassan

Nawaz bought them in 2006.

The case was filed in the Supreme

Court by former premier Imran Khan

during October 2016, in which he

sought disqualification of Nawaz

Sharif, claiming that the London properties

were owned by the latter but

were not declared in his assets.

The case was later investigated by a

Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in 2018

after Khan won the general elections

and took power.

The JIT team probed into the matter

and shared its opinion that the properties

were owned by Nawaz Sharif and

Maryam Nawaz. The matter revealed

many concerns with a trust deed under

the famous Calibri font, which Khan

claimed was used to write a fake deed,

back-dated of February 2006, when the

nine additional weekly flights, of

which, five are from Mumbai, three

from Delhi and one from Ahmedabad.

Altogether, seven Indian cities will

now have non-stop Air India flights to

the UK's capital.

Flights from India to the US will

increase from 34 to 40 per week.

Air India will now connect Mumbai

with San Francisco with a thrice weekly

service, and reinstate a three-timesweekly

Bengaluru operation. This

takes Air India's San Francisco offering

from 10 to 16 weekly, with non-stop

service from Delhi, Mumbai and

font was not open for commercial use.

However, this claim was refuted by

Lucas De Groot, the founder of the

Calibri font, who clarified that it was

not available commercially but its

downloadable version was available,

which was used by most "tech geeks".

While many such pointers were

raised during the course of time of the

investigation and authenticity of various

documents were being verified.

One big twist into the case was related

to the political maneuvering during the

2018 elections, when a sitting judge of

the IHC claimed that he was directed

by the military establishment to make

sure that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter

are kept behind bars till the elections

are over.

Justice Shaukat Aziz revealed these

details during a session of the bar council

where he claimed that he was pressurized

to give a verdict into the case

negating the merits of the case.

A similar leak was also released of a

telephonic conversation between the

then sitting Chief Justice of Pakistan

(CJP) saying clearly that he has been

asked to make sure that Sharif family is

kept behind bars despite not meriting to

any conviction. The reason he gave in

the leaked conversation that he has

been told that Khan has to be brought

into power.

But with the latest development, the

PML-N is making a big comeback into

the political completion in Pakistan

and it seems that, the same path will be

used to ensure the victorious return of

Nawaz Sharif also.

Air India announces 20

additional flights to UK, US

Bengaluru.

Commenting on the development,

Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air

India, said: "As Air India reinvents

itself under the Vihaan.AI transformation

programme, adding frequency and

improving connectivity from major

Indian cities to more international destinations

is a significant focus.

"This sizeable frequency increase to

the US and the UK, as well as the addition

of new city pairs and improved aircraft

cabin interiors, comes just 10

months after Air India's acquisition by

the Tata Group. It is a clear signal of

our intent, and an early step towards a

much bigger aspiration."

In addition to leasing new aircraft,

Air India has been working to restore

existing narrow-body and wide-body

aircraft to the operating fleet.

Prior to the expansion described

above, the airline has already enabled

frequency increases between Delhi and

Vancouver, as well as the addition of

numerous domestic services.


NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

13

Wanted shooter of Bambiha gang

arrested by Punjab Police

Upper Castes should come out

to oppose the EWS

reservation: Dr. Abhay Kumar

(Asian Independent)- The EWS Reservation goes

against the basic principle of social justice enshrined in

the Indian Constitution as Reservation is given to socially

and educationally backward castes and communities.

It cannot be given based on economic backwardness.

The deprived communities need affirmative action

because they are historically marginalized. Upper castes,

contrary to them, are neither historically marginalized

nor are socially and educationally backwards.

As a matter of fact, upper castes continue to dominate

every walk of life from legislative bodies to media and

from the judiciary to college and university.

From bureaucracy to media and civil society, they are

controlling everything. From business and commerce

and from religious institutions and temples to lands and

resources, they own an overwhelming proportion.

If a large number of upper caste candidates are unable

to get admission to educational institutes and find jobs,

it is due to the anti-people policies of the government.

No one can deny the serious issue of poverty and unemployment.

It is true that upper castes, too, are victims of

the wrong government policies.

But the solution to the problem faced by upper castes

is not diluting the very concept of reservation but putting

pressure on the government for launching welfare policies.

We need to fight against the evils of privatization of

education. We must demand more colleges and universities.

We must protest against unemployment. We must

fight for more and more budgetary allocation to health

and education sectors and for generating employment.

We should not forget that in a hierarchical society,

reservation is needed to bring historically marginalized

castes and communities to the process of decision-making.

In other words, it is a means to democratize society,

polity and economy. Reservation is needed to help every

public institution reflect the diversity of society.

Babasaheb Ambedkar has repeatedly said that good

laws alone do not ensure justice. To do justice, we,

according to Dr. Ambedkar, must have the people from

marginalized communities in public offices so that they

can ensure those good laws are implemented.

That is why the upper castes should come up and

speak against EWS reservations. They should focus their

energy on participating in the movement for demanding

social welfare schemes.

The Supreme Court, therefore, should immediately

scrap EWS reservation and ask the government to better

focus on the social sector if it is serious about the welfare

of the people including the upper castes.

Chandigarh, (Asian independent)

Punjab Police have arrested Neeraj

a.k.a. Chaska, the top-most wanted

shooter of the Davinder Bambiha gang,

for his involvement in multiple murders,

including the murder of student

leader Gurlal Brar, Director General of

Police Gaurav Yadav said here on

Thursday.

The murder of Brar, who was a close

relative of Canada-based gangster

Goldy Brar, has triggered an inter-gang

rivalry between the Davinder Bambiha

gang and the Lawrence Bishnoi gang,

leading to a spate of murders in Punjab,

Haryana, Chandigarh and the National

Capital Region (NCR) Delhi.

Brar was shot dead outside a nightclub

in Chandigarh in October 2020.

The arrested gangster Neeraj, a.k.a.

Chaska, who is resident of Jaito in

Faridkot, is the main shooter of

Bambiha gang, being controlled by foreign-based

wanted gangster Gaurav,

a.k.a. Lucky Patial, who is the main

handler of Bambiha gang after gangster

Davinder Bambiha was neutralized

Mumbai : Shiv Sena

President and ex-Chief

Minister Uddhav Thackeray

on Friday welcomed several

prominent Banjara community

leaders who joined the

party, along with a large number

of their supporters.

They include Ravikant

Rathod, a senior leader of the

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi

(VBA), and Mahant Sunil

Maharaj of the Poharadevi

Temple in Yavatmal, and a

dozen other leaders, who tied

by Punjab Police in September 2016.

Neeraj had been absconding since

2019. DGP Yadav said in an ongoing

intelligence-based operation, a team of

the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF)

of Punjab Police, in coordination with

central agencies has arrested Neeraj

from Samba district in Jammu.

The police have also recovered two

foreign-made pistols, besides 17 cartridges

from his possession.

He said apart from Gurlal’s murder,

Neeraj has been directly involved in at

least four more murders, including the

murder of kabbadi player Money, who

the 'Shiv bandhan' in the presence

of Thackeray and other

leaders. The new entrants

enjoy a considerable clout in

the Banjara community - a

denotified nomadic tribe

spread in different parts of

Maharashtra, say Sena officials.

Rathod, hailing from Beed

district was the second-incommand

to the VBA

founder Dr. Prakash

Ambedkar, the grandson of

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Chief

was killed in Jaito town of Faridkot

district on the directions of Amna Jaito

lodged in Ferozepur Jail in August

2019, and double murder case in which

Pardeep, alias Panja, and Rahul were

killed in Ambala in March 2021.

The DGP said Neeraj along with his

associates had also killed Surjit

Bouncer in Chandigarh in March 2020,

following which the Davinder

Bambiha group took the responsibility

of the murder on Facebook claiming

that Surjit was killed to avenge the

killing of another bouncer Amit

Sharma.

Banjara community leaders

from Beed, Yavatmal join

Thackeray's Shiv Sena

Architect of the Indian

Constitution.

Mahant Sunil Maharaj is a

known figure in Yavatmal

who could pose a tough challenge

to the rebel Sena leader

and now a Cabinet Minister,

Sanjay Rathod, elected from

Digras seat. Sanjay Rathod

was the Banjara face of the

Shiv Sena who had to quit the

Thackeray ministry two years

ago, and later joined hands

with Eknath Shinde who

became Chief Minister in

June after the Maha Vikas

Aghadi government was toppled.

Upon joining the Sena,

the Banjara leaders said that

the problems of their community

were not resolved by the

VBA and hence they decided

to join the Thackeray-led

mainstream party which

could address their issues

effectively. Both Dr.

Ambedkar and Sanjay

Rathod downplayed the

developments saying in a

democracy, everybody had a

right to join any party and a

few persons leaving them

would not affect their organisations

much.

14 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


Desecrating the sanctity of

Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya

Shri Nitish Kumar

Hon. Chief Minister of Bihar

26 September, 2022

Dear Chief Minister,

The Mahabodhi Temple

Complex is one of the four holiest

sites related to the life of the Lord

Buddha. This particular temple is

sacred for the millions of

Buddhists all over the world as it is

a place where Lord Buddha

attained Enlightenment. It is one of

the earliest Buddhist temple built

by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century

B.C., and the present temple

dates from the 5th or 6th century.

Because of the significance of this

holy monument, the temple has

been declared as a World Heritage

by UNESCO. Today Buddhists

world-wide venerate Bodh Gaya as

the holiest place of Buddhist pilgrimage

in the world and thousands

of devotees visit this site.

It is a matter of great regret that

the management of this temple is

in the hands of non-Buddhists.

Buddhists should have exclusive

control over the temple's administration.

It has been brought to our

notice that the administration has

allowed Hindu priests to perform

'Pind Dan' within the Mahaboddhi

temple complex (Photos

attached). Pind Dan as per Hindu

belief is a ritual to offer homage to

the departed soul and is performed

by the relatives of the dead. These

rituals and ceremonies carry on

for fifteen days every year. This

practice by the Hindu priests has,

and is, desecrating the sanctity of

this holiest of Buddhist places and

is hurting the feelings of the followers

of Buddhism. Many pilgrims

come to the Mahabodhi

Temple for peace and tranquillity.

But the Hindu priests recite their

mantras and disturb the meditating

pilgrims. We feel that it is an

open encroachment by Hindus of

this historic Buddhist monument

and is a step to turn into a Hindu

site.

We humbly request you look

into this serious matter and order

the Hindu priests to stop 'Pind Pan'

and restore peace to the holy

Buddhist site before this matter

escalates into a religious conflict

between two communities.

This letter is copied to the

UNESCO, World Heritage section.

We look forward to hearing

from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Arun Kumar

General Secretary


NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

15

Implications of Netaji’s statue at India Gate

(Asian Independent)- In a TV

channel debate, BJP spokesperson

and anchor shared and served a lie

that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s

daughter in her letter to the Prime

Minister has alleged that the

Congress kept devaluing Netaji to

further Gandhi’s non-violence;

because Netaji had taken the path

of liberating the country through

violence mode by forming the

Azad Hind Fauj (INA). They also

praised the Bombay Royal Naval

Mutiny of 1946 to confirm that the

country got its independence

through a violent route. I stated

that I have read the letter of

Netaji’s daughter, and there is no

such allegation in it. But a lie told

in the intoxication of power is

bound to be blatant.

Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose

Pfaff, even in the past, has already

requested some earlier prime ministers

of the country to bring back

the mortal remains of her father

from Japan to India. In none of the

letters she has spoken about the

devaluation of her father’s role in

the freedom movement on the

basis of Gandhi’s non-violent

mode of action. In all her statements,

she has been considering

the independence of India as the

result of the efforts of all the institutions

and leaders, including the

Azad Hind Fauj formed by Netaji.

She has also believed, which

seems true, that Gandhiji, at times,

could not handle the versatile personality

of her father. She has been

a professor of economics. Her

statements reveal that she has a

settled and subtle intellectual and

political personality. Pfaff, also a

leader of the Social Democratic

Party of Germany, may also have

been influenced by her father’s

socialist ideas. However, in India

these days there is no dearth of

journalists reporting her statements

in an erratic and childish

manner.

In her communications she has

always urged the leaders of India

and Japan to bring the remains of

her father back to India from the

Renkoji Temple in Tokyo. In the

letter to the prime minister

Narendra Modi too, she has

expressed her gratitude to him for

the installation of Netaji’s statue at

the historic India Gate of the country’s

capital, and reiterated her

everlasting demand to bring the

remains of Netaji to India. In this

letter, she has not made any allegation

against anyone. Rather, as

before, in the letter to the present

prime minister, she has appealed

to the opposition leaders and citizens

to co-operate in bringing

Netaji’s remains to India. She has

also offered to conduct a DNA test

of the preserved ashes, to put an

end to the speculations about

Netaji’s death. However, she does

not see the need for a DNA test in

view of the clear evidences

of Netaji’s death on 18

August 1945 in the plane

crash. Netaji and her

Austrian wife Emilie

Schenkel’s daughter, born

in Vienna, has turned 80.

She was three years old at

the time of her father’s

death. Her fondness for his

father’s remains is natural.

Netaji’s formation of the

Azad Hind Fauj and armed

military struggle with the

British government is a

very small part of his

activism in the freedom

movement. Netaji had a

great personality. But the

RSS/BJP want to construct

the image of Netaji that of

a Hindu-militarist by

emphasizing his role associated

only with the Azad Hind Fauj.

That is, the RSS/BJP needs a violence-loving

‘Hindu’ Netaji.

(Whereas, VD Savarkar himself

had said that “Bose did not differ

very much from Mahatma Gandhi,

except that he went further to woo

the Muslims.”) Here the question

is, does his efforts for the independence

of the country through

the Azad Hind Fauj come in the

category of plain violence? And

was that violence answer to the

non-violence of Gandhi? Did

Netaji make any such claim during

or after the formation of the Azad

Hind Fauj? Was Netaji’s army a

Hindu army? There is no such

thing in the light of facts. In fact,

the RSS/BJP are no longer satisfied

with merely putting up a portrait

of Savarkar in the Central

Hall of Parliament. They want to

establish the superiority of

Savarkar’s violence over Gandhi’s

non-violence. This mind-set sees

patriotism in Savarkar’s apologies,

valour in inciting the youth to kill

enemies and a vision in recruiting

Indians into the British Army to

militarize the country. Therefore,

it would be appropriate to give

some thought to the violence of

Savarkar and the intention of the

RSS/BJP to set it up.

The question of violence-nonviolence

had arisen in the Indian

freedom struggle since 1857.

India’s budding middle-class did

not support the soldiers who

rebelled against colonialism and

the peasant-artisans and certain

princely states who supported

them in the rebellion. The horror

of the horrific violence that took

place during and after the repression

of 1857 kept dominating the

Indian society for the next four

decades. The silence of this horror

was broken by the eldest of the

Chapekar brothers, Damodar Hari

Chaphekar, on 22 June 1897 by

shooting and killing the District

Magistrate of Pune Walter Charles

Rand and his assistant Oyster.

With this incident the armed revolutionary

movement got a start in

the Indian freedom struggle.

As the revolutionary movement

progressed, the violence-non-violence

debate took a new turn.

Gandhi gave a new dimension to

this debate by proposing the philosophy

of non-violence. Against

Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence,

the revolutionaries put forward

their ‘philosophy of the

bomb’. The revolutionaries made

it clear in their philosophy that the

violence of the revolutionary

movement is not related to the violence

based on the ‘philosophy’ of

lies, deceit and conspiracy. Gandhi

praised the bravery of the revolutionaries,

and advised them to follow

the right path of non-violence.

He also said that non-violence

cannot be the weapon of cowards.

Gandhi also tried to convince

Savarkar that the great goals of

human life cannot be achieved

through lies, deceit and conspiracy.

When Gandhi met Savarkar

and some of the youths influenced

by him at India House in London,

he had some realization that India

had to achieve a greater goal for

humanity along with its freedom.

After that meeting and discussion,

Gandhi composed ‘Hind Swaraj’

on the ship while returning from

London.

When Savarkar came out of jail

in 1924, the revolutionary movement

had entered a new ideological

phase. The Hindustan Socialist

Republican Association (HSRA)

was founded by Bhagat Singh and

his comrades in 1924 and the

Bharat Naujawan Sabha in 1926.

Netaji presided over the Lahore

session of the Bharat Naujawan

Sabha in 1929. Savarkar’s violence

could not find any track with

the violence of the revolutionaries.

Opposition to the independence

movement and support for colonial

power was the natural culmination

of his path. And the same

thing happened. He remained

loyal to the British till the end.

Even after independence, his

‘fame’ is associated with the

case of Gandhi’s assassination.

He had refused to even

recognize Nathuram Godse in

the court as per his familiar

tactic. But it is believed that

the last statement of Godse

given in the court was penned

by Savarkar, a prolific writer.

He had also done this job for

the revolutionary martyr

Madanlal Dhingra 40 years

ago. However, the London

court did not allow Dhingra to

read the statement.

Savarkar lived till 1966, but

no remarkable positive work

in the service of the country

and society is recorded in his

account. Those who believe

that patriotism was hidden

behind Savarkar’s apologies,

it can be said that they neither

know about the revolutionary

movement nor about the open

movement of the people of India.

Those who see the ‘vision’ of

India’s militarization in the venture

of Savarkar to recruit Indians

in the army to fight in the Second

World War, may not know that the

Indians were not recruited as officers

in the British Army, but were

recruited as soldiers to become

cannon fodder on the war fronts

while fighting in India and abroad.

There is a need to understand

the implications of RSS/BJP’s

exercise of dragging Netaji into

the fringes of violence. Netaji is a

big name in the history of the freedom

movement. He has a deep

reputation among the public. In

the eyes of some, he is the most

popular figure in India after

Gandhi. The RSS/BJP feel it

would be easy to drag Bhagat

Singh and other ‘Hindu’ revolutionaries

into the court of

Savarkaraite violence under

Netaji’s headship. But the matter

does not end here. The RSS/BJP,

ultimately, want to get rid of

Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolence

‘responsible for making

the country a coward’ by selective

appropriation of Netaji and revolutionaries.

Savarkar, in his book

‘The Indian War of Independence

1857’ has described the sepoyrebellion,

which was termed as

Ghadar (mutiny) by the British, as

India’s first war of freedom struggle.

In his book he has also celebrated

the violence a lot. But the

RSS/BJP do not invoke 1857

against Gandhi’s non-violence.

Because the Hindu-Muslim unity

of that first major war of independence

from colonialism comes

in the way of their communal politics

based on majoritarianism.

Many Indians with slave and

coward mentality did not take part

in perhaps the most spectacular

freedom struggle in the world. The

leaders of the Muslim League,

Hindu Mahasabha, RSS, including

princes, big and small government

officials, dhannaseth, and various

type of internationalists were

among those Indians. In spite of

this fact, the Prime Minister, and

then the RSS/BJP ideologues are

constantly repeating that by

installing the statue of Netaji, they

have liberated the country from

colonial mind-set. They perhaps

are not ready to accept that the

delusions spread with the help of

political power would be cleared

one day or the other.

Anyway, what will be the outcome

of all this exercise of the

RSS/BJP, only the future will tell?

But at present it is clear that by

doing all this the RSS/BJP are distorting

the true spirit of the freedom

movement, devaluing the

national leaders by dragging them

into petty politics, and also insulting

the Indian people who participated

in the freedom movement

sacrificing even their lives. While

doing all this, when the RSS/BJP

refer to sometimes Krishna, sometimes

Arjuna, sometimes

Chanakya etc., then these mythological-historical

figures are also

insulted. It would be better for the

RSS/BJP and their supporters to

try to change the mind-set of slavery

and cowardice rather than hiding

it with various tricks.

Post-script

On the appropriation of Netaji

by the RSS/BJP, the progressive

secular camp, while citing his

socialist and secular views, has

reiterated its old argument that the

RSS/BJP cannot digest Netaji. The

same argument was also propagated

at the time of appropriation of

thinkers/leaders such as

Vivekananda, Bhagat Singh, and

BR Ambedkar etc. Even after

three decades of neo-colonial

assault, the intellectuals of India

are not ready to accept that in the

era of corporate politics, national

leaders/thinkers are appropriated

not for their ideas/actions, but for

their colorful use in favor of neoliberalism;

icons who fought

against colonial domination are

dragged into the hammam of neocolonial

slavery. North-South-

East-West – political parties operating

in all parts of India are doing

more or less the same. An example

should suffice in this context.

Those loving children of Ford

Foundation like Arvind Kejriwal

who campaign against reservation

under the aegis of Youth for

Equality, make the corporate-communal

nexus acceptable to the progressive

secular camp have

Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar as

their ‘ideal’! In this game of corporate

politics, Gandhi’s position

has been made that of a Panchayati

child. When parties/leaders need

him they fondle him, otherwise he

would be scolded.

16 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


(Samaj Weekly)- The largest

democracy of the world – India that

is Bharat is, it seems, finding itself

on cross roads. It has come a long

way since independence 75 years

ago. The constitution of India, it is

for certain, has stood the test of time

– personality cult in the early years

in PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s time,

abrasions like emergency imposed

by PM Indira Gandhi , opposition

unity of motley crowd in 1977 under

Jai Prakash Narayan and change of

guard, sudden elimination of PM

Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in

violence, Mandal-Kamandal

slugfest, demolition of Babri Masjid

and construction of Ram

Janambhoomi Mandir, Wars with

China in 1962 and with Pakistan in

1965, 1971, 1999 (Kargil), demonetization,

fight with Covid pandemic

were some of the challenging situations

but we remained on track as a

vibrant democratic nation. Thanks

to the constitution. India has arrived,

no doubt. We are on the way to realize

and redeem our pledge of ‘Tryst

with Destiny”. The warnings of Dr.

B.R. Ambedkar to ward off dangers

to our newly earned independence

which he sounded in his last speech

in the Constituent Assembly on

November 25, 1949 still ring bells

which we must listen if want to

reach our destination – a Vikshit

Bharat. I am reminded of a poetic

assertion of Allma Iqbal to get alerted

to respond to the ground realities

and the challenges ahead:-

Chupa Kar Asteen Mein Bijliyan

Rakhi Hain Gardoon Ne

Anadil Bagh Ke Ghafil Na

Baithen Ashiyon Mein

(The sky has kept thunderbolts

concealed up its sleeve

Garden’s nightingales should not

slumber in their nests)

Generally, the constitution has

kept us as a nation on the march. Of

late, it has been observed that some

superfluous tendencies have crept in

which tended to upset the social and

political fabric of the country. These

uncalled for tendencies, ethnic and

religious polarization and dictatorial

behavior, not only negate the basic

and fundamentals of the constitution

but also hit the moral and humanistic

aspects of the society. It seems

that we have started placing our personal

and narrow agenda above the

national interest.

It will be fool-hardy not to revisit

Babasaheb Ambedkar and learn. On

November 25, 1949, he spoke of the

need to give up the

grammar of anarchy,

to avoid hero-worship,

and to work towards a

social – not just a

political – democracy

and added, “Will history

repeat itself? It is

this thought which

fills me with anxiety.

This anxiety is deepened

by the realization

of the fact that in addition

to our old enemies

in the form of

castes and creeds we

are going to have

many political parties

with diverse and

Polarization – Political Vs Ethnic

opposing political

creeds. Will Indians

place the country

above their creed or

will they place creed

above country? I do

not know. But this

much is certain that if the parties

place creed above country, our independence

will be put in jeopardy a

second time and probably be lost

forever. This eventuality we must all

resolutely guard against. We must

be determined to defend our independence

with the last drop of our

blood.”

We subscribed to parliamentary

form of government in which the

Executive powers are vested in

President with his Council of

Ministers headed by Prime Minister

as first among equals. But in practice,

the things have tended to go the

other way, powers concentrating

with the PM – Jawaharlal Nehru-

Indira Gandhi- Narander Modi,

which has led to ‘personality cult’, a

sure way to dictatorship which is an

anti-thesis to democracy. Yet another

gem from the visionary leader,

Dr. Ambedkar is as relevant today as

it was before. He said, “This democratic

system India lost. Will she

lose it a second time? I do not know.

But it is quite possible in a country

like India – where democracy from

its long disuse must be regarded as

something quite new – there is danger

of democracy giving place to

dictatorship. It is quite possible for

this new born democracy to retain

its form but give place to dictatorship

in fact. If there is a landslide,

the danger of the second possibility

becoming actuality is much

greater.”

Barring early years of our independence

when the political system

tried to evolve some sort of polarization

of political forces and players

on the basis of ideology and

rightly so – Congress

Party and his allies as

the Centre – Jan

Sangh, Hindu Maha

Sabha, Swatantra

Party etc. as the

Right of Centre and

Socialists and Left

parties as the Left of

the Centre. Even

B a b a s a h e b

Ambedkar wanted to

launch a Pan-India

party as a viable

opposition to all

powerful Congress

but that was not to be

as he passed away in

1956. We lost the way, in the

process, and could not get, unfortunately,

polarization of political

forces, the first requisite of a

democracy. Political parties increasingly

became a ‘motley crowd’ of

vested and sectarian interests bereft

of any ideology. Aya Ram Gya Ram

syndrome over took the system.

Parties like BSP, Samajwadi Party,

RJD, JDU, Samta Party, Lok Dal,

NCP, TMC, AAP and many more

cropped up with limited influence in

various states and regions with no

distinct and alternate agenda.

Moreover, over the years, regional

parties like SAD, DMK, AIDMK,

Shiv Sena, BJD among others

Ramesh Chander

increasingly became vocal and

strong in their respective states.

With these developments, political

polarization on the basis of ideology

got further hit which was not good

for the health of democratic polity.

Political morality which is the most

important unwritten ingredient for

the success of democracy got diluted.

All this resulted in uncalled for

situation in a secular and democratic

edifice of the country as visualized

by our forefathers – religious

polarization, ethnic strife, majoritarianism,

minority syndrome, intolerance,

dictatorial approaches and

such other negative phenomenon

which negated the lofty ideals of

‘Equality, Liberty, Justice and

Fraternity’ so nicely enshrined in

our constitution.

With this background, let us proceed

further. Congress Party lost its

steam and got pulled down from the

podium, beginning 2014. NCP,

TMC etc. broke away from the

Congress and formed splinter

groups, Samajwadis got divided into

various groups like SP, RJD, JDU

etc.

, BSP, Kanshi

Ram’s outfit to reckon

with, lost its way

under the weight of

its own self-centered

leadership, the left

and communists, it

seems have lost their

relevance in the

changed national and

international scene.

BJP exploited this

divisive scenario

with their exclusive

agenda of ethnic

polarization with

‘Hindutava and

Nationalism’ as under-current of

their liberal face. Hindu-Muslim

divide helped them in furtherance of

their vested design of ‘divide and

rule’. The same mantra was

deployed to ‘divide and fragment’

dalit vote banks and bring them to

naught. As of now in 2022 and in

the run up to elections in 2024, the

polity and society is totally divided

and fragmented and opposition has

been successfully marginalized. It is

a challenging scenario with no light

at the end of the tunnel.

What is the way out to save the

country, diverse and multi-racial

and multi-cultural, and its political

democracy so laboriously built and

nurtured in 75 years of freedom.

What should we do to save ourselves

from entering the phase of

‘Grammar of Anarchy’ as warned by

the chief architect of our constitution,

Babasaheb Ambedkar? I venture

to undertake here an off the cuff

analysis not as an expert but as a

concerned citizen of India that is

Bharat. I start from the premise that

the Hindu society, the majority community,

will remain divided and

fragmented on the basis of

Manuwadi thinking and the caste

system as followed and practiced,

consciously or otherwise, by the

BJP and its mentors in the RSS and

its affiliates like VHP and Bajrang

Dal etc. It suits their political agenda

to polarize the Hindu society. The

second premise is that the chasm

between the majority Hindus and

minority Muslims, Christians and

Sikhs would get widened in the

coming years. The third one is dalits

would get ‘Educated, Organized and

Agitated’ to demand their due share

and space in the political and economic

structures of the country as

ordained by their icons Babasaheb

Ambedkar and Babu Kanshi Ram.

With this, I see no political polarization

on the basis of ideology and

agenda which is ideally needed for

the success of democracy. Given the

ground reality, there would be a new

paradigm – polarization of political

forces not on the desired basis but

otherwise on socio-cultural and ethnic

basis, in the coming years. Will

it be for the good or otherwise, it is

difficult to say as of now? I will

share here what the emerging situation

dictates, to my mind.

All said and done, there would be

or should be three major political

formations – i) Centre – United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by

Congress Party with likeminded

outfits like NCP, TMC, AAP,

Socialists (representing OBCs of

upper crust (landowners), ii)

National Democratic Alliance

(NDA) led by BJP with Socialists

(representing OBCs of upper crust

(landowners) and other Hindu

nationalists as Right of the Centre

and iii) Third Front – comprising of

Socialists, Communists, BSP,

Outfits representing minorities

(Muslims, Sikhs, Christians,

Buddhists, OBCs (landless/Ati-shudras)

and dalits who do not profess

to be Hindus as Left of the Centre. I

have, it may be observed, bifurcated

OBCs into the Upper crust and landless

Ati-Shudras See on Page 40


ACDA press release on

violence in Leicester

and Birmingham

The Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance calls for restraint following the

violence in Leicester and Birmingham; and calls on the Government to

act immediately to restore peace, and protect minorities in the UK

NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 17

'Prohibited' status of broken rice

ensures domestic food security,

feed availability: Centre

Leicester (Asian Independent)- The

Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA)

is very alarmed and concerned about the

recent unrest and violence in Leicester and

Birmingham. We strongly condemn the

organised campaigns of violence, and provocations

that have been directed towards both

the Muslim and Hindu communities.

For far too long the UK Government has

ignored the concerns raised by communities

about the violence, intimidation, hostility,

intolerance, and caste discrimination that has

been imported from South Asia onto the

streets of the UK.

The ACDA call on

the Government to

thoroughly investigate

the incidents and deal

with the promoters

and perpetrators of

violence according to

the law. The UK is a diverse and tolerant

country where people hailing from all faiths

and races live in harmony, and this needs to

continue.

Members of the ACDA have been campaigning

for legal protection for victims of

Caste-based discrimination (CBD) for nearly

two decades, working closely with grassroots

organisations comprised of, and representing

Dalits, here in the UK. Following extensive

community campaigning on behalf of victims,

legislation awaiting implementation,

was agreed by Parliament to outlaw caste discrimination

in the UK in 2013.. The legislation

has received the full support of the

Equality and Human Rights Commission and

the United Nations, but in spite of this, the

Government decided in 2018 to not implement

it following opposition from a powerful

Hindu lobby.

Many have sought to blame the violence

in Leicester of the presence of more recent

working-class migrants from India – essentially

members from marginalised castes in

Gujarat. This narrative is perpetuating caste

ignorance, and caste prejudices here in the

UK. Its clear that the politics of South Asia

has been imported into the UK, and the

provocations are the results of mobs aligned

to the Nazi-inspired Indian paramilitary

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that

increasingly operate amongst British Indian

communities in the UK. By failing to

address these issues, the UK Government is

complicit in the provocations that were witnessed

in Leicester over the weekend. The

Home Office must review its decision to

allow the notorious anti-Muslim activist and

hard-line Hindutva leader Sadhvi

Rithambara entry to

the UK to attend several

events in

L o n d o n ,

Birmingham,

Nottingham, and

Coventry. Although

her scheduled visit

has been cancelled in light of the protests –

the decision by the Home Secretary to allow

any person who has the potential to incite

religious hatred and disharmony amongst the

host communities in the UK must be investigated.

Mr Ravi Kumar, General Secretary of

ACDA said: “The Government needs to

reject the ‘cultural baggage’ and caste discrimination

from South Asian that has been

imported into this beautiful country of ours.

We need all communities to abide by British

laws and customs, and to refrain from actions

that inflame religions sentiment and undermine

societal harmony.

The Dalit communities in the UK condemn

attacks against any place of worship or

symbols of religion – hatred of any kind has

no place in our society. As victims of caste

discrimination, we call upon the Government

to provide leadership by enabling protection

for victims. For far too long, nothing has

been done – and the violence we are seeing

on the streets of the UK, is the result of inaction

and political prevarication by politicians

who have placed business interests over community

cohesion, justice, and equality.”

New Delhi : The Centre on Friday said that

the export policy of broken rice has been

amended in order to ensure its adequate availability

for consumption by domestic poultry

industry and for other animal feedstock, and

to produce ethanol for successful implementation

of EBP (Ethanol Blending Programme)

programme.

As per the officials of the Consumer Affairs

Department, there was need for amending the

policy due to various reasons.

Domestic price of broken rice, which was

Rs 16 a kg in the open market, has increased

to about Rs 22 kg in states because of exports

due to higher international prices. Poultry sector

and animal husbandry farmers were

impacted the most due to price hike of feed

ingredients as about 60-65 per cent input cost

for poultry feed comes from broken rice and

any increase in prices will be reflected in

poultry products like milk, egg, meat etc.

which resulted in food inflation, officials said.

There has been a rise in global demand for

broken rice due to geo-political scenario

which has impacted price movement of commodities

including those related to animal

feed. The export of broken rice has increased

by more than 43 times in past 4 years (21.31

LMT exported from April-August, 2022 compared

to 0.41 LMT in the same period in

2018-19).

The export share of broken rice significantly

increased to 22.78 per cent as compared to

1.34 per cent in the corresponding period of

2019. From the year 2018-19 (FY) to 2021-22

(FY) export of total broken rice increased by

319 per cent.

Some countries (who never imported broken

rice from India) have tapped into the

Indian market to exploit the situation at the

cost of Indian consumers, the officials said.

Parboiled and Basmati rice constitute

around 55 per cent of total rice export from

India. So, the farmers will continue to get

good remunerative prices and dependent/vulnerable

countries will have adequate availability

of parboiled rice as India has a significant

share in the global rice export, they

added.

As per the Consumer Affairs Department,

217.31 LMT rice is in government buffer

stock which is higher than the buffer stock

norm. In the upcoming Kharif Season, 510

LMT and in Rabi Season, 100 LMT of rice

will be procured. The buffer stock maintained

by the country is more than enough to meet

the demand for the public distribution system.

Continue From Page 16

Polarization – Political Vs Ethnic

as the ‘Bahujan’ concept of Babu

Kanshi Ram and Samajwadis have

almost failed. In the villages, OBCs

of Upper crust category are equally

casteist and target dalits and poor

OBCs like Manuwadis.

The fourth pillar of the political

spectrum would be the regional parties

like Shiv Sena, BJD, SAD,

DMK, AIDMK, NCP, PDP and

other splinter groups in various

states. They will remain and cannot

be wished away. Political polarization

is much neededrequisite for the

functioning of our political democracy

but not on the basis of religion

and ethnicity. But it could not happen.

The divisive and fissiparous

tendencies, getting strength from

the on-going Hindu-Muslim,

Hindu-Christian, Sikh-Hindu, Sikh-

Christian religious slugfest, would

remain for a long time to come,

given the current scenario purposely

and willfully designed and created

by the vested interests to carry

forward their political agenda over

and above the national interests.

That is why, I have taken the liberty

of suggesting a functional and pragmatic

political approach which may

seem a utopia to many but there is

no way out, to my mind. With the

suggested political polarization, the

likely government formation would

be – i) UPA with the Third Front

and some of the regional outfits or

ii) NDA with the Third Front or iii)

Third Front either with UPA or

NDA with some of the regional parties.

We the people of India must think

and act, sooner the better. The

apprehensions expressed by

Babasaheb Ambedkar, a visionary

leader ring in my ears and I get

frightened. He said, “On 26th

January 1950, India will be an independent

country. What would happen

to her independence? Will she

maintain her independence or will

she lose it again? This is the first

thought that comes to my mind. It is

not that India was never an independent

country.

The point is that she once lost the

independence she had. Will she lose

it a second time? It is this thought

which makes me most anxious for

the future. What perturbs me greatly

is the fact that not only India has

once before lost her independence,

but she lost it by the infidelity and

treachery of some of her own people.”

Watan Ki Fikar Kar Nadan!

Musibat Ane Wali Hai

Teri Barbadiyon Ke Mashware

Hain Asmanon Mein

(Think of the homeland, O ignorant

one! Hard times are coming

Conspiracies for your destruction

are afoot in the heavens)

Na Samjho Ge To Mit Jao Ge Ae

Hindustanon Walo !

Tumhari Dastan Tak Bhi Na Ho

Gi Daston Mein

(You will be annihilated if you do

not understand, O people of India!

Even your tales will disappear

from the world’s chronicles)

18 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


Climate change likely increased heavy rain

that led to Pakistan flooding: Study

New Delhi : Humancaused

climate change likely

increased the intense rainfall

that flooded swathes of land

across Pakistan, according

to rapid attribution analysis

by an international team of

leading climate scientists as

part of the World Weather

Attribution group.

Extreme rainfall in the

region has increased 50-75

per cent and some climate

models suggest this increase

could be entirely due to

human-caused climate

change, although there are

considerable uncertainties in

the results. Pakistan

received more than three

times its usual rainfall in

August, making it the

wettest August since 1961.

The two southern provinces

of Sindh and Balochistan

experienced their wettest

August ever recorded,

receiving seven and eight

times their usual monthly

totals respectively.

The Indus river, which

runs the length of the country,

burst its banks across

thousands of square kilometres,

while the intense local

rainfall also led to urban

flash floods, landslides and

glacial lake outburst floods.

The rains and resulting

flooding affected over 33

million people, destroyed

1.7 million homes, and

killed more than 1,500 people.

To quantify the effect of

climate change on the heavy

rainfall, scientists analysed

weather data and computer

simulations to compare the

climate as it is today, after

about 1.2 degrees Celsius of

global warming since the

late 1800s, with the climate

of the past, following peerreviewed

methods.

The researchers focused

on two aspects of the event:

the 60-day period of heaviest

rainfall over the Indus

river basin between June and

September, and the five-day

period of heaviest rainfall in

Sindh and Balochistan.

The scientists found that

modern climate models are

not fully able to simulate

monsoon rainfall in the

Indus river basin, as the

region is located at the western

edge of the monsoon and

its rainfall pattern is

extremely variable from

year to year. Consequently,

they could not quantify the

influence of climate change

as accurately as has been

possible in other studies of

extreme weather events,

such as heatwaves and

heavy rainfall in areas with

less variability and more

reliable models. For the

five-day total rainfall, some

models suggest that climate

change increased the fiveday

total rainfall in Sindh

and Balochistan by up to 50

per cent. This is in-line with

recent IPCC assessments

projecting more intense

rains in the region and with

historical weather records

which show that these heavy

rainfall episodes have

increased 75 per cent in the

region in the last few

decades.

There were large uncertainties

in climate modelling

of maximum 60-day rainfall

in the Indus basin, meaning

the scientists were not able

to estimate the influence of

climate change on this

aspect of the rainfall.

The analysis also suggests

that heavy rainfall like that

experienced in Pakistan this

year now has approximately

a one per cent chance of

happening each year,

although this estimate also

comes with a large range of

uncertainty. The same event

would probably have been

much less likely in a world

without human-induced

greenhouse gas emissions,

meaning climate change

likely made the extreme

rainfall more probable.

While the extreme nature of

the rainfall and subsequent

floods means that some level

of impact was likely

unavoidable, many factors

contributed to increase the

damage, including high

poverty rates and political

instability. The study was

conducted by 26 researchers

as part of the World Weather

Attribution group, including

scientists from universities

and meteorological agencies

in Denmark, France,

Germany, India, the

Netherlands, New Zealand,

Pakistan, South Africa, the

UK and the US. Fahad

Saeed, Researcher at the

Center for Climate Change

and

Sustainable

Development, Islamabad,

said: "Fingerprints of climate

change in exacerbating

the heatwave earlier this

year, and now the flooding,

provide conclusive evidence

of Pakistan's vulnerability to

such extremes. "Being the

chair of G77, the country

must use this evidence in

COP27 to push the world to

reduce emissions immediately.

"Pakistan must also

ask developed countries to

take responsibility and provide

adaptation plus loss and

damage support to the countries

and populations bearing

the brunt of climate change."

Friederike Otto, Senior

Lecturer in Climate Science

at the Grantham Institute --

Climate Change and the

Environment, Imperial

College London, said: "Our

evidence suggests that climate

change played an

important role in the event,

although our analysis doesn't

allow us to quantify how

big the role was.

"This is because it is a

region with very different

weather from one year to

another, which makes it hard

to see long-term changes in

observed data and climate

models. This means the

mathematical uncertainty is

large. "However, not all

results within the uncertainty

range are equally likely.

What we saw in Pakistan is

exactly what climate projections

have been predicting

for years. It's also in line

with historical records

showing that heavy rainfall

has dramatically increased

in the region since humans

started emitting large

amounts of greenhouse

gases into the atmosphere."

Charity begins at home for AJB Group Team

(Asian Independent)-

Residents at the Corby Homeless

Project were treated to some

Indian savouries, as part of a charitable

initiative by the team at AJB

Group to give back to the community.

AJB Group’s CEO, Amarjit

Binji, provided finely wrapped

packages, each containing a selection

of samosas and pakoras. He

was greeted by Lucy Brooks and

Susie Skelham, pictured, Resident

Engagement & Project Lead and

Homeless Pathway Co-ordinator,

respectively, who gave a guided

tour of the building.

Jo Burns, CEO of Encompass

charity which runs Corby

Homeless Project, said: “We

would like to thank Amarjit and his

team from AJB Group for their

kind and generous foodbank donation.

With an everincreasing

rise in the cost

of living and the likely

impact of this on homelessness,

even stronger

partnerships are going to

be vital. Whilst

Encompass continues to

go over and beyond its

call of duty, it’s organisations

such as AJB Group

that can help add even

greater value to all that

we do.”

The latest quarterly

Chain figures found just

under 3,000 people sleeping

rough in London

between April and June

2022. This represents an

alarming 10% rise on the 2,714

people recorded in the previous

three months. As it stands, nearly

seven million people are said to be

going hungry in the UK, including

two million children. That’s an

increase of 2 million since the pandemic.

By next month, almost half

of all children will be living in

families who’ll be unable to meet

the cost of some basic necessities,

research suggests.

AJB Group is a manufacturer of

world-class joinery products. Its

client list includes The Shard, BBC

TV Centre, Centre Point and

Battersea Power Station, as well as

famous celebrities.

This month marks Shraadh, an

important religious annual period

in the Hindu calendar. Shraadh is

observed over a fortnight and is a

time when Hindus all over the

world honour their ancestors and

loved ones who have passed

away. It’s seen as an opportunity

to give to charity and to feed the

homeless. The days during

Shraadh are dedicated to remembering

and thanking with sincerity

and faith, those who are no

longer with us for the sacrifices

they made and recognise that we

owe our presence on this earth to

them.

Corby Homeless Project is a

partnership with North

Northamptonshire Council, aimed

at helping those who are homeless,

both immediately and longer term.

As well as supporting with accommodation,

residents are supported

to learn to cook and clean, access

their benefits, budget and plan for

the future, complete training courses,

education or be work ready and

access other agencies such as

health services, drug and alcohol

support, the job centre and domestic

abuse services. To find out

more about the charity visit

www.encs.org.uk


NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

19

Kartavya Path: Another leap

towards neo-colonialism!

(Asian Independent)- Let it

be clear at the outset that when

the road from Rashtrapati

Bhavan to India Gate was named

Rajpath, it was not a literal translation

of the King’s Way. In the

same sense, Janpath was not the

translated name for its old name,

the Queen’s Way. In the Rajpath

nomenclature, the symbolism of

independent and sovereign

India’s democratic statehood was

fulfilled. From 26 January 1950

onwards, a colorful display of

India’s military might and cultural

diversity continued to be

showcased on the Rajpath. In this

sense, the symbolism associated

with Rajpath became progressively

stronger in the public

mind. If any individual or group

continues to believe that Rajpath

is a translation of the name of the

colonial era, King’s Way, and as a

result of this, indicates the colonial

mind-set, one must realize

that for the vast public of India,

Rajpath means the path of independent

and sovereign India’s

democratic statehood. Therefore,

the statement of the Prime

Minister that he has liberated the

nation from the colonial mindset

by renaming the Rajpath as

Kartavya Path is mere a rhetoric.

While unveiling the statue of

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,

which was installed under the

Grand Canopy situated east of

India Gate, the Prime Minister

claimed to have given him his

rightful place in history. Even

this claim could be called hollow.

The politics of symbols and icons

has been going on all over the

world for a long time. The

Congress, in India, has also done

that, and regional satraps have

been doing it at the regional level

in different ways. However, this

politics has intensified in the neoliberal

era. The only thing that’s

new with the RSS/BJP in this

regard is that it uses the politics

of symbols and icons of anticolonial

struggle without having

participated in the freedom struggle.

It brings someone down, lifts

someone up while doing this

brand of politics. To cover the

hollowness of this exercise, it has

to go beyond history and logic,

and resort to political power.

Neither history is made nor is

history written by making loud

claims with the support of power

and rumbling of symbols/icons.

The RSS/BJP finds everything

wrong in the historiography of

ancient and medieval India and

freedom struggle. The correct

way is that its scholars should

attempt rewriting the ‘right history’

but only after following the

rigorous discipline of historiography.

Historiography is perhaps

the most difficult academic pursuit

in the modern world. Like

every subject, historiography is

determined by rigorous examination

of accepted methods and criteria.

Without learning, understanding

and following them, one

cannot become a historian or a

scholar of any other subject.

Ignoring this difficult though

necessary path, the RSS/BJP try

to slander the left scholars who

write history, and tamper with the

already prescribed text-books. As

if, in India and in the world only

sanghis and communists exist;

and other than the communists,

scholars of no other streams have

done any work in historiography

or in any other subject.

Obviously, this becomes a futile

debate on the part of the

RSS/BJP, which blocks the path

of knowledge.

Left scholars in India and in

the world have contributed a lot

to historiography and other subjects.

This is the result of their

sincerity, intellect and hard work.

A scholar of any other stream

cannot move forward without

having gone through their work

and learned from them. Exactly

in the same way, a scholar of the

Marxist stream cannot progress

Prem Singh

by neglecting the work of scholars

of other streams.

But people of stagnant mentality

become accustomed to instigating

arguments and quarrels

instead of pursuing the basics of

academic learning. Due to this

they do not develop as modern

human beings, their intellectual

credibility is doubtful and their

social personality suffers. The

same holds true for the RSS/BJP.

One cannot claim to be modern

simply by indiscriminate adoption

of digital devices invented

by the western world. For that

one has to adopt the philosophy

of the natural sciences which nurtures

a scientific and progressive

outlook. It is not without reason

that people with a stagnant mindset

try to make themselves look

modern by equipping them with

various digital tools.

The question of colonial mindset

and liberation from it has

been a very problematic and serious

question. Not only for the

countries which have been colonized,

but also for the colonialists.

There is a plethora of literature

and debates available on

colonialism, post-colonialism

and neo-colonialism. Many

important leaders of the world

including India have also given

serious thought to this subject. In

the field of politics, a true statesman

will not make superficial

speeches on the serious question

of colonial mind-set and liberation

from this mind-set. For the

last three decades the threat of

neo-colonialism has resurfaced

for the countries which got freedom

from the grip of colonialism.

India is also facing that threat.

But, unfortunately, the rulingclass

here, instead of performing

its duty towards ensuring the

country’s independence and sovereignty,

is handing the country

over to the neo-colonial clutches.

While doing so, the ruling-class

reduces the freedom fighters and

the national flag into merely

objects of political use.

The present government has

been doing the same thing, first

with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and

now with Netaji Subhash Chandra

Bose. The government is neither

concerned with the role played by

Patel for national integration and

communal harmony, nor with the

socialist and secular ideas of

Netaji. It wants to keep new or

corporate-India (Nigam-Bharat)

as a communal state, which it calls

‘Hindu-Rashtra’. Netaji’s daughter

Prof. Anita Bose Pfaff, in her

letter addressed to the Prime

Minister, states, “… he upheld in

no uncertain manner communal

harmony, Indian unity as well as

the emancipation of women and

the downtrodden people.”

The Prime Minister, while

unveiling the statue of Netaji,

bypasses the fact that it is a stop

gap arrangement. VD Savarkar’s

statue is yet to be installed with

Netaji at the same place even if a

statue of Bhagat Singh too needs

to be installed alongside. People

will remember that in August

2019, the leaders of Akhil

Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad

(ABVP) had secretly established

the trinity of Savarkar-Netaji-

Bhagat Singh in the main campus

of Delhi University. In an article

written at this time I had said that

this course was not going to

cease with this incident.

In fact, it is a two-pronged psychological

warfare going on:

diverting the attention of the

masses, especially the younger

generation, from the neo-colonial

clutches; and the inclusion of

those who fought against colonialism

in the arena of neo-colonialism.

This combined exercise

of the ruling-class and the media

is advertised as patriotism, day

and night, by uninterrupted propaganda.

People are drawn in by

this way of preaching and

applaud it. A few generations

have been born from the womb

of a-politicization that went

under three decades of corporate

politics. They do not seem to

mind the phenomenon of corporate

politics selling off national

assets, destroying constitutional

institutions, renaming cities,

roads, buildings on communal

lines, and the celebrations of all

this.

So in conclusion, it can be said

that the new beautified Kartavya

Path of new India will inspire the

people to imagine that their duty,

like the ruling-class, is to be

devoted not to the sacrifices of

their anti-colonial, patriotic forefathers

but to the service of neocolonialism!

20 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


The Queen is dead, long live the King

(Asian Independent)- Queen

Elizabeth II, the longest serving

monarch of British empire died on

September 8th, at the age of 96 and

since then the crazy 24 7 channels

including BBC and CNN are

minutely reporting every event

related to her death. The funeral will

take place on September 19th but till

then people will watch various

events and engagements of the

Royal family, particularly the new

King Charles III and his Consort.

The Queen ruled for over 70 years

and hence one can understand the

feeling of loss by a nation which

ruled a large part of the world. India

too declared a one-day national

moaning on September 11th. World

leaders are expected to pay join the

funeral procession on September

19th and London police is expecting

massive gathering of people and

leaders on that day.

This question comes for discussion

many time as why United

Kingdom despite being a robust

democracy still hang on with

Monarchy. The question become

more important to countries like

Canada, Australia and New Zealand

where anti Monarchy sentiments too

are growing yet continue to remain

part of the Realm . The conservative

lobby in the United States

remain aggressively pro monarchy

and market forces have tapped their

popularity . The disturbing point is

as why British Royals are so popular

with the American public who

revolted against them so many years

ago. There is a lot of anger among

the natives in the Caribbean Islands

and six countries had indicated that

they wish to become republic in the

coming years and these countries

are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas,

Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts

and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and

Grenadines. The process started

with Barbados which became a

republic on November 30th, 2021.

Three other countries Dominica,

Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago

became republics in the 1970s.

Protesters in these countries have

sought a formal apology for brutalisation

and enslavement of the local

people particularly Africans and

compensate it through reparation. It

is reported that over 14 million

blacks were brought in the European

Slave Trade to Caribbean and 10

million were used in Arab Trade.

These countries are out of the

British Realm but still part of the 54

members Commonwealth. The

question is how can the people who

have been treated worst than animal

rejoice being part of

Commonwealth which the Crown

and elite in Britain feel so much

proud off.

India was ruled by the British

Empire since 1858 till 1947 though

prior to that East India Company

had already started controlling

India s large part since 1757. After

independence, India maintained

good relations with Britain and a big

Indian diaspora now live in UK

which is hugely successful and

politically influential. However,

there are segments of people who

feel as if the British had come to

benefit them and these are two

diversely opposed side. One, the

Hindutva elite and their followers

still celebrate British as for them

India s enslavement started from

Mughal period and hence British

came as liberator for wider Hindu

population. A big section of

Ambedkarite too feel that British

opened door of liberation for them

through education. Recently, a fox

TV anchor was widely criticised

when he counted the greatness of

British empire in his show. Anchor

Tucker Carlson said, The British

Empire was not perfect, but it was

far more humane than any other

ever. It s gone now, barely even

remembered. Queen Elizabeth II

was the last living link to a truly

Great Britain. Today on social

media, the usual ghouls celebrated

her death. May her pain be excruciating,

a Carnegie Mellon professor

called Uju Anya wrote on Twitter of

the queen. May she die in agony.

When the U.S. government withdrew

from Afghanistan after 20

years, we left behind airstrips, shipping

containers and guns. When the

British pulled out of India, they left

behind an entire civilization, a language,

a legal system, schools,

churches and public buildings, all of

which are still in use today. Here s

the train station the English built in

Bombay, for example. There s nothing

like that in Washington, DC

right now, much less in Kabul or

Baghdad. Today, India is far more

powerful than the UK, the nation

that once ruled it and yet, after 75

years of independence, has that

country produced a single building

as beautiful as the Bombay train station

that the British colonialists

built? No, sadly, it has not. Not

one.[i]

Unfortunately, there are many

who share Tucker s views about the

British Raj in India without

acknowledging the fact that Indian

civilisation and great architecture of

Buddhist, Rajputs, Mughal, Maurya

architecture, Cholas and many others

were already visible in India. To

suggest that India did not have the

kind of structure like VT Railway

Station of Mumbai only reflect of

Victorian arrogance. The British

ruled in India for such a long period

that it was impossible for them to

rule without involving local people

in their administration. There is no

doubt they created vast Railway network

so that the expensive timber

from the Himalayas can be transported

to Kolkata port comfortably.

As they needed an effective and

loyal bureaucracy who can interact

with them, they promoted English

language and brought some reforms.

There is no doubt that many things

which look positive to us are not

because the British wanted but it

was a collateral benefit. Of course,

the quality of their work is no doubt

far superior to the things we are

doing it today whether it is the

bridges or train tracks or railway

stations.

There is no doubt that being a

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

neutral party whose only interest

were to exploit India s vast mineral

resources for the benefit of their

society and country, the British had

better attitude in handling the issues

of Caste question and untouchability.

The simple question any one can

ask is that without British the whole

question of participation of the marginalised

communities in political

and power structure would have

been difficult if not impossible.

Whether it was in their own interest

or they wanted to reform British

policy of English education helped

the marginalised sections to some

extent otherwise the upper caste

elite would not have allowed the

Dalits to come up to their level

politically, socially and economically.

Apart from providing us laws

even when the aim was to control us

but it ultimately helped us. India

became the biggest English-speaking

country of the world which

helped Indian community to become

a powerful group in diaspora.

Despite all this, the fact remain that

British did not come to India to liberate

us but to reap its economic

power. India s foreign Minister S

Jaishankar in a programme

informed that British loot in India

was close to $45 trillion as per

today s estimates. Says,

JaiShankar, India had two centuries

of humiliation by the West in

its predatory form it came to India in

the mid-18th century. An economic

study tried to estimate how much

British took out of India, it ended up

at a number of $45 trillion in today s

value, [ii].

Eminent Economist Prof Utsa

Patnaik calculated this figure of GP

45 trillion loot from India. In an

interview she says, Between 1765

and 1938, the drain amounted to

£9.2 trillion (equal to $45 trillion),

taking India s export surplus earnings

as the measure, and compounding

it at a 5% rate of interest. Indians

were never credited with their own

gold and forex earnings. Instead, the

local producers here were paid the

rupee equivalent out of the budget

something you d never find in any

independent country. The drain

varied between 26-36% of the central

government budget. It would

obviously have made an enormous

difference if India s huge international

earnings had been retained

within the country. India would

have been far more developed, with

much better health and social welfare

indicators. There was virtually

no increase in per capita income

between 1900 and 1946, even

though India registered the second

largest export surplus earnings in

the world for three decades before

1929 [iii].

Ironically, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi was inaugurating the

grand of statue of Netaji Subhash

Chandra Bose at the India gate

where Rajpath has been renamed as

Kartvyapath . Modi called to do

away with the symbols of slavery

and be proud of being Indian.

However, Narendra Modi was

among the first to respond to the

death of the Queen, giving a very

personalised message on twitter :

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

will be remembered as as stalwart of

our times. She provided inspiring

leadership to her nation and people.

She personified dignity and decency

in public life. Pained by her demise.

My thoughts are with her family and

people of UK in this sad hour. [iv]

He further said, I had memorable

meetings with Her Mejasty

Queen Elizabeth II during my UK

visits in 2015 and 2018. I will never

forget the warmth and kindness.

During one of the meetings she

showed me the handkerchief

Mahatma Gandhi gifted her on her

wedding. I will always cherish that

gesture[v]

The government of India declared

a national moaning on September

11th though many people questioned

it but realistically it was done as per

the traditions and many countries are

doing so. We can not ignore our relationship

with British empire whether

it was good or bad. Important for all

to learn from history and move

ahead. In the modern world, we

know the importance of Great

Britain and our relationship with

them though both the countries view

the relationships from a different

perspective. For the British, India is

the biggest country of the

Commonwealth but as an Indian,

we don t know anything about

Commonwealth except for the

games where Indians look performing

better than any other international

event. The historical fact is that

Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru

played an extremely important role

to be part of Commonwealth just

because he gave importance to

India s relationship. It was on his

insistence Republics who were part

of British Commonwealth but now

do not have Queen as its head, were

allowed to be part of it. Today, even

countries like Rwanda who were

never part of British empire have

officially joined Commonwealth.

Perhaps, the power is that it brings

diverse countries together who had

commonality in the form of British

Raj. All these countries are now

power house

and can become

strong trading partners. Anyway,

Commonwealth mean nothing for us

except for that historical lineage but

as I mentioned earlier this has a different

meaning for the British

Empire particularly the Monarchy

which uses it to describe their power.

The fact is that The Queen or the

King is head of United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

apart from Australia, Canada and

New Zealand and 14 other countries

now part of the British Realm.

While the sentiment of being a

Republic or having their own

monarchy has been strong enough in

most of the Asian, African and

Caribbean countries which formed

part of British Empire and later

gained independence, the stand of

the ruling elite in Australia, Canada

and New zealand look intriguing.

Why these countries don t have the

sentiments like India and others in

the Indian subcontinents in relation

to Monarchy? And the harsh reality

is that experts like Tucker Carlson

are plenty in the United States and

leadership from both the Republican

and Democrats really love to have

the special relationship with the

monarchy.

See on Page 21


NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

21



It is not without reason that the

Royal Wedding of Harry and

Meghan Markel drew 29.2 million

views on the various television

channels. Their popularity remains

equally high in Canada, Australia

and New Zealand. Important to

decode this relationship of these

countries with British monarchy.

Monarchy is dynasty

When an Indigenous member of

parliament refused to take the oath

of allegiance to the Queen, she was

asked to redo it. Now, every member

of Parliament in Victoria state of

Australia has to take an oath of allegiance

to the new King Charles III

as done by the British Parliament.

The heads of states have to do the

same in Canada, New Zealand and

Australia. Monarchy is dynasty and

look absolutely at odd with the modern

democratic principles. When

Prince Charles was being officially

declared as the new King and we

saw how the entire British

Parliament of Lords and Commons

stood for hours to listen to the king.

There was not even a space for them

to sit. All of them looked like old

courtiers in the Raj Darbar, a highly

unlikely scenario in any democracy.

Now, dynasty is often used in

India for the Gandhi family. Can

there be a bigger irony that the person

and family who is being blamed

as dynast actually is walking in the

streets of India to win over the hearts

of the people, facing the onslaught

of the ruling elite which continue to

use the term dynasty for one family.

The Rajas and Maharajas who are

the role models of the political and

religious rights of India were the

original dynasts but we never ever

critique them. In politics, there can

not dynasty as they have to follow

all procedures and if the public don t

want them, they won t be able to

come back. Rahul Gandhi and other

Gandhis are not in power in real

sense since 1989 after Rajiv Gandhi

lost his elections. Rahul Gandhi does

not have the same privilege as that of

the Prince Charles who became the

King without any questions being

raised anywhere and all the big parliaments

of the world actually clapping

for his ascendency. The

Gandhis are out of power for so long

and will only come back if people

want it through a democratic process

yet are demonised the most for being

dynast .

British Monarchy is definitely the

most powerful institution which has

kept the country united and is a

symbol of the Empire. So somewhere,

it is a feelgood factor for

not merely the British but also for

the other European settlers in the

America, Canada , Australia and

New Zealand. Somewhere, the

Royals have survived because of

this connectivity with the glorious

past where every body want to

associate. In the liberal democracies

it is difficult to spent money on

building big castles, palaces but

people love those royalties and their

style. In the capitalist societies now

questions are not asked about the

wrongs done but celebrate the

grandeur as a big market event .

The people still love to have those

fairy tales of King and Queen or

Prince and Princesses and perhaps

the royalty in UK provide each one

of us to quench our insatiable thirst

of knowing everything about their

personal lives. So royalty is now a

new magnet which might not have

the political power but soft cultural

power to influence the market and

the power elite. British Royalty and

their public actions are marketed by

this elite in the United States and

elsewhere to justify their own

obscene wealth and spending. Look

at the political elite standing in front

of the new king like courtier suggest

clearly that they understand the soft

cultural power of the royalty and

hence can t do anything remote

even to challenge their authority or

relevance.

The Real question is the issue of

Sovereignty of the indigenous people

It is not that there are no murmurs

against monarchy but the fact is it is

not merely the question of monarchy

verses democracy it looks clearly

and visibly that Monarchy is actually

the symbol of white supremacism

or glorious days of white

world. It is this feeling perhaps that

keep the right wingers white

supremacists in the United States

supporting the Royals and media

obligingly promote them in the market

or perhaps vice versa. A question

to monarchy means a question about

annihilation of the indigenous people

and their culture in US, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand. To put

it in simple world the greatness of

Monarchy lies in actually ensuring

the white supremacy in all these

countries which were the domain of

indigenous communities. All these

countries saw the biggest demographic

changes where the indigenous

people were pushed more

towards the forest areas while

European settlers annexed their land

and natural resources. The policy

was not merely pushing the indigenous

communities to nothing but

strangely and shockingly, all these

great countries have rarely given

them Constitutional recognition.

The treaties that happened with the

Crown have been forgotten. A simple

question can be asked as where

are the indigenous people in the

government structure of these countries

which claim to provide affirmative

action for minorities and

immigrants. Why so much of hatred

towards the original inhabitants of

these countries. The question of

treatment to indigenous people has

been perhaps the darkest chapter of

the history of the British Raj. The

dirty fact is that it did not merely

isolated and further marginalised

the indigenous people but also

brought slaves from Africa to the

Americas but did not give them dignity

and human rights. The main

reason for that seemed denying the

local communities and crush their

movement for their rights. When

King George III abolished slavery

on March 25th, 1807, they had

already made another plan for their

huge farm land in the Caribbean and

in Africa. They developed a new

term in place of slavery and it was

Indentured labors or what they

called Contractual labors. These

labors were taken from India and

other colonies of the British and

other European colonisers to

Americas particularly in the

Caribbean where the European settlers

had huge sugarcane farms. This

created a conflict of interest

between the local communities and

those brought from outside after the

British left. The Raj used the contractual

labors to ignore the local

communities or perhaps to teach

them a lesson. A majority of those

who were taken from India on false

promises were people from the most

marginalised sections of our society,

the Dalits and backward castes.

These people were dumped in agricultural

farms thousands of kilometers

away in colonies in the

Caribbean and in Africa. A clash

with local communities was therefore

inevitable. The people suffered

indignities, loss of culture and their

relationship with near dear ones.

In India too, the British never

apologized for Jalianwallah massacre

on April 13th, 1919 in which

officially 379 people were killed but

the unofficial count is said to be

around 1,500 deaths. The hanging of

Bhagat Singh and other freedom

fighters as well as brutalities inflicted

on people of India remain a dark

chapter in the history of Raj. There

are many other chapters of brutalities

and exploitation of India by the

British. India can not ignore or forget

the Bengal famine in 1943 and

how Prime Minister Churchill was

responsible for 3 million[vi] deaths

in Bengal due to it. Monarchy can

not ignore the fact that it did nothing

to protect Indians. It never had any

regret related to the same. Churchill

blamed Indians for breeding like

rabbits and denied India 1 million

ton[vii] wheat that was requested by

the Viceroy to tackle with the

Bengal famine.

The crisis of Asia today is actually

the gift of the British Raj to its

former colonies. Whether the issue

of border dispute between India,

Pakistan and China or issue of Tibet

as well as Jammu Kashmir, the role

in keeping these issues deliberately

on the boil was a British strategy to

keep playing the role of a mediator

. The mistrust is so deepening

between different countries that any

adventure can bring the world close

to perhaps the biggest disaster in

human history as three nuclear

nations have border disputes with

each other. The denial of right to

exist as an independent nation to

Palestine has today become the

biggest threat to world peace.

So, why is the British Monarchy

so much popular with the people

and in democracies. One factor,

which I have already explained is

the sense of history and power of the

British Empire but there are many

other factors which we need to

understand that make the British

better than others.

It is not that there are no murmurs

against monarchy but the fact is it is

not merely the question of monarchy

verses democracy it looks clearly

and visibly that Monarchy is

actually the symbol of white

supremacism or glorious days of

white world. It is this feeling perhaps

that keep the right wingers

white supremacists in the United

States supporting the Royals and

media obligingly promote them in

the market or perhaps vice versa. A

question to monarchy means a question

about annihilation of the indigenous

people and their culture in US,

Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

To put it in simple world the greatness

of Monarchy lies in actually

ensuring the white supremacy in all

these countries which were the

domain of indigenous communities.

All these countries saw the biggest

demographic changes where the

indigenous people were pushed

more towards the forest areas while

European settlers annexed their land

and natural resources. The policy

was not merely pushing the indigenous

communities to nothing but

strangely and shockingly, all these

great countries have rarely given

them Constitutional recognition.

The treaties that happened with the

Crown have been forgotten. A simple

question can be asked as where

are the indigenous people in the

government structure of these countries

which claim to provide affirmative

action for minorities and

immigrants. Why so much of hatred

towards the original inhabitants of

these countries.

The question of treatment to

indigenous people has been perhaps

the darkest chapter of the history of

the British Raj. The dirty fact is that

it did not merely isolated and further

marginalised the indigenous

people but also brought slaves

from Africa to the Americas but did

not give them dignity and human

rights. The main reason for that

seemed denying the local communities

and crush their movement for

their rights. When King George III

abolished slavery on March 25th,

1807, they had already made another

plan for their huge farm land in

the Caribbean and in Africa. They

developed a new term in place of

slavery and it was Indentured

labors or what they called

Contractual labors. These labors

were taken from India and other

colonies of the British and other

European colonisers to Americas

particularly in the Caribbean where

the European settlers had huge sugarcane

farms. This created a conflict

of interest between the local communities

and those brought from

outside after the British left. The Raj

used the contractual labors to ignore

the local communities or perhaps to

teach them a lesson. A majority of

those who were taken from India on

false promises were people from the

most marginalised sections of our

society, the Dalits and backward

castes. These people were dumped

in agricultural farms thousands of

kilometers away in colonies in the

Caribbean and in Africa. A clash

with local communities was therefore

inevitable. The people suffered

indignities, loss of culture and their

relationship with near dear ones.

In India too, the British never

apologized for Jalianwallah massacre

on April 13th, 1919 in which officially

379 people were killed but the

unofficial count is said to be around

1,500 deaths. The hanging of Bhagat

Singh and other freedom fighters as

well as brutalities inflicted on people

of India remain a dark chapter in the

history of Raj. There are many other

chapters of brutalities and exploitation

of India by the British. India can

not ignore or forget the Bengal

famine in 1943 and how Prime

Minister Churchill was responsible

for 3 million[vi] deaths in Bengal due

to it. Monarchy can not ignore the

fact that it did nothing to protect

Indians. It never had any regret related

to the same. Churchill blamed

Indians for breeding like rabbits and

denied India 1 million ton[vii] wheat

that was requested by the Viceroy to

tackle with the Bengal famine.

See on Page 22

22 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS




The crisis of Asia today is actually

the ‘gift’ of the British Raj to its

former colonies. Whether the issue

of border dispute between India,

Pakistan and China or issue of Tibet

as well as Jammu Kashmir, the role

in keeping these issues deliberately

on the boil was a British strategy to

keep playing the role of a ‘mediator’.

The mistrust is so deepening

between different countries that any

adventure can bring the world close

to perhaps the biggest disaster in

human history as three nuclear

nations have border disputes with

each other. The denial of right to

exist as an independent nation to

Palestine has today become the

biggest threat to world peace.

So, why is the British Monarchy

so much popular with the people

and in democracies. One factor,

which I have already explained is

the sense of history and power of the

British Empire but there are many

other factors which we need to

understand that make the British

better than others.

Change with modern time and

strengthened democracy

One of the biggest contradictions

or ironies of the Raj was that most

of our political leadership actually

got their ‘education’ in the prestigious

colleges and Universities in

England. Britain was a super power

not because of its military might but

because during the Raj, it progressed

in industrialization, literature,

liberalism and sports. The

British might have come to us as

‘explorers’ or ‘invaders’ yet they not

only documented our best and worst

practices but provided us huge infrastructure.

As a country Britain might

have colonised so many countries

and people but as a society and a

governance structure it built credible

and knowledgeable institutions,

respected freedom to expression and

individual choices. It is also a fact

that slavery was not invented by the

British but it was already being used

by the local chieftains and British

‘learnt’ the trick and magnified it

since they were the ‘business’ people.

What could be the biggest irony

is that most of the leaders, opposition

leaders, social movement leaders,

dissenters, publishers who are

unable to get along with their

respective governments found a

space to breathe and enjoy in United

Kingdom. Even today, UK is perhaps

one of the most diverse countries

in the world. A travel in the

London Tube will explain you the

power of this diversity that UK

enjoy more than any other country.

People from their former colonies

who are now residing in UK

enjoyed the life and opportunities

provided by this country. Anti-

Colonial feeling evaporate as the

political and intellectual elite which

build up narrative lives in UK and

other part of the Western world,

enjoy the fruits of liberal democracies.

This feeling has deepened in

many places that the Goras were

better because of failure

of the democratic institutions

in our parts of the

world where the heroes of

anti-colonial struggle

could not develop any

credible institutions and

became bigger than their

institutions. Except for

India, where Jawahar Lal

Nehru was a hugely popular

leader and respected

by the masses who build

up institutions and was a

thorough democrat, rest

of the world saw the anticolonial

heroes becoming

despots in their own

countries.

The strength of the

West particularly United

Kingdom is the system

that they created for

themselves where autonomy

of the institutions

flourished and people

enjoyed not only rights to

live with dignity but there

was no interference in your

personal lives. Contrary to this, all

the countries which got rid of the

Colonialism actually were unable to

provide an autonomous governance

structure. The ethnic crisis escalated

and right-wing political leadership

grew everywhere. With science and

technology, we saw growth of fundamentalism

and fake nationalism

and severe erosion of democratic

values which remain on paper. Look

at South Asia, the majoritarian

nationalism is not able to digest people

from minorities. The Hindus

don’t want Muslims in India, the

Muslims don’t like Hindus in

Pakistan and Bangladesh, the

Buddhist hate Muslims in Myanmar

and Sri Lanka ignoring the historical

fact that we lived together. More

than 75 years have passed since the

British left us and in India we had

the right priorities in the beginning

but today India want to follow the

capitalist model without addressing

the issue of social inequality and the

result is growth of brahmanical

dominance and violence on minorities

and marginalised.

Britain still offer us a lot for

introspection and correction. In July

2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson

finally admitted defeat of being a

minority in his own Conservative

party and resigned. To elect a new

leader, the process in UK take three

month as those who are interested to

contest the leadership race have to

go to their voting members of the

party. If there are more members,

the final race will have to be

between the two. The process was

completed just a couple of days

before the Queen died. Liz Truss

became the new prime minister

when the Queen invited her to form

the next government. Can you think

such a process in India where leaders

will cling unless thrown out?

And these days the pattern in India

is unambiguously clear that if any

one try to dissent from the government,

he or she will soon have

Enforcement Directorate (ED) or

intelligence agencies officer asking

for his financial and other details.

The misuse of government machinery

against political opponents have

become order of the day in our part

of the world. I can never imagine

that we can have that much of

patience to elect a new leader where

money bags are ready to buy your

members of Parliament and assemblies.

Finally, look at The Queen’s

funeral process and its management

which provide big opportunity to

our security agencies and those who

manage big events. It is always fascinating

how things are managed in

Britain where people enjoy the

process without much fuss. In June

2002, I was visiting Nepal when the

news of royal family’s massacre

came on the Television. I was schedule

to participate in an international

event but got the information very

late and it was difficult those days to

contact people as communication

was still difficult. There was no taxi

at the Kathmandu airport when I

arrived but good thing was that I

found Shri Anand Swroop Verma,

Editor, Samkaleen Teesari Duniya

and we had to walk to reach the

house of a friend where I had to stay

in the night. It was difficult to reach

anywhere. On the radio and TV, the

announcement was being made that

people should ‘shave off’ their head

and should not eat ‘salt’ for a week

as per the Hindu tradition. The cremation

of the King and his family

happened immediately the next day

without giving people enough time

to pay their respect to their beloved

royal family. The reason was

because of the ‘needle of suspicion’

was not on the late King’s son who

himself got killed but on the King

Gyanendra and his family. Anyway,

the entire process of coronation of

the new King was so empty and

filthy that one would just hate the

system. At the time when the country

was in shock, the new King

could not really connect with the

people.

In India we have seen the death of

our political leaders. If it is a violent

death then it is difficult for politician

to keep quiet and speak for

peace. They want to use it. The

biggest problem in our part of the

world is politicisation of the process

who make it massive, unorganized

and unmanageable. Of course, people

have love for the leader and they

want to see the body, touch it and go

near the cremation place but that

create huge issues of security and

protocol for those who have to manage

the things peacefully. Contrary

to this, look at the way things are

being managed in London which not

only gives an opportunity for all of

us to see how even a death can be

celebrated with great dignity and

without making much fuss of it.

The process of proclamation of

the new King is dignified as it follows

all the procedure but it does

not look awkward. The entire Royal

family follow all the processes, right

from meeting the people to giving a

personal touch to the entire event

which make them dear to the people.

The British monarchy is a democratic

institution which has kept

people attached to its ‘glorious’ past,

ofcourse, it is not so glorious for

many but it survived because it

rarely interfered in the democratic

process and moved with the passage

of time. Unlike many other countries

where monarchy interfered in

the political process every moment,

the British Royal kept them relevant

by remaining irrelevant to the political

process.

For the former colonies of British

Empire, we have a right to question

their motives and loss of inheritance

as well as exploitation of our

resources but nothing will move

unless we as a society and as a

nation do not democratise our entire

process, built up independent institutions,

bring our diverse communities

together and not to make them

fight against each other for our narrow

political goals, develop credible

education system which open up

the minds of our scholars. It is a fact

that power elite controlled the system

and British caused us enormous

loss but the same question can be

asked by the Dalits and Adivasis in

India to its brahmanical elite

whether they ever thought of apologising

to these communities for the

historical wrongs done to them

snatching their right to education to

right to own land and property. We

all have our dark chapters and the

best way forward is to build up a

humane, rule based society which

ensure each one of us get opportunity

to flourish and live our life with

respect and dignity. Colonialism is

past but capitalism is the new form

of it carrying it forward through our

elite class, educated young, scholars,

doctors and engineers have

been exported to their ‘former’

colonial masters and back home we

‘clap’ for them as ours while they

serve the purpose of the latter. The

process will continue as long as we

have inability to create credible

institutions, Universities and colleges.

Now, you cant blame the

colonial power all the time as they

will only say what have you done

yourselves when you got the opportunity

to rule. We are divided more

than ever at the moment and we can

not blame the British for the same

when those who rule us create a

false nationalism whose only meaning

is to create two kind of citizens,

one with the rights and other as an

occupied one. We need to learn

from our own faults and now we

can not blame the colonial masters

for all the evils that we have today

and are unable to resolve our crisis.

Caste discrimination and untouchability

was not the creation of the

British in our part of the world and

even after seventy years, we are

unable to remove it and fight

against it shows our political commitments

towards it.

Isn’t it a fact that our democratic

rulers are worst than the monarchy

with obscene love for ‘royalty’ and

its style. Look the way our ‘netas’

live and spent money luxuriously on

their ‘safety’ ‘security’. The Coffin

of Queen Elizabeth travelled in a

small cavalcade of 6 car with a

‘security’ protocol on the ‘bike’. Is it

possible to have the similar in India.

A local MPs cavalcade carry more

than fifty cabs and if a Chief

Minister move from one place to

another, we stop the traffic and the

cavalcade will have more than 100

vehicles of different variety. If the

Prime Minister travel than you can

not imagine what will happen. Have

we ever seen our prime minister

meeting people in person, shaking

hand with them ?

There is a big cultural difference.

Feudalism is part of our structure

and even we call ourselves democratic,

our political leaders are our

mybaap, and common person look

towards them as a messiah. We

don’t look towards our leaders as a

fellow human being but as somebody

specially created. The result is

we are a democratic monarchy

where we elect a new monarch as

prime minister whose words and

actions only reflect monarchy even

if he talks about democracy. A feudal

and caste ridden society can not

create a powerful democracy unless

we become socially democratic as

Baba Saheb Ambedkar said and

India need to do much more in this

regard. Shashi Tharoor’s reparation

demand from the British would have

sound ideologically correct if he had

also spoken about the dirty caste

system and whether the brahmanical

elite in India will do the same as it is

demanding from the British.

END


NEWS

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

23

REMEMBRANCE SERVICE FOR HER

MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN LEICESTER

Leicester (Asian Independent)- A

remembrance service was held for Her

Majesty The Queen on Tuesday 13th

September at the Sacred Heart Parish

Hall on Mere Road, Leicester by the

Leicester Council of Faith from 5.00-

6.30 pm. The event was organised to

bring together faith communities to

remember our late Queen and stand

together in grief and mourning. It was

attended by over 25 faith leaders representatives

most of whom had met

The Queen during her many visits to

the city of Leicester..

The Queen exemplified selfless

service, dedication and devotion to her

work and has played an important role

in bringing people together. Her life

and her contribution was celebrated by

lighting 96 candles and represented

her work and impact over the 96 years

of her life. One minute silence was

held to have time of reflection and

prayer.

Speakers from the various Faiths

paid their respects by sharing their

memories and thoughts. This included

Bharti Acharya of Hindu Faith, Smita

Shah of Jain Faith and life long member

of LCOF, Leon Charikar of Jewish

Faith, Yasmin Surti of Muslim Faith

and Federation of Muslim

Organisations, Minou Cortazzi of

Bahai Faith, Kartar Singh Bring of

Sikh Faith, Father Paskal Clement of

Anglican Christian Faith, Father John

Lally of Roman Catholic Faith and

Bishops representative and Praful

Thakkar of Hindu faith. Most of them

said they will miss her warm hand

shake and eye contact, the Christmas

message, Royal Ascot and her presence

with Royal family at

Buckingham Palace on special occasions

and we should learn as much as

possible from The Queen.

Father John Lally, a founder member

of Leicester Council of Faiths and

parish priest for over 40 years was

recognised for his contribution over

several decades to the local community

and inter faith work. A wise counsel

who has been very welcoming to others

and has given so much to his community

and the wider faith community

of the city. He will be dearly missed..

He was presented with a Certificate of

Appreciation and a gift for his retirement.

Head Chaplain of University

Hospitals of Leicester Kartar Singh

Bring commented that The Queen

was a great believer of Faith and tackled

the problems of this country and

the world and by working together.

He reminded everyone of the televised

address Her Majesty The Queen

gave after the outbreak of COVID-19

on 5th April 2020 “ While we have

faced challenges before, this one is

different. This time we join with all

nations across the globe in a common

endeavour, using the great advances

of science and our instinctive compassion

to heal. We will succeed- and

that success will belong to every one

of us. We should take comfort that

while we may have more still to

endure, better days will return: we

will be with our friends again; we will

be with our families again; we will

meet again.”

Chairman of Leicester Council of

Faiths Fayyaz Suleman said “ all faith

communities have immense respect

and fondness for our late Queen. For

many it was a sad and sombre occasion

and many people were mourning

together with the nation. As a strong

faith devotee she always advocated for

other faiths to work together and learn

from each other. The event was held

to remember her collectively and to

stand together in mourning and reflect

upon her remarkable values and selflessness.

The Queen will be dearly

missed and we pray foe her solace and

for the whole of the Royal family and

pray that her legacy lives on with our

new monarch His Majesty King

Charles.

Continued high inflation could impact

the expected business rates hike

London (Asian Independent)-

While many were shocked –

experts included – that the monthon-month

inflation fell from

10.1% in July, to 9.9% in August, it

is still very close to the UK’s fortyyear

record high. However, now

specialists are worried that if inflation

continues at this level for the

month of September, then this

could indicate that business rates

for commercial properties will rise

in the next revaluation by over £2

billion. An increase which many

businesses will simply not be able

to face.

Business rates are set at each

revaluation for a period of time

known as a rating list. The current

rating list, running from the 1st of

April 2017 until the 31st of March

2023, was extended due to the pandemic

in an attempt to ease the

burden on businesses. Now with

revaluation once more looming on

the horizon, business owners and

leaders are increasingly nervous as

to what another rise could mean

for their businesses.

For future rating lists (from the

1st of April 2023),

the government

have shortened

the period of time

in which the rating

list will cover.

This, business

rates reduction

specialist RVA

Surveyors says, is

an attempt to

make business

rates liability more in-line with upto-date

market rents; supposedly

lessening the impact of sudden

changes on businesses outgoing

costs.

According to statistics published

by the Valuation Office

Agency (VOA), by March 2022

less than 40% of businesses in

England and Wales have reviewed

their business rates. A number that

is considerably low, when parliament

found that by January 2022,

there were 1.9 million registered

businesses in the UK. The move to

a three-year rating list is intended

to lessen the impact of sudden

changes in business rates, but with

a predicted hike of up to 12% in

the next revaluation, whether this

will help is yet to be seen.

These figures paint a picture of a

wider business community that is

either unaware, sceptical, or simply

too busy with the current economic

climate, to think of challenging

their business rates.

Anthony Hughes, Managing

Director at RVA Surveyors, said:

“Business rates has seen an

upwards-only trend for years, and

it is past time for the government

to step up and sort out an increasingly

outdated tax system. We

need to see from Truss’s government

that help for businesses is

paramount in the coming days; not

only to help businesses stay afloat,

but to keep employment levels

steady as well. Businesses have

been suffering from escalating

overheads, and a potential business

rates hike on this scale could see

many businesses closing their

doors.”

As bills continue to soar, and

speculation as to when businesses

will receive help from the government

runs rampant, business owners

and leaders must take steps to

create savings where they can.

24 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS


Ian could be the 'deadliest hurricane'

in Florida's history: Biden

Washington : US President Joe Biden has said that Ian

"could be the deadliest

hurricane in

Florida's history".

"It is still moving

across the state

today," Biden said

during a visit to

Federal Emergency

Management

Agency headquarters

in Washington

D.C., referring to

Ian, now a tropical storm, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early

reports of what may be substantial loss of life," he noted.

Ian made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4

hurricane on Wednesday afternoon, bringing catastrophic

storm surges, heavy rains and destructive winds, and dangerous

flooding to both coast and inland areas.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters on

Thursday morning that "the amount of water that's been rising

and will likely continue to rise today, even as the storm

is passing, is basically a 500-year flood event".

Six fatalities have been confirmed in Charlotte County,

Florida, according to CNN, while one death related to the

storm has been reported in the state's Osceola County.

As of Thursday noon, more than 2.6 million customers

were without power in Florida due to Ian's impact, according

to PowerOutage.us. Ian is forecast to regain hurricane

strength on Thursday evening and make landfall in South

Carolina on Friday.

19 dead in suicide

blast at Kabul

educational centre

Kabul : At least 19 people were killed and 27 others injured

on Friday in a suicide blast at an education centre in Kabul, a

police spokesman in the Afghan capital confirmed.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide

bomber detonated his explosives at the centre. Unfortunately,

19 people have died and 27 others wounded," Xinhua news

agency quoted Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran as saying.

No group or individual have claimed responsibility for the

attack at the private Kaaj education centre located in Police

District 13, which teaches both male and female students.

In response to the attack, the Taliban-run Afghan government

said security teams were at the blast site and condemned

the attack. Interior Minister spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor said

attacking civilian targets "proves the enemy's inhuman cruelty

and lack of moral standards", the BBC reported.

Footage on local TV and shared on social media appeared to

show scenes from a nearby hospital, where rows of covered

bodies were laid out on the floor. Other media reportedly from

the site of the private college showed rubble and upturned

tables in the damaged classrooms. A week ago, a similar blast

in Kabul claimed seven lives and injured 41 others.

India urges Nepal to check

entry of Chinese, Pak

nationals through border

Kathmandu : India's Sashastra

Seema Bal (SSB) has requested Nepal to

stop the entry of Pakistani and Chinese

nationals into India through the Nepal-

India border points.

SSB Director General Sujoy Lal

Thaosen, who is on a five-day visit to

Nepal, made this request during his

meeting with Raju Aryal, Inspector

General of the Armed Police Force

(APF), Nepal, according to Nepali

media reports.

The concerns were raised during the

sixth Nepal-India meeting on border

security, management, and coordination,

which started on Tuesday, and concluded

on Thursday evening in Kathmandu.

The citizens of Pakistan and China

have been entering India after engaging

in illegal activities in the Nepal-India

border areas, said one report citing highly-placed

officials of APF who attended

the meeting quoted SSB Director

General Thaosen as saying in the meeting

that the Armed Police Force should

play a role to prevent them from entering

India. However, the APF said in a statement

that both sides have agreed to

strengthen border security cooperation,

and cross-border criminal activities and

agreed to share the relevant information

and communications between the two

entities.

In the meeting, Thaosen proposed that

Nepal should stop the entry of thirdcountry

citizens into India and their illegal

activities. In response, APF Inspector

General Aryal said that there is no anti-

India activity on Nepali soil and that

people from third countries have not

entered India through the Nepal-India

Tokyo : Japan's jobless rate dropped

to 2.5 per cent in August, the government

said in a report on Friday.

The unemployment rate edged down

from 2.6 per cent in July, Xinhua news

agency quoted the report by the Ministry

of Internal Affairs and Communications

as saying.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and

Welfare in a separate report said Friday

that the job availability ratio was up 0.03

point from the previous month to stand

at 1.32 in August.

This equates to there being 132 job

openings for every 100 people seeking

employment.

According to the statistics bureau's

seasonally-adjusted data, in August the

total number of people out of work stood

at 1.75 million, which was 10,000 less

from the previous month. Those leaving

their jobs of their own volition totaled

690,000, down 8.0 per cent from the previous

month, the report showed.

border. "But the Indian side did not seem

to agree with Nepal's assurance and said

that as the citizens of third countries

were seen entering India from Nepal,

they insisted that it should be stopped

anyway," said a highly-placed APF official.

According to the report, the Indian

side complained that citizens of China

and Pakistan enter India through the

porous Nepal-India border to carry out

illegal activities.

"Indian security personnel have

arrested a Pakistani who entered from

the Bhittamod area a few months ago. In

the meeting, the Indian side presented

this as an example", said a source who

was present in the meeting.

In the meeting, Nepal's security officials

made a proposal to control the illegal

arms and drugs trade in Nepal from

the Indian side. Similarly, Inspector

General Aryal also discussed the issue of

narcotics entering Nepal from India,

details of small arms brought from India

seized by APF in the past, criminals hiding

in Nepal after committing crimes in

India, and looting Nepali people in the

border areas.

According to the pre-determined

agenda, an agreement has been reached

to set up help desks on both sides of the

international border and make arrangements

for safe movement.

Likewise, immediately after the meeting,

the APF headquarters issued a circular

to the Border Outposts (BOPs) set up

along the border with India and instructed

them to operate the help desks.

There are 220 BOPs of the APF along

the Nepal-India border. Similarly, India

has stationed SSB units at more than 530

places along the Nepal-India border.

Japan's jobless rate drops


NEWS

Lhasa: At least five Tibetans

end their lives amid harsh

Chinese Covid lockdown

Lhasa : At least five Tibetans in

the regional capital Lhasa have taken

their lives as a rigid Chinese government’s

zero-Covid lockdown nears

its second month, but Beijing is covering

up the severity of the situation

in Tibet, media reports said.

The Chinese government imposed

a lockdown 52 days ago in Lhasa as

Covid numbers there and throughout

China continued to climb, RFA

reported. Netizens say the lockdown

order came without enough time to

prepare, leaving people in some cases two people jumping from buildings...

short of food, while finding treatments Actually there are many more."

for Covid positive patients has also The Covid lockdown policies placed

proven difficult. Reports of Tibetans specifically on Tibetans are inhumane,

jumping from buildings in Lhasa, a Tibetan living in the capital, who

which have surfaced on social media in requested anonymity, told RFA.

recent weeks, are true, RFA reported. "The Chinese government is trying

"People have been forced into this really hard to cover up any information

lockdown, and all the sources of information

in Lhasa are blocked. It is even lockdown, and family members are

related to people dying during this

impossible to find information on what warned not to share any information,"

is happening to one’s neighbor," a the second source said.

source said. "There are not just one or "The family members are harassed

SC refuses to entertain plea

seeking Preamble’s display at

public places, govt offices

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday declined to

entertain a plea seeking

directions to Centre and

state governments to display

the Preamble to the

Constitution in local languages

at public places and

in government offices.

A bench of Justices S.K.

Kaul and A.S. Oka said

there are certain things,

which have to be left to the

government. "Some people

are really enterprising. Get

elected and do this. This is not the place for it," it said.

Making it crystal clear that it is not its job to get into

where the Preamble will be displayed, the bench told petitioner

Z.A.N. Ahmad Peerzade’s counsel that either he

should withdraw the plea or the court will dismiss it.

Counsel agreed to withdraw the plea.

During the hearing, the bench, on the aspect of displaying

the Constitution all over the country, observed that it is

something which the government will do. The petitioner’s

counsel argued that in recent times, there has been a rise in

violence, which has spread to various parts of the country.

However, the bench declined to entertain the plea.

The plea contended that the petitioner had approached

concerned authorities in the states with a representation but

nothing has happened so far.

The plea said the petitioner has been a witness to the rise

of communal violence cases, hate crimes and hate speeches

in various parts of our country. It sought direction to the

authorities to display the contents of the Preamble at public

places and government offices in languages to enhance the

spirit of fraternity and ideas of equality and secularism.

and threatened over the phone

that they will be punished if

they ever share anything." The

Tibetan Center for Human

Rights and Democracy told

RFA that it confirmed the

veracity of reports about jumps

from buildings. "We have spoken

to three sources inside

Tibet who actually saw five

Tibetans taking their lives by

jumping off buildings," Tenzin

Nyiwoe, a researcher at the

India-based rights organisation, told

RFA. Chinese state media have reported

111 more cases of Covid-19 as of

September 25, with 60,597 people still

held in quarantine in conditions

described as harsh by sources inside

the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Meanwhile, 786 people have been

prosecuted by the authorities for violating

Covid lockdown directives in the

TAR since the current outbreak was

first reported on August 8, official

sources said, RFA reported.

01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022

25

Gen Anil Chauhan takes charge

as India’s Chief of Defence Staff

New Delhi : Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan on Friday

assumed charge as the second

Chief of Defence Staff

(CDS) of the country. The

post was lying vacant for

over nine months since the

death of the first CDS

General Bipin Rawat in

December 202. In his first

speech as CDS, he

expressed his gratitude to

the forces and promised to

fulfil the expectations and

tackle all challenges and

difficulties together. CDS

Chauhan laid a wreath at

the National War

Memorial and later

inspected a tri-service

Guard of Honour on the

South Block lawns before formally assuming the charge.

CDS later called on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in his

South Block office.

"I am proud to be assuming the responsibility of the highest

rank in the Indian Armed Forces. I will try to fulfil the

expectations from the three defence forces as the Chief of

Defence Staff. We will tackle all challenges and difficulties

together," he said. Army chief General Manoj Pande, Indian

Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, Navy

vice chief Vice Admiral S.N. Ghormade and Air Marshal

B.R. Krishna were also present at the ceremony.

The Centre had announced the appointing of Chauhan as

the new Chief of Defence Staff on Wednesday.

26 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 WORLD


New Indian High Commissioner

to UK has his task cut out

London : It's been a week

since India's new High

Commissioner to the UK,

Vikram Doraiswami, has been

in office. Perhaps not since P.C.

Alexander took up this position

in 1985, has a head of India's

diplomatic mission in Britain

faced as challenging a circumstance

vis-a-vis the Indian origin

community in this country.

An Indian High

Commissioner's task in the UK

is broadly divided into three

responsibilities -- improving

relations with the host government;

ensuring efficient consular

services, including the

issuance of passports and visas

since this is significantly revenue

generating; and managing

the two million-odd Indian origin

community.

Doraiswami, 53, is one of

the youngest Indian High

Commissioners ever to be sent

to Britain. In the past 25 years,

career diplomats selected for

this post have come either just

after retirement or for a final

term before doing so.

Salman Haidar, Ronen Sen,

Kamlesh Sharma and Ranjan

Mathai fell into the former category.

Nareshwar Dayal, Shiv

Mukerjee, Nalin Surie, Jaimini

Bhagwati, Yash Sinha, Ruchi

Ghanashyam and Gaitri Kumar

belonged to the latter.

Doraiswami to his credit

almost unprecedentedly hit the

ground running. After landing

in London, he went directly to

statues of Indian icons in the

British capital. He tweeted,

"started this new journey of

service to #India with a personal

moment before #Mahatma

Gandhi

and

#BabaSahebAmbedkar." He

followed this with a visit to a

gurdwara, not to mention an

outsourced centre in Hounslow

in west London dealing with

consular services.

He also promptly attended to

the host government, meeting

senior officials in the defence

ministry, the home office and

the foreign office. A limited

free trade agreement (FTA) is

on the cards between the two

nations, with a mutually

declared target of concluding

negotiations on this by Diwali.

After his discussions with

the permanent secretary in the

UK's Ministry of Defence,

David Williams, Doraiswami

tweeted that he had a "rich

exchange" on "imp issues of

Defence & Security", which he

added "is an important pillar of

India UK Roadmap 2030".

Whitehall is hopeful of enhancing

its armaments exports to

India. Following his talks with

the permanent secretary in the

Home Office, Matthew

Rycroft, the High

Commissioner said "here's to

progress together on migration,

mobility, homeland security".

This was interpreted in diplomatic

parlance as "work in

progress". Emigration to

Britain has been a ticklish issue

between the two sides since the

Two terrorists killed in J&K's

Baramulla, were tasked to

disrupt Agniveer rally

Srinagar : Two terrorists, who had come to disrupt the army's

'Agniveer' recruitment, were killed in an encounter with the security

forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district on Friday,

police said. Baramulla's Senior Superintendent of Police, Rayees

Muhammad Bhat said that following specific intelligence inputs,

security forces, including the army, the SSB and the local police

launched a cordon and search operation in Yedipora village in

Baramulla district. "The hiding terrorists opened fire at the security

forces from a residential house triggering an encounter. Both the

terrorists were killed today morning. Their exact identity is being

ascertained," he said, adding that an AKS74U rifle with 3 magazines

and a pistol with one

magazine were recovered

from them.

"We had received intelligence

inputs that these

two terrorists were given

the task to attack the

ongoing Agniveer recruitment

rally in Baramulla,"

the SSP said.

1960s.

Finally, Doraiswami

exchanged views with the permanent

secretary in the Foreign

Office, Philip Barton, formerly

British High Commissioner to

India. There is a considerable

gulf in political perceptions on

international matters between

New Delhi and London, including

a very different analysis of

the Ukraine situation by the

two. There was a subtle admission

of this in Doraiswami's

tweet: "Excited to start a new

innings with team

@FCDOGovUK and

@HCI_London to realise the

full potential of a (sic) India-

UK ties."

More to the point, the UK's

even-handedness towards India

and Pakistan has historically

not been appreciated by South

Block, with the present BJP

government being particularly

sensitive to the British policy.

But where the fresh incumbent

confronts a challenge is in uniting

a divided Indian origin

community in Britain. The primarily

three stands of overseas

Indians in the UK are Sikhs

from Punjab, Gujarati Hindus

from East Africa and Muslims

from various parts of India and

East Africa.

In the more than half-a-century

the Hindus and Muslims -

both principally Gujaratis and

migrants who fled persecution

in East Africa - have lived in

Leicester, they have generally

demonstrated a fair amount of

amity and friendship with each

other, given their shared experiences.

They are also about

50:50 in terms of their respective

populations. Before

Doraiswami set foot in Britain

for his tour of duty, a statement

issued by the Indian High

Commission on the recent

Hindu-Muslim violence in

Leicester was seen as being

biased in favour of Hindus.

It said: "We strongly condemn

the violence perpetrated

against the Indian community

in Leicester and vandalisation

of premises and symbols of

Hindu religion." This completely

ignored what Hindu

extremists had done towards

Indian Muslims in terms of

provocation and strong arm

tactics. One prominent Indian

Muslim organisation in

England on condition of

anonymity expressed concern

about what they called "unbecoming

favouritism".

The Sikh dominated Indian

Overseas Congress, which is

the oldest of the UK oufits connected

with any political party

in India, abstained from making

a comment. However,

Sikhs in Birmigham joined

hands with Muslims to turn

hostile against Hindus after the

Leicester incidents. As it is, at

least 20 per cent of Sikhs,

according to a census, are estimated

to be inclined towards an

independent Khalistan carved

out of India.

In effect, Doraiswami has

his task cut out to bring Indian

origin Sikhs, Hindus and

Muslims in the UK on to the

same page. He has, though,

started on a correct note with an

early visit to a gurdwara.

01-10-2022 The Asian Independent

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