16-29 February 2020 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Hasina rejects quota call for
English-medium students
Dhaka : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
rejected a call for special
facilities for English-medium
students to enrol at the
Bangladesh University of
Engineering and
Technology (BUET), it was
reported on Thursday.
In a Parliament session
on Wednesday, opposition
Bangladesh
Nationalist
Party (BNP) MP Harunur
Rashid asked her whether
the government would take
steps to stop the "brain drain, especially top students of the
English-medium institutions" from going abroad, reports
bdnews24. "Will you take steps to resolve the problem over
huge unemployment by giving opportunities (to the unemployed),
especially to the meritorious students?" he asked,
while demanding quota for students of English-medium
schools for admission to BUET citing a court directive.
In response, Hasina said: "It appears from the honourable
MP’s speech that those studying in English-medium
institutions are meritorious and those in Bangla-medium
aren’t. We studied fully in Bangla medium. We may be
not meritorious, but it’s not that we have done badly. I could
have achieved good results if I got more opportunities to
study well. "Why should there be quotas for those from
English-medium institutions? I don’t see any reason to go
for this." She also said her government has created
"enough" job opportunities for those studying abroad.
J&K Panchayat bye elections
to be held in March
Srinagar : The by-elections for close to 13,000 vacant
panchayat seats In
Jammu and Kashmir
will be held in March,
Chief Electoral officer
Shailendra Kumar said
in Jammu on Thursday.
He said the elections
would be held in eight
phases beginning March
5. The poll phases are scheduled to be held on March 5,
March 7, March 9, March 12, March 14, March 16, March
18 and March 20. Panchayat elections were held in 2018
which were boycotted by the mainstream Kashmir-based
political parties - the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and
the National conference (NC). The electoral exercise has
been announced at a time when three former chief ministers
continue to be under detention since the abrogation of
Article 370 on August 5. Stringent Public Safety Act (PSA)
has been slapped on the three former chief ministers.
California gurdwara pays unique
tribute to Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles : Hundreds of Sikh worshippers turned up
wearing the Lakers
colours -- purple and yellow
-- at the Gurdwara
Nanaksar in Fresno,
California, in a special
prayer meet for the late
basketball great Kobe
Bryant who was killed in
a helicopter crash last
month, a media report
said. While men and children wore Lakers jerseys, many
women showed up in the traditional salwar kameez in purple
and yellow, The American Bazaar report said earlier
this week. The organizers at the Gurdwara Nanaksar held
the prayer meet after it witnessed that many Sikh men and
children were affected by the untimely death of the NBA
icon, who was a reason they began playing basketball.
Some young men from the community showed up at the
gurdwara crying. Amitoj Singh, a student at Terronez
Middle School in Fresno, who attended the prayer meeting
said: "The gurdwara authorities thought of organizing a
’path’ (prayer) for Kobe and others when they saw a young
child crying in the gurdwara. While Kobe was hugely popular
across the globe, the Sikh Americans keenly followed
him." Angad Sandhu another attendee of the prayer meeting
and a Lakers fan told the American Bazaar: "I started
playing basketball because of Kobe and his game and conduct
really inspired me."
ASIA
16-02-2020 to 29-02-2020
Shaheen Bagh-type indefinite
protest begins in Ludhiana
New Delhi : Following a brief lull during the
run up to the Delhi Assembly election, the
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union
(JNUSU) on Thursday sounded the bugle for a
renewed fight against the Citizenship
Amendment Act and other measures that the
government is said to be contemplating. The
Aam Aadmi Party’s resounding victory despite
the BJP’s attempts to turn the Delhi polls into a
referendum over the Citizenship Amendment
Act, has given a boost to anti-CAA supporters.
Beginning February 14, the JNUSU is organising
a series of events to mobilise support
against the CAA, and to draw attention to the
government’s plans for NRC and others.
The events are spread over three days,
beginning on February 14 and lasting upto
February 17. The protests include a cultural
programme, and a protest march within the
JNU campus.
The last day of the protests will see students
taking out a march on February 17 from Mandi
House to Parliament Street.
A statement issued in this regard by JNUSU
says, "Attempts to destroy the fundamental
characteristic of the Indian Constitution by the
Chandigarh : A Shaheen Baghtype
indefinite protest began on
Wednesday in the industrial town
Ludhiana in Punjab with the joining
of several organisation led by city’s
Jama Masjid here.
Shahi Imam of Punjab, Maulana
Habib-ur Rehman Sani Ludhianvi,
said a decision to launch the Delhilike
protest was taken at a meeting
with members of various religious
and social organisations. A large of
protesters joined the sit-in protest in
Dana Mandi area against the
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),
National Population Register (NPR)
and the National Register of Citizens
(NRC). He said earlier the Jalandhar
RSS-BJP have reached a fever pitch.
The passage of the unconstitutional CAA
2019 has dealt a grave harm to the secular
notion of Indian citizenship. Combined with the
BJP’s avowed plan of an all-India NRC process,
this shall mean an end to secularism and social
7
bypass was chosen because there
was a statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
Later, it was decided that the protest
would hamper the movement of the
traffic on the National Highway-1
and decided to shift the protest
venue to Dana Mandi. The head
priest said a peaceful agitation
would be held daily from 10 a.m. to
10 p.m. and there would be no hamper
to traffic movement.
"We have launched this agitation
against the CAA and NRC that the
central government is bringing to
divide the people on the basis of
caste. The people of all religions
should stay united to save the
Constitution," he added.
Post-Delhi polls, JNUSU back in anti-CAA mode
Cong hails SC order on criminals
in politics, flays Modi
New Delhi : Welcoming the Supreme Court order for
decriminalisation of politics and the direction to political
parties to upload online details of pending criminal cases
against candidates, the Congress here on Thursday
slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for appointing a
tainted politician as Minister in Karnataka.
The directive had been torn to shreds by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, it added. Earlier in the day, the Supreme
Court asked political parties to upload on their websites
details of pending criminal cases against poll candidates, citing
the alarming rise in criminalisation of politics in past
four general elections. A Bench headed by Justice R.F.
Nariman said the political parties would have to clarify reasons
for selecting candidates with pending criminal cases
and upload the information on their websites. They would
also have to submit compliance report to the Election
Commission within 72 hours of selection of candidates with
pending criminal cases. Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress
national media in-charge, tweeted, "Today itself, Modiji has
torn to shreds the orders of giving reasons for giving tickets
to leaders accused in cases. "Modiji and the BJP again come
to the rescue of ’Bellary Gang’! SC says give reasons for giving
tickets to tainted Netas or contempt! Modiji says make
tainted Netas not MLAs alone but Ministers of the ministry,
which has been allegedly looted! Will SC issue contempt of
Prime Minister and Karnataka CM?"
Surjewala also attached a news report on Anand Singh,
a former Congress leader who joined the BJP last year and
is accused in mining and forest cases, being appointed the
Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology.
London : The
cost of repairing the
Elizabeth Tower,
which houses
London’s famous Big
Ben bell, has risen by
18.6 million pounds
($24 million) following
the discovery of
bomb damage and asbestos, a media
report said on Thursday.
The need for more money was only
discovered during a recent survey of the
177-year-old structure in central
London, the BBC said in the report. The
House of Commons Commission said it
was "extremely disappointed" that the
overall cost had risen to 79.7 million
pounds following the latest discovery.
Ian Ailles, Director General of the
House of Commons, said that the
Elizabeth Tower restoration, which
began in 2017 and is scheduled to continue
until next year, "had been more
complex than we could have anticipated".
He explained that it had not been
possible to understand the "full extent of
justice within the country.
The MHA’s notification to begin the NPR
(National Population Register) process by 1st
April is the first step of the All India
NRC/NRIC, as has been outlined in the CAA
2003 passed by the then NDA government."
Cost of repairing Big Ben’s
tower rises by $24mn
the damage" until scaffolding
had gone up
and the survey was carried
out.
The survey revealed
decay and damage to
hundreds of intricate
carvings; asbestos in
the belfry; extensive
use of toxic lead paint; broken glass in
the clock dials; and the need for a specialist
clock expert The four clock dials
on the outside of the tower contain a
total of 1,296 individual pieces of glass,
each of which need to be replaced as
part of the restoration work. The clock -
which weighs 12 tonnes - has been dismantled
and taken away for a complete
overhaul. The Elizabeth Tower is often
mistakenly called Big Ben, but that latter
name only refers to the bell that
occupies part of it.
The tower only gained its current
name, having previously been called the
Clock Tower, when it was renamed in
honour of the Queen to mark her diamond
jubilee in 2012.