National News
Sonia slams Congress leaders for speaking to media
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Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, interim President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday slammed party leaders for speaking to the media.
In her opening remarks, she said: “I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media. So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC.”
Sonia Gandhi’s statement comes after after senior party leader Kapil Sibal had recently said that “there is no president in our party, so we do not know who is taking all the decisions. We know it, yet we don’t know, one of my senior colleagues perhaps has written or is about to write to the interim president to immediately convene a CWC meeting so that a dialogue can be initiated”.
In her remarks on Saturday, she also said the party is ready for the internal elections.
“The entire organisation wants a revival of the Congress. But this requires unity and keeping the party’s interests paramount. Above all, it requires self-control and discipline. I am acutely conscious of the fact that I have been interim Congress President ever since the CWC asked me to return in this capacity in 2019. We had thereafter, you may recall, finalised a roadmap for electing a regular President by June 30, 2021.”
But due to the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, this deadline was extended indefinitely by the CWC in its meeting held on May 10, she added.
“Today is the occasion for bringing clarity once and for all. A schedule for the full-fledged organisational elections is before you.”
She also praised young leaders for taking over leadership role
“In the last two years, a large number of our colleagues, particularly the younger ones have taken on leadership roles in taking party policies and programmes to the people, whether it be the agitation of farmers, provision of relief during the pandemic, highlighting issues of concern to youth and women, atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and minorities, price rise, and the destruction of the public sector. Never have we let issues of public importance and concern go unaddressed.”
Regarding the farmers protests, the Congress interim President said: “The shocking incidents at Lakhimpur Kheri betrays the mindset of the BJP, how it perceives the Kisan Andolan, how it has been dealing with this determined struggle by Kisans to protect their lives and livelihoods.
She said that the economy continues to be a cause of great concern in spite of the government propaganda and the only answer the Centre seems to have for the country’s economic recovery is selling off national assets built with great effort over the decades.
“The public sector has had not just strategic and economic objectives, it has had social goals as well, as, for instance, empowerment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and development of backward areas. But all this is in jeopardy with the Modi government’s single-point agenda of ‘Becho, Becho, Becho’.”
She said that prices of essential commodities, including food and fuel continue to rise unabated.
“Could anyone in the country ever imagine that petrol prices would be over 100 Rs rupees a litre, diesel would be nearing the Rs 100 a litre mark, a gas cylinder would cost Rs 900 and cooking oil would be Rs 200 a litre. This is making life unbearable for people across the country.”
Sonia Gandhi also condemned the killings in Jammu and Kashmir and said minorities clearly have been targeted.
“This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We have done so and I do so again this morning. Jammu and Kashmir has been a Union Territory for two years. The entire responsibility for bringing the perpetrators of these barbaric crimes to justice is that of the Union government. Restoring social peace and harmony and confidence amongst the people in Jammu and Kashmir rests with the Modi government too.
“There has always been a broad consensus on foreign and neighbourhood policy in our country. But that consensus has been damaged because of the Prime Minister continued reluctance to take the Opposition into confidence in any meaningful manner. Foreign policy has become a diabolical instrument of electoral mobilisation and polarisation. We face serious challenges on our borders and on other fronts. The Prime Minister telling the opposition leaders last year that there had not been any occupation of our territory by China and his silence ever since is costing our nation dearly,” she added.
The Congress faces many challenges but, “if we are united, if we are disciplined and if we focus on the party’s interests alone, I am confident that we will do well”.
Entertainment
SC permits Ranveer Allahbadia to resume airing his shows
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New Delhi, March 3: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia to resume airing his podcast on the condition that he will maintain the “standards of decency and morality”.
Allahbadia and several other YouTubers, including Ashish Chanchlani and Apoorva Mukhija, have been embroiled in the controversy for vulgar and crass comments made during an episode of Samay Raina’s ‘India’s Got Latent’ show.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh relaxed an earlier condition which had prohibited Allahbadia or his associates from airing any show on YouTube or any other audio/video visual mode of communication till further orders.
During the hearing, the Justice Kant-led Bench asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Centre, to consider regulating the content in online media.
“We don’t want any regulatory regime which leads to censorship, but it can’t be a free for all,” it said.
The apex court clarified that Allahbadia’s shows should not comment upon the proceedings which are sub-judice.
Earlier, on February 18, the top court had stayed Allahbadia’s arrest subject to the condition that he would join the investigation, as and when summoned by the Investigating Officers.
“The interim protection against arrest is granted further subject to the condition that the petitioner will extend full cooperation to the ongoing investigation,” it had ordered.
The Supreme Court had added that no further FIR would be registered against Allahbadia on the basis of the episode aired on the show ‘India’s Got Latent’, for which two-three FIRs have already been registered.
Amid the controversy, Samay Raina had removed all videos of the show from YouTube, asserting that his intention was only to entertain and make people laugh.
Several complaints seeking legal action have been filed against popular YouTubers Samay Raina, Ranveer Allahabadia, Ashish Chanchlani, and Apoorva Mukhija over allegedly obscene and offensive remarks about parents in the comedy show ‘India’s Got Latent’.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the incident has sparked a broader debate about the limits of comedy and the responsibility of content creators on digital platforms.
Crime
Haryana Cong worker murder case: Arrested man claims he was blackmailed
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Chandigarh, March 3: Two days after Youth Congress activist Himani Narwal’s body was found in a suitcase on a highway in Haryana’s Rohtak, the arrested man, Sachin, on Monday confessed that he knew the deceased and accused her of blackmail and extortion.
Haryana Police arrested the accused, a resident of Bahadurgarh, who was in an alleged relationship with Himani.
The suspect confessed to the crime during interrogation, saying they had been in a relationship for some time, a police official said.
During his arrest in Delhi, Sachin was found in possession of Himani Narwal’s mobile phone. The crime hogged the limelight after images of her walking with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra went viral.
The victim’s family, who has been demanding justice, suspected that some party leaders jealous of her swift rise in party ranks were behind the murder.
The woman’s body was found inside a suitcase near a flyover next to the Sampla bus stand in Rohtak on March 1. She had been missing for three days.
According to a preliminary investigation by the police, she was likely assaulted before being strangled to death. The autopsy report conducted in Rohtak’s PGIMS is awaited. She reportedly attended a wedding on February 27 in Rohtak and was supposed to attend a Congress roadshow on February 28. Her cell phone had been switched off since then.
“The government took swift action by arresting the killer within 24 hours,” said state Transport Minister Anil Vij.
Responding to allegations made by Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda regarding her murder, Vij countered by saying, “The government acts with complete promptness and seriousness… Hooda keeps making statements, it’s his habit.”
The victim’s brother, Jatin, said, “One accused has been arrested, and today we will cremate her body. A lot of rumours are being spread in the media… We will get justice.”
The police on Sunday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajneesh Kumar told the media that the victim, who was pursuing an LLB (Bachelor of Law), used to live alone in the state while her family was in Delhi.
The victim’s mother, on Sunday, blamed the elections and the party. “The election and the party took my daughter’s life. Because of this, she made some enemies. They (the accused) could be from the party, or they could be her friends as well…On February 28, she was at home,” the victim’s mother Savita said.
“She was going with Rahul Gandhi and was close to the Hooda family, which is why people were having problems; they were jealous,” she added.
disaster
Telangana tunnel accident: Authorities mull using robots as rescue operation continues on 10th day
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Hyderabad, March 3: The rescue operation in the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district entered its 10th day on Monday, with the authorities exploring the possibility of using robots to trace the eight trapped men.
Multiple rescue teams of various agencies of the Centre and state continued desilting and machine-cutting at the locations identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) after scanning the accident site through Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).
The rescue teams of the Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, Singareni Mines Rescue, Fire Services, HYDRAA, South Central Railway plasma cutters, and Rat Miners continued to face impediments like water seepage.
The rescue workers are unable to remove silt, water and debris from the tunnel due to lack of a functional conveyor belt. Technical teams were busy repairing the belt, and it is expected to become functional by Monday evening, and this is expected to help in speeding up the rescue operation.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday suggested the use of robots in the tunnel in which eight persons have remained trapped since February 22.
The Chief Minister, who visited the tunnel and held a review meeting with agencies involved in the rescue operation, asked officials to examine the possibility of using robots to prevent any further loss of life.
“Eight missing persons have not yet been traced. Experts have not concluded whether they are alive or dead,” he said.
The Chief Minister said it may take another 2-3 days for the rescue workers to come to a conclusion.
Chief Minister Reddy said the agencies involved in the rescue have not been able to come to a conclusion about the location of the machines and human beings, though they have tentatively identified the areas.
He assured that the state government would extend all help to the families of eight persons who had come from other states to work as engineers, machine operators or labourers. Stating that helping them is the responsibility of the government, he stressed the need for all to come together to console the families affected by the accident.
Two workers were injured, and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed on February 22 at the 14th km point.
The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahau, all from Jharkhand.
Of the eight, two are engineers, two are operators, and the remaining four are labourers. They were employed by Jaiprakash Associates, the contracting firm for the tunnel project
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