BHOPAL: (Mar 4) Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will celebrate his 67th birthday on Thursday as ‘prem-seva sankalp diwas’ ‘, as part of which he will launch coaching classes and mobile hospitals at various places in the state.
Chouhan is popular among his followers as ‘mama’ or maternal uncle, and the coaching classes and hospitals to be launched on his birthday will have this sobriquet in their names.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister will take five pledges centred on environment, service, assistance, education and talent promotion, a statement issued by his office said.
KOLKATA: (Mar 4) A political row broke out on Wednesday after senior BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar alleged that West Bengal minister Manas Bhuniya made objectionable remarks towards professors and students during a freshers’ welcome event at a college in Paschim Medinipur district.
In a post on X, Majumdar, who is also the Union minister of state for education, claimed that Bhuniya reprimanded students and faculty in an objectionable manner at the recent freshers’ programme at Sabang Sajanikanta Mahavidyalaya in his constituency. Bhuniya is also the president of the college’s governing body.
Majumdar, a former BJP state president, also shared a purported video clip showing the minister admonishing students and others.
JERUSALEM: (Feb 25) In a historic address to the Knesset, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday described the Gaza Peace Initiative as a path towards “just and durable peace” in the region even as he delivered a powerful message of solidarity with Israel, asserting that “terrorism anywhere threatens peace everywhere”.
Modi said like Israel, India has a “consistent and uncompromising policy of zero tolerance for terrorism with no double standards” and called for sustained and coordinated global efforts to counter the menace.
The prime minister’s address to the Knesset, Israel’s house of representatives, came hours after he landed in the country to a rousing welcome with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu along with his wife Sara receiving him at the Ben Gurion airport.
DHAKA: (Feb 13) The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Friday claimed victory in the South Asian nation’s general elections as results are being processed for the polls to elect a government that would replace the interim administration, which took charge after the collapse of the Awami League regime in August 2024.
Multiple media tallies showed the BNP had won more than 151 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
The Election Commission (EC) is yet to make a formal announcement.
NEW DELHI: (Feb 9) The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed an uproar and a walkout by the Opposition over the incidents of the Lok Sabha, where Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi could not finish his speech, and later Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed away amid allegations that women MPs could have attacked him.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, raised the issue as soon as the Question Hour started at 12 noon.
Chairman CP Radhakrishnan allowed Kharge to speak, adding that he should not speak on anything that happened in the other House.
Bollywood actor Suraj Pancholi used to subject actress Jiah Khan, who allegedly committed suicide here in 2013, to physical and verbal abuse, her mother told a special court here on Wednesday.
Pancholi, who was in a relationship with the 25-year-old actress, has been booked for abetment of suicide in the case probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He is currently out on bail.
On Wednesday, Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia Khan began recording her testimony in the case before special judge A S Sayyad.
Rabia Khan told the court about the actress’s entry into Bollywood, her career progression and relationship with Pancholi.
Pancholi had approached Jiah Khan through a social media site and insisted on meeting her, she said.
Jiah Khan was initially apprehensive and reluctant , but the duo met for the first time in September 2012, Rabia Khan said.
At that time she sent some pictures .to me it looked like they clicked and had mutual interest However, in September she (Jiah Khan) told me they were just friends, she said.
Rabia Khan said her daughter’s daily routine was “taken over” by Pancholi and by October 2012, the duo had started living at each other’s house.
During her visit to their London home in November that year, the actress looked very happy, she said.
Rabia Khan said Jiah Khan then returned to Mumbai for professional work and was supposed to come back to celebrate Christmas, but did not turn up.
On December 24, 2012, Rabia Khan said she received a message from Pancholi, saying he got angry with Jiah Khan after a fight with a friend and that she (the actress) should forgive him and give another chance.
“At that time, I discovered that the duo had a violent fight,” she said.
Rabia Khan said Jiah Khan decided to give him a second chance and the duo went to Goa.
However, in one of her phone calls Jiah Khan complained about being at a very strange place and not wanting to stay there, she said.
In Goa, he used to put her down in front of other friends and flirt with other women in her presence, Rabia Khan said, citing her conversations with her daughter.
Rabia Khan said Jiah Khan suddenly turned up in London on February 14, 2013, and looked sad.
According to Rabia Khan, Jiah Khan told her that Pancholi abused her verbally and physically, and also called her by “dirty names”.
Jiah Khan’s mother’s testimony will continue on Thursday.
The actress, best known for her performance in Hindi film ‘Nishabd’ starring Amitabh Bachchan, was found hanging at her residence in Mumbai on June 3, 2013, by her mother.
Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is currently out on bail in the case.
The CBI had alleged that a three-page note seized by the Mumbai Police, which first probed the case, on June 10, 2013, was written by Jiah Khan and it narrated her ordeal.
The note narrated Jiah Khan’s “intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture” allegedly at the hands of Pancholi which led her to commit suicide, the central agency had said.PTI.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said the boat found with some semi-automatic weapons off the Raigad coast was owned by an Australian woman.
The boat drifted due to the inclement weather and came to the Raigad coast, Fadnavis informed the state Assembly.
The state home minister made the statement after NCP legislator Aditi Tatkare raised the issue in the House.
“The boat found drifted off the Raigad coast is owned by an Australian woman. Some semi-automatic weapons have been found on it,” he said.
“Central agencies and the state police have started an investigation into the matter, he added.
Earlier, a Coast Guard official said there was no security threat.
According to officials, the crew members of this boat had been rescued in June this year near the Oman coast.
It later drifted and grounded ashore, a Coast Guard official said.
Some locals spotted the boat, having no crew member, in Shrivardhan area, located more than 190 km from Mumbai, and alerted security agencies.
Raigad Superintendent of Police Ashok Dudhe and other senior officials rushed the spot and searched the boat.PTI.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and its rebel MLAs raise many constitutional questions which require consideration by a larger bench.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana directed the parties to formulate issues which require examination by a larger bench by July 27.
“After hearing the counsels it has been agreed that some issues may, if necessary, be referred to a larger bench also. Keeping in mind the same, to enable the parties to frame the issues, let them file the same preferably by next Wednesday,” the bench also comprising Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli said.
The matter will now be heard on August 1.
The bench also comprising justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli was hearing five pending peas about the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.
In a shameful display of negligence the MVA Sarkar seems to have lost control of electricity discom Adani Power as it has repeatedly and maliciously cut power to the Dalit Neighborhood of Siddharth Colony since 17th May. It is appalling that in Mumbai the capital of Maharashtra, the state of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar that Dalits are being subjected to such inhuman cruelty. In a press conference along with the residents of Siddharth Colony the Aam Aadmi Party demanded that Adani Power be charged under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Atrocities Act, power be restored & the discom be dismissed as a power supplier for cutting power to those households who have paid their power bills. If the MVA sarkar fails to take immediate and concrete action the Aam Aadmi Party threatened to take to the streets along with residents.
In a written submission to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray by the Aam Aadmi Party it was pointed out that without getting into details of who has paid their bills or not Adani Power has punished the whole of Siddharth Colony for a few defaulters and they have only had the courage to do so as they know the residents who live there are poor Dalit people and will not be able to fight back. Hence this amounts to an offense under the Prevention of Atrocities Act since they have singled out a community and abused their ability to distribute power. The government is well aware that the nearly 3,500 households of Siddharth Colony have a long standing dispute of unpaid power bills with the electricity company. Many politicians including the local MP Rahul Shewale have failed to resolve this issue. There are three kinds of residents in Siddharth Colony. One, who have been paying their bills right from the start. Two, a bulk of the population who have been paying their bills right from 2019. Three, a few who have sporadically paid or not paid their bills.
“Without getting into details of who has paid their bills or not Adani Power has punished the whole of Siddharth Colony for a few defaulters and they have had the courage to do so as they know the residents who live there are poor Dalit people and will not be able to fight back. Hence this amounts to a Dalit atrocity since they have singled out a community and abused their ability to disperse power.” said AAP Mumbai President and National Executive member Preeti Sharma Menon. “We demand that this matter be resolved and be charged with the Dalit Atrocities Act. They should also be dismissed as a power supplier for cutting power to those households who have paid their power bills.” added Menon.
Shimla/New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) Veteran Congress leader from Himachal Pradesh and former Union minister Sukh Ram died early Wednesday at a Delhi hospital. He was 94.
The Congress leader, who was airlifted and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on May 7 after suffering a brain stroke in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, died at the hospital at 1:35 am, hospital sources said.
Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma said his body will be kept at Seri Manch in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi to enable people to pay their last respects on Thursday.
“Goodbye grandfather, the phone won’t ring now (alvida dadajee, abhi nahi bajegee phone ki ghanti),” Sharma said in a Facebook post around 2 am on Wednesday.
In another post, Sharma said Sukh Ram’s body will reach his home city Mandi on Wednesday at 6 pm.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur expressed condolences over Sukh Ram’s demise.
In a tweet in Hindi, he said, “I am grief stricken to hear the news of death of former union minister and veteran leader from Mandi Pandit Sukh Ram Jee.”
His contribution to politics was very vital and will be always remembered, he added.
“May Ishwar provide place to his departed soul at His feet and his bereaved family get strength to bear the irreparable loss,” he added.
Thakur had on May 7 provided a state helicopter for airlifting the veteran political leader to Delhi for treatment.
Sukh Ram was the Union minister of state communications (independent charge) from 1993 to 1996. He was a member of the Lok Sabha from the Mandi constituency.
He won five assembly elections and was thrice elected to Lok Sabha.
In 2011, Sukh Ram was sentenced to five years imprisonment for corruption during his tenure as communications minister in 1996. His son Anil Sharma is a BJP MLA from Mandi.
Born on July 27,1927, Sukh Ram had represented the Mandi assembly seat from 1963 to 1984. During his tenure as state animal husbandry minister, he was credited with bringing cows from Germany which led to an increase in income of farmers.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984 and served as a junior minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government. Sukh Ram served as minister of state for defence production and supplies, planning and food and civil supplies.
While Sukh Ram represented the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, his son Anil Sharma contested and won the assembly seat in 1993. The Congress leader had won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in 1996, but he and his son were expelled from the party after the telecom scam.
Subsequently, they floated the Himachal Vikas Congress Party, which entered into a post-poll alliance with the BJP and joined the government.
In 1998, Sukh Ram contested the assembly elections from Mandi Sadar and won by a huge margin. His son Anil Sharma was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998.
Sukh Ram along with his grandson rejoined the Congress right before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to get a Congress ticket for Aashray Sharam but he could not win.
Sukh Ram’s other grandson Aayush Sharma is an actor and married to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s sister Arpita.
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