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Hyderabad: 21-year-old Madrasa caretaker arrested, charged under POCSO Act for sodomising 14-year-old boy on campus

OpIndia Staff
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Hyderabad: 21-year-old Madrasa caretaker arrested, charged under POCSO Act for sodomising 14-year-old boy on campus

According to reports, a 21-year-old madrasa caretaker was arrested on Sunday in the Santosh Nagar Police Station area in Hyderabad for reportedly sodomising a 14-year-old boy on the premises. The offender was brought before a magistrate and then held in judicial custody.

The victim, who resided on the premises of the school with other boy students, has allegedly been the target of sexual assault by the 21-year-old accused for the last two months. The accused would drag the child to his room, abuse him, and threaten him with severe consequences if he disclosed anything about the assault to anybody.

The victim notified his aunt about the sexual assault after the accused threatened another student for speaking to him. Consequently, on Saturday, the boy’s aunt went to the Santosh Nagar police station and reported the occurrence. The teen’s mother, who works in the Gulf, was also informed about the event.

Santosh Nagar police initiated a probe and filed a complaint under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act as a result of the aunt’s complaint. The child was sent to a government hospital for a physical examination.

The police said, “The victim saw the accused threatening another student for speaking to him and he got scared. Following this, he told his aunt about the repeated sexual assault.”

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), South Zone, P Sai Chaitanya said, “the accused has been arrested and produced before the POCSO court. He has been sent in judicial remand for 14 days.”

Yogendra Yadav resigns from coordination committee of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, says he will work towards energising movements against the govt

OpIndia Staff
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Yogendra Yadav resigns from coordination committee of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, says he will work towards energising movements against the govt

On 4th September 2022, Yogendra Yadav resigned from the coordination committee of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Joint front of various organizations of farmers). However, he cleared that he will hand over his charge to Adheek Saha who represents his organization Jai Kisan Andolan in the joint front. Yogendra Yadav shared his resignation letter from his Twitter handle. It is notable that SKM is an umbrella body of around 40 farmer unions which hed led the farmers’ protests against the farm laws which were subsequently repealed by the Modi govt.

In his resignation letter, Yogendra Yadav wrote, “Comrades, in the Zoom meeting of August 31, I informed all of you that I will no longer be able to fulfil the responsibility of a member of the Coordination Committee of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. For some time now, I have been realizing that to counter this anti-farmer (and anti-national) Modi government, it is necessary to add to the energy of all the mass movements on the ground (farmers and labour movements; movements for issues like unemployment, inflation, and Agneepath, etc.) and the opposition political parties standing against the policies of this government. So I am in touch with the farmers’ movement as well as other agitations. I am also trying to coordinate with my party “Swaraj India” as well as other political parties. I hope that these efforts will also strengthen the hands of the farmers’ movement.”

Yogendra Yadav further wrote, “Given my priority, it will not be possible for me to do justice to the responsibility of the Coordination Committee of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. Please keep this letter of mine in front of the national meeting of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and relieve me of this responsibility. In my place, Shri Adheek Saha, National President of my organization ‘Jai Kisan Andolan’, will be available for this responsibility.

Concluding his resignation letter, Yogendra Yadav wrote, “As a member of the Jai Kisan Andolan, I will continue to be a soldier of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and will extend full cooperation in any program decided by the Morcha. It has been a great honor for me to be a member of the Coordination Committee of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha during India’s historic farmers‘ movement. I will be indebted to all of you for the rest of my life for giving me this responsibility and for helping me carry out it.”

In October last year, SKM had suspended Yogendra Yadav for a month for the offence of meeting the families of BJP workers who were lynched and murdered during the Lakhimpur Kheri violence by “farmer” protestors. But when Yogendra Yadav refused to apologise, the SKM decided to suspend him for one month. While Yogendra Yadav refused to apologise for meeting the families, he did apologise for not consulting his “colleagues” and the SKM before meeting the families. 

Assam DGP meets Islamic groups, asks them to upload all details of madarsas on a portal and seeks cooperation in busting terror modules

OpIndia Staff
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Assam DGP meets Islamic groups, asks them to upload all details of madarsas on a portal and seeks cooperation in busting terror modules

After several madarsas in Assam were found to have links with jihadi terrorists, the Assam govt has formulated several rules to be followed by the Islamic schools. After the Assam govt closed all govt run madarsas and converted them to general schools, only privately run madarsas are there in the state now, and in recent weeks several of them have come under scanner, and three of them were demolished after their links with Bangladesh based Ansarullah Bangla Team and Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent emerged.

Today the Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta held a meeting with representatives of Muslim groups to discuss the matter and sought their support in the crackdown on jihadi modules, some of which are being run from mosques and madarsas.

“Today, we met with the Islamic organizations across the state. Without their cooperation, we couldn’t bust Al-Qaeda and ABT modules in the state. We urged them to extend their support, and cooperation and they also assured us of their support,” the DGP said after the meeting.

DGP Mahanta also informed new directions from the government to the madarsas, saying that while there are over a thousand private or quami madarsas in the state, they operate under their own rules and there is no common rules. As the state government had already announced, he said that a portal for registering the madarsas will be launched soon, where they will have to upload their details.

He said that the information required to be uploaded will include various details of the madarsas like the details of teachers and founders, sources of funds, how the land was obtained etc. Talking about the nature of the portal that Assam Police is launching, he said, “We want to create a master directory of all the madrasas being run in Assam. It is a tough job, as many of them are unregistered & unauthorised. Our objective is to prevent anti-India, Jihadi elements from utilizing the madrasas for their nefarious fundamentalist purposes.”

He also said there are many small madarsas set up by individuals that do not have any governing board, and the government will request the community leaders to consider merging them with larger institutionalised madarsas.

DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta also said that he asked the Muslim leaders to include general subjects like mathematics, science, computers, geography, history etc in madarsas apart from religious subjects. He added that the community leaders have agreed to this suggestion.

He informed that there are 739 madarsas in the state registered under Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, while more than 200 madarsas are not registered. He added that even among the madarsas registered under Jamiat, many of them are not following the rules and regulations of the Islamic body, and the time has come for strict implementation of those rules.

The DGP said that while Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had formulated rules, there is no mechanism to monitor the implementation of those rules. Moreover, there are some other Muslim organisations that run madarsas, but the govt does not have their rules and regulations. He said that all the organisations have been asked to upload their rules and regulations on the soon-to-be-launched portal. The Islamic organisations agreed with it but said that they need some time to organise the rules properly.

Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta added that while there is a need to implement the rules, there is also a need to amend the rules to add new provisions. These new rules that needed to be inserted were discussed in the meeting, and the representatives of the groups agreed to the same. They were also asked to register the unregistered madarsas in Assam.

Talking about Jihadi modules running from madarsas, the DGP said, “There is an international conspiracy by Al Qaida, ISI-like rogue organisations to turn Assam into their Jehadi playground. Our approach to tackling this menace.”

“Today, we met with four Islamic organizations across the state. Without their cooperation, we couldn’t bust Al-Qaeda and ABT modules in the state. We urged them to extend their support, and cooperation and they also assured us of their support,” he added.

The Muslim leaders said that only some people are involved in jihadi activities, and the organisations will cooperate with the govt in busting them. “People associated with some madrasas and mosques are involved in anti-national activities. The four major Islamic organizations have come forward to help the Assam Police to eradicate this problem from Assam,” said Maulana Abdul Qadir, secretary, Tanzim Council, which runs the majority of madrasas in Assam.

Qadir said that a survey of the madarsas will be done within next 6 months, and added they will cooperate with the police. “We will not accept anyone doing wrong in the name of religion. We support the cooperation sought by the police,” he said.

More than 100 religious leaders of four Islamic organisations, Assam State Jamiat Ulema E Hind, All Assam Tanzim Madaris Qaumia, Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith and Hale Sunnat were present at the meeting chaired by the DGP.

So far around 40 people have been arrested from various madarsas in Assam for links with the Islamic terror groups. This started after several terror modules of the Ansarullah Bangla Team and Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent were found to be operating from madarsas, and it was found that Bangladesh-origin terrorists were living in the madarsas and mosques as teachers and imams. So far three madarsas have been demolished, and many more are under the scanner of the police.

Last month Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam becoming a hotbed of jihadi activities as several jihadi modules were busted from madarsas. He said that the goal of the modules is not terror activities, but to indoctrinate a maximum number of youths to create large-scale violence in future demanding Sharia law. Therefore, while no weapons were found with the arrested persons, jihadi literature and sophisticated communication devices were found from them.

“Incidents happen”, says Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren about the murder of a minor tribal girl in Dumka

OpIndia Staff
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“Incidents happen”, says Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren about the murder of a minor tribal girl in Dumka

Jharkhand’s chief minister Hemant Soren while reacting to the case of a minor tribal girl’s murder said that such incidents keep happening. He made these remarks on 4th September 2022 when he was interacting with the media.

On September 3, CM Soren while tweeting about the incident shared that the accused in the case has been arrested and he has instructed police to take necessary legal steps in the case.

Hemant Soren said, “Incidents happen. Where do they not take place? How should we look at these incidents?” He further said that he has expressed his thoughts in the tweet he posted a day before. Notably, Dumka is a long-held stronghold of Hemant Soren and his family. The Chief Minister has tried to stop protests against such incidents in the past by imposing section 144 whenever he could.

A 14-year-old tribal girl was raped and hanged from a tree by a certain Arman Ansari. Babulal Marandi, former Chief Minister of the state and leader of the opposition in the current assembly, shared this news from his Twitter handle. The accused Arman Ansari has been arrested in this case.

This is not the first gruesome murder to come to light from Dumka recently. Late last month, a teenage girl was burnt alive while sleeping in her home by Shahrukh Hussain and his friend for ignoring his advances. As per reports, Dumka is becoming a hub of such cases thanks to indoctrination by banned Jihadi organizations from Bangladesh.

Pakistan: Luxury ‘Bentley Mulsanne’ car stolen from London recovered from Karachi

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Luxury ‘Bentley Mulsanne’ car stolen from London recovered from Karachi

The extremely costly “Bentley Mulsanne” (worth around £250,000, over 6 Crores Pakistani Rupees), which was stolen in London has been found by Karachi authorities on 4th September 2022. The UK’s intelligence service informed Pakistani officials that the stolen car was parked at a residence in the DHA (Defense Housing Authority) area of Karachi. This was confirmed by the Collectorate of Customs Enforcement (CCE), Karachi.

Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Collectorate of Customs released a statement in which it said, “A credible information was received from a national agency of a friendly country that a grey Bentley Mulsanne, V8 Automatic, VIN Number SCBBA63Y7FC001375, Engine Number CKB304693 was stolen from London and their intelligence agency indicated that the said vehicle is supposed to be parked at 15-B, South 10th Street, DHA, Karachi.”

It is understood that the suspects who committed the heist neglected to deactivate or turn off the trace tracker. In the end, the tracker assisted UK officials in pinpointing the precise location of the car using sophisticated tracking technology. The Bentley had one white handmade registration plate reading BRS-279 on the front and a Pakistani identification number plate BRS-279 (2020 Sindh) when the FBR inspectors raided the home. The tax collection agency said that the car’s chassis number matched the one provided by the UK authorities.

When the FBR’s Collectorate of Customs could not locate the vehicle’s keys, it was hauled to its depot. The board said, “Due to the non-availability of the key of the said vehicle, arrangements were made to lift the vehicle by car carrier. The recovered vehicle was loaded on a car carrier for taking it to ASO HQ-NMB Wharf for the further completion of legal formalities.”

In the meanwhile, the car’s owner told the investigators that another individual had sold the car to him and had taken responsibility for obtaining the necessary paperwork from the appropriate agencies.

Gujarat: Youth Congress President resigns before Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state, accuses party of taking Rs 1.5 crore for his appointment as president

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Youth Congress President resigns before Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state, accuses party of taking Rs 1.5 crore for his appointment as president

The series of resignations in the Congress party continues in Gujarat. Now Youth Congress president Vishwanathsinh Vaghela has resigned from his post on 4th September 2022. He also alleged that Congress took Rs 1.5 crore to make him the Youth Congress president. This resignation has come just before Rahul Gandhi’s planned visit to the state. It is notable that the Gujarat assembly elections are set to be held in the state later this year.

Vishwanathsinh Vaghela held a press conference to announce his decision. He said in the press conference, “Tomorrow Rahul Ji is going to attend the convention but 10 out of 100 people attending the program do not know their booth. My father passed away, I fought the election with the money that I received after his death. None of my forefathers has come into politics. Many leaders have tried to fail me, I have resigned because I lost all my capacities. The party has taken Rs 1.5 crore from me to appoint me the state president of the Youth Congress.”

Gujarat Youth congress President Vishwanathsinh Vaghela resigned. Image Source: Divya Bhaskar

Vishwanathsinh Vaghela has made several allegations in the seven-page resignation letter. He said in his letter, “One of the biggest reasons for joining the Congress was that from an early age, I used to read history books and learned that Congress leaders brought freedom. That’s why I chose the Congress party. However as I continued to work in the party, I came to know that many of the real leaders who had given the freedom to the country had left in 1969. I have not even seen the photographs of the leaders who gave us freedom, and who were my sources of inspiration, in the Congress office.”

He added, “I had long felt as if the present Congress was lost in worshipping one family. Whatever positions were given to me by the Congress party, they took money from me and sold those positions to me. So how can a person like a sold position? Ever since I became the President of the Youth Congress, I have been a victim of factionalism by senior leaders of the party. The group leaders against the senior leaders who helped me in the Youth Congress decided to target me.”

Telling more about the groupism within the state Congress, he said, “I resigned as I am fed up now. I messaged Srinivas and Krishna 3-4 days ago. They have stopped picking up my calls. Hardik Patel has already left 3-4 months back. Our pain may be the same. I won’t name anyone here, but senior party leaders know why they are leaving. Groupism has been going on for 10 years, now, let the party handle this groupism on its own. I have not spoken to the BJP, but I would be active in politics. Like me, countless youths are unhappy with the party.” Vanrajsinh Chavda, BJP’s state executive member and syndicate member of Gujarat University, also attended the press conference with Vishwanathsinh Vaghela.

Gujarat: Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates 4 smart schools in the Ahmedabad municipal corporation

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates 4 smart schools in the Ahmedabad municipal corporation

On 4th September 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated 4 smart schools of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. It is notable that these smart schools in Ahmedabad fall into the Lok Sabha constituency of Amit Shah that is Gandhinagar. A total of 22 such smart schools have been set up at a budget of Rs 10 crores. More than 3200 students will benefit from the 4 schools inaugurated by the Home Minister. In his address on this occasion, Amit shah shared a brief account of the tasks accomplished by Narendra Modi while working as the chief minister of Gujarat as well as the Prime Minister of the country.

Talking about the efforts undertaken by the BJP government on education, Amit Shah said, “When the BJP took over the charge of the state from the Congress government, there was a huge dropout percentage. 23.5 percent of students enrolled in primary school would quit education before they could even pass the seventh standard. Also, out of the 100 children born in the state, only 67 would be enrolled in the school. So overall only 40 percent of kids could complete primary education. Narendra Modi started a new initiative to enroll more students, especially girl students. From the chief minister at the top to some clerk in some office, every representative of the government and administration went to schools, visited people at their homes, spread awareness among them, and ensured 100 percent enrollment in the schools.”

He further said, “Gujarat is the first state in India to achieve this feat. Gujarat is the best state in the country when it comes to the standard of primary education. Now, these smart schools will operate according to the new education policy and make sure that the kids in Ahmedabad get the best education.”

Amit Shah said, “For the last so many years there is a BJP government in Gujarat. Especially in the last twenty years, Gujarat is leading on the path of development under the leadership of Narendra Modi, first when he was the chief minister and now in the last 8 years as the Prime Minister. Today, chief minister Bhupendra Patel is toiling hard to realize various schemes of the Narendra Modi government on the ground. Gujarat emerged as a model of development in the country under such leadership.”

He also compared the work culture of the Congress party and the BJP government. Making the differences clear, he said, “There are two kinds of politicians. One type is those who fight elections from a party that works hard to serve people. The other type of people is those who get a new Kurta Pajama four-five months before the elections and just give promises to people.”

Recalling the violent past of the Congress rule in the state, Amit Shah said, “Gujarat’s people know this type of culture very well. For years, the Congress party used to rule here. I would like Ahmadabad’s people to recall the days when communal violence was an everyday affair. We would be forced to stop our Rath Yatra. There would be a curfew for 200 days a year. Families would pray for the safe return of those who would leave home in the morning to earn their bread and butter. I am very proud to tell you that when a BJP government was formed in the state and especially after Narendra Modi became the chief minister of the state, such curfews became a part of history.”

Amit Shah also emphasized the changes in the law and order situation in the state brought about by the prolonged rule of the BJP in the state. He said, “Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the BJP government in Gujarat established the law and order situation in the state as one of the most ideal law and order situations in the country. I have seen the situation of the Porbandar jail when there was a Congress rule in the state, I was in ABVP at that time. It was like, where the Porbandar border starts, it marks the end of the ideal law and order. Today see the situation of the state. At around 12 midnight, a young girl wearing loads of jewelry drives a scooter to attend and enjoy a Garba program, and her parents rest at their home without any tension because they know that their daughter will safely return home.”

Informing about the BJP government’s work to supply electricity to even the remotest of the villages in the state, Amit Shah said, “Gone are the days when people used to ask their representatives to provide electricity at least at the time of dinner if not an uninterrupted supply. It was Narendra Modi’s government in Gujarat that for the first time in India ensured a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply across the state.”

Was a 5,000-year-old tradition broken at Radha Rani Mandir on Radha Ashtami by getting a female priest: Here is what we know so far

Anurag
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Was a 5,000-year-old tradition broken at Radha Rani Mandir on Radha Ashtami by getting a female priest: Here is what we know so far

On September 3, several media houses reported that a 5,000-year-old tradition would be broken on Radhashtmi at Radha Rani Mandir as a widowed woman was all set to become priest of the Temple. As per the traditions of the Temple, only male priests of the Goswami community can serve as a priest at the Radha Rani temple, and the practice has been going on for over 5,000 years.

Misleading news report by News18 suggesting 5000-year-old tradition was broken.

The controversy around the position of sevadar in Temple

As per the reports, there are three groups or Toks that take care of the temple proceedings and belong to the Goswami community on a rotation basis. Harbans Lal Goswami Ji was to take over the temple proceedings as sevadar from April 27 to October 20 this year. However, he passed away without an heir. Taking circumstances into consideration, his brother’s grandson Rasbehari Goswami got appointed as sevadar. Advocate Ashutosh Sharma who represented Rasbehari Goswami in the court, gave inputs for this report.

However, a woman identified as Maya Devi came forward and claimed she was the widow of Harbans Lal Goswami, so she should be given charge of the Temple. She filed a plea in the lower court, and based on the documents that the Rasbehari group alleged were fake, she got orders to take over the temple administration. As the local administration got orders from the court, they had to take away the charge from Rasbihari Goswami and give it to Maya Devi.

Rasbehari Goswami filed a petition at the district court, where the orders passed by the civil judge were overturned. Further pleas were filed in High Court to take control of the temple administration by the Rasbehari group, but there were delays in the process. Based on the higher courts, a plea was filed in civil court to pass orders to get possession of the temple before Radha Ashtami, but the court, instead of passing the order on September 2, as required by the High Court, set a date for September 8 for hearing.

The Rasbehari group filed an urgent petition in the Allahabad High Court on September 3, and the hearing commenced despite Saturday being a holiday considering the importance of Radha Ashtami. After hearing the arguments, the single-judge bench of the High Court comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary set the date to September 12 but did not give immediate relief to the petitioner.

The order, however, became the source of misinterpretation and several news portals published that a woman priest would perform Pooja on Radha Ashtami. OpIndia, in a detailed conversation with Advocate Ashutosh Sharma, found out that Maya Devi did not perform Pooja on Radha Asthami, but members of the Goswami community did so as per the traditions.

Conversation of Advocate Ashutosh with OpIndia

Advocate Ashutosh told OpIndia that Maya Devi does not belong to the Goswami community, and the documents she submitted in her original plea based on which she took over the post of sevadar were allegedly forged. He said when petitions were filed in higher courts, it was observed by the court that the appointment of Maya Devi on the post of sevadar was wrong, and the judgment of the lower court was nullified.

However, because of the legalities of the matter, the Rasbehari group could not take control of the temple proceedings. When OpIndia asked if they had approached local and state administration for support, Advocate Ashutosh said, “We did contact everyone, but in the lack of proper orders from the court, the administration was unable to help. This is why we kept running from pillar to post in courts to get the orders as per the law and take over the temple proceedings.” He further said Maya Devi was not even the wife of Harbans Lal Goswami, so the whole case was based on forged documents. Advocate Ashutosh is close to the Goswami community that manages Pooja, Archana at the Temple.

When asked if Maya Devi performed Pooja at the temple on Radha Ashtami, he said, “This is where all the media houses went wrong and misinterpreted the orders. The High Court did not give Maya Devi the right to be Sevadar on such auspicious occasions. On the contrary, the court observed we were right. However, the court restrained itself from passing any orders in our favour as there was only one day left in the festival, and the preparations were completed at the temple.” The 5000-year-old tradition was not broken.

He further added, “Keeping in mind the recent stampede case in the temple on Janmashtami, the court said interim relief to Rasbihari Goswami was not possible as a change in administration would have caused havoc in the temple premises. Now coming to the Pooja on Radha Ashtami, the media houses were completely wrong. They did not even approach anyone known about the matter to understand what was happening. The Pooja was performed by the priests of the Goswami community as it per the traditions. It does not matter if those priests belonged to Maya Devi’s group or our group. The thing that matters is it was done by male priests of Goswami community and not by Maya Devi as the news reports suggested.”

Advocate Ashutosh added the court patiently listened to their arguments on Saturday and issued notice to Maya Devi to be present in the court for the hearing on September 12. “We have full faith in the judiciary.”

Local and state administration will take action based on orders by the court

It has to be noted that the state government has no role in giving charge to Maya Devi as it was ordered by the lower court. Once the judgment of the High Court comes, the administration will take action according to the law. However, the Rasbehari group was not pleased with the local administration’s approach toward them when they sat on a hunger strike to take control of the temple proceedings. There was lathi charge on Rasbehari and his followers on August 27 that led to further controversy.

Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry dies in a road accident in Palghar

OpIndia Staff
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Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry dies in a road accident in Palghar

Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons, died in a road accident near Palghar in Maharashtra today. Mistry was en route from Ahmedabad to Mumbai when his vehicle met with an accident on the highway at Charoti in Palghar. Another person who was travelling in the car also died, while two other were injured.

Palghar superintendent of police has confirmed the news that Cyrus Mistry has died in the accident. Reportedly, Mistry’s car hit the divider on the bridge over the Surya river at around 3:30 in the afternoon, causing the accident, and he succumbed to the injuries on the spot. Police informed that two people were injured in the accident and they have been admitted to a hospital, including the driver.

Palghar Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil said, “The accident took place on the Surya river bridge on the way from Ahmedabad to Mumbai around 3:30 in the afternoon. Two people have been injured in the accident and two have died. It was a Mercedes car. The car number is MH-47-AB-6705. Further proceeding is currently underway.”

Mortal remains of Mistry will be taken to his home in Gujarat from Tata Hospital.

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, born in 1968, was chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata group companies, from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, the Tata Sons board had removed him from the post, triggering a bitter dispute between Mistry and the board. The matter had reached courts, but it had ended after the Supreme Court upheld his dismissal.

Cyrus Mistry owned 18.5% share in Tata group, giving him significant voting rights in the conglomerate.

Assam: 1710 primary schools with a small number of students closed and merged with nearby schools as per amalgamation plan

OpIndia Staff
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Assam: 1710 primary schools with a small number of students closed and merged with nearby schools as per amalgamation plan

Just days after the Assam government closed 34 high schools after none of the students from those schools were able to pass the 10th board examinations, the state government has now closed 1710 primary schools in the state. As part of the ongoing school rationalisation process in the state, the state education department has completed the process of closing the identified primary schools, and merged them with nearby schools.

These schools had very few numbers of students for various reasons, including the availability of multiple primary schools in the same area, and had a highly skewed teacher-student ratio that didn’t justify running those schools. The number of students in some classes in those schools were in single digits. The state government had sent notices to all schools having less then 30 students informing that those schools will be merged with nearby government schools, and the teachers will be transferred to other schools.

This scenario occurred after the state government provincialised a large number of private schools, known as venture schools, and this had resulted in multiple government schools in the same areas. Apart from this, the establishment of English-medium private schools also has contributed to the decreasing number of students in government schools.

Although there have been protests against the amalgamation of schools, the state government has taken a strong position on the matter, saying that schools with poor results and a low number of students will be closed and merged with nearby schools. As part of that decision, 1710 schools in 20 districts have been closed. These schools include 62 in Barpeta district, 68 in Bongaigaon district, 129 in Cachar, 64 in Darrang, 85 in Dhemaji, 56 in Dhubri, 60 in Dibrugarh, 89 in Goalpara, 45 in Golaghat, 59 in Hailakandi, 182 in Jorhat district, 94 in Kamrup Metro, 50 in Tinsukia, 105 in Sonitpur, 136 in Sivasagar, 134 in Nalbari, 90 in Nagaon, 148 schools in Marigaon and 49 primary schools in Karimganj.

The state government has said that the purpose of the amalgamation of schools is to achieve a standard teacher-pupil ratio, optimum services of the employees, saving administrative cost and other logistic support for the schools.

Education minister Ranoj Pegu said that this is an ongoing process, and the amalgamation of schools will continue, based on results in board exams and the number of students. The Himanta Biswa Sarma government has taken several steps to reform and improve the education sector, including opening new schools in areas lacking schools and merging schools in areas where there are more than required schools.

Yesterday CM The govt Himanta Biswa Sarma informed that 100 new Secondary Schools have been established this year for children of tea garden workers, and 100 more such schools are in pipeline.

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