An eighth attempt of breaking in was made at Kali Temple in Sukant Palli in Siliguri, West Bengal. In their bid to steal the ornaments which were on the idol, the thieves even broke the idol. On getting the information of the attempted robbery, the New Jalpaiguri police reached the spot where they had to face anger of the people. The people were angry that there have been no arrests made till now in the previous seven attempts at robbery in the same temple.
Idol of Maa Kali at Gate Bazar Kali Mandir in Siliguri was demolished. Seculars won’t say anything on this. pic.twitter.com/b9E1O3AOVH
As per the information, when devotees reached the temple in the morning to offer their prayers on Tuesday, they found the idol of Goddess Kali broken and lying on the ground. Some bamboo sticks and an iron rod were also found from near the broken idol. People there understood that this was a breaking-in attempt. The news of 8th attempt of robbery in the temple spread like wildfire in the area and people gathered there in large numbers. As per reports, police complaint has been made for previous attempts of robbery as well but there has been no action against anyone yet.
However, police maintains that some people are detained in this regard. The police is currently investigating the matter.
The Allahabad High Court on January 9 declined to quash an administrative order issued by Jaunpur district administration which refused permission to two mosques to use loudspeakers for azaan, call to prayer for Muslims. The order was uploaded on the court’s website on Monday. On 12th June, 2019, a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) had refused permissions to two mosques to use amplifiers and loudspeakers for azaan.
A bench comprising of justices Pankaj Mithal and V C Dikshit dismissed the petition filed by Masroor Ahmad stating that, “It becomes quite evident that the petitioners have been refused permission to use sound amplifying system at the mosque not only for the inherent reason of noise pollution but in order to maintain peace and tranquillity in the area.” Ahmad, in his petition said that the order be quashed so that they are able to offer their prayers “in accordance with their religion”. The court dismissed the argument that using loudspeakers for azaan at specific time was essential part of their religion.
Citing a Supreme Court judgement, the bench said that no one can claim fundamental right to create noise pollution by amplifying sound. Dismissing the petition, the court lamented that people do not understand the hazardous effects of noise pollution. “No religion prescribes or preaches that prayers are required to be performed through voice amplifiers or by beating of drums. If there is such a practice, it should not adversely affect rights of others, including that of not being disturbed,” the court observed.
As per reports, the petition had applied to Jaunpur district administration in March 2019 to use loudspeakers in two mosques in Baddopur and Shahganj. On 7th March, 2019, Circle Officer of Shahganj carried out inspection and in his report stated that the area has mixed Hindu-Muslim population and if any of these communities are allowed to use loudspeakers, it could lead to communal tension. Following this, in June, the SDM denied permission to use loudspeakers by mosques.
A January 2018 order issued by Yogi Adityanath government in UP, no loudspeaker, public address system, sound-producing instrument or amplifier can be used in public place without official permission under Rule 5 of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.
The Maharashtra government has transferred Ashwini Bhide, the Managing Director (MD) of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) on Tuesday.
Considered to be one of the state’s most efficient IAS officers by her peers, @ashwinibhide was credited with fast-tracking the Colaba-SEEPZ Metro-3 project in Mumbai. She had faced strident opposition from environmentalists over the Metro car shed in Aarey.
Reportedly, senior IAS officer Bhide as the MD of MMRC was at the forefront of implementing the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Mumbai Metro 3 project. She was promoted earlier this month as principal secretary and her transfer was a matter of time as Sena prince Aaditya Thackeray, who is also the state environment minister and son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had publicly demanded her removal.
Ranjit Singh Deol, the current vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) is set to replace her.
It was earlier reported that Sena prince Aaditya Thackeray was unhappy over Bhide’s insistence on Aarey Metro Car Shed Project.
The previous state government’s plan to cut about 2,700 trees in Aarey Colony in north Mumbai for car shed of the metro had green activists and citizens’ groups up in the arms including Sena Prince Aaditya Thackeray.
However, Bhide as the head of MMRCL had vociferously defended the metro project at Aarey by stating that it was impossible to shift the car shed anywhere else as suggested by Shiv Sena leader Thackeray and few other green activists.
Bhide has an active social media presence where she regularly shares the updates related to the Metro project.
Aditya Thackeray had even expressed his anger and annoyance at Bhide for her staunch support of the car shed project.
The Mumbai Metro Rail project is regarded as one of the world’s toughest development projects. Bhide had gained widespread admiration and accolades for her management of the project.
Bhide’s commitment to the ongoing metro project had won her countless fans. Her stout defence of the Metro car shed project and her logical counters to so-called environmental ‘activists’ and other opponents of the infrastructure was a sign that her days at MMRC were numbered following the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coming to power in the state.
One of the first decisions taken by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray after assuming the post of CM was to order a halt in the Aarey Metro Car Shed project.
Ever since Shiv Sena returned to power by joining hands with NCP and Congress, it has been alleged that the coalition government has been indulging in vendetta politics as it is cancelling most of the projects that were earlier initiated by the previous Devendra Fadanvis government.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi seems hell-bent on blocking funds and halting major infrastructure and development projects undertaken by the previous government to further narrow political goals. As soon as the NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress formed the government. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered a halt on the Metro Car Shed construction at Aarey and shockingly had announced that he will drop cases against the Bhima-Koregaon rioters.
Later in January, CM Thackeray had decided to block funds for ‘Jalyukt Shivar’’ a major developmental project started by the Devendra Fadnavis government, with a target to make Maharashtra completely drought-free.
A 55-year-old man, Farooq, has been arrested by Meerut Police on Monday for allegedly setting on fire house of a woman who did not reciprocate his one-sided love.
As per reports, the man was a father of ten and had one-sided love for the woman. The woman, along with her five children, was sleeping in her house when he reportedly set it ablaze on wee hours of 14th January, 2019. Two children were rushed to a hospital in Delhi in serious condition and one of them is still critical. The incident took place in Zahidpur village in Kharkhoda region of Meerut.
As per reports, Farooq was a close acquaintance of Rahmeen, a labourer who worked to support her family after her husband abandoned her. As per reports, Farooq used to financially help Rahmeen. Rahmeen’s daughter was reportedly in love with a boy from the neighbourhood and Farooq opposed the relationship. To that, Rahmeen asked him not to interfere. ‘Spurned’, Farooq decided to take revenge on Rahmeen who did not respond to his advances despite the fact that he ‘took viagra’.
Farooq, who is father to 10 children himself, reportedly went to woman’s house on 13th January. Later in the night, he put petrol through the window and set the house on fire. Police recovered half-burnt pipe and empty bottle of petrol from him. Farooq has reportedly confessed to his crime.
Amidst all the negativity that is found in abundance on social media, every once in a while there is a heartwarming story that puts a smile on all our faces. Rarely, though, do such stories involve political or media sections of social media. And this is what makes this story so special and rather unusual.
It all began when David Leavitt, ‘Award-Winning Multimedia Journalist’, decided to call the Police on an employee of a store on the 18th of January because she refused to sell an electric toothbrush for a cent. A cent is one-hundredth of a dollar, it is the paisa equivalent of the Indian rupee. According to Leavitt, the employee was not ‘honouring the price’ as per Massachusetts law.
I just had to call the police because @target Refused to sell me the toothbrush
The customer care handle of the store responded to the tweet and clarified that the price of the toothbrush was not a cent as he was claiming and requested his details. When they asked him what the Police said, the ’eminent’ journalist appeared adamant about involving the police in the matter.
They verified the info was accurate and told me I can take you to court for not honoring the price and are giving me a record that what I said happened happened
Social Media was appalled at the conduct of the ’eminent journalist’ and called upon him to delete the first tweet as it contained the photo of the female employee, Tori. Some even volunteered to buy him a toothbrush if he deleted the tweet. People on social media pointed out that it was a labeling error at worst and calling the police on an employee over the matter was horrible and shameful conduct. The ’eminent journalist’ was also slammed for sharing the employee’s photo online, presumably without her consent.
The first tweet in the thread by David Leavitt that began it all might just be the worst ‘ratioed’ tweet in the history of Twitter. Being ratioed refers to a tweet that has got a lot more replies than it has retweets. It has been observed to be a good indicator of blunder tweets. The logic behind the term that grown immensely popular on the internet is this: If the number of replies to a tweet vastly outpaces its engagement in terms of likes and retweets, then something has gone horribly wrong. Leavitt’s first tweet had received over thirty-one thousand replies at the time of writing this report and just over 1,300 retweets.
The tweet that started the entire saga
People on social soon decided to cheer up Tori who, obviously, had a bad bad day at the office. One Twitter user, who tweets under the username @CarpeDonktum, decided to use the platform to give her a small treat for the misery she had to endure. Carpe Donktum started a ‘Go Fund Me’ page and appealed for people to donate so that the beleagured employee could go on a vacation. As of the time of writing this report, the campaign which had set the target at five thousand dollars had managed to raise over thirty-thousand dollars.
On the 20th of January, Tori issued her first and thus far her only statement on the campaign to send her on a vacation. She expressed her gratitude towards everyone for their generosity and support. She also said that she was looking for a worthy cause to donate the amount that was collected for her. “Your support has changed my life,” she said.
Statement by Tori (Source: @RealTargetTori/Twitter)
There appears to be a good word to describe the entire phenomenon: Spitefunding. The term is likely to have been invented by Michael Malice, a popular political commentator on social media and the author of ‘Dear Reader’. Spitefunding is a phenomenon where people voluntarily donate to a cause in order to spite or, more colloquially, ‘piss off’ those who are in opposition to it. In the current instance, as Michael Malice pointed out himself, the act of kindness had the added advantage of ‘spiting’ an unpleasant character.
The outpouring of support for Tori was motivated by genuine human empathy and also by the fact that people are sick and tired of the media fraternity who perceive themselves to be special snowflakes who are more equal than everyone else. It was reflected by the fact that although Carpe Donktum happens to be a Trump supporter, the campaign drew immense support from every corner of the political spectrum.
In a major drama that has unfolded weeks before Delhi Assembly elections a sitting Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Delhi Cantonment, Surender Singh, will now contest from same seat on NCP ticket. He had earlier quit the party after being denied party ticket for the upcoming Delhi Assembly election.
The National Congress Party today released names of seven candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. AAP’s sitting MLA from Delhi Cantt – Commando Surender Singh (who has resigned from AAP) has been fielded from the constituency by the party.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) releases names of seven candidates for #DelhiElections2020 . AAP’s sitting MLA from Delhi Cantt – Commando Surender Singh (who has resigned from AAP) has been fielded from the constituency by the party. pic.twitter.com/LbDoSvW9h1
Sharing his resignation letter on Twitter Tuesday, Singh said, “Today, I’m sad and I’m giving my resignation letter from the Aam Aadmi Party.” Talking about his decision to quit AAP, he said he was doing it with a heavy heart. AAP has fielded Virender Singh Kadyan from the seat.
Later, speaking to IANS, the Delhi Cantonment MLA informed that he will be contesting the February 8 election as an NCP candidate.
The Aam Aadmi Party has suffered back to back setbacks in the last two days. Prior to this, two of its MLAs quit the party after they were denied ticket for the 8February Delhi Assembly election. While Dwarka MLA Adarsh Shastri joined the Congress on Saturday, Hari Nagar MLA Jagdeep Singh said he was in talks with the Shiromani Akali Dal, an ally of the BJP.
Shastri, who was among the 15 members of the outgoing Assembly not fielded by the AAP this time, alleged that the party was “selling” tickets and accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of acting in an autocratic manner.
Shastri alleged that the AAP pretended to be an honest party and “made bus tickets free for women but are charging Rs 10 crore for an Assembly seat ticket”.
Countering Shastri’s allegations, another AAP leader said that when tickets are denied, people make such claims. “Does that mean when he previously contested from the AAP, he bought the ticket? The ticket distribution was strictly made on the basis of the performance of the MLAs which was closely scrutinised. All those MLAs whose performance was found to be not up to the mark were dropped,” he said.
Meanwhile, the party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who missed filing his nominations yesterday due to delay caused by his roadshow, filed his nominations today after a prolonged wait at the office of the Returning Officer (RO) at the Jamnagar House.
Kejriwal is being challenged in the New Delhi seat by BJP’s Sunil Yadav and Congress Romesh Sabharwal.
The national capital Delhi will go to polls in a single-phase on February 8 and the counting of votes will take place on February 11. The last day of filing nominations for the candidates is January 21 and the last day to withdraw nominations is January 24.
Unable to cope with his wife’s popularity on social media, a man named Ayaz Ahmed brutally killed his wife, Reshma (22) in Amer area near Jaipur-Delhi highway on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday (January 20) by strangulating her and then crushing her face by throwing a heavy stone on her.
Based on the information given by Reshma’s mother, the police found the defaced body of the woman around 8.30 am on Monday at Medauji Ki Chhatri, some 100 metres away from the Jaipur-Delhi highway. She was unrecognisable as the culprit had bludgeoned her with a stone, said ACP Ashok Gupta.
A two-wheeler parked close to the body helped the cops to resolve the case and nab the husband within a few hours after the incident. Police registered a case against him under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC for murder and tampering evidence.
The woman hooked to social media had over 6,000 followers on her Facebook account. She regularly shared her pictures and videos on social media. Envious of her popularity, Ahmed had started suspecting his wife of infidelity and the two began fighting over it.
He often fought with her for spending more time on social media. Unable to bear his torture, she left her husband a few days ago and started staying with her parents. They have three months baby girl.
According to reports, Ahmed went to his in-law’s house in an inebriated state on Sunday evening and requested his wife to return home along with him. Reshma agreed. Ahmed then took her out on a Scooty to Amer city, where he strangulated her and then crushed her face by throwing a heavy stone on her.
The Police investigating the case said that the name on which the two-wheeler was registered helped them nab the accused. “We got the name and address of the person from the RTO. The vehicle was registered in the name of Reshma Manglani. When we reached the address, Rekha Manglani, the victim’s mother gave the police crucial information.
“She told us that Reshma had married Ayaz and they were living separately for the past two months,” Gupta said, claiming that he had found enough evidence on her social networking account, which helped them to solve the case.
Madhya Pradesh Kisan Congress General Secretary Shailendra Verma was forcibly removed from Harda Collectorate premises allegedly after he spoke loudly to state minister PC Sharma.
#WATCH Madhya Pradesh: Kisan Congress state general secretary Shailendra Verma forcibly removed from Harda Collectorate premises, allegedly after he spoke loudly to state minister PC Sharma. (20.01.20) pic.twitter.com/fMuw4aCBT9
“Mantri ji scolded me and told to lock me up at police station. You’re part of this government, you are supposed to listen to our concerns.” Verma added while speaking to ANI.
As per reports, the minister and farmer leader discussed something after which they got into an argument. At this point, a minister in Kamal Nath government, P C Sharma, pushed Verma. After this, Sharma’s supporters carried Verma away. Verma has also alleged that Sharma has threatened to put him in jail. He said that he had gone there to meet and talk about farmers but Sharma got angry at him.
Taking a cue from the Left Front ruled Kerala and the Congress-led Punjab government, the West Bengal government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will bring a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 in the state assembly on January 27.
According to reports a special session of the West Bengal assembly will be convened on January 27 during which the anti-CAA resolution will be adopted around 2 pm. TMC supremo has urged all political parties to support the anti-CAA resolution.
West Bengal government to bring Anti-CAA resolution in the state assembly at 2 pm on 27th January. This resolution will be brought in a special assembly session. #CitizenshipAmendmentActpic.twitter.com/MbEI0fVq3e
This development comes on the day when Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Centre won’t take back the citizenship law however hard the opposition might protest. Addressing a pro-CAA rally at Lucknow, the Home Minister challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and others to hold an open debate with him on the new legislation.
Protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) continue to rage with Opposition-ruled state assemblies passing resolutions against the amended citizenship law. Earlier, Kerala and then the Congress-led government in Punjab had on January 17 passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state assembly.
Notably, while Congress fear-mongers and refuses to implement CAA in states, Congress veteran leader Kapil Sibal burst the bubble on Saturday asserting that the refusal to implement CAA by States would be unconstitutional. Kapil Sibal said that CAA is national legislation and no state can go about saying that it will not implement CAA. He also stressed on the importance of not scoring political brownies.
Mamata Banerjee has been opposing the CAA and the proposed NRC strongly. West Bengal has also seen great violence in the aftermath of the passage of the CAA in both houses of the Parliament. The Chief Minister of West Bengal has also taken to raising unconventional slogans during her rallies opposing the CAA, the most prominent among which goes something like “Kaa Kaa Chi Chi, CHi Chi Chi Chi.”
Contrary to Mamata Banerjee, who always appears consumed by rage when she speaks of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, addressing a massive rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on December 22, had also mocked the Chief Minister of Bengal for her opposition to the CAA. Narendra Modi said, “She earlier wanted the government to stop illegal immigration from Bangladesh, she also wanted to help Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. What has happened to you now? Once the Army was doing a regular drill in Bengal. Didi claimed Modi’s Sena had invaded Bengal.”
While a great many motivated ‘intellectuals’ are busy reinforcing a sense of gloom and doom regarding the Indian economy, a recently released United Nations report suggests otherwise. India was one of the top 10 recipients to attract Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in 2019, revealed a UN report on Monday.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) commissioned Global Investment Trend Monitor report stated that India was one among the top 10 beneficiaries of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) and saw about 16 per cent growth as compared to previous year, attracting $49 billion inflows in 2019. The report also stated that the global foreign direct investment stayed lacklustre in 2019 at $1.39 trillion, a 1 per cent decline from the revised $1.41 trillion in 2018.
The report cited the looming threats of trade war, slackening macroeconomic performance and policy indecision as primary reasons for the tepid FDI investments last year.
The report also mentioned that the cluster of developing countries attracted more than 50 per cent of the foreign direct investment with South Asia registering a rate of 10 per cent increase in FDI to $60 billion, chiefly driven by India’s 16 per cent increase in FDI inflows amounting to $49 billion. According to the report, a large chunk of this investment was attracted by services industries, including information technology.
The investment in developed countries hit an unprecedented low, decreasing by 6 per cent as compared to 2018 to $643 billion. The United States topped the list of countries receiving FDI. However, it registered a negative growth as the FDI investments in US fell to $251 billion from $254 billion. China, on other hand, saw zero-growth of FDI inflows with 2019 witnessing $140 billion inflows as compared to $139 billion in 2018.
Against the backdrop of impending Brexit, the FDI in UK was down by 6 per cent. The European Union too did not remain immune to the sluggish year as its investments dropped by 15 per cent to $305 billion.
The report also highlighted the 40 per cent decline in cross-border M&As (Mergers & Acquisitions) in 2019 to $490 billion – the lowest level since 2014. It stated that the slump in Eurozone growth coupled with the Brexit fears have rendered European M&A sales halved to $190 billion.
