Day: January 22, 2020

At least five feared dead in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa following clash over ‘Patthalgadi’.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: At least five persons were reportedly killed at Buru Gulikera village under Sonua Police Station of Chaibasa in Jharkhand allegedly after a clash that took place among villagers during a meeting on ‘Patthalgadi’ on Sunday.

Though there is no official confirmation in this regard, senior officials in district administration claimed that they have strong inputs that at least five villagers of Buru Gulikera have been killed following a violent clash between two groups.

According to the sources, the clash took place between ‘Patthalgadi’ supporters and those who were against it, while documents like Aadhaar and Voter Identity cards were being collected by ‘Patthalgadi’ activists following a heated exchange leading to the killing of at least five persons while some others are also said to be missing.

Collection of government documents was being done in the area for the last 10-15 days which was being opposed by some of the villagers which finally resulted in a violent clash between the two groups, it said.

Senior officials of the district administration have been camping near the village, but no dead body has been recovered while the report was being filed till late in the night on Tuesday.

“We have inputs that few people have been killed following a clash which took place during a meeting in Buru Gulikera village, but no dead body has been recovered so far. It is yet to ascertain who were the people who got killed and who killed them as none of the villagers are cooperating with the police,”
said Chaibasa Deputy Commissioner Arwa Rajkamal.

Notably, the area being left-wing extremism (LWE) affected, police are taking all precautions to reach out to the villagers as there are possibilities that the Maoists might have planted land mines on the way to the village.

Domicile issue sparks row in Jharkhand after JMM chief Shibu Soren’s poser on land records.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: A fresh controversy over domicile policy erupted after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren said that 1932 ‘khatian’ (land records) be made the basis for granting domicile certificates to Adivasi-Moolwasi of the state. 

JMM’s key ally Congress, on the other hand, is of the view that 1932 ‘khatian’ cannot be the only basis for domicile as the land-survey was conducted in different point of time in different districts.

However, it vowed that current cut-off year, 1985, will definitely be revised taking everyone in confidence so that jobs could be assured only to the locals of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren said that the promises made to the people in the party manifesto before elections will definitely be fulfilled.   

‘Sthaniya Niti’, previously known as domicile policy, has been a contentious issue for the state since its creation as successive governments could not define it.

The BJP government, when in power, made 1985 as the cut-off year and laid out other criteria.  

As per the provisions in the new Domicile Policy announced by Raghubar Das Government in 2016, people living in Jharkhand since or before 1985 will be considered as local inhabitants.

HIV-positive woman gang-raped in Bihar.

Source – hindustantimes.com

A young widow afflicted with HIV was gang-raped in a compartment of the Patna-Bhabua Intercity Express train on Monday night, police said on Tuesday.

Two men overpowered the woman around 11.50pm when the train was nearing its last stop, raped her and filmed the incident, police said, adding that both the accused were arrested and the woman sent for medical treatment.

Police said the 22-year-old woman from a village in Kaimur district boarded the train from Gaya where she had gone to get medicines at an anti-retroviral therapy centre. “The victim is undergoing treatment for HIV and was returning from Gaya when the incident took place in the train,” said Lallu Singh, SHO, GRP, Sasaram.

GRP (government railway police) officials said the arrested men were booked on charges of rape and filming the act under sections 376D and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 67A of the Information Technology Act.

The accused identified as Birendra Prakash Singh and Dipak Singh, both in their 30s and residents of Chaiti Muhalla of Kudra market in Kaimur district, boarded the train at Patna. They followed the woman after she boarded at Gaya and committed the crime when they found her alone in the compartment after the train left Kudra, police said.

“The accused were supposed to alight at the Kudra station but they chose to stay on the train to commit the crime. When the train left the Kudra station, the accused overpowered the widow and gang-raped her as the compartment was empty,” Singh said.

One of the accused was caught assaulting the victim by a GRP patrol team when the train reached its final stop at the Bhabua Road station during routine checking.

“When the train reached the station, a patrolling team noticed that the gates of one of the compartments were shut and its window shutters were down . It raised suspicion and some policemen entered the compartment. They found that a woman was being raped by one man, with another person filming the act. While one of the men was caught on the spot, the other managed to flee,” said another senior police officer.

The SHO said the other accused was nabbed on Tuesday afternoon after his identity was disclosed by his arrested accomplice.

Maoist waiting for train for south India in Jamui arrested by Bihar STF.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The special task force (STF) of the Bihar police arrested two persons including a hardcore cadre of the prescribed CPI (Maoist) from separate raids at Jamui and New Delhi, a police officer said Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, an STF team arrested a hard core Maoist Amrit Bhulla, a resident of Goli in Jamui. He was an active member of the gang led by Maoist Commander Sidhu Koda.

“Bhulla was wanted in connection with several criminal cases lodged against him at police stations in Jamui and neighboring state Jharkhand”, said a police officer, adding that police team arrested him near Jamui railway station when he tried to catch a train for South India.

In another incident, a wanted criminal Nityanand Singh was arrested from Bahadurgarh in New Delhi. He is wanted in around eight extortion and murder cases.

He had come under the police radar after he allegedly murdered a jewellery businessman named Sriman Narayan Gupta on December 29, 2019 in Barhara when he refused to pay extortion of Rs 1 lakh. Tracing his whereabouts, the Bihar police traced him to Delhi and approached the local police to seek assistance in nabbing the fugitive.

Earlier he demanded extortion of Rs 5 lakh from mobile shop owner Suraj Keshri, a trader of Saraiyabazar in Bhojpur district and threatened to eliminate him and his family if his demands were not met. Nityanand also fired on him but Keshri survived.

During interrogation, Nityanand said that he and his associate had planned to extort money from businessmen in Bhojpur and made a list of targets. They started calling them individually and also sent their henchmen to threaten them.

Chandigarh to have direct connectivity to Goa, Chennai and Patna from March.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Come summer, and Chandigarh will have direct air connectivity to important domestic destinations such as Goa, Patna, Surat and Chennai, taking care of both leisure trips and official business of residents.

The summer flight schedule, which will be enforced at Chandigarh International Airport on March 29, has another good news for travellers — the number of flights are proposed to be doubled from 32 to 65.

However, putting a dampener on this welcome development, the schedule makes no provision for new international flights even as 24×7 operations became a reality at the airport in April last year. Only the two existing flights to the UAE — Sharjah and Dubai — have been listed.

Meanwhile, IndiGo is all set to resume its Dubai flight from February 15. The flight was suspended from December 14 onwards, citing cancellations and delays due to poor visibility.

IndiGo to operate 28 flights

IndiGo is likely to operate 28 of the 65 proposed flights. These include flights to Goa, Chennai, Surat and Patna. The one to Goa will take off past midnight. Even GoAir will operate a flight from Goa to Chandigarh.

Vaneet Sharma, director of a travel agency in Sector 17, said the new destinations will boost pan-India connectivity and also help in boarding international flights from Delhi. “For going to Goa, people first have to go to Delhi, but now it will be easier for them to reach the tourist destination. Moreover, the flight timings are very flexible.”

Sanjeev Vashisht, member of the airport advisory committee, who is also former president of the Mohali Industry Association, said the new destinations, especially Goa and Patna, will boost the tourism sector. “We are hopeful that international flights will start from October this year after installation of the advanced instrument landing system CAT-3,” he said.

Welcoming the direct flight to Patna, Jatinder Pal Singh, senior vice-president, gurdwara coordination committee, Mohali, said: “It was a long-pending demand of residents of our region, as Patna Sahib is the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh. Devotees have to travel by train, which takes a long time. Now, they will be able to take a direct flight.”

New domestic destinations

Flight to and from Goa, Surat and Chennai will begin on March 29.

IndiGo flight 6E-6137 will arrive at Chandigarh from Goa at 6:40am and will depart for Ahmedabad from Chandigarh at 8:10am.

GoAir flight G8-814 will arrive at Chandigarh from Goa at 9:45am and will depart for Surat (G8-815) at 10:15am.

IndiGo flight 6E-6147 will arrive at Chandigarh from Bengaluru at 11pm and the same flight (6E-6144) will depart to Goa after midnight at 12:40am.

IndiGo will also provide direct connectivity between Chandigarh and Chennai. Flight 6E-8052/8053 will arrive at Chandigarh at 1:30pm and depart for Chennai at 2pm.

IndiGo is also going to operate two flights between Chandigarh and Patna from March 30.

The first flight (6E-6141) will arrive from Ahmedabad at 11:35am and then depart for Patna (6E-6148) at 12:05pm.

The second flight (6E-6926) will arrive from Patna at 6:35pm and will resume its return journey at 7:05pm.

All these flights will operate six days a week, from Monday to Saturday.

JP Nadda started career as Bihar Movement man.

Source – indiatoday.in

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader JP Nadda, who was elected as the national president of BJP on Monday, represents two different cultures – Bihari and Himachali. He spent his childhood in Bihar and learned the nuances of politics in his home state Himachal Pradesh.

JP Nadda belongs to Vijaypur village of Bilaspur district and was born on December 2,1960, in Patna.

He started his political career in 1975 as an activist of Bihar Movement (JP Movement). He later joined ABVP and contested student Central Association elections in Patna University and became secretary in 1977.

He earned his Bachelors degree from Patna University and was an active student leader between 1977 and 1979 in Ranchi.

JP Nadda started his first political agitation in 1985 as a student leader from his hometown Bilaspur. He migrated from Ranchi University to Himachal University, Shimla from where he earned his LLB degree.

He was also elected as ABVP president.

JP Nadda contested his first assembly elections in 1993 from Bilaspur Sadar assembly constituency and was leader of opposition in Himachal assembly between 1994 and 1998.

He won another assembly election in 1998 from Bilaspur and became Health minister of Himachal Pradesh. In 2007, he again contested the assembly election and became Forest and Environment minister.

However, Nadda had to resign in 2012 after he was asked to join the central leadership and was elected to the upper house of the Parliament in 2012. He became a Cabinet minister and was made Union Health Minister.

Ceding Ground in Delhi for Smooth Landing in Bihar: Explaining BJP’s Generosity Towards Nitish & Paswan.

Source – news18.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to firm up its alliance for the Bihar assembly polls scheduled later this year by accommodating two of its allies from the heartland state in its Delhi election plans.

The BJP, which is the main challenger to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, has left two seats for Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and one for Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party. The JD(U) will contest from Sangam Vihar and Burari while the Seemapuri seat has been left for the LJP.

Both the regional parties had fielded candidates against the BJP in the Jharkhand assembly polls last year. There were also reports of the JD(U) extending help to BJP rebel candidate Saryu Roy who went on to defeat chief minister Raghubar Das in Jamshedpur.

In Jharkhand, the BJP also failed to firm up its alliance with its regional ally All Jharkhand Students Union, leading to a division of anti-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha votes. This was cited as one of the reasons for the BJP’s poor performance in the tribal-dominated state.

Some BJP allies have also been complaining of getting a short shrift from the NDA leader – both in states and the Centre. The saffron party under Narendra Modi has won clear majority in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, thus reducing its dependence on allies in running the government.

Shiv Sena, the oldest BJP ally, has already left the NDA to join hands with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra. Ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal have been strained over RSS’s attempts to expand Rashtriya Sikh Sangat – an affiliate formed to reach out to the Sikh community.

These moves have not gone down well with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee or SGPC, which coordinates with and is responsible for management of gurdwaras in the country. SAD feels RSS activities are impinging on SGPC activities that are inextricably entwined to the state’s polity.

Both Akali Dal and BJP’s Haryana ally Jannayak Janta Party have backed out of the Delhi polls. One constituency for which SAD had earlier staked claim, Harinagar, has been handed over to the BJP’s Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. But elections in Punjab are some time away. And SAD, not BJP, has more at stake here.

However, the saffron party is taking no chances ahead of the Bihar polls. Having lost the JD(U) and consequently the elections to Lalu Prasad in 2015, it is extra cautious this time around. Nitish Kumar, on more than one occasion, has been announced as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate.

Nitish had pulled a hard bargain ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to extract a few seats more for his party. As a mark of protest against disproportionate allocation of ministerial berths, his party did not join the Modi government.

The BJP, on the other hand, seems to be going the extra mile to accommodate Nitish Kumar and Paswan. Both in Bihar, and elsewhere.

UPSC Prelims 2020: Current Affairs- Details on Start Up India Tableau, Bru Refugees, PRAGATI and Hyperloop.

Source – timesnownews.com

Union Public Service Commission, UPSC is about to release applications for Civil Services Examination, CSE 2020 in February 2020 on upsc.gov.in. Interested candidates may regularly check the official website for updates. The UPSC Prelims examination will be conducted on May 31, 2020. For those who wish to appear in the examination General Studies-1 paper is the greatest hurdle and the most important part of that paper are the current affairs. Candidates must know which news to pick and which to leave. To ease your preparation, you can regularly check this section for current affairs that are relevant for UPSC examination. 

Listed below are a few important topics of January 21, 2020. These include a Start-Up India tableau to be launched on Republic Day, the current agreement on Bru Refugees, PM’s meeting on PRAGATI and Maharashtra Government’s cancellation of Mumbai Pune Hyperloop Project.  Volume 0% 

StartUp India Tableau

Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, DPIIT will be showcasing Startup India’s tableau in the Republic Day parade this year. The tableau is based on the theme Startups: Reach for the Sky and will showcase stages in the lifecycle of a startup. It will also denote the support a start-up receives from the Government and what innovations it brings to the life of people.  The program was started on January 16, 2016.

From the front, the tableau depicts a creative mind with the startup tree in the middle representing support to the startups. The staircase denotes the stages of growth and the rear wheel depicts sectors of the economy. The map depicts the spread of the startup and along with the wheel, it represents the width and depth of startup in the country.

Bru Refugees:

According to a quadripartite agreement recently, Tripura has been legally declared home to Bru tribes who were displaced from Mizoram in 1997 and were living in Tripura ever since then. The Bru people are spread in Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam. These are also referred to Reangs in Mizoram and have their own distinct language and dialect thus making them one of the scheduled tribes of India.  

PRAGATI

PM Modi had launched Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation on March 25, 2015, to address common man’s grievance. Pragati helps to monitor various programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as State Governments. Till now projects worth INR 12000 crore have been reviewed.  It is a multi-purpose and multi-modal governance platform.

Hyperloop:

In reference to Mumbai Pune hyperloop scrapped by Maharashtra Government, it becomes important to know what hyperloop is. It is an ultra-modern transport system that would have reduced the transportation time of these two cities to 25 minutes. This was the brainchild of Elon Musk. In this type of communication, a pod-like vehicle is propelled through a vacuum-like tube to match the speed of an aircraft.