The battle lines over allegations that Facebook’s content policies favoured the ruling BJP were drawn sharper on Wednesday. Hours after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor moved a notice for breach of privilege against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, the lawmaker from the ruling party returned the favour. Mr Dubey moved a notice for breach of privilege against Mr Tharoor and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that while the former had “surpassed all limits of decency, ethics and basic tenets of parliamentary procedure”, the latter had “spread fake news and hatred”. Shashi Tharoor, who heads the parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, had…
Author: Our Correspondent
The Delhi State Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday gave nod to reopen hotels in Delhi. The agency also allowed reopening of weekly markets on a trial basis. However, gymnasiums will continue to remain closed. The Delhi government led by Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal had been advocating the reopening of hotels, gyms and weekly markets in the national capital since the start of Unlock 3.0 in the country. It had sent a proposal for this twice to the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who also heads the SDMA, citing the decline in the number of Covid 19 cases in the national capital.…
Bangladesh will receive COVID-19 vaccine from India on a priority basis, a top diplomat of Dhaka said on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Masud Bin Momen raised some of the contentious issues such as the recent spurt in border killings and condition of the detained Tablighi Jamaat members of Bangladesh with the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in Dhaka and the two sides agreed on an early meeting of the India-Bangladesh Consultative Committee. “The vaccine will not be limited to India. We have been assured that India will provide the COVID-19 vaccine to us on a priority basis…
Around 10,000 paramilitary forces personnel will be immediately withdrawn from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Central government said in an order this evening. The forces were deployed in Jammu and Kashmir in August last year as a precautionary measure when the Centre ended the state’s special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. The decision was taken after the Union Home Ministry reviewed the deployment of the Central Armed Police Forces or CAPFs in the union territory. “It has been decided to withdraw 100 Coys of CAPFs with immediate effect from J&K and revert back to…
The Aligarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought action against the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which recently organised a webinar to discuss the Khilafat movement. BJP leaders have written to the Ministry of Education demanding action against the university. The BJP has alleged that the AMU was a threat to the country’s “internal security”. According to reports, the webinar was conducted on 13 August and a Turkish professor also took part in the discussion on the movement. The webinar was presided over by AMU’s Vice-Chancellor (VC) and the keynote speaker was a Turkish professor named H Hilal…
Enforcement Directorate (ED) authorities are conducting raids at four locations in Mumbai, including Andheri, in the Tablighi Jamaat money laundering case, according to a probe agency official. The ED is probing the source of funding — both at home and abroad — for the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz, which was held at Nizamuddin in south Delhi between March 13 and 16 amid the early days of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in the country. The funds were used for the religious congregation in Delhi and the travel of several Jamaat followers from over 20 countries in the world. In April, the…
Posters have been put by Islamists in Aligarh threatening to burn alive two Muslim women for performing pooja of Raam Lalla during the Bhoomi Pujan for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Rubi Asif Khan, a BJP leader in the area, and another woman Nargis Mehboob, lodged a complaint with the police after receiving the threats. The threat to burn Rubi and Nargis alive, and also to banish them from Islam, came after they had performed aarti of Ram Lalla on 5th August, and also for sending a Rakhi for the Hindu God. Rubi Asif Khan is the president of the Mahavir…
Ashok Lavasa on Tuesday resigned as Election Commissioner and would soon be joining the Asian Development Bank as vice president, sources in the poll panel said. Lavasa was next in line to head the EC. Lavasa, the sources said, has sent his resignation to Rashtrapati Bhavan and has requested to be relieved on August 31. He would be joining the Philippines-based ADB sometime in September, they added. He was named the bank’s vice president last month.
This year’s National Sports Awards ceremony is probably going to be held virtually thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all the winners logging in from their respective places to listen to their names being announced on August 29. The National Sports Day is widely known on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand. “The sports awards function this year is probably going to be a web function. As per the govt of India instructions, the awardees also will be announced on the morning of the day of the function,” a Sports Ministry source told PTI on Monday.…
India is working on two major road projects to improve connectivity to the Union Territory of Ladakh and the far flung areas in the mountainous region near the China border. The projects would come as a major boost for the country’s armed forces as relations with China remain strained. “The first road project that India is working on will start from Leh towards Daulatbeg Oldi on China border passing through the mighty Khardung La pass Sasoma-Saser La and DBO,” government sources. Sources also said that the new road access from Khardung La will help the Indian side keep supply lines…