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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded the youth for believing in the system and questioning it when it does not respond properly. Addressing his last 'Mann ki Baat' of 2019, the prime minister said the youth hate anarchy and disorder and dislike casteism and nepotism. "Our youth believe in the system and have an opinion, and question when the system does not respond properly. I consider this to be a good thing. Our youth hate anarchy, instability and disorder and dislike casteism and nepotism. Young India will play a key role in building modern India in the coming decade," Modi said on Mann ki Baat. The prime minister also urged people to promote local products in their purchases.  He also lauded Parliamentarians for making the Parliament session productive and breaking records of the last 60 years. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2ME2jbg Press Trust of India

Mumbai: Union Minister for Minorities, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, on Saturday demanded "immediate action" against a UP cop who purportedly asked Muslims to "go to Pakistan" during a protest. "It is condemnable if it is true. Immediate action should be taken against the police officer," Naqvi told media in response to a question on the incident. In a viral video, a police officer was seen abusing and asking Muslims to go to Pakistan during an anti-CAA protest in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Meerut ADG Prashant Kumar, however, defended the cop saying that he was trying to control the violent situation as the protesters were raising slogans hailing the neighbouring country. "It is clear from the video that stones were being pelted, anti-India slogans and slogans hailing the neighbouring country were raised by the protestors at the spot. The officer only asked them to stop pelting stones and they can go there (Pakistan) if they wanted to," Kumar told ANI

Bengaluru: Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt in Karnataka, one of the prominent religious leaders of South India, died on Sunday after a brief illness, Mutt sources said. The 88-year old swamij, who was closely associated with the VHP's Ramjanmabhoomi movement, breathed his last at the premises of the Pejawar Mutt in Udupi, they said. The Karnataka government announced a three-day state mourning. His last rites will be performed at the Vidyapeetha, founded by him, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said. He was admitted to a hospital in Manipal a few days ago for breathing difficulty and his condition had been critical. On Saturday night, he suffered multi-organ failure following which he was shifted to the Pejwar Mutt in Udupi as per his wish expressed earlier, the sources said. From there, the mortal remains of the Swamiji were later taken in a bamboo basket to the eight centuries-old Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yediyurappa condoled the d

New Delhi : The CCTV footage of the alleged barging-in of police personnel inside the Jamia Millia Islamia campus on 15 December has emerged as a fresh sore point between the university administration and the police. The CCTV recording of the 15 December incident is yet to be procured by the police, who said they need it for investigation. A senior police officer claimed that they had asked the university administration to hand over the CCTV footage of 15 December incident, and the SHO of Jamia Nagar went to the university to procure it. But the students gathered on the university campus and they did not want that the footage be given to police, he said, adding the administration was also unwilling to hand over the recordings. The officer returned empty-handed, he said. "During a meeting with the university administration, they had given in writing to hand over the recording for investigation. If anything happens to the recordings, it will fall under the destruction of the e

Kannur: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan faced protests from some delegates and students during his opening address at the Indian History Congress (IHC) on Saturday, with the BJP slamming it as "government-sponsored." The protests were held both inside and outside the IHC venue — Kannur University. Khan, who was the Chief Guest at the function, was addressing the delegates when he touched upon the protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) referred to by earlier speakers, KK Rajesh, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP and historian Irfan Habib. This led to the objections being raised by some delegates at the venue. "You have every right to protest. But you cannot shout me down", Khan said repeatedly as some of the delegates, sitting in front, took exception to the governor defending the CAA in his speech. The governor also said, "when you shut the door for debate and discussion, you are promoting a culture of violence." Holding "reject CAA" placa

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said the "powerful" Indian lobby in America was playing a key role in strengthening India's narrative against Pakistan, which was affecting the US policies for his country. Speaking at a meeting of the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA), Khan said, "India's lobby in America right now is far more powerful than Pakistan's. India's point of view always overshadows that of Pakistan and American policies for Pakistan are affected by that viewpoint." The premier asked the APPNA to make efforts to counter the Indian lobby in the US. The prime minister said the Pakistan government wishes to have an institutional arrangement with APPNA, calling it the most powerful and influential Pakistani group overseas. Khan said India may launch a false-flag operation in Pakistan-occupied to divert attention from domestic issues. Khan criticised the Indian government's

If it wasn’t alarming enough for India to be labelled as the world’s ‘most depressed country’ by WHO; there is further bad news regarding the country’s mental health. Between 1990 to 2017 one in seven people from the country have suffered from mental illness ranging from depression, anxiety to severe conditions such as schizophrenia, according to a study. The large scale findings churning from an exhaustive course of meta-analysis of years of Indian research was published by Lancet Psychiatry on Monday. The study titled, The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study , addressed the need for a state-specific prevalence of mental health issues which has been missing from Indian mental health research. While some studies have previously established the distribution of mental disorders in particular areas and states, no study until now has covered all the geographical units including the 29 states and a combined set of union territories. I

“How does governance work at the grassroots level in India?” To examine this question, we decided to pick one village anywhere in India, become a part of the community, see how individuals interact with various bodies of the government and examine its impact on their lives. I knew the answers to this question would be further complicated if the village didn’t identify as ‘India’, or simply didn’t care about that label — as is the case in large parts of the Northeast. In a region where ‘the outsider’ is a constant threat to a way of life, how do locals navigate a system where ‘outsiders’ are an explicit part of governance? It was to delve into these issues that I ended up living and working out of a village called Smit, in Meghalaya. This six-part series documents my time in Smit. Smit, Meghalaya. Illustration courtesy Satwik Gade/Firstpost 1. The Outsiders 2. Village Tour 3. Seng Khasi 4. Mei Tew 5. Kickboxing Classes 6. In Conclusion When this project began, the aim was to

New Delhi: The frigid air barrelling through north India plummeted temperatures to season's lowest in Delhi and neighbouring states on Saturday with many places recording a minimum of below two degrees Celsius, as dense fog reduced visibility and disrupted air, rail and road traffic. The cold wave is not expected to relent until the New Year. The India Meteorological Department has issued a red-coded warning for Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and amber-colour warning for Madhya Pradesh for Sunday. A red-coded warning is given for extreme weather events. Icicles are seen on the branches of a tree as temperature drops below zero degree at Sikar district in Rajasthan. PTI Authorities were forced to divert four flights from Delhi airport to other destinations. An airport official said pilots were operating under CAT-IIIB conditions, meaning the runway visuality range (RVR) was between 50-175 metres. A railway official said 24 trains were delayed by 2-

Rameswaram: Thirteen fishermen from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, fishing at Nedunthivu near a coast in Sri Lanka, were arrested by the navy of the island nation on Saturday. The naval personnel made the arrest on the charge of fishing in foreign waters. According to the assistant director of fisheries, Kumaresan, the Lankan naval men took the fishermen and their three mechanised boats and lodged them in Kangesanthurai in Jaffna. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2u0SJsv Press Trust of India

It’s past two on an unusually cloudy day in late December. Asit Mirdha, 54, with stacks of paddy loaded on his shoulders, arrives at his two-room thatched house in Hariabanka village of Kharinasi panchayat under Mahakalapada block of Odisha’s coastal Kendrapara district. "There are chances of rain, so we are busy harvesting. Once it’s over, we wouldn’t have to worry about food for the next year," says Asit with a wide grin. Like Asit’s, all the 1,551 families of Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks in Kendrapara which had been served ‘quit India’ notice (under the Foreigners Act, 1946) by the district administration in 2005 are all smiles. For them, the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, enacted earlier this month, is a long-cherished dream come true. Many other families in Hariabanka, a Bangladeshi majority village, had received the ‘quit India’ notice as well. Now, with the term illegal immigrants gone, and with it the fear of deportation, they are about to set out on a new lif

Bulandshahr: A section of Muslims from the civil society in Bulandshahr handed over a demand draft of Rs 6.27 lakh to the Bulandshahr district administration to compensate for damage to public property during violent protests over the citizenship law in Uttar Pradesh. Handing over the demand draft to officials on Friday, they also requested the police and the administration to withdraw cases lodged against community members in the aftermath of the protests on 20 December, when violence had also swept several other parts of the state over the contentious law. "It is a welcome initiative by the people here who have realized that the property which got damaged during the violence belonged to them and involved their own tax money. Loss to public property means loss to citizen's property," Bulandshahr District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar told reporters. Rs 6,27,507, the amount of damage assessed by the administration, has been raised by donations within the community, Haji

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh police's Special Task Force (STF) filed FIRs against six persons in the Vyapam scam , a senior official said on Saturday. The scam is related to manipulation in the selection process for government colleges and jobs conducted by Vyavasayik Pareeksha Mandal or Vyapam, now rechristened as Madhya Pradesh professional examination board. It involved impersonation of candidates, copying, blank answer sheets and fake marks. Earlier in 2015, the Supreme Court had transferred cases related to Vyapam scam to CBI . Now, the state STF has reopened the pending cases. Talking to reporters, STF chief and Additional Director General Ashok Awasthi said, "STF has registered six cases in Vyapam scam in past two days. On Saturday, cases were registered in three cases against Pallav Amritphale, Hitesh Alawa (both appeared in Pre Medical Test or PMT in 2009) and Divashish Vishwas (appeared in 2007 PMT) for photo mismatch and other document related irregularities."

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Uttar Pradesh Police of roughing her up while she was on the way to meet the family of retired IPS officer SR Darapuri, who has been arrested in connection with the recent protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019. Speaking to ANI, Priyanka claimed that after she alighted from her car on being halted by the police on the way to meet Darapuri's family,  a female police officer manhandled her and pushed her, causing her to fall. #WATCH : Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says,"UP police stopped me while I was going to meet family of Darapuri ji. A policewoman strangulated&manhandled me. They surrounded me while I was going on a party worker's two-wheeler,after which I walked to reach there." pic.twitter.com/hKNx0dw67k — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 28, 2019 Priyanka on Saturday evening reached the house of retired IPS officer SR Darapuri after meeting party workers. In a series o

Thiruvananthapuram: Intensifying its protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, the Congress in Kerala took out a "Maha Rally" to the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, demanding the suspension of the law and to stop the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Addressing party workers, Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram said the party's demand was to suspend CAA and completely stop NRC. "Our demand is to suspend CAA and to completely stop NRC. These are our demands and we will continue to fight until they are met," the Congress leader said. Describing the CAA and NRC as most "unconstitutional" and "illogical", Chidambaram said he was confident that the Supreme court would strike it down. "The Citizenship Amendment Act destroys the very basis of our Constitution. If they had two-thirds of majority in Parliament, they would have amended the Constitution," the Congress leader claimed. Since the

New Delhi: The second privately operated IRCTC's premium Tejas train, which will ply between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, will be launched on 17 January, sources said on Saturday. Like in the first Tejas, which runs on the Delhi-Lucknow route, the railways will compensate passengers if the new train gets delayed. First commercial run of the Tejas train will be on 19 January. It will ply on Ahmedabad - Mumbai- Ahmedabad route for six days a week with Thursday as an off-day for maintenance, the sources said. The train will be equipped with all modern on board facilities for ensuring high-level comfort to passengers.  The IRCTC, the catering and tourism arm of Indian Railways, is planning to imbibe regional delicacies from the local and ethnic cuisines to suit the taste buds of passengers, they said. Aiming to bring services in railways on par with airlines, the sources said service in the train will be done through trolleys similar to airlines. It is another step by the Ministry of Rail

Aligarh: The Rapid Action Force has filed a complaint against 1,000 unnamed AMU students in connection with the violence at the campus during a protest against alleged police action in Jamia Millia Islamia University following the agitation over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on 15 December, a senior official said. An FIR in this regard was filed on 23 December by RAF commandant Punit Kumar, Senior Superintendent of Police Aakash Kulahari said on Friday. The issue has, however, caused a controversy after the complaint mentioned the student number as 10,000, which the SSP later clarified was a "typing error" and the number was 1,000. The students have been charged with rioting and causing damage to public property. Sixty students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were booked by Uttar Pradesh Police for rioting and damaging public property on 16 December. On Tuesday, 1,200 unidentified people, including students, teachers and non-teaching staff of the AMU, were book

Thiruvanathapuram:  Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday came down heavily on Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who had recently criticised people leading violent protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, asking him to "mind his business." The former Union minister was speaking at the 'Maha Rally" against the new Act, organised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in front of Raj Bhavan. File image of P Chidambaram. PTI He also alleged that the army chief and the Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh had been asked to support the government and it was a "shame". "Now, the army General is being asked to speak up. Is it the job of the army General?" Chidambaram asked. "The DGP... the army General are being asked to support the government. It is a shame. Let me appeal to General Rawat.. You head the army and mind your business... what politicians will do, politicians will do." "It is not the

Lucknow: As the 135th Foundation Day programmes of the Congress were underway at the party's Uttar Pradesh headquarters in Lucknow, a party worker broke the security cordon and reached the stage to meet Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. #WATCH Man breaches security of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a party event in Lucknow on Congress foundation day, gets to meet her. pic.twitter.com/v4UtwedMF2 — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 28, 2019 According to eyewitnesses, while Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was seated on the dais, party worker Gurmeet Singh reached the stage by breaking her security cordon. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and security personnel tried to stop the man, but Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held his hand and stopped him from being pushed down. She also spoke to Singh, who gave a memorabilia to her. According to Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh, Gurmeet is a resident of Kanpur and has been associated with the party for a long time. Congress

The Editors Guild of India on Saturday issued a statement condemning BJP's Information Technology cell head Amit Malviya for putting up a Twitter poll targetting veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. Editors Guild of India logo. Image courtesy: Twitter. The guild, in its statement, said it has "noted with deep dismay and concern the deplorable act of Amit Malviya, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Information Technology cell, in which he conducted an offensive, McCarthyist social media 'poll' on noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai". The statement further called the Twitter poll tasteless and said it "questioned integrity and patriotism of Mr Sardesai, who is a journalist of standing" and noted that Sardesai was a former president of the guild. "The Twitter poll by the national head of the BJP also raises questions on the party's commitment to healthy debate and dissent without allowing disagreement to degenerate into abuse,"

Kanpur administration may be busy in restoring normalcy in the city after the violent protests on 20th December, but regular course of life was altered forever, for Subhan (name changed) and his family. The Uttar Pradesh Police may try to project itself as a people-friendly force, however, time and again they've faced criticism for their high-handedness, be it at the time of the death of Apple employee Vivek Tiwari in Lucknow, or the crackdown on anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protesters, which has left a deep scar on Subhan and his family's mind. Subhan, a teacher in a prominent school of the city, shivers as he narrates his ordeal to this reporter. He requests anonymity fearing retribution from cops for speaking to the media. It is worth noting here that the Kanpur Police has booked over 21,000 people in 15 FIRs lodged at various police stations across the city. Residents of Muslim-majority areas said police broke and damaged whatever came in their way and looted local

Mumbai: Farmers whose crop loan, taken between April 2015 and March 2019, is more than Rs two lakh, will not be eligible for the loan waiver scheme announced by the Uddhav Thackeray-led 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' government in Maharashtra last week. A Government Resolution (GR) issued on Saturday said: "As per the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Farmer Loan Waiver Scheme, loan up to Rs two lakh taken between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2019 and which has not been repaid till 30 September 2019 will be eligible for a waiver," it said. Farmers, whose crop loan and restructured loan is more than Rs two lakh will not be eligible for any benefit under the scheme, it added. A committee of the Finance and Co-operation Department will take a decision on whether to include the (non-performing assets) accounts of farmers in nationalised, private and rural banks in the loan waiver scheme. Individual farmers will be considered for the loan waiver, the GR said, adding that loan taken from natio

Students walking in a single file with their arms raised in the universal gesture for surrender. Chairs overturned in a reading room. Shattered glass. A campus being emptied. In the aftermath of the 15 December 2019 police action on Delhi’s Jamia University, as a shocked nation looked on at the visuals, Delhi-based artist Tanzeela too was aghast at the violence perpetrated on her alma mater. The Jamia campus had been a safe space, home to its students like Tanzeela. Now, the horrifying violence brought them out on the streets to protest against police brutality as also the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Tanzeela, who describes herself as “ hijabi doodler”, began working on an illustration — a woman in a tricolour hijab, enraged, mouthing Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s immortal words, “ Bol ke lab aazad hai tere ”. She shared it on her Instagram page and other social media, and the image quickly struck a chord. People began re-sharing it, or carried

New Delhi: The National Capital on Saturday recorded its coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, officials said. Dense fog enveloped the city reducing visibility and affecting air traffic and vehicular movement in the streets. Mercury fell to its lowest in Delhi this season with the Safdarjung Observatory, whose reading is considered the official marking for the city, recording 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning. Other observatories recorded as follows: Palam 3.1 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 1.7 degrees Celsius, Aya Nagar 1.9 degrees Celsius, a senior MeT Department official said. Delhi: Dense fog at Rajpath this morning. Temperature of 2.4°C was recorded in Delhi at 6:10 am, today. pic.twitter.com/mHpEsaaUcj — ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2019 Due to very dense fog, zero visibility was reported in Palam Observatory area, which neighbours the city airport. Due to heavy fog on Saturday morning, four flights have been diver