RIVANCH

Trigger warning: Sexual violence. If you believe the popularly floated myth, then in Indian culture, women are never raped. They are placed on pedestals and worshipped. Since words like ‘rape’ and ‘stalking’ are harsh and reflect badly on this image of unsullied purity, we have archaic legal vocabulary which supports the myth by properly defanging definitions for everything to do with sexual offences. A woman is ‘molested’ or ‘seduced’ rather than raped. Her ‘modesty is outraged’.  She is ‘eve teased’ not stalked.  And if she is killed or attacked with acid for refusing the advances of her stalker, the incident is dubbed as an unfortunate outcome of a “one-sided” love affair. The attitude towards sexual offences in our country is myopic indeed. Women are supposed to have no agency over their own bodies or their sexuality. So we have “love jihad” laws in the offing, however ridiculous those two words may sound in conjunction. And we silently applaud “honour killing”. We tell ourselv

Muzaffarnagar: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has said their agitation will continue till the three contentious agriculture laws are withdrawn. He was speaking in Ramrajn town to mark the completion of 100 days of farmers' protests at the Delhi borders against the central farm legislations. The farmers are demanding a complete withdrawal of the three farm laws and the agitation will continue till the government meets our demands, Tikiat said on Saturday. On the occasion, he flagged off a tractors' rally, which, he said, will travel across across districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and will reach farmers' protest site in Ghazipur on 27 March. Meanwhile, Union minister and Member of Parliament from Muzaffarnagar Sanjeev Balyan said the three agri laws will be beneficial for the farmers. "If a single farmer's land is taken away due to the farm laws, I will resign as an MP. The laws were enacted in accordance with the wishes of the farmers," he said. Th

Begusarai (Bihar): Union minister Giriraj Singh has advised the people of his Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar to 'beat up with bamboo sticks' those officials who appeared insensitive to their concerns. The firebrand BJP leader, who has a reputation of shooting from the hip, made the remark on Saturday while addressing a function organised by an agriculture institute in Khodawandpur. The minister, who holds fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy farming portfolios, rued that he frequently receives complaints from common citizens that officials concerned often paid little heed to their complaints. "I say to them, why do you come to me for such small things? MPs, MLAs, village mukhiyas, DMs, SDMs, BDOs... these are all under obligation to serve the people. If they do not listen to you, pick up a bamboo stick with both hands and give a crushing blow on their head," Singh said. "If even that does not work, then Giriraj shall throw his weight behind you,&

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which is hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will commence hybrid physical hearing from 15 March. The apex court on Saturday issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the hybrid physical hearings. The top court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately. "On an experimental basis, and as a pilot scheme, the final hearings/regular matters listed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays may be heard in the hybrid mode, as may be decided by the bench, considering the number of parties in a matter as well as the limited capacity of the courtrooms; all other matters, including those listed on Mondays and Fridays, shall continue to be heard through video/tele-conferencing mode," said the SOP issued by the apex court. "The hybrid ph

11:05 (IST) No new COVID-19 cases reported in Arunachal Pradesh  Arunachal Pradesh did not report any new COVID-19 case on Sunday, a senior health official said. The state's caseload stands at 16,839, of which three are active cases, while 16,780 people have recovered from the disease and 56 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 99.64 percent, he said.     A total of 55,304 people have been vaccinated in the state so far, State Immunisation Officer Dimong Padung said. 10:57 (IST) Stepping up vaccine coverage by May end will help check COVID-19 spread: GVS Murthy The spread of COVID-19 in the country would remain at low levels if the vaccination coverage is expanded substantially, possibly by inoculating those above 30 years of age and without comorbidities, by end of May, an expert has said. Though there has been a spike in the number of c

Mumbai: Poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was discharged from Nanavati Hospital here on late Saturday night, sources said. The Bombay High Court on 22 February granted Rao, 82, interim bail on medical grounds for six months. He later requested the court that he be allowed to furnish cash sureties until solvent sureties could be found. The court had granted the request on Monday. It had earlier directed that he be released immediately on bail after being discharged from hospital. Rao had been admitted to the private hospital due to ill-health. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3c7slQb Press Trust of India

New Delhi: The surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra could be due to lack of fear of the disease among people and pandemic fatigue, the Centre said on Saturday while asking the state to not let its guard down. The observations were shared by the Central government after a team of experts comprising Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Nipun Vinayak, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Deputy Director Sanket Kulkarni and National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases Professor Ashish Ranjan visited the state on 1 and 2 March. According to the health ministry data, there are over 90,000 active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra. "While the exact causes of surge are not known — since laxity in COVID-19 behaviour is not specific to the state — the possible factors are COVID-inappropriate behaviour due to lack of fear of disease, pandemic fatigue; miss outs and super spreaders; and enhanced aggregations due to recent gram panchayat elections, marriage season and opening of s

Nearly 11.64 lakh people were inoculated against COVID-19 on till 7 pm on Saturday, taking the total number of doses administered till date to 2.06 crore. But despite the growing pace of vaccination several states and Union Territories continued to report an "upsurge" in cases, prompting the Centre to urge them to accelerate vaccination. In a meeting held on Saturday, the government also told states to continue with the strategy of "test, track and treat" that had "yielded rich dividends" at the height of the pandemic. The Centre has also rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab, to assist state health departments in coronavirus surveillance, control and containment measures. Maharashtra, specifically, has been reporting a sudden spike in cases since February. According to the Union Health Ministry, there are currently 90,055 active cases in Maharashtra, whereas, Punjab has 6,661 active cases. The state on Satu

The Congress on Saturday said that its women's wing chief Sushmita Dev was with the party, dismissing reports in a section of the press that she has resigned amid differences over seat-sharing. The reports of Dev's resignation came amid differences with party leaders over seat-sharing with AIUDF. "It has been brought to the notice of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee that speculative news about resignation of President, All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev is doing the rounds on television and web portals. We want to make it clear that Ms Sushmita Dev has not resigned from the party," party spokesperson Bobbeeta Sharma said in a statement. Earlier, Dev barged out of a Congress meeting on the selection of candidates at a city hotel, party sources said. Her supporters also demonstrated against Congress leaders who favoured allotting more seats to AIUDF in the Barak Valley. However, sources close to Dev said that though there were differences she was sure that th

Nearly 15 lakh people were inoculated against COVID-19 on Friday, which is the highest in a day so far, according to Union Health Ministry, but despite the growing pace of vaccination several states and Union Territories continued to report an "upsurge" in cases, prompting the Centre to urge them to accelerate vaccination. In a meeting held on Saturday, the government also told states to continue with the strategy of "test, track and treat" that had "yielded rich dividends" at the height of the pandemic. The Centre has also rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab, to assist state health departments in coronavirus surveillance, control and containment measures. Maharashtra, specifically, has been reporting a sudden spike in cases since February. According to the Union Health Ministry, there are currently 90,055 active cases in Maharashtra, whereas, Punjab has 6,661 active cases. The state on Saturday crossed 22

The Bharatiya Janata Party Saturday released its first list of candidates for 57 seats for the West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled to take place later this month. The saffron party has pitted ex-TMC leader ad turncoat Suvendu Adhikari against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram. The list contains names of candidates on constituencies going to polls in phase 1 and 2 of the eight-phased election. Other noted names in the list include former Indian cricketer Ashoke Dinda and ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh. The saffron party has left one seat, Baghmundi, vacant for its ally All Jharkhand Students Union in the West Bengal Assembly elections. With this, the party has announced candidates for all but three of the 60 seats which will go to polls in the first two phases of the eight-phase Assembly elections taking place between 27 March and 1 April. भारतीय जनता पार्टी की केंद्रीय चुनाव समिति ने होने वाले आगामी पश्चिम बंगाल विधानसभा चुनाव के लिए निम्नलिखित नामों पर अपनी स्वीकृत

New Delhi:  The NHRC has issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police chief, seeking a report on the 'acquittal' of a man in a rape case 20 years after his conviction, officials said on Friday. In a statement, the rights panel has also said it has taken suo motu cognisance of the media report on the case, and observed that the content thereof, if true, amount to violation of human rights of the victim. "The National Human Rights Commission on the reported acquittal of a man in a rape case, 20 years after his conviction, has observed that it seems to be a case of non-application of Section 433 CrPC by which the Sentence Review Board, under the law needs to reconsider review of the sentence awarded by the court, with a view to commute the sentence," it said in the statement. It said that in many such cases there may be prisoners older than 75 years of age dying in the jails, which clearly depicts "ineffectiveness of the Sentence Review Boa

Reacting to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’s chargesheet naming actor Rhea Chakraborty among others in the alleged drug angle in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, her lawyer said the entire exercise was a ‘damp squib’. Rhea and her brother Showik Chakraborty are among the 33 people named in the chargesheet filed by the NCB on Friday before a Special NDPS Court. According to an India Today report , Satish Manshinde, who represents the siblings, said, "The chargesheet is a damp squib standing on the foundation of inadmissible evidence and statements recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act even after the Supreme Court judgement in Toofan Singh case". He claimed that the NCB’s efforts “have been directed towards Rhea Chakraborty to somehow rope her in". He went on to add that the entire amount of 'Narcotic Substances' recovered is nothing compared to what a Mumbai Police constable or Narcotics Cell or the Airport Customs or any other agencies would recover

New Delhi/Chennai:  The BJP on Saturday named senior party leader and former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan as its candidate for the 6 April bypoll to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MP H Vasantha Kumar in August last year due to COVID-19. The BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC), which met earlier under its national president JP Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah, approved the candidature of Radhakrishnan, the party announced in a statement in Delhi. The BJP had on late Friday night, clinched its seat-sharing deal with its southern ally AIADMK for the 6 April Assembly polls in the state where the latter, the lead partner, allocated 20 seats to the saffron party, besides the Kanyakumari parliamentary segment, besides extending its full support to the candidate. Radhakrishnan had won from Kanyakumari in the 2014 parliament

Kolkata: Six BJP activists were injured, two of them critically, in a bomb explosion in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, police said on Saturday. Family members of the injured have alleged that a few members of the local Trinamool Congress hurled bombs at them while they were returning home in the Gosaba area of the district from a marriage ceremony late Friday night. Police, however, claimed that the accident happened inside the house of a BJP activist where the crude bombs which were being manufactured went off accidentally. "We have listened to the claims of the family members of those injured but it seems that they were manufacturing bomb when it exploded. "We are investigating the matter and talking to the locals," the officer said when contacted over the phone. Unconfirmed reports said that on Friday night, Gosaba witnessed clashes between TMC-BJP activists when bombs were hurled at each other, leaving six injured. Nobody has been arrested in co

NDA Final Results 2020 | The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday declared the final results of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Naval Academy Examination (NAE). Candidates who appeared for the exam can check the results by visiting the official UPSC website upsc.gov.in , or by visiting the result page directly by clicking here . However, marks of the candidates will be available on the website after 15 days from the date of declaration of final results, the UPSC said. According to a report on PTI , 533 candidates have passed the examinations. The full list of candidates who cleared the exam can be downloaded by clicking here . The list was issued in order of merit of 533 candidates who have qualified on the basis of the results of the written examination held by the UPSC on 6 September, 2020, and the subsequent interviews held by the Services Selection Board (SSB), the UPSC said. The examinations were held for admission to the Army, the Navy and the Air F

Aurangabad: Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra 's Aurangabad, the district authorities have decided to hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss if lockdown should be imposed or not, a senior official said on Saturday. The district reported 459 coronavirus cases on Friday, which took its overall infection count to 52,103. Talking to PTI , District Collector Sunil Chavan said, "A meeting will be held on Sunday evening, in which the way ahead for lockdown will be decided. Police Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials would be present for it. After a review of cases and overall coronavirus situation in the district, a decision about lockdown will be taken." "Lockdown can be imposed, but ample time will be given to people to prepare themselves for it. The number of patients is growing. If cases keep growing at this speed, there will be paucity of beds in hospitals...Officials will discuss all this tomorrow," he ad

The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has released an online notification inviting applications for the post of Review Officer (RO) and Assistant Review Officer (ARO) on its official website. Interested candidates who are eligible for the posts can visit uppsc.up.nic.in and go through the notice. According to a report by Times Now , there are a total of 337 vacancies, and of these, 228 posts are for General Recruitment, and the rest 109 are for Special Recruitment. Candidates can fill up the application form till 5 April. The last date to pay the registration fee is 1 April. As per the eligibility criteria, a candidate must have a graduation degree from any recognised university. Aspirants between the age limit of 21-40 can apply for the posts, reported Hindustam Times . https://ift.tt/38dvlcq Follow these steps to apply for the post: Step 1: Open the search engine and type the name of the official website uppsc.up.nic.in Step 2: Under the activity dashboard,

New Delhi:  With longer work hours and a work from home set-up during the COVID-19 pandemic, a large percentage of working women in India have been negatively impacted in some form or the other due to the work-life balance becoming worse, a survey said. According to the report, Women@Work , on the effects of COVID-19 on the women workforce in the formal sector in India, over 80 percent of working women in India, who participated in the survey, said they have been negatively impacted in some form or the other during COVID-19 with the work-life balance becoming worse. As per the report, 38.5 percent of working women surveyed said they were adversely affected by the burden of added housework, childcare and eldercare while 43.7 percent said that work-life balance has become worse. The report was launched by not-for-profit firm Aspire for Her and Sustainable Advancements on 4 March. Madhura DasGupta Sinha, Founder & CEO of Aspire For Her said the pandemic has had a perceptible impa

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has announced the schedule for the Chartered Accountants (CA) Foundation examination on its official website, icai.org . The examinations will be conducted on 24, 26, 28, and 30 June. The application process for ICAI CA Foundation course will commence on 20 April. Candidates will be able to submit their applications by 4 May. For candidates appearing for the exams at centres in India, the registration fee is Rs 1,500. Candidates registering from Kathmandu (Nepal) centre will pay an application fee of Rs 2200, while candidates appearing in the overseas centres need to pay US $325, reported NDTV . In case a candidate fails to submit the application form on time then s/he will have to pay late fee. For India and Kathmandu centres, the late fee is Rs. 600. While the overseas centres will charge US$10 as a late fee, the report added. Candidates can make the payment online via debit card/credit card/UPI/Net Banking. For Paper 1 and P

The Election Commission has asked the Union Health Ministry to stop using Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture on the COVID-19 vaccination certificates in the poll-bound states of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, reports said. The EC reportedly made the remarks in a letter to the ministry,  directing it to follow the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) protocol "in letter and spirit". On Saturday, reports said that the poll body instructed the ministry to adhere to the MCC rule that bars the use of advertisements at the cost of the public exchequer. Clause seven of the MCC states that "issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer... regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided". PTI , however, quoted sources as saying that the Election Commission has not referred to any individual or personalities in the letter. The sources informed the news agency said that th

Delhi will soon have its own state education board, announced Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday. Once formed, the board will include around 20 to 25 schools for the academic session 2021-22. As per a report by Hindustan Times , the decision was taken in a cabinet meeting on Saturday. Declaring the news, Kejriwal said that there are nearly 1,000 government schools and 1,700 private schools in Delhi. Unlike other states where government schools are divided among the central education board and state board, all government schools in Delhi are affiliated with CBSE. The case is the same for most private schools as well. The report added that when 20 to 25 schools will be included in the Delhi state education board, their affiliation with CBSE will be cancelled. Kejriwal said that discussions will be held with school teachers and principals to decide upon the first schools to get affiliated with the new board. The board is going to be called the Delhi Board of School Education, t

Chandigarh:  Farmers protesting the Centre's three agriculture laws on Saturday blocked the six-lane Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway at some places in Haryana to mark the completion of 100 days of their agitation at the Delhi borders. The protest, which began at 11 am, will continue till 4 pm. The call for blocking the expressway was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the agriculture-related legislations. The 136-kilometre Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway is also known as the western peripheral expressway. The 53-kilometre Manesar-Palwal section was inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in 2016 and the 83-kilometre Kundli-Manesar section was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. "We will block the KMP expressway. However, emergency vehicles will be allowed, general secretary," Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), Jagmohan Singh said. Farmers in Haryana's Son

Janaki Jayanti, the festival marking the birth of Goddess Sita, is observed with great fervour and enthusiasm by her devotees. Sita is also known as Janaki as her father was King Janak of Mithila. The birth of Lord Ram’s wife is of great significance and the date falls on the Ashtami Tithi (eighth day) of Phalguna in Krishna Paksha according to the Purnimant calendar. If one follows the Amavasyant calendar, Janaki Jayanti falls on the Ashtami Tithi of Magha in Krishna Paksha. Janaki Jayanti 2021: Tithi This year, Janaki Jayanti will be celebrated on 6 March. The tithi for the day has started at 7.54 pm on 5 March and is going to end at 6.10 pm on Saturday. Janaki Jayanti 2021: significance Goddess Sita is one of the most highly regarded goddesses in the Hindu religion. She is the daughter of Bhumi or the earth goddess and was found in the land by King Janak. Thereafter, Janak ended up adopting her as his eldest daughter along with his wife Queen Sunayana. The royal couple broug

Taapsee Pannu has taken to social media to talk about the income tax raids at the homes and offices of the actor as well as director Anurag Kashyap and his partners, who launched the now-shuttered production house Phantom Films. Pannu sarcastically wrote on Twitter the raid took place to search "the keys of the “alleged” bungalow that I apparently own in Paris" and of the 2013 raid that happened "according to our honourable finance minister." Pannu's tweets arrive a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the same persons were raided in 2013 as well, but no issue was made out then as it is being done now. However, she refused to comment on individual cases, stating it's in the national interest to know if some evasion is happening. "First of all, I am not commenting on any A or B individual. (But) since the names were taken, (I want to say) the very same names were raided in 2013," she said in an interaction with journalists at IWPC (

Taapsee Pannu has taken to social media to talk about the income tax raids at the homes and offices of the actor as well as director Anurag Kashyap and his partners, who launched the now-shuttered production house Phantom Films. Pannu sarcastically wrote on Twitter the raid took place to search "the keys of the “alleged” bungalow that I apparently own in Paris" and of the 2013 raid that happened "according to our honourable finance minister." Pannu's tweets arrive a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the same persons were raided in 2013 as well, but no issue was made out then as it is being done now. However, she refused to comment on individual cases, stating it's in the national interest to know if some evasion is happening. "First of all, I am not commenting on any A or B individual. (But) since the names were taken, (I want to say) the very same names were raided in 2013," she said in an interaction with journalists at IWPC (

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,11,92,088 with over 18,000 fresh cases being reported in a span of 24 hours in the country after 36 days, while active cases registered an increase for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday and were recorded at 1,80,304, according to the Union Health Ministry. The death toll reached 1,57,656 with 108 more fatalities, while a total of 18,327 new cases were registered in a day, the ministry's data showed. On 29 January, 18,855 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours after which the daily rise in fresh cases remained below 18,000. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,08,54,128 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.98 percent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41 percent. The COVID-19 active caseload has increased to 1,80,304 which now comprises 1.61 percent of the total infections. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on 7 August, 30 lakh

10:48 (IST) Maharashtra reports 53 more COVID-19 deaths Of the total 108 new COVID-19 fatalities registered on Saturday, the most number of deaths were reported in three states. Maharashtra registered the highest at 53, Kerala saw 16 deaths and Punjab reported 11. 10:28 (IST) India's active COVID-19 cases increases for fourth straight day, rises above 1.80 lakh India's active cases of the novel coronavirus registered an increase for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday. It has now reached to 1,80,304, said the Union health ministry. The active caseload in the country comprise 1.61 percent of the total number of infections. 10:24 (IST) India's COVID-19 recovery rate drops to 96.98% The number of people who have recuperated from the novel coronavirus surged to 1,08,54,128, taking the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.98 percent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41 percent. 10:17 (IST) 108 new COVID-19 deaths registered The COVID-19 toll in the

Washington:  The current India-China border tensions reflect a disturbing trend of growing Chinese aggression and assertion in the region and toward allies and partners of the United States, President Joe Biden's pick for top Pentagon policy job, Colin Kahl, has told lawmakers. In his submission to the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing for Defence Under Secretary for Policy, Kahal, however, expressed the US resolve to stand by its allies and partners. The India-China border tensions reflect a concerning trend of growing aggressiveness and assertiveness by China in the region, including toward allies and partners of the United States, said Kahl. We will, however, continue to stand by our allies and partners and support their ongoing efforts to deescalate the situation. "If confirmed, I will continue to monitor the situation closely as both parties work toward a peaceful resolution," he said, in his written answers to the que