News Updates
October, 2019
- Rahul Gandhi will campaign for Haryana, Maharashtra polls after Cambodia trip, clarifies Congress. The Congress has cleared the air on party leader Rahul Gandhi's Cambodia visit. The party has said that Rahul Gandhi will be campaigning for Congress candidates in the upcoming Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections. (India Today, 06 October, 2019)
- Protesters demand UN take over India and Pakistan-ruled Kashmiris. Pakistani authorities have placed shipping containers on the road and beefed up security near Jaskool, some 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the India-Pakistan Kashmir border. Protesters have staged a sit-in and are demanding that the government remove the blockade. The demonstrators are protesting against the Indian government's decision to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5. (Deutsche Welle, 06 October, 2019)
- US Senator Barred from Kashmir as Lockdown Enters 3rd Month. A U.S. senator and a well-known Indian activist were barred from visiting Indian-administered Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory where at least 10 people were injured Saturday in a grenade blast as a government security and communications lockdown entered a third month. Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh said the blast was caused by a militant attack and occurred near the office of a civil administrator in Anantnag. (Voice of America, 05 October, 2019)
- Downing chopper a ‘big mistake’, 6 to face action: IAF chief. Six officers are set to face action for grave operational, supervisory and other lapses that led to “friendly fire” downing the Mi-17 V5 helicopter at Budgam on February 27, around the same time Indian and Pakistani fighter jets were engaged in the aerial skirmish in the Nowshera sector along the Line of Control about 100 km away. Seven people were killed in the incident. (The Times of India, 05 October, 2019)
- NDA govt doubled fund allocation for projects in Mizoram: Shah. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP-led government at the Centre has doubled the allocation of funds for developmental projects in Mizoram than what the UPA government had done. "While the UPA government had allocated over Rs 19,900 crore to Mizoram through the 13th Finance Commission, the Modi government has already allocated Rs 42,970 crore to the state through the 14th Finance Commission," Shah, who is visiting the state for the first time after assuming the charge of Home minister, said. (The Pioneer, 05 October, 2019)
- Flurry of Activity on at Mamallapuram; Buddha, Fighting Bulls to Welcome PM Modi, Chinese President. Statues of Gautham Buddha and fighting bulls, a pointer to Tamil Nadu's tradition of 'Jallikattu" are among the sculptures coming up at vantage points at the world heritage site of Mamallapuram near here, ahead of the upcoming Indo-China informal summit. (News18, 05 October, 2019)
- India, Bangladesh ink seven pacts, PM Modi says talks with Hasina will energise relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina signed seven agreements on the use of ports, water sharing, education, culture, coastal surveillance between India and Bangladesh. The two leaders also inaugurated three projects via a video link — the bulk import of LPG from Bangladesh to northeast India, a skill development institute in Khulna and the Vivekanand Bhawan project at the Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka, which will accommodate 100 students. (The Indian Express, 05 October, 2019)
- Bangladesh, India likely to discuss Rohingya, water issues. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ongoing visit to India will likely focus on getting concrete support from her larger neighbor on the Rohingya issue and implementation of already signed river management pacts. Hasina is now on a four-day maiden trip to India after assuming power for third-consecutive term following the Dec. 30, 2018 national polls. (Anadolu Agency, 04 October, 2019)
- Amit Shah flags off Vande Bharat, ‘PM’s gift to people of J&K’. Jammu and Kashmir would be one of the most developed regions in the next 10 years, Union home minister Amit Shah claimed while flagging off the second Vande Bharat Express train connecting Delhi with the Vaishno Devi shrine. Shah said the process of development has begun with the inauguration of the semi-high speed train. Addressing a public meeting before flagging off the train he termed the train as a completely “swadeshi” product made by Indians and in India. (The Times of India, 04 October, 2019)
- Manmohan to visit Kartarpur Gurdwara. Indian former prime minister Manmohan Singh will visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan for the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak as part of an all-party group next month as he accepted an invitation by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind have also accepted the Punjab government’s invitation to be a part of the celebrations on the opening of Kartarpur Corridor to be held in the Indian Punjab. (The News International, 04 October, 2019)
- Russia to Supply 2nd Steam Generator for Kudankulam Nuke Plant in India. India's Kudankulam town is all set to turn the country's first nuclear power park, a site known for its numerous large reactors with a total capacity of 6,000 MW or more, by 2026. The 340-tonne second steam generator for the construction site of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has been shipped by Atomenergomash, the machine-building division of Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, the leading equipment supplier and technical consultant for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project. (Sputnik News, 04 October, 2019)
- 50 celebs booked in Bihar for their open letter to PM Modi on mob lynching. An FIR was lodged here on Thursday against nearly 50 celebrities, including Ramchandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concern over the growing incidents of mob lynching, police said. (Business Standard, 04 October, 2019)
- UK Opposition Members Rally against Anti-India Kashmir Resolution, Writes to Labour Party Leader Corbyn. Members and splinter groups within the UK Opposition Labour Party have rallied together to protest against an anti-India resolution on Kashmir passed recently at the party conference, urging its leader Jeremy Corbyn to seek international observers to enter the region and demand the right of self-determination for people of the Valley. (News18, 04 October, 2019)
- India and Pakistan's fight for Kashmir could kill 125 million in a week. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill up to 125 million people in a week and send the planet into ecological freefall with plummeting temperatures leading to mass starvation, a new study has claimed. The study, published in Science Advances, looks at a war scenario that could play out between India and Pakistan in 2025 when it is predicted that the two nuclear powers could have a combined 500 nuclear weapons. (NZ Herald, 04 October, 2019)
- Amid outrage, senior political leaders set free in Jammu. With the announcement of the Block Development Council (BDC) polls amid growing outrage over continued political detentions, the J&K government released seven senior leaders of the National Conference (NC), Congress and J&K Panthers Party (J&KPP) from the Jammu region. Officials said the NC’s Davinder Singh Rana, Surjit Singh Salathia, Javed Rana and Sajjad Ahmed Kitcloo, Congress' Raman Bhalla and Waqar Rasool and Harsh Dev Singh of the J&KPP had been released. All these leaders had been placed under house arrest under Section 107 of the CrPC since August 5 — when the State’s special status under Article 370 was revoked by the Centre. (The Hindu, 03 October, 2019)
- S Jaishankar and US State Secretary Mike Pompeo discuss bilateral relations and Kashmir. Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed growing strategic bilateral ties, developments in Kashmir and global matters of concern in a meeting. “They also discussed plans to advance our complementary visions of a free and open Indo-Pacific region following the successful Quadrilateral Consultations on the margins of the UN General Assembly last week,” said the US foreign office. (Scroll.in, 03 October, 2019)
- Indian Home Minister Promises Non-Muslim Citizenship Bill. India's government plans to revive a bill that would give non-Muslim refugees citizenship even before a controversial citizen registry in one northeastern state has been finalized, Home Minister Amit Shah said. Shah, the leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said in a speech in Kolkata that the party would give "Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian settlers" citizenship. (The New York Times, 01 October, 2019)
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