Category: India News

BREAKING: CBI Court Acquits All Accused in Babri Demolition Case

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 30 September 2020
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New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani addresses after inaugurating a maiden presentation of 'Sampoorna Ramleela' -- a dramatised musical rendetion of Hindu epic Ramayana -- which is dedicated to the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi on Oct 10, 2018. (Photo: IANS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V_i3Nq7bV8

A Special CBI court hearing the Babri mosque demolition case of December 6, 1992, acquitted all the 32 accused on Wednesday saying it was spontaneous and not a planned move.

Those acquitted in the case that lasted 28 years include former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, former Union Ministers M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, among others.

Former BJP MP Vinay Katiyar and Hindu leader Sadhvi Rithambhara, who were among the accused present in court, said: “Sab Ramji ki kripa hai”.

As soon as the court announced the acquittal of the accused, jubilation broke out outside the court, in Ayodhya and Lucknow where supporters of the leaders were present to celebrate the occasion.

Special CBI judge S.K. Yadav, in his verdict, said that the demotion was not a planned incident but a spontaneous act.

He said that Ashok Singhal and other Sangh Parivar leaders wanted to save the structure as Ram Lalla statues were inside.

All Babri demolition accused acquitted as act was ‘spontaneous’.

The court observed that leaders who were present on the dais repeatedly tried to persuade the ‘kar sewaks’ against taking any action on that day.

The court further said the CBI has failed to substantiate the charges levelled against the 32 accused persons. The court also said that the video recordings submitted to the court were ‘tampered with’.

The judge pointed out that the prosecution could not produce enough evidence against the accused.

He said that the authenticity of audio, video provided by CBI could not be proven and the audio of the speeches were not clear.

The court also said that those who climbed on the dome, were anti-social elements.

Babri Masjid. (File Photo: IANS)

The 26 accused persons who were present in court on Wednesday, said that they had always maintained that the demotion was a conspiracy by the then Congress government.

Babri plaintiff, Iqbal Ansari, said in Ayodhya that after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Ram temple last year, the demolition case had lost its relevance.

“I welcome acquittal of the 32 persons by the court. There should be no further dispute on the matter,” he said.

Business India News

Mukesh Ambani tops Hurun India Rich List for the Ninth Year

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 30 September 2020
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Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani. (File Photo: IANS)

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of India’s most valued firm Reliance Industries, continues to top the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 for the ninth consecutive year, with a total wealth of Rs 6.58 lakh crore.

His total wealth has surged by 73 per cent in the last 12 months, propelling him to become the richest individual in Asia and fourth richest person in the world.

Indians with more than Rs 1,000 crore wealth cross the 828-mark in the 2020 edition of the rich list.

London-based Hinduja brothers (SP Hinduja, along with his three brothers) with a joint wealth of Rs 1.43 lakh crore bagged the second position. HCL Founder Shiv Nadar with a wealth of Rs 1.41 lakh crore ranked third, followed by Gautam Adani and family at fourth spot and Azim Premji at fifth spot. Radhakishan Damani, the founder of Avenue Supermarts, debuted in the top 10 wealthiest individuals ranking in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.

“A 28 per cent of the upswing in wealth on the list has been bestowed by Mukesh Ambani, bespeaking Ambani’s meteoric success post diversifying from oil to telecom and retail. A further 21 per cent of the additional wealth has been generated by pharma, mainly on the back of the rise in healthcare spends and a realigned priority towards personal healthcare stimulated by the Covid-19,” Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said.

With rising new wealth creators such as innovative startups, family businesses with strong professional management, investors who believe in the India story, and a demographic advantage that is inferior to none, the India’s wealth creation story is still yet to reach the half-way mark, the report said.

“Assuming that for every one Hurun rich lister we have found, we have probably missed two, it is likely that India today has 2,000 individuals with Rs 1,000 crore,” continued Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

The cut-off for the top 10 rose by 6 per cent to Rs 76,000 crore this year, a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year. The cumulative wealth of IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich Listers have increased by 20 per cent compared to that of last year. 84 individuals have migrated from India and are NRIs. 19 saw their wealth double year on year.

All three of Udaan founders became the highest gainers in terms of wealth as compared to the 2019 edition — with increase of 274 per cent in each of their wealth.

Chigurupati Krishna Prasad of Granules India, also registered a 218 per cent jump in the wealth to Rs 3,500 crore. With a wealth of Rs 4,500 crore, Ritesh Agarwal (26) of Oyo Rooms is the youngest person on the list and with a wealth of Rs 5,400 Crore, Dharam Pal Gulati (96) of MDH is the oldest on the list. Nearly 5 per cent of the list (40 individuals) is comprised of women. 10 out of these 40 women are self-made.

The richest woman in the list is Smita V Crishna, of Godrej with Rs 32,400 crore, followed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, of Biocon with a wealth of Rs 31,600 crore.

Also Read: Reliance set to expand e-com footprint

India News Woman

Cops Forcibly Cremated Hathras Gang Rape Victim

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 30 September 2020
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Rape. (File Photo: IANS)

The mortal remains of a 19-year-old Dalit woman from Hathras, who died in a Delhi hospital after sustaining serious injuries during an alleged gang rape, was cremated early Wednesday in her village amid tight security.

The victim, who was paralyzed after being allegedly dragged on the field by her attackers on September 14, died at the Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday after battling for life for a fortnight.

Her mortal remains reached the Boolgarhi village around midnight and the cremation was done at 3 a.m.

“The police have forcibly taken the dead body, and my father along with them for cremation. When my father reached Hathras, he was immediately taken (to the crematorium) by the police,” the victim’s brother told the media.

There was tension as the victim’s mortal remains reached the village and people tried to block the ambulance from moving ahead.

Rape. (File Photo: IANS)

Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikrant Veer denied any ‘urgency’ by the police in holding the cremation at night even though cremations do not normally take place after sunset.

He added that the cremation was done by the family as usual after the body reached Boolgarhi village. The SP claimed that the situation is calm in the village, but heavy police force has been deployed.

The woman was allegedly raped in a Hathras village by four men, who were later taken into custody. Initially she was rushed to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh, but on Monday night had to be shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi after her condition deteriorated.

She was in a critical condition and on ventilator support.

The police claimed that the post-mortem report did not confirm any sexual assault.

The brutality against the teenager sparked outrage across the country with several political leaders, Bollywood actors and activists demanding justice for her.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted that it was a matter of concern that the victim’s family was denied the right to perform her last rites. “This is unjust and unfair,” he said.

भारत की एक बेटी का रेप-क़त्ल किया जाता है, तथ्य दबाए जाते हैं और अन्त में उसके परिवार से अंतिम संस्कार का हक़ भी छीन लिया जाता है।

ये अपमानजनक और अन्यायपूर्ण है।#HathrasHorrorShocksIndia https://t.co/SusyKV6CfE
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 30, 2020

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tweeted: “Government has snatched away the family’s right to perform the cremation of the victim. The government did not provide her security and timely treatment and now they have denied her dignity in death.”

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Amnesty Halts India Operations

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 29 September 2020
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Amnesty International has closed its offices in India, as it had to let go of all the staff after its bank accounts were frozen earlier this month by the government of India.

“The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Enforcement Directorate, an investigative agency of the Government in India, brings all the work being done by the organisation in India to an abrupt halt. Amnesty has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work,” the Amnesty said in a press release.

Meanwhile, the government of India reportedly stated that the global rights watchdog has been receiving foreign funds illegally and that it never registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

Responding to the closure, Julie Verhaar, Acting Secretary General of Amnesty International, said:

“This is an egregious and shameful act by the Indian Government, which forces us to cease the crucial human rights work of Amnesty International India for now. However, this does not mark the end of our firm commitment to, and engagement in, the struggle for human rights in India. We will be working resolutely to determine how Amnesty International can continue to play our part within the human rights movement in India for years to come.

Acting Secretary General of Amnesty International Julie Verhaar

“The Amnesty movement is very proud of the vital work carried out by our outstanding colleagues in India regardless of the risks they faced, including their unequivocal calls for accountability for the actions of the authorities during the Delhi riots and in Jammu and Kashmir and their work on gender based violence. Sadly, this enormously important work standing up for victims has been met with the heavy-handed tactics that Indian civil society has become increasingly familiar with – part of the government’s drive to silence critical voices and stoke a climate of fear.

“The staff of Amnesty India have shown great dignity in the face of a concerted and vicious smear campaign of spurious allegations, raids by various investigative agencies, malicious media leaks, and intimidation without an iota of credible evidence of wrongdoing. No laws have been broken,” she said.

Economy India News

Govt To Pump 3 Lakh Crore into PLI Schemes

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 29 September 2020
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In a major push to domestic manufacturing in the country, the government proposes to pump in over Rs 3 lakh crore through an umbrella production linked incentive (PLI) scheme that will run simultaneously in 10 identified sectors for a period of five years.

Sources privy to the development said that the Niti Aayog has been entrusted with the task to finalise a cabinet note proposing extension of the PLI scheme with separate budgetary allocation for each identified sector for the next five years starting FY22.

The allocation will have to be worked out within the confines of the suggestions given by the expenditure department based on expected savings from the withdrawal of the existing Merchandise Exports India Scheme (MEIS) introduced in April 2015 to promote manufacturing and exports of specified goods from India.

“A plan for a mega Rs 3 lakh crore PLI scheme has been finalised by an empowered group of secretaries chaired by the cabinet secretary early this month. The allocation under the expanded PLI has been worked out on the basis of savings made by withdrawal of the MEIS scheme and liabilities on account of the new export incentive scheme, Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP). This will ensure that there is no imbalance on account of introduction of PLI,” said the source quoted above.

Under the proposed PLI scheme, the government will incentivise domestic production in 10 areas to begin with. These include battery storage, solar PV modules, electronics (laptop, server, IoT devices, specified computer hardware), automobile and auto components, telecom and networking products, textiles, food processing, speciality steel and white goods (air conditioners and LED).

Apart from these, large scale electronic manufacturing (mobile phones), pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices, which already have an approved PLI scheme, would be provided full budgetary allocation for next five years.

In the discussions by the EGoS, the highest allocation of close to Rs 60,000 crore (over the next five years) has been proposed for automobile and auto component sectors. This is with the belief that this sector could help India become a global hub of manufacturing and source house for global industries.

The next highest allocation has been proposed for large scale electronic manufacturing at Rs 40,000 crore, where the mobile phone manufacturing sector is already getting a PLI.

The PLI for pharma sector has also been proposed for a higher allocation of Rs 30,000 crore to give a boost to production of API that is largely imported at present.

The electrification of transport has also been identified as an important area and has been considered for a budgetary allocation of over Rs 18,000 crore.

The next highest allocation has been suggested for telecom and networking products, textiles, and food processing at over Rs 10,000-15,000 crore each.

Sources said that the cabinet note will also contain information of other pillars of government strategy to boost domestic manufacturing, including the phased manufacturing programme (PMP). This incentive is being worked out for five areas, including furniture and bedding; plastics; optical, photographic surgical instruments; toys, games, sports equipment; low value electrical machine parts and consumer durables.

Also Read: IPL is India’s great soft power tool

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Trump paid more in taxes to India than to US in 2017

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 29 September 2020
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US President Donald Trump formallt accepts Republican nomination.

US President Donald Trump or his company paid $145,400 in taxes to India and received $2.3 million from projects there, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper said the taxes were paid by him or his companies in 2017 and the $2.3 million in income came during Trump’s first two years in office.

The New York Times did not give details of the income Trump derived from India. It was also not clear if it was Trump’s personal income or his organisation’s.

Before he became the President, Trump was principally a real estate developer running the Trump Organization, besides dabbling in show business.

He had visited Mumbai in 2014 before plunging into politics to meet with developers of the local Trump Tower and other business people.

The Trump Organization lists four residential projects located in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Gurugram.

The projects have local associates and typically in such deals they run them and pay a royalty or other fees to the Trump Organization, mainly for branding.

The web sites of the Trump Tower projects in Kolkata and Pune carry the disclaimer that the properties are “not owned, developed or sold by the Trump Organization or any of their current or former principals or affiliates.”

The newspaper, which said that it had received copies of Trump’s income tax records, claimed that the self-proclaimed billionaire had paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2017, his first year in office.

It said that for 10 of the previous 15 years, he had not paid any taxes because his losses were higher than his income.

The disclosures on Sunday evening by the New York Times, which did not say how it received the copies of the tax filings, came as Trump was getting ready for a debate with Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday.

Biden’s campaign immediately released an ad comparing Trump’s $750 taxes reported by the Times with that paid typically by the teachers, which is about 10 times as much, and by nurses and firefighters.

Trump has refused to disclose his income tax filings which all Presidents had in recent times. He said he will not make them public while the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), the federal tax authority, was auditing his tax filings, and would release them only after the audits were over.

At a news conference on Sunday, Trump called the Times report “fake news”.

He said, “Actually, I paid tax, but — and you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns — it’s under audit. They’ve been under audit for a long time.”

But he refused to say how much tax he had paid.

Trump also said that he had been negotiating with the IRS for a long time.

The Times said that he made $73 million from projects abroad, most of it from golf properties in Ireland and Scotland.

He also received $3 million from the Philippines and $1 million from Turkey, which along with India, the Times asserted, were “countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics”.

Outside of the US, India with four has the most number of Trump Organizaiton-affiliated projects.

The Trump Tower built in Mumbai in association with the Lodha Group says on its website that apartment prices start at Rs 7.8 crore.

Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are listed on the Trump Organization web sites as executive vice presidents.

Donald Trump Jr. had visited India on a business trip in 2018.

Also read:Trump paid ‘nothing’ in taxes for 10 years before 2016 polls

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Friends of Canada-India, others hold protest against China

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Post date 28 September 2020
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Friends of Canada- India along with seven other organizations have staged a protest against China infront of Chinese Consulate Office in Vancouver demanding the release of two detained Canadians in China. It also protested against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, raised concerns over China’s new Hong Kong national security law, demanded China to free Hong Kong, Tibet, and the Indian part.

Maninder Gill of Friends of Canada-India said that the law threatens freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Mr Gill strongly condemned China for its irresponsible actions and dictatorship approach. Mr. Maninder Gill, Ashish Manral, Avtar Johal, Paul Braich, Baljinder Cheema, Gurcharan Sarabha, Parmjit Khosla, Dr Hakam Bhullar were leading the protest by raising slogans against China.

More than 500 people participated in the protest.

The organisers said that protesters followed all Covid-19 guidelines issued by the BC Ministry of Health. People were wearing masks and social distancing was maintained, they said.

The protesters were demanding the release of two detained Canadians caught in a diplomatic standoff over Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

The seven other organizations who joined Friend of Canada- India are, Canada Tibet Committee & the Tibetan Community, Friends of Canada India Organization, Vancouver Society of Freedom, Democracy & Human Rights for China, Vancouver Hong Kong Political Activists, Vancouverites concerned about Hong Kong, Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement (VSSDM), Vancouver Uyghur Association.

Mr. Maninder Gill of Friends of Canada- India thanked everyone at the end and said that despite COVID-19, it was a successful event.

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Daily Digital – IPL is India’s Great Soft Power Tool

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 28 September 2020
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IPL is India’s Great Soft Power Tool; Terrorism and Proxy Wars in South Asia; Trump is Pushing the Country to the Brink of Civil War – All in Asian Lite Digital UK on Sep 28, 2020 – please click here to read the full edition – https://bit.ly/3jbnsrl

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Indian Games Boost Kids’ Skills

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 28 September 2020
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In a new approach to developing everyday skills into children with special needs, for instance, children with dyslexia, the Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA) has experimented with supplementing usual occupational therapy with native Indian games, to help with their development.

In the radio program ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought to focus an important pedagogical tool that is playing with toys. This successful and continued practice of this pedagogy by MDA opens a unique line of thought and practice to practitioners working in the child development field.

MDA has adopted traditional games in their remedial techniques for teaching special children. The MDA special educators have witnessed significant improvements with the use of traditional games, which are so vital in developing the pre-skills for all children. The improvements include areas such as the children’s overall focus, fine motor skills from playing some of these games.

According to MDA, significant improvements were recorded in key areas such as children’s overall focus and concentration besides in motor skills as a result of playing some of these traditional games, such as playing with a top and thread (‘lattu’) and hopscotch.

“Most of the approaches used with children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) are western. In Chennai, one session of occupational therapy used with children with special needs can cost between Rs 800-1000. Parents often find it difficult to afford all the recommended number of sessions.

“Children with SLDs also get tired and lose focus while working with an occupational therapist for a while. Instead of pushing them, we found it useful to introduce native traditional games to supplement occupational therapy. The results have been promising,” Chennai-based Swetha Chandrasekhar, who developed this concept for MDA, told IANSlife over phone.

According to D. Chandrasekhar, President, MDA and a distinguished alumnus awardee of IIT Madras, “After a long day of school, children with dyslexia come for remedial classes, and then they attend therapy classes, after which they’re tutored at home and they finish their homework and whatever little time left, they’d like to spend it in front of the screen or playing against it.”

“Therefore, at Ananya (their fulltime remedial centre) when we make our individualised education plan, we try and add in a pinch of a traditional games in order to tweak their pre-skills, which are vital for the academic development. When working with these traditional games, we realised that they were naturally multi-modal and multi-sensory and usually cater to more than one skill. These games can be easily adapted to suit the strengths and the needs of each child.”

In order to make a real-time difference in the development of children, traditional games have a way of seamlessly teaching physical growth and development, social-emotional development, sensory motor development, communication skills, problem solving, concept building skills, understanding and processing skills, executive functions, perceptual readiness for learning, listening, reading and writing besides several life skills, including social skills.

Native Indian games a promising supplement for kids with special needs.

Some of the practices and games and their benefits include hopscotch, which helps develop balance, gravity control and focus, among other skills; kite flying, which helps develop large motor movement, muscle tone, spatial orientation; and mancala which helps develop numeracy skills, fine motor and grapho-motor skills, midline crossing, attention and focus.

Traditional practices adopted include the ritual bath, which helps develop gravity control, body awareness and midline crossing.

India is a country really rich in culture and the cultural aspects of India are not confined to art, music and architecture but also extends to play. These games do not require any expensive props and everybody could play them regardless of age or gender. They cater to specific developmental aspects needed for children, keeping in mind the geographical and cultural backdrop, Chandrasekhar concluded.

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IPL is India’s great soft power tool

Post author By Asian Lite Newsdesk
Post date 27 September 2020
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Last week while visiting my sister-in-law Jenny and her husband John at their home in Suffolk the talk turned to sport as it often does. Both Jenny and John have a keen interest in sport, and it is always enjoyable to talk to them about sports. What surprised me was when Jenny asked me about IPL. The first match of the IPL was about to be played and that Jenny and John living in the depths of Suffolk should be interested in this tournament showed how IPL has taken over this quintessential English game of cricket.

Indeed, so powerful is it that a domestic Indian cricket tournament means more to international cricket than a World Cup. Estimates suggest that IPL generates $600 million (£464.5 million) of revenue, 30 per cent more than the 2019 World Cup held in England did. The result of this is that IPL takes precedence over the World Cup. The Twenty20 World Cup was due to start next month but with the IPL originally scheduled for the summer but postponed due to Covid and moved to the UAE, it was IPL which took precedence.

There is a great irony here and also a very Indian story. The twenty over game was an English invention that the Indians shunned. The then secretary of the Indian board initially refused to take part in the first T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 snorting in derision, “What next, five overs a side cricket match?”

India reluctantly send a side to South Africa with its greatest star Sachin Tendulkar dropping out. But led by rookie captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni it unexpectedly won the tournament. The T20 triumph in South Africa triggered a revolution not only in India but also world cricket.

Abu Dhabi: Mumbai Indians players celebrates the wicket of Eoin Morgan of Kolkata Knight Riders during match 5 of season 13 of the Dream 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians held at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on the 23rd September 2020. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)