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NEW DELHI, AUG 20: Arunachal Pradesh Transport Minister Ojing Tasing on Thursday inaugurated the inception workshop for preparation of District Road Safety Action Plans for three high-fatality areas of the state at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi). The workshop was organised by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre (TRIPC) of IIT Delhi following its collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh Transport Department to prepare evidence-based and location-specific road safety plans for the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR), East Siang and Namsai. The initiative seeks to develop targeted interventions to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries in line with the mandate of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety. The workshop brought together representatives of the state government, district administrations, police and health departments, road-owning agencies and road safety experts. Addressing the deliberations, Tasing emphasised the need for coordinated and district-specific action and reiterated the state’s goal of reducing road fatalities by 50 per cent by 2030. He urged district administrations to work closely with TRIPC-IIT Delhi and facilitate the development of strong, evidence-based interventions tailored to local conditions. Arunachal Pradesh Commissioner-cum-Secretary Transport Saugat Biswas highlighted the need to move beyond aggregate crash statistics towards identifying localised risks, prioritising interventions and clearly defining institutional responsibilities. He said TRIPC-IIT Delhi would also conduct capacity-building and sensitisation workshops for senior officers and stakeholders at the state and district levels. IIT Delhi Dean (IRD) Dr Ashwini Agarwal welcomed the participants and highlighted the institute’s research, innovation and applied work in addressing complex public policy challenges. TRIPC Head Professor Girish Agrawal outlined the centre’s work and the broader relevance of the collaboration, while Professor Emeritus Geetam Tiwari shared global experiences in reducing fatal and serious road crashes. East Siang Deputy Commissioner Sonalika Jiwani presented the district perspective, highlighting practical road safety challenges and implementation issues. Former Member of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety Sanjay Mitra spoke on strengthening district-level road safety governance. WHO India Dr Asheel highlighted the public health dimensions of road safety, while TRIPC-IIT Delhi Dr Rahul Goel stressed the importance of reliable data and evidence in identifying and addressing road safety risks. The workshop was attended by ICR Deputy Commissioner Toko Babu, Namsai Deputy Commissioner Lobsang Tsering, East Siang Deputy Commissioner Sonalika Jiwani, SP (Road Safety) Singhjatla Singpho, Chief Engineer Highways Chou Choutang, Nodal Officer Road Safety (Health) Dr Lobsang Tempa and officials from highway divisions and other stakeholder organisations. The deliberations focused on district-specific risks, data gaps, institutional coordination and implementation challenges. The exercise is expected to result in actionable Road Safety Action Plans for the three areas and provide a framework for systematic district-level road safety planning across Arunachal Pradesh.  

KOCHI, AUG 16: An Arunachal Pradesh native studying at an engineering college in Kothamangalam near here has been found dead in the room of a rented house, police said on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Michi Marpu (20), of Naharlagun in the Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh, a third-year B Tech student at MA College of Engineering, Kothamangalam. According to police, Marpu was found lying on the floor with a rope tied around his neck at the rented house where he lived with his college mates at Kozhipilly near Kothamangalam on Saturday evening. Though he was rushed to the Kothamangalam Taluk Hospital, doctors declared him dead, police said. Police suspect that Marpu had attempted to hang himself from the roof of the room, but the rope broke, following which he was found lying on the floor. A three-page suicide note, written in English and Hindi, was also recovered from his room, police said. Police said Marpu may have taken the extreme step fearing that he would lose a year after scoring low marks in a few subjects. However, a detailed probe is required to ascertain the circumstances leading to his death, police said. Students at the college have decided to stage a protest, alleging that the minimum credit requirement at the college is higher than at other engineering colleges in the state. SFI and KSU leaders at the college told reporters that, as MA College of Engineering follows an autonomous scheme, it has set the minimum credit requirement at 22 credits, compared to 18 credits in colleges affiliated to Kerala Technological University. There was no immediate reaction from the college. Police said the postmortem would be conducted after the relatives of the deceased reach Kothamangalam. Kothamangalam police have registered a case of unnatural death and are conducting an investigation. (Source: PTI)    

NEW DELHI, AUG 14: The Congress on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah must tell the nation whether China has stopped Indian troops from patrolling in certain areas of Arunachal Pradesh. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said India firmly stands behind its soldiers and is united against any Chinese aggression, but the Modi government must respond to the reports. “After Galwan, now Arunachal Pradesh? Disturbing reports suggest that China is attempting to push further into areas in Arunachal Pradesh, an inalienable part of our nation. This demands immediate answers from the Modi Government,” Kharge said on X. There has been no immediate reaction from the government on the claims and no official word on any such development in Arunachal Pradesh. “Let us not forget that after 20 of our brave soldiers made the supreme sacrifice in Galwan in 2020, none less than PM Modi gave China a ‘CLEAN CHIT’, emboldening their transgressions! That record inspires no confidence,” the Congress chief said, citing the violent clashes between India-China troops in 2020 in Galwan. “The Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Home Minister must answer the nation. “We have complete faith in the courage and capability of the Indian Armed Forces. India stands firmly behind our soldiers and united against any Chinese aggression,” Kharge said. He also asked whether the PLA, the Chinese as it is known, had expanded its presence near Taksing and whether India had lost regular access to Shera-5, a designated Patrolling Point. “Why is Indian patrolling reportedly limited during winter in this sensitive sector while the PLA maintains a year round presence? Why are traditional grazing and hunting grounds becoming inaccessible to local communities? “Has the pre-May 2020 status quo ante in Eastern Ladakh been fully restored? The BJP is culpable in hiding facts about situation on the ground and taking Parliament into confidence whether India retains full access to all areas and Patrolling Points it accessed prior to May 2020,” the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha asked. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on Thursday alleged that China has stopped Indian troops from patrolling in certain areas along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh and that the government was making efforts to “hide it.” The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said that India considers matters relating to border areas with China as “most serious” and asserted that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC is of “utmost importance”, as the state of the frontier will govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties. The MEA’s remarks came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region. China on Wednesday said the situation along the Sino-India border is “generally stable at the moment” while declining to comment on reports of stepped-up Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border. ( Source: PTI)    

NEW DELHI : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that China has stopped Indian troops from patrolling in certain areas along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh and that the government was making efforts to “hide it”. There was no immediate reaction from the government on Gandhi’s allegations. There has been no official word on any such development in Arunachal Pradesh. However, on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India considers matters relating to border areas with China as “most serious” and asserted that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control is of “utmost importance”, as the state of the frontier will govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties. The MEA’s remarks came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region. China on Wednesday said the situation along the Sino-India border is “generally stable at the moment” while declining to comment on reports of stepped-up Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border. Addressing the national convention of the ‘Rachnatmak Congress’ here, Gandhi said, “These days I get information from inside Prime Minister Modi’s office, a full-on revolt is going on. What has happened is that in our patrolling area in Arunachal Pradesh, China has stopped us from patrolling, stating that….’it is your land but you cannot patrol here’.” He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah were not doing anything about it. “What are they doing? The operation is ongoing and they are calling up media editors that ‘don’t publish this in your newspapers, hide it’. Without thinking, they are harming the country,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said. “I have seen it with my own eyes, the PM came on Zoom call after Galwan and said not even an inch of our land was taken by China. After that, the Army said that they (Chinese) have taken India’s land. Think about it, what message had gone to China and then China’s negotiators told our negotiators that — ‘what nonsense are you saying, your PM said that your land was not taken away’. “The Army is saying that land has been taken but Chinese negotiator says that your PM is saying it is not so. So they have destroyed the country internally, foreign policy has been destroyed and they have done this to finance their political structure and take money from Mr Adani,” he alleged. In a statement, the Congress’ Foreign Affairs department, headed by former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, said, “The Indian National Congress is deeply alarmed and gravely concerned by reports that China has denied India access to historically Indian patrolling points across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Taksing, Arunachal Pradesh.” “This is yet another escalation in Chinese attempts at encroachment of Indian territory an issue originally flagged by indigenous communities (who had written to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Government of India in June this year), which has been compounded by China building 628 Xiaokang or ‘well-off villages’ at India’s borders (as revealed by Deputy Chief of the Army Staff Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai in March this year),” Khurshid said in the statement. As Gandhi has rightly said, the Government of India must unequivocally defend India’s territorial integrity and stridently assert our strategic autonomy, the Congress said. “Failure to do so will embolden China to adopt an increasingly aggressive posture across Asia. If the Bharatiya Janta Party government once again fails to stand up to China (after compromising India’s position in Ladakh, in the Indian Ocean Region, in West Asia, etc), it will carry serious long-term strategic consequences in Asia, and inflict lasting damage on India’s credibility in the world,” the party said. The Congress demands that Prime Minister Modi immediately address the nation about these concerning developments and the government immediately constitute and dispatch a multi-party delegation to assess the situation on ground, Khurshid said. “Finally, Prime Minister Modi must strongly raise this issue directly with President Xi Jinping, who is due to visit India next month. The prime minister must prioritise India’s national security over the pursuit of personal political capital and performative diplomacy,” he said. (Source: PTI)  

NEW DELHI : The government’s efforts for a debate on the students’ agitation in the Lok Sabha on the penultimate day of the Monsoon session came to nought with the opposition rejecting Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposal for a two-day discussion on the NEET paper leaks and other issues followed by a reply from him. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju suggested that the Monsoon Session could be extended if the opposition agrees to a discussion on Thursday. “Extension of the session is a very small matter. We are saying that even if Congress says at 11 am tomorrow that it is ready for discussion, we will extend the time,” he said while responding to a query during a media interaction. Sources said the options of extending the session or a special sitting or special session are open but everything depends on the opposition’s cooperation. The fast-paced developments — which finally ended with the House being adjourned for the day — kicked off with Shah first daring the opposition to submit a formal letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for a debate. He said he would attend the entire proceedings to address all questions if the discussion begins Wednesday. It was now up to the opposition to decide whether they want to take part in the debate or create turmoil in Parliament, the home minister told reporters in the Parliament House complex minutes after the proceedings of the House began. “Even today, I say that they should submit a letter to the Speaker by 2 pm. We are ready for all kinds of discussions from 3 pm today until 3 pm tomorrow,” Shah said, asserting that the government has nothing to hide. Soon after, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi turned down the proposal and asserted that the youth want to know who ordered that “protesting students be shot” at with pellet guns. He said the opposition was not interested in listening to Shah’s “imagination and lecture” in Parliament. If Shah ordered that students be shot at, he is culpable, and if he did not, he is incompetent, Gandhi said. “In both cases he should resign,” the Congress leader said. Subsequently, the home minister wrote to the Speaker on the matter. “I want to request you to kindly consult the opposition. With everyone’s consent, allocate as much time as needed for the debate. I will sit through the entire discussion and respond to all questions from the opposition during the debate,” Shah said. He also said dialogue and discussions are the only ways to find solutions in a democracy and he has full faith in democracy and democratic institutions. He said the debate should facilitate the views of the opposition and treasury benches on the important issue of students’ protests. But the chaos continued. When the Lok Sabha reassembled at 3 pm after two adjournments, the noisy opposition protests took off from where they had been stopped. Amid the turmoil, Rijiju announced in the House that the government was ready to start a debate immediately on the student protests, and Shah had already written to the Speaker. He said the opposition should not run away from the debate when the home minister was ready to answer all their questions. But the minister’s appeal failed to cut ice. Amid the slogan-shouting and protests, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the chair, repeatedly urged the opposition to accept the government offer for the debate. His appeal was ignored and the House was adjourned for the day. Rijiju addressed a hurriedly convened press conference after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day and said it is “unthinkable and incomprehensible” that the opposition is avoiding a discussion when the government is ready to respond. “I am totally frustrated; I am seeing for the first time where the government is ready for discussion, the opposition is running away,” Rijiju said. Earlier, in the morning, when the Lower House assembled at 11 am, the opposition immediately came to the Well and staged protests. The proceedings then continued for just around three minutes before the House was adjourned till 2 pm. There were similar scenes when the House met again at 2 pm. At that time, the government proposed to move the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, to a joint parliamentary panel. The motion was passed by the House amid the din. The opposition demanded the withdrawal of the bill, alleging that it was targeted against minorities. However, Rijiju dared the opposition to show a single clause in the bill that was against the minorities. Congress MP KC Venugopal said the opposition had only just received information about sending the bill to a joint committee and alleged that the legislation was aimed against minorities and NGOs. “This is clearly for targeting minorities and NGOs. We demand that the bill be withdrawn,” Venugopal alleged. Rijiju rejected the charge, saying the Congress and other Opposition parties had themselves been demanding that the bill be sent to a House committee. “If they have any reservations about the bill, they can speak in the JPC. This is not targeted at any minority community,” Rijiju said. The government had offered a debate on Monday but it was rejected by the Congress. The renewed attempt at ending the logjam came just a day before the end of the Monsoon session, which has seen prolonged disruptions in both Houses. The opposition protests initially started over the NEET paper leak and alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. It later pressed for a discussion on the police action against students protesting over the NEET paper leak and also demanded the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister, and their statements. (Source: PTI)        

NEW DELHI : India on Tuesday reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh remains an “inalienable and integral” part of India and nothing can alter this “indisputable reality”. “Arunachal is an inalienable and integral part of India and this is a fact which is self-evident. At the same time, let me also underline that nothing can change this indisputable reality,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said while responding to a question on China’s reaction to India’s decision of formally identifying 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh by their Indian names, which was termed as “null and void” by Beijing. Addressing a bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday, Jaiswal reiterated that India considers the border issues with China one of the most serious aspects of the bilateral relationship. He stressed that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border remains essential and any developments around it will have a bearing on the wider ties between New Delhi and Beijing. Jaiswal said that both sides had reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) during the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held on August 6. He said that India emphasised the importance of preserving peace and tranquillity in the border areas for the broader development of bilateral relations. “Relating to the border areas between India and China, we have always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider these issues as most serious and that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in these areas is of the utmost importance. We have also stated that the state of border affairs will reflect on the state of our larger bilateral ties. This was also reiterated at the recently-held 36th WMCC meeting on India-China border affairs, which was held on August 6th, and you are already aware of the statement that we put out,” Jaiswal stated. “At this meeting, the two sides engaged in frank discussions and reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control. The Indian side again underlined that maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations. It was agreed to continue to use existing mechanisms, diplomatic and military channels, including the WMCC, local commander-level meetings, and other agreed mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the line of actual control,” he added. (Source: IANS)  

NEW DELHI : The BJP launched a fresh attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, asking why is he not supporting the implementation of 33-per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies if he “truly favours” it. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh alleged “double standards” on the part of the Congress on the issue of women’s quota, and also slammed its allies, accusing them of obstructing its implementation. “The central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, enacted the law to provide 33-per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies. Now, when steps are being taken to operationalise and implement it swiftly, the Congress is looking for excuses,” Chugh told PTI Videos. “If Rahul Gandhi is truly in favour of women’s reservation, why is he not supporting its implementation?” the Rajya Sabha MP asked. “Women need rights and representation, not mere slogans. The Congress must now abandon its double standards and stop obstructing the path of women’s empowerment. It should stand in support of the prime minister’s efforts regarding the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam,” he added. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress sparred on Saturday over the women’s quota and delimitation bills after Gandhi said no country can be successful if its women do not express themselves, prompting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to call it a “visible change of heart” and express the hope that the opposition party will support the proposed legislation. Responding to Rijiju’s comments on X, Gandhi hit back, saying, “Mr Rijiju, who would know better than you, as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, that the Women’s Reservation Bill 2023 has already been passed unanimously, with the full support of the Congress.” “The question is why has it still not been implemented even after three years, and why do you now want to unnecessarily link it to delimitation?” Gandhi asked in a post on X. “Implement the 2023 law. Without any conditions,” he added. Reacting to Gandhi’s retort, Rijju said the Congress leader knows “very well” that the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, has provisions for reserving seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. “The exercise for publishing the census figures after the year 2026 is currently underway. However, this may take substantial time due to the caste-based census to be finally published. In view of this, it may result in considerable delay in the implementation of women reservation, at least not before the 2034 General Elections,” the senior BJP leader said. Therefore, to implement the women’s reservation in the next general election in 2029, the delimitation exercise needs to be undertaken at the earliest, based on the latest available census figures, as published, he added. Rijiju said the implementation methodology has been proposed under the Delimitation Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha along with amendments to the Constitution. However, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which was introduced for this purpose, has been defeated, the minister said. On Thursday, Rijiju had a telephonic conversation with Gandhi to seek support for the passage of the women’s reservation and delimitation bills, but the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha insisted on convening an all-party meeting on the proposed laws, sources aware of the matter had said. This was the second time in a couple of days that the parliamentary affairs minister spoke with Gandhi on the phone. The minister has also met the Congress leader twice in 10 days for smooth functioning of the House. (Source: PTI)