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NEW DELHI, AUG 23: BJP general secretary Smriti Irani on Sunday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to validate his words on supporting women by backing the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures and also organising the singing of a full version of Vande Mataram that includes invocation of Goddess Durga at his party office. Interacting with girl students at his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ outreach programme in Pune on Saturday, Gandhi urged girl students to “smash patriarchy” and lashed out at “Manusmriti mindset”, claiming that it forces a woman to remain under the authority of male relatives at every stage of her life. The former Congress president also said violence is used in society to prevent women from progressing and that 80 per cent of them face harassment. “Since he has invoked religion, I have a request to that prominent leader of the Congress. The verses of Vande Mataram, some of which were halted at the Congress headquarters, contain a reference to Goddess Durga,” Irani, the newly-appointed BJP national general secretary, told reporters here. She was referring to the row over the Congress’ decision to sing only two stanzas of the ‘Vande Mataram’ at their party programmes, which the BJP has decried as an “insult” to the national song. Hitting back at Gandhi, Irani said, “Our religious ethos of Hindus not only upholds the tenet of ‘Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah (where women are honoured, divinity resides)’, but we also worship Goddesses like Bhagwati, Lakshmi and Saraswati.” “We worship Goddess Durga as the embodiment of ‘Shakti’ (divine power). I urge that the full rendition of Vande Mataram, including the verses invoking Goddess Durga, be performed at the Congress headquarters,” she said. Gandhi can put his words spoken yesterday in support of women and their leadership into action by backing the “immediate implementation” of reservation for women and organising the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters, Irani said. A Bill ensuring 33 per cent reservation for women across the country to enhance the dignity of Parliament through their presence has already been passed, the former Union minister said. “Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi stated at an event that he supports women. Since a key Congress leader has spoken in support of women and women’s leadership, I humbly request him to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to swiftly implement the bill granting 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament,” she said. PTI      

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)