ASI stopping Muslims from offering namaz in Taj Mahal, unjustified: Clerics

New Delhi, May 23: Carrying a sack full of belongings and a backpack on shoulders daily wager Mohammed Sunny and his friend Mohammed Danish are determined to reach home for Eid in Bihar's Araria district, facing all odds stacked up against them.

Shahjehanpur native Adesh Singh with his wife and three little children, who left their residence in south Delhi three days ago, are still scrambling to reach home, haggling with taxi drivers, to take them to their home town charging a reasonable fare.

This was among the many scenes of migrants' life on Friday at Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border touching Ghazipur in east Delhi who are struggling to make their way to their native places amid a COVID-19-induced lockdown across the country.

"We left home three days ago near Chhatarpur, we have walked and rested by roadsides, people gave us food on the way, so we survived. Now, we just want to reach home, we can't survive in Delhi," Manju Singh, wife of Adesh Singh told PTI as she waited at the UP Gate to get a taxi to cross the border on way to her home.

Their three children Alok (12), Ankesh (8) and Rupali (9), all wearing simple masks, were seen squatting on the roadside beside their luggage as their wearied parents, using cloths to cover their nose and mouth, bargained with taxi drivers to take them home, without charging much above the regular fare, saying they "did not have much cash left".

Police personnel could be seen asking many migrants who were marching on foot towards the inter-state border, to turn back.

Many did, but not Sunny and Danish, who feel if "Allah wants us to reach home, we surely will".

Both of them worked at a chemical plant in Delhi, and said, they have been "kicked out" after the lockdown was imposed, making their survival difficult in the national capital.

"We don't have money to pay rent now, or buy food, we have to go home now, what option do we have," Sunny said.

Danish alleged that the poor have been "abandoned" by the government and left in the lurch.

"The government has money to bring home Indians stranded abroad, but can't take home the Indians who have been toiling hard all these years. Is it fair to us," he asked.

"But, Inshallah, we will reach home if the Almighty wants us to, and will be joining our family for Eid, though it will hardly be a celebration this time. But, we want the comfort of being with our family at least," Sunny said.

Eid which marks the end of the holy Ramzan month, will be celebrated either on Sunday or Monday, depending on sighting of the moon.

Lakhs of migrant labourers stranded away from home in Delhi and other big cities have been attempting to reach home in the last two months, a large number of them walking on foot after they found no mode of conveyance.

The coronavirus death toll in Delhi has mounted to 208, while 660 fresh cases of COVID-19 infection reported on Friday, the highest single-day spike here, took the total in the city to 12,319.

Roshan Shrivastav (19), his nephew Shivam Shrivastav (19) and friend Prince Gupta (21), all hailing from Siwan in Bihar, were seen standing on a pavement after being told by the police to turn back from the barricade posted bear the Delhi-UP border.

"We live together in Baljeet Nagar in West Delhi, in a single room. I had come from Bihar after Holi, seeking a job, but then I got stuck in lockdown here without a job. Whatever money I had brought, and Rs 10,000 our parents had sent online, all has got exhausted in these three months," Roshan lamented.

"Our landlord has been very kind, and didn't even ask for any rent after the lockdown, but how long can we survive on charity. And, I don't like being dependent on someone, so we want to go home," he said.

Roshan said, he and Shivam, both also write and sing songs in Hindi and their native tongue Bhojpuri.

"We have written a few lines on lockdown crisis too -- 'Hum mazdooran ke ghar bhejwa da sarkar, nahin to ketna log hiyan par ho jai bimar' (please send us home or else many would fall sick here)," Shivam said, as he stood in scorching heat of May, carrying his leftover cash in pocket and hope in heart. 

New Delhi, Feb 20: Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress leader Sachin Sawant on Thursday said that the same BJP who tried to pressurise government lawyers so that the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case, Samjhauta express case can be let off are now demanding that there should be a re-investigation in the 26/11 terror attacks, this is the biggest irony.

"By demanding that the case be re-investigated the BJP which gave a ticket to Pragya Thakur who was accused in the Malegaon blast case, has insulted all those brave police, the army who fought bravely. BJP should apologise to all those people," he said.

"If the BJP were serious about re-investigating the case why didn't they do it when they were in power in the state and the Centre? Was the government sleeping for the last five years? asked Maharashtra Congress committee's general secretary, Sachin Sawant.

"Rather than this, the BJP should ask for a fair inquiry in the incident where a Kashmir police officer Davindar Singh was caught in the company of terrorists and also, the role of the Sangh Parivar in the Malegaon Blasts," said Sawant.

Sawant said that BJP has crossed all limits while lying and it has stooped to the lowest levels of political discourse and is not thinking twice before defaming the Opposition.

In the book written by the retired police officer Rakesh Maria doesn't have anything other than what was there in the charge sheet on Ajmal Kasab. In his confession, Kasab has said that he was given an ID card with a Hindu name and also a red coloured thread by the Lashkar-e-taiba.

Because of this forged identity, they would be able to dodge the police. All these details have been clearly mentioned in the Kasab's confession.

Maria has mentioned in his book that if Kasab was not caught alive, the media would have declared him as a Hindu. Maria hasn't said that there was any kind of government pressure or any other conspiracy behind it. He was only talking about the media and also given all the details in the charge sheet. The BJP is only using this as a political tool in their low-class politics.

The leader added that, "The letter written by BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar to CM Uddhav Thackeray has crossed all limits of lying. The Congress government in Maharashtra had formed a committee under retired home secretary Ram Pradhan to probe the 26/11 attack."

On the basis of an interview given by Ram Pradhan to a national daily on the 10th anniversary of the 26/11, he has levelled baseless allegations on former Central Home minister P Chidambaram, he added.

Bhatkhalkar in his letter has said that Chidambaram had asked Ram Pradhan to not to disclose the local connection that was found in the conspiracy. In fact, there is no such mention in the interview given by Ram Pradhan. Pradhan has said in the interview that Chidambaram wanted to see the report. Hence along with the report, some sensitive information was sent to the department separately and those were overlooked. After some time news related to David Headley had surfaced.

Ram Pradhan committee was not set up by the Centre but was set up by the state government and so it was not mandatory for the Centre to inform Ram Pradhan whether cognisance was taken regarding the sensitive information.

"In was during the Congress government that the first terrorist was caught alive due to the bravery of the police force and after following all the due procedures a verdict to hang him was given," said Sawant..

"Everyone has appreciated India's legal system in which even a terrorist was allowed to give his side," he added.

Washington, Mar 1: Beginning April 1, Indians wishing to immigrate to America will now have to pay an additional $50,000 for the EB-5 or the US investor visa, a media report said.

Although, this additional tax would impact all visa categories, it will predominantly create a barrier for people investing in the EB-5 visa programme, the American Bazaar daily said in the report on Friday.

In 2019, the EB-5 investor visa programme, for the first time since the 1990's, increased the minimum investment amount to $900,000.

With this increase in minimum investment, the new 5 per cent additional tax would mean that applicants would have to pay the extra $50,000, when they move money to an escrow account in the US to fulfil their application criterion.

"The changes to the tax on remittances is a reminder to Indians to carefully plan their tax position before making the move to the US," the American Bazaar quoted Mark Davies, Global Chairman, Davies & Associates LLC, as saying.

"People seeking to emigrate who do not wish to pay this tax at source and rather account for it later may wish to move their money ahead of the new rules coming into effect.

"It is possible to pre-emptively move money into an escrow account in the US until such a time as they are ready to proceed with emigration process," he added.