Haj pilgrims from India start flying to Saudi Arabia

Agencies
July 14, 2018

New Delhi, Jul 14: The first batch of Haj pilgrims was today flagged off by Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who said the preparations for ensuring a smooth pilgrimage have been completed.

The first batch of 410 Haj pilgrims from Delhi left for Madina from the Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning.

A total of 1,28,702 pilgrims will be facilitated by the government across India through the Haj Committee this year.

Over 1,200 Haj pilgrims are leaving Delhi for Saudi Arabia in three flights today.

Besides Delhi, 450 pilgrims from Gaya, 269 from Guwahati, 900 from Lucknow and 1,020 pilgrims from Srinagar are also leaving for Saudi Arabia today for Haj.

Naqvi said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs, in cooperation with the Saudi Arabia Haj Consulate, Haj Committee of India and other concerned agencies, had completed preparations for Haj 2018 well before time to ensure a smooth pilgrimage. 

Noting that Haj 2018 is being organised according to the new Haj Policy, the minister said it had made the entire Haj process transparent and ensured better facilities for the pilgrims.

Naqvi said despite the removal of the Haj subsidy and various new taxes imposed in Saudi Arabia, there was no additional financial burden on the pilgrims.

He also said that Rs 57 crore less will be paid to airlines this year as compared to 2017 for Haj pilgrims travelling through the Haj Committee of India.

Naqvi said that it was the first time after Independence, that 1,75,025 Muslims from India were going for Haj this year.

He said more than 47 per cent females are going for Haj this year and for the first time 1,308 Muslim women, travelling without 'Mehram' or male companion, were among them.

Delhi Revenue and Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot, Haj Committee of India Chairman Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser, Delhi Haj Committee Chairman and MLA Mohammad Ishraq Khan and Minority Affairs Ministry Secretary Ameizing Luikham, were also present at the airport.

On July 17 pilgrims from Kolkata, on July 20 pilgrims from Varanasi, on July 21 pilgrims from Mangalore, on July 26 pilgrims from Goa and on July 29 pilgrims from Aurangabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Nagpur, will embark for Haj. 

On July 30, pilgrims from Ranchi, on August 1 pilgrims from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad and Jaipur, and on August 3, pilgrims from Bhopal, will embark for Haj.

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News Network
February 24,2020

New Delhi, Dec 24: The Delhi Police said that a head constable was killed during clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in northeast Delhi today.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara, Amit Sharma was also injured during clashes, a senior official said. Sharma suffered injuries to his head and hand. He was hospitalised and is doing fine, the official added.

Tension escalated in northeast Delhi with protesters torching at least two houses and a fire tender in the Jaffrabad and Maujpur areas, where pro and anti-CAA groups clashed for the second consecutive day on Monday and hurled stones at each other.

Violence was also reported from the Chandbagh area in Jaffrabad.

Police fired tear gas shells and also resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters.

According to officials, a fire tender was damaged by the protesters after it responded to a fire call in the area.

The Delhi Metro closed entry and exit at the Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur stations as an uneasy calm prevailed in the area.

"Entry & exit of Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a tweet.

Entry and exit were closed at the Jaffrabad metro station for over 24 hours.

Clashes broke out on Sunday evening between pro and anti-CAA groups near Jaffrabad after a large number of people protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) blocked a road, while similar sit-ins were launched in several other parts of the national capital.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged lieutenant governor of Delhi and the Union home minister to restore order.

Nobody should be allowed to orchestrate violence, he said.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal instructed the police commissioner to maintain law and order in the national capital in the wake of violence.

"Instructed @DelhiPolice and @CPDelhi to ensure that law and order is maintained in North East Delhi. The situation is being closely monitored. I urge everyone to exercise restraint for maintenance of peace and harmony," Baijal tweeted.

Delhi minister and Babarpur MLA Gopal Rai on Monday urged the people in the area to maintain peace, saying some people were purposely trying to disturb the atmosphere.

"With folded hands, I request people in Babarpur Assembly to maintain peace. Some people are purposely trying to spoil the atmosphere. I have spoken to Delhi LG and he has assured me that more policemen will be deployed to bring the situation under control," Rai said in a tweet.

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News Network
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: India's COVID tally on Monday crossed 14 lakh mark with the highest single-day spike of 49,931 cases reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total COVID-19 cases stand at 14,35,453, including 4,85,114 active cases, 9,17,568 cured/discharged/migrated, it added.

With 708 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 32,771.

India had crossed 13 lakhs COVID-19 cases on July 25.

Maharashtra has reported 3,75,799 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country.

A total of 2,13,723 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded a total of 1,30,606 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 5,15,472 samples were tested for coronavirus on Sunday and overall 1,68,06,803 samples have been tested so far.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Panaji, Jan 28: Bureaucrat-turned-activist Kannan Gopinathan on Tuesday said even some "RSS people" are convinced the Citizenship Amendment Act is a bad law but are keeping quiet as the NDA government at the Centre is their own baby.

Speaking in Panaji, he further said the Narendra Modi government was behaving like a "drunken teenager" which needs to be questioned or else it will end up destroying homes.

"I was detained twice in UP, kept the whole day, because they (government) do not want the questioning (of CAA). I have met so many RSS people, they also understand this...if you have this conversation, they also understand the government has done something (wrong) and they have been asked to support it," he claimed.

He said the line of thought among these RSS people (he met) was "just support it (CAA)" as they don't want an altercation because the "government is their baby".

"He (government) is not a normal baby, he is a drunken teenager. He should be asked questions because when he starts destroying, he does not destroy somebody else's home but your own home," Gopinathan said.

He also hit out at those who have been claiming that the people protesting against the CAA are unaware about the law and have not even read it.

Gopinathan claimed if one had asked supportive MPs about the CAA on the day it was passed in Parliament, several of them would not have been able to speak on it as "they would not have known what was passed, because they were not given time (to go through the bill)".

He said, earlier, such legislation was passed after several rounds of consultation but "now, by night, it becomes an Act", adding (now) "everything is a surgical strike".

Gopinathan, in a possible reference to the National Register of Citizens exercise carried out in Assam, also claimed "thousands of people are in detention centres".

"It is your fundamental right to peacefully assemble without arms, Article 19 (1) (D) (of the Constitution)," he said at a function organised by a group opposed to CAA.

Gopinathan said people "always felt they were in a democracy" because they never tried to fly, when in reality "you are in a cage".

"The moment you want to fly you realise you are in a cage," he said, adding that "we have to question, we have to ask ourselves where are we going".

"When you don't allow a person to speak against an incorrect legislation, then what is democracy? What is freedom of expression?" Gopinathan questioned.

Gopinathan, a 2012 batch AGMUT cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, was the secretary, Power Department of the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli when he resigned on August 21 last year.

At the time, he had claimed the people of Jammu and Kashmir were being denied freedom of expression following abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre.

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