Jadavpur University student shreds copy of CAA at convocation ceremony

News Network
December 25, 2019

Kolkata, Dec 25: A student of Jadavpur University on Tuesday tore apart a page of a copy of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act while receiving her degree at the convocation ceremony, asserting that the gesture was her way of protesting against the contentious law.

Debosmita Choudhury, who identified herself as a student of the arts department, said she chose to “dump” the CAA document at the podium where the vice-chancellor, Pro-VC and registrar were seated, as it made bonafide citizens prove their nationality.

“Let there be no confusion. I am not showing any disrespect to JU. I am proud to be awarded this degree at my favourite institution. But, I chose this podium to register my protest against CAA... my friends are on a sit-in near the gate of the convocation venue,” she said.

Arkoprobho Das, another student of the department, said around 25 of his batchmates did not go to the podium to collect their degrees.

“We wore the convocation gowns, but when our names were called we did not go to the podium. This is our way of protesting,” he said.

Earlier in the day, protesters blocked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s entry into Jadavpur University, where he had gone to attend the annual convocation, prompting him to denounce the incident as “total collapse of rule of law”.

Amid his frequent run-ins with the Mamata Banerjee government, Dhankhar arrived at the university, a hotbed of anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests, only to find his way blocked by around 50 people, said to be members of Shiksha Bandhu Samiti, an affiliate of the ruling TMC’s trade union wing.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: On Monday, petrol and diesel prices across the country were raised for the ninth consecutive day by 48 paise and 59 paise, respectively.

Petrol price per litre was raised to Rs 76.26 in New Delhi, Rs 83.17 in Mumbai, Rs 79.96 in Chennai, Rs 79.17 in Hyderabad, Rs 78.73 in Bengaluru and Rs 78.10 in Kolkata.

Diesel price per litre was hiked to Rs 74.62 in New Delhi, Rs 73.21 in Mumbai, Rs 72.69 in Chennai, Rs 72.93 in Hyderabad, Rs 70.95 in Bengaluru and Rs 70.33 in Kolkata.

Since 7 June, after ending their 82-day hiatus in daily revision, state-owned oil marketing companies have increased petrol price by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.23 per litre.

These prices are close to levels last seen in October-November 2018 when international oil prices had spiked close to $80 per barrel. In October 2018, petrol price in Mumbai had crossed Rs 90-mark and in Delhi, it was around Rs 83 per litre.

Comparatively, on Monday, Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil prices, fell 2.3 percent to $37.84 a barrel over concerns of subdued demand for fuel as new coronavirus infections were reported in China and the US.

The present spike in fuel prices in India could be attributed to the fact that central and state governments, along with oil marketing companies are looking to make up for their loss in revenues due to the lockdown.

Last month, the central government had increased the excise duty on per litre of petrol by Rs 10 and per litre of diesel by Rs 13. Several state governments have also hiked their VAT or cess on fuel in the last month. In fact, now around 70 percent of the retail price of fuel is just some form of tax.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 17,2020
New Delhi, Jul 17:  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that as India's COVID-19 tally has crossed 10,00,000 mark and issued a warning that by August 10, more than 20,00,000 people may be infected in the country. He called on the government to take concrete steps to control the pandemic.
 
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi marked his earlier tweet from July 14 that stated: "This week the figure will cross 10,00,000 in our country."
"The tally has crossed 10,00,000 mark. If COVID-19 continues to spread at the same speed, by August 10, more than 20,00,000 people will be infected in the country.
 
The government must take concrete, planned steps to stop the epidemic," he tweeted today.
With the highest single-day spike of 32,695 cases and 606 deaths, India's COVID-19 tally on Thursday reached 9,68,876, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
 
The total number of COVID-19 cases includes 3,31,146 active cases, 6,12,815 cured/discharged/migrated and 24,915 deaths. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 15,2020

New Delhi, Jul 15: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that he is "not" joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I am not joining BJP," said Pilot in a telephonic conversation with ANI.

The comments came a day after he was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and Pradesh Congress Committee chief by the party.

The decision to sack Pilot was taken yesterday after a CLP meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

At the meeting, as many as 102 MLAs unanimously demanded that Pilot should be removed from the party.

The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While chief minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs, Pilot has been camping in Delhi.

A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after special operation group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the state.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.