Kovind completes 100 days as president

Agencies
November 1, 2017

New Delhi, Nov 1: Efficient management of time and speedy decision-making have been the focus of President Ram Nath Kovind who completed 100 days in office today, according to officials of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Kovind, who took over on July 25 as the 14th president, has also sought to reach out to the states, which form a crucial part of the federal structure of the country, by undertaking visits there.

He has already visited several states and the target is to cover almost all the states by the year-end, the officials said.

The states which Kovind visited included those ruled by non-NDA parties, like Karnataka and Kerala, they pointed out, seeking to underline that the president was being non-partisan as he ought to be.

In fact, he travelled to Kerala twice.

In some states, the president travelled to rural and interior areas, the officials said.

But in all these travels, he mostly did not stay overnight and returned the same evening, as part of his thrust on efficient time management, the officials said.

As president, Kovind also undertook his first foreign visit to Djibouti and Ethiopia from October 3 to 6.

"It was a tightly-packed visit involving lot of travel and no rest," an official said.

The officials said Kovind has also ensured speedy decision-making.

Giving an example, they said the waiting time for presentation of credentials by foreign ambassadors and high commissioners has been reduced to the maximum of two to three weeks, which earlier used to be up to months.

So far, he has received credentials from 12 ambassadors and high commissioners, including the Russian ambassador and the Pakistan high commissioner, the officials said.

Kovind is also making the Rashtrapati Bhavan more accessible to the public. One of the steps taken in this direction is making the Rashtrapati Bhavan's library accessible to common people online.

Recently, the Rashtrapati Bhavan also became a venue for the culmination of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's 'Bharat Yatra', a movement to spread awareness about child abuse and trafficking.

A highlight of the event was a special gesture by the president to make a Dalit girl sit next to him.

This gesture touched Satyarthi and he recorded it in hand-written letter to Kovind, the officials said.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Hyderabad, Feb 26: Hyderabad Police on Tuesday registered a case against well-known poet Imran Pratapgarhi for his statement asking why there was "no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad".

According to Charminar Police, the complaint was registered by Sub-Inspector S Guruswamy, who was on duty at the QQ Stadium on February 24 where an Ehtaji Mishaira (Poetry Program) against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register Commission and National Population Register was held.

Permission for the said event was granted by Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police to the program organisers with certain guidelines including that poetry program should be held on February 24 from 6 pm to 9 pm, and no speaker should give provocative speeches in the program.

However, police said that the program was started by the organisers at 6 pm and continued till 9:48 pm even after police officers asked them to end the event by 9 pm. The program was attended by around 3,000 members at QQ stadium.

According to police, while addressing the meeting Pratapgarhi said: "Mujhe hairath hai us Hyderabad mein koi Shaheen Bagh kyu nahi hai (I am surprised why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad)", which is "provocative" and may cause fear to any section of the public.

In this regard, a case has been registered against organisers for disobeying public servants' orders and the poet has been booked for delivering provocative statements under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir took to Twitter to condemn the police action.

"Hyderabad Police booked a case against poet Imran Pratapgarhi for expressing surprise on why there is no Shaheen Bagh in Hyderabad. For police, this sentence is provocative. Is Shaheen Bagh not a part of India?," Shabbir tweeted.

"Shame on TRS Government and Hyderabad Police for targeting a poet for no-fault," he added.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mar 16: A fourth batch of 53 Indians returned to India from Iran on Monday, taking the total number of people evacuated from the coronavirus-hit country to 389.

This comes a day after over 230 Indians were brought back from Iran to New Delhi and quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer, the third batch to be evacuated from that country.

"Fourth batch of 53 Indians - 52 students and a teacher - has arrived from Tehran and Shiraz, Iran. With this, a total of 389 Indians have returned to India from Iran. Thank the efforts of the team @India_in_Iran and Iranian authorities," Jaishankar tweeted.

The Indians came in a Mahan Air flight that landed at the Delhi airport at around 3 am, officials said, adding that they were later taken to Jaisalmer in an Air India flight for being quarantined.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran last Tuesday and the second group of 44 Indian pilgrim arrived from there on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working to bring back Indians stranded there. Over 700 people have died from the disease in Iran and nearly 14,000 cases have been detected.

Jaishankar had told Rajya Sabha last week that the government was focusing on evacuating Indians stranded in Iran and Italy as these countries are facing an "extreme situation".

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Agencies
February 14,2020

Kochi, Feb 14: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday extended the remand of Thalassery-based students Allan Shuhaib and Thaha Fasal till March 13.

They were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Kozhikode in November 2019.

Meanwhile, Alan Shuhaib has approached the High Court seeking permission to appear for the LLB 2nd semester exam scheduled on February 18.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on February 6 wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to transfer the case of the two students, who were arrested for alleged links with Maoists, from the NIA to state police.

Allan and Thaha, students of law and journalism respectively of Kannur University, were taken into custody by the police from Pantheerankavu in Kozhikode on November 1 last year for alleged links with the Naxals.

The duo was charged under Sections 20 (punishment for being a member of terrorist gang or organisation), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the UAPA.

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