Modi,Sharif finally greet after cold vibes

November 28, 2014

modi shariefKathmandu, Nov 28: On the last day of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

New Delhi, however, was quick to point out that Modi’s handshake with Sharif should not be construed as a signal of India’s willingness for an early restart of the stalled bilateral dialogue with Pakistan. “India is for peaceful and cooperative relation with Pakistan. We are interested in meaningful dialogue. If this interaction today (Thursday) or this handshake leads to that, we would welcome that,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told journalists in Kathmandu shortly after the summit concluded. “The emphasis, however, is on meaningful dialogue,” he added.

Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and leaders of other south Asian nations looked on smilingly, as Modi and Sharif, who completely avoided each other during the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday, not only greeted each other, but also chatted briefly and shook hands. The day also saw signing of the Saarc Framework Agreement for Energy (Electricity) Cooperation.

Even before the public display of cordiality, Modi and Sharif warmed up to each other at a retreat in the backdrop of the majestic Himalayas in Dhulikhel, a hill town nearly 30 km south-east of Kathmandu.

As Koirala led other Saarc leaders to the terrace to enjoy the picturesque landscape, Modi and Sharif were seen standing close to each other, soaking in the pristine environs. Modi and Sharif also shook hands and exchanged greetings at an informal meeting and chatted while having lunch with leaders of the six other south Asian nations.

The retreat also provided an opportunity to the leaders to have a candid discussion, which succeeded in ending the impasse over one of the three agreements proposed to be signed during the summit.

Modi and other leaders succeeded in persuading Sharif to approve the Saarc Framework Agreement for Energy (Electricity) Cooperation.

Later, as Koirala declared the summit closed, Modi found himself surrounded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of Maldives, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, as they all came to greet him.

Sharif, who was on the other end of the podium, too, joined later and extended his hand to Modi.

On Modi’s invitation, Sharif had attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new government at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26. They also had a meeting the next day and decided to explore possibilities of restarting the dialogue that New Delhi had suspended in January 2013.

The foreign secretary-level dialogue with Islamabad was later called of to protest Pakistan’s consultation with Kashmiri separatist leaders before holding official parleys with India.

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News Network
July 20,2020

New Delhi, Jul 20: India's COVID-19 case tally crossed the 11 lakh mark with the highest single-day spike of 40,425 new cases and 681 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Monday.

Total cases in the country now stand at 11,18,043 while the death toll is 27,497.
The Health Ministry said the total number of cases includes 3,90,459 active cases and 7,00,087 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3,10,455 cases reported until Sunday.
Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,40,47,908 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 19, of these 2,56,039 samples were tested yesterday.

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Agencies
May 27,2020

Lucknow, May 27: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a U-turn, two days after he declared that permission would be needed if other states employ workers from UP.

The issue sparked a major controversy and an official spokesman has now said that the government would not include this clause of 'prior permission' in the bye-laws of the Migration Commission.

The government spokesman also said it was working on modalities to set up the commission to provide jobs and social security to migrant workers returning to the state. It has named the migration commission as the "Shramik Kalyan Aayog (Workers welfare commission).

About 26 lakh migrants have already returned to the state and an exercise to map their skills is being carried out to help them get jobs.

Yogi Adityanath has discussed the modalities for setting up the commission and told his officers to complete the skill mapping exercise in 15 days.

A senior official of Team 11, said, "The chief minister discussed the modalities for setting up the commission, as well. There will be no provision requiring other states to seek UP government's prior permission for employing our manpower. The commission is being set up to provide jobs and social security to the workers. We will also link the migrants to the government schemes to provide them houses and loans etc."

Yogi Adityanath said a letter should be sent to all state governments to find out about migrant workers wanting to come back to Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier, the chief minister, while speaking at a webinar on Sunday, had said, "The migration commission will work in the interest of migrant workers. If any other state wants UP's manpower, they cannot take them just like that, but will have to seek permission of the UP government. The way our migrant workers were ill-treated in other states, the UP government will take their insurance, social security in its hands now. The state government will stand by them wherever they work, whether in Uttar Pradesh, other states or other countries."

The statement had sparked a row with some political leaders and parties questioning the move.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi sharply criticized Adityanath's stand, saying the workers were not the chief minister's personal property.

"It is very unfortunate that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh views India in such a way. These people are not his personal property. They are not the personal property of Uttar Pradesh. These people are Indian citizens and they have the right to decide what they want to do and they have the right to live the life they want to live," he had said.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray had also taken on Adityanath and said that if UP insists on "permission" before other states can employ workers from there, "then any migrant entering Maharashtra would need to take permissions from us, from the Maharashtra state, our police force too."

Meanwhile, the government spokesman said, "The chief minister is deeply moved by the condition of migrants. They have been treated badly by other states. So, when the chief minister spoke about the need for seeking UP government's permission, he did so as a guardian for workers. It's only his concern for the migrants that came out as a political statement."

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News Network
March 13,2020

New Delhi, Mar 13: Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Friday sentenced expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and six others to 10 years imprisonment for the death of Unnao rape survivor's father. Sengar is already serving life imprisonment for raping the minor.

While sentencing them, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said, "There can be no denying that rule of law was broken. Sengar was a public functionary and had to maintain the rule of law. The way the crime has been committed, it does not call for leniency."

Sengar and his brother Atul has been directed to give 10 lakh compensation to family of the victim for loss of their father. "There are four minor children involved, three girls and one boy. They have also been uprooted from native place," the judge said.

Seven people, including Sengar, his brother and two police personnel, were held guilty for culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy, earlier this month.

The case pertains to the death of rape survivor's father in custody on April 9, 2018. It was alleged that he was assaulted following a quarrel with some of the accused in the case.

He was taken to the police station and then framed for allegedly possessing an illegal firearm. Pursuant to this, he was sent to custodial remand, during which he died.

The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the Supreme Court's directions in August last year. Both the death and illegal firearm case was later clubbed by the court.

During the arguments on sentencing on March 12, Sengar had told the court that he should be "hanged and acid poured into his eyes if he has done anything wrong".

The former MLA had also raped the daughter of the deceased in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district and was sent to jail for "remainder of his natural biological life", last year.

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