NDA's Prez pick: Nitish happy, Mayawati positive; Cong calls it 'unilateral decision'

TNN
June 19, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 19: The BJP's pick for Presidential nominee seems to have left the opposition divided with at least two prominent leaders welcoming decision to nominate Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's candidate for President's post.ram-nath

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed happiness over Ram Nath Kovind's candidature for the President's post while BSP chief Mayawati making it clear that her party's stand will be positive provided opposition does not field any dalit for the top post.

"Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar Governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the Governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Nitish Kumar said after meeting Kovind at Raj Bhavan.

Nitish congratulated Kovind, a dalit leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on his nomination as the National Democratic Alliance candidate, and added that "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate".

However, Nitish did not commit on his party's support for the NDA nominee.

"It is difficult to say at this point of time. I had talks with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on this issue. We will discuss the issue later and decide," Nitish said.

The Congress, however, spurned the BJP's appeal for consensus on its choice for President and said the opposition would take a call on contesting the election after a meeting on June 22.

The BJP has taken a "unilateral decision", Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said soon after the announcement of Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's candidate for President's post.

"Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in a meeting of all opposition parties on June 22," Azad told reporters here.

Terming the BJP's efforts to reach out to the opposition through its senior leaders as a "formality and a PR exercise", Azad said the ruling party should have built consensus before announcing the candidate.

"But they informed us after announcing this decision so there is no scope for consensus now... we were not expecting this from the ruling party. But it is their will, they are free to take a one-sided unilateral decision," Azad added.

No names were discussed when senior BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week, the Congress leader said.

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Asked to comment on the BJP fielding a Dalit candidate for the top constitutional post, Azad said, "...I don't want to comment on this...I don't want to comment on the merits and demerits of the candidate."

He added that minorities, backwards and dalits were not priorities for the BJP-led government. Atrocities on Dalits in Saharanpur were a clear example of this.

Discussing whether Nitish Kumar would attend the June 22 meeting, Azad said he had himself called the Bihar chief minister who had assured him that there would be somebody from his Janata Dal-United.

Comments

Shankar
 - 
Monday, 19 Jun 2017

This was a shakuni move by BJP.
Amidst all the anti-dalit atrocities, nominating a dalit candidate would have been an obvious strategy by the opposition. But the NDA foresaw it and played the move themselves.
The opposition is now left with either agreeing to this or nominating a muslim candidate (depending on support from others in the alliance).

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News Network
January 4,2020

Tumakuru, Jan 4: Three people were burnt alive and four others sustained injuries in a head-on collision between a four-wheeler (Omni van) and a private bus on NH-206 near Doddaguni in Gubbi taluk of Tumakuru district in the early hours of Saturday.

Police said that Narasamma’s relatives and villagers were taking her to a hospital in Nittur when a private bus, heading to Shivamogga from Bengaluru, collided with the van on the tank bund road near Doddguni around 0200 hrs. The two vehicles caught fire and Vasanthkumar, Ramaiah and Narasamma were burnt alive in the van. The passengers in the private bus escaped unhurt.

The deceased were identified as Vasanthkumar (23), Ramaiah (62) and Narsamma (60) of N Hosahalli in Gubbi taluk, whereas the injured were identified as Ravikumar (23), Radhamani (30), Narasimha Murthy (40) and Gowramma (28).

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News Network
April 10,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 10: Complaints have been registered after it came to light that the conditional permission to enter the Dakshina Kannada district for non-COVID-19 patients from Kerala has been misused on two occasions.

Police said on Friday that the Patients are allowed into the district after filling an online form and getting it authorised from the medical officer from Kasargod district hospital.

On April 9, a patient had arrvived at the district hospital complaining of head ache. After preliminary check up by the physician he left in an ambulance that had arrived from Kasargod earlier carrying another patient without informing the physician.

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News Network
January 25,2020

New Delhi, Jan 25: The latest edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary features 26 new Indian English words, including Aadhaar, chawl, dabba, hartal and shaadi.

The 10th edition of the dictionary, which was launched on Friday, has 384 Indian English words and incorporates over 1,000 new words such as chatbot, fake news and microplastic.

The dictionary focuses on language change and its evolution through the years, and has ensured that the language and examples used in the new edition are relevant and up to date with the times, Oxford University Press (OUP) said.

The new edition comes with interactive online support through the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries website and an app. The website includes advanced features such as audio-video tutorials, video walkthroughs, self-study activities and enhanced iWriter and iSpeaker tools.

"This edition has 26 new Indian English words of which 22 figure in the printed dictionary. The other four are in the digital version," said Fathima Dada, Managing Director (Education Division) at OUP.

Some of other new Indian words in the dictionary are auntie (while aunty already figures in the English dictionary, auntie is an Indianism), bus stand, deemed university, FIR, non-veg, redressal, tempo, tube light, veg and videograph.

The four new Indian English words in the online version of the dictionary are current (for electricity), looter, looting and upazila (one of the areas that a district is divided into for administration purposes).

According to OUP, the new edition provides better, more accurate and understandable definitions with examples, usage notes and additional resources to help the learner use the right word in the right context.

"Prevalence and common usage are the main criteria for enlisting new words. We scan the globe for words which are often used by people while speaking English. Then these words go through a rigorous testing process," Dada said.

"As OUP is the custodian of English language globally, these words have to go through its processes," she told PTI.

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, she said, has been reinventing itself for nearly eight decades, anticipating the growing learning requirements of learners.

"The 10th edition also is equipped with a strong digital support system, including an app," she said.

It is equipped with several digital tools. With iSpeaker, learners can get help preparing for speaking exams and presentations. With iWriter, learners can plan, write and review their written work. Text Checker allows the teacher to check any text against the Oxford 3000, 5000, and OPAL (Oxford Phrasal Academic Lexicon) written word list.

Resources accessible through online premium access include lesson plans, worksheets, video walkthroughs, and classroom and self-study activities. With the OALD app one can find 86,000 words, 95,000 phrases, 112,000 meanings and 237,000 examples.

The dictionary, which spans 77 years, was originally published in Japan in 1942 and was first brought out by OUP in 1948. The learner's dictionary is based on the original values of its creator, Albert Sydney Hornby, whose aim was to help language learners worldwide understand the meaning of English words.

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