Pratibha’s gifts are in son’s museum, says Rashtrapati Bhavan

[email protected] (The Hindu)
September 26, 2012

Pratibha-Patil

New Delhi, September 26: The former President, Pratibha Patil, whose foreign tours and post-retirement housing plans generated controversies towards the end of her tenure, is attracting fresh criticism for dispatching gifts received while in office to a museum run by her son.

According to an answer provided by Rashtrapati Bhavan to a Right to Information query by activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal, as many as 155 gifts/artefacts received by Ms. Patil during her tenure have been given on loan to the Vidya Bharati Shaikshanik Mandal, Amravati, Maharashtra, for display.

In his query, Mr Agarwal cited media reports that the gifts were kept in the private museum of this Mandal, which is controlled by none other than her son and Congress MLA Rajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Rasthrapati Bhavan said an MoU was signed between the President’s Secretariat and the Mandal on June 15 this year, a few weeks before she demitted office. It said the MoU would cease to be operative from June 15, 2013, and all the artefacts currently on loan would be returned to Rashtrapati Bhavan thereafter.

The RTI reply also cited a precedent for this, noting that during the term of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, 36 artifacts were handed over for display in the Brahmos Centre in New Delhi.

But Mr. Agarwal argues that while the Brahmos Centre was a government body, the Vidya Bharati Mandal is a private trust involving Ms. Patil’s family members. He alleges that the RTI response makes it clear the President’s Secretariat during Ms. Patil’s tenure did not follow the toshakhana (government treasury) rules in regard to gifts received by the President.

He says that like her predecessors, Ms. Patil should have surrendered all her gifts to the toshakhana.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Kolkata, Jan 28: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said she is ready for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act but the Centre has to first withdraw the contentious law.

Banerjee said protesting against the decisions of the centre doesn't make opposition parties anti-national and iterated that she will not implement CAA, NRC or NPR in the state.

"It is good that the prime minister is ready for talks but the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) must be revoked first. They (Centre) did not call an all-party meeting before taking a decision on Kashmir and CAA.

"We are ready for talks but first withdraw this Citizenship Amendment Act," Banerjee, a staunch critic of the BJP, said addressing a protest programme against CAA through paintings.

The West Bengal assembly had on Monday passed a resolution against the CAA to become the fourth state after Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan, to do so. The state assembly had on September 6, 2019, passed a resolution against the NRC.

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Agencies
July 1,2020

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived as his grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of duty as terrorists opened fire on a patrol team.

In heart-wrenching images, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen, according to the police.

The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of the child being carried to safety by a policeman.

"Jammu and Kashmir police rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police.

The child was travelling in a Maruti car with his grandfather from Srinagar to Handwara when it was hit by a spray of bullets in Sopore town, which is in Baramulla district about 50 km from Srinagar.

The police said terrorists hiding in a mosque fired indiscriminately at the patrol team as it was getting off a bus. The CRPF troops retaliated but the terrorists managed to escape.

According to the CRPF, the grandfather stopped the car and got out to run to a safe spot but was shot dead in the firing by terrorists. The boy was later rescued by a policeman standing nearby.

Last week, a six-year-old boy was killed during a terror attack on the CRPF in Anantnag.

Little Nihaan Bhat was sleeping in a parked car when he was hit by a bullet. Police say the terrorist was on a bike and opened fire from a pistol on a CRPF patrol. One jawan was killed. The child's killing drew widespread anger and condemnation.

The terrorist believed to be involved in the Anantnag attack escaped yesterday after an encounter with security forces. Police said two other terrorists who were hiding with him at a village were killed.

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: The death toll in the communal violence in northeast Delhi over the amended citizenship law reached 32 on Thursday, senior officials said.

It was at 27 till Wednesday night.

"Five more deaths recorded at GTB Hospital, so death toll at that hospital has gone up to 30, taking total toll to 32," a senior Delhi Health Department official told news agency.

The Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital had reported two fatalities on Wednesday.

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