Parl approves bill to settle 41-year-old border issue with Bangladesh

May 7, 2015

New Delhi, May 7: Settling the country's 41-year-old border issue with Bangladesh, Parliament today unanimously passed a historic bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement that provides for exchange of territories.Parleament

The Lower House, showing rare unanimity, passed the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill to allow the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement.

All the 331 members present in the House voted for the bill which became the 100th Constitutional amendment passed by Parliament.

Soon after the passage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to the Opposition benches to thank leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, BJD's B Mahtab, TMC's Sudip Bandopadhyay and AIADMK leader P Venugopal.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it was beneficial for both the countries and that there will a "notional" loss of territory without borders getting contracted.

India will get 510 acres while Bangladesh will get 10,000 acres. "But these are notional figures as these areas are deep inside territories of the two countries. Our borders are not getting contracted," she said, while responding to members' questions whether India will lose some territory.

Swaraj said the measure, apart from demarcating the boundaries, would also help checking illegal immigration.

"A solution to the problem of illegal immigration is inherent in this legislation. With the land border now being decided (with the passage of the bill), the portions where there is no fencing will also get fenced," she said.

Swaraj said the only issue which remained to be settled with Bangladesh was that of river water-sharing, primarily relating to Teesta river. "The way in which we are now settling the land boundary issue, we will try to settle this issue also."

The maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh has also been settled last year with the award by the international tribunal.

Refuting allegations about India's alleged 'big brotherly' attitude, the External Affairs Minister said "one is 'big brother' which symbolises arrogance. But there is also the 'elder brother' who is caring. Ours is a caring attitude. India will maintain the attitude of the 'elder brother' with our neighbours."

She also announced a package of Rs 3,008 crore to West Bengal for rehabilitation Indian nationals who will come from Bangladesh, with their numbers estimated to go up to 30,000.

Of this amount, Rs 775 crore is for expenses on fixed infrastructure and the remaining amount would be for variable expenses, depending upon how many people are to be rehabilitated by the state government.

Swaraj, in her speech, also referred to the Indira Gandhi-Mujibur Rahman Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 and the historic protocol signed between former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina in September 2011 paving the way for elimination of Bangladeshi and Indian territorial enclaves.

Observing that she has been "transparent" in stating that her party BJP was earlier opposed to the bill, the Minister said it was primarily because of concerns that Assam's interests would be adveresely affected.

However, she said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who had earlier expressed some reservations on similar lines, wrote to the Prime Minister and her, urging the Centre to include the clauses relating to the state.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: For 30-year-old Shabana Parveen, it was nothing sort of a miracle — giving birth to a healthy baby boy after surviving a brutal attack by a mob who kicked and assaulted her and her husband in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar.

Their home set afire by the mob, Ms Parveen's family is now pinning their hopes on the newborn who they called a "miracle baby".

Ms Parveen, her husband, two kids and mother-in-law were sleeping inside the house on Monday night when a mob barged into their house.

Narrating their ordeal, Ms Parveen's mother-in-law Nashima told PTI, "They hurled religious slurs, beat up my son. Some of them even kicked my daughter-in-law in the abdomen...as I went to protect her they came charging at me... We thought we would not survive that night. But with God's grace we somehow managed to escape from the clutches of the rioters."

"We rushed Parveen to a nearby hospital but doctors there asked us to go to Al-hind Hospital where she delivered a baby boy on Wednesday," she added.

Despite having lost their home for over two decades and all belongings, her family has overcome the initial shock and are now overjoyed with the birth of the "miracle baby".

Ms Nashima said she had no clue where the family would go after Ms Parveen was discharged from the hospital.

"It's all gone there. Nothing left. Maybe, we will go to some relative's place and see how we can re-build our life," she said.

Ali, 6, who held his one-day-old brother, caressing his forehead, said, "I will take care of him forever and save him from every ill."

The violence over the amended citizenship law in northeast Delhi has claimed 38 lives so far and left over 200 people injured. Frenzied mobs torched houses, shops, vehicles, a petrol pump and pelted stones at locals and police personnel.

Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh and Shiv Vihar are among the areas mainly affected by the clashes.

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News Network
May 12,2020

Srinagar, May 12: Two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers committed suicide after shooting themselves with their service rifles in Kashmir on Tuesday.

In the first incident, a CRPF sub-inspector on Tuesday committed suicide after shooting himself with his service rifle at Mattan area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The deceased, identified as Fatah Singh of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, had reportedly left behind a suicide note that read: “I am afraid, I may have Corona.”

Station House Officer (SHO) Akura, Mattan police station Jazib Ahmed said that they have followed the COVID-19 protocol while dealing with the body of the CRPF sub-inspector. “His samples have been taken and post-mortem conducted. Only results would confirm whether he was a COVID-19 positive,” he said.

CRPF spokesman in Srinagar Pankaj Singh said the officer had returned to his unit after performing a day-long duty. “As such, there is no evidence that he had caught COVID-19. Let’s wait for the final report. Details will be shared with the media,” Singh said.

Hours after the first incident, an assistant-sub-inspector of the CRPF posted in Srinagar also committed suicide by shooting himself dead with his service rifle.

Special Director General of CRPF, Zulfikar Hassan said they were trying to find out the reason for the two boys taking this extreme step.

Suicides and fratricide incidents are not uncommon among the CRPF and the Army personnel deployed in Kashmir. In 2006, recognising the rising fratricide and suicide cases among the armed forces, the then Defence Minister had constituted an expert group of psychiatrists under the Defence Institute of Psychological Research in order to suggest remedial measures to prevent suicide and fratricide incidents.

Over the last decade, incidents of fratricide have reportedly reduced in the Army as the force has taken measures to address the issue.

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News Network
June 7,2020

Bhopal, June 7: In a shocking incident of medical cruelty, an 80-year-old man was tied to a hospital bed in Madhya Pradesh after he allegedly failed to make payment of fees for his treatment. The incident took place at the City Hospital in Shajapur.  

The hospital, however, claimed that he was having convulsions and as a result had his hands and legs tied so that he could not hurt himself.

The man’s family members have accused the hospital authorities of resorting to the heinous act after they failed to pay a fee of Rs 11,000 for his treatment at the. 

“We had deposited a bill of Rs 5,000 at the time of admission but when the treatment took a few more days, we did not have the money to pay the bill,” his daughter told the channel.

The hospital, however, maintained that the man was shackled because he was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance. “He was having convulsions because of electrolyte imbalance,” an unidentified doctor said. “We tied him so that he could not hurt himself.” 
The doctor claimed the hospital had waived off the man’s bill on “humanitarian grounds”.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took cognizance of the matter and promised strict action against the hospital authorities. 

The Shajapur administration has also ordered an inquiry and has sent a police team to the hospital for investigation, the district collector told media persons.

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