PFI calls TN police firing state terrorism, demands judicial investigation

Media Release
May 25, 2018

New Delhi, May 25: Popular Front of India General Secretary M. Mohammed Ali Jinnah in a statement, has condemned  police firing against protesters who were demanding the closure of the Sterlite Copper Unit in Thoothukudi district  of Tamil Nadu and called for a judicial inquiry into the incident that left at least 11 people dead.

“Evidences are emerging that the firing was preplanned and intended to kill protest leaders. People used their democratic right to take out protest rallies. There was no situation that warranted use of force on the part of police. Instead of accepting a genuine and just concern of people over severe  environmental pollution and taking  necessary measures to solve the problem, by using brutal measures and  killing people without even a warning, Tamil Nadu government has illustrated its  anti-people bias. We demand a judicial inquiry into the incident and compensation to the families of the victims. We also demand the permanent closure of the Thoothukkudi Unit of Sterlite Copper which possesses threat to people and environment.”

Criminal inaction by governments on the atrocities on Dalits and Minorities

Mohammed Ali Jinnah has also denounced the culpable silence and inaction of the central and state governments in the background of new incidents of anti-Dalith and anti-Muslim atrocities in the country.

Another round of horrific lynching and killing of Muslims and Dalits are taking place in various parts of the country especially in BJP Ruled states. In latest of the of dozens of Goraksha related atrocities,  On May 17, a man was killed and another left critically injured near Satna in Madhya Pradesh after a mob beat them up on mere “suspicion” of cow slaughter.  Before taking action on the murderers, Madhya Pradesh police has booked the victims for cow slaughter. In another incident on May 21, a Dalit couple was brutally attacked for refusing to clear garbage in Rajkot district of Gujarat. The husband was tied to a pole and beaten to death with metal rods by the mob. It was in last month that in Meerut a Dalit youth was shot dead for participating in Bharath Bandh. A situation has been created that, for Dalits and minorities in country, their very identity is sufficient reason to get publicly killed. He stated that while Central Government and BJP governments in the states continue to protect these communal criminals, it is the duty of the secular forces in the country to build up democratic resistance.

JNU “Islamic terrorism” course bigoted political interference in knowledge production

Popular Front general secretary M. Mohammed Ali Jinnah questioned the relevance and validity of the proposed course on “Islamic Terrorism” approved by Jawaharlal Nehru University Academic Council.

The course to be started by JNU on the controversial subject is part of the project of communalization of education undertaken by Modi government. Ever since present government came to power, they started inferring with education system of the country, replacing history with mythology and mixing superstitions with science. The proposed course links Islam, the religion of nearly 172 million Indians, with terrorism. This is a product of divisive Hindutva ideology and will only create more bias, divide and alienation Muslim minority in the national psyche for years to come. Mohammed Ali Jinnah cautioned that such political interference with knowledge production must be resisted both legally and academically.

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: With 6,566 more coronavirus cases and 194 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,58,333 on Thursday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs.

The number of active coronavirus cases stands at 86,110, while 67,692 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. The death toll due to the infection has reached 4,531 in the country.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 56,948 cases. Tamil Nadu has recorded as many as 18,545 cases while Gujarat and Delhi have recorded 15,195 and 15,257 coronavirus cases respectively.

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News Network
June 23,2020

New Delhi, Jun 23: In an unexpected development, the pump price of diesel is all set to surpass the petrol price in the capital, making it the most expensive transport fuel for the first time in a long time.

Globally, diesel is priced slightly above petrol prices due to the very nature of the product that has a higher cost of production. But in India, due to the lopsided taxation structure, diesel attracts lesser of the tax between the two auto fuels keeping its prices lower than petrol for last several years.

Diesel is currently priced at Rs 79.40 a litre in the Capital, just 36 paise short of petrol price that is being retailed at Rs 79.76 a litre. Going by the trend of price movement in the two products for the last few days where diesel prices have consistently increased by 50-60 paise per litre while the daily increase in petrol prices have fallen to just 20 paise on Tuesday, it is set to surpass petrol prices in next few days.

"Diesel price movement is sharper in international market and if oil companies follow the global price trend, diesel prices will surpass that of petrol later this week. It will be after many years that this would happen and is expected to sustain for some time unless government changes the tax structure of the petroleum products again," said an oil sector expert from one of the big four audit and advisory firms asking not to be named.

Interestingly, even in India the base price of diesel is expensive than petrol. According to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), while the base price of petrol in Delhi currently comes to Rs 22.11 per litre, the same for diesel is higher at Rs 22.93 per litre (effective from June 16, 2020). This has been the case for a long time, but retail price of petrol can be higher than diesel due to central and state taxes.

What has now brought diesel prices to a whisker of petrol prices in the capital is the Delhi government's decision early May to increase the Value Added Tax on diesel from 16.75 per cent to 30 per cent and on petrol from 27 per cent to 30 per cent. This increased the retail price of diesel and petrol in Delhi by Rs 7.10 and Rs 1.67 a litre respectively. With Central taxes on the two products already reaching identical levels, the Delhi governments move hastened price parity between petrol and diesel.

Currently, the Central excise on petrol is Rs 32.98 a litre while that on diesel it is Rs 31.83 a litre. The VAT on petrol in Delhi is Rs 17.71 a litre and that on diesel is Rs 17.60 a litre.

While the movement of retail pricing is being seen with a sigh of relief by vehicle owners whose cars run on petrol, those buying the relatively expensive diesel cars are now repenting on their decision. The development is also being seen with caution by automobile companies who have spent millions to ramp up their facilities for diesel run vehicles. The expectation is that demand for such cars will now fall, causing more damage to companies where sales are already impacted due to persistent economic slowdown and now the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pricing development would push automobile companies to strategies being followed by companies in the western markets where diesel run cars are not sold on fuel pricing differential, but on overall make and quality that puts them ahead of petrol run cars," the expert quoted earlier.

Yes, but for commercial vehicle sector the rising price of diesel had not been welcomed. In fact, the commercial transport sector had time an again threatened strike against the move to raise fuel prices.

With petrol and diesel retail prices closing, the case for adultering fuel has also gone down much to the relief of vehicle owners.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

Bhadohi, Feb 11: With just two days left for the State Budget Session, a widow from Uttar Pradesh''s Bhadohi district has accused BJP MLA Ravindranath Tripathi and six others of sexual harassment over the years, the police said.

The incident is likely to cause considerable embarrassment to the ruling Yogi Adityanath government.

Bhadohi Superintendent of Police (SP) Ram Badan Singh said: "The woman, whose husband died in 2007, met the BJP MLA Ravindranath Tripathi''s nephew in 2014. She said that she was physically exploited by him for many years on the pretext of marriage."

The complainant also said that the nephew then got her lodged in a Bhadohi hotel for about a month during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, "where she was raped by the MLA and his other family members".

The case has been handed over to the Additional Superintendent of Police for further investigations.

A case is yet to be registered.

The Uttar Pradesh Budget Session starts from Thursday.

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