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Police storm Jamia Islamia campus as anti-CAA protest turns violent

Agencies
December 15, 2019

New Delhi, Dec 15: Hours after violence rocked south Delhi on December 15, police said the situation was under control and they have detained some of the people who had allegedly indulged in arson and vandalism during a protest against the amended citizenship law.

They said police entered the Jamia university campus to only control the situation, after protesters indulged in violence near New Friends’ Colony area in south Delhi on Sunday afternoon.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said four buses and two police vehicles were torched during the protest, adding six policemen were also injured. He said stones were pelted from inside the varsity at police personnel, forcing them to use teargas to disperse the “violent mob“. Mr. Biswal said some people have been detained but did not give details.

Both the Jamia Millia Islamia students’ community as well as the Teachers’ Association have disassociated themselves with the violence and arson that took place near the university on December 15 afternoon.

Escorted by police, youths could be seen coming out of their hostels with their hands raised. Some of them claimed the police also entered the library and “harassed” the students.

Jamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan claimed that Delhi Police personnel entered the university by force without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were forced to leave the campus.

University vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar said students who were inside the library have been taken out and are safe. Ms. Akhtar condemned the police action.

“The Delhi Police has gheraoed Jamia students in the library. We do not subscribe to the bus burning incident which happened but those who did it were not from the varsity but outsiders. Innocent students are being targeted,” claimed a student who did not wish to be named.

Some others alleged that students have been detained by the police, but there was no confirmation from the Delhi Police, which said they were focusing on bringing the situation under control.

Three state-run buses and a fire tending vehicle were set afire by the protesters during the violence and arson in New Friends’ Colony.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke to Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and urged him to take all steps to restore normalcy.

Mr. Kejriwal said the Delhi government is doing everything possible at its end to restore peace. “Spoke to Hon’ble LG and urged him to take all steps to restore normalcy and peace. We are also doing everything possible at our end. Real miscreants who caused violence shud be identified and punished (sic),” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted.

In an earlier tweet, he said any sort of violence is unacceptable. “No one shud indulge in violence. Any kind of violence is unacceptable. Protests shud remain peaceful,” he said.

Schools in southeast Delhi to remain closed on December 16

All schools in southeast Delhi area will be closed on December 16 in view of the situation, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced.

“In Delhi’s south east district areas including Jamia, Okhla, New Friend's Colony and Madanpur Khadar, all government and private schools will remain closed tomorrow. Delhi government has taken the decision in view of the current situation,” Mr. Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

Earlier, students claimed that “certain” local elements had “disrupted” their protest and indulged in violence.

Sources said that as police tried to disperse the protesters by using baton change and firing teargas shells, some of the “outsiders” ran towards the campus and tried to hide there.

The Jamia Millia Islamia students’ body issued a statement said they had nothing to do with the arson and violence.

"We have time and again maintained that our protests are peaceful and non-violent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in the violence. We have maintained calm even when students have been lathicharged and some women protesters badly beaten up. Media personnel are a witness to these events. Violence by certain elements is an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests" said the statement.

In an official statement, the university said that the protest was not organised by Jamia Mllia students. "The violent incidents ocurred during the protest organised by the people of nearby areas and not by JMI students," it said.

Jamia Millia has already declared winter vacation and postponed semester examination after the December 13 incident. A large number of students staying in hostels have left and Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar appealed to the students to maintain peace.

Meanwhile, Jamia Teachers Association appealed to students to keep away from “direction-less” protest led by local political leaders. It said an emergency meeting of extended Executive Committee has been called in the JTA office on Monday to “discuss the misuse of Jamia’s name in the protests,” it said.

DMRC closes stations, roads blockaded

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) closed the entry and exit gates of the Sukhdev Vihar Metro station in view of the violent protests.

Entry and exit gates of Jamia Millia Islamia, Okhla Vihar and Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh have also been closed with no trains halting at these stations.

The clash disrupted traffic in the area with several vehicles stranded on roads for hours.

The Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet that the vehicular movement was closed from Okhla Underpass to Sarita Vihar due to the agitation. Vehicles coming from Badarpur and Ashram Chowk were diverted to alternative routes due to the blockade.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Idukki, Aug 8: Nine more bodies have been recovered from the landslide ravaged Pettimudi near Munnar in Idukki on Saturday. With this the death toll in the tragedy reached 26. Around 40 are feared to be still trapped under the debris or washed away.

The rescue operation by NDRF and Fire and Rescue Services that was stopped by Friday evening due to poor light and bad weather resumed by Saturday morning.

Horrifying scene prevailed in the area as relatives of the missing people screamed around in search of their beloved ones. As it is nearly 48 hours since the incident happened, the chances of recovering missing persons alive from the debris is becoming bleak. Three of the bodies recovered on Saturday could not be identified till evening.

Kerala Revenue Minster E Chandrasekharan, who visited the area on Saturday, said that search operation would be carried out until all the missing are recovered.

It was by around 11.30 pm on Thursday that landslide had hit the Nayamakkad estate of Kannan Devan Hills and Plantations. Settlement clusters of plantation workers where 83 persons were staying were reduced to debris as the huge rocks came bulldozing. Five of the residents were reported to be not in the spot while the mishap occured.

Meanwhile, heavy rains led to floods at many parts of the state. Red alert has been issued at Idukki, Malappuram and Wayanad districts for Sunday also. A total of 11,446 persons of 3,530 families were shifted to relief camps across the state, of which major chunk is at Wayanad.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that water level at most dams is increasing swiftly.

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Agencies
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jan 4: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended till June 12 its earlier order of May 15 asking the government not to take any coercive action against companies and employers for violation of Centre's March 29 circular for payment of full wages to employees for the lockdown period.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah reserved the verdict on a batch of petitions filed by various companies challenging the circular of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued on March 29 asking the employers to pay full wages to the employees during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the proceedings conducted through video conferencing, the top court said there was a concern that workmen should not be left without pay, but there may be a situation where the industry may not have money to pay and hence, the balancing has to be done.

Meanwhile, the apex court asked the parties to file their written submissions in support of their claims.

The top court on May 15 had asked the government not to take any coercive action against the companies and employers who are unable to pay full wages to their employees during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Centre also filed an affidavit justifying its March 29 direction saying that the employers claiming incapacity in paying salaries must be directed to furnish their audited balance sheets and accounts in the court.

The government has said that the March 29 directive was a "temporary measure to mitigate the financial hardship" of employees and workers, specially contractual and casual, during the lockdown period and the directions have been revoked by the authority with effect from May 18.

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Agencies
July 18,2020

New Delhi, Jul 18: National carrier Air India on Friday said that it is in a ‘very challenging financial’ situation and is taking recourse to several initiatives, with a view to ensuring the continuance of its operations.

The airline, in a statement, noted that it has introduced the partially voluntary 'Leave Without Pay' (LWP) scheme on July 14.

"The scheme primarily enables employees to avail the benefits of proceeding on leave without pay on a voluntary basis. The LWP scheme has been introduced for grant of leave without pay and allowances for permanent employees for a period of six months or two years, which is extendable upto 5 years," the statement said.

"Air India had brought out similar scheme earlier... Several hundred employees have, in the past, availed of the LWP Scheme."

As per the statement, in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there may be employees who are unable to attend their office duties in person on account of personal reasons.

"The LWP scheme enables employees to take a break from their office responsibility for a defined period of time with the approval of the management, while retaining their employment with the company," the statement said.

"They will continue to avail facilities such as passage, medical and housing at specified rates."

Accordingly, the LWP scheme provides the opportunity to employees to take up alternative employment with the approval of the management during the period of the said leave, the airline said.

"The LWP scheme is a win-win situation for both the management as well as employees as it provides flexibility to employees and simultaneously reduces the wage bill for the company," the statement said.

"It is important to note here that the Covid-19 outbreak has very seriously impacted the airline sector and currently, the airline operations of the company are a small fraction of the prior Covid level operations."

The airline said that employees are encouraged to apply for availing the benefit of the scheme, in the prescribed format, by August 15.

"The only addition in this scheme as compared to the earlier LWP scheme is that the management can pass an order requiring the employees to go on leave for a period of six months or two years (extendable upto 5 years) compulsorily taking into consideration 'Suitability, Efficiency, Competence, Quality of performance, Health, Non-availability of employee and Redundancy'," the statement said.

Furthermore, the airline said that this provision has been introduced for use, "very sparingly", with a view to ensuring that the overall efficiency of the organisation, improves and the management will ensure that this will be implemented with complete fairness and transparency as per prescribed procedure.

Consequent to the announcement of the scheme, Air India unions are discussing their strategy against the move which might involve legal recourse.

An Air India union leader on Friday told IANS: "This is going to affect the livelihood of many. Why not every employee of AI take LWP a few days every month. This way the burden can be shared."

"The motive of the top management is to save their money by snatching money from lower employees."

According to Air India PIM document, as on November 1, 2019, the airline, on a standalone basis (without subsidiaries), had around 14,000 employees, including fixed term contract staff.

The development comes as the Centre has re-initiated the airline's divestment plan with new norms.

Interestingly, this time, it has sweetened the deal by substantially reducing the debt on the airline's account books and offered a 100 per cent stake in the loss-making airline.

The last date for bid submission to acquire Air India has also been extended to August 31.

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