Satya Pal Malik Sworn In As 13th Governor of Jammu And Kashmir

Agencies
August 23, 2018

Srinagar, Aug 23: Satya Pal Malik was sworn in as the 13th governor of Jammu and Kashmir today, ending the five-decade-long practice of retired bureaucrats being appointed to the post.

Mr Malik was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Gita Mittal at the Raj Bhawan in Srinagar.

State Chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam read the warrant of appointment issued by President Ram Nath Kovind before Mr Malik was administered the oath.

Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were among over 400 guests present in the ceremony, which also saw the presence of legislators, senior leaders of BJP, PDP, National Conference, Congress and other political parties.

Senior officials of the civil administration, police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army were also present at the ceremony.

Mr Malik, 72, has worked with almost all political hues of the country. He is the first politician to assume the position after Karan Singh, who held the office from 1965 to 1967.

Mr Malik, former governor of Bihar, had arrived in Srinagar yesterday.

Outgoing governor NN Vohra, who was at the helm of affairs in the state for the last 10 years, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a courtesy visit yesterday. He had also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Mr Vohra, however, could not attend the ceremony as he was not in Srinagar at the time.

Jammu and Kashmir is at present under governor's rule after the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support from its alliance partner Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in June this year.

Mr Vohra, a 1959-batch Punjab cadre IAS officer, had remained the choice of the central government, irrespective of the party in power due to his knowledge, expertise and negotiation skills.

Just as he saw Jammu and Kashmir through its worst crises, including the Amarnath agitation in 2008, Mr Vohra also witnessed the rise and fall of militancy in Punjab. He had served as the home secretary of Punjab after Operation Blue Star in 1984.

Mr Malik, in contrast, is a career politician who started as a student leader in Meerut University and became an MLA of Charan Singh's Bhartiya Kranti Dal from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh in 1974.

He had joined the Congress in 1984 and became a Rajya Sabha MP, but resigned three years later against the backdrop of the Bofors scam. He switched to the VP Singh-led Janta Dal in 1988 and became an MP from Aligarh in 1989.

In 2004, Mr Malik joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections, losing to former prime minister Charan Singh's son Ajit Singh.

Before taking oath as Bihar governor on October 4, 2017, he was in-charge of BJP's Kisan Morcha.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Amaravati, Mar 28: The state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka carried out a joint quarantine operation to help over a thousand migrant labourers from various districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhra Pradesh administration received the information that 1,334 migrant labourers were trying to return to the state after obtaining passes from the Deputy Director of Fisheries in Mangalore, Karnataka.
The labourers, according to a press release by the Andhra Pradesh government, were headed towards the Nangili Toll Plaza in Kolar district, from where they would enter the state to return to their native places.
"The Chittoor Collector, Superintendent of Police and Sub-Collector rushed to the spot to coordinate with their counterparts from Kolar, Karnataka. The migrant workers were not permitted to enter AP due to the lockdown and the guidelines of the Union as well as state government," according to the release.
Instead, both the governments decided to initiate a joint quarantine operation in Kolar while taking precautionary measures to ensure that none of the labourers are carriers of the COVID-19 infection.
The Andhra government also reassured the Kolar administration that it will provide doctors, healthcare and all other facilities. It has also issued directions for logistical support, food, water, transport to take the labourers to quarantine facility, and medical team, consisting of 12 doctors, 22 supervisors and other staff, to be provided.
While the Prime Minister had imposed a nationwide lockdown, including the suspension of inter-state travel to prevent the spread of coronavirus, migrant workers and labourers around the country have started returning back to their native places fearing joblessness and cash crunch.
Andhra Pradesh as of Saturday 9:30 am, had 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus while Karnataka's count stood at 55, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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News Network
July 22,2020

New Delhi, Jul 22: Congress leader Sachin Pilot has served a legal notice to party MLA Giriraj Malinga, for claiming that the former had offered him money to join the BJP.

"Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has served a legal notice to Congress MLA Giriraj Malinga for his Rs 35 crore bribery allegation," a source close to Pilot said.
P
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Malinga said, "Those MLAs who are stuck either in Haryana or Jaipur, are running after money. To say, they are not, are false claims. Even I was offered the same by Pilot, which I had refused. Came to this party knowing BJP and Congress do not accept money to give tickets."

When asked by the reporters whether he was offered Rs 35 crore, he claimed by saying, "Yes, 35." The MLA claimed he was himself the prove when the reporters asked for the same.

The political situation in Rajasthan is in turmoil after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked his then-deputy Sachin Pilot and the latter's confidants from his council of ministers. The Congress has also claimed that BJP was trying to buy its party MLAs.

On Monday, the Rajasthan High Court had said that it would hear the petition filed by Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs on July 24, against the disqualification notices issued against them, a lawyer said.

"The arguments in the matter have been concluded. The court has heard the arguments from all the parties. The High Court has slated the matter for orders on July 24," Advocate Prateek Kasliwal told reporters after the hearing. 

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Agencies
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: The Congress on Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why has not India gained anything from the "strange bonhomie" which it claimed he shared with China.

Seeking to turn the tables on the ruling party, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the BJP also shared bonhomie with the Communist Party of China (CPC) with several party-level exchanges taking place in the past.

He sought to know whether India's borders have become safe after these exchanges in the last many years.

The Congress leader asked what has the country gained out of these exchange delegations and why are the borders insecure despite the bonds that the two ruling parties of India and China share with each other.

"There is a strange kind of bonhomie between Narendra Modi and China, a two decade old bonhomie. Why doesn't the country get the benefit of that bonhomie," he asked at a virtual press conference.

Khera said all that the Congress will continue to question is about the political will that just does not get visible when it comes to China.

"Whatever is happening on the border today, is it despite the bonhomie which you have with China, or is it because of the bonhomie which you have with China. The country needs to know," he asked.

"We do want to ask you, if as president of the party, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah have been sending delegations,  strengthening the bonds between the Communist Party of China and the BJP. What has the country gained out of these bonds? Why are the borders insecure despite these bonds that you have," he also asked.

The ruling has hit out at the Congress for signing an MoU with China's Communist Party and has questioned its "bond" with the ruling party in China.

Khera also asked what role did the India Foundation, an organisation run by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval's son has in strengthening the bonds with China.

"Why does India Foundation keep visiting these countries? Who do they meet? What's the outcome? What's the role of NSA Ajit Doval's son- Shaurya Doval? He keeps attending these meetings through India Foundation? These are important questions in the light of what is happening," he asked.

Khera said the prime minister is showing "red eyes" to those who are asking him questions instead of showing them to the enemy.

"It is time to stand with the Army and show red eyes to China," he said.

The Congress leader said questions will be asked to Modi especially when there are definitive reports, satellite images of incursions in the Ladakh region of India by the Chinese.

He alleged that China laps up the comment of Modi and uses it across the world that the Indian prime minister says that China is in its own territory and Galwan is theirs.

"After a lot of pressure, PMO contradicted what the prime minister said. This kind of a goof up is unpardonable," he alleged.

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