SDPI stages protest outside MHRD over Dalit scholar’s death

New Delhi, Jan 9: Crime in India has increased by 1.3 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017 with the registration of over 50 lakh cognisable crimes, reveals 2018 edition of 'Crime in India' statistics released this week by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

As per the NCRB, which works under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 50.74 lakh crimes, including 31.32 lakh under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 19.41 under the Special Local Laws (SLL) was registered in 2018.

The report says that there was an overall rise of 1.3 per cent in the registration of cases in 2017, but crime rate per lakh population was down to 383.5 in 2018 from 388.6 in 2017.

A total of 1.05 lakh cases of kidnapping and abduction across the country was registered in 2018, showing an increase of 10.3 per cent over 95,893 such cases in 2017, the latest NCRB report said.

A total of 29,017 murders were reported in 2018, up by 1.3 per cent over 2017. Of which, disputes were reported as the motive of the highest number of murder cases (9,623) followed by personal vendetta and enmity (3,875) and gain (2,995).

Accidental deaths have also seen a rise to 4,11,824 in 2018 from 3,96,584 in 2017 -- a rise to 31.1 per cent from 30.3 per cent in 2017.

The NCRB report 'Crime in India-2018' said in its disclaimer section that clarifications on data were pending from West Bengal, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Kolkata. Hence, the data from these states and city may be treated as provisional.

No let up in road accident deaths in 2018: NCRB

There were 1,35,051 incidences of deaths due to negligence relating to road accidents in 2018, according to the latest NCRB report on "Crime in India -2018".

When compared to the previous two years, the statistics show that there has been no significant change in the overall situation.

In 2017 there were 1,34,803 incidences reported from across the country, while in 2016 it was 1,35,656.

Incidents of 'Hit and run' accident cases have climbed up marginally over the last year, if the latest figures are any indication. In 2018, the 'hit and run' cases reported were 47,028. In 2017, the cases registered under this category were 43,727.

The data collection process for NCRB report on "Crime in India - 2018" including clarifications from the states/UTs/central agencies started in July, 2019 and continued till December, 2019.

People involved in farming sector, including 5,763 farmers or cultivators, committed suicide during 2018, the report reveals.

The annual data was released around three months after the government released the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on "Crime in India 2017".

As per the latest data, of the 10,349 persons who committed suicide in 2018, 4,586 were agricultural labourers.

The number of suicides in farming sector in 2018 accounts for 7.7 per cent of the total suicide victims (1,34,516) in the country, the NCRB data said.

Suicides in India in 2018 rose to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017. Rate of suicides is also up from 9.9 in 2017 to 10.2 in 2018.

In 2017, a total of 10,655 farmer suicides were reported.

West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers or cultivators and agricultural labourers during 2018, said the report.

Benagluru, Feb 27: The sudden hike in bus fares by the state-run transport corporation has triggered a public outrage and protests by the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka.

Terming the hike as anti-people and inflationary, the Congress urged the ruling BJP to withdraw it forthwith and spare the commuters from the additional burden.

"KSRTC and its affiliates should not further burden the people when the cost of living has gone up and its bus service is used by the majority in the absence of trains in many regions of the state," said Ravi Gowda of the Congress.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday night, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and its two affiliates -- North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKSRTC )and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKSRTC) -- increased bus fares by 12% with effect from Wednesday, drawing the ire of commuters and opposition parties alike.

Condemning the fare hike, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy urged the KSRTC to roll back the revised fares and give relief to the common man reeling under price rise due to CGST, SGST and food inflation.

"The BJP government has deliberately increased the bus fare ahead of the state budget for 2020-21 fiscal on March 2, catching people unawares. Though student passes have been spared from the hike, regular passengers are forced to pay Rs 5-32 more instead of getting better efficiency, management and productivity," Kumaraswamy said in a statement in Bengaluru.

It's an additional burden on us, said Bengaluru resident K. Venkatesh, while adding,

"The 12 percent hike in bus fares by the KSRTC and its north-east and north-west affiliates from Wednesday will hit passengers hard and make commuting costly.”

"The fare hike will negate the state government's efforts to encourage public transport service and force passengers to travel on the train, which is cheaper, faster and safer," asserted Venugopal Gupta, a cloth merchant in the city.

Justifying the hike, KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi Kalasad told media that the hike was inevitable due to the steady increase in diesel price, dearness allowance in staff salary and overall cost of operations.

"Since the last fare revision came in May 2014, the operational cost has gone up substantially due to Rs 11.27 per litre hike in diesel price, increase in DA to employees and repairing, maintenance and fleet management costs," Kalasad said.

The financial burden due to fuel price hike is Rs 261 crore, DA Rs 341 crore and operational cost Rs 601 crore per annum for KSRTC alone, he said.

"For the benefit of rural passengers, fares have been reduced to Rs 5 from Rs 7 for the first 3 km. There is no increase in fares for the first 12 km and up to first 6 km in express service," Kalasad added.

New Delhi, Mar 3: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra, who instigated violence in northeast Delhi by provoking mobs, has now been provided with 24x7 security. After he claimed threat to his life, he has been provided with “Y” category security — which entitles him to six security personnel round-the-clock to guard him in and outside the city.

He had fought the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections by giving inflammatory remarks around the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act in Shaheen Bagh, and lost to Aam Aadmi Party candidate. But he continued to issue provocative remarks.

While there is clear evidence of his scandalous statements just a day before the violence was unleashed on Muslims in Delhi last week where around 50 people were killed, no action has been taken against him so far. Instead, he is being treated as a hero in his party.

As per sources, Mishra complained that he got life threats over the past week in wake of the violence and based on his request, the Delhi Police has provided the security cover.

Mishra had taken to social media platform Twitter and alleged that he was receiving threats via WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook, from Indian and foreign accounts.

“I am constantly being threatened with murder on the phone, on WhatsApp, on email. Hundreds of threats are being given continuously from the country and abroad. I don’t fear this hate campaign against me,” he had said on Twitter on March 1.

Mishra had on February 23 made an incendiary speech, following which North-East Delhi witnessed anti-Muslim violence.

The Supreme Court of India on Monday said it will on Wednesday (March 4) hear a plea that sought immediate FIRs against Kapil Mishra, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and other leaders for their recent hate speech, which allegedly triggered the violence in Delhi. The plea was filed by Delhi violence survivors.

The apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, listed the matter for hearing after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is appearing on behalf of the survivors told the SC that the Delhi High Court had last week adjourned the matter for six weeks even as “people are dying every day”.