Union Cabinet approves over Rs 8,500 crore for updating National Population Register

New Delhi, Jul 19: Blaming the BJP for the political drama in Rajasthan, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday asked Sachin Pilot not to leave the grand old party.

In an interview to news agency, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said Pilot should not follow Jyotiraditya Scindia into the BJP, as he has bright future in Congress.

His remarks follow Pilot's open rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government, which has been on shaky ground with at least 18 legislators backing the rebel leader.

Pilot was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the state Congress chief recently and the Congress has accused the BJP of making efforts to topple the Gehlot-led government by indulging in horse-trading.

"The BJP is behind the crisis in Rajasthan," Singh said.

The Congress veteran said he tried to call Pilot but his calls and text messages went unanswered.

"Age is on your side. Ashok (Gehlot) may have offended you, but all such issues are best resolved amicably. Dont make the mistake that Scindia made. BJP is unreliable. Nobody who joined it from any other party has succeeded there," Singh said.

He said this is the first time that Pilot hasn't responded to him.

"Sachin is like my son. He respects me and I also like him. I called him three-four times and also texted him. He didn't revert. He used to respond immediately earlier," he said.

"It is good to be ambitious. How can one move forward without having ambitions, but along with ambition, one must also have commitment to your organisation, ideology and the nation," Singh said.

For latest updates on the Rajathan Political Crisis, click here

"I heard that he (Pilot) may form a new party. But what is the need for it. Has Congress not given him anything? He was made an MP at 26, a Union minister at 32, the state Congress president at 34 and deputy chief minister at 38. What else does he want? Time is on his side," Singh said.

If Pilot had any issue, then as the state party unit president, he should have called a meeting and discussed the matter, he said. Pilot could have involved Congress national general secretary and Rajasthan in-charge Avinash Pande in talks with Gehlot to resolve differences, he added.

"If you have faith in your legislators, why have you have confined 18-19 of them in ITC Grand hotel at Manesar in Haryana," Singh said.

This is the same hotel where the BJP kept MLAs from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (during political dramas in those states), he said.

Pilot should forget whatever has happened, come back and sit across the table to discuss how Congress could be strengthened, he said

Bidar, Jan 31: In a disturbing development, the police have arrested two women – a schoolteacher and mother of two students – in connection with staging a play against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at a prestigious school in Karnataka’s Bidar.

The arrested have been identified as Farida Begum, headmistress of Shaheen Urdu Medium Primary School, and Navida, the mother of a student who played a role in the play.

The development comes days after police filed a sedition case against the management of Shaheen School following a complaint lodged by the ABVP claiming that play contained objectionable dialogues against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The drama was performed during an annual function of the school on January 21.

Bidar SP Sreedhara T confirmed the arrest of Farida Begum and Navida, and said the accused were remanded to judicial custody on Thursday.

Sreedhara said that based on the complaint by one Neelesh Rakshal, the police filed an FIR under sedition charges, initially against the headmistress and management of the school on Saturday. He said that the police have questioned about 50 people, including the members of the management committee of Shaheen Urdu Medium Primary School, staff of the school, audience, parents and students. Based on the statements and evidence, the headmistress and the parent have been arrested.

The SP said that as per the statements and evidence collected, they came to know that the headmistress played a major role in organising the controversial play. The students practised the drama for a week and the headmistress knew about its script containing controversial dialogues against the Prime Minister and senior BJP leaders.

Considering this, she has been booked for creating communal disharmony and abetting sections. The SP said that when a dialogue of slapping the Prime Minister was said on the stage, Navida gave her chappals to the child, to be used while saying the dialogue. She has been arrested for abetting.

Expressing shock over sedition case and arrests, Dr Abdul Qadeer, the chairman of Shaheen Group of Institutions, said that the school management would fight out legally.

About Shaheen Group

Founded by Dr Abdul Qadeer, Shaheen Group has spread its wings through nine states of India and runs 43 institutions and related units. It has also been running a unique course for Huffaz named as ‘Hifz Ul Quran Plus’ in which Huffaz are prepared to appear and excel in competitive exams (NEET-JEE(IIT)).

According to Dr Qadeer, Shaheen’s mission is to engage, educate and empower wards, equipping them with strengths to enter the world of opportunities through free education across various domains in state- owned academic centers of excellence.

The group also runs coaching centers for medical and engineering entrance examinations. So far 1,200 students from the Shaheen Group of institutions got seats in government medical colleges, he said.

‘Hifz Ul Quran Plus’ course was for huffaz between 12 and 17 years. A four-year integrated course is conducted for Huffaz-E-Karam for getting students modern education. By pursuing this course and by appearing in competitive exams (NEET-IIT JEE), Huffaz will be able to get admission into MBBS, BE, & MBA, he said.

New Delhi, Jun 26: With the highest single-day spike of 17,296 COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,90,401 on Friday, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The country also saw 407 deaths in the last 24 hours, which pushed the death toll to 15,301.

The total number of cases includes 1,89,463 active cases, 2,85,637cured/discharged/migrated cases, as per the MoHFW.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of samples tested up to June 25 is 77,76,228; the number of samples tested on 25 June is 2,15,446.

Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country with 1,47,741 cases. The active cases in the state are 63,357. The number of people cured or discharged stands at 77,453 while the death toll is at 6,931.

Delhi has so far reported 73,780 cases. The active cases in the national capital stood at 26,586. While the cured and discharged numbers stood at 44,765. The death toll in the city is 2,429.

Tamil Nadu has so far reported 70,977. With active cases at 30,067 and the number of cured or discharged at 39,999, while the death toll stood at 911.