52 killed as bus falls into gorge in Telangana

Agencies
September 11, 2018

Hyderabad, Sept 11: In one of the goriest accident in the history of State Road Transport Corporation, 52 passengers including 32 women and four children, died and 30 others were injured when a Telangana Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) bus belonging to Jagitial depot, fell into a gorge on Tuesday morning.

The bus which was fully packed with around 86 passengers were coming down from Kondagattu Hanuman temple when the accident occurred.

Many of the causalities are on the front side of the bus where many bodies were found crushed with the impact of the accident. The police suspect the accident took place due to the failure of brakes while the driver was negotiating a last turn on the ghat road down the hill at around 11.30 am before reaching the highway.

Technical Problem ruled out

Few survivors, however, said that the driver lost control over the vehicle as he has put the bus on neutral gear while coming down the ghat road. The driver of the bus Srinivas lost his life and conductor Parameshwar who was issuing tickets at that time was injured. TSRTC officials who ruled out technical problems say that the driver was not supposed to bring the Jagitial-Sanivarampet bus through the Ghat road.

All the bodies have been recovered and shifted to Jagitial government hospital. Injured have been shifted to Karimnagar. While the local villagers quickly jumped into action and took up the rescue works, Jagitial collector Sharath and superintendent of police Sindhu Sharma rushed to the spot along with the police forces to take up rescue operations.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock over the ghastly road accident. He expressed deep condolences on the loss of lives and injuries to others and directed the officials concerned to provide immediate medical assistance to the injured. State finance minister Eatala Rajender rushed to the spot which is 177 kilometres from here. The government has announced Rs 5 lakh exgratia to the kin of the deceased.

“The TSRTC will also announce exgratia. If there are farmers then there will be an addition of Rs 5 lakh from the farmer’s insurance scheme,” Rajender said adding that anyone with TRS membership will get Rs 2 lakh compensation. He assured that steps will be taken to see that such an incident will not repeat in future.

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News Network
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Minutes after Jyotiraditya Scindia submitted his resignation to the party membership to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress expelled him for anti-party activities after reports emerged that he had met PM Modi and Amit Shah.

Disgruntled Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday amid indications that he might join hands with the BJP to topple the Madhya Pradesh government.

Sources said Scindia first met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and then the two leaders met Modi at the prime minister's residence.

Legislators loyal to Scindia, who has been upset with the Congress leadership with his marginalisation in the affairs of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, are likely to quit the party to reduce the Kamal Nath-led government to a minority.

It is likely to be followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party staking claim to form the government in the state.

The Congress President has approved the expulsion of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect for "anti-party activities," said KC Venugopal, General Secretary Congress.

No person is, nor will be greater than the party: Congress youth wing chief

Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief Srinivas B V on Tuesday slammed Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress, and thanked party chief Sonia Gandhi for expelling the former Guna MP "who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism".

"The history of 1857 and 1967 was once again repeated," Srinivas B V said, referring to the 1857 Revolt against East India Company and the role of the Scindia royals back then as well as Vijayaraje Scindia's switch from the Congress to the Jana Sangh in 1967.

"I would like to thank Congress president Sonia Gandhiji for taking the strong steps to expel the leader who was promoting anti-party activities and factionalism," the IYC chief said.

"No person is, nor will be greater than the party," he added.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday recalled the significance of the path of 'maryada' associated with Lord Ram in the backdrop of the situation created by COVID-19 and emphasised the importance of social distancing and wearing face masks.

He said that the current situation demands 'maryada' should be 'do gaz ki doori, mask hai zaroori' and exhorted everyone to follow it.

In his speech after laying the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister said the temple of Lord Ram will inspire and guide humans for ages to come.

He said that the path of `maryada' followed by Lord Ram is all the more necessary today in the situation created by COVID-19.

"The `maryada' (need) today is do gaj ki doori, mask hai jaroori (keep distance of two yards, wear mask). The Almighty may keep all the citizens healthy and happy, this is my prayer. The blessings of Mother Sita and Shri Ram be always there on the citizens," he said.

The Prime Minister termed the occasion as historic and said that India is starting a glorious chapter when people across the country are excited and emotional to have finally achieved what they had been waiting for centuries.

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News Network
January 22,2020

Jan 22: India's ranking in the latest global Democracy Index has dropped 10 places to the 51st spot out of 167 owing to violent protests and threats to civil liberties challenging freedoms across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been criticized by rights groups and western governments after shutting off the internet and mobile phone networks and detaining opposition politicians in Kashmir.

Modi’s government has also responded harshly to ongoing protests against a controversial, religion-based citizenship law. Muslims have said their neighborhoods have been targeted, while the central government has attempted to ban protests and urged TV news channels not to broadcast “anti-national” content. Some leaders in Modi’s ruling party called for “revenge” against protesters. India’s score in 2019 was its worst ranking since the EIU’s records began in 2006, and has fallen gradually since Modi was elected in 2014.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2019 Democracy Index, which provides an annual comparative analysis of political systems across 165 countries and two territories, said the past year was the bleakest for democracies since the research firm began compiling the list in 2006.

“The 2019 result is even worse than that recorded in 2010, in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis,” the research group said in releasing the report on Wednesday.

The average global score slipped to 5.44 out of a possible 10 -- from 5.48 in 2018 -- driven mainly by “sharp regressions” in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. Apart from coup-prone Thailand, which improved its score after holding an election last year, there were also notable declines in Asia after a tumultuous period of protests and new measures restricting freedom across the region’s democracies.

Asia Declines

Hong Kong, meanwhile, fell three places to rank 75th out of 167 as more than seven months of violent and disruptive protests rocked the Asian financial hub. An aggressive police response early in the unrest, when protests were mostly peaceful, led to a “marked decline in confidence in government -- the main factor behind the decline in the territory’s score in our 2019 index,” the group said.

In Singapore, which ranked alongside Hong Kong at 75th, a new “fake news” law led to a deteriorating score on civil liberties.

“The government claims that the law was enacted simply to prevent the dissemination of false news, but it threatens freedom of expression in Singapore, as it can be used to curtail political debate and silence critics of the government,” EIU analysts said.

China’s score fell to just 2.26 in the EIU’s ranking, placing it near the bottom of the list at 153, as discrimination against minorities, repression and surveillance of the population intensified. Still, in China “the majority of the population is unconvinced that democracy would benefit the economy, and support for democratic ideals is absent,” the EIU said.

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