Coronavirus: India temporarily suspends e-visa facility for people in China

New Delhi, Feb 16: Despite the fact that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to clean sweep in the recently-concluded 2020 Delhi Assembly polls with eight women candidates winning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's new cabinet does not have a single woman.

This, even as eight AAP women candidates -- Atishi Marlena, Rakhi Birla, Raj Kumari Dhillon, Preeti Tomar, Dhanwati Chandela, Parmila Tokas, Bhavna Gaur and Bandana Kumari emerged victorious in the 2020 Assembly polls.

Also, AAP's poll campaign had put the spotlight on women's issues- free bus rides for women, safety etc.

This year, AAP had fielded nine female candidates out of which only woman candidate Sarita Singh from Rohtas Nagar suffered defeat. In 2015, the party had fielded six women candidates, all of whom won the election.

Atishi Marlena, who won the election from Kalkaji, has served as a key advisor to the AAP leader Manish Sisodia primarily on education policies that transformed public school education in the capital.

Just like Marlena, incumbent MLA Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri constituency has also failed to comeback to the Cabinet in this term even after bagging over 74,100 votes, with a margin of over 30,000 votes and 58 per cent of the vote share.

She was charged with the Cabinet Ministry of Women and Child, Social Welfare and Languages, for a few months in AAP's first term from 2013 to 2014. During this, period she came to the spotlight as she became the youngest ever cabinet minister of Delhi at the age of 26 and was even called "giant killer" for defeating four-time Congress MLA Raj Kumar Chouhan in 2013 Delhi polls.

Another candidate of AAP, Raj Kumari Dhillon swept Hari Nagar against BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by a margin of over 20,100 votes.

Apart from these three, Preeti Tomar (Tri Nagar), Dhanwati Chandela (Rajouri Nagar), Pramila Tokas (RK Puram), Bhavna Gaur (Palam), and Bandana Kumari (Shalimar Bagh)- the other five who won for AAP- do not figure in the new cabinet.

Today at Ramlila Maidan, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

Besides him, Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain, and Rajendra Gautamas took oath as the ministers in Delhi.

AAP achieved a landslide victory in the Assembly elections with a clear majority of 62 seats out of 70. 

May 18: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced the date sheet for the pending class 10 and 12 board exams, which will now be held from July 1 to 15.

The exams were postponed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Class 10 board exams are pending only in the North East Delhi.

"The Class 10 exams will be staggered on four dates, starting July 1. The first paper will be Social Science, while the next day students will be required to appear for the Science exam,” said Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examination, CBSE.

“On July 10, exams will be conducted for both courses of Hindi and on July 15 for both courses of English," he said.

On health guidelines for students, Bhardwaj said that they will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and wear masks to examination centres.

"Parents will have to ensure that their ward is not sick and candidates will have to strictly follow physical-distancing norms," he said.

For Class 12, the Home Science exam will be held on July 1, followed by both courses of Hindi the next day.

The Class 12 Business Studies exam has been scheduled for July 9, followed by Biotechnology on July 10 and Geography on July 11.

Indore, Jan 24: Around 80 Muslim leaders of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the party in protest over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, calling it a "divisive" measure.

One of the leaders, Rajik Qureshi Farshiwala, said around 80 Muslim partymen have resigned from the BJP's primary membership after writing to the newly-appointed national president, J P Nadda, on Thursday.

These leaders, who dubbed the CAA "a divisive provision made on religious grounds", include several office- bearers of the BJP's minority cell, he said.

"It was becoming increasingly difficult for us to participate in our community's events after the CAA came into existence (in December 2019).

"At these events, people used to curse us and ask us how long we plan to keep quiet on a divisive law like the CAA?" he said.

"Persecuted refugees of any community should get Indian citizenship. You cannot decide that a particular person is an intruder or a terrorist merely on the basis of religion," Farshiwala added.

In their letter, the Muslim leaders stated, "Citizens have right to equality under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. But the BJP-led Central Government is implementing the CAA on religious grounds.

"This is an act of dividing the country and against the basic spirit of the Constitution."

Some of the leaders who have resigned are considered close to BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

When asked about the development, Vijayvargiya on Thursday evening said, "I am not aware of the matter. But we will explain (about the CAA) if a person is being misled."