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Rich archive containing items related to Mahatma Gandhi coming home

July 7, 2012
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London, July 7: A rich archive containing thousands of items related to Mahatma Gandhi will soon return to India after the Union Ministry of Culture signed a contract with auctioneers Sotheby's to purchase it before it was put up for auction on July 10.

The price paid by the ministry has not been revealed, but it is likely to be between Rs. 4 crore toRs. 6 crore, since Sotheby's expected the archive to fetch between 500,000 and 700,000 pounds.

Sources in the Indian government told PTI that the contract had been signed with Sotheby's and that the auction will not go ahead.

Confirming this, Sotheby's said: "The Gandhi-Kallenbach archive, which had been scheduled to be offered as Lot 30 in Sotheby's English Literature, History, Children's Books and Illustrations Auction on 10th July 2012, has been withdrawn from sale."

The archive includes several letters that throw fresh light on the controversial relationship between Gandhi and architect Hermann Kallenbach, one of the foremost associates and friends of Gandhi during his time in South Africa.

The archive, which is likely to be a rich resource for researchers and historians, was recently examined by a team of experts from the ministry, who reportedly described it as "very well preserved and of inestimable value".

The archive is now expected to be lodged in National Archives, New Delhi.

The auctioneer's Catalogue Note on the archive said that it "is richly informative of the important (and occasionally misunderstood) friendship between the two men, and is a key biographical source for Gandhi".

The archive includes "poignant letters" by the deeply troubled Harilal, Gandhi's first son, and reveals Kallenbach's deep friendship in particular with Gandhi's second son Manilal, who remained living on Phoenix Settlement in South Africa, and his third son Ramdas.

The archive contains mostly unpublished correspondence over five decades, including references to Gandhi's early political campaigns and the illness of Kasturba.

He writes in a letter: "I no longer want to be angry with her so she is sweet... She had a few grapes today but she is suffering again. It seems to be me she is gradually sinking".

In another letter, Gandhi writes before returning to India: "I do all my writing squatting on the ground and eat invariably with my fingers. I don't want to look awkward in India".

"These letters, together with those by other family members, Mahadev Desai, and other of Gandhi's close associates in India, provide a detailed portrait of Gandhi's personal life in India," the Catalogue Note said.

It added: "This extraordinarily rich archive stands... as a testament to a hugely significant figure in the life of Gandhi and a key member of his inner circle".


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News Network
March 3,2020

New Delhi, Mar 3: Delhi's Tihar Prison authorities had made all necessary preparations for the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case which was scheduled for Tuesday, officials said Monday.

However, on Monday evening, a city court deferred the hanging till further orders.

Postponing the execution, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the hanging cannot be carried out pending disposal of Pawan Gupta's mercy plea before the President, observing any condemned convict must not meet his "Creator" with grievance against courts for not acting fairly on the opportunity to exhaust legal remedies.

"We had made all the necessary arrangements for the execution of the four convicts which was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 AM. Now, the execution has been postponed and we are waiting for the further order by the court," a senior jail official said.

The hanging of the four men -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan -- who are lodged in Tihar jail, was fixed for March 3 in Tihar jail on a court order.

"We had checked the ropes. Hangman was called and dummy executions were carried out," another senior jail official said.

Barring Pawan, the other three had in the previous weeks moved curative petitions and mercy pleas which were all dismissed.

The first date of execution -- January 22 -- fixed on January 7 was postponed by the court to February 1. But on January 31, the court indefinitely postponed the hanging. On February 17, the court again issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for March 3 at 6 AM.

The court in its orders observed that the four convicts cannot be hanged since a mercy plea of one or the other convict was pending.

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News Network
February 12,2020

New Delhi, Feb 12: Unidentified people opened fire at the convoy of the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party legislator Naresh Yadav in Southwest Delhi when he and his supporters were returning home after visiting a temple after his victory, killing a party volunteer, police and a senior AAP leader said.

The firing incident happened in Kishangarh village late Tuesday night.

Police said they have detained a person for questioning and the incident appears to be a case of personal enmity. Sources said seven rounds were fired at the MLA's convoy.

Another person injured in the incident has been admitted to a hospital.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh identified the dead party volunteer as Ashok Mann.

“Convoy of MLA Naresh Yadav attacked in Mehrauli, Ashok Mann killed. Naresh Yadav was returning home after visiting a temple,” Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.

“At least one volunteer has passed away due to bullet wounds. Another is injured,” AAP tweeted.

Ankit Lal, AAP's social media in-charge, added that miscreants in another car opened fire on the MLA's convoy near Fortis Hospital.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 3: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 18 lakh mark with 52,972 positive cases and 771 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

The total COVID-19 cases stand at 18,03,696 including 5,79,357 active cases, 11,86,203 cured/discharged/migrated and 38,135 deaths," said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has a total of 1,48,843 active cases and 15,576 deaths. A total of 4,41,228 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the state up to Sunday.

Tamil Nadu has reported a total of 56,998 active cases and 4,132 deaths. While Delhi has recorded 10,356 active cases, 1,23,317 recovered/discharged/migrated cases and 4,004 deaths.

The COVID-19 samples tested across the country has crossed the 2 crore mark till August 2.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to August 2 is 2,02,02,858 including 3,81,027 tests that were conducted yesterday, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday. 

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