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Reformed killer gets invite from Pope

December 6, 2013

Pope_Francis_at_the_Vatican

Bhopal/Indore, Dec 6: Eighteen years after Samundar Singh brutally stabbed a Catholic nun in Madhya Pradesh and flung her on the roadside to bleed to death, the former convict has been invited to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The nun, Sister Rani Maria, was stabbed 54 times inside a packed Indore-bound bus passing through Udainagar village in Dewas in February 1995. The nun died by the roadside.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia from the Vatican invited Singh on behalf of the Pope through Swami Sadanand, a Catholic priest based at Chhindwara district.

The Pope was moved after watching a documentary film - The Heart of a Murderer - by award-winning Australian-Italian director Catherine McGilvray. This film depicts the ghastly crime and the power of forgiveness.

The slain nun's younger sister Selmy and Swami Sadanand have also been invited to attend the special screening of the documentary in Rome in the first week of March. Pope Francis will attend the function.

The message was conveyed to the Chhindwara-based priest Swami Sadanand through email, said church sources.

However, neither Sadanand nor Samundar Singh has a passport to travel to Rome. "I have not received any official confirmation and don't have a passport. I have lost all necessary documents to get one," Samundar Singh said.

Pope also wants to meet Sadanand as he was instrumental in 'changing the heart' of Singh, who spent 11 years and 6 months in jail after murdering Sister Maria.

In 1995, Samundar Singh acted at the behest of some landlords who opposed the nun's work among poor farm labourers. The nun had boarded the bus from Udainagar in Dewas and was on her way to Kerala. Singh, who was 22 years old at that time, was arrested and sentenced to death. His sentence was

later commuted to life term. Singh was freed in 2006 after serving the jail term and now earns his livelihood through farming at his village, 50 km from district headquarters.

Family members of the slain nun had forgiven him and accepted him a member of their family. Her younger sister Selmy - who is also a Catholic nun - ties a rakhi every year since he was in jail.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

New Delhi, May 31: The income tax department has notified forms for filing income tax returns for the financial year 2019-20.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified Sahaj (ITR-1), Form ITR-2, Form ITR-3, Form Sugam (ITR-4), Form ITR-5, Form ITR-6, Form ITR-7 and Form ITR-V for the assessment year 2020-21.

The department has revised the I-T return forms for the financial year 2019-20 to allow assessees to avail benefits of various timeline extension granted by the government following the COVID-19 outbreak.

The government has extended various timelines under the Income Tax Act, 1961, through the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020.

Accordingly, the time for making investment or payments for claiming deduction under Chapter-VIA-B of IT Act that include Section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC etc.), 80D (Mediclaim) and 80G (Donations) for the financial year 2019-20 had been extended to June 30, 2020.

ClearTax founder and CEO Archit Gupta said, "The new forms require a separate table to disclose tax saving investment made in the first quarter of 2020 for availing them in FY 2019-20. Taxpayers must assess their tax liability for FY 2019-20 and make sure they are maximising their Section 80C benefits if not already done so."

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Agencies
August 4,2020

Lucknow, Aug 4: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday left for Ayodhya to attend foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple tomorrow.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on August 5. The construction of Ram temple will begin in Ayodhya after the said ceremony in which various dignitaries from political and religious fields are scheduled to participate.

Bhagwat, along with PM Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and President of Ram Mandir Trust, Nitya Gopal Das will be present on stage for the event.

Supreme Court, on November 9 last year, had directed the Central government to hand over the site at Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple.

The formation of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust was announced on February 5 for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Trust has been mandated by the Central government to oversee the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Feb 14: R K Pachauri, a former chief of The Energy and Resources Institute, passed away on Thursday after a prolonged cardiac ailment, TERI Director General Ajay Mathur said.

He was 79.

"It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing away of R K Pachauri, the founder Director of TERI. The entire TERI family stands with the family of Dr Pachauri in this hour of grief," Mathur said in a statement issued by the TERI.

"TERI is what it is because of Dr Pachauri's untiring perseverance. He played a pivotal role in growing this institution, and making it a premier global organisation in the sustainability space," said Mathur, who succeeded Pachauri at TERI in 2015. Pachauri was admitted to Escorts Heart Institute in the national capital where he underwent open heart surgery and was put on life support on Tuesday, sources said.

In the statement issued by TERI, its Chairman Nitin Desai hailed Pachauri's contribution to global sustainable development as "unparalleled".

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