New Caledonia vote for Independence
Lawmakers in New Caledonia have voted in favour of a referendum in November this year, which will decide the territory’s independence from France.
The Congress of the French overseas territory approved the plan for a popular vote yesterday. New Caledonia, an archipelago in the South Pacific with a population of nearly three lakh, became the French colony in the 19th century.
In 1998, the French government and leaders of the independence movement signed an agreement to hold a referendum on independence from France by the end of 2018.
G-20 meeting in Argentina
Finance Ministers and central bankers from 20 leading industrial and developing countries are meeting in Argentina amid growing concerns over potential global trade war following US decision to slap import tariffs on steel and aluminium.
G-20 officials are also discussing issues including infrastructure development and the technology behind cryptocurrencies during the two-day meeting that began in Buenos Aires yesterday.This is the first of five such meetings to be held before Argentina hosts the G20 Summit in November
Russia blocks UNSC meeting on human rights in Syria
Russia has blocked a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the human rights situation in Syria. Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the un, Gennady Kuzmin said, they do not see any justification for the meeting since human rights is not a subject on the agenda of the Council. Russia is the largest international backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
France and six other members had called for the meeting, which was expected to include a briefing from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.
China, Bolivia and Kazakhstan voted with Russia to prevent the meeting, while Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia were abstentions.
Those who voted to hold the meeting alongside France were the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, Holland, the United States, Peru and Kuwait.
United Nations’ Human Rights Chief has criticised the Security Council for failing to defend human rights and prevent further loss of life in Syria where the war that has killed nearly half a million people enters its eighth year.
Mr Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said many who had sought to document human rights violations had been detained, tortured or killed. He said the Council has not lived up to the sacrifice of these heroes throughout Syria.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke at an informal meeting at the UN shortly after his expected briefing to the Security Council was blocked when Russia requested a procedural vote. The 15 members of the Council attended the informal meeting.
Israel’s Shin Bet arrests French Romain Franck
A French employee of France’s consulate in Jerusalem has been arrested for allegedly smuggling dozens of weapons from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, Israel’s domestic security agency said Monday. The Shin Bet said the man, identified as Romain Franck, 23, was part of a broader Palestinian smuggling ring, AP reported. He allegedly used his consular vehicle, which is subjected to less stringent security checks, as cover to transport the weapons through Israel’s secured border with the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet accused Franck of taking part in the ring for financial gain, saying his employer was unaware of his actions. The consulate in Jerusalem declined to comment and did not confirm whether Franck was an employee.
No-confidence motion dropped
Another day, another washout. No-confidence motion dropped amid protests in Lok Sabha: Notices of no-confidence motion against the government by the Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress were not taken up for a second consecutive day in Lok Sabha.
Today as the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked the MPs to quiet down so that she could introduce the motion, chants and protests erupted, forcing her to adjourn for the day.
It was deja vu as similar scenes had taken place on Monday when Mahajan tried to introduce the no-confidence motion, but the uproar in the House forced an adjournment.
Today will be the 12th day in a row that the Lok Sabha has not transacted any business
Africa’s leaders to launch world’s largest FTA
Africa’s leaders are expected to gather in Rwanda Wednesday to launch what they say will be the world’s largest free trade area in terms of countries.
Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) with 55 African Union members having a cumulative GDP of $2.5 trillion is one of the AU’s flagship projects, AFP reports.
Muhammadu Buhari, president of one of Africa’s largest markets Nigeria, this week canceled plans to attend the Kigali launch and called for more consultations after business leaders objected to joining the free trade area. “The signature of the CFTA is something that makes Africa look good on paper, but for implementation it’s going to have a lot of hiccups,” according to Sola Afolabi, a Nigeria-based international trade consultant.
Some 27 heads of state are expected to attend the Kigali meeting. It is still unclear who will sign on to the CFTA right away.
Sweden Foreign Ministry to summon Russian ambassador
Swedish Foreign Ministry announced Monday it will summon the Russian ambassador in Stockholm on March 20. Stockholm wants explanations over Moscow’s “accusations that Sweden could be the source of the poison that was used” against ex-double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has called that claim “unacceptable and unfounded,” according to Reuters. Russia’s ambassador will be summoned “on account of the Russian accusations that Sweden could be a source of the nerve toxin used in the attempted murder in Salisbury,” a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday.
Britain has accused Russia of being behind the attack. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the most likely source of the nerve agent was Britain itself, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the US or Sweden.
German: Don’t divide EU on trade
Washington won’t succeed if it tries to drive a wedge in the European Union with import tariffs, the new German economy minister, Peter Altmaier, has said during a visit to the US. Should Europe and the US plunge into a trade war, producers and consumers on both sides would pay the price, the minister warned. “We are a customs union and act jointly. It cannot be in the interest of the US government to divide Europe, and it also would not succeed,” Altmaier told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Sunday.
Vladimir Putin President Fourth Term until 2024
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has secured a landslide victory in the presidential election with over 99% of the ballots counted. Vladimir Putin is now leading with 76,6 percent of the vote, well above the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Russian Central Election Commission. Pamfilova announced the preliminary results during a news conference on Monday morning.
Putin’s fourth term as president will extend until 2024, the first Kremlin leader to serve two decades in power since Josef Stalin.With results still coming in, Putin is looking to surpass expectations by clinching more than 73 percent of the vote.
Putin, who secured a fourth term, thanked his supporters and promised new achievements while addressing a crowd gathered at the Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin on Sunday night.
Putin has promised to use his new term to beef up Russia’s defences against the West and to raise living standards. Putin, 65, has been in power, either as president or prime minister, since 2000.Allies laud the former KGB agent as a father-of-the-nation figure who has restored national pride and expanded Moscow’s global clout.
With strong backed by state TV, the ruling party, and credited with an approval rating around 80 percent, his victory was never in doubt.
None of the seven candidates who ran against him posed a threat, and opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred from running.
Putin has been holding the Presidential office of Russia since 2012 after winning three Presidential elections consecutively.
With 99.83 percent of the vote counted, first-time Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin is running second with 11.9 percent. Heavyweight nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who first ran against Boris Yeltsin in 1991, rounds out the top three with 5.66 percent.
The Central Elections Commission (CEC) has now 10 days to tally the final vote, Pamfilova announced.
Lalu convicted in 4th fodder scam case
Former CM of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav held guilty in the fourth fodder scam (Dumka Treasury) case by the Special CBI court. The RJD supremo, who has was admitted to hospital after falling sick in jail on Saturday, was in fact, present in the court.
Lalu Prasad and others are accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs. 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December 1995 and January 1996, when the former was the chief minister of undivided Bihar.
Prasad is already serving a jail term of 13.5 years in three fodder cases and lodged in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi.
The case is related to alleged withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar.
Besides Prasad, former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 29 people, including former IAS officers and some officials are also accused in the case. Mishra was acquitted today.
On Friday, the Special CBI court had made three former bureaucrats of Bihar accountant-general’s office accused in the fodder scam.
The court issued summons to former Bihar Accountant General P.K. Mukhopadhyay, former Deputy Accountant General B.N. Jha and former Senior Director General
SC ‘Defamation Bench’, Kejriwal 33 Cases CBI ED Rahul Too
March19, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com
Supreme Court of India should take note of the FACT That Indian Democracy is Under Attack when ‘Scores of Defamation Cases are LAUNCHED against Opposition Leaders’ – 33 Cases against Arvind Kejriwal but ‘No Case is Registered against Ruling Party.’
Supreme Court had earlier ‘REPEALED Section 66A MEANT TO SILENCE PUBLIC DISSENT.’ 33 Cases actually means 33 Times SILENCE than Freedom to Speech.
Supreme Court may also take note of the fact that ‘News Media is Largely Controlled by Reliance’ – We may not have ENTIRE Media under PUBLIC SECTOR, but Supreme Court can Restrict Ownership of a Corporate to say Max 4% or Restricted to Gujarat in case of Reliance.
Reliance Owns 4% Share of the Stock Market – He May Own 4% Equity in News Media Companies.
Why Would Someone Invest say 50% in News Media Which is Largely in Loss?
Supreme Court may Constitute ‘Defamation Bench in Delhi’ – Transfer All The Political Defamation Cases to Supreme Court Bench in Delhi because all parties have Offices in Delhi within 2-5 kilometer of the Supreme Court could be present in court at all times without wasting time in transit.
Supreme Court may ‘RESCIND ALL CASES FIRST’ allow 30 days No Action Days then ‘ENFORCE DEFAMATION LAWS STRICTLY.’
CBI & ED are Politically DRIVEN – Let there be ‘One By One Approach’ a person may be UNDER TRIAL for ONE CASE AT A TIME than as reported 33 Defamation Cases against Kejriwal are Fast Tracked.
It is in Public Interest that 33 Different Politicians are PUT UNDER DEFAMATION Than only Kejriwal.
CHEATING & FALSE PROMISES, FALSE DATA Should Invite ‘AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION OF CASES AGAINST POLITICAL PARTIES’ UNDER 420 SECTION. Parties indulging in False Promises & Cheating Should Be Barred from Contesting Elections for 1 Year to 4 Years.
Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS
Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857
Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,
Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects
TRADERS TO HOLD MEGA RALLY AGAINST SEALING
TRADERS TO HOLD MEGA RALLY AGAINST SEALING ON 28 MARCH AT RAMLILA GROUND
While intensifying their ongoing agitation against sealing and to make strong demand of bringing a Bill or an Ordinance for protection against sealing from Central & Delhi Government, more than 3000 Trade Associations of Delhi will join hands together to hold a Mega Rally on 28th March at Ramlila Ground in Delhi which will be attended by lakhs of Traders, Employees and their families.
Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that the Rally will be non political and no political party will be invited to attend the Rally whereas the traders at the Rally will demand the political parties to ensure stoppage of sealing in Delhi. To discuss and declare the strategy of making the Rally a grand success, the CAIT has convened a meeting of trade associations of Delhi on 20th March at Constitution Club.
Mr. Khandelwal today demanded that instead of using force and resources to seal or destroy already constructed building or usage, it will be more appropriate if action is taken on current unauthorised constructions or usages and to stop future constructions. He demanded the Government to constitute a High level Committee under the Chairmanship of Delhi LG to discuss as to how the next Master Plan 2021-2041 to be enforced in 2021 can be made a well planned policy document. The representatives of trade should also be included in the said Committee beside Officials.
BOOK LAUNCH, POETRY & MUSIC RECITAL, AND ART PERFORMANCE
BOOK LAUNCH, POETRY & MUSIC RECITAL, AND ART PERFORMANCE on 22 nd March 2018
- Thursday at 19:00–20:303 days from now · 17–31° Rain Showers
- pin
“The poetry of tango”
by Sonya Surabhi Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandopadhyay,Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon P Anand, A Sherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, Pablo Ramírez Arnol.
by Sonya Surabhi Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandopadhyay,Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon P Anand, A Sherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, Pablo Ramírez Arnol.
In collaboration with Embajada de la República Argentina en India / Embassy of Argentina in India
About the program: Book launch, poetry recital and live art performance, “The poetry of Tango”. A selection of tango lyrics translated from Spanish into Hindi and English will be recited and sing by poets, artists, scholars such as Sonya Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandohpadyay, Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon Anand, A Cherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, while the Argentine artist based in Mumbai Pablo Ramírez Arnol will do a live performance.
About artist: Pablo Ramírez Arnol is an Argentine muralist and painter currently living in Mumbai. Since he arrived in town in 2016, he has already transformed Bombay central train station with an amazing mural painting and gifted the city zoo entrance hall with a massive mural on Argentine-Indian friendship. Pablo has also reached out to hundreds of Mumbai children teaching workshops on drawing and painting-sculpture in schools, as well as giving seminars on Argentine art at schools and museums. Prior to his arrival in India, he spent much of his time teaching public art, muralism and, particularly, drawing and painting to blind and visually impaired people in Argentina.
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PRESENTACIÓN DE LIBRO, RECITAL POÉTICO-MUSICAL Y PERFORMANCE
PRESENTACIÓN DE LIBRO, RECITAL POÉTICO-MUSICAL Y PERFORMANCE
“La poesía del tango”
por Sonya Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandohpadyay, Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon Anand, A Sherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, Pablo Ramírez Arnol.
por Sonya Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandohpadyay, Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon Anand, A Sherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, Pablo Ramírez Arnol.
Sobre el programa: Presentación del libro “La poesía del tango”, que recoge una selección de diez tangos clásicos, traducidos por primera vez del español al hindi e inglés. Poetas, artistas, intelectuales y académicos como Sonya Gupta, Savita Singh, Alok Bhalla, Subhro Bandohpadyay, Akshay Kale, Sameer Rawal, Varoon Anand, A Sherlal, Vijaya Venkataraman, Minakshi Thakur y Gustavo Lozano, recitarán o cantarán los tangos contenidos en esta publicación, mientras el artista argentino residente en Bombay Pablo Ramírez Arnol llevará a cabo una performance en vivo.
Sobre el artista: Pablo Ramírez Arnol es un muralista y pintor argentino que actualmente vive en Mumbai. Desde que llegó a la ciudad en 2016, transformó la estación de tren Bombay central y el hall de entrada del zoológico de la ciudad con sendos murales visitados por miles de personas cada día. Pablo también ha impartido talleres de dibujo, pintura y escultura a cientos de niños en las escuelas de Mumbai. También en India, dictó seminarios sobre arte argentino en escuelas y museos. Antes de su llegada a la India, pasó gran parte de su tiempo enseñando arte público, muralismo y, particularmente, dibujo y pintura a personas ciegas y con discapacidades visuales en la Argentina.
National Convention and a Photo Feature on Agrarian Crisis,
National Convention and a Photo Feature on
Agrarian Crisis, Assault on Cattle Economy and Lynching of Dalits and Minorities
March 20 – 21, Constitution Club of India, New Delhi
All Are Invited !
Friends,
A spectre is haunting India : Agrarian Crisis and Hindutva. Farmers are rising up in protests, reflected in massive united actions across the country. The situation has been become worse with the sustained attack by the right wing groups in the name of cow protection on the cattle Dalits and minorities, having an impact on overall cattle economy as such. People are afraid to rear cows in certain areas, serious decline in cattle market, shutting down of the cattle fairs, and so on. Thereby completely destroying any supplementary sources of income for the farming communities.
The side of the story is that animal rearing has been a way of life for many nomadic communities from the Himalayas to the Deccan, irrespective of the religion. They are all now living in fear, forced to give up their traditional professions, are now migrating to the cities and engaged in begging or becoming completely rootless. This is historic, since they could survive the natural calamities and learnt to adapt but with this now its completely a desperation, since its their and their families life under attack from a force which no one is willing to take action against.
A series of violent mob attacks have undertaken in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and other states, mostly ruled by Bhartiya Janata Party, where State has turned its eye the other way and allowed them to continue. Rather than taking any action against them they have allowed them to flourish by their tacit support and pronouncements of their leaders from time to time in the name of Hindu culture and hindutva ideology. This has all led to an atmosphere, where farmers across different religions are fearing to rear cows, because they are unable to sell unproductive cattle and don’t know what to do if their cow dies due to old age or sickness, since Hindutva groups are resorting to barbaric attacks and communalising the situation. The society is sitting on a tinder box and ready to explode anytime, that’s what we are witnessing today. A phenomenon assisted by the penetration of the free data and the WhatsApp culture, where gruesome violence have been completely normalised.
The situation is worrisome and it is as much communal as the crisis of the agrarian economy, and the link can no more be ignored. The terror is being used by the dominant caste and religious groups to force Dalits and Minorities away from their land and resources and usurp it. This has been witnessed in Muzaffarnagar and many other places where victims have not been able to go back to their original villages and forced to sell them at throw away prices or just see it being captured forcefully. The growing attacks on dalits and minorities are damaging attempts towards changing the multi-cultural demographic profile of agrarian societies specially in the northern and north-western India. This imposes serious threats on the democratic and constitutional framework of the country.
The fight for justice and against Hindutva has to look at both the aspects and that requires engagement with the agrarian crisis, as much as with the communal politics. Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, a national level joint forum of over 200 mass movements and farmers organisations/ unions, has followed this dictum and intervened since 2015 on various occasions restoring and fighting for the rights of peasants, farmers, tribals, dalits and minorities. From collaborative struggles on land issues and agrarian crisis to fight against attacks on dalits/ minorities in Alwar/ Bharatpur, Rajsamand or elsewhere, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan continues to strive for equity and justice for all.
It is in this context that we invite you to a two day national convention on March 20 – 21 at Constitution Club of India, joined by farmers organisations, social activists, political party representatives, academics and the victims of the families of this violence.
The convention will be accompanied by a photo feature on the theme looking at the cultural and economic aspects of the same. The photo feature would bring home the point through images, data sheets, videos, sounds and so on.
Please also find the schedule as attached herewith.
We look forward to having you with us. Kindly do plan to come for the convention and stay for both days.
Bhumi Adhikar Andolan
Jan Adhikar Jan Ekta Andolan, National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), All India Kisan Sabha (Ajay Bhawan), All India Kisan Sabha (Canning Lane), Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Khet Mazdoor Sangathan, Lok Sangharsh Morcha, JanSangharsh Samanvaya Samiti, Chhatisgarh Bachao Aandolan, All India Kisan Maha Sabha, All India Agricultural Workers Union, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Sanyukt Kisan Sangharsh Samilti, INSAF, Delhi Solidarity Group, Kisan Manch, Bhartiya Kisan Union Arajnitik Asli, Mines Minerals and Peoples, and Others
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