New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the logo, theme and website of India’s G20 presidency on November 8 .
Making the announcement on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the G20 presidency offers a unique opportunity to India to contribute to the global agenda on pressing issues of international importance.
It said the logo, theme and website of India’s G20 presidency would reflect the country’s “message and overarching priorities” to the world.
The United Sikh Mission (USA), a philanthropic charitable organization incorporated in Southern California, USA and also operating in Punjab has organised seven camps in the districts of Ferozepur, Sangrur, Barnala, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and S.A.S Nagar (Mohali) beginning 15th of October, 2022.
Apart from free eye check-up camps, there were provisions and arrangements for free medicine for eye care, free spectacles, free eye- surgeries and free meals provided along with pre and post operative care. A total of 2627 OPD’s, 265 Surgeries, 1684 Spectacles and 2533 Medicines were provided in the seven camps held so far.
Rashpal Singh Dhindsa, Chairman, USM while sharing the schedule for the year 2022-23 said that more than 50 free eye check-up camps covering more than 400 villages across Punjab, have been planned during the time span of five months.
United Sikh Mission is active in the State of Punjab since 2005 and has organized absolutely free-of-cost Eye Healthcare camps in rural Punjab. Dhindsa informed that added that this “Mission for Vision” is a selfless act of serving the community across the State of Punjab. Rashpal Singh shared that they generate their own funds from donations from various sponsors who are mainly NRI’s who want their native village to be benefited by these camps. He expressed that it is all Guru’s will and as humans they are trying to help other humans irrespective of their religion, gender and caste.
Elaborating further, he added that their mission is to empower communities worldwide by addressing disparities in healthcare needs by eliminating preventable medical illnesses while promoting peace and community to spread prosperity and kindness towards humanity. He appealed to come forward for any help, no matter how small it is, as a step in the right direction, especially in matters of healthcare.
Avtar Singh, Board of Director and Camps management, USM, India informed that this is an inspiring journey of a philanthropic American Sikh, Rashpal Singh and his team towards establishing a mission to improve eye-healthcare to serve his community in Punjab. He further elaborated that from 2005 they started with one camp and have since held 463 eye camps to the present day.
The USM has by far provided 253,593 bottles of prescriptions for eye drops,149,520 Spectacles, and held 27,974 free cataract operations. Apart from this, in rare cases in which a patient needed heart surgery or hip or knee replacements, they have helped with funds for them to get those surgeries.
Principal Ranjit Singh, General Secretary, USM, India informed that the villages in which they hold camps are sponsored by individuals. Their team goes out to these villages and the 10 surrounding villages to hand out pamphlets, hang posters and make announcements to inform them of their upcoming service. The postoperative care is also provided with two checks up at the same camp in which the operation took place. He added that they also provide medication, if required after the operation. At the Eye camps, besides eye operations, they also provide spectacles, medicine, free food and transportation to and from the camps to the hospital, he informed. Advance permissions for the camps are taken from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of each district. The USM plans to initiate work on a charitable hospital to take care of all eye-related surgeries, along with dialysis treatment, all absolutely free of cost, in Punjab.
Ojaswwee Sharma, India Head, Sikhlens shared that the whole exemplary humanitarian journey of USM work has been showcased in a 40 minute documentary titled ‘Silver Lining’ covering the span of 18 years of dedicated charitable service to the needy, showcasing the complete efforts and results seen in the state. The film has taken nearly two years to get completed, and is available on Sikhlens YouTube Channel.
Supreme Court Monday upheld by a 3:2 majority, the 103rd amendment to the Constitution introducing a 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in admissions to educational institutions and government jobs.
While Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela M Trivedi and J B Pardiwala agreed that the amendment does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution, Chief Justice of India U U Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat dissented.
Justice Maheshwari, in his judgment, said that the reservation is an instrument of affirmative action by the state to ensure an all-inclusive march towards the goal of an egalitarian society while countering inequalities. “It is an instrument not only for inclusion of socially and educationally backward classes to the mainstream of society, but also for the inclusion of any class or section so disadvantaged as to be answering the definition of a weaker section. In this background, reservation singularly on economic background does not violate any essential feature of the Constitution and does not cause any damage to the basic structure of the constitution,” he said.
Exclusion of the reserved categories from the EWS quota does not violate the equality code and does not in any manner cause damage to the basic structure of the constitution, he added.
Justice Maheshwari also opined that the reservation for EWS over and above the 50 per cent cap does not violate the basic structure, saying that the ceiling, by itself, is not inflexible and in any case only applies to reservation envisaged by Articles 15(4), 15(5) and 16(4) of the Constitution.
Concurring with Justice Maheshwari’s statement, Justice Bela M Trivedi said that the amendment enabling state to make special provisions for EWS other than Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes is required to be treated as an affirmative action on the part of the Parliament for the benefit and betterment of the EWS category. Treating the EWS class of citizens as a separate class would be a reasonable classification, she said, adding that it cannot be called unreasonable, or unjustifiable classification, much less a betrayal of basic feature or as violative of Article 14.
She further stated: “The impugned amendment creates a separate class of EWS from the general or unreserved category without affecting the special rights of reservations provided to the SC’s, ST’s and SEBC’s. Therefore, exclusion of SC’s, ST’s and SEBC from such reservation is not unreasonable.”
Justice Trivedi also said that though it was envisaged that reservation must have a time span, it has still not been accomplished even after 75 years of Independence. She added that the policy needs to be revisited in the larger interest of the society as a whole, as a step forward towards transformative constitutionalism.
Shimla: The grand old party Congress is trusting its old warhorses to leave behind greenhorns to win the November 12 electoral race in Himachal Pradesh.
In comparison, the state ruling BJP has largely discarded its veterans and reposed faith on comparatively younger faces with the slogan ‘rivaj badlega’ (electoral traditions will change), meaning to buck the trend to sweep the polls alternatively as both arch rivals ruled the state from 1985.
Out of 412 candidates in the fray, 24 are female and 388 male candidates. A total of 55, 92, 828 voters will elect their representatives. Of them, 193, 106 are first-time voters in the age of 18-19 years. There are 121, 409 voters above 80 years, while 56, 501 voters with disabilities.
Among the eldest candidates, the Congress has fielded Col. Dhani Ram Shandil (82) from Solan; Chandra Kumar (78) from Jawali; Kaul Singh Thakur (76) from Drang; Thakur Singh Bharmouri (75) from Bharmour; Kishori Lal (75) from Baijnath and Khimi Ram (73) from Banjar.
Congress rebel Gangu Ram Musafir (77), who has been denied the party nomination, is contesting as an Independent from Pachhad.
The youngest candidate is Piyush Kanga (26), who is in fray from Bilaspur as an Independent.
The others are Chaitanya Sharma (28) of the Congress from Gagret; Jabna Kumari (29) of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from Nachan; Puja (29) of the Himachal Jan Kranti Party from Bharmour, Manisha Kumari (30) of AAP from Nurpur; Kishori Lal (31) of the CPI(M) from Karsog; Vikramaditya Singh (33) of the Congress from Shimla (Rural); and Deep Raj (34) of the BJP from Karsog.
The BJP has denied the party ticket to 11 sitting legislators, shifting seats of two ministers, denying nomination to one minister, whose son has been fielded from that constituency, and swapping seats of two veterans owing to infighting.
The grand old party, which is trying to build up its ground on slogan ‘Himachal ka Sankalp, Congress hi Vikalp’ (For Himachal’s resolve, the Congress is the only alternative), has retained all its 20 outgoing lawmakers.
Srinagar: Weather was inclement in J&K during the last 24 hours as the MeT office said on Sunday that widespread light to moderate rain/snow is likely to occur during the next 24 hours.
“Widespread light to moderate rain/snow is likely to occur in J&K during the next 24 hours, ” an office of the MeT department said.
Srinagar had 5.2, Pahalgam 2.1 and Gulmarg minus 3.6 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature today.
Drass town in Ladakh had 0.1, Kargil minus 3.8 and Leh 0.5 as the minimum temperature.
Jammu had 15.4, Katra 13.7, Batote 7, Banihal 6.6 and Bhaderwah 8.0 as the minimum temperature.
New Delhi: Bhartiya Janata Party leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga installed a poster that compares Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Adolf Hitler, outside the Delhi BJP headquarters. The poster put up came after the national capital’s AQI crossed the 450 mark on Friday (November 4) and the air quality remained under the ‘severe’ category. The poster featuring Kejriwal’s photo alongside German dictator Adolf Hitler read, ” Kejriwal is the second ruler who turned converted his city into a gas chamber, Hitler was first.”
Talking to media about the poster BJP leader Bagga said Delhi’s CM is on a political tour while people of the national capital are struggling with the air pollution in Delhi. “He turned Delhi into a gas chamber. People are dying of pollution but he is on political tourism,” he said.
Meanwhile, Union Health minister Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also hit out at Delhi CM Kejriwal and said that he is busy campaigning for elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, so Delhiites should wear masks to protect themselves from pollution.
Mandaviya, in a tweet in Hindi, “The people of Delhi are urged to wear masks and protect themselves from air pollution because Kejriwal ji is busy making promises related to free rewari in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and advertising at the expense of crores of rupees of Delhi taxpayers.”
Chennai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday said it will not hold its proposed route marches on November 6 as certain conditions laid down by the Madras High Court in this connection were “not acceptable” to it.
An appeal will be preferred against the single judge order, R Vanniarajan, president, RSS South Zone, said in a press release.
He said the organisation had moved the court following the state police’s refusal of permission to hold route marches in 50 locations across the state on October 2.
Sundernagar (HP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the death of India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi, who died aged 106 at his residence in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur on Saturday morning.
Two days ago, Negi had cast his vote for the state’s Assembly polls through postal ballot, the Election Commission said earlier in the day.
Addressing a poll rally here in Mandi district for the November 12 assembly polls in the hill state, Modi said, “When I started from Delhi in the morning, I got to know about the death of Shyam Saran Negi. The 106-year-old had voted more than 30 times in his life.” “Just a few days ago, Negi had cast his vote through postal ballot for the Himachal Pradesh polls. Even before his demise, he discharged his duty,” Modi said, adding Negi’s outlook towards democracy will inspire the country’s youth.
Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has strongly condemned the broad daylight assassination of Shiv Sena leader Sudhir Suri in Amritsar today.
At the same time he appealed for peace and harmony and urged people to defeat the nefarious designs of the enemies of Punjab.
“There is complete collapse of law and order in the state and culprits are choosing and killing their targets with so much ease and convenience”, PCC president said in a statement here today.
He said, the killing reflects the failure of the government in handling the law and order situation in a state like Punjab. “This had to happen as the entire goverment is busy with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections”, he observed while cautioning the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann against taking things lightly.
Warring said, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can afford to leave his state Delhi and campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, but Punjab CM cannot as Punjab is not so easy to govern and administer as has been proven time and again. Punjab needs full time governance, he remarked.
The PCC president pointed out, Suri, irrespective of his political opinions was a high risk target and the government should have been more alert and careful about his security. He said, his killing has sent a shock wave across Punjab and caused a sense of fear among people.
He warned that Punjab cannot afford to allow the situation to drift into the dark era once again. “We have saved Punjab after so many sacrifices of people and it is our duty to preserve that hard earned peace”, he said, while appealing for unity and harmony and rising above partisan politics
