Tag: Ladakh News

Bharat Jodo Yatra not for winning elections: Cong chief Kharge

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Srinagar: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra was not for winning elections but to counter the hate spread by the BJP and the RSS in the country.
Addressing a rally to mark the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, amid heavy snowfall, he also said Gandhi was determined to restore Jammu and Kashmir statehood.
“The yatra was not for winning elections but against hate. BJP people are spreading hate in the country. Rahul Gandhi has proven that he can unite the country from Kanyakumari to Kashmir on issues like unemployment and inflation,” Kharge said at the rally here to mark the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar.
Kharge alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and the BJP were pursuing the policy widening the poor-rich divide in the country.
“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji, RSS and BJP want to keep poor people poor and to make rich, richer. Ten per cent people are looting 72 per cent wealth of the country while 50 per cent own just three per cent,” he said.
While addressing the rally, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she was also apprehensive initially if people will join the yatra.
“My brother has been walking for the last five months from Kanyakumari. Earlier I also thought, it was a long journey whether people will come out. But they came out everywhere. They came out because people of the country have spirit for unity,” she said.
She said Gandhi, as he was entering Jammu and Kashmir, sent a message to their mother Sonia Gandhi saying that he was going home.

“The whole country supported the yatra. The politics that is happening in the country cannot benefit the country. The politics that divides cannot benefit the country. Those who walked have shown a ray of hope,” she added.
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#Bharat #Jodo #Yatra #winning #elections #Cong #chief #Kharge
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Bharat Jodo Yatra leaves behind trail of issues, hope for 2024

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Srinagar: The curtains may have come down on the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra here but it has left behind a trail of people’s issues, enthused party cadres, controversies, and a hope that the grand old party could mount a challenge in the general elections next year.
Congress watchers feel the yatra has found some answers the party had been looking for on the road to 2024 but questions remain about whether it will yield electoral dividends going forward.
The yatra culminated at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headquarters in the Lal Chowk area here with unfurling of the national flag after traversing 12 states and two Union territories in over 140 days after its launch on September 7 last year, clocking over 4,000 km.
During the course of the yatra, Rahul Gandhi addressed 12 public meetings, over 100 corner meetings, and 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions.
Whether it leads to a lasting impact on the electoral fortunes of the Congress only time will tell but it is certain to have a place in history as one of the longest yatras undertaken by a political leader on foot, post-independence.
Probably Chandra Shekhar’s Bharat Yatra in 1983 from Kanyakumari to Delhi would be the closest to it.
Many experts say a big takeaway from the yatra for the Congress has been Gandhi’s image transformation — from a reluctant and part-time politician to one who is mature and taken seriously by opponents.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh considered the brain behind the yatra along with party colleague Digvijaya Singh, believes that the transformation of Gandhi’s image was not the cause of the yatra but a consequence of it.
Asserting that the Congress made “huge gains” from the yatra, Ramesh said the party succeeded in conveying the messages of the march — the threats to the republic from economic inequalities, social polarisation and political dictatorship.

With over 4,000 km under his belt, Gandhi managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors and the march saw participation from a cross-section of society, including film and TV celebrities such as Kamal Haasan, Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen, Sushant Singh, Swara Bhasker, Rashami Desai, Akanksha Puri and Amol Palekar.
Besides participation from tinsel town celebrities, writers, military veterans including former army chief Gen (retd) Deepak Kapoor, ex-navy chief Admiral L Ramdas, and noted persons such as former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and ex-finance secretary Arvind Mayaram, also participated in the yatra.
Opposition leaders such as National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdulla, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Sanjay Raut and NCP’s Supriya Sule, also walked alongside Gandhi at various points in time during the march.
While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge joined the yatra on many occasions, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi participated in the yatra twice in Karnataka’s Mandya and in Delhi.
Though there were several landmark occasions, one historic moment was Rahul Gandhi unfurling the national flag in front of the iconic Charminar here, over 32 years after his father and then party chief Rajiv Gandhi had started the ‘Sadbhavna Yatra’ from the same spot.
The Kanyakumari to Kashmir foot march also courted many controversies in the last nearly five months and led to several fiery exchanges between the Congress and the BJP including on Rahul Gandhi’s ever-growing salt-and-pepper beard and his Burberry T-shirt.
As the Gandhi-led yatra continued so did the sparring on social media platforms, TV debates and on the streets.
There were also times when dissensions within the party and its allies came to the fore. The Maharashtra leg saw fissures surface between the Congress and its ideologically incompatible ally Shiv Sena after Gandhi attacked Savarkar over his mercy petitions to the British.
When the yatra was in Madhya Pradesh, a crisis erupted in the party in Rajasthan, the yatra’s next destination, as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot slammed his former deputy Sachin Pilot and called him a ‘gaddar’ in an interview.
The matter was resolved just in the nick of time and a show of unity was put up by Gehlot and Pilot with party general secretary, organization, K C Venugopal brokering an uneasy truce just ahead of the yatra entering the desert state.
Gandhi’s white T-shirt, no-sweater look in north India’s famed winter was also the subject of much attention. He said he decided to wear only T-shirts during the march after meeting three poor girls “shivering in torn clothes” in Madhya Pradesh.
There have also been casualties during the yatra. Congress’ Jalandhar MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary died following a cardiac arrest during the Punjab leg. A Congress Seva Dal functionary died after collapsing in Nanded in Maharashtra.
Besides, a 62-year-old man from Tamil Nadu died and another person from that state was injured after being hit by a truck in Nanded when they were participating in the Congress’ foot march.
The yatra took a nine-day break around Christmas-New Year and resumed the cross-country march from January 3 from New Delhi.
The yatra then moved on to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and continued to attract large crowds with serpentine trail of people on roads being a staple during the walkathon.
After a few hours in Himachal Pradesh, the yatra entered Jammu to a rousing reception but a major row played out there with senior leader Digvijaya Singh questioning the government’s claims on surgical strikes and accused it of peddling lies.
This drew a furious reaction from the BJP, which said the opposition had “insulted” the armed forces. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi distanced themselves from Singh’s remarks with the former party chief even calling them “ridiculous”.
As Gandhi entered the Kashmir Valley on Friday he had to cancel his walk, with the party alleging a security lapse. The Jammu and Kashmir Police, however, rejected the Congress charge.
Gandhi on Sunday unfurled the national flag at the historic clock tower of Lal Chowk after the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ entered Srinagar, amid stringent security measures. The yatra came to a close with this morning’s hoisting of flag at the PCC office.
Former Congress leader Sanjay Jha, who has also been the party’s spokesperson, said the Bharat Jodo Yatra has exponentially increased the perception that the Congress, long accused of inexplicable inertia, is now ready to take the BJP head-on.
“This is significant. The BJP has successfully created the political narrative that there is no alternative to Modi, despite their underwhelming performance. This can now be challenged; the Congress has positioned itself as the fulcrum of the opposition,” he told PTI.
The yatra has resuscitated hopes of a more even contest in 2024, he added. PTI ASK
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Lack of ability to tackle Ukraine war reflects UNSC’s ‘dysfunctional’ system: UNGA prez

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New Delhi: The “dysfunctional” system of the UN Security Council has been reflected in the “absurd” situation arising out of one of its permanent members attacking Ukraine and the global body’s failure to address it, UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi said on Monday.
In an address at a think-tank, Korosi called for urgent reform of the UNSC to reflect the changing balance of global power and economic heft of various countries and criticized the slow process that was started around 17 years back to bring the changes.
India has been strongly demanding permanent membership in the UNSC considering the size of its population and role in international affairs. The current permanent members of the UNSC are China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
Addressing a group of diplomats, strategic affairs experts, and academicians at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), the UNGA president also wondered why there is still no agreement on a text to take forward the reform process.
“Does it have a time frame? No, I think it does not. Does it have a negotiated text, no it does not…Have you ever seen a negotiated process that has no text to negotiate? Have you ever seen a negotiating process that has no clear-cut timeframe for when to deliver,” he asked.
“Why the member states cannot do it? Because the interests are very much divided, and for some, it is more preferable to see the current dysfunctional stage than to embark on a reform,” he said.
The Hungarian diplomat, who is currently serving as the President of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, commended India’s call during its recent membership of the UN Security Council, for peace in Ukraine and its humanitarian aid for people hit by the conflict.
Korosi said the war in Ukraine has caused untold suffering and displacements and “unleashed” an energy and food crisis across the globe.

The president of the UN General Assembly, on a three-day visit to India also lauded New Delhi for sending medical aid and Covid-19 vaccines to a large number of countries to help them deal with the pandemic.
Korosi also complimented India for the safe evacuation of its citizens from Ukraine after Russia started its invasion of that country in February last year.
On the reform of the UN Security Council, the UNGA President urged the member states to make compromises and consider even making partial agreements under a step-by-step approach to reform of the UNSC. “Otherwise it will be very very difficult.”
Korosi identified the Ukraine war and lack of agreement on a text for taking forward the reform process.
“There are two major problems that we are facing. One was brought up by the war in Ukraine. The Security Council was created in 1945 to be the prime responsible organ for catering to international peace and security, to make sure that there would be no more wars,” he said.
The aim of the UNSC was to avert war and large-scale destruction, and, therefore, extraordinary powers have been placed into the hands of the Council, he said.
“What if the Security Council members, one of them, a permanent member that has those extraordinary powers including the Veto power, is the one attacking its neighbor? It created a situation where the Security Council is incapable of addressing this issue,” Korosi said.
“Since the very beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Security Council has not been able to take any decision on the war on Ukraine. So it is an absurd situation which is describing the dysfunction of the Council,” he said.
The UNGA president millions of people who were expecting the UN to deliver were frustrated by the UNSC’s approach towards the Ukraine crisis.
“If millions of people were expecting the Security Council to make sure that wars would not be repeated, they would be frustrated. I can understand that,” he said.
Korosi said the composition and the working method of the UNSC were based on the situation in 1945-46 following the Second World War.
“Since then, much has changed. The world economy has changed, the balance of power in the world has changed.. so it is absolutely understandable that the countries and the leaders of the world are more and more impatiently demanding that the Security Council should be reformed,” he said.
The UNGA president said the reform process can be taken forward if the member states want.
“It is up to the member states to come up with some kind of shared understanding. Some kind of compromise. I very strongly asked the member states to think very hard. Do you want to spend another 17 years on a process or do you want to see results as soon as possible.” he said.
“If they like to go for the second (option), they will have to make compromises, they will have to make agreements. Maybe partial agreements. Maybe a step-by-step approach. Otherwise, it will be very very difficult,” she said.
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#Lack #ability #tackle #Ukraine #war #reflects #UNSCs #dysfunctional #system #UNGA #prez
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Indian-American named chair of Washington state Democrats

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Washington: The Washington State Democratic Party has chosen Shasti Conrad as its new chair, making her the youngest and first Indian-American woman to serve as a state party chair anywhere in the country.
Conrad, 38, a political consultant and former leader of the King County Democrats, takes over from Tina Podlodowski, who had served as party chair since 2017.
“I’m so honored to have the opportunity to serve as Chair of our state party and build on the outstanding success Washington Democrats have earned at the ballot box for the last six years,” she said in a statement.
“I’m excited to work with Democratic leaders from every community to build an unprecedented field operation that will carry the message of how Washington Democrats are delivering for working families to each and every voter.”
Conrad assumes leadership of an organization whose voter contact operation has played a key role in Democrats’ statewide electoral dominance since the 2016 election, the Washington State Democratic Party said in a statement.
She has worked on political campaigns since 2008 when she got her start as a field organizer working for then-Senator Obama’s primary campaign.
Since then, she’s worked on three more presidential races and concluded the 2020 cycle as Senator Bernie Sanders’ National Director of Surrogates.
Locally, Conrad served as Chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr County Democrats from 2018 to 2022, where she raised nearly $300,000 for a county party organization mired in debt when she first took office.

Under her leadership, the King County Democrats’ field operation helped flip six city councils and a County Council seat held by Republicans for 20 years, the party statement read.
“After six years serving as the Chair of the Washington Democrats, I’m thrilled to pass on the torch to my friend Shasti Conrad. Shasti has been a force in Washington Democratic politics for over a decade as a staffer on three presidential campaigns and a successful chair of the largest county party organization in the state,” said Podlodowski, the outgoing party chair.
Conrad was named as one of the “40 Under 40” by the American Association of Political Consultants, and one of the most influential people in Seattle Politics by Seattle Met Magazine.She received her Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University and her B.A. with Honors distinction from Seattle University.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Kerala: With Bharat Jodo Yatra, a new Rahul has taken birth, says Antony

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Thiruvananthapuram: Heaping praise on Rahul Gandhi, veteran Congressman and former Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said that “with the Bharat Jodo Yatra ending in Kashmir a new Rahul has taken birth”.
Antony said this at a party function and added that this Yatra of Rahul was unique, the country has ever seen.
“With the yatra coming to a close, I am seeing a new Rahul and this Yatra will come to a close only when the present BJP government is sent packing at the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The yatra has helped Rahul to see an India which has now realised that this is going to be a re-birth of him,” said Antony, while taking part in a party event here,
“The aim of the Congress for the yatra was a unification of the democratic forces,” added Antony, who was caught on the backfoot last week when his son Anil Antony slammed the BBC for the documentary on Narendra Modi.
This outburst saw Antony’s colleagues slamming his son, who quit the party posts the next day. This is the first time after his son’s episode that Antony was seen on a public platform and that too in the company of leaders who took on his son.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
iPhone 14 Crash Detection false alarms causing problems in Japan

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Tokyo: False alarms by Apple’s iPhone 14 series’ Crash Detection feature are causing problems in Japan, with fire departments near skiing areas getting more emergency call-outs than usual because of the automated calls.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has issued a warning to smartphone users regarding crash-detecting technologies in smartphones and other devices, due to an increase in automated attempts to reach for help when it is not necessary, reports AppleInsider.
This problem has been an issue for the Kita-Alps Nagano Fire Department, which handles five municipalities in Nagano prefecture.
The report mentioned that 919 emergency calls were made between December 16, 2022, and January 23, of which 134 were false calls, with most triggered by Crash Detection within a skiing area.
Similarly, Gujo City Fire Department in Gifu prefecture had received 351 emergency calls from January 1 to January 23, of which 135 of the calls were false alarms.
It is possible to turn off the feature, but one firefighter explained that since it is an effective feature in cases where a serious accident actually happened, “we can’t ask users to turn it off”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
RJD to contest 6 seats in Nagaland Assembly polls

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Patna: RJD will contest six seats in Nagaland where Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in February.
Confirming the development, Party national general secretary Shyam Rajak said that six names have been finalized. However, the names are yet to be announced officially.
Some BJP leaders will soon meet Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in this regard. Tejashwi Yadav’s decision would be final.
“If this works out, we will contest for some more seats,” Rajak said.
The election to the 60 seats of Nagaland is scheduled to take place on February 27. The last date for submitting the nomination paper is February 7.
Earlier, RJD sent two leaders Kumar Sharvajeet, the cabinet minister in the Bihar government, and Bhola Yadav to Nagaland.
“They have submitted their observation report before Tejashwi Yadav. Now, another team will be visiting the state soon and submitting its report for further planning,” he said.
Reacting to collaboration with JD(U) in Nagaland, Rajak said that the party has an alliance in Bihar but not in Nagaland so far.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Apple sells 2 mn iPhones in India in holiday quarter, logs 18% growth

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New Delhi: Apple sold 2 million iPhones in India in the holiday quarter (Q4) of 2022, registering 18 per cent growth (quarter-on-quarter) for its flagship device, new data showed on Monday.
The India market share of iPhones reached 5.5 per cent for 2022, an 11 per cent growth (year-on-year).
For 2021, Apple iPhones had logged 48 per cent YoY growth with 4.4 per cent market share in the country.
According to the latest CMR data, iPhone 14 series logged 59 per cent market share in Q4 2022, followed by iPhone 13 series at 32 per cent growth.
Apple also sold 0.2 million iPads in India in Q4, and iPad Pro 2022 Series registered 30 per cent growth.
Currently, Apple accounts for around 5 per cent of the overall smartphone market in the country.
The iPhone manufacturer is now looking seriously at India and Vietnam to bolster its supply chain in the next 2-3 years.
Apple aims to ship 40-45 per cent of iPhones from India compared to a single-digit percentage currently, according to Kuo.

Every fourth iPhone will be made in India by 2025, according to JP Morgan.
India accounted for 10-15 per cent of iPhones’ overall production capacity at the end of 2022.
Apple became the first smartphone player in India to have exported $1 billion worth iPhones in the month of December. It currently manufactures iPhones 12, 13, 14 and 14 Plus in the country.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
RSS ruling country giving scant regard to constitutional values: Pinarayi Vijayan

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday attacked the Sangh Parivar saying the RSS, which was banned after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, was now ruling the country giving scant regard to the nation’s constitutional values.
Vijayan, who paid tributes to Gandhi on his 75th death anniversary which is observed as Martyrs’ Day, said the whole idea of India was “wounded” when the father of the nation was killed by a “religious fanatic”.
In a Facebook post, Vijayan said Hindu nationalists always considered Gandhi as an enemy as he was “fully aware of the threats posed by majoritarian sectarianism”.
“The Hindu nationalists always considered him as an enemy. Gandhi stood for Hindu-Muslim harmony till his last breath. The India he envisioned is in every aspect antithetical to the Hindutva nation concept of the Sangh Parivar.
When Gandhiji was shot dead by a religious fanatic named Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the idea of India itself was wounded,” Vijayan wrote.
The Chief Minister said the Sangh Parivar was pursuing its political goals in the country by using hate and divisive politics.
“The RSS which was banned for Gandhi’s assassination is now ruling the country giving scant regard to the nation’s constitutional values… Today, in some parts, children are being taught that Gandhi died instead of Gandhi was killed.
This is another proof that the Sangh Parivar is always afraid of Gandhiji,” the Left leader said.

Vijayan said racists eliminated Gandhi for envisioning a secular India and remembering the father of the nation was India’s eternal antidote to the politics of communal division.
“On this day we should take a pledge that we are ready to fight to protect the constitution and secularism of the country,” Vijayan said.
Recently, Vijayan had accused the Sangh Parivar of treating Muslims and Christians as “enemies of the nation” and urged everyone to unite against such divisive actions, drawing sharp criticism from the BJP.
Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse on this day in 1948.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
Air India urination case: Delhi court reserves order on accused Shankar Mishra’s bail plea

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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday reserved for January 31 its order on the bail application of Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman on board an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi.
Police have opposed the bail application, saying India has been defamed internationally because of the incident.
“It may be disgusting but that is another matter, let’s not get into that. Let’s go into how the law deals with it,” the judge said.
The judge also observed that the witnesses named by the prosecution “are not deposing in your (police) favor”.
Police have also alleged that the accused threatened the complainant.
Mishra had sought bail, saying initially, the bail had been declined by a magisterial court because the investigation was pending.
“Now that’s done and they have examined other crew members and witnesses. Also, they asked for reimbursement of the ticket and sought no action against me,” the counsel said.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023