Sonakshi Sinha says NO to Politics

8^th December, 2014: Actress Sonakshi Sinha says she likes conversing politics with her actor-politician father Shatrughan Sinha but has no bent on of trying her stroke of luck in it.

The 27-year-old Rowdy Rathore star said politics is not her cup of tea and she would like to ponder on films only.

Actress Sonakshi Sinha with her father Shatrughan Sinha

"I will never join politics. There is no possibility for me to join politics. I am a creative person and I always want to do something creative in my life," Sonakshi told PTI.

The Action Jackson actress, however, said off late she has started taking interest in political affairs.

"My interest started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government came at the centre. I often talk to my father about this because everyone wants to know what our PM and government are doing and I also have interest in this," she said.

Shatrughan is the sitting MP from Patna Saheb. His daughter was here to attend the inaugural event of Kabaddi World Cup. She even owns a Kabaddi team United Singhs in the World Kabaddi League.

Sonakshi will be next seen in Arjun Kapoor-starrer Tevar, which is scheduled for release on January 9, 2015.

Demise of the Union Minister Gopinath Munde

New Delhi, June 3, 2014: Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde has passed away, after meeting with an accident while his convoy was on way to the Delhi airport.

It is believed that the accident, which took place between 6.00 and 6.30am, took place while Munde's convoy was en route to the airport, where he was scheduled to catch a flight back to Mumbai. Munde was then rushed to AIIMS, where he was put on a ventilator.  Speaking to media a short while ago, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said that Munde had died at around 8 in the morning. "Munde was a diabetic patient; he was seriously injured after he fell off the car.

 

Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde

He was conscious after the accident; he himself said 'take me to the hospital", Gadkari said. Gadkari added that Munde had been sitting alone at the back of the car, although he had been traveling with security guards, and said that Munde's family was at the Mumbai airport and would reach the national capital soon. BJP leader Harsh Vardhan who was also with Gadkari, said that by the time he reached AIIMS he had already had a heart attack. "When he reached AIIMS he was already serious, I rushed to the hospital as soon as I got to know", Vardhan said.

The 64-year-old Munde was a BJP deputy leader. He was also Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly during 1992-1995 and has held the post of Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999. "We have lost one of our best leaders. This is a tragedy for the BJP and the government", Vardhan said. A post mortem will be carried out soon, although it has already been ascertained that he passed away following cardiac arrest.

Following the post mortem, his body will be taken to the BJP party headquarters and then to his village of Parli in Beed. The death of Munde is being seen as a massive blow to the BJP Maharashtra unit. He was one of the most popular state leaders of the party.

Battle of the Ballots

May 16, 2014: The battle for 16th Lok Sabha elections ends with the results on 16th May, 2014 – a day that will go down the history books as a day that translated the dreams of many into reality. Results on the counting day of 16th May – a make or break day for many – and the many include the leaders on top to their supporters at the ground root level. The celebration of the biggest democracy of 16th Lok Sabha Elections Polls conducted in 9 phases from 7th April to 12th May, is expected to touch new heights with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress as front runner opponents while other parties also have several expectations with the results day.

We take a look at the unfolding of events on the results day on 16th May:

5 a.m. – 16th May, 2014

The counting of votes would begin from 8 am in the morning at 989 centres across the country. The preparation for the counting of votes begins as early as 5 am early in the morning. This would take place in the presence of District Election Officer and observers will randomly select counting officials. This selection can be done manually or with the use of technology i.e. computers.

6 a.m. – 16th May, 2014

Around 6 a.m. the posting lists sorted constituency wise will be handed over to the returning officer. At this point the counting officials will position themselves for the counting and has to remain at the seat. In case of any emergency they can be replaced by officials from the ‘reserved pool’ under the orders of District Election Officer or Returning Officer.

8 a.m. – 16th May, 2014

The counting would begin for the postal ballots first. After the counting of them is done, half an hour later the counting of EVM ballot unit may begin as stated by EC officials. The counting of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will begin at 8.30 a.m.

According to Election Commission officials the trends favouring the single largest party to emerge victorious in the 16th Lok Sabha Polls would emerge by 11 a.m.

Election Commission has given the contesting candidates permission to be present at the counting booth sans any of their security guards. The candidates that have been allotted with Special Protection Group (SPG) cover will be allowed inside with one guard in plain clothes with only “one concealed arms.”

Each and every counting table has to be surrounded by either a transparent wire mesh or bamboo sticks basically to have wide gaps enough to ensure view for the counting agents to witness the counting process. Each candidate can post any number of counting agents at the booth.

The Election Commission has also stated that about 50 foreign delegates from 20 countries are being facilitated to witness the 16th Lok Sabha Elections.

The first trends should start pouring in from 8.30 a.m. onwards and the final results would be out between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

SC Pushed Modern India into the Dark Ages

New Delhi, December 11, 2013: “Gays should pay taxes, water and electricity bills, they should vote and contribute to ushering in a new kind of politics but they should not do what they want to do in the four walls of their house,” uttered by a passionate upholder of same sex rights. This is essentially a bad day for the country as a whole while there is fury & distress, menace & prejudice, discrimination & revulsion that looped into the consciousness of the people. And that has been exactly enacted by the bench of justices Ganpat Singh Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya by delivering their verdict on Wednesday against the 2009 verdict of the Delhi high court, which legalized gay sex and had read down Article 377.

Three of the news anchors (Times Now) today said in a bulletin that Supreme Court will certainly decriminalize the homosexuality. So this could have somehow let the sceptics think that this error passes. Given the mood of the nation, where almost every gradation of every fundamental and human right is in a see-through blender, the most obvious thing to expect is that the Supreme Court will gauge and feel it, too.

Isn’t it true that “kanoon andha hai”? It is unable to see what India wants, why the ripples against the Delhi gang-rape case are not only about rape; why the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s politics of idealism has been washed up centre-stage and is not only about a fatigue with corruption. Idealism is a consistent, wholesome reality. It cannot exist unless all fundamental rights of every citizen are protected and upheld. You cannot attempt to stand up for women’s rights but call the sexuality of 30 million people criminal. How can we even think of being a nation of idealists or even quasi-idealists where same-sex freedom will be punishable with a jail sentence, the maximum being life imprisonment?   

It is to be deeply noted that by referring the decision on Article 377 to the government, the Supreme Court has overlooked the fact that India is already beginning to reject the idea of the present government.

Lokpal Bill will be passed in the Current Parliament Session

New Delhi: On a day when anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare sat on another indefinite fast at his village Ralegan Siddhi to press for the Jan Lokpal Bill, the government said it was committed to the legislation.

The government will pass the Lokpal Bill during the current session of Parliament, Union Minister V Narayanasamy said.

He however added, for the Bill to be passed in the Rajya Sabha the House has to run.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the legislation.

Hazare today began a fast unto death in Ralegan Siddhi demanding the Jan Lokpal Bill be passed.

He said this time it will be a do or die battle.

                                                                                                

Communal Violence Bill is ill conceived and poorly drafted: Narendra Modi

Gujarat, December 5, 2013: The Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi has expressed his strong opposition to the proposed Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013. In a letter to the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Modi described the bill as being ill-conceived and poorly drafted and a recipe for disaster. He described the bill as an attempt to encroach upon the authorities of the state governments and sought wider consultation among the various stakeholders such as the state governments, political parties, police and security agencies etc. before any further movement on the issue. Narendra Modi said that as a Chief Minister of a Government that is sensitive to the issue of communal violence and a state that has been riot free for over a decade now, he agrees that there is a need to be vigilant on communal violence but the contents and timing of the bill are suspicious. He questioned the hurry of the Centre to introduce the bill in the Parliament, saying that such an attempt before the Lok Sabha elections is suspicious and is driven by vote bank politics rather than genuine concern for preventing communal violence.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, the Gujarat Chief Minister brought out the various operational issues in the proposed Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013. He shared various shortcomings in the individual sections of the proposed Bill.

Strongly opposing the move to make public servants, police and security agencies criminally liable, Shri Modi has warned that such a move can adversely impact the morale of our law and order enforcement agencies. It may also make them vulnerable to political victimization.

On Section 10B (breach of command responsibility) that penalizes a public servant for the failure of his subordinates, Shri Modi wrote that this provision is absurd as it tries to deal with incompetence by trying to criminalize it. Saying that such issues need structural responses he criticized the tendency to find legislative solutions to all problems.

He expressed his strong concern that the proposed legislation would further divide Indian society on religious and linguistic lines, saying that religious and linguistic identities would become more reinforced and even ordinary incidents of violence would be given a communal colour thus giving the opposite result of what the Bill intends to achieve. The Gujarat Chief Minister categorically maintained that this is an issue under the State List and that if it is something that would have to be implemented by the State Government then it should be legislated by the State Government. He added that if there is something the Centre wishes to share it is free to prepare a “Model Bill” and circulate it among the various State Governments for their consideration.

Narendra Modi recalled the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security where he had raised, among other things how certain individuals having links with anti-national elements have penetrated into bodies such as the Planning Commission, National Advisory Council etc. and that these are the same individuals who may have drafted this new bill on Communal Violence. He also expressed his concern that the law making powers of an elected government may have been usurped by extra-constitutional authorities like the NAC.

On the proposal to bring the NHRC and the SHRC into the process of exercising powers that are vested in the executive wing of an elected government, Modi felt that these bodies are already empowered under the existing statute to deal with serious human rights violations during incidents of communal violence. 

While welcoming the establishment of a Communal Violence Reparation Fund, Shri Modi termed the use of the word compensation as arguable, saying that government should leave the issues of compensation to the competent courts and should instead provide ex-gratia relief/assistance to provide immediate relief and succor to the victims. He opined the introduction of compensation for “moral injury” under the Bill as strange and one that does not take into account implement ability.