Chandigarh, Oct 31 (PTI) Farm fire incidents in Haryana are down by nearly 25 per cent compared to last year and much lesser than Punjab, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said here on Monday.
     He also said an expert committee has been formed to look into the proposition of buying paddy straw from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) in a bid to find a permanent solution to the stubble burning issue.
     Speaking at a press conference here, Khattar said while Punjab reported 13,873 farm fire incidents from September 15 to October 30, Haryana had seen only about 10 per cent of such cases.
     "If we compare with Punjab, it is 10 per cent. The farm fire incidents in Haryana have reduced this year. As against 2,561 incidents reported (in Haryana) last year, this year, there were 1,925, a drop of nearly 25 per cent. As against this, Punjab has reported 13,873 incidents," Khattar said.

   The National Green Tribunal has also been giving directions to Punjab from time to time on the stubble burning issue, he said.
     "Recently, I had spoken about MSP for stubble. For this, we have formed a committee which will give its recommendations. We will take further step once it committee gives its recommendations," Khattar said.
     The committee will not be limited to MSP, but will also look into the entire gamut of the stubble burning issue, he added.
     State director general for agriculture will be the committee's chairman while DG of Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency will be one of its members.

     The panel comprises three experts -- Mukesh Jain, director, Northern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Baldev Dogra, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, Haryana Agriculture University and Jagminder Nain, joint director, Agriculture.
     The Haryana chief minister said pollution was not limited to an area or a state and that its adverse impact were felt in "Haryana, Chandigarh and in Delhi, Gurugram".
     On the approximately 60 lakh MT crop residue generated from stubble burning, Khattar said a good part of it can be put to use in various industries and that 24 industries had expressed interest in buying the stubble.
     A tender is also being floated for manufacturing pellets from paddy stubble and these will be used in thermal plants, he added.
     Khattar said his government had taken several steps to bring down paddy stubble burning, which include incentives to farmers, running awareness campaigns, providing machinery for stubble management and even adopting strict measures such as lodging FIRs and imposing fines on violators.
     A framework to control stubble burning has also been implemented and this includes in-situ and ex-situ crop residue management, effective monitoring, enforcement and wide reach of information, he said. PTI 

 New Delhi, October 31

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel realised the dream of a strong and united India with his farsightedness, despite attempts by anti-India forces to keep the country divided.

He said that despite efforts over several years to erase the legacy of Sardar Patel, people of India remember him with gratitude for his huge contributions in making a united India.

Shah said this while flagging off a run to commemorate the 147th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister, here.

The 'Run for Unity', which began from the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in the capital city, saw the participation of a large number of people, including sports personalities, sports enthusiasts and personnel of central police forces.

"Even during that time, anti-India forces left no stone unturned to keep the country divided. We have seen how Sardar Patel brought Junagarh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Hyderabad under the fold of the Union of India through his farsightedness and political acumen," Shah said.

Without Patel, a strong and united India would not have been possible, the home minister said.

 New Delhi, October 31

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Centre and state were helping the victims of the Morbi bridge tragedy, and that never in his life he had experienced such pain and grief.

Speaking in Kevadia, Modi said the cultural programme to be held on the occasion was cancelled following the tragedy.

"I am in Ekta Nagar but my mind is with the victims of Morbi. Rarely in my life have I experienced such pain. 

"On the one hand, there is a pain-riddled heart and on the other, there is the path to duty," an emotional Modi said..

Expressing sympathy with the families of all those who lost their lives, the PM said all efforts had been made for relief and rescue.

The Prime Minister, who is in Kevadia on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, said no effort would be spared in providing relief and rescue. 

 The rupee appreciated 15 paise to 82.32 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday tracking easing crude oil prices and a positive trend in domestic equities.

New Delhi, Oct 31 (PTI) The Congress on Monday paid tributes to India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his birth anniversary, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying the most fitting tribute to him would be to keep the flame of unity he ignited shining brighter than ever.

Patel is considered the chief architect of integration of the erstwhile princely states with the Union of India.

“Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s ironclad will united India. The most fitting tribute to him would be to keep the flame of unity he ignited shining brighter than ever,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

The Congress, from its official Twitter handle, said, “We pay our heartfelt tributes to the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, on his birth anniversary. It was for his iron will that the nation was weaved into a union.” “A great son of Bharat Mata, he continues to inspire us to fight the forces of hate & division,” the party said.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hailed Patel on his 147th birth anniversary.

“In October 2011, I was privileged to deliver the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture in which I presented a side of his that is not very well know – his wit and humour,” Ramesh tweeted.

“Irrespective of whatever the Distorians peddle, Patel and Nehru former an unique jugalbandhi for almost 30 years that shaped modern India,” he said and shared a photograph of Nehru and Patel together. PTI

Kolkata, Oct 30 (PTI) Calling for increased collaboration between filmmakers of India and Bangladesh, the latter’s Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said “the barbed wire separating the two sides” has not created any divide among people.

Mahmud, during his address at the inaugural function of the fourth edition of Bangladesh Film Festival here on Saturday, said people of his country have always loved and revered Bengali matinee idols from this side of the border, such as Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen.

"The barbed wire fencing separating the two sides has not created any divide among people who speak the same language, have grown up in the same environment and share similar love for arts and music," the minister stated. 

Ahmedabad, Oct 30 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot will address different rallies in poll-bound Gujarat on Sunday.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Kejriwal and Mann will jointly address two rallies in Palitana town of Bhavnagar and Dhoraji in Rajkot district.

 The two AAP leaders are on a three-day visit to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat from Friday.

AAP national convener Kejriwal has visited Gujarat multiple times in the recent past and offered a number of ‘guarantees’ to the people of the state if his party is voted to power.

Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress veteran Gehlot will also address three rallies in Gujarat on Sunday, the third day of his visit to the state where polls to the 182-member Assembly are due this year-end.

He will first address a public gathering at Virampur in Banaskantha, followed by rallies at Khedbrahma in Sabarkantha district and Bhiloda in Aravalli district.

On Saturday, Gehlot claimed the BJP was getting 95 per cent of the total donations made through electoral bonds as donors were not providing funds to other parties out of fear.

He accused the BJP of even “threatening” corporates, who wish to donate to the Congress and other political parties.
 

He also targeted the AAP and its chief Kejriwal, saying they spend money for suppressing any negative news against them.

The schedule for th Gujarat Assembly polls is yet to be announced. PTI 

 Mumbai, Oct 30 (PTI) The forest department caught a male leopard from Aarey Colony in Mumbai early Sunday morning, the second feline to be captured in the last five days, an official said.

The leopard walked into a cage trap set up in unit 15 of the Aarey Colony, a green belt in Mumbai’s western suburb of Goregaon and located close to the sprawling Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), he said.

It was later taken to a rescue centre at the SGNP, the official said.

Earlier, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was attacked and killed by a leopard in a forested area in unit number 15 of the Aarey Colony on Monday morning when the child followed her mother who was on way to a temple nearby.

On Wednesday, a male leopard was captured in Aarey’s unit number 17 and was also taken to the rescue centre in the SGNP, the official said.

Forest officials suspect it is the same animal that killed the girl, he said.

After the incident on Monday, the forest department had put up three cages at strategic locations in and around the site to capture the animal, the official said.

Forest officials will continue to monitor the movements of other leopards through 30 camera traps and a cage put up in the area, he said.

Nearly 30 wildlife volunteers, members of NGOs, forest department officials and staff of the SNGP are working together to deal with the incidents of human-animal conflict in the area, he added. PTI 

New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) The new amendments to IT rules impose a legal obligation on social media companies to take all out efforts to prevent barred content and misinformation, the government said on Saturday making it clear that platforms such as Twitter and Facebook operating in India will have to abide by local laws and constitutional rights of Indian users.

The new rules provide for setting up appellate committees which can overrule decisions of the big tech firms on takedown or blocking requests.
 

The hardening of stance against the big tech companies comes at a time when discontent has been brewing over alleged arbitrary acts of social media platforms on flagged content, or not responding fast enough to grievances.

Amid concerns over the rising clout of Big Tech globally, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, Elon Musk, on Friday completed his USD 44-billion takeover of Twitter, placing the world’s richest man at the helm of one of the most influential social media apps in the world. Incidentally, the microblogging platform has had multiple run-ins with the government in the past.

India’s tweaking of IT rules allow formation of Centre-appointed panels, that will settle often-ignored user grievances against content decision of social media companies, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, adding that this was necessitated due to the “casual” and “tokenism” approach of digital platforms towards user complaints so far.

That is not acceptable,” Chandrasekhar said at a media briefing explaining the amended rules.

The minister said that lakhs of messages around unresolved user complaints reflected the “broken” grievance redressal mechanism currently being offered by platforms, and added that while it will partner with social media companies towards common goal of ensuring Internet remains open, safe and trusted for Indians, the government will not hesitate to act, crackdown, where public interest is compromised.

On whether penalties will be imposed on platforms for not complying, he said the government would not like to bring punitive action at this stage but warned that if the situation demands in future, that could be considered too. The internet is evolving, as will the laws.

 Kolkata, Oct 29 (PTI) Bangladesh Information Minister Hasan Mahmud Saturday said the Sheikh Hasina government is committed to the safety of its Hindu minorities and the peaceful Durga Puja celebrations in the country this year is a testimony to it.

Mahamud, who is in the city to inaugurate Bangladesh Film Festival, said the Indo-Bangla relation is not dependent only on the Teesta water sharing agreement between the two nations.

“The Sheikh Hasina government is committed to protecting the rights of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. The recent peaceful Durga Puja celebration in the country is a testimony to it. This year the number of Durga Pujas held in Bangladesh was much higher than last year,” Mahmud said at a press conference at the Press Club here.

Referring to the communal violence in Bangladesh during Durga Puja in 2021, he said the country’s government was extra cautious to avoid any untoward incident this year.

“Those who had tried to create problems during Durga Puja stand exposed. We have taken special measures to ensure no untoward incident takes place,” he said.

Speaking on India-Bangladesh relations, the minister said more than the government to government relations it is the people-to-people associations between the two countries that have helped strengthen the diplomatic relations.

“Our bilateral relation is not only dependent on Teesta (Water sharing). Whenever I come to India, I am asked this question. Our relationship is diverse,” he added.

The Teesta river water agreement has been hanging fire for more than a decade due to opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI