Kolkata,(PTI) The Durga Puja ritual of Pushpanjali on Maha Ashtami can now be conducted in Bengali with a scholar, linguist and a priest coming together to translate the verses from Sanskrit.

Sanskrit scholar Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, linguist Pabitra Sarkar, and Kaliprasanna Bhattacharya, a priest who has conducted Durga Puja rituals for at least 60 years, came together for the initiative as part of a campaign to promote Bengali.

“The devotion lies in the heart and not in the language in which the shlokas are chanted. It is always better to offer the prayers in a language, which we know and understand, rather than saying it in Sanskrit with half of the meaning not understood by us,” Bhaduri told PTI.

The rituals on Maha Ashtami — the second day of the four-day festival, including Pushpanjali and Sandhi Puja, are considered to be the most significant ones and are conducted in Sanskrit, also called ‘Dev Bhasha’ or the divine language.

Even though Pushpanjali, or offering of flowers, is held on multiple days during the Durga Puja, the one on Maha Ashtami is most revered with thousands of people queuing up at pandals to take part in the ritual.

The Bengali shlokas have been compiled in a book, which has been distributed among the puja committees of Kolkata. The Sanskrit verses are also there in the book if someone wants to check the accuracy of the translation, said Srimanta Choudhury who is the head of the campaign, initiated by a group of Bengali techies living abroad.

The Bengali verses can be downloaded from chantbangla.org in PDF or in an audio format, chanted by noted elocutionist Satinath Mukherjee, he said.

Around 250 Durga Puja committees in West Bengal will be conducting the rituals in Bengali this year, he added.

Not only the community Pujas, but also the Pujas at several ‘Bonedi Bari’ or traditional households will be conducted with these verses. Some residential complexes will also be using the Bengali sholkas, Mukherjee said.

Among the notable community Pujas taking part in the initiative are SB Park Sarbajanin in Thakurpukur, Behala Club and Ajeyo Sanhati in Haridevpur.

“Bengalis across the globe have been asked to upload the video of them performing Pushpanjali in Bengali. We expect that our initiative will be well accepted by Durga Puja organisers,” Mukherjee said.

“To promote it, we have also produced a music video that starred well-known Durga Puja artists such as Santan Dinda and Sushanta Pal, among others,” he said.

The Durga Puja organised by the association of sex workers, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, will also conduct the ritual in Bengali, said its liaison officer Mahasweta Mukherjee. PTI

New Delhi,(PTI) The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to provide 100 per cent renewable energy in its area via discoms by 2025, Vice Chairman Satish Upadhayay said on Wednesday.

The issue was discussed at the civic body's council meeting.

"There was no policy on providing green energy so far. Discussions are on to chalk out a policy and we will also seek suggestions from the public on the same. The final plan will be drafted only after holding meetings and taking suggestions from all sides," Upadhayay said.

The policy for 100 per cent renewable energy will be known as the "NDMC Solar Policy-2022" and will be applicable for any solar energy generating system with a capacity of 1 KWp or more.

"This policy applies to all electricity consumers under all electricity tariff in the NDMC area and all entities that setup and operate solar power plants in the NDMC area. We will encourage implementation of grid connected solar plants. All grid connected solar plants shall comply with applicable CA (Grid Standards) Regulations, 2013 and other applicable rules, regulations, and guidelines as amended from time to time," he said.

He said the NDMC will promote the deployment of solar plants with net metering on all buildings of government organisations, hospitals, educational institutes, embassies, stadiums, bridges, public toilets, and bus stops.

An audit will be conducted on the existing rooftop solar panels in the NDMC area, he said.

NDMC member Kuljeet Chahal said an audit will also be conducted for upgrading NDMC schools and a report will be submitted by the time the next council meeting is held.

Chahal further said the council has decided to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the national stadiums in Delhi to provide multi-sports facilities to NDMC school students.

"We plan to upgrade all NDMC schools and an audit will be conducted for the same. Further, we want to provide the best multi-sports facilities to our students and hence, we have decided to sign an MoU with the national stadiums in Delhi," he said. PTI

Lucknow, (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said though election results in the recent past have not been favourable, it has been proved that only his party can defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

He said that the Samajwadi Party worked for a big victory but “the people in power used every trick and misused official machinery and we failed to succeed”.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadis tried hard for a historic result. They tried to realise the dream of Ram Manohar Lohia and B R Ambedkar to “bring the ‘Bahujan’ forces on one platform, the Samajwadi Party chief said after inaugurating the state-level convention of the party.

“In 2022 (Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls), the Samajwadi Party formed an alliance in an attempt to take along with it all those struggling to remove the BJP from power. But we could not win.” “But I can say one thing that despite the experiments of 2019 and 2022, the manner in which our leaders and workers worked, the Samajwadis have come to know despite not getting success is that if there is anyone who can compete and defeat the BJP, it is the Samajwadi Party,” Yadav said.

The Samajwadi Party contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election with the BSP and the 2022 Assembly polls in alliance with smaller parties but lost.

At the party’s convention, Naresh Uttam Patel was declared elected as state president again.

Congratulating Naresh Uttam, Yadav said, “We will together face the challenges that come up.” “All of us will work together towards taking the socialist movement ahead. This is a big struggle. We will work together to remove the powers who are bent upon dividing the society,” he said.

Yadav alleged that the ruling BJP has failed on all fronts and said that once his party comes to power it will work towards the betterment of the people. PTI

Mumbai,(PTI) Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its plan to organise 'Marathi dandiya' in areas dominated by Maharashtrians in Mumbai, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday said its former ally is under an "illusion" if it thinks the community's unity can be undermined with such events.

The BJP, which is a part of the Eknath Shinde-led government, has announced plans to organise ‘Marathi dandiya’ in predominantly Marathi-speaking areas during the ongoing Navratri festival.

At such dance events, mostly Marathi songs (instead of Hindi or Gujarati) will be played for participants. The events are being seen as an attempt by the BJP to woo the Marathi votes -- which have been traditionally with the Shiv Sena -- ahead of the Mumbai civic body polls.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena said events like Marathi dandiya are aimed at countering the party in its areas of influence in the metropolis.

“By organising Marathi dandiya in Lalbaug, Parel, Sewree, Byculla, Parel and Mazgaon, Kamlabai (the name Shiv Sena has been using for the BJP of late) has been trying to woo the Marathi voters. After Ganeshotsav, the BJP is using Navratri for its political purpose.

“But it is their illusion if they think they can break the unity of the community (with such events),” the editorial maintained.

However, such events will not dent the Shiv Sena's support among the Marathi manoos (Marathi-speaking people), the newspaper said.

“This is nothing but an attempt of the Dillishwar (the term Shiv Sena uses for Delhi) to bring down the saffron flag,” it said.

The BJP has been using events like Ganeshotsav (Ganesh festival) and 'Marathi katta' (a place where ideas are exchanged) to woo the Marathi voters ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.

In the 2017 BMC polls, the Shiv Sena won 84 seats, its lowest tally in the 227-member civic body in two decades, while the BJP considerably improved its tally and bagged 82 seats.

Hitting back, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said the Thackeray-led Sena was feeling jealous after the Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government lifted curbs on festivities and allowed people to celebrate festivals with full fervour.

Shelar said when in power, the Shiv Sena, which headed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, had shut temples for two-and-a-half years and stopped Ganesh, Navratri and Dahi Handi festivals (during the coronavirus pandemic).

Backing the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said on one hand, the BJP is organising Marathi dandiya and on the other the ruling party is quiet over the demand (by Jain community) to ban advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked three Jain religious charitable trusts and a city resident practising Jainism why they were seeking to encroach on the rights of others by appealing for restrictions or ban on advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar noted the issue falls within the domain of the legislature and it cannot frame laws and rules imposing bans. PTI

New Delhi: More than 300 government awards for scientists from the ministries of science, space, health and family welfare, and earth sciences have been discontinued this month in a bid to make the number of awards very restrictive “to select [the] really deserving candidates”, ThePrint has learnt.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also proposed instituting a “Nobel Prize-like” science award called ‘Vigyan Ratna’ in the future. This would be open to scientists of all disciplines, and awarded in consultation with the principal scientific advisor, according to the minutes of a meeting chaired by Home Secretary A.K. Bhalla on 16 September, which ThePrint has accessed.

The revelation comes after a delay in announcing the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize — India’s highest science award —  left the scientific community perplexed. The prize, awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is usually announced on 26 September every year.

While this prize will continue to be awarded, there’s no mention of when it will be announced. However, a Press Information Bureau release from Monday quotes Jitendra Singh, India’s science minister, as saying that the CSIR will “have a celebration of eight decades of its foundation soon with several commemorative activities and prizes to be announced”.

The 16 September meeting was attended by secretaries and officers of departments under the ministries of science and technology, earth sciences, and health and family welfare, the minutes show.

The largest chunk of “discontinued” prizes was from the Department of Science and Technology, with 207 of the department’s 211 awards being done away with, the minutes showed.

A new award of “very high stature” will replace all 38 awards of the Department of Atomic Energy.  Likewise, a national award of high stature for space science will be instituted in place of the three internal awards conferred by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

Six awards from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, three from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 13 from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and 34 from the Department of Health Research have also been done away with.

The minutes quote Bhalla as having said that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make the number of awards and awardees very restrictive and the selection process transparent. He added that the home ministry had already issued suitable guidelines on conferring awards for the participating ministries or departments to follow. 

New Delhi [India],(ANI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed the performance of credit and other welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in public sector banks during a meeting on Tuesday.

The finance minister said that the objective of the meeting was to bring all stakeholders on a common platform to work together in fulfillment of the rights for the upliftment and betterment of the people from SCs.

Some highlights of the meeting covered included banks will have to fill the small number of remaining backlog vacancies in a time-bound manner, banks will have to enhance the coverage of SCs in all schemes and advise PSBs heads to also look into their needs for capacity building, entrepreneurship development as SCs make up 18% of the total workforce of banks, and banks will have to make proper digital records for jobs being outsourced, especially for posts like safai karamcharis from October 1, according to an official statement.

Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad, Department of Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra were present in the meeting, along with National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSCs) Chairman Vijay Sampla and NCSC members — Subhash Ramnath Pardhi and Anju Bala.

The meeting also elaborated upon forward and backward linkages through convergence of various schemes of different government departments for SCs while giving them financial assistance, and redressal of all pending grievances pertaining to SC community may also be taken up in the special drive by DFS from October 2.

The review meeting also covered improvements required to be carried out in all the schemes like Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes (CEGSSC) that may be taken up by DFS after discussion with agencies like Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) that are working with SCs at the grass-root level. (ANI)

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India],(ANI): The monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India is all set for its bi-monthly review meeting starting today.

Like several other central banks, the main focus of the RBI during the three-day-long meet will again remain on containing high inflation.

The MPC is a six-member body that is mandated to determine the policy interest rates required to achieve the inflation target while keeping in mind the objective of economic growth. As of now, this committee meets at least six times in a financial year, i.e every two months.

In its previous review meeting in early August, the monetary policy committee had unanimously decided to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent in order to contain the persistently high inflation. The hike took the repo rate above pre-pandemic levels of 5.15 per cent.

Raising interest typically suppresses demand in the economy, thereby helping inflation to decline.

The committee had in its previous meeting decided to remain focused on the “withdrawal of accommodation” stance to ensure that inflation remains within the target while supporting growth.

In line with the global trend of monetary policy tightening to cool off inflation, the RBI has so far hiked the key repo rates — the rate at which the central bank of a country lends money to commercial banks — by 140 basis points.

The MPC reiterated that retail inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent through the first three quarters of 2022-23.

Global investment and financial services firm Morgan Stanley recently said the Reserve Bank of India is likely to raise repo rates by another 50 basis points with an unchanged policy stance.

According to SBI Research, the RBI is expected to raise interest rates in the range of 35-50 basis points.

“We believe the RBI is likely to raise rates in September policy and it could be a close call between 35 and 50 basis points,” it had said.

Inflation in India:

India’s retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent the previous month due to a sharp rise in food prices, as per official data. Retail inflation exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band for the eighth consecutive month. With the headline inflation coming above 6 per cent for the eighth month in a row, the RBI is on a brink of failing to meet its inflation mandate.

The RBI is mandated to keep inflation in a range of 2-6 per cent. The RBI is deemed to have failed in its mandate if the average inflation remains outside the 2-6 per cent band for three consecutive quarters.

Further, India’s wholesale inflation declined during the month of August to 12.41 per cent from 13.93 per cent the previous month but continues to remain in double digits, official data showed. The wholesale inflation has been in the double-digit for 17 months in a row now. (ANI)

New Delhi, (PTI) The Centre has imposed a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.

The organisations which were also declared banned under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA include Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

The action of the Central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.

In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Home Ministry said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations.

It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been working covertly to increase the radicalization of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country, which is substantiated by the fact that some PFI cadres have joined international terrorist organisations, the notification claimed.

“Whereas, the Central Government, having regard to the above circumstances, is of the firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts association outlawed with immediate effect, and accordingly, in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, declares it as outlawed,” it said. PTI 

New Delhi,(PTI) The ED on Wednesday morning arrested liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, official sources said.

Mahendru is the managing director of a company called Indospirits.

Sources said he was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was put through a night-long questioning session.

He is expected to be produced before a local court where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will seek his further remand.

The ED action comes a day after the CBI arrested businessman Vijay Nair in this case in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused.

 The ED money laundering case is based on a CBI FIR and both the federal agencies have undertaken multiple search operations in this case till now.

The CBI FIR has alleged that Arjun Pandey, an alleged associate of Sisodia, had once collected about Rs 2-4 crore in cash from Mahendru on behalf of Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company. PTI 

Bengaluru, (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday welcomed the Union government’s decision to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged terror activities, and said the move sends a message to all “anti-national groups” that they will not survive in this country.

He said all that is necessary would be done to stop PFI’s activities in the state.

“For a long time, it has been a demand by the people of this country, by all political parties including the opposition CPI, CPI(M) and the Congress. PFI is the avatar (incarnation) of SIMI (banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India), and KFD (Karnataka Forum for Dignity). They were involved in anti-national activities and violence,” Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said they had their command outside the country and some of their important office-bearers had even gone across the border for the training.

The PFI was involved in all sorts of anti-social activities and time had come to ban this organisation, Bommai added.

“With a lot of background work, information, and cases, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah has taken the right decision. This is the message for all anti-national groups that they will not survive in this country. I also urge people not to associate with such organisations,” he added.

To a question that PFI was strong in coastal Karnataka and the task before the state government to remove them, the Chief Minister said, “Whatever necessary, will be done.” In a notification issued late Tuesday night, the Union Home Ministry banned the PFI saying the central government is of the opinion that the Islamist outfit and its affiliates have been involved in subversive activities, thereby disturbing public order and undermining constitutional set up of the country and encouraging and enforcing a terror-based regressive regime.

It continues “propagating anti-national sentiments and radicalising a particular section of society” with the intention to create disaffection against the country, it said.

Welcoming the Centre’s decision to ban PFI, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said it is a right move for the country’s unity and integrity, and to maintain peace and order.

“Recently, the NIA and police of several states had raided several of its activists and office-bearers and had gathered evidences. Such fanatic organisations were instigating a section of youth against the country,” he said.

In an eight-hour long operation on Tuesday, the Karnataka police detained over 80 people, mostly office-bearers and members of the PFI and its political offshoot Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) from across the state, on the basis of intelligence inputs that they were trying to foment trouble in the society.

Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) Alok Kumar had on Tuesday noted that raids were conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as well as the state police last week. The NIA had at the time secured seven people from Karnataka and the state police 13.

BJP national general secretary C T Ravi alleged that the PFI was nurtured by the Congress.

“In a huge step against home grown Terrorism, the Union Home Ministry has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates for 5 years. Congratulations to Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah for taking this decisive action against the #PFI that was nurtured by CONgress,” he tweeted. PTI