There is definite need for nationwide application of a recent order of the Karnataka High Court that directs insurance companies not to pay compensation to victims of two-wheeler accidents who had ignored the rules governing mandatory use of safety, or “crash”, helmets. While that order in itself may not ensure that all two-wheeler users wear helmets, it would certainly boost the campaign favouring their use by both the rider and those on the pillion. It is another story that it is shameful the strong arm of the law and penal provisions have to be invoked to make people protect themselves, but that is a grim reality.

And the direct and indirect costs to the exchequer in providing medical assistance is a huge burden, particularly when it is easily avoidable. The statistics are mind-boggling: India is one of most accident-prone nations, 29 per cent of the mishaps involve two-wheelers. The number of fatalities resulting from non-use of helmets is a blot on society. It is not that there is anything “new” to calls for using helmets, the exercise began decades ago but the results are unimpressive. The provision in the Motor Vehicles Act is not uniformly applied, each state interprets it differently.

Enforcement of the law is tardy, photographs of police personnel riding motor-cycles and scooters using only their uniform headgear have become common in newspapers across the country. Political leaders ~ Rahul Gandhi among them ~ have been seen disregarding the helmet-rule, and helmets are seldom visible at “motorcycle rallies”: our leaders can be relied upon to set bad examples.

Confusion abounds over the quality of helmets. Every now and then the police in one city or another launches a drive against the use of helmets that do not meet prescribed standards ~ people use the safety equipment only to comply with the letter of the law ~ but no action is taken against the sale or manufacture of sub-standard helmets, often sold on the roadside, as in the Capital. A grim picture is projected by a study conducted by the UN.

Pointing out how two-wheelers are one of the most unsafe modes of transport, the Motorcycle Helmet Study says, “Motorcyclists are 26 times more likely to die in a road crash than drivers of passenger cars. Wearing an appropriate helmet improves their chances of survival by 42 per cent and helps avoid 69 per cent of injuries to riders.” The study also makes a dire projection, “between 2008 and 2020, almost 34 lakh people might die of motorcycle crashes. A figure that can be halved with appropriate measures. As many as 14 lakh of those fatalities can be avoided with the proper use of safety helmets”. Yet who cares ~ else a High Court need not have had to intervene to enforce what common sense demands.

The Trivendra Rawat government in Uttarakhand launched a major damage control exercise after a debt-ridden transporter, who consumed poison before entering the BJP office in Dehradun last week, died during treatment on Tuesday. The man’s family has been promised financial aid and a job by the state government.

Transporter Prakash Pandey was cremated at Haldwani in Nainital district on Wednesday. Traders in Haldwani expressed their anger over the tragic incident by closing commercial establishments in the city.
Senior Congress politician and leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh said, “The state government has assured financial support to the family and job to one family member.”

Nainital District Magistrate Dependra Chaudhary also interacted with the bereaved family and assured financial support. The state government will be providing Rs 10 lakh and a job to one member of the family.
Pandey consumed poison before attending the ’anta Durbar’ of the state agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal at the BJP office in Dehradun on 6 January. The businessman died during treatment at Max hospital here on Tuesday.

Six months after the gangrape and murder case of 16-year-old girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla district and subsequent arrests of police officials, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday hinted at unraveling the mystery behind the ghastly crime.

“We have got some leads in the case and we will soon give good news in the case,” Anshul Bansal, CBI counsel told media after hearing at the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday.
Bansal said the CBI submitted an affidavit in the court as per the HC’s previous directions to clear assertions as to whether the investigating agency’s Director has knowledge or he is monitoring the investigations in the case.

“The court has expressed satisfaction over the developments in the case and 28 March has been fixed as the next date of hearing in the case,” he said.

Governor Acharaya Devvrat called upon the members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly to rise above personal attacks, shun political vendetta and instead talk on issues of the public.

“I urge the members of the House to work together with a positive outlook and an objective of taking the state to the acme of development without getting entangled in vendetta politics,” said the Governor.

He said this in his address on Wednesday, during the first Assembly session of the 13th Himachal Pradesh Assembly after the Speaker of the Assembly was unanimously elected.

The people of the state have given the members the responsibility of making all possible efforts for the development of their respective constituencies and the state as a whole, he said.

The election process was completed in a cordial atmosphere, he said, adding that the ill-will which must have cropped up during the campaign needs to be forgotten in the interest of the state and with a thought as to how every citizen of the state becomes prosperous, educated, secured, healthy and great.The Opposition should forward constructive resolutions with objective of formulation of good policies, he said.

“There has been a new opening and I wish new niches of progress and development are carved out with the co-operation and support of the members,” he said.

The highlights of the Governor address also included the Vision Document of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government prepared before the Assembly elections.

“This government has recently taken over. It is too small period to make any comment on the performance of the government. However, the government has been prompt enough to take some important decisions for the welfare of the people, such as lowering the age limit from 80 years to 70 years for awarding social security, pension, releasing 3 per cent dearness allowance to the employees of the state with immediate effect from 1 July, constitution of sub-committee to tackle stray animal problem,” he said.

Maintaing law and order in the state will be on the top priority of the state government, said the Governor.

He expressed hope that the members of the house will serve the people of the state with dedication and dedication to make this state a ‘Model State’.

The entire opposition in the assembly, including the National Conference (NC) and Congress, on Wednesday boycotted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s reply to the debate on Governor’s address, alleging her of being “insensitive” towards killing of innocent people in Kashmir.

The opposition members accused Mehbooba of running away from making a statement on the sensitive issue of killing of a civilian in the Kulgam district. The opposition was referring to the incident in which a person in a mob that attacked the security forces engaged in an encounter with terrorists was killed. A magisterial enquiry has been ordered by the government into the incident.

Pandemonium was witnessed in the house when it met in the morning as the opposition and Independent members demanded a statement from the government on killing of the civilian. Chaos prevailed for most part of the question hour as the opposition members raising slogans trooped into the Well of the house and later staged a walk out.

The issue was raised by the former Chief Minister and leader of opposition, Omar Abdullah, who accused the government of being insensitive on the issue. Mehbooba as chairperson of the Unified Command, consisting of the Army, para-military forces and intelligence agencies, has failed to take effective steps to stop killing of innocent people.

NC members carrying banners “stop innocent killings” raised slogans and were supported by the entire opposition.

Devender Singh Rana (NC) said that the PDP-BJP government was sitting as a mute spectator as unrest was growing in all three regions of the state.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Abdul RehmanVeeri tried to pacify the members by pointing out that a magisterial probe has been ordered into the civilian’s death and the Chief Minister would respond on the issue in her reply on the debate of the Governor’s address during the second sitting of the house.

Omar Abdullah said that the opposition as a mark of protest against the insensitivity of the government would boycott her speech on the Governor’s address. He led the opposition’s walkout from the house.

Former health minister and five-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Sirmaur, Rajeev Bindal was on Wednesday unanimously elected as Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

The Opposition Congress did not put up a candidate and backed Bindal for the coveted post.

After his election was announced by Protem Speaker, Ramesh Dhawala, Bindal was escorted to the podium by leader of the House, Jai Ram Thakur and CLP leader, MukeshAgnihotri.

“I will try to do justice to my duties as a Speaker. I know how much a person has to struggle to reach here. I will protect the rights of MLAs as per laid down rules. I will try to take everyone along,” Bindal said in the House.

Bindal, who turns 63 on 12 January, referred that the Himachal Pradesh Assembly has a changed look this time and many people, who played their role over the last two decades in the state, are not here now. “There is fresh blood and young leadership has come to fore,” he said. Quoting Vivekananda, he hoped that the new government will forge ahead not to look back and will keep patience. He sought the support of senior and experienced members of the House in running the Assembly.

An Ayurvedic doctor and a strong organisation man, Bindal is a politician with a vision and administrative capacities.

With his background of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) since college days, immediately after obtaining degree in 1978, Bindal worked with ‘Ho’ tribals in extremely backward tribal area of Jharkhand. He ran a free of cost clinic, hostel and other services there to bring the poorest of poor folks to the mainstream. He started his practice in home town Solan in 1983.Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur described Bindal as a hard working BJP man with roots in RSS. “We have spent 18 years together in VidhanSabha. I have seen that whatever the party has assigned him, no matter how small it may be, he does his duties with commitment and hard work,” Thakur said.

He said Bindal has won two consecutive polls even outside his district, which reflects his strengths as a leader.

CLP leader, MukeshAgnihotri congratulated Bindal on his unanimous election and said now he was not of any party, but custodian of the House. He appreciated Bindal as a member of the House, who would always do his homework before speaking anything.Agnihotri said the BJP Legislature Party’s role, while in Opposition previously, was not positive and it did not allow the House to run many a times. “You have not set good tradition while you were in the opposition,” he said.

Agnihotri said he hoped the Speaker would look into the problems in MLA flats. Bindal happens to be the second Speaker of HP Assembly from Sirmaur district.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may have made its maiden entry into the Rajya Sabha (RS) with the unopposed election of its three nominated candidates on Tuesday, but party’s Punjab unit has expressed its disappointment with the AAP leadership over the decision to send, Sanjay Singh, Narain Dass Gupta and Sushil Gupta to the Upper House.

While Singh has been associated with the party since its inception, Sushil Gupta is a Delhi-based businessman and ND Gupta a chartered accountant.

In a letter written to the Punjab AAP’s newly appointed in-charge, Manish Sisodia, AAP legislator and former senior journalist KanwarSandhu has questioned the rational behind the nomination of all three candidates for the Rajya Sabha.

In this letter written on 7 January, Sandhu said about half a dozen of Punjab AAP legislators are disappointed at the nominations. He said the same goes for majority of the volunteers and non-resident Indians (NRIs) from Punjab.

He said most of Punjab NRIs are critical of the nominations of Sushil Gupta and ND Gupta as they feel these seats should have gone to AAP’s own senior leaders who have been leading the party.

Sandhu said Punjab NRIs are also unhappy with the nomination of former state unit’s in-charge Sanjay Singh as the party lost the state Assembly elections under his command.

He said Punjab NRIs feel that if Singh was nominated because of his work, party leaders like Kumar Visvas and Ashutosh should not have been ignored.

Sandhu reminded the party that NRIs had provided AAP crucial support in Punjab Assembly elections.He also drew the attention towards the criticism in media over the RS nominations of outsiders at the cost of senior party leaders.

Sandhu said while all editorials in newspapers have been highly critical AAP on the issue, party’s spokespersons have been finding it difficult to defend the decision on TV news channels. He said AAP appears to be increasingly losing out in the game of perception.

Launching an attack on Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana for purchasing of more power than required, Congress legislator Karan Singh Dalal on Wednesday alleged nexus between top Haryana officials and power supplying private companies and sought a probe by an independent agency.

While addressing a Press conference, Dalal said that the total need of power in the state varied from 3,500 megawatt (MW0 to 9,800 MW as per the information sought under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, while the Haryana government was buying 11,086.3 MW power from various sources including private parties against the peak power demand of 9,800 MW.

Raising questions over the extra purchase of 1,286 MW that remained allegedly unexplained, he said, “When requirement is less, then why the government is purchasing more electricity. It appears that the government is hand in gloves with the private companies who are selling power to the state through the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana BijliVitran Nigam (DHBVN) at exorbitant rates at a time when power is not required. The government is buying power from private companies at excessive rates and the burden of power purchase is being borne by the consumers.”

Former minister Dalal said that the extra purchase of power by the government and the supply thereof at exorbitant rates was a scam worth “Few Hundred Crore” which needs to be looked into by an independent agency.

Dalal also alleged that the state government had already closed three thermal power stations and on the other hand, power is being purchased increasingly from private corporations.

He said, “In spite of purchasing more power than required, cities and villages continue to face huge power cuts and as a result the supply of drinking water remains always affected. Besides this, industrial output remains severely affected on account of shortage of power. On the other hand, the price of unit continues to increase. Ironically, no steps have been taken by the present government to develop an effective price control mechanism for keeping the electricity prices under control.”

“During the Congress regime, there used to be three slab system and benefits of less consumption of power used to be given to the electricity consumers who exceeded that slab system, but now consumers have to pay more in case of exceeding the consumption of more than 800 units per month,” he said.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said Aadhaar as an identity document was not applicable to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Person of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCIs).

While stating this on Wednesday, a spokesman of Haryana Electronics and Information Technology Department said that a circular issued by the UIDAI stated, “Aadhaar as an identity document which may be sought only from those who are eligible for it as per the Aadhaar Act, 2016.”

The spokesman said that most of the NRIs, PIOs and OCIs may not be eligible for the Aadhaar enrollment as per the Act. Aadhaar is the 12-digit Unique Identity Number (also known as Aadhaar number) as well as Aadhaar card issued by the UIDAI.

Several representations have been received from individuals such as NRIs, PIOs and OCIs informing about difficulties being faced by them on demand of Aadhaar by respective authorities in respect of various services and benefits.

He said that it has been brought to the notice that some of the departments and implementing agencies concerned are insisting the NRIs, PIOs and OCIs to submit or link their Aadhaar for availing the services and benefits that are directly or indirectly connected with them regardless of the fact that they may not be entitled for Aadhaar.

Tourist facilities will be improved at the Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Memorial at Chapparchiri, (SAS Nagar) at a cost of Rs 24 Crore.

Announcing this on Wednesday, Punjab’s cultural affairs and tourism minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu said while Rs 12 lakh will be spent on behalf of the rural development and panchayat minister, TriptRajinder Singh Bajwa for the restoration of the approach road towards the memorial, another Rs 12 lakh will spent from his own discretionary quota for the beautification and facilitation of the tourists.

Sidhu, who paid a visit to the Memorial along with Mohali legislator, Balbir Singh Sidhu who demanded sprucing up of the basic infrastructure and brought to his notice the dilapidated condition of the approach road towards the memorial. The minister said the Chief Minister (CM), Amarinder Singh would develop historical and heritage sites of the state as tourist hubs to attract tourists from both country and abroad.

Divulging more, he said that as per the directions of the CM, the heritage festivals have been revived in the state and the department would hold heritage festivals at Patiala, Amritsar, Bathinda and Kapurthala with the first one in February at Patiala. Sidhu said the Chapparchiri memorial stands testimony to the glorious history of the Sikhs where Baba Banda Singh Bahadur established the rule based on equality and just principles by eradicating cruelity and lawlessness. He said that facilities would be provided at such historical spots to make them attractable to the tourists.

Three days after the launch of Punjab government’s much awaited farm loan waiver scheme, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Wednesday cleared 1.15 lakh more cases for debt waiver amounting to Rs 580 Crore, to be disbursed to farmers across the state before January 31.

Earlier on Sunday, the CM had launched the waiver scheme with nearly 47,000 farmers in five districts receiving first installment of the debt relief scheme.

The announcement came on Wednesday after a high-level meeting chaired by the CM, which reviewed the progress of the implementation of the farm debt waiver scheme, formally launched by the state government on January 7 with the disbursement of waiver certificates to nearly 47000 farmers from five districts.

With the completion of disbursement of waiver certificates to these 1.15 lakh farmers, the state government would have covered 1.6 lakh small and marginal farmers with a loan amount of Rs 748 Crore.
In the first phase, the government is waiving off loans taken from cooperative institutions, for which a total of 5.63 lakh have been identified for relief to the tune of Rs 2700 Crore. The entire process would be completed in four phases, with commercial private and nationalized banks to be covered after the cooperative loans.

Giving details, an official spokesperson said after today’s meeting that the modalities of the disbursement were being worked out. The meeting was in favour of public presentation of the certificates so that the farmers are not misled on any count by the Opposition or certain farmer unions seeking to promote their vested interests through false propaganda.

The CM, said the spokesperson, had directed the concerned officials to ensure that the disbursement process is handled smoothly and no eligible farmer is left out.

Amarinder had also instructed the officials to ensure rectification of any technical errors, such as names being misspelt, and plug any loopholes that might obstruct the efficient implementation of the scheme at any stage.

The CM said no lapses in this regard would be tolerated. He directed senior officials to personally monitor and supervise the entire process, said the spokesperson. The government was committed to implementing the scheme in letter and in spirit, he added.

Amarinder has already said that the interests of the farm labourers would also be taken care of once the state’s fiscal condition stabilises.

Police on Wednesday clarified that missing research scholar Mukul Jain was a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University and was no more enrolled with the varsity. Earlier, it was reported that he was a student of JNU.

Mukul Jain had reportedly gone missing from Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Tuesday.

Mukul was last seen leaving the campus at around 12.30 pm from the East Gate of JNU, police said. According to the Police, no violence or academic pressure surfaced in the initial Investigation.

Police said: “As per the leads, we have received from JNU administration, he is no more enrolled there and has completed his PhD from their department of Life Sciences.”

“Mukul Jain had vacated his hostel room after completing his research and presently staying in Ghaziabad.”

He was dealing with some ‘personal issues’ and there was no certainty about what could have gone wrong. “There is no suspect in this case,” a police officer said.

Jain, pursuing PhD from the IGNOU under the supervision of a JNU professor, used to attend lab number 408 at the JNU’s School of Life Sciences.

In a Tweet on Wednesday, Student Leader Shehla Rashid Posted, a ‘missing poster’ of research scholar Mukul Jain.

https://x.com/Shehla_Rashid/status/950972012637306880

Delhi police have started investigating the case.

In 2016, a first-year MSc student at JNU, Najeeb Ahmed, went missing under mysterious circumstances after he allegedly got into a fight with members of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP). After the Delhi police failed to make any breakthrough, the case was transferred to the CBI.

In the wake of the death of homeless persons in Delhi, the BJP’s local unit on Wednesday dubbed the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital as the “most insensitive” one in the country.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit President Manoj Tiwari also appealed to the people of Delhi to help the homeless in the prevailing biting cold conditions.

“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal formed the government in Delhi (with an avowed objective) to serve the common man but it is now beyond the reach of the common man,” the BJP MP from northeast Delhi said.

He said the homeless people are dying due to severe cold conditions under the nose of the Chief Minister.

“Kejriwal took oath in the name of his children not to enjoy government accommodation but is now sleeping without worry in luxurious government accommodations.”

The BJP leader said that everyday more homeless people are dying in Delhi but the government is only debating the data instead of taking steps to save their lives.

According to a city-based NGO Centre for Holistic Development, at least 44 homeless people died in the first week of January and 250 in December 2017.

Tiwari said: “No state of the country has witnessed such an insensitive government and such a shameless Chief Minister.”

“We cannot leave the homeless at the mercy of such an insensitive government and hence all District BJP Presidents, MLAs, Councillors and party office-bearers along with social organisations will go out in the streets to help the poor homeless people,” he said.

Tiwari said that Delhi had been shamed in the country and the world due to the insensitive AAP government.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the result of Civil Services Main Examination 2017 on its website – upsc.gov.in.

The examination was conducted between 28 October and 3 November 2017 for selection to the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and other Central Services (Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’).

Those selected will now go through the final leg of the selection process, personality test, in February. As per the official website of the UPSC, the e-Summon Letter of Personality Test of candidates being called for interview may be downloaded from the Commission’s Website www.upsc.gov.in from 18 January 2018.

The candidates will need to carry their original certificates in support of their claims pertaining to age, educational qualifications, community, physical handicap.

Aanchal Thakur has just one wish after becoming the first Indian to win an international medal in skiing — an end to the government’s apathetic attitude towards winter sports.

The response to her bronze medal winning performance in Turkey has been overwhelming to say the least. She still can’t believe that none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated her on the achievement in a sport that usually begs for attention.

“I never thought the Prime Minister would tweet for me.

It is unreal. I just hope we are finally treated at par with athletes of popular sports. As of now, there has been no support whatsoever from the government,” Aanchal told PTI from Turkey where she secured the bronze in Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS).

“I just want to say that we too are fighting, working hard day in and day out for India,” she said.

Skiing runs in her blood but it has not been an easy ride thus far for the the 21-year-old, who is a student of DAV College in Chandigarh.

Her father Roshan Thakur, who happens to be the secretary at the Winter Games Federation of India, always loved skiing and therefore it was natural for his children, Aanchal and Himanshu, to pick up the sport at an early age.

While Aanchal has grabbed attention now, brother Himanshu, also an alpine skier, competed in the Sochi Winter Olympics alongside luger Shiva Keshavan.

Aanchal says if it was not for the efforts of her father, there was no way she could have pursued skiing.

“I have been skiing in Europe since I was in seventh grade. Papa always wanted me to ski and he has been spending out of his pocket all this while. Without any government help, you can imagine how much he has spent on me and my brother.

“What makes it more challenging for us is that it doesn’t snow in India for the major part of the year, so we have to go out and train,” she says.

Her father Roshan adds that existing skiing venues in India, at Gulmarg and Auli, are the only world-class during competitions and are not looked after well otherwise.

“The Europeans get to train 10 months in a year where our athletes can do two months at the max, considering the huge cost involved in training overseas,” says Roshan, who owns apple orchards in Manali.

The equipment, comprising ski, boots and clothing too is expensive and costs around Rs 4-5 lakh, says Aanchal.

With a historic medal in the bag, the next target for this wushu player-turned skier is the qualification mark for the Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month.

While her brother Himanshu is closer to the qualification mark, making the Winter Games cut seems unlikely for Aanchal.

“To qualify, we need to score less than 140 points in five races and I have not been able to that even in one race.

Yesterday was a very challenging course and even the gold winner could not qualify for Olympics with her score being more than 140.”

With the cut-off date being January 21, Aanchal is racing against time.

“My brother is in Iceland for an event and I am going to go there as well. Then there is a race in Iran and Pakistan. I have to see if I can get the visa for that. So, the this Winter Games looks unlikely for me but I have already set my sight on 2022.

“We need to start preparing for that now and hopefully we will get the much needed government support,” says Aanchal.

The fact that Winter Games Federation of India is not recognised by the Sports Ministry also doesn’t help their case.

A fire broke onboard Indian Navy’s stealth frigate INS Shivalik, but there was no major damage or any casualty, Navy officials said.

According to officials, the fire broke in a storage compartment and was controlled in time.

“It was a minor incident, there has been no damage to men or material,” an official said.

A Board of Inquiry has been ordered in the incident.

The lead ship of her class of stealth multi-role frigates built for the Indian Navy, INS Shivalik is the first stealth warship built by India.

Indian Railways initiative of empowering its women employees has brought laurels as Matunga Railway Station has entered into Limca Book of Records 2018.

Matunga Railway Station has become the first station in India to have all woman staff managing its operations of the stations.

The station has women staff across all departments; operating, commercial, RPF .

Mumbai Division of Central Railways have posted a total of 41 women staffers, including 17 booking clerks, 6 RPF personnel, 8 ticket checkers, 5 point persons, 2 announcers and 2 safai karmacharis are working under the Supervision of Station Manager Mamta Kulkarni.

Incidentally, Mamta Kulkarni is first Assistant Station Master (ASM) to be recruited on Mumbai Division of Central Railway in 1992.

The staff has been handling overall operations of the railway station from last six months.