Mobile numbers will not be disconnected for non-linking with Aadhaar: DoT

Ajith Athrady New Delhi, DH News Service, Nov 8 2017, 0:22 IST

In a virtual volte-face, the government on Tuesday assured that there will be no disconnection of mobile numbers not linked with the Aadhaar number of consumers.

"The Department of Telecom is waiting for the Supreme Court verdict on Aadhaar linking to decide on the action against those who do not want to link their mobile number with Aadhaar," DoT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters.

At present, there is no plan to disconnect mobile numbers for not linking with the UIDAI number, she said.

"We are also working on alternatives for people who are abroad (to help them link their mobile number with Aadhaar)," she added.

Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said the government's aim is to provide mobile connection and not disconnection. However, we only want to prevent any misuse of the system, he added.

The minister said the DoT is easing the process for mobile subscribers to "re-verify their numbers through Aadhaar without visiting telecom retail outlets".

UIDAI has already said that from December 1, mobile subscribers can re-verify their numbers by using One Time Password (OTP) without visiting mobile retail outlets.

RTI query reveals, Lotus is not India's national flower

Sanjay Pandey, Lucknow, DH News Service, Nov 7 2017, 23:28 IST

The query was submitted by a Lucknow-based RTI activist Aishwarya Parashar.

Contrary to popular perception Lotus is not the national flower of India. In fact, India does not have a national flower.

A response to a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI) by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has revealed that Lotus is not the national flower of the country.

The query was submitted by a Lucknow-based RTI activist Aishwarya Parashar.

Aishwarya, in her query to the BSI, which was under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, had sought to know if Lotus had been declared as the national flower of India.

In his response, Tapas Kumar Ghosh, a junior administrative officer and CPIO of the BSI, said that his organisation had not declared any flower as the national flower.

''The BSI has never declared any flower as the national flower of India," Ghosh said in his response.

Aishwarya, a class XI student at a school here, said that the response proved that the information on the Government of India website that Lotus was the national flower was ''incorrect''.

''Since my childhood, I have been told like others that Lotus is our national flower...I preferred the RTI query out of my curiosity to know the truth,'' she told DH.

She said that the government must either officially declare Lotus as the national flower or remove the incorrect information from its website to clear the confusion.

Aishwarya plans to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to take steps to remove the confusion.

Andhra University professor ‘sexually harasses’ girls, gets beaten up

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

PublishedNov 7, 2017, 1:36 am IST

Andhra University teacher had asked female students to meet him personally.

Andhra University

Visakhapatnam: Andhra University students manhandled the head of the Sanskrit department, Prof. K. Yedukondalu, for allegedly sexually harassing female students.

Five women have complained to the student association that the professor misbehaved with them. On Monday, the students and the association’s leaders took the law into their own hands and attacked the professor on campus.

According to sources, Prof. Yedukondalu asked the women to meet him personally to collect their hall tickets for the MA Sanskrit semester-end exams.

When they refused to meet him, he did not allow them to write the exam, and showed that they did not have the required attendance.

As many as 12 of the 20 students in the class attended classes regularly but only three were allowed to take the exam.

Earlier, in 2014, the professor had tried to shield a research scholar, Sagar, who had reportedly sought sexual favours from a female student in exchange for better marks.

The professor was suspended from administrative posts for two years after a four-member committee confirmed that such behaviour was inappropriate.

Despite this, he was made head of the department in 2016.

According to sources, Prof Yedukondalu has been offering female students a chance to work in films through his contacts, and provide them financial assistance in exchange for sexual favours.

The students have complained to AU’s rector Prof K. Gayathri Devi and the vice-chancellor Prof G Nageswara Rao.

The university has said that a committee will be formed to enquire into the allegations and action would be taken against the professor,

Andhra University registrar V. Umamaheswar Rao said, “Earlier, also a committee gave warning to the professor. We will resolve the issue and punish the guilty as early as possible. But, we condemn attacks on the campus without proper complaints to the principal. Students should not take the law into their own hands.”

Woman catches husband cheating on her mid-flight, forces airliner to land

AFP

PublishedNov 7, 2017, 8:27 pm IST

The woman, an Iranian national, was travelling from Doha to Bali with her husband and child on a Qatar Airways flight on Sunday.

Angered by the discovery, the woman reportedly started to hit her husband (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi: An enraged woman forced an airliner to make an emergency landing after she discovered mid-flight that her husband was apparently cheating on her.

The woman, an Iranian national, was travelling from Doha to Bali with her husband and child on a Qatar Airways flight on Sunday, India's Hindustan Times reported Tuesday.

As her husband slept, she used his hand to unlock his fingerprint-protected phone, revealing the alleged affair in all its sordid detail.

Angered by the discovery, the woman reportedly started to hit her husband. The cabin crew intervened but were unable to calm the situation.

With the inflight episode spiralling out of control, the pilots decided to make an unscheduled stop in the southern Indian city of Chennai.

The woman, her husband and their child were taken off the plane, which then resumed its journey to Indonesia, an unnamed security official told the paper.

"The family spent the day at Chennai airport and was sent to Kuala Lumpur by a Batik Air flight. No police action was taken," the official said.

Qatar Airways was not immediately available for comment when contacted.

Aadhaar for IT returns: Madras HC takes a U-turn, rejects plea seeking exemption

Sureshkumar| TNN | Nov 7, 2017, 19:35 IST



CHENNAI: A week after permitting a lawyer to file her I-T returns without mentioning Aadhaar or Aadhaar enrolment number, the Madras high court on Tuesday made a complete volte-face and dismissed a similar petition seeking such exemption.

Justice T S Sivagnanam made a U-turn while dismissing a plea moved by Thiagarajan Kumararaja seeking a direction to income tax authorities to allow him to file I-T returns for the assessment year 2017-18 without insisting on Aadhaar number.

The plea was moved primarily relying on an interim order granted by the same judge on October 31, permitting petitioner Preethi Mohan to file her I-T returns either manually or through e-filing without mentioning Aadhaar number.

This apart, Kumararaja also relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Binoy Viswam vs the Union of India case.

Citing the judgment the petitioner said, "The Supreme Court has granted a partial stay of sub-section (2) of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act and that the assessees like the petitioner, who have not enrolled under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016 and who do not comply with the provisions of section 139AA(2) of the Act, cannot have their permanent account number (PAN) treated as invalid until the apex court hears and determines the larger challenge, in which, the validity of the Aadhaar Act has been assailed."

Denying the submissions, additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan submitted that the contention raised by the petitioner was a clear misreading of the judgment.

"The apex court has not granted stay of section 139AA(2) of the Act, but its validity has been upheld and the limited stay, which was granted by the court, was only against invalidating PAN, on failure to link it with Aadhaar. The partial stay was granted to facilitate other day-to-day transactions, including banking, which mandates PAN," Rajagopalan said.

Concurring with the submission of the additional solicitor general, Justice Sivagnanam dismissed the plea.

IndiGo staff manhandle passenger, airline apologises

Saurabh Sinha| TNN | Updated: Nov 8, 2017, 00:38 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

IndiGo groundstaff manhandle passenger after altercation, pin him to ground
Video shows airline staff holding passenger down by the throat

Airline apologised after video of the incident came to public domain



NEW DELHI: In a shocker, IndiGo ground staff manhandled and dragged a passenger at Delhi Airport on October 15 after a tiff. An airline employee who acted as a whistleblower, tried to intervene and shot a video of this violence and was sacked by the airline.

This drama unfolded on October 15 when 6E 487 flew into Delhi from Chennai. After alighting from the Airbus A-320, a passenger Rajiv Katiyal got into an argument with some ground staffers over some issue and he allegedly abused them. What sparked this argument has not be ascertained yet.

Two to three IndiGo ground staffers stopped Katyal from boarding the bus which was taking passengers to the terminal. They then manhandled him and dragged him on the tarmac for over a minute. An IndiGo employee, Montu Kalra, who was at the site tried to intervene and shot a video of his colleagues manhandling the passenger.

Instead of acting against the employees who thrashed passenger Katiyal, IndiGo sacked Kalra whose wife is pregnant and who needs the job desperately for his growing family.

On Tuesday when Kalra's video became public and was aired by Times Group's Times Now, Aviation minister Jayant spoke to IndiGo founder Rahul Bhatia and sought a detailed report on this issue. He said once the passenger lodges a criminal complaint (FIR) against the IndiGo employees who beat him up, they will lose their security clearance for airport passes and not be able to go there for their job. Effectively, the guilty employees of IndiGo will not be able to work in the aviation industry, Sinha said.

Sanjay Bhatia, IGI Airport DCP, confirmed receiving a PCR call regarding the tiff between the passenger and IndiGo employees on October 15. "Passenger Rajeev Katiyal, who had flown in from Chennai, was waiting for coach bus. There was altercation between IndiGo staffer Jubi Thomas and the passenger due to a misunderstanding. The matter was amicably sorted out and call was filed."

IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said in a statement: "I acknowledge the unpleasant experience our passenger went through, while engaging with our staff at Delhi airport. My personal apologies as this does not reflect our culture. I had personally spoken to the passenger and asked for an apology. At IndiGo, dignity of our passengers and staff is of utmost importance. Any act that compromises the dignity of either is of a serious concern to us. Under the code of conduct violation, this incident was investigated and stern action was taken against the staff. Once again my personal and sincere apologies to the affected passenger."

The airline later added to this statement, saying: "Treating our customers with respect is core to what we do. Every day we take tens of thousands of happy customers to where they need to get to. It is for this reason that customers choose IndiGo more number of times than any other airline in the country. An incident happened in Delhi airport which is entirely the opposite of this and against what we stand for at IndiGo. The video of this incident came to our attention and we took action. Even while the investigation was going on we immediately suspended the involved employees. I personally spoke to the customer and apologised to him the very same day. Whatever may have been the provocation, our staff were completely out of line and didn't follow laid down procedures.... Under the code of conduct violation, this incident was investigated by the designated committee and stern action was taken against the staff who was he main culprit by immediately terminating his employment. He was the one found instigating and aggravating the situation. He is the exact opposite of what IndiGo's customer service aims to be."

ஜெ., மறைவு விசாரணை கன மழையால் தாமதம்

தொடரும் கனமழையால், ஜெயலலிதா மரணம் குறித்து விசாரிக்க நியமிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நீதி விசாரணை கமிஷன், தன் பணியை துவக்குவதில், தாமதம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.



முதல்வராக இருந்த ஜெ., உடல் நலக்குறைவு காரணமாக, 2016 செப்., 22ல், அப்பல்லோ மருத்துவமனையில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டார். அங்கு சிகிச்சை பலனின்றி, டிச., 5ல் இறந்தார்.

'ஜெ., மரணத்தில் பல்வேறு சந்தேகங்கள் உள்ளதால், விசாரணை நடத்த வேண்டும்' என, பல தரப்பினரும் வலியுறுத்தினர்.

அதையேற்று, ஜெ., மரணம் குறித்து விசாரிக்க, ஓய்வு பெற்றஉயர்நீதிமன்ற நீதிபதி, ஆறுமுகசாமி தலைமை யில், விசாரணை கமிஷன் அமைக்கப் பட்டு உள்ளது. விசாரணை கமிஷனுக்கு, சென்னை எழிலகத்தில் உள்ள, கல்சா மஹாலின் முதல் தளத்தில், அறை ஒதுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. நீதிபதிக்கு உதவ, 13 ஊழியர்களும், ஆணைய செயலராக, பன்னீர்செல்வமும் நியமிக்கப்பட்டு உள்ளனர்.

ஜெ., மரணம் தொடர்பாக, விசாரணைகமிஷனுக்கு, தினமும் பொதுமக்கள் உட்பட, பல தரப்பட்டவர் களிடம் இருந்து, கடிதங்கள் வந்தபடி உள்ளன. அவற்றை, ஊழியர்கள் தொகுத்து வருகின்றனர். விசாரணை கமிஷன் அலுவலகத்திற்கு, 'ஷிப்டு' அடிப்படையில், துப்பாக்கி ஏந்திய போலீஸ்

பாதுகாப்பும் போடப்பட்டுள்ளது.ஆனால், தமிழகத்தில் கன மழை பெய்து வருவதால், நீதிபதியின் விசாரணை துவங்குவதில், கால தாமதம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. மழை பாதிப்பு நீக்கியதும், விசாரணை முழுவீச்சில் துவங்கும் என, தெரிகிறது.

- நமது நிருபர் -