NATIONAL NEWS
Family of farmer killed in Lakhimpur violence says second autopsy also doesn’t mention bullet injury
The second autopsy report of farmer Gurvinder Singh, one of the eight killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, also did not mention any bullet injuries, his family said on Wednesday a day after they had rejected the first autopsy. The body was, meanwhile, cremated in his village in Bahraich district, his family said. Gurvinder’s brother-in-law Raman Singh told The Hindu the second autopsy report also did not reflect any bullet injury. Gurvinder was one of the four farmers killed in the violent incident involving the convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra in Tikonia. His family had demanded a fresh autopsy after they refused to accept the findings of the post-mortem report. The family said that the first autopsy report showed Gurvinder had died of internal injuries but it alleged that he was shot dead by Ashish Mishra, the Minister’s son, while trying to escape into the fields following the incident. A fresh panel was formed to conduct the second autopsy. The second report has also given a similar conclusion that Gurvinder died of internal injuries and bleeding after being hit by the car, said his family, though The Hindu is yet to see a copy of the second autopsy. The family said it has received the autopsy report. It has nothing about the bullet. He has been cremated, Raman Singh said. District Magistrate Dinesh Chandra Singh said the family members of Gurvinder Singh had raised objections on the post-mortem examination done earlier. With the permission of the state government, it was done again and videographed as well, he added. Locals claiming to be eyewitnesses in Tikonia said on Sunday they saw Ashish Mishra sitting in the SUV that mowed down the farmers and alleged that after his car lost balance he ran towards the sugarcane fields and while doing so fired at Gurvinder who had tried to nab him. In the FIR lodged against Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri in the wee hours on October 4 on the complaint of Hari Singh of Bahraich, it is mentioned that the Minister’s son ran towards the sugarcane fields after his car lost balance and that he was firing shots while trying to hide. Hari Singh, the complainant, accused Ashish Mishra of shooting dead Gurvinder. The FIR was lodged under IPC 302, 304a and under criminal conspiracy among other charges. Ashish Mishra was sitting on the left front seat of his Thar jeep, the FIR alleged. Ashish Mishra has, however, claimed that all allegations against him were false and that he was present in his ancestral village Banveerpur, a couple of kms away, to attend the annual wrestling event organised in the memory of his grandfather. I have all videos and evidence, he told a television channel claiming innocence. Apart from the four farmers, a local scribe, two BJP workers and a driver were killed in the incident. Ajay Mishra had alleged they were lynched by the protesters. The autopsy results of the others were not known. Their bodies have been cremated. The family of the scribe, Raman Kashyap, has said he was killed after being run over the car and they believe that the farmers did not lynch him even though an autopsy report is still awaited.
Dictatorship in India; new kind of politics in Uttar Pradesh: Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that the government has been attacking farmers and that there was dictatorship in the country now. At a press conference, Gandhi said he along with the two Congress Chief Ministers – Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Charanjit Singh Channi (Punjab) – will visit Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families hit by the violence. He said, The first attack was for trying to reverse the Land Acquisition Bill. Then, the Farm Laws were brought and that’s why the farmers are protesting outside Delhi. The Prime Minister was in Lucknow yesterday but couldn’t go to Lakhimpur Kheri. The post-mortem report was not proper. Today, we are trying to go to Lucknow and Lakhimpur Kheri with two Chief Ministers. Let’s see. The Congress leader asked, Why are they stopping us when others have been allowed. What’s our fault? Later in the day, the State government gave permission to Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and three others to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. Also mentioning about Hathras rape case and that an MLA had been accused of rape, he said, There is a new kind of politics in Uttar Pradesh. Those who commit crimes are outside and those who are victims are inside jails. In India, there is dictatorship now. Since yesterday, we have not been able go to Uttar Pradesh. Why dictatorship? Because, there is a lot of theft that is happening and wealth is being taken away from common people, Gandhi said. He claimed that all the institutions in the country are being captured by the BJP and the RSS. There is a narrative that is being built by capturing the democratic institutions. Or else, there will be an explosion that you cannot imagine.
Chhattisgarh, Punjab govts to give ₹50 lakh to families of farmers, journalist killed in Lakhimpur violence
Both Chhattisgarh and Punjab governments on October 6 announced a financial assistance of ₹50 lakh each to families of four farmers and a journalist killed in the violence that broke out in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The Chief Ministers of the two Congress-ruled States, along with party leader Rahul Gandhi, have arrived in Lucknow, from where they intend to go to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the victims. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the Lakhimpur violence reminded him of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. He said the U.P. government has made a mockery of democracy. Our government will provide ₹50 lakh each to families of farmers and the journalist killed in the Lakhimpur violence, he told reporters in Lucknow. Echoing the same sentiments, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said his government will also give ₹50 lakh to the families of the farmers and the journalist. Four of the eight people who died in Sunday’s violence in Lakhimpur Kheri were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome U.P. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area. The four others included two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel. While the first three were allegedly lynched by agitating farmers, the scribe, according to his father, died after being hit by a vehicle when he was covering news of farmers’ protest against Maurya’s visit to Ajay Mishra’s native place. The U.P. Police has lodged a case against Ajay Mishra’s son, but no arrest has been made so far.
Maharashtra Minister alleges BJP link in cruise drug bust involving SRK’s son
In a new twist to the cruise drug bust case in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Minister for Minority Development Nawab Malik on Wednesday claimed that two private individuals — a private detective facing a cheating case and a BJP leader, had brought Aryan Khan and Arbaz Merchant to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office and allegedly participated in the NCP raid. K.P. Gosavi claims to be a private detective while Manish Bhanushali is a BJP leader who has been seen in photographs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda, Both were part of the NCB raid. Visuals of bringing Merchant and Khan to the NCB office show that these two individuals brought them to the office. Who are they? Are private individuals allowed to be a part of drug bust raid? The NCB must explain this, said Malik. The NCP leader claimed that the entire case of alleged seizure of drugs and panchanama is manipulated and smells foul. Ever since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the NCB started planting stories about Bollywood and drug connection. The only motive is to defame Bollywood and subsequently Mumbai and Maharashtra to which the BJP is also a party, he said. He said no drugs were seized at the cruise and the manipulated panchnama was made at the NCB office. The NCB in its press release accepted that both Gosavi and Bhanushali acted as independent witnesses but termed the allegations as baseless. Some allegations levelled against the organisation are baseless and seem to be with malice and probable prejudice that may have been harboured in retaliation against earlier legal actions carried out by the NCB, said the statement issued by Gyaneshwar Singh, Deputy Director General, NCB. The NCB, however, did not answer questions on how Gosavi and Bhanushali were allowed to handle the accused and whether they were part of the raid as well. The Congress has demanded a high-level inquiry from the State Government. How can an accused in a cheating case and a BJP leader participate in the raid? Has the NCB given its work to the BJP? Was the motive behind this to divert attention from the Mundra port drug seizure? The allegations against the NCB are extremely serious and need to be probed, he said.
Nearly a month after tenures expire, no word on new parliamentary panels
Nearly a month after the tenure of the parliamentary standing committees ended on September 12, there is no word on reconstitution of these panels, with sources pointing to bureaucratic delays. Opposition leaders stated that the delay was yet another way to subvert an important parliamentary instrument. The government has a tardy record in the constitution of the panels. In 2019, the committees were constituted in October, nearly five months late. In 2014, the panels were notified on September 1, less than three months after the process was started. In 2009, during the UPA term, it was notified on August 31. And in 2004, it was constituted by August 5. Even though the composition of the committees largely remain the same, yet every year, more than a month is spent in renominating the panels. Sources said political parties took a long while in submitting their list of nominees and the BJP was the last to submit the list. Rajya Sabha floor leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Derek O’ Brien pointed out that the number of legislations scrutinised by the parliamentary panels had declined under the present regime. In the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha during the UPA years, 60% and 71% of legislations were vetted by the standing committees. In comparison to this, the figures for the 16th Lok Sabha was 25% and the current one a dismal 11%. With these figures do you think Modi-Shah’s BJP cares two hoots about the standing committees? he said. RJD MP Manoj K Jha observed that the delay was a textbook example of the government’s approach towards Parliament and the instruments attached to it. Congress Lok Sabha member and senior leader Manish Tewari alleged that the government had broken several conventions, including the one on leaving the committees on External Affairs and Finance for the Opposition to lead. This convention has been in place keeping in view the parliamentary practice of providing checks and balances to everyday functioning of the government through legislative oversight. The practice of circulating verbatim minutes of the meeting of the standing committees had also been dispensed with, he noted. Accepting that the delay imposed unnecessary pause on the functioning of the parliamentary panels, BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab questioned the limited and indifferent participation in the panel meetings. How many members actually take part in these deliberations? The panel chairpersons are supposed to inform the presiding officer of the House if a member remains absent for three consecutive meetings, but I believe that even the floor leaders of the respective parties should be alerted about such errant MPs, he remarked. A recent analysis of 361 meetings held over the last one year by the Rajya Sabha secretariat has put up grim numbers. The average attendance of MPs in these meetings was 46%. A party-wise analysis showed that the average attendance of 92 BJP members in the Rajya Sabha was 57%, while the same for 38 Congress members was 42%. The average attendance of the TMC MPs was just 24.4%.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Two scientists share Chemistry Nobel for developing tool for building molecules
The Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scotland-born scientist David WC MacMillan of Princeton University. They were cited for their work in developing a new way for building molecules known as asymmetric organocatalysis. The winners were announced Wednesday by Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Nobel panel said List and MacMillan in 2000 independently developed a new way of catalysis. It’s already benefiting humankind greatly, Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, a member of the Nobel panel, said. Speaking after the announcement, List said the award was a huge surprise. I absolutely didn’t expect this, he said, adding that he was on vacation in Amsterdam with his family when the call from Sweden came in. List said he did not initially know that MacMillan was working on the same subject and figured his hunch might just be a stupid idea until it worked. I did feel that this could be something big, he said. It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize. Last year, the chemistry prize went to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States for developing a gene-editing tool that has revolutionised science by providing a way to alter DNA. The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. Over the coming days prizes will also be awarded for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics.
Biden, Xi to hold virtual meet this year
The decision came out of a meeting between U.S. NSA Jake Sullivan and Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi. U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed in principle to have a virtual meeting before the end of the year, according to senior U.S. administration officials. The decision came out of a six-hour meeting in Zurich late on Wednesday between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Politburo member and top diplomat Yang Jiechi. The meeting had a different tone from Anchorage, reports quoted the officials as saying, referring to a stormy March meeting between Mr. Sullivan and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Chinese counterparts, Mr. Yang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which was marked by public rancour. Today really involved a genuine back and forth, which was quite welcome — a different tone than Anchorage, a different kind of feel in the ability to go back and forth than in Anchorage, an official said, according to the Financial Times, which reported on the possibility of a Biden-Xi meeting. A virtual meeting means Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi will not meet in person at the G20 summit in Rome to be held at the end of this month. Mr. Xi is unlikely to travel to Rome, and the Chinese leader has not left China for more than 600 days, since the pandemic began. His last overseas visit was to Myanmar in mid-January 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to Rome for the summit. Asked to confirm if Mr. Biden would be meeting Mr. Xi virtually, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said there was agreement to continue the dialogue at a very high level and the details of what that meant were still being worked out. We’re still working through what that would look like, when, and, of course, the final details. So we don’t quite have them yet, she said. A White House readout of the meeting did not announce the virtual meet. Instead, it spoke of the importance of managing the competition between the two countries responsibly and of maintaining open lines of communication, following the September 9 call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout also did not mention a leaders’ meeting, but offered a more positive take on the state of relations in comparison to the March meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. It said both sides agreed to maintain regular dialogue and communication on important issues. Beijing said the meeting was constructive, and conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and both sides agreed to strengthen strategic communication, properly manage differences, avoid conflict and confrontation, seek mutual benefits and win-win results, and work together to bring China-U.S. relations back on the right track of sound and steady development.
