Karbala—August 30, 2024: As thousands of devotees flock to Nehre Furat with flowers of devotion, concerns have been raised about the cleanliness of certain areas surrounding this sacred site. Despite the commendable efforts of the local municipal team, which efficiently maintains cleanliness even amidst large crowds, some sections around Nehre Furat still exhibit visible waste.
The municipal authorities in Karbala have been lauded for their timely action in clearing garbage and ensuring the cleanliness of critical areas, even during peak hours when the number of visitors is at its highest. However, there is a growing sentiment among the public that a specialized cleaning team should be dedicated solely to maintaining the sanctity of Nehre Furat.
“Baldiya is doing an excellent job under difficult circumstances, but the sacredness of Nehre Furat demands that we go a step further. A special team focused exclusively on this area would ensure that it remains spotless, reflecting the reverence it holds in our hearts,” commented a concerned visitor.
As the influx of visitors continues, the need for enhanced cleanliness measures at Nehre Furat has become a pressing issue. The proposed initiative for a dedicated cleaning team is seen as a positive step toward preserving the sanctity and cleanliness of this holy site.
MV Kathrin sailing from Vietnam refused permission to dock in Walvis Bay, Ynet news said.
The report added that Namibian justice minister says her country complies with obligation not to support or be complicit in Israeli war crimes.
In a statement, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement Hamas praised Namibia’s in preventing the docking of a ship carrying weapons for the Zionist occupation regime.
Upon reaching the event Manu was showered with gifts and garlands. She was thankful for the amount of support she has received from her hometown and took the time to acknowledge that.
Published Date – 25 August 2024, 03:32 PM
photo – IANS
Jhajjar: Manu Bhaker’s 2024 Paris Olympics campaign has seen her being honoured and celebrated across the country. The 22-year old reached her hometown of Jhajjar on Sunday and was felicitated by the District Commissioner for her achievements.
Upon reaching the event Manu was showered with gifts and garlands. She was thankful for the amount of support she has received from her hometown and took the time to acknowledge that.
“You always need support from a lot of people, it can’t be just attributed to any one individual. I started in my village and I got a lot of support from my school, family and then my district helped me out a lot. I was facing a license issue but they sorted it out quickly and from there I started improving as a shooter,” said Manu to reporters.
Manu Bhaker created history at the 2024 Paris Olympics by becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single Olympic campaign post independence. She also is the first Indian woman to win a medal in single’s shooting at the event.
Despite the record breaking performance, Manu still is not satisfied with her performance and will be aiming for gold next time out.
“The aim is to always go for gold but these bronze medals have given me teachings for the future and my aim will always be to go for gold,” she added.
Manu also went on to confirm that she is currently on a three month long break. She is facing a slight injury issue and will only be returning to competition after tending to it. “I have taken a three month long break, I was facing a slight injury issue so I will have to address that. After that I will return to training and the timeframe for me to return to competitions is five months,”said Manu.
India won six medals at the Paris Games out of which three medals came from the Jhajjar District. In addition to the two medals won by Manu, Wrestler Aman Sehrawat also claimed bronze in the men’s wrestling freestyle 57kg.
DC Shakti Singh confirmed that Aman will be coming to Jhajjar on Tuesday and will be felicitated as well upon his arrival.
“It is a very proud moment for us, our district’s daughter has won two medals in the Olympics. She created history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single campaign. India won six medals at the Olympics out of which three are from Jhajjar district. Aman Sehrawat also won a medal. We are very happy that she won the medal and hopefully she keeps working hard and makes the nation proud,” said Jhajjar District Commissioner, captain Shakti Singh.
Forex traders noted that the weakening of the American currency in global markets and falling crude oil prices boosted investor sentiment. On the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 83.88 against the dollar, then strengthened to 83.84, marking an 11 paise gain from its previous close.
Published Date – 19 August 2024, 11:11 AM
Mumbai: The Indian rupee appreciated 11 paise to 83.84 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, mirroring a positive momentum in domestic equities and fresh foreign fund inflows.
Forex traders said the weakening of the American currency in the overseas market and retreating crude oil prices also supported investor sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.88 against the greenback, then gained ground and touched 83.84, registering a gain of 11 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee moved in a tight range and settled just 1 paisa lower at 83.95 against the American currency.
Over the past shortened week, the rupee showed minimal fluctuation and narrowly steered clear of the critical 84 mark.
“The rupee emerged as the least volatile among its peer currencies, a testament to the RBI’s decisive actions, which were further reflected in the nearly USD 5 billion dip in India’s forex reserves from the record high of USD 675 billion,” CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.
Pabari further said that in the near term, while the RBI may cap the rupee’s decline near the 84 level, significant appreciation also seems unlikely. “This outlook is influenced by India’s widening trade deficit, which has ballooned to USD 23.5 billion, driven by a surge in oil imports and sluggish export growth,” he said.
This week, all eyes are on the Jackson Hole meeting, where global central bankers will gather for their annual conference. The spotlight will be on US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech, as markets eagerly await insights into the Fed’s monetary policy outlook, Pabari said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading lower by 0.26 per cent to 102.19.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.19 per cent to USD 79.53 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, Sensex advanced 116.78 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 80,553.62 points. The Nifty rose 68.35 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 24,609.50 points. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 766.52 crore, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves dropped by USD 4.8 billion to USD 670.119 billion for the week ended August 9, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the kitty jumped by USD 7.533 billion to an all-time high of USD 674.919 billion.
His criticism comes in the wake of multiple incidents where students have been bitten by rats and hospitalized due to poor hygienic conditions.
Published Date – 29 August 2024, 05:19 PM
Hyderabad: Drawing the attention of the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to the state of affairs in the residential schools across the State, BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao on Thursday expressed his anger and concern over the deteriorating conditions in Gurukul institutions.
His criticism comes in the wake of multiple incidents where students have been bitten by rats and hospitalized due to poor hygienic conditions. He pointed out that 12 students at Ramayampet gurukul school in Medak district and 13 students at Kondabhimanapalli Gurukul School in Nalgonda district were attacked by rats while they were in sleep. These incidents have raised serious questions about the safety and hygiene standards in these residential schools.Harish Rao questioned the Chief Minister’s handling of the situation. He pointed out that students are not only being bitten by rats but are also at risk of snake bites and food poisoning. In the last eight months, over 500 Gurukul students have been hospitalized, and 36 students have tragically lost their lives.
As the Minister of Education, Revanth Reddy would be held accountable for the poor conditions in Gurukul schools. Harish Rao accused the government of negligence and failing to provide basic necessities such as safe living conditions, nutritious food, and proper healthcare for the students.Harish Rao urged the government to stop focusing on the opposition and instead prioritize the welfare of Gurukul students. He demanded immediate steps to improve the conditions in these schools, ensuring that students receive quality education, food, and facilities without further delay.
Amid the Israeli genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, which has claimed more than 40,500 lives so far, including over 16,500 children, survivors are making their presence felt through creative mediums.
A series of drawings by children in the besieged Palestinian territory who have so far survived the bombings point to the scale and magnitude of the tragedy that has befallen Palestinians.
Shared by the Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, the drawings were made by Palestinian girls who are receiving mental health counseling at a clinic in al-Mawasi.
Al-Mawasi is a coastal town in the southern Gaza Strip, west of Khan Yunis city. Despite being designated as a so-called “safe zone” by the Israeli regime, the town has been relentlessly bombed by the regime.
Drawings sketched by these children speak volumes of how people in Gaza have been traumatized by 11 months of genocidal war, which has obliterated every trace of humanity in the blockaded territory.
The Israeli regime has been indiscriminately dropping bombs supplied by the United States on densely populated residential areas of Gaza, killing innocent civilians in daily massacres.
Recently released data from the health ministry in Gaza reveals that the Israeli regime has killed at least 115 infants born during what is widely described as the “bloodiest” war of the 21st century.
A total of 3,524 massacres have been committed by the occupation forces in the past 326 days, with thousands of people still trapped under the rubble and unaccounted for.
The percentage of child and women victims of the war is 69, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The number of children who have lost one of their parents in the genocidal war is 17,000.
Last month, UN experts sounded the alarm about the Palestinian children in the besieged territory losing their lives due to the Israeli regime’s deliberate “starvation campaign.”
In a separate report, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in June said an average of 10 children per day are losing one or both legs due to Israeli savagery in the Gaza Strip.
Adm Samuel Paparo’s remarks, which he made in response to a question during a news conference in Manila with Philippine Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., provided a glimpse of the mindset of one of the highest American military commanders outside the US mainland on a prospective operation that would risk putting US Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.
Paparo and Brawner spoke to reporters after an international military conference in Manila organised by the US Indo-Pacific Command, at which China’s increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea were spotlighted. Military and defense officials and diplomats from the US and allied countries attended but there were no Chinese representatives.
Asked if the US military would consider escorting Philippine ships delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces in the South China Sea, Paparo replied, “Certainly, within the context of consultations.” “Every option between the two sovereign nations in terms of our mutual defense, escort of one vessel to the other, is an entirely reasonable option within our Mutual Defence Treaty, among this close alliance between the two of us,” Paparo said without elaborating.
Brawner responded cautiously to the suggestion, which could run afoul of Philippine laws, including a constitutional ban on foreign forces directly joining local combat operations. “The attitude of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as dictated by the Philippine laws, is for us to first rely on ourselves,” Brawner said. “We are going to try all options, all avenues that are available to us in order for us to achieve the mission…in this case, the resupply and rotation of our troops.” “We will then seek for other options when we are already constrained from doing it ourselves,” Brawner said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said there has been no situation so far that would warrant activating the treaty, which requires the allies to come to each other’s aid if they come under external attack.
President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly renewed their “ironclad” commitment to help defend the Philippines under the 1951 treaty if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr said at the conference that China is “the biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia and called for stronger international censure over its aggression in the South China Sea, a day after China blocked Philippine vessels from delivering food to a coast guard ship at the disputed Sabina Shoal in the contested waters.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said “the label of undermining peace can never be pinned on China,” blaming unspecified other actors for “making infringements and provocations in the South China Sea and introducing external forces to undermine the large picture of regional peace and stability.”
Teodoro later told reporters on the sidelines of the conference that international statements of concern against China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters and elsewhere were “not enough.” “The antidote is a stronger collective multilateral action against China,” Teodoro said, adding that a UN Security Council resolution would be a strong step, but unlikely given China’s security council veto.
He also called for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to do more. The 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc includes the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have South China Sea claims that overlap with each other, as well as China’s and Taiwan’s. “ASEAN, to remain relevant and credible, cannot continue to ignore what China is doing in the South China Sea,” Teodoro said.
In the latest incident in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said China deployed “an excessive force” of 40 ships that blocked two Philippine vessels from delivering food and other supplies to Manila’s largest coast guard ship in Sabina Shoal on Monday.
A soldier of the craftsman rank in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) of the Indian army, Petkar suffered debilitating injuries when the army camp he was staying at in Srinagar came under aerial attack during the 1965 war with Pakistan.
Updated On – 25 August 2024, 04:09 PM
Muralikant Petkar, the man who launched a billion Indian dreams in Paralympics
Mumbai: As the largest-ever Indian contingent left the country for Paris to participate in the upcoming 2024 Paralympic Games starting on August 28, all of the participants will be dreaming of winning the biggest prize in their respective sports discipline — a gold medal.
The contingent is expected to break the record for India’s best-ever medal haul in Paris 2024 with Paralympic Committee of India President Devendra Jhajharia, himself a two-time gold medallist in javelin throw at the Games, predicting the country to bag more than 25 medals. India is hoping to improve on the 19 medals won in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, which included five gold.
While members of the 84-strong contingent gunning for gold medals at the Games, many of them may not be aware of the person who launched these billion dreams — India’s first gold medallist at the Paralympic Games.
Murlikant Rajaram Petkar made history in the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, Germany when he won a gold medal in the Men’s 50m Freestyle 3 competition, twice improving on the World Record on his way to a golden triumph. In the final, he clocked 37.331 seconds and set a new World Record after breaking the previous record in his first race in Heidelberg.
A soldier of the craftsman rank in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) of the Indian army, Petkar suffered debilitating injuries when the army camp he was staying at in Srinagar came under aerial attack during the 1965 war with Pakistan.
Petkar, who was 28 when he won the historic gold medal, took to the swimming pool in times when disabled people did not get much support from the government and society. He was advised to participate in sports to speed up his rehabilitation after suffering the injury.
He had to surmount many hurdles to participate in the Paralympic Games of 1972, and one of those who extended him monetary help was former India cricket captain Vijay Merchant, who was at that time heading an NGO for disabled people and arranged for Petkar’s ticket to Germany.
Petkar’s story is one of the resilience and hardship of a boy from rural Maharashtra who set pulses racing with his masterful achievements in the swimming pool and gained tremendous adulation in the immediate aftermath of his Paralympic Games triumph.
However, his achievement as the first Indian to win an individual gold medal in either the Olympics or Paralympic Games was forgotten by people for decades and was not even part of the toughest of general knowledge quiz contests. He did not even get an Arjuna Award for his achievements. The fact that India did not win another gold at the Paralympic Games till 2004 when Jhakharia won in Athens too did not bring out his story into the limelight.
But Murlikant Petkar emerged in our conscience once again in 2012 when the Paralympic Games in London were televised in India and people were mesmerised watching HN Girisha winning a silver medal in the Men’s High Jump F42. At that time even the PCI administration had no idea about Petkar’s achievement.
The legendary swimmer finally got due recognition from the government when he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2018.
Born on November 1, 1944, at Peth Islampur in Sangli district of Maharashtra, Petkar’s life was progressing on an upward trajectory as he was emerging as a boxer of repute in the Services and bagged a silver medal in the International Services Sports Meet at Tokyo, Japan in 1964.
On returning to his home base in Secunderabad, he was given a short vacation and a trip to Jammu and Kashmir as a reward for bringing laurels to his Army Unit. The visit to Kashmir was arranged by his Unit Commandant and his stay was scheduled at the army camps in Srinagar.
It was during this vacation that Petkar’s life took a drastic turn. Not a frontline soldier, Petkar was caught in a war between India and Pakistan and the camp in Srinagar where he was staying came under enemy attack.
“I was out for tea in the afternoon when a siren was blown to indicate an aerial attack. I tried to rush back to my room but firing had already started,” recollects Petkar, who received multiple bullet injuries and was also run over by an army vehicle in the chaos.
Rendered paraplegic for life, the young army soldier did not wallow in grief for long and launched a second innings that took him to greater heights than he could probably have achieved as a boxer. Within three years of his injury, Petkar represented India in the 1968 Paralympic Games in table tennis and reached the second round in men’s singles.
Petkar moved to INHS Asvini, the Navy hospital in Mumbai (then Bombay) for rehabilitation and was asked by the physiotherapist there to take up swimming as part of the programme.
That changed his life once again as the upper body strength that he had gained as a boxer helped him in swimming and Petkar soon became the best in his class in the world, eventually winning the gold medal in the 1972 Paralympic Games.
“I was always confident of my abilities and gave my best in the first race itself and set a world record. The final was quite tough. Normally I am not bothered about the lane I swim and set the world record from the first lane. But for the final, I wanted the middle lanes (3rd or 4th) and I got the third. I thought it was a good omen and gave it my best shot,” says Petkar of his competition in 1972.
While the gold in the 1972 Games was his crowning glory, Petkar won a lot of other medals for India.
In a career spanning two decades, Petkar won medals at the Stoke Mandeville International Paraplegic Meet held in England where he consistently outdid his records and won the General Championship Cup for five consecutive years (1969-73); the 3rd Commonwealth Paraplegic Games held at Edinburgh, Scotland, where he bagged gold in 50m freestyle swimming, silver in javelin throw and bronze in shot put and the International FESPIC Games in Hong Kong in 1982 where he created another world record in 50m swimming.
However, he would always regret the fact that he could not participate in another Paralympic Games and win more medals for India.
After his retirement, he set up a swimming pool for disabled people in Pune and ran it successfully for many years. Currently, the 79-year-old Petkar is spending his retired life in Pune where his son Arjun is posted.
And every time an Indian contingent leaves for para-sports events, Murlikant Petkar is one of the many extending his wishes to the participants, telling them to win laurels for the country and tread the path that he paved decades ago in Germany — a path towards Paralympic gold medal.
In early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 287.56 points to 80,724.40, while the NSE Nifty increased by 97.65 points to 24,638.80. The biggest gainers among the 30 Sensex companies were NTPC, Titan, Tata Steel, ITC, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, and JSW Steel.
Published Date – 19 August 2024, 11:50 AM
Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Monday amid buying in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries and ITC along with encouraging participation from retail investors.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 287.56 points to 80,724.40 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 97.65 points to 24,638.80.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, NTPC, Titan, Tata Steel, ITC, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the biggest gainers.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted higher while Seoul and Tokyo traded lower.
The US markets ended in the positive territory on Friday.
“The complete dominance of the DII and retail investors over the market is the single major factor driving this bull run even though there are fundamental factors supporting the rally,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.19 per cent to USD 79.53 a barrel.
The BSE benchmark jumped 1,330.96 points or 1.68 per cent to settle at 80,436.84 on Friday, marking its best single-day gains in more than two months. The NSE Nifty surged 397.40 points or 1.65 per cent to settle at a two-week high of 24,541.15.
