The Good Word

Shah in Telangana: BJP to abolish

Muslim quota once elected

Maharashtra to SC:

Give CBI Palghar

sadhu murder case

Apr 28, the Maharashtra

government has informed

the Supreme Court that

the investigation into the

Palghar sadhu lynching

case, in which two sadhus

and their car driver were

beaten to death by a mob

in Apr 2020, will now be

investigated by the CBI.

The MVA dispensation

had resisted the transfer

but the petitioners had

claimed that since police

officers on the spot did

not prevent the killing, the

same force could not

carry out a fair probe. Orgnr

Capital shocker:

Kejriwal splurges

₹ 45 crore on home

Volume 7S-102 | Pages 1

PM Modi: Indian economy grew $1.5

trillion, about 75%, in just 9 years

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

Apr 29, the acclaimed

publication house that

started printing the Gita

on April 29, 1923

celebrated its 100th year

of operations. Setup to

raise awareness on the

teachings of Sanatan

dharma its contribution in

the field has been

unparalleled.

It started with the printing

of the Bhagavad Gita.

Presently, it publishes

over 1,800 titles of books

in 15 languages. On

average, it supplies 60,000

books daily but is still

unable to meet demand.

The Press focuses on the

Pakistan State to

SC: War with

India possible

Apr 27, At least 512

people have been killed

and close to 4,200

wounded since intense

fighting broke out

between the Sudanese

army and paramilitary

force Rapid Support

Forces, on April 15. The

power struggle has

derailed an

internationally-backed

transition to democracy.

The army claims it

controls most of Sudan’s

regions and is defeating

a large RSF deployment

in Khartoum At: AlJazeera

Sudan: over 500

killed in army-

paramilitary fight Apr 26, Central Banks

around the world are

shifting away from the

US dollar and turning

their attention to gold,

the chairman of

Rockefeller

International, Ruchir

Sharma, has said.

Gold price has surged

20% in the past six

months and the

demand comes from

heavy buyers like

Central Banks. Central

Banks now account for

a record 33% of

monthly global demand

for gold, more than at

any time since data

began in 1950. The

buying has pushed its

prices to near-record

levels, 50% higher than

what models based on

real interest rate

models would suggest.

Nine of the top ten

central bank buyers are

in the ‘developing

world’ including Russia,

India, and China. These

three along with Brazil

and South Africa, in the

BRICS bloc, are talking

of creating an

alternative to the dollar.

At: RT

Apr 23, Prime Minister

(PM) Narendra Modi,

speaking at the

Republic Summit

show-cased the rapid

transformation of the

Indian economy.

‘It took the Indian

economy 60 years to

reach the 1 trillion

mark and we had

reached 2 trillion with

great difficulty in 2014,

meaning a 2 trillion

economy in 7 decades

and today, after just 9

years India is almost a

three and half trillion

economy.’, the PM

said adding that the

country had jumped

from being the 10th

largest economy to the

5th largest in the same

9 years, despite the

once-in-a-century

pandemic.

The PM explained how

the present policies

have had multiple tiers

of beneficial social

impact. Citing an

example of houses

handed out to the

poor under PM Awas Global military

spends at all time

high; India 4th

Central banks

offload dollar

currency reserves

Apr 25, Harry Belafonte,

the civil rights activist

and the 'King of

Calypso' who began as

a groundbreaking actor

and singer and then a

humanitarian, has died.

Belafonte, who was 96,

died of an heart aliment

at his New York home.

Belafonte will be

remembered as one of

the most popular

entertainers of the 20th

century, as a singer,

musician, and actor

with global hits like the

‘Banana Boat Song’ and

‘Jamaican Farewell’. His

advocacy for civil rights

in the 1960s and his

anti-apartheid work in

the 1980s will also be

remembered forever.

Belafonte’s charisma on

stage was incomparable

and integral to his

lilting hits.

At: Meaww

Apr 29, an MP-MLA court

of Ghazipur sentenced

mafia Mukhtar Ansari to

10 years in prison.

Mukhtar Ansari will also

pay a fine of ₹ 5 lacs. His

brother Afzal Ansari was

awarded a 4-year jail

sentence that will strip

the BSP MP of his Lok

Sabha membership.

Ansari was booked for his

involvement in the

kidnapping of Vishwa

Hindu Parishad office-

bearer and coal tycoon

Nandkishore Rungta in

1996 and the murder of

Bharatiya Janata Party

MLA Krishnanand Rai in

2005. In 2007, a case was

registered against the two

brothers.

AnandmayiMa, birth anniversary , Apr 30 – image courtesy OmGuru

Mukhtar Ansari convicted

4th time, now for 10 years

Apr 24, 2023 - Week 17

Apr 24, global spending on

military arms and

personnel reached an all-

time high of $2.2 trillion in

2022. It was the eighth

consecutive year of rise in

such spending.

According to a report by

the Stockholm

International Peace

Research Institute (SIPRI)

the increase is 3.7% in real

terms in 2022.

The United States with

$877 billion, China with

$292 billion and Russia

with $86.4 billion in

defence spends accounted

for 56 % of the world total.

India’s military spending of

$81.4 billion was the

fourth highest in the

world. It was 6 % higher

than in 2021. However it is

still 1.9% of the GDP where

2.5% may be more

appropriate per TOI.

Personnel expenses

account for almost half the

Indian military spend.

Military spends include

expenditure on salaries,

operations, arms and

equipment, construction,

research & development,

and central administration.

At: SPRI, TOI, Mint

Yojna had shot up from

1.5 crores in 2019 to 3.75

crores now. The majority

of the house owners

were women. Likening it

to a big raksha-bandan

gift to crores of poor

women he said home

ownership had sent the

confidence of the poor

home owners’ soaring.

Not only homes, the Yojna

increased employment,

off-take of loans and

increased accounting with

banks. The PM cited many

such examples saying that

they had helped the poor

gain security and dignity.

At: Republic, PIB Image: NarendraModi

Apr 17, the Defence

Ministry of Pakistan has

mentioned a host of

reasons including

threats from all-out war

with India and insurgent

attacks in its appeal to

the country’s Supreme

Court (SC) to postpone

elections.

The clash between

Pakistan’s government

and SC seems to be

intensifying. The SC had

fixed May 14 as the new

date for elections to the

Punjab Assembly

overriding the Election

Commission. Former

Prime Minister Imran

Khan is batting for early

election, while the

incumbent seems to be

doing his best to delay

it. After citing a paucity

of funds, when the SC

demanded financial

accounts, the speaker

has now written to the

SC to keep off the

‘political thicket, leaving

resolution of political

matters to the

Parliament’.

At: FirstPost, Express, AlJazeera

Apr 28, The BBC’s under-

fire chairman Richard

Sharp has resigned

following a report that

said he breached

appointment rules by

not fully disclsoing his

role in a loan given to

former Prime Minister

Boris Johnson. Prior to

Sharp’s appointment, he

had helped Johnson,

who was involved in his

selection process, access

a $1 million loan.

At: HollywoodReporter

BBC chairperson

steps down after

loan scandal

Apr 24, asserting that the

BJP will form government

in Telangana in the Dec

2023 Assembly elections,

Union Home Minister

Amit Shah declared that

the BJP government will

abolish the 4% quota

given to Muslims in

education and

employment, contending

that there is no provision

in the Constitution to

provide reservations on

the basis of religion.

Accusing BRS of creating a

map of India showing

Kashmir as independent,

Shah stated that Chief

Minister KC Rao

shamelessly carried out

Owaisi’s agenda. He said

that Rao was scared of the

Majlis. The BJP was not

and its government will

work for the people of

Telangana, not the

Owaisis. At: HindutvaWatch

Apr 24, much loved

Pakistani-Canadian

journalist Tarek Fatah is

no more. He died after a

long battle with cancer.

His daughter Natasha

Fatah tweeted ‘Lion of

Punjab. Son of Hindustan.

Lover of Canada. Speaker

of truth. Fighter for

justice…has passed the

baton on’. India has lost a

great friend. Fatah was

born in Karachi in 1949. ‘I

am an Indian born in

Pakistan, a Punjabi born

in Islam; an immigrant in

Canada with a Muslim

consciousness... I am one

of Salman Rushdie’s many

Midnight’s Children: we

were snatched from the

cradle of a great

civilization and made

permanent refugees, sent

in search of an oasis that

turned out to be a

mirage.’ At: OneIndia; OpIndia

Image: TimesReflection

Sadhu killed in

West Bengal

Apr 26, Delhi Chief

Minister (CM) Arvind

Kejriwal who portrays

himself in the likeness of

a common man, has

splurged ₹ 45 crores to

renovate his official

bungalow at Civil Lines,

New Delhi.

The expense was incurred

at a time when Delhi’s

citizens were facing acute

shortages of life-saving

facilities at the hospitals.

A report chastising

Kejriwal’s brazen

ostentatiousness says ₹ 45

crores could instead have

been used to build 224

Mohalla clinics or to

purchase 12,459 oxygen

concentrators or 2,25,000

PPE kits and 2,710

ventilators. Instead

Kejriwal seemingly had to

‘renovate’ his house on

priority.

Last year the Delhi CM

had also used ₹ 21 crores

of taxpayer’s money to

construct a swimming

pool inside his residence

fashioned on the lines of

luxury Maldives hotels.

At: OpIndia

Apr 24, a 45-year-old

sadhu’s body was found

hanging from a tree near a

temple in West Bengal’s

Birbhum district. The

police has lodged a case

based on his brother’s

murder complaint that

names three. BJP's IT cell

chief Amit Malviya

tweeted, ‘an Aghori panth

sadhu has been murdered

…TMC leaders are involved

in the crime…’. TMC has

denied a role. At: MSN Gita Press Gorakhpur marks its 100th year

NIA attaches assets

of Hizbul terrorist

Syed’s sons

translation of the Gita,

the Ramayana, the

Puranas, the

Mahabharata and other

books in multiple

languages. It also

publishes storybooks for

kids. At: IndianExpress

Apr 24, in a major

offensive against Pakistan

originated terror, the

National Investigation

Agency (NIA) attached

property of the sons of

terrorist and Hizbul chief

Syed Salahudeen. The

sons, Shahid Yusuf and

Syed Shakeel are lodged in

Delhi’s Tihar Jail since Oct

2017 and Aug 2018 in

terror funding cases. Their

lands in Srinagar were

attached under s33 of

UAPA. At: TimesNow

King of Calypso,

Harry Belafonte

passes away

The intrepid and

much loved Tarek

Fatah is no more

This is Mukhtar’s fourth

conviction and all in the

span of a year. He has

61 criminal cases

against him and is

lodged at the Banda

district jail.

Mukhtar was earlier

given a seven-year

prison sentence in Sep

2022 for intimidating a

jailer pointing a pistol at

him in 2003. A day

later, he was sentenced

to five years in prison

and fined ₹ 50,000 in a

1999 case under the

Gangsters Act. In

December last year, he

was also sentenced to

10 years in jail for a

1996 crime.

At: OpIndia, IndianExpress

Image from 2021: SocialTelecast