Land protest halts Gujarat highway

and was to be acquired from 63 mostly tribal villages, spanning four Lok Sabha seats, for a 93km road connecting Surat with Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, as part of the flagship Bharatmala project that Modi had launched in October 2017.Mandaviya's comments betrayed his anxiety about a possible tribal backlash."Only a primary survey was being carried out. This was not final. But some people were misguiding the villagers," he told reporters at the Surat circuit house on Thursday after a meeting with the agitating farmers."I want to assure the villagers that no land would be acquired without consultation with the farmers and the people's representatives - MLAs and MPs. I have ordered suspension of all work related to the project."Such is the BJP's nervousness that Mandaviya went on record saying he wouldn't mind a detour by an additional 25-30km but "the farmers should not be disturbed".Rupani said in Dang: "We are suspending the project for now. No land will be taken without talking to the farmers."In the 2017 Assembly polls in the home state of Modi and party president Amit Shah, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 seats against the Congress's 77, watching its 2012 margin of 60-odd seats whittled down to just over 20.The BJP holds all the state's 26 Lok Sabha seats and is desperate to retain all of these at a time it is being increasingly seen as unsympathetic to the weaker sections like Dalits and tribal communities.On Monday, the displaced tribal villagers in Kevadiya colony where the Vallabhbhai Patel statue has come up will hold a demonstration demanding rehabilitation. Kevadiya is about 190km from Navsari."In such a situation, the government could not risk alienating the farmers and tribal people in four Lok Sabha seats. It could have had an impact on other seats as well," a BJP source said.Anant Patel, the Congress MLA from Vansda who had led Thursday's march, is not impressed with the announcements. "This is a lollipop: we are not going to stop our movement," he told this newspaper over the phone.He said the boycott of Modi's January 30 meeting was on. "They have arranged 80 buses for Vansda and 200 to 250 for Chikhili and Gandevi. No villager will attend any programme by Modi until he scraps the entire project," Patel said.Balubhai Patel, a resident of Pratapnagar village in Vansda, said: "About a month ago, some people came to measure the land. They said they were doing a survey for the Bharatmala project. We won't give up our land. That's why we have been protesting."The Bharatmala project envisages the development of 44 economic corridors, 66 inter corridors and 116 feeder routes. It was designed to develop highways across the country, including border roads, international connectivity roads, coastal roads, port connectivity roads and ring roads, measuring up to 65,000km.The first phase had a target of building 24,800km of roads by 2022. But the project has been marred by delays. 1674893 1671941 Dailyhunthttps://www.avitop.com/cs/members/zeeeneetaac.aspx

ED attaches assets worth Rs 2.09 crore of Rajasthan firm in chit fund case

It added that the company and its directors Satyendra Sharma and Sandhya Sharma acquired various immovable and movable properties 'out of the proceeds of crime'. The ED has attached a total of Rs 7.55 crore properties in this case so far. A charge sheet has also been filed by the ED in the case and the main accused Satyendra Sharma has been arrested and his bail has been rejected by the Rajasthan High Court, it said. Dailyhunthttp://www.feedbooks.com/user/4883150/profile

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Sikkim hotels call off boycott of MakeMyTrip, Goibibo

amta, however, warned that any breach of verbal assurances could again lead to the boycott of the two online portals. "SHRA would like to thank all hoteliers for their support in the interest of all hospitality stakeholders in Sikkim," she said.The five concerns raised by the industry include no coupon code discount on hotels from online travel agencies (OTAs), commission level to be set at 15 per cent, no performance linked bonuses without written consent of hotels and with exit clauses, early check in/late checkout/cancellation/modification policies to be decided by the hotel and not the online portals, and payments to be made more transparent with all payments to be done within 48 hours of a booking being made and not at the time of check in.The SHRA president said both the online portals had put a cap of 22 per cent on commission, discontinued performance linked bonus and regularised payment and reconciliation issues. "They have also promised more control to hotels via their extranet," she said.The members of the SHRA, which is the apex body representing all hotels and restaurants of Sikkim, had stopped taking bookings of the two online portals from January 16 after they allegedly turned a deaf ear to the concerns of the association.Lamta said MakeMyTrip and Goibibo had also verbally promised to support Sikkim tourism and the SHRA by way of innovative digital marketing, exclusive blogposts on Sikkim, and other promotions in their apps and websites. Dailyhunthttps://diigo.com/0dnox7

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Free rice for Assam tea workers

he department initially was in a fix as it does not maintain a separate list of tea garden workers because there was no need for a division between the beneficiaries of tea gardens workers and others so far. The results of past elections in the state indicated that majority of tea garden workers had voted in favour of the BJP. "However, it has been estimated that the scheme will put an additional burden of Rs 300 crore per year on the state exchequer," said the source.He added the Congress government had also made an effort to lower price of rice under the NFSA to Rs 2 a kg, but as it put an additional burden of Rs 13 crore a month for the state exchequer, the government abandoned the scheme after two months.The source said the advocate-general of Assam had given a green signal to the government's plan to use the ration cards of the NFSA beneficiaries to advertise the government's schemes using photographs of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.Senior officials of the department had reservation about cancelling the existing 60 lakh ration cards ahead of time and print new ones spending around Rs 9 crore following which they approached the advocate-general. Dailyhunthttps://www.mobypicture.com/user/heeeenkeeen

Pope seeks peace in Venezuela crisis but doesn't pick sides

peaking off-the-cuff at his Sunday blessing, Francis said he felt particularly close to Venezuelans while he was in Panama. He "asked the Lord to seek and find a just and peaceful solution to overcome the crisis that respects human rights and exclusively seeks the good of all people."The Venezuela crisis has dominated Francis' visit to Panama, both behind the scenes and in public, with the pope at one point asking out loud if any Venezuelan bishops were on hand at the end of an event. The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was former ambassador to Venezuela so he knows the situation well.Francis made the Venezuela comments after he closed out World Youth Day with a Mass in a Panama City field before an estimated 700,000 people and presidents from across the region: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Portugal."You dear people are not the future but the now of God," Francis told the pilgrims draped in flags from across the Americas.At the end of the service, the Vatican announced the next edition of World Youth Day would be in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2022."Our trip was very long but it was worth it because we came here to Panama City because of our faith, our Christian faith," said pilgrim Sawadogo Kiswensidad, who travelled from Burkina Faso.After Mass, Francis visited a church-run home for people infected with HIV, sending a strong message of acceptance in Panama, where AIDS carries a stigma."Many of the people we help here have been rejected by their families, by people in the street," said the Rev. Domingo Escobar, director of the Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano. "But here they receive Christian help, as the church wants."Using the parable of the Good Samaritan, who tended to a stranger in need, Francis called for an end to the indifference that society treats the poor and the sick."For indifference can also wound and kill. Some for a few miserable coins, others for fear of becoming unclean," he said. "The Good Samaritan, whether in the parable or in all of your homes, shows us that our neighbor is first of all a person, someone with a real, particular face, not something to avoid or ignore, whatever his or her situation may be."Francis used his visit to the home to issue a string of appeals, beyond Venezuela. He appealed for peace in Colombia following a car bombing at a police academy that killed 21 people earlier this month. He denounced the bombing of a cathedral in the Philippines earlier Sunday. And he added his voice to the chorus of solidarity on Holocaust Remembrance day.After meeting with World Youth Day volunteers, Francis was heading back to Rome to prepare for another trip next weekend to Abu Dhabi, the first by a pope to the Arabian Peninsula. Dailyhunthttps://ask.fm/zeekrpheek

Newly-minted Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka embraces pressure

"This feels more like I'm used to it now," she told reporters as she posed with the trophy at a Melbourne beach on Sunday, "I know that sounds a bit strange because this is only the second one but the first time I won it definitely felt a bit more unreal." While her maiden Grand Slam was marred by losing finalist Serena Williams' umpire-baiting histrionics and boos from the Flushing Meadows crowd, Osaka was allowing her follow-up success in Melbourne to soak in. "It means a lot. I think moments like this are what you train for as a little kid to play the Grand Slams," she said. "To win another one is definitely a dream come true." The rising star said she was hungry for more Slam titles. "The way the tennis world is, there's always the next tournament, the next Slam, and we all just want to keep training hard and winning more," she said. "So, I'm not really sure if I'm satisfied." - 'Go with the flow' - Osaka became the first woman to win successive majors since Serena Williams in 2015 and the youngest since Martina Hingis in 1998. Williams went on to complete her second "Serena Slam" -- holding all four majors in the same 12 month period -- and Osaka was excited about the prospect of claiming the French Open and Wimbledon for a "Naomi Slam". "I'm not going to lie and say that thought hasn't crossed my mind," Osaka said. "But I don't know. "For me, I just have to take it one tournament at a time, especially Indian Wells is coming up and I won that tournament last year. I feel like I have to think about that." Osaka was unfazed by the attention she was receiving, saying she was in the spotlight even when her ranking was languishing in the 70s. She said it was misleading to view her rise as an overnight success. "I guess looking from the outside, from your guys' view, it does," Osaka said. "For me, every practice and every match that I've played, it feels like the year is short and long at the same time. "I'm aware of all the work that I put in. I know all the sacrifices that every player does to stay at this level. "In my opinion, it didn't feel fast. It felt kind of long." Osaka said she had learned about resilience at the Australian Open after completing three three-setters on her way to the title, likening herself to "a robot" in the final set against Kvitova. Quizzed about off-court pressure that accompany life as a tennis superstar, Osaka said she preferred to concentrate on her game. "I feel like I'm going with the flow. That's sort of been my motto my whole life," she said. Dailyhunthttp://doodleordie.com/profile/jeedsbeeds

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Film on Tibet refugees settled in India to premiere at TIFF

That Toronto boasts of a sizeable Tibetan diaspora bolsters its attraction as a venue for the screening. A still from the film, The Sweet Requiem, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. (TIFF) The film is mainly in the Tibetan language, and set largely within the community settled in Delhi. Its fulcrum is 26-year-old Dolkar and her life as a refugee, counterpointed with flashbacks to the perilous journey she undertook as a child, along with her father, leaving her mother and sister behind, to flee Tibet and find sanctuary elsewhere. TIFF's artistic director Cameron Bailey said, 'You see the period in India and the nuances of the social milieu there and the story of leaving as well. It's quite a powerful story and I think they're doing something quite remarkable.' The film's protagonist is played by newcomer Tenzin Dolker, who had no prior acting experience but carries the movie with a subtle but potent performance. As Sarin pointed out, there is no film industry in exile. 'Finding the right character to play Dolkar was crucial. She did a little audition and we realised she had the potential,' Sonam explained about the choice. A still from the film, The Sweet Requiem, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. (TIFF) Obviously, the filmmakers couldn't shoot in Tibet, given how politically charged their project was, though the sense of oppression is conveyed through off-camera vignettes, from phone conversations to videos of self-immolations watched on a phone. Instead, Ladakh substituted for the rugged landscape of Tibet. Sarin said filming there was 'quite difficult', given the altitude of about 15,000 feet. But they were also fortunate: Snow was required for certain scenes and after eight years, there was sufficient snowfall to meet their requirement. Another challenge is that of China flexing its muscles in the film world, as they experienced in the past. In 2010, as they had a film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, the Chinese yanked two productions in retaliation. That makes the selection at TIFF particularly meaningful, as Sonam said, 'So, the question for festivals would be: Is it worth showing one exile Tibetan film that comes along once every few years if that might mean upsetting the Chinese authorities and losing access to Chinese films?' For now though, this moving story will be told at TIFF. And the filmmakers are hopeful of taking it to a larger audience, including one in India. Sonam said, 'We would love our film to be widely shown. After more than 60 years, most people have no idea what their (the exiled community's) lives are about.' Dailyhunthttps://forums.ubi.com/member.php/3567505-teesjeensz

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