Junior Digest

July 04,2023:Senegal’s President Macky Sall has declared he will not run for a third term in next year’s election, ending years of uncertainty over his political future that helped fuel deadly opposition protests last month.

In a speech carried live on his official Facebook page, Sall maintained on Monday that Senegal’s constitution would have allowed his candidacy despite having already been elected to a second term in 2019.

“There has been much speculation and commentary on my eventual candidature on this election,” Sall said in his speech. “The 2019 term was my second and last term.”

“My decision, carefully considered… is not to run as a candidate in the upcoming election on February 25, 2024… even though the constitution grants me the right,” he said.

Sall’s announcement will likely quell fears of a democratic backslide in Senegal.

Rumours that the 61-year-old leader would try to extend his stay in power have led to bouts of unrest since 2021 in which dozens have been killed, shaking Senegal’s reputation for calm in a restive region.
Sall was first elected in 2012 for a seven-year term after prevailing against then-President Abdoulaye Wade, whose decision to seek a controversial third term prompted violent street demonstrations.

Bengaluru , July 1,2023: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday promised to resume all the programmes designed for minorities.
A delegation of the Central Council of the Minority Muslim Thinkers, Chavadi, of Karnataka State met him on Friday and discussed various issues, said the government.
The Chief Minister said that five guarantees are already being implemented as announced by the government, and more grants will be allotted to minorities starting next year, said the CM office.
Chavadi has been identified with pro-people movements in Karnataka for over a decade. It has been a part of the literary field, the development of Kalyan Karnataka, student and Dalit movements, and other pro-people struggles. Chavadi has emphasised the educational, social, and economic development of the Muslim community. It is also against communalism, as the forum explained, stated the CM office.
For the past five years, the community has been deprived of government schemes, and hence the delegation appealed to the CM to increase grants to the Minority Department and Corporations, hostels, and the establishment of a Minority Polytechnic College in the district, said the government.

Mumbai, July 2,2023: In a sudden political development in Maharashtra, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar – the nephew of party chief Sharad Pawar – on Sunday split the legislative party and joined the state’s NDA ministry with eight other MLAs.

Sixty-three-year-old Ajit Pawar has joined the state’s NDA government for the second time since 2019, when he had a short-lived tryst as deputy CM before returning to the NCP fold in two days.

Ajit Pawar, so long the leader of the opposition, took over as the second Deputy Chief Minister (after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis) on Sunday as he was administered the oath by state Governor Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan here in the presence of NCP veteran Praful Patel – a longtime close confidant of Sharad Pawar.

Although Patel did not take oath as state minister, there is speculation that he may be inducted into the union ministry.

A few other NCP MLAs will be included in the Shinde ministry soon, Pawar told media persons after taking his oath, and said he took the decision for the development of the country and “to solve the problems of the people of Maharashtra.” He showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shinde, who himself became the chief minister a year back by engineering a similar split in the ruling Shiv Sena after rebelling against the then chief minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray, claimed 35 out of NCP’s 54 MLAs were present in the Raj Bhavan along with Pawar. In all, the new deputy chief minister enjoyed the support of more than 40 NCP legislators, he said.

After Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Valse-Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmaraobaba Bhagwantrao Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil also were sworn in as ministers.

Bhujbal is a leading OBC leader in the state.

Profusely praising Ajit Pawar, Shinde said he has always done the politics of development.

The Chief Minister said now his double engine government – BJP and the Shiv Sena (Shinde) – has a triple engine for the development of the state.

Pawar’s joining would give a further boost to the government which was already working for the state’s development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shinde added.

On the other hand, NCP’s Maharashtra Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase termed the developments a part of BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ programme..

In a statement, Tapase said all the leaders, workers, district presidents and frontal organisations are with Sharad Pawar.

Over the past couple of months, political circles in the state were agog with speculation about the possibility of Ajit Pawar jumping ship.

Ajit Pawar was said to be unhappy over being sidelined in the party, with Sharad Pawar elevating Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as working presidents.

Recently, Ajit Pawar also wanted to quit as Leader of the Opposition and sought an organisational responsibility, but the party national executive asked him to wait for two months.

Lucknow, Jul 2,2023: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday asserted that her party was not against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), instead it was against the modalities of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its government in implementing it, as it should not be forced on the people of the country.

Reacting to the UCC, she said, “India has a vast population who follow different religions and have different customs, lifestyles, rules and rituals right from the birth to death.”

She further said that on the other hand, it is thought provoking that if a common law is made applicable to people of all religions, then it will not weaken the country but instead, strengthen it.

“It is also correct that it will create mutual communal harmony and brotherhood among the people and keeping this in mind, an attempt to frame a code that is Uniform Civil Code has been mentioned in the Article 44 of the Indian Constitution,” Mayawati said.

The BSP chief further said, “The provision of imposing it forcibly is not mentioned in the Constitution of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and for this awareness and consensus has been considered the best, but not following it and indulging in politics of narrow interest in its guise is not right in the interest of the country, because Article 44 of the Constitution describes the effort to make a uniform civil code, but not to impose it forcibly.”

She suggested that before taking any step for implementing UCC in the country, BJP should pay special attention to all these aspects.
She said it seems that BJP and its government are blowing the issue of UCC in a bid to conceal its shortcomings and distract attention of the people.

“As I have said my party is not against the UCC, but people of different religions in the country have their own customs from birth to death and whenever a law is framed then their religious traditions and sentiments must be kept into consideration,” she added.

New Delhi, July 3,2023: The Manipur Government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the situation in the troubled state is improving, “though slowly”, to which the Top Indian Court directed the State Government to submit a detailed updated status report, and posted the matter for further hearing to July 10.

“The situation in the state is improving though slowly,” Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for Manipur govt, told the Indian Apex Court.

Mehta also said that apart from police and Indian Reserve batallions, 114 columns of CAPF and 118 columns of army have been deployed leading to slow return of peace in the state. “The situation in the state is improving,” Mehta told the Apex Court.

Then, the Supreme Court sought a detailed status report from Manipur government on the measures taken to curb ethnic violence in the State.

It also asked the State to fule a report as to what steps have been taken for rehabilitation camps for homeless and violence-affected people, deployment of forces, and the law and order situation.

A bench of the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud sought a detailed status report from Manipur government by Monday, July 10, when it would take up the matter again for further hearing.

It was hearing a batch of pleas relating to the recent incidents of violence in Manipur. One of the petitions sought directions to the Central and State governments to evacuate Manipuri Tribals who had fled to CRPF camps.

For Kuki groups, Senior advocate, Colin Gonsalves, counsel appearing for the State’s Kuki group, alleged that Meteis were killing Kukis and women were preventing army from taking action against arsonists.

At the same time, Meteis advocate, Luwang told the Apex Court that Kuki militants, mandated to stay in camps, are out of it and using sniper rifles to kill Meteis.

Washington, July 4,2023: Meta appears ready to launch Threads, a micro-blogging application designed to rival Twitter, on July 6, according to its App Store listing.

Threads appeared for pre-order on Monday in the Apple App Store, where it indicates users will be able to begin downloading on July 6.

“Say more with Threads – Instagram’s text-based conversation app,” the text on the app store says. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

The move comes the same day Elon Musk’s Twitter announced that all users must be “Verified” to access TweetDeck.

Over the weekend, Musk outraged many Twitter users by imposing limits on the number of posts that can be read per day. In order to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation, Musk said verified accounts are limited to reading 6,000 posts per day and unverified accounts 600 posts per day.

SYDNEY, July 3,2023: Thousands rallied in Australia on Sunday to back a campaign to recognise the country’s Indigenous people in the constitution ahead of a referendum later this year, after a recent dip in support for the change.

The referendum, likely to be held between October and December, seeks to amend the constitution and establish an advisory body, called the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a direct say in policies that impact them.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor government backs the change, while the opposition Liberal-National conservatives urge a “No” vote.

On Sunday, an Australian Council of Social Service tweet showed Sydney rally attendees in T-shirts with the words “Vote Yes” and caps with the words “The Uluru Statement”, referring to a key document that calls for an Indigenous Voice.

One rallygoer, Jason Howard, said the event was “a great opportunity for all Australians to get behind something that’s going to make this country better”.

Another attendee, Isabelle Smith, said in her opinion the referendum was the most important issue in Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia June 19, 2023. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas via REUTERS/File Photo

“It’ll bring Australians together and I think voting ‘Yes’ is the most important thing that people can do,” she said.

Yes23, the group behind more than 25 rallies nationwide, said the crowd in Sydney was around 3,000 and that it expected up to 25,000 people to participate in total.

The day of action comes after support for the referendum appeared to be ebbing, according to a poll last month, which showed “No” ahead for the first time, 51% to 49%.

Opponents, including some Indigenous people, have said the proposal lacks detail and will divide Australians.

“We do not really focus on the polls. What we focus on is the work that is involved in getting out and talking to people, Yes23 director Rachel Perkins told ABC television on Sunday.

Indigenous Australians, who account for 3.8% of the population, face disadvantages including discrimination, poor health and education outcomes and high incarceration rates.

Jammu, July 4,2023: Stating that the construction of a 1.08 k long, two-lane Ramban viaduct is completed, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that under visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi the government is committed in providing exceptional highway infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir.

“in Jammu and Kashmir, we have completed the construction of a 1.08 k long, two-lane Ramban viaduct. This viaduct, built at a cost of ₹140 Crore, is situated on the Udhampur-Ramban section of NH-44,” Gadkari tweeted.

Additionally, he said that another two-Lane viaduct, running parallel to this structure, is nearing completion and will be opened soon.

“Under the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, we remain unwavering in our commitment to providing Jammu and Kashmir with exceptional highway infrastructure,” he stated.

The Union Minister further said that this transformative development not only contributes to the region’s economic growth but also enhances its appeal as a premier tourist destination.

“The construction of this 26-span viaduct incorporates various structural arrangements utilizing concrete and steel girders,” he wrote on Twitter further adding that it serves a dual purpose, firstly, t relieves congestion in Ramban Bazar, ensuring smoother movement of vehicles, secondly, it facilitates the seamless passage of vehicles and pilgrim traffic during the annual Amarnath Yatra on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 44.

Notably, on April 11 this year, during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Gadkari addressing a press conference at Katra had said that though the deadline for the Delhi Amritsar-Katra Green Corridor ExpressWay is December 2024, but efforts will be made to complete the mega project before Parliamentary Elections to be held in May next year so that it can be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February-March next year.

He had said that the executing agency, NHAI has been asked to complete the work before the imposition of Code of Conduct so that it can be inaugurated before Lok Sabha elections.

The 670-kilometre, four-lane Delhi Amritsar-Katra Green Corridor ExpressWay is being constructed at the cost of Rs 40,000 crore.

Gadkari had also said that the developmental works worth Rs 1,30,000 crore are being taken up by MoRTH in Jammu and Kashmir and since 2014, around 500 km of road network has been completed in the region.

“Significant 41 tunnels are being constructed in J&K and Ladakh at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore, 18 ropeways worth Rs 5,000 crore will be constructed in the UT. The journey between Jammu and Srinagar three corridors worth Rs 35,000 crores are being constructed, which will reduce the earlier distance of 320 kms by 70 kms and time travel will be reduced from ten hours to four to five hours,” the Minister had said in the press conference.

Gadkari said, “with the development of state of the art road network across the country through every state and UT, the Kashmir to Kanyakumari will no longer be a dream for the people of India.”

Paris, July 1,2023: The 193 member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) approved on Friday during an Extraordinary Session of the General Conference, the proposal submitted by the United States to rejoin the organisation.

After two days of discussions, 132 member states voted in favor and 10 against the return of the U.S. to the organization from which the U.S. has withdrawn twice, causing a negative impact on the organisation’s work.

The U.S. will fund the equivalent of 22 percent of the organisation’s regular budget, according to a press release from UNESCO.

Besides the progressive payment of the arrears, the U.S. will also make voluntary contributions to fund programs including those supporting access to education in Africa and the memory of the Holocaust, UNESCO said.

Speaking to the press after voting, Yang Jin, permanent representative of China to UNESCO, said that the U.S. should contribute to promoting the unity and cooperation of the organisation after its return, instead of engaging in confrontation and division.

“China urges the U.S., following its return to UNESCO, to fulfill its obligations and commitments, pay membership dues in full and on time, and pay off as soon as possible the dues owed to UNESCO for many years,” he said.

Yang also called on the U.S. to adhere to true multilateralism, respect the sovereignty and social systems of all countries, respect and maintain social diversity, refrain from ideological confrontation, and commit to promoting mutual understanding and cooperation among member states.

The United States pulled out of UNESCO twice, in 1984 and 2017. In June this year, the U.S. sent a letter to the director-general of UNESCO, proposing to rejoin the organisation as early as July based on a concrete financial plan, which includes a commitment to repay its estimated arrears of 619 million U.S. dollars.