New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Monday appointed former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit to head a search-cum-selection committee to oversee the appointments of vice-chancellors for state-run universities in West Bengal.

The ruling Trinamool Congress dispensation in West Bengal has a running feud with Governor C V Ananda Bose, who is also the chancellor of state-run universities, over how the universities should be run.

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the committee be constituted within two weeks after noting that both the state and the office of the governor agreed on the formation of the panel.

The top court authorised the chairperson of the panel to constitute separate or joint search cum-selection-committees for one or more universities, keeping in view the nature of subjects/disciplines in which education is being imparted in such pooled universities.

“The chairperson is requested to nominate four persons out of the empanelled experts, whom he finds capable of shortlisting suitable names for appointment as vice-chancellors.

“The chairperson shall preside over every search-cum-selection committee and thus, the composition of each such committee shall be five. The search-cum-selection committee shall prepare a panel of at least three names (alphabetically and not in order of merit) for each university,” the bench said.

The chairperson is requested to constitute the search-cum-selection committees for a group or individual universities as early as possible and preferably within two weeks, it said.

“The Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, is hereby nominated as the nodal department of the state government to issue advertisements giving vide publicity to invite applications for the posts of vice-chancellors.

“Such advertisements shall contain the details of the requisite qualification and other eligibility conditions, with a specific reference to this court’s order, so as to infuse confidence, leaving no uncertainty in the minds of the meritorious aspirants in submitting their claims,” the bench said.

The advertisements shall give four-week time to submit the applications, it added.

“Such applications shall be scrutinised by the department concerned of the state government within one week and shall thereafter the entire set of all applications be placed before the chairperson of the search-cum-selection committee, who in turn, will get the dossier of each candidate prepared for consideration of the search cum selection committee,” the bench said.

“The search committee may endeavour to complete their task within three months from today. The chairperson shall be paid an honorarium of Rs 3 lakh for every effective day of proceedings of the search committee until the entire process is completed. The state government, in addition to the honorarium, shall provide the chairperson with a suitable office and full secretarial assistance, along with transit accommodation in Kolkata,” the bench said.

The recommendations made by the search-cum-selection committee, duly endorsed by the chairperson, shall be put up before the chief minister (and not the minister in charge of a department) for necessary consideration, it said.

“In case the chief minister has reasons to believe that any shortlisted person is unsuitable for appointment as vice-chancellor, the remarks to this effect along with supporting material and the original record of the recommendation made by the search-cum-selection committee shall be put up before the learned chancellor within two weeks.

“The chief minister shall be entitled to recommend the shortlisted names in order of preference for appointment as vice-chancellors. The chancellor, on the receipt of record from the chief minister, shall appoint the vice-chancellors out of the empanelled names in the same order of preference as recommended by the chief minister,” the bench said.

The top court said that in case the chancellor has any reservation against the empanelled names and/or the remarks made by the chief minister against any shortlisted candidate, he shall be entitled to put up his own opinion on file, duly supported with reasons and relevant material.

“The chancellor shall accord his approval (save and except when there is a difference of opinion) within two weeks of receipt of the file from the chief minister. The Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, or any other department concerned of the state government are hereby directed to notify the appointment within one week from the date of receipt of approval from the learned Chancellor of the University.

“In the case(s) where the chief minister has objected to the inclusion of any name in the panel and such objection is not acceptable to the chancellor or where the chancellor has an objection against empanelment of any particular name for which he has assigned his own reasons, all such files shall be put up before this court,” it said.

The top court made it clear that a final decision in this regard shall be taken by the top court after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the objectors.

The state of West Bengal shall file the status report in respect to compliance with the directions issued hereinabove before the next date of hearing, the bench said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

BJP president JP Nadda slammed the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal on Monday over a “horrific” video of a man brutally assaulting a couple in public.

He said in a post on X, “A horrific video has come to light from West Bengal, reminding of the brutalities that exist only in theocracies. To make matters worse, the TMC cadre and MLAs are justifying the act.” Mr Nadda added, “Be it Sandeshkhali, Uttar Dinajpur or many other places, Didi’s West Bengal is UNSAFE for women.” The West Bengal Police on Sunday registered a case over the incident.

The man seen in the video beating up a couple with a bamboo stick was allegedly a local TMC leader of Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district where the incident occurred following a kangaroo court decision.

The accused, Tajmul alias JCB, was arrested. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav along with director Zoological Survey of India Dhriti Banerjee and Director Botanical Survey of India A.A. Mao during an event to release animal and plant discoveries 2023

A new species of turmeric in Manipur and a new kind of bat in Karnataka are among the plant and animal species which were discovered in India in 2023, according to data released by Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Sunday.

These are among the 641 new species added to Indian fauna in 2023, including 442 entirely new species and 199 species which have been newly recorded in the country. India also added 339 taxa to its plant database, including 326 species, and 13 infraspecific taxa. Of these, 171 taxa are new to science and 168 taxa are new distributional records from India. A taxa can refer to a sub-species or variety of a plant species.

Among the new plant discoveries in 2023 were Curcuma kakchingense, a new species of turmeric found in Manipur’s Kakching, and Asystasia venui, a flowering plant discovered in the Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden at Howrah in West Bengal.

Significant animal discoveries include Capra himalayensis, which proves that the Himalayan Ibex, distributed in the trans-Himalayan ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, is a distinct species from the Siberian Ibex. Miniopterus srinii, a new species of bent-winged bat was also found in the Kodagu district of Karnataka.

Kerala tops list

Most of the new animal discoveries were reported from southern India. Kerala topped the list, with 101 additions (74 completely new species, 27 new records), followed by West Bengal with 72 new species, and Tamil Nadu with 64.

The vast majority of these new discoveries among fauna have been recorded in the invertebrate category, which saw 564 new species in 2023; only 77 vertebrate species, of which the majority were fish species, were discovered in 2023.

“The trend of new discoveries in different groups remains same like previous years, with Insects dominating among invertebrates with 369 species, whereas Fishes with 47 species dominated among vertebrates followed by Reptiles, Amphibia, Mammals and least with Aves,” said Animal Discoveries 2023, an annual publication by the Zoological Survey of India, an premier institution dealing with animal taxonomy which completed 109 years on Sunday.

New wild plants

West Bengal recorded the highest number of new plant discoveries, with 52 new taxa, followed by Kerala and Uttarakhand. New discoveries include wild relatives of many potential horticultural, agricultural, medicinal, and ornamental plants such as begonias, impatiens or balsams, legumes, zingibers, and orchids, according to Plant Discoveries 2023, an annual publication by the Botanical Survey of India, a premier institution which has been working on plant taxonomy for about 120 years.

“This volume records 106 angiosperms, 2 Pteridophytes, 16 Bryophytes, 44 lichens, 111 fungi, 50 algae and 10 microbes. The hotspot regions such as Western Ghats, and North Eastern Regions have contributed 14% of total discoveries,” the publication said.

Exhaustive checklist

Apart from these publications, the Environment Minister also rolled out the ‘Fauna of India Checklist Portal’, a first of its kind. It comprises 121 checklists of all known taxa, covering 36 phyla, and providing information on all the 1,04,561 animal species distributed across India. Endemic, threatened, and scheduled species have also been included in the list.

Citing research showing that specific trees growing in specific areas is not accidental as they interact with their environment through specialised characteristics, Mr. Yadav emphasised the importance of conserving not just threatened species, but also bio-geographic zones across the country.

New Delhi:

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday came down heavily on state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said that she cannot bully or terrify him and she has no right to do character assassination through lies.

While speaking with ANI, Bose targeted the West Bengal Chief Minister and said that Mamata Banerjee has crossed all the limits. “She has to function within the requirements of civilized conduct. As a Chief Minister, I gave her all regard and respect, considering her as my esteemed constitutional colleague. But she feels that she can bully anybody and cast aspersions on my character. My character is not to be negotiated by an individual like Mamata Banerjee.”

The governor further said that any amount of assassination of his self-respect will not be tolerated. “She cannot bully or terrify me. She has not grown up to that. As a chief minister, if she differs from me, certainly there are constitutional provisions to take care of that. As an individual, she has no right to do character assassination through lies.” “This cannot be allowed. It is not megalomania, it is ‘Mamata mania’ that cannot be tolerated. I will file a defamation case against the individual, Mamata Banerjee who happens to be the Chief Minister,” he added.

The remarks by Bose come after Mamata Banerjee said that women are not feeling safe in Raj Bhavan.

Bose spoke about the situation of the state and said, “It is very disturbing, shocking, and shattering to see that West Bengal is facing a financial breakdown. Its public finance is in the doldrums.”

He added, “As a responsible governor, I, upon the authority vested in the governor under Article 167 of the Constitution of India, have asked for an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss this issue and also issue a white paper on the finances of the state.”

Bose also talked about Banerjee’s meeting on hawkers and encroachment in the state, he said, “To say the least, ‘Gareebi hatao, gareebo ko nahi.’ Before you displace poor hawkers, you should have thought about settling them. This is highly disorganised, untimely, distressing, ill-implemented reform…”

Speaking on law and order situation in the state, Bose said that the government is expected to contain violence. “I feel there is government-sponsored violence in the state. There is ‘gundagiri’…”

He added further, “As a governor, it is my duty to see that the government functions in accordance with the Constitution of India. I will do my duty. My stand against corruption will continue till I reach the goal. As Swami Vivekananda said, ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.’ My goal is to see corruption-free, and violence-free Bengal.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Actress and politician Rupali Ganguly, who is known for her work in popular TV shows such as ‘Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai’ and ‘Anupamaa’, has written a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging the use of beautiful, vintage-style motorised e-carriages in Kolkata.

Rupali, who is a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, pointed out that in recent months, almost eight horses have died on the streets of Kolkata due to overwork by the carriage industry.

“The use of horses for carriage rides poses a risk to the public and creates a traffic hazard,” Rupali wrote, according to a statement.

The actress also highlighted that not just horses but also humans have been hurt.

“Both horses and humans have been seriously injured. Appallingly, horses who sustain painful, serious injuries are often simply abandoned,” she added in the letter.

The investigations by PETA India and the CAPE Foundation have documented that dozens of horses forced to haul carriages in Kolkata have been found to be anemic, malnourished, and chronically starved.

Rupali, daughter of director Anil Ganguly and sister of choreographer Vijay Ganguly, started her career at the tender age of seven with her father’s 1985 film ‘Saaheb’.

The actress made her television debut in 2000 with ‘Sukanya’, gaining further recognition with her performances in ‘Sanjivani: A Medical Boon’ and ‘Bhabhi’.

Rupali became a sensation with her portrayal of Monisha Sarabhai, a middle-class ‘bahu’ (daughter-in-law) to a high-class ‘saas’ (mother-in-law) in the cult sitcom ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’.

The 47-year-old star, who participated in the first season of the controversial reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, gained major stardom with her role in ‘Anupamaa’ in 2020.

In May 2024, Rupali announced her entry into politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Upon joining the party, she said she felt it was “destined to happen.”

“And that’s why I have taken that long journey of art and came here.”

“We are fans of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. I am grateful that I meet a lot of new people because of my acting career. I now want to move on the path of PM Modi, and do service to the nation,” she said in May.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

 Close on the heels of the disappearance and suspected murder of a Bangladeshi MP in Kolkata, a youth from the neighbouring country, went missing from the city, prompting a police investigation.

According to a senior police officer, 23-year-old Mohammad Delwar Hossain had come to the city for medical treatment and was staying at a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in central Kolkata.

The management of the hotel concerned revealed that Hossain, who was accompanied by his relatives on his visit to Kolkata, is likely to have sneaked out of the premises late last night.

The relatives lodged a missing persons complaint with the Park Street police station on Thursday morning.

“We are currently reviewing CCTV footage from the hotel and nearby areas as part of our investigation,” the officer informed PTI. He added that a case was registered after the hotel authorities reported the disappearance.

The incident follows the disappearance and suspected murder of Bangladeshi lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar, who was also in Kolkata for medical reasons and went missing a day after his arrival on May 12.

Authorities suspect that Anar was killed by a group of people inside an apartment in the city’s New Town area, where his body was reportedly mutilated.

As of now, police have apprehended two suspects in connection with Anar’s murder.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Popular Bengali actor Rituparna Sengupta was today questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its investigation into the alleged ration distribution scam in West Bengal.

Ms Sengupta arrived at the ED office in Kolkata this afternoon. 

Earlier, senior Trinamool Congress leader Jyotipriya Mallick was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore scam. 

The Enforcement Directorate is investigating an alleged ration distribution scam where it alleges that rations meant for the public distribution system (PDS) was siphoned off and sold in the open market. The Enforcement Directorate had also arrested a businessman, Bakibur Rahman in connection with its probe into these allegations.

Ms Sengupta was earlier questioned by the probe agency in 2019 in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam.

Kavach, the made-in-India system to help prevent accidents if two trains are travelling on the same line, was not available on the tracks in Darjeeling where the two trains collided today. At least eight passengers have died and over 50 others were injured after a goods train rammed the Kolkata-bound Kanchanjunga Express from behind.

As an old video of Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explaining the Kavach system went viral following today’s crash, officials said the system is yet to be installed in much of the rail network.

” The Railways plans to deploy the safety system on the Delhi-Guwahati route under its goal to cover over 6,000 km of tracks by next year. Bengal falls within the 3,000 km of tracks set to be protected by Kavach this year. The system will be applied to the Delhi-Howrah route,” Jaya Varma Sinha, Chairman of Railway Board told NDTV.

Currently, Kavach is in place on over 1,500 km of tracks. The Centre had planned to bring 2,000 km of rail network under Kavach during 2022-23 and aims to cover around 34,000 km of rail network. The Indian Railway system is over 1 lakh kilometres long.

“If Kavach was deployed, something like this accident could likely be avoided. However, it’s a costly system to operate,” former Executive Director of Railway Board Prempal Sharma told NDTV.
 

What Is Kavach?

Kavach is an automatic train protection (ATP) system, indigenously-developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RSCO) with three Indian firms.

The security system controls the speeding of trains but also helps locomotive drivers to avoid missing danger signals and ensure that trains run safely especially in low-visibility conditions.

How does it work?

Kavach controls train speed by automatically braking if the driver fails to apply the brakes on time.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags are placed on tracks and at station yard and signals for identifying the tracks and locating the train and its direction. When the system is activated, all trains within 5 km will stop to let the train on an adjacent track to pass safely.

On Board Display of Signal Aspect (OBDSA) helps the loco pilots view the signals even when the visibility is low due to bad weather. Usually, loco pilots have to look out of the window to spot the signals.

The safety system sends a signal to a loco pilot when approaching a ‘red signal’ and applies automatic brakes if necessary to prevent overshooting the signal.

In 2022, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said he had personally tested the safety system.

“Rear-end collision testing is successful. Kavach automatically stopped the locomotive before 380 m of other locomotive at the front,” he said in a post on X.

Here is a video of the Railways Minister explaining how the system works: 

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw @AshwiniVaishnaw
Hon’ble Railway Minister briefs during live testing of #kavach automatic train protection technology in Lingampalli – Vikarabad section, South Central Railway #NationalSafetyDay@RailMinIndia@drmsecunderabadpic.twitter.com/jtW5EXECm3

— South Central Railway (@SCRailwayIndia) March 4, 2022

The system also relays SoS messages during emergency situations.

Hyderabad:

The sixth phase of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections was held on May 25 in 58 constituencies across seven states and one Union Territory. As part of the sixth phase, polling was held for some seats in West Bengal, and sporadic incidents of violence were also reported, even while the highest polling percentage of 79.47 per cent was recorded here.

Against this backdrop, a video has gone viral with the claim that it shows security forces being attacked in a village in West Bengal.

An X user shared a video captioned, “Assaults on security personnel in a West Bengal village amid the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections. (translated from Telugu)”

A similar post can be seen here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading as the video shows an attack on a BJP MP candidate and not just on the security personnel.

When we conducted a reverse image search of the viral video, we found several news reports related to the violent incident during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

BJP candidate Pranath Tudu from Jhargram in West Bengal was attacked by a violent mob on Saturday. A video of the incident shows a mob pelting stones and chasing Pranath and his convoy. As the attack took place, the security personnel responded quickly and took him safely away from the scene. A Times of India news report stated that a BJP leader’s car was also destroyed in the incident.

According to a post on X by ANI News dated May 25, miscreants attacked BJP candidate Pranath from the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat while he visited booth number 200 in Monglapota constituency.

#WATCH | West Bengal | BJP candidate from Jhargram Lok Sabha seat, Pranat Tudu was attacked allegedly by miscreants when he was visiting booth number 200 in Monglapota in the parliamentary constituency today pic.twitter.com/bfEYH7KgXT

— ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2024

Hence, we conclude that the claim is misleading as the video shows a BJP candidate being attacked by a mob in West Bengal.

Claim Review: The video shows security forces being attacked in a village in West Bengal during the sixth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Claimed By: Facebook User

Claim Reviewed By: NewsMeter

Claim Source: Facebook

Claim Fact Check: Misleading

Fact: The claim is misleading. The target of the mob was a BJP candidate from Jhargram, WB, and not just the security personnel.

(This story was originally published by NewMeter, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition – filed by the BJP – that challenged the Calcutta High Court order restraining the party to publish “derogatory” advertisements against Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress.

“Why should we interfere, we have seen the advertisements and they are offensive,” the Supreme Court said as it refused to interfere with the high court order.

“You can always say you are the best, but we don’t want to lend our hands to promote further acrimony. Your rival is not your enemy,” the bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice KV Viswanathan said.

The petition was then dismissed as withdrawn giving liberty to the BJP to approach the high court.

The BJP cannot publish derogatory advertisements against Trinamool Congress, especially during the ‘silence period’ (a day prior to the polls and the polling day), the Calcutta High Court had ruled last week.

“The allegations and publications made against TMC are outright derogatory and definitely intended to insult the rivals and level personal attacks,” Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya had said.

The Election Commission, the judge said, has “grossly failed to address the complaints of the TMC in due time”.

“This court is surprised that resolution of the complaints after the conclusion of elections is nothing to the court and as such, in due failure on part of the ECI in due time this court is constrained to pass an injunction order,” Justice Bhattacharya said in his order.

Earlier, the Commission sent a notice to the state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, questioning why the ads should not be considered a violation of the Model Code.