The Union Ministry of Mines on Thursday announced that it has decided to annul the auction of tungsten mineral block at Nayakkarpatti in Madurai district. It may be recalled that locals had carried out a massive rally in Madurai district against the proposal and the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had last month unanimously adopted a special resolution urging the Union government to immediately cancel the tungsten mining rights granted.
The decision followed considerations about the importance of the biodiversity heritage site in the area and the commitment of the Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership towards protecting traditional rights, an official release said.
The Government of India’s decision followed a meeting of the traditional Ambalakarar community leaders from Madurai district with Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy in New Delhi on January 22.
The community leaders had informed the Union Minister that the Nayakkarpatti tungsten mineral block was included the Arittapatti biodiversity heritage site and a number of cultural heritage sites. They requested the Union Minister to cancel the auction of the Nayakkarpatti tungsten block.
In a social media post, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recalled having asserted in the Assembly that his government would not permit the proposal as long as he held his post.
“We adopted a resolution unanimously in the Assembly. The Union government has now given in to the sentiments of the people and the determination of the State government,” Stalin contended.
The Union government should not issue notifications for such auctions without the consent of the State governments, Stalin reiterated. “The AIADMK too should not go along for legislations that are against State rights.”
Welcoming the decision, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami recalled the steps his party took to highlight the issue in the Assembly to expose the “drama” staged by the DMK government over this issue. The decision of the Centre was a “victory” to the steps undertaken by the AIADMK and has come as a full stop to the double standards of the DMK government over the proposal. The people’s power has won, Palaniswami said.
Fire rumour by tea-seller led to Jalgaon train tragedy: Deputy CM Ajit Pawar
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the Jalgaon train accident was the result of “sheer rumour” about fire by a tea-seller inside the Pushpak Express, which led to panic and some passengers jumping off.
Some passengers of the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening.
Thirteen persons were killed and 15 injured in the accident, as per officials. Speaking to the reporters in Pune, Pawar said, “A tea-seller from the pantry shouted about a fire having broken out in a coach.”
Two passengers from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh heard it and conveyed the false alarm to others, leading to confusion and panic in their general coach and the adjoining one, he said. “Some of the scared passengers jumped off the train from both the sides to save themselves,” Pawar said.
As the train was speeding, a passenger pulled the alarm chain. “After the train halted, people started getting down and got run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent track,” he said.
The impact was so powerful that several passengers lost their lives and the bodies got mutilated, Pawar said. “The accident was the result of a sheer rumour about fire,” the Deputy CM said.
Of the 13 persons who died, 10 have been identified, he said. The two passengers, who reportedly spread the rumour, were among those injured in the incident, he said. “The District Guardian Minister and officials reached the spot and after some time, the movement of trains resumed in both the directions,” he added.
Man kills wife in Hyderabad; cooks her body parts before disposing them in lake
Days after a woman went missing, her husband, an ex-serviceman, confessed that he killed her and disposed of her body parts after cooking them. He confessed that he dumped the pieces in a lake at Jillelaguda of Meerpet, a senior official close to the investigation confirmed.
He confessed on Wednesday amid searches for 35-year-old Venkata Madhavi, who was reported missing from January 18.
According to the police, her husband 45-year-old Guru Murthy, a native of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, arrived at the Meerpet police station and confessed to killing her. He has been detained and a detailed probe has been launched.
After his stint in the Indian Army, Murthy began working as an outsourced security guard with the DRDO in Kanchanbagh. Murthy accompanied his in-laws to the police station to lodge a missing complaint about his wife. He was allegedly supporting the police in searching for her when the police, based on suspicion, questioned him. The case is under investigation.
National Human Rights Commission faults probe of Foxconn hiring, orders new inquiry
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has admonished Labour Department officials for failure to adequately investigate evidence of employment discrimination at Foxconn, which makes Apple iPhones, and told them to re-examine the matter, documents show.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in June, ordered the Union and Tamil Nadu State Department officials to probe Foxconn’s hiring practices, after a Reuters investigation found the manufacturer excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at its southern India plant. Foxconn relaxed the ban during high-production periods, Reuters found.
The iPhone factory is a flagship foreign investment in India, crucial to Apple and Foxconn’s plans to grow manufacturing in the country, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aim of rivaling China in electronics production. Labour officials visited the Foxconn plant in July and questioned executives about employment practices, but did not make their findings public.
Reuters this month reviewed NHRC case files related to the probe after the news agency sought the records under Right to Information laws. The details have not been previously reported.
An undated NHRC case status document shows Tamil Nadu Labour officials telling the commission on July 5 that 6.7% of the 33,360 women working at the Foxconn plant were married, without specifying whether they were on the assembly line.
They said women employed at the factory came from six districts, “which makes it clear that a large number of female employees have been hired by the company…without any discrimination.”
The investigators told the commission that they had interviewed 21 married women at the factory, who said they faced no discrimination over wages and promotions, according to the document.
In response, the NHRC told the Labour officials in November that they did not appear to have scrutinised Foxconn hiring documents, nor addressed the core issue of discrimination against married women in recruitment. The officials had relied on current employees’ testimony and “filed their reports in a routine/casual manner”, according to the case details.
“The presence of [a] certain number of female employees at present does not answer the question [of] whether the company had actually discriminated against the married women at the time of recruitment,” the NHRC said, noting the Labour officials were “apparently silent in this regard”.
“The commission has no hesitation in stating that the authorities concerned have failed to identify and understand the core issue.”
Neither the State nor the Union Labour Departments responded to Reuters requests for comment about the NHRC’s assessment. In calling for the investigations in June, government said the Equal Remuneration Act stipulates that there should be no discrimination in the recruitment of men and women.
Apple and Foxconn also did not respond to questions about the correspondence. Both companies have previously said that Foxconn hires married women in India.
The NHRC is a statutory body with powers akin to a civil court. It can investigate human rights violations, summon officials and recommend remedial actions, including compensation payments. Last year, the NHRC asked the Union Labour Department to look into reports of harsh working conditions at an Amazon warehouse near New Delhi. Amazon subsequently said it conducted an investigation and took remedial action.
In the Foxconn case, the NHRC files show the agency conveyed its dissatisfaction to government officials on November 19, 2024, and ordered them to re-examine the matter by carrying out “a thorough investigation” within four weeks.
The NHRC in its January 10, 2025, response to Reuters said it could not provide further information as the case was ongoing.
Reuters’ investigation into Foxconn’s hiring practices was based on interviews with current and former executives, recruitment agents and job candidates, and a review of job advertisements circulated by the hiring vendors who help recruit smartphone assembly workers in India.
Many advertisements posted between January 2023 and May 2024 stated that only unmarried women of specified ages were eligible for smartphone assembly roles, contravening Apple and Foxconn anti-discrimination policies. Reuters reported in November 2024 that Foxconn had ordered the recruiters to remove age, gender and marital criteria in job advertisements.
Delhi CM writes to Election Officer accusing Delhi Police of intimidating AAP workers, seeks transfer
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Atishi wrote a letter to the Election Officer of Delhi, alleging that Delhi Police is trying to close the complaint against BJP workers who allegedly intimidated AAP volunteers on January 21 and 22 and sought transfers of accused police officials.
CM Atishi has written that AAP workers are being pressured to sign false statements by police that mention that no violence or intimidation took place. “I had made a complaint regarding intimidation of AAP volunteers by BJP workers yesterday (21.01.2025) and today (22.012025). Both complaints are enclosed. On 21.012025. I received a notice u/s 94 BNSS from SHO Govindpuri regarding the complaint made on 21.012025 (enclosed),” she has written.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kalkaji candidate Atishi on Tuesday wrote to the Election Commission of India (EC), alleging that relatives of her rival candidate, BJP’s former MP Ramesh Bidhuri, had attacked her party’s volunteers. She urged the EC to deploy paramilitary forces in the seat to ensure a “free and fair election” and “the safety of AAP workers”.
Atishi alleged in the letter that Investigating Officer Jai Bhagwan and Sushil Shama met volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party and dictated statements that no violence has taken place and forced them to sign those statements.
She has said that police is trying to close the complaints against BJP workers without proper investigation. Atshi added that AAP volunteers are ready to give written statements in the presence of their advocate. “When our volunteers objected strongly to this, the statements were torn by these police officers,” her letter reads.
Drawing attention of Election Commission she requested the transfer of SHO of Delhi’s Gavindpuri, Dharamveer and Inspector Sushi Sharma and Constable Jai Bhagwan out of AC 51.
She also has requested the investigation to be done by police officers who have never been posted in the area of South Delhi where BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri has been a MP for 10 years.
This comes as the assembly elections in Delhi nears its commencement date and the chaos between AAP and BJP keeps intensifying over various issues. The national capital will go to the polls on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
Palestinian official says hundreds leave Jenin as Israel presses raid
A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation.
The Israeli military launched the raid in the Jenin area, a hotbed of Palestinian militancy, days into a ceasefire in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, is to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.
He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran “wherever it sends its arms — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.
The Israeli government has accused Iran, which supports armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to funnel weapons and funds to militants in the occupied Palestinian territory. “Hundreds of camp residents have begun leaving after the Israeli army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp,” Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP. The Israeli Army said it was “unaware of any evacuation orders for residents in Jenin as of now”.
Since it began on Tuesday, the operation has killed at least 12 Palestinians and wounded 40 more, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. “There are dozens of camp residents who have begun to leave,” Jenin resident Salim Saadi said.
“The army is in front of my house. They could enter at any moment.”
Israeli forces have also detained several Palestinians from the Jenin area, with an AFP photographer seeing a row of blindfolded men in white jumpsuits being transported out of the West Bank. Palestinians had already begun fleeing the Jenin area on foot on Wednesday, with AFPTV images showing a group of men, women and children making their way down a muddy road, the sound of drones buzzing above them clearly audible.
In Brief:
Indian short film ‘Anuja’ earns Priyanka Chopra, Guneet Monga a nod at the Oscars 2025
Indian cinema celebrated another Oscar nomination as ‘Anuja’, a short film backed by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga, secured a coveted spot in the Best Live Action Short Film category at the 2025 Academy Awards. The nominations, announced by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott, mark a significant milestone for the film, which tells the story of a young girl navigating challenging circumstances. The film follows the titular Anuja, who works in a garment factory in Delhi alongside her sister Palak, portrayed by Ananya Shanbhag. When she is faced with a life-altering decision, the responsibility of her family’s future rests heavily on her young shoulders.
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma gets 3 months jail in cheque bounce case; arrest warrant issued
A Mumbai court has sentenced filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to three months imprisonment in a cheque bounce case and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) in Andheri, Y P Pujari, on Tuesday convicted Varma for the offence punishable under the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The court has also directed the filmmaker to pay a compensation of ₹3,72,219 to the complainant within three months from the date of the order. The detailed order was not available yet. Since Varma was not present before the court when the order was passed, it issued a standing non-bailable warrant against him for his arrest for execution of the sentence as per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The complaint of cheque bounce was registered against Varma’s firm in 2018 by a company. The court had granted bail to Varma in April 2022 on a cash security of ₹5,000.
Union government sends notices to Uber, Ola over pricing disparity on Apple and Android phones
A Union government body has sent notices to ride-hailing firms Ola and Uber over alleged differential pricing for Android and Apple phones, Consumer Affairs Minister, Pralhad Joshi, said in a post on X on Thursday. The move comes after several reports by local media and complaints by users on social media that iPhone users were charged higher prices for the same ride than those using phones that ran on Android operating systems. The Minister said he would direct the Central Consumer Protection Agency (CCPA) to also look into differential pricing strategies used by other sectors, including food delivery and online ticketing portals.
Trump says he may withhold federal aid for Los Angeles if California doesn’t change water policies
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal disaster aid for wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles unless California leaders change the state’s approach on its management of water. In a Fox News interview, Trump repeated false claims that the state’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas. He says the blame for Los Angeles’ struggles to tame some of the deadly fires lies with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a political foe who has called for partnership and mutual respect as the state fights the blazes. “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said.
Published – January 23, 2025 09:35 pm IST