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New Delhi: South Asian Championship gold medalist archer Himani Malik expressed that her main focus is to participate in the Tokyo Olympics and win a medal for the country.

The Modi fan club that believes to ensure his stay for eternity does seem to be over zealous. Fifty masked men laced with iron bars and canes descended on students’ hostels in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus and left 37 bleeding profusely including the students’ union president. The Delhi police took three hours to reach after the complaint of ambush but with explanation that it took three hours for permission to come in their hand to enter the campus. The Delhi police also claimed that the violence in the campus was a result of clash between two groups of students. It does not explain though why masks were needed except to conceal the real identity.

Those who saw recent demonstrations against the theocratic regime ruling Iran as a good sign had their hopes setback yesterday when the funeral for the assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani drew millions into the streets of Tehran, that nation’s capital. A sea of humanity turned out to demonstrate its anger with the illegal U.S. killing of the number two person in their country’s government.

What happened in JNU on the 5th is now a matter to public record with several eyewitness accounts surfacing in the public domain. The questions that must now be asked are who will take responsibility for the calculated dereliction of duty of the police, has there been a failure of administration and governance by the Vice-Chancellor and who pays the price of this violence.

The Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi inspired the movement for right of Kashmiris for self-determination on 5 January 2020 in a crafty and diplomatic style, moving away from spreading anti-India venom, seen during the regimes of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and mullah-backed President Zia-ul Haq. In a message to the Kashmiris in what the United Nations calls India-administered Kashmir, the Pak premier said, “Every year, the 5th of January reinforces our commitment to uphold the fundamental human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.” He reminded the international community, especially the United Nations, of the imperative of honouring its commitment of a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN and emphasised the logic of the inalienable right to self-determination, acknowledged all important human rights covenants and decisions of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.

For the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in Bengal, its poor governance could prove a heavier political encumbrance going into the Assembly elections of 2021, even more than any challenge from the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) .The massive explosion on January 3at Naihati, North 24 Parganas at an illegal cracker-making unit, killing five of Bengal’s poorest citizens, effectively trashed the TMC’s palpably false projection of Bengal as India’s last secular avant-garde arcadia!

Will there be a move to contain India’s population explosion? After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort that “keeping one’s family small is an act of patriotism” hinting at some measures to contain the population, there were expectations that a bill might be introduced in this regard in the upcoming budget session. Addressing the issue for the first time, Modi expressed concern over the steep rise in India's population, and said the Centre and states should look at measures to deal with it.“The time has now come that we should take such challenges head on,” he announced from the Red Fort. Currently, India is at 1.37 billion, and will overtake China by 2027. Millions still do not have access to clean water, proper meals, healthcare and education, thanks to the unmanageable number and more mouths mean more strain on the resources.

Prime Minister’s speech of December 22, 2019 at a political rally at Delhi’s Ram Lila ground denying any consultation/discussion about the National Registration of Citizens (NRC) following completion of the National Population Register (NPR), preparatory process for which has already commenced with the recent approval of the Union Cabinet with a budgetary allocation of Rs.3,900 crore beginning April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 in terms of a notification of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on July 31, 2019, is patently false as it is not borne by the facts on official records. It has already been stated on Parliamentary records nine times since 2014, when the current NDA Union Government first assumed office that NRC shall be carried out throughout the country. Besides, the latest Annual Report 2018-19 of the MHA also mentions about the NRC. As also the Union Home Minister spoke on records repeatedly in various political rallies and in Parliament, indicating the Union Government is not cohesive whole.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha FC registered an important win after getting the better of Chennaiyin FC 2-0 in a Hero Indian Super League clash at the Kalinga Stadium here on Monday.

Many congressional Democrats—along with party presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren—are warning that President Donald Trump’s targeted drone assassination strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian military leader Gen. Qassim Suleimani will trigger Iranian retaliation, a regional war in the Middle East, or both.