BJP to get majority in Delhi elections: Opinion poll

BJP is likely to bag around 45 seats riding high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

BJP is likely to get absolute majority in the upcoming Assembly polls in Delhi, an opinion poll said on Friday.

The party is likely to bag around 45 seats riding high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, while Arvind Kejriwal's AAP is likely to win in 17 constituencies.

However, Kejriwal seems to be the most preferred candidate with 43 per cent for the position of Chief Minister of Delhi, followed by Harsh Vardhan (39 per cent), according to the ABP News-Nielsen poll.

Sheila Dixit has a support of five per cent respondents while Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay was preferred by three per cent respondents, the poll said.

The poll, conducted among 6,409 respondents from across 35 Assembly constituencies between December 4 and 8, predicts seven seats for the Congress in the 70-member House.

In the last Assembly polls, held in December last year, BJP had emerged as the single largest party winning 31 seats followed by AAP with 28 seats. The Congress stood a poor third, with only 8 seats.

According to the opinion poll, the BJP is likely to get 38 per cent vote share as against AAP's AAP 27 per cent.

As per the opinion poll, around half of the respondents feel that BJP would form the government in the upcoming elections in Delhi and around 38 per cent feel that Aam Aadmi Party should form the government.

Also, an overall level majority (65 per cent) of the respondents have rated the performance of Arvind Kejriwal as 'good/very good' with a mean score of 3.81, poll said.

As per the opinion poll, Modi is the most popular leader in Delhi with 58 per cent of the respondents saying so while 33 per cent respondents are for Arvind Kejriwal and about seven per cent for Rahul Gandhi.

As per the opinion poll, inflation, sanitation, drinking water and unemployment are the more important issues being faced by the people.

Sanitation is a bigger issue in urban areas whereas law and order and transport problems matter more in rural areas, opinion poll said.

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Girls told to stay indoors every time Uber 'rapist' driver Shiv Kumar Yadav visited village

RAMNAGAR (Mainpuri): From all accounts, Shiv Kumar Yadav, the man who allegedly raped a 25-year-old executive in an Uber cab, was rotten to the core. He's a serial sexual offender with charges of rape, attempted rape and molestation against him. Not just that, he was very violent - he had been booked under the Goondas Act, Arms Act, was given to drinking and brawling. Had there been a proper verification of his antecedents, it's unlikely that any company - Uber or any other - would have touched him even with a bargepole.

Shiv Kumar's a serial sexual offender with charges of rape, attempted rape and molestation against him.

So much so that when the 32-year-old visited his native village Ramnagar in UP's Mainpuri district, parents would ask their daughters to stay indoors. He would pass lewd comments, pull duppatas, and if he got the chance, do worse. Some years back, the local police, exasperated by his habitual waywardness, had to extern him from the area - a measure that's locally called "zilabadar" which is more popularly known as "tadipaar".

Ironically, Yadav's father, Ramnath Yadav, was a school teacher, who retired as headmaster of the local municipal school. He's now a devastated man. He had ordered his son to leave home - an order that Shiv Kumar didn't heed. Villager after villager said 76-year-old Ramnath was a good man who didn't deserve the ignominy heaped on him by his son. Shiv Kumar's mother, Gangashree, 70, says she can't face the shame and would rather die.

When TOI visited Ramnagar on Tuesday, local residents said it might be a good idea to go first to the Elau police station, under which Ramnagar falls. It indeed was. In the police register was a string of criminal cases against Shiv Kumar. He has two sexual assault cases registered against him, apart from cases for carrying illegal firearms and brawling.

These cases are apart from the seven months he spent in Delhi's Tihar Jail after being charged with rape (the case fell as there was an out-of-court settlement). In Delhi, police said six cases against Shiv Kumar have come to light and they suspect there are more cases where the victim did not report to the police. Another Delhi woman passenger, Nidhi Shah, tweeted that she had complained about Shiv Kumar to Uber on November 26. Uber said they would look into the complaint. "Not soon enough," Shah added.

Talking to TOI, police inspector at the Elau police station (Mainpuri) G P Gautam said, "Shiv Kumar is an accused in an attempt to rape case lodged under section 354/523 (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) in 2003, a case of molestation/rape in 2013 under section 376/354, the Goondas Act and the Arms Act."

He said that since 2013, Yadav hadn't returned to Ramnagar, living in Delhi with the widow of his elder brother (whom he married) and their children.      

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No Nepal constitution without consensus, says CPN-Maoist leader Prachanda

Kathmandu: CPN-Maoist leader Prachanda on Saturday warned that it would not be possible to draft the new Nepal Constitution without consensus from all the political parties. "It would not be possible to promulgate the new constitution by the January 22, 2015 deadline, as promised by the political parties, if consensus could not be forged on the key issues of the Constitution within a couple of days," Prachanda said.

"The political parties have not yet agreed on the key issues of the constitution including forms of governance, number of federal units, electoral system and judicial system," said Prachanda whose actual name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal. "There exist serious differences among the major political parties regarding the key issues of the constitution," he added.

Prachanda said that the members of the ruling party alliances themselves are divided on the contentious issues of the constitution. He asked the government to incorporate the agreements reached by the past governments with various ethnic groups and Madhesi parties while promulgating the new constitution.

"It would not be possible to promulgate the new constitution by the January 22, 2015 deadline, as promised by the political parties, if consensus could not be forged on the key issues of the Constitution within a couple of days," Prachanda said.

#nepal #prachanda #cpn maoist #nepal constitution

Prachanda accused the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML for trying to obstruct the constitution drafting process by neglecting the issues raised by the 22 party alliances led by the UCPN-Maoist including the Madhesi parties. He floated the idea of Presidential system of governance in which the President should be directly elected from the people and the Prime Minister should be elected from the Parliament.

He also proposed to delineate the country into ten federal units on the basis of ethnic identity, which is in sharp contrast with the 6 or 7 federal units proposed by the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML on the basis of identity and economic viability. The Maoist chief also proposed a mixed type of electoral system in the new constitution, in which parts of the members are directly elected from the people and parts of them are elected on the basis of proportionate representation system.

The new constitution should be written on the basis of 12 point agreement, Comprehensive Peace Accord, the mandate of the Peoples Movement of 2006 and the decade long Peoples War, he said. In response to a question, Prachanda said that formal discussions were underway with breakaway faction CPN-Maoist led by hardliner leader Mohan Vaidya regarding the unification of the two parties, and claimed that the leaders who had broke the party would soon be back.

Political parties, which pledged during the second Constituent Assembly elections, have set January 22 as deadline to draft the Constitution so as to institutionalise the achievements of the Peoples Movement of 2006.

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Governments in J&K have ignored Gujjars: BJP

Jammu: Terming Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir the symbol of patriotism and nationalism, BJP said governments in the state have ignored the community. "Gujjars are scattered in the entire length and breadth of the state, more so in mountainous, remote and border areas. But it is irony that more than 60 years of Independence has virtually proved meaningless for them and they always remained neglected and ignored by those who had been at the helm of the affairs," BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav said while addressing an election rally in Chouadhi area on Friday.

Madhav alleged that successive state governments have very "conveniently treated them as second class citizens" and various Central and even state schemes meant for them were not fully implemented in the state. "Gujjars are a symbol of patriotism and nationalism. They have always been exploited for their votes and in return denied any share in the matters related to development," Madhav said.

Madhav said BJP, after forming government in the state, would treat all sections and areas equally in governance and development. He said a strong BJP government would help end decades of dynasty rule in the state. Addressing the gathering, BJP MP and party in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir Avinash Rai Khanna said, "People displayed their overwhelming faith in BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections and the same enthusiasm is witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir during the ongoing Assembly elections."

"Gujjars are a symbol of patriotism and nationalism. They have always been exploited for their votes and in return denied any share in the matters related to development," Ram Madhav said.

"This wave will result in accomplishment of Mission 44+ and support of people from all sections is necessary to achieve it," he said.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 Movie Review

All is not well in Panem. At the conclusion of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Katniss's (Jennifer Lawrence) force-field shattering arrow left the society in turmoil. The desperate act was perceived as subversion, inciting populist uprisings and devastating counter attacks by the governing elite.

Thus, revolution is on the horizon in the franchise's third installment, Mockingjay - Part 1, and it all hinges on Katniss, the unwitting face and spirit of the movement. You see, Katniss, much like the movie star actress who plays her, is just generally liked. Everything she does is slapped with meaning and significance, regardless of her intentions. She has become the property of the people.

This has always been clear to Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who aims to use her as a propaganda machine. But there's a problem: the girl on fire has flamed out.

In the chaos that followed the conclusion of the second film, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was captured by the Capitol, District 12 was destroyed (though Katniss' mother, sister and the steely jawed Gale (Liam Hemsworth) escaped alive), and Katniss was taken by the militaristic District 13. Their President, Alma Coin, (franchise newcomer Julianne Moore) needs her to be their poster girl.

Mockingjay - Part 1 is, ultimately, a slow-burn portrait of the repeated rise and fall of dystopia's most reluctant hero, nimbly told through its examination of the mechanics of propaganda. With the help of Plutarch, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and the toned-down (but still delightful) Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Katniss attempts to serve the cause in her own way.

But it's not just a matter of convincing her to forget, or at least shelve, her past traumas. Katniss's confidence and devotion to the revolt is put to the test when she sees how the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is manipulating Peeta and using him for his own propaganda needs.

In the Games, the goal was simple: Keep Peeta alive. Now, Katniss is powerless, just a tool of the machine. Charred and fatally wounded bodies aside,Mockingjay - Part 1 is not for the faint of heart when it comes to the relentless emotional torture of its heroine.

Director Francis Lawrence, in his second outing in the franchise, stays fairly true to the original text, carrying over the war-torn bleakness of Catching Fire without any of the disturbing thrill of the Games. He sprinkles in a handful of fairly exciting action sequences (one of which was not actually described in the book), but, he mostly allows the film to luxuriate in the quiet moments. Yet too many involve Katniss tearing up while sitting on piles of rubble.

In its best moments, the movie has a tense, night before the battle feel. Only the battle is still a year away.

Ever since the Harry Potter juggernaut split their final story into two separate films, it's become standard practice in Hollywood for every successful franchise, regardless of whether or not the story is there. Mockingjay - Part 1 is a serviceable entry into the conclusion of Katniss's saga. It boasts some imaginative visuals, a few truly thrilling moments, and standout performances from Lawrence, Banks, Harrelson, and Hoffman, to whom the film is dedicated.

Still, even with Hoffman's subtly brilliant reaction shots, it does not seem to be the type of movie that fans will revisit on its own. This half is part of a whole in the most cynical way.

You say you want a revolution? They'll get to that next year.

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Jihadists in Syria write home to France: 'My iPod is broken. I want to come back'

Letters from French jihadists home to their parents have revealed the misery, boredom and fear suffered by Islamist recruits as the gloss fades from their big adventure.

In a series of letters seen by Le Figaro newspaper, some of the 376 French currently fighting in Syria have begged for advice on how to return. Others have complained that, rather than participating in a noble battle, they have been acting as jihadi dogsbodies.

"I've basically done nothing except hand out clothes and food," wrote one, who wants to return from Aleppo. "I also help clean weapons and transport dead bodies from the front. Winter's arrived here. It's begun to get really hard."

Another writes: "I'm fed up. They make me do the washing up."

One Frenchman whinged that he wanted to come home because he was missing the comforts of life in France.

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"I'm fed up. My iPod doesn't work any more here. I have to come back."

A third wrote fearfully: "They want to send me to the front, but I don't know how to fight."

Others were concerned, more prosaically, about the nationality of their baby, which was born in Syria and so not recognised by the French state.

And Le Figaro said that, among Islamist commanders, it had been noticed that some of the French were beginning to want to leave. One Frenchman was rumoured to have been beheaded when he explained to the emir that he wanted to follow his friend who had already left.

"Everyone knows that, the longer these people stay there, the worse it will be because having watched or committed attrocities, they become ticking time bombs," said one lawyer, quoted in Le Figaro.

"But, when it comes to having a discussion about whether France is ready to accept repentants, no politician is willing to take the risk. Imagine if one of these ex-jihadis is involved subsequently in an attack?"

A group of lawyers in France are acting on behalf of the families of the young people to try and persuade the state to allow the jihadis to return. They told the newspaper that they are trying to make discreet contact with the anti-terrorist police, the directors of internal security and the office of the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.

The lawyers said that nothing is ever agreed in advance, on behalf of the jihadis - and the advice is always: "Present yourself at the French consulat in Istanbul or Erbil (in Iraq). And then we will see."

Of the approximately 100 jihadists who have returned to France, 76 are in prison.

And the report said that Britain was known as the global leader in reforming jihadists - so much so that some within the French system were asking to be seconded to MI5 - "famed for their art of debriefing".

"Within the secret services, it's said that British jihadis are more interesting because they have a higher intellectual level than their French colleagues, who are more often donkeys," one expert told the paper.

The story of the French jihadis has parallels with that of an Indian man who spent six months fighting alongside Isis in Iraq, before becomingdisillusioned with his job cleaning toilets, and returning to Mumbai.

Majeed, 23, was one of four young Muslim men from Kalyan, a city east of Mumbai, known to have journeyed to the Middle East to join the extremist outfit.

"There was neither a holy war nor any of the preachings in the holy book were followed," Majeed is quoted as saying during his interrogation. Islamic State "fighters raped many women there," he reportedly said.

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Bollywood actress Gauhar Khan slapped for wearing 'short dress

Sahara  Samay News

Bollywood actress and model Gauhar Khan was slapped during the shooting of a reality show by a member of the audience who admonished her for wearing a short dress.Police arrested a 24-year-old man for attacking the actress during the shooting of India's Raw Star in Mumbai.They quoted the man as telling Khan that "being a Muslim woman, she should not have worn such a short dress".

Khan's attacker will be produced in court on Monday.The incident took place on Sunday during the final episode of the show, reports said."A preliminary probe has revealed that someone from the audience started teasing Khan to which she protested. An argument ensued between Gauhar and the man who was teasing her. Things turned ugly when the man suddenly slapped the actor," The Hindustan Times quoted a police official as saying.Reports said security men present at the venue overpowered the man and handed him over to the police.

Police have registered a case of assaulting a woman against Khan's attacker.Khan has acted in about half a dozen films and was appreciated for her role in Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year.She won Bigg Boss, the Indian version of reality TV show Big Brother, last year.

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