50 IIT alumni quit jobs to form political party

NEW DELHI: A group of 50 alumni from the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS) across the country have quit their jobs to form a political party to fight for the rights of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

The group, which is waiting for an approval from the Election Commission, has named their outfit Bahujan Azad Party .We are a bunch of 50 people, all from different IITS, who have quit our full-time jobs to work for the party. We have applied to the Election Com- mission for an approval and are meanwhile doing ground work, Naven Kumar, a 2015 IIT Delhi graduate, who is leading the group, told PTI.

The party members, however, do not wish to jump the gun and aim for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

We do not wish to do a hurried job and end up being reduced to just one of those small political outfits with big ambitions. We will begin with contesting the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections and then aim for the next Lok sabha polls, Kumar said.

The group, which includes members mostly from the SC, ST and OBC communities, feels that the backward classes have not received their due in terms of education and employment.

All set with a poster which has pictures of B R Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and A P J Abdul Kalam, among others, the party has already begun a social media campaign.

Once we have the registration, we will form small units of the party which will start working on the ground for our target groups.

We also do not wish to pitch ourselves as a rival of any political party or ideology, Kumar added. NEW DELHI: In a nightmare for over 240 air passengers, an Air India flight from Amritsar to the national capital last week experienced turbulence leaving at least three people with minor injuries and causing a window panel inside the aircraft to break away, according to four airline officials.

Besides Air India, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) are probing the incident, which happened on April 19 soon after the flight took off from Amritsar, one of the officials said.

The duration of Amristardelhi flight is about 35 minutes, and on April 19, the flight was full with over 240 passengers, another official said.

The officials said the flight experienced turbulence soon after take-off when the altitude was around 15,000 feet due to bad weather. At least three passengers had minor injuries and were given first aid after landing at the Delhi airport. Later, they took their connecting flights for onward journey, they added.

A window panel inside the plane also came off when the flight experienced turbulence, the officials said.

According to the officials, the turbulence continued for around 10-12 minutes. NEW DELHI: A high-power delegation of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League led by its general secretary has arrived in New Delhi at the invitation of the Indian ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Sunday.

This is for the first time, a high-level political interaction is going to take place between the two ruling parties of both the countries months before the national elections of Bangladesh, slated for December this year.

The delegation headed by Obaidul Quader, Minister for Road Transport and Bridges of the Bangladesh Government, and also number two in the party hierarchy after Prime Minister and party president, Sheikh Hasina, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday besides meeting with other top leaders of the NDA Government.

The visit which came at the invitation of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav assumed significance for the fact that the country will hold its general election later this year and also this is at a time when a large number of Rohingya refugees are still in that country following the crackdown by the Myanmarese Army in Rakhine state.

Generally, the official position of Government of India is not to interfere in the internal affairs of the neighbouring country. Indian High Commissioner Harsh Bardhan Sringla stated this position to this correspondent in Dhaka recently and also said,"it's the duty of the people of Bangladesh to choose their own Government. NEW DELHI: India strongly condemned the "cowardly and barbaric" terror attacks in Kabul and northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan on Sunday, which killed over 50 people and left dozens injured, in the latest wave of attacks that came ahead of parliamentary and district council elections in the country.

Afghan authorities said at least 48 people were killed in a bomb blast outside a voter registration centre in Afghan capital Kabul, while another blast in Baghlan province left five people dead.

Referring to the Kabul attack, India said it was not only an attack on innocent civilians, but also an attack on the democratic rights of the Afghan people.

"What makes this attack particularly reprehensible is the fact that the terrorists and their backers chose to attack a voters' registration centre for the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections. The attack has resulted in the death of Afghans who firmly support and believe in the democratic process to empower themselves and make their voice heard," it said.

Condemning the strikes in Kabul and Baghlan and calling them "cowardly and barbaric", the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India stands ready to extend all possible assistance, including for treatment of those injured in the attacks. India never interferes in the internal affairs of a country." But diplomats familiar with the India-bangladesh bilateral relation has no hesitation to say that during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina the bilateral relationship has been growing satisfactorily with mutual benefits.

The visit is important not only because of the ensuing general election but also amidst a tense political situation in Bangladesh following the arrest of opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia on the charge of corruption. The opposition party BNP did not participate in the last general election and the Awami League party won the maximum number of seats uncontested.

This time it's also not sure whether BNP will participate in the election or not. The Information and Broadcasting Minister Hsanul Haq Inu told a group of foreign journalists including this correspondent that opposition BNP was still trying to sabotage the general election. Their leaders were putting conditions of unconditional release of Begum Zia from the jail. According to the constitution of Bangladesh if any person is convicted in a court of law he or she can not contest the election. The opposition BNP is also in a dilemma about participation in the general election.

According to the Election Act of the country if a political party does not contest for consecutive two years the registration of the party will be cancelled. BNP leaders are now desperate to placate India to find a compromise formula for participation in the election.

The delegation members are categorical about the meeting with Prime Minister Modi and president Shah that upcoming election and the current political scenario of Bangladesh would be discussed with the Indian leaders.

Traditionally, Awami League has a better understanding with the Indian National Congress party and especially with the Gandhi family. During Rahul Gandhi's formal elevation as Congress, president in the recently held plenary session of the AICC Awami league had sent a delegation with former Foreign Minister Dipu Moni as the leader.

The delegation had a meeting the president Gandhi and apprised him about the situation in the country. After that Congress party in its resolution urged the Government of India to take a proactive stand regarding the Rohingya crisis.

The delegation will meet Prime Minister Modi at his residence in the afternoon. After that, they will be visiting BJP Central office to meet party president and other leaders.

In the evening BJP general secretary, Madhav will host dinner in honour of the visiting delegation at the residence of Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu who will visit Bangladesh soon.