Cong left red-faced as mouthpiece targets Nehru, Sonia

December 28, 2015

Mumbai, Dec 28: In an embarrassment to Congress, articles in its mouthpiece today criticised Jawaharlal Nehru's policy on Kashmir issue and alleged that Sonia Gandhi's father was a "fascist soldier", leaving the party squirming over the controversy on its Foundation Day.

An unsigned write-up in the Mumbai unit's journal, coinciding with the party's 131st foundation day, blamed Nehru for "the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet" even as another write-up made controversial remarks on party chief Sonia Gandhi, forcing its editor and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam to order inquiry even as he claimed he was unaware of the content.

Both these articles, which do not bear the name of the writer, have been published in this month's issue of 'Congress Darshan' Hindi edition as a tribute to the country's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabbhai Patel on his death anniversary on December 15.

The article states that Nehru should have listened to Patel's views on international affairs and that the relationship between the two leaders remained strained.

"Despite Patel getting the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, the relations between the two leaders remained strained, and both had threatened to resign time and again," the article says.

If Nehru had embraced Patel's foresight, many problems in international affairs would not have arisen, it adds.

The article cites a letter that Patel purportedly wrote in 1950 to caution Nehru against China's policy towards Tibet and in which "Patel described China as unfaithful, and a future enemy of India."

"Had Patel been heard (by Nehru) then, the problems of Kashmir, China, Tibet and Nepal wouldn't have existed now. Patel opposed Nehru's move of taking the Kashmir issue to the UNO," stated the article, adding, "Nehru did not agree with Patel's views on Nepal."

Another article, which focuses on the Congress President, describes her early life in great detail, including her "ambition to become an airhostess", as well as allegation that her father was a member of the Italian forces that lost to the Russians in the World War.

"Sonia Gandhi's father Stephano Maino was a former fascist soldier," it alleged.

The write-up also describes how Sonia quickly rose to the position of party president.
"Sonia Gandhi registered as a primary member of the Congress in 1997 and became the party’s president in 62 days. She also made an unsuccessful attempt to form a government," the article says.

Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief and editor of the journal Sanjay Nirupam said he is not involved in the day-to-day functioning of the magazine and was unaware of the articles.

"I admit the mistake. Inquiry will be initiated against the editorial department which committed the mistake. We will take measures that such a mistake is not repeated," Nirupam said.

In Delhi, Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Raj Babbar said that it should be seriously looked into.

"If something like this has come out in the Congress article, then AICC will take it up," Khurshid said.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it was clear that the writer was not aware of history and had no knowledge of the conditions under which Nehru had become the first Prime Minister and the challenges he faced like eradicating poverty.

Top Congress leaders had gathered to mark the Foundation Day at at AICC headquarters in the national capital.

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India’s Tougher Pilot Fatigue Rules: Why IndiGo’s Operations Crashed Into Turbulence

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December 6,2025

New Delhi: IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced major operational turbulence this week after failing to prepare for new pilot-fatigue regulations issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The stricter rules—designed to improve flight safety—took effect in phases through 2024, with the latest implementation on November 1. IndiGo has acknowledged that inadequate roster planning led to widespread cancellations and delays.

Below are the key DGCA rules that affected IndiGo’s operations:

1. Longer Mandatory Weekly Rest

Weekly rest for pilots has been increased from 36 hours to 48 hours.

The government says the extended break is essential to curb cumulative fatigue. This rule remains in force despite the current crisis.

2. Cap on Night Landings

Pilots can now perform only two night landings per week—a steep reduction from the earlier limit of six.

Night hours, defined as midnight to early morning, are considered the least alert period for pilots.

Given the disruptions, this rule has been temporarily relaxed for IndiGo until February 10.

3. Reduced Maximum Night Flight Duty

Flight duty that stretches into the night is now capped at 10 hours.

This measure has also been kept on hold for IndiGo until February 10 to stabilize operations.

4. Weekly Rest Cannot Be Replaced With Personal Leave

Airlines can no longer count a pilot’s personal leave as part of the mandatory 48-hour rest.

Pilots say this closes a loophole that previously reduced actual rest time.

Currently, all airlines are exempt from this rule to normalise travel.

5. Mandatory Fatigue Monitoring

Airlines must submit quarterly fatigue reports along with corrective actions to DGCA.

This system aims to create a transparent fatigue-tracking framework across the industry.

The DGCA has stressed that these rules were crafted to strengthen flight safety and align India with global fatigue-management standards. The temporary relaxations are expected to remain until February 2025, giving IndiGo time to stabilise its schedules and restore normal air travel.

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

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December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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