This is the reason behind WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram outage 

Bengaluru, Oct 22: "It is a matter of pride for all of us that what, at one point of time, Lord Sri Ram and Sri Krishna did in Lanka and Mathura, the same was done by our forces in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday here.

Elaborating the statement, Singh said the 1971 war was one of the few wars which was neither fought to gain control of the land and sky, nor to gain power in any way, but to hand over the power to an able ruler and return.

"This is what Sri Ram and Sri Krishna did, giving reigns of power to able people belonging to the defeated nations," Singh said.

The main objective behind the 1971 Bangladesh war was to protect the dignity of humanity and democracy, he said addressing the IAF conclave as part of the Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations here.

"What could be a better example of the great legacy of India's morality presented by our armies than the 1971 war, that our armies in Dhaka, even after ensuring complete victory, without causing any harm or imposing any kind of political control, handed them power and returned," Singh said.

After the World War II, the world saw the largest military surrender in which more than 93,000 soldiers surrendered simultaneously, he said.

"In just 14 days, Pakistan lost one-third of its army and 1/4th of its air force.

"This war proved to be historic in many ways and scholars and historians later called this war as a classic example of a 'Just War'," he said.

During the war, the Indian government's effort to join hands with the world's big countries and the Friendship Treaty with the Soviet Union also proved to be an important step, Singh said.

"When many powerful countries of the world directly refused to support India, Russia's support came in as a morale booster for the country and it was a great diplomatic achievement," he said.

This move created a framework in which the neighbouring opponents were neutralized and many difficulties in the path were eradicated, Singh said.

Shahjahanpur, Oct 18:  A lawyer has been shot dead inside a district court complex in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur on Monday. The reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained. 

According to reports, at around 11:45 pm, advocate Bhupendra Singh was shot dead in the ACJM office in the third floor of the court. A country made pistol was also spotted near the body. 
 
No one was present in the office at the time of the incident. As soon as the information was received, SP S Anand, DM Inder Vikram Singh reached the spot and are investigating the matter. Meanwhile, the police are looking for CCTV camera footage.

More to follow...

New Delhi, Oct 15: India has slipped to the 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th and is behind its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Eighteen countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank with a GHI score of less than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index that tracks hunger and malnutrition said on Thursday.

The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe, termed the level of hunger in India "alarming".

In 2020, India was ranked 94th out of 107 countries. Now with 116 countries in the fray, it has dropped to 101st rank.

India's GHI score has also decelerated -- from 38.8 in 2000 to the range of 28.8 - 27.5 between 2012 and 2021.

The GHI score is calculated on four indicators --undernourishment; child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who are wasted i.e who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition); child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition)  and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).

The share of wasting among children in India rose from 17.1 per cent between 1998-2002 to 17.3 per cent between 2016-2020, according to the report.

"People have been severely hit by Covid-19 and by pandemic related restrictions in India, the country with the highest child wasting rate worldwide," the report said.

Neighbouring countries like Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92) are also in the 'alarming' hunger category but have fared better at feeding their citizens than India, according to the report.

However, India has shown improvement in other indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food, the report said.

According to the report, the fight against hunger is dangerously off track. Based on the current GHI projections, the world as a whole -- and 47 countries in particular -- will fail to achieve a low level of hunger by 2030.

Food security is under assault on multiple fronts, it said, adding that worsening conflict, weather extremes associated with global climate change, and the economic and health challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic are all driving hunger.

"Inequality -- between regions, countries, districts, and communities -- is pervasive and, (if) left unchecked, will keep the world from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) mandate to “leave no one behind," the report said.

Further, the report noted that it is difficult to be optimistic in 2021 because the forces now driving hunger are overpowering good intentions and lofty goals.

Among the most powerful and toxic of these forces are conflict, climate change, and Covid-19—three Cs that threaten to wipe out any progress that has been made against hunger in recent years, it added.