New judges in commission probing Jheeram attack
The Congress government on Thursday appointed two new judges in the judicial commission that is probing the Jheeram Valley Maoist attack in May 2013, which had eliminated the top brass of the state Congress leadership. The state government nominated Justice Agnihotri as the chairperson and Justice G Minhajuddin as the member of the panel. Earlier the Congress had raised objections over the commission submitting the probe report to Governor Anusuiya Uikey, citing alleged violation of the accepted propriety. It alleged such submission “a digression from the established procedures”.
Nobel laureate to attend National Education Conclave
Nobel winning economist Abhijit Banerjee will be attending the two-day Jawaharlal Nehru National Education Conclave-21 scheduled to be held on November 14 and 15 in Raipur. Several renowned educationists from across the country will also participate in the event. Dr Kamalpreet Singh, secretary (school education) informed that besides extensive deliberations on Vision-2030 aimed at transforming education in India, several books in multiple languages would be launched during the event. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, during his visit to the United States in 2019, had apprised Banerjee about various welfare programmes being taken up in Chhattisgarh. Prof Banerjee had then expressed his inclination to look through the unique experiments pioneered by the state.
Ashok Juneja is new police chief of state
Senior IPS officer of 1989-batch Ashok Juneja was appointed the new Chhattisgarh Director General of Police on Thursday. He replaced DM Awasthi, a 1986-batch IPS officer who took charge as DGP after the Congress government was formed in December 2019. Juneja will continue to hold his previous responsibility of anti-Maoist operation/special intelligence bureau. The government’s decision came a couple of days after CM Bhupesh Baghel expressed annoyance over the poor performance of the police and said it lagged behind to ‘live up to’ the directives given by his government.
Short film festival on legal awareness
The Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority is organising a short film festival at Pt Deendayal Upadhya Auditorium in Raipur. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, also patron-in-chief of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA), virtually inaugurated the four-day festival on November 10. “Such short film festival on legal awareness will help in communicating and sensitising people on various issues, including human trafficking and child rights,” said Arup Kumar Goswami, Chief Justice of the high court. So far 373 entries on various subjects have been received for the event.
Ejaz Kaiser
Our correspondent in Chhattisgarh ejaz@newindianexpress.com