QWrap: VP Hamid Ansari Completes Term; Doklam Standoff Intensifies

Find today’s top headlines on QWrap.

Outgoing Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari (Photo: PTI)

1. PM Modi, RS Leaders Hail Contributions of Outgoing VP Hamid Ansari

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday heaped lavish praise on Chairman Hamid Ansari, who is all set to relinquish office after a decade, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior members lauding him for upholding constitutional norms.

Commenting on the tenure of the outgoing VP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said:

You (VP Ansari) have been a career diplomat, I got to know from you what it means to be one.

PM Modi said Ansari did his best to uphold the Constitution as Chairman of the Upper House. Modi said he had benefited from Ansari's insights on diplomatic issues on several occasions.

Read more here.

2. About 40,000 Sappers, Engineers Mobilised Along Indo-China Border

Besides infantry troops and artillery units of the Sukna-based 33 Corps, the Indian army has mobilised sappers and engineers from Panagarh in lower Bengal to bolster its presence along the India-China borders in Sikkim.

Army sources revealed to The Quint that the sappers and engineers' units have been made part of this massive mobilisation, comprising between 30,000-40,000 troops, for building bridges across mountainous streams in the higher reaches where the network of roads "may not be in the best of conditions in the monsoons".

Read more here.

3. Amid AIADMK Merger Talks, EPS Slams Dhinakaran’s Appointment

Will it be truce, at last, for the warring factions of the AIADMK – one led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and the other by former CM turned rebel O Panneerselvam?

In what is the first step towards a likely merger deal, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, on 10 August, stated that the appointment of TTV Dhinakaran as AIADMK (Amma) Deputy General Secretary is illegal and that his announcement of office bearers were invalid and against the party rules.

Read more here.

4. Living Organ Donation Can Save Lives – It’s Time to Step Up

Over 100,000 people in India are waiting for a liver transplant, while less than 1500 transplants took place in 2016.

Over 200,000 patients are waiting for a kidney transplant, but less than 10,000 transplants could be performed last year.

These are the stark facts related to organ donation in India, where less than 0.08 per million population are organ donors, an incredibly small and insignificant number compared to the rest of the world.

Awareness about living organ donation is low, and most people walk away despite having pledged to be organ donors.

No surprise that it made headlines when a young man in his 30s, a dog trainer from Chennai, decided to donate his liver to a friend in Delhi.

Read more here.

5. Everyone Has Freedom to Criticise Films: Vijay on Online Abuse

Days after TNM’s Editor-in-Chief Dhanya Rajendran was subject to online sexual harassment and vicious trolling and abuse on social media by alleged fans of Tamil actor Vijay, the star on Wednesday issued a statement urging people to not abuse women and to respect people’s opinions.

I am someone who respects women a lot. Everybody has the right to criticise anyone’s film. It is my view that no woman should be spoken of in a demeaning way for any reason or at any time. Everyone has to praise womanhood.

Vijay, in a statement

He also added, “I request that nobody should share hurtful and wrong views about women on social media.”

Read more here.

6. Caste Reference Cut out of ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ by CBFC

Just a few days before its release Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is embroiled in a caste controversy. A character in the film was heard saying, “I am a Brahmin. But I eat eggs.”

While initially the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) let the line go thinking it is more an individual comment than a comment on any caste or community, it was soon brought to light that the seemingly casual line secretes a caste bias.

“We’ve asked the makers of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha to remove the caste reference. The word ‘Brahmin’ is not allowed, especially when seen to be speaking on behalf of the community. The line propagates the myth that Brahamins are strict vegetarians. We cannot allow sweeping generalisations on any caste or community,” says a source from the CBFC.

Read more here.

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