From London, a Russian film maker explores the pain of exile
In the midst of the Covid pandemic in January 2021, Liberov left Russia because of a powerful conviction that its people had become 'hostages of the state' and that a long-simmering conflict with Ukraine would erupt into full-scale war.
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Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Ready for second innings, Mohammad Azharuddin's son pads up for Congress
'Cricket is always close to my heart. I will always carry it in me.' For Telangana Congress leader Mohammed Asaduddin, cricket is an integral part of his identity because of his father Mohammad Azharuddin, but it is one he decided not to pursue despite making it to the Ranji level. Instead, the 35-year-old has opted to follow in his father's footsteps into politics, which was Azharuddin's choice of career after his cricketing days were over, and on Thursday was appointed a state Congress general secretary. Azhar, as the former India captain is popularly known to cricket fans, was a popular cricketer because of his stylish batting, sharp fielding skills, and for leading India to victories in 14 tests and 90 ODIs. After hanging up his cap, he saw success in his second innings as a Congress politician, getting elected to the Lok Sabha from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh in 2009. Since then, he has faced electoral setbacks, first losing the Lok Sabha contest from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in 2014 and the 2023 Telangana Assembly polls from his home turf of Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. However, it was the 2023 campaign that convinced Asaduddin to join politics. He had been selected to represent Hyderabad in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy, but lost crucial years of his sporting career to the Covid-19 pandemic. 'I lost the peak of my career to Covid-19, when matches were rare. But I never despaired because, at heart, I always knew that I would work for the people,' Asaduddin said. He joined the party and spent two years with the Youth Congress as its sports secretary. Then came his father's unsuccessful Assembly election campaign, which the 35-year-old said was a big learning experience. 'Throughout this campaign, I was by my father's side and learnt the ropes of politics from him. Before that, in 2009, I had observed him keenly as a political student,' said Asaduddin, who is married to tennis player Sania Mirza's sister Anam. About his appointment, Asaduddin told The Indian Express, 'I was always inclined towards social service and have been working with minorities, the poor and those from socially marginalised backgrounds.' His induction into the party aligns with the Congress's Muslim outreach initiative in Telangana. The Jubilee Hills constituency, for one, houses over a lakh Muslim voters. 'The Congress has always stood by minorities,' Asaduddin said. Responding to his son's elevation, Azharuddin wrote on social media, 'Proud and emotional moment for me as my son, Mohammed Asaduddin, steps into his official role in public life as the general secretary of the Telangana Congress. I have seen his commitment to people, his passion for service and his sincerity up close. May he stay grounded, focused, guided by the values that truly matter.' Asaduddin, however, does not yet know his role in the party. 'All the general secretaries of the party will meet the TPCC president (and sitting MLC B Mahesh Kumar Goud) soon,' he said. Along with Asaduddin, several other Muslim leaders, including TPCC vice-presidents Nawab Mujahed Alam Khan and Afser Yousuf Zai, and general secretaries Mohammed Abdul Faheem, Rahmath Hussain and Mohammed Shabir Ali, were also given key roles. 'The Congress has a legacy of safeguarding minority rights and promoting inclusive development. The newly appointed Muslim leaders bring with them years of grassroots experience and social commitment, and their elevation reflects the Congress's dedication to ensuring political representation for every section of society,' said state party spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin.
New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- New Indian Express
AI171 plane crash: Vijay Rupani's lucky number '1206' becomes date of his last journey
AHMEDABAD: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani considered '1206' his lucky number and ensured it featured on all vehicles he owned over the years. The number has now become synonymous with one of the worst aviation tragedies in India's history, in which he lost his life along with 264 others on Thursday. Rupani was among 242 persons on board a London-bound Air India flight that crashed into a building of a medical college and hostel in the Meghaninagar area moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday afternoon. The former chief minister considered 1206 as his lucky number, but it has now become the date of his final journey, June 12 (12/6). In his hometown Rajkot, people could identify Rupani's car by its vehicle registration number 1206. According to locals of Rajkot and journalists, Rupani's scooters and cars bore the same number. Rupani was travelling to his daughter's place in London, as his wife Anjaliben, who is also an active member of the BJP, was also there. Anjaliben reached Gandhinagar on Friday morning. Gujarat state BJP chief and Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil on Thursday confirmed Rupani's death in the plane crash. The 68-year-old leader was known for his composed demeanour and firm administrative style. He served as Gujarat's chief minister from August 2016 to September 2021 and steered the state through a critical post-COVID-19 recovery phase. He started off as a student leader, leading several agitations, and was an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in his college days. In 1975, Rupani was imprisoned for a year in the Bhavnagar jail while protesting against the Emergency. He entered public service in 1987 when he was elected as a corporator in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and later became the mayor. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha between 2006 and 2012. His tenure as the chief minister saw the launch of the state Industrial Policy 2020 and initiatives for tribal upliftment. Rupani stepped down from the post in September 2021, making way for Bhupendra Patel ahead of state elections. He was later appointed as BJP in-charge of Punjab.
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
UK migrant carers 'owed huge sums' in visa scheme 'scandal'
Live Events When Zimbabwean sales rep Zola landed a job in Britain as a care worker she was excited about forging a new career, but the mother-of-three is now homeless, jobless and trapped in rights experts say Zola is among tens of thousands of victims in an emerging national scandal that they say is a "shocking betrayal" by the 2022, Britain launched an initiative to encourage overseas workers to plug massive staffing shortages in its struggling care sector following the COVID pandemic and reports of exploitation have soared, with rogue operators charging illegal recruitment fees and promising jobs to more people than they could employ.(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)In a crackdown on labour abuses, the government has banned hundreds of companies from hiring migrant carers like Zola, who had already been recruited by these firms, are now in limbo and at risk of deportation unless they find a new sponsor."This should be recognised as a national crisis," said Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the charity Work Rights Centre "It's a shocking betrayal of migrant workers who came here in good faith to work when Britain called for help," she told the Thomson Reuters Work Rights Centre has been inundated with calls from desperate migrant workers this year, many facing said they were owed "huge sums". The charity is calling for harsher penalties for employers who break the rules to help fund a compensation Zola's story is typical, the Thomson Reuters Foundation calculated migrant workers like her would be owed hundreds of millions of pounds in lost no access to financial support or compensation, most care workers in Zola's situation are homeless. A few are sleeping rough, while others rely on friends."This has changed our lives," said Zola, 45, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of repercussions."The government should be held accountable. I came here through the proper channels ... and now I'm treated like someone who came through the back door."Zola, who arrived in Britain in July 2023, said she had paid 5,000 pounds ($6,752) for a company in the northern city of Leeds to sponsor her, unaware such charges are illegal. Other care workers report paying 10,000 pounds or contract promised an annual salary of 20,480 pounds, but she was barely given any shifts, forcing her to borrow money to believes her former boss had hired about 100 carers. If staff complained they were threatened with deportation, she March, the government revealed more than 470 companies had lost their sponsor licences since 2022, affecting about 40,000 migrant government set up a job finding scheme for "displaced" workers in May 2024 and is encouraging care companies to hire research by the Work Rights Centre suggests just 3.4% of those signposted to the initiative were reported to have secured a said the government response was "deeply inadequate"."I think they're trying to bury the problem. At the end of the day, all these thousands of people are victims of fraud," she said."If we were talking about thousands of people who had booked a cruise that never materialised everyone would be screaming for a compensation scheme."A spokesperson for the government said the job matching scheme was supporting thousands of care workers, but did not respond to questions about has not had any luck finding a job through the initiative or said companies providing home care often wanted driving licences, which many carers do not obstacles facing carers include difficulties in supplying references and the cost of relocating to a new said the government had opened the gates to exploitation by setting up a system that tied workers to their sponsors through their had also allowed care companies - including small inexperienced start-ups - to recruit large numbers of carers without checking they could provide sufficient workers who lose their jobs have 60 days to find a new sponsor before their visa unions and rights campaigners are calling for a new system to allow workers to switch employers within the care sector without putting their visa at risk, and an extension to the 60-day grace month, the government said it would end care worker recruitment from abroad. Critics say the move is a knee-jerk reaction to the rise of anti-immigrant party Reform UK Jane Townson, CEO of the Homecare Association which represents domiciliary care providers, said the decision was shortsighted as there were still more than 130,000 said a lack of funding was a major home care services are purchased by local councils or the health service, but Townson said many public bodies did not pay care providers enough to even cover their labour costs at the minimum were forced to compete for contracts which were awarded to the lowest bidder, squeezing out good she said councils were driving down prices due to inadequate government funding."What we've got is state-sponsored labour exploitation," she added. "This is a public scandal."The government spokesperson said it had boosted social care funding this year and would introduce a fair pay agreement for care staff under broader Townson said the pay agreement was a long way off and would not work without a big injection of cash.
