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DM withholds salaries of absentee officials

DM withholds salaries of absentee officials

Time of India10-06-2025
Gaya: Gaya district magistrate (DM) Shashank Shubhankar ordered the withholding of salaries of nine staff members and seven officials and issued showcause notices to all of them after a surprise inspection of the town block office around 10.30am on Tuesday.
Among those found absent were the child development project officer, agriculture officer, panchayati raj officer, statistics officer, MGNREGA programme officer, two junior engineers, clerical staff, an amin, an Urdu translator and office attendants.
During the inspection, the DM also reviewed the functioning of the Right to Public Service (RTPS) counter and inquired about the number of applications received over the past week, as well as how many had been processed.
He asked the RTPS staff to display relevant information outside the office for the convenience of applicants.
Later, during his daily Janata Durbar, the DM directed the district mining officer to conduct an inquiry following a complaint that a vehicle seized for illegal sand transportation had not been released, despite payment of the imposed penalty.
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Remembering CM Naim (1936-2025): The conscience keeper of Urdu, who wrote fearlessly of its politics
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Remembering CM Naim (1936-2025): The conscience keeper of Urdu, who wrote fearlessly of its politics

Chaudhary Mohammad Naim, aka CM Naim, who passed away on July 9, 2025, at the age of 89, was a peerless scholar of Urdu literature who wrote prolifically in English. In that sense, Naim was also a conscience keeper since he regularly assessed the works of Urdu legends and Urdu studies in the more exacting standard that writing in English could provide him. He was born in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh and after studying at Lucknow University, Deccan College and the University of California, Berkeley, he remained associated with the University of Chicago for over four decades at the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilisations. Besides contributing enormously to South Asian studies, he also introduced some prominent and not-so-prominent Urdu literary works to a wider audience. It won't be out of place to call him a one-man industry. Apart from his vast scholarly output, he frequently wrote in the media. Letters to Hindustan Times, EPW and his columns in Outlook stand out for the fresh and sharp perspectives they offered. He never shied away from taking difficult positions. Obituaries published following his passing away rightly mention his books – the most recent one being Urdu Crime Fiction, 1890-1950: An Informal History. However, equally celebrated and forthright were some of his journal articles and writings in the media. A decade and a half ago, he wrote about the alleged plagiarism by the high priest of Urdu, Gopi Chand Narang. The plagiarism, highlighted by several people, including Fuzail Jaffrey and Imran Bhinder, acquired more weight as Naim expounded on it in his popular Outlook column. In his quest for objectivity and honest scholarship, even the greatest would come under the scanner. A journal article written in the wake of the 1965 India–Pakistan war examined the attitude and literary output of the prominent Urdu writers in both countries. 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UP govt starts work on revival of one small river in every district
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UP govt starts work on revival of one small river in every district

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