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India Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
36 convicted in Agra's Panwari violence case after 34 years; sentence on May 30
A special SC/ST court in Agra, in a landmark judgment, has convicted 36 people and acquitted 15 others in a case related to the infamous Panwari caste violence incident that took place 34 years ago, on June 21, 1990. The sentencing of the 36 convicted individuals will be announced in open court on May court delivered its verdict after hearing 31 eyewitness testimonies and examining extensive evidence. Three accused remain absconding, with non-bailable warrants (NBWs) issued against of the 80 people initially chargesheeted, 27 have died and 53 were alive at the time of the verdict. 32 convicts have been sent to jail, while the case of one juvenile is being heard separately in the juvenile court. The verdict was delivered under multiple IPC sections including 148, 149, 323, 144, 325, 452, 436, 427, 504, 395, along with Sections 3/2/5 of the SC/ST was Panwari incident?On June 21, 1990, a wedding procession from the Jatav community reached Panwari village in Agra's Sikandra police jurisdiction. Allegedly, members of the Jat community objected to the procession passing in front of their situation escalated into a violent caste clash, resulting in arson and large-scale destruction of property, particularly targeting homes of the Jatav unrest spread quickly across Agra, prompting the imposition of curfew in the city. The incident had significant political Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited the affected families. Local MP Ajay Singh, who was also a junior Railway Minister at the time, played a key role in calming tensions on both June 22, 1990, an FIR was registered at the Sikandra police station by the then Station House Officer Omvir Singh Rana, based on a bystander's FIR named 6,000 unidentified persons under multiple IPC sections and the SC/ST Act, but no arrests were made at that time. Among the accused was BJP MLA Chaudhary Babulal, who was acquitted in 2022 by the court. IN THIS STORY#Uttar Pradesh
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Delhi HC grounds Maran's ₹1,323-crore damages claim in SpiceJet dispute
In a breather to cash-strapped SpiceJet , the Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by KAL Airways and its owner Kalanithi Maran seeking ₹1,323 crore damages from the budget airline in a long-standing share transfer dispute. The court said that the former promoter had engaged in a "calculated gamble" by delaying the filing and re-filing of their appeals. SpiceJet shares rose 1.96% to ₹44.69 per share on BSE at the close of the market following dismissal of the appeal. A division bench of justices C Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul came down heavily on KAL and Maran for the delay in filing their appeal, suppressing material facts related to their pending applications and for unjustifiably delaying the proceedings. "The delay in refiling is completely lacking in bona fides and represents a gamble by the unsuccessful litigant (KAL Airways) keeping all, including the successful litigant (SpiceJet), in the dark," the court said. The court also found KAL and Maran's conduct to be lacking in bona fides, amounting to "fence sitting" and deliberate concealment. The court said that while delay in refiling is generally treated more liberally than delay, this approach cannot be extended where the delay is not bona fide. "Limitation is a statute of equity and repose, and if the delay, whether in filing or refiling, is found to be lacking in bona fides, it has to be sternly dealt with", the bench said, noting a total absence of good faith. "The case presents a classic example of fence sitting, keeping, in the process, the respondents (Spicejet), the division bench of this court, as well as the Supreme Court, completely in the dark regarding the filing of the present FAOs, and of their languishing under objections," the court said. On July 20, 2018, the arbitral tribunal had rejected Maran's claim of damages of ₹1,323 crore for not issuing warrants to him and KAL Airways but awarded him a refund of ₹579 crore with interest. Both sides challenged the arbitral award and the petitions were dismissed by a single judge of the Delhi High Court in July 2023. SpiceJet and its chairman Ajay Singh promptly appealed against the dismissal within the statutory 60-day period. Their appeals were heard and in May last year, the division bench found merit in SpiceJet's contentions and remanded the matter back to the single judge for fresh consideration. Following this, KAL Airways and Maran appealed to the single-judge bench seeking the same amount in damages, which was also rejected by the court. Even the appeals were filed after 55 days of delay and also failed to cure procedural defects for another 226 days. The case relates to a share transfer dispute between SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh and Maran and his KAL Airways. In February 2015, Maran and KAL Airways transferred their entire 58.46% stake in the airline to Singh. In 2017, Maran and KAL Airways moved the high court demanding that 180 million warrants redeemable as equity shares be transferred to them. The court, on July 29, 2016, asked both parties to settle the share transfer dispute under arbitration.
Mint
23-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Twenty years of SpiceJet: The no-frills airline's journey through many highs and lows
SpiceJet marks its 20th anniversary on May 24, 2025. From its modest beginnings in 2005 to becoming a household name in Indian aviation, the airline's journey has been nothing short of turbulent — filled with rapid growth, intense competition, financial turbulence, and resilience. However, the fact that SpiceJet started earlier than IndiGo, and IndiGo is now over 12 times its size, speaks a lot about the missed opportunities of SpiceJet. On the other hand, SpiceJet is one of the two carriers (the other being IndiGo) which has managed to survive as many years with the likes of Air Deccan, Sahara, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Go Air not able to sustain the Indian aviation landscape, apart from many other smaller players. SpiceJet took to the skies on May 23, 2005, with its first flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad. The airline was quick to expand and look for routes, both non-stop and one-stop, which were immensely popular. Its catchy tagline, ' set the tone for a bold and energetic brand in the making. It held some prime spots at major airports and offered competitive fares. The airline grew rapidly in the late 2000s, expanding its fleet and adding new routes across India. However, like many carriers in the fiercely competitive Indian aviation sector, SpiceJet faced its share of headwinds — rising fuel costs, regulatory hurdles, and price wars took a toll. In 2010, it changed hands from Ajay Singh to Kalanidhi Maran of the Sun Group. The expansion saw the airline focus on Chennai, move from a single fleet type to dual class, with the Bombardier Q400 turboprops being inducted. The airline was at the cusp of a major expansion, planning expansion with Blue Ocean Strategy. However, a debt-free company in 2011, the airline piled up debt quickly due to rising oil prices and market headwinds, coming to a near standstill in December 2014, grounding its fleet and alarming investors and passengers alike. Ajay Singh returned to the helm as white knight, orchestrating a dramatic turnaround. Under his leadership, the airline renegotiated leases, cut costs, and refocused on profitable routes. SpiceJet began to stabilise and even diversify, venturing into cargo (SpiceXpress) and regional connectivity under the UDAN scheme, which was announced in 2016. The tailwinds looked favourable once more with the airline placing an order for the MAX aircraft with Boeing and being the second in India to take delivery. This would have set the airline on a different course with fleet renewal firmly in place and an MoU with none other than Emirates as a codeshare partner. Its regional arm helped connect underserved Tier-II and Tier-III cities, in alignment with the government's vision for accessible air travel. The fall of Jet Airways was a high point of sorts for the airline, which saw an immediate opportunity to scale back to 2014 levels and go beyond in due course of time. With Jet Airways planes grounded in India, the lessors found a white knight again in the form of SpiceJet, which took 30 of former Jet Airways planes, along with pilots. This was followed by Vistara adding these former Jet Airways planes and crew. It became a win-win situation for everyone, the lessors, the staff and the airports. The government linked slots of Jet Airways to additional capacity, and by the end of 2019, within months of the fall of Jet Airways, the Indian skies were buzzing again with planes still showing remnants of Jet Airways livery and crisscrossing the country. This also coincided with the grounding of MAX after two deadly crashes. What seemed like a masterstroke became the backbreaker for SpiceJet. It clearly was trying to gulp more than it can chew but was the opportunity which was presented. However, less than a year after the fall of Jet Airways and SpiceJet taking as much liability in the form of new planes and additional staff, the pandemic hit which grounded aviation in India and across the world. The airline hardly managed to come out of this hit, with the financials being even worse than what 2014 had in store for the airline. The airline was hit by court cases along with liquidation petitions filed by lessors and others. The airline has recovered partially by monetising SpiceXpress, the cargo arm, and attracting investments worth INR 3,000 crore last year from multiple investors. However, its market share has remained below 5 per cent in a market which has more than doubled since 2014, when it hit its first major setback. New entrants like Akasa Air have managed to have a larger presence at key airports. The newly raised funding has helped the airline retire some debt, but it is still struggling to get the capacity in the air as it had once thought and committed it would. Sustenance has been the first goal for the airline, and it would hope that the base remains strong to build on it without any external shocks this time around.
Techday NZ
22-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Portworx & Red Hat help enterprises cut virtualisation costs
Portworx has introduced Portworx for KubeVirt, aiming to provide a software-defined storage solution tailored for virtual machine (VM) workloads running on Kubernetes with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine. The new offering is designed to deliver a cost-effective and lower-risk approach for enterprises transitioning their VM workloads to Kubernetes infrastructure. By integrating Portworx with the Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine, companies are expected to experience optimised functionality, simplified management of VMs and containers, and reduced total cost of ownership. Customers using Portworx alongside Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization have reported cost savings ranging from 30% to 50% over the past year compared to their previous virtualisation expenses. This cost optimisation is seen as particularly significant for organisations managing extensive virtualised environments. The Portworx for KubeVirt solution is developed to address modernisation challenges faced by enterprises. It allows businesses to continue operating applications on VMs within Kubernetes while they refactor existing workloads or develop new cloud-native applications at their own pace based on available resources and transformation timelines. The offering provides application and data flexibility by supporting VM migration to Kubernetes on multiple deployment environments, including on-premises infrastructure, public cloud, edge locations, and hybrid configurations, wherever Red Hat OpenShift is supported. Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine focuses on simplifying the deployment, management, and scaling of VM workloads. Its streamlined approach is combined with Portworx's enterprise-grade data management capabilities to assist customers in migrating and managing their VM applications on a unified platform. Ajay Singh, Chief Product Officer at Pure Storage, commented on the collaboration with Red Hat by stating, "Red Hat is the perfect partner for our mission as more companies are looking to go cloud-native. Many companies are leveraging Portworx with OpenShift to not only migrate and manage their workloads, but also power innovative application development. We are proud of the success from this Red Hat partnership and look forward to what the next year holds." Ashesh Badani, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Red Hat, addressed the ongoing reliance of many organisations on virtualisation solutions, recalling, "While organisations are increasingly migrating to cloud-native containerised workloads, many still rely heavily on virtualisation solutions to support their public and private cloud environments. With Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine, we are able to meet organisations where they are, to modernise at a pace that best suits their business requirements, with a more cost-effective, streamlined solution." "We are pleased to collaborate with Portworx to bring their expertise and data management capabilities to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine as an optimised offering, making it even easier for organisations to deploy and manage virtualised workloads." The combined capability of Portworx for KubeVirt with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine is aimed at allowing enterprises to bridge the gap between legacy VM operation and cloud-native application development. By offering flexibility and extending support for VM migration across diverse infrastructure setups, this partnership addresses both technical and financial objectives for organisations looking to modernise their virtualisation strategies.
Hans India
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Hans India
BFI names 19-member squad for Thailand Open
New Delhi: The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has announced a 19-member squad for the 4th Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament, scheduled in Bangkok from May 24 to June 1. The squad, comprising 10 men and 9 women—has been selected from the ongoing elite national camp at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala, which is underway as the season builds toward key tournaments. The BFI said it followed a selection criterion, providing opportunities to silver medallists from the 2025 Elite Men's and Women's National Championships. Held under the aegis of Asian Boxing, the Thailand Open will see top national teams from across the continent compete, including powerhouses like China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan, Korea, and host nation Thailand. Speaking on the occasion, BFI president-chairman, Interim Committee, Ajay Singh said, 'With the team set to leave for the Thailand Open, we're entering a very exciting phase for Indian boxing. This marks the beginning of a packed international calendar, with the World Cup stage tournament in Kazakhstan, the World Championship in Liverpool, the World Cup Finals in New Delhi, and several key tournaments, including the Asian Championship, lined up towards the end of the year. "We have prioritised performance and transparency in our selection process—every boxer has earned their place through hard work and consistency. The national camp is already underway, and with the level of talent and structure now in place, I believe we are well-positioned to make a strong global impact in the months ahead. The Patiala camp initially brought together 60 male and 60 female boxers, shortlisted from standout performers at the 2025 Nationals and gold and silver medallists from the 2024 REC Combined National Talent Hunt in Rohtak and the Chief of Army Staff Cup in Pune. Following a round of internal assessments, the pool was pruned to 40 in each category. This refined core group will continue training through June, with additional athletes from an upcoming Elite Women's Competition joining in July. The Thailand Open marks an important international outing in India's boxing calendar, providing a platform for elite boxers to test themselves against Asia's best, with momentum building toward the World Boxing Cup later this year. Men's squad: Naothoi Singh Kongkham (47–50kg), Pawan Bartwal (50–55kg), Nikhil (55–60kg), Amit Kumar (60–65kg), Hemant Yadav (65–70kg), Deepak (70–75kg), Dhruv Singh (75–80kg), Jugnoo (80–85kg), Naman Tanwar (85–90kg), and Anshul Gill (90kg+). Women's sqaud: Yasika Rai (45–48kg), Tamanna (48–51kg), Abha Singh (51–54kg), Priya (54–57kg), Sanju (57–60kg), Saneh (65–70kg), Anjali (70–75kg), Lalfakmawii Ralte (75–80kg), and Kiran (80kg+). No boxer has been named in the women's 60–65kg category for this edition.
