Latest news with #IndiaTodayTV
India Today
a day ago
- India Today
We sent them willingly: Families of girls deny conversion charges against nuns
The arrest of two Kerala-based Catholic nuns and a tribal man in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion has triggered widespread protests and raised questions over the use of anti-conversion laws in the state. The families of two of the three tribal women involved have firmly denied police allegations, calling the arrests politically driven and devoid of incident took place on July 25 at Durg Railway Station, where nuns Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis, along with Sukaman Mandavi from Narayanpur, were arrested by police after a complaint was filed by Ravi Nigam, a local Bajrang Dal member, who alleged that the trio was forcibly trafficking three tribal girls to Agra for religious conversion under the guise of job DENY CHARGESpeaking to India Today TV, the family members refuted the forced conversion charge. One of the women's elder sisters said, "Our parents are no longer alive. I sent my sister with the nuns so she could take up a nursing job in Agra. I worked with them earlier in Lucknow. This opportunity would help her become self-reliant". Another relative said her family had converted to Christianity five years ago and her sister left voluntarily on July 24. She demanded the immediate release of the nuns and Mandavi, calling the arrests "unjust and manipulative".Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Robinson Guria confirmed that all three families submitted written declarations on July 26 to local police, stating that they had willingly sent their daughters with the nuns for these statements, a Government Railway Police (GRP) officer told India Today TV that the investigation was ongoing and "corroborative evidence" was still being & PROTESTSThe arrests have drawn sharp reactions from Christian organisations, human rights groups, church leaders and political parties across India. Protests were held in several cities, including Delhi and various districts in Kerala. The Bishops Association issued a strong statement condemning what it called the "harassment of innocent nuns under political pressure" and demanded their unconditional release."This is a clear case of targeting. These girls had come with consent for jobs. All BJP-ruled states with anti-conversion laws have failed to prove a single case of conversion. Jyoti Sharma, the complainant, destroyed a church in 2021. That case is still pending in the High Court, where the prosecutor had said she is absconding — yet she's freely operating with state support," Father Sebastian Poomattam DAL JUSTIFIES ACTIONJyoti Sharma, a Bajrang Dal member and co-complainant, defended her actions. Known for her role in 'ghar wapsi' campaigns and earlier inflammatory statements against tribal Christians, Sharma told India Today TV, "No consent letter was produced by the nuns or the girls when we asked. These girls were crying and wanted to return home. I am saving Hindu daughters from being misled. I will continue this fight".advertisementEven Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai supported the police action, calling it a "serious case of inducement and trafficking"."Three daughters of Narayanpur were promised nursing training followed by jobs. A person from Narayanpur handed them over to two nuns at Durg station, who were taking the daughters to Agra. An attempt was being made to convert them by human trafficking by luring them," Sai said in a post on X."This is a serious matter related to the safety of women. The investigation is still ongoing into this matter. The case is sub-judice, and the law will take its own course. Chhattisgarh is a peace-loving state where people of all religions and communities live in harmony. It is very unfortunate to politicise the issue related to the safety of our daughters of Bastar," the chief minister PROCEEDINGS UNDERWAYThe accused have been booked under sections related to human trafficking and unlawful religious conversion. They are currently in judicial custody, with a bail hearing expected later this week. The Chhattisgarh High Court has also taken cognisance of previous cases where Bajrang Dal activists were accused of misusing anti-conversion laws, raising further questions about the legal basis of such arrests.- Ends(With inputs from Raghunandan Panda.)Must Watch
India Today
2 days ago
- General
- India Today
Crumbling Classrooms: India's public schools have become death traps for children
Seven children. That's how many young lives were snuffed out when a government school roof collapsed in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district on Friday morning. But here's the thing that should shake us all: this wasn't a freak accident. It was morning started like any other at Piplodi Government Upper Primary School. Children gathered for morning prayers around 8:30 am. Some noticed chunks of gravel falling from the ceiling and alerted their teachers. But the teachers dismissed their to a media report, one was reportedly eating poha when the roof came crashing down. Within moments, seven children aged between 6 and 15 were dead, under slabs and debris. A surviving student gave a particularly chilling account to India Today TV: "Pebbles were falling. When the students told the teachers, they scolded them and kept having breakfast. If the children were taken out, the accident would not have happened."The teacher's apathy mirrored something much larger -- India's complete desensitisation to the possibility of school building NUMBERS THAT TELL A HORROR STORYThe statistics paint a grim picture of India's school infrastructure. According to the latest UDISE+ data, over 6,000 schools across India don't even have proper buildings. That's 6,000 schools where children are expected to learn without basic the problems run much 57.2% of India's schools have functional computers, 53.9% have internet access, and a shocking 52.3% lack ramps with handrails for disabled telling of all: out of India's 10.17 lakh government schools, only 33.2% have disabled-friendly toilets, and of these, just 30.6% are functional. (AI-generated image) Here's what's truly damning: the Rajasthan school that collapsed wasn't even on the district's list of unsafe buildings, Jhalawar Collector Ajay Singh confirmed to PTI. He said the district administration had recently asked the education department to identify dilapidated buildings -- but this school didn't make the raises serious questions about how these safety surveys are conducted. If a building that kills seven children wasn't flagged as dangerous, how many other ticking time bombs are we sending our children to every day?'I will get it investigated, and action will be taken against whoever is found guilty,' Singh told PTI. But that's cold comfort to the families now burying their BUDGET REALITY CHECKIndia's education budget has grown steadily over the past five years, reaching Rs 1.28 lakh crore in 2025-26. The Department of School Education alone received Rs 78,572 crore this year -- its highest-ever allocation. Sounds impressive, right?advertisementBut here's the catch: most of this money never reaches actual infrastructure improvements where it matters Samagra Shiksha scheme, which includes infrastructure funding, gets about 52.5% of the school education budget. Yet despite these allocations, children are still studying in buildings that are literally falling government loves to boast about progress. Per-child expenditure (public expenditure, not direct cash benefit) has grown from Rs 10,780 in 2013-14 to Rs 25,043 in 2021-22. Electricity coverage in schools jumped from 53% to 91.8%.But when you dig deeper, the picture gets murky. What's the point of having electricity if the roof might cave in during morning prayers? A PATTERN OF PREVENTABLE DEATHSThe Rajasthan incident isn't isolated. In fact, just a day later, in Uttar Pradesh, four children were injured when a school ceiling's plaster collapsed during are part of a horrifying pattern that's been building for years:2024: Two workers died in Karnataka when an under-construction school building collapsed during inspection.2023: A Class 6 student in Karnataka's Ramanagara district died when a government school wall collapsed, causing fatal head injuries.2015: Nearly two dozen students were injured in Bihar when panic ensued after a classroom roof portion fell, triggering a incident follows a familiar script: structural warnings ignored, complaints dismissed, and children paying the ultimate price for administrative CASTE AND CLASS DIVIDEThere's another uncomfortable truth about the Rajasthan tragedy. According to UDISE+ 2023-24 data, out of 94 students in the Piplodi school, 78 were from Scheduled Tribes, 5 from Scheduled Castes, and 11 from Other Backward Classes. Not a single child from the general category was studying other words, the school catered almost entirely to marginalised children -- exactly the kind of students the system routinely fails. (Photo: As one parent pointed out while speaking to media, most of the students in the school belonged to the Bhil community and came from families that couldn't afford private education. Children from more privileged caste groups, were enrolled in a nearby private message is clear: crumbling government schools are good enough for India's poorest children, while those who can afford it flee to private REAL INFRASTRUCTURE CRISISDespite the government's claims of progress, the ground reality is stark. A 2019 study by NIMHANS and Underwriters Laboratories found that most schools fared poorly on physical safety study revealed that only 54.2% of schools had anti-skid flooring, and fire safety was compromised in most situation has barely improved. Today, over 2.4 lakh schools don't have library facilities, and 9.47 lakh schools lack functional computer an era where digital literacy is crucial, 87.72% of schools (both government and private) -- that's 11.71 lakh schools -- don't have internet WITHOUT IMPACTAnd what about funding? In FY 2024-25, the education sector was allocated just 0.38% (state budgets, which fund the majority of schools, are not included in this ratio) of India's GDP. For FY 2025-26, that figure dropped slightly to 0.36%.advertisementThe Economic Survey 2023-24 shows that total public expenditure on education, including state and central spending, has hovered between 2.7% and 2.9% of GDP for nearly a decade -- well below the 6% target set by the NEP these expenditure figures aren't for school education alone. They include allocations for sports, arts, and culture lumped under the broader 'education' umbrella. Even then, there's a massive gap between fund allocation and effective utilisation in the education sector. From Economic Survey 2023-24 In Karnataka alone, Rs 4,658.25 lakh was allocated for infrastructure facilities under Samagra Shiksha in 2022-23, with an additional special allocation of Rs 14,342.40 lakh for rejuvenating basic infrastructure in government schools. Yet, children continued to study in unsafe problem isn't just money -- it's accountability. Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, 11,012 major repair works were sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha, but only 8,348 were happened to the remaining 2,664 repair works? How many children are studying in schools that were supposed to be fixed but weren't?THE APATHY EPIDEMICPerhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Rajasthan tragedy is the institutional apathy it revealed. Students saw danger signs and reported them. Teachers ignored the warnings. District administrators never flagged the building as unsafe despite conducting isn't just negligence -- it's a systemic failure that treats the lives of poor children as government's response follows a predictable pattern: suspend some teachers, announce compensation, promise investigations, and move the six total teachers, five teachers were suspended from the Rajasthan school. Families were promised Rs 10 lakh compensation and a government job. But what about the thousands of other unsafe schools across the country? (AI-generated image) Education Minister Madan Dilawar's statement to TOI was particularly telling: "We allocated funds for the maintenance of 2,000 dilapidated government schools in phases.'This admission reveals that the government knows there are at least 2,000 dangerous school buildings. How many children are sitting in classrooms right now, unaware that their school might be the next to collapse?THE BIGGER PICTUREThe Rajasthan school collapse is a symptom of a much larger disease. Despite tall claims about education being a priority, India's approach to school infrastructure remains dangerously building impressive statistics -- more schools, higher budgets, better coverage -- while ignoring the basic safety of the children these institutions are meant to tragedy isn't just that seven children died. It's that their deaths were entirely preventable. It's that similar incidents will likely happen again because the underlying problems remain unaddressed. It's that we've created a two-tier education system where poor children attend schools that would be condemned in any developed in this case, one surviving student told media that they had noticed pebbles falling from the roof and alerted the teacher. But the teacher said nothing would the Indian government too has become desensitised to the possibility of government school collapses, just like this teacher didn't care. They are apathetic to the we treat school infrastructure with the urgency it deserves -- until we stop seeing crumbling schools as acceptable for other people's children -- tragedies like Rajasthan will continue to shock us with their only real surprise is that they don't happen more often.- Ends
India Today
3 days ago
- India Today
Man from Bengal arrested for raping Tamil Nadu minor identified: Cops
The man, arrested in West Bengal on Friday in connection with the kidnapping and alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district, has been identified as Rajiv, police said.'Based on our initial investigation, we have arrested a suspect whose identity matches that of the accused. The investigation is being carried out under the supervision of the Thiruvallur SP with the involvement of six DSPs. There has been a positive development, and we will share more details in due course," said Asra Garg, North Zone the identity appears to match, we cannot disclose further information at this stage as it may hinder the investigation. The accused claims to be from Assam, though we are verifying this. We have also received information suggesting he may be from Andhra Pradesh, and efforts are underway to determine when he arrived in Tamil Nadu. Further updates will be provided after completing the due process,' he added. The accused was arrested after nearly two weeks of the incident in Tiruvallur incident occurred on July 12 in Arambakkam, when the child was on her way to her grandmother's house. Police teams are now working to obtain confirmation of his identity from the survivor, either in person or via digital to sources, the suspect was working at a roadside dhaba in Sulurpet and had travelled by train before committing the crime. India Today TV, which visited the crime spot, reported that the man had been loitering near the back entrance of a mango farm, where he waited for the girl. The path between two mango farms, lined with tall trees, dry leaves, and known to have snakes, was where the child had been walking alone when the suspect began to follow footage from the vicinity captured the girl walking on the road before being approached by the man, who then covered her mouth and abducted to the abduction, the suspect had reportedly displayed suspicious behaviour towards a woman who was waiting for a relative to pick her up. Once inside the mango farm, he allegedly beat the child several times, bit her, and raped her. Despite being assaulted repeatedly, the child made several attempts to the assault, the suspect received phone calls, with the ringtone reportedly sounding like a Hindi song. Taking advantage of the distraction, the survivor managed to flee.- EndsMust Watch
India Today
4 days ago
- India Today
Man from West Bengal held after 2 weeks in Tamil Nadu minor rape case: Sources
Nearly two weeks after the alleged kidnap and rape of a 10-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district, police have arrested a man from West Bengal in connection with the case, according to sources. The incident occurred on July 12 in Arambakkam, when the child was on her way to her grandmother's house. Police teams are now working to obtain confirmation of his identity from the survivor, either in person or via digital to sources, the suspect was working at a roadside dhaba in Sulurpet and had travelled by train before committing the crime. India Today TV, which visited the crime spot, reported that the man had been loitering near the back entrance of a mango farm, where he waited for the girl. The path between two mango farms, lined with tall trees, dry leaves, and known to have snakes, was where the child had been walking alone when the suspect began to follow her. CCTV footage from the vicinity captured the girl walking on the road before being approached by the man, who then covered her mouth and abducted to the abduction, the suspect had reportedly displayed suspicious behaviour towards a woman who was waiting for a relative to pick her up. Once inside the mango farm, he allegedly beat the child several times, bit her, and raped her. Despite being assaulted repeatedly, the child made several attempts to the assault, the suspect received phone calls, with the ringtone reportedly sounding like a Hindi song. Taking advantage of the distraction, the minor managed to a remarkable act of presence of mind, the survivor then noticed another girl approaching and stopped her, possibly preventing another assault. Both children escaped the survivor returned home and informed her grandmother, who immediately filed a complaint with the Arambakkam police. Police confirmed that the child had received medical treatment and is now in stable condition. - Ends IN THIS STORY#Tamil Nadu
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
‘At just 49…': Smriti Irani on if she has left politics after TV acting return with ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi…'
Former union minister Smriti Irani, who is making a major comeback to TV acting with a redux of the series 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' that made her a household name as 'Tulsi', has said she has not moved away from politics. She underlined that she is 49, not old enough to retire. Politician-actor Smriti Irani in her first look as Tulsi Virani from the reboot of 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'.(PTI) This is not political retirement at all, she told India Today TV in an interview: 'Who retires at 49? People aren't even able to start their (political) careers at 49. I have been an MP thrice; been a minister for five departments. There's still a long way to go.' Asked if she would contest the 2029 election from Amethi — having lost in 2024 to Congress candidate KL Sharma — she did not give a direct answer, citing party as the decision-maker. 'I cannot predict what the party will decide. Maybe the party will decide something in 2026, or even 2025,' she said, smiling. Also read | 'Not my responsibility now': Smriti Irani on her reduced attacks on Rahul Gandhi She denied, however, that she was asked to contest the Delhi assembly polls in early 2025, in which the BJP managed to dislodge Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). As for Amethi, where she famously defeated the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi in 2019, and her plans to re-enter Parliament, she said, 'I know not what responsibility the party will give me. But I do know I established my credentials with my work as an MP.' She also claimed she would have 'absolutely' defeated Rahul Gandhi if he were to be Congress candidate against her in 2024 too: 'That's why he did not contest (from Amethi)." In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress fielded KL Sharma from Amethi who defeated Irani, while Rahul Gandhi won from neighbouring Rae Bareli besides Wayanad in Kerala. In response to a question, she also said it's no longer part of her responsibilities to attack Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. About her return to TV acting, she laughed and gave what she termed a 'childish' answer: 'Meri marzi (It's my choice)… I have always been like this... I do not believe in living a small life." 'I have not moved away (from politics). But I understand I have to face more taunts since I have defeated the Congress president (Rahul Gandhi in 2019),' she said.
