The first “Sikh Football Cup” began in Amritsar, on Thursday. The event, dedicated to the 550th “Parkash Purb” of Guru Nanak, was kick-started with lots of excitement and a cheering crowd. The opening match was between the teams of Amritsar and Faridkot at the Khalsa College ground. The Amritsar team defeated Faridkot 3-0. The tournament is being organised jointly by the Global Sikh Sports Federation and Khalsa Football Club. The tournament is being held under FIFA certified norms. The tournament is is exclusively for “saabat soorat” (Sikhs with unshorn hair and beard) players.
Harjeet Singh Garewal, president of Khalsa Football Club, told The Sunday Guardian that the tagline of the tournament was “Let’s promote Sikhi saroop”. About 460 “keshdhari” players in the age group of 17-21 years from 23 districts, including Chandigarh, are taking part in this event. The final match would be held in Chandigarh. Grewal said, “Our aim is to bring back the lost glory of ‘keshdhari’ players who once used to be a prominent part of Team India in every discipline.”
PM’s hard work inspires Saina
Former world number one badminton player Saina Nehwal (29) on Wednesday moved into the “saffron court”. She joined the BJP and hailed “Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sir” as an “inspiration”. For the BJP, she is a major acquisition in the middle of the Delhi Assembly election campaign. She is one of the most popular sportspersons in India with a huge fan following. She is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Haryana-born Nehwal told The Sunday Guardian that “I am a hard-working person and like hard-working people. Narendra Modi has been working day and night for the country. If I can do something for the country with him, it will be my good fortune. I draw a lot of inspiration from Modi Sir. He inspires me.”
SFJ fails to get response on referendum call
The banned organisation, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), mainly operating from Britain, the United States and Canada, has changed its strategy after failing to get any response for its “Sikh Referendum 2020” movement. It has now made it a “Punjab Referendum 2020” and invited members of other religions to join it. New posters have been put on social media by the SFJ. Intelligence Bureau and the Punjab Police sources said that the SFJ abandoned the Sikh referendum movement and shifted its stance after it got no response from the Sikh community over its separatist agenda. The SFJ announced the referendum movement in 2018, but even after a global publicity drive for over two years, it did not get much response.
PM Modi Should talk About Child abuse In ‘Man Ki Baat’
The Ad hoc Committee of the Rajya Sabha instituted by Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has made 40 far reaching recommendations to prevent sexual abuse of children and to contain access to and transmission of child pornography content on social media. The Committee chairman Jairam Ramesh (Congress) presented the report to Naidu.
The Committee has recommended important amendments to the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and the Information Technology Act, 2000, besides technological, institutional, social and educational measures and state level initiatives to address the alarming issue of pornography on social media and its effects on children and society as a whole. The 40 recommendations relate to adoption of a broader definition of child pornography, controlling access for children to such content, containing generation and dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material, making accountable the Internet Service Providers and online platforms for denying access to children and removing such obscene content from online sites, besides monitoring, detection and removal of content, preventing under-age use of such content, etc. The Committee has urged PM Modi to take up the issue of child abuse and the measures required to combat it in one of his forthcoming “Man Ki Baat” broadcasts. The Committee heard the views of the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Electronics and IT and Home Affairs besides NCPCR and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and other stakeholders like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Bytedance(TikTok), Twitter and Sharechat.
APUs For Tanks
The Army wants domestic industry to indigenously develop an auxiliary power unit (APU) for its Russian-made T-72 and T-90 battle tanks, as it would help in saving huge foreign exchange and boost the “Make In India” programme. An APU is a small engine or powered device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. The Army needs about 3,257 APUs for both the tanks. The older T-72 is the mainstay of the mechanised forces. An expression of interest has been issued for this project. Only Indian companies are eligible to bid for the project under the “Make In India” scheme. Around Rs 1,326 crore has been earmarked for the purpose.