Odisha girl student, self-immolated before principal's office, succumbs to burns
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed sorrow and vowed that “all those guilty in this case will face the strictest punishment as per the law.” But what good are promises to the dead? The statement, genuine or populist, also exposes a troubling misunderstanding common among political leaders: punishment is not administered by the Government, but by an independent judiciary. Someone should call their bluff. Conflating the two is to mislead the public or it betrays a lack of commonsense.
We witness such incidents in India far too often—and with them, the same stupid scripted responses by politicians as if by reflex.
Such heartbreaking incidents also reignite national conversations but, unfortunately, die out soon and are forgotten till the next episode.
BALASORE (Odisha), July 15: The Odisha girl student who self-immolated in protest
against prolonged harassment and institutional inaction on documented complaints
has succumbed to her burns.
The 20-year-old B.Ed. student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore
died of 95% burns late Monday night.
On Saturday, she had set herself ablaze pouring petrol outside the principal's
office during a student protest over inaction on her complaints against a teacher.
The student had reportedly faced harassment from the Head of the Education
Department, Sameer Kumar Sahu, for a long time. Her formal complaints met with
muted response.
(The girl, an active member of RSS-controlled Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad,
had apprised Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Union Education Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan, National Commission for Women as well as district police officials
about her plight, reported HT).
On top of it, an inquiry committee cleared the accused of wrongdoing. Then
the student took the extreme step. She was rushed to AIIMS Bhubaneswar with
95% burns and placed on life support. Despite intensive care, she died at 11:46
pm on Monday.
Both the accused professor and college principal Dilip Ghose, who shielded
the accused, have been arrested. The Odisha Government has launched a high-level
probe and also suspended guilty officials.
President Droupadi Murmu and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had
visited her in the hospital on Monday.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan
Majhi expressed deep sorrow and vowed that “all those guilty in this case will
face the strictest punishment as per the law”.
Protests erupted across the State, with Opposition parties demanding accountability.
The National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission
have taken cognizance of the case, calling for swift and transparent investigation.
Footnote: Tragic cases like this are sadly not uncommon in India. Recently,
a young woman in Uttarakhand, who had taken up a modest job to support her ailing
parents, was murdered after allegedly refusing to be exploited—her killer was
the son of a senior politician. Such cases highlight the systemic failures in
ensuring safety and dignity for vulnerable women across institutional and social
structures.
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.
A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924)
(Today's headlines )
Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...
Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.
Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.
ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See:
New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)
ANALYSIS: "The standard operating procedure for deportations by aircraft used by ICE that is effective from 2012 provides for the use of restraints," says the Government. That means, it is taken for granted the US will set the standard for deportations. For another, the Government is more interested in comparing with what happened in 2012 under a different Government to justify its own compliance! No surprise, others are trampling upon us. (How we conduct ourselves inside decides, inherently, how we are treated outside) Thirdly, the Government blamed the gangs doing the business of human trafficking for the illegal migration. For all the crimes taking place in the country, let us blame the criminals! Funny! We will never move an inch forward! The mindset defines what we are.
Meanwhile, a UN-returned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sounded like a layman when he said, "If they are citizens of India we have an obligation to take them back." Who said 'No'?. He should know that is not the issue now. Who will identify an undocumented person, and how?
OPINION: A nutty 'new' Trump must know checking illegal immigration is his job and not theirs. And 'penalty' tariff is not a solution. However, Trump talking about "major threat" from "illegal aliens" (illegal immigration) is about what he believes, right or wrong, and to that extent he is genuine and honest; it is certainly not a pretension to prop up his political relevance. Bullies are always true to themselves. Look at India's crooked politicians shouting day in, day out to prove they are more patriotic, and to whip up public sentiments for them to ride on!
The function was held indoors from 12 pm (10:30 pm IST) at the rotunda of the US Capitol building because of unusually intense cold and snow. Delivering his inaugural address, Trump remarked, “The golden age of America begins right now," and just hours later signed a slew of executive orders to redeem the election pledges.
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