Tissa: When a right to information (RTI) activist in Himachal Pradesh exposed misuse of public funds some years back, he did not expect that his fight for truth would expose him and his family to threats and social boycott. Manjur Mohammed, 26, who hails from remote Naila village in the Muslim-dominated Kalhel panchayat of Tissa block of Chamba district, has been facing the wrath of his fellow villagers.
"I accessed information through RTI a list of beneficiaries of state government's Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojna in the Kalhel panchayat. The information revealed that 13 out of total 19 beneficiaries were bogus," Manjur, who was recently honoured under the central government's scheme to recognise individual RTI efforts, told IANS.
He said all the illegal beneficiaries were related to local panchayat functionaries, who allegedly bent the rules in 2008 to divert the grant meant for poor widows for marrying off their daughters. The government gives a one-time marriage grant of Rs.25,000 to widows under the scheme.
"Five beneficiaries got the grant for the marriage of their daughters, who were minor at that time," Manjur said. He said most of the illegal beneficiaries and the panchayat functionary belonged to the same community. "I and my family have been facing the wrath of our own community for raising the issue. The entire fraternity has socially boycotted us. We are getting threatening calls. Nobody is talking to us what to talk about participating in community celebrations," the RTI activist said....
05:57 AM, May 06, 2013
Islamabad: The party of former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf, facing a series of legal cases over his actions while in power, on Friday said it would boycott Pakistan's May 11, 2013 general election. The move came in the wake of the Peshawar High Court's order barring Musharraf from contesting polls for the rest of his life. Musharraf has also been arrested over the imposition of emergency rule in 2007,...
01:19 AM, May 04, 2013
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sushma Swaraj took on Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the pandemonium in Parliament and accused the duo of going all out to disrupt her speech. In a scathing attack on Meira Kumar and Sonia Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that her party will boycott all meetings called by the Speaker and the...
04:42 PM, Apr 30, 2013
Jammu: Expressing anguish over frequent bedlam in the Assembly leading to loss of valuable time, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister on Wednesday said some politicians, in spite of raising the issues for which they are sent, resort to boycott politics for gaining publicity. Without taking name of any particular party, Omar, while addressing a rally in Kathua, said voters send public representatives to ventilate public problems and seek redressal of...
12:15 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Muzaffarpur: The Bharthua panchayat on Saturday decided to boycott the family of rape accused Manoj Kumar after villagers came to know about his involvement in the horrific crime in east Delhi. This decision was taken by members at an emergency meeting of the panchayat. 25-year-old Kumar is a native of Bharthua panchayat under Auraiya police station area of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, about 50 km from Patna. He was arrested by...
08:19 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Muzaffarpur: The Bharthua panchayat on Saturday decided to boycott the family of rape accused Manoj Kumar after villagers came to know about his involvement in the horrific crime in east Delhi. This decision was taken by members at an emergency meeting of the panchayat. 25-year-old Kumar is a native of Bharthua panchayat under Auraiya police station area of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, about 50 km from Patna. He was arrested by...
12:27 AM, Apr 21, 2013
New Delhi: Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott says Virender Sehwag is unlikely to play for India again and the opener will "sadly fade away" after playing a bit of Indian Premier League. Sehwag was dropped for the last two Tests against Australia in the recent series and was also excluded from the list of 30 probables for the Champions Trophy. "I don't think he'll play again. I think it's because...
03:30 PM, Apr 11, 2013
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised to boycott all public meetings called by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. The party also plans to show black flags to Shinde following his comments on saffron terror. ...
09:50 AM, Feb 02, 2013
"I don't judge people on the loss and win ratio of the team. You have to look at the team. You are damn lucky you've got MS Dhoni," the former England captain said. ...
11:12 AM, Jan 24, 2013
"I don't think India will be as tough to beat as they were. They'll still be tough in their own country, they've still got a lot of other good players," the England legend said. ...
05:27 PM, Jan 09, 2013
Cyrus takes on popular rapper and singer Honey Singh, who recently came under the fire for the alleged lewd lyrics of his few songs. A campaign to boycott Honey Singh and his music was launched on several micro-blogging sites. On New Year's eve Honey's concert in Gurgaon was also cancelled following the outrage. ...
03:43 PM, Jan 06, 2013
Boycott feels India are going through a transition phase and said few Indian players are past their prime. ...
05:15 PM, Dec 18, 2012
The England skipper scored his 23rd Test century to power the visitors on day two of the third Test against India. ...
10:07 PM, Dec 06, 2012
Boycott said the veteran batsman has enough experience and maturity to get back among runs. ...
09:32 PM, Dec 04, 2012
Geoffrey Boycott has questioned England's ability to play spin on the turning sub-continent pitches. ...
10:44 PM, Nov 16, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition LDF on Monday boycotted an all-party meeting on Emerging Kerala, an investment meet to be held in Kochi, convened by the State Government here. Explaining the Opposition stand against the Emerging Kerala, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said in a statement here that the same Chief Minister and the same Industries Minister had organised GIM (Global Investors Meet) during the previous UDF Governments time but it failed...
12:20 PM, Jul 31, 2012
Boycott particularly cricitcised top-order batsman Kevin Pietersen. ...
07:21 PM, Jul 24, 2012
Washington: People who are ignored by others online may feel just as bad as if they had been excluded in person, according to a new study. "If you've ever felt bad about being 'ignored' on Facebook you're not alone," said Joshua Smyth, professor of bio-behavioural health and of medicine at Penn State, who co-authored the study. "Facebook - with its approximately 800 million users - serves as a place to...
10:45 AM, Apr 05, 2012
New Delhi: Legal services across Karnataka were hit on Monday after a resolution by the state Bar Council called for a boycott of the courts. The move clearly violates the Supreme Court's directions that bar councils cannot sponsor the boycott of court proceedings. The Karnataka State Bar Council directed all lawyers to stay away from the courts on Monday to protest police action against them in a recent clash between...
11:52 AM, Mar 05, 2012
New Delhi: No decision has yet been taken on India boycotting the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London Olympic Games as a mark of protest against Dow Chemicals association with the mega event, a highly placed official source said on Wednesday. The source said the Government had written a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on February 24 and would rather wait for a response before deciding on...
11:57 PM, Feb 29, 2012
