Adani row: Most Oppn parties agree to participate in parliamentary proceedings
New Delhi (PTI): Most opposition parties on Tuesday decided to participate in parliamentary proceedings after three days of logjam in both Houses over the fraud allegations against the Adani Group, according to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), however, said no to discussions in Parliament without a debate on the Adani issue, sources said.
The decision was taken at a meeting in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge that was attended by leaders from 15 opposition parties.
"Most Opposition parties have decided to participate in parliamentary proceedings from today and continue to raise their demand for a JPC into the PM-linked Adani 'Maha mega scam'," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet after the meeting.
Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janta Dal (United), AAP, CPI-M, CPI, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leaders were among those who attended the meeting.
Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, against the Gautam Adani-led group, which has dismissed the allegations as lies.
The Opposition has been demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the allegations.
Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament have been paralysed for the last three days with the Opposition demanding a discussion on the issue.
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Rare polar bear showed up on shores of Iceland. Police shot it
A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
“It's not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”
The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation's capital, by satellite link, and called for help.
“She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.
Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, putting them in greater chance of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.
Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States — which killed 20 people and injured 63 — 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.
While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it's forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.
The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland where any bear was likely to have come from.
The young bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.
They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdóttir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute's collection.
A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn't find any, police said.
After the shot bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said.
