Why an Andaman island named after man who fought Indians?

BJP member L A Ganesan raised the matter during the Zero Hour saying that Havelock had fought against Indians during 1857 revolt led by leaders like Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. He said there was a statue of him in the Trafalgar Square in London for his role in crushing the forces of Indian patriots. Ganesan questioned that over 60 years after Independence, there is still an island named after such a person. 

“Can there be a greater insult than this to our patriots,” Ganesan asked. He also said that Andaman Islands is a place where people like Veer Savarkar had been jailed.     After Ganesan raised questions about an island being named after an East India Company’s General, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said it was a good suggestion which the government should examine.

Irritated over noisy scenes in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked this to members. Soon after the Question Hour was over, the House witnessed noisy scenes, with several members seen talking to each other. A visibly anguished Speaker asked: “What is happening? Is this a school? ”Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present in the House during the entire Question Hour period. When the Question Hour got over and the Prime Minister left, noisy scenes erupted immediately.

FM Making Aadhaar number mandatory for filing of Income Tax returns is necessary to curb tax evasion and frauds, the government said today while rejecting the opposition demand for a relook at the move. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley replied in the affirmative when a BJD member questioned in the Lok Sabha whether the government was ‘forcing’ the people to have Aadhaar number by making it mandatory. He, however, ruled out imposing any tax on agriculture income, saying it is a state matter. He was replying to a debate on the Finance Bill 2017, which was later passed by the House along with 40 official amendments, including the one on reducing the cap on cash transactions from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 2 lakh from April 1.

Aadhaar has not been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets but the Railways have initiated a process to create a database of senior citizens, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu made it clear that Aadhaar number has not been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets. He, however, said the Railway has initiated a process to create a database of senior citizens through pre-verification of senior citizens based on Aadhaar details on voluntary basis with effect from January 1 this year. “The system is intended to ensure that the senior citizen concession is not misused by unscrupulous elements by giving fictitious names and to use the data for decision making,” he said.