ED Siezes ₹5551.27 Cr Deposits Of Xiaomi India Under FEMA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized Rs 5551.27 crore of Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd– a wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Xiaomi group– under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in connection with illegal remittances made by the firm in February this year, the agency said on Saturday.

The seized amount of Rs 5551.27 crore is lying in the bank accounts of Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd, which started its operations in India in 2014 and started remitting the money in 2015.
The Company has remitted foreign currency equivalent to Rs 5551.27 crore to three foreign-based entities which include one Xiaomi group entity in the guise of Royalty, said the ED.

“Such huge amounts in the name of Royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese parent group entities. The amount remitted to other two US-based unrelated entities were also for the ultimate benefit of the Xiaomi group entities,” said the ED.

Xiaomi India is a trader and distributor of mobile phones in India under the brand name MI. Xiaomi India procures the completely manufactured mobile sets and other products from the manufacturers in India.

“Xiaomi India has not availed any service from the three foreign-based entities to whom such amounts have been transferred. Under the cover of various unrelated documentary facade created amongst the group entities, the company remitted this amount in the guise of royalty abroad which constitutes a violation of Section 4 of the FEMA,” said the federal agency.

ED further added that Xiaomi India also provided misleading information to the banks while remitting the money abroad. (ANI)

As Afghanistan’s Economy Collapses, Starvation Grips Children

According to the global organization, Save the Children, many people in Afghanistan are facing a severe food crisis during Ramzan and the most vulnerable are children.

This comes as Afghanistan continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis and food shortages after the Taliban took over the country in August last year.
Without enough food and the right nutrition, they can become malnourished which can lead to illness, infections, stunting, and death, reported Tolo News.

The organization has conducted interviews with many Afghans and they revealed that they are not able to buy food. They also complained about the high price of food.

The report says since the Islamic Emirate’s takeover in August 2021, living costs and food prices have skyrocketed, and it cited World Bank findings saying that incomes are likely to have fallen by around a third in the last few months of 2021.

An increasing number of families are jobless and destitute and are resorting to desperate measures to feed their children, as per the media portal. (ANI)

PIL In HC Challenging On Multilevel Parking On School Land

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been moved before the Delhi High court against the construction, operation, and maintenance of upcoming commercial shops, retail space and food court and multi-level car parking facility by demolishing the Primary school (in existence since 1927) at Bank Street, Karol Bagh, New Delhi.

The petition has been filed by the lawyer and activist Amit Sahni against North Delhi Municipal corporation (NDMC), Delhi Government, Delhi Commission for protection of child rights (DCPCR) and OMTECH construction and I infrastructure Ltd.
The petition has been listed for May 2, 2022, for hearing before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi.

The petitioner has submitted that the NDMC has in October 2021 proposed to construct the multi-level parking by demolishing the building of the Municipal school. The land of the school measuring 4200 sq. Metres was sold to OMTECH for Rs 181 Crores under the garb of directions issued by the Delhi High Court for the construction of Multilevel Parking thereon.

The petition stated that in 2019 the NDMC stopped using the school building by shifting the students to another school in Shiv Nagar, measuring only 1420 sq metres which is much smaller in size than the previous one and does not have infrastructure like playground and green area, etc.

Further, it stated that the Shiv Nagar School is overcrowded as after the COVID-19 pandemic most of the parents are not able to afford private schools and send their children to government schools.

It is also stated in the petition that respondent OMTECH is advertising the project as a commercial building with a food court, shops, and offices. As per the advertisement, the parking will be underground and would be for 500 vehicles only. That would be insufficient for the parking need of the area.

The petition said the NDMC and Delhi Government are duty-bound to provide free and compulsory education to children below the age of 14 and DCPCR is a statutory body for the protection of Child Rights. NDMC has sold the said school land in violation and directions passed by the High court and the Supreme Court and Delhi Government and DCPCR are not taking any action. This would adversely affect the constitutional rights of the deprived sections of society whose children study in government schools. (ANI)

Priyanka Shares Steamy Poolside Pics

New mommy in B-town, actor Priyanka Chopra, on Saturday shared some extremely hot photos in her latest post, leaving her followers awestruck.

In her recent Instagram post, the ‘Mary Kom’ star can be seen wearing a lime-coloured co-ord bikini set, relaxing in the pool at her LA abode.
“Instagram Vs Reality” she captioned the post

Priyanka looked really stunning and alluring and fans filled the comment section with fire and heart emoticons including her husband Nick Jonas who dropped a fire emoji and the comment ‘Damn’.

It was recently revealed that the actor couple duo Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas had named their daughter, who was born in January this year via surrogacy, as ‘Malti Marie’.

On the work front, Priyanka Chopra’s next films include Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Jee Le Zaraa,’ Amazon’s ‘Citadel,’ and Anthony Mackie’s ‘Ending Things.’ (ANI)

Modi Asks States To Junk Obsolete Laws

Prime Minister Narendra Modi singled out states for being slow in abolishing obsolete laws, urging the Chief Ministers on Saturday to speed up the legislative reform to help the people come out of the web of legislation.

PM Modi on Saturday addressed a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi.
Speaking on the intricacies of laws for the people, PM Modi said the Centre has so far abolished 1450 of the total 1800 identified obsolete legislation. But only 75 laws have been abolished by the state, stated PM Modi.

“In 2015, we identified about 1,800 laws which had become irrelevant. Out of these, 1,450 such laws were abolished. But only 75 such laws have been abolished by the states,” PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister also urged the Chief Ministers to speed up the process to remove irrelevant laws from the statutory books to help people come out of the web of legislation.

“Today, there are about 3.5 lakh prisoners in the country who are under-trial. Most of these people are from poor or ordinary families,” he pointed out.

“In every district, there is a committee headed by the District Judge, so that these cases can be reviewed and wherever possible, such prisoners may be released on bail. I would appeal to all Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts to give priority to these matters on the basis of humanitarian sensibility and law,” said PM Modi.

He called upon the Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts to prioritize “these matters on the basis of humanitarian sensibility and law”.

The Prime Minister said mediation is also an important tool for the settlement of pending cases in the courts, especially at the local level, adding that there is an age-old tradition of settlement of disputes through mediation in the society.

He said that the government has introduced the Mediation Bill in Parliament as umbrella legislation. “With our rich legal expertise, we can become a global leader in mediation. We can present a model to the whole world,” he said.

Earlier this week, PM Modi had blamed the state governments for not lowering the value-added tax (VAT) on fuel.

“In order to reduce the burden of rising petrol and diesel prices, the central government reduced the excise duty last November. We had urged the states to reduce their taxes. Some states reduced the tax and provided benefits to the consumers but some didn’t do so,” said the Prime Minister during his interactions with Chief Ministers of several states over rising cases of COVID-19.

Naming Opposition-ruled states, PM Modi had said, “Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu did not follow the advice of Central government and people in these states are burdened with price rise.” (ANI)

Gen Manoj Pande Takes Over As 29th Army Chief

General Manoj Pande on Saturday took over as the new Chief of Army Staff from General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who is superannuating today.

He is the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the Chief of Army Staff.
Gen Pande took over the charge from Gen Naravane in a brief ceremony at the South Black. Pande, who belongs to the 117 Engineers Regiment of the Indian Army, would be the 29th Army Chief.

He was commissioned on December 24, 1982, in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) of the Indian Army.

During his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.

His son is a pilot in the Indian Air Force in the transport aircraft stream.

Gen Pande held various important command and staff appointments which include a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area in Ladakh along the Pakistan border and Command of a Corps, deployed along the LAC and in the Counter Insurgency Operations area of Eastern Command. (ANI)

Taliban Reneged On Promise To Reopen Afghan Girls’ Schools: Blinken

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed his disappointment over the fact that the Taliban has failed to fulfil their promises about reopening schools for girls in Afghanistan.

Testifying before a Senate committee in Washington, Blinken said that the Taliban has been unable to keep their promise of granting Afghan girls over grade 6, access to education by withdrawing their decision of banning girls’ schools, reported Tolo News.
“We have seen, including most recently, the Taliban fall back on its commitment that it had made to ensure that girls can go to school above the six grade,” said Blinken.

When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham about the presence of Daesh and al-Qaeda groups in Afghanistan, Blinken said that there is a very small number of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

In response to Senator Lindsey Graham, Blinken mentioned that the presence of Islamic groups like Daesh and al-Qaeda which stand in opposition to the Taliban has been rendered futile because they are small in number, reported Tolo News.

“ISIS-K is as you know is of course an enemy of the Taliban and the issue there is not the will of the Taliban to take them on, it is their capacity. When it comes to the al-Qaeda, the Arab al-Qaeda core, there are a very, very small number of people,” Blinken said.

Further, an Afghan women’s rights activist, Shahla Arifi emphasized the importance of female education, highlighting the fact that Afghan women are the future of the country and yet they are being deprived of “educational, social and political rights.”

Earlier, Thomas West, the US special envoy for Afghanistan had expressed his concerns to former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, over the ban of girls’ schools in a phone conversation. West even urged the Afghan government to pay heed to the religious scholars of the country and revoke the ban.

The worldwide condemnation of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has heightened, even more, after the Taliban decided to close all secondary schools for girls. Several activists and political parties have also urged the Taliban to reconsider the ban on secondary schools for girls. Earlier, the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) expressed their concern that the closing of secondary and high schools for girl students is a serious issue.

However, the Taliban’s Ministry of Education has assured that the schools for girls in grades 7-12 will be reopened in the near future. (ANI)

Modi Urges Judiciary To Encourage Use Of Local Languages In Courts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the confluence of objectives of the legislature and judiciary will help in preparing a roadmap for an effective and time-bound judicial delivery system in the country while also stating that the court should encourage the use of local languages.

The Prime Minister stated that while the judiciary is the custodian of the Constitution and the legislature has the mandate to represent the aspirations of the people.
Addressing the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts today, PM Modi said, “In our country, while the role of the judiciary is that of the guardian of the constitution, the legislature represents the aspirations of the citizens. I believe that this confluence of these two will prepare the roadmap for an effective and time-bound judicial delivery system in the country.”

He underlined the need to introduce local languages in the courts which will connect people to the judicial system.

“We need to encourage local languages in courts. This will not only increase the confidence of common citizens in the justice system but they will feel more connected to it,” he said.

He said that the “75 years of India’s independence have clarified the roles and responsibilities of the judiciary and executive”.

“Wherever necessary, this relation between judiciary and executive has evolved to give direction to the country,” the Prime Minister stated.

Further, PM Modi also stressed the need for a digital judicial system which can empower citizens.

“To strengthen citizens, technology has become an important tool. Likewise, our judicial infrastructure needs to be digitalised too. Tech-friendly human resources play an important role in integrating Digital India with the nation’s growth story. Blockchain, cyber security, robotics, AI (Artificial Intelligence) all are being taught in colleges,” he added.

Speaking about online payments, the Prime Minister said that digital transactions are now becoming common in small towns and villages.

“Today, digital transactions are becoming common in small towns and villages. Out of all the digital transactions that took place in the world last year, 40 per cent of them took place in India,” he said.

Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann were also present at the joint conference.

The joint conference is an occasion for the executive and the judiciary to come together to create frameworks for simple and convenient delivery of justice and to discuss steps required to overcome the challenges facing the justice system, according to PMO. (ANI)

Akshaye Joins Tabu and Ajay In ‘Drishyam 2’

Bollywood Star Akshaye Khanna will soon be seen sharing the screen with Ajay Devgn and Tabu in the upcoming flick ‘Drishyam 2’.

On Saturday, Tabu took to her Instagram handle and shared a picture of Akshaye Khanna and herself.
“Delighted to have a gem of an actor on board for #Drishyam2, Akshaye Khanna..#TrulyTalented,” she captioned the post.

In the picture, the camera is at an eye-level angle with a close-up shot of Akshaye sitting on a couch with Tabu.

The film, helmed by Abhishek Pathak, is a sequel to Tabu and Ajay Devgn’s 2015 crime thriller ‘Drishyam’.

For the unversed, Ajay Devgn’s character of Vijay in the hit film ‘Drishyam’ made everyone believe that their family went on a holiday which in turn was a perfect plan to save his family from a murder conviction.

Tabu will reprise her role as Meera Deshmukh, Inspector General of Police.

Ajay is all set to reprise one of his most intriguing characters on-screen and continue in Vijay’s shoes in the sequel. The story unveils a journey that leaves the audience thinking about what might be his way out this time. (ANI)

Malaysia: 2,579 New COVID Infections, 6 Deaths

Malaysia reported 2,579 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Friday, bringing the national total to 4,445,897, according to the health ministry.

There are six new imported cases and 2,573 local transmissions, data released on the ministry’s website showed.
A further six deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 35,542.

The ministry reported 6,055 new recoveries, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 4,360,061.

There are 50,294 active cases, 78 are being held in intensive care and 50 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

The country reported 38,581 vaccine doses administered on Friday alone and 85 per cent of the population have received at least one dose, 81.7 per cent are fully vaccinated and 49.1 per cent have received boosters. (ANI/Xinhua)