Month: October 2021

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the government is focused on enhancing combat capability and ensuring the welfare of soldiers in the country.

The Army Commanders’ Conference, an apex level biannual event, is being held in New Delhi from October 25-28, 2021. During the event, the Indian Army’s apex leadership is comprehensively deliberating upon all aspects of existing security scenarios, situations along the borders and in the hinterland and challenges for the present security apparatus, an official release by the Ministry of Defence said.
In addition, the conference is also focusing on issues pertaining to organisational restructuring, logistics, administration and human resource management.

The main highlight of the third day of the conference was the address by the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, to the senior leadership of the Indian Army preceded by a brief on the present and future plans of the Indian Army.

Singh said, “The Government is focused on enhancing combat capability and ensuring welfare of soldiers. The Policy of Atmanirbhar Bharat is a big step towards self-reliance in defence which offers a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to meet the future requirements of the Armed Forces.”

He applauded the Indian Army for working towards this goal and remarked that in 2020-2021, in keeping with the Atmanirbhar Bharat, 74 per cent of contracts by the Army were awarded to Indian Vendors which is praiseworthy. “There are no budgetary constraints for capability development and meeting other requirements of the Army”, he said.

Singh remarked that the decision to grant permanent commission to women officers in the Army is another significant decision that will ensure equal opportunities for professional growth to all officers irrespective of their gender.

Union Minister remarked that the recent corporation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is a historic step and has been accepted by all stakeholders which will enhance their efficiency and accountability. He said, “The government is committed in every manner towards the veterans and the next of kin of all categories of battle casualities. I have full confidence in the senior military leadership. The nation is proud of its Army and the Government is committed to facilitating the Army in their forward movement, on road to reforms and capability developments.”

Union Minister reaffirmed the faith of the billion-plus citizens on the Indian Army as one of the most trusted and inspiring organisations in the country. He said that the stellar role played by the Army in guarding our borders and fighting terrorism apart from providing assistance to the civil administration whenever called for. He appreciated the role played by Indian Armed Forces in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

Singh said, “The Army is omnipresent in all domains from Security, HADR, Medical Assistance to maintaining the stable internal situation in the country. The role of Indian Army is very important in Nation-building as also in the overall national development”.

He complimented the forces for the high standard of operational preparedness and capabilities which he experienced firsthand during his visits to forward areas. He also paid tributes to all the brave hearts for making the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of the motherland. He complimented the significant contributions made by the Army in military diplomacy to further our national security interests by creating sustainable cooperative relationships with foreign Armies.

Singh stressed upon the technological advancement taking place in every sphere of our life and applauded the Armed Forces for aptly incorporating them. He appreciated the Army’s efforts to develop niche technologies in collaboration with civil industries including premier educational institutions.

Commenting on the current situation along the Northern borders, the Defence Minister expressed full confidence that while troops are standing firm, the ongoing talks for peaceful resolution of crisis will continue. Expressing his gratitude, he said, “It is our national responsibility to ensure availability of best weapons, equipment and clothing to our troops braving extreme weather and hostile forces to defend our territorial integrity.”

Singh also complimented the efforts of Border Road Organisation (BRO) working under difficult conditions to connect far-flung areas so that our citizens living in those locations are connected and facilitate faster development.

Referring to the situation along the Western borders, he complimented the Indian Army’s response to cross border terrorism. Singh said “I compliment the excellent synergy between the CAPF/ Police forces and the Army in tackling the menace of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The synergised operations in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is getting the region to a stable and peaceful environment conducive for overall growth and development.” (ANI)

India reported 16,156 new COVID-19 cases and 733 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

The country also reported 17,095 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate at 98.20 per cent, which is the highest since March 2020.
The country’s active caseload stands at 1,60,989, which is the lowest in 243 days.

The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of the total cases, currently at 0.47 per cent, which is the lowest since March 2020.

At 1.19 per cent, the weekly positivity rate is less than 2 per cent for the last 34 days. The daily positivity rate stands at 1.25 per cent, which is less than 2 per cent for the last 24 days.

The total number of samples tested for COVID-19 till October 27 is 60,44,98,405 including 12,90,900 samples tested on Wednesday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Meanwhile, 104.04 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive. (ANI)

India has successfully launched the surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Agni-5 that can strike targets at ranges up to 5,000 km with a very high degree of accuracy.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the launch was carried out on Wednesday at approximately 7:30 pm from APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.
The missile, which uses a three-stage solid-fuelled engine, is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometres with a very high degree of accuracy, said the ministry.

The ministry further stated that the successful test of Agni-5 is in line with India’s stated policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence’ that underpins the commitment to ‘No First Use’. (ANI)

The Bombay High Court will resume hearing the bail application of Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, others on Thursday who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the Mumbai cruise drugs case.

During arguments on Tuesday, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued that Aryan Khan was a “young man” who should be sent to rehab rather than jail.
The 23-year-old star son was arrested on October 3 after a drugs raid on a cruise ship party by Narcotics Control Bureau officers in disguise.

At present, Aryan is lodged at the Arthur Road Jail along with another accused Arbaaz Merchant. Whereas, Munmun Dhamecha is at Byculla women prison.

The hearing will resume on Thursday afternoon.

Rohatgi, who appeared for Aryan Khan, told the court on Tuesday that his client was invited to the cruise as a special guest.

He told the court that there was “no case of possession of drugs” against Aryan Khan and that he was arrested wrongly. He also said “it was fit case for bail”.

Rohatgi said the law provides a maximum of one year of imprisonment for small quantities of drugs.

“Law provides that for small quantities, the maximum punishment is one year of imprisonment. For consumption, there is rehabilitation as per law,” Rohatgi argued on behalf of Aryan Khan.

“Aryan Khan was invited by one Pratik Gaba. He was like an organiser. He invited accused 1 Aryan and accused 2 Arbaz Merchant. Both were invited by the same person. They both landed up together at the cruise terminal,” Rohtagi said.

“It appears that NCB had some prior information that people on this cruise were having drugs so they were present in a certain strength. My client, Arbaz and many others were apprehended. A search was conducted and nothing was recovered from the accused 1 (Aryan Khan). No medical at any point was conducted to ascertain if he has taken any drug,” he added.

Rohatgi said six grams of charas was recovered from accused number 2 (Arbaz Merchant) and Aryan had no relation with him except for arriving with him there.

“There was no recovery. There was no proof of consumption,” he said.

“Many others were found with some amount of drugs so they allege that there was a general conspiracy. They are not charging me with consumption or possession but with conspiracy and conspiracy not with Arbaz but others,” the former AG argued on behalf of Aryan Khan in the courtroom arguing before Justice Nitin Sambre.

Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3. An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case.

Aryan Khan’s bail plea was rejected by the special court on October 20 in the case following which his judicial custody in the matter got extended till October 30. Khan approached the Bombay High Court for an urgent bail hearing.(ANI)

India on Wednesday expressed concern over China’s new Land Boundary Law that Beijing adopted on Saturday for the protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas.

In response to media queries on China’s Land Boundary Law, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi said, “China’s unilateral decision to bring about legislation which can have an implication on our existing bilateral arrangements on border management as well as on the boundary question is of concern to us.”
“The passage of this new law (China’s Land Boundary Law) does not in our view confer any legitimacy to the so-called China-Pakistan “Boundary Agreement” of 1963 which the Government of India has consistently maintained is illegal and invalid agreement,” said Bagchi.

The new Chinese law will take effect on January 1, 2022. Lawmakers approved the law at the closing meeting of a legislative session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Bagchi also said, “India expects that China will avoid undertaking action under the pretext of this law which could unilaterally alter the situation in the India-China border areas.”

He further said that unilateral moves taken by China will have no bearing on the arrangements that both sides have already reached earlier, whether it is on the boundary question or for maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India-China border areas. (ANI)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to decide the representation of the plea related to 227 Indian and Afghan Nationals of Indian origin – Hindus, Sikhs stranded in Afghanistan, as per law.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti directed the Centre to decide the representation according to law, rules, regulations and government policies.
With these directions, the Court disposed of Public Interest Litigation relating to 227 Indian nationals and Afghan nationals of Indian origin who are Hindus and Sikhs by religion stranded in Afghanistan and who are constantly and almost daily facing threats to their lives and properties at the hands of the Taliban. The petitioner had sought urgent relief for their evacuation, issuance of e-visa and safe return to India.

However, the Court expressed its doubt about the facts mentioned in the case and asked the petitioner where he got information related to stranded people.

The petitioner told the Court that the source of the knowledge of the facts are stranded Indian and Afghan people, a non government organisation named India world forum, among others.

Advocate Amit Mahajan, Central Government standing counsel, told the court that the Centre has have made efforts to evacuate them and it does not want to disclose the details of those stranded to the petitioner.

The petition has been filed by Parminder Pal Singh through advocate Gurinder Pal Singh. The petitioner is a social activist and former spokesman of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee.

The petitioner told the Court that a representation was made to the respondents by the Presidents of Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Karte Parwan Kabul (Afghanistan) and Asamai Mandir for issuance of e-visa and early evacuation of the stranded people but to no avail.

The petitioner has sought urgent intervention of the Delhi High Court saying that stranded persons are constantly and almost daily facing threats to their lives and properties at the hands of the Taliban and unfortunately, till date, the Government of India has not taken any steps to provide any assistance to them in the matter of their evacuation, repatriation from Afghanistan to India.

The petitioner has sought direction to the Government to issue e-visa to the ‘stranded persons’ at the earliest and without loss of any further time and to facilitate the evacuation of all the 227 stranded persons from Afghanistan to India by way of chartered, special flight(s) currently operating out of Kabul, Afghanistan and/or through any other mode.

The petitioner has also sought direction to the respondents to take up the matter with their concerned counterpart and International agencies at the highest level for safe return, travel of stranded persons to India and provide security to them till their evacuation.

The petitioner said that the stranded persons are constantly and almost daily facing threats to their lives and properties and are spending each minute in a state of extreme fear, tension and anxiety and yet, unfortunately till date, the Government of India has not taken any steps to provide any assistance of any type whatsoever to them in the matter of their evacuation/repatriation from Afghanistan to India. “The long ordeal and waiting for grant of e-visa and lack of evacuation flights have taken a toll on both mental and physical well-being of these stranded persons,” the petitioner said. (ANI)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly will step down from the board of ATK-Mohun Bagan after RPSG Ventures won the bid for the Lucknow franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a record INR 7,090 crores.

As per ESPNcricinfo, Ganguly has initiated the process of standing down from his role at Mohun Bagan, which is one of the most popular football clubs in India and is currently part of the Indian Super League (ISL). In addition to being one of the directors on the Mohun Bagan board, Ganguly is also a shareholder.

The issue of the conflict surfaced after RPSG vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of Mohun Bagan as well as the as-yet-unnamed Lucknow IPL franchise, told CNBC-TV 18 on Monday that Ganguly was on the verge of stepping down. “Well, I think he is going to step down from Mohun Bagan completely… I think today,” Goenka told the business television network, as per ESPNcricinfo. “It is for Sourav to make the announcement. I mean, sorry. I think I pre-empted it.”

If Ganguly carried on occupying the positions both at the BCCI and Mohun Bagan, he would fall foul of the ‘direct or indirect interest’ conflict rule under the BCCI constitution.

Apart from RPSG who won the bid for the Lucknow franchise, the Irelia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners) won the bid for the Ahmedabad franchise (for INR 5,625 crores). (ANI)

Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma met party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the new face for the state’s Pradesh Congress Committee, said sources.

According to the sources, the decision on the new PCC chief and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat is likely to be taken soon.
“The PCC chief will be decided on the basis of the candidate’s capabilities, age and work experience,” said the source.

As per the sources, former Gujarat Minister Shaktisinh Gohil and party leader Hardik Patel are the front runners for the post of new PCC chief.

The discussion on the new Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly was also held in the meeting, added the sources.

Notably, over six months ago, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Paresh Dhanani resigned from their post. Meanwhile, the Gujarat PCC was dissolved in October 2019.

In the last Assembly polls, Congress gave a tough fight to BJP but failed to change the regime. Therefore, this time party wants that strong face should be fielded to cash the anti-incumbency in the state. Notably, the competition is said to get tougher this year as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also contest for the Assembly elections.

The Assembly polls in the state are scheduled to be held early next year. (ANI)

Former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Wednesday, reiterated his support to the Centre’s decision to enhance the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Punjab, and said the purpose of the Central paramilitary force is to secure international borders and not take over the state government.

“They (BSF) are here to secure our borders not take over the government. Nobody is taking over the state,” said the former Chief Minister.
Captain further said that the “payloads and range of drones” coming in from Pakistan are increasing and Punjab Police need help from “specialised agencies” to deal with the situation.

“First drown came 1.5 years back. They used to drop payloads only across the river. Then they started coming 7-8 km inside the border. The last information I have is that they have come 31 km into the border. Range and payloads are increasing,” said Captain Amarinder Singh.

“The BSF is not going to take care of state security, they will track drones that are extending their capacity. The Punjab Police is a trained force and but they are not trained for handling drones or cross border smuggling,” added Singh.

Captain Amarinder Singh also shared his plan of paying a visit to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday to discuss various issues including farmers’ protests.

“Tomorrow we are taking some people with us, around 25-30 people, and we will be meeting the Home Minister,” said former Congress leader.

The Centre through a notification has empowered the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) in five states–including Punjab– along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.

Captain while addressing the media also announced that he is forming a new political party, name and symbol of which will be shared once cleared by the Election Commission.

Singh resigned last month as the chief minister and had announced that he will be quitting the Congress after months of a rift with Congress state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

He had resigned ahead of Congress legislature party meeting which was called amid unending factional battles in the ruling Congress in the state. Singh was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister of the state. (ANI)