Month: July 2022

As Jammu and Kashmir is put on maximum alert amid the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, ‘Falcon Squad’ module of ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF)– Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Indian offshoot– is among one of a new threat for the Union Territory and a major challenge for the security forces.
The role of ‘Falcon Squad’ came to the fore with its involvement in various terrorist acts as was disclosed and brought out during the investigation which include last year’s grenade attacks in Baramulla town, a top official in the security establishment requesting anonymity told ANI.

“The group’s role is under the radar of Jammu and Kashmir police as well as other security agencies with its involvement in various firing incidents in and around Baramulla, transportation of proscribed weapons and explosives,” said the official.

The module’s role also came to light in a recent grenade attack on a newly established wine shop, which left an employee dead and three others injured in May.

During the investigation of the attack on the wine shop, the Jammu and Kashmir Police achieved a major breakthrough by arresting four militants and their one associate of the ‘Falcon Squad’–a group of local youths who do not have a previous criminal record.

As per inputs received from security agencies, ‘Falcon Squad’ youths come with pistols, attack and escape, and start living a normal life. “In such a situation, it is difficult to identify them. The new module of these terrorists is being called Falcon Squad or Gazelle Squad,” said the official.

Sources in the security department tell that these terrorists are of young age between 15-18 years and they are recruited online.

“They are given training online. After this, they are sent to attack. Such squads carry out attacks in numbers of 1-2. Following the strategy of hit and run, these terrorists complete their work in close accordion with Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of LeT’s TRF wing,” the official said.

Another senior official of the security wing said that terrorist commanders of LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) among others have been using youths by radicalising and recruiting them for selective killing in Kashmir.

Agencies are learnt to have working in this direction to prevent Jammu and Kashmir youth from coming in contact with the commander of the big terrorist organisation.

The security agencies also managed to neutralize 125 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir till July 5 while 141, including 82 foreigners, are still active in the Union Territory (UT).

Of the total 141 active terrorists, the report mentions, 59 are locals who are recruited by different terrorist groups like LeT, JeM and HM among others.

The report, available with key security forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, also mentions that the figure of the currently active terrorists in the UT is noticed despite of neutralization of 125 terrorists, including 34 foreign terrorists, there between January 1 and July 5 this year.

In June (this year) alone, a maximum of 34 terrorists, including six foreigners and 28 locals, were neutralized by the security forces. The number of terrorists neutralized in January was 20, 7 in February, 13 in March, 24 in April and 27 in May.

As per a report available till June 28 this year, those neutralized by security forces belong to LeT (68), JeM (29) and HM (16).

As per the report, 69 recruitments were also taken place this year till 5th July while the number was 142 last year. (ANI)

Who does not like to capture their special moments with their loved ones? Seems like Hrithik Roshan also makes sure to fill up his phone’s gallery with pictures of his friends, family members and of course his girlfriend Saba Azad.

Taking to Instagram, Saba is seen gazing into the distance while sitting at a coffee shop. However, it’s her caption that has caught everyone’s attention. The two are currently vacationing in Paris.
In the caption, she gave photo credits to none other than Hrithik.

“Not a selfie, not my coffee. Image by @hrithikroshan,” she wrote.

Fans were blown away by Hrithik’s amazing photography skills.

“I must admit that Hrithik is a good photographer,” a social media user commented.

“Such a beautiful picture. Hrithik, good job,” another one wrote.

For the unversed, rumours about Hrithik and Saba started when they were spotted out on a dinner date together in February. Later, Saba also joined Hrithik’s family for a get-together. However, Hrithik and Saba have been making the headlines since they first appeared together at producer Krana Johar’s 50th birthday party.

Saba is a multi-talented actor and singer. She was a part of many noteworthy Bollywood films like ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshyi’, ‘Shaandaar’, and ‘Karwaan’. Meanwhile, on the film front, Hrithik is currently waiting for the release of ‘Vikram Vedha’ which also stars Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte. It is slated to release on September 30.

Apart from this, he will also be seen sharing the screen space with Deepika Padukone for the first time in Siddharth Anand’s ‘Fighter’ along with the much-awaited ‘Krrish 4’. (ANI)

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday paid tribute to his late father and former Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy on his 73rd birth anniversary at the YSR Ghat at Idupulapaya in the Kadapa district.

Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, served as the 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is on a two-day visit to Kadapa district, which started on July 7.

After paying homage to his father, he is expected to return to Vijaywada and participate in the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Plenary meeting beginning on Friday near Nagarjuna University.

Out of the nine agendas of the YSRCP Plenary meeting, five will be discussed today and four will be discussed tomorrow.

All the arrangements have been made at the venue located between Guntur and Vijayawada including food, accommodation and drinking water facilities.

On the first day (July 8) approximately 1.5 lakh representatives are expected to attend the plenary and on the second day (July 9) around 4.5 representatives are to attend.

Right from panchayat level ward members to the Chief Minister, all the representatives of the party will be attending the plenary.”In the plenary, we will be discussing the future administration on how it is going to be and what we would be doing and resolutions will be passed,” Reddy said.

He further said the plenary will bring the philosophy of the party to the common man and added that the philosophy of the party is to serve the common man, particularly the poor and the downtrodden.

On his first day in Kadapa, Reddy laid the foundation stone for NewTech Biosciences at AP Karl in Pulivendula.

He also inaugurated the YSR Memorial Park at Vempalli along with the newly constructed buildings of Vempalli Zilla Parishad High School and interacted with the students. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs today.

He is likely to meet the MPs at 4.30 pm.
Twenty seven of fifty seven recently elected members of Rajya Sabha take oath today. Members from ten states take oath in nine languages

Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, and Mukul Wasnik and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary were among those who took oath.

The members took oath in the presence of the Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

Twelve members took oath in Hindi, four in English, two each in Sanskrit, Kannada, Marathi and Oriya and one each in Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

During an interaction with some leaders and members of the House after the oath taking ceremony, the Chairman clarified that those elected members who are still to take oath also can vote in the Presidential election on July 18.

He said they are deemed to be members of the House from the date of the notification and taking oath is only a prerequisite for the newly-elected members to participate in the proceedings of the House and of its Committees.

Naidu said that the ensuing monsoon session of Parliament will also be held as per COVID-19 protocol conforming to social distancing and safety norms. He urged the members to uphold the dignity and decorum of the House through meaningful deliberations while abiding by the rules and conventions.

He advised the members to make proper use of the ample opportunities that will be available under various instruments of the House and to attend the House regularly during the sessions. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in the case registered against him in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh and also issued notice to the state police on his plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order.

The Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted interim bail to Zubair in a plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash FIR registered for a tweet in which he allegedly called three Hindu seers “hate mongers”.
The interim bail to Zubair was granted for 5 days on the condition that he will not post any fresh tweets on the issue related to the case and not leave the jurisdiction of the Sitapur Magistrate’s court.

The apex court also said that Zubair shall not tamper with electronic evidence in Bengaluru or anywhere else.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court that yesterday Zubair’s counsel mentioned that there is a threat to his life.

“He’s in judicial remand, his bail was rejected yesterday by Sitapur court and was sent to remand. This fact was not disclosed by him to the top court. It’s a clear purposeful suppression of facts,” said Mehta.

“Such conduct of suppression of facts should not be encouraged. He is seeking bail from the Supreme Court without telling this court that his bail was rejected yesterday by the Sitapur court,” he added.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Zubair, told the Supreme Court that it was written in the petition that Sitapur police seek police custody of Zubair. The order challenged in the apex court is of the Allahabad High Court.

Gonsalves says no criminal case can be made out against Zubair. “The foundation of this case is a tweet. We seek quashing of proceedings, and questions of police or judicial custody are irrelevant now. There’s no case made out and the proceedings need to be quashed.”

Zubair has approached the top court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s June 10 order where it had refused to quash an FIR registered against him in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh saying that it was premature to interfere when the investigation was at a preliminary stage.

Filing the appeal against the High Court order, Zubair also sought direction to stay the investigation in the case and direction for UP police not to “proceed, prosecute or arrest” him on the basis of the FIR.

The FIR was registered for a tweet in which he allegedly called Hindu seers Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop “hate mongers” on Twitter.

The FIR was lodged against Zubai on June 1 under Section 295 (A) of the IPC and Section 67 of the IT Act at the Khairabad police station in Sitapur district for deliberately “outraging religious feelings” of the seers.

His appeal in the apex court has said that the allegations of the FIR against him are “absolutely false and baseless”.

He claimed to be innocent and said he said that he has not committed any offence.

“The police are threatening to arrest the petitioner (Zubair) and the life and liberty of the petitioner is in danger. The inclusion of this criminal offence in the FIR portrays the cavalier, malicious and arbitrary manner in which the Respondents (UP police) have acted against the Petitioner,” the appeal stated.

It further stated, “There is a new strategy afoot of the police in communal crime cases. That is to register FIRs against those engaging in hate speech and communal crimes, as well as to rope in all secular elements monitoring such crimes and protesting police inaction against the wrongdoers. This is done with the intention of stifling the freedom of speech of secular persons in society who stand up against communal elements and putting fear into them so that they no longer protest. It is therefore imperative that this Court understand this new strategy and nip it in the bud so that secular social activism continues on its path and plays the most necessary role in society to stand up to communalism.”

Zubair is already in judicial custody in a case registered by the Delhi police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments over a tweet posted by him in 2018. (ANI)

A Chinese Air Force aircraft flew very close to a friction point in the eastern Ladakh sector on the Line of Actual Control in the last week of June, after which the Indian Air Force responded swiftly as per standard operating procedures.

The incident took place at around 4 am on one of the days in the last week of June and after the aircraft was spotted by men on ground and was also picked up by indigenous radars deployed in the border area, sources told ANI.
Soon after the possible air space violation was detected, the assets of the Indian Air Force got activated as per the standard operating procedures, sources said.

Sources said the incident took place at a time when the Chinese side is holding exercises involving its fighter jets and air defence weaponry including the S-400 air defence system in the areas bordering the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The Chinese have a large number of fighter jets and unmanned aircraft deployed at positions near the Indian territory including the major airfields in Hotan and Gar Gunsa which have been upgraded immensely during the last two years.

It was during such wargames on the Chinese side in 2020 when the People’s Liberation Army diverted its troops in heavy numbers towards the Indian positions in Eastern Ladakh which led to multiple face-offs and physical fights in the area.

Sources said the matter of aircraft coming close to Indian positions was taken up with the Chinese as per the east abolished mechanism and no incident has taken place after that.

Sources clarified that the particular incident was not a very serious one but such instances should be avoided by the other side as they can lead to possible escalation.

The aircraft came very close to the areas on the LAC which have seen confrontation between the Indian and Chinese sides during the ongoing military stand-off between the two sides since May 2020, sources said.

The Indian Army and Air Force have strengthened their positions heavily since then and the entire Ladakh sector has been fortified to an extent where adversaries cannot even think of unilaterally altering the status quo on the LAC, sources said.

Even though the Chinese have been doing infrastructure development in the areas illegally occupied by them opposite the Ladakh sector, India has taken measures to build facilities for large-scale deployments at short notice.

The infrastructure including roads in Ladakh has been developed in a major way to make it easier for troops to reach the frontline in short let timeframes than before.

The Northern Command which is in charge of the Ladakh sector in the Indian Army has been provided all possible firepower and manpower to tackle the threat from the Chinese side.

Similarly, the Western Air Command in-charge of the area from the Indian Air Force side has been given all major assets including the Rafale combat jet to tackle any eventuality.

The IAF carries out regular sorties in the eastern Ladakh sector to keep an eye on the area where the actual alignment of the LAC is not agreed upon between both sides in many places.

The issue becomes further complicated due to the “creeping forward” policy of the Chinese military to capture territories all along its boundaries with different neighbours. (ANI)

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Friday conducted raids at 49 premises linked to former AIADMK minister Kamaraj across Tamil Nadu and detected disproportionate assets worth Rs 58 crore related to him.

Raids are being conducted in Chennai, Coimbatore, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchirappalli.
The DVAC registered a case against the former minister, his son and three others on charges of accumulating wealth disproportionately.

According to the FIR, “Between 2011-2021, Kamaraj, his sons and associates accumulated wealth to a tune of Rs 58,84,50,749 (54.84 crores) and their likely savings could be Rs 40 lakhs. The quantum of assets disproportionately acquired by Kamaraj and his associates is 58,44,38,252 (Rs 54.44 crores).”

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

India reported 18,815 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours with a daily case positivity rate of 4.96 per cent, as per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.

With this, the active caseload in the country stands at 1,22,335.
According to the Ministry, 15,899 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 4,29,37,876. The recovery rate currently is 98.51 per cent.

As many as 38 patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 5,25,343.

A total of 3,79,470 COVID samples were tested during this period. 86.57 crore tests have been conducted in the country so far.

Under the nationwide vaccination drive, 17,62,441 COVID vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,98,51,77,962 vaccines have been jabbed so far.

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 198.51 crores (1,98,51,77,962) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,59,95,556 sessions.

In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.

Amid the recent surge reported in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Health Ministry of India on June 9 urged States and Union Territories to not lower their guards and strictly maintain COVID-appropriate behaviour.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written a letter to States/UTs and directed them to ramp up RT-PCR testing, surveillance, clinical management, vaccination, and COVID-19 protocols and take timely pre-emptive actions. (ANI)

As the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Summit begins in Bali, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged her counterparts to “find ways to move forward” and end the war in Ukraine sooner rather than later.

While opening the joint summit, Marsudi urged the leaders present to help put an end to the war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.
“It is our responsibility to end the war sooner than later and settle our differences at the negotiating table, not the battlefield,” she said at the summit.

The meeting is witnessing the presence of some of the staunchest critics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the same room as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This is the first such meeting since the war started on February 24 this year.

Lavrov has flown to Indonesia’s island of Bali for a meeting of foreign ministers of countries from the Group of 20 (G20). The agenda of the meeting is set to be dominated by tensions triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There are also discussions that will be held on energy and food security in the two-day meeting.

During the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the participating Foreign ministers are slated to hold talks on issues of contemporary relevance, such as strengthening multilateralism and current global challenges including food and energy security, said the Indian Ministry of External Affairs ahead of the meeting.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s participation in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will strengthen India’s engagement with G20 member states.

As a G20 troika member and as the incoming G20 Presidency, India’s role in the Foreign Ministers’ meet assumes even greater importance, the official statement read.

Ahead of the summit, on June 7, Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from G20 countries and others.

Jaishankar also met FM Retno Marsudi of Indonesia and appreciated the excellent arrangements for the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bali. He said that India supports the Indonesian G20 Presidency this year and will do utmost to ensure its success. (ANI)

Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday took additional charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

The Ministry was earlier held by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi whose Rajya Sabha term ended today.
President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Steel Minister RCP Singh from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignations of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution,” read the notification of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Following this, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani has been given the additional charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs while Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been given the additional charge of the Ministry of Steel.

Two Cabinet Ministers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and RCP Singh who ceased to be members of the Rajya Sabha from today resigned from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

According to the sources, this was the first time that a sitting minister has been out of both Houses of Parliament.

Recently, several BJP leaders were elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. However, the party did not give a Rajya Sabha ticket to Naqvi.

Pertinent to mention here, RCP Singh, who comes from an ally party in Bihar, JD(U), had sworn in as a minister in the Modi government a year ago on July 7, 2021. However, in the recent announcement of the Rajya Sabha tickets, Nitish Kumar denied RCP Singh’s election to the Rajya Sabha.

A Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant in Tripura after the resignation of Manik Saha who was recently elected to the Tripura Assembly. Besides this, there is no Rajya Sabha seat which is going to be vacant in the next few months. (ANI)