Month: July 2022

Amid recent crashes involving its vintage Russian combat aircraft fleet, the Indian Air Force is now going to retire one more squadron of the MiG-21 Bison aircraft by September 30.

On Thursday evening, a MiG-21 Type 69 Trainer aircraft crashed in Barmer, Rajasthan killing both the pilots including a youngster Flight Lieutenant A Bal and Wing Commander Rana.

“The 51 Squadron based out of Srinagar air base is being number plated on September 30. After this, only three squadrons of the planes would be left in service and would be phased out by the year 2025,” sources in the IAF told ANI.

Now every year, one squadron each of these planes would be number plated, they said.

The 51 squadron is famous for thwarting Pakistan’s aerial attack on India on February 27, 2019, and taking out an F-16 in an aircraft flown by Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman.

This is the only instance when a MiG-21 aircraft brought down an F-16 in air-to-air combat, the sources said.

The IAF has been replacing the MiG-21 fighter jets with more capable aircraft like the Su-30 and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

In the last 20 months, 6 MiG-21s have been lost in crashes in which five pilots have lost their lives.

The MiG-21s were supposed to be retired a long time ago but delays in induction of the LCA Tejas aircraft have forced the IAF to continue flying these planes.

The IAF carries out extensive checks on these planes before flying and all safety aspects are taken care of before the pilot takes off, the officials said.

The number-plated squadron would be reactivated soon with a more capable aircraft in the near future, the officials said. (ANI)

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national capital. Irani was accompanied by MoS for Women and Child Development Dr Mahendra Munjpara and MoS for Minority Affairs John Barla.

“Smt Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs along with Dr Mahendra Munjpara, MoS for Women & Child Development and Shri John Barla, MoS for Minority Affairs, called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Rashtrapati Bhavan tweeted.

This came a day after the row over the Congress Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s “Rashtrapatni’s” remark.

Chowdhury’s “Rashtrapatni” remarks about President Droupadi Murmu led to a political storm with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha facing disruptions.

In the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Smriti Irani hit out at Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for referring to President as “Rashtrapatni” and sought an apology.

She also attacked Sonia Gandhi over Chowdhury’s remarks alleging that the Congress leader “sanctioned the humiliation” of President Murmu.

In Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman demanded an apology from Sonia Gandhi. Three more opposition members were suspended from Rajya Sabha on Thursday for “unruly behaviour”.

Smriti Irani alleged that Congress workers and leaders “continue to demean the Office of the President of India.”

“Sonia Gandhi, you sanctioned the humiliation of Droupadi Murmu. Sonia ji sanctioned the humiliation of a woman in the highest constitutional post. Sonia ji sanctioned the humiliation of a poor woman who ascends to the highest Office in this country. You sanctioned the insult of every Indian citizen. You through your male Congress workers and leaders continue to demean the Office of the President of India. Apologies to the nation. Sonia Gandhi apologise to the tribal, poor and woman of the country,” she said.

BJP women MPs have filed a complaint with the Lok Sabha Speaker against Sonia Gandhi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also called on President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also called on President Droupadi Murmu for the first time after her assumption of office.

Murmu on July 25 took oath as the 15th President of India.

The 64-year-old defeated opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha to become the first tribal and the second woman to hold the top constitutional post.

Murmu addressing the nation after being sworn in as the 15th President of India stated that she was the first President to be born in independent India and was honoured to take charge at a time when the country is completing 75 years of Independence.

She also said her elevation to the post is not only her own achievement but that of every poor of the country and is a reflection of the confidence of crores of Indians. (ANI)

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday sent 60 students of the Union Territory as part of the Bharat Darshan Tour to Delhi and Hyderabad.

“The tour organized by J-K Police provides an opportunity for the students to learn about India’s history and culture. It is an educational and cultural tour, where these students can take Poonch’s culture in different parts of India and bring back other cultures here, while also helping in the personality development of the children,” said Rohit Baskotra, Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch.

“Total of 60 students will go on this tour and try to meet Delhi and Hyderabad Police Commissioners. The majority of them are those underprivileged students, who have no means to travel. This will help in their career growth as well,” he added.

One of the students going on the tour said, “From here we’ll go to Jammu, then Delhi and further to Hyderabad by air, which will be a great experience for us and will motivate us to do well in life.”

We’ll also be visiting many different places on our way. We are very thankful to the police department,” the student continued.

The students here are expecting a lot of experience and exposure by getting a chance to visit the metropolitan cities. (ANI)

The Karnataka Police on Thursday said that they have arrested two people in connection with the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha worker Praveen Nettaru.

The accused persons will be produced before a local court, the officials added.

The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Dakhshin Kannada while speaking to ANI said that till now, a total of 15 people were questioned, out of which 2 people were arrested. He further added that they are also probing the possibility of a Kerala registration vehicle used in incident.

Praveen Nettaru, a young BJP worker, was attacked with lethal weapons by unidentified people on a bike in Bellare in Dakshina Kannada late Tuesday evening.

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra while making a statement on the incident said that the involvement of the extremist Popular Front of India (PFI), and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) is suspected.

He further said that the state and central governments are considering to ban the organisations. However, the organisations cannot be banned based on a single incident. Though the groups were banned in other states, they have gotten a stay from courts against the ban, he added.

Araga Jnanendra said that Praveen was a very good person and loyal to the party. BJP workers feel that the incident happened in their own homes. As a result, the party workers expressed their outrage.

Taking a jibe at the Congress, Jnanendra said that the unlike BJP workers who have dedicated their lives to serve the country, there are paid workers in Congress.

Praveen Nettaru’s mother on Wednesday sought the death penalty for the culprits.

“I’m not feeling well. His father is also a heart patient. Culprits should be punished, whoever did this must be hanged,” said Nettaru’s mother.

Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai assured that justice will be served to the family of the victim and those who perpetrated the heinous act will not be spared.

“We will not rest till the culprits who perpetrated the heinous act in Mangaluru, that provokes social unrest and discord, are crushed,” Bommai said.

Bommai on Wednesday also announced the cancellation of the ‘Janotsava’ convention after tensions erupted across the state in connection with the BJP worker’s death. The announcement was made by Bommai during a press conference on Wednesday night.

Praveen Nettar, a Zilla BJP Yuva Morcha committee member, was hacked to death in the Dakshin Kannada district of the state. Nettar was killed in front of his broiler shop in Bellare by three bike-borne people.

When the BJP Yuva Morcha leader was murdered, he was heading toward his home. Tension prevailed in several parts of the Dakshin Kannada district after the murder. Protests also erupted over the murder in several parts of the districts. (ANI)

Assam Police along with Central agencies on Thursday detained 11 persons including a Madrassa teacher for their alleged links with terror outfits Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “From yesterday till today, we have caught two Jihadi modules in Barpeta and Morigaon districts of Assam and arrested all the people involved with Jihadi modules. This coordinated action along with the national police agencies, was a coordinated effort and we will get a lot more information from these arrests.”

“We have closed 700 government madrassas and now we have started general education in them. In one module, we caught a Madrassa teacher. All the children in those closed madrassas will be taken to the general schools,” he added.

“All these modules are not only sleeper cells but they also actively participate in their operation both in Bangladesh and in India. This is not a state operation this is a national operation,” said the Assam CM.

“Assam Police has detained 11 persons from Morigaon, Barpeta, Guwahati and Goalpara districts. They are connected to Islamic fundamentalism having linkages with global terror outfits viz. AQIS and ABT. Further action is being taken per law,” GP Singh, Special DGP L&O, Border, Director V&AC & Chief Anti-Rhino Poaching Task Force, Assam, told ANI.

As per police information, accused Mustafa alias Mufti Mustafa, a resident of Saharia Gaon in Morigaon district is an important financial conduit of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) module in India. Mustafa was an active member of ABT.

The ABT is linked to Al Qaeda in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS).

Mustafa runs a madrassa by the name of Jamiul Huda Madrassa at Sahariagaon. According to police, the activities of the madrassa were being funded through the proceeds of unlawful activities.

The Jamiul Huda Madrassa has been sealed by the police. “It is suspected of being a harbour or safe house of the detained persons,” added the police.

Along with Mustafa, police arrested Afsaruddin Bhuyan (39) from Morigaon.

The police arrested Abbas Ali (22), a resident of Goalpara. According to police, he provided logistics and shelter to one of the absconding members namely Mehbubur Rehman.

Mehbubur Rehman alias Mehbub is also a member of Ansarullah Bangla Team. He was wanted in the Jogighopa PS case. He was arrested by the Bongaigaon police team on July 26.

“We got info about a man named Mustafa who runs a madrassa in Moriabari associated with anti-national activities. He’s linked with financing of the Ansarullah Bangla Team related to Al-Qaeda in the sub-continent. Case registered under various sections of UAPA,” said Aparna N, SP, Morigaon.

The other people arrested are Jubair Khan (25), Rafiqul Islam (27), Dewan Hamidul Islam (20), Moinul Haque (42), Kajibur Hussain (37), Muzibaur Rahman (50), Shahanur Aslam and Sahjahan Ali (34).

Eight persons have been arrested by Barpeta Police for links with AQIS and ABT.

A case (no 763/22) has been registered at Barpeta police station under Section 120(b)/121/121(A) IPC read with Section 17/18/18(B)/19/20 UA(P) Act, 1967.

The police have seized numerous electronic devices and incriminating documents from detained persons.

Further investigation and operations are being carried out to unearth the linkages and network.

“It’s an outcome of a long surveillance operation of Assam police and central agencies,” added Special DGP GP Singh. (ANI)

British Luxury brand Burberry has garnered a lot of applause for its inclusive campaign. The luxury brand recently launched their ‘Back To School’ kidswear campaign featuring a four-year-old Sikh child model Sahib Singh.

Making waves for being inclusive and bringing to the fore diversity in fashion, Burberry has, for the first time, had a Sikh child model as the brand’s face.

Sahib’s pictures from the shoot have now gone viral on social media. In the photo shared by Burberry’s official Instagram handle, Sahib is seen wearing a Thomas Burberry Bear puffer jacket layered over a cardigan and shorts. Sahin is also seen donning a black ‘patka’ in it.

Sahib’s Instagram profile, which is managed by his mother, has several BTS videos from the shoot.

Netizens are applauding the brand for the representation of South Asian faces.

Well, this is not the first time Burberry has taken a South Asian for its campaign. In 2013, British-Punjabi model Neelam Gill was cast alongside actor Jamie Campbell Bower and teen sensation Jean Campbell as the brand’s first-ever Indian model.

Tarunjit Nijjer was cast in a campaign featuring the coveted Burberry trench coat with models Cara Delevingne and Suki Waterhouse in 2014. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the 44th Chess Olympiad open at a grand function held at JLN Indoor Stadium, Chennai on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, actor Rajinikanth and Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur were among those present at the ceremony.
The Prime Minister had launched the first-ever Chess Olympiad Torch Relay at the Indira Gandhi National Stadium in New Delhi on June 19.

“There are many temples in Tamil Nadu with beautiful sculptures that represent different sports. Tamil Nadu has a strong historical connection with Chess. The state has produced many Chess masters. It’s home to a vibrant culture and the oldest language ‘Tamil'”, the Prime Minister said at the inauguration event.

The torch travelled to 75 iconic locations in the country for over a period of 40 days, traversing close to 20,000 kilometres and culminating in Mahabalipuram before it heads to the FIDE Headquarters, Switzerland.

The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held from July 28 to August 10 with the registration of 187 countries, a world record in terms of the number of participating countries in a single edition of the Olympiad.

India were handed hosting rights in April when FIDE decided to shift the event outside the original host country, Russia. And since then, AICF has been putting in Herculean efforts, working round the clock, in preparation for this grand event which is happening in India for the first time ever.

The Chess Olympiad Torch Relay reached Madurai in Tamil Nadu on Monday.

The other cities that have been covered by torch relay include Agartala, Namsai, Dibrugarh, Itanagar, Leh, Jammu, Srinagar, Dharamshala, Shimla, Chandigarh, Patiala, Amritsar, Panipat, Gurugram, Kurukshetra, Dehradun, Haridwar, Meerut, Kanpur, Kevadia, Ahmedabad, Dandi, Surat, Jaipur, Daman, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Panaji, Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jhansi, Gangtok, Siliguri, Kohima, Gangtok, Shillong, Guwahati and Siliguri, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Konark, Visakhapatnam, Amaravati, Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram. (ANI)

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said it is “no surprise” that the world’s largest economy is slowing down amid rising inflation in the country.

This comes statement after the US economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter.
“Coming off of last year’s historic economic growth – and regaining all the private sector jobs lost during the pandemic crisis – it’s no surprise that the economy is slowing down as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation. But even as we face historic global challenges, we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure,” Biden said in a statement.

“But even as we face historic global challenges, we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure,” he added.

Putting a defence for the sliding US economy, Biden said, “Our job market remains historically strong, with unemployment at 3.6 per cent and more than 1 million jobs created in the second quarter alone. Consumer spending is continuing to grow.”

He further said that his economic plan is focused on bringing inflation down, without giving up all the economic gains his government has made.

US Gross Domestic Product contracted by 0.9 per cent in the second quarter of this year after a first-quarter drop of 1.6 per cent, the US Commerce Department said Thursday in a preliminary estimate that technically placed the economy in a possible recession.

“Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2022,” the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a unit within the Commerce Department, said in a news release, announcing the so-called “advance estimate” on GDP.

The department issues three estimates altogether on GDP for each quarter. The advance estimate is the first and will be followed by two other estimates before the third quarter.

“The GDP estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The ‘second’ estimate for the second quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on August 25, 2022,” the Bureau said.

The Hill newspaper reported that most economists expected US GDP to fall for the second consecutive quarter as the economy faced more pressure from high inflation, rising interest rates, slowing job growth, falling home sales and other headwinds.

The newspaper report said experts have become more fearful of the US slipping into recession after GDP fell at an annualized rate of 1.6 per cent in the first quarter. (ANI)

The Indian Air Force said that both the pilots in a twin-seater Mig-21 trainer aircraft died after sustaining fatal injuries when it crashed near Barmer district of Rajasthan on Thursday.

According to the IAF, the aircraft crashed around 9.10 pm Thursday.

“A twin-seater Mig-21 trainer aircraft of the IAF was airborne for a training sortie from Utarlai air base in Rajasthan this evening. Around 9:10 pm, the aircraft met with an accident near Barmer. Both pilots sustained fatal injuries,” the IAF said in a tweet.

The IAF also expressed deep regret at the loss of lives and said that a court of inquiry has been ordered to probe into the matter.

“IAF deeply regrets the loss of lives and stands firmly with the bereaved families. A court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” it added.

Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on the crash of the fighter aircraft in Barmer. The Air Chief briefed him about the incident in detail. (ANI)

Urfi Javed’s fashion buzz continues to make headlines as she took her boldness a notch higher and left no stone unturned to amuse netizens.

From creating a dress out of safety pins to donning clothing made of razor blades, Urfi surprises netizens and proved that it’s impossible to ignore her peculiar sense of fashion. She captured eyeballs with her distinctive attires, exposing one of her breasts, covered merely by her hand.
Check out her hilarious yet out-of-the-box and sizzling outfits:

Urfi Javed stunned netizens by exposing just her left breast and covering it merely with her hand.

The internet sensation covered herself in a bed of roses. She opted for glossy lip colour and a glamorous ensemble. She appeared too seductive for the picture with filled-in brows and mascara-coated eyes.

Urfi flaunted her flower bikini look. She donned just wore yellow flowers that nearly concealed her breasts.

Urfi Javed was seen in a risque black outfit, she donned mesh cloth to barely hide her breasts and set the internet on fire.

Underneath the unique outfit, the ‘Bigg Boss OTT’ fame contestant is wearing a two-piece black bikini. It took Urfi and her team three days to make the particular outfit. (ANI)