Month: September 2022

Rajasthan’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ashok Chandna on Monday launched a scathing attack on former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, saying that he did not want to fight with Pilot.

“If Sachin Pilot becomes the Chief Minister by throwing a shoe at me, then he should be made soon because today I do not feel like fighting. The day I come to fight, then only one will be left and I do not want this,” the Minister said in a tweet on Monday.
Actually, shoes were hurled during an event which was for marking the immersion of the ashes of Gurjar leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla in Rajasthan’s Pushkar and thousands of people turned up to pay their last respect in a show of strength by the community.

It has been reported that when Chandna came to deliver his speech, people hurled shoes at him, raising ‘Sachin Pilot Zindabad’ slogans.

Later on, the Minister took Twitter and said, “Today a wonderful sight was seen- When Rajendra Rathod, (then cabinet member) who ordered the killing of 72 persons came on the stage, was applauded and shoes were thrown at those whose family members went to jail during the ‘Gurjar reservation’ agitation.”

“The family members of the martyrs were sitting on the platform on which the shoes were thrown, at least they should have been taken care of,” he said in another tweet.

However, talking about Colonel Bainsla’s legacy, he said that Saheb awakened education, and political and social consciousness in the society and his sacrifice will be remembered for centuries.

BJP MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP state president Satish Poonia and Congress MLA and Industries Minister Shakuntala Rawat were also present at the immersion event.

Notably, born in Mundia village of Karauli district of Rajasthan, Kirori Singh Bainsla was a teacher but following the footsteps of his father, he soon joined the Indian Army.

Recruited in the Rajputana Rifles, Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla had fought in the 1962 Indo-China war and the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war.

A prominent face of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gurjar vote bank in the state, Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son had joined the party in 2019 after being actively involved in the movement for over 14 years. (ANI)

The Delhi High Court on Monday while hearing a plea moved by a retired police official against whom proceedings were initiated in the year 1992 over the issue of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the year 1984, observed that the “nation was still bleeding” after the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and allegation of misconduct against him is serious in nature.

The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad on Monday after hearing the concerned submissions granted liberty to the competent authority to pass an appropriate punishment order against a retired police official who was then posted at the Kingsway Camp in 1984, wherein the most unfortunate incident occurred. The police official was later charged for not making preventive detention and not deploying proper force.
The allegation against him was that he failed to deploy proper force in his area, make preventive detentions and take action to disperse the miscreants during the violence.

The bench also decided to set aside the orders passed by the disciplinary authority and the Central Administrative Tribunal against the then police station house master of Kingsway Camp. It said that innocent lives were lost in riots.

“Misconduct is serious in nature, the police official cannot get away on account of his advanced age of 79 years. Innocent people lost their lives. Age will not help,” the bench said.

At the time when one of the most unfortunate tragedies took place “Sikh riots in the NCT area”, the petitioner was charged for not making any preventive detention, not deploying proper force in the area, and not taking any action in dispersing the miscreants.

The charge sheet was issued on March 5, 1990. The petitioner did submit a report. Finally, an enquiry officer was appointed and he submitted a report. He disagreed to the findings of the enquiry officer on August 6, 1999, and also issued a fresh charge sheet.

The court in order said, “In light of the decision of the division bench, this court is of the opinion that the order passed by CAT as well as disciplinary authority is set aside and disciplinary authority is granted liberty to issue a fresh note of disagreement within a period of four weeks to the petitioner and the petitioner is also granted four weeks’ time to file a response to take note of disagreement.” (ANI)

The e-auction of gifts and souvenirs presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin on his birthday on September 17.

Over the past few years, the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honored to receive innumerable mementos and gifts from famous personalities and well-wishers from the length and breadth of the nation. The historic gifts of love include exquisite paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, and folk artifacts.

The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi is now ready to welcome visitors for a very special exhibition of mementos and gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As many as 1200 gifts and mementos given to the Prime Minister will be auctioned. Among these 1,200 gifts, the center of attraction is the replicas and models of the Shri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

This time around, however, is an exciting new attraction of sports memorabilia. Team India’s stellar performance at the Commonwealth Games, the Deaflympics, and Thomas Cup Championship earned us a place in history and an enviable haul of medals. Now the badminton racket, autographed by the ace shuttler, K Srikant can be owned by any body. Also up for grabs are sports jerseys bearing autographs of the wrestling, hockey, lawn bowling, and para-powerlifting teams.

Also, the statue of Rani Kamala Pati, presented by Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the Prime Minister on behalf of his state government, and the Trishool presented by Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and Amrit Kalash containing the sacred soil of Ayodhya are some other attractions.

Talking about this exhibition, Director General of NGMA Adwaita Gadanayaka said that “It is an honor to showcase this collection of over 1,000 objects received as gifts, which will now be on show for the general public. All these collector’s items will go under the hammer later this month and anyone can bid and acquire these historic gift items.”

Gadanayaka further said, “These mementos are tokens of love and appreciation that the Prime Minister inspires amongst people. While many are objects of considerable artistic value, some are simple handmade gifts of love; all of which are nevertheless, collector’s items by virtue of their place in history.”

“It is with pride that we announce the auction of these gift items from September 17 to October 2, 2022, and the general public is invited to participate in the same. This will be the fourth of the series of successful auctions, first launched by the PMO in January 2019. As in the past, the funds raised through the auction will contribute to a worthy cause the Namami Gange Programme,” he added.

It is notable that a flagship project of the Union Government. Namami Gange seeks to conserve and rejuvenate our National River, Ganga by controlling pollution and improving the fragile river ecosystem.

The sacred river, worshipped as Goddess Ganga, is integral to the spiritual and cultural landscape of India and also plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of India as nearly forty percent of our population depends on the river for sustenance. The proceeds generated by the auction will provide a much-needed impetus to this noble service offered to the river Ganga, truly the lifeline of the country.

The e-auction will take place online from September 17 to October 2, 2022, and the general public is invited to participate in the same by logging on to this link- https://pmmementos.gov.in/

This will be the fourth in the series of successful auctions, first launched by the PMO in January 2019. As in the past, the funds raised through the auction will contribute to a worthy cause, the Namami Gange Programme.

The flagship project of the Union Government seeks to conserve and rejuvenate our National River, Ganga and improve the fragile river ecosystem. The proceeds generated by the auction will provide a much-needed impetus to this noble cause. (ANI)

India’s retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent in the previous month due to a sharp rise in food prices, as per the government data released on Monday.

Retail inflation has been above the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band for the eighth consecutive month. With the headline inflation coming above 6 per cent for the eighth month in a row, the RBI is on a brink of failing to meet its inflation mandate.
The RBI is mandated to keep inflation in a range of 2-6 per cent. The RBI is deemed to have failed in its mandate if the average inflation remains outside the 2-6 per cent band for three consecutive quarters.

Retail food inflation surged to 7.62 per cent in August as against 6.75 per cent recorded in the previous month. There was a sharp jump in vegetable prices. Inflation in vegetables soared to 13.23 per cent in August.

In August, the price rise was sharper in rural areas than the urban areas. Rural inflation surged to 7.15 per cent in August from 6.8 per cent in the previous month. Urban inflation jumped to 6.72 per cent in August from 6.49 per cent in July 2022, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

The Price data are collected from selected 1114 urban markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of the Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster.

During the month of August 2022, NSO collected prices from 99.9 per cent villages and 98.4 per cent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 89.6 per cent for rural and 92.8 per cent for urban. (ANI)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday carried out searches at 50 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) to dismantle and disrupt the emerging nexus between terrorists, gangsters, drug smugglers, traffickers based in India and abroad.

In its ongoing efforts to dismantle these transnational terror and crime networks, the NIA conducted searches in Fazilka, Faridkot, Muktsar Sahib, Moga, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Mohali Districts of Punjab, East Gurugram, Bhiwani, Yamuna Nagar, Sonepat and Jhajjar districts of Haryana, Hanumangarh and Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan and Dwarka, Outer North, North West, North East and Shahdara districts of Delhi/NCR.

Searches were conducted today morning at the premises of Goldy Brar (Canada), Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, Varinder Pratap alias Kala Rana, Kala Jathedi, Vikram Brar and Gaurav Patyal alias Lucky Patyal (who was earlier arrested in Armenia).

Besides, the raids were conducted at the premises of Neeraj Bawana, Koushal Chaudhary, Tillu Tajpuria, Amit Dagar, Deepak Kumar alias Tinu, Sandeep alias Bandar, Umesh alias Kala, Irfan alias Cheenu Pahalwan, Ashim alias Hashim Baba, Sachin Bhanja and their associates.

During the searches, the NIA said six pistols, one revolver and one shotgun have been seized along with ammunition.

Apart from that, the NIA teams seized drugs, cash, incriminating documents, digital devices, details of Benami property and threat letters.

The NIA crackdown followed the launch of investigations against this nexus by the NIA after the re-registration of two cases, earlier registered by Delhi Police and the agency on August 26.

In these cases, a few of the most desperate gang leaders and their associates based in India and abroad, who are spearheading and carrying out such terror and criminal activities, were identified and booked, said the NIA.

“The recent sensational crimes and extortion calls by criminal syndicates and gangsters to businessmen, professionals including doctors had created a widespread scare among the people,” said the NIA.

The counter-terror agency said these gangs were using cyber-space to publicise these crimes to create terror among the public at large.

The NIA investigations also revealed that such criminal acts were not isolated local incidents. Still, there was a deep-rooted conspiracy amongst terrorists, gangsters and drug smuggling cartels and networks, who were operating from both within and outside the country.

“Many gang leaders and members had fled from India and were operating from foreign countries, including Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, and Australia.”

Ongoing probes by the NIA in cases being investigated by the agency, such as the killing of Shaurya Chakra Awardee Comrade Balwinder Singh in Punjab also revealed that most of these conspiracies were being hatched from inside jails of different states and were being executed by an organized network of operatives based in abroad, it said.

“Preliminary Investigations have revealed that these gangs were carrying out targeted killings, including those of prominent people, to terrorise the general public to extort money for running and promoting their criminal syndicates and activities. These gangs were also raising funds to carry out such criminal activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons.”

Further investigations will continue dismantling these terror networks and their funding and support infrastructure, added the NIA. (ANI)