The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya in connection with the West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam, said sources.
According to sources, Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education was arrested today after he was questioned overnight by ED officials in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam.
He will be produced before the court today. Bhattacharya represents the Palashipara assembly constituency. ED has been probing the West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam case and had earlier summoned Bhattacharya.
Notably, the Supreme Court on September 30 extended the interim protection granted to Bhattacharya in connection with the alleged irregularities in primary teachers’ appointments till further orders.
The court had said that interim protection granted to Manik Bhattacharya shall continue till further order. The court had directed him to cooperate with the investigation agency.
ED also arrested then West Bengal Industries Minister and former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in the SSC (School Service Commission) scam.
The Netherlands cricket team got a major boost in their quest for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia after the addition of India’s former World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten to their coaching staff on Tuesday.
Netherlands are placed in Group A of the first round of the T20 World Cup, along with the UAE, Namibia, and Sri Lanka. They play the UAE on October 16, followed by games against Namibia and Sri Lanka on October 18 and 20, respectively.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 12 stage, which begins on October 21. The Dutch also added Australian veteran all-rounder Dan Christain to their coaching staff to further enhance their chances at the World Cup.
Kirsten has already worked with head coach Ryan Cook and skipper Scott Edwards at Gary Kirsten’s Cape Town cricket academy while Christain joined the team in Australia after the Dutch team landed in Australia. Kirsten prominently led India to victory in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and has subsequently bolstered his coaching credentials with impressive stints with South Africa and the Gujarat Titans in the IPL.
The former South African batsman played for the Proteas in the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia, and he previously assisted the Netherlands during their Super League series against Ireland last year.
The 54-year-old has already enjoyed his time with the Dutch camp and feels they can make an impression on the big stage in Australia.
“I really enjoyed working with the Dutch Team in Cape Town and I look forward to joining them as a consultant in the T20 World Cup. I was impressed with the level of skill and professionalism during the camp. They will be ready and determined to make a big impact at the T20 World Cup,” Kirsten said as quoted by ICC.
While Christian may not yet have the same coaching qualifications as Kirsten, his playing credentials are equally outstanding, with the 39-year-old having played 23 T20Is and 20 ODIs for Australia and earlier winning a whopping nine domestic T20 titles around the world.
Christian hasn’t played for his country since a T20I against Bangladesh in Mirpur last year, but the all-rounder has a wealth of playing experience in Australia and has been assisting the Dutch camp in acclimatizing to the conditions that will most likely be present during the three group games in the Victorian city of Geelong.
“I’ve had a great couple of weeks getting to know the guys, and I’ve been extremely impressed with everyone’s work ethic at practice. I’m looking forward to seeing them have some well-deserved success on the field,” Christian said.
The Netherlands lost their first warm-up match to Scotland by 18 runs on Monday and will play West Indies in Melbourne on Wednesday before traveling to Geelong for their first-round matches against the UAE, Namibia, and Sri Lanka.
India’s gems and jewellery exports witnessed a 27.17 per cent growth in September to Rs 30,195.21 crore (USD 3765.51 million) as compared to Rs 23,743.46 crore during the same month last year, data released by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) showed.
Since the start of the financial year 2022-23, the overall gross exports of gem and jewellery rose 12.82 per cent to Rs 161,545.06 crores on a cumulative basis (USD 20,580.11 million) as compared to Rs 143,187.15 crore (USD 19,359.01 million) for the same period last year, data showed.
With this, the sector has achieved 45 per cent of the total export target of USD 45.7 billion for the current financial year. “With a robust growth of gem & jewellery exports in September, the last quarter of the year is expected to be more fulfilling as sales will be driven by the Holiday season and festivities,” Vipul Shah, Chairman of GJEPC said. Plain gold jewellery has continued to gain traction with an average growth of 19.43 per cent (in dollar terms) post the India-UAE CEPA agreement.
“However, there are a few bottlenecks which if resolved would further boost the gem and jewellery trade between India and UAE. Lab-grown diamond exports continue to have a positive run, focused measures will further strengthen such exports from India,” Shah said, adding that he was confident the sector would certainly achieve the export target. Following is the item-wise break up of exports of gems and jewellery during the April-September period and for the month of September: For the period of April – September 2022, the overall gross exports of Cut and Polished diamonds grew 4.71 per cent to Rs 95,805.48 crores as compared to Rs 91,495.04 crore for the same period last year. In September 2022, the overall gross export of Cut and Polished diamonds grew 21.99 per cent to Rs 17,107.64 crore as compared to Rs 14,023.78 crore in September 2021.
For the period of April to September 2022, the provisional gross export of total Gold Jewellery (plain and studded) increased 24.88 per cent to Rs 38,939.62 crore as compared to Rs 31,182.32 crore for the same period last year.
For September 2022, the total gross export of Gold Jewellery (plain and studded) witnessed a growth of 25.42 per cent to Rs 7,067.17 crore as compared to Rs 5,634.86 crore for the same period last year. In the financial year-to-date (April to September 2022), provisional gross export of Plain Gold Jewellery grew 26.92 per cent to Rs 16,395.42 crore as compared to Rs 12,917.66 crores for the same period last year.
For September 2022, the total gross export of Plain Gold Jewellery witnessed a growth of 30.78 per cent to Rs 2,556.40 crores as compared to Rs 1,954.78 crores for the same last year.
For the period of April to September 2022, provisional gross exports of all kinds of Studded Gold jewellery surged 23.43 per cent to Rs 22,544.21 crore as compared to Rs 18,264.67 crore for the same period last year.
For the month of September 2022, the total gross export of all kinds of Studded Gold jewellery went up by 22.57 per cent to Rs 4,510.77 crore as compared to Rs 3,680.08 crore in September 2021.
In the fiscal year-to-date, provisional gross export of Polished Lab-Grown Diamonds soared 70.26 per cent to Rs 7,407.56 crore as compared to Rs 4,350.81 crore for the same period last year.
From April 2022 to September 2022, the provisional gross export of coloured gemstones jumped 54.62 per cent to Rs 1,642.93 crore as compared to Rs 1,062.57 crore for the same period last year.
From April to September 2022, the provisional gross export of Silver Jewellery increased 42.68 per cent to Rs 13,735.07 crore as compared to Rs 9,626.64 crore for the same period last year. For the period of April 2022 to September 2022, provisional gross export of Platinum Jewellery grew 52.46 per cent to Rs 153.5 crores as compared to Rs 100.68 crore for the same period last year.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict setting aside the re-appointment of Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee as vice-chancellor of the Calcutta University.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said the impugned high court order is correct in law and facts and does not require interference.
It said the State cannot have done away with the clause requiring approval of the the West Bengal governor, who is the chancellor of the university.
On September 13, the Calcutta High Court set aside the reappointment of Banerjee as vice-chancellor of the Calcutta University, holding that the West Bengal government has no authority to do so as per provisions of the varsity’s Act.
Passing the verdict on a PIL by an alumnus of the university challenging the reappointment of Banerjee, the high court had held that the government order dated August 27, 2021, issued by a special secretary cannot be sustained.
It had ordered that the state had no authority to appoint or reappoint the vice-chancellor either under Section 8 of the Calcutta University Act or by taking recourse to the residuary Section 60 of the Act.
Oral prayers for a stay of operation of the order by lawyers representing the state government and Banerjee were rejected. Banerjee was appointed as vice-chancellor of Calcutta University on August 28, 2017, for four years and her term expired on August 27, 2021. Her tenure was extended by three months by the Chancellor with a rider that the selection process would commence and the vice-chancellor would be appointed by following the due process.
Thereafter, a notification dated August 27, 2021, was issued under the signature of the special secretary of the West Bengal government’s Higher Education Department, whereby Banerjee was reappointed as vice-chancellor of Calcutta University with effect from August 28, 2021, for four years.
Police claimed to have solved 15 cases of house-breaking thefts in Maharashtra’s Palghar district with the arrest of two persons, an official said.
The police also recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 15.08 lakh from the two accused after nabbing them on Sunday. he said.
On September 30, there had been an incident of theft in a house in Kelva police station limits when the family members had gone out for the Navratri celebration.
The thieves had allegedly stolen ornaments worth Rs 64,000 from the house, Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil told reporters on Monday.
A police probe team took the help of the CCTV footage and intelligence inputs and nabbed the two persons for allegedly committing the theft, he said. With their arrest, the police also solved 14 other cases of thefts in Kelva area, he said. A case was registered against the accused under relevant provisions, he added.
Indian stocks slumped for the third straight session on Tuesday amid a decline in global markets on fears of further monetary policy tightening by various central banks.
At 9.33 am, Sensex traded at 57,859.41 points, down 131.70 points or 0.23 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 17,201.15 points, down 39.85 points or 0.23 per cent.
Among the Nifty 50 companies, 37 declined, 12 advanced and one traded steady, National Stock Exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, the rupee has been hovering around its all-time low against the US dollar amid the flight of foreign investments.
This morning, the Indian currency opened at 82.35, against Monday’s close of 82.32.
“The global environment continues to be weak for markets with concerns of a US recession and possible hard landing rising,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
However, Vijayakumar is optimistic about the Indian financial markets. He believes the significant factor contributing to this is that foreign institutional investors selling in India are getting completely absorbed by domestic institutional investors and retail buying. “So even if FIIs continue to sell on a rising dollar and US bond yields, that is unlikely to have a significant impact on markets. More importantly, the fundamentals of the Indian economy and corporates continue to be sound,” Vijayakumar added.
Further, the results for the second quarter have started off well with decent numbers from TCS which have beaten various estimates on most of the parameters. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s largest software exporter, on Monday said its consolidated net profit jumped by 8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,431 crore for the quarter that ended September 30, 2022.
The company’s consolidated revenue from operations rose by 18 per cent to Rs 55,309 crore in the second quarter of 2022-23 as compared to Rs 46,867 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last year.
Ukraine and Russia clashed in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday ahead of a likely vote on a resolution on whether to condemn Moscow’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
A resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions was up for adoption at the UNGA, where the 193 UN members vote and no one wields a veto.
The vote will now likely take place this week, CNN said.
Speaking first at the emergency meeting, Ukraine’s envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya told members states that he had already lost family members to Russian aggression.
He said that around 84 missiles and around two dozen drones had deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure during Monday’s multiple attacks on Ukrainian cities, including schools and universities.
“The entire world has once again, seen the true face of the terrorist State that kills our people. Suffering defeats on the battlefield, Russia takes it out on the peaceful residents of Ukrainian cities,” he said. The Ukrainian envoy said that voting for the draft resolution would be “for each country, for each of our citizens, for your families, for our children – a vote for justice”.
The resolution on the Russian annexation comes days after Moscow vetoed a similar proposal in the UN Security Council. The draft resolution condemns Russia’s “attempted illegal annexations” of the four Ukrainian regions following “so-called referendums”.
The General Assembly meeting began with a procedural vote on a measure which Russia had flagged, proposing that the Ukrainian draft resolution being debated, be voted on by secret ballot, not through an open recorded vote. The Albanian proposal received 107 votes in favour, with 13 against, and 39 abstentions.
Russia’s ambassador Vassily Nebenzya said that the Albanian resolution, which confirmed that a recorded vote would take place following debate, had been a violation of the rules of procedure. He said Russia had been deprived of the ability to present its case and all aspects of the Ukraine crisis that did not suit Western powers, had been conveniently overlooked.
“Ukraine was chosen by these countries for that purpose, was brought under their control and today is a platform for the testing of NATO weaponry and for combat against Russia, using other people,” he said. He accused Ukraine of an act of terrorism in “sabotaging” Russia’s bridge to Crimea, adding that Russia could not stand by and let Ukraine act “with impunity”.
This vote comes after Russia conducted that large-scale strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other locations on Monday, which drew condemnation from several countries.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was deeply shocked and represented “another unacceptable escalation” of the war.
The strikes which have reportedly caused widespread damage to civilian areas and led to dozens of deaths and injuries showed that “as always”, civilians were paying the highest price for Russia’s invasion of February 24, the statement released by the UN Spokesperson added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned of “harsh” reprisals after the Crimea bridge attack on Saturday. In a television appearance, Putin said Russia had struck military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine following the Crimea bridge blast.
He threatened further “harsh” responses that correspond “to the level of threat to the Russian Federation, have no doubt about it,” while accusing Kyiv of “terrorism.”
Now battle between 'Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray' vs 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' 9
The Election Commission of India on Monday allotted a ‘flaming torch’ (Mashaal) election symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, rejecting their claim to the ‘Trishul’ citing religious connotation.
In an order on the dispute in the Shiv Sena, the Election Commission allotted ‘Shiv Sena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ as the party name for the Thackeray faction and ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ (Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena) and the name for the Eknath Shinde group of the party.
Reacting on the name given by EC the Thackeray loyalist and Shiv Sena leader Bhaskar Jadhav said, “We are happy that the three names that matter to us most Uddhavji, Balasaheb and Thackeray – are retained in the new name.”
Minister Deepak Kesarkar of Shinde faction reacted, “Since the time we were in Guwahati we wanted Shiv Sena Balasaheb name. We are satisfied. Symbol we will decide by tomorrow.”
The Commission also rejected ‘Trishul’ (trident) and ‘Gada’ (mace) as election symbols claimed by the two factions of the Shiv Sena, citing their religious connotation.
It also pointed out that the ‘Rising Sun’ election symbol sought by both factions was reserved for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Commission also asked the Shinde faction to resubmit a fresh list of three symbols by 10 am on Tuesday.
The rival factions of Shiv Sena had both claimed ‘Trishul’ and ‘rising sun’ as election symbols.
Five more bodies were airlifted to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp in Uttarkashi’s Matli on Monday.
According to the officials, so far, a total of 26 bodies have been airlifted from Droupadi’s Danda II mountain peak which was hit by a huge avalanche on the morning of October 4.
“Five more bodies have been airlifted to ITBP camp in Matli, today. A total of 26 dead bodies have been airlifted from mount Draupadi Ka Danda-2 till now,” the ITBP informed.
On Saturday, at least seven bodies were brought from the advanced base camp to the Matli helipad. According to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), as many as 29 persons including two instructors and 27 trainees went missing when the avalanche hit Draupadi ka Danda mountain peak in Uttarakhand.
Personnel from various teams of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), the Air Force, the Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the High Altitude War School in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir have been deployed in the rescue operations.
Mountaineers from the NIM participating in a training course were trapped in a glacier crevice on Tuesday morning after an avalanche hit the peak. The team was returning after summiting. About 41 trainees and instructors of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were hit by an avalanche.
The institute said that the Advanced Mountaineering Course commenced on September 14 at NIM Uttarkashi. The course moved to the mountain on September 23 with 41 people- 34 trainees and seven instructors and one nursing assistant. The group arrived at the Base Camp on September 25.
As per the training programme, the course was conducted for high altitude training from October 2-October 4.
After summiting the 5,670 metre altitude Mt Draupadi ka Danda II the team was on its way back when the avalanche struck at around 8:45 am above camp 1 in which 34 trainees and 7 instructors got caught, according to a release by the NIM on October 4.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday moved the Delhi High Court against the Election Commission of India (ECI) decision to freeze the Election Symbol of Bow and Arrow.
The Writ Petition moved by Uddhav Thackeray seeking direction to quash the order passed by the Election Commission of India on October 8, freezing the election symbol of the Shivsena Political Party.
In the alternative, the petition seeks directions to consider and allot the symbol proposed by petitioner Uddhav without restricting the choice of the symbol from the list of free symbols notified by ECI.
After the Election Commission of India (ECI) froze the Shiv Sena’s election symbol of ‘bow and arrow’, the Uddhav Thackeray faction has also submitted the ‘Trishul’, ‘Mashaal’ and ‘Rising Sun’ symbols as their choices in ECI.
The plea stated that “Since bye-elections have been notified in the State of Maharashtra for 166-Andheri East constituency for which the last date of nominations is October 14, and the date of poll is November 3, grave prejudice will be caused to the petitioner and his party if the impugned order is not stayed.”
“While passing the impugned order, the Election Commission of India has failed to consider that from September 19 to October 8, there has been no change in circumstances regarding the claim set up by both the groups in respect of majority and control of the party,” the plea stated.
“Therefore, merely because a bye-election was announced in Andheri East Constituency, wherein admittedly Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde (Present Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra) or his group are not even setting up any candidate, there was no reason for ECI to change the existing status quo regarding the use of name and Symbol by the Petitioner by freezing the symbol of the party,” the plea further stated.
The plea also stated that on January 23, 2018, the Organizational Elections of the Party for the term 2018-2023 were held as per Rule V of the Rules and Regulations of Shiv Sena, which mandates intra-party elections to be conducted once in five years.
In the said elections, the Petitioner, Uddhav Thackeray, was unanimously elected as the Shivsena Paksha Pramukh of the Party.
Notably, EC passed the interim order saying in Andheri East bye polls, neither of the two groups shall be permitted to use the symbol “Bow and Arrow”, reserved for “Shiv Sena”.
The Commission’s ruling came amid the ongoing symbol war between the Uddhav Thackeray camp and rival Eknath Shinde camp.
