As part of efforts to wipe out its identity as a Maoist-affected village, residents of Mulchera in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district start their day by singing the national anthem together.
Mulchera, located 900 kilometres from state capital Mumbai, has a population around 2,500.
The village has a mixed population of tribals and people hailing from West Bengal. It is the third village in the country and second in Maharashtra after Telangana’s Nalgonda village and Bhilwadi village in Sangli district of Maharashtra to start this practice, another police official said.
Every day, residents of the village, including the owners of shops and other commercial establishments, small traders and police personnel gather at 8.45 am and sing the anthem.
People stop their vehicles wherever they are when the singing of the national anthem starts and join in. Even two state transport buses plying in the village come to a halt and its staff and passengers join in the chorus.
The neighbouring village of Vivekanandpur has also started this practice. Its residents also sing the national anthem at 8.45 am everyday.
Police officials do rounds of Mulchera and Vivekanandpur with two loudspeakers everyday and play a patriotic song for a minute. It signals that the national anthem is about to start. This has given people new energy and increased their sense of patriotism, the police official said.
The number of disputes has fallen as the communal singing of the anthem has increased the sense of fraternity, he said.
Mulchera’s neighbouring village of Lohara, which falls in the jurisdiction of Mulchera police station, was the site of the first encounter between police and the Maoists in Gadchiroli, said Assistant Police Inspector (API) Ashok Bhapkar who started the anthem-singing initiative in the village.
Shah, a resident of Kandivali, has been arrested under section 489-A (counterfeiting currency) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. The police are probing how much fake currency the accused has pushed into the market and on whose directions he was printing such notes.
A 22-year-old man was arrested for printing counterfeit notes and Rs 7 lakh in fake currency was seized from his premises in the eastern suburb of Mankhurd Mumbai. Based on a tip-off, the police raided the premises belonging to Rohit Shah, a salesman and seized fake currency of various denominations from his possession. The police also recovered a printer, laptop and other materials, worth more than Rs 2 lakh, used for printing fake currency.
Counterfeit notes detected for various denominations in the banking sector, the Reserve Bank of India ascertained a 101.93% rise in fake notes of Rs 500 denomination and 54% for fake notes of Rs 2,000. The increase rate of counterfeit notes for Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 200 were 16.45%, 16.48% and 11.7% respectively. RBI detected an increase of 10.7% in counterfeit notes of Indian denominations in FY22. Counterfeit notes detected for denominations of Rs 50 and Rs 100 declined by 28.65% and 16.71% respectively.
The total number of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of all denominations detected in the banking sector increased to 2,30,971 pieces The number of fake currency note of ₹500 denomination detected by the banking system more than doubled to 79,669 pieces in the fiscal 2021-22 over the previous year, according to the RBI annual report. The number of counterfeit notes of ₹2,000 denomination detected in the system was 13,604 pieces during 2021-22, up 54.6% from the preceding financial year.
After declining in 2020-21, the total number of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of all denominations detected in the banking sector increased to 2,30,971 pieces from 2,08,625 pieces in the previous fiscal. During 2019-20, the FICNs detected stood at 2,96,695 pieces.”Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 16.4 per cent, 16.5 per cent, 11.7 per cent, 101.9 per cent and 54.6 per cent in the counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 200, Rs 500 (new design) and Rs 2,000, respectively,” said the RBI’s annual report for 2021-22.
The counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of ₹50 and ₹100 declined by 28.7% and 16.7%, respectively.During 2021-22, out of the total FICNs detected in the banking sector, 6.9% were detected at the Reserve Bank and 93.1% at other banks, the report said. One of the major objectives of the 2016 demonetisation of the then prevailing ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes was to curb circulation of fake currency notes.
The report also said the total expenditure incurred on security printing during April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 was ₹4,984.8 crore as against ₹4,012.1 crore in the previous year (July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021).Also, the disposal of soiled banknotes increased by 88.4% to 1,878.01 crore pieces during 2021-22 from 997.02 crore pieces in the previous year.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender in India from midnight. Modi had said that the decision had been taken to “fight corruption, black money and terrorism”.
The Rs 2,000-notes and Rs 500-notes with a new design had been introduced after demonetisation. In the annual report released on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India stated that between April 2021 and March, 13,604 fake notes of Rs 2,000 were detected. In the previous one-year period, 8,798 fake notes of the denomination had been found. The number of Rs 500 fake notes jumped from 39,453 in 2020-2021 to 79,669 in 2021-2022, the report said. However, fake notes in the denominations of Rs 50 and Rs 100 declined by 28.7% and 16.7%, according to the RBI. While one of the major goals of demonetisation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to eliminate fake currency from the system, the maximum number of cases of counterfeit in India still relate to fake currency, followed by alcohol and FMCG. Most of such cases took place in Uttar Pradesh. The counterfeit cases in UP were more than three times that of the second in the list, Bihar. However, counterfeit crimes increased at a rate of 82 per cent on-year in Bihar, which was the highest.
Assam’s Biswanath district police arrested 17 Bangladeshi nationals for allegedly violating visa rules on September 17.
Police arrested the Bangladeshi nationals from the Baghmari area under Jinjia police station in Biswanath district which is a remote and riverine area.
According to police, the Bangladeshi national group entered India using a tourist Visa, but they had carried out religious teachings and other religious activities.
“We received information that 17 Bangladeshi nationals are staying at the Baghmari area under the Jinjia police station in Biswanath district for the last 2-3 days and are carrying out religious meetings, and religious activities in the area”, said Navin Singh, Superintendent of Police of Biswanath district.
Singh further added, “They are the members of a particular sector and their leader (Dharmaguru) is also part of this group. We first detained them and verified at the police station and found that they entered India via Cooch Behar on various dates from August”.
According to police the accused visited the South Salmara district of Assam and the police alerted their leader not to organize religious meetings. The accused informed the police that they would not carry out any religious meetings and would proceed to Ajmer Sharif.
“But they again entered into Assam and had taken shelter at Baghmari area in Biswanath district which is a very remote and riverine area. They came on tourist visas and carried out religious teaching and other religious activities. It’s a violation of Visa rules and for that reason, we have registered a case under the Foreigners’ Act and arrested them and will produce them before the court,” Navin Singh said.
According to police, the Bangladeshi national group was led by Sayed Ashraful Alom. This group carried out similar religious meetings and other religious activities in South Salmara in the last week of August.
Earlier on August 28, Border Security Force (BSF) personnel detained five Bangladeshi nationals for illegally crossing the international border in Assam’s South Salmara Mankachar district on Saturday.
These people crossed the international border inadvertently and were handed over to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on humanitarian grounds as a goodwill gesture, BSF said in a statement.
Earlier on August 18, a similar incident was reported from the same district where two Bangladeshi nationals were sentenced to five years imprisonment. The District and Sessions court of South Salmara Mankachar district convicted two Bangladeshi nationals and sentenced them to five years imprisonment for entering India illegally.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each. The failure the payment the fine will lead to imprisonment of another six months for both. The two convicted accused have been identified as Abdul Hai and Niranjan Ghosh.
District Public Prosecutor Biswajit Mahanta said, “District and Sessions Judge court convicted two accused persons namely Abdul Hai and Niranjan Ghosh both are hailing from Bangladesh and the court awarded five years of imprisonment to them.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the National Logistics Policy in the national capital which, he said, was an important step towards the “making of a developed India”, while adding that the policy has come with a “new energy for every sector”.
In his address, PM Modi said, “In the Amrit Kaal, the country has taken an important step towards the making of a developed India. The echo of Make in India and India becoming self-reliant is everywhere. India is setting big export targets and is also fulfilling them. India is emerging as a manufacturing hub. In such a situation, the National Logistics Policy has brought new energy for all sectors.”
“India is emerging as a manufacturing hub. The world has accepted India as a leader in manufacturing. The National Logistics Policy has helped the manufacturing sector,” he added.
The Prime Minister called the policy a solution for many problems and said that it would lead to improvements of “all our systems”.
“There has been a constant effort to find solutions for fast last-mile delivery, resolution of transportation-related challenges, for saving time and money of our manufacturers and industries, all these subjects. The national logistics policy is a form of its solution. I believe that for the improvement of all our systems, there will be coordination between various units of the government working in these fields with a holistic approach. It will result in the delivery of the speed that we want to achieve,” he said.
The logistics policy is aimed at bringing down the logistic costs and improving the competitiveness of domestic goods in the global market.
India spends around 13 to 14 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on logistics costs. While countries like Germany and Japan, which are known for their developed logistics infrastructure and systems, spend just around eight to nine per cent of the GDP on logistics costs.
The logistic sector has more than 20 government agencies, 40 Partner Government Agencies (PGA), 37 export promotion councils, 500 certifications, over 10,000 commodities and a $160-billion market.
According to the World Bank Logistics Index of 2018, India is ranked 44th in logistics costs, far behind countries like the United States and China which are at the 14th and 26th positions, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 72 on September 17, with politicians and dignitaries extending their best wishes to him.
BJP is planning to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday with all district level offices of the party being asked to organise a “Sewa Pakhwara” or service camp for the next 16 days
Mr. Modi will be speaking at four programmed linked to diverse fields, including the release of cheetahs brought from Namibia in a Madhya Pradesh national park.
Wishing him, President Droupadi Murmu tweeted, “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday. I wish that the nation-building campaign being carried out by you with incomparable hard work, dedication and creativity, continues to progress under your leadership. I wish that God bless you with good health and long life.”
प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी को जन्मदिवस की हार्दिक बधाई व शुभकामनाएं। मेरी कामना है कि आप के द्वारा अतुलनीय परिश्रम, कर्तव्यनिष्ठा और सृजनशीलता के साथ किया जा रहा राष्ट्रनिर्माण का अभियान, आप के नेतृत्व में आगे बढ़ता रहे। मेरी शुभेच्छा है कि ईश्वर आपको स्वस्थ और दीर्घायु बनाए।
Opposition leaders, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also wished him.
The Shiv Sena called for a signature campaign on Saturday against the Maharashtra government for losing the Vedanta-Foxconn contract. The company was in advanced talks with Maharashtra having signed an MoU with the government of Gujarat to set up their semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in the state. The semiconductor and display manufacturing unit was supposed to be structured in Maharashtra. The sudden move has created a political firestorm in Maharashtra. Huge number of people participated in the campaign.
In the leadership of Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare and Thane District Chief of Shiv Sena, Kedar Dighe the event took place. Vedanta, one of India’s biggest mining companies, and Taiwan’s Foxconn sealed agreements on Tuesday to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat, setting up a political row in neighbouring Maharashtra where the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena blamed each other for the proposed plants that were expected to be built in Maharashtra.
MP Rajan Vichare said, “Foxconn Vedanta project was pitched in Maharashtra by Maha Vikas Aaghadi Government. With this project, the unemployment issue would have been resolved. But this present government grabbed the Employment of our youth by this decision.”
He further stated, “On the occasion of PM Modi’s birthday we will request him to give us back our Maharashtra’s Project and Employment of our youths.”
Thane District chief of Shiv Sena Kedar Dighe said, “We organized this Signature campaign to prohibit the decision taken by the Government. The Maharashtra Government needs to open their eyes and recognize the importance of this project. How can crucial projects like this shift to some other state? There is some conspiracy behind this that should be investigated.”
“Youth should come together and protest in large numbers if they want projects like Vedanta to happen in Maharashtra as it is a matter of livelihood of youth”, he further emphasised.
Unidentified men opened fire at a labor contractor in Maharashtra’s Thane in the morning. No one was injured in this incident which happened at Ghodbunder road at 3;45 am, a senior inspector said.
Ganesh Kokate was traveling in his car, when five motorcycle-borne men arrived at the scene and shot at the vehicle, she said.
Kokate did not sustain any injuries due to the shots that were fired at point-blank range
Investigation Agency (NIA) for having links with the proscribed terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda and is charged with radicalising youths as well as conspiring to send them to Kashmir and Khorasan province of Afghanistan to undergo terrorist training. A First Information Report (FIR) accessed by the ANI reveals the fact further mentioning that Lashkar also provoked youths to wage war in the name of religion.
Lashkar, a resident of Theltikar village in Assam’s Cachar district and presently residing in the Thilaknagar area in Bengaluru, was found indulged in activities relating to “radicalization of youth through social media, involvement in provoking youths to indulge in treason against India and inciting communal violence by projecting that Indian forces are committing atrocities on Muslims in Kashmir”.
“Further, the aforementioned accused had conspired to send the radicalized youth to Kashmir and Khorasan province of Afghanistan to undergo terrorist training and wage war against India and had links with Al-Qaeda and other entities and handlers from foreign countries for carrying out terror-related activities across India,” reads the FIR.
The NIA FIR was filed on August 30 against Lashkar and one Abdul Alim Mondal alias Md Juba, a native of Kultali, Godabar, Tangrabichi, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal and presently residing at Salem, Tamil Nadu. Both were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and sections 10, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The FIR is based on a case earlier registered by Bengaluru Police on July 24.
Bengaluru Police received information on July 24 against Lashkar that he had created Telegram groups namely “The Eagle of Kohrasun” and “Hinder-Eagle” and had radicalized the youths. Later, the investigators found, that the accused conspired to send the youths to Kashmir and Khorasan province of Afghanistan to undergo the radicalised youths’ terrorist training and provoked them to wage war in the name of religion.
Investigator also found that Lashkar had tried to carry out “disruptive activities” in India. “He is having links with entities and handlers from Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan for the terror-related activities.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested two persons on the charges of alleged physical assault of a girl who later died in Bheera police station area of Lakhimpur Kheri. The victim later succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment in the Bhiju CHC.
The arrested persons have been identified as Salimuddin and Aasip, who hailed from the same village as the victim and allegedly assaulted her while she was sitting at the entrance of her house in Musepur, an official statement read.
The aforesaid incident, which took place on September 12, came to light days after two Dalit girls were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday (September 14)
The Border Security Force (BSF) has seized mobile phones worth Rs 39,29,000 in West Bengal’s Malda district near India-Bangladesh International Border (IB), the forces said on Saturday. The BSF’s 70 Battalion troops under South Bengal Frontier, deputed at Border Out Post Sukhdevpur, seized a consignment of 359 mobile phones late on Friday night on the International Border (IB).
The seizure was based on the basis of accurate information received from BSF intelligence sources, said the BSF, adding “its troops of Border Out Post Sukhdevpur noticed about 10 to 12 suspected smugglers moving towards fencing with bundles when the force reached there”.
“But seeing the troops coming towards them, the smugglers fled with the help of thick darkness and bushes. After that the jawans launched a special search operation, during the search, eight bags were recovered in the pit of soil near fencing,” the BSF said. “On the opening of the recovered bags, mobile phones of various companies were found.
The estimated value of the seized mobile phones is Rs 39,29,000.” According to the BSF inputs, the names of many Indian smugglers involved in this smuggling have come to the fore, who were involved in this smuggling.
An FIR has been lodged against all those smugglers at the Baishnabnagar Police Station and the mobile phones that have been seized have also been handed over to the Police Station concerned for further legal action.
