Trinamool Congress’ Birbhum District President Anubrata Mondal, who was arrested in a 2020 cattle smuggling case, was brought to the CBI headquarters after a medical check-up at Kolkata’s Command Hospital.
Mondal, a close associate of chief minister Mamta Banerjee was sent to CBI custody till August 20 by an Asansol court.
The CBI interrogated the TMC leader for several hours in the cattle smuggling scam on Saturday. Mondal had been summoned several times by the CBI to appear before it but had evaded citing his health.
He was finally arrested on August 11 from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district.
Earlier, Finance Minister of West Bengal, Chandrima Bhattacharya had alleged that the CBI summons to Mondal was a “political vendetta.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 21, 2020, arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant, in connection with an illegal cattle smuggling case across the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Anubrata Mondal’s name came under the CBI scanner during the investigation of the case. Mondal was also summoned by the CBI previously summoned, for an investigation into his alleged involvement in connection with the post-poll violence.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Fadnavis will also handle Finance and Planning, another key department, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.
Another important portfolio – the Revenue Department – has been given to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who had quit the Congress a few months before the 2019 Assembly elections to join the saffron party.
Shinde had expanded his two-member ministry on Tuesday, 41 days after taking oath as the chief minister by inducting 18 ministers – nine each from his rebel Shiv Sena group and the BJP. However, the list did not include any woman.
Apart from the Urban Development Department, CM Shinde has kept with himself General Administration Department, Public Works Department (public sector undertakings), Information and Public Relations, Transport, Marketing, Social Justice, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, Soil and Water Conservation, Environment and Climate Change and Minority Development.
Fadnavis, in addition to Home and Finance and Planning, will also handle Law and Judiciary, Water Resources, Housing, Energy and Protocol portfolios. Chandrakant Patil, considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was given Higher and Technical Education, Textile and Parliamentary Affairs ministries. In the past, he had handled PWD and Cooperation ministries. Sudhir Mungantiwar has been allocated Forest, Fisheries Development and Cultural Affairs portfolios. During his 2014-19 stint, he had headed Finance and Planning as well as Forest ministries.
BJP’s Atul Save has been given Cooperation and OBC Welfare departments, while Ravindra Chavan has got PWD and Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection ministries. Both of them were Minister of State for a brief period in the past. Former Mumbai BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha has got Tourism Development, Skill Development and Women and Child Development ministries.
Fadnavis’ close confidant Girish Mahajan has been given the responsibility of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Medical Education and Sport and Youth development. Dr Vijaykumar Gavit has been given Tribal Development department, while BJP MLA from western Maharashtra, Suresh Khade has been given the responsibility of Labour ministry.
From the Shinde-led group of Shiv Sena rebels, Deepak Kesarkar is the new minister for School Education. Gulabrao Patil has retained Water Supply and Sanitation department, while Dada Bhuse, who previously held Agriculture, will now handle Ports and Mining. Abdul Sattar has been given Agriculture department. Uday Samant, who was previously the Higher and Technical Education minister, has been given the Industries department. Controversial leader from Shinde camp, Sanjay Rathod, will handle Food and Drugs Department. Rathod, who was the forest minister when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister, was forced to resign after BJP leaders blamed him for a woman’s suicide.
While Tanaji Sawant has been given the responsibility of Public Health and Family Welfare department, Shambhuraj Desai will handle the Excise department, and Sandipan Bhumre Employment Guarantee Sheme and Horticulture ministries.
The superintendent of Thane Central Jail in Maharashtra has been awarded the President of India’s Correctional Service Medal for meritorious service on the occasion of Independence Day, an official said on Sunday.
As per an official release, the Correctional Service Medal was awarded to Harshad Bhikanarao Ahirrao who is posted as the superintendent of Thane Central Jail since 2019. In his 27-year-long career, Ahirrao has served in the jails of Yerawada, Nashik, Nagpur and Mumbai, it was stated.
The officer effectively controlled and dealt with terrorists, bomb blast accused, notorious criminals, ISIS suspects, gangsters and the accused in the 26/11 attacks.
While serving as the superintendent of Thane Central Jail, he arranged unsecured loans for convicts for their reformation and rehabilitation, conducted adult literacy campaigns, arranged for vocational training and ensured the services of the District Legal Services Authority to the poor and needy convicts, the release stated.
As curtains went down for Round 3 of the 2022 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), the solo Indian team IDEMITSU Honda Racing India added more points on Japanese soil.
Participating in Asia’s toughest road race championship, the duo of Senthil Kumar and Rajiv Sethu battled their hardest with 17 best Asian riders from six countries (Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) in Asia Production 250cc (AP250) class.
In his first time at the Sportsland Sugo international circuit, Senthil Kumar managed to display true rigour as he bounced from yesterday’s DNF in race 1 to claim a point for the team at the end of day 2.
It was a gripping race till the very end as the leaderboard saw a lot of movement in the order. With four riders crashing out in the last lap, it proved to be a challenging race for everyone.
Senthil however, took advantage and sped up to jump ahead on the leaderboard to come in contention for winning some coveted points. However, teammate Rajiv Sethu could not recover from the mistake in the initial laps and finished the race in 17th Position.
Speaking on the rider’s performance, Prabhu Nagaraj, Operating Officer of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, said, “After a good race 1 yesterday, race 2 did not go as per our plan but I’m happy that Senthil finished his race in points. We have had a good round overall with our star rider Rajiv recording his best-ever performance at a fifth place yesterday.
I’m sure the riders will come back stronger in the next round post the training in Suzuka next week under our expert coach Mr Okada.”
“Learning from my mistakes of yesterday I wanted to perform better today. I am happy to have bagged a point for the team and it is only with their support and guidance that this was possible. I am hopeful for better and more refined performances in the future. I am excited for the next round as I want to show what I truly have to offer, ” said Honda Racing India rider Senthil Kumar.
“After my best performance in yesterday’s race, I was looking forward to gaining more points for the team. But it was a disappointing day as I had a lack of grip on the track. Moving forward with the learnings of today’s outing, I will work on improving my race-craft and timing and deliver some noteworthy performances for my country,” said Honda Racing India rider Rajiv Sethu.
The UK prime ministerial race frontrunner, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, continues to hold on to a commanding 22-point lead over former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest, according to a new survey of Tory members on Sunday.
In an Opinium poll for ‘The Observer’ newspaper of 570 Conservative members with a vote in the election, Truss is on 61 per cent and the British Indian former minister is on 39 per cent.
With under three weeks to go before the September 2 deadline for postal and online votes to be cast by the membership to elect a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sunak seems to have closed the gap only slightly in recent days.
“From the moment we knew the final two candidates, it has been clear that Truss has had all the momentum, and our latest poll sets out just how large her lead among the party members has become,” Chris Curtis of Opinium told the newspaper.
“With many members having already returned their ballot papers, it is now very unlikely Truss won’t become Prime Minister in September. It’s clear that Sunak’s biggest problem is trust. While some members respect his economic arguments, this hasn’t been enough to overcome the view among members that he isn’t honest or trustworthy enough for the top job, particularly after he called for Johnson to go,” he said.
Opinium’s detailed questioning also uncovers a striking lack of enthusiasm for either candidate when members are asked whether they would prefer one of them to Johnson to run the party and country. When offered the choice of Johnson still being in No.
10 Downing Street, or Truss taking over, around 63 per cent of Tory members polled said they would prefer Johnson to be still in charge against 22 per cent who wanted Truss.
On the other side, 68 per cent said they would prefer to still have Johnson than see him replaced by Sunak, who was preferred by just 19 per cent.
The poll also found that almost three in 10 of the Tory electorate 29 per cent had already voted.
Some 47 per cent said they would definitely be voting for the candidate they had opted for.
Just 19 per cent said they had yet to make up their mind. Opinium said that while these findings meant it may still be possible for Sunak to pull off a “stunning comeback” to enter 10 Downing Street, but to do so he would have to win over almost all the undecideds and convert a sizeable chunk of those not fully behind Truss.
The Foreign Secretary’s support is particularly strong among older Conservative members, while Sunak’s is far higher among younger ones.
For Sunak the most cited reason was that he would be better at managing the economy 22 per cent, while 10 per cent said they regarded him as the most competent or intelligent.
A main reason mentioned by people who backed Truss was dislike of Sunak 14 per cent.
The same proportion 14 per cent said the Cabinet minister was more honest and trustworthy, while 10 per cent chose the fact that she had remained loyal to Johnson and not called on him to resign.
Around 2 per cent of Tory members cited race or ethnicity as a reason for supporting Truss and not Sunak.
Meanwhile, the bookie’s odds also continue to be firmly in favour of a Truss win at 88 per cent as opposed to 12 per cent for Sunak. Both hopefuls continue to pledge new commitments if elected, with Truss saying she would take on the role of ”Minister for the Union” and Sunak promising to introducing legislation to make the UK ”energy independent” by 2045 at the latest, as he vowed to ensure there is no repeat of the looming winter crisis.
After voting closes on the evening of September 2, the winner between the two finalists will be declared on September 5 and he or she will take charge as Tory leader and British Prime Minister immediately.
National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, Tarun Chugh on Sunday wrote a letter to National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman Vijay Sapanla asking for strict action against a teacher accused of killing a Dalit student of a private school in Rajasthan.
Tarun Chugh wrote in the letter that a Dalit student of a private school in Jalore police station area of Rajasthan was beaten up because he drank water from a teacher’s pot.
The BJP leader has asked for justice for the child and demanded a commission team to probe this case.
“I request to the SC commission that strict action should be taken against the accused teacher and strict punishment should be given so that such misdeeds should not happen again,” he said.
The incident took place on July 20 at a private school in Surana village of Rajasthan’s Jalore district, where the teacher allegedly beat up the minor for touching the pot of water in the school.
Condemning the incident, he further said, “I ask for a team of commission to get justice at the earliest to the family. The accused teacher should be punished under the sections of Scheduled Caste Act so that such incident would not take place again in society.”
Meanwhile, the State government announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for kin of the deceased.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot condemned the incident and said in a tweet, ” The accused teacher has been arrested and a case has been registered against him for murder and under sections of the SC/ST Act.”
“The matter has been taken under the case officer scheme for speedy investigation and punishment for the accused. It will be ensured that the victim’s family gets justice at the earliest. The family members of the deceased will be given a relief amount of Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Minister’s relief fund,” he added.
Around 41 killed, and 45 injured in a blaze at Cairo Coptic church 8
At least 41 people were killed and 45 injured in a fire inside a church in the Egyptian city of Giza on Sunday, two security sources told Reuters.
The electrical fire broke out as 5000 worshippers gathered for mass at the Abu Sifin church in the Imbaba neighbourhood, causing a stampede, the sources said.
Indian Billionaire, Investor and Big Bull of the dalal street Rakesh Jhunjhunwala passed away at the age of 62.
Due to loss of investor gem of the country most of the top leaders of India paid tributes and gave condolences to his family members.
Prime Minister ,Home Minister and other ministers of India had taken twitter to pay tribute and share memory of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala in which prime minister Modi stated “ Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable, full of life, witty and insightful.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable. Full of life, witty and insightful, he leaves behind an indelible contribution to the financial world. He was also very passionate about India’s progress. His passing away is saddening. My condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti. pic.twitter.com/DR2uIiiUb7
Investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was not keeping from many days and was admitted to Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai in the early hours of today due to cardiac arrest and he was declared dead by the doctors of the hospital.
Billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Akasa commercial flight was recently launched on August7, 2022 after which he was going through a lot of health issues.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah shares condolences and states he was quite anguished when got to know about the demise of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
URL
Anguished to learn about the passing away of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Ji. His vast experience and understanding of the stock market have inspired countless investors. He will always be remembered for his bullish outlook. My deepest condolences to his family. Om Shanti Shanti.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam in a tweet has stated “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is quite bold and risk taker and was a master of Stock market”
Shri Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is no more. Investor, bold risk taker, masterly understanding of the stock market, clear in communication- a leader in his own right. Fondly remember several conversations we’ve had. Had strong belief in India’s strength and capabilities. Condolences
Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Eknath Shinde states “ India has lost a gem of stock market”
Very saddened to know about the passing of the veteran investor Shree Rakesh JhunJhunwala. India has lost a gem, who made a mark not just on the stock market but on the minds of almost every investor in india.#RakeshJhunjhunwalapic.twitter.com/QX4uvBx7hA
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) August 14, 2022
The recruitment rally for the ‘Agniveers’ began in Haryana’s Hisar on Sunday, according to an official.
“This is our third day of the recruitment rally covering four districts. We are conducting it on the occasion of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,’ which makes it even more significant. Four more rallies are underway in other cities,” said Major General Ranjan Mahajan while addressing the media.
Meanwhile, an aspirant, Gagan Tiwari welcomed the Agnipath scheme for the armed forces and said that he had started preparing two years ago.
“I had dreamt of joining the army since I was a child. I started preparing two years ago. There are adequate arrangements for food and water here. The ‘Agniveer’ is a welcome scheme,” he said.
The first-ever examination for the recruitment in Indian Air Force through the new ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme began across the country on July 24 morning amid tight police security.
The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
The Agnipath scheme allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces for a period of four years. The Agnipath Scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces.
‘Agnipath’ is a pan India merit-based recruitment scheme for enrolling soldiers, airmen and sailors. The scheme provides an opportunity for youth to serve in the regular cadre of the armed forces. All those recruited under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme will be called ‘Agniveers’.
‘Agniveers’ will be enrolled for a service duration of 4 years including the training period. After four years, only 25 per cent of the Agniveers will be retained or re-enlisted in the regular cadre based on merit, willingness and medical fitness. The Agnipath scheme has been brought to strengthen India’s security.
The ‘Agniveers’ will be given a good pay package and an exit retirement package after a service of four years. The first four years, served under a contract, are not likely to be taken into consideration for the fixation of the final pensionary benefits.
The other 75 per cent ‘Agniveers’ will be demobilized, with an exit or “Seva Nidhi” package of Rs 11-12 lakh, partly funded by their monthly contributions, as well as skill certificates and bank loans for help in their second careers.
As many as 347 police personnel were awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) ahead of the celebration of the 76th Independence Day on Monday. Jammu and Kashmir Police, led by DGP Dilbagh Singh, has been awarded the maximum number of medals, 108 among all the states and Union Territories.
J-K was followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh which were awarded with 42 and 15 medals respectively.
According to a list released by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, DG Kuldeep Singh-led Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has also been awarded the gallantry medals, 109, which is the most among the armed police forces and other security forces.
Border Security Force stood next in the medal tally with 19 gallantry medals.
“Among the majority of the 347 Gallantry Awards, 204 personnel are being awarded for their gallant action in Jammu and Kashmir, 80 personnel for their gallant action in Left Wing Extremism affected areas and 14 personnel for their gallant action in North-East Region,” said the Ministry.
Notably, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the security forces have conducted numerous counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir neutralizing a number of terrorists.
Among the J-K Police personnel who have been awarded the medal include Jatinder Singh, Faiz Mohd, Ghulam Rasool Bhat, and Allah Din Khatana for the counter-terrorism operation conducted on March 23 last year in the Shopian district.
The terrorists were neutralized in the operation. According to the Ministry, a total of 87 police personnel have been awarded President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
Uttar Pradesh tops the list with six medals, followed by Madhya Pradesh with four, while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu shared the third spot with three medals each.
As many as 648 police personnel have been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service with Uttar Pradesh topping the list (72). Maharashtra became the second highest on the list with 39 medals while Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were awarded 24 medals each. A total of 1,082 police personnel have been awarded on the occasion of Independence Day.
