Indian women’s table tennis continued their winning ways, registering their third win in a row after defeating Guyana in their Group 2 tie on Saturday.
The Indian pair of Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison started off the match with a tie against the duo of Natalie Cummings and Chelsea Edghill. Akula-Tennison dominated the tie from the start, winning the first game by 11-5.
The Guyanese fared better in the next two games but it was still not enough to give them a win, as they went down to India by 11-7 each in these games. With this, India sealed the first tie and attained a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the next tie, star player Manika Batra took on Thuraia Thomas. Batra continued her momentum from previous outings yesterday and absolutely demolished her opponent, winning the tie by 11-1, 11-3, 11-3. With this, India had a double advantage over Guyana and a win in the next set meant them sealing the match.
In the third tie, Reeth Tennison took on Chelsea Edghill.
Tennison took the first game by 11-7. The next game was competitive, but the Indian emerged victorious by 14-12. Tennison did not start the next game on a good note, trailing 2-3.
But she fought back from there and won the match by 13-11 to seal the tie. India gained an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the match and emerged victorious.
With this win, India is at the top of Group 2 and have won all their matches. Guyana is at the second position and have registered their first loss after winning the first two matches.
Earlier, the Indian women’s table tennis team started off their Commonwealth Games 2022 campaign with a bang, with a 3-0 win over South Africa in their group match in Birmingham on Friday.
The doubles team of Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison, star player Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula in the singles competition were extremely dominant and won all their ties within three games.
The team followed it with a 3-0 win over Fiji in their next match. Team India continued their winning ways and did not let Fiji win at all and finished the match within three ties.
Retail inflation for industrial workers declined to 6.16 per cent in June 2022 as compared to 6.97 per cent in the previous month and 5.57 per cent recorded during the corresponding month last year, according to government data released on Saturday.
Retail food inflation for industrial workers eased to 6.73 per cent in June as against 7.92 per cent of the previous month and 5.61 per cent during the corresponding month a year ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers for June 2022 increased by 0.2 points and stood at 129.2. On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 0.16 per cent with respect to the previous month compared to an increase of 0.91 per cent recorded between corresponding months a year ago.
The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, compiles Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country. The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of the succeeding month.
The maximum upward pressure in the current index came from Food & Beverages group contributing 0.20 percentage points to the total change.
At item level potato, onion, tomato, cabbage, apple, banana, coriander, chilly dry, fish fresh, poultry chicken, vada, idli, dosa, cooked meal, cooking gas, kerosene oil, electricity domestic etc. are responsible for the rise in the index, the Ministry of Labour & Employment said.
However, this increase was largely checked by petrol for vehicle, rice, mango, chilli green, lemon, lady finger, parwal, pineapple, soyabeen oil, sunflower oil etc. putting downward pressure on the index, it said.
At the centre level, Puducherry recorded a maximum increase of 2.6 points followed by Amritsar and Tripura with 2.2 and 2.0 points, respectively.
Among others, 15 centres recorded an increase between 1 to 1.9 points, 33 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. On the contrary, Sangrur recorded a maximum decrease of 2.4 points. Among others, 5 centres recorded a decrease between 1 to 1.9 points, 25 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. The rest of the 6 centres’ indices remained stationary, the government data showed.
ED attaches assets worth Rs 110 cr in Karvy scam 4
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 110 crore in its ongoing case in the Rs 2,800 crore Karvy scam, the agency said on Saturday.
The federal agency identified additional assets and provisionally attached properties in the form of lands, buildings, shareholdings, cash, foreign currency and jewellery worth Rs 110 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the investigation against Karvy Stock Broking Ltd (KSBL) and its Chairman Comandur Parthasarathy and others.
The ED had previously attached assets worth Rs 1,984.84 crore in the same. “In order to safeguard the proceeds of crime from alienation, ED has identified and attached and seized movable assets totalling Rs 110.70 crore.
Thereby total attachment of Rs 2,095 Crore has been done in this case. Further investigation is in progress,” the ED said in a statement. C Parthasarathy and Group CFO G Hari Krishna were arrested by the ED in the case and they are presently on bail.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of FIRs filed by the Hyderabad Police on the complaints of lending banks who complained that the Karvy Group had availed large amounts of loans by illegally pledging their clients’ shares worth about Rs 2,800 crore and the said loans have become Non-Performing Asset after the release of the client’s securities as per the orders of National Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Subsequently, the ED said, the loans were diverted from the stated purpose by a set of high-ranking functionaries working under the overall control of the CMD. Funds were diverted to related companies like – KDMSL, KRIL which was set up for real estate ventures, diverted loan funds were routed via multiple defunct NBFCs to KFSLNBFC to wash its bad debts and large chunks of loan proceeds were transferred into Shell Insurance companies which did massive speculative share trading with KSBL as the Stock Broker and ostensibly suffered massive losses.
“Very complex web of financial transactions, using several shell entities and NBFCs. Large amounts of proceeds of crime have been ‘invested’ by infusing in the form of investments/share capital/short-term advances/loans to group companies. This has resulted in the enhancement of the value of the subsidiary companies of KSBL. Now the accused are trying to sell these subsidiary businesses at a profit to yield indirect windfall gains to the main accused,” said the ED.
C Parthasarthy had made arrangements through his group companies to pay financial benefits to his sons Rajat Parthasarthy and Adhiraj Parthasarthy in the garb of salary and reimbursement of household expenses and thus the proceeds of crime were projected as untainted money in the hands of the family members, said the ED.
Further, ED said, the investigation revealed that V.Mahesh, MD of KDMSL, Senior official and KMP of the Karvy group is a close associate of C Parthasathy and he actively assisted and planned the execution of money laundering operations.
Indian swimmer Srihari Natraj qualified for the final of the men’s 100 m backstroke event on Friday.
Natraj reached the finals by clocking 54.55s at his event. He finished at 4th in the semi-final 2 and seventh overall in semi-finals to seal his position in the final where he will be battling it out for a medal against the likes of Pieter Coetze (South Africa), Brodie Paul Williams (England), Andrew Jeffcoat (New Zealand), Bradley Woodward (Australia) among others.
“#Swimming Update @srihari3529 qualifies for the FINAL!! Srihari finishes 4th in Semifinal 2 of Men’s 100m backstroke and 7th overall with a timing of 54.55s at @birminghamcg22
The Final is scheduled for 31st July 1:35 AM IST Our best wishes #Cheer4India #IndiaTaiyaarHai,” tweeted SAI Media.
Indian para-swimmer finished at the 8th position in the finals of men’s 100 m backstroke S9 final and failed to land up a podium position. He clocked 1:18.21 in the finals.
Nataraj had qualified for the men’s 100m backstroke swimming semifinal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Friday.
Nataraj finished third in heat 4 with a timing of 54.68s. While Sajan Prakash was eliminated in the men’s 50m butterfly event as he finished eighth with a time of 25.01s.
In Men’s 400m Freestyle heats, Kushagra Rawat finished at the bottom at 14th position with a clocking of 3:57.45 and was eliminated.
Coming to Swimming action for Saturday, Srihari Natraj will compete in the final of the men’s 100 m backstroke event. Commonwealth Games 2022 started in Birmingham from July 28 and will conclude on August 8.
India will be represented by 215 athletes who will take part in 141 events across 19 sporting disciplines.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana on Saturday said that strengthening the district judiciary is the need of the hour as these courts are the driving force behind the legal aid movement in India.
District judicial officers are the first point of contact for a majority of the population. Public opinion of the judiciary is based on their experience with the district judiciary, he added.
CJI Ramana’s remarks came while addressing the 1st All India District Legal Services Authorities meet organised by NALSA.
CJI said that the purpose behind organising the Conference was to introspect on various factors governing the administration of justice and to discover ways and means to bring qualitative improvement to the system.
“Strengthening the district judiciary is the need of the hour. Without any doubt, the District Judiciary is the driving force behind the legal aid movement in India,” the CJI said.
“Wherever I go, I always attempt to project the achievements of the Indian judiciary in winning the trust and faith of the people. But if we intend to serve the people better, we need to flag the issues which hinder our functioning.
There is no meaning in camouflaging or hiding the problems. If we don’t discuss these issues, if matters of pressing concern are not addressed, then the system will cripple. I fear, we may be unable to fulfill our constitutional mandate of social justice. I urge you, therefore, to discuss, debate and decide!,” CJI Ramana said.
“The district judiciary is the backbone of the justice delivery system in the world’s largest democracy. The district judicial officers are the first point of contact for much of the population. Public opinion about the judiciary is primarily based on their experiences with the district judiciary,”he said.
The chief justice said that every progressive policy must find its basis on a strong foundation.
“This casts a great responsibility on your shoulders. You must undertake multifaceted tasks and roles. You are best placed to understand people’s problems and social issues,” he said. addressing the gathering.
He mentioned that India stands as the 5th largest economy in terms of GDP, and the second most populous country in the world. In the 21st century, the CJI said, the true strength at this juncture lies with our youth.
“With an average age of 29 years, India has one of the youngest populations in the world. One-fifth of the world’s youth live in India. This huge human resource, if properly trained, will drive our economic progress.
With skilled workers estimated to be only 3% of our total workforce, we need to harness the full potential of the youthful demographic profile of our country,” the CJI pointed out.
“I am glad that the 27 years long and noteworthy journey of NALSA is being captured and celebrated through the commemorative stamp by the Ministry of Communications,” he added.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday said there will be no money left in Mumbai and it will cease to be the financial capital of the country if Gujaratis and Rajasthanis are removed from the city.
Congress criticised the governor over his statement and demanded an apology from him.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Koshyari said, “I tell people here that if Gujaratis and Rajasthanis are removed from Maharashtra, especially Mumbai and Thane, you will have no money and Mumbai will not be a financial capital.” He made the statement after the naming ceremony of a chowk in Andheri, a western suburb of Mumbai.
A release issued by the Raj Bhavan said Koshyari praised the contribution of Rajasthani-Marwari and Gujarati communities in making Mumbai the financial capital of the country.
The governor said the Rajasthani-Marwari community is living in different parts of the country and also in countries like Nepal and Mauritius.
“Wherever members of this community go, they not only do business but also do acts of philanthropy by creating schools, hospitals,” he said.
State Congress spokesman Atul Londhe slammed the governor over his remarks, saying that they smack of his hatred for the state.
He also demanded an apology from the governor.
MNS party chief Raj Thackeray also tweeted, “Don’t dare to say anything if you don’t know the history of Maharashtra.”
In a major jolt to Uddhav Thackeray, his nephew and grandson of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Nihar Thackeray on Friday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai and extended his support to the new government.
Nihar is an advocate in the city and his father Bindumadhav Thackeray died in an accident in 1996.
“Nihar Thackeray, grandson of venerable Hindu heart emperor Balasaheb Thackeray and son of Bindumadhav Thackeray today announced his support to the coalition government. On this occasion, he was warmly welcomed and wished for his future social and political career,” Eknath Shinde tweeted on Friday.
The meeting comes at a time when the two factions of the same party (Shiv Sena) are locking horns in the ECI to retain the bow and arrow symbol with their respective factions. Both the groups are also in a fight to claim the legacy of Bal Thackeray.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on August 1 a fresh plea of the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp of Shiv Sena seeking a stay on the proceedings before the Election Commission of India on Eknath Shinde group’s claim for recognition as ‘real’ Shiv Sena.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the Thackeray group mentioned the case for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana saying as the matters are pending before the Supreme Court in the meantime they are trying to make the matter infructuous by moving Election Commission.
On June 29, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. Refusing to stay the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30, the bench had issued notice on Prabhu’s plea against floor test.
After the apex court’s order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister.
On June 27, the top court granted interim relief to Shinde and other rebel MLAs to file their reply to disqualification notices issued to them by Deputy Speaker by July 12, 5.30 pm. Earlier, Deputy Speaker had granted them time to file a reply by June 27, 5.30 pm.
The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, which came to power after a high-voltage political drama, is completing one month in office on Saturday, but there is still no clarity on when the cabinet expansion will take place.
Shinde took oath as chief minister on June 30, a day after Uddhav Thackeray was forced to step down from the post following a rebellion by the majority of Sena legislators led by Shinde. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as deputy chief minister.
The government was formed 10 days after Shinde raised a banner of revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership. Forty out of 55 Sena MLAs sided with Shinde, which resulted in the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation comprising the Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
After the collapse of the Thackeray government, it was widely speculated that Fadnavis would take over the reins of the state for the third time with the support of the Sena rebels. But Fadnavis sprang a surprise after he declared that Shinde would become the next chief minister and he himself would not be a part of the new government.
But there was more surprise in store as sometime later BJP’s top leadership asked Fadnavis to become a part of the government as deputy chief minister.
After coming to power, the Shinde government has fast-tracked the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, which was kept on the back burner by the previous Thackeray-led dispensation. Two weeks back, Fadnavis had said that all clearances to expedite the project have been given.
The new government also gave cabinet approval to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively. The decision to rename these cities had been taken in the MVA government’s last cabinet meeting held on June 29, just before Thackeray resigned. However, Shinde and Fadnavis had said the MVA dispensation’s decision to rename these places was illegal as it was taken by it after the governor had asked it to prove the majority in the state Legislative Assembly.
Shinde restored the pension scheme meant for the political activists who were imprisoned during the Emergency imposed in 1975. The decision, taken by the Fadnavis government, had been scrapped by the Thackeray dispensation.
The new government lifted the stay on the construction of the Metro-3 car shed in Aarey Colony, a forest area. The decision paved the way for the construction of the car shed at the green lung which was stopped in November 2019 following a stay imposed by the previous MVA government.
The Shinde-led dispensation also restored the direct election for the post of sarpanch and municipal council president.
At present, Shinde and Fadnavis are the only members in the cabinet as its expansion is yet to be done. This delay has given ammunition to the opposition parties to target the government.
Talking to a media agency, state Congress vice president Ratnakar Mahajan sarcastically said, “It is for the first time in the state’s history that a huge cabinet of two members is taking care of the large-scale floods, lack of rain at some places and things alike.” It has never been so pathetic for a political party that it can’t have a complete cabinet in a state in a month’s time. BJP’s overambitious plan has to be blamed for this, he said.
Mahajan alleged that the petition of Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of 16 rebel party MLAs was being heard in the Supreme Court.
“These legislators will save their membership if they merge their group with any other party. If the apex court upholds the whip of the original party, the rebel MLAs will be disqualified. Two-thirds split is not yet seen in the original party,” he said.
Apart from the 40 MLAs, the party’s 12 out of the 19 Lok Sabha members have also rebelled against the Sena leadership. The break-away group of MPs has been recognized by the Lok Sabha speaker. But the Shiv Sena has demanded that the speaker disqualify them.
Deepak Kesarkar, the chief spokesperson of the Shinde faction, said the Sena MLAs were more interested in becoming district guardian ministers than cabinet ministers to expedite development works.
He claimed that there was no dispute over the allocation of portfolios.
“After a long time, Maharashtra has got a chief minister who is accessible to people 24×7,” he said.
Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut told PTI, “There is no government in existence for the last one month. Never before was Maharashtra’s prestige undermined in such a manner. The state’s honour was compromised. The oath taken by Shinde and Fadnavis is illegal.” The reason for the delay in cabinet expansion can be anything including the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on the disqualification of 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, he said.
NCP leader and former home minister Dilip Walse Patil said the inability to form a cabinet even after a month shows that the political situation in the state is still fluid.
“Due to rains and floods in several parts of the state, people are facing hardships and since there are no cabinet ministers and guardian ministers, people’s issues have been neglected. Maharashtra has never before seen such a situation,” he said.
When contacted, state NCP president Jayant Patil said people have been in trouble for the last one month due to heavy rains and floods. The administrative set up has collapsed and hence affected people can’t get immediate relief.” There are no guardian ministers because there is no cabinet in place. The administration has no direction, he said.
“There are differences in the Shinde camp because all the 40 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs want to become ministers, while there is unrest in the BJP also as Fadnavis was made deputy chief minister. There is no positive energy about this government,” he said.
9 accused in the gang rape of a minor girl have been arrested in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district. The main accused is a prime suspect in a murder case too.
According to the information released by Puja Gaikwad, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Nagpur Rural police, the 9 accused were apprehended from Umred town in Nagpur district, on the charges of gang rape of an 11-year-old girl after police officers who were investigating a murder case stumbled upon information that their prime suspect was an alleged rapist too.
“Nine people have been arrested in Umred town of Nagpur district on charges of gang rape of an 11-year-old girl after police officers investigating a murder case stumbled upon information that their prime suspect was an alleged rapist too,” said Puja Gaikwad, SDPO, Nagpur Rural police.
A Naxal operative carrying a bounty of Rs 5 lakhs on his head was killed in an encounter with security forces in Sukma of Bastar district, Chhattisgarh Police claimed on Friday.
Rakesh Madkam was charged with eight cases of violence. The operation was carried out by a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the neighboring Dantewada district. The team was working along the inter-district border.
Madkam was a member of the Katekalyan area committee of CPI (Maoist). The encounter took place near Bindrapani village forest while patrolling.
“Acting on specific inputs of Maoist movements, the patrolling team launched the operation on Thursday night in the forest along the inter-district border during which an exchange of fire broke out between the two sides in the Dantewada forest. However, after a brief encounter, the ultra-escaped, but security forces continued searching the area on Thursday night,” said Inspector general of police (Bastar range) Sunderaj P in a statement.
“Security forces were patrolling the area when two encounters took place during the operation. All troopers are safe and further search operation is underway in nearby areas,” added Sunderaj. Security forces recovered the body of the Maoist and a country-made weapon.
Earlier on June 30, Chhattisgarh police had gunned down a Naxal, who too was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, in Raipur. The operative was identified as Denga Deva alias Mahangu Deva and he was also an alleged member of the Katekalyan Area Committee of the CPI (Maoist), according to officials.
