"This decision will cost govt an additional burden of Rs 1000 cr", says Imtiaz Jaleel on Aurangabad name change 2
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel on Monday alleged that the name change plan of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district to Sambhaji Nagar was only intended to change the documents of the government department and will put a burden of Rs 1,000 crore.
“Changing the name of Aurangabad will put a burden of around Rs 1,000 crores on the government. This is only to change the documents of the government department. Common people have to go through a burden of several thousand crores,” Jaleel, a Lok Sabha MP from Aurangabad said during a press meet.
The decision to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and another district Osmanabad to Dharashiv was approved by the state cabinet on June 29, a day before the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government fell following the rebellion of Eknath Shinde who later take over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
However, condemning the former CM Uddhav Thackeray’s government’s decision to change the name, Samajwadi Party Maharashtra president and MLA Abu Asim Azmi had said that “Be it BJP or MVA – that is walking on crutches – they want to sideline Muslims.” Azmi, on the day of big-decision, reminded the big names of the western state (Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi) of his party’s support and said that the ruling party sidelined the minorities.
“I would like to tell Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi that the government is existing with our support. If Government takes such a step, where will we go?. I would like to tell Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Ashok Chavan, and Balasaheb Thorat, what do we do? It’s that Muslims are being sidelined. I condemn,” he had said. Eknath Shinde’s 10-day rebellion against Shiv Sena brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The political crisis in Maharashtra ended with Shinde taking over as Chief Minister and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as deputy chief minister.
Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former finance minister and younger brother of embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was turned back at Colombo airport on Tuesday as he attempted to leave the country through the VIP terminal, an immigration officer said, amid mounting anger against the powerful family for mishandling the worst economic crisis.
Basil Rajapaksa, 71, tried to leave the crisis-hit island nation, a day before Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is expected publicly announce to the nation President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation.
President Rajapaksa signed on Monday his resignation letter, dated July 1, and it was later handed over to a senior government official who will hand it over to the Parliament Speaker.
Basil, a US passport holder, resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests intensified against shortages of fuel, food, and other necessities and quit his seat in parliament in June.
The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers Association said its members declined to serve Basil at the VIP terminal of Colombo airport.
”Due to the crisis in the country, it has been decided to withdraw from activities at the Silk Route/CIP passenger clearance activities until further notice,” the trade union said in a statement, according to the Economy Next website.
”We decided to withdraw from serving the silk route passenger clearance terminal from midnight yesterday,” said K.A.S Kanugala, the chairman of the association.
He said the corrupt people were trying to leave the country using the service.
The immigration officials objected to serving him at the VIP clearance line and even the passengers of the Emirates flight to Dubai objected to his leaving.
Basil is being widely held responsible for the country’s worst economic crisis which has heaped misery on the people.
The political uncertainty prevails in Sri Lanka where the distribution of cooking gas has resumed alongside the delivery of fuel to retailers by the Indian Oil Company after a stoppage on Sunday. Long queues are still seen at fuel pumps.
The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President’s House, the presidential secretariat, and the prime minister’s official residence, Temple Trees.
Police near the Temple Trees said a clash had erupted between two groups of protesters, injuring 6 people.
With President Rajapaksa’s resignation due on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s political parties on Monday initiated steps to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation from sliding further into anarchy.
President Rajapaksa has officially conveyed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will resign on July 13 as previously announced, the PM Office said on Monday, days after protesters stormed both leaders’ homes in rage over the government’s mishandling of the country’s worst economic crisis.
Parties have begun campaigning for the support of possible candidates. The main opposition SJB said they will campaign for the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the interim President.
Premadasa said on Monday that Sri Lanka’s main opposition the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) was ready to lead the country at the presidential and prime ministerial level and develop the economy.
Premadasa said his party is ready to lead a program aimed at bringing stability to the country.
“We will appoint a government headed by a president and a prime minister. There is no other alternative. If anyone opposes this or tries to sabotage it in parliament we will see it as a treacherous act,” he said.
The Sri Lankan Parliament will elect the new president to succeed Rajapaksa on July 20, Speaker Abeywardena announced on Monday.
Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days.
The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials.
Schools have been suspended and fuel has been limited to essential services. Patients are unable to travel to hospitals due to the fuel shortage and food prices are soaring.
Trains have reduced in frequency, forcing travelers to squeeze into compartments and even sit precariously on top of them as they commute to work.
In several major cities, including Colombo, hundreds are forced to stand in line for hours to buy fuel, sometimes clashing with police and the military as they wait.
The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.
AltNews co-founder Zubair's bail plea deffered by a Delhi court 5
Delhi’s Patiala House Court deferred the hearing on Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair for July 14. This came after the Delhi Police counsel sought time to make argueargumentsments in the matter and requested the court to take up the matter day after tomorrow.
Advocate Vrinda Grover opposed saying postponing the matter for two days is unfair. “Postponing the matter for 2 days is unfair. The matter may be taken up tomorrow, if possible,” said Grover. Additional session Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing for July 14, 2022. Zubair was booked by Delhi Police under sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Delhi Police said.
Earlier on Monday, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair moved a bail petition in Sessions Court seeking bail in the Delhi FIR registered against him in a case related to an alleged objectionable tweet.
On July 2, 2022, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) refused to grant bail while sending him to 14-days of judicial custody. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria dismissed the bail petition after hearing the submission of the defence counsel and special public prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava for Delhi. The court observed in the order that since the investigation is at the initial stage and in view of the circumstances and gravity of the offence, no ground is made out for bail.
Application dismissed and the accused is remanded to judicial custody till July 16, 2022. Delhi Police had also added three new Sections – 201 (for the destruction of evidence – formatted phone and deleted tweets), 120-(B) (for criminal conspiracy) of IPC and 35 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, in the matter.
The FIR against Zubair was lodged on June 20 based on the complaint filed by the Duty Officer of the IFSO unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell which tackles cyber crimes. Zubair was arrested and sent to one day of police custody after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him based on a Twitter posting, which another Twitter handle alleged “hurt Hindu sentiments.”
The Amarnath Yatra resumed on the Baltal route in Ganderbal district on Tuesday after a four-day suspension following flash floods that claimed 15 lives and left several injured, officials said.
They said a fresh batch of the pilgrims left the Baltal base camp early morning for the cave shrine.
Flash floods near the shrine on July 8 left at least 15 people dead and over 30 missing, forcing the temporary suspension of the pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage had resumed on Monday via the Pahalgam route.
The much-awaited expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde may take place after the July 18 presidential polls, the Shinde-led camp of Shiv Sena MLAs has indicated.
Currently, CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP are the only members of the cabinet. They had taken oath on June 30.
“There is no difficulty in cabinet expansion,” the Shinde faction’s spokesperson, Deepak Kesarkar, told reporters here on Monday.
He was responding to a question on whether the cabinet expansion was being delayed due to the ongoing legal battle between the Shinde camp and the Sena faction led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Kesarkar said there is an important meeting on July 13 in New Delhi related to the election of the next President and a representative from their group will be attending it.
On July 14, BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu will visit Mumbai to seek support.
Preparations for the presidential polls will take place on July 16 and 17 before voting on July 18. Electors for the top constitutional post consist of Members of Parliament and MLAs.
“The MLAs will be busy in the presidential polls…so who will have the time to prepare for taking the oath? They are not in a hurry,” Kesarkar said.
Shinde and Fadnavis last week visited New Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda.
Deliberations on cabinet expansion in Maharashtra were believed to have taken place with the BJP’s top brass during the visit.
Heavy rains along with strong winds lashed Mumbai and its suburbs on Tuesday morning amid an ‘orange’ alert issued by the India Meteorological Department, civic officials said.
There was no report of any major water-logging anywhere in the city so far, they said.
The local train services on the Central Railway and Western Railway corridors were running normally, a civic official said.
Bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) were not diverted anywhere as of now, he said.
After light showers for a couple of days, heavy rains made a comeback to the metropolis on Monday night. The city and suburbs witnessed incessant showers since Tuesday morning.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rain in the city and suburbs with a possibility of a very heavy downpour at isolated places and occasional gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph over the next 24 hours.
On Monday, the IMD issued an ‘orange’ alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city for the next three days.
The island city (south Mumbai) received 42.42 mm of rainfall in the 24-hour period till 8 am on Tuesday as against 12.04 mm the day before.
The eastern and western suburbs recorded 63.90 mm and 52.43 mm showers, respectively, compared to 22.12 mm and 12.76 mm the previous day, a civic official said.
The MeT department issues four colour-coded predictions based on the prevailing weather systems. The green colour indicates no warning, yellow is to keep a watch, orange is to stay alert, while red means a warning and that action needs to be taken.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced a mechanism to settle payments for international trade in rupees, which will help boost India’s global trade, especially the country’s exports.
“In order to promote the growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of the global trading community in INR, it has been decided to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/imports in INR,” the RBI said in a letter addressed to ‘All Category-I Authorised Dealer Banks
“Before putting in place this mechanism, AD banks shall require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of Reserve Bank of India, Central Office at Mumbai,” it said.
The new mechanism addresses the issues related to invoicing, exchange rate as well as settlement.
Under the new guidelines, all exports and imports under this arrangement may be denominated and invoiced in Rupee (INR).
The exchange rate between the currencies of the two trading partner countries may be market-determined. The settlement of trade transactions under this arrangement shall take place in INR in accordance with the procedure laid down by the RBI.
In terms of Regulation 7(1) of Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2016, Authorised Dealer (AD) banks in India have been permitted to open Rupee Vostro Accounts. Accordingly, for settlement of trade transactions with any country, AD bank in India may open Special Rupee Vostro Accounts of correspondent bank/s of the partner trading country.
In order to allow settlement of international trade transactions through this arrangement, it has been decided that “Indian importers undertaking imports through this mechanism shall make payment in INR which shall be credited into the Special Vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, against the invoices for the supply of goods or services from the overseas seller /supplier,” the RBI said.
“Indian exporters, undertaking exports of goods and services through this mechanism, shall be paid the export proceeds in INR from the balances in the designated Special Vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country,” the RBI added.
The export/import undertaken and settled in this manner shall be subject to usual documentation and reporting requirements. Letter of Credit (LC) and other trade-related documentation may be decided mutually between banks of the partner trading countries under the overall framework of Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC) and incoterms.
Exchange of messages in a safe, secure, and efficient way may be agreed upon mutually between the banks of partner countries, RBI’s Chief General Manager Vivek Srivastava noted in the letter.
Indian exporters may receive advance payment against exports from overseas importers in Indian rupees through the Rupee Payment Mechanism. Before allowing any such receipt of advance payment against exports, Indian Banks shall ensure that available funds in these accounts are first used towards payment obligations arising out of already executed export orders/export payments in the pipeline.
In order to ensure that the advance is released only as per the instructions of the overseas importer, the Indian bank maintaining the Special Vostro account of its correspondent bank shall, apart from usual due diligence measures, verify the claim of the exporter with the advice received from the correspondent bank before releasing the advance.
During the approval process, the RBI said “the bank of a partner country may approach an AD bank in India for the opening of Special INR VOSTRO account. The AD bank will seek approval from the Reserve Bank with details of the arrangement. AD bank maintaining the special Vostro Account shall ensure that the correspondent bank is not from a country or jurisdiction in the updated FATF Public Statement on High Risk & Non-Co-operative Jurisdictions on which FATF has called for countermeasures.”
Abu Salem was known as an underworld gangster who terrorized the Bollywood film industry by extorting money from film producers and seizing overseas distribution rights. It is believed that Salem was the mastermind behind intimidating Bollywood film producers Gulshan Kumar, Subhash Ghai, Rajiv Rai and Rakesh Roshan. While his gang members assassinated Gulshan Kumar in 1997, they failed in their attempt to assassinate Rajiv Rai and Rakesh Roshan. He was also involved in several murders and extortion among other crimes.
In 2002, he was arrested in Portugal on charges of using a fake passport and extradited to India. He was tried and convicted in a few cases and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015. The Supreme Court on Monday said the Centre is bound to honour its commitment given to Portugal and release gangster Abu Salem on completion of his 25-year sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He was convicted for the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case, and murder of Gulshan Kumar in 1996, shooting at Indian actress Manisha’s secretary, murdering a property builder and more than 50 other cases.
On 20 September 2002, Interpol arrested Monica Bedi in Lisbon, Portugal. They tracked his satellite phone using GPS technology. Monica Bedi was a film actress who reportedly had a relationship with him. In February 2004, a Portugal court cleared his extradition to India to face trial in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case. In November 2005, Portuguese authorities handed him over to India on the assurance by the Government of India that they would not give him the death penalty. When Salem was in Lisbon, fighting India’s extradition attempt, the only proof that he was indeed Salem was provided by the fingerprint and photographs taken after his arrest in 1991. Monica Bedi was also extradited to India and later convicted of passport forgery in 2006 and served her imprisonment but she was not involved in any of the businesses operated by Abu Salem.
A lower court in Portugal cancelled his extradition to India for violation of deportation rules by Indian authorities by instituting fresh cases against him that attracted the death penalty. In July 2012, the Portuguese Supreme Court of Justice questioned the legal right of Indian authorities to challenge the cancellation of the extradition order. On 27 June 2013, Devendra Jagtap, an accused person in the Shahid Azmi murder case inside Taloja Central Jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, shot Salem. Salem sustained an injury to his hand as Jagtap fired one round.
Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, and 4 others were convicted by a Special CBI court in Mumbai on 16 June 2017 in connection with the 1993 Bombay blasts case. Salem is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail. Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Court Gives Life Imprisonment To Abu Salem in Mumbai 1993 Blast Case. In 2010, a violent clash broke out between the gangster Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa, which led to Salem’s face being slashed with a sharpened spoon.
On 7 June 2018, A Delhi court held him guilty of extorting Delhi businessman Ashok Gupta and sentenced him to seven years in prison. In 2002, Salem called Gupta asking him to call a number in Dubai. Salem had threatened Gupta and his family. In August 2013, Punjabi singer Sukhwinder Singh Maan alias Sukha Delhi Wala revealed that he would release a song composed by Abu Salem while lodged in Tihar Jail, in his next Music Album. The Music Album shall also feature many other celebrities like Rahul Mahajan and Vindu Dara Singh.
After spending years in jail Salem had said his sentence could not exceed 25 years as per a solemn assurance given by India to Portugal for his extradition in 2002. A bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh said the Central government is bound to advise the President of India for the exercise of power under Article 72 of the Constitution and the national commission on completion of his sentence.
Abu Salem worked in the D-Company (Dawood Ibrahim gang) as a driver transporting artillery and contraband. Later he rose among the ranks after he introduced a new strategy of hiring unemployed youths from his hometown Azamgarh to come to Mumbai, execute shoot-outs and return to Azamgarh the next day remaining untraced by the Mumbai police. He is currently serving a life sentence in India. He played an active role in March 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts which killed over 250 people and left 700 damaged properties worth Rs 270 million. In 1993, he left the country and moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates when the police started rounding up suspects in serial blasts cases. Now Salem is seeking his bail and if he gets out of jail what would he be doing? He can become a politician or business owner or something else, is this not dangerous?
Edappadi Palaniswami has been elected as the party’s Interim General Secretary 13
In the state of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi Palaniswami was elected as the party’s interim General Secretary at its General Council meeting which was held today. After which the dual leadership structure which was followed till now and it will be put on end in the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party.
A petition was filed by the former coordinator O Pannerselvam (OPS) for the stay in the Madras High Court. As the court was allowing Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party to hold its General Council Meeting.
The Madras High Court order was passed at 9 am and the General Council Meeting was led by Edappadi Palaniswami at the party office in Vanagaram. The meeting was chaired by the presidium chairman Tamil Mahan Hussain. In the entire meeting, approximately 16 resolutions were passed in which one resolution stated a squash of dual-leadership and it also created a post of General Secretary to ensure it elects a person for the post by the primary members of the party. The party elections will be conducted in four months.
The second resolution which was passed in the meeting out of the 16 resolutions was It sought a Bharat Ratna which is India’s highest civilian honor for E V Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ and C N Annadurai and later Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
There is a huge clamor seen in the party for a single leader in the party since the district secretary meeting on June 14, 2022. The dual leadership in the party started after the demise of the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the year 2016.
While today’s court hearing the ruling supporters of the Edappadi Palaniswami and O Pannerselvam were on the streets of Chennai and due to these clashes some people were also injured. The stones were pelted against each other, posters were burnt and banners were also burnt. The O Pannerselvam people also protested outside AIADMK’s headquarters in Royapettah.
Maha CM and Dy CM to review flood situation in Gadchiroli 15
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will visit Gadchiroli district to take stock of the flood situation owing to heavy rainfall in the state.
“To review the flood situation, along with CM Eknath Shinde, we have left from Mumbai, for visiting Gadchiroli district,” tweeted Deputy CM Fadnavis. A flood-like situation occurred in different areas of Gadchiroli district due to incessant rainfall in Maharashtra in the past few days.
Waterlogging and incessant downpours have created a flood-like situation in the Gadchiroli district. Heavy rainfall warnings have been issued in Mumbai for the next few days.
Visuals showed heavy water flow on the roads where people are walking in the Gadchiroli district. It almost looked like an overflowing river. The India Meteorological Department, in its weather bulletin, noted, “Isolated very heavy rainfall very likely over Gujarat region & Madhya Maharashtra on 09th; Saurashtra & Kutch on 09th & 10th; Marathawada on 09th & 11th; Coastal Karnataka on 12th & 13th; Kerala & Mahe, Konkan & Goa & Coastal Andhra Pradesh & Yanam on 09th; Telangana on 10th & 11th; South Interior Karnataka during 09th-11th.
” West Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Vidharbha region and Chhattisgarh will witness similar weather conditions till July 13.
Also, the IMD predicted rainfall over Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka during the next five days
