India

Agartala, Sep 10 (IANS) The BJP government in Tripura would undertake a two-and-a-half months long campaign on good governance in every household from September 17, the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said on Saturday.

Officials said that Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha held a meeting with the senior ministers and top officials to successfully conduct the 'Proti Ghore Shushashon' (good governance in every household) campaign to take the benefits of flagship schemes of the Central government and the state government to the door steps of the people from the district to the gram panchayat level.

The campaign would continue till November 30.The Chief Minister asked the officials and other concerned to carry out the campaign in a mission and festive mood.

Information and Cultural Affairs Department Secretary Pradip Chakraborty said that as part of the good governance campaign, developmental meetings, fairs and exhibition, rallies and various other events would be organised in each block.

--IANS
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Doddaballapur (Karnataka), Sep 10 (IANS) Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, on Saturday termed the killers of BJP Yuva Morcha activist Praveen Kumar Nettare, who was hacked to death by bike-borne miscreants on July 26 in Dakshina Kannada district, as cowards.

Addressing a large gathering at BJP's 'Janaspandana' mega event in Doddaballapur near Bengaluru to commemorate completion of one year in office of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and three-year tenure of BJP in Karnataka, Irani claimed that the intention of killers was to create terror in the minds of people.

"Praveen has given his blood for the country. I congratulate the organisers for paying tribute to him by placing his photograph here," she said.

"The grave of terrorist Yakub Memon was beautified during the tenure of the Congress government. Rahul Gandhi does not have the courage to question this. If Rahul Gandhi opposes terrorism, why did he fail to condemn this," Irani questioned.

She also said the Congress has included those who raised anti-India slogans in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"This is an anti-national act. It is betrayal to the nation to support those who raised slogans against the country. This anti-national act must be questioned by the Congress workers," the Union minister said.

She also accused the Congress of discriminating against the people of Karnataka.

"During its tenure at the Centre, Congress gave Rs 2,000 crore to Karnataka through the Central Finance Commission. The BJP, which runs a double engine government, has given Rs 5,000 crore to the state.

--IANS
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Jodhpur, Sep 10 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Jodhpur on Saturday, the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, where he launched a scathing attack on the CM, accusing him of making false promises to people before the Assembly polls in 2018.

Shah accused Gehlot for the rising rate of crime and unemployment in the state, saying the CM should leave the chair if he is unable to handle the situation as people are waiting to bring the BJP back to power in Rajasthan.

Shah was in Jodhpur to address BJP's National OBC Morcha working committee meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Shah said, "The enthusiasm of the workers of Marwar show that the BJP will form a majority government in Rajasthan in 2023, while in 2024 Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister for the third time by winning over 300 seats."

Later, Shah attended a booth convention at Ravan Ka Chabutra, where he was accorded a warm welcome by the booth presidents who came from Jodhpur division.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, "Rahul Baba went on a Bharat Jodo Yatra wearing a foreign jersey. Congress can only do vote bank politics."

Recalling the Udaipur murder incident, Shah said, "Our brother Kanhaiya Lal was killed. Will anyone tolerate this? Will Hindus bear the ban on festivals? Will you accept the way Ram Navami procession was stopped, the way the 300-year-old temple in Alwar was demolished? Gehlot has carried out well-planned riots in many cities of Rajasthan."

Shah also applauded former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for providing free treatment to people during her rule, and said, "When Vasundhara Raje went, the unemployment rate of the state was 5.4 per cent. Under Gehlot's rule, it has gone up to 32 per cent. An unemployment allowance was promised, but no one got it. The Congress government had promised to provide 20 lakh jobs... Gehlotji, give us a calculation of just 10 per cent of those jobs.

"The Indian government reduced tax on petrol, the BJP states reduced VAT, but Gehlot did not cut VAT. The most expensive petrol-diesel in the country is found in Rajasthan. The most expensive electricity is available in Rajasthan. Today, the Congress government has left Rajasthan behind in the race for development. It has become a crime capital.

The Home Minister added, "If Gehlot can't not take care of people, he should leave. People are ready to bring the BJP back to power in Rajasthan. Mahant Vijay Das was forced to commit suicide in Bharatpur, yet no action was taken against the mining mafia. Did you hear about such incidents in Rajasthan before? Gehlot has no control over the administration."

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 10 (IANS) In a counter-attack to the Bharatiya Janata Party's jibes at Rahul Gandhi's costly T-shirt, the Maharashtra Congress hit back by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expensive suit, watches, shades, car and aircraft, here on Saturday.

State Congress President Nana Patole said that instead of worrying about Rahul Gandhi's T-shirt, the BJP should concern itself with PM Modi's Rs 10 lakh suit, Rs 12 lakh car, Rs 1.5 lakh shades, Rs 80,000 shawl and the Rs 8,000-crore aircraft in which he flies.

"After owning all this, he continues to call himself a 'fakir' (beggar). The BJP should worry how the Modi government has brought the 130-crore people of the country to the streets. Due to this government's miserable performance, its end is near," said Patole.

The Congress leader claimed at a media briefing that the BJP is sleepless as Rahul's Kanyakumari to Kashmir 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is getting an overwhelming response wherever it is passing.

"The BJP has got a strong blow with the public spontaneously thronging the Yatra in large numbers and that is why it is raking up petty issues like the price-tag of Rahul Gandhi's T-shirt," Patole said.

He added that dozens of BJP ministers, leaders and spokespersons predicting that the Congress is finished and Rahul does not matter now, are ironically working full-time to criticise and defame him (Rahul) and the Yatra.

"The BJP is shaken by the response to the Yatra from day one... Rahul is fighting for the masses and raising the issues of the common man like spiralling inflation, massive unemployment, the state of the economy, the problems of farmers and workers, etc. with whom he is interacting during the long march," Patole pointed out.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover 3,500 km through 12 states and 2 Union Territories in 150 days and even as it has just begun, the BJP is getting rattled and resorting to such diversionary issues, he said.

Entering Maharashtra on November 7, the Yatra will go around covering 383 km in 6 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies over 16 days, with a large number of people including celebrities expected to join it.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Sep 10 (IANS) As counting of notes seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the residence of city-based businessman Nasir Khan and his son Amir Khan in connection with the mobile gaming app fraud continues on Saturday evening, more Trinamool Congress leaders are coming up with their own logic to criticise the central agency action.

According to sources, over Rs 16 crore have been recovered till now from the Garden Reach residence of Amir Khan, who allegedly launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public.

Veteran Trinamool leader and three-time Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy claimed that the ED raids are deliberately meant to deprive the Trinamool Congress from any assistance from the business community in the future.

"This is not happening just in case of Trinamool Congress. This happens in any state which is not ruled by the BJP. The idea is to conduct raids and search operations at the premises of businessmen so that they refrain from helping the Trinamool in future. But ultimately such ploys will not work out. In the past, there had been several actions by the central agencies in the state. But nothing happened," Roy said.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, when the recovery amount was Rs 8 crore, state minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said the continuous raids and search operations by the central agencies, in his opinion, are part of the Union government and BJP's ploy to show West Bengal in bad light and to destroy the state's economy.

Incidentally, the residence of Nasir Khan and Amir Khan at Shahi Astabal Lane in Garden Reach falls under the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency, which is held by Hakim since 2011.

Meanwhile, ED sources said that Amir Khan, who is the mastermind behind developing and launching the mobile gaming application that duped people of several crores of rupees, is absconding and his three mobile phones are switched off since Saturday morning.

ED officials are currently questioning his family members to find out his whereabouts.

As opposition leaders have started targeting Hakim alleging his connections with Nasir Khan, Hakim has said that recovery of money from the residence of a businessman that comes under his constituency does not make him an accomplice in the matter.

ED started conducting raids on Saturday morning under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six premises in Kolkata.

According to sources, the case was registered at the Park Street police station based on a complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities against Aamir Khan and others.

"Amir Khan had launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding public. During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner. This provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders," said an ED official.

The official said that after collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped at one pretext or the other.

Thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.

--IANS
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Bhubaneswar, Sep 10 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday urged his cabinet colleagues Prahlad Joshi and Bhupender Yadav to ensure payment of better wages and benefits to contract labourers working at coal mines of NALCO and NTPC in Odisha's Angul district.

The labourers should get the wages as per the recommendations of the Central Advisory Contract Law Board (CACLB), Pradhan said in a letter to the Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Joshi and Labour & Employment Minister, Yadav.

Engagement of contract labourers in coal mines has been prohibited under Section 10 of the Contract Labour (regulation and Abolition) Act 1970. However, the Section 31 of the Act provides for exemption in special cases subject to prescribed conditions and restrictions, he said.

Taking the route, industries engaged in coal mining in Angul district have been taking exemptions under such provisions to employ contract labour, Pradhan said.

He pointed out that National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has waived off the applicability of the Section-10 for the coal mining blocks of NTPC for a period of 5 years while National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) has also applied for exemption through the Ministry of Mines.

"Some contractors are denying payment of high powered committee recommended wages and benefits to their workers engaged in coal mines of NALCO. This is a matter of grave concern as it goes against the spirit of labour welfare espoused by the Government of India," said the Education Minister.

He requested the Union Ministers to intervene in the matter and ensure payment of wages to the coal mines labourers as per the recommendations of CACLB.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) Aiming to take India's defence sector to another level, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is making optimal use of the facilities provided by the government.

As the world is moving towards laser-based weapon systems, India looks up to organisations like the Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS) under DRDO. In India, CHESS is the nodal centre for such evolved and futuristic weapon systems.

Located in Hyderabad, CHESS is a defence lab under DRDO.

According to reports, CHESS conducts research and works on High Energy Laser Systems. The organisation has been experimenting with Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) in an attempt to modernise the defence technology of the nation.

These systems destroy hostile targets using laser technology. Any hostile object, whether it is a drone, enemy boat or mortar, that comes in contact with a high-energy laser gets destroyed. In layman's terms, DEWs are capable of destroying or damaging the target temporarily or permanently by focusing high-energy beams or lasers. The application of systems developed by CHESS includes neutralising targets such as personnel, missiles, drones, vehicles and optical devices on land, air or water, reported All India Radio.

Given India's security concerns, DEWs will play an essential role, especially at a time when our neighbouring countries are also experimenting with such weaponry. DEWs are the weapons of the future. CHESS is working on both the Hard Kill and Soft Kill parts of these weapon systems which will enable the country to better engage with threats. These systems will provide India with strategic and operational superiority over its adversaries, the report stated.

In a conversation with PBNS, Ravi Shankar, a scientist at CHESS, said that DRDO has a tie-up with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for mass production of these defence systems as it is only an R&D organisation.

"Currently, the defence systems developed by CHESS are employed with Army Air Defence, National Security Guard (NSG) and Special Protection Group (SPG)," said Ravi Shankar at FICCI's event ‘Making India a Global Drone Hub'.

DRDO has been working in this domain for the past few years to develop weapon systems of up to 100 kilowatts of power for short, medium and long ranges. These high-powered DEWs can quietly incapacitate enemy missiles or drones without leaving any physical evidence or debris.

Russia, France, Germany, the UK, Israel and China are few of the countries that are working and have robust programmes to develop DEWs or Laser Directed Energy Weapons. DEWs are being used by various militaries as a force multiplier and India is also making simultaneous efforts to keep up with the requirements of modern-day warfare.

India's DEW development includes DURGA II (Directionally Unrestricted Ray-Gun Array), which is a 100 kilowatt, lightweight directed-energy system. This weapon system will be integrated with the Indian Army and any other platform on land, air or water bodies.

There are many projects in progress related to DEWs under DRDO's sleeves. Some of the projects are Kilo Ampere Linear Injector (KALI), Project Aditya and Air Defence Dazzlers.

--IANS
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By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi
New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was in the national capital this week, met scores of political leaders including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI-M Secretary General Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.


The purpose of Nitish Kumar's visit was the talk of opposition unity and he plans to meet Sonia Gandhi when she returns from abroad. Before arriving in New Delhi, Kumar had met RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Nitish officially denied any prime ministerial ambition but the political commentators feel that the target is the PM's chair. However the biggest obstacle is the Congress which is maintaining that being the biggest political formation it should be the fulcrum of any alliance.

Sources say in the Congress that the Nitish Kumar situation is evolving and we are watching how it unfolds in the future.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday addressing a press conference in Nagercoil said that "opposition unity is a good thing" and it's the responsibility of other opposition parties to fight the BJP. Nitish Kumar had a nearly one-hour meeting with Rahul Gandhi on the issue.

Kumar said that he "was not a claimant for the Prime Minister's post and had no desire for it."

In the meeting with the Left parties he said: "We have discussed that if all the parties, including the Left parties, regional parties in the states, and Congress come together, then it will be a big political formation."

Yechury said that this was a positive sign and a good political development in the country.

Kumar is in Delhi to unify the Opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who thanked Nitish. The bonhomie is brewing with many central agencies chasing AAP leaders.

"Many thanks to Nitish ji for visiting my house. Many serious issues of the country including education, health, Operation Lotus, openly buying MLAs by these people and bringing down the governments elected by the people, increasing autocratic corruption of BJP governments, inflation, unemployment were discussed", tweeted CM Kejriwal.

Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have Congress governments and they respectively have 25 and 11 Lok Sabha seats while in the Lok Sabha the Congress has about 53 MPs. There are many states where the Congress has zero seats including Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Delhi, Himachal.

The opposition ruled states and their statistics may hold the key to the Lok Sabha election 2024 as West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats and the Mamata Banerjee led TMC is in power. In Jharkhand, the JMM led by Hemant Soren is in power and the state has 14 seats. Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and the Left is ruling the state. In Telangana, KCR is ruling and it has 17 seats.

The DMK led by MK Stalin is having its government in Tamil Nadu and it has 39 Lok Sabha seats, in Punjab the AAP is in power and it has 13 seats.

Besides these, Maharashtra is another state where NCP leader Sharad Powar has considerable influence. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats.

After the Maharashtra government changed, the BJP has the upper hand in the Lok Sabha election.

The BJP won 303 seats in 2019 and formed the government at the Centre. The BJP won 17 seats in Bihar, 16 seats in West Bengal and 11 seats in Jharkhand in 2019.

--IANS
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By Ajay Kumar
Patna, Sep 10 (IANS) After the three-day visit of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to Delhi, his alliance partner in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) believes that he is the most suitable leader for the Prime Minister's post.


Mritunjay Tiwari, the national spokesperson of the RJD, said: "Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) has the longest parliamentary life than any other leader. He is an experienced leader who knows how to govern the country. He has a clean political and socialist image and other leaders are nowhere near to him when we talk about quality leadership."

"The parliamentary life of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi is less than Nitish Kumar. Besides, the latter has a socialist image which makes voters comfortable. Narendra Modi on the other hand has done nothing in the last 8 years other than communal politics. Moreover, the central government has many anti people policies which have created anti incumbency against the BJP. The Narendra Modi government has failed on every count including the economy. The prices of commodities are increasing and the income of the people is decreasing. The life of the common people has become hard and such a factor can act against Narendra Modi," Tiwari said.

"As far as the opposition parties are concerned, everyone is in favour of a 'BJP Mukt Bharat'. The primary objective of every opposition party is to remove the BJP government from the Centre and not who would be the PM candidate of the opposition parties. Nitish Kumar himself has said that he is not the prime ministerial candidate at present. He also said that all opposition parties will sit together to decide the name of the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition parties to challenge Narendra Modi," Tiwari said.

The opposition leaders know well the political style of the BJP. It believes in the character assassination of leaders who are in the opposition. They were with Rahul Gandhi and he was given the name Pappu. The only aim was to defame Rahul Gandhi and demoralize him. Rahul is still standing firm and taking on the BJP in his own style, they said.

"For Nitish Kumar, he has not been involved in any scam or has any serious allegation or any baggage of corruption. Hence, it would not be easy for the BJP to target him. Moreover, he is a Hindi heartland leader capable of counter attacking Narendra Modi in his own style. If we remember, Narendra Modi during the 2015 Vidhan Sabha election commented on his DNA. Nitish Kumar immediately responded with Badka Jhutha Party for BJP," said Chitranjan Gagan, another RJD leader and spokesperson.

As far as the RJD is concerned, it has been out of power for 15 years in Bihar. Moreover the party's national president Lalu Prasad may not have national ambitions as he is ill and suffering from multiple diseases. The second big leader of the RJD is Tejashwi Yadav and he is focusing on Bihar.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav is out of power. Hence, he is trying to consolidate his position in the state rather than thinking of national politics. His father and a big socialist face Mulayam Singh Yadav is also ill and not in a position to contest elections. Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Benerjee is a possible challenger to the Narendra Modi government but her acceptance in the Hindi heartland is a million dollar question.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal could be another challenger to Narendra Modi but his fate will be decided only after the AAP's performance in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. If he manages to defeat the BJP in Gujarat, his chances as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate become brighter.

For the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are doing national politics and hence leaders like Ashok Gehlot and Raman Singh are not in the race. For leaders like KCR, MK Stalin and Sharad Power, it would not be easy to challenge Narendra Modi who is a very good speaker in Hindi.

"Challenging Narendra Modi in his own style would be one of the key aspects for the opposition parties where Nitish Kumar is far more experienced than anyone else. He is also a supporter of RJD and it means its 79 MLAs and 12 MLCs are also favouring Nitish Kumar who is having 45 MLAs in Bihar and 17 Lok Sabha MPs," said a RJD leader requested not to be named.

--IANS
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London, Sep 10 (IANS) Scientists have discovered a new mechanism through which very small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer in people who have never smoked,

Particles linked to climate change also promote cancerous changes in airway cells, they found, paving the way to new approaches for lung cancer prevention and treatment.

Scientists of the Francis Crick Institute and University College London, funded by Cancer Research UK, presented the data at the 'ESMO Congress 2022'.

According to them, the particles which are typically found in vehicle exhaust and smoke from fossil fuels, are associated with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) risk, accounting for over 250,000 lung cancer deaths globally per year.

"The same particles in the air that derive from the combustion of fossil fuels, exacerbating climate change, are directly impacting human health via an important and previously overlooked cancer-causing mechanism in lung cells," they informed.

The risk of lung cancer from air pollution is lower than from smoking, "but we have no control over what we all breathe".

"Globally, more people are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution than to toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke, and these new data link the importance of addressing climate health to improving human health," said Charles Swanton from the Francis Crick Institute.

The new findings are based on human and laboratory research on mutations in a gene called EGFR which are seen in about half of people with lung cancer who have never smoked.

In a study of nearly half a million people living in England, South Korea and Taiwan, exposure to increasing concentrations of airborne particulate matter (PM) 2.5 micrometres (Im) in diameter was linked to increased risk of NSCLC with EGFR mutations.

In the laboratory studies, scientists showed that the same pollutant particles (PM2.5) promoted rapid changes in airway cells which had mutations in EGFR and in another gene linked to lung cancer called KRAS, driving them towards a cancer stem cell like state.

"We found that driver mutations in EGFR and KRAS genes, commonly found in lung cancers, are actually present in normal lung tissue and are a likely consequence of ageing," said Swanton.

However, when lung cells with these mutations were exposed to air pollutants, "we saw more cancers and these occurred more quickly than when lung cells with these mutations were not exposed to pollutants", suggesting that air pollution promotes the initiation of lung cancer in cells harbouring driver gene mutations.

"The next step is to discover why some lung cells with mutations become cancerous when exposed to pollutants while others don't," said Swanton.

Tony Mok from Chinese University of Hong Kong, who was not involved in the study, said that the research is intriguing and exciting.

"It means that we can ask whether, in the future, it will be possible to use lung scans to look for pre-cancerous lesions in the lungs and try to reverse them with medicines such as interleukin-1I inhibitors," said Mok.

"We don't yet know whether it will be possible to use highly sensitive EGFR profiling on blood or other samples to find non-smokers who are predisposed to lung cancer and may benefit from lung scanning, so discussions are still very speculative," he added.

--IANS
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