India

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 17 (IANS) After a marathon nine-hour grilling of Venugopal Iyer, a Chartered Accountant and a close aide of Sivasankar, the ED has reportedly made a headway with the CA stating that he had just followed the former top bureaucrat's instructions.

Three days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested M.Sivasankar -- the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the Life Mission bribery case, things are getting tough not just for the arrested former official, but others too.

Former CEO of the Life Mission U.V. Jose, who was questioned in the past, appeared before the probe agency this morning. He too will be questioned along with Sivasankar.

Sivasankar retired from service on January 31.

The arrest is related to the ongoing probe in Vijayan's pet project 'Life Mission' - intended to provide homes to the poor who were displaced in the devastating floods of 2018.

An amount of Rs 4 crore was allegedly paid as commission to get a contract, as builder Santhosh Eapen told the CBI after he was arrested.

Earlier, the ED had recovered Rs one crore in cash from a locker in the name of prime accused in the gold smuggling case and also in the Life Mission case- Swapna Suresh.

The locker from where the ED recovered the huge amount of money was in the name of Iyer and Swapna.

By now, the central agency has been able to retrieve chat messages of Sivasankar, Iyer and Swapna and with Iyer explaining things what happened, they have now made a solid case with facts and evidence and that is going to spell trouble for more.

Another clinching evidence is that it was Sivasankar who had directed Swapna on how to draft letters especially to get the money from a UAE-based Red Crescent, a UAE based charity organisation for building the flats under the Life Mission project for the poor and weaker sections here.

Sivasankar asked Swapna to call Raveendran if she had any doubts.

Incidentally, Raveendran is the assistant private secretary to Vijayan and one of the closest aides of his who is the last word in the chief minister's office.

Swapna soon after the arrest of Sivasankar had told the media that Raveendran is the storehouse of all secrets surrounding Vijayan and if he is questioned he would spill the beans about Vijayan, his wife, daughter and son.

With Sivasankar's ED custody ending on Monday, the probe agency is working overtime and is likely to serve notices to a few key people also holding high positions.

Reacting to the arrest of Sivasankar, for the first time CPI(M) state secretary M.V.Govindan said the party will not be affected by it as he is no longer associated with them.

"Sivasankar has been arrested in the past also a few times, so what's it for the
CPI(M). We have got nothing to do with Sivasankar," said Govindan.

The Congress and the BJP have now called for the resignation of Vijayan saying the CM should quit as it's better than being thrown out.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now become the target of derogatory comments from controversial West Bengal minister of state for correctional services Akhil Giri, who had already been in the centre of polemics earlier for his insulting comments concerning the looks of President Droupadi Murmu.

A video of his comments made at a public rally at Ramnagar in East Midnapore district in West Bengal on Thursday evening went viral where Giri was heard making a slating comment that the "Prime Minister has been attacked and crushed by a cow".

Referring to a recent statement about the controversial 'Cow Hug Day' statement from the Animal Welfare Board of India, Giri said the Prime Minister in his attempt to show affection towards a cow by hugging it has been crushed by that animal.

"February 14 is the occasion of Valentine's Day when the boys and girls express love towards each other by gifting roses. But the Prime Minister tried to show his love towards a cow by hugging that animal. He fell being hit by the cow. Luckily it was a cow and not a bull. Had he been hit by a bull he could have just gone," Giri was heard making the remark in the video.

Giri did not stop at that. "In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections the Prime Minister will get a similar hit and he will totally crumble. The people of India will throw him out of the Parliament," Giri said.

Reacting to the comments, BJP's district president in East Midnapore district Sudam Pundit said that Trinamool Congress is such a party where no leader cares for minimum political decorum. "It is a third-grade party whose only motto is corruption. Their leaders are out of their mind sensing that the end days are nearing fast. So, they are uttering such rubbish," he said.

To recall, in November last year, a video went viral where Akhil Giri was heard making derogatory comments against the Indian President. "We do not judge people by their looks. We respect the chair of the Indian President. But my question is how does the President look," Giri was heard saying in the video.

In the face of large-scale criticisms from different quarters of the society, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee finally spoke out over the matter almost after a week since the video went viral and apologised on behalf of Giri. "The President is a beautiful woman. I condemn such comments against her. I apologise on behalf of the party MLA," the chief minister had said.

-IANS
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Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will be appointing Udyami Mitras (friends of entrepreneurs) soon for the implementation of Rs 33.52 lakh crore investment proposals received through the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit-2023 that was held in Lucknow from February 10 to 12.

The Udyami Mitras will be appointed by Invest UP under the Mukhya Mantri Udyami Mitra Yojana, and the CEO of the department.

According to the official spokesman, the Udyami Mitras will contact investors, listen to their problems, get them solved and explain to them in detail about the facilities available to them.

As many as 105 Udyami Mitras will be appointed on a one-year contract in the first phase, according to a press release. Seventy of these posts will be for the districts, 10 for the Invest UP office and headquarters and 25 posts for working with various industrial development authorities.

They will be given honorarium and allowances of Rs 70,000 per month each.

The candidates will be able to apply online on the Invest UP website or on the portal developed for the purpose. The Udyami Mitras must have an MBA degree with at least 60 per cent marks and be in the 25-40 year age group. The candidate should be fluent in Hindi and English, and should also know typing in both languages.

Apart from this, preference will be given to the candidates knowing a foreign language. The candidate must have good knowledge of computers and experience in Microsoft Office.

Those applying should have an MBA degree with minimum of one-year experience as management trainee/ analyst/ associate in banking/consulting/market research organisation, or investor friendly related private or public company.

They should also have studied or have work experience in infrastructure and industrial development, defence, aerospace, civil aviation, warehousing and logistics, information technology (IT), information technology enabled services (ITES), data centre, data science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, machine learning, data governance, startups, handloom and textile.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, V.K. Saxena, is continuing to trample upon the mandate of the elected government in the national capital.

AAP leader Atishi alleged that the L-G had illegally and unconstitutionally formed the Haj Committee and also held elections for the post of its Chairman.

Explaining the legal provisions in the matter, Atishi said that the Haj Committee comes under the Revenue Department of Delhi government and therefore just like subjects such as schools, hospitals, electricity and water, it comes under the list of 'Transferred Subjects'.

"The Constitution of India and orders of the Constitution Bench make it very clear that the L-G does not have any independent decision-making power on 'Transferred Subjects'. The L-G does not have any independent decision-making power in this matter, as clearly stated in the Constitution of India, and orders of the Constitution Bench," Atishi said while addressing the media.

"The state government constitutes the Haj Committee, as shown in Section 17 of The Haj Committee Act, 2002. There is no dispute as to the competent authority to constitute the committee, as Constitutional principles, decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as the Haj Committee Act, clearly vest this power on the elected government of State, i.e., the Council of Ministers," she said.

She added that the state government had sent a list of members, who were to be picked as members of the Haj Committee, to the L-G, but he made changes to the list and formed the committee without informing the AAP government.

"After that the LG also got the Haj Committee notified by threatening officials and warning them that they would be sacked if they did not notify the Haj Committee. Further, the L-G on also ordered election for the post of Chairman for the Haj Committee. All the three things here are illegal - the formation of the committee, the order to notify it and also the election to pick the Chairman of the committee," she claimed.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Feb 16 (IANS) Indicating that all is not hunky-dory in the Maharashtra party unit, the Congress has deputed a senior leader, Ramesh Chennithala, to assess the on-ground situation and submit his report, here on Thursday.

The sudden development came a day after the state Congress President Nana Patole and Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat emerged from the State Executive meeting, grinned and posed for photos, suggesting a patch-up of their recent public and private brawl.

Chennithala is expected to be in Mumbai for at least a couple of days, meet different leaders of the state party and prepare his report before the AICC 85th Plenary Session scheduled in Chhattisgarh between February 24-26.

"The Congress president has deputed Ramesh Chennithala to assess the latest political situation in Maharashtra and report to him, with immediate effect," a statement noted.

The development comes a day after the Congress state executive meeting held in Mumbai signalling that Thorat and Patole had buried the hatchet.

Earlier this month, Thorat had shot off a letter to the Congress high command and quit as the CLP Leader, but after discussions with Maharashtra in-charge H.K. Patil, his resignation was rejected last week.

The political upheavals rocked the state Congress ahead of the MLC elections in January, specifically linked with the Nashik Graduates Constituency, where the official party nominee, Dr. Sudhir Tambe, suddenly stepped down in favour of his son, Satyajeet Tambe.

As the party tried to grapple with the situation, Satyajeet Tambe -- a nephew of Thorat -- contested and won the seat as an Independent, trouncing Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) nominee Shubhangi Patil, creating fissures even among the 3-year-old three-party alliance which includes Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT).

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Alarmed at the rising pesky mobile calls and text messages by telemarketers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday directed all telecom service providers to reverify registered headers and message templates on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) platform and block all unverified headers and message templates within 30 and 60 days, respectively.

In a new directive, the telecom regulator said that the mobile operators need to ensure that temporary headers are deactivated immediately after the time duration for which such headers were created.

TRAI issued the new directions to providers to stop misuse of headers and message templates and curb unauthorised promotions using telecom resources.

The telecom regulator told the mobile operators to remove confusions among recipients of message and prevent their misuse and no look-alike headers (headers which are similar by virtue of combination of small case or large case letters) are to be registered by access providers in names of different principal entities.

"Access providers have been directed to bar all telemarketers, who are not registered on DLT platform from handling the message template scrubbing and delivery of messages to recipients through Access Providers' network," read the TRAI note.

It directed mobile operators to take action against erring telemarketers as per the provisions of the regulations and also initiate actions as per relevant legal laws.

All the telecom service providers have been directed to comply with the above directions within 30 days.

Earlier this week, a survey revealed that two in three Indians get three or more pesky calls every day and 50 per cent of them said such calls originate from personal number of people.

According to LocalCircles which conducted the survey, 45 per cent or people get on average 3-5 pesky calls each day while 16 per cent claimed getting 6-10 such calls per day.

Around 60 per cent received most calls related to "selling financial services", 18 per cent got most calls related to "selling real estate" while 10 per cent received most calls "offering a job/earnings opportunity."

TRAI has called a meeting with mobile phone operators on February 17 to discuss the quality of wireline and wireless services.

The meeting will discuss potential "measures and action plan to improve the quality of service (QoS), review the current QoS standards, QoS for 5G services, and unsolicited commercial communications".

TRAI in 2022 had released a consultation paper on mandatory implementation of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in telecommunication networks which is designed to display the name of the caller (even if the receiver has not saved the same on their device/SIM) on the receiver's screen when the call connects.

However, complaints from consumers continued to rise and unsolicited communications is something people have been regularly discussing about, according to LocalCircles.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Ahead of the Assembly election at the end of this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit poll-bound Meghalaya on February 24.

According to sources, PM Modi will address a rally in Tura on February 24. The same day, he is scheduled to hold a roadshow as a part of an election campaign in Shillong, where the BJP hopes to secure large vote shares.

"The PM will also address a public rally to give a boost to the election campaign. Meeting with state BJP leaders is also in the schedule", the sources added.

This will be his first visit to Meghalaya this year.

The BJP's election plank has been development and employment in the state with little of either. These, along with corruption, have been the themes in speeches of Union minister and ex-Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, who campaigned in Meghalaya recently.

He also hinted at the Sangma families' "nepotism", both of which have a number of members in the fray.

BJP President J.P. Nadda on Wednesday released the party's election manifesto for Meghalaya in the state capital Shillong.

The manifesto promises implementation of the 7th Pay Commission and the timely disbursal of salaries of the government employees and many other promises in the favour of the state.

As per the Nagaland BJP sources, the PM will visit Nagaland and hold a mega rally there.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Feb 16 (IANS) The Army on Thursday started online registration for recruitment under the Agniveer scheme in J&K and Ladakh which will continue till March 15.

"All eligible unmarried male candidates born between 01 Oct 2002 to 01 Apr 2006 (both dates inclusive) with requisite educational qualifications from UT of J&K belonging to Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Badgam, Kupwara, Shopian, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Kulgam districts and UT of Ladakh belonging to Leh and Kargil districts can apply for enrolment under categories of Agniveer General Duty, Agniveer Technical, Agniveer Clerk/Store Keeper Technical and Agniveer Tradesmen," the Army said in a statement.

The recruitment rally by Army Recruiting Office, Srinagar is tentatively scheduled to be conducted in June 2023 at Anantnag High Ground, South Kashmir, UT of J&K.

"Candidates are advised to register online at website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in at the earliest. Indian Army further amplified that this would be the first recruitment under the new procedure introduced with the written examination being scheduled before the physical and medical test," the Army statement said.

"Army Recruiting Office, Srinagar has advised that recruitment is a free service and selection is fair and purely based on merit. No money is required to be paid to anyone. Details can be obtained on Email ID - arosrinagar123@gmail.com and Landline Nos 0194-2311282 and 0194-2310164. Additional information has been made available as videos in Urdu and can be accessed by scanning the barcode in the notice published by ARO Srinagar."

--IANS
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Mumbai, Feb 16 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will interact with 50 daughters of martyred Kashmir Police and security personnel during his upcoming three-day visit to Maharashtra starting from Friday, official sources said here on Thursday.

Shah will reach Nagpur from Assam late on Friday (February 17) and on Saturday will visit the RSS headquarters in Reshim Bagh, pay his respects at the holy site of Deekshabhoomi, the samadhis of K.B. Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar, and attend the golden jubilee celebrations of the Lokmat Group.

In the afternoon, Shah, who is also the Union Minister for Cooperation, will fly down to Pune to participate in a co-operatives sector event organised by the Sakal Group, interact with 50 daughters of martyred Kashmir police and security officials on behalf of NGO Sarhad, pray at the Omkareshwar Temple and release the Marathi translation of a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Sunday, Shah will attend a programme to mark the 393rd birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and then depart for Kolhapur for a darshan of the famed Mahalaxmi Temple, garland the statue of Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj and after completing several other engagements, leave for New Delhi the same evening, the sources said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has sent his reply to the breach of privilege notice against him over his February 7 remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Lok Sabha secretariat, sources said on Thursday.

According to sources, Gandhi replied to the notice on Wednesday.

He replied on the privilege motion by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi over his speech where he spoke regarding the Hindenburg research report on the Adani group.

As per party sources, Gandhi cited various laws to justify his remarks.

The content of the reply has been kept confidential, however, certain Congress leaders said that Gandhi had responded to all the allegations levelled against him on the basis of facts and precedents.

Joshi had written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stating that Rahul Gandhi misled the House by making allegations without any evidence.

--IANS
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