India

Bengaluru, Feb 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 on Monday in Bengaluru.

During the programme, the Prime Minister will participate in a roundtable interaction with global oil and gas CEOs. He will also launch multiple initiatives in the field of green energy.

The IEW, which is a G20 event, will be held between February 6 to 8, in Bengaluru. It is aimed at showcasing India's rising prowess as an energy transition powerhouse.

The event will see the presence of more than 30 ministers from across the world.

Over 30,000 delegates, 1,000 exhibitors and 500 speakers will gather to discuss the challenges and opportunities of India's energy future.

Meanwhile Modi will launch the E20 fuel at 84 retail outlets of oil marketing companies in 12 states.

E20 is a blend of 20 per cent ethanol with petrol.

The government aims to achieve 20 per cent blending of ethanol by 2025.

Oil marketing companies are setting up ethanol plants to facilitate this process.

The Prime Minister will also flag off a green mobility rally for creating awareness about clean fuels.

He will also dedicate a twin-cook top model of Indian Oil's indoor solar cooking system -- a revolutionary indoor solar cooking solution that works on both solar and auxiliary energy sources simultaneously.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested two persons from Bihar in connection with a case related to the busting of a suspected terror module in the Phulwari Sharif area of Patna, an official said.

According to an official, the NIA conducted search operations at eight locations, following which two persons, identified as -- Tanveer Raza a.k.a. Barkati and Mohammed Abid a.k.a. Aryan, were arrested.

Earlier, several persons were arrested and incriminating articles and documents related to the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) were seized.

"The raids were conducted in Bihar's East Champaran district on Saturday while the two persons were arrested on Sunday. We have learnt that they had hatched a conspiracy to carry out targeted killings. The arrested individuals had arranged weapons and ammunition to carry out the killings. A recce was also conducted," an NIA official said, adding multiple digital devices were also seized during the raids.

"The arms and ammunition had been handed over to a PFI trainer, Yakoob, who had been conducting training sessions for PFI cadres. A few days ago, Yakoob had posted a derogatory and inflammatory Facebook video, which was aimed at disturbing peace and communal harmony. Yakoob is currently on the run," the official said.

The case pertains to involvement of PFI and its members in "unlawful activities". The PFI members were suspected to have assembled to discuss their plans in the Phulwari Sharif area of Patna.

The case was initially registered at Bihar's Phulwari Sharif police station on July 12, 2022, and later on, the probe into the matter was taken over by the NIA.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Delhi BJP Working President, Virendra Sachdeva, on Sunday distributed battery tricycles and other equipment to 'Divyangs' (differently-abled persons) in the state party office.

The programme was coordinated by Arun Rai, the Convenor of the State BJP Divyang Cell, under which 87 battery tricycles and wheelchairs were distributed to differently-abled persons, apart from ear machines, crutches and special mobile phones to visually impaired students.

National Patron of Saksham -- Dayal Singh Pawar, international player Madhavi Hans, Indira Mishra, Panchdev Shukla and other officials were present in the programme.

Sachdeva, while addressing the Divyangs, who came from across Delhi, said that after 2016, there has been a tremendous change in the country as there were no battery tricycles for Divyangs.

"After the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the means you (Divyangs) are entitled to are reaching to you directly," the Delhi BJP Working President added.

He said that earlier, the Divyang reservation was three per cent but the Prime Minister increased it to four per cent.

Sachdeva said that in all the government buildings being constructed after 2014, special attention is being paid to ensure easy entry facilities for the differently-abled.

The Delhi BJP Working President added that the one who is not able to see the difficulties of the differently-abled people in the society is actually "mentally disabled".

Sachdeva said, "If a person is determined to do something, no one can stop him and this has been shown by the differently-abled people of our country, be it in sports or any other field," adding that "all of you Divyang friends are a living example of how we should work in adverse circumstances and set an example for the people".

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and judges of the Supreme Court on Sunday visited Amrit Udyan -- earlier known as Mughal Garden, in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on a special invitation by President Droupadi Murmu.

The official Twitter handle of Rashtrapati Bhavan shared pictures of the judges along with President Murmu.

A tweet read: "On a special invitation by President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and judges of the Supreme Court visited the Amrit Udyan of Rashtrapati Bhavan."

A video has also been shared by the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in which Supreme Court judges are seen with their families.

During the tenure of the previous Presidents, gardens like Herbal-1, Herbal-2, Tactile Garden, Bonsai Garden and Arogya Vanam were developed here.

Amrit Udyan was opened to the public on January 31.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi justified the allegations of sexual harassment made by Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat and others against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), and demanded appropriate action.

The wrestlers have alleged that the president and coaches of the WFI sexually harass women wrestlers, and have been doing it for years.

Gandhi said that players are the nation's pride, who bring laurels to the country by performing at the international level.

She said that if the players have made serious allegations of exploitation against the WFI and its president, then their voices should be heard.

Gandhi added that a proper investigation should be carried out in the matter.

Many well known wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik are protesting against the WFI at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Thursday.

Punia said that the protest was not a political one, but a fight for their rights.

Wrestler Babita Phogat tweeted: "I stand with all my fellow players in this matter. I assure all of you that I will work to raise this issue with the government...."

Vinesh Phogat, who has represented India in the Olympics, has alleged that women wrestlers have been molested and sexually assaulted by national coaches over the years.

WFI president Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh, however, has denied these allegations.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Jan 19 (IANS) In a surprise move, the Uttar Pradesh government, on Thursday, opposed the bail plea of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son, who is one of the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, in the Supreme Court.

Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J.K. Maheshwari that the crime is "grave".

"It is a grave and heinous crime and (granting bail) will send a wrong signal to society," she said when asked for reasons to oppose the bail plea.

"We are taking prima facie view that he is involved and he is an accused and not innocent. Is it the state's case that he has attempted to destroy evidence?" the bench asked.

The court said about the grave and heinous crime there are two versions and it cannot comment on any of the versions.

The additional advocate general replied, "That has not happened till now."

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for those opposing the bail plea, said grant of bail will send a terrible message to society.

"It is a conspiracy and a well-planned murder. I will show it from the charge sheet. He is the son of a powerful man being represented by a powerful lawyer," he said.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the accused Ashish Mishra, strongly opposed Dave's submission and said, "What is this? Who is powerful? We are appearing every day. Can this be a condition to not grant bail?"

Rohatgi submitted that his client has been in custody for more than a year and the way the trial is going, it will take seven to eight years to complete it.

He pointed out that Jagjeet Singh, who is the complainant in the case, is not an eyewitness and his complaint is just based on hearsay.

"Jagjit Singh is the complainant and he is not an eyewitness. I am surprised that when there are many people saying we ran over people mercilessly, an FIR is registered on the version of a person who is not an eyewitness?" Rohatgi said, adding that his client is not a criminal and there are no past records.

It may be recalled that on October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Tikunia in a violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.

According to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated.

Following the incident, a driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence.

On December 6 last year, a trial court had framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 12 others for the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and others in the case of death of the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, paving the way for the start of the trial.

A total of 13 accused, including Ashish Mishra, have been charged under IPC sections 147 and 148 related to rioting, 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), and section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

The other 12 accused are Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Latif Kale, Satyam a.k.a Satya Prakash Tripathi, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, Ullas Kumar Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Banjara.

All of them are in jail.

--IANS
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Moradabad, Jan 19 (IANS) The controversy over burqa erupted once again on Thursday when some students of a college in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad were denied entry for wearing it.

The incident took place at the Hindu College, Moradabad.

The girls have alleged that they were not being allowed to enter the college premises and they are being compelled to remove their burqa at the gate.

A scuffle allegedly broke out between the students, the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha workers, and the college professors who remained adamant about sticking to the prescribed rules.

A videohas gone viral on the social media.

Meanwhile, the college professor, Dr A.P. Singh, said that they have implemented a dress code for the students here and anybody who refuses to follow it, will be barred from entering the college campus.

Members of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha submitted a memorandum to include the burqa in the dress code for college and allow the girls to attend their classes wearing it.

Last year, a major controversy began when some students of Government Girls PU college in Udupi district in Karnataka alleged that they had been barred from attending classes.

During the protests, some students claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab.

The matter was then taken up to the Karnataka High Court, which dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on hijab in education institutions and said that wearing a hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.

The Supreme Court on October 13, 2022, pronounced a split verdict in the case.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to National Investigation Agency (NIA) and sought its reply in four weeks' time in an appeal filed by convicts in a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) conspiracy case.

Last year on November 28, Special Judge Shailender Malik had handed life imprisonment to four namely Sajjad Ahmed Khan, Bilal Ahmed Mir, Muzaffar Ahmed Bhat, Ishfaq Ahmed Bhat and Mehraj-ud-din Chopan for various offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), after they pleaded guilty in the case.

Tanveer Ahmed Ganie was granted five years of rigorous imprisonment.

A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh listed the matter for next hearing on March 24.

Representing the convicts, the counsel told the court that the appeal being dealt with currently is only the first appeal on the NIA court's decision of sentencing them for life.

The counsel further told the court that the convicts "pleaded guilty" to the charges.

"So the question is u/CrPC the appeal is limited to the extent of sentences, but whether u/NIA Act, I can argue more, because it's notwithstanding anything contained in the CrPC. But in any case... sentence for life was awarded particularly when remorse had been expressed & time of court was saved. The most extreme sentence of life imprisonment has been given in the case of waging war against the State when no violence actually occurred", the counsel said.

"It may be an excessive case of first-time offenders particularly when the court has come to the conclusion that they were not the moving figures. All of them were camp followers," the counsel added.

The NIA lodged an FIR in March 2019 and started the investigation.

--IANS
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Jammu, Jan 19 (IANS) A low intensity earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale occurred in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday and there were no reports of any casualty or damage to property.

Officials of the disaster management authority said the quake struck at 12.04 p.m.

The epicentre of the temblor was in the Doda area. Its latitude was 33.21 degrees north and longitude 75.72 degrees east.

It occurred at a depth of 10 km inside the earth.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) As per the Indian Railways, the premium service of the Vande Bharat Express connecting New Delhi and Jaipur will start soon, which will reduce the travel time between the two cities from four hours to just two hours.

Travelling by other trains on the New Delhi-Jaipur route normally takes about four hours.

So far, eight Vande Bharat Express trains are running on different routes in the country with the latest one being the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express connecting the two states.

Other Vande Bharat Express trains include New Delhi-Varanasi, New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Gandhinagar Rajdhani-Mumbai and Howrah-New Jalpaiguri.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said: "Vande Bharat is an excellent train. It can travel 0-100 km in 52 seconds, while other trains in the world take 54 to 60 seconds. India's designs are even better than aeroplanes. It can provide the most comfortable travel experience."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the inauguration of Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express, said that seven Vande Bharat trains (running already) had covered a cumulative distance of 23 lakh km, which is equivalent to 58 rounds of the earth.

Modi added that more than 40 lakh passengers had travelled in these trains so far.

Vande Bharat Express train has 14 AC Chair Car coaches and two Executive AC Chair Car coaches with a capacity of 1,128 passengers.

They are equipped with indigenously designed, modern passenger amenities.

The Railways is planning to run 400 such trains across India, in the next three years.

--IANS
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