India

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday criticised Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman over her statement on the 1991 economic reforms.

Chidambaram tweeted, "The FM is reported to have said that the 1991 reforms were "half-baked", Thank God, Dr Manmohan Singh did not serve over-cooked and unpalatable food like Demonetisation, multiple-rates GST and savage taxes on petrol & diesel

"We thank the FM for revealing that she took bakery and cooking courses in University," he added

According to reports in a section of the media, the Finance Minister during a book release function said that the 1991 reforms were half-baked. The economic reforms were initiated by Manmohan Singh when he was the finance minister during the Narsimaha Rao government at the Centre.

Speaking in Hindi, Sitharaman said, "The economy was liberalised but the opening of the economy was not done properly and was under compulsions. We started with half-baked reforms in 1991."

Chidambaram, a former finance minister, is a bitter critic of the Modi government's economic policies.

--IANS
miz/dpb

Lucknow, Sep 16 (IANS) A 64-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow was allegedly duped of more than Rs 7 lakh by a Nigerian man, who made a fake social media profile as a woman and took the money in the name of sending return gifts on 'her' birthday, police said.

The man, a resident of Alambagh, has lodged a case with the cyber police.

The Nigerian man has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force for allegedly duping people of crores of rupees by creating fake social media profiles and then extorting money from them.

The accused has been identified as Jerome Balla a.k.a Sunday Dumaka and was arrested on Thursday from Delhi. Police have recovered six mobile phones, three SIM cards, 1 Nigerian voter ID card and Mastercard and a photocopy of a passport from his possession.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that he is a resident of Gini, Nigeria, and that he visited India in 2017. He then married a girl from India in 2018 and has been living in Delhi since then.

The police added that the accused created several IDs on various social media platforms and used to display pictures of foreign people to trap the victims.

The accused befriended the victims by impersonating as a man or woman from America, Germany or elsewhere. He even talked to them on phone by using voice changer software. With a promise to marry the victims, the accused even promised to send them lavish gifts.

Later, he used to call them up as a Customs Officer and pressure victims to pay 'customs duty' on the items received.

The accused also duped people by threatening to trap them in money laundering case and asked them to send money in various bank accounts, the police informed.

--IANS
amita/khz/

Lucknow, Sep 16 (IANS) Following the heavy rains that have been lashing Lucknow since the past 24-hours, the district administration, early on Friday, announced the closure of all schools in Uttar Pradesh's state capital, Met Department officials said.

According to the orders of the District Magistrate Suryapal Gangwar, schools affiliated to all Boards, up to class 12 will remain closed on Friday following the heavy downpour and water logging in many parts of the city.

School managements have been asked to communicate to all parents and students through their respective WhatsApp groups that the schools will remain closed due to the inclement weather and heavy downpour.

The order applies to all the urban and rural area schools.

Several districts in Uttar Pradesh, including Jhansi, Orai, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bahraich have witnessed torrential rainfall in the past 24 hours.

Heavy rainfall belt will extend further and cover Bareilly, Pilibhit, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Mainpuri, Hardoi, Sitapur, Lucknow, Kanpur and Prayagraj in the next two days, Met Department officials said.

--IANS
amita/khz/

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) The diplomats in the External Affairs Ministry in India and the abroad are troubled with the claims made by the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann about setting up of a new BMW manufacturing plant in Punjab which was later refuted by the leading auto giant BMW.

According to a source with the Ministry, the diplomats see it as a question of credibility and said that such tall claims should be avoided as it hurts the credibility of the country and the government too. The source said that it has left the diplomats embarrassed.

During Mann's visit to Germany, the Indian diplomats had arranged a meeting. However, after that he announced that BMW had decided to set up a new manufacturing plant in his state.

"The efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to rope in major investments from Germany bore fruit on Tuesday as leading auto giant BMW agreed to set up its auto part manufacturing unit in the state," said a press statement from government.

However, releasing an official statement, the BMW Group denied such plan on Wednesday.

"The BMW Group is firmly committed to its Indian operations with its manufacturing plant in Chennai, a parts warehouse in Pune, a training centre in Gurgaon-NCR and a well-developed dealer network across major metropolitans of the country. BMW Group India has no plans for setting up additional manufacturing operations in Punjab," said the press statement.

--IANS
avr/khz/

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday said that they have arrested a Superintendent and a Tax Clerk, both officials of the Cantonment Board, Garhi Cantt, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 25,000, a CBI official said.

The official added that a case was registered against Shailendra Sharma, the Superintendent and Tax Clerk Raman Agarwal on a complaint alleging that they were demanding a bribe of Rs 50,000 which was reduced to Rs 25,000 from the complainant for getting his mutation file processed.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs 25,000 from the complainant.

In another case, the CBI has arrested a Head Constable of Delhi Police posted at Gandhinagar police station and a private person for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000, a CBI official said.

The official added that a case was registered on a complaint against two police head constables Amit Malik and Neeraj Rana on the allegations of demanding undue bribe of Rs 20,000 for releasing the gas stove/bhatti and cylinder taken away by them from a complainant's shop located at New Delhi's Nanak Basti and also for not implicating him in a criminal case.

The CBI laid a trap and apprehended a private person Deepak while accepting the bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant on behest of two accused police head constables.

Later on, Amit was also arrested.

Both the accused police constables will be produced before the Delhi court.

--IANS
atk/khz/

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday said that they have arrested three more accused, including an Afghan national, in connection with the seizure of 3,000 kgs of heroin, valued at Rs 21,000 crore, at Gujarat's Mundra Port in September last year.

"Rahmatullah, a resident of Malviya Nagar, south Delhi (permanent resident of Kabul), Ishwinder Singh and Jasbir Singh were arrested on Wednesday for their active involvement in smuggling of heroin in large consignments, hidden in containers of talc stones, bituminous coal etc. through the maritime route," an NIA official said.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had seized the heroin, concealed in a consignment of semi-processed talc stone, between September 17 and September 19, 2021 at Container Freight Station of Mundra Port.

The case, initially registered by the DRI and re-registered by NIA, pertains to the operations of one of the largest international drug smuggling syndicates, run by brothers Hassan Daad and Hussain Daad, both Afghan nationals who are already wanted by the NIA in the Mundra case.

The duo smuggled multiple consignments of heroin concealed in apparently innocuous consignments of goods such as semi-processed talc stones and bituminous coal imported into India through different ports, including Mundra and Kolkata, and further moved to New Delhi via trucks.

"The investigation has revealed a vast and widespread network of drug traffickers, international facilitators, importers using shell companies, distributors and local wholesalers and retailers, who are operating a huge international drug smuggling racket from many countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and the UAE," the official said.

The NIA has learnt that 5 consignments of heroin laden goods were imported into India between November 2020 and September 2021. Three such consignments of semi-processed talc stones ultimately reached at a warehouse in Neb Sarai, Delhi, which was rented by absconding accused, Najibullah Khalid in the name of another Afghan national Noorzahi Abdul Salam.

"The heroin was segregated from the goods in this warehouse by Afghani experts and then sent for distribution in the market through a network of drug suppliers and peddlers. The concealing material was removed to another warehouse rented out by Shaheen alias Rock, an Aghan national and key associate of Najibullah, through arrested accused Jasbir Singh and Ishwinder Singh," the official said.

The official said that Singh, a known drug distributor, was in direct touch with Javed, an Afghanistan-based accused and key aide of Hassan Daad. On his directions, Singh, in connivance with Jasbir, fabricated false documents and rented a warehouse at Hamidpur, where the semi-processed talc was shifted from the Neb Sarai Warehouse for further disposal.

"Sustained examination of Singh revealed the presence of a close aide and associate of Javed, namely Rahmatullah, an Afghan national, in Delhi. Rahmatullah was arrested and 3.9 kg of heroin was recovered from him. He is an Afghan national who was especially inducted into India around 8-10 months ago for handling the drug trade network run by Hassan Daad and Hussain Daad," the odficial said.

Earlier, search conducted at the residence of Ishwinder Singh led to the recovery of heroin in commercial quantities.

--IANS
atk/vd

Jammu, Sep 15 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to declare Maharaja Hari Singh's birth anniversary on September 23 as a public holiday. A notification in this regard will be issued soon, an official statement said on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha following his meeting with a delegation comprising prominent political leaders, members of the Yuva Rajput Sabha, civil society members, head of the J&K transport union, among others, at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday.

"The government has taken a decision to declare Maharaja Hari Singh Ji's birthday as a public holiday. Maharaja Hari Singh was a great educationist, progressive thinker, social reformer and a towering man of ideas and ideals. The public holiday will be a fitting tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh Ji's rich legacy," Sinha said.

Pertinently, on the direction of the L-G, a four-member committee was constituted by the UT administration earlier this year to examine the public demand regarding declaring Maharaja Hari Singh's birth anniversary as public holiday.

Hari Singh (1895-1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.

--IANS
zi/arm

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) With the process for the Congress Presidential polls opening with the issue of notification in the next week, there is still suspense over the candidates who are going to file nominations for the party's top post.

While sources say that G-23 group is gearing up for fielding a candidate and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor is the top choice, for loyalists, it is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

However, sources say that Gehlot is reluctant to leave the Chief Ministership, then, in that scenario, former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik could be fielded or may be Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as both the leaders belong to the Scheduled Caste community.

The nominations can be filed between September 24 and 30 and the election is slated for October 17.

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi has indicated that he is not going to contest and busy with the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The G-23 have been pushing for publication of the voters list and now the party's Central Election Authority has said that it will be available from September 20, for those who want to contest, while the state PCCs will also have the list of delegates.

Gehlot had emerged as front runner, being seen as choice of interim chief Sonia Gandhi, even as some want the return of Rahul Gandhi - with Gehlot too proposing his name.

The last time the election was conducted for the Congress President's post was in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had challenged Sonia Gandhi but lost.

--IANS
miz/vd

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday said that convicts who have spent 10 years in jail, and their appeal has not yet been heard, should be granted bail unless there are any compelling reasons to deny this, while remission should be considered for those who have completed 14 years in prison.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and A.S. Oka said the court is of view that those persons who have completed 10 years of their sentence, and their appeal would not be heard soon, and if there are no extenuating circumstances, such prisoners should be enlarged on bail.

Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appointed as amicus curiae, informed the top court that affidavits were filed, as per its earlier orders to the six high courts to conduct the exercise of identifying life sentence convicts.

The top court said firstly, the convicts who have undergone more than 10 years imprisonment, unless there are reasons to refuse bail, be granted bail.

It further emphasised on identification of cases where convicts have completed 14 years of custody, then their case can be referred to the government for considering premature release.

The bench said the premature release issue should be decided within a fixed time, irrespective of whether appeals are pending or not.

Agarwal, analysing the HCs data, submitted that there are 5,740 cases appeals by accused in custody, which includes division bench appeals and single bench appeals.

After hearing the submissions, the bench said the authorities concerned should undertake the exercise on urgent basis and also need to keep in mind the objective of decluttering jails where convicts are in custody, without hearing of the appeals.

The top court gave four months to various high courts and state legal services committees to identify the cases and scheduled the matter for further hearing in January next year.

The top court was hearing a batch of petitions of life convicts in jail whose appeals are pending before various HCs.

The top court was informed that in Bihar, there are 268 convicts, whose cases are being considered for a premature release. And, the Allahabad High Court has the highest pendency of appeals, with 385 convicts having undergone more than 14 years of custody.

--IANS
ss/vd

Panaji, Sep 15 (IANS) Alleging that the ruling BJP paid Rs 30 to 40 crores to Congress MLAs to defect, Congress Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday questioned why Income Tax, and Enforcement Directorate is not looking into the BJP's "misuse of money power".

Addressing a press conference in the party office here, Rao, who arrived in the coastal state after 8 Congress MLAs merged into BJP on Wednesday, said that the conspiracy was hatched by the BJP in collusion with former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and former Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo.

"We had named both of them earlier too, though Lobo was CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leader and Kamat was a former Chief Minister. We named them because they were the mastermind behind this whole episode of splitting the CLP.

"These eight MLAs have not gone for development of constituencies or for Goa. They have gone for power, money and (avoid) threats of agency for whatever wrong they have done," he said.

"Around Rs 30 to 40 crores have been given to them. Some of them will become ministers now. Who is funding BJP to purchase MLAs, why IT and ED is not looking into these issues, when BJP is misusing money power," Rao questioned.

The Congress leader said that the BJP's intension is to have no opposition in country. "For that they are targeting the Congress. Their number one enemy is Congress. The BJP has engineered this defection using immense money power, agencies and political pressure," he said.

"BJP is destroying democratic fabric of this country. Bharat Jodo Yatra is to fight such menace like politics of hate, politics of using money, using all institutions to grab power at any cost," he added.

Noting that the Congress had filed disqualification petitions against Lobo and Kamat before the Assembly Speaker, he said: "That is not been heard, it is another matter. But today, truth has come out, that for selfish reasons, for sake of power, sake of money or for whatever other reasons, these MLAs who have benefitted from Congress party, who held positions in Congress, have defected for personal selfish reasons."

Rao said that it is very sad day for democracy and for politics of Goa also.

"Unfortunate development for Congress party also. During last election we had specifically told people of Goa that we will ensure that our elected MLAs will not defect and when we selected our candidates, all of them voluntarily had said that they will not betray Congress, whatever may happen. They have not only betrayed people of Goa but have also betrayed god," he said recalling oath taken before god by these leaders.

--IANS
sbk/vd