India

New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday allowed urgent listing of the plea moved by the police against the Saket court's order dated February 4, discharging former JNU student and activist Sharjeel Imam, co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha and nine others in a case related to the incidents of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, which allowed it to be heard on February 13.

Seeking urgent hearing, the Delhi Police on Tuesday moved the High Court against the discharge order.

On February 4, Additional Sessions Judge of Saket Court Complex, Arul Verma, while discharging 11 accused, pulled up the police saying that they were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope in the above-mentioned accused as 'scapegoats'.

The violence had erupted after a clash between the police and people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.

Judge Verma had said that the protesters were surely there in large numbers and it cannot be denied that some anti-social elements within the crowd created an environment of disruption.

However, the moot question remains as to whether the accused persons herein were even prima facie complicit in taking part in that mayhem, Verma had asked.

"The answer is an unequivocal 'no'. Marshalling the facts as brought forth from a perusal of the charge sheet and three supplementary charge sheets, this court cannot but arrive at the conclusion that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope in the persons herein as scapegoats," he had said.

A second supplementary charge sheet was filed before the court against 11 other accused persons, namely Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Mohammad Qasim, Mahmood Anwar, Shahzar Raza Khan, Mohd Abuzar, Mohd Shoaib, Umair Ahmad, Bilal Nadeem, Chanda Yadav and Safoora Zargar, who have been discharged in the matter.

"To allow the persons charge-sheeted to undergo the rigmarole of a long-drawn trial does not augur well for the criminal justice system of our country," Verma had said.

He had added that such police action is "detrimental to the liberty" of the citizens who choose to exercise their fundamental right to peacefully assemble and protest.

The court had said that before embarking on galvanising the judicial system against the 11 accused persons, the investigative agencies should have incorporated the use of technology, or have gathered credible intelligence.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Feb 10 (IANS) The court of additional district judge-I (ADJ-I) Prafull Kamal has allowed Hindu litigants to appeal in a lower court for a survey of the Teele Wali Masjid in Lucknow.

The ADJ court quashed the contention of Muslim litigants that the case is not maintainable.

The Hindu litigants had claimed that the Teele Wali Masjid was 'Lakshman Teela' constructed by Lakshman, younger brother of Lord Ram.

The court of additional civil judge (junior division) will hear the case on February 17.

Lawyer Hari Shankar Jain had filed this case in the civil court in Lucknow in 2013, seeking a survey of the mosque. The case has been pending since then.

Muslim litigants had challenged the case in the court of an additional district judge, stating that it is not maintainable.

"The court of additional district judge has permitted Hindu litigants to appeal in the lower court for survey of Teele Wali Masjid," said Madhu Sen, a lawyer who represented the Hindu litigants, along with another lawyer Shekhar Nigam.

During the hearing of the case, the Hindu litigants urged the court to allow a survey of the mosque campus, especially the area that was allegedly annexed by the mosque committee in 2013 by erecting a boundary wall.

--IANS
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By Vishal Gulati
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) India's economy is already 10 per cent more energy efficient than both the global and G20 average. India took less time to go from half to full electricity access than other major economies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Monday.


Just hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the three-day India Energy Week in Bengaluru to showcase India's rising prowess as an energy transition powerhouse, the IEA said the adoption worldwide of the kinds of actions and measures targeted by LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), including behavioural changes and sustainable consumer choices, would reduce the annual global carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2 billion tonnes in 2030.

The LiFE initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

It aims to encourage the adoption of sustainable lifestyles in India and internationally to tackle the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change.

A new report, "LiFE Lessons From India", by the IEA looks at how India's G20 Presidency this year could strengthen the LiFE initiative internationally to help reduce emissions, energy bills, and inequalities in per capita energy consumption and emissions between countries.

According to the LiFE initiative, the global adoption of such measures would also save consumers globally around $440 billion in 2030.

LiFE measures can also help lower inequalities in energy consumption and emissions between countries. The reductions the measures could deliver in per capita carbon dioxide emissions in advanced economies by 2030 are three to four times greater than in emerging market and developing economies, it says.

The report says already the third largest national market globally for renewables, India has recently seen the growth of consumer-centric solutions like distributed solar PV take off, with rooftop solar growing 30-fold in less than a decade.

Supportive policies and awareness campaigns in India have also driven electric passenger vehicles to a market share of almost five per cent in 2022 - with sales tripling from 2021.

India's example shows the importance of behavioural change and consumption choices in driving energy transitions.

The IEA has analysed the impact of measures like those proposed by the LiFE initiative, such as buying an EV or taking public transport, as part of comprehensive energy transition strategies.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told IANS, "India's G20 Presidency this year represents a unique opportunity to globalise the LiFE initiative -- providing a knowledge-sharing platform for other leading economies to realise the impact that LiFE's recommendations can have in the fight against climate change, air pollution and unaffordable energy bills.

"Since the G20 makes up nearly 80 per cent of global energy demand, meaningful changes by its members can make a big difference."

The International Monetary Fund estimates that India will be the world's third-largest economy by 2027, and India is already on course to become the most populous country this year.

Its critical challenge is to ensure secure and affordable energy for growth while advancing its net-zero transition over the coming decades.

To meet these challenges, India has embarked on a dynamic new phase in its energy transformation, which spans three broad areas.

Firstly, it has launched important initiatives to bring down the prices and increase the supply of clean energy. These include a target of non-fossil fuel sources contributing to 50 per cent of India's power generation capacity by 2030; a National Green Hydrogen Mission with the ambition of establishing annual renewable hydrogen production of 5 million tonnes (Mt) by 2030; and biofuel mandates that target 30 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol by 2030.

Secondly, India seeks to domesticate parts of the global supply chains that will be critical to its new energy economy. This includes the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that promotes the domestic manufacturing of solar PV, advanced batteries and electric vehicles.

Thirdly, the government has focused on demand-side measures, including taking the first steps towards the creation of a national carbon market, an energy efficiency trading scheme for industries, incentivising the purchase of electric vehicles, bulk procurement of electric buses for public transport, standards and labelling of appliances, and most recently, the Lifestyles for Environment (LiFE) initiative that aims to nudge behaviours and individual consumption choices towards cleaner alternatives.

These measures have immense potential but need global support. The IEA estimates that India will need $145 billion per year until 2030 in clean energy investment to put it on a path towards net-zero emissions by 2070. This is triple the current level of annual clean energy investment in India.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS
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Jammu, Feb 5 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir is all set to revolutionise its fruit industry with introduction of the High-Density Plantation (HDP) system and production of quality planting material.

The UT's Department of Horticulture, in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (ICAR-CITH), have got together to provide technological intervention for the new project.

The project aims to enhance the production capacity of planting material to 111 lakh in the first five years, develop 390 hectare of nurseries in public and private sectors, rejuvenate 2,000 hectare of orchard areas, and produce planting material to cover 5,500 hectare under HDP of 12 fruit crops.

Additionally, the project aims to strengthen plant testing and quality control, tissue culture, and virus indexing labs besides building capacity by training 5,000 farmers and 150 technical manpower from SKUAST and the Department of Horticulture. The project shall create 200 new enterprises in the form of HD nurseries and provide potential jobs to 25,000 persons.

"The current lack of quality planting material in the region limits the potential of the fruit industry and costs the region approximately Rs 500 crore in imports, which also brings in new pests and diseases," Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production, Atal Dulloo, said.

"The mission of the project is to domestically produce quality planting material, reduce imports, prioritize high-density plantation of fruit crops, transform old orchards into more productive orchard systems, and diversify the JK fruit industry to capture the national and international market," he added.

"Production of Designer Plants for Promotion of High-Density Plantation and Rejuvenation of Orchards" is one among the 29 projects, which were approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Ahead of Delhi's mayoral election scheduled to be held on Monday, all 135 councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday wrote to the presiding officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), seeking debarment of Aldermen from voting in the election for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Standing Committee members.

The Councillors in the letter have underlined that nominated councillors can not vote as per the Constitution and the DMC Act.

The councillors unequivocally stated that any attempt on the part of the Aldermen to vote in the election would be a direct affront and insult to the mandate of the people of Delhi.

"This is to reiterate that as per Article 243 R of the Constitution of India and as given in the Provision to Section 3 (b) (i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the nominated members (Aldermen) are not entitled to vote in the above mentioned elections," the councillors mentioned in the letter.

Highlighting the Article and Section from the Constitution in the letter, the Councillors said: "It is therefore the bounden duty of the Protem Speaker of MCD to respect the law of the land, the Constitution of India and ensure that these laws debarring the nominated members from voting are implemented in letter and spirits in the ensuing election to the post of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Standing Committee of the MCD."

The letter further read: "So far, as the events leading to this proposed election, the actions of the BJP Councillors clearly show their ill intention to influence and manipulate the election of Mayor, Deputy Mayor Standing Committee Members of MCD. This is unacceptable to AAP and by extension to the voters of Delhi which had rejected BJP in the last MCD election.

"We, therefore, request you that circumstances, the nominated members (Aldermen) be allowed to vote in the upcoming elections," the letter concluded.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena visited various locations in the national capital to take stock of the ongoing work related to the preparations for events related to the forthcoming G-20 Summit, an official said on Sunday.

Three days ago, the L-G chaired a high-level committee meeting to review the progress of the development work in the run-up to the various events related to the G-20 summit.

"In a day-long exercise that included walking as much as 29-km altogether at various locations on Friday, the L-G was accompanied by the Chief Secretary and heads of all stakeholder departments/agencies, including DDA, NDMC, MCD, PWD, ASI, Delhi Police, Transport, Tourism, DTTDC and Railways etc. All these agencies are carrying out extensive work of cleaning, repair, maintenance, overhaul and makeover of roads, flyovers, heritage sites, markets and hotels, among others," Raj Niwas said in a statement.

"The L-G on Saturday first visited the areas starting from ISBT, Hanuman Mandir, Salimgarh Fort, Red Fort, outer ring road along Yamuna and the Samadhi stretch and inspected the ongoing works and issued specific instructions for decongestion and cleaning of areas around Hanuman Mandir and under Hanuman Setu flyover," the statement read.

The ASI has been asked to clean and repair the walls of the Salimgarh fort and the bridge connecting it to the Red Fort. The Railways was similarly asked to repair and revamp the Railway overbridge next to Salimgarh Fort.

Apart from stressing on the cleanliness and repairing of footpaths, Saxena also directed the agencies to ensure that the green spaces along and around the outer ring road along Yamuna are spruced up and made encroachment free.

Thereafter, at the site of the ITPO complex, on Mathura Road and Bhairon Marg, where the summit meeting is expected to be held, the L-G reviewed the steps being taken by the Traffic Police and the PWD to ensure seamless exit and entry to the complex from towards India Gate and Bhagwan Das road.

While walking through the Qutub Institutional Area, Qutub Minar and the Mehrauli Archeological Park, the L-G expressed displeasure and disappointment at the general state of disrepair, congestion, neglect and unclean and unkempt roads, footpaths and pavements.

The Mehrauli Archeological Park and the Qutub Minar Complex were decided to be seamlessly interconnected, so as to develop the entire area into a heritage walk, and a Baoli in the area which has become nonexistent with silt and garbage deposited into it was instructed to be cleaned and revived.

ASI along with the Delhi Urban Heritage Foundation, under DDA, will work in conjunction to implement this in a mission mode. They will also ensure cleaning, repair and facelift of the historic Quli Khan Mazaar and the Kamali-Jamali Mosque in the Qutub Complex.

Saxena also visited the areas and roads surrounding the Hyatt Hotel on Ring Road, Leela Hotel on Africa Avenue, Taj Hotel on SP Marg and Dilli Haat - INA Market to take stock of the makeover and refurbishing works being undertaken there.

--IANS
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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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