India

Ahmedabad, Sep 15 (IANS) India was once a milk-deficit country. But at present, it is the largest producer of milk in the world, contributing 21 per cent of global milk production.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the situation was radically different. India was a milk-deficit nation dependent on imports and the annual production growth was negative for several years.

The annual compound growth rate in milk production during the first decade after independence was 1.64 per cent, which declined to 1.15 per cent during the 1960s. In 1950-51, per capita consumption of milk in the country was only 124 gram per day. By 1970, this figure had dropped to 107 gram per day, one of the lowest in the world and well below the minimum recommended nutritional standards. India's dairy industry was struggling to survive.

Milk production in 1950-51 stood at merely 17 million tonne (MT). In 1968-69, prior to the launch of 'Operation Flood', milk production was only 21.2 MT which increased to 30.4 MT by 1979-80, 51.4 MT by 1989-90 and 209.96 MT by 2020- 21. In three decades (the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s), the daily milk consumption in the country rose from a low of 107 gram per person in 1970 to 427 gram per person in 2020-21.

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was created in 1965 with a mandate to support the creation of the 'Anand pattern' of dairy cooperatives across the country through the 'Operation Flood' programme which was to be implemented in phases.

The 'Anand Pattern' was essentially a cooperative structure comprising village-level Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCSs), which promote district-level unions, which in turn promote state-level marketing federation. Starting in 1970, NDDB replicated the Anand-pattern cooperatives through the 'Operation Flood' programme all over India.

Verghese Kurien, widely renowned as the "Father of White Revolution" in India, was the first chairman of NDDB. Along with his team, Kurien commenced work on the launch of the project which envisaged the organisation of Anand-pattern cooperatives in milk sheds across the country from where liquid milk produced and procured by milk cooperatives would be transported to cities.

'Operation Flood' helped quality milk reach consumers across 700 towns and cities through a National Milk Grid. The programme also helped remove the need for middlemen thereby reducing the seasonal price variations. The cooperative structure made the whole exercise of production and distribution of milk and milk products economically viable for farmers to undertake on their own.

It also ended India's dependence on imported milk solids. Not only was the nation equipped to meet its local dairy needs but it also started exporting milk powder to many foreign countries. Genetic improvement of milking animals also increased due to cross-breeding. As the dairy industry modernised and expanded, nearly 10 million farmers started earning their income from dairy farming.

After 'Operation Flood', the Indian dairy and animal husbandry sector emerged as a primary source of income for a huge number of rural households -- most of them either landless, small or marginal farmers. Today, India holds the pride of having been the largest milk-producing country in the world for nearly two-and-a-half decades.

Over the past two decades, India's milk production has doubled. The credit also goes to a well-known federation called 'Amul', which was created by 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat. In order to improve the livelihood of the farmers, Amul also charted its journey on a similar path as 'Operation Flood'. By helping small dairy farmers earn their livelihoods, the production of milk per house was doubled.

The dairy sector assumes a great deal of significance for India on various accounts. As an industry, it employs more than 80 million rural households with the majority being small and marginal farmers as well as the landless. The cooperative societies have not only made the farmers self-sufficient but have also broken the shackles of gender, caste, religion and community.

Women producers form the major workforce of the dairy sector in the country. The sector is an important job provider, especially for women, and plays a leading role in women's empowerment.

With a series of measures being taken by the government as well as the growing role of the private sector in dairy development, India is expected to sustain its growth in milk production and milk processing in the coming decades.

Every year, since 2001, June 1 is observed as World Milk Day by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to acknowledge the importance of milk as a global food and to celebrate the dairy sector. In India, the birthday of Verghese Kurien, on November 26, is observed as National Milk Day.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez and Pinky Irani got involved in a heated exchange of words during the course of questioning in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion-cum-cheating case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

According to the police, Mumbai-based Irani was a friend of Chandrashekhar who had introduced him to Jacqueline.

Both were summoned by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police to join the investigation and get their statements recorded before the agency.

When the EOW team questioned Jacqueline seperately, she reportedly gave the 'right' answers to most of the questions, while giving misleading answers to a few.

As soon as the EOW confronted her with Irani, both started fighting. Now Jacqueline is expected to be summoned again next week. Sources said the EOW is now satisfied with all of Jacqueline's answers.

In the afternoon, the EOW officials had told her that she was free to go to her hotel for lunch, which she denied and instead had lunch at the police canteen.

"We have asked her to prepare a list of gifts which Chandrashekhar gave her," an official said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Supreme Court was on Wednesday told that economic criteria cannot be the sole basis to identify backwardness of a class because economic backwardness is a consequence and social and educational backwardness the cause for it.

The submission was made to a five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, which is hearing a batch of petitions challenging validity of the 103rd constitutional amendment to provide a 10 per cent quota to economically weaker sections (EWS) in government jobs and admissions.

It was argued that the reservation under Article 15(6) and Article 16(6) is ultra vires to Article 14 as well as Article 15(4)(5), 16(4) (4A), as the reservation to the economically weaker section, ultimately, protects the interest of the general category.

It was also argued that the unequal classes in whose favour reservation is given under Article 15(4)(5) and Article 16 will be treated equally with privileged general category candidates in the matter of admission of educational institutions as well as in matters of employment, which violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

The 103rd Constitution Amendment Act, Article 15(6) and 16(6) was added in the Constitution giving reservation to the EWS of the society who are not covered by Article 15(4), (5).

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, representing some petitioners, submitted that the amendments are ultra vires to the Constitution as it violates the ceiling cap of maximum 50 per cent seats to be reserved under for the underprivileged class, as laid down in M.R.Balaji Vs State of Mysore (1963), which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Indra Sahney's case, while holding that no provision of reservation or preference can be so vigorously pursued as to destroy the very concept of equality.

Khurshid submitted that the "class of economic weaker section" is already included in the "classes" who are protected under clause (4)(5) of Article 15 because the 'social backwardness' is the cause and not the consequence of the economic, educational, and political backwardness in society.

He submitted that the general bourgeoisie class which constitute only 30 per cent of the whole population already have 50 per cent of seats which are unreserved in which persons belonging to the classes mentioned under clauses (4)(5) cannot compete due the lack of standard of facilities and resources to which the general bourgeoisie class have privilege to avail.

Senior advocates Khurshid, and P. Wilson and advocate Ravi Verma Kumar made submission before the top court.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S. Ravindra Bhat, Bela M. Trivedi, and J.B. Pardiwala, will continue to hear arguments on Thursday.

A three-judge bench of the apex court in August 2020, had referred the pleas questioning its validity to the Constitution bench. The Centre had earlier told the apex court that a 10 per cent EWS quota was introduced to promote social equality by providing equal opportunities in higher education and employment to those who were excluded due to their economic status.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Sep 14 (IANS) Two terrorists have been killed in an ongoing encounter between terrorists and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district on Wednesday, police said.

"One more terrorist killed (Total 02). Identification being ascertained. Search going on," police said.

The firefight at Nowgam area started after a joint team of police and security forces got an input about the presence of terrorists in that area.

As security forces cordoned off the area, terrorists hiding there started firing, drawing retaliation by the security forces.

There have been a series of encounters between terrorists and security forces across Kashmir over the last few months in which many terrorists and their commanders have been eliminated.

A terrorist was killed in an encounter between terrorists and security forces at Heff Shirmal area in Shopian district on Monday.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Sep 14 (IANS) A special court of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday extended former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee's judicial custody by 14 more days for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

The matter will be heard next on September 28.

Although the hearing on Wednesday was concluded by 5.30 pm, the judge of the special court reserved the judgement. Finally, at around 8 pm, he gave the order directing additional 14 days of judicial custody for the accused.

Earlier in the day, during the course of hearing, Partha Chatterjee, who attended the hearing virtually, broke into tears and pleaded for bail under any condition.

"Sir, please have mercy on me. Let me leave in peace. Please understand that I am a victim of a conspiracy," he told the judge of the court, sobbing profusely.

However, all his appeals did not have any impact on the judge as is evident from the verdict on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a team of ED officials on Wednesday went to the BCM International School at Pingla in West Midnapore district, which is named under Partha Chatterjee's deceased wife, Babli Chatterjee.

Partha Chatterjee's son-in-law, Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya, who is currently in the US, is the chairman of the school and the latter's maternal uncle, Krishna Chandra Adhikari, is a director of the school.

ED sleuths suspect that a portion of the proceeds of the WBSSC recruitment irregularities were invested behind this school. A couple of companies with Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya and Krishna Chandra Adhikari as the directors are also under the scanner of the central agency sleuths.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, Sep 14 (IANS) The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Telangana Police have set up a Joint Task Force camp at Chennapuram near the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border for anti-Maoist operations.

CRPF Director General Kuldiep Singh and Telangana DGP M. Mahendar Reddy on Wednesday inaugurated the Joint Task Force camp at Chennapuram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

The camp will be used by teams of the CoBRA, District Reserve Guard (DRG), and the Greyhounds as a launch base for anti-Maoist operations, according to a statement from the DGP's office here. The camp will prove to be a milestone in the penultimate battle against the Maoists, it added.

Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) is anti-Maoist battalion of the CRPF. The DRG is a unit of Chhattisgarh Police engaged in operations against Maoists. Greyhounds is the elite anti-Maoist force of Telangana Police.

The Joint Task Force camp is part of the coordination between the states and the CRPF in tackling Maoists.

This is likely to help all the three forces to carry out coordinated operations against Maoists on the border between Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Though the Maoist violence has drastically come down in Telangana in recent years, the area near Chattisgarh border has been witnessing some Maoist activity. Telangana Police have stepped up the vigil to stop Maoists from crossing over into the state from Chhattisgarh.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Sep 14 (IANS) Following the complaint filed by AAP MLAs, Punjab Police on Wednesday registered an FIR under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Police Station State Crime in Mohali near here for threats and money offers to the legislators to switch loyalties.

A police spokesperson said they have registered an FIR based on prima facie basis and investigation has been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau as per standard guidelines.

Earlier in the day amid allegations of the BJP attempting to bring down the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, the AAP said it has filed a formal complaint, along with all proof, with Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav for a fair probe into threats and money offers to its legislators.

It lashed out at the saffron party, calling it a "serial killer" of democracy and condemned "Operation Lotus" for the "dubious manner" in which elected governments in the country are being brought down.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema told media here that the BJP has "murdered democracy" by toppling elected governments in various states after "using" central investigation agencies and through money lures.

It tried the same in Punjab, but the staunch soldiers of AAP foiled the BJP's "nefarious agenda".

He alleged BJP agents and workers from Delhi and Punjab have "tried to break" 35 MLAs of the AAP to topple the government in Punjab.

Cheema said a complaint against BJP leaders and agents has been submitted before the DGP for "offering Rs 25 crore each to at least 10 MLAs in the state and also giving life threat to Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural and others for exposing their wicked agendas before the public".

Stating that the BJP is baffled with "growing popularity" of the AAP and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, he said the BJP is now afraid of Kejriwal and is trying to stop him by any means.

"The work of horse-trading adopted by the BJP has been going on in different states of the country. The BJP under its Operation Lotus had earlier changed governments in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Arunachal Pradesh.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) plea in connection with the amendments proposed to its constitution to relax the cooling-off period requirement.

Accordingly, the cooling-off period for office-bearers will kick in after two consecutive terms at either the BCCI or at the state association level. So the office-bearers can now have a maximum of 12 years at one go: Two three-year terms at the state association level and two three-year terms at the BCCI, and after this, the cooling-off period will be applicable.

The decision will allow the current set of office-bearers led by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah to be in office until 2025. Ganguly and Shah had already served one term each at the state and BCCI level and would have been disqualified under the existing rule.

However, they can now serve an additional term at the BCCI.

The whole conflict between the BCCI and Supreme Court had started long ago and has seen a lot of twists and turns.


Here is a timeline of how things unfolded over the last nine years:

2013 - Spot Fixing

In May, three Rajasthan Royals players -- S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila -- were arrested on spot-fixing charges, which revealed a nexus between franchise members, players and bookies. A follow-up probe then led to the arrest of Gurunath Meiyappan, team principal of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Thereafter in October, the Supreme Court appointed a committee headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal to look into the spot-fixing scandal.

2014 - Mudgal Committee Findings

In November, the Mudgal Committee found IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra guilty of betting. The Committee's report also pointed fingers at then BCCI chief N. Srinivasan, the father-in-law of Meiyappan.

2015 - Lodha Panel

In January, the apex court appointed a panel headed by retired justice R.M. Lodha to suggest reforms for BCCI as well as determine punishments for those guilty in the IPL spot-fixing case.

After six months, the Lodha panel suspended CSK and Rajasthan Royals for two years and handed a lifetime ban to their owners. However, the players of the two franchises were allowed to be auctioned/played for other franchises.

2016 - Complete Overhaul

In January, the Lodha panel recommended a complete overhaul of the BCCI structure. Apart from that, other major recommendations included one-vote-one-state criteria, limiting tenure of office-bearers, separate players' association for men and women, and barring ministers over 70 from holding any position in the board or state associations.

The panel also gave BCCI time till January 31 to come back with suggestions. But no response from the board forced the panel to approach the Supreme Court. In the very next month, the apex court gave BCCI the deadline of March 3 to respond to Lodha panel's suggestions and the BCCI filed its response and objections to the report in a 55-page counter-affidavit.

In April, the Supreme Court questioned BCCI's method of disbursing funds to state associations and later called the board's constitution non-transparent.

In a plea to the Supreme Court, the panel then asked for replacing BCCI top bosses and a bench headed by then Chief Justice T.S. Thakur also slammed the board's attitude. In a special general meeting in October, BCCI deliberated on the Lodha panel recommendations but made no mention of key reforms such as age and tenure of office-bearers or the one-state-one-vote policy in its statement.

The Supreme Court then decided to pass an order on the issue of implementation of directions of the Lodha panel after BCCI declined to give an unconditional undertaking. However, the BCCI remained defiant on implementing the key reforms.

On December 15, 2016, the top court said there is, on first impression, a charge of perjury that can be laid against then BCCI President Anurag Thakur and the board's General Manager for game development, Ratnakar Shetty, for lying under oath.

2017 - Anurag Thakur's Removal

On January 2, the Supreme Court removed BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke from their posts.

On January 30, the court appointed four eminent personalities from varying backgrounds to oversee the running of the BCCI until the board can hold fresh elections for office-bearers as per the Lodha committee's recommendations.

The panel consisted of historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha, former Indian women's team captain Diana Edulji, EX-CAG of India Vinod Rai, and Vikram Lamaye, CEO and Managing Director of IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation).

2018 - Newly-drafted Constitution (Cooling-off)

The BCCI adopted a newly-drafted constitution, which was finalised post the court's judgement by Justice Chandrachud that an office-bearer who has held any post for two consecutive terms (six years) either at a state association or in the BCCI, or a combination of both, shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling-off period of three years.

During the cooling-off period, the person cannot serve in any capacity at both the BCCI or state level.

2019 - Ganguly, Jay Shah Get Top Posts

In October, former India captain Sourav Ganguly was elected as BCCI President and Jay Shah as Secretary, ending the 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. Arun Dhumal was elected as Treasurer while Jayesh George took charge as Joint Secretary.

The BCCI administration approached the court seeking several significant amendments to the board's constitution, which would roll back the sweeping reforms passed by the court in 2016 on the basis of the Lodha panel's recommendations.

The changes sought by the BCCI included tweaking the cooling-off period of office-bearers, modifying the disqualification criteria, giving unprecedented power to the BCCI Secretary, and stopping the court from having any say if the board wants to alter the constitution.

As per BCCI, the existing cooling-off period was a "restriction", which was "proving to be a big blow to selecting talented and experienced hands". The BCCI said the cooling-off period must be applied only after the individual has finished six years at one place - the BCCI or the state association - separately.

2020-21 - Case pending in Supreme Court for hearing

2022 - Ganguly, Jay Shah get extension

A two-judge bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli passed orders to this effect on Wednesday, modifying its 2018 judgement.

The court agreed to tweak the existing rule on the cooling-off period by allowing an office-bearer to hold office for two terms at one place - the state association or BCCI - while removing the clause of combination of both.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez left the office of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police after being grilled by the cops for over eight hours in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion-cum-cheating case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who is presently lodged in jail.

Jacqueline had reached the EOW office at around 11 am, but she didn't speak to the media and went straight inside. She was accompanied by her counsels.

The actress was confronted with Pinky Irani, her associate in the matter. The EOW unit had prepared a long list of questions.

"She was asked about her relationship with Chandrashekar, and about the gifts and money she received from the conman. Irani and Fernandez both were confronted together," a source in the EOW said.

She was also asked how much money she and her family members received from Chandrashekar.

"We asked why she was in touch with him even after knowing that Chandrashekar was a conman. Why did she take his help to take her family out of a financial soup," the source said.

Jacqueline reportedly confessed that Chandrashekar did help her family. She also said that a few gifts were returned by her.

Earlier in the first week of September, the EOW officials had recorded the testimony of another Bollywood personality, Nora Fatehi, in connection with the same case.

Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly cheating and extorting money from some high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh.

Many Bollywood actors and models have been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for their alleged links to Chandrashekhar.

In April last year, Chandrashekhar was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case, which allegedly involved a former AIADMK leader, among others.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) after conducting raids at multiple locations belonging to payment gateways i.e Paytm and PayU in connection with a case of Chinese Loan apps, asked Paytm to freeze certain amounts from a few Merchant IDs (MIDs).

Sources said the raids were conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Lucknow and Kolkata.

The ED has not given any official comment on the matter.

On September 3, raids were conducted at the premises belonging to online payments gateways including Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments and Paytm Payment Services Ltd.

A Paytm spokesperson said that as part of the ongoing investigations of a specific set of merchants, the ED has sought information regarding such merchants to whom we provide payment processing solutions.

"These merchants are independent entities, and none of them are our group entities. We are, and will continue to, fully cooperate with the authorities, and all the directive actions are being duly complied with," said the Paytm spokesperson.

The ED has instructed Paytm to freeze certain amounts from the Merchant IDs of a specific set of merchant entities (as mentioned by the ED in its press release).

"None of the funds which have been instructed to be frozen belong to Paytm or any of our group companies. As we have mentioned before, ED continues to seek information about certain merchants from various payment service providers, and we have shared the required information," the Paytm spokesperson said.

What is the case?

The case is based on 18 FIRs registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, against numerous persons for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small loans through the mobile apps being run by those entities.

"During enquiries, it had emerged that these entities are operated by Chinese persons. The modus operandi of these entities is that by using forged documents of Indians and making them dummy directors of those entities, they are generating proceeds of crime," the ED said.

The ED had said that it has come to its notice that the entities were conducting their suspected business through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks.

The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments, Paytm Payment Services Ltd and entities controlled/operated by Chinese persons were covered in the search operations.

"During the search operations, it was noticed that the said entities were generating proceeds of crime through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks and they are also not operating from the addresses given on the MCA website/registered address and having fake addresses. An amount of Rs 17 crore has been seized in merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities," the ED official had said.

Meanwhile, a Razorpay spokesperson had said "Some of our merchants were being investigated by law enforcement about a year and a half back. As part of the ongoing investigation, the authorities requested additional information to help with the investigation. We have fully cooperated and shared KYC and other details. The authorities were satisfied by our due diligence process."

The search operations are in progress.

--IANS
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