AHMEDABAD, Feb 1: Ahmedabad Crime Branch and the city police have detained four Kashmiri youths from the Motera area because of their suspicious movement near the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Deputy Commissioner of Crime Branch, Chetainya Mandlik, told media that the CB team and the local police detained the four Kashmiri youths from the Motera area because of their suspicious movement near Narendra Modi stadium late on Monday night.
The officer said that the four youths, all of whom are from Budgam near Srinagar, are being questioned about their presence in Ahmedabad.
According to sources, the youths were found in an area near the stadium, where ordinary citizens are not allowed to move. In the past, they had visited and stayed in a mosque in the Palanpur area. This time, after arriving in Ahmedabad, they had checked in at the Haj house.
The police suspected their movement because of the T20 international match between India and New Zealand scheduled at the stadium on February 1. Both teams have already reached the city and are practising at the stadium. (Agencies)
Four Kashmiri Youths Detained In Ahmedabad For Suspicious Movement
J-K: Major slide hampers vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar national highway, people advised to follow traffic advisory
JAMMU, Feb 1: The Ramban administration on Wednesday advised commuters plying on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway to follow a traffic advisory after shooting stones blocked both sides of the road.
“A major slide has occurred near Rampadi, Banihal, on National Highway-44. People are advised to follow the @Traffic_hqrs advisory,” Ramban Deputy Commissioner Mussarat Zia tweeted.
Big boulders of stones were seen stranded on the midway, hampering traffic.
However, efforts are underway to remove the boulders.
Earlier on Monday, the highway was blocked due to heavy rains and shooting stones at Panthyal in the Ramban district.
“Intensity of shooting stones increases at Panthyal, Ramban on National Highway-44, which remains blocked. Wait for more updates. Travelling is highly unadvisable,” Ramban Deputy Commissioner tweeted on Monday.
Srinagar received fresh snowfall on Monday morning after the mercury dropped to a minimum of minus 2 degrees celsius on Sunday night.
Srinagar and the nearby areas were covered in a thick blanket of snow due to which the local traffic and the normal life of the area got affected, according to some locals.
The local people on Monday also claimed that the air traffic has also been impacted due to heavy snowfall in Srinagar.
Clear sky in Jammu, cloudy in Kashmir for next 24 hours
Srinagar, Feb 1: Weather was dry in J&K during the last 24 hours as the MeT office said on Wednesday that mainly clear sky in Jammu and partly to generally cloudy in Kashmir division is likely in the next 24 hours.
“Sky would be generally clear in Jammu and partly to generally cloudy in the Valley during the next 24 hours,” an official of the Meteorological (MeT) department said.
“Maximum temperature is expected to remain around 20 in Jammu and around 4 in the Valley,” the official said.
Srinagar had 0.4, Pahalgam minus 8.9 and Gulmarg minus 8.2 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.
In Ladakh region, Kargil had minus 17.6 and Leh minus 12 as the minimum temperature.
Jammu had 6.7, Katra 6.8, Batote 2.5, Banihal 2.2 and Bhaderwah minus 0.4 as the minimum temperature.
FM Sitharaman meets President Murmu ahead of Union budget presentation
Ahead of tabling of the Union budget 2023 in Parliament on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with ministers of state Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Karad and Finance Secretary T V Somanathan called on President Droupadi Murmu.
As per established tradition, the Finance Minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan before heading to Parliament to present the Union Budget. This is the fifth budget presentation by Sitharaman.
“Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, MoS Pankaj Chaudhary and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” the President of India tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a cabinet meeting at 10 am before the Budget is tabled in Parliament.
Speaking to ANI ahead of the Budget, MoS Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the people’s expectations would be reflected in the Budget.
“UnionBudget2023 will meet the expectations of every section of society. Modi govt has always worked in the favour of the people of the country”, Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary told ANI.
MoS Finance Dr B Karad speaking to ANI this morning said that the “Country has made good recovery from COVID. If we look at Economic Survey, all sectors are making progress. Compared to other countries, our economy is good. When PM took oath in 2014, India was 10th (in terms of economy), today it is fifth.”
On January 31 the first day of the budget session of Parliament, Sitharaman tabled the pre-budget Economic Survey for 2022-2023.
Finance Minister laid on the table, a copy (in English and Hindi) of the Economic Survey, 2022-23 along with Highlights and a Statistical Appendix.
The budget session of Parliament that began with the President’s address to a joint sitting of the houses will take place in 27 sittings till April 6 with a month-long recess to examine the budget papers.
The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, gave insights into the state of the economy and various indicators in the current financial year 2022-23 (April-March) and outlook for the next year.
Meanwhile, addressing reporters outside Parliament before the start of the budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Our Finance Minister will present one more Budget before the country tomorrow. In today’s global circumstances, not only India but the entire world is looking at India’s budget. Amid the unstable global economic situation, India’s Budget will attempt to meet the hopes and aspirations of the common citizens. I firmly believe that Nirmala Sitharaman will make all efforts to meet those aspirations.”
This budget will be the last full-fledged Union Budget of PM Narendra Modi’s government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Like the previous two years, the Union Budget will be delivered in paperless form this year also.
The 259th Session (Budget) of the Rajya Sabha is likely to be concluded on April 6. In order to enable the Standing Committees to consider the Demands for Grants of Ministries and Departments and prepare their Reports, both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha will adjourn on February 13 to meet again on March 13.
India records 66 new infections in 24 hours
NEW DELHI: India saw a single-day rise of 66 new coronavirus cases — the lowest since March 26, 2020 — while the active caseload declined to 1,755, according to Union health ministry data on Tuesday.
The total tally of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,82,785).
The death toll stands at 5,30,740, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.05 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was pegged at 0.07 per cent.
Active cases now comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 98.81 per cent, the ministry website showed.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,50,289 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
According to the website, 220.48 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered so far under the nationwide drive.
Haneet Kour Declared Qualified for the Award of PhD
Ms. Haneet Kour has been declared qualified for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Electronics & Communication Engineering by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU).The researcher worked on the title, “Green and Safe 5 G and Beyond 5G Wireless Networks” with Dr. Rakesh Kumar Jha, Faculty, School of Electronics and Communication Engineering.The candidate has published research papers indexed in IEEE Transactions, IEEE journals and has presented papers at international conferences at COMSNETS, IISc.,
Bangalore. She has also presented her work in Asia pacific Advanced Network (APAN-50, Hong Kong) world forum. Prof. (Dr.) R. K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, and other committee members congratulated the scholar and wished her a bright future ahead.
Four Thousand indigent people suffering from injustice and going through an identity crisis for several years due to administrative failure join hands with Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Nikhil Padha to fight their ongoing movement
On 31 January 2023, Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Nikhil Padha wrote to PMO, Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh High Court, LG of J&K, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Department of J&K and Ladakh Affairs regarding the grievances of residents of village Channi Mansar.
In the matter, village Channi Mansar was a part of District Udhampur before 22 May 2007 and was later included in District Samba vide SRO 189 based on the opinion of the residents. In 2014, the State Cabinet approved the creation of 670 units- 446 over and above the 224 recommended by
retired IAS officer Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai through SRO 449. Through this, the village Channi Mansar was removed from Samba District and added back to District Udhampur. This order was passed without any consensus even though 95% of the residents favored staying in District Samba. This order was arbitrary and bad in law and was passed without any consensus even though 95% of the residents favored staying in District Samba. Aggrieved by this, the villagers raised their voices and demanded relinking of the village to District Samba and filed a writ petition in November 2014 and knocks the doors of courts . After extensively discussing the matter, the then CM of J&K gave the villagers reassurance that the issues raised would be resolved in favor of the petitioners. People , being naive and unaware of their rights believed the then CM and just
based on that assurance, withdrew the petition. The petition was dismissed with the liberty to file a fresh one if the need arises. Now it has been about 8 years since they are fighting for their rights.
The SRO 449 was passed without any consensus even though 95% of the residents favored staying in District Samba. This order was arbitrary and bad in law. The order which would directly affect the lives of the residents was passed without even consulting the stakeholders involved.
This clearly shows how unconcerned the government is regarding the needs of the people. The residential identity of the people suddenly changed after the passing of the order. This shows how ignorant and unsympathetic the government was regarding the demands and needs of the
residents while passing this order.
After the dissolution of the government, the promises given to the villagers remained unfulfilled and the villagers since then have undertaken various attempts to ask for the fulfillment of promises made to them. Most of the residents in the village belong from below the poverty line, thus illiterate and unaware of their rights and remedies, the government has made a mockery of their demands
and these people have been made fun of for the last eight years. The then government made a fool out of these naive people and the administration had repeatedly stayed ignorant towards the demands of the people despite several representations being sent to various officials in the last 8
years.
The changes made through SRO 449 have been adversely affecting the interests of the residents of Village Channi Mansar, their day-to-day activities are being hampered in addition to their fundamental rights being violated. After the linkage of the Village with Samba, the villagers no
longer had to travel 50-80 km to get their daily work done as the village was a mere 20 km far from the District headquarters of Samba and this distance was approachable by the residents. Due to the linkage, various important amenities, centers, and offices were made approachable to the local residents. Samba had more opportunities for students and the roads were comparatively safer to
travel both during the day as well as night. District Samba was merely 20 kms from the said village, however, District Udhampur is approximately 45 kms far and sub-division Ramnagar is 80 kms far from the said village. Due to this distance, people would have to travel large distances to
get even minor work . The said village has a population of around 4000 people and almost 95% of them are aggrieved by this replacement and wish to be a part of District Samba only. The inclusion of the village in Udhampur has reinstated the difficulties of traveling long distances through forest and hilly roads of Udhampur which are not safe for the women of the village during the night;
students too have to travel long distances to reach District Udhampur which has comparatively fewer opportunities to offer. The residents have to leave their work during the day just to complete the documentation process, which in turn affects the income of the family. In addition to this, the
residents have District Samba as their address in documents like Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards
which will hamper the application and selection process in services such as Army or police where a person who is having two different addresses is not considered a bonafide person.
The residents of the village aggrieved are facing a violation of Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution of India as there is a distance of approx. 50 km for the headquarters of the administration from the village which is unfavorable for the villagers to travel. The residents face
cumbersome documentation because some of the documents are from District Samba and some are from District Udhampur, causing an identity crisis because the Department of Food Supply is still under the jurisdiction of District Samba, so the residents’ ration cards are from District Samba, and the other documents, such as the Aadhar Card and the Domicile Certificate, are from District
Udhampur, causing an impediment in applying for employment, thus violating Fundamental Rights
prescribed under Article 19(1)(g) and Article 16 of Constitution of India. The students and particularly females are facing problems in pursuing their education due to immense traveling and fewer opportunities in District Udhampur, thus violating their fundamental right of Article 21 of the constitution.
Just a four or five-page order arbitrarily passed by the government has resulted in causing numerous problems for the villagers. Now after holding several talks with lawyer and Human Rights Activist Nikhil Padha, the residents have decided to file a PIL through him. Before this, several RTIs were filed by him, the answers of which are still awaited. There is a clear lack of transparency on the part of the government. Nikhil Padha has decided to take up the case pro bono and fight for the fulfillment of the promises made to the residents of the village.
Fun & Frolic! Gandhis Have Playful Time, Cute Moments In J&K’s Srinagar After Bharat Jodo Yatra Ends
Srinagar, Jan 31: ‘Sheen Jung’, handshake, a warm hug and lending a helping hand to push a car stuck in snow, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had a fun time with cute moments in Kashmir, including a stroll on the banks of the Dal Lake here after the culmination of Bharat Jodo Yatra.
After a hectic five-month and over 4000-kilometres of the yatra, which the Gandhi scion walked the most part of, he and his sister had fun times in Srinagar which was enveloped by a thick white carpet of snow.
The duo had ‘Sheen Jung’ (snowball fight), strolled along the famous Dal Lake on Monday evening, took photographs of the snow and the lake and greeted people.
A less than a minute video titled ‘Snow fights and a walk by the Dal lake with Priyanka’ on Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel, put out on Tuesday morning, showcased the fun times the Gandhis had after the culmination of the march with an opposition rally earlier in the day amid heavy snowfall.
The video has garnered over 32,000 views since it was posted.
The 58-second video, which starts with a long-pan shot of the famous Dal Lake, shows Rahul strolling the footpaths of the Foreshore or Boulevard Road wearing a yellow-colour jacket, with a woollen cap and gloves, and his his sister in a black jacket.
The duo can be seen interacting with the people passing by, waving to the crowd who were excited to see the Gandhi family members.
They also took photographs of the lake which looked pristine under dark clouds with everything around draped in white.
The stroll had a cute moment when a local man stopped his car and requested Gandhi for a handshake and a hug. Though the unidentified person was stopped by Gandhi’s security team, the former Congress president obliged to the request. He shook hands with the man and gave him a warm hug.
The security team threw a secure ring around the Gandhis and had a tough time in ensuring there was no security breach.
The video also shows Gandhi lending a helping hand to push a car stuck in the snow.
Earlier in the evening, the Gandhis engaged in a playful snowball fight. Rahul had a snowball fight with his sister on Monday morning, but, seems it was not enough. Later in the evening, the duo engaged in another round of snowball fight in the lawns of a popular hotel here where many movies have also been shot.
They had such a ‘duel’ on Monday morning at a yatra campsite in Pantha Chowk area of the city here – the video of which showed Rahul Gandhi sneaking towards his sister concealing two ice blocks behind, and managing to put them on her head.
However, this time, it was Priyanka’s turn, with the video showing her waiting with snowballs for her brother. The duo played for some time, with Priyanka managing to take a few clicks in between.
The video ends with Rahul hitting a snowball on Priyanka’s head from the back – a bulls eye shot!.
BJP can even murder democracy
for power: NDPI chief
National Democratic Party Indian (NDPI) chief Rajesh Gupta hit out at the BJP, saying the saffron party can go to any extent to stay in power– “even murder democracy”. He said whatever is happening during the BJP’s regime is against the democracy and mandate of the people. “People are fed up with the state of affairs in the J&K UT. I am unable to understand why the ruling party is not mending its way despite criticism of their actions by people from all walks of life,” he added. NDPI leader said he would like to advise the government of J&K and the ruling party to adhere to the norms laid down in our Constitution and do not play petty politics for the sake of being in power. The BJP is today so addicted to power that it is ready to go to any extent for it …Even murder democracy directly or indirectly for it,” Rajesh Gupta was quoted as saying in a party release here.
The NDPI president said, BJP has lost confidence of the people of Jammu. Slamming the BJP, he said that the ruling BJP in Jammu and Kashmir is the first and the last political catastrophe. He further said that Jammu cannot move forward with this baggage anymore. “The next assembly elections will not only prove waterloo for the BJP but will witness the people’s power of rejection with contempt in an immense measure.”
Gupta said that equipped with public good-will, NDPI will emerge with flying colours and serve the people and steering J&K to peace, progress and development. He slammed BJP for twisting the statistics and said this spoke
of its fear and frustration in the wake of imminent rejection by the people of Jammu & Kashmir. In their enthusiasm, he added, the BJP leaders were forgetting that they have been rejected by people of J&K. NDPI leader said that pro-people policies of the NDPI are receiving massive support from the masses in the entire Jammu & Kashmir. He said that J&K is passing through a state of uncertainty with the entire UT being plunged in chaos with misgovernance, poor public services delivery system and lack of approach to redress grievances of masses is on peak affecting everyone’s life. He said that pro-people policies of the NDPI are receiving massive support from masses in the entire Jammu & Kashmir.
Various big shots beneficiaries: SC dismisses plea against J&K eviction drive
JAMMU: Noting that various ‘big shots’ are beneficiaries of the now-scrapped Roshni scheme, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition against the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Jammu and Kashmir.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Akbar Rashid and 5 others from Dodasan in Rajouri, seeking a stay on a circular issued by the Jammu & Kashmir government on January 9 that directed removal of all encroachment on land owned by UT, including Roshni land and Kahcharai land by January 31.
The six petitioners, represented by Advocate Muzaffar Khan, were served notices under the drive and had moved the Supreme Court, which had ordered a status quo on demolition of their shops till January 31.
On Tuesday, when the matter came for hearing, the Court came down heavily on petitioners, asking them ‘not to take shelter of (other) tribals’.
“How can you say they are poor if they have shops in the land? At the most, we can give them some reasonable time to vacate,” said the court and asked if the petitioners have any document of title of shops conferred on them.
As the petitioners spoke of the title given under the Roshni Act, the bench said that the Act has been struck down.
“The Act is struck down. Once Act is repealed, where’s the question of saving clause?,” Justice BV Nagarathna asked.
The bench said that it will allow the petitioners to withdraw the plea following which the court dismissed the matter as withdrawn.
In its observations, the court said that the beneficiaries of Roshni scheme are big shots.
“If we protect your possession, it will affect entire J&K (anti-)encroachment (drive),” Bench added.
Another counsel in a connected matter made submissions but the court said it was not inclined to hear as it was not the main matter.
It may be mentioned that the Jammu and Kashmir government on January 9 had directed removal of all encroachment on land owned by UT, including Roshni land and Kahcharai land by January 31.
The matter was brought to the attention of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on January 16, with the petitioners filing an urgent application asserting that government’s January 9 action is contrary to its responses filed in the Supreme Court and the J&K High Court. When informed that the matter was urgent and that Justice Sanjiv Khanna had recused from hearing it, the chief justice agreed to examine the plea and ordered for listing it for January 20.
On January 20, the petitioners represented by Muzaffar Khan informed the bench comprising of Justice M R Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar that a lot of tribals are living on the land in Dodasan, while seeking a general stay on January 9 circular of J&K government.
The bench had asked Jammu and Kashmir government to not evict these 6 petitioners from Rajouri district till January 31, while refusing to grant a general stay on the ongoing land eviction drive of the union territory administration.
“We are not passing any order. You instruct them (UT administration) orally to not demolish any houses. But we will not grant a general stay at all so that others do not get benefit,” Justice Shah had instructed the UT counsel on January 20.