Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Kochi on Monday evening for his two-day trip to Kerala, dressed in typical local attire.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold a 1.8 km long road show, the first ever by Modi in Kochi.
The security has been beefed in Kochi since Sunday and there have been a steady flow of BJP workers from various parts of the state to Kochi since Monday morning, who are lining up on either dise of the roads demarcated for the Prime Minister’s roadshow.
The roadshow will end at the S.H. College ground where Modi will address a large gathering.
He will then return to the private resort where he is staying where he scheduled to meet church heads.
On Tuesday, he will go state capital Thiruvananthapuram to flag off Kerala’s first Vande Bharath and launch a slew of projects befroe leaving for Surat in the aftenoon.
The Lokayukta sleuths on Monday are conducting raid and search operations at residences of government officials across Karnataka for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
In Bengaluru, raids are being carried out at the residence of the ADGP attached to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) at Yelahanka locality.
According to Lokayukta sources, simultaneous raids are on in Davanagere, Bellary, Bidar, Kolar and other districts.
Gangadharaiah is the ADGP of BBMP whose residences are being searched. A team of 15 officers are conducting raids at his residences in Yelahanka and Mahalakshmi layout. The team is headed by a SP, one DySP ranking officer and an inspector.
The sleuths led by Lokayukta SP Umesh are searching Taluk Panchayat CEO N. Venkateshappa’s residences and properties at multiple locations in Kolar district. Houses of JESCOM AEE Hussain Saab in Bellary and Bengaluru are being raided.
Searches are also underway on the premises of Deputy Tahsildar Vijaykumar Swamy’s residences and properties at six locations simultaneously in Anandnagar of Bidar, Mudubi in Basavakalyan town.
Executive Engineer Suresh Meda’s residence in Gurunagar of Bidar and office in Noubad are also being raided.
The Lokayukta officials are present in DCF Nagaraj and Tehsildar Nagaraj’s residences in Davanagere.
Dibrugarh : Amid tight security, Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh was shifted to the Dibrugarh central jail in Assam on Sunday following his arrest in Punjab earlier in the day.
He was flown from Punjab’s Bathinda air base to Dibrugarh’s Mohanbari airport under tight security.
A team of Punjab Police and National Security Agency (NSA) officials arrived in Dibrugarh with the Waris Punjab De chief. A huge team of Assam Police personnel was present at the Mohanbari airport.
The Assam Police have however, refused to issue any official statement on Amritpal’s arrival in Dibrugarh.
Meanwhile, the security cover outside the central jail was beefed up.
Already, a multi-tier security arrangement was in place, but more security personnel were deployed on Sunday.
The general public were not allowed to go near the jail.
Nine other aides of Amritpal Singh, including his close aide Papalpreet and uncle Harjit Singh, have been lodged in the Dibrugarh central jail since last month.
The 30-year-old Waris Punjab De chief who had been on the run since March 18, was arrested on Sunday morning from Rode in Moga district — the native village of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed in the Indian Army’s Operation Blue Star in 1984.
Amritpal shot to prominence in February after an armed mob led by him clashed with police and laid siege to a police station near Amritsar, demanding the release of one of their colleagues who had been taken into custody in an alleged kidnapping case.
We all Indians feel proud to have achieved the title of fifth largest economy in the world. In order to reach this level, the Indian economy has seen many ups and downs in the last 75 years since independence. For the first two decades after independence, the country was impacted by lack of infrastructure, dependence on imports, shortage of food grains, poverty and unemployment. Although a lot of work has been done on the economic problems and challenges that have been going on since independence, yet these issues have not been eliminated completely from the country. The book “Arthik Safarnama”, which introduces some historical economic events, challenges, opportunities and economic lifestyle of the common man since India’s independence, has come in the market recently. The author of the book Dr. P.S. Vohra is an educationist, columnist and an expert on economic affairs. Our generation has been lucky to witness all these economic transformations, therefore, we can identify with all these incidents clearly.
The first part of the book covers 4 historical economic events of independent India (Green Revolution, LIC, Economic Reforms of the 90s and Cricket). In this section the author has tried to explain how these 4 historical economic events gave rise to a financial innovation in the Indian society and made their immense contribution to the Indian economy. The author has explained these events in a very interesting way. The need for a Green Revolution and its implementation has all the positive and negative effects on the economic life of the farmers. When life insurance corporation of India became the strong link of Indian economy and its impact on Indian society has also been explained. The need, utility and impact of the economic reforms of the 90s have been brainstormed, due to which India has become economically strong today. The author has also mentioned about cricket, the heartbeat of every Indian , when it has become an entrepreneur through IPL boosting Indian economy strongly. Here I strongly feel that I would have loved to see our failures too due to loopholes on our financial system like Harshad mehta stock market fiasco; Telgi Stamp paper scandal and mortgage of our Gold to get certain economic goods. But Dr Vohra may be planning another book on this subject.
The second part of the book covers various challenges of the Indian economy. The author covers different challenges including unemployment, poverty level, common man’s issues, farmers, unorganised sector, inflation, state and central debt levels, financial empowerment of women, pension, infrastructure development, MNREGA, population and happiness index. In this part the author has made a meaningful explanation empirically and used various data and facts to explain all the issues chapter wise. In my opinion, soon Dr Vohra may have to bring whole book on a new emerging challenge of distribution of “Freebies from the Taxpayers’s money”.
The third part of the book talks about the various achievements on the economic front for the overall development of the society. It includes chapters on employment, GST, self-reliance, stock market, digital currency, gig economy, G-20. Procuring oil for sustaining economy has been largely a mammoth task for all the governments since independence and replacement of this need by growth of renewable energy sources (Solar, Wind etc) needs coverage too. Interestingly, the work-place of Dr Vohra, Bikaner would become probably the biggest hub of solar energy on this planet.
In the fourth part of the book, many global aspects have been written and explained. This is really a great reading for readers with very limited understanding of the global ecomonim affairs. Another biggest achievement of our economic journey has been a marked shift from over-dependence on IMF/World Bank to “Make in India”-oriented confident economy. Dependence on imports, foreign exchange reserves, strengthening of the US dollar, crude oil, Russia-Ukraine war, issues of neighboring countries are included and all the chapters have been explained in detail and their impact on the Indian economy has also been explained.
Part 5 of the book is the most spectacular one and a wonderful reading too. This section shows the real economic lifestyle of different categories of the common man. In this part, the author has included shopkeepers, farmers, green grocer , milkman , taxi drivers, street food vendors, property dealers, insurance dealers, stock brokers and government and private teachers. I really liked the range of the different sections of society, covered here – from a billionaire stock market broker to a low-income earning “Golgappa vendor”. The depth of the writing clearly demonstrates that the author has personally interacted and interviewed these people to know their real economic lifestyle. I feel new students of economics and maoney markets must learn from this section to know a real India with such diverse economic activities.
Usually , books written on the subject of economics are rare and knowledge of the subject is necessary to understand them, but the language and style of this book is very simple due to which it should surely attract the common man as well. Students, appearing in different competitive examination can devote some days to learn the Indian economy in an interesting manner.
Tite of the Book : “Aarthik Safarnama “
Language : Hindi
Publisher : Bharti Publication Delhi
Pages : 252
Price : Rs. 290
Written by Dr P.S. Vohra
Dr P.S. Vohra
Book Review : IAS Naveen Jain (Secretary To Government, Panchayatiraj, Rajasthan, Jaipur)
New Delhi : The CBI has asked former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik to answer certain queries in connection with an alleged insurance scam in the Union Territory, officials said on Friday.
This is the second time in seven months that Malik, who has served as the governor of various states, will be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He was questioned in October last year after he concluded his gubernatorial responsibilities in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, and finally Meghalaya.
The CBI move comes barely a week after Malik gave an interview to “The Wire”, in which he made critical remarks about the BJP-led Centre, especially regarding its handling of Jammu and Kashmir where he served as the last governor before the erstwhile state was bifurcated into Union territories.
New Delhi : Tributes were paid in a wreath laying ceremony on Friday to five army jawans who were killed in a terrorist attack on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
“To pay homage to the supreme sacrifice of the five Bravehearts of Indian Army who laid down their life in the line of duty in Poonch District on April 20, 2023, a wreath laying ceremony was organised at Rajouri with full Military traditions, ” army said.
Senior army officers and civil administration officers were present on the solemn ceremony.
“The bravehearts of Indian Army, havildar Mandeep Singh, lance naik Kulwant Singh, sepoy Harkrishan Singh and sepoy Sewak Singh – all natives of Punjab and lance naik Debashish Biswal – a native of Odisha, made the supreme sacrifice in a gruesome terrorist attack on April 20, 2023, ” army said.
“The Indian Army and our proud nation expressed their solidarity with the bereaved famlies, ” it added.
As terminal brain cancer cases rise in India and the International Association of Cancer Registries (IARC) reporting that there are over 28,000 such reported in the country each year and more than 24,000 people reportedly dying due to brain tumours annually, a USA registered non-profit organization Brain2Brain, Inc (B2B) has announced to make forays into India to help out such patients.
A brain tumour is a serious condition and can be fatal if not detected early and treated. B2B focuses on assisting terminal brain cancer patients and their families to overcome the hardship they face from the moment they are diagnosed with this deadly and unforgiving disease. The organization seeks to assist those in need by extending physical, emotional and financial support.
According to Pam Date Chong, Founder Brain2Brain, Inc, “the objectives are multi-faceted, which includes establishing a network of friends and family of patients with GBM, providing home based peer level support, building an informative resource centre which empowers patients, their families and community to live with GBM. To understand life’s journey with their families and to ultimately ensure their long-lasting legacy and an endearing tribute to the life of the GBM patient. In addition, to assist in funding scientific research and promote other holistic approaches to wellness.
She informed that Brain2Brain is committed to support the research and advancement for a scientific cure for patients who are inflicted with the dreaded Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) as well as enhancing their health and well-being. Brain2Brain was founded in 2021 by Pam Date Chong, in loving memory of her only son who was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 GBM cancer in September 2014 at the age of 26 years. Despite the terminal diagnosis, he fought a brave and strong battle until the disease took his last breath three and a half years later. Rory embraced life in every aspect and had a wide range of hobbies and interests. He was loyal, generous, empathetic, respectful and deeply spiritual. His mantra was “Life is just a Dream, don’t take it too seriously”.
During his battle with cancer, Pam realized with a deep conviction, having unlimited resources and knowledge is key to transforming the lives of the patients and families suffering with GBM. The GBM diagnosis completely altered the world of her son, and he was suddenly thrust into a maelstrom of bewildering medical treatments, invasive biopsies, chemo, immuno-therapies and surgeries. He remained positive and hopeful, yet he approached every moment with inner courage and strength. He never gave up, even when his disease worsened. He managed to keep a smile on his face and somehow found humor amid his difficult situations. He continued working as long as he possibly could despite his increasing physical constraints.
On November 20th, 2017 Rory succumbed to the vicious disease after three plus years of battling an aggressive cancer and treatments that had left him with little of the physical strength and vigour he had known all his life. The caring, giving and jovial Rory who was the light of family’s life and whose magnetism, energy and kindness was loved and cherished by all who knew him, was no longer with them. Brain2Brain www.brain2brain.org was founded in his memory to continue his spirit of caring, love and generosity.
Chandigarh : Over five years after the Gurugram Police registered a criminal case against real estate developers, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others in connection with suspected irregularities in a land deal, the state government has now informed the High Court that no violation has been found in the transfer of land by Robert Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality to the DLF.
“It was reported by tehsildar, Manesar, Gurugram, that M/s Skylight Hospitality sold 3.5 acres to M/s DLF Universal Limited on September 18, 2019, and no regulation/rules have been violated in the said transaction, ” said the government in an affidavit submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“As per the report received from tehsildar, Wazirabad, Gurugram, it was clearly stated that the land in question has not been found in the name of M/s DLF Universal Limited and the land still exists in the name of HSVP/HSIIDC, Haryana.”
It further said a new special investigation team (SIT) had been constituted for further investigation.
The SIT, constituted on March 22, comprised a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), two assistant commissioners of police (ACPs), an inspector and an ASI.
The BJP had made alleged corruption and nepotism in the land deal a major poll issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The affidavit was placed before the high court in connection with the ongoing “court on its own motion” public interest litigation for monitoring the progress of cases against the sitting and former MPs and MLAs.
The affidavit by Inspector General (Gurugram) Raj Shri Singh said till date eight cases registered against MPs and MLAs in Haryana and they were under investigation.
On September 1, 2018, the Gurugram Police had registered a criminal case against Hooda, Vadra and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Amritsar: ‘Waris Punjab De’ head Amritpal Singh’s wife Kirandeep Kaur was prevented from boarding the flight for London here today.
Earlier around 12.00 p.m she reached at Airport to board the flight for London where she was prevented by the Immigration staff and subsequently Punjab Police was informed.
The flight was scheduled to take off for London at 1.20 pm which took off in time but she was not allowed to board the flight.
After more than three hour questioning her by several state and central security agencies she was asked to move back and she went back along with her family relatives who were with her to see off at Airport.
However, none of the police officials was willing to talk about the whole incident as they preferred to remain tight lipped.
Amritpal Singh had tied the knot with UK-based Kirandeep Kaur in February this year.
More than a month after a police crackdown against Singh and his aides, the radical preacher continues to remain elusive even as a manhunt to nab him is underway. Police on March 18 had launched the crackdown against Singh and members of his outfit ‘Waris Punjab De.’ He and his associates were booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
Family members of an inmate, Daljit Singh Kalsi, a cadre of Waris Punjab De (WPD) outfit, have also come to Dibrugarh central jail.
However, they were not accompanied by the NSA team, according to police sources.
A source close to the Dibrugarh central jail authority said that Kalsi’s wife is also in the jail to meet him.
The NSA team was headed by retired justice ShabihulHasnain, Suveer Sheokand,Divanshu Jain, Rakesh Agarwal IGP of Punjab, Rupinder Kaur Bhatti SP of Punjab Police.
As per jail sources, they went to the Dibrugarh Central Jail on Wednesday evening and were in the jail compound for a few hours.
Meanwhile, Assam police have not issued any statement, either on the visit of the NSA team or the family members of Kalsi.
