Passenger train connectivity between India and Bangladesh took a step forward with the railway ministers of the two countries virtually flagging off New Jalpaiguri-Dhaka Mitali Express on Wednesday, an official of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said.

The train made its inaugural run from New Jalpaiguri Railway Station in West Bengal.
The two countries already operate Maitree and Bandhan express trains connecting Kolkata with Dhaka and Khulna respectively.

“Indian Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Nurul Islam Sujan from Delhi virtually flagged off the inaugural run of Mitali Express at 9.20 am on Wednesday,” NFR spokesperson Sabyasachi De said.

The bi-weekly service will run as a day train from New Jalpaiguri starting at 11.45 am IST on Sundays and Wednesdays, while it will be an overnight service from Dhaka commencing journey from there at 9.15 pm Bangladesh Standard Time on Mondays and Thursdays, he said.

The fully air-conditioned train consists of four chair cars and four sleeper coaches, De said.

The general manager of NFR, Anshul Gupta, who was present at New Jalpaiguri station for the inaugural run of the international service, said that the train connectivity will provide more opportunities for tourism and trade between Bangladesh and northern West Bengal, blessed with several destinations in the Darjeeling Hills and forests and tea gardens in Dooars.

Local MP Jayanta Roy, who attended the programme, said that the service fulfils a long-standing demand of those associated with travel trade.

Passengers travelling on the inaugural service said that the train connectivity will further strengthen cultural and social ties between the people of the two countries, apart from boosting tourism.

The train will cover a distance of 595 km between NJP and Dhaka with 69 km of track length being in India and the rest in the neighbouring country.

Apart from two technical stops at Haldibari, the last station on the route on the Indian side, and at Chilahati, the first station on the Bangladesh side, Mitali Express will have no stoppages in between.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday condoled the demise of singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, and described him as one of the most versatile singers whose soulful voice gave many memorable songs.
Krishnakumar died in Kolkata on Tuesday night after performing at a live concert.
“Krishnakumar Kunnath, fondly known as KK, was one of the most versatile singers of the Indian music industry. His soulful voice gave us many memorable songs.

“Saddened by the news of his untimely demise last night. My heartfelt condolences to his family and fans across the world,” he said in Twitter.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The voice of versatility, of love, of yearning and longing, of melodious compositions, all in one is gone.”

“A huge part of music as we know is gone. Goodbye #KK ! Heartfelt condolences to the family and all the fans” he also said.

Central Delhi lost at least 77 trees, some of them decades old, while 58 big branches broke off and fell in Monday’s fierce thunderstorm and heavy rains in the national capital, NDMC officials said.

The civic body’s horticulture department fears some of the uprooted trees might be among those tagged as ‘heritage trees’ by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), but the team is yet to compile a damage report and ascertain the facts.

“A total of 77 trees were uprooted last evening during the severe storm while 58 big branches fell, blocking several roads in NDMC areas. All roads have been cleared,” a senior NDMC official said.

The uprooted trees include neem (seven), peepal (six), jamun (five), arjun (four), and seemal, pilkhan and bargad (two each).

One tree each of imli, kadelia, kusum, kekan, balam, bheda and eucalyptus were also lost during the storm.

“Most of the uprooted trees were on Baba Kharak Singh Road (six), while Parliament Street lost five neem trees. Maximum tree branches fell on Moti Lal Nehru Marg (12), followed by Golf Link (eight),” the official added.

The horticulture department and the enforcement department of the NDMC are responsible for clearing uprooted trees and debris.

Other roads where trees were uprooted and traffic movement affected include Mother Teresa Crescent, Ashoka Road, Shankar Road, Firozshah Road, Jantar Mantar Marg, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Copernicus Marg, Tilak Marg, Purana Qila Road, Pandara Road, Subramanyam Bharti Marg, Janpath, Mansingh Road, Sardar Patel Marg, K Kamraj Marg, Krishna Menon Road, Tolstoy Road, Tyagraj Marg and Sunehri Bagh Road.

“Some of these trees were very old but the team is yet to ascertain if any trees with heritage tags were lost. A damage report will soon be compiled,” the official said, adding that heritage trees are commonly those which are above 80 years old.

Delhi witnessed the first storm of “severe” intensity since 2018 on Monday throwing traffic out of gear within minutes as the uprooted trees blocked roads and also damaged several vehicles. The NDMC’s control room received over 160 complaint calls about uprooted trees and blocked roads.

According to data provided by the NDMC, the Lutyens’ Delhi area has lost as many as 1,813 trees since 2015. Officials claimed that around 300 heritage trees were also lost between 2015-16 and 2021-22.

Indigenous tree species such as neem, peepal, pilkhan, jamun, arjun, khirni, and imli among others were planted in the NDMC area when British architect Edwin Landseer Lutyens was entrusted with the task to plan New Delhi in 1911.

“We were already conducting an exercise to find out specific reasons behind the rapid loss of trees as the civic body has lost 1,813 trees, including around 300 heritage trees, in last six years. Previous analysis pointed out that Lutyens’ Delhi is losing over 250 trees per year so the exercise was supposed to focus on suggesting remedial measures to save the existing trees in the region,” the official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted virtually with beneficiaries of various Central schemes and released Rs 21,000 crore as the 11th instalment of the Kisan Samman Nidhi after arriving here for a rally to mark the eighth anniversary of his government.

Following his arrival at the Mall Road in the Himachal Pradesh capital, Modi, accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, walked to the venue of the rally in Ridge Maidan around 11.30 pm.

There, the prime minister interacted with the beneficiaries of the Central schemes from across the country.
During one such interaction, Modi told Santoshi, a woman from Karnatka’s Kalaburagi, that he was impressed by the way she expressed her views and had she been a BJP worker he would have asked her to contest polls.
An ex-serviceman from Ladakh told the prime minister that he has benefitted from the Jal Jeevan Mission and PM Aawas Yojana and faced no hiccup in availing the benefits of the scheme.

Lalita Devi from Bihar’s Banka informed Modi that she has got a ‘pucca’ house and a toilet under the PM Awas Yojana Rural. Pankaj Sahani from Tripura said that he had got a ration card under the ‘One Nation, One card’ scheme.

Sama Devi from Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur told the prime minister that she got Rs 1 lakh for building a ‘pucca’ house under the PM Awas Yojana (Gramin) and that she got Rs. 6,000 in three instalments in a year under the Kisan Samman Nidhi.

On this occasion, the prime minister also released Rs 21,000 crore to 80 crore farmers as the eleventh instalment of the Kisan Samman Nidhi.

Modi last visited Himachal Pradesh on December 27 to address a rally at the Paddal ground in Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s home district Mandi to mark the fourth anniversary of the BJP government in the state. The Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh is scheduled to be held later this year.

Former Congress leader Hardik Patel will join the BJP on June 2 in the presence of Gujarat party president C R Paatil, a state party spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Patel’s move comes ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year. The BJP has been in power in the state for over two decades.

Patel, 28, had in 2015 led a violent agitation seeking quota for his Patidar community and was a strong critic of the BJP in the past.

The then BJP government in Gujarat had booked the firebrand leader in several cases, including on the charge of sedition.

However, Patel, who had joined the Congress in 2019 and was later made the state unit’s working president, quit the party earlier this month. Since then, there were speculations that he may join the ruling BJP.

Of late, he has been praising the BJP’s decision-making capacity and style of functioning, while severely criticising the Congress leadership.

“It is confirmed that Hardik Patel will join the BJP on June 2 in the presence of state president C R Paatil,” BJP’s state spokesperson Yagnesh Dave told PTI.

Reacting to the development, Gujarat’s former deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said if someone wants to use the BJP to serve the society, he is welcome to the party.

“Several people from various walks of life representing different districts have joined the BJP (state unit) under the leadership of C R Paatil,” he said.

Hardik Patel’s close aide Alpesh Kathiriya said after joining the BJP, the Patidar leader should ensure that the state government withdraw cases registered against several community members, and give jobs to the family members of those who lost their lives during the Patidar quota agitation.

Before quitting the Congress earlier this month, Hardik Patel had written a scathing letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, claiming the Congress “only played the role of a roadblock” over certain key issues in the country and was “merely reduced to opposing everything”.

He had come to limelight in 2015 when he led the agitation demanding reservation for the Patidar community members in government jobs and educational institutes.

Ten people, including a policeman, were killed in the violence then and public properties and vehicles damaged.

He had been charged under various Indian Penal Code Sections, including 124(A) (sedition), 121(A) (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), in which he is out on bail since 2016.

Hardik Patel had then positioned himself as a vocal critic of the BJP, accusing the party and its governments in the state and at the Centre of being against the poor, farmers and youth.

He later joined the opposition Congress in March 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

But, it was not possible for him to contest the parliamentary election due to his conviction in a rioting case.

Notably, the Supreme Court last month stayed his conviction in a rioting and arson case.

The BJP government also recently took steps to withdraw several cases lodged against Hardik Patel and others in connection with the 2015 quota agitation.

Terrorists on Tuesday shot dead a Kashmiri Hindu teacher in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
Rajni Bala (36) of Samba in Jammu region sustained injuries when terrorists fired at her in Gopalpora area of Kulgam where she was posted as a teacher, they said.

An injured Bala was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival, the officials said.

They said the area has been cordoned off and a manhunt launched to track down the assailants.
This is the second killing of a Kashmiri Pandit in the month of May. On May 12, Rahul Bhat was shot dead inside the tehsildar’s office in Chadoora tehsil of Budgam district.

This is the seventh targeted killing in Kashmir in the month. While three of the victims were off-duty policeman, four were civilians.

To improve the ease of living for the common man, the government is planning to launch ‘Jan Samarth’ – a common portal for delivery of various schemes run by different ministries and departments.

As part of the Narendra Modi government’s vision of minimum government maximum governance, the new portal plans to initially onboard 15 credit-linked government schemes, sources said.

The offerings will be gradually expanded, depending on compatibility, as some of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes have involvement of multiple agencies, they added.

For example, schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) are being administered by different ministries.

The proposed portal intends to bring these schemes on a single platform so that they can be accessed by the beneficiaries without much hassle. Pilot testing is being done and loose ends are being tied up before the actual launch takes place, they said, adding State Bank of India (SBI) and other lenders are doing the testing.

They said the portal will have open architecture enabling state governments and other institutions to also onboard their schemes on this platform in the future.

To provide comfort to borrowers, the government in 2018 had launched a portal http://psbloansin59minutes.com for various kinds of credit products, including MSME, home, auto and personal loans.

The portal facilitates in-principle approval of loans for MSMEs and other borrowers in 59 minutes by various state-owned banks compared to the earlier turnaround time of 20-25 days.

After receiving an in-principle approval letter, the loan is expected to be disbursed in 7-8 working days. The portal processes loan applications without human intervention till the sanction stage.

Any MSME borrower does not need to submit any physical document for in-principle approval for a loan.

Instead, the portal depends on advanced algorithms to analyse data points from several sources such as Income Tax returns, GST data, bank statements etc.

The platform is integrated with the government’s Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to check borrowers’ eligibility.

In the first two months of the launch of the portal, state-owned banks had given in-principle approval to 1.12 lakh loan applications of micro, small and medium enterprises, totalling Rs 37,412 crore.