Don’t be trapped in CAA camps organised by BJP in West Bengal: Abhishek Banerjee

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, on Monday, cautioned the people of the state about the CAA camps being run by the BJP in West Bengal in different pockets to help non-Muslim refugees coming to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan regarding the procedures to apply to get Indian citizenship.

“They are organising CAA camps in West Bengal. Do not get trapped in that. Once you go to these camps and get your names enrolled there, your fate will be like 12 lakh Hindus in Assam. All of you will be similarly sent to detention camps,” Banerjee said in the presence of media persons on Monday afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion, he also launched a scathing attack against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the cases of suicide reported out of the fear of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state.

“Several suicide cases have been reported from West Bengal just within the past few days since the SIR was announced last week. We had been saying since the beginning that Trinamool Congress will take the movement to New Delhi if the name of a single genuine voter is deleted from the voters’ list. We mean that,” he said.

He, however, at the same time issued an appeal to the people not to be scared and instead seek the help of the Trinamool Congress helpdesks to be opened throughout the state for helping people to fill up the enumeration forms of SIR.

“If any voter needs any legal support, Trinamool Congress will provide that also. If necessary, we will open a separate legal cell for that,” he said.

According to him, some BJP leaders are constantly threatening the Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) with jail. “We have brought this matter to the notice of the Election Commission of India. But the commission is yet to take any action,” he said.

He said that the ECI was conducting the SIR this time in haste. “When the last time SIR was conducted in West Bengal in 2002, it took two years to complete the entire exercise. This time, the commission wants to complete the process in two months. How is that possible?” he pointed out.

The Trinamool Congress will organise a mega rally against the SIR in Kolkata on Tuesday. Incidentally, the first part of the three-stage revision exercise will also begin in West Bengal on Tuesday.

–IANS

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Gold smuggling case: Actress Ranya Rao & second accused Tarun Raju get bail

Bengaluru, May 20 (IANS) In a major development, the Special Court for Economic Offences in Bengaluru has granted conditional bail to jailed actress Ranya Rao on Tuesday.

The court has also granted relief to the second accused Tarun Raju by allowing his bail petition.

The accused have sought bail on the grounds of non-submission of the charge sheet against them by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) even after 60 days.

Considering the plea, the court has granted bail.

The court has asked the accused not to leave the country without prior permission of the court.

The matter has been adjourned to June 2.

Senior counsel Girish made submissions for Ranya Rao.

The court has directed the accused persons to provide provide surety by two persons and also furnish a bond of Rs 2 lakh each.

The court said that the applications filed by accused under the Section 187(3)(ii) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Act were allowed.

The court has directed Ranya Rao and Tarun Raju to appear before this court on all the dates of hearing without fail.

They are further directed not to tamper or hamper the prosecution witnesses and to co-operate with the Investigating Officer’s investigation.

Ranya Rao, the stepdaughter of senior police officer Ramchandra Rao, was arrested on March 3 for allegedly smuggling 14.2 kg of gold, valued at more than Rs 12.56 crore.

Ranya Rao and the other two accused in the case are currently lodged at the Bengaluru Central Prison.

On May 13, the Karnataka High Court directed the Union government to file its objections within two weeks in connection with the petition filed by Ranya Rao, challenging the invocation of the COFEPOSA Act against her in the gold smuggling case.

The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA), has been invoked against Ranya Rao.

The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), a nodal agency under the Ministry of Finance, has invoked the COFEPOSA Act against the actress and other accused in the gold smuggling case as per the recommendation of the DRI, probing the case.

The bench has asked the Central government to file the objections within two weeks and adjourned the matter to June 3.

A vacation bench of Justice H.P. Sandesh and Justice Ramachandra Huddar gave the directions while looking into the petition by Ranya Rao seeking to declare that imposing the COFEPOSA Act against her is illegal and ‘void ab initio’ (void from the beginning).

In legal contexts, ‘void ab initio’ means that a contract, agreement, or other action is considered invalid and has no legal effect from the moment it was created.

Ranya Rao submitted that the constitutional provisions are violated in her case, and the grounds of her detention are erroneous and display a lack of application of mind.

–IANS

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Delhi’s air quality dips ahead of Diwali, AQI levels in ‘very poor’ category (Lead)

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The capital is raring for Diwali celebrations this weekend. The permission for bursting green firecrackers, this Diwali, has added zing to the excitement and festive mood. However, the dipping air quality ahead of the festival is threatening to play spoiler.

Air quality in the capital as well as the National Capital Region (NCR) has fallen to the ‘very poor’ category, creating concerns for both the public and the administration.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) was measured at 367 this morning.

Many parts of the Delhi-NCR region registered air quality below substandard levels this morning. Ghaziabad remained the most polluted city, followed by Noida and Delhi.

In Ghaziabad, the AQI reached 301, which is considered “very poor.” Loni area recorded AQI of 352, very close to the “severe” category, while Sanjay Nagar recorded an AQI of 288, Indirapuram 280, and Vasundhara 284.

PM10 levels also reached 307 levels on October 16, 254 on October 15, and 261 on October 14.

The situation in Noida was no better. Sector 125 recorded AQI of 337, Sector 116 recorded AQI of 269, Sector 1 recorded an AQI of 257, while Sector 62 recorded an AQI of 218.

The situation in Delhi was also concerning. According to the official data, the Anand Vihar area recorded the worst air quality this morning, with AQI hitting 365, falling in the “severe” category. The AQI was recorded at 333 in Wazirpur, 306 in Bawana, and 283 in Mundka.

Notably, the AQI reading is categorised under various categories — as Good (0-50), Satisfactory (51-100), Moderately Polluted (101-200), Poor (201-300), Very Poor (301-400), and Severe (401-500).

The Meteorological Department and environmental experts believe that slow wind speeds and dropping temperatures are the main reasons behind pollutants filling the air, making it toxic, particularly for the elderly and children.

–IANS

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‘Border issues with China to proxy war by Pakistan…”: CDS Chauhan lists six major challenges for India

New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Friday outlined six key national security challenges confronting India as he stressed that the country must be prepared for future wars that will not be limited to land, air and sea.

Speaking in Gorakhpur, General Chauhan noted India’s challenges are “not momentary but persistent,” demanding constant preparedness and strategic cohesion. He identified the unresolved border dispute with China as India’s “biggest challenge”.

The second challenge, he said, stems from Pakistan’s proxy war strategy of “bleeding India by a thousand cuts”.

The third challenge lies in regional instability, with almost all neighbouring countries grappling with social, political and economic turbulence, creating openings for external interference.

The fourth challenge is the changing nature of warfare, which now extends to space and cyberspace and other domains. “Future wars will be multi-domain, and we must achieve cohesion across all forces,” he stressed.

General Chauhan called Pakistan and China’s nuclear capabilities the fifth challenge, complicating the calculus of conventional warfare.

The sixth challenge, he added, is technological, as wars are becoming “more intelligent” with rapid advancements in military tech.

Referring to Operation Sindoor, General Chauhan revealed that the armed forces were granted “full operational freedom” during the mission.

“The aim was not revenge, but to draw a red line of our patience,” he said, highlighting the crucial role played by the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval in target selection, de-escalation and diplomacy.

His comments assume significance, days after PM Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the SCO summit in China. In the last few months, India and China have witnessed a smoothening of ties, including the last October agreement reached between the two giant neighbours to reduce border tensions, following a meeting between PM Modi and President Xi at the BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan.

Despite the relative smoothing of Indo-China ties, the CDS said that the border issue with China remains a huge challenge, reflecting the tensions between the two at the LAC.

–IANS

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