CENTRE DIRECTS FUEL, ESSENTIALS REACH PEOPLE IN MANIPUR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday chaired a high-level meeting Monday in which the Centre decided to ensure distribution of essential resources including petrol and cooking gas in Manipur as part of measures to return normalcy in  the state roiled by ethnic violence.

Modi chaired a meeting in which Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were present along with senior officials.

The Indian Army on Monday said women protesters in Manipur have been accompanying and abetting “armed rioters” and interfering in the operations of security forces in the state.

The Spear Corps released a video called “Demystifying myth of peaceful blockade led by women in Manipur”, which showed a large group of women surrounding personnel in Itham on Saturday. It said this incident was an instance of women “helping rioters flee”. The video showed visuals of heavy machinery digging a part of a road with a large number of women around it and stated that this was the entry and exit to an Assam Rifles base being dug up to cause delay.

Meanwhile, the security forces are also flagging a new concern: cadres of insurgent outfits, relegated to the sidelines in recent years, are joining civilian groups hitting the streets on either side of the divide.

RAJNATH: AFSPA IN J&K TO GO ONCE PERMANENT PEACE IS ESTABLISHED

With Kashmir-centric political parties time and again asking for scrapping of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the Union Territory, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the Act would be revoked once permanent peace is established in J&K.

“While we have controlled the problem of insurgency in the North-East, we have also succeeded in controlling extremism. Today, AFSPA has been removed from large parts of the North-East. I am waiting for the day when permanent peace will be established in J&K and AFSPA will be removed from here too,” Singh said while addressing the ‘National Security Conclave’ at University of Jammu.

At least 1,500 people from different fields including defence experts and retired Army personnel were invited to the conclave.

He also referred to Pakistan’s reaction to the joint US-India statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States. Pakistan’s foreign ministry had said India was using allegations of terrorism against Islamabad to deflect from the situation in Kashmir and the treatment of minorities in India.

“I want to clearly tell Pakistan that it will not get anything by repeatedly raising the bogey of Kashmir,” Rajnath said. “We do not need to work much to take back PoK as the demand for uniting with India will start from there only.”

On the standoff on frontiers in Eastern Ladakh, he said: “We want peaceful settlement of border dispute through talks between India and China. The talks at military and diplomatic level are in progress and I want to assure all of you that we, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not compromise with India’s frontiers, dignity and integrity.” He added that “we will not allow violation of the sanctity of our frontiers”.

“However, I feel pained when questions are raised over the valour of our soldiers in order to corner the government,” he said. He attributed the 2020 standoff in Eastern Ladakh to “ignoring of the agreed protocol” by the Chinese troops. “China’s People’s Liberation Army unilaterally tried to alter the Line of Actual Control, which was foiled by our troops,” he said.

CENTRE APPROVES RS 56,415 CRORE TO 16 STATES FOR CAPITAL INVESTMENT

The Department of Expenditure under the Finance Ministry has approved capital investment proposals of Rs 56,415 crore for 16 states in the current financial year 2023-24, a finance ministry statement said Monday.

With an intent to tap into a higher multiplier effect of capital expenditure by frontloading the spending by states, the amount has been approved for 16 states including Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal.

Under the scheme, which was announced in the Budget for 2023-24 in continuation of a similar push for capex from the last three years, special assistance is being provided to the state governments in the form of 50-year interest free loan up to an overall sum of Rs 1.3 lakh crore during the financial year 2023-24.

US-INDIA FRIENDSHIP AMONG MOST CONSEQUENTIAL IN WORLD: BIDEN

The US-India relationship is among the “most consequential” in the world with bilateral ties more dynamic than ever, US President Joe Biden has said after the two countries elevated their strategic technology partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic state visit.

Biden may have tried to calm the tempest generated among BJP supporters in India by former US President Joe Obama’s TV interview that if India does not protect the rights of “ethnic minorities”, there is a strong possibility at some point that the country starts pulling apart.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had alleaged that “organised campaigns” at the behest of the Opposition, on the basis of “baseless” allegations on the treatment meted out to minorities, as it cannot electorally defeat the Modi-led BJP.

Hitting out at Obama, his critic and former commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom Johnnie Moore said, “Obama should spend his energy complimenting India more than criticising it. India is the most diverse country in human history. It's not a perfect country, just like the US, but its diversity is its strength.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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PAKISTAN ARMY SACKS FORMER LAHORE CORPS COMMANDER & 2 OTHERS

The Pakistan Army is undertaking a clean-up within its ranks, announcing Monday that it had sacked former Lahore Corps Commander Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani and two other officers over the 9 May violence that saw military installations attacked by supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan, which it referred to as a “black chapter in history”.

While the three officers have been sacked for “failing to keep the security and honour of garrisons, military installations, Jinnah House and General Headquarters intact”, many others are facing disciplinary charges. After the violence, Lt Gen Ghani was removed from the Lahore Corps and attached to the army headquarters.

“Three officers, including a lieutenant-general, have been removed from their jobs. Strict disciplinary proceedings against officers, including three major generals and seven brigadiers, have been completed,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif said at a press conference.

He also said that over 100 civilian protesters are facing trial under the Army Act at 17 military courts across the country.

Maj-Gen Sharif further said that the accountability system was the same for all, irrespective of rank or family connections. A retired four-star general’s granddaughter, a retired four-star general’s son-in-law, a former three-star general’s wife, and a retired two-star general’s wife and son-in-law are among the 102 civilians who are facing action in army tribunals, he added.

MUTINY WAS NOT TO OVERTHROW THE GOVT BUT TO SHOW SECURITY FLAWS: WAGNER BOSS

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that a one-day mutiny by his Wagner force had been intended not to overthrow Russia’s government but to register a protest over what he said was its ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine. In the first public remarks released since he was last seen on Saturday night smiling in the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a city occupied by his men, Prigozhin repeated his frequent claim that Wagner was the most effective fighting force in Russia “and even the world”, and that it put to shame the units that Moscow had sent into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He said the way it had been able to seize the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without bloodshed and to send an armed convoy to within 200 km of Moscow had been testament to the effectiveness of his fighters.

“We showed a master class, as it should have been on Feb. 24, 2022. We did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and the legally elected government,” he said in an 11-minute audio message. “Our march showed many things we discussed earlier: the serious problems with security in the country,” he said. Prigozhin renewed an allegation, so far unsupported by evidence, that the Russian military had attacked a Wagner camp with missiles and then helicopters, killing about 1,000 of its men, and said this had been the immediate trigger for what he called a “march of justice”.

Prigozhin, a former close ally of President Vladimir Putin, also once more complained about a military order that all volunteer units including Wagner are meant to sign by July 1 placing themselves under the control of Russia’s defence ministry. Fewer than 2% of Wagner’s men have signedup, Prigozhin added. “The aim of the march was to avoid the destruction of Wagner,” he said. He made no reference to his own present location, two days after he said he was leaving for Belarus under an agreement brokered by that country’s president to end his mutiny.

THE REST

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MHA WANTS TO KNOW WHY ADDITIONAL TROOPS NEEDED IN BENGAL

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said. The MHA, in its letter, also sought details of the deployment of the 337 companies of central forces which have been sent so far for the coming panchayat election in the state, he said.

The SEC has asked for total 822 companies of central forces from the MHA for the rural poll.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BSF of scaring voters in the bordering areas of the state at the behest of the saffron camp and asked the police administration to keep a close watch on their activities. "I have information that in the run up to the panchayat election, some BSF officials are visiting the border areas, threatening voters and forcing them not to vote. I will ask people not to be scared of their tactics and fearlessly participate in the elections," she told an election rally in the bordering district.

MAMATA ACCUSES CONG, CPM OF PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE TO BJP

In fresh developments that could spell trouble for fledgling attempts to forge anti-BJP Opposition unity for the 2024 General Election, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Monday accused the Congress and the CPM of playing second fiddle to the saffron party in the state.

Leading the attack, TMC president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was working hard to stitch a grand coalition against the BJP “but the Congress and the CPM were striking dissonant notes”. “The two parties are playing second fiddle to the BJP in West Bengal,” said the CM, making the TMC the second major Opposition party after AAP to allege that the Congress was in cahoots with the BJP.

Moments after Mamata’s attack, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the TMC was complicit in violence in West Bengal. “The TMC can't say it wants democracy in India and therefore, oust the BJP, and then in Bengal throttle it. That is not acceptable,” the Left veteran noted with Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury saying, "We all know the role that the TMC had played all these years in the fight against the BJP.”

NC WILL TAKE PART ‘IN ANY ELECTIONS’ HELD IN J&K: OMAR ABDULLAH

National Conference (NC) leader and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said Monday that the party will participate “in any elections that are announced” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar said the NC is “not willing to boycott any” elections, hopes to win, and that the thinking within the party had changed from 2018.

In 2018, the NC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the two biggest Valley-based mainstream parties, had stayed away from the panchayat and urban local body polls, a decision that the NC had later regretted.

Consequently, the November-December 2018 elections – for 316 blocks in 4,483 panchayat halqas (including Ladakh), comprising 35,029 panch constituencies – and November 2020 bypolls for over 12,000 seats were won by candidates backed by the BJP.

Meanwhile, in August 2019, the Centre abrogated Article 370, scrapped J&K’s special status and split it into two UTs. In the wake of the changes, the Assembly elections kept getting postponed, and are still to be held.

Now there are indications that elections to panchayats and urban local bodies in J&K will be held after their terms come to an end in November 2023, even as there is no sign of Assembly polls yet.

ANOTHER UP CRIMINAL SHOT DEAD IN ENCOUNTER

A wanted criminal was shot dead in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh Police in Kaushambi district today. The criminal has been identified as Gufran, who was wanted in multiple cases of murder and dacoity.

According to the UP Police, around 5:00 am this morning, a special task force team was conducting a raid in Kaushambi district. Gufran was confronted by the team and opened fire following which the cops retaliated, and in the ensuing cross-firing, he was shot and injured. Gufran was taken to a hospital for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Gufran was wanted in over 13 cases including murder, attempted murder and robbery in Pratapgarh and other districts of Uttar Pradesh. The UP Police had placed a bounty of ₹ 1,00,000 for this capture.

This is the latest in a series of encounters between  UP Police and criminals. Since Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017, over 185 criminals have been killed in encounters.

SELF-REGULATORY BODY TELLS OTT PLATFORM TO TAKE DOWN CONTENT

In a first, the self-regulatory body for online curated content (OTT) has recommended punitive action on a platform invoking the Information Technology Rules (2021).

In an order issued last week, the Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council (DPCGC) — a registered self-regulatory body for OTT platforms, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice A K Sikri — has “gravely objected” to the content being streamed on an OTT platform called ULLU, and ordered take-down of such content in 15 days.

The order was pertaining to a complaint on the obscene nature of the content being streamed on ULLU.

The council, while reprimanding the platform, gave a strong advisory to take off these web series altogether or make suitable edits to the offending scenes to ensure they are in compliance with the IT Rules.

The government had recently remarked that OTT platforms have the responsibility of ensuring that “they do not propagate vulgarity and abuse camouflaged as the creative expression”. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had said that they are taking a serious view on the complaints of increasing abusive and obscene content on OTT platforms. His remarks had come in the wake of the Delhi High Court’s scathing remarks on a web series called ‘College Romance’. The court said that the content’s sexually explicit language could influence impressionable minds because it was widely available. It had urged the government to take steps to check the language on such platforms.

INDO-US PROJECT ON MODULAR NUCLEAR REACTORS IN COMPETITION WITH RUSSIA'S

The Indo-US alliance in cutting-edge technology will pose a direct competition to Russian plans to develop small nuclear plants, which it had planned to sell to India as well as customers in West Asia.

Russian recently decided to develop small nuclear plants for foreign markets, including India

Last week, India and US also agreed to work on this technology, posing competition to Moscow

“They (US President Joe Biden and PM Narendra Modi) also noted the ongoing discussion on developing next-generation small modular reactor technologies in a collaborative mode for the domestic market as well as for export,” stated the joint statement issued after the Modi-Biden meeting in Washington last week.

Small modular reactor technologies are the latest buzzword in the field of nuclear-powered technology. They are both land-based as well as of floating types. However, it remains to be seen where the discussions will lead to since a much bigger US plan to set up six nuclear power reactors in Andhra Pradesh is yet to make headway.

MOLESTATION ALLEGATION AGAINST PRITHVI SHAW FALSE: POLICE TELLS COURT

Social media influencer Sapna Gill's allegation that Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw had molested her at a pub in suburban Andheri in Mumbai is “false and unfounded”, the police told a court in Mumbai on Monday.

The investigating officer appeared before the magistrate, presiding over the case, on Monday and submitted a report about the matter.

After the police submitted the report, Gill's lawyer Ali Kaashif Khan requested the court to allow him to present the video footage of the alleged brawl that Gill's friend had recorded on his phone, which went viral in the media. He also sought a CCTV grab of the incident that occurred outside the pub.

The court asked the police to submit the footage of the entire incident and adjourned the matter to June 28.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Those who profess to favour freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning. - Frederick Douglass

OFF TRACK

I finally got around to going fishing this morning but after a while I ran out of worms.

Then I saw a King Cobra with a frog in his mouth. Frogs are good bass bait. Knowing that the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog out and put it in my bait bucket.

Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bitten. I grabbed my bottle of Old Monk rum and poured a little rum in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp, I released him into the lake without incident and carried on my fishing with the frog.

A little later I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same snake with two frogs in his mouth!