Govt curtails tenure of Asthana, three other CBI officers
NEW DELHI: The Central government on Thursday curtailed the tenure of Special CBI Director Rakesh Asthana, who had a bitter fight with ousted agency Director Alok Verma and who himself faces corruption charges, with immediate effect. Along with him, the tenure of three other top officers — Joint Director Arun Kumar Sharma, DIG Manish Kumar Sinha and SP Jayant J Naiknavare, who were considered close to Asthana during the fight with Verma — was also reduced. Naming the four officials, an official notification said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of Department of Personnel and Training for “curtailment of tenure” of the Indian Police Service officers working in the rank of Special Director, Joint Director, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and Superintendent of Police (SP). The government on October 23 had sent Asthana on forced leave divesting him of his powers along with Verma after their clash levelling mutual allegations of corruption against each other. Verma, who approached the Supreme Court against the order, was ousted as CBI Director on January 10 by a three-member selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and two of its members including leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Chief Justice of India-nominated Justice A.K. Sikri of the apex court. (IANS)
ISRO to launch satellite to help secure international borders
New Delhi: A satellite will be launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) exclusively for the Home Ministry to help it further strengthen its frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh among others, according to an official statement issued on Thursday. The move is part of recommendations made by a task force on the use of space technology in improving border management which have been accepted by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. To execute the project in a time bound manner, a short, medium and long-term plan has been proposed for implementation in five years in close coordination with the ISRO and the Defence Ministry. “Major recommendations of the report are to build capacity in border guarding forces to use space resources for security, operational planning and border infrastructure development,” the statement issued by the Home Ministry said. In short term, immediate needs of border guarding forces will be met by procurement of high resolution imagery and hiring of bandwidth for communications, it said. “In mid-term, one satellite is being launched by the ISRO for exclusive use of the MHA,” the statement said. Over the long term, the MHA will develop ground segment and network infrastructure to share satellite resources by user agencies, develop a central archival facility for storing various imagery resources and dissemination of the same to user agencies, it said. “Deployment of the Central Armed Police Forces in remote areas will be also coordinated by satellite communications. Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-based GPS will provide navigation facilities for operational parties in high altitude, remote and difficult borders and Naxal areas,” the Home Ministry said. (Agencies)
Opposition rally will be the death knell for BJP: Mamata
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the mega opposition rally being hosted by the Trinamool Congress on January 19 would sound the “death knell” for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls and regional parties would be the deciding factor. She also claimed that the BJP’s seat count in the general election will not cross more than 125. The number of seats that the state parties will win will be much more than the BJP’s, she further claimed. “The federal parties, that is the regional parties, will be the deciding factor after the elections,” she told newsmen here. “The rally will sound the death knell for BJP … Obviously they (BJP) will not cross more than 125 seats,” she said in reply to a question. “Every political party has a vision … This will be a grand alliance of people,” Banerjee said about the rally. She visited the Brigade Parade grounds here, the venue of the rally, to check the arrangements. Asked whether the rally would be like the one she held in 1993 against the then ruling Left Front in the West Bengal, Banerjee said, “I was then a leader of the state Youth Congress. But now there will be various opposition leaders who will be attending the rally. “I don’t want to say anything, let them (opposition leaders) say. I want to hear them. Everything will be based on consensus,” she added. (PTI)
Election Commission wants action on fake election dates
New Delhi: After fake dates of 2019 Lok Sabha polls were circulated on social media, the Election Commission of India on Thursday directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to ask the police to investigate teh episode. “The ECI directs CEO Delhi to ask police to investigate the matter of fake news (of 2019 poll dates being circulated on social media), to take action against unknown persons & entities under relevant laws…to prevent rumour mongering,” an official said. A list of election dates of different states for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was being circulated on social media. (IANS)