THE HEADLINES:
India condemns violence by Khalistani extremists in Australia targeting Indian community; Requests Australia to ensure their safety and security.
Jammu and Kashmir Police arrests LeT terrorist involved in the blast in Narwal, Jammu last month.
In Tripura, 259 candidates left in the fray after withdrawal of names for Assembly Election on the 16th of February.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurates First Sustainable Financial Working Group Meeting of G20 under India's Presidency in Guwahati.
Railways revenue earnings in passenger segment goes up by 73 per cent.
And in Women's Cricket, Final T20 International of Tri-Nation series underway between India and South Africa.
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India has condemned the instances of violence by Khalistani extremists in Australia. Replying to media queries in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, the matter has been raised with the Australian authorities. He urged the local authorities to investigate and punish the perpetrators.
The spokesperson further stated that India has requested Australia to ensure the safety and security of members of the Indian community and their properties.
Jammu and Kashmir Police achieved a major breakthrough in the Narwal, Jammu blast case by arresting a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, who is also a government employee. A “Perfume IED”, the first of its kind, was recovered from his possession. DG Police, Dilbagh Singh said in a press conference that after 11 days of hard work, a major success was achieved with the arrest of Arif Ahmed, a resident of Reasi district of Jammu. The DGP said, Arif is a Government employee and is an active terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit. He was working at the behest of Qasim and his uncle Qamardin, both of them Reasi residents and are presently in Pakistan.
The DGP said, they are a part of LeT. Arif was involved in three IED blast incidents at Shastri Nagar, Katra and the 21st January incident at Narwal in Jammu. DGP Singh said, a new type of IED was recovered from Arif which is Perfume IED. This is in a bottle form and seems like a perfume bottle but contains explosive material. The DGP said, experts will see how harmful and how powerful it can be. He further said that the IEDs received by Arif were air-dropped through drones. Further investigation is on in the matter.
The Election Commission of India has approved the appointment of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Pandurang Kondbarao Pole as the new Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir. An order issued by the Election Commission said, while functioning as the CEO of J&K, Mr. Pole shall not hold any additional charge whatsoever under J&K Government. The order said, he should be designated Secretary to the Government in charge of the Election Department in the State Secretariat.
A total of 259 candidates are left in the fray for the Assembly election in Tripura as today was the last day for withdrawal of candidature. Addressing a press conference in Agartala this evening, Chief Electoral Officer, Kiran Gitte said, 32 candidates withdrew their nominations today, leaving 259 candidates in the fray. Here is more from our correspondent.
"With the withdrawal of candidature, it has now become amply clear as to who is pitted against whom for the all-crucial election to the 60-seat Tripura Legislative Assembly on the 16th of this month. Chief Electoral Officer, Kiran Gitte said that the election symbols to all the valid candidates were given yesterday by the election commission. He said from next week onwards postal ballot procedure will begin. Ballot papers will be printed and they will be handed over to all the returning officers. In all 23 sub-divisions the voting procedure will begin from 8th of this month. Election personnel and service voters will be given postal ballots to exercise their right to franchise. KUNAL SHINDE, AIR NEWS, AGARTALA"
Meanwhile, political activities have intensified in Meghalaya with the announcement of all 60 candidates by the BJP for State Assembly elections. Trinamool Congress, Congress and National People's Party NPP have also declared the list of all 60 candidates while the United Democratic party UDP has announced names of 45 candidates including 15 from Garo Hills. Nominations can be filed till 7th February. Our correspondent has filed this report.
"BJP has given tickets to six women candidates in Meghalaya this time. Partiy's State President Etnest Mawrie will contest from the West Shillong seat. The Party has pitched the Vice President of the State unit and prominent leader Bernard Marak against incumbent Chief Minister Konrad Sangma from South Tura seat. Marak was arrested in a case a few months back and got released later on bail. Many turncoats have also got BJP tickets including five-time MLA and former NPP leader Martin Danggo who will contest from Ranikor's seat. Danggo joined the party a few days back only.Another prominent leader Himalaya Muktan Shangpliang who came from TMC to Party's fold got the ticket from the Mawsynram constituency. Party has also retained the ticket of present MLA Alexander hack and Shanbor Shullai. SUSHIL CHANDRA TIWARI/AIR NEWS/SHILLONG."
For the Nagaland Legislative Assembly Election, three women candidates from the coalition government of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in the fray. Two women from NDPP and one from the BJP will be contesting as announced today.
From NDPP, Hekani Jakhalu will be contesting from Dimapur-III Assembly Constituency while Salhoutuonuo Kruse will be contesting from the 8th Western Angami. Kahuli Sema from BJP is contesting from 32 Atoizu Assembly Constituency.
Our correspondent reports, for decades, politics in Nagaland has not seen any women representative in the Legislative Assembly, as politics is perceived as a male-dominated realm. If they win, they will have a decisive role in breaking gender stereotypes.
Union Minister of AYUSH and Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal urged the representatives of the G-20 member countries to act collectively to make sustainable lifestyle a mass movement. Addressing the Inaugural Session of the G-20 1st Sustainable Financial Working Group meeting in Guwahati this morning, Mr Sonowal said, the world must work for a cleaner and greener society and urged all to cut down on their carbon footprints.
A one-day workshop was organised at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh under India's G-20 presidency. It was jointly organised by Farm Gate App and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund-AIF, with the objective of increasing the participation of women in AIF and MP Farm Gate.
Central Agriculture Extension and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Joint Secretary, Samuel P Kumar said in his address that the AIF scheme has been widely publicised in Madhya Pradesh, in which, over 2,700 projects have been set up by women entrepreneurs till date, availing the benefits of this scheme widely.
The three-day meeting of the G-20 Employment Working Group started this afternoon in Jodhpur of Rajasthan with a panel discussion on “Exploring strategies for global skills and qualifications harmonisation and developing a framework for common skill taxonomies". This is the first meeting of the Employment Working Group which has the mandate to address priority labour, employment and social issues to further develop strongly sustainable, balanced, inclusive and job-rich growth.
The Railways have registered an increase of 73 per cent in revenue earnings of the passenger segment. The total earnings in the passenger segment from April 2022 to January 2023 are 54 thousand 733 crore rupees in comparison to around 31 thousand crore rupees last year. Railways Ministry said, the total approximate number of passengers booked during the same period is six thousand 590 lakhs as compared to six thousand 181 lakhs during the same period last year.
The Ministry said, the revenue generated from the unreserved passenger segment is over 11 thousand 788 crore rupees as compared to two thousand 555 crore rupees last year, showing an increase of 361 per cent.
Budget allocation for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been increased by 11 per cent in comparison to 2022-23. Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur has expressed gratitude to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for giving priority to the sports and youth sector in the Union Budget. The Ministry has received a budget allocation of over three thousand 397 crore rupees for 2023-24, the highest-ever since 2010, when Commonwealth Games were held in India.
Mr Thakur said, recognising the need to completely revamp the existing sports ecosystem in the country, the Centre has given unprecedented attention to grassroots-level talent identification, infrastructure building and creating an overall sports culture.
A Parliamentary delegation from Zambia called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. Welcoming the delegation to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President said, India and Zambia enjoy strong and cordial relations. She said, the leaders of the Zambian freedom struggle, like the founding father and first President of Zambia, Dr Kenneth Kaunda drew inspiration from the Indian freedom struggle, particularly Mahatma Gandhi.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day today following protest by opposition parties over a report by Hindenburg research on the Adani Group and other issues.
When the Lok Sabha assembled for the day, members from the Congress, TMC, DMK and others trooped into the well demanding a probe into the matter. Speaker Om Birla tried to run the Question Hour with repeated appeals to maintain the decorum of the House. But protesting members did not pay heed leading to the adjournment of the House till 2 PM. When the Lok Sabha met at 2 PM, opposition members trooped into the well demanding a probe into the matter. Amid noisy scenes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi urged protesting members to allow the House to take up discussion on the President's address. As pandemonium continued, the House was adjourned for the day.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha, when the House assembled for the day in the morning and reassembled at 2 P.M. after the first adjournment. As the ruckus continued, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House for the day.
Domestic air traffic in the country has picked up pace in the current financial year and is expected to touch around 97 per cent of the pre-covid level. This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. V. K. Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
The Minister said, the government is proactively supporting the aviation sector by providing a stable policy environment and incentivising competition-led growth.
General V. K. Singh said, the AAI and other airport developers have taken up the development of new and existing airports with a projected capital expenditure of approximately 98 thousand crore rupees in the next five years.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today inaugurated a flight connecting Jaipur and Jodhpur. The flight connecting the two major cities of Rajasthan will be operated by IndiGo four days a week. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Scindia said, it is a very important occasion that two important cities of the country are being connected. He said, India has become the third largest aviation market in the world in terms of domestic traffic and 7th largest in the world in terms of international and domestic traffic combined.
Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh has said one crore LED bulbs have been distributed in the rural areas of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana as a pilot project implemented by the Convergence Energy Services Ltd.
In a written reply to Lok Sabha, the Minister said, the distribution of LED bulbs under the pilot project of the Gram Ujala has been completed.
The Sensex witnessed modest gains while the Nifty observed modest losses amid mixed global cues. A report from the business desk:
"The Sensex climbed 224 points to finish at 59,932. The Nifty-50 however, fell six points to settle at 17,610. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, Gold was trading at 58,700 rupees per ten grams. Silver was trading at 72,053 rupees per kilogram. In intra-day trade, Brent crude was trading at 82 dollars and 55 cents per barrel. ARJUN CHOUDHARY For AIR News."
In Women's Cricket, India have set a victory target of 110 runs for hosts South Africa in the Summit Clash of the T20 Tri-Nation Series at Buffalo Park in East London. In reply, South Africa were 95 for 5 in 16 overs, when reports last came in.
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