tuesday influential former isi chief held by military over housing scam 13 August, 2024 The Pakistan Army on Monday said that it arrested former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed over a housing scheme scandal epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard Nov 2022 k i d s ’ u s pa s s p o r t iran vp quits within 2 weeks when Faiz hameed took premature retirement from Pakistan army court martial proceedings initiated Former foreign minister Javad Zarif announced on Monday he had resigned from his new post less than 2 wks after President chose him as his deputy. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi l J8.00 l The Pakistan Army said that court martial proceedings have been initiated against Hameed, accused of extorting `4 crore from the management of the Top City housing scheme. The arrest comes months after the Army, on orders of the Supreme Court, set up a panel headed by a major general to probe the allegations made against Hameed, who was handpicked by former PM Imran Khan. PAGES 12 Retail inflation at 5-yr low of 3.54% M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi HC to hear PILs today success rate of CBI low, says Didi Three Public Interest Litigations have been filed before the Calcutta High Court demanding that the investigation be transferred to the CBI. A division bench will hear them on Tuesday “I want the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. If they can’t by Sunday, we will hand it over to the CBI... But the CBI’s success rate is low,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Junior doctors protest against the rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor, in Kolkata on Monday | PTI Mamata buys time for probe into horrific doc rape-murder Says she’ll hand it over to CBI if police fail to solve it by Sunday; protests snowball S ula g na S e n g u p ta @ Kolkata Amid national outrage over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata three days ago, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday sought to buy time after calls for a CBI probe reached a crescendo. Resident doctors of government hospitals across the country went on an indefinite strike demanding justice for the victim, paralysing elective services, including OPDs and nonemerg ency surg eries. In Kolkata, civil society members, including theatre personalities and poets, hit the streets. The body of the postgraduate student was found at the seminar hall in her place of work, the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday morming. A civic volunteer was ar- rested on Saturday in connection with the case. After visiting the victim’s home on Monday Mamata said , she would send the case to the CBI if the police failed to solve it by this Sunday. “The suspicion of the girl’s parents on the role of insiders needs to be probed. If it is not cracked by Sunday the case will be handed , over to the CBI,” she said. However, protesters criticised Mamata’s attempt to delay the CBI probe. They also demanded a judicial inquiry, better security on the campus, capital punishment for the culprits, and adequate compensation for the victim’s family . Dr Sandip Ghosh, principal of the RG Kar Medical College resigned on Monday taking moral responsibility for the horrific incident. But hours later the state government transferred him to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, triggering another round of uproar from the protesters and the Opposition. An orthopedic by training, Dr Ghosh was promoted and transferred as RG Kar principal in mid-2021. He was subsequently transferred out of the institution twice, but reinstated shortly thereafter, indicating his networking skills. In both instances, he was transferred to the Murshidabad Medical College. In the first case, his transfer was rolled back within 48 hours. Last year, when there was a ragging incident in the college’s boys’ hostel, fingers were pointed at postgraduate trainees close to the principal. Dr Ghosh was again transferred but was back in RG Kar a month later. | P3, 8 BASE EFFECT base effect and subdued food and beverage prices brought down retail inflation to a five-year low of 3.54% in July. According to government data released on Monday, food and beverage prices fell to 5.4% from a six-month high of 9.4% in June. The dip in retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, was also influenced by base effects from July 2023, when the rate was at 7.4% and the food index had risen by 11.5%. Vegetable prices in July rose 6.83% year-on-year compared to 30% in June. On a month-on-month basis, however, vegetable prices shot up 14.2% in July Cereal prices increased . by 8.14%, a slight decrease from the 8.75% rise recorded in June. The pric- Some experts point out that the decline in food inflation in July 2024 was more due to a base effect rather than falling prices. Retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, was 7.4% in July 2023 and the food index had risen by 11.5% es of oils and fats saw a decline of 1.17%, an improvement from the 2.68% drop in the previous month. Inflation for pulses rose to 14.77% year-over-year, down from a 16.07% increase in June. In the non-food category, clothing and footwear prices rose 2.67%, while housing inflation stood at 2.68% compared to the year before. In July, urban inflation fell below 3%, down from 4.4% in June. Meanwhile, rural inflation came in at IIT Madras tops NIRF rankings for 6th straight year We are certain that if there are other culprits, they will be arrested within the next four to five days Vineet Goyal, Kolkata Police Commissioner This is a very unfortunate incident and one of the most heinous crimes in recent times. Such incidents have been happening in West Bengal NCW team Top 10 institutions in India as per the National Institute Ranking Framework, 2024 1 Indian Institute of Technology Madras 2 Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru 3 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 4 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 5 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur 6 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur 7 All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi 8 Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee 9 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati 10 Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi full report on Page 3, 7 Tax officer among 7 nabbed for `54 cr GST refund fraud U j w al Jalali @ New Delh Bangladesh Hindus hold a protest condemning atrocities against them and other religious groups in in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday | PTI Hasina’s Delhi stay won’t hurt ties: Bangladesh govt Y Eshi s e li @ New Delhi Sheikh Hasina’s stay in New Delhi will not negatively affect the relations between India and Bangladesh, Mohamad Touhid Hossain, foreign secretary in the Bangladesh interim government said on Monday . “There will be no impact on the bilateral relationship between the two countries because of one individual’s stay in a country,” he said in his first briefing. “Bilateral relations are very big thing and involve mutual interests. Both sides have their interests. India has its interests, and Bangladesh has its interests,” he added. Hasina resigned as Bangladesh’s prime minister on August 5 and fled to India amid protests against her government. In his briefing, Hossain assured the international com- munity that the interim government will adhere to all international, regional, and bilateral instruments that Bangladesh is a party to. The situation in Bangladesh continued to be volatile on Monday with the banks having run dry and the latest data showing inflation hitting a 12year high of 11.66% in July . Meanwhile, the Hindus continued their protests over various demands including security for the community and a ministry to look after minority affairs. The police have agreed to call off their strike. Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said soldiers will return to bar racks once the police resume normal operations. The situation along the border remained tense. A Bangladeshi smuggler was shot dead in West Bengal’s Malda district, the BSF said.| P7, 9 The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has arrested seven people, including a GST officer in the Delhi government and three advocates who were allegedly linked to an alleged GST (Goods & Services Tax) refund scam worth `54 crore. The accused were identified as Babita Sharma (the GSTO who sanctioned bogus refunds), Raj Singh Saini, Narender Kumar Saini and Mukesh Saini (all advocates and beneficiary of bogus refunds), Manoj Goyal (proprietor of fake firms), Surjeet Express read Make room for inmates of Asha Kiran, says HC The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the MCD to hand over one of its buildings of nursing college and hostel to the social welfare department to shift residents of Asha Kiran shelter home, saying the space was urgently required. Punjab guv talks tough on Central projects Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has directed officials to complete Central projects without any delay and said he would hold a meet every three months to take stock of situation. Singh (transporter who provided fake e-way bills and forged goods receipts in lieu of payments from the beneficiaries) and Lalit Kumar (another transporter). ACB chief Madhur Verma said that the GST officer was posted at Ward No. 6 till July 2021. “On her transfer to Ward No. 22 in July, 2021, 53 firms applied for migration to Ward No. 22. Their requests were approved quickly by the GSTO,” Verma said. Suspecting foul play, the vigilance-GST department sent special teams in Septem- ber, 2021, for a physical verification of these fir ms. “These firms were found to be non-existent and nonfunctional during the verification,” the Joint CP said. Additional Commissioner (trade & taxes) Vivek Aggarwal ordered an inquiry after which it was referred to ACB for a detailed probe. It showed “glaring procedural lapses” aimed to cause loss to the state exchequer. The probe revealed that input tax credit was taken against fake invoices amounting to `718 crore. 4.1%, against 5.7% in the previous month. Food inflation was also more pronounced in rural areas, reaching 5.9% compared to 4.6% in urban regions. In June, rural food inflation was lower at 9.15%, while urban food prices had risen by 9.6%. Recently, RBI’s monetary policy committee had said that it was expecting a degree of relief in food prices from the pick-up in the southwest monsoon and healthy progress in sowing. “With all of the 22 essential commodities reporting an easing in their year-on-year, inflation rates in August 2024 relative to July 2024, the food and beverages inflation print should ease further in the ongoing month, thereby dampening the headline CPI inflation to 3.4% in August 2024,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist with ICRA. Centre to recast broadcasting bill, seeks feedback PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi journalists sharing their opinion on YouTube or Instagram, THE Ministry of Information and even ‘thought leaders’ with and Broadcasting (MI&B) on mass following on LinkedIn, as Monday said it is working on a either OTT broadcasters or as fresh draft of the Broadcasting digital news broadcasters. Services (Regulation) Bill, say- These ‘digital broadcasters’ ing the revised version would were required to set up a conbe published after detailed con- tent evaluation committee comsultations. Stakeholdprising eminent indiers can provide addividuals as members tional feedback till to certify the proOctober 15, it added. grammes before they In a statement on are aired. They were the micro-blogging also supposed to nomsite X, the ministry inate ‘grievance resaid: “The Ministry of dressal officers’ to Information & Broaddeal with the comcasting is working on plaints about the a Draft Broadcasting content. Services (Regulation) The original verBill. The draft Bill was Ministry is holding sion, which was made consultations with placed in public dopublic in November the stakeholders main on November 10, 2023, had a self-reguon the draft bill. 2023 along with the ex- Further additional lation mechanism to planatory notes for keep a check on vultime is being c o m m e n t s o f t h e provided to solicit gar content. It had stakeholders and the comments till 15th also proposed to reguOctober 2024 general public. In relate the entire broadsponse, multiple reccasting sector includI&B ministry ommendations/ comi n g o ve r- t h e - t o p, ments/ suggestions direct-to-home, and were received including from digital platforms. various Associations. Ministry DigiPub News India Foundais holding a series of consulta- tion, an organisation repretions with the stakeholders on senting around 90 digital news the draft bill.” publishers, earlier this month The statement came amid re- wrote to Union information ports that the contentious draft and broadcasting minister Ashwas on its way out. wini Vaishnaw requesting conThe draft was panned for its sultation on the bill. controversial provisions to laHowever, it reportedly did bel influential digital media not get any response from the creators, such as independent ministry . ‘date, time must on visuals of disasters’ The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday issued an advisory to private news channels to carry a date and timestamp on the visuals of natural disasters and major accidents being broadcast. The advisory noted that television channels provide continuous coverage over several days but keep showing the footage from the day the incident took place. This does not reflect the real-time ground situation and creates confusion and panic among viewers, it said Highways are not parking space, says SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday asked Punjab and Haryana to jointly work towards partial opening of the Shambhu border, where the protesting farmers have been camping since February 13, to facilitate the movement of ambulances and essential services. “We direct the senior superintendent of police of Patiala and Ambala and deputy commissioners of both districts to hold a meeting and lay down the modalities for partial opening of the highway initially for ambulances, essential services, Punjab, Haryana told to partially open Shambhu border The Supreme Court asked Punjab and Haryana to work towards partial opening of the Shambhu border, where the protesting farmers have been camping since February 13. A two-judge bench directed the SSP of Patiala and Ambala and deputy commissioners to meet and lay down the modalities for partial opening of the highway initially for ambulances, essential services, girl students and daily commuters. girl students and daily commuters,” a two-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant and R Mahadevan observed. The SC noted that the states have suggested names, after complying with its earlier orders, for the constitution of a committee. “We appreciate the initiative the states took by suggesting apolitical names. An appropriate committee, along with the issues to be determined (later), and appropriate recommendations shall be made,” the top court said. The apex court observed that it hoped for an amicable and respectable solution. “Now that being the situation, why do not you (Punjab and Haryana) persuade the farmers, because highways are not parking (space),” it observed. It would pass a brief order on terms of panel to be constituted for talking to protesting farmers at the Shambhu border on the next date on August 22, the court added. On August 2, the SC asked the Haryana and Punjab governments for names of neutral and eminent persons who can be part of a committee and find ways to solve the issue of farmers protesting at the Shambhu border. The Haryana government moved SC on July 15 challenging the HC order asking it to remove within a week the barricading at the border.
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