Agartala, July 31 (IANS) Tripura Police arrested six Bangladeshi women along with two children from Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala for entering India without valid passports, police said on Wednesday.

An officer of the Airport Police Station said that on being informed about their suspicious movement at MBB Airport, police asked them for valid documents.

As they failed to show any valid papers they were arrested on Tuesday night.

The Bangladeshi women, aged between 30 to 38 years, during preliminary interrogation said that they illegally entered Tripura through the clandestine route and were planning to go to other states in the country by flight in search of jobs.

Three days ago, 28 Bangladeshi nationals, including a tout, and two Rohingyas were arrested from two different places in Tripura by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel before boarding trains.

Over the last two-and-a-half months, more than 155 Bangladeshi nationals and 32 Rohingyas were arrested by the GRP, BSF, and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

In the last few weeks, Bangladesh has witnessed waves of deadly violence and clashes during the quota reform protests claiming the lives of over 170 people and injuring over a thousand.

–IANS

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Imphal, July 31 (IANS) The 13-day-long Manipur Assembly session began on Wednesday while ten tribal MLAs, who have been demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory for the tribals in the state, once again skipping the proceedings.

The current session, which would continue till August 12, is the third session of the Assembly since the ethnic violence broke out on May 3 last year.

On the earlier two occasions too, the 10 tribal MLAs belonging to the Kuki-Zo community boycotted the Assembly sessions, alleging insecurity in Imphal and demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory for tribals in Manipur.

Chief Minister, N Biren Singh last week said that he would request the 10 MLAs to attend the Assembly session.

Of the 10 tribal MLAs, seven are from the ruling BJP, two belong to the Kuki People’s Alliance and one is an Independent. One of the 10, the BJP’s Paolienlal Haokip, who was elected from Saikot Assembly constituency in tribal-dominated Churachandpur district, said that they would not attend the session this time too.

“When my people can’t set foot in Imphal, how can I attend an Assembly held in the state capital,” he said.

Since May 3 last year, Manipur has been hit by unprecedented ethnic violence between the Chin-Kuki-Zos and the Meiteis that has claimed the lives of at least 220 people, while over 1,000 were injured and 60,000 people of both communities displaced.

The Chief Minister, who also holds the Finance portfolio, on the first day of the session, presented a Rs 34,899 crore budget for the 2024-25 fiscal, with a deficit of Rs 1,526 crore.

Tabling the budget, he highlighted the economic challenges faced by the state, primarily due to the ongoing ethnic unrest. He told the house that the ethnic crisis significantly impacted on the state’s economy, leading to a drop in revenue collections and increased spending on security and relief operations.

“Reduced own revenue collections, increased expenditure on security and relief operations, inflation, difficulties in movement of goods and services, problems in implementation of projects and schemes were a few of the challenges that we faced. With normalcy returning to the state, our tax collection is showing a positive trend. I am confident that this improvement would continue during the current year,” the Chief Minister told the house.

Biren Singh said that the state government would continue to work on the economic recovery of the state.

“Bringing and ensuring a peaceful and secure environment, rehabilitation and support to those who are displaced, providing livelihood to those without one, providing opportunities for skilling, and investing in quality infrastructure are some of the steps that we are taking,” he added.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 31 (IANS) Veteran politician CP Radhakrishnan was sworn-in as the 21st Governor of Maharashtra since the state’s formation in 1960, at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai, here on Wednesday, officials said.

He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya at a glittering ceremony attended by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, other ministers and top civil and police officials.

Appointed in place of former Governor Ramesh Bais, the new Governor was accorded a Guard of Honour by the Indian Navy.

Earlier, he was the Governor of Jharkhand for nearly 18 months before he was posted to Maharashtra, and has also held additional gubernatorial charge of Telangana and as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry for brief periods.

Born on May 4, 1957 at Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan is a graduate in business administration, with a rich political experience of over four decades in his home state.

Starting with the RSS, he went onto become the state executive committee member of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, in 1974.

He became the TN BJP Secretary in 1996 and was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore in 1998 and again in 1999, and has served on various committees of the Parliament.

He addressed the UN General Assembly as part of a parliamentary delegation in 2004 to New York, and from 2004-2007 he served as the TN BJP President.

At that time, he undertook a major 19,000 km-long Rath Yatra for various public and social causes, like the garlanding of rivers project, ending terrorism, a Uniform Civil Code in the country, the drug menace and eradicating untouchability, etc.

After holding various party and official positions, Radhakrishnan was appointed as Jharkhand Governor in February 2023, and has now taken over as Maharashtra Governor.

–IANS

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Hubballi, (Karnataka) July 31 (IANS) Hitting out at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for alleging that SC-ST funds were utilised for other purposes in the state, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Wednesday that Madhya Pradesh uses SC-ST funds to build cowsheds.

Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, he stated, “FM Nirmala Sitharaman has made a big allegation that of the SC-ST funds of Rs 9,900 crore, the state has diverted Rs 4,300 crore. It is not true. I don’t know who has provided statistics to her.”

“If a Union Minister makes false allegations it’s not good. In Madhya Pradesh, the money for SCs and STs is given to religious institutions and to build cowsheds. Who is in power in Madhya Pradesh? First let her (Sitharaman) look at what’s lying on her plate before pointing fingers at others,” HM Parameshwara stated.

“There is no diversion of SC-ST funds in Karnataka. We have spent that money on the programmes meant for the people of those communities. Certain percentage of money has been given to those programmes. We have not diverted money.

“No state in the country has reserved about 24 per cent of the money for SCs-STs in the budgets. None of the BJP ruled states have kept the money separately for SCs-STs in the budgets. CM Siddaramaiah has done it for the first time,” HM Parameshwara maintained.

“We have made many contributions for SCs, STs, OBCs and the minorities,” HM Parameshwara said.

“It is false to say that there is no law and order system in the state. There is no incident of violence during the festival of Lord Ganesha. Likewise, during Ramzaan also we have maintained order. At no point of time, has the law and order system failed. There were a few instances which naturally occur,” he stated.

“FM Sitharaman had alleged that companies are moving out. No industrialist has said that he is going out of Bengaluru and Karnataka. There are no such examples. Those who are coming in to set up industries have not come up with such charges. I want to convey that there is no law and order crisis in the state,” HM Parameshwara stated.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) After the recent decision of West Bengal government to increase the donation amount for clubs organising community Durga Puja in the state by Rs 15,000 to Rs 85,000 this year has been challenged at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.

A public interest litigation has been filed by one individual Sourav Dutta at the division bench headed by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam.

Besides, increasing the annual donation to Rs 85,000 from the previous amount of Rs 70,000, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 23 directed the two power distribution utilities, namely West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) and CESC Limited, to increase the concession on power supply to the community Puja committees from 66 per cent to 75 per cent this year.

In his PIL, the petition has questioned the source of funds that will be shelved out for this donation purpose.

In his petition, Dutta has made a plea that there should be a proper audit by an independent agency on how the donations paid to the clubs during the last few years have been utilised by the club authorities concerned.

In the petition, the petitioner has questioned the justification of increasing the donation amount to the clubs year after year when the state government was unable to pay the enhanced dearness allowance to the its employees or other essential expenditure.

The Chief Minister has already announced that in 2025, the donation amount to each such club will be increased to Rs 1,00,000.

As per initial estimates, the total outflow of the dole package will be to the tune of Rs 500 crore, including Rs 365 crore as donations to 43,000 puja committees, of which around 3,000 are in Kolkata while the remaining were spread across the state.

Economic analysts feel that such enhancement in annual donations to the community puja committees is a wasteful expenditure, saying the state government should instead concentrate more on asset-creating capital expenditures, besides reducing avoidable revenue expenditures.

–IANS

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