Archives for December 2023

Durban: India’s desire to start the process of finding an ideal combination for the T20 World Cup 2024 suffered a minor dent as their first match against South Africa was abandoned without a ball being bowled after persistent rain here on Sunday.

In fact, even the toss did not take place.

Now, the ‘Men in Blue’ are left with just five T20Is two more against the Proteas and three games against Afghanistan at home in January ahead of next year’s showpiece in the West Indies and the USA.

In that context, India would have liked to make a head start to their search for a perfect blend at Kingsmead but rain put paid to those hopes temporarily.

With the IPL 2024 preceding the T20 World Cup, the Indian think-tank will certainly bank on the league to identify the ideal 15 for the marquee event.

India stand-in captain Suryakumar suggested as much.

“I feel there are limited T20s going forward, before the T20 World Cup. But then we play 14 league games in the IPL as well,” Suryakumar had mentioned during his pre-match press meet on Saturday.

But then nothing really can supplant the confidence a player can accrue while performing well in international matches, and the weight of a good outing doubles if the touring destination is South Africa.

It also offers the management a more realistic yardstick about a player’s ability.

The first-time visitors to the ‘Rainbow Nation’ such as Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh etc would have been eager to get that unique taste of cricket here and now they would have to wait till Tuesday for the second match at St George’s Park at Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth.

From a leadership perspective, Suryakumar has done a very fine job while stepping in for injured Hardik Pandya during the home T20I series against the Aussies.

Suryakumar led from the front in India’s 4-1 series victory.

The 33-year-old would have liked to make a winning start here against the Proteas to underline his credentials to give the bigwigs another name potentially to consider for the captain’s role, if it ever comes to that.

It wasn’t entirely amusing then to hear the Mumbai man talking about his comfort while shepherding a young side.

“From personal point of view, it (captaincy) is a big responsibility. I really enjoyed it in the last series (against Australia). I would love to do the same (winning the series) in the coming series in South Africa.

“But from a larger perspective, we’ll see what comes ahead but for now let’s focus on the series,” he had said on Saturday.

The Durban T20I could also have handed India a chance to test their options for the sixth bowler slot, something that assumes importance as Pandya’s fitness continues to be iffy.

They, perhaps, could have tried the part-time spin of Tilak Varma, who recently bowled a few overs for Hyderabad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Suryakumar did not provide a definite answer to the sixth bowling conundrum, but said they have enough personnel in their ranks to fill in that role.

“It is not like we don’t have a sixth bowling option. When the right time comes, you will see the sixth bowler or maybe the seventh or eighth (bowler),” he had said.

But for now, India will have to hit the meeting room and reinforce their plans ahead of the second match.

New Delhi: Evolving a “core positive agenda”, seat sharing and a programme to hold joint rallies are among the main challenges before the opposition INDIA bloc that will be taken up at its next meeting in the national capital on December 19.

“The 4th meeting of the leaders of INDIA parties will be held on Tuesday December 19th, 2023 in New Delhi at 3 pm,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X on Sunday.

The parties intend to move forward with the unity theme – “Main Nahin, Hum” (We, Not Me) – as a counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the meeting, a senior leader of the Congress said.

The meeting is being held in the backdrop of the Congress’ poor show in the just concluded assembly elections, where it suffered humiliating defeats in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, while the BJP asserted that people have affirmed their faith in “Modi’s guarantees” and will re-elect his government in 2024.

The challenge before the opposition parties now is to come out with an alternative positive agenda to counter the BJP in the next general elections, the leader said.

Sources said during the meeting, the parties would chalk out plans on seat sharing, for holding joint election rallies and would evolve a common programme for them.

“The election results are not a rejection of issues that were raised in this poll campaign,” the leader said on poll planks like caste census and restoration of Old Pension Scheme that have been raised by the opposition parties.

He, however, admitted that the party would think out of the box to take on the BJP in 2024.

“Main Nahin, Hum” (We, Not Me) is the likely slogan that the opposition parties would work on to counter Modi. Sources add that the opposition alliance of the INDIA bloc is likely to take forward the issues of caste census, legal guarantee to MSP and social security for workers.

“Evolving the core positive agenda for the INDIA bloc is the biggest challenge for the opposition parties that would help it take on the BJP,” the leader said.

He added that the issues that dominated during the Bharat Jodo Yatra like “rising” economic inequality, social polarisation and political authoritarianism besides price rise and inflation are some issues that are likely to find resonance on the ground during the Lok Sabha polls.

These issues would become part of the common agenda of the opposition parties that will help the opposition alliance take on the BJP.

The INDIA bloc would highlight 10 years under Manmohan Singh and whether the 10 years under PM Modi have brought any difference to the life of the common man, the leader said.

He said the Adani issue will also be raised during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

Leaders of 26 parties would gather for the strategy meeting in the national capital to address key issues before the alliance as it prepares to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections, the sources said.

West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee would be in the national capital from December 17 to 19 and is likely to take part in the meet. Work is on to ensure the presence of other senior leaders, the sources said.

New Delhi: All new trucks manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, must be equipped with AC cabins for drivers, as the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification for mandating air-conditioned truck cabins.

In a gazette notification, the ministry has said, “…the vehicles manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, shall be fitted with an air-conditioning system for the cabin of vehicles of N2 and N3 category”.

The testing of the cabin fitted with an air-conditioning system shall be as per IS14618:2022, it added.

In July, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the draft notification to mandate the installation of air-conditioning systems in the cabins of trucks has been approved.

Recently, the minister said that truck drivers play a key role in the transport sector, one of the most important areas for India, and there is a need to address issues regarding their working conditions and state of mind.

Air-conditioned cabins for trucks will soon be made mandatory, Gadkari had said.

Lamenting that truck drivers have been forced to work in extreme heat conditions, the minister said that he has been pushing for air-conditioned cabins for truck drivers for a long time even as “some people objected to it saying it will increase costs”.

Mangaluru: Several pockets of the Dakshina Kannada district received heavy rainfall on Saturday and Sunday night, while a yellow alert has been issued by the met department till Monday (Dec 11) Morning.

Heavy rains accompanied by thunder were reported to have occurred in urban and rural regions of the district during the night on the weekend.

Meanwhile, minor damages due to the heavy rain were reported from some regions.

While Mangaluru city, Puttur, Bantwal, Sullia and Bellare received good rains on Saturday night, On Sunday heavy rains lashed several parts of Belthangady.

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The cash seizure in the income-tax department’s searches against an Odisha-based distillery company, owned by a Congress MP’s family, has been calculated at Rs 351 crore after five days of counting and is the “highest-ever” haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country, official sources said on Sunday.

The premises of the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places, were also covered during the searches by the department. The company and the member of Parliament

The marathon raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited, its promoters and others entered the fifth day on Sunday. The raids were launched on December 6 by the taxman on charges of tax evasion and “off-the-book” transactions.

Rs 351 crore cash has been counted and the process has ended.

The counting involved nine teams of about 80 people from the tax department and various banks, working in shifts in a 24×7 cycle.

Another team of 200 officials, including security personnel, drivers and other staff, joined in after the taxman found 10 almirahs stuffed with cash apart from some other locations.

As many as 200 bags and trunks were used to transport the cash for depositing it in various bank branches in Odisha, the sources said.

The department believes that the entire cache of currency is “unaccounted” money earned from cash sales of country liquor by the business group, distributors and others.

It is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency in the country as part of an action against a single group and entities linked to it, the sources had said.

Some of the high-value seizures in the past include one from 2019 when the GST Intelligence raided a Kanpur-based businessman and seized cash amounting to Rs 257 crore and another instance where cash amounting to Rs 163 crore was unearthed by the I-T department during searches against a road construction firm in Tamil Nadu in July 2018.

The department is also recording the statements of the executives and other staff who were present at the searched locations and will soon issue summonses to the main promoters of the company for recording their statements.

It was not clear what amount of cash and other documents were seized from Sahu’s house.

The maximum cache of currency, largely in Rs 500 denomination, was recovered from the premises of the company in Bolangir district, the sources said.

The BJP on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Congress and other opposition parties, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying it is now clear that their “propaganda” about probe agencies being misused was driven by the fear that their corruption will be exposed.

In a statement, the senior BJP leader questioned the “silence” of INDIA bloc leaders, saying he can understand why the Congress is keeping mum but wondered why parties like the TMC, DMK, JD(U) and the RJD were doing the same.

While the Congress has distanced itself from the MP, claiming that the party has nothing to do with his business, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the Centre of targeting only the Congress and asked why no searches were carried out against BJP leaders.

Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey said, “Since he is Congress MP, he should make an official statement about how such a big amount of money came to him.”

Union Tourism Minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy asked why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was “silent” on the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned and had posted a Hindi newspaper report where the cash recovered by the IT department was shown stacked.

Taking to X, he had said, “The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest speeches’ of their leaders …Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”

Wayanad (Kerala): A day after the death of a 36-year-old man near Kalpetta here due to a tiger attack, the Kerala government on Sunday issued orders to kill the animal if it cannot be captured or tranquilised.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (WL) and Chief Wildlife Warden, D Jayaprasad, issued an order directing the Chief Conservator of Forests (Northern Circle), Kannur, to establish “undoubtedly” that the animal which killed the man was the same before the operation.

The order said that maximum effort should be taken either to cage or tranquilise the animal as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority norms.

“If the animal cannot be captured or tranquilised, and it is established as a man-eater, the same animal shall be killed under section 11 (1) (a) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, with strict adherence to the provisions of the section and the guidelines of NTCA as the tiger became dangerous to the human life in the area,” the order read.

According to the provision of the Wildlife Act, the Chief Wildlife Warden may permit hunting of any wild animal specified in Schedule I, if it has become dangerous to human life.

Vakeri resident Prajeesh’s half-eaten body was found near a forest area here on Saturday where he is suspected to have been dragged by the tiger when he went to collect grass for his cattle.

Locals alleged that it was a “man-eater” tiger and demanded the authorities to shoot and kill the animal.

The order, which came after strong protests from both the ruling and opposition fronts, said the operation shall be carried out under the supervision of CCF (Northern Circle). It is also directed to ensure the service of a medical team and a Rapid Response Team.

Earlier in the day, Bathery MLA, I C Balakrishnan, former MLA C K Saseendran and others staged a protest seeking stern action to safeguard the lives of the people in the region.

The leaders and the residents ended their protest after the issuance of the order after which the funeral of Prajeesh was held.

State Forest Minister, A K Saseendran, in a video message said the government will take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the people.

Locals had earlier in the day told the media that the animal was a man-eater as it came back on Saturday night to the same place where Prajeesh’s body was found earlier.

“It’s a man-eater tiger. Yesterday, hundreds of people walked through the area where his body was found. But today, we can see its pug marks. As neighbours, our demand is to shoot and kill this man-eater tiger,” a local resident told a TV channel.

As Prajeesh did not return even after several hours on Saturday, his brother went searching for him and found the body in a nearby forest.

Meanwhile, a senior forest official told PTI that there are three tigers in the locality as per their reports.

“Currently, we need to identify the tiger which attacked the man. All we have is a blurry photo. Steps will be taken according to the order,” the official said.

Earlier this year, a 50-year-old man lost his life in a tiger attack.

In August 2017, the Kerala government informed the assembly that according to a tiger census conducted at the Periyar and Parambikulam Tiger Reserves in the state, there was a confirmed presence of 58 big cats in these reserves in 2016.

SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said he is disappointed but not disheartened with the Supreme Court’s verdict on pleas challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution.

“Disappointed but not disheartened. The struggle will continue,” Abdullah said in a post on X.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said it took the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decades to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 and added that they are also prepared for the long haul.

“It took the BJP decades to reach here. We are also prepared for the long haul,” he said.

The Supreme Court verdict is “disappointing” and justice has yet again “eluded” the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Conference (PC) chief Sajad Lone said on Monday.

“The Supreme Court verdict on Article 370 is disappointing. Justice yet again eludes the people of J and K,” Lone said here.

He said Article 370 may have been legally obliterated, but will always remain a part of our political aspirations.

The apex court on Monday abrogate Article 370, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct elections to the Assembly in the Union Territory by September 30 next year.

The Supreme Court also directed that statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir be restored at the earliest.

In the case of statehood, Lone said, the Supreme Court “sidestepped even commenting on it, thus protecting the entire country from any future misuse, by citing precedence.”

“Yet the same misuse was subtly endorsed in J&K. Let us hope at a future date, justice wakes up from its slumber of pretence,” the PC president said.