West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh’s statement came after he had stated that 50 lakh Muslim infiltrators will be identified and chased out of the country if needed.

COOCH BEHAR: Amid anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of India (NRC) protests across the country, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday said that two crore Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators have entered India and no Bangladeshi Muslim will be allowed to stay here.

“Two crore Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators have entered India, one crore is in West Bengal and one crore have spread across the country. We will not allow any Bangladeshi Muslims to stay here. If their names are in voters’ list then it will be removed,” said Ghosh during a public rally.

His statement came after he had stated that 50 lakh Muslim infiltrators will be identified and chased out of the country if needed.

Addressing a rally in the North 24 Parganas district, he had said, “50 lakh Muslim infiltrators will be identified, if needed they will be chased out of the country.”

Cornering West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for opposing Citizenship Amendment law and NRC, he said, “Firstly, the names of Muslim infiltrators will be removed from voters’ list then didi (in reference to Mamata Banerjee) cannot appease anyone.”

He said there will be a reduction in the number of votes to Banerjee in the 2021 state assembly elections following the process of removing infiltrators’ names from the voters’ list.

“Once this is done didi’s votes will be reduced and in the coming elections, we will get 200 seats, she will not even get 50 seats,” he said.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Jharkhand Dhanbad, known for its rich coal reserves and industries, is the second-most polluted city in India, according to the report based on analysis of PM10 data from 287 cities.

NEW DELHI: The coal-belching town of Jharia in Jharkhand continues to be the most polluted city in India, while Delhi has made marginal improvement in reducing its air pollution level, according to a Greenpeace India report released on Tuesday.

Delhi is the 10th-most polluted city in India, according to the report.

The city was at the eighth spot a year ago, according to the report for that year.

Average annual levels of PM10, particulate matter less than 10 micrometres in diameter that can enter the lungs and even the bloodstream, in Jharia was 322 micrograms per cubic metre in 2018, more than six times the safe limits of 0-60, according to the report.

Jharkhand Dhanbad, known for its rich coal reserves and industries, is the second-most polluted city in India, according to the report based on analysis of PM10 data from 287 cities across the country.

The annual average of PM10 levels in Delhi reduced from 240 micrograms per cubic metre in 2017 to 225 in 2018.

Lunglei in Mizoram is the least polluted followed by Meghalaya’s Dowki, according to the report.

Six of the top-10 polluted cities are in Uttar Pradesh — Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Moradabad and Firozabad.

The Greenpeace report also said 231 of the 287 cities recorded PM10 levels above 60 micrograms per cubic metre on at least 52 days in 2018.

The Central Pollution Control Board has identified 0-60 µg/m3 as a safe limit for PM10 levels under National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

“For NAAQS, pollution data for 104 days covering all seasons is collected. It is done to maintain uniformity in data collection,” according to Dipankar Saha, former head of the CPCB’s air quality lab.

In 2015, the Environment Ministry identified 102 cities as “non-attainment” cities (which do not meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards) under the National Clean Air Programme that aims for a 20-30 per cent reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024, Avinash Chanchal, one of the two authors of the report said.

Ideally, all these 231 cities are non-attainment cities and should be included in NCAP, he said.

“Based on 2018 data, West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have 36, 21, 21, 20 and 15 non-attainment cities respectively,” the report said.

The report also said pollution levels across much of the country are so high that even a 30 per cent reduction will still leave levels above NAAQS.

 The Centre has approved creation of 2,000 posts in the CISF, the force that is mandated to ensure security at vital installations, including airports, atomic installations, metro networks.

 NEW DELHI: The Centre has approved creation of 2,000 posts in the CISF, the force that is mandated to ensure security at vital installations, including airports, atomic installations, metro networks.The Central Industrial Security Force guards about 60 civil airports in the country and has an elite VVIP security wing under its command called the Special Security Group (SSG). The Union Home ministry has recently given approval for the creation of about 2,000 posts in the CISF, a senior home ministry official said on Tuesday.

With the sanctioned posts, from constables to the inspector level, the CISF can raise two more battalions (1,000 personnel each) within the next two years, the official said. The current strength of the CISF is about 1.8 lakh personnel.

The CISF guards civil airports, nuclear plants, power stations, vital government buildings, Delhi Metro besides a host of other key installations. Centre is also all set to hand over the security related duties at Srinagar and Jammu airports to the CISF by the end of this month. The CISF will replace the J-K Police.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta asked the state government to inform the court about the decision taken by it under Article 161 of the Constitution.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to inform whether a decision has been taken by it on a mercy petition of a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The apex court also pulled up the Centre for filing a similar status report on a probe done by a CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) into unravelling a larger conspiracy behind the killing of the former prime minister.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta asked the state government to inform the court about the decision taken by it under Article 161 of the Constitution.

The article gives a governor the power to pardon a person who has been proved guilty in court.

The top court was hearing the plea of 46-year-old A G Perarivalan, who has sought suspension of his life sentence in the case till the MDMA’s probe is completed.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Perarivalan, said though the state has taken a decision on his mercy petition but his application is pending with the governor.

The MDMA was set up in 1998 on the recommendations of the Justice M C Jain Commission of Inquiry which had probed the conspiracy aspect of Gandhi’s assassination.

It is headed by a CBI official and comprises officers from the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing and the Revenue Intelligence, among other agencies.

The top court told the Centre: “Can you tell us what the difference (is) between the status report filed in April 2018 and November 2019. There is no difference at all.”

“We have gone through all of your status reports filed in the case,” it said.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for Centre, said the government has not received any response to the letters rogatory (LR) sent to Sri Lanka and other countries.

The Supreme Court had on January 14, expressed its displeasure over the latest status report filed by the MDMA on its probe.

It said it wanted to know about the progress made in the ongoing investigation in the past two years.

On November 5 last year, the apex court had sought within four weeks the latest status report from the MDMA.

It had said the latest report should also include the status of letters rogatory (LRs).

Perarivalan’s counsel had earlier said his role was only limited to procuring nine-volt batteries, which were allegedly used in the improvised explosive device (IED) that had killed Gandhi.

On March 14 last year, the apex court had asked the MDMA to file a status report with regard to a LR sent to Sri Lanka for examining one of the accused, Nixon alias Suren, who is lodged in the Colombo jail.

The top court had dismissed a plea of Perarivalan seeking recall of the May 11, 1999, verdict upholding his conviction.

It had said the material brought on record before it does not inspire confidence to interfere with the verdict in which Perarivalan and three others were initially awarded death sentence, which was later commuted to life term.

The CBI had earlier submitted that Perarivalan had even visited Jaffna in Sri Lanka in the first week of June 1990, besides attending a public meeting along with other conspirators which was addressed by former prime minister V P Singh on May 7, 1991 in Tamil Nadu.

Perarivalan’s counsel had submitted that he was just a 19-year-old when the incident took place and had no knowledge of what he was doing and for what purpose the batteries were purchased.

Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.

Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed.

Gandhi’s assassination was perhaps the first case of suicide bombing which had claimed the life of a high-profile leader.

In its May 1999 order, the top court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts — Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham and Nalini — in the assassination case.

In April 2000, the Tamil Nadu governor had commuted the death sentence of Nalini on the basis of the state government’s recommendation and an appeal by former Congress president and Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia Gandhi.

On February 18, 2014, the top court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment, along with that of two other prisoners – Santhan and Murugan – on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.

Tina reached the Clock Tower on Sunday, where hundreds of women were sitting on protest against the citizenship laws, and spent time talking to the women.

LUCKNOW: Tina Yadav, the 14-year-old daughter of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, was seen participating in an anti-CAA rally here a few days back.

Tina reached the Clock Tower on Sunday, where hundreds of women were sitting on protest against the citizenship laws, and spent time talking to the women.

She was accompanied by her friends. Since she is still not a well known celebrity, no one noticed her presence. It is only when her photo went viral on Tuesday that the matter came to light.

Sources said that since some of Tina’s friends were a part of the protests, she had gone to meet them and even sat with them for some time.

This is the first time that the former Chief Minister’s children have participated in a political event and that too on their own.