Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu.

Male: Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its military personnel from his country by March 15, a senior official here said on Sunday, nearly two months after Male sought their removal.

According to the latest government figures, there are 88 Indian military personnel in the Maldives.

In a press briefing, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the President’s Office, said that President Muizzu has formally asked India to withdraw its military personnel by March 15, the SunOnline newspaper reported.

“Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration,” he said.

Maldives and India have set up a high-level core group to negotiate the withdrawal of troops. The group held its first meeting at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Male’ on Sunday morning.

The meeting was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, the report said.

Nazim confirmed the meeting and said the agenda for the meeting was the request to withdraw troops by March 15.

The Indian government did not immediately confirm the media report or comment on it.

Soon after taking oath as the President of Maldives on November 17 last year, Muizzu, who is regarded as a pro-China leader, formally requested India to withdraw its military personnel from his country, saying the Maldivian people have given him a “strong mandate” to make this request to New Delhi.

The request for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel comes amid a row between the two nations in the backdrop of derogatory comments posted by three deputy ministers of the Muizzu government against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Muizzu suspended the three ministers after their social media postings, which stirred concern in India and calls for a boycott by Indian tourists who ranked highest in numbers followed by Russia. Chinese tourists figured third.

During his just-concluded state visit to China, Muizzu sought to align Maldives closer to Beijing.

Speaking to the press on Saturday after returning from China, President Muizzu indirectly attacked India.

Without naming any country, he said, “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us.”

He also announced plans to reduce the country’s dependency on India, including securing imports of essential food commodities and medicine and consumables from other countries.

“We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state,” he said, addressing the reporters gathered at the Velana International Airport.

He said that no country has the right to exert influence over the domestic affairs of a country, regardless of its size.

He vowed that he would not allow any external influence on the domestic affairs of the Maldives.

Male is also reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi signed by the previous government here.

Kozhikode: The BJP is expected to emerge as the single-largest party in the coming Lok Sabha polls, but its tally can be brought down to a level that its potential allies may no longer be willing to support it and instead back the opposition alliance, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said.

While talking about the opposition bloc INDIA, he said India is a diverse country and he is perfectly prepared to live with the situation where they don’t have a ”100 per cent agreement in 100 per cent of the states”.

He was speaking at the ongoing Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) here on Saturday.

”I still expect that the BJP will emerge as the single-largest party. But I do believe their numbers can be brought down to a level where their potential allies required to form a government may no longer be willing to ally with them and may be willing to ally with us. So we have to give it a try,” the former Union minister said in a session, ‘India: The Future is Now’.

The diplomat-turned-politician also talked about the difficulties related to seat-sharing among parties in the opposition bloc INDIA — comprising as many as 28 constituents — and said he only hopes to have ”sufficient agreements” in as many states as possible so that ”preventable defeats” can be avoided.

While one state can see an agreement amongst all the opposition parties and have one unified candidate against the BJP, another state might have two or three candidates, in which case ”the voter has to choose the person they consider would best represent them”, he said.

”That’s the best thing they can do, and if it so happens, and there is enough divergence of views, maybe the BJP candidate will win. But that’s democracy in our first-past-the-post system,” he added.

The 67-year-old gave the example of two neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to buttress his point on why seat-sharing pattern of the INDIA bloc will vary from state to state.

”In Kerala, it is almost impossible to imagine the two major opponents here of the INDIA alliance, namely the CPI(M) and the Congress, ever agreeing on seat-sharing, but right next door in Tamil Nadu, the CPI, CPI(M), Congress and DMK are all allied together and there is no debate, no dispute.

”They already fought the last election together. They are likely to fight this one too,” he said.

Ultimately, according to Tharoor, the most important thing that one needs to remind the people of this country is to vote for the best person in their constituency as those chanting the ‘Modi, Modi’ slogan should know that only the people of Varanasi can vote for him.

”Everybody else has to vote for the best candidate in their places they think represent them well. And if they want to vote only to send Mr Modi that’s their choice, if they want to vote for somebody who will be an effective legislature and who has views that are congenial to them, that’s also their choice and I think we can do that,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is elected to the Lok Sabha from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Historian William Dalrymple, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, American physician-author Abraham Verghese, award-winning author Perumal Murugan and comedian Kanan Gill were among the 400 noted personalities attending the Kerala Literature Festival, which concludes on Sunday.

New Delhi: The central government on Sunday ordered a ban on non-essential construction work and plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi-NCR amid worsening air quality in the region.

The Commission for Air Quality Management, a statutory body responsible for forming air pollution reduction strategies for the region and their implementation, noted a significant rise in Delhi’s AQI (458 and 457 at 10 am and 11 am) due to unfavourable climatic conditions and local pollution sources.

Anticipating a prolonged period of severe air quality, the committee decided to implement GRAP Stage-III curbs (‘severe’ air quality index (AQI) range) immediately to prevent further deterioration.

The curbs include a ban on non-essential construction work and the plying of BS III petrol and BS IV deisel four-wheelers in the region.

Construction work related to national security or defence, projects of national importance, healthcare, railways, metro rail, airports, inter-state bus terminals, highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines, sanitation and water supply are exempted from the ban.

The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is the Centre’s air pollution control plan implemented in the region during the winter season.

It categorises actions into four stages: Stage I – ‘Poor’ (AQI 201-300); Stage II – ‘Very Poor’ (AQI 301-400); Stage III – ‘Severe’ (AQI 401-450); and Stage IV – ‘Severe Plus’ (AQI>450).

Gangtok: A rare Tibetan brown bear species has been found roaming in the high altitude areas of North Sikkim, officials of the state’s Forest and Wildlife Department said on Sunday.

Camera traps captured the bear (scientific name: Ursus arctos pruinosus) with its characteristic yellowish scarf-like collar that broadens from the shoulders to the chest in Mangan district last month.

This rare bear is very different from the more commonly found Himalayan black bear in terms of its appearance, habitat and behaviour, the officials said.

The omnivore lives in high-altitude alpine forests, meadows and steppe above 4000 m and feeds on marmots and alpine vegetation.

“The discovery of a rare Tibetan brown bear marks a significant moment for biodiversity in the region and underscores the importance of preserving and protecting the state’s precious wildlife,” an official said.

The Tibetan brown bear, also known as the Tibetan blue bear, is one of the rarest subspecies of bears in the world, and is rarely sighted in the wild. Only a few were sighted from Nepal, Bhutan and the Tibetan plateau.

With assistance from Lachen Dzumsa, a traditional socio-political institution of North Sikkim, a forest and wildlife department team set up camera traps in high altitudes of Mangan district and captured this elusive bear.

Lucknow: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Uttarakhand is likely to become the first state in the country to implement a Uniform Civil Code.

A Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Uttarakhand was one of the major poll promises made by the BJP in the run-up to the state assembly elections held in 2022.

Addressing a gathering at the “Uttarayani Kauthik” programme organised by people who hail from Uttarakhand, Rajnath Singh said, “I think if some state is going become first in implementing uniform civil code, it will be Uttarakhand.”

He, however, did not elaborate on this.

After being voted to power for a second consecutive term, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami gave his nod to setting up a committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to draft the UCC at the very first cabinet meeting headed by him.

Addressing the “Uttarayani Kauthik” event in Lucknow, the Union Defence minister said Uttarakhand is not only the land of gods and brave people but is now also being recognised as the land of development. The state has made remarkable progress in the last five years, he said.

Referring to the relations between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said, “After Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh, there was bitterness in the relationship between the two states for some time. But this was never seen among the people.”

Singh said even 10 years after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, there are many unresolved issues between the two states. But after the division of Uttar Pradesh, such issues did not happen, he said.

“The relations between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand remained so lively that despite all the pending issues, there was no discord between the people living in the two states. Rather the ties kept getting stronger,” he added.

Hyderabad: An army man died after sustaining injuries when a ‘manja’ string of a kite allegedly slit his throat while he was riding a two-wheeler on a flyover here, police said on Sunday.

The incident happened on Saturday evening when the army man, aged around 30, came in contact with the ‘manja’ thread which is suspected to have cut his throat, resulting in bleeding, a senior police official said.

”He suffered a cut-throat injury. He was shifted to a hospital where he died while undergoing treatment,” the official said.

A native of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, he worked as a driver at the Military Hospital here, the official said.

A case was registered at Langar House Police Station.

Indore: A young man was detained after he defied the security arrangements and reached cricketer Virat Kohli and hugged him during the India-Afghanistan T20 match at Holkar Stadium in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore on Sunday, police said.

At that time, the star batsman was fielding on the ground.

After detaining him, cops took the young man to Tukoganj police station.

A police official said that the youth had a ticket for the match and entered the Holkar Stadium from Narendra Hirwani Gate.

He said that the young man seemed to be a big Kohli fan and entered the ground by climbing the fence of the spectators’ gallery with the desire to meet the player.

The officer said that the youth was being interrogated.

Further steps will be taken in the case on the basis of interrogation, the official said.

In Indore, India beat Afghanistan by six wickets.

NEW DELHI: A survey conducted by two pro-Hindutva groups has found that nearly 74 per cent of Muslims surveyed are happy with the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya and that most of them feel that the temple construction will bridge the gap between the Hindus and Muslims.

The survey says most Muslims say democracy has been strengthened by the Supreme Court decision in 2019 and that the community is safer under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Ram Jan Survey was conducted jointly by the Ayurveda Foundation Charitable Trust and the RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) among Muslims.

Sharing details of the survey with this newspaper, Shahid Sayeed, national executive member and in-charge of national media of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, said a majority of Muslims admitted that Modi has raised the nation’s respect in the world and disruptive forces must not defame Islam.

“The purpose of the survey was to know the opinion of Muslims on Sri Ram/Jai Siya Ram/Maryada Purushottam and the views of the country’s Muslims towards the Modi government. The survey also focused on the correctness and justification of the image of Muslims and Islam as it is talked about,” Shahid Sayeed said.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the surveyed have confidence in the Modi government while 72 per cent of Muslims agreed that the Opposition lacks significant concerns,” he said.

“Around 70 per cent of Muslims believe India has established itself as a global power. Those who were surveyed acknowledged the significance of the Ram temple for Hindus,” Sayeed said, adding that most Muslims believe that the Modi government has done excellent work for them.

“It has also been revealed in the survey that Muslims have got benefits ranging from Jan Dhan Yojna to Izzat Ghar (toilet construction), Ujjwala scheme, and free ration to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna. The common Muslims, intellectuals, Ulamas and maulanas of the country believe that for years they were silently intimidated in the name of RSS-BJP,” Sayeed said quoting the findings.

“A majority of the Muslims surveyed believe that Lord Ram belongs to everyone and everyone belongs to Ram. Therefore, it is necessary to give a befitting reply to those disruptive forces who are trying to spoil the atmosphere of the country in the name of Ram,” he added.

In the survey, a large section believed that fundamentalism should end completely in the country and that the country should move ahead with peace and tranquility, he said.

Quoting Muslims who shared their opinions in the survey, Sayeed said many said there should be no objection from the community to the Ram temple construction as it is being done after the court decision.