Page 2 - Central Agencies

Akhilesh slams Centre for misusing central agencies, to meet Mamata today

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for misusing central agencies to "harass leaders and public representatives of opposition parties", who pose a threat to the saffron camp. Yadav, who is in the city to chair his party's two-day national executive, is scheduled to meet West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday evening. "The ED, CBI, and Income Tax are political weapons of the BJP. Here in Bengal, the instances are less. In Uttar Pradesh, several of our (SP) leaders, including MLAs, are in jail in false and fabricated cases," he told reporters after reaching Kolkata airport. "The BJP sends the ED and CBI to harass those opposition parties which threaten it," he said. Samajwadi Party is holding its two-day national executive in Kolkata from March 18 to discuss policies and strategies for the assembly election in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh later this year and the Lok Sabha poll in 2024,

Admission through CUET to only 20 courses this year, Jamia tells UGC

The Jamia Millia Islamia has decided not to implement the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses except for 20 programmes, citing lack of time to change the university rules, a senior official said Friday. Twenty courses including B.Sc.(Hons) Physics, B.Sc.(Hons) Chemistry this year will allow admission through the CUET, 10 more than the last academic year. The varsity has written to the University Grants Commission (UGC), informing it about the latest decision and also apprised that it will implement CUET-UG in all courses from the academic year 2024-25 as it requires sufficient time to change admission rules. The UGC introduced the CUET last year for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), however, did not adopt the CUET for all its undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Recently, UGC asked the JMI to implement CUET UG from the academic session 2023-24 in all courses. In its

Central agencies being used as weapon for vendetta politics: Bhupesh Baghel

"Are the public not seeing this? They have understood how you are torturing industrialists, businessmen, and public and party workers. The more they use such tactics, it will boost our confidence

Winter session: Oppn demands discussion on border issue with China

Matters will be taken up in keeping with House norms: Centre at all-party meet

ED's expansion

The agency is entering new areas of surveillance

Govt extends tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra until Nov 2023

The Centre extended the tenure of enforcement directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year till November 18, 2023

Chhattisgarh CM to take stern action if Central agencies target anyone

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday said stern action will be taken if the state police receive a complaint of Central agencies targetting anyone unnecessarily. He was speaking at a function organised in the Durg district this evening. There is no need to fear the ED, DRI or Income Tax departments. If you are being targeted unnecessarily then as the head of the Chhattisgarh government, I assure you that if you lodge a complaint at any police station of the state against the concerned officers (of the Central agencies), stern action will be taken, Baghel said. We have to fight the battle of truth. If someone commits wrong then he should be punished. The government can't be run by creating fear.., he added. Later talking to reporters, Baghel spoke about complaints regarding people being targeted by the DRI, IT and ED in the state. ..We welcome all the Central agencies. We do not oppose them. If anything wrong has happened then action must be taken. But if people are

Govt strengthened probe agencies as part of zero tolerance policy: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government took all efforts to strengthen probe agencies such as the NIA and anti-terror laws in line with its policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism. The National Investigation Agency will have branches in all the states by May 2024, he said. The home minister was speaking at the inauguration of the office building of the NIA's Raipur branch in Atal Nagar area of Nava Raipur. The Modi government has adopted zero tolerance policy against Left Wing Extremism, terrorism and other related crimes including fake currency and narcotics, and therefore we left no stone unturned to strengthen the NIA, he said. The BJP-led Union government also strengthened anti-terror laws, shared terrorism-related inputs with state governments irrespective of the party ruling in a state, strengthened anti-terror investigation agencies and increased conviction rate in such crimes, Shah added. In line with this (policy), our government ...

Arvind Kejriwal govt calls special session of Delhi Assembly Friday

A special session of the Delhi Assembly will be held Friday amid a political slugfest over action by central probe agencies in the Kejriwal government's excise policy and the AAP accusing the BJP of trying to lure its MLAs. The Assembly session is scheduled to be held from 11 am on August 26, according to a document issued by the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP's attempt to "topple" his government was a "serious issue". The matter was in the AAP's political Affairs Committee on Wednesday evening. In a meeting of the committee held at Kejriwal's residence, the panel condemned the BJP's alleged efforts to lure its MLAs. The AAP leaders have alleged that four MLAs were offered money by the BJP to quit the party. The ED has registered a money laundering case against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to probe the alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise policy after taking

Central agencies may arrest Sisodia, even me till Gujarat polls: Kejriwal

"Once the elections are over, this all will be on the backburner," he added.

ED expanded by over 50% since Sanjay Kumar Mishra assumed office in 2018

The ED, which is in the news over its action in various cases of alleged money laundering, has witnessed a growth over the last four years since Sanjay Kumar Mishra assumed office as its Director

Modi govt trying to suppress Oppn's voice using central agencies: NCP

The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday alleged that whenever there are protests against the Narendra Modi government's various failures, central agencies are used to harass Opposition leaders

Central agencies targeting Oppn parties to harass us: Abhishek Banerjee

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday accused the central agencies of targeting opposition camps to serve interests of the ruling party at the Centre

Central agencies should question CM, family in gold smuggling case: BJP

Senior BJP leader Shoba Surendran on Monday demanded that the central agencies question Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family in connection with the gold smuggling case

Central agencies 'seriously' looking into Al-Qaeda suicide attack threat

"Security personnel have been instructed to report to the concerned department soon after noticing any suspicious activity," the agency said

Ashok Gehlot accuses BJP-led Union govt of misusing Central agencies

The chief minister said raids by the Income Tax department, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in poll-bound states have become a common thing

Moosewala's family writes to Centre, demands probe by central agencies

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday said slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala's family has written to the Centre seeking a probe by central agencies into his brutal murder. Shekhawat along with other BJP leaders visited Moosewala's house on Thursday to express his condolences over the singer's death. He was accompanied by state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and party leader Sunil Jakhar. Talking to reporters later, Shekhawat said the singer's family has demanded a probe into the murder by central agencies. Shekhawat said the family has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard. On May 29, Moosewala was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Punjab's Mansa district, a day after the state government pruned his security cover. His cousin and a friend, who were travelling in a jeep with him, were also injured in the attack. The Union minister slammed the AAP government in Punjab for the withdrawal of the security cover of over 400 people and then making publi

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accuses centre of misusing central agencies

"The BJP-led central government is using the central agencies to interfere in the state's affairs. It is bulldozing the federal structure of the country. There is Tughlaqi rule in force," she said

Best of BS Opinion: Shaping India's green future, the NPA scare & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Monday

Let's step back from the NPA Scare

Regulators and agencies need to instil less fear in lenders, so that they are able to actively restructure debts