It would be an end of a practice which is almost 150-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir: There would be no Darbar move now onwards, according to the directions of LG Manoj Sinha.

Recently the &K administration was able to digitise all the records and the government switched over to e-administration, thus bringing the curtains down on a tradition of shifting capitals between Srinagar and Jammu during the summer and winter seasons. Hundreds of crores was the expenditure on this Darbar move annually and according to the officials, it used to cost Rs 200 crore for physically sending the files in trucks and also to accommodate about ten thousand government employees during the move in Srinagar and Jammu. The announcement came from the LG when he said that the J&K administration has transitioned to e-office, thereby ending the practice of the bi-annual ‘Darbar move’.

In order to formally say goodbye to this old practice, the government has accorded the sanction to the cancellation of allotment of residential accommodation of officers and officials in Srinagar and Jammu. Employees from Jammu had been allotted residential accommodation in Srinagar and those from Srinagar in Jammu in the past.

The J&K government has said that they will use this amount of Rs 200 crore on the welfare of weaker sections of society. The first attempt to cancel the Darbar move was made by then CM Farooq Abdullah in early 1980s but month’s long agitation in Jammu forced him to reverse the decision. People of Jammu used to wait for the Darbar move to happen during the winter months as it used to generate a lot of revenue for them, especially traders and hoteliers.

Former Haryana CM and Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Parkash Chautala may be released officially anytime after he has been granted a remission of his sentence. Following the benefit given to convicts in the wake of the Covid-29 pandemic, he will be released as part of a drive to decongest Delhi’s prisons. It is pertinent to mention that he is already on parole.

Chautala’s release is expected to lead to a string of speculation as political experts are of the opinion that being a big face in state politics, he is most likely to influence the political arena of the state. It is learnt that all parties would keenly watch what political strategy Chautala adopts to strengthen his party following his release from jail. Besides, what is of utmost import is that Chautala hails from the Jat community which constitutes the maximum vote-bank among all castes and Chautala’s comeback may affect Jat politics in the state. To some extent, Abhay Chautala, his son, has kept the INLD alive.

Among other leaders, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Dushyant Singh Chautala from Congress and JJP respectively emerged as the prominent Jat leaders and the comeback of Chautala undoubtedly would challenge their existence in state politics. His “re-entry” may affect affect a Jat stalwart like O.P. Dhankar.

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board has challenged a Varanasi court’s decision to conduct an archaeological survey of the centuries-old Gyanvapi Masjid abutting the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple.

On 8 April, the Varanasi court had ordered an archaeological survey of the Gyanvapi complex, saying the exercise was required to decide on pleas that allege the mosque was built by Mughal emperors after partially demolishing a Hindu shrine.

The court said that the committee would be entitled to enter every portion of the religious structure situated at the disputed site but shall first resort to only Ground Penetrating Radar or Geo-Radiology System or both to satisfy itself whether any excavation or extraction work is needed at any portion of the religious structure. 

If excavation or extraction is to be done at any portion of the structure, it should be first done by trial trench method vertically and that too at a very small scale and not more than four square feet at a time, the court said. 

The order came on a petition demanding the restoration of the land on which the mosque stands to the Hindus claiming that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had pulled down parts of the old Kashi Vishwanath Temple to build the mosque.

The suit was filed in 1991 seeking restoration of the ancient temple at the site where the Gyanvapi Mosque currently stands.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on Thursday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of two aides of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, his personal assistant Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande, till 6 July in connection with a money laundering case.

Deshmukh’s private secretary Sanjeev Palande has admitted that Deshmukh had a role in the transfer posting of police officers, especially in the posting of IPS (Indian Police Service) officers. ED officials also told the court that accused Sanjeev Palande confessed that a meeting was held on 4 March this year with police officers and admitted that discussion regarding restrictions on bars had happened in that meeting.

Palande also said that Deshmukh had a role in the transfer of police officers, especially IPS officers, during his interrogation by ED officers. The ED has stated, “Mr Palande has admitted that Mr Deshmukh had a role in transfer posting of police officers, especially the posting of IPS officers.”

The ED that sought seven more days’ custody also told the court they will question some IPS officers in connection with the same. Custody of five more days was given with alleged involvement of Shinde and Palande in the Rs 4 crore money trail that the investigation agency is currently tracing. ED officials informed the court that they needed further custody of Palande and Shinde as the proceeds of crime were yet to be traced.

The ED also informed that police officers whose names have come up in alleged transfer postings done by Deshmukh, are to be confronted with the accused. The central agency also mentioned that there are other people who have been summoned but are yet to appear, and are to be confronted with the accused. ED officials have also learnt that Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande have also received money in the form of cash, which is under investigation. The prosecution said that Shinde had not co-operated in his statements. The non-cooperation of Kundan Shinde can be seen from the vague replies in his statement wherein he has inter-alia stated that he didn’t know Sachin Waze before March 1 and had never met him till date.

Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 26 June. The duo was booked under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Prior to their arrest, the ED had carried out raids against them and Deshmukh in Mumbai and Nagpur. Anil Deshmukh laundered money collected from Mumbai bars and restaurants through his trust, is ED’s case against him and has sent twice summons to which Deshmukh has skipped. The ED’s case against Deshmukh and others was made after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first carried out a preliminary enquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High Court. The court had asked the CBI to look into the allegations of bribery made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Deshmukh, who resigned as the state Home minister in April this year following the allegations, has denied any wrongdoing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his bellicose speech delivered in Beijing to mark 100 years of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), on Thursday warned that enemies will find themselves on a collision course with a “great wall of steel” if they attempt to bully or influence China. In an hour-long address at the Tiananmen Square to mark the party’s centenary, Xi pledged to build up China’s military and said that Beijing was committed to the “reunification” of Taiwan with mainland China.He also stressed on ensuring that the central government exercises overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong and Macao.

“We will stay true to the letter and spirit of the principle of One Country, Two Systems, under which the people of Hong Kong administer Hong Kong, and the people of Macao administer Macao, both with a high degree of autonomy,” he said.

He also highlighted implementing the legal systems and enforcement mechanisms for the two special administrative regions to safeguard national security. “While protecting China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests, we will ensure social stability in Hong Kong and Macao, and maintain lasting prosperity and stability in the two special administrative regions,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

Xi, wearing a Mao-style jacket, added that the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical course” and vowed to continue to build a “world-class” military to defend national interests.

“The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress, or enslave us,” Xi said in his speech, to great applause. “Whoever wants to do so will face bloodshed in front of a Great Wall of steel built by more than 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

The CCP was founded in July 1921, in a small room in Shanghai’s then French-controlled district, with a mere 13 people in attendance. Today, it has more than 95 million members, almost 7 per cent of the country’s population, reported CNN. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) came into existence on 1 October 1949, after a bloody civil war with nationalist party Kuomintang’s (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek. Since its formation, it has been redefining its boundaries, culminating in tensions with its neighbours.

The Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950, destroying 98 per cent of the monasteries and nunneries, and has ever since tried to control the region. More than 1 million people have been killed in Tibet by Chinese forces. During a meeting, Mao had told the 14th Dalai Lama, that “religion is poison”.

Under Mao’s regime, farmers were made to leave to their fields to make steel for build the machinery required for industrialisation. Despite his promises of a “Great Leap Forward”, a massive famine swept China, devastating the country and killing as many as 30 million people.

Mao also claimed that the groups opposed to communist ideology needed to be cleansed. As a result, mobs of students known as Red Guards attacked people whom they believed to be harbouring imperialist habits. People were tortured, abused, forced to confess and locked in makeshift camps. This ended with Mao’s death in 1976, CNN highlighted.

Under Deng Xiaoping’s regime, China witnessed the worst episode of stifling free speech, when the death of a popular Chinese politician sparked nationwide pro-democracy protests, including the largest one in Tiananmen Square.

On 4 June, the Chinese military opened fire on the protesting citizens, killing at least 241 people, although human rights groups have estimated that thousands could have been killed in Beijing alone, according to CNN. The incident led to sanctions and international condemnation. Since the massacre, the CCP has silenced calls for democracy and civil liberties.

In 2012, Xi took power as the Chinese President and became one of the most powerful leaders of the country. Under his regime, almost two million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps in Xinjiang since 2017.

After years of denying the existence of the internment camps in Beijing, China in 2019 described the facilities as residential training centres that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalisation and help protect the country from terrorism.

However, several media reports and former detainees have said that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities. Former detainees have also described being subjected to torture, rape, sterilization, and other abuses while in custody.

China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, with a handful of countries, the latest being Lithuania, terming the human rights abuses on the ethnic minorities as ‘genocide’.

The communist nation is also under fire after the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected and killed millions of people around the world. Many countries have called for a greater investigation in China’s Wuhan to uncover the origins of the deadly virus.

It has also been locked in tensions with its neighbours, such as Japan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan regarding the South China Sea, over which it claims full sovereignty and has passed a controversial law allowing it to fire upon any vessel it sees entering illegally into its waters.

Masol, a village in Punjab, which helped settle the debate about the origins of apes, is yet to be declared a “protected land”. Call it the slackness of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) or the local administration, Masol is yet to be declared “protected land”.

In 2016, a joint Indo-French team had gained worldwide attention with their paper in a French journal Comptes Rendus in which they had claimed that cut marks on fossilised bones found in Masol are proof of Hominin activities dating back to 2.6 million years.

Masol hogged the headlines in newspapers when the ASI, along with the India-based Society for Archaeological & Anthropological Research (SAAR) and France’s National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) and department of Prehistory of the National Museum of Natural History, found 2.6 million-year-old fossils, claiming them to be the oldest fossils, shadowing the ones found in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia which are said to be 2.58 million years old, in a village called Masol.

At that time, ASI, being a Central government body, tried to make Masol a “protected land”, but could not due to red tape. It is pertinent to mention here that more than 2,000 fossils of different herbivores were found by the team during digging in 2016. These include Stegodon, an ancient elephant with tusks up to four meters, and Sivatherium, a giant giraffe in the Shivalik foothills of this village. ASI had identified around 150 acres of land to be declared a “protected area”. The village is located in Shivalik Hills, 10 km from Chandigarh.

“To declare it a protected land, the government asked us to see the land and we saw the land. There have been a lot of land disputes. In 2019, we had sent a proposal for declaring Masol a protected land to our Department of Prehistory of the National Museum of Natural History, Nagpur. We are still awaiting a reply from the department. Once the site is declared ‘protected’, it will be under our control and the excavation of the fossils will begin. Due to Covid, the whole process got delayed,” said Zulfikar Ali, Archaeological Superintendent, Chandigarh Circle.