A team of 190 trained commandos and officers of the elite Special Security Group (SSG) of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide a Z-plus security cover to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.

The elaborate security cover means that Bhagwat will enjoy a level of security next only to those of the Prime Minister and the President.

It would also make Bhagwat the only non-constitutional and non-political figure to be protected with such a security blanket.

Following heightened security threats to Bhagwat, the Union home ministry had ordered the CISF to take over the responsibility of protecting him, said a source.

In 2006, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had made a failed attempt to attack the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. A review done by security agencies indicate that Bhagwat is also on the hit list of many terror outfits, said a police officer.

So far, the Maharashtra police and the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) were providing round-the-clock security to Bhagwat and the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. However, from June 10, the CISF will take over the entire security detail, said the source.

The 190-member-strong team will be permanently stationed in Nagpur. An officer of the rank of Assistant Commandant will head the team and will be assisted by six other officers. All others in the team will be specially trained commandos.

These commandos will be drawn from SSG, which is trained on the same level as the black cat commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG).

According to sources, these commandos are military-trained and are experts in dealing with the most sophisticated weapons. They are also trained in martial arts and unarmed combat.

The commandos will be armed with MP5 and AK-47 rifles. They will also carry Glock pistols.

A team of 45 commandos will escort and guard Bhagwat round-the-clock and whenever he is travelling. There will also be a custom-built BMW, which will be bullet-proof and bomb-proof, and equipped with mobile jammers. His entourage will include four SUVs, which will carry armed commandos and state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment.

When Bhagwat is scheduled to travel outside Nagpur, a team of 20-22 personnel will first travel to the destination a couple of days ahead and take over security. The team will sanitise the entire area and secure it. When Bhagwat reaches the destination, the commandos will escort and guard him till he returns.

Sources informed that a proposal to upgrade Bhagwat’s security was sent to the home ministry a year ago, and, finally, the home ministry has cleared it now.

CISF is a premier paramilitary force in the country. It has been entrusted with the duty to secure and guard some of the most vital installations in the country, including airports, seaports, Delhi Metro, government buildings, heritage structures like the Taj Mahal and nuclear power plants. It also guards about 40 high-risk individuals.

Darjeeling- A Kolkata court on Saturday issued arrest warrants against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung and 22 other leaders, giving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 20 days to execute the warrants. The development is likely to send ripples across political circles in the Darjeeling hills, where the Morcha enjoys overwhelming dominance.

Madan Tamang was hacked to death at Upper Clubside in the heart of Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010 when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting. On May 29 this year, the CBI charged the 23 leaders with murder, criminal conspiracy and rioting with deadly weapons.

Normally, a charge sheet is followed by a prayer by the investigating agency seeking specific proceedings against those charged. In this case, the CBI charge sheet was not accompanied by such a prayer.

The court asked the CBI’s investigating officer to appear before it on June 6 (Saturday) and spell out what action was sought – summons or arrest warrants. On Saturday, the CBI counsel sought arrest warrants, which were issued by the court.

Those charged include Gurung, who is also the chief of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), his wife Asha, GJM MLA from Kalimpong Harkabahadur Chettri, assistant general secretary of GJM Binoy Tamang, GTA chairman Pradeep Pradhan and deputy chief executive of GTA Colonel Ramesh Allay, among others.

On August 21, 2010, prime accused in the case Nickole Tamang had disappeared mysteriously from Pintail village near Siliguri, where he was held by the CID for interrogation. His wife Pema Tamang moved a habeas corpus writ petition before the Calcutta High Court that her husband be traced. He is yet to be found.

The high court had then directed the CBI to take up the Madan Tamang murder case as well as the Nickole Tamang disappearance case.

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Ballia (UP), Jun 7 (PTI) A local court has awarded 13 years imprisonment to a man and his parents in connection with a 13-year-old dowry death case.

Additional district Judge, Amarpal yesterday awarded 13-year imprisonment to Dhananjay Pandey, his father Babban and mother Manki devi, for killing his wife Rekha over dowry.

According to victim’s father, her husband and in-laws were demanding dowry and when their demands were not met they killed Rekha by strangulating her on May 17, 2002.

Kathmandu, Jun 7 (PTI) A mild tremor was felt in Kathmandu Valley and other districts of Nepal this morning as life is limping back to normal in the quake-hit country.

A 4.6-magnitude tremor was recorded at 11.02 am with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district, according to National Seismological Centre.

With this, a total number of 301 aftershocks with 4 and more magnitude have been recorded after the April 25 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and displaced thousands others.

Mumbai, Jun 7 (PTI) India is expected to remain a major sugar producer globally and the industry is expected be a net exporter in 2015-16 marketing year, says a report.

“India will continue to be a major sugar producer in the world and is expected to be a sugar surplus country for the sixth consecutive Sugar Season (SS), (which runs from October- September).

“Indian Sugar Industry (ISI) is expected be a net exporter in 2015-16, and sugar imports, if any, will be negligible,” said the Care Ratings report.

The average sugar recovery rate for cane (planted in both tropical and sub-tropical regions) is also expected to improve during the year.

On the consumption side, the report pointed out that strong domestic demand from soft drink manufacturers, confectioneries, hotels, bakeries and ice-cream manufacturers will support higher levels of consumption.

“India’s relatively strong economic growth, stable political situation, rising incomes, a young population, and changing consumer consumption patterns are envisaged to be the key drivers encouraging higher sugar consumption,” it said.

However, the report said that sugar prices in the country are expected to remain weak due to surplus sugar stock in both domestic and global markets.

It said the government’s intervention will become necessary to revive the sugar industry, which has been reeling under the twin impacts of high sugarcane prices and low sales realisation on sugar leading to recurring losses by sugar mills and mounting cane arrears.

In order to boost the industry, Care said the government needs to take steps such as increasing ethanol blending, providing flexibility for use of sugarcane as feed-stocks for ethanol production, building buffer stocks, incentivising exports through higher subsidy, restructuring debt of sugar manufacturers and implementation of recommendation of the Rangarajan Committee for linking the prices of cane to actual realisation of sugar.

India produces around 300-350 million tonne sugarcane, 24-26 million tonne white sugar and 6-8 million tonne jaggery and khandsari annually.

Moreover, the sugar industry produces about 2,700 million litres of alcohol, 2,300 Mega Watt power and multiple allied products.

New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Reserve Bank is all set to issue first set of licences for small and payment banks in the next two months, a move aimed at promoting financial inclusion.

The RBI had received 72 applications for small finance bank licences and 41 applications for payment bank licences.

The applicants include Department of Post, Tech Mahindra, Videocon Group and stock exchange NSE, besides big corporates like Ambanis and Birlas.

NRI businessman M A Yusuff Ali’s Lulu Group and microfinance company Ujjivan Financial Services Private are also in the fray among 113 applicants.

The objective of licensing small banks is to promote financial inclusion by offering saving vehicles and credit to small business units and other unorganised sector entities.

“I hope (we would) be able to announce a new set of bank licences, at least one set of bank licences by August-end. We are undertaking a review of all regulations governing markets to see where there is scope for further liberalisation once macroeconomic uncertainty diminishes,” RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had said after the monetary policy review last week.

Small finance banks will primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to unserved and under-served sections including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.

Payment banks would be allowed payment and remittance services through various channels. However, such lenders cannot issue credit cards or undertake lending activities.

Differentiated banking entails going beyond the current universal banking framework and to serve specific purposes.

The idea was first suggested by Nachiket Mor committee in January 2014.

The move to allow such differentiated banks came after the RBI had found just two entities — infra player IDFC and micro-lender Bandhan from among over two dozen applicants — eligible for setting up commercial banks.

The RBI issued this limited set of licences on April 1, 2014, after a decade. Both applicants are yet to begin their operations even after a year as they have time till October.

Commercial banks comprise 27 public sector banks, 20 private, 44 foreign, 4 local area banks and 56 Regional Rural Banks.

ianli, Jun 7 (PTI) China today held a mourning ceremony for the victims of its worst shipping disaster in 70 years after the death toll in the cruise ship that capsized in the mighty Yangtze river jumped to 431.

Only 14 people have been found alive, while another 11 people remain missing, according to the rescue headquarters in Jianli, central China’s Hubei Province.

The solemn ceremony was held in remembrance of those who died and were still missing after the 2,200-tonne Eastern Star cruise ship carrying 456 people on an 11-day trip capsized on June 1 in the Yangtze River in a storm.

Ship horns wailed as hundreds of people stood at the accident site and observed a three-minute silence after the ship was lifted with the help of the huge cranes.

Over 1,400 relatives of the deceased passengers joined the mourning for their dear ones at the event attended by China’s transport minister Yang Chuantang.

Rescue workers in white hooded surgical suits could be seen on board ship, while others in work gear, orange safety vests and military-style fatigues formed columns on the decks of massive crane vessels that raised the ill-fated ship.

According to Chinese tradition, the seventh day after one’s death is an occasion for the deceased’s relatives to mourn the passing of their loved one.

More than 3,400 soldiers, 1,700 paramilitary people together with 149 vessels, 59 machines and a helicopter had joined the rescue mission.

The body of the youngest victim of the tragedy, a three- year-old girl, was among the hundreds of bodies retrieved from the murky waters after disaster response teams stabilised the cruiser in an upright position on Friday.

Authorities have requested that river traffic and others along the river alert them if they noticed any floating bodies.

Authorities have attributed the overturning of the ship to sudden, severe winds, but have placed the captain and his first engineer under police custody pending investigation.

Jiang Zhao, legal representative of Chongqing Dongfang Shipping Company that owns the Eastern Star, on Friday apologised to all the victims and their families and promised to cooperate with any investigation.

The 76.5-meter vessel had been in service for nearly 20 years and can carry up to 534 people. It went through an annual maintenance in late 2014, and was qualified to cruise until April 25, 2016, according to Jiang.

In a sign of mourning, China’s state and other major TV channels have suspended some entertainment programmes.

The Eastern Star disaster became China’s worst since the sinking of the SS Kiangya off Shanghai in 1948, which is believed to have killed anywhere from 2,750 to nearly 4,000 people.

New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) In the wake of the Maggi row, RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch today targeted MNCs, including those from China, charging them with doing “unethical” business in India and “disrespecting” its laws to make profit, and demanded stern action against them.

It also sought a thorough probe into all food products sold in India by Chinese companies.

The Manch said foreign multi-national corporations were “disrespecting the country’s laws and indulging in unethical practices with the sole objective of making profits” and demanded formulation of strict safety and quality standards for their food products.

It also accused Swiss multi-national Nestle, the makers of Maggi, of engaging in “inhumane” business practices and “playing with lives of people” after its instant noodles was found flouting food safety norms.

“Swadesh Jagran Manch demands that strict safety norms and standards be fixed for all foreign companies in the business of food products and drinks. We clearly feel that foreign companies are disrespecting the country’s standards and are indulging in unethical business practices,” Manch national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan told PTI.

He cited the example of Bhopal gas tragedy where owners and officials of the multi-national company responsible for the incident got away without being arrested.

“Running away from its responsibility after the Bhopal Gas tragedy, making a mockery of the law and leaving the victims at the mercy of God reflects the character of these MNCs.

“We congratulate the states which registered cases against the company (Nestle) and urge them that the guilty should not be allowed to go scot free this time,” he said.

The Manch, he said, wanted a thorough probe into the food products sold in India by Chinese companies which were aggressively marketing their wares.

Mahajan alleged that foreign MNCs were vying with each other to capture the nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore Indian food and drinks market while “playing” with the health of the people.

New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today met Rahul Gandhi at his residence here as the talks on alliance to take on BJP in Bihar polls gained momentum.

Kumar had reached Delhi yesterday. RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who arrived here today, said he will be meeting leaders on the alliance issue.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, who had on Thursday asserted that RJD, JD-U and Congress will fight the Bihar Assembly polls together, is already back in the national capital having rounds of negotiations with leaders of other parties in Bihar.

The top leaders of RJD and JD(U) are expected to hold back to back meetings in the national capital to thrash out differences soon.

The leaders are likely to hold a meeting at the residence of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as well to resolve the Bihar alliance issue.

The SP chief was chosen by the six splinter groups of the Janta Parivar, including these parties, to work out their grand merger plan to take on a resurgent BJP, which has made deep inroads into their vote banks in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and even Haryana.

The issue of merger of the six parties is for the time being slowed down with the focus shifting on first firming up the alliance for Bihar, the cradle of social engineering.

Amid speculation over the alliance, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav had on Thursday asserted that his party will fight the Assembly polls together with RJD and Congress to challenge BJP.

Just days before, there was a bitter war of words between leaders of JD(U) and RJD amid speculation that the RJD chief was not keen to project Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.

RJD Vice-President Raghubansh Prasad Singh, who had openly expressed his reservations against declaring Kumar as the chief minister candidate of the alliance outraging the JD(U), later appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to hammer out a solution and give shape to the anti-BJP alliance in Bihar.

The leaders from the two parties are expected meet the Congress leadership here as well but time is yet to be finalised.

Under one of the seat-sharing formulae that is being discussed, both RJD and JD(U) could contest 100 seats each while 43 could be left for Congress, CPI-M, CPI and the NCP.

Bihar Assembly has 243 seats

Dhaka, Jun 7 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today offered prayers at the famous 12th century Dhakeshwari national temple, the most revered place for Hindu community in Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister spent around 15 minutes at the temple, which is considered an essential part of Dhaka’s cultural heritage and one of the major ‘Shaktipeeths’ of the region.

The name “Dhakeshwari” means “Goddess of Dhaka” and experts said the Bangladesh capital derived its name from Dhakeshwari.

Since the destruction of Ramna Kali Mandir in 1971 by the Pakistan army during the Bangla Liberation War, the Dhakeshwari temple has assumed status as the most important Hindu place of worship in Bangladesh.

Members of the temple authorities felt Modi’s visit to Dhakeshwari signified a message of solidarity to the Hindu community.

Modi was felicitated by the priests and authorities of the temple. He was given a replica of Goddess Dhakeshwari and a shawl besides other memorabilia.

A number of people here said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits the temple once every year.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited the temple when she came here in June last year.

The Dhakeshwari temple was built in the 12th century by Ballal Sen, a King of Sena dynasty.

The temple, which is thronged by thousands of people daily, was closed for around one hour for common public in the morning due to Modi’s visit.

In 1996, Dhakeshwari temple was given the status of national temple following a major campaign by Hindu groups who had been demanding official recognition for the most revered Hindu place of worship.