Odisha Assembly Adjourned Sine Die 26 Days Ahead Of Schedule Amid Protests

Amid protests and walkouts by opposition BJP and Congress members, Speaker Pramila Mallik on Friday adjourned Odisha Assembly sine die on Friday, at least 26 business days ahead of its schedule.

The Winter Session of the Assembly which commenced on November 21 was scheduled to conclude on December 30. The Assembly secretariat had notified about 30 business days during this session.

Government chief whip in Odisha Assembly Prashanta Muduli of BJD brought a motion to adjourn the House sine die for the remaining period. The proposal was supported by treasury bench members Sashi Bhusan Behera and Bhupinder Singh.

The House could transact for only four days of which two days were wasted because of din over the Cabinet's decision to allow ST people to transfer their land to non-tribals and another day remained closed after making obituary reference to late members of the Assembly.

The MLAs of the opposition BJP and Congress, however, strongly opposed the move and staged a walkout to protest against the motion. They dubbed the government's act as "escapist" and accused the BJD of running out of the Assembly for being unable to face the opposition.

"The treasury bench has lost its courage to face the opposition in the Assembly. When MLAs from across Odisha have come here to raise the issues of their respective constituencies, ending the session abruptly is uncalled for," Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi told reporters outside the House.

Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati also criticised the government. "It is unfortunate for the MLAs, people, and the state that the ruling party runs away from the Assembly. The government ended the session in just four days while it was scheduled for 40 days. This government has murdered democracy in the state," Bahinipati said.

Rejecting the opposition's allegation, Mr Muduli said, "The House has discussed one adjournment motion. There is no such important business left. A lot of other MLAs are busy in their respective constituencies. This apart, the decision to end the session was also taken keeping in view the behavior of opposition members in the last two days."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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PM Tells Officials To Expedite Process For Quota To Madiga Community

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Cabinet Secretary and other officials and instructed them to expedite the process of sub-categorisation in reservation for the Madiga community, government sources said.

According to sources in the government of India, the Prime Minister also instructed the officials to expedite the committee formation for reservation to Madiga community.

Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi, a community organisation of Madigas, is one of the biggest constituents of scheduled castes in Telugu states.

Since 2013, PM Modi has closely interacted with Manda Krishna Madiga, whose organisation MRPS has been demanding internal reservations within the Scheduled Caste (SC) category.

The MRPS was established in July 1994 in Edumudi village, Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of Manda Krishna Madiga and others, with the aim of implementing internal reservations.

Earlier in the month, PM Modi said that the BJP has stood with the Madiga community in every struggle for the last three decades.

"We are committed to ending this injustice at the earliest... It is our promise that we will soon constitute a committee that will adopt all possible ways of empowering you. The BJP made the laws about the atrocities on SCs and STs stricter. We ensured that the poor got a bank account, a gas connection, toilets, homes, etc. In all these schemes, the people from SC, ST and OBC were given the most benefit," he added.

The PM also took a swipe at the previous governments of Telangana and undivided Andhra Pradesh, which failed to consider the rights of the Madiga community and said that he went to Hyderabad for "an atonement for past deeds" of those political leaders and parties.

"People of the Madiga community and Krisha (Manda Krishna Madiga, an MRPS leader), I am not here to ask something from you; I am here for atonement for past deeds of political leaders and political parties since independence, which made promises to you and ditched you. I belong to the political arena so I apologise to you... You (people) have seen a lot of governments in the country. Our government's highest priority is to give preference to those who are deprived. BJP's mantra is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas," PM Modi said.

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Probe Into Actor Rashmika Mandanna's Deepfake Video Hits Dead End

The probe into the deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandana has hit a dead end as social media platforms have shown their inability to share information about individual(s) who have allegedly made the deepfake profiles.

As per sources, the accused removed and deleted the account from the social media platforms.

The officials said that the account could have been created with a fake identity and Virtual Private Network (VPN) could have been used to upload the deepfake videos.

Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on November 18 said that notices were issued to all social media platforms directing them to take necessary steps to identify and remove such content.

As per the officials, though the police detained a few suspects, none of them created the deepfake video in question rather they only shared the video.

The investigation into the matter is still underway, the officials said.

Delhi Police has received a response suggesting their inability to provide details about the suspect's account which has been deleted from the Social media platforms.

The Delhi Police's IFSO (Internet Freedom and Safety for Online Users) unit earlier this week sent a letter to Meta (formerly Facebook) but the social media giant responded by expressing its inability to provide details of the deleted account.

The sources further informed that the police are awaiting a reply from GoDaddy (a publicly traded internet domain registry) since a similar profile was made through GoDaddy also.

Highlighting the danger of deepfakes, Ashwini Vaishnaw on November 18 during an interaction with the media, said, "Deepfake is a big issue for all of us. We recently issued notices to all the big social media forms, asking them to take steps to identify deepfakes, to remove those content. The social media platforms have responded. They are taking action. We have told them to be more aggressive in this work."

On November 6, a modified video of actor Rashmika Mandanna appeared online sparking discussions of digital safety. In the viral video, a woman resembling Ms Mandanna was seen entering a lift in a black swimsuit.

The video quickly went viral and several social media users came forward to confirm that it was a deepfake. It was later revealed that the video was of British actor Zara Patel.

The actor strongly reacted to the deepfake video and said, "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deep fake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused."

The Delhi Police registered the FIR under relevant sections, and an investigation was launched.

Delhi Police said that a technical analysis is underway to identify the accused involved in the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Retired Army Official Duped Of Over Rs 3 Lakh By Travel Agent: Cops

A retired officer of the Indian Army was allegedly duped of over Rs 3 lakh by a travel agent in Gurugram, police said on Friday.

The travel agent made the booking for Mauritius after taking Rs 3,68,500 online from the retired officer, but later cancelled the booking and got the refund fraudulently, they said.

Major (Retd) Naresh Kumar Mawa, a resident of Sector 23 in Gurugram, in his complaint, said that he had to go to meet his son, who is pursuing a medical course in Mauritius, and contacted a travel agent named Krishan Kant Sharma, a resident of Rajasthan's Jaipur, police said.

"I had made a total payment of Rs 3,68,500 to the travel agent through UPI payments in parts, but the agent cancelled the tickets after booking them including total stay without informing me and made a fraud of this amount. He switched off his phone and is not reachable," Major (Retd) Mawa said in his complaint.

An FIR was registered against the travel agent following the complaint under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Palam Vihar Police Station on Thursday, police said.

A senior police officer said they are investigating the matter and the accused will be arrested soon.

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In India's 'Amritkaal', Country Has Come Out Of Mentality Of Slavery: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said for the first time in the 'Amritkaal' of India's independence, the country has come out of the mentality of slavery and is moving ahead with the feeling of pride for its heritage.

He was addressing the 'Mirabai Janmotsav', organised here to celebrate the 525th birth anniversary of the poet and Lord Krishna devotee.

"Today for the first time in the 'Amritkaal' of India's independence, the country has come out of the mentality of slavery, PM Modi said.

"We have taken the pledge of 'Panch Pran' from the Red Fort. We are moving ahead with the feeling of pride for our heritage," he said.

Mentioning Mirabai, he said, "Our country has always been the one that worships women power".

PM Modi also released a commemorative stamp and coin in the honour of Mirabai and attend a cultural programme, in which Hema Malini performed. Before attending the event, the prime minister paid obeisance at the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.

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Found Incriminating Papers Against Telangana Congress Leader: Probe Agency

Incriminating documents indicating "suspicious and unaccounted" transactions worth several crores of rupees were seized after searches were conducted against Congress candidate from Telangana's Chennur seat Vivek Venkatswamy, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged on Wednesday.

The raids were launched under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) on Tuesday at four locations, including the politician's residences in Hyderabad, office premises of his company Visaka Industries Ltd. in Hyderabad and that of Vigilance Security Services Pvt. Ltd. in Ramagundam, and his temporary place of residence at Hitech City in Mancherial district where he was present, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

With declared assets of more than Rs 600 crore, the 65-year-old former MP is the richest politician contesting the assembly polls in Telangana. The 119 assembly seats of the state will go to polls on November 30.

The former MP, early this month, had resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi in Hyderabad. He had earlier been in the Congress from where he moved to the BRS of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and then to the BJP.

The ED raids were triggered on the basis of a reference received from the Telangana Police to investigate a transaction of Rs 8 crore from the bank account of Vivek, also known as Dr Gaddam Vivekanand, to the company -- Vigilance Security.

The bank account of Vigilance Security was being used to "circuitously" transfer money with no real business rationale and Vivek, his wife and their company Visaka Industries had transactions of more than Rs 100 crore with Vigilance Security, the ED alleged.

Search operations resulted in the seizure of "digital devices, incriminating documents indicating suspicious and unaccounted transactions worth several crores as well as use of unaccounted cash in property deals," the ED said.  Seized documents also revealed large scale inter-corporate deposits within group companies having no legitimate business but holding huge land assets, it charged.

Searches also confirmed the "bogus" nature of Vigilance Security Services Pvt. Ltd. which was found non-existent at its declared addresses, the agency said.

The entity (Vigilance Security) declared a mere Rs 20 lakh as "revenue from operations" in its latest balance sheet whereas it reported assets worth Rs 64 crore mainly in the nature of long-term loans and advances, it said.

Since inception, the agency added, credit and debit transactions in the company's impugned bank account was found to be more than Rs 200 crore. Investigation found "indirect" control of Vivek over Vigilance Security, the agency said.

It said prima facie, FEMA contraventions have been detected against Vigilance Security Services Pvt. Ltd. and its parent company Yeshwant Realtors, whose majority shares are held by a foreign national.

Such prima facie violations were also noticed in the incorporation of an entity by Vivek in a foreign tax-haven country, the ED alleged.

Vivek and his wife own movable assets valued at Rs 377 crore, mostly shares in various companies, including his own Visaka Industries, which was founded in 1981.

The family's immovable assets stood at over Rs 225 crore.

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Rajneesh Goel appointed as Karnataka's new Chief Secretary

The Karnataka government on Tuesday appointed senior IAS officer Rajneesh Goel as the next Chief Secretary, with incumbent Vandita Sharma due to retire at the end of November.

Mr Goel, a 1986-batch IAS officer, is currently the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) in the Home Department of the Government of Karnataka.

In May this year, after the Congress government came to power, he was given concurrent charge of the post of ACS to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

"Dr Rajneesh Goel IAS, (KA:1986), Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home Department, Government of Karnataka is appointed as Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka" as the incumbent "Smt. Vandita Sharma IAS is retiring from service on superannuation on 30.11.2023," an official notification said.

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