Tearful adieu to Colonel Mahadik, nation pays homage to martyr

November 19, 2015

Satara (Maha), Nov 19: Hundreds of people from all walks of life today converged at a small village here as the mortal remains of Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who laid down his life battling militants near LoC in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, were consigned to flames with full military honours.

MahadikThe 39-year-old martyr's body was brought to Pogarwadi village in Maharashtra's Satara district this moring where his last rites were performed.

The body was kept for sometime at his mother's house in the neighbouring Aaray village where Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar paid homage to him. A large number of villagers from various communities gathered at the cremation site to pay their respects to the martyr.

With teary eyes, the mourning villagers bid adieu to their son who made them proud and shouted slogans like "Col Mahadik Amar Rahe" as his mortal remains were consigned to flames.

Earlier, his mortal remains wrapped in the tricolour were brought in a procession escorted by Army personnel.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had paid tributes to Col Mahadik in Pune last night when the the Army officer's mortal remains were brought there en route to his native Satara district.

Col Mahadik, the Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during an operation in the Haji Naka forest area of Kupwara near the LoC in Kashmir on Tuesday. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital later.

An officer from the elite 21 Para-Special Forces unit, Col Mahadik was awarded a Sena Medal for gallantry during Operation Rhino in the North-East in 2003.

Born in a family of modest means at Pogarwadi village in Satara, Mahadik set the foundation to his journey of becoming an army man when he joined the Sainik school in 6th standard in the year 1987 and later went on to join the Army.

His father was a tailor and brother a milkman.

Colonel Mahadik is survivied by wife and two children, who were present during the cremation.

As per his close friends, he would always speak about making supreme sacrifice. "Though calm by nature and gentle in demeanour, he carried a storm in his heart," one of his classmates, who is also in the Army, said.

An ace football goalkeeper, a skilled horse-rider and a passionate boxer, he was an all-rounder, his friends recall.

A commanding officer of anti-terror force 41 Rashtriya Rifles, his colleagues remember Mahadik as the brave heart who always led from the front.

Despite the inhospitable terrain that made the Kupwara operation immensely challenging, the Colonel particularly chose to lead his battalion.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Mumbai, Jan 17: A 68-year-old convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Jalees Ansari, went missing on Thursday morning while being on parole, officials said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada here who is serving a life term, is suspected to be involved in many bomb blast cases across the country, an official said.

He was on parole for 21 days from the Ajmer Central Prison, Rajasthan, and was expected to surrender before prison authorities on Friday, he said.

During the parole period, he was ordered to visit the Agripada Police Station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark his attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son Jaid Ansari approached the police station with a complaint about his “missing” father, he said.

According to the complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hoursand told family members he is going to offer namaz, but did not return home.

On his complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra ATS have launched a massive manhunt to trace him, he said.

Jalees, who is known as Doctor Bomb, was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahidin and taught terror groups how to make bombs, he said.

He was also questioned by the NIA in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, he said.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Kolkata, May 21: Around 300 nurses have left Kolkata for Manipur after resigning from their jobs, said JS Joyrita, Deputy Residence Commissioner, Manipur Bhavan, Kolkata on Wednesday.

"Around 60 more nurses will be leaving tomorrow. We are getting many calls from people who want to go back to Manipur," she said.

Earlier, it was reported that 185 nurses have quit their job from hospitals in Kolkata and returned to Imphal. Cristella, a nurse said: "We are not happy that we left our duties. But we faced discrimination, racism and people sometimes spit on us. Lack of PPE kits, and people used to question us everywhere we went."

According to the latest information available on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2961 cases of the virus have been reported from West Bengal 1074 cured/migrated/discharged and 250 deaths.

India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,06,750 on Wednesday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 140 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths to 3,303. Out of the total cases, 61,149 are actives cases and 42,298 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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