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NCP leader Ajit Pawar gets clean chit from Maharashtra's Anti-Corruption Bureau in multi-crore Vidarbha irrigation scam

News Network
December 6, 2019

Mumbai, Dec 6: Maharashtra's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has cleared National Conference Party's leader Ajit Pawar of allegations in an irrigation scam case in an affidavit submitted in the court.

The 16-page affidavit, dated 27 November was submitted at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court by ACB superintendent Rashmi Nandedkar in which she has observed that there is no criminal liability on the part of the then Chairman of the VIDC (Minister of WRD) in respect of the process of granting sanction.

Minister of Water Resources Department is Ex-Officio Chairman of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation.

"The payment of EMD amount by the successful bidders for his competitors in some cases, issuing of tender booklets to some non-eligible bidders joint venture firms without following the pre-condition of the tenders etc. But these lapses are on the part of executing agencies of the tender work i.e Engineers, Divisional Accountant and the respective contractors. The Chairman of the VIDC/Minister of WRD cannot be held responsible for executing agencies, as there is no legal duty on his part", the probe agency said in its affidavit.

In its enquiry report, the ACB has also stated that 'There is no evidence on record to say that the Secretary of the Department had briefed the Minister of Water Resources Department about not accepting the liability of the tender work'.

The state anti-corruption bureau has also said that the Chairman of the VIDC has acted in the line with the then prevailing policy of the corporation and in accordance with the proposals put up before him by the Executive Directors on Managing Directors of the VIDC.

In the report filed in the court, the probe agency mentions that "considering the facts and evidence collected during the course of enquiry/investigation, it is observed that there is no criminal liability on the part of the then Chairman of the VIDC (Minister of WRD) in respect of the process of granting sanction to the liability of the tender cost including that of updated cost and sanctioning the mobilization advance to the contractors or any other allegations/charges."

Pawar, who belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), along with others, was in-charge of Maharashtra's irrigation department when the Congress-NCP coalition government was in power in the state from 1999 to 2014. That was a period during which the scam, relating to alleged irregularities in various irrigation projects, took place.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 3: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 18 lakh mark with 52,972 positive cases and 771 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

The total COVID-19 cases stand at 18,03,696 including 5,79,357 active cases, 11,86,203 cured/discharged/migrated and 38,135 deaths," said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has a total of 1,48,843 active cases and 15,576 deaths. A total of 4,41,228 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the state up to Sunday.

Tamil Nadu has reported a total of 56,998 active cases and 4,132 deaths. While Delhi has recorded 10,356 active cases, 1,23,317 recovered/discharged/migrated cases and 4,004 deaths.

The COVID-19 samples tested across the country has crossed the 2 crore mark till August 2.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to August 2 is 2,02,02,858 including 3,81,027 tests that were conducted yesterday, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday. 

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Global terror financing watchdog FATF on Friday decided continuation of Pakistan in the "Grey List" and warned the country that stern action will be taken if it fails to check flow of money to terror groups like the LeT and the JeM, sources said.

The decision has been taken at the Financial Action Task Force's plenary in Paris.

The FATF decided to continue Pakistani in the "Grey List". The FATF also warned Pakistan that if it doesn't complete a full action plan by June, it could lead to consequences on its businesses, a source said.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Expressing concern over the ban imposed on TikTok by the government of India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly called the development in the south Asian country “worrisome”.

TikTok was amongst the 59 Chinese apps that were banned in India but why it hogs the maximum limelight because TikTok had the second-largest user base in India with over 200 million users.

As per The Verge writer Casey Newton, Zuckerberg was worried about TikTok’s India ban. Although it soon cashed into the opportunity and released a TikTok clone “Reels”, the government’s reason behind banning the app in India wasn’t received well by Mark Zuckerberg. 

He had said that if India can ban a platform with over 200 million users in India without citing concrete reasons, it can also ban Facebook if something goes amiss on the security and privacy front.

Why Mark finds it particularly worrisome because Facebook is already involved in a lot tussle with the governments across the world involving national security concerns. 

“Facebook already faces fights around the world from governments on both the left and the right related to issues that fit under the broad umbrella of national security: election interference, influence campaigns, hate speech, and even just plain-old democratic speech. Zuckerberg knows that the leap from banning TikTok on national security grounds to banning Facebook on national security grounds is more of a short hop,” the report by Casey read.

Facebook till now has not faced any kind of issue in India but considering the debacle with the other governments, it is not entirely wrong to worry about its future in India if any national security issue arises. Back in 2016, Facebook’s Free Basics service, which means a free but restricted internet service, was banned in India by the telecom regulators. 

The TRAI had said that the Free Basic services were banned in India because it violated the principles of net neutrality. With Free Basics services, Facebook had planned to bring more unconnected users online. But since 2016, there has been no major tussle between the Indian government and Zuckerberg due to national security issues.

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