Ration cards issued to foreign nationals to be cancelled
Bhubaneswar: Following the Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives, including one from Odisha, the State government has decided to cancel ration cards illegally issued to foreign nationals over the years. Speaking to reporters, State Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra on Monday said all district collectors have been instructed to immediately revoke ration cards issued to Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Burmese nationals residing in the State.
'We have tightened our stance after the terror attack. Foreign nationals staying across the State must not avail the benefits meant for Indian citizens,' Patra said. The minister said ration cards illegally issued to foreign nationals over the years must be cancelled immediately. Patra said the foreign nationals mostly stay in Balasore, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts located along the State's coastal belt. He asserted that the administration would soon identify the foreigners availing the benefits. Apart from 11 Pakistanis, the State government has so far identified 3,738 Bangladeshis staying illegally in the State.
However, the government has no data on the number of Burmese people in the State, Home department sources said. Replying to a question in the Assembly last month, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who is also in-charge of the Home department, said Odisha government has identified 3,738 infiltrators living illegally in the State. The highest number of 1,649 Bangladeshis are in Kendrapara district, followed by 1,112 in Jagatsinghpur, 655 in Malkangiri and 106 in Nabarangapur.
Meanwhile, DGP Y B Khurania, during a tour to Rourkela, told reporters that one Pakistani citizen has so far left the State, though deportation notices were served to 12 such persons. Asked about the fate of others who have been staying in the State for more than 30 years and have families, Khurania said, 'We are waiting for the next instruction from the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are some people who have Long-Term Visa (LTV) and some awaiting the renewal of their LTVs. The State will act according to MHAinstructions.'
State Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said while the State has informed the Centre about the situation, the final decision lies with the MHA. 'We have no role in this. The Centre will decide on the next course of action,' he added.
State Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik said the State government has already started identifying Bangladeshis at the gram panchayat level. 'Verification and identification of foreign nationals will be completed soon,' Naik said.
The 48-hour deadline issued to the 12 Pakistani nationals ended on Monday. Only one woman, Nagma Yusuf — who was living in Bhubaneswar's BJB Nagar — has so far left. Nagma, who married an Indian citizen in 2008, had her LTV renewal applications rejected recently.
Nagma, who had applied for an exit permit with the foreigners' registration office here a few days before the expiry of the visitor visa in February, got approval on Saturday, Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said.
While Nagma left the State, 53-year-old Pakistan-born Sharada Kukreja, who has been living in Bolangir district for 35 years after marrying an Indian citizen, has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi not to separate her from her family.
Sharada, who was born in Sukkur city in Pakistan's Sindh province, fled to India in 1987 to escape forced conversion and marriage to a Muslim youth there. She is married to Mahesh Kumar Kukreja and has two children - a son and a daughter - both of whom are married.
Similarly, 72-year-old Razia Sultana of Soro in Balasore district has also received a deportation notice. Her family claimed that the notice was a serious error since she was born in Kolkata in 1953.
Razia's family claimed she holds an Aadhaar card, voter ID, PAN card, and residence certificate. She has never visited Pakistan and holds no Pakistani documents or visa, her daughter Salma Parbin said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
30 minutes ago
- India Today
Sebi issues attachment order against Mehul Choksi for non-payment of penalties
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday issued a recovery attachment order against absconding diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who is a co-accused in the Rs 13,850-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, which is one of the biggest banking scams in India's recovery officer has been assigned the task of taking action on the attachment order, issued on June 4 by the financial agency's Mumbai action against the fugitive diamond merchant had been initiated due to the non-payment of a Rs 1.5 crore penalty imposed by Sebi on January 31, 2022. Sebi went ahead with the attachment as it believed that Choksi might dispose of funds, thus obstructing the recovery of the total dues amounting to Rs 2.10 who has been wanted in India since 2018, was arrested in Belgium in April. His arrest, which took place on April 12, was made by Belgian authorities after a request from Indian agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).He was detained in a hospital in Belgium, where he was said to be receiving medical PNB SCAMThe Rs 13,850-crore PNB scam involved Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, who is currently languishing in a jail in the UK and is soon to be extradited to they were able to take loans from foreign banks using Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. An LoU is a bank guarantee which allows customers to get short-term credit from overseas 2011 to 2018, Choksi, Modi and their companies used these LoUs without following the normal procedures. Some bank officials were involved and allowed the LoUs to be issued without entering them into the bank's main system. This helped the fraud go unnoticed for funds, which were shown as being used for importing goods, were mostly never returned. Instead, new LoUs were taken to repay the earlier ones, and the money was used for business and personal total value of the fraud reached around Rs 13,850 crore. Out of this, Nirav Modi's companies were linked to Rs 6,498 crore and Choksi's Gitanjali Group to Rs 6,097 crore. The remaining amount includes interest and other Watch IN THIS STORY#Mumbai Indians
News18
30 minutes ago
- News18
'Legal Process Is Underway': Mark Carney On Nijjar Case Probe After Inviting PM Modi To G7
Last Updated: Mark Carney's remarks came after he invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the upcoming G7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month. Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney refused to comment on the ongoing probe in the killing of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying that a legal process is underway. He further asserted that Canada follows rule of law and no one would interfere in the ongoing investigations. Carney' predecessor Justin Trudeau had openly accused New Delhi of plotting the murder of Nijjar. Carney's remarks came after he invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the upcoming G7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month. As this year's chair of the G7, Carney said it's important to have India at the table in Kananaskis while world leaders discuss issues including energy security and critical minerals, given the country's size and key role in the global supply chain. PM Modi said that he had a 'warm" conversation with newly elected Canadian PM. He congratulated him and confirmed his participation in the upcoming G7 Summit. Mark Carney, a former central banker and climate finance advocate, became Canada's Prime Minister after leading the Liberal Party to victory in the recent general election. Indo-Canadian Souring Ties Indo-Canadian ties have nosedived in the aftermath of Nijjar's killing as well as Trudeau's allegations. In September 2023, Trudeau had accused New Delhi of having a 'potential" involvement of Indian agents in Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing. India has repeatedly denied these allegations, and has taken a decisive stand against what it perceives as Canada's non-seriousness in dealing with the Khalistan issue. The ties further strained when Trudeau named Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma as a person of interest in an investigation, without naming the case. A person of interest means a suspect who is not arrested. Earlier this year, a public inquiry on foreign interference in Canada has found 'no definitive link to a foreign state" in the killing of Nijjar. What Is Hardeep Singh Nijjar Case? Nijjar was killed on June 18, 2023, outside a gurdwara in British Columbia. According to the probe report, Canada's security and intelligence agencies initially assessed this to be a gang or criminal activity, and Trudeau was informed of this. But, as more intelligence was gathered over the summer, India's involvement was revealed and the then Prime Minister was promptly briefed on the updated assessment, the report stated. 'The government wanted India to acknowledge its involvement in the killing but also needed a pragmatic approach to resolve the issue. The then Prime Minister testified that the immediate approach was to engage with India and communicate the need for the two countries to work together while ensuring there was accountability," it said. In August and September 2023, there were a series of meetings between the National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister (NSIA), the CSIS Director, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and their Indian counterparts. India, however, did not acknowledge its involvement in Nijjar's killing. First Published: June 06, 2025, 23:35 IST
News18
32 minutes ago
- News18
Who Is Ishaan? Shashi Tharoor's Journalist Son Who Questioned Congress MP On Op Sindoor
Last Updated: Ishan Tharoor questioned his father whether any country had asked the Indian delegation for evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation to several countries, including the US, found himself in a tight situation when his journalist son asked him a question on Operation Sindoor carried out by India. Ishan Tharoor, a foreign affairs columnist at The Washington Post, questioned his father whether any country had asked the Indian delegation for evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack in light of Islamabad's repeated denials. 'I'm very glad you raised this. I didn't plant it, I promise you. This guy does this to his dad," Tharoor quipped. 'No one had any doubt," he added while replying to his son's question on Pakistan's repeated denial of involvement in the attack. 'Let me say very clearly that India would not have done this without convincing evidence," the Congress leader replied. However, Shashi Tharoor admitted that the media in 'two or three places" did raise the question. 'India is not the kind of country that would undertake a military operation without a solid basis," Tharoor added during the press briefing at the Council of Foreign Relations in the US. Who Is Ishaan Tharoor? According to his LinkedIn profile, Ishaan earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 2006, majoring in history and ethnicity, along with race and migration studies. During his time there, he was honoured with the Sudler fellowship. Ishaan began his journalism career in 2006 as a reporter for Time magazine, eventually becoming a senior editor based in New York City. In 2014, he joined The Washington Post, continuing his work in Washington, DC. From 2018 to 2020, Ishaan also served as an adjunct instructor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where he taught a course titled Global Affairs in the Digital Age, as noted on his LinkedIn profile. He recently gained widespread attention for a surprising exchange with his father, Shashi Tharoor, which caught many by surprise.
