Op Sindoor: Villagers from Wagah town, near India-Pak border, evacuate fearing Indian retaliation - The Economic Times Video
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Hindustan Times
5 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
NIA court convicts 3 men for smuggling fake Indian currency notes from Malaysia
Mumbai, Three accused have been convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the National Investigation Agency court here for involvement in smuggling of high-quality counterfeit notes from Malaysia into India, an official statement issued on Thursday said. NIA court convicts 3 men for smuggling fake Indian currency notes from Malaysia Danish Haji Mohammed Petiwala and Sarasvati Dattaram alias Muskan have been sentenced to five years, six months and two days of RI and a fine of ₹6,000 each, it said. J Kaleel Rahman will undergo RI of five years, five months and 18 days along with a fine of ₹5,000, according to the orders of the court, which held all three guilty under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities Act, said the NIA statement. The 2020 case emanated from information received by the Customs Department, Mumbai, regarding the import of a parcel from Malaysia containing fake Indian currency notes of a total face value of ₹68,000 , it said. The parcel was addressed to one Sangita Kapoor at her Goregaon , Mumbai, address, the NIA said. Investigations revealed the involvement of Danish Haji, a resident of Mahim, Mumbai, and his girlfriend Sarasvati, along with a Malaysian resident, Amir Mirza alias Rafiq Shaikh, a wanted absconder against whom a non-bailable warrant was also issued in September 2020. The Customs officials also recovered one FICN from Hotel Adya International, Andheri East, where Danish and Sarasvati had stayed before their arrest, the NIA said. After taking over the case, which exposed the use of banking channels and postal services to transfer FICNs in exchange for genuine currency, the NIA found that Danish and Sarasvati had conspired with Amir and Kalil to smuggle high-quality counterfeit currency from Malaysia to India, with the intent of destabilising India's financial system, it added. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hindustan Times
5 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
HT Archive: A call to forge a sense of national identity
I propose to speak bluntly and sincerely about the state of the nation 50 years after Independence. I would be dishonouring the memory of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and of his mentor, Mahatma Gandhi, if I try to be economical with the truth. Citizens celebrate India's independence from British rule in the streets of erstwhile Calcutta. (Getty Images) Those of us who have lived through the earlier days of free India, when the entire nation was looking forward with zeal and fervour and with a sense of national pride, cannot but look upon the present times with deep anguish and distress. The only achievement of Indian democracy has been that it has survived unfractured for 50 years. The achievement is all the more creditable, since no other democracy has had such diversity in unity, or was such a mosaic of humanity. All the great religions in the world have flourished in India. We have 15 major languages written in different alphabets and derived from different roots and for good measure, our people whom you can never call taciturn express themselves in 250 dialects. In 1950, we started as a Republic with three inestimable advantages. First, we had 5,000 years of civilisation behind us –– a civilisation which had reached 'the summit of human thought' in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson. We had a superb entrepreneurial spirit, honed over a century of obstacles. Secondly, whereas before 1858, India was never a united political entity, in that year, the accident of British rule welded us into one country, one nation; and when Independence came, we had been in unified nationality for almost a century under one head of state. Thirdly, our founding fathers, after two long years of laborious and painful toil, gave us a Constitution which a former Chief Justice of India rightly described as 'substance'. Unfortunately, over the years we dissipated every advantage we started with, like a compulsive gambler bent upon squandering an invaluable legacy. For the first 40 years, successive governments imposed mindless socialism on the nation, which held in thrall the people's endeavour and enterprise. They respected the shells of socialism state control and state ownership while the kernel, the spirit of social justice, was left with no chance of coming to life. We shut our eyes to the act that socialism is to social justice what ritual is to religion and dogma is to truth. The most persistent tendency in India has been to have too much government and too little administration, too many laws and too little justice, too many public servants and too little public service; too many controls and too little welfare. The picture that emerges is that of a great nation in a state of moral decay, of which corruption and indiscipline are two of the several facets. In the land of Mahatma Gandhi, violence is on the throne today. Mobocracy has too often displaced democracy. The contribution of modern India to sociology has been Bandh –– the closure of an entire city by militant rowdies. If I am asked to name one curse which deserves to be regarded as the greatest curse of India, I would say it is casteism. Unfortunately, divisiveness has become the Indian disease: Communal hatred, linguistic fanaticism, regional fealty, and caste loyalty are gnawing at the vitals of the unity and integrity of the country. To the growing army of terrorists and professional hooligans, caste or clan, creed or tongue, is a sufficient ground to kill their fellow citizens. National integration is born in the hearts of the citizens. When it dies there, no army, no government can save it. Interfaith harmony and consciousness of the essential unity of all religions is the very heart of our national integration. The soul of India aspires to integration and assimilation. The day will come when the 26 states of India will realise that in a profound sense they are culturally akin, ethnically identical, linguistically knit and historically related. The major task before India today is to acquire a keener sense of national identity, to gain the wisdom to cherish its priceless heritage, and to create a cohesive society with the cement of Indian culture. Edited excerpts of an article written by eminent jurist and author Nani A Palkhiwala that appeared on August 15, 1997.
The Hindu
5 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Defence personnel awarded gallantry medals for success of Operation Sindoor
The Union government on Thursday (August 14, 2025) announced gallantry awards for armed forces personnel, including those who played a key role in the success of Operation Sindoor. President Droupadi Murmu approved 127 gallantry awards and 40 distinguished service awards for personnel of the armed forces and the Central Armed Police Forces on the eve of Independence Day, according to the Union Ministry of Defence. The President also approved Tatrakshak Medals to five Indian Coast Guard personnel. The awards include four Kirti Chakras; 15 Vir Chakras; 16 Shaurya Chakras; two Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry); 58 Sena Medals (Gallantry); six Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry); 26 Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry); seven Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medals; nine Uttam Yudh Seva Medals; and 24 Yudh Seva Medals. Sub-Inspector Mohd Imteyaj and Constable Deepak Chingakham of the Border Security Force (BSF) were posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra in recognition of their exceptional courage and selfless leadership in the face of an adverse situation, the BSF said. The government has awarded 58 Sena Medals to the Indian Army, including to two Agniveers. Six Nao Sena medals have been awarded to Indian Navy personnel, and 26 Vayu Sena medals to Indian Air Force personnel. The medals have been awarded for brave contribution in the service of the nation during Operation Sindoor, and other operations conducted by the armed forces. The list of awardees includes pilots, officers, and jawans operating the S-400 air defence system. The Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal has been awarded to Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Director General of Military Operations for Operation Sindoor; Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh (Retd.), Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command; Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari, Vice Chief of the Air Staff; Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command; Air Marshal Jeetandra Mishra, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command; and Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Director General, Air Operations. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) received 23 Gallantry Medals, the highest among Central Armed Police Forces, including three Shaurya Chakras and 20 Gallantry Medals for valour in Jammu & Kashmir, and in anti-Maoist operations. On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor, during which a series of missile strikes targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam. The operation targeted nine locations, including terror camps in Muridke, a Lashkar-e-Taiba stronghold, and Bahawalpur, the Jaish-e-Mohammed headquarters. The President also approved 290 Mention-in-Despatches for 115 personnel of the Indian Army, five personnel of the Indian Navy, 167 personnel of the Indian Air Force, and three personnel of the Border Roads Development Board. During Operation Sindoor, India's air defence systems shot down six Pakistani aircraft, while air-to-ground missiles struck airbases and other defence installations in the neighbouring country, causing significant damage, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh recently said.
