Latest news with #Rakshabandhan
NDTV
7 days ago
- NDTV
Amarnath Yatra Registration Begins Online, Offline: Here's How To Enroll
New Delhi: The government has been stepping up security arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra this year. Set to start on July 3, this will be the first annual pilgrimage in Jammu and Kashmir since the deadly Pahalgam attack in April. Authorities have increased safety-related precautions under 'Operation Shiva' to prevent any possible terror movements during the yatra. The 38-day pilgrimage will continue until August 9. The Amarnath Yatra involves a gruelling trek to the 3,880-meter-high cave shrine in Kashmir. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), which manages the yatra, started the registrations for the trip on April 15. The Amarnath Yatra will end on Rakshabandhan this year. Important Dates To Remember Start Date: July 3 End Date: August 9 How To Register For Amarnath Yatra Devotees can get their Aamarnath Yatra registration done online or offline. For offline registration, 540 designated bank branches have been set up for pilgrims across the country. For online registration, pilgrims can visit the official website of the SASB. Here is the detailed process: - Go to the website and select "Online Services". - Select "Yatra Permit Registration." Click on the "Register" button after reading the dos and don'ts. - Fill in your personal details such as name and Aadhaar number. -Upload a scanned copy of your Compulsory Health Certificate (CHC) and a passport-size photograph. - Verify your phone number using a one-time password and pay the registration fee. How To Reach There are two routes to reach Amarnath. The traditional 48-km Pahalgam route goes through Kashmir's Anantnag district. A shorter but steeper 14-km route passes through Baltal in the Ganderbal district. Security Arrangements On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was in Jammu and Kashmir to review the security arrangements ahead of the yatra. He chaired a high-level review meeting in Jammu, promising that the administration would provide all necessary facilities to the pilgrims. Chaired a review meeting for the Amarnath Pilgrimage and evaluated the security arrangements and preparedness meant for the pilgrims. Instructed to maintain the utmost vigilance and ensure the seamless completion of the sacred journey. Central govt and J&K administration will… — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 29, 2025 The Centre has ordered 580 companies to be deployed for the yatra, comprising almost 42,000 on-ground personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). A total of 424 companies are being sent to the Union Territory. About 80 companies that moved into the region during Operation Sindoor will be relocated to secure the pilgrim route and other areas. The forces have been directed to take position by the second week of June in Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported. Post the Pahalgam attack, the Indian armed forces had carried out Operation Sindoor - a targeted military attack on terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). This escalated military tensions with Pakistan. The two countries reached a ceasefire agreement on May 10.
News18
27-05-2025
- Business
- News18
Courier Service Lost Her Rs 50 Rakhi. She Fought 19 Months And Won Rs 7,050 In The Consumer Forum
Last Updated: A Sagar woman won a 19-month legal battle after a courier lost the 'rakhi' she sent. The firm was fined Rs 7,050 for service deficiency and legal costs Bittersweet anecdotes between siblings often make for fascinating stories, and one such tale from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, has recently captured public attention. A woman fought a prolonged legal battle lasting 19 months after a courier company failed to deliver a rakhi she had sent to her brother. With justice finally served, she is now being praised widely for her persistence and dedication. Fighting For A 'Rakhi' The case dates back to August 2023, when Shakunbai Thakur of Naryavalli sent a r akhi via Madhur Courier to her brother Nataraj Gujrania in Rajasthan ahead of Rakshabandhan. The courier service charged Rs 50 and promised delivery well before the festival, which fell on August 30, 2023. However, the parcel never arrived, nor was it returned, despite repeated complaints. Advocate Santosh Soni, representing the complainant, stated that the sister's festive sentiment was ruined, prompting the family to take the matter to the consumer forum. Verdict And Compensation Public Applause The case has gone viral locally, with many praising the woman for standing up for her brother and treating a missed rakhi delivery as a matter of emotional justice. People remarked that a sister like this ensures her brother's sorrow doesn't go unheard, even over a modest Rs 50 parcel. First Published: May 27, 2025, 15:37 IST
Indian Express
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Convicted for life, after a feud to death: The story of Munna Shukla, a rival, and Bihar politics
A STORY from the Bihar badlands, of legendary friends turned arch rivals, a feud lasting four decades and several murders, may have entered yet another chapter. On Thursday, the Supreme Court confirmed the life sentence for former MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla in the 1998 murder of ex-Bihar minister Brijbihari Prasad. The Court gave Shukla – who had appealed in Court against its order of October 2024, sentencing him to life – 15 days to surrender. Whether this is the end of the road for Shukla – who has survived other convictions, including of murder, while making strides in politics – is another matter, however. The killing of Brijbihari Prasad in June 1998, for which Shukla stands convicted, had been sensational, with the then ruling RJD leader gunned down at Patna's Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. In 1999, the case was transferred to the CBI. Ten years later, a Patna trial court sentenced Shukla and five others to life terms. In October last year, the Supreme Court convicted Munna and Mantu Tiwari, another Bihar politician, and gave them life, while giving the other accused the benefit of doubt. In its Thursday order, the Court said it did not find 'any good ground and reason to review' the October judgment. Shukla was also convicted in another high-profile case, the 1994 lynching of then Gopalganj DM G Krishnaiah. In 2008, the Patna High Court acquitted him and five others, while commuted the death sentence given to former MP Anand Mohan in the case to life. Anand Mohan was given remission in 2023 and released from jail. Krishnaiah's wife challenged the remission in the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending. It was from Lalganj, Vaishali, in the 1970s that the story of the Shukla brothers – Chhotan, Bhutkun and Munna – began. The Bhumihar strongmen started off as petty contractors, which is how they came in contact with Prasad, a contractor from Motihari belonging to the OBC community. A Muzaffarpur-based journalist recalls: 'There was so much camaraderie between Brijbihari Prasad and the Shuklas at one stage that Prasad's wife Rama Devi would tie a rakhi to the eldest of the Shukla brothers, Chhotan, on Rakshabandhan.' Soon, the Shuklas' renown spread, as they ran up a list of allegations, particularly of extortion, and later, moved into politics. The brothers' expanding interests and muscle power brought them into conflict with Prasad, who too had graduated to politics after his business took off on the strength of government contracts. By 1982, the Shuklas and Prasad were officially at war. A retired police officer, who once served in Muzaffarpur, said: 'They targeted each other's supporters, resulting in several killings between 1983 and 1985. While the two groups were suspected to have a hand, no FIRs were filed against either side.' According to the former police officer, there was still peace as long as both Chhotan and Prasad enjoyed the patronage of influential Congress leader Raghunath Pandey, who was the Muzaffarpur MLA from 1985 to 2000. 'But then Prasad tried to defy Pandey, and Chhotan emerged as the latter's favourite.' With Pandey's backing, Chhotan went about securing the support of most of the prominent upper caste leaders, particularly Hemant Shahi, the son of former minister and Bhumihar Congress leader L P Shahi. By 1990, Chhotan moved his attention full-time to politics, leaving the control of contracts to Bhutkun. The thorn in the Shuklas' side, however, remained Prasad – who, having fallen out of favour with Pandey, found a benefactor in the RJD. Getting a jump over the Shuklas, he became an MLA and a minister in 1990 in the Lalu Prasad government. He also grew close to Begusarai muscleman Ashok Sharma a.k.a Ashok Samrat, a Bhumihar. This triggered a fresh round of turf war as, bolstered by power, Prasad tried to curb the Shukla brothers' influence. The escalating cycle of violence culminated in Chhotan's killing in 1994. Police made hardly any headway in the murder, finally filing a closure report in 2020. Chhotan's death meant Bhutkun took over the Shukla family reins. In 1994, he was named along with younger brother Munna in the lynching of G Krishnaiah. Police officers say that Chhotan evaded them by remaining confined largely to his village Khanjahachak, which was surrounded by rivers from three sides while, on the fourth, there was an escape route to Uttar Pradesh via Saran. In March 1997, Prasad's close aide Onkar Singh was killed, with the hand of the Shuklas suspected in it. Months later, in October 1997, Bhutkun was killed by his own bodyguard. Officers say the bodyguard had been planted by his rivals back in 1995, and gained Bhutkun's confidence over the next two years. The bodyguard was never caught, and Bhutkun's killing too remained unsolved. Eight months later, on June 13, 1998, Munna allegedly struck back, getting Prasad at the Patna hospital where he was admitted due to several ailments. Apart from Munna, police booked UP's Sriprakash Shukla, another known mafia don, and politicians Rajan Tiwari and Suraj Bhan, along with six others in Prasad's killing. Sriprakash was killed in September 1998. In 2009, a Patna court sentenced all the others accused to life. In July 2014, the Patna High Court acquitted them. The coming together of the upper-caste Rajputs and Bhumihars, who would make up about 8% of the state's population, could be a threat to the RJD politics. Lalu had a taste of it when the Bihar People's Party, formed by Anand Mohan, fielded Chhotan's widow Kiran Shukla from the Kesaria Assembly seat in the 1995 polls. She lost though to CPI OBC candidate, Yamuna Yadav. In 2005, the Shuklas made a fresh foray into politics, when Munna contested on the ticket of RJD rival JD(U) from the Lalganj Assembly seat and won. After his conviction in 2009, Munna's wife Annu contested from the seat as an Independent in 2010 – and retained it. As is the way of politics, things have come full circle, with Munna now with the RJD – the party he was pitted against all these years. Last year, before the Supreme Court conviction came, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Vaishali as RJD nominee against the LJP (Ramvilas)'s Veena Devi, but lost. In the Assembly elections due this year, Munna was hopeful of getting a ticket again, for either himself or wife Annu, from Lalganj. The seat incidentally is represented by the RJD's Sanjay Kumar Singh currently. On the other side, Prasad's wife Rama Devi is also well-entrenched in politics, having won as the Sheohar MP thrice, in 2009, 2014 and 2019, from the BJP. In last year's Lok Sabha elections, Rama was denied a ticket from Sheohar, with the nomination going to BJP ally JD(U)'s Lovely Anand, who won. Lovely Anand, incidentally, is the wife of Anand Mohan. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari indicated the turf war may continue – at least in politics. 'What can one say about the Supreme Court's verdict? Munna Shukla will explore more legal options,' Tiwari said.
