Latest news with #Rane
Time of India
a day ago
- General
- Time of India
‘Next, he'll ask us to eat virtually': Jitendra Awhad mocks Nitesh Rane's comment on eco-friendly Bakrid
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane stirred controversy with his remarks questioning why those advocating eco-friendly Diwali and Holi do not ask Muslims to perform virtual sacrifices on Bakrid . In response, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) leader Jitendra Awhad hit back sharply, mocking Rane's suggestion. 'He has become a very technologically advanced minister of Maharashtra. It's a good thought. Tomorrow, he will ask everyone to have food also virtually... let's prepare to eat food also virtually,' Awhad said in a sarcastic tone while speaking to reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. Rane's remark sparks political exchange Rane had earlier said, 'Why do those people who constantly ask everyone to celebrate eco-friendly Diwali and Holi remain silent on Bakrid? Why don't they ask Muslims to cut Bakra virtually and celebrate environment-friendly Bakrid?' His comment drew strong reactions from opposition leaders and civil society groups, who accused him of targeting a particular community and stoking religious tensions. Awhad's sarcastic rebuttal questioned the logic behind applying virtual or eco-friendly norms selectively to festivals. 'If he wants to go virtual, why stop at Bakrid? Let's all eat and live virtually,' he quipped.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Fish thrown at govt official: Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane, others acquitted in 2017 case
A court in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg has acquitted BJP minister Nitesh Rane and 30 others in a 2017 case in which he was accused of throwing fish at a government official as well as abusing and threatening him. As per the prosecution, Rane and around 100 others, on July 6 that year entered the Malvan office of assistant commissioner in the fisheries department Pradeep Vast to discuss issues related to the sector, abused him and then threw mackerel, which hit the latter on the cheek. Rane and others also allegedly threatened to burn fishing boats. Rane and others were booked at the time under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 141 (unlawful assembly), 143 (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation). Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Rome: Quanto costano le case container? Guarda i prezzi! Case container | Ricerca annunci Scopri di più Undo In its order of May 21, details of which were made available on Sunday, the court of additional sessions judge (Sindhudurg) mentioned that Vast in his testimony did not state that Rane threw mackerel at him. As per his evidence, persons accompanying Rane threw fish at the official, the court said, adding the informant is not sure who caused him hurt in this manner. Live Events There is "no reliable evidence on record" to prove the accused obstructed the informant from discharging his official duties as public servant and caused hurt to him, the court said while observing that witnesses had not supported the prosecution's case with regards to other charges as well. Rane and others were arrested at the time after a video clip of the alleged incident was aired on local news channels. He was granted bail on the same day. Rane has been MLA from Kankavali in Sindhudurg district since 2014. He was inducted into the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet as a minister for the first time in December last year.
India.com
4 days ago
- Politics
- India.com
Bad news for Pakistan and China as India is secretly enhancing Brahmos missile, will become more deadly, its features will...
The BrahMos missile, often referred to as India's 'Brahmastra,' severely damaged various strategic locations of Pakistan, which were used for anti-India purposes, including major airbases, in Operation Sindoor. However, there is more bad news for the enemy country as India is set to give sleepless nights to Pakistan. In Operation Sindoor, BrahMos was the main missile used in the attack and can travel at speeds up to Mach 3. Reports say that a faster version, which can fly at speeds over Mach 5, is being developed. Its range is also being increased from over 400 km to around 800 km. When it was first made, BrahMos could only travel 290 kilometers, but over time, it has become a much stronger and more advanced missile. While speaking to NDTV, former Director General of BrahMos Aerospace, Atul D. Rane, 'Any incremental research takes time and also, of course, money, which is being put in. The current BrahMos, in its current size and shape, has a limitation. But it's a limitation, and it can go somewhere where no one else has gone…we should see it very soon.' While speaking about the future prospects, Atul D. Rane explained, 'We could look at a smaller and potent version of BrahMos so that we could put two missiles in the underbelly of the Su-30 instead of one, and not just Sukhoi, but other aircraft as well,' he said. Mr. Rane revealed that the design phase is already underway, and they've reached the stage where metal cutting has begun. He said the next generation of BrahMos is being developed — a smaller, lighter missile that will be just as fast. While its lighter weight may slightly alter the kinetic energy upon impact, it will still be powerful enough to destroy its targets.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Pending coastal maps delay 20 infra projects
Mumbai: As many as 20 infrastructure projects along the Konkan coastline including three passenger jetties in Thane and one in Mulund are stuck due to delays in issuance of Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM). The state government has been awaiting maps from the agency for six months to a year in some cases, which has pushed up project costs significantly. Ports minister Nitesh Rane has raised the issue with union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav and the minister has directed the agency to issue the maps within a month. NCSCM is an autonomous research institute under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Eleven of the 20 proposed projects with a cumulative cost of ₹190.9 crore are located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The remaining nine projects with a cumulative cost of ₹58.40 crore are located in Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. The delay in execution of the 20 projects due to pending CZMP maps was raised during a recent meeting of the ports department. The state government has paid the fees for the maps to NCSCM, but has been awaiting the maps for more than six months up to a year, officials said during the meeting. They also pointed out that last year, the central government withdrew around ₹220 crore from the funds given to the state government for development of port infrastructure as the money could not be utilised due to delays in project execution. On May 28, ports minister Nitesh Rane wrote to union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav regarding the delay in issuance of maps by NCSCM. 'Without CZMP maps, it is not possible to apply for Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) and environmental clearance. Presently, NCSCM Chennai is taking about a year for preparation of maps, which is delaying CRZ and environmental clearance, and in turn delaying the execution of projects escalating project costs too,' Rane stated in the letter, urging the union minister to direct mapping agency to issue the maps within a month. 'I met the union minister personally and informed him about the projects which were delayed due to pending CZMP maps,' Rane told Hindustan Times. 'He called officials at the institute at Chennai immediately and ordered them to resolve the issue in a speedy manner.' Following Yadav's intervention, the state government had a meeting with NCSCM officials over video-conferencing to resolve the issue, said Rane. HT reached out to NCSCM for comments, but did not receive any response from the agency. Environmental activist D Stalin said CZMP maps are crucial to protecting the coastal ecology. 'The concept of ex post facto clearances has been struck down by the Supreme Court, so now, projects cannot commence without prior approval,' he said. 'Pressuring scientific agencies to finalise the maps hurriedly in a haphazard manner would only create further conflict before the judiciary.' Maharashtra has the maximum number of CRZ violations including due to fabrication of maps, he said, adding, 'This cannot continue.'
NDTV
5 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
"It's A Hittile": BrahMos Ex-Chief On Missile's Journey, Strength And Future
New Delhi: The world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, showcased "India's military might" during Operation Sindoor after it struck Pakistan's military infrastructure during the 100-hour battle, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the missile gave Pakistan "sleepless nights" during the operation. From its inception in 1998, when India and Russia signed an agreement, paving the way for the formation of BrahMos Aerospace, to the missile's first combat use in 2025, BrahMos has evolved over the last two decades. Atul D Rane, former Director General, BrahMos Aerospace, spoke to NDTV, sharing insights on BrahMos' path to indigenisation, what makes it difficult to intercept, its integration with Su-30MK, becoming a "universal missile" and the future of the missile. Path To Indigenisation "When BrahMos was conceived, we used a baseline principle that we would work on one of the Russian engines. We started with about 7 per cent of the missiles being indigenous and quickly upped it to about 15 per cent. But after that, it was a process of the Indian industries picking up production and indigenizing stuff, which was manufactured in Russia. "Slowly, over the years, the indigenous content has risen, with various components coming in, and the Indian defence industry has done a commendable job," Mr Rane said. "Today, we are sitting at close to 84 per what is flying right now is only about 74 to 75 per cent, because it takes some time before the indigenized subsystem or system gets qualified to enter a combat missile," he said. BrahMos - Not A Missile But A Hittile BrahMos is the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, meaning it can travel faster than the speed of sound. BrahMos can hit targets 400 kilometres away and travel at Mach 3 (Three times the speed of sound). Mr Rane said speed is a big factor that makes it difficult to intercept. "Speed plays the maximum factor. It's fast. It's hugely fast. We have been working on many improvements over the years. And the thing is, it's a very slip missile compared to what it does. So, the radar cross section is also fairly low. High-speed, Low Radar Cross-Section (RCS), what more do you want?" Firing of ship-launched BrahMos High speed and low RCS make BrahMos difficult to intercept by radars, along with its high manoeuvrability, especially at high speed, but Mr Rane said we have done it. "The BrahMos has evolved into a weapon which doesn't fly like an arrow. It flies like a missile, and a missile which hits the everyone talks about a miss distance or the circular error of probability of a missile. In BrahMos, over the days, as we kept working on the missile, different tests, which we've done, the user trials, which they have been doing to learn themselves and train themselves, I have started saying that BrahMos is not a missile. It's a hittile. It hits the target it's designated to hit." The term hittile is used to describe a missile or a weapon with high accuracy and reliability in hitting the target. BrahMos works on a "fire and forget principle" with a seeker, a vital part of a missile which detects, tracks a target with accuracy. BrahMos uses an Indian seeker, but the development has taken years. Mr Rane said the "Seeker has been a bugbear for us for years. But the challenge was that it needed to be done. We started 20 years ago." "Today, it's capable of flying. It's not just the seeker integration, the accuracy of the hardware, the airframe, and then coming down to the navigation system, the tweaks we have to do to the navigation system, the onboard control, all this put together creates the accuracy of the missile," he added. Integration With Su-30MKI BrahMos is a heavy cruise missile, and integrating it with the Russian Su-30MKI multi-role fighters was a challenge, from its engineering to the high cost of getting it done outside. Mr Rane said, "Anything imported or import-substituted starts with a large cost. Yes. When the management of Brahmos Aerospace, along with DRDO, decided that the cost of trying to get it done from outside would be too much, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited also came on board. People worked tirelessly. It's not just the integration of the missile into the aircraft but also the electrical and software interfaces. The Indian Air Force chipped in because they already knew about the Su-30. An even bigger challenge was that we didn't know the Su-30 inside out. We had to create wind tunnel models. We had to create the separation studies." Test firing of BrahMos from Su-30MKI He further explained that the engineers had to factor in whether BrahMos was safe to separate from the Su-30. "The mother aircraft is much more precious than the BrahMos missile. It was a very long journey. I must say, there would have been at least 200 to 300 engineers, armed forces personnel, and HAL personnel working on this project," Mr Rane said. The heaviest weapon being carried on an aircraft is the Brahmos air version on the Su-30, the former DG of BrahMos Aerospace told NDTV. Becoming A Universal Weapon BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinotroyenia (NPOM), with India holding 50.5 per cent and Russia with 49.5 per cent. The first test launch of the BrahMos took place on June 12, 2001, in Odisha's Chandipur. Mr Rane said, "BrahMos was initially conceived to be only an anti-ship cruise missile, a supersonic cruise missile. But then, once it started working, it started coming out that one shouldn't just be sitting with one fantastic product. One needs to make sure it's delivered on time, which is a mantra of BrahMos to deliver things on time. We moved quickly from an anti-ship cruise missile to a land-attack missile. Once the Indian Army got in with it, they said that we would like to see some more stuff that is launching from high altitudes, having waypoints, getting over improvement has been seamless." "Today, it's a universal missile. The missiles, which are launched from the surface, are either from the Indian naval ships or from the mobile autonomous launchers which are with the Indian Army; these two missiles can be swapped without any problem. The idea was to create a universal missile. The dream is to have a cartridge, a missile filled in a canister, and you pick up that canister and put it wherever you want, and the missile can be used. Of course, with a little tweak in software," he said. The air version of BrahMos is different from the ship and mobile-launcher variant since the Su-30MKI can't carry such a heavy missile in its underbelly. Future Of BrahMos BrahMos was at the forefront of the offensive during Operation Sindoor, and it can travel at Mach 3 speeds. A hypersonic variant (speeds exceeding Mach 5) is reportedly under development, along with an extended range of the missile from the current 400. BrahMos started with a range of 290 kilometres and has evolved into being more potent than it was many years ago. Mr Rane said, "Any incremental research takes time and also, of course, money, which is being put in. The current BrahMos, in its current size and shape, has a limitation. But it's a limitation, and it can go somewhere where no one else has should see it very soon." "We could look at a smaller and potent version of BrahMos so that we could put two missiles in the underbelly of the Su-30 instead of one, and not just Sukhoi, but other aircraft as well," he said. Mr Rane shared that the design has already started, and we have already reached the point of cutting metal. We're looking at the BrahMos next generation, a smaller missile. Equally fast. Of course, lighter. So the kinetic energy when it hits will be a little different, but good enough to destroy targets. "The Tejas Mark-II, an ungraded version of the Tejas Mark 1, will carry the BrahMos-NG, one each under the wings. So two BrahMos on each Tejas and possibly a full-scale large BrahMos under the belly of the Su-30 and two NGs under the wings of the Su-30," Mr Rane said. India has also delivered the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines. Several Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, and Middle Eastern nations have also reportedly expressed interest in the missile systems.
