Representative image (PTI)

Hyderabad: Several residents of Hyderabad’s old city approached a booth-level officer (BLO) of the Election Commission on Tuesday for help in identifying their names in the 2002 voter list as part of the pre-SIR mapping exercise. He was surprised to see that instead of someone who knew the rule book, he was approached by a sanitation worker from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation who did not know how to map voters.

The matter came to light in Barkas under Chandrayangutta constituency when residents saw the name and contact number of a specified BLO on the Election Commission website and contacted them. “About 20 of us were waiting at Al-Qarmoshi Global School in Salalah, Barqas. When we talked to him we realized that he was not even aware of the role of BLO. It was only when I mentioned SIR mapping that he came to the spot,” said Syed Jalaluddin Zafar, an activist who was helping residents in the mapping process.“He couldn’t read or write in Telugu. He just gave the phone and asked us to enter the details in the online form,” Zafar said. The video of the episode recorded by Zafar has since gone viral on Instagram.Although there is no explicit rule prohibiting the appointment of sanitation workers as BLOs, the guidelines state that such roles are generally assigned to government or semi-government employees, such as teachers, Anganwadi workers, panchayat workers, clerks and bill collectors – individuals who are expected to have basic literacy skills and administrative experience.One of the sanitation workers appointed as BLO said that they were given smartphones for SIR work. He said, “Along with me, around 10 such workers have been deployed for the exercise. We were asked to open the portal on the phone and hand it over to the person, who entered their details in a form. If the name appeared, they put a tick. I attended a training session where we were promised payment.”The sanitation worker said he starts work at 5 am and continues SIR duty after finishing his shift at 2 pm. “I cannot read or write in Telugu or English. We were only told to tick if his name came up. It’s only been two days since we started this work,” he said.Chandrayangutta electoral registration officer V Surendra said the appointments have been made due to acute shortage of staff. “Many staff have retired, and the scale of the practice is large, so it is a stop-gap arrangement. In our area, we have three sanitation workers working as BLOs, but we ensured that the staff appointed are at least educated till Class 9 and have basic competencies. …They will be replaced soon.

New Delhi: Acknowledging rampant misuse of PIL for ulterior motives or to further one’s preferred agenda, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would have dismissed a PIL had it been filed by a body of lawyers challenging the practice of currently barring entry of women of menstrual age to Sabarimala.The remarks came from a bench comprising CJI Surya Kant, Justices BV Nagarathna, MM Sundaresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Arvind Kumar, AG Masih, PB Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the practice was not challenged by a Lord Ayyappa devotee and argued that the Supreme Court had struck down the ‘constitutional morality’ test by striking it down as unconstitutional. Had given. Juridically esoteric concept of faith, belief and religious practice.He said, the qualities of deity Ayyappa, whom the devotees at Sabarimala believe to be the qualities of a Gnostic celibate, cannot be examined on the basis of the Western imported concept of constitutional morality, which is applied to test the validity of the actions of the state or constitutional office holders.Justice Nagarathna agreed and said that even if the lawyers’ body filed a civil suit, it would be dismissed for lack of a cause of action. CJI Kant agreed but cautioned, saying that the PIL was considered two decades ago in 2006 and is a judgment of the court, “We have been entrusted with the task of determining the scope and ambit of judicial interference in religious matters,” he said.Mehta highlighted the corrupting influence of the Western mindset on the judgment in the Joseph Shine case, which decriminalized adultery on the grounds that the archaic provision violated the dignity, freedom and equality of women by constraining their sexual freedom and placing the burden of fidelity on them. The SG clarified that the provision could have been struck down on grounds of discrimination and he would have no objection to the outcome of the case. However, he said that fidelity in marriage applies equally to a man and a woman and the provision curbing extramarital affairs cannot be termed as shackles of sexual freedom. What is more worrying, he said, is that social norms have been termed as ‘mob morality’ and inexplicably the court has used constitutional morality to strike down the provision.Justice Nagarathna said, “What was considered immoral and obscene in the 1950s is no longer considered so. It is now considered narrow-minded and old-fashioned. This is the problem of India today. But public morality is not stable.”On the question whether a person who does not belong to any religious sect or religious group can question the practice of that religious sect or religious group by filing a PIL, Mehta said that PIL was devised by the SC in the Bandhua Mukti Morcha case in 1984 as a tool to raise the grievances of marginalized sections deprived of access to courts for the protection of their fundamental rights.It had adopted a liberal approach in testing the locus standi of the person filing the PIL, but now it has become a tool for any person unrelated to the issue to file a PIL in abuse of the strict locus standi provision. With major changes in access to justice, courts should insist on strict locus standi rule to prevent misuse of PILs, especially in cases related to religion, customs, faith and belief.The Center also argued in the hearing that the locus should not be defined liberally and the court agreed to do so. CJI Kant said, “Over the years, courts have started imposing strict jurisdictional rules on PILs. Constitutional courts are very cautious in entertaining PILs because people come with ulterior motives or to further their agenda.” The debate will continue on Thursday also.

India in an official statement welcomed the Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire after a brutal six-week war in the West Asia region, with the government also expressing hope that the ceasefire will bring lasting peace in the region. Emphasizing that the conflict has already caused immense suffering to the people and disrupted global energy supplies and trade networks, the Indian Government said it looked forward to uninterrupted freedom of navigation and global flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz. “As we have consistently advocated before, de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy are necessary to bring an early end to the ongoing conflict,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a cautious statement, focusing more on the outcome than the means used to achieve it. Going a step further, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal expressed hope that developments in West Asia would give a boost to peace efforts in Ukraine as well.He said, “India has always been in favor of peace. We welcome all steps leading to peace and stability.” There was no formal acknowledgment of the key mediating role played by Pakistan, which was credited by both President Donald Trump and Iran for the success. However, official sources said India sees this development, which includes Iran’s commitment to open the Strait of Hormuz during the 2-week ceasefire, as a potential catalyst for progress in talks for long-term peace in the region. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that Islamabad will host talks between the US and Iran starting on April 10. Apart from ensuring the safety of the 10 million strong Indian diaspora in the Gulf region, India’s biggest priority over the past several weeks has been to secure safe passage for its LPG tankers through the key energy route to prevent any supply disruption. However, India would be wary of any negative fallout on its own downgraded relations with Pakistan from greater international legitimacy for Islamabad, which could lead to a ceasefire. India says Pakistan is the source of global terrorism and refuses to engage with Islamabad unless it takes concrete and irreversible action against groups responsible for cross-border terrorism. Following the ceasefire, Trump also indicated that China might also have played a role in peace talks by urging Tehran to engage with the US. However, for India, despite close ties with both sides and its position as an important stakeholder in the Gulf, active mediation was not an option in line with its decades-old disdain for third-party mediation, especially in relations with Islamabad in which it has always emphasized bilateralism. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke on this at an all-party meeting last month, where he said that unlike Pakistan, India does not have a history of acting as a mediator between countries. He mentioned Pakistan’s role in facilitating secret backchannel talks between the US and China in 1971.

New Delhi: The Indian Army has released its first comprehensive technology roadmap for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and munitions towards providing long-term visibility of the force’s requirements in the area of ​​UAS. The nearly 50-page document ‘Indian Army’s Technology Roadmap for Unmanned Aerial Systems and Munitions’, which was released by Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Capability Development and Sustainment) in New Delhi on April 6, provides clear, actionable visibility to industry, academia and R&D institutions, enabling them to channel investment, time, energy and technical efforts towards priority areas identified by the Army. The Indian Army’s roadmap lists 30 types of UAS and loitering munitions across five categories: surveillance, ammunition dropping, air defense roles, special roles and logistics.Designed as a visionary strategic document, it aims to harness indigenous capabilities in line with the evolving requirements of modern warfare. It also integrates lessons from recent conflicts such as the Russia–Ukraine War and the West Asia conflict, where unmanned systems have had a significant impact. By clearly setting out technical and operational priorities, the document seeks to serve as a vital bridge between operational requirements and technological developments, ensuring that India’s drone ecosystem develops in a structured, demand-driven manner. The initiative is also expected to catalyze greater participation from startups, MSMEs and academia while encouraging long-term investment in this important and emerging technology.At the event, Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh cautioned about the sensitive nature of the document and urged stakeholders not to share it with unauthorized persons. He urged extreme caution, saying Pakistan and China may want to get their hands on this document.Citing the West Asia conflict, he pointed to the Iranian-made Shaheed-136 drone and the US’s deployment of “reverse-engineered” cheap drones, LUCAS (Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System), designed to counter Iranian attacks. “We all need to be aware of this and much more to ensure that in a conflict situation we operate like a well-functioning machine,” Lt Gen Singh said. He described the services, industry and education as a “troika” and said the engagement between the military and industry has increased manifold over the years.Major General CS Mann, ADG, Army Design Bureau, said this is the first time that the Army has shared such specifications related to the area of ​​UAS and munitions, which shows the importance attached to these capabilities.The document mentions details such as the equipment name, type, expected life cycle, estimated quantity and information on its variants.

New Delhi: A day after police searched his residence in Delhi, Congress leader Pawan Khera on Friday launched more attacks on the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Amidst the ongoing dispute between the two.In a social media post on Twitter, Congress shared a self-made video of Khera in which he raised questions over a company named “Bhuiyan Properties LLC” allegedly listing Himanta’s wife Riniki Bhuiyan Sharma as the authorized manager.Kheda said the company’s non-disclosure agreement (NDA) lists Sharma’s various addresses and multiple citizenships.“Now, some more information has come to light. Specifically there are Wyoming state websites. Your IT cell raised questions on a recently registered company. Let me clarify the date: April 6 appears because, as requested, the nondisclosure agreement was revoked. There is a difference between filing and incorporation. You are showing filing dates; I am asking about incorporation,” Kheda said.“My question is, when the non-disclosure agreement was lifted, information about a company called ‘Bhuyan Properties LLC’ with a Wyoming address came to light. Additional articles listed Reniki Bhuyan Sharma as the authorized manager/member. This information became visible after the non-disclosure was lifted. Identity, Nationality: Antigua and Barbuda; Date of Birth: July 31, 1973; Comments: Invested by Citizenship: Other Nationalities: Yes (multiple). This is written on their website. Now, what is the address of Reniki Bhuiyan Sharma on this website? Care of Bhuyan Properties Ltd., an LLC company in Wyoming. The given address is in London, England. Other addresses are also listed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Dhaka, Bangladesh. “This all came from the Wyoming state website after the nondisclosure agreement was revoked,” he said.Furthermore, Khera reiterated his claim regarding Sarma’s alleged multiple passports from Egypt, UAE and Antigua and Barbuda, demanding an investigation to confirm whether they are genuine or fake.“Now, what are our questions? Passport from Egypt, Golden Visa from UAE, and passport from Antigua and Barbuda. Whether they are real or fake, we are not in the government, so you should investigate. Did you, your agent or any of your family members open these fake companies and purchase properties using fake KYC documents? Only an investigation can prove it,” Kheda said.Meanwhile, Kheda also criticized the Assam government’s move to file a police complaint against him and said “he will not be intimidated.”“For the last two days, you have seen what kind of tactics the Assam Police is adopting. Well, it is not the Assam Police at all, but the Chief Minister of Assam and probably the Home Minister of the country. A hundred policemen went to my small flat in Delhi. I was not there, no one from my family was there. But on reaching there, they snatched an old phone, a memento of my younger sister who died during Covid. They took a laptop I never use, an iPad I hadn’t even started using. They say they took two pen drives; “I don’t know whether they brought them or took them away, I have no idea,” he said.“Anyway, wherever I go, or wherever they think I have gone, they send police. Why? The Congress party has only asked questions. Why do you want to silence the Congress party? Why do you want to silence me? We have asked questions, please answer them. We produce these documents and information and demand investigation. Are we wrong to do so? Instead of answering, you are abusing everyone, letting the police loose and trying to scare us. Are. Do you think we will get scared? You may have a habit of scaring us, Sharma ji, but we are not in the habit of scaring us. Let me tell you why. I am from Mewar, I am a Congressman, I am a soldier of Rahul Gandhi. So, how can I be afraid? I will not be afraid. But yes, because I must keep speaking, because I must keep asking questions, I am actually evading your police.”Earlier on Wednesday, Assam Police searched the Delhi residence of Congress leader Pawan Khera amid the ongoing political controversy over allegations that Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds multiple passports.Assam Police said they had recovered “objectionable” material from Khera’s house, but declined to provide further details. The current whereabouts of the Congress leader are unknown, leading to speculation and political tension ahead of the elections.The controversy stems from a press conference by Kheda, where he alleged that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma held three passports and had undeclared assets abroad. The Sarma family has rejected the claims, terming the documents as “AI-generated fabrications” and “doctored images”.Sarma rejected the allegations regarding properties in Dubai, claimed that the documents cited by Congress were obtained without authorization from Scribd, and reiterated claims of “Pakistani links” involving Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi and Khera. He said, “Why did you take help from Pakistani social media groups? … My allegation is why is Pakistan helping Gaurav Gogoi.”Political controversy has intensified ahead of the assembly elections in Assam on April 9 and the campaigning will end this evening. Counting of votes will take place on May 4.