IPS officer Ravi Sinha appointed RAW chief
New Delhi (PTI): Senior IPS officer Ravi Sinha, an expert on neighbourhood countries and operations, was on Monday appointed as the new head of external spy agency R&AW, succeeding Samant Goel who completes his four-year stint on June 30.
According to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of 59-year-old Sinha, a 1988 batch IPS officer from Chhatisgarh, as the Secretary RAW for a tenure of two years.
Sinha, who has had an over two-decade-long stint in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), is at present the second-in-command in the organisation. Before being promoted, he was looking after the operations wing.
Considered to be a specialist on countries in India's immediate neighbourhood, Sinha's appointment comes at a time when Pakistan is politically and economically unstable, Sikh extremism is being fanned from abroad and attempts are being made in the northeast to promote violence.
Sinha has served in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast and foreign countries in the past.
His predecessor Goel was appointed R&AW chief for two years in June 2019. He was later given two extensions of one year each in 2021 and June 2022.
Goel, an expert on matters related to Jammu and Kashmir, is believed to have played a key role in planning the February 2019 surgical strike in Pakistan's Balakot.
The surgical strike was carried out to avenge the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
In response to the attack, the Indian Air Force had struck a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019.
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Over 350 illegal religious structures removed along Nepal border
Lucknow, May 11 (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday said that more than 350 unauthorised religious sites, including madrasas, mosques, mazars and Eidgahs, have been identified and subjected to sealing or demolition in recent days, an official statement issued here said.
Acting on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's clear directive that no religious encroachment will be tolerated, the administration in districts such as Pilibhit, Shravasti, Balrampur, Bahraich, Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj has launched a sweeping campaign, it said.
The authorities have systematically identified illegal structures and taken strict action, continuing operations even on Sunday.
The chief minister has made it clear that encroachment in the name of any religion will not be allowed and all violators, especially those running unrecognised religious institutions, will face legal consequences, the statement said.
On May 10 and 11, 104 madrasas, one mosque, five mazars and two Eidgahs built illegally on public and private land were identified in Shravasti. All were issued notices and sealed, it said.
One illegal madrasa on public land was demolished and two unrecognized madrasas on private land were sealed, the statement added.
In Bahraich, officials identified 13 madrasas, eight mosques, two mazars and one Eidgah illegally constructed on government land.
After issuing notices, five were sealed and 11 were demolished, including eight madrasas, two mosques and one mazar, the statement said.
In Siddharthnagar, the authorities identified four mosques and 18 madrasas and one more madrasa for illegal construction. Notices were issued to these structures. Five madrasas were sealed and nine were demolished. In total, action was taken against 23 illegal structures in the district, it said.
In Maharajganj’s Nautanwa tehsil, Parsamalik village, an unrecognized madrasa operating on Maktab land was shut down based on a report submitted by the District Minority Welfare Officer.
The building’s keys were handed over to the local police station in-charge. So far, 29 madrasas and five mazars constructed through encroachment on public and private land have been demolished in the district.
In past two days in Lakhimpur Kheri, two mosques, one Eidgah on public land along with eight madrasas on private land were found to be illegally constructed.
Of the 13 structures identified, one was served a notice, nine were sealed and three have been demolished so far, the statement said.
The district authorities in Pilibhit have identified an illegal mosque built on public land in Bharatpur village, covering an area of 0.0310 hectares.
According to the district magistrate, a notice has been issued to the parties involved, seeking a response within 15 days. Action against the illegal construction will be taken after the notice period ends, it said.
On Sunday, an under-construction madrasa on public land in Virpur Semra village, Tulsipur tehsil, was demolished in Balrampur. So far, 30 madrasas, 10 mazars and one Eidgah have been demolished in the district.
Ten of them were built illegally on public land, while 20 were constructed without authorization on private land, the statement said.
