Some familiar faces return to 17th Lok Sabha
New Delhi: Some familiar faces, who were not part of the previous Lok Sabha, returned to the House taking oath as new members on Monday.
These include former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, DMK's top guns Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and T R Balu, senior Congress leader from Goa Francisco Sardinha and former union minister Manish Tewari.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and DMK leader Kanizmohi, who were members of Rajya Sabha, became Lok Sabha members for the first time and attended the session on the opening day.
Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and S Jaishankar, who are not members of either House, were also present in the House. While Akhilesh was seen sitting in one of the last rows, his father Mulayam Singh was seated in the first row.
NCP leader Supriya Sule, who was also a Rajya Sabha member till 2014, was seen giving a hug to Kanizmohi.
Before the House met for the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen greeting senior opposition leaders UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav, TMC leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kalyan Banerjee besides Maran and others.
Sule was also seen introducing two other NCP MPs to some of the Union Ministers besides Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and others.
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Bengaluru jail introduces biometric tracking system for prisoners
Bengaluru: In a bid to curb misconduct and illegal activities inside Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, prison authorities have introduced a new ‘Prisoners Tracking Movement System’ under which inmates will have to undergo biometric verification while entering every barrack.
According to jail officials, biometric systems have been installed across all major sections of the prison, including barracks, visitor rooms, hospital, canteen, kitchen, library, playground, handicraft units and bakery sections. Staff members have also been deployed at these locations.
Officials said inmates visiting the visitors’ room must now obtain a digital token after biometric verification. Details such as the prisoner’s name, identification number and entry time will be updated in the prison software system. This will help authorities maintain a complete digital record of inmates visiting and returning from meeting rooms.
Similar systems have also been introduced at entry points of the hospital, library and other barracks accessed for work-related purposes. Officials said the system will help identify prisoners involved in suspicious or illegal activities with other inmates and enable authorities to track how much time a prisoner spends at different locations inside the prison.
Authorities stated that AI-powered cameras were already being used inside the prison to monitor inmates as well as prison staff. Along with this, digital tracking of prisoner phone calls and a digital token system for visitor meetings have now been added to strengthen surveillance over inmate movement. Officials said the project has been implemented at a cost of around Rs 2.25 crore.
The prison department has also introduced a canteen usage tracking system to monitor prisoners’ spending patterns. Instead of direct cash payments, inmates can purchase bakery items and snacks using wallets or coupons issued within the prison system.
Officials said the digital system will record details including the buyer’s name, items purchased, quantity, date, time and remaining wallet balance. This will allow prison authorities to maintain complete expenditure records of inmates.
