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height barrier for vehicles so that such incidents do not occur early in the morning, where there are no traffic constables to guard the route. Also, the metal cover needs to be strong, so that such incidents do not take place again.”

H Varadarajan, another citizen of Andheri, said, “I had a dentist’s appointment near Vishal Hall in Andheri East on Saturday – the nearest route is via the subway. When I reached the subway at around 8:45am, I was told that the road is shut. My dentist was also caught in the same jam. I had to cancel, since we could not have made it to his chamber on time.”

Shivaji Bhandwalkar, senior police inspector, Sahar traffic division, was somewhat optimistic, as he said, “It is in the corner and not centre of the road hence the road will be kept open and it will not have any traffic problems.”

Meanwhile, MLA of Andheri West, Ameet Satam, shared that railway tender for the demolition of Gokhale Bridge was opened on Friday. “So now both tenders – for demolition by railways and construction by BMC -- are in place,” said Satam.

On November 30, BMC awarded the work for reconstruction on railway portion of the bridge to A B Infrabuild . Ltd.

China have the capability to build aircraft carriers. IAC-2 is expected to be bigger (65,000 tonne) and costlier than Vikrant.

India currently has two aircraft carriers, INS Vikrant, which was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kochi on September 2, and INS Vikramaditya, bought secondhand from Russia for $2.33 billion. The navy has been arguing it needs three such floating airfields to boost its sea control and power projection capabilities, and help it fulfil its growing responsibilities in the Indo-pacific.

The navy is preparing a draft cabinet note for the design and development of the indigenous twin-engine, deck-based fighter (TEDBF) that India plans to operate from its aircraft carriers, Kumar said.

“The first prototype of the TEDBF is likely to be ready around 2026, and its production could begin by 2032,” he said. The navy is working with the working with the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and Aeronautical Development Agency on the TEDBF project.

The Vikramaditya operates Russian-origin MIG-29K fighter jets and some of those are being deployed on INS Vikrant for conducting critical flight trials

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shortly. Vikrant is expected to be fully operational and integrated with its air wing by the middle of next year. Since TEDBF is still a decade away, the navy is looking at importing deck-based fighters as an interim measure.

India plans to buy 26 new fighters for Vikrant through a government-to-government deal to meet the navy’s requirements, with French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation’s Rafale-m competing with US firm Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet for the order. “Trials have been conducted on both fighters and the evaluation process is underway. We will take a call on what’s in our best interest,” the navy chief said.

India is also on course to buy Predator drones from the US for the three services, and discussions are on to finalise the numbers needed, he said. The earlier plan was to buy 30 such drones - 10 each for the navy, air force and army - in a deal estimated to be worth $3 billion.

In 2020, the navy leased a pair of MQ-9B Seaguardian drones (an unarmed variant of the Predators manufactured by General Atomics) from the US to boost its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

The MQ-9BS have helped the navy keep a close watch on the Indian Ocean at a time when it has stepped up surveillance in the region to check China’s ambitions.

Asked to comment on China’s growing footprint in the Indian Ocean region on the back of two Chinese surveillance vessels being recently sighted in the area, Kumar said the Indian Navy was keeping a close watch on the developments, and its job was to see that India’s interests in the maritime domain are protected. “Apart from the Chinese, there are a large number of extra-regional forces in the Indian Ocean region. We keep a close watch, track them, and we see no one undertakes any activity inimical to India’s interests.”

Responding to a question on eight former Indian Navy personnel held in Qatar on unspecified charges, Kumar said the highest levels of the government had raised this issue with the Qatari authorities, and he was hopeful that the matter would be resolved soon.

“Once you join the navy, you become a part of the naval family. Even after you leave, you are still a part of it,” he said. “Efforts are on to solve this problem.”

India on Thursday said it is still pursuing the case of the navy personnel even as the families of the detained men have been allowed to meet or speak to them more frequently. The men were detained on August 30, but the Qatari authorities are yet to officially state why they were held.

All eight men were working for Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a private firm owned by a retired Oman air force officer that provides training and other services to Qatar’s armed forces.

Five years later, the enquiry has found Thorat guilty of all the charges levelled against him, including knowingly and intentionally operated in an organised manner and in close coordination with the agents involved in anti-national activities and human trafficking.

He allegedly accepted money from travel agents and on their behalf, lured immigration officers with monetary benefits and got illegal clearances done for the agents and their gangs.

Investigation revealed that Thorat and the other accused illegally sent at least 43 people to various western countries on the basis of forged and duplicate passports, a police officer said. “After ascertaining his culpability in the alleged crime, he was removed from the police force last week,” the officer said.

ferent states that need to be addressed, a second official said. “The Prime Minister also pointed out that in some states, a

MGNREGA beneficiary has to work equivalent of digging a 2ft hole in the ground, whereas in some other states more labour would be required to complete a person day,” said the second official, who was also present at the meeting held in the second week of November.

Six states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh — have so far spent ₹17,814 crore out of ₹45,770 crore in wages for unskilled labour in the jobs scheme in the current financial year, according to rural development ministry data.

In other words, the six states that account for 64.5% of India’s poor population, according to the National Family Health Survey 2019-21, have utilised 38.9% of the MGNREGS funds so far this year.

Also, out of the 2,014 million person days the scheme has generated so far, 815 million, or 40.4%, was in these six states.

“This is certainly an issue to be resolved,” said the first official. “The Prime Minister was right to argue that the poverty alleviation scheme should focus on key areas.”the wage bill of UP was ₹5,157 crore on December 2, the highest among the states, followed by Tamil Nadu at ₹5,102 crore and Rajasthan’s ₹4,144 crore. The MGNREGS wage bill for Bihar was ₹4,030 crore, Chhattisgarh ₹1,061 crore,

Jharkhand ₹1,325 crore, Madhya Pradesh ₹3,397 crore and Odisha ₹2,842 crore. Former rural development secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra hailed the world’s largest job guarantee programme that provided some relief from the adverse economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in rural India. He maintained that the “better governed states usually secure a higher share of the MGNREGA fund as the scheme is demand-driven.”

“The better governed states have enough infrastructure and capacity to secure more funds from the MGNREGS, which is an open-ended, demand-driven scheme,” Mohapatra said. “Poorer states don’t have the capacity or infrastructure to demand more funds under the scheme. There are structural changes needed in the MGNREGS.”

The central government has set up a nine-member panel led by former rural development secretary Amarjeet Sinha to review the programme. The other members of the panel are professors Ashok Pankaj and Sonalde Desai, Sekhar Bonu of Niti Aayog, rural development ministry’s chief economic adviser Praveen Mahto and officials from the rural development and panchayati raj ministries, the Niti Aayog and the National Institute of Rural Development.

The issue of variation in the amount of daily work in a person day is an issue created at the state level, said the second official.

“We are aware that in certain states, beneficiaries have to work less to earn their daily wage,” he said. Mohapatra underlined that the MGNREGS law provides a broad guideline, but leaves a lot of power to the states to decide on the amount of work.other pressing issues include the quality of assets built under MGNREGS, the second official said. Mohapatra said that “the programme is focused on shortterm employment with a marginal contribution to the longterm objectives.”

“Livelihood creation, and providing additional income to farming families are the objective for the future,” he said.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING...

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