NEWS

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Centre of letting loose its agencies on her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in a coal scam case and claimed some BJP ministers were working "hand in glove" with coal mafia. She also accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to "bulldoze the federal structure" of the country and snatching away the rights of the states.

A combative TMC boss also proposed a meeting of all chief ministers to fight the Centre's "authoritarianism". "The BJP and the Union government can't fight us politically. The party was defeated in the assembly polls, and now they are using central agencies against our leaders like Abhishek Banerjee and others.

While the government has said it is open to working with an Afghanistan dispensation that is ready to protect the interests of the Afghan people, it’s unlikely to take any decision in haste on recognising the Taliban, which is seeking international recognition and legitimacy.

In a guarded response to questions on recognition for Taliban, India on Friday said the situation was still evolving and that there was no clarity on “any entity” forming the government in Kabul. India, the US and other likeminded democracies agree there’s a need for as inclusive and as representative government as possible under the circumstances in Kabul.

The responses come in the wake of bombers killing 170 people at Kabul airport on Thursday, giving rise to concerns in New Delhi and other world capitals over Afghanistan becoming a full-fledged terror hub, and raising doubts over Taliban’s control over events despite their condemning the blasts.

Uttar Pradesh is soon going to play an important role in the defence sector. In fact, there is a plan to produce the next generation of BrahMos missile in Lucknow, the capital of the state. The state government will make available land and other facilities for this. The BrahMos Aerospace will manufacture the next generation BrahMos missile at the Lucknow node of the UP Defence Corridor.

The project will provide direct employment to about 500 engineers and technicians. Apart from this, 5,000 people will get indirect employment. With the establishment of ancillary units related to the defence industry, about 10,000 people will get employment.

Dr Sudhir Kumar Mishra, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace met CM Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday. He told the Chief Minister that there is a plan to produce 100 missiles of BrahMos in Lucknow in the next three years under the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor. At present, these missiles are being manufactured in Nagpur and Hyderabad in the country.

As the US withdraws all its troops from Afghanistan, a significant amount of weapons and equipment will be left in the country by the US, Republican congressman for Indiana Jim Banks has warned. Banks, a former US Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan, was a foreign military sales officer who was on the front lines of acquiring equipment that the Americans provided and turned over to the Afghan army and police. "This is so painful to me and other Afghan veterans who served in helping the Afghans. We now know that due to the negligence of this US administration, the Taliban now has access to over $85 billion worth of American military equipment.

That includes includes 75,000 vehicles, over 200 airplanes and helicopters, and over 600,000 small arms and light weapons. The Taliban now has more Black Hawk helicopters than 85% of the countries in the world. They don’t just have weapons. They also have night-vision goggles, body armour, medical supplies," he said in a speech in Washington.