MHA is deliberating measures to simplify one of the provisions of the CAA, which requires applicants to furnish a document proving he or she is a citizen of Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan. The move comes amid several requests and concerns raised by probable beneficiaries, particularly in West Bengal, who had arrived from Bangladesh without any documents. I report with @sreeparna_c
thehindu.com/news/national/… A senior government official told The Hindu that discussions are under way to amend Schedule 1A, which mandates that any of the nine requisite documents, issued by any government agency in the three countries, be submitted for acquiring citizenship under Section 6B of CAA.

UAPA tribunal upholds MHA ban against “seven valley based Meitei extremist organisations,”outfits involved in 335 violent incidents in Manipur in the past 5 years,cadre strength around 1250, the groups operate from Myanmar and Bangladesh,says order. I ✍️
thehindu.com/news/national/… The outfits that espouse the secession of Manipur from India operate camps from Myanmar and Bangladesh to provide arms training to cadres and a safe sanctuary for procurement of arms and ammunition. The order mentions that the insurgent groups are closely linked with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) that is engaged in peace talks with the Centre since 1997.

The decades old Parliament Security Service (PSS), as old as the Constitution of India faces existential crisis in wake of CISF takeover of Parliament security. PSS recruited by Parliament, no hirings in past 10 years, fears of forced retirement at 55
thehindu.com/news/national/… Officials questioned the handing over of key functions to CISF, one of the only paramilitary forces with limited experience in interacting with the public — at airports and metro stations.

Three months after MHA and the Manipur government signed a peace agreement with one of the factions of UNLF, the oldest valley-based armed insurgent group, officials said the terms of the pact — which include monitoring of the armed cadres — are not available to the central security agencies. I ✍️
thehindu.com/news/national/… Neither has a camp been designated for holding the armed cadres nor has the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) or the State Police been nominated to monitor the movement of the cadres, a second government official said. The total number of cadres and the monthly stipend to be allocated to the cadres is also not known.

MHA,Manipur govt sign peace pact with one of the factions of UNLF, a banned Meitei insurgent outfit advocating for secession of Manipur from India.
The faction that signed the pact is led by K Pambei, the other faction led by RK Achou Singh is said to be in Myanmar.
This development comes days after a UNLF camp at Thanan in Myanmar, close to the Manipur border, was destroyed by rebel forces on November 22. The UNLF was preparing to celebrate its 59th anniversary when the camp was destroyed, and five cadres were said to have been killed by the Peoples Defence Force, an ethnic armed group in Myanmar.

On NewsClick,a government source told The Hindu that the police were investigating a “terror case that has Chinese links.” NewsClick has denied that it at behest of any Chinese entity, directly or indirectly.
In papers submitted in court, accessed by The Hindu, police accuse the NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha of holding discussions with Neville Roy Singham, an “active member of Propaganda department of Communist Party of China” to distort the map of India by projecting Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territory. Singham, an American businessman has been referred as an accused by police. Police say they recovered 4.73 lakh emails
@khabrimishra @samridhitewari and I report
Incidentally, the Delhi Police registered the FIR on August 17, days after The New York Times published a report on August 8 that the portal received money from Mr. Singham, the American businessman, to spread Chinese propaganda.

Slapped with FIR, Editors Guild of India investigated media’s coverage on ethnic conflict in Manipur after receiving a written complaint from Indian Army on July 12. Army cited specific examples of the media in Manipur suggesting that it may be playing “a major role in arousing passion and not letting sustainable peace to come in”.
In Imphal, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said at a press conference that his government had filed an FIR against the president and three members of the EGI and accused them of trying to provoke clashes in the State.

The case of three women who were disrobed and paraded in Manipur on May 4 was not an isolated crime,a 45-year-old woman living alone was stripped and set ablaze in Imphal East on May 6. Two other women were tortured and killed on May 4, FIRs show. thehindu.com/news/national/… Thianna Vaiphei Sauntak, a pastor at Pheitaiching village, told The Hindu that he had found the semi-charred body of the 45-year-old mother of two on May 7, a day after a large mob had attacked the village. He said he went there under army protection.

Around 1,000 men, some carrying sophisticated weapons, blocked the police team and snatched the five from the custody of the police, the FIR said.
One of the women was raped.The father and brother of the rape survivor were killed by the mob.I rprt #manipur thehindu.com/news/national/… More than two months after three women were stripped and paraded by a mob in violence-hit Manipur, police said they have registered a case of gang-rape and abduction, and would soon make arrests.

Manipur Police arrests nine people, including five women for the alleged murder of a Naga woman in Imphal East. The woman Lucy Maring (55),ailing from mental illness,was shot in the head, face disfigured. thehindu.com/news/national/… The United Naga Council (UNC) said in a statement that the victim was “forcefully apprehended” by a woman group and handed over to a private militia that killed her. The UNC has called for a 12-hour shutdown on Monday in all the Naga areas of Manipur to condemn the incident.

IB chief meets Kuki groups in Delhi. The Central government has assured Kuki groups that those guilty of committing violence in Manipur will face the law, political solution can only be achieved after normalcy returns in the State. I report thehindu.com/news/national/… A source who attended the meeting of the Kuki groups with IB officials said that the Centre was working on both long-term and short-term solutions. The Union government is engaged in talks with 24 Kuki insurgent groups who have been demanding a separate administration.

Cut off from Manipur, Churachandpur getting supplies from neighbouring Mizoram. A source said additional columns were moved after security forces picked up chatter from valley-based Meitei insurgent groups to damage the bridge at Sinzawl on NH102
I report
thehindu.com/news/national/… With highway blockades and the armed cadres of insurgent groups -- both Kuki and Meitei -- threatening free movement, the transport of essential supplies to various communities across the State has been endangered.

As ethnic violence and protests continue in Manipur for the past 45-days, multiple people in the government and the BJP said that President’s Rule was only a “last option” as the idea was to exhaust other available measures first. @nistula and I report thehindu.com/news/national/… Several organisations have demanded imposition of President’s Rule in the State owing to perceived and known biases in the State administration and security forces.

Nine Meitei men killed in a Kuki village in Manipur. The dead were part of a mob of nearly 3,000, some carrying sophisticated weapons, who entered Kuki villages in Kangpokpi district over the past three days and destroyed homes, a source said. thehindu.com/news/national/… The source said mobile towers were blown up and roads were blocked by women groups so that reinforcements from district headquarters in Imphal East, around 18 km away, could not reach the site over the past three days, even as the Meitei mob continued the rampage.

Assam CM meets Kuki SoO groups in Guwahati, offers them a peace plan, truce for next seven days.
Tribal man killed in Churachandpur.
After Kukis, now Meiteis, including two artistes and influential COCOMI refuse to be part of MHA’s Peace Committee. I rprt
thehindu.com/news/national/… In his meeting with the groups under SoO in Guwahati, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is learnt to have conveyed that CAPFs will be deployed in the “buffer zones” or foothills, the areas at the junction of Kuki and Meitei settlements, in the next two to three days.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann was warned by Centre that the self-styled Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh was trying to cause a communal stir in Punjab by giving provocative speeches against Christian and Hindu communities. I write thehindu.com/news/national/… Ten days before the police operation began on March 18, Central security agencies tracked five events in Amritsar, Mukhtsar, Tarn Taran, Mansa and Kapurthala districts where Mr. Singh addressed locals. Each meeting had a gathering of around 800-1000 people,a Central official said

Industry reps say that there has been a surge in requests by HNIs for residence-through-investment programmes especially for the U.S. EB-5 visa, Portugal Golden Visa. 2.25 lakh Indians renounced citizenship in 2022, highest since 2011. I report thehindu.com/news/national/… Pankaj Sharma, 50, moved to Canada in 2019. He followed his wife,Pooja Tandon,an IT professional who was first offered a role there. In 2022, the family applied for permanent residency that will make them eligible for Canadian citizenship after five years.

The anti-encroachment drive in J&K to retrieve govt land has been halted following an intervention by the MHA,a govt source told The Hindu. A J&K admin official,however,said that“geo-tagging and geo-referencing”of the retrieved land was going on.I report thehindu.com/news/national/… The official said the drive to recover public land was being done as per a 2020 order of the J&K High Court to scrap the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting Ownership to the Occupants) Act, popularly known as the Roshni Act.

Despite border tensions with China and Galwan killings, close to 80 FDI proposals from China got permission to invest in India in the past two years. In April 2020, government tweaked FDI policy for greater scrutiny of Chinese proposals. I report thehindu.com/news/national/… In reply to an RTI query by The Hindu, DPIIT said, “388 FDI proposals have been received by the Government since April 18, 2020 from countries sharing land border with India.”
The reply added, “80 proposals out of 388 were granted permission to invest.”

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 12 noon within minutes of convening at 11am. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu objected to members getting placards and other items in the House. Earlier he wished Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on the latter’s 80th birthday. AAP, Left,DMK continue protest in Rajya Sabha demanding rollback of GST and discussion on price rise. NCP,Shiv Sena members were seated, didn’t join them in the well, Priyanka Chaturvedi of SS however said that she agreed with them for a discussion on price rise.

A chance arrest on Nepal border led the police in Greater Noida to a sprawling club being run illegally by a Chinese national for the past 2 years. Xue Fei had an Indian passport, Aadhar, could sustain hours of interrogation, without any exertion. I report thehindu.com/news/national/… The local police were prepared to shut the probe as yet another case of the illegal stay of a foreigner in Delhi’s satellite town till an IPS officer, Meenakshi Katyayan, analysed the phone call records of the two suspects- Xue and his Indian friend Petekhrinuo from Nagaland