New Delhi [India], March 5 (ANI): As many as 468 Arms licenses were issued while 6,263 licenses were renewed by Delhi Police’s Licensing Unit in 2020 despite operational constraints of the COVID-19, according to Delhi Police data.
The Licensing Unit deals with the licensing of – Arms, Explosives, Hotels, Restaurants, Cinema, Press, Auditoriums, Amusement Parks and Performance Licenses among others.
It cancelled 83 arms licenses and issued 388 casual performance licenses last year. In 2020, 19 lodging licenses for guest houses and hotels were issued while 587 licenses under the same category were renewed. 17 lodging licenses for guest houses and hotels were cancelled by the unit.
The Licensing Unit issued 114 register certificates for eating houses, renewed 215 and cancelled 21 certificates.
Suvashis Choudhary, Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern Range said the Licensing Unit has emerged today as one of the important ‘Image Hub’ of Delhi police.
“In the last few years, a major reorientation of the role of Licensing Unit has been brought about within the existing statutes. The important roles and responsibilities of the Licensing Unit have been re-defined by three I’s- issuance of Licenses, Inspection of entities and Interaction with stakeholders,” he said.
The police official highlighted that continuous efforts are being made to ensure “ease of doing business” in compliance to the clarion call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a citizen-centric approach.
The Licensing Unit is a compact unit with a total strength of 196 personnel (as on December 31, 2020) and is divided into sections- Amrns & Explosives, Eating Houses, Loding Houses, Casual Performances, Cinema and Amusement, Press and Private Security Agencies and Electronic Data Processing.
Asserting that licensing process is dynamic and ever-changing, Choudhary, Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern Range said that the unit has lined up several projects in the near future including Application of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Issuance of Arms License in form of Smart Card, development of a Licensing app, digitization and achieving of physical records, redesigning of licensing unit website and Database Management System (DBMS). (ANI)

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 5 (ANI): Announcing the name of the candidates for the West Bengal Assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
The incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC) has announced the list of 291 candidates and left three seats for its ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
Addressing a press conference here, Banerjee said she will contest from Nandigram and not from the Bhowanipore constituency, from where she has been the sitting MLA since 2011.
“We are the first political party to announce the candidate list. Today, we are releasing a list of 291 candidates, which includes 50 women, 79 SCs, 17 STs and 42 Muslim candidates. On three seats of north Bengal, we are not putting up our candidates. In three seats — Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will contest the elections and whoever wins will support us,” she informed.
“I will contest from Nandigram as I stick to my words. From Bhowanipore constituency, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will be contesting in the upcoming Assembly elections,” she added.
The TMC chief said the party was not able to provide seats to many because they have to bring new candidates forward.
Suvendu Adhikari is the current MLA from Nandigram. Adhikari, once a close aide of Banerjee and TMC leader has now switched to BJP in December, last year.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes in the state will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 5 (ANI): In a shocking incident that took place recently in Maharashtra, a man allegedly killed his wife after she refused to give him money for purchasing liquor in the Shirdi Nagar area of Palghar district.
According to the information received from the senior officers of Tulinj Police Station, the incident happened on March 3 when the accused, Rupesh Morey, attacked his 30-year-old wife first with a knife and then punched her on an iron pipe.
After hearing the scream of the victim — identified as Vanita Morey — one of the neighbours Umesh Jadhav reached the spot and found her dead, lying on the floor.
Jadhav then informed the police which reached the spot. The body was then immediately sent for postmortem.
A case was registered with the Tulinj Police Station under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused and he was arrested on Thursday. (ANI)

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 5 (ANI): The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Friday released the first list of candidates for six seats in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will contest elections from the Edappadi constituency and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will contest from Bodinayakanur.
Tamil Nadu assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 6 and the counting of votes will be done on May 2.
Polls will be held for 234 seats in Tamil Nadu with the Congress-DMK and BJP-AIADMK alliance being the major groups contesting against each other.
The assembly elections in the southern state are important for the national as well as the regional political parties.(ANI)

By Ajit K Dubey
New Delhi [India], March 5 (ANI): Advanced bulletproof jackets capable of stopping sniper bullets, microcopters and powerful electronic jammers are a few of the innovations done by the in-house innovators of the three defence forces which would be showcased to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Combined Commanders’ conference at Kevadia in Gujarat on Saturday.
The Combined Commanders’ Conference is being held in Kevadia with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence General Bipin Rawat and the three services chiefs being the main participants.
“The in-house innovators of the three services have been called to showcase the products developed by them to the Prime Minister to show the work being done by the forces to promote Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the defence sector,” government sources told ANI.
The products include bullet-proof jackets, microcopters and strong electronic jammers and remotely operated vessels which have been fully developed and designed by in house officers along with chosen start-up firms, they said.
At the suggestion of the Prime Minister’s Office, jawans have also been included in the elite conference.
Both serving Param Vir Chakra awardees including Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav and Subedar Sanjay Kumar are also present in Kevadia.
The Combined Commanders’ Conference till now involved only Commander-in-Chief rank officers who, along with their respective Services chiefs, would be addressed by the Prime Minister and given directives on dealing with the security challenges perceived by the government.
After PM Modi’s first address in 2014 at the South Block, the conference has been held on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and Jodhpur air-base.
This time, it is being held in the Kevadia town of Gujarat in front of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel’s Statue of Unity where the top brass of the military would be staying in tents for the duration of the conference. (ANI)

By Siddharth Sharma
New Delhi [India], March 5 (ANI): After Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s “successful” visit in Assam, the Congress state unit has asked for another round of campaign ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.
During Priyanka’s visit to Assam, there was a lot of discussion about meeting tea garden labourers, especially women labourers. In a report sent to the central leadership of the party, the State Congress Committee has now asked for another visit from Priyanka.
The Pradesh Congress Committee, while terming Priyanka’s visit as “very successful” in a report, has said that her campaign may change the picture in the upcoming state assembly elections slated to take place between March 27 to April 6 in three phases.
According to information received from sources, this demand has also reached the 49-year-old and she has asked her colleagues to finalise the dates for her second tour to Assam.
According to Congress sources, even though Priyanka is currently focussed on Assam, there has been a demand that she should campaign in other poll-bound states as well.
Significantly, for decades, whether it is Lok Sabha elections or elections in the states, only Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been leading the election campaign of the Congress. Priyanka has confined herself to Amethi and Rae Bareli where she would manage her mother and her brother’s Lok Sabha constituencies.
After being appointed as the general secretary and given charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka is active in the entire state, but after going to Assam, she indicated that she is ready to campaign across the country at the behest of the party.
The interim president of the party in five states, Sonia, is unlikely to campaign or address rallies in these elections. However, the party says that she would use the means of digital and social media to spread her voice to the people of the five electoral states and will also appeal for votes through video messages.
Meanwhile, Rahul has been campaigning in other electoral states like Kerala, Karnataka, and Assam. (ANI)