National Handloom Day: Union Minister Pradhan Bats For "Empowering Handloom Artisans With Pride"

According to sources, as many as four teams comprising ornithologists and wildlife personnel of the park are on the job to conduct the headcount of the avian species.

Besides the core area of the national park, peripheral wetland sites like Satabhaya and Barunei are also being taken up for the census programme.

Lack of human interference, ideal climatic conditions, cool breeze and the river system here have emerged to the liking of these delicate chirpy-winged species.

 Over a dozen types of local residential birds congregate at the heronries in and around the national park for nesting and breeding every year.

The species are open bill stork, little cormorant, intermediary egret, large egret, little egret, purple heron, grey heron, night heron, darter, white ibis and cattle egret, the forest officials said.

According to official sources, an estimated 1,23,867 monsoon birds were sighted, and 26,118 nests were recorded by the forest teams during the last year's census, which took place from September 3 to 8 in four locations in and around Bhitarkanika National Park.

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These radicals, the NIA mentions, were Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha. Both the accused were absconding since 2020, after the Al-Hind module was busted. They were arrested from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram cafe explosion.

The NIA investigations revealed that Shazib was the man who had planted the bomb.

"Both Shazib and Taaha, hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals and had earlier conspired to do Hijrah to ISIS territories in Syria. They were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youth to the ISIS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth," said the NIA in a statement after filing a chargesheet against four accused on Monday.

Besides Shazib and Taaha, the other two accused are named as Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef. They have been charged under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Unlawful Actiities (Prevention) Act, Explosive Substances Act and Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property (PDLP) Act. All four were earlier arrested and are currently in judicial custody in the case.

The IED explosion, which took place on March 1 this year at the Rameshwaram Cafe, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru, had left nine persons injured and extensively damaged the hotel property.

The NIA, which started investigation in the case on March 3, further said that Taaha and Shazib had fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web.

Investigations further revealed that Taaha had been introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the Lashkar-e-Taiba Bengaluru conspiracy case. "Taaha then introduced Faisal, his handler, to Mehaboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of ISIS South India, and later also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed," said the NIA.

NIA said that Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through crypto currencies, which Taaha converted to Fiat with the help of various Telegram-based P2P platforms.

"The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru,

These included a failed IED attack at the state BJP Office, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, after which the two key accused had planned the Rameshwaram cafe blast," added the agency. (ANI)

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PM Modi's call comes as the deadline for nominations approaches on September 15.

Over the last decade, we have honoured countless grassroots level heroes with the #PeoplesPadma. The life journeys of the awardees have motivated countless people. Their grit and tenacity are clearly visible in their rich work. In the spirit of making the system more transparent… — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 9, 2024

In a post on X, the Prime Minister said, "Over the last decade, we have honoured countless grassroots level heroes with the #PeoplesPadma. The life journeys of the awardees have motivated countless people. Their grit and tenacity are clearly visible in their rich work."

PM Modi said that the central government has brought in the initiative of public nomination in a bid to make the system more transparent and participative.

"In the spirit of making the system more transparent and participative, our Government has been inviting the people to nominate others for various Padma awards. I am happy that several nominations have come," he said.

"The last day to nominate is the 15th of this month. I urge more people to nominate inspiring personalities for the Padma Awards," PM Modi mentioned in the post.

As per an MHA release, The online nominations for the Padma Awards 2025 to be announced on the occasion of Republic Day, 2025 began on May 1, 2024. The nominations for Padma Awards will be received online on the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal.

The Padma Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, are amongst the highest civilian awards of the country. Instituted in 1954, these Awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. The award seeks to recognise 'work of distinction' and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements/service in all fields/disciplines, such as, art, literature and education, sports, medicine, social work, science and engineering, public affairs, civil service, trade industry, etc.

All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these Awards. Government servants, including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for Padma Awards.

The release mentioned that the Government is committed to transforming Padma Awards into "People's Padma," and so all citizens are, therefore, requested to make nominations, including self-nomination. (ANI)

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