FREE PRESS - VOL. XXXIX NO. 7 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 15, 2022 | PAGES 14 RNI No. 38281/83 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; PM’s JOSH, YOUR ‘JAZBA’ WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE FOR 24X7 UPDATES EDIT BULLDOZERS: AN EYE FOR AN EYE? BREAKING OUT OF THE NEGATIVE SPACE Pg-14 45,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors to be hired on contract, 25% will be retained, others cycled out after 4 years; will help prune armed forces’ salary/pension bill OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Centre on Tuesday unveiled a "transformative" Agnipath scheme aimed at enhancing the youthful profile of the armed forces and trimming their burgeoning salary and pension bills. Under this scheme, there will be recruitment of 45,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors on a short-term contractual basis for a period of four years. They will be between 17.5 and 21 years of age. You are first choice, Didi tells Pawar SANJAY JOG Mumbai Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, on Tuesday, during his meeting with the Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief minis- ter, reiterated that he is not the opposition’s candidate for Presidential election. However, Pawar, who was accompanied by his confidant and party MP Praful Patel, made a strong case for opposition and likeminded parties to come together and bury the hatchets to put up a strong and candidate formidable . against the BJP As reported by the Free Pawar Journal, Press pulled out from the race despite the Congress, the TMC, the AAP and the Shiv Sena backing his name as Opposition candidate. Tuesday’s interaction between Pawar and Banerjee took place ahead of a meeting convened by the Trinamool Congress chief on June 15 to take forward the discussion on the joint candidate. News Brief Monsoon session likely from July 18 The Monsoon session of Parliament is likely to commence from July 18, the day presidential poll will be held, and could conclude on August 12. Besides the presidential poll, the election for vicepresident's post, will also be held during the session. The term of the vice president, who is also Chairman of Rajya Sabha, ends on August 10. Neeraj Chopra sets nat'l record Ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra set a new national record as he threw 89.30 metres at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. Chopra's earlier national record was 88.07m which he had set in Patiala in March last year. He had won the Tokyo Olympics gold with a throw of 87.58m on August 7, 2021. These recruits, to be called 'Agniveers', will receive extensive training for six months and serve in harsh conditions. The recruitment is set to kick within 90 days and the first batch will be ready by July 2023. During this period, they will be paid a monthly salary between of Rs 30,000- Rs 40,000 plus allowances. After four years, only 25 per cent of these soldiers will be retained and they will join the regular cadre and go on to serve for a full 15 years in non-officer rank positions. The remaining will exit the services with a package between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, but they will not be eligible for pension benefits. CONTD. ON P6 BJP RELEASES LIST OF 13 MAYORAL CANDIDATES Bhargav vs Shukla in Indore? Fails to finalise names for Indore, Gwalior and Ratlam; 7 women figure in the list OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit announced its list of candidates for mayoral election in the state. However, the party leadership could not reach consensus on candidates for Indore, Gwalior and Ratlam, which are yet to be announced, according to the state BJP general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani. As many as seven woman candidates figure in the list of 13 candidates. Malti Rai is the party nominee from Bhopal. Declaration of her and 12 other party leaders’ candidature was preceded by a number of brainstorming sessions till Tuesday morning at the state BJP OUR STAFF REPORTER city.indore@fpj.co.in In all likelihood, it will be a contest between the BJP's Pushyamitra Bhargav and Sanjay Shukla of Congress in the mayoral election in Indore. After a dramatic turn of , events, the BJP on Tuesday, 'finalised' Bhargav, who is currently additional advocate-general, as its candidate for the mayoral elections from Indore. However, official announcement is yet to be office, chaired by the state BJP president VD Sharma and attended by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan among others. HEAVY RAINS BRING FLOODED GUWAHATI TO STANDSTILL Rickshaw-pullers wade through a flooded street after rains in Guwahati on Tuesday made. Party sources said that his name as candidate would be announced after he resigns as additional advocate general (a government position) on Wednesday. State party chief VD Sharma is said to have played a key role in ensuring that Bhargav gets the ticket. Earlier, during the day, names of different leaders from Indore were doing the rounds with each one of them having the backing of one or the other member in the BJP's core committee. CONTD. ON P6 Out of the13 candidates whose names were announced on Tuesday, there are seven women candidates. CONTD. ON P6 China lifts 2-yr Covid visa ban on Indians BEIJING: China has announced plans to provide visas to Indian professionals and their families stranded in India for over two years following the strict visa restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Separately, China is also processing requests of thousands of Indian students studying in Chinese universities who have conveyed their interest to rejoin their colleges and universities. After defacing websites nationwide, a Malaysia-based group of hackers has trained its sights on the official website of the BJP OPERATION HACKING ON GAUTAM S MENGLE Mumbai The nationwide hacking and defacement of Indian websites led by a Malaysiabased hacker group is just one part of a massive cyber attack aimed at India. The Free Press has learned that the same group of hackers attacked already has scores of bank accounts as well as Facebook accounts and has now trained its sights on the official website of the Bharatiya Jana. ta Party Since Monday, hundreds of Indian websites, both government and private, have been hacked and the home pages have been replaced by a message, stating that this is retaliation BJP suspended for spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s recent derogatory comments on Islam. Indian cybercrime agencies have been working overtime to restore the hacked websites, which include at least one embassy website and one police commissionerate in Maharashtra. A deeper investigation into the matter, however, indicates that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Cybersecurity agencies, both government and civilian, have been conducting repeated sweeps of the dark web to monitor chatter about the cyber attack and have made some alarming findings. According to investigations conducted so far, the cyber attack is being a by spearheaded Malaysia-based pro-Palestine hacker group called DragonForce. The group is a self-styled ‘hacktivist’ group, which means that they claim to be involved in activism through hacking. hacktivist Typically, groups target governments that are opposed to their ideologies. Investigation has revealed that the first call to attack India in cyberspace went out on June 10, where DragonForce appealed to all Muslim hackers around the world to attack Indian government websites. The operation was dubbed ‘OpsPatuk’, ‘patuk’ being the Malay word for ‘strike back’. CONTD. ON P6 EOW finds Rs 2.25-cr assets at IMC babu's house BOOKED IN disproportionate assets case OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore A Economic Offence Wing team on Tuesday morning swooped down on the , house of Mukesh Pandey a personal assistant of IMC's EOW raid at the house of Mukesh Pandey (inset) in Indore on Tuesday additional commissioner Bhavya Mittal and unearthed cash, jewellery and other assets worth Rs 2.25 cr, which is disproportionate to his known sources of income. He has been working in the IMC for the past 26 years in various capacities. The team of EOW led by SP (EOW) Dhananjay Shah landed at his house in Scheme Number 51A in Sangam Nagar, early in the morning. The team also raided his office in the IMC building. CONTD. ON P6 `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 35.20c. 23.40c Sunrise : 05.42 Sunset : 07.13 JOBS FOR 10 LAKH IN 1.5 YRS Prime Minister Narender Modi has asked various government departments and ministries to undertake the recruitment of 10 lakh people on a "mission mode" in the next year and a half, his office said on Tuesday. The direction came following a review of the status of human resources in all government departments and ministries, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said. The government's decision comes amid Opposition's frequent criticism of it on the issue of unemployment. CONTD. ON P6 Fastest annual rise in WPI inflation in more than 30 years FP DESK New Delhi Wholesale price-based index surged to a record high of , 15.88 per cent in May stoked by high global energy and raw material prices combined with a weak rupee. , Significantly this was the fastest annual rise in India's wholesale prices in more than 30 years, raising expectations for yet another interest rate intervention by the RBI. The WPI-based inflation maintained its upward trajectory for the third month in a row, and remained in double digits for the 14th consecutive month since April last year. It was also, according to economists, the highest since August 1991. 3 MLAs join BJP; CM calls it proud moment for party OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Three MLAs – SP’s Rajesh Shukla, Sanjeev BSP's Kushwaha and Independent MLA Rana Vikram Singh-- joined BJP on Tues. day Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state-in-charge Murlidhar Rao, organisational general secretary Hitanand Sharma, State president VD Sharma were also present on this occasion. BJP state president VD Sharma said that today is a . proud day for the BJP Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the country and the state are setting new stages of development, party national president JP Nadda said. The party is also expanding continuously under the guidance of Nadda and state in-charge Murlidhar Rao. Impressed by this development journey of the , BJP three such MLAs are joining the party who have , been politically and socially active in their respective areas and are powerful, VD added. Singh Shivraj CM Chouhan said that the country is progressing continuously under the leadership of PM Modi. CONTD. ON P6