Sachin Tendulkar was the guest of honour at the grand inauguration of the newly renovated Shivaji Park Gymkhana along with MNS chief chief Raj Thackeray.
The tree, about seven years old, will be transplanted near the Prerna Sthal, which houses the statues of national icons and freedom fighters that were earlier at different places on the premises.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate phase one of the Navi Mumbai International Airport and the final phase of Mumbai Metro Line-3 during his two-day Maharashtra visit. He will also launch Mumbai One, India's first integrated common mobility app.
Special Protection Group (SPG) director Arun Kumar Sinha died in a Gurugram hospital on Wednesday. He was 61.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has announced the formation of a special CoBRA battalion for counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir. This decision comes 17 years after the jungle warfare unit was established to combat Naxal insurgency. The new battalion, directed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will be deployed in forested areas of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Jammu region, where recent terrorist incidents have occurred. CoBRA units are known for their specialized jungle warfare and guerilla tactics training, and the new battalion will be equipped with modern weaponry, communication, and surveillance equipment.
On another occasion, he recalled, as part of the SPG, he was tasked with the security of the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and assigned the responsibility of escorting Tata from Taj Mansingh Hotel in New Delhi.
The 3,000-strong force, plus its highly trained dog squad, is responsible solely for the protection of one person: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.
Singh's humility and grounded nature were highlighted in a heartfelt social media memoir by Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Social Welfare (Independent Charge) Asim Arun.
The Gandhi family will now get 'Z+' security by the Central Reserve Police Force on an all-India basis.
She also said the country's economy is in a "bad state" and there is a "severe slowdown", to which the Congress has been drawing the government's attention, and the Centre must do something about it.
'...spent 1/10th of his time at 24, Akbar Road...' 'He would have met thousands of party workers and ordinary Congress supporters who have love for the party.' 'Left of Centre intellectuals have shaped Rahul's values, but he lacks earthiness.'
The Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday allocated Rs 2,33,210.68 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs with the majority of the fund -- Rs 1,60,391.06 crore -- being given to central police forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which are responsible for internal security, border guarding and security of vital installations.
SPG Act tweaked to ensure that commandoes accompany protectees overseas as well.
With the removal of Singh's SPG cover, the top notch security cover will now be given only to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gandhi family -- Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka.
The car drove right up to the porch near the garden at her home with three men, three women and a girl coming out of the vehicle, sources said.
Under SPG protection, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were using Range Rovers.
Chowdhury said the family faces threat to life and the cover by the elite security organisation should not have been withdrawn.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the provisions of the Special Protection Group Act and contents of the Blue Book are "comprehensive" in ensuring proximate security of the prime minister and other SPG protectees, and any lapse in following these can lead to "devastating and serious consequences".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were among the top leaders who paid homage to former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his home in New Delhi on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now the only person to be protected by the about-4,000-personnel-strong SPG.
'If there is a vulnerable family anywhere in the world, it is the Gandhis,' notes Aakar Patel.
According to official sources, family members of former prime ministers will not be guarded by the elite SPG commandos, as per the amendments approved by the Union cabinet.
Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday broke away from her SPG security cordon and went ahead for campaigning in Tiloi in the district without security cover of the elite protection agency.
With the Special Protection Group (SPG) planning to have its own aircraft, the government has increased the elite force's budgetary allocation by 28 per cent for the next fiscal.
Besides the police and fire force personnel, volunteers of various service and youth outfits, survivors of the landslides and kin of the victims also became part of the search operations.
"We urge the government that the issue of security of our leaders has to be beyond partisan political considerations," said Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.
In the Union Budget for 2021-22 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, the force received Rs 429.05 crore, an increase of Rs 2.78 crore (or 0.65 per cent hike) from the last budget.
"Be it Delhi or Maharashtra, the atmosphere should be fear-free. It is the responsibility of the rulers to create such an atmosphere that those in public life can work fearlessly. There is no objection to withdrawing the security cover when such atmosphere prevails," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
The Union government has ordered the complete withdrawal of the counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties and handing over its nine "high-risk" VIPs to the CRPF by next month, official sources said Wednesday.
They may not have shared the same roof over their heads for decades now, but even as Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi prepares to move to Delhi from Gujarat, his wife Jashodaben could find herself under the same security cover as her husband.
Donald Trump survived an attempt on his life when a young gunman fired multiple shots at the former US president at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, injuring his right ear.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled up a Special Protection Group commando on Thursday for coming in the way of television cameras.
Rajasthan Spg & Wvg Mills Ltd said it decided to acquire HEG Ltds Rishabhdev Textiles.
NSG commandos, who guard some of the most high-risk VVIPs in the country, are set to sharpen their skills in this domain with the elite force asking the Special Protection Group to audit its performance and share expertise in better securing its protectees.
Prasad, a 1981 batch IPS officer who is at present posted as Additional Director General of Police (Sports) in AP, has however no previous experience in the SPG, a force which was primarily created to guard the Prime Minister of the country and their immediate family members.
The interim budget 2024-25 on Thursday allocated Rs 202868.70 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with the highest share of funds going to the paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Secular Force (CISF), showing priority on internal security and border guarding.
Indian Police Services officer K Durga Prasad will no longer hold the charge of chief of the elite Special Protection Group.
"I know the concerns of security. I don't need the permission of SPG or SP to meet people," Gandhi told media persons shortly after the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha by Biju Janata Dal member Braj Kishore Tripathi. Tripathi said the Orissa government had been put in a 'difficult situation' as Gandhi, who has Z-Plus security, had left the NALCO Guest House in Naxal-infested Koraput for some 'undisclosed destination' for four hours at night on March 7 without informing.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
Rahul is scheduled to address a rally of the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance on Tuesday at Karaikal in Puducherry.
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