Ministry of Home Affairs – Artifex.News

Rashtriya Raksha University in Shivamogga offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:10:00 +0000

Kaveri Tandon, campus director of Rashtriya Raksha University in Shivamogga, addressing a press conference here recently.
| Photo Credit: S.K. Dinesh

The Shivamogga campus of Rashtriya Raksha University has announced admissions to academic programmes for the year 2026–27. The eligible students can apply for undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the university, which is an Institution of National Importance that functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Kaveri Tandon, campus director, at a press conference in Shivamogga recently, stated that the Shivamogga campus has been offering two undergraduate courses, namely Bachelor of Arts in Security Management and Bachelor of Arts/Science in Defence and Strategic Studies.

Published – April 13, 2026 07:40 pm IST

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End the speculation, release the AI 171 crash report

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 18:46:00 +0000

The credibility of Indian aviation is already suspect. By whitewashing an accident report, it will only add to the perception’
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

On June 12, 2025, 241 passengers on board Air India AI 171, perished in a fiery crash just after takeoff at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. There was one survivor passenger. Nineteen persons on the ground lost their lives, making it the first crash of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner since its introduction into commercial aviation. There are over 1,175 Dreamliners flying with various airlines, operating an average of 12 hours a day. Since the crash, Dreamliners have flown more than two million hours without a single engine failure during take-off. In the history of airline operations, there have been very rare instances of a dual engine failure on take-off. The accident involving a UPS MD-11, on November 4, 2025, is one, which was due to engine separation. After this crash, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released relevant information with daily briefings — something that never happens in India.

Ever since the crash, the electronic media and social media YouTubers have been spreading far-fetched theories to create an atmosphere of fear and also question the safety standards of the Boeing 787. What is being spread is a diversion from the truth and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India, has played into their hands by delaying the release of the final investigation report. The promise of there being a “Transparent” report as soon as possible, which the Aviation Minister announced on the day after the crash, appears to be another statement which has been swept under the carpet — as is the norm for all the aviation accident reports in India.

Here is the chronology. The crash happened on the afternoon of June 12 , 2025. According to the ANI report, one of the flight recorders was recovered on June 13, 2025 from the roof top of a building where the plane crashed. The second flight recorder was recovered from the debris on June 16, 2025. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) lab in Delhi downloaded and accessed the data by June 25, 2025. The AAIB’s preliminary report was released on July 12, 2025. But this report was sketchy and only created more questions than it answered.

‘Threat perception’, a mysterious order

What has not drawn the attention of many is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order, based on threat perception identified by intelligence agencies, in providing the Chief of the AAIB with ‘X Category Commando protection’ on a 24X7 basis. This writer has been following air accident investigations of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB)-United Kingdom since 1973 and has never come across an accident investigator requiring commando protection. This order was effective from June 16, just three days after the first flight recorder was recovered. It appears that the MHA and the MoCA were aware of facts which are not being revealed to the public.

The weird theories being floated around and the wild speculations could have been avoided had the Aviation Ministry been transparent with the crash findings. All that it required was a straightforward release of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) readouts of AI 171, from the commencement of take-off roll to the time of crash, when the recording stops — a mere one minute and 40 seconds. A cryptic sentence in the preliminary accident report, “Why did you do that… I did not do that” — of a conversation between the pilots — only added to all the wild theories.

What the data would show

From the preliminary report, it was established that the copilot was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring (doing copilot duties). Air India procedure mandates that the captain handles the thrust levers until the takeoff decision speed is attained. The copilot handles the controls. At this speed’s call (autocall), the captain will remove his hands from the thrust levers. Based on the preliminary report, there should have been the following calls recorded on the CVR: at the rotation speed of 155 kts (08:08:35 in the report), the call should have been ‘Rotate’. The report mentions that the lift-off was at 08:08:39 and there should have been a ‘Positive Rate call’ when the altimeter shows an increase in height. This call will be by the captain who was the pilot monitoring. The preliminary report follows up with a statement that the No.1 Fuel Control Switch and No. 2 Fuel control switch transitioned to cut-off in two seconds, one after the other. This shut off the fuel supply to the engines — the fuel shut off valves will close and the engines will be starved of fuel supply.

A cardinal rule in flying is that in the event of a major emergency, it is the captain who should take over the controls from the copilot, with the copilot reverting to pilot monitoring duties and carrying out the non-normal checklist that the captain would call out. In the crash of AI 171, the immediate call of the captain at 08:08:44 — when the two engines shut down — should have been “My Controls” and the immediate response of the copilot would have been “Your Controls”. Were these calls recorded on the CVR? The AAIB has an experienced Boeing 787 examiner pilot in its team who would have identified this had the mandatory call outs and procedures been followed. If they were, the assumption that the engines shut down due to ‘an electrical power failure’ or ‘software failure’ (which are the theories and speculation on social media) can be considered to be a factor in the accident. The Boeing 787’s fuel control switches cannot move due to a software or an electrical power glitch. They are spring-loaded switches that have to be physically lifted off the ‘Run’ gate, moved aft and dropped into the ‘Cut-off’ gate. The movement towards ‘Run’ to restart the engines has to follow the same procedure which is to lift the switch off the ‘Cut-off’ gate, moved forward and dropped into the ‘Run’ gate. The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), as well as the area mike of the CVR (which will record all the ambient sounds in the cockpit) will clearly record this. The Boeing 787 examiner would be aware of this, would have listened to the CVR, and would have gone through the DFDR readouts.

The DFDR would also record every control column movement and control deflections. It can be easily identified who was handling the controls during the take-off and the segment after the engine failures. What readers should know is the systems that work and what will not work in the cockpit instrument presentations. While the limited power supply from the battery and the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) limits the supply only to essential items such as the captain’s instrument panel, and engine fire protection, to name a few — as an example — the instrument panel in front of the copilot goes blank. This is one of the major reasons why the captain must take over the controls immediately as the copilot will not have anything available in front of him. If the CVR did not indicate the positive takeover of controls by the captain, the facts become very evident. Is this the reason why the Ministry of Home Affairs Intelligence considered there was a threat perception to the AAIB chief?

The damage being caused

It does not take more than 100 days to identify the facts and release a transparent report. The credibility of Indian aviation is already suspect. By whitewashing an accident report, it will only add to the perception. The NTSB, the AAIB-U.K., and Boeing are aware of the DFDR and CVR readouts. The U.S Federal Aviation Administration and aviation regulators in the countries where Boeing 787s are flown, have all cleared the aircraft. The MoCA would do well to change the impression that there was an ‘electrical/software issue’ that caused the accident and release the investigation report immediately. The longer the Ministry delays this, the greater the danger of pilots being stressed and preoccupied with their mind anticipating this danger instead of being 100 per cent in the cockpit.

Lone survivor of Ahmedabad plane crash recalls horror

Captain A. (Mohan) Ranganathan is a former airline instructor pilot and aviation safety adviser. He is also a former member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC), India

Published – November 10, 2025 12:16 am IST

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DoT directs telcos to block 28,200 mobile handsets, re-verify 20 lakh mobile numbers

admin — Fri, 10 May 2024 13:12:36 +0000

Image used for representation purpose only.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed telecom operators to block 28,200 mobile handsets and carry out immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections for their alleged link with cyber crimes, according to an official statement on May 10.

DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and State police have joined hands for curbing the misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds and aim to dismantle networks of fraudsters and protect citizens from digital threats, it said.

“Analysis carried out by MHA and state police has revealed that 28,200 mobile handsets were misused in cybercrimes. The DoT further analysed and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used with these mobile handsets.

“Subsequently, DoT issued directions to telecom service providers for pan India blocking of 28,200 mobile handsets and to carry out immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these mobile handsets and disconnect failing re-verification,” the statement said.

The DoT launched Chakshu portal two months ago to handle telecom fraud-related grievances.

Since the launch of the portal, the department has blacklisted 52 entities involved in sending malicious and phishing SMSes, blocked 348 mobile handsets across the country, and flagged 10,834 suspected mobile numbers for re-verification.

Besides, DoT has blocked 1.58 lakh unique mobile device identification number IMEI due to involvement in cyber crimes and financial frauds or mobile connections taken on fake or forged documents.

Till April 30 this year, DoT disconnected 1.66 crore mobile connections, of which 30.14 lakh were disconnected based on users’ feedback and 53.78 lakh for exceeding individual limit to buy new SIM cards, as per official data.

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Budget for Census slashed, population count may not take place in first quarter

admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:43:54 +0000

The allocation for Census Survey and Statistics has been slashed to ₹1,277.80 crore from ₹1,546.65 crore in 2023-24, a further indication that the Census exercise, which was to be initially completed in 2021, is not planned in the first quarter of the fiscal. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Union Home Ministry has been allocated ₹2.02-lakh crore in the Interim Budget, a marginal increase of 1.4% over the Revised Estimates for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

The allocation for the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS), which will enable the implementation of the three criminal laws, has been increased. The allocation for the CCTNS has been increased to ₹520 crore from ₹221 crore in 2023-24. The allocation for the I4C has been increased to ₹150 crore from ₹94 crore.

Also read: Budget 2024 updates

A sum of ₹1.32 lakh crore has been allocated for the police, which includes the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been allocated ₹37, 277.74 crore

Ladakh got ₹5,958 crore, Andaman and Nicobar Islands ₹5,866.37 crore, Chandigarh ₹5,862.62 crore, Puducherry ₹3,269 crore, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu ₹2,648.97 crore, Lakshadweep ₹1,490.10 crore and Delhi ₹1,168.01 crore.

A sum of ₹1,248.91 crore has been given to the Cabinet under which the expenditure on the Council of Ministers, Cabinet Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, and hospitality and entertainment of the government come.

While the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been allocated ₹3,195.09 crore (₹3,268.94 crore in 2023-24), the Delhi Police has been given ₹11,177.50 crore (₹11,940.33 crore in 2023-24), and the Special Protection Group (SPG) ₹506.32 crore (₹446.83 crore in 2023-24).

The Budget allocated ₹3,199.62 crore for security-related expenditure and Special Infrastructure Scheme for Left Wing Extremist Areas, ₹335 crore for Border Area Development Programme, ₹214.44 crore for safe city projects, and ₹330 crore for the Land Ports Authority of India.

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Budget for Census slashed, population count may not take place in first quarter

admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:59:48 +0000

The Union Home Ministry has been allocated ₹2.02-lakh crore in the Interim Budget, a marginal increase of 1.4% over the Revised Estimates for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Also read: Budget 2024 updates

A sum of ₹1.32 lakh crore has been allocated for the police, which includes the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been allocated ₹37, 277.74 crore

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Morning Digest | Fourth flight with 274 Indians flies out from Israel; India will bid to host 2036 Olympics, PM Modi confirms, and more

admin — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 02:37:32 +0000

Indian nationals evacuated from war-hit Israel arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport as part of ‘Operation Ajay’, in New Delhi on October 14, 2023.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Fourth flight with 274 Indian nationals flies out from Israel

A special flight carrying 274 Indian nationals wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict left for home on Saturday, the second in a day and fourth since the launch of ‘Operation Ajay’.

The Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv earlier earlier announced that two special flights will operate from Ben Gurion airport on Saturday.

Shadow from fallen Sikkim dam falls on India’s hydroelectric projects in Bhutan

The Chungthang dam of Sikkim Urja Limited’s 1,200 MW Teesta-III hydroelectric project on river Teesta gave way on October 4, contributing to the death of at least 94 people in the downstream areas of Sikkim and West Bengal. The devastation has refreshed worries over two of three India-assisted, under-construction mega hydropower projects in Bhutan — the 1,200 MW Punatsangchhu Stage-I (Puna-I) and the 1,020 MW Punatsangchhu Stage-II (Puna-II). These projects, along with the 660 MW Kholongchu, are estimated to cost ₹21,637.28 crore, funded by India, benefiting States in northern and eastern India.

India will bid to host 2036 Olympics, PM Modi confirms

India aspires to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed on Saturday. The country is enthusiastic about organising the quadrennial global sports extravaganza and is fully committed to making this dream a reality, he said.

If its bid is successful, India will become only the fourth Asian country to host the Games.

ICC World Cup: IND vs PAK | Rohit Sharma and bowlers make it 8-0 for India in ODI World Cups against Pakistan

Like fireflies dancing on a surreal night, fans held aloft their cellphones, switched on the torchlights and swayed. The surreal moment at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, summed up the state of the much-anticipated World Cup match between India and Pakistan.

Rohit Sharma’s men were on the ascendant and stayed that way right through with the skipper leading from the front. Chasing Pakistan’s 191, India scored 192 for three in 30.3 overs and registered a seven-wicket victory. The Men in Blue found their batting and bowling arms in sync, and Pakistan capitulated.

Modi government failed to mitigate problems faced by women: Sonia Gandhi

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that instead of mitigating the problems faced by women, the past nine years had seen a sustained effort by the Modi government to turn women purely into symbols, to be counted and appreciated only in their restricted traditional roles in a patriarchal framework.

Addressing the Women’s Right Conference organised here by DMK MP K. Kanimozhi to commemorate the birth centenary of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Ms. Gandhi said that just as in every other frontier of rights, freedoms, equity, and equality, even among women, all the remarkable gains of the past 70 years had disappeared.

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case | Freed convict Santhan wants to return home

Santhan alias Suthenthiraraja, one of the seven life convicts granted premature release in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has requested the Sri Lankan President to help him return to the island nation and live there with his aged mother.

MHA data shows nearly half of fresh FCRA registrations under the religious category are for Christian NGOs

Over the past nine years, of the 407 non-government organisations (NGOs) that got the Centre’s nod to receive foreign funds for religious purposes, 194 showed they ran Christian programmes, according to data available with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

However, there are several NGOs that have not listed religion as at least one of their purposes, but are perceived to be working in that space. For instance, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is registered as a social organisation in Maharashtra and a religious one in Delhi.

Skygazers watch ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse over Western Hemisphere

Skygazers across the Americas turned their faces upwards Saturday for a rare celestial event: an annular solar eclipse. A crowd of people wearing protective eyewear gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of many across the western United States watching as the Moon passed between the Sun and Earth at its furthest point from our planet.

Manipur court issues arrest warrant against Meitei Leepun chief Pramot Singh

A court in Manipur has issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest and production of Meitei Leepun chief Pramot Singh in a case registered against him by the Churachandpur police in June for allegedly promoting enmity between communities and making statements prejudicial to national integration.

LJP factions battle for Hajipur seat in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

The intra-family war of words over the Hajipur (reserved) Lok Sabha seat is getting shriller by the day. Just two days after Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan said that it would be easier to win if his mother Reena Paswan contested from the seat, his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras countered on Saturday, saying that if Mr. Paswan wanted to field his mother from the Hajipur seat, he too would put up someone from his family to contest the Jamui (reserved) parliamentary seat. Mr. Paswan is the MP from Jamui.

Red Fort to host India’s maiden art, architecture and design biennale

Come December, the national capital’s iconic Red Fort will house for a week the replicas of some landmark Indian buildings and structures, including the new Indian Parliament, Tamil Nadu’s Velankanni Railway Station, and Srinagar’s Shalimar Bagh as part of the country’s maiden art, architecture and design biennale.

Will intensify stir if Maratha quota is not announced by Oct 24, says activist Jarange Patil

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Saturday threatened to intensify his agitation after October 24 if the Maharashtra government fails to provide reservation to the community in jobs and education.

Addressing a massive gathering at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, he said that after October 24, it would be either his “funeral procession or the Maratha community’s victory celebration”.

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Budget 2023 | Marginal hike in funds for Home Ministry, allocation for Census slashed by half

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 11:32:14 +0000

File photo of officials collecting data as part of Census in 2011.
| Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

In an indication that the census exercise — meant to be completed in 2021, but delayed because of COVID-19 — may not be conducted in 2023-24, the Union Budget allocation for the Census Survey and Statistics head has been slashed to ₹1,565 crore from the ₹3,676 crore allocated in 2022-23. The last census was held in 2011.

Overall, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been allocated ₹1.96 lakh crore in the Budget 2023-24, a 5% hike from the almost ₹1.86 lakh crore allotted to it in the current fiscal.

In her Budget speech on Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that States must spend the entire fifty-year loan given to them on capital expenditure within the 2023-24 financial year. Parts of the outlay will also be linked to, or allocated for scrapping old government vehicles and housing for police personnel above or as part of police stations, she said.

Intelligence database funding up

The allocation for the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has been more than doubled, growing a whopping 128% from ₹87.77 crore in 2022-23 to ₹200.53 crore in the coming year. NATGRID is one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access databases related to immigration entry and exit, and the banking and telephone details of terror and crime suspects, using a “secured platform”. The Intelligence Bureau has seen an increase of 7% with an allocation of ₹3,418 crore in 2023-24.

The Official Languages division that promotes the use of Hindi language in official government work has been allocated a budget of ₹93.26 crore.

The Special Protection Group, which only provides security cover to the Prime Minister of India, has seen a 12% increase in budgetary allocation from ₹385 crore to ₹433 crore.

The Indo Tibetan Border Police Force that is deployed along the 3,488 km border with China has seen an 8% increase in its budget from ₹7,461 crore in the current fiscal to ₹8,097 crore in the next fiscal.

Managing border infra, movement

The budget for the Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking System (IVFRT) has increased 30% from ₹175 crore to ₹229 crore. IVFRT’s core objective is to develop and implement a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travellers, while strengthening security.

Border infrastructure and management has seen its budget grow 29%, from ₹2,744 crore in 2022-23 to ₹3,545 crore in 2023-24. The provision is allocated for barbed wire fencing, construction of roads, observation posts and border outposts, installation of flood lights, induction of hi-tech surveillance along the Bangladesh and Pakistan borders, and for other such construction activities at India’s international borders

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has been allocated ₹94 crore, almost 60% more than the ₹59 crore allocated the previous year

A large component of the budget, a total of ₹2,092 crore, has been reserved for “research,” which is almost 50% higher than the ₹1,400 crore revised estimates for 2021-22.

The modernisation of the Central Armed Police Forces, newly introduced as a budget head in 2022-23, has seen its allocation fall more than 18% to ₹202 crore, down from the ₹248 crore allotted earlier.

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