Author: sureshzmc07

AYODHYA: An FIR has been registered against Samajwadi Party’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajit Prasad for allegedly kidnapping, threatening, and assaulting a man. Ajit Prasad is the Samajwadi Party candidate for the Milkipur assembly by-election.
According to the complainant, Ravi Tiwari, a local property dealer, Ajit Prasad, one Raju Yadav, and 15-20 unidentified individuals met him near SBI branch in Faizabad on Saturday afternoon, dragged him into their car, and drove him towards Raqaabganj while thrashing him all this while.He alleged that they snatched Rs 1 lakh from him, recorded a video of the incident and threatened to kill him before letting him out.
According to Tiwari, he was brokering a land deal between Ajit Prasad and Sheetla Prasad, a local landowner.
Tiwari later submitted a complaint at the Kotwali police station.
Ashwini Pandey, in-charge of city Kotwali, said that initial investigations found the allegations to be true. Based on investigation, a case has been registered against three named individuals—Ajit Prasad, Raju Yadav, and police constable Shashikant Rai—along with 15 others.
BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya posted on social media that Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, whom Akhilesh Yadav is currently promoting, has a son, Ajit Prasad, who kidnapped and beat Ravi Tiwari. Malviya added that after winning a few seats, the SP’s “series of rapes and hooliganism continues”.
Meanwhile, the sitting SP MP from Faizabad, Awadhesh Prasad, said that the allegations are baseless and politically motivated. He mentioned that the SP is “winning in Milkipur, which is making BJP restless”.
Claiming this to be a fake case, Prasad said that the BJP is trying to shift the public focus away from “a movement against police atrocities in the Raunahi police station area, which led to the death of a person named Dukhiram”.

INDORE/KANPUR: In what seems to be yet more attempts to sabotage railway operations, it has come to light that railway ‘detonators‘ were placed on tracks in Madhya Pradesh‘s Ratlam on September 18 when an Army special train was passing through. The revelation came on a day when an empty gas cylinder was found on the tracks at Prempur station near Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur.
Since Aug this year, at least six alleged attempts have been made in UP to sabotage railway operations.
In MP’s Burhanpur district, the 10 ‘railway detonators’ were found placed at intervals of a metre each. The railways called it an “attempt at mischief”. The Army has requested custody of certain key railway personnel, including signalmen and trackmen, for questioning as part of the probe.

Read also: Another train sabotage? Iron pole placed across railway track in Uttarakhand
Cops: Train was carrying Army personnel and weapons
Sources said a gangman has been detained but there is no official confirmation. He is alleged to have done this in a drunken rage.
The train, headed for Thiruvananthapuram, was carrying Army personnel and weapons, police sources said. A couple of the detonators — more like firecrackers — exploded when the train passed over them. The loco pilot pulled the brakes the moment he heard the first explosion. The train was halted for half an hour at Sagphata station, while the area was inspected.
“Ten railway detonators were placed over a 10m distance on the Mumbai rail route between Sagphata and Dongargaon railway stations,” Dr Swapnil Nila, chief public relations officer of Central Railway, told TOI.
In the incident near Kanpur, the 5-litre cylinder was removed from the tracks by police after a thorough examination. “Around 5.50am, locopilots Dev Anand Gupta and C B Singh of the Jorhat-bound freight train spotted an empty cylinder on the tracks ahead of the signal. The crew promptly applied emergency brakes to avert a potential catastrophe,” read a statement issued by North Central Railway (NCR). Two empty beer cans and a snack wrapper were also found on the scene.
“The cylinder was placed a mere 30m from the signal. Kanpur Police, RPF and GRP are investigating,” said Om Narayan Singh, SHO of Kanpur Central GRP. “Though the probability of derailment was minuscule as the train’s momentum would have likely propelled the cylinder away, the deliberate placement of the gas cylinder on the track indicates sabotage,” Kanpur police said.
However, the incident near Ratlam in MP rang the alarm bells . Officers from NIA , the Army, anti-terrorism squad, railways and police inspected the site. “While it seems this was done without reason, an inquiry is being conducted by RPF,” said CPRO.

NEW DELHI: The US has welcomed India’s impending $3.9 billion procurement of 31 armed MQ-9B `hunter-killer’ Predator drones, as part of their overall defence partnership that will see the two countries further ramp up military interoperability, intelligence-sharing, space and cyber cooperation as well as defence-industrial and innovation collaboration, with an eye firmly on China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific.
The govt-to-govt deal for the 31 high-altitude long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), with 15 Sea Guardian drones earmarked for Navy and 8 Sky Guardians each for Army and IAF, is set to be inked in mid-Oct after the two sides wrapped up the techno-commercial negotiations, as was earlier reported by TOI.
“President Joe Biden welcomed the progress towards India concluding procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9Bs and their associated equipment, which will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains”, a joint fact-sheet issued after the Modi-Biden talks said.
The drone deal will take the collective worth of lucrative Indian defence contracts bagged by the US to well over $25 billion just since 2007. Instead of such direct acquisitions, India is now pushing for co-development and co-production of advanced weapon systems under the ambitious defence-industrial cooperation roadmap finalized in June last year.
While no such joint project has been sealed till now, Modi and Biden “recognised the remarkable progress” achieved under the roadmap, including “ongoing collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems”.
India and the US, for instance, are conducting techno-commercial negotiations to jointly produce GE-F414 jet engines for the Tejas Mark-2 fighters here, with 80% transfer of technology for around $1 billion.
The fact-sheet also mentioned that the US demonstrated its Stryker armoured infantry combat vehicle, with the Javelin anti-tank guided missiles, on the margins of the joint `Yudh Abhyas’ exercise that concluded in Rajasthan on Saturday.
TOI had earlier reported that the discussions were in an advanced stage for the joint manufacture of the eight-wheeled Strykers, with the Indian Army projecting a requirement for around 530 such vehicles, though there is some criticism about indigenous options being ignored in the process.
The two leaders also welcomed efforts to expand other defence-industrial partnerships, including for the co-development and co-production of unmanned surface vehicle systems to strengthen undersea and maritime domain awareness, as well as enhance India’s MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) capabilities for the repair of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Modi and Biden also lauded ongoing efforts to deepen the bilateral military partnership and interoperability to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, noting that India hosted the largest and most complex bilateral tri-Service exercise “Tiger Triumph” till date in March.
“The leaders commended work to advance cooperation in advanced domains, including space and cyber, and looked forward towards the Nov 2024 bilateral cyber engagement to enhance the cyber cooperation framework. Areas of new cooperation will include threat information sharing, cybersecurity training, and collaboration on vulnerability mitigation in energy and telecommunications networks,” it said.
Under a MoU on the deployment of military liaison officers, India will now post a Colonel-rank officer to the US Special Operations Command at Florida, while another officer will go to the Indo-Pacific Command at Hawaii.

Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 16 series hit stores across India on Friday, September 20, 2024, drawing enthusiastic crowds in one of the fastest-growing markets for the iPhone-maker in the last few years. Industry experts sees this as a sign of Apple further bolstering its presence in India, as they suggests growth in number of sales from last year and record quarter for iPhone-maker in the country.

Launch day frenzy: Long-queues outside the stores and 10 minute delivery at home – All that customers choose

The only-two physical locations of Apple Stores in Mumbai and New Delhi buzzed with excitement, as eager customers formed long queues outside stores, with some waiting since the previous night to be among the first to own the new devices.

The launch event, which began at 8 AM, saw a mix of pre-order customers and walk-ins, all eager to experience Apple’s newest offerings.
“The atmosphere in Mumbai for this phone is absolutely electric,” said Ujiwal Shah, who waited for over 21 hours to be first in line at the Bandra-Kurla Complex store. This sentiment was echoed across the country, with similar scenes unfolding at the Select CityWalk mall in New Delhi.
Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, noted, “Our channel checks yesterday indicated a strong opening for iPhone 16. Some of the sellers reported 18-20% opening day sales compared to last year.”
While lines formed outside the retail locations, quick-commerce platforms, like Blinkit and BigBasket, promised the iPhone 16 on people’s doorstep in just 10 minutes. The stocks ran out in a couple of minutes on the two apps, a similar trend seen during the pre-order day on e-commerce stores.

Many customers still chose to visit physical stores, citing the desire for an immersive Apple experience. “I came at 6 AM and couldn’t wait to get the new phone in my hands,” said one customer, a customer from Noida who came down to Delhi and was particularly excited about the improved zoom camera and the new Dessert Titanium colour of the iPhone 16 Pro.
Prabhu Ram, VP of Industry Research Group at CyberMedia Research (CMR), noted, “Our initial assessment indicates that the iPhone 16 series, including both the base and Pro models, has been well-received in the market.”
Beyond the new iPhones, many customers coupled their purchases with AirPods 4, while others also bought the new Apple Watches, upgrading their whole ecosystem. “I’m going all in on the Apple ecosystem this time,” grinned Rahul Kapoor, showcasing his new iPhone 16, AirPods 4, and Apple Watch. “It’s a big investment, but the seamless integration is worth every rupee.”

However, not all customers were successful in their quest for the new iPhone. Amit Gupta, a walk-in customer who arrived at noon, left empty-handed. “I thought coming during lunch hour would be smart, but they were already out of the Pro models,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll have to try my luck online or wait for the next stock.”
The Day 1 dynamics differed between India and the United States, Apple’s home market. Counterpoint Research data indicates that US stores had more inventory available for walk-in customers compared to previous years. In contrast, Indian stores saw longer queues and higher demand for pre-orders, particularly for the Pro models.

Pro models gain traction as price drops, vanilla iPhone also finds more buyers this year

Out of the four models, the regular iPhone 16 is seen to be the crowd’s pick this year, however the reduced prices of Pro models this year, starting Rs 1,19,900 compared to starting price of Rs 1,39,900 for the iPhone 15 Pro models, has seemingly bought-in more takers for the iPhone 16 Pro models than in the recent years.
“The more accessible pricing on the Pro models compared to their predecessors has made them more appealing to a wider range of consumers,” said Ram.

“The iPhone 16 seems like gaining massive popularity” said Pathak, who suggests that there has been a “lot of demand for the base 16 variant compared to last year” in India.
Ram notes, “The ongoing premiumization trend in the Indian smartphone market provides favourable tailwinds to drive upgrades.” This shift is evident in the strong performance across the iPhone 16 range.

AI on hold, but hardware upgrades drive majority sales

Apple iPhone 16 series have launched without the much-anticipated Apple Intelligence AI software pre-installed. Apple has been heavily marketing these AI features since June, but users will need to wait for software updates to access them fully.
Interestingly, Counterpoint Research noted that in the US, “Buyers are upgrading because they are looking to upgrade – Apple Intelligence did not appear to be a primary purchase mover. Many users are coming from older devices such as the iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and even older.”
This trend is mirrored in India, but with additional factors driving purchases. Pathak from Counterpoint Research explained, “Plus, a lot of people upgrading from older 11s or iPhone 12 are finding 16 a great upgrade.” He further elaborated on the Indian market, stating, “Hardware features like camera, battery and Apple silicon got a good upgrade compared to last year’s base model.” These improvements are particularly appealing to Indian consumers looking for substantial upgrades from their older devices.
When asked about the reasons behind people buying the new iPhones despite the absence of Apple Intelligence at launch, Pathak added, “Apple Intelligence-ready iPhones is one reason for people switching to new models even though roll out will happen later.”

Analysts predict another record quarter for Apple

The iPhone 16 marks a significant milestone for Apple’s strategy in India. For the second time in a row, India-made iPhones were made available globally on the day of the official release, underscoring the country’s growing importance in Apple’s supply chain.
With the festive season approaching, analysts expect further boosts in sales, especially for the premium Pro and Pro Max models. The availability of made-in-India iPhones – the Pro models are reported to be assembled later this year in the country for the first time ever – could also contribute to shorter lead times and improved availability for Indian consumers.
Pathak shared an optimistic outlook: “We believe Apple is likely to have a record new iPhone sales quarter in India and with this momentum it is likely to reach our estimated 12 million iPhone sales in India.”
Prabhu Ram from CMR added, “The ongoing premiumization trend in the Indian smartphone market provides favourable tailwinds to drive upgrades in the Indian market. CyberMedia Research anticipates a substantial 30% year-over-year growth compared to the iPhone 15 generation in the launch quarter.” He further projected, “This growth trajectory positions Apple to potentially capture up to 8% of the hypercompetitive Indian smartphone market by the end of 2024.”
Apple also plans to move 25% of its iPhone production to India by 2025, aligning with the country’s “Make in India” initiative. Foxconn, one of Apple’s key contract manufacturers, has already been producing the regular iPhone models in India, and reports suggest that Apple’s manufacturers will also begin assembling the Pro models in the country this year.
The success of the iPhone 16 launch day in India, coupled with the introduction of made-in-India units and innovative delivery methods, signals a new chapter in Apple’s relationship with one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets.

Elon Musk announced on Sunday that SpaceX is preparing to launch around five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars over the next two years.
In a post on social media platform X, Musk confirmed the timeline, saying that these missions will coincide with the next Earth-Mars transfer window, set to open in two years.
“No matter what happens with landing success, SpaceX will increase the number of spaceships travelling to Mars exponentially with every transit opportunity.We want to enable anyone who wants to be a space traveler to go to Mars! That means you or your family or friends – anyone who dreams of great adventure,” SpaceX CEO added in his tweet.

The success of these uncrewed flights will determine the timeline for SpaceX’s first crewed mission to Mars. Musk indicated that if the uncrewed missions land safely, crewed missions could begin in four years. However, any major challenges could push the crewed timeline back by another two years.
Musk, known for adjusting timelines on Starship’s readiness, had previously stated that the first uncrewed mission to Mars could take place within five years, with humans landing on the planet in seven years.
In June, SpaceX achieved a key milestone when a Starship rocket survived a fiery reentry and completed a full test mission, landing successfully in the Indian Ocean after its fourth attempt.
Musk envisions Starship as a next-generation spacecraft designed to transport people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
Meanwhile, Nasa delayed its Artemis 3 mission, the first crewed moon landing in over 50 years, to September 2026, which will use SpaceX’s Starship. Originally scheduled for late 2025, the delay is due to development uncertainties.
In June, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa cancelled a private mission around the moon aboard Starship, also citing delays in the rocket’s development.