National News
Amid Congress’ Agnipath protests, Manish Tewari bats for defence reforms
Going against his party line, Congress MP Manish Tewari has come in support of the Central government’s Agnipath scheme. This comes amid a major nationwide protest launched by the party, which is demanding its rollback.
Speaking to IANS, Tewari said, “The process of Defence reforms, including right sizing the military started in the US way back in 1975 when Donald Rumsfield was the Defence Secretary in the Ford Administration and every successive administration has seen it through.
“Rumsfeld initiated the conceptual basis of preparing the armed forces for future warfare as he could envision the changing nature of the battlefield.
“Even the Chinese started the process of right-sizing the PLA way back 1985.”
“PLA’s size was cut by 10 lakh in 1985; 500,000 in 1997; 200,000 in 2003; 300,000 in 2015 and from 2017 onwards the People’s Liberation Army of China is being further right sized from 20 to 10 lakh by 50 per cent.
“The defence reform is a part of a larger strategic horizon and not merely an act of internal reorganisation,” he said.
Tewari in his book ’10 Flashpoints 20 Years’ has mentioned about why the country urgently needs defence reforms. Out of every Rupee spent on defence in India 25 paisa goes towards pensions only. Salaries take away an additional substantive chunk leaving little room for capital expenditure on defence modernisation, Tewari said.
“The reforms now being implemented by the government were recommended by the Kargil review committee (KRC) in 1999 and the Group of Ministers constituted to vet the recommendations too had supported the reforms, including right sizing the armed Forces.
“Even the Naresh Chandra committee had also endorsed many of the recommendations of KRC and GOM that Defence Forces need to be leaner in their disposition,” he said.
Tewari’s remarks are in contrast to the official line of the Congress on the Agnipath system. Last week he said in a tweet, “I do empathise with youth who have concerns over Agnipath recruitment Process. Reality is India needs a younger armed force with lighter human footprint savvy on technology, equipped with state of art weaponry. Armed forces of Union shouldn’t be an employment guarantee programme.”
The MP from Anandpur Sahib has raised some concerns and tweeted, “As MP from a rural constituency I stand with Concerns /Fears of Youth desirous of joining Armed Forces, Politics apart-Rough calculation of impact of new recruitment paradigms on even largest employer Army shows issue not insurmountable if retirees are transitioned to CAPF’s/SPF’s.
“In ten years as a consequence of these new recruitment paradigms the size of the Army for example would only come down from the present 14 lakhs to 10,47,500 an attrition of 3,52,500 over ten years or 35,200 per year or to put it more simply 2933 per month. These many retirees that too after six years and not now can be easily accommodated in 10 CAPF’s or the 30 odd state police forces. It is not really such an insurmountable issue if you de- horse the politics.”
Mumbai Press Exclusive News
Mumbai BMC elections: Abu Asim Azmi appeals to disgruntled Samajwadi Party workers

In the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections, Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has appealed to the claimants deprived of party tickets that if for some reason any candidate has not got a party ticket, the party leadership will provide them with an opportunity in the future, but in this election, they should show unity with the Samajwadi Party candidates for the problems and rights of the people. He said that in the BMC elections, the Samajwadi Party had decided to field candidates on 150 seats so that the socialist ideology would be promoted. The candidates on the party ticket were provided with tickets and the candidates also filed their candidatures, but unfortunately, many claimants did not get tickets because there were many difficulties in the distribution of tickets. Thank you to everyone for contesting elections on the party ticket in Mumbai and promoting the party’s ideology. Candidates were announced in several wards in a phased manner and 150 candidates have been fielded for the election phase. Abu Asim Azmi said that I appeal to all the workers and contenders to work for the party candidate instead of getting angry over the deprivation of the ticket because it is our responsibility to strengthen the party and promote the ideology of the Samajwadi Party. The candidates who have not been given a chance this time should not be unhappy. The election is not just for one candidate but for the ideology of the party. Whoever is given the ticket, he is the face and candidate of the Samajwadi Party. Therefore, the party should support the candidate and strengthen the party. It is a victory of unity. You will all work for the Samajwadi Party to raise your voice on the problems of the citizens and I am sure that the Samajwadi Party will make history this time.
Crime
Mira-Bhayandar Crime: Kashigaon Police Arrest 3 Accused For House Burglary, Recover Cash And Gold Worth ₹2.36 Lakh

Mira-Bhayandar, Jan 02: The Kashigaon Police Crime Detection Team has arrested three accused involved in a house burglary case and recovered stolen gold ornaments, cash and burglary tools.
According to the police, the incident took place on the morning of December 30, 2025, when the complainant, Shraddha Anil Shelar, a homemaker and resident of Hatkesh, Kashigaon, had locked her house and gone to Ramdev Park, Mira Road, along with her husband Anil Shelar to file nomination papers for the Ward No. 13 municipal councillor election.
When the couple returned home around 1.30 pm, they found the main door broken and household articles scattered. On checking the iron cupboard, it was discovered that gold ornaments weighing about 43 grams, including a gold chain, bracelet, earrings, nose ring and pendant worth approximately ₹2.16 lakh, along with ₹20,000 in cash, had been stolen.
Based on the complaint, Kashigaon Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for theft and house-breaking.
During the course of investigation, the police tracked down the accused and arrested them from Bhayandar Railway Station while they were attempting to flee to another state.
The arrested accused have been identified as Irfan Yusuf Khan (25), Sagar Dilip Soni (23) and Ajay Vijay Torne (19), all residents of the Mira Road area. One of the accused is originally from Nepal, police said.
Police have recovered the stolen gold ornaments, cash and the tools used for committing the burglary from the accused. Further investigation revealed that accused Irfan and Sagar have prior criminal records, with theft and house-breaking cases registered against them at Nayanagar, Navghar and Mira Road police stations, and had previously served jail sentences.
National News
‘Unacceptable’, Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi Flags Misuse Of AI Apps To Sexualise Women, Seeks Urgent Intervention From IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Mumbai: Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, on Friday, January 2, wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlighting the increasing incidents of AI apps being prompted to sexualise and undress women by unauthorised use of their images on social media, calling it gross misuse of AI.
Moreover, the Rajya Sabha MP sought urgent intervention of the IT Minister and said that there have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity, while big tech firms need to take the onus.
In a letter dated January 2, she wrote, “There have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity, big tech firms need to take the onus. And I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes & schools to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood.”
She further added, “What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests.”
She stated that similar incidents are “going absolutely unchecked” on other platforms. “I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT & Communication, to urge you as a minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women,” she wrote in the letter.
“Our country cannot be a bystander to women’s dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the garb of creativity and innovation that condone such prompts. While we welcome AI and its role in making lives easier for the world, we will not allow a proliferation of such demeaning acts towards women,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
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