New Delhi, Sep 1: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Delhi-NCR has become so unsafe for women that a minor girl was gang-raped for 47 kilometres in a sleeper bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi. He questioned whether anyone would be held accountable for the incident.

Rahul Gandhi took to the social media platform X and said, “Delhi NCR has become so unsafe for women that a minor girl was gang-raped for 47 kilometers in a sleeper bus – from Greater Noida to Delhi. It’s astonishing that neither the entire Delhi police nor the Noida police had the slightest inkling of it.”

He said the bus crossed several key routes and borders without being stopped at any checkpoint.

“This bus crossed the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Delhi’s Ring Road, the border – all of it – without being stopped even once at a single checkpoint,” he said.

The Congress leader said the alleged perpetrators have no fear of the administration.

“Curtains were drawn over the bus seats so no one could see what was happening inside. And the perpetrators had no fear of the administration whatsoever,” Gandhi said.

He questioned why rules concerning the checking and monitoring of sleeper buses were still not being properly followed despite several years having passed since the 2012 Nirbhaya case.

“Even after so many years since Nirbhaya, after so many such incidents, why are the rules for checking and monitoring such buses still not being followed?” he asked.

Gandhi further said the incident reflected repeated failures in the administration and said such failures were being concealed by the government.

“Those curtains weren’t just drawn on that one bus – they’re the result of curtains drawn year after year by the government over the administration’s failures, leaving women unable even to take a safe journey in the country’s capital,” he said.

He also questioned how many more women and girls would have to suffer before the authorities took corrective measures.

“How many more women and girls will have to endure this before the central and state governments finally fix this system?” Gandhi asked.

He also questioned whether there would be accountability from the Delhi Police under Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Uttar Pradesh Police under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

“Will there be any accountability for the Delhi Police under Amit Shah, or the UP Police under Adityanath? Not a chance – this crime, too, will just have a curtain drawn over it,” he said.

A 16-year-old girl was gang-raped inside an empty sleeper bus by its driver and conductor in Greater Noida earlier this month, police said on Monday, adding that both accused have been arrested in connection with the case.

According to police, the incident took place near Pari Chowk on August 4. The survivor alleged in her complaint that the two accused sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted. They later abandoned her near Kashmere Gate in Delhi.

The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep, were arrested from a parking area in Timarpur on the same day.

Police seized the bus and sent it for forensic examination. Investigators also collected CCTV footage from the route taken by the bus as part of the probe. Police said the footage was being examined to establish the sequence of events.

The teenager is a resident of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. Police said she had left her home without informing her family after her mother reprimanded her over her studies. She was travelling to Noida Sector 63, where her cousin lives.

According to the girl’s statement to police, she mistakenly got down at Pari Chowk amid heavy rain and darkness. After realising that she had reached the wrong location, she tried to find another vehicle and eventually stopped the sleeper bus. Police said there were no passengers inside the bus at the time.

Asheville, Sep 1: India is preparing further customs and banking reforms, including risk-based import screening and a high-level review of the banking sector’s role towards building a developed India, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said.

In an exclusive interview with media on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting here, FM Sitharaman said the next phase would build on changes already made in direct and indirect taxation.

“We’ve done quite a few things about the direct and indirect taxes. Customs, we’ve done some, we’ll have to do more. We’ll be taking those up,” she said.

The government is working to make the movement of imported goods through Indian ports more seamless, the Finance Minister said.

A key proposal involves deploying scanners and concentrating checks on high-risk importers. Other consignments could then be cleared automatically, reducing delays for businesses and easing congestion at ports.

“We are trying to bring in scanners and have high-risk importers alone go through them, and the rest of them can be cleared automatically,” FM Sitharaman said.

“A lot of reforms in the customs area,” she added.

The approach would allow customs authorities to focus their scrutiny on higher-risk imports while facilitating faster clearances in other cases.

However, FM Sitharaman did not provide a timetable for introducing the scanners or implementing the proposed automatic clearance system.

The government has also appointed a high-level committee to examine the banking sector and its future role in achieving India’s development goals.

“The banks, of course, we’ve appointed a high-level committee to look into banking for Viksit Bharat,” she told media.

“That committee will also give its report,” she added, without indicating when its recommendations would be submitted.

Asked about the next stage of the government’s wider reform programme, FM Sitharaman said changes would be taken up as requirements emerged.

“Well, we take it as we go along,” according to her.

The Finance Minister said the Centre had worked with state governments to improve the business environment and reduce the compliance burden on citizens and companies.

“I think together with the states, I will also credit the states, many of them who have come forward to make doing business a bit easier,” she said.

“We, as you know, have reduced a lot of compliance burden on the citizens, whether it is by reforming the Acts, by simplifying the regulations, and also by removing archaic laws,” she added.

More than 1,000 laws had been removed and about 40,000 regulations simplified, according to the Finance Minister.

The government was also maintaining regular consultations with industry, businesses and trade while pursuing bilateral trade and investor protection agreements.

“Constantly, we are engaging with the industry, with businesses, with trade,” FM Sitharaman said.

“Also, the way in which bilateral trade agreements are being signed, we are now pushing ahead with investor protection agreements as well,” she added.

FM Sitharaman said confidence in the Indian banking system was reflected in foreign deposits and investments made by Indians living overseas. The indicators showed a positive story about trust in Indian banks and the country’s macroeconomic position, she said.

The proposed reforms come as India reported 7.8 per cent growth in the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year. Manufacturing grew by 9.2 per cent, while the financial and professional services sector expanded by 12.1 per cent.

FM Sitharaman also cited the expansion of UPI, NPCI systems and QR-code payments as factors helping small and medium-sized businesses gain access to global markets. She said reforms across government departments and the financial sector had brought out the robustness of the Indian economy.

Gandhinagar, Aug 31: Gujarat has extended its ban on the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine for another year, with the renewed prohibition coming into effect from September 13, 2026, and remaining in force until September 12, 2027.

The Commissioner of Food Safety issued the notification on August 31, citing public health concerns and representations received from various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

The ban has been enforced in Gujarat since 2012 and will continue to cover such products irrespective of the name under which they are marketed.

The order also covers ingredients that are sold separately but are intended to be mixed together to prepare gutkha or pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine as the final product.

Authorities have warned that strict legal action will be taken against those found violating the prohibition.

According to the notification, research conducted by Tata Memorial Hospital, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and ‘HAMER’ has indicated that consumption of gutkha and pan masala is carcinogenic and substantially increases the risk of oral cancer.

The notification also refers to findings from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), according to which 35 per cent of adults in India consume tobacco, while 21 per cent were found to use smokeless tobacco.

The state government said the decision to extend the prohibition was taken in view of the need to protect citizens’ health and following representations from NGOs.

The renewed order will, therefore, continue the restrictions that Gujarat has maintained for more than a decade.

The ban specifically targets gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine, as well as separately sold components intended to circumvent the prohibition by being combined later.

Enforcement agencies have been directed to take action against manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of products covered by the notification.

The extension means the existing prohibition will remain in effect without a break, from September 13 this year through September 12, 2027.