Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the house of a woman who is the tenth-crore beneficiary the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya today.

PM Modi was offered tea at the home of the beneficiary of the flagship scheme that provides clean cooking fuel such as LPG cylinders to rural and deprived households, which otherwise had been using firewood, coal, and cow-dung cakes.

Using traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.

A large crowd greeted PM Modi as he walked on the narrow streets of Ayodhya. The Prime Minister also signed on a painting that a boy showed him.

Earlier today, PM Modi inaugurated the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and flagged off two Amrit Bharat and six Vande Bharat trains, some virtually.

He will also inaugurate an airport and lay the foundation stones for development projects in UP.

After inaugurating the railway station, PM Modi took a tour of the facility. He was accompanied by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, among others.

The Phase-I of the redeveloped station — Ayodhya Dham Junction Railway Station — has been completed at a cost of more than Rs 240 crore, officials said.

The three-storey railway station building is equipped with features such as lifts, escalators, food plazas, shops for puja needs, cloak rooms, child care rooms, waiting halls.

This visit by the Prime Minister comes ahead of the ‘pran pratishtha’ or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. It is currently under construction, with the consecration ceremony to be held on January 22.

A gunfight broke out between suspected insurgents and police commandos in Manipur’s border town Moreh today. The insurgents allegedly fired at a convoy of police vehicles while they were moving towards a patrolling point from Moreh town, news agency PTI reported.

A commando was injured. He is being treated at an Assam Rifles camp.

The fresh violence in Moreh also led to the burning of two homes, local reports said.

In a separate incident, a teen was shot dead by unidentified men in Manipur’s hill district Kangpokpi, 45 km from the state capital Imphal. The incident happened at 2.30 am on Saturday.

More security forces have been deployed in the village and combing operations are going on, sources said.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh condemned the killing of the youth.

“A few evil elements are trying to disrupt the peace in the state. It’s an unfortunate incident and we highly condemned the incident. Combing operation is on to nab the culprits. We won’t spare the culprits,” Mr Singh told reporters today.

“Many civil society groups are trying hard to restore peace in the state. This fresh incident is highly condemnable. Let us hold dialogue and resolve issues peacefully,” he added.

Four days after announcing that she would return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award, wrestler Vinesh Phogat left the accolades on a pavement on Kartavya Path in New Delhi on Saturday. She did this after the Delhi Police stopped her from going to the Prime Minister’s office. 

The Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist had announced her decision to return the awards in an open letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday. This had come days after Sakshee Malikkh said she was retiring from wrestling and Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri. 

The three wrestlers were at the forefront of the protests against then Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The BJP MP had been accused of sexual harassment by several women wrestlers. 

Bajrang Punia posted a video of Ms Phogat walking on Kartavya Path, which stretches from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, holding the Arjuna Award trophy and what appears to be a letter. She is then seen talking to a policeman who approaches her.

यह दिन किसी खिलाड़ी के जीवन में न आए। देश की महिला पहलवान सबसे बुरे दौर से गुज़र रही हैं। #vineshphogat pic.twitter.com/bT3pQngUuI

— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) December 30, 2023

The ace wrestler had been awarded the Khel Ratna, which is the country’s highest sporting honour, in 2020 and the Arjuna Award in 2016. 

Ms Phogat, Ms Mallikh and Mr Punia had expressed their disappointment after a panel led by Sanjay Singh, a close aide of Brij Bhushan, won the elections to the Wrestling Federation of India by a landslide on December 21, indicating a continuity of leadership in the body. Mr Singh had defeated Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Anita Sheoran, who was backed by the wrestlers, winning 40 out of 47 votes. 

On December 24, the Sports Ministry had suspended the panel led by Mr Singh for not following the provisions of its own constitution while taking decisions, and asked the Indian Olympic Association to constitute an ad-hoc panel to manage day-to-day affairs at the Wrestling Federation of India. The panel was constituted three days later.

Emotional Letter

In the open letter that she posted on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Phogat had asked whether women wrestlers were made only to grace government advertisements and said she was returning the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award so that they don’t become a “burden on the path of living with dignity”.

Referring to Brij Bhushan’s remark after the wrestling body elections that his dominance would continue, Ms Phogat claimed he had earlier admitted on television that he had made women wrestlers uncomfortable, and had used every opportunity to humiliate them.