NEW DELHI: The Central armed police forces (CAPFs) have planted nearly 6.7 crore saplings in the last five years as part of a countrywide plantation drive, the home ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.Junior home minister Nityanand Rai, in reply to a written question, shared that the seven CAPFs — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, NSG, SSB and Assam Rifles — also developed a total 3,212 nurseries between 2020 and 2025 and set up and dedicated 1,995 ‘vatikas’ to martyrs between 2020 and 2024.A statewide distribution of the 6.9 crore saplings planted by the Central paramilitary forces in the last five years, shows north-eastern states at the top of the table. While Manipur saw the plantation of 64.8 lakh saplings, 61.2 lakh were planted in Nagaland and 59.6 lakh in Assam.CRPF and BSF, between themselves, developed 69% of the nurseries developed by the CAPFs in the last five years, according to data shared by Rai. ITBP led in development of vatikas, having set up 763 in the period 2020 to 2024.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.About the AuthorBharti JainBharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.Read MoreEnd of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosSC Declines Urgent Hearing On Police Action During ‘Chalo Sansad’ Protest‘Mujhe Maaro, Sir’: CJP Protester Seen In Viral Lathi-Charge Video Recounts Standoff With Cops70 Km To 500 Metres: How India’s Two New Ladakh Bridges Could Transform Border ConnectivityIndia-China Ties Improving? Jaishankar Welcomes Confidence-Building Steps, Raises Supply Concerns‘Pradhan Literally Destroyed…’: Rahul Gandhi Shares 3 Demands, Reacts To PM House DetentionCJP Pushes New Demand To Safeguard Protestors; Standoff With Centre ContinuesTVK Takes ‘Uncompromising Stand’ Over Abolition Of NEET, Proposes Key Constitutional ShiftsAkhilesh Yadav Demands PM Modi’s Statement On ‘Lathi Charge’; As Govt Offers Discussion On NEET LeakJ&K Police Arrest Mosque Cleric For Allegedly Providing Shelter And Logistics To Pak TerroristsSharad Pawar Meets PM Modi Amid Delimitation Buzz, NDA Numbers Game Takes Centre Stage123PhotostoriesJimin’s Dior, V’s Celine, and J-Hope’s Louis Vuitton just started K-Pop’s biggest fashion battle10 enchanting baby girl names inspired by beautiful birds from around the globeBigg Boss Malayalam 8: Celebrities netizens wish to see on the show10 common mistakes travellers make at cultural and religious sitesFrom Emilia Clarke to Joni Mitchell: 6 celebrities who faced a life-threatening brain aneurysmAneet Padda’s romantic butter-yellow dress added a golden glow to ‘Saiyaara’s one-year celebration with Ahaan PandayBeat the rain, not your style: 6 quick-dry fabrics every working woman needs this monsoonThese are the 10 least travel-friendly countries in the world in 2026, according to a new reportThe Universe May Be Blessing You: Watch for These 4 SignsInside Anushka Sen’s lavish home: Plush white interiors, stunning city views and a dream closet123Hot PicksTaylor Swift and Travis kelce WeddingDelhi metroCJP ProtestDonald TrumpNEET ProtestRahul GandhiNHL Trade RumorsDharmendra PradhanRRB JE RecruitmentTop TrendingThane MurderSandad Chalo MarchJantar Mantar ProtestCJP ProtestAbhijeet DipkeUttarakhand High CourtJohn AbrahamZlatan ibrahimovicHarbhajan singhIND U19 vs Sri Lanka U19

NEW DELHI: The Central armed police forces (CAPFs) have planted nearly 6.7 crore saplings in the last five years as part of a countrywide plantation drive, the home ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.Junior home minister Nityanand Rai, in reply to a written question, shared that the seven CAPFs — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, NSG, SSB and Assam Rifles — also developed a total 3,212 nurseries between 2020 and 2025 and set up and dedicated 1,995 ‘vatikas’ to martyrs between 2020 and 2024.A statewide distribution of the 6.9 crore saplings planted by the Central paramilitary forces in the last five years, shows north-eastern states at the top of the table. While Manipur saw the plantation of 64.8 lakh saplings, 61.2 lakh were planted in Nagaland and 59.6 lakh in Assam.CRPF and BSF, between themselves, developed 69% of the nurseries developed by the CAPFs in the last five years, according to data shared by Rai. ITBP led in development of vatikas, having set up 763 in the period 2020 to 2024.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.About the AuthorBharti JainBharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.Read MoreEnd of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosSC Declines Urgent Hearing On Police Action During ‘Chalo Sansad’ Protest‘Mujhe Maaro, Sir’: CJP Protester Seen In Viral Lathi-Charge Video Recounts Standoff With Cops70 Km To 500 Metres: How India’s Two New Ladakh Bridges Could Transform Border ConnectivityIndia-China Ties Improving? Jaishankar Welcomes Confidence-Building Steps, Raises Supply Concerns‘Pradhan Literally Destroyed…’: Rahul Gandhi Shares 3 Demands, Reacts To PM House DetentionCJP Pushes New Demand To Safeguard Protestors; Standoff With Centre ContinuesTVK Takes ‘Uncompromising Stand’ Over Abolition Of NEET, Proposes Key Constitutional ShiftsAkhilesh Yadav Demands PM Modi’s Statement On ‘Lathi Charge’; As Govt Offers Discussion On NEET LeakJ&K Police Arrest Mosque Cleric For Allegedly Providing Shelter And Logistics To Pak TerroristsSharad Pawar Meets PM Modi Amid Delimitation Buzz, NDA Numbers Game Takes Centre Stage123PhotostoriesJimin’s Dior, V’s Celine, and J-Hope’s Louis Vuitton just started K-Pop’s biggest fashion battle10 enchanting baby girl names inspired by beautiful birds from around the globeBigg Boss Malayalam 8: Celebrities netizens wish to see on the show10 common mistakes travellers make at cultural and religious sitesFrom Emilia Clarke to Joni Mitchell: 6 celebrities who faced a life-threatening brain aneurysmAneet Padda’s romantic butter-yellow dress added a golden glow to ‘Saiyaara’s one-year celebration with Ahaan PandayBeat the rain, not your style: 6 quick-dry fabrics every working woman needs this monsoonThese are the 10 least travel-friendly countries in the world in 2026, according to a new reportThe Universe May Be Blessing You: Watch for These 4 SignsInside Anushka Sen’s lavish home: Plush white interiors, stunning city views and a dream closet123Hot PicksTaylor Swift and Travis kelce WeddingDelhi metroCJP ProtestDonald TrumpNEET ProtestRahul GandhiNHL Trade RumorsDharmendra PradhanRRB JE RecruitmentTop TrendingThane MurderSandad Chalo MarchJantar Mantar ProtestCJP ProtestAbhijeet DipkeUttarakhand High CourtJohn AbrahamZlatan ibrahimovicHarbhajan singhIND U19 vs Sri Lanka U19

NEW DELHI: The Central armed police forces (CAPFs) have planted nearly 6.7 crore saplings in the last five years as part of a countrywide plantation drive, the home ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.Junior home minister Nityanand Rai, in reply to a written question, shared that the seven CAPFs — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP,…

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Us-Saudi Arabia Nuclear Deal: Explained: Why the proposed US-Saudi nuclear deal has triggered alarm over proliferation risks

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Cross-border drug trafficking has risen exponentially since 2021, with Punjab being the most affected state (representative image) NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Wednesday said drone-assisted, cross-border drug trafficking has risen exponentially since 2021, with Punjab being the most affected state, accounting for 298 of the 305 countrywide drone-related drug trafficking incidents last year.Replying to…

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Representational image NEW DELHI: In the past six months, nearly 58% attempts to book train tickets online were by bots, not real people, the railway ministry informed Lok Sabha Wednesday. It said that on average 888 crore requests out of 1,538 crore in a month were bots, and those were flagged as automated requests and their access to the e-ticketing system was denied.A bot is an automated software application that performs repetitive tasks over a network. It follows specific instructions to imitate human behaviour at a faster rate. In a written reply, railway minister Ashwni Vaishnaw said that such “spurious attempts” that were denied access to e-ticketing systems was the maximum in June — nearly 66% of the 1,912 crore requests by bots.“Bot manager in the system protects websites at its own cloud servers by using user behavioural analysis, bot signature/ pattern matching, and real-time risk scoring to instantly distinguish humans and bots and software,” an IRCTC official said.Vaishnaw said the train ticket reservation system is robust and highly secure, and equipped with industry-standard, state-of-the-art cybersecurity controls while highlighting measures taken by railways to safeguard the system from cyber attacks, and prevent auto-filling of forms by hacking tools to curb fraud in Tatkal ticket bookings.The minister said that multiple protective layers such as network firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, application delivery controllers and web application firewalls have been deployed to safeguard the system against cyber threats. He added that little over three crore suspicious user IDs had been deactivated and 6.2 crore had been placed under revalidation during 2025-26 and 2026-27 (up to June 30).The ministry said that 503 complaints have been lodged on the National Cyber Crime Portal for suspicious booking and 13,343 suspicious emails have been blocked in the past one-and-half years. In addition, since 2021, Railway Protection Force has arrested 22,676 touts and legal action has been taken.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosSC Declines Urgent Hearing On Police Action During ‘Chalo Sansad’ Protest‘Mujhe Maaro, Sir’: CJP Protester Seen In Viral Lathi-Charge Video Recounts Standoff With Cops70 Km To 500 Metres: How India’s Two New Ladakh Bridges Could Transform Border ConnectivityIndia-China Ties Improving? Jaishankar Welcomes Confidence-Building Steps, Raises Supply Concerns‘Pradhan Literally Destroyed…’: Rahul Gandhi Shares 3 Demands, Reacts To PM House DetentionCJP Pushes New Demand To Safeguard Protestors; Standoff With Centre ContinuesTVK Takes ‘Uncompromising Stand’ Over Abolition Of NEET, Proposes Key Constitutional ShiftsAkhilesh Yadav Demands PM Modi’s Statement On ‘Lathi Charge’; As Govt Offers Discussion On NEET LeakJ&K Police Arrest Mosque Cleric For Allegedly Providing Shelter And Logistics To Pak TerroristsSharad Pawar Meets PM Modi Amid Delimitation Buzz, NDA Numbers Game Takes Centre Stage123Photostories10 enchanting baby girl names inspired by beautiful birds from around the globeBigg Boss Malayalam 8: Celebrities netizens wish to see on the show10 common mistakes travellers make at cultural and religious sitesFrom Emilia Clarke to Joni Mitchell: 6 celebrities who faced a life-threatening brain aneurysmAneet Padda’s romantic butter-yellow dress added a golden glow to ‘Saiyaara’s one-year celebration with Ahaan PandayBeat the rain, not your style: 6 quick-dry fabrics every working woman needs this monsoonThese are the 10 least travel-friendly countries in the world in 2026, according to a new reportThe Universe May Be Blessing You: Watch for These 4 SignsInside Anushka Sen’s lavish home: Plush white interiors, stunning city views and a dream closetDIY kalonji oil for hair growth: How to make black seed oil at home the right way123Hot PicksTaylor Swift and Travis kelce WeddingDelhi metroCJP ProtestDonald TrumpNEET ProtestRahul GandhiNHL Trade RumorsDharmendra PradhanRRB JE RecruitmentTop TrendingThane MurderSandad Chalo MarchJantar Mantar ProtestCJP ProtestAbhijeet DipkeUttarakhand High CourtJohn AbrahamZlatan ibrahimovicHarbhajan singhIND U19 vs Sri Lanka U19

Representational image NEW DELHI: In the past six months, nearly 58% attempts to book train tickets online were by bots, not real people, the railway ministry informed Lok Sabha Wednesday. It said that on average 888 crore requests out of 1,538 crore in a month were bots, and those were flagged as automated requests and their access to the e-ticketing system was denied.A bot is an automated software application that performs repetitive tasks over a network. It follows specific instructions to imitate human behaviour at a faster rate. In a written reply, railway minister Ashwni Vaishnaw said that such “spurious attempts” that were denied access to e-ticketing systems was the maximum in June — nearly 66% of the 1,912 crore requests by bots.“Bot manager in the system protects websites at its own cloud servers by using user behavioural analysis, bot signature/ pattern matching, and real-time risk scoring to instantly distinguish humans and bots and software,” an IRCTC official said.Vaishnaw said the train ticket reservation system is robust and highly secure, and equipped with industry-standard, state-of-the-art cybersecurity controls while highlighting measures taken by railways to safeguard the system from cyber attacks, and prevent auto-filling of forms by hacking tools to curb fraud in Tatkal ticket bookings.The minister said that multiple protective layers such as network firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, application delivery controllers and web application firewalls have been deployed to safeguard the system against cyber threats. He added that little over three crore suspicious user IDs had been deactivated and 6.2 crore had been placed under revalidation during 2025-26 and 2026-27 (up to June 30).The ministry said that 503 complaints have been lodged on the National Cyber Crime Portal for suspicious booking and 13,343 suspicious emails have been blocked in the past one-and-half years. In addition, since 2021, Railway Protection Force has arrested 22,676 touts and legal action has been taken.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosSC Declines Urgent Hearing On Police Action During ‘Chalo Sansad’ Protest‘Mujhe Maaro, Sir’: CJP Protester Seen In Viral Lathi-Charge Video Recounts Standoff With Cops70 Km To 500 Metres: How India’s Two New Ladakh Bridges Could Transform Border ConnectivityIndia-China Ties Improving? Jaishankar Welcomes Confidence-Building Steps, Raises Supply Concerns‘Pradhan Literally Destroyed…’: Rahul Gandhi Shares 3 Demands, Reacts To PM House DetentionCJP Pushes New Demand To Safeguard Protestors; Standoff With Centre ContinuesTVK Takes ‘Uncompromising Stand’ Over Abolition Of NEET, Proposes Key Constitutional ShiftsAkhilesh Yadav Demands PM Modi’s Statement On ‘Lathi Charge’; As Govt Offers Discussion On NEET LeakJ&K Police Arrest Mosque Cleric For Allegedly Providing Shelter And Logistics To Pak TerroristsSharad Pawar Meets PM Modi Amid Delimitation Buzz, NDA Numbers Game Takes Centre Stage123Photostories10 enchanting baby girl names inspired by beautiful birds from around the globeBigg Boss Malayalam 8: Celebrities netizens wish to see on the show10 common mistakes travellers make at cultural and religious sitesFrom Emilia Clarke to Joni Mitchell: 6 celebrities who faced a life-threatening brain aneurysmAneet Padda’s romantic butter-yellow dress added a golden glow to ‘Saiyaara’s one-year celebration with Ahaan PandayBeat the rain, not your style: 6 quick-dry fabrics every working woman needs this monsoonThese are the 10 least travel-friendly countries in the world in 2026, according to a new reportThe Universe May Be Blessing You: Watch for These 4 SignsInside Anushka Sen’s lavish home: Plush white interiors, stunning city views and a dream closetDIY kalonji oil for hair growth: How to make black seed oil at home the right way123Hot PicksTaylor Swift and Travis kelce WeddingDelhi metroCJP ProtestDonald TrumpNEET ProtestRahul GandhiNHL Trade RumorsDharmendra PradhanRRB JE RecruitmentTop TrendingThane MurderSandad Chalo MarchJantar Mantar ProtestCJP ProtestAbhijeet DipkeUttarakhand High CourtJohn AbrahamZlatan ibrahimovicHarbhajan singhIND U19 vs Sri Lanka U19

NEW DELHI: In the past six months, nearly 58% attempts to book train tickets online were by bots, not real people, the railway ministry informed Lok Sabha Wednesday. It said that on average 888 crore requests out of 1,538 crore in a month were bots, and those were flagged as automated requests and their access…

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Friends star Lisa Kudrow recalls eerie moments after her mother Nedra Stern’s death, says she believes her late mom ‘texted’ her from beyond: ‘It happened three times’ | English Movie News

Friends star Lisa Kudrow recalls eerie moments after her mother Nedra Stern’s death, says she believes her late mom ‘texted’ her from beyond: ‘It happened three times’ | English Movie News

Friends star Lisa Kudrow recalls eerie moments after her mother Nedra Stern’s death, says she believes her late mom ‘texted’ her from beyond: ‘It happened three times’ Friends star Lisa Kudrow has shared a deeply personal experience that she believes could have been a sign from her late mother, Nedra Stern, after her death in…

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Argentina’s Lionel Messi reacts after losing to Spain in the World Cup final. (AP Photo) The mystery surrounding Lionel Messi’s viral dressing-room speech before Argentina’s 2026 FIFA World Cup final has finally been addressed, with Alexis Mac Allister’s father dismissing speculation of an internal crisis and insisting the captain’s words were taken completely out of…

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The Sahara Desert was once filled with rivers, giant lakes and hippos. Scientists explain why it turns green every 20,000 years | World News

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For most people, the Sahara is the ultimate symbol of endless sand, scorching heat and one of the harshest environments on Earth. Yet geology tells a remarkably different story. Beneath the dunes lie the remnants of ancient rivers, vast lakes and ecosystems that once supported hippos, crocodiles and thriving human communities. Scientists now know these…

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Punjab’s ‘Business Class’ programme helps over 20k student-led ventures garner Rs 90 cr revenue | India News

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NEW DELHI: Punjab’s ‘Business Class’ programme, introduced under the state government’s Sikhya Kranti initiative, has helped over 20,000 student-led ventures generate nearly Rs 90 crore in revenue within a year, Higher Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said on Sunday.The programme, launched during the 2025-26 academic session, included a compulsory two-credit course for students pursuing B.Com,…

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