VK News Today https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html Salman Khan’s co-star Kunickaa Sadanand DEFENDS Pranit More amid Rs 370 biryani controversy: ‘You are a good boy with right values’ | Hindi Movie News Thomas Merton Quote: Quote of the day by Thomas Merton: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” Random Musing: Why Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire isn’t the real headline | Bangladesh 41/1 in 7.4 Overs | BAN vs AUS Live Score, 3rd ODI: Bangladesh opt to bat against Australia Meta’s highest paid employee Alexandr Wang ‘admits’ the company’s previous AI policy didn’t work, says other labs are seeing the… JoSAA Counselling 2026: Freeze, float, slide explained; know key terms before seat confirmation Delhi Tughlaqabad building fire was deliberate, not accidental; probe reveals chilling details ‘I always thought it mattered’: Dwayne Johnson reflects on missing Oscar nomination for ‘The Smashing Machine’; says, ‘It has lit a fire in my spine’ TMC rift deepens: Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s son sends legal notice to Mamata Banerjee over MLA ticket claim AI-generated image Uttar Pradesh has provided functional household tap connections (FHTCs) to over 1.2 crore rural households, achieving nearly 90 per cent coverage under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), according to data from the ministry of jal shakti, as the scheme approaches its 2024 target of “Har Ghar Jal”, piped water to every rural home.Launched in August 2019, JJM aims to deliver potable water at 55 litres per capita per day to all rural households through individual tap connections, replacing the earlier system of shared standposts. The programme, with a combined central and state outlay exceeding Rs 3.6 lakh crore.In UP, which has 1.3 crore rural households, the state’s Jal Nigam (Rural) is the nodal implementing agency, executing the scheme across 822 blocks and over 59,000 Gram Panchayats. Officials said multi-village water supply schemes, connecting clusters of villages to shared treatment and pumping units, have driven rapid progress, particularly in the Terai region and eastern UP.Each village under the scheme has a Paani Samiti, or Village Water and Sanitation committee, responsible for overseeing construction, collecting user charges for maintenance, and managing operations. A Jal Sahiyya, typically a woman from the village, conducts mandatory quarterly water quality testing at multiple points across the village to ensure compliance with Bureau of Indian Standards and World Health Organisation drinking water standards.The expansion of piped water access is expected to significantly ease the burden on women and girls in rural households, who have traditionally spent hours collecting water from distant sources, time that development researchers say could now be redirected toward education, work, and health.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosUP Government Constitutes SIT To Investigate Alleged Irregularities In Ram Temple DonationsModi-Trump Meeting At G7 Comes Amid India-US Tensions Over Sailors’ Deaths And Iran ConflictIndia’s Russian Oil Imports Rise 6.6% In May; Russia Remains India’s Second-Largest Crude SupplierStone-Pelting Rocks Patliputra Station As Students Demand More TrainsDRDO’s Three Successful Missile Tests Put India Among Nations Capable Of Countering ICBM ThreatsCong Leaders Demand Accountability, Apology From US After Three Indian Sailors Killed In StrikeRubio Tells EAM All Vessels Must Follow US Orders In Hormuz; India Protests Death Of 3 MarinersKalyan Banerjee Targets Rebel TMC Leaders: ‘If TMC Wins In 2029, Will They Resign?’Joint Tribes’ Council Accuses Kuki Cadres Of Killing Six Naga Captives, Seeks Immediate ArrestsCentre’s High-Level Committee On Demographic Changes Begins Work With Focus On Border Regions123PhotostoriesWhat happens when you eat 1 banana daily for 45 daysThis wild cat can crush a skull with one bite10 baby boy names symbolising fortune and good luck6 most prestigious residential neighbourhoods in Thane for homebuyersNot every cancer begins with pain: Doctors reveal the everyday symptoms people often ignore for too longCrossover of Imtiaz Ali’s characters: Director says at a dinner table, ‘Geet will make bad order; Tara will help’ – Exclusive7 social skills that can help children become confident and make friends easily5 ancient temples in Karnataka that are architectural marvelsLong before becoming the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk survived on hot dogs and oranges for $1 a day in CanadaWhat people who stay healthy into their 80s do differently every day123Hot PicksStephen A SmithUS Trade DealBullet Train ProjectBeijing ProtestYogi AdityanathPM ModiSpaceX IPORohit SharmaFortnite Gold Sprite Power Hour Start TimingTop TrendingAsha Sharma Net WorthUPSC Prelims ResultNEET Admit Card 2026FIFA World Cup 2026Women T20 World CupPune Techie SuicideAbhishek BanerjeeComedian PranitTMC Leader Kunal GhoshCBSE Class 10 Second Board Result ‘He said it’s fine’: Shubman Gill reveals Rohit Sharma’s reaction after costly mix-up in Afghanistan ODI NTA SWAYAM January 2026 admit card out at exams.nta.nic.in: Direct link to download hall ticket here Samyuktha Hegde SLAMS Pranit More over Rs 370 biryani controversy: ‘ The way you are rolling on the stage laughing; your sorry means nothing’ Prakash Raj to join Cockroach Janata Party protest in Bengaluru today Prince Harry’s 10-minute clash with Queen Elizabeth II over Meghan Markle’s wedding resurfaced: ‘She was really very upset;’ here’s what saddened the royal highness Quote of the day by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “Wealth is something that is bestowed on you”; what true wealth really means, and why money is only one of the riches in life ‘We are not like Hitler, should keep doors open’: RSS chief Bhagwat backs Hosabale on Pakistan dialogue Why was IShowSpeed kicked out off FOX Sports set? 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KPMG pulls its ‘Excellence in Agentic AI’ report after companies named in the report ‘complain’; say: This is not … Trump, Pakistan claim US-Iran set to sign peace deal; Tehran pushes back – key points No room for early slip-ups as India begin Women’s T20 World Cup campaign vs Pakistan India steps up Russian oil buying; crude imports from Moscow rise in May: Report ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ box office collection day 2: Diljit Dosanjh starrer earns more than Kangana Ranaut’s film; crosses Rs 3 crore in total ‘The presser can wait’: Nitish Reddy pauses media interaction to answer mom’s call after India’s win – Watch Another Sooryavanshi rises as 10 years old Ashirvad scores century in practice match MP Police Constable Band recruitment 2026 admit card released for 679 posts: Direct link to download hall ticket here ‘I would never insult my friends’: Selena Gomez responds to Taylor Swift speculation after viral NBA post Elon Musk becomes the world’s first trillionaire: He lives in a 400 square feet home, and his mom reveals, ‘There is no food in the fridge’ Macron talks, Trump meeting, G7 summit and tech ties: What’s on PM Modi’s Europe agenda | India News ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get over this day’: Molly-Mae Hague gets candid on the birth of her second child with Tommy Fury after rekindled romance Fans thought Gensyxa destroyed her new streaming setup until they noticed one detail Image: AP For Yogi Adityanath, law and order was never merely governance. It has always been central to his political image. The imagery of a saffron-clad monk governing India’s most populous state with an iron administrative grip has remained one of the defining motifs of contemporary Uttar Pradesh politics.The “Bulldozer Baba” image, once used derisively by the opposition, has since been appropriated by the UP administration as a badge of honour. It carries a simple message: the state intends to project zero tolerance towards criminality and illegal activity. But political rhetoric often travels far ahead of official evidence.The politics of law and orderSo a TOI analysis of five selected categories from National Crime Records Bureau violent-crime tables was undertaken to examine how Uttar Pradesh has performed on some of the most sensitive crime indicators. The categories examined were murder, attempt to commit murder, rape, kidnapping and abduction, and rioting.The result is emphatic.The data shows UP outperformed the national trend in all five categories between 2022 and 2024. In four categories, the decline was sharp and consistent. In the fifth, attempt to murder, the decline was modest, though India as a whole recorded an increase during the same period.The NCRB caveatHowever, every NCRB dataset comes with an important caveat. NCRB numbers reflect police-recorded crime, not the total incidence of crime. Better registration can push numbers upward. Underreporting can pull them downward.There is also a 2024-specific caveat. NCRB notes that after the new criminal laws came into force from July 1, 2024, its data formats were revised to collect IPC and BNS cases separately, while police and court disposal were tabulated collectively for comparability. It also says some shifts in overall numbers may reflect legal reclassification. So the trend is useful, but it should not be read as a pure policing outcome without allowing for changes in reporting and classification.Even with those caveats, the broad direction of the UP trend is difficult to miss.Rioting sees the sharpest fallThe sharpest decline among the five categories comes in rioting. UP recorded 4,478 rioting cases in 2022. The number fell to 3,160 in 2023 and then further to 2,610 in 2024. That represents a 41.7% decline in two years. Nationally, rioting cases declined from 37,816 to 30,348, a smaller fall of roughly 19.8%.Few crime categories carry as much symbolic weight in Uttar Pradesh as rioting. Memories of communal violence in places like Muzaffarnagar in 2013 still shape political narrative in the state. Governments in UP have long been judged through the prism of curfews, communal flare-ups, caste clashes, street violence and administrative paralysis.Adityanath’s government has repeatedly projected itself as the regime that restored fear of the law. Critics, meanwhile, describe the same policing style as selective, aggressive and deeply intertwined with muscular majoritarian politics.Kidnapping and abduction, the largest category in this basket, also shows a steep decline. UP’s count rose slightly from 16,263 in 2022 to 16,663 in 2023 before falling sharply to 12,163 in 2024. That marks a 25.2% decline from 2022. Nationally, kidnapping and abduction cases fell 10.7% during the same period.The category itself is broader than its popular image. NCRB classifications include cases linked to elopement and marriage disputes, not merely violent abductions. Even so, the downward movement remains politically significant because kidnapping is among the crimes that shape public fear most directly.Decoding the rape numbers The rape figures tell a more layered story.UP recorded 3,690 rape cases in 2022, 3,516 in 2023 and 3,209 in 2024. That is a decline of 13%. Nationally, recorded rape cases fell 6.3%, from 31,516 to 29,536.At first glance, the numbers appear reassuring. But the deeper NCRB tables reveal a darker pattern that extends far beyond Uttar Pradesh..In 2024, of UP’s 3,209 recorded rape cases, the accused was known to the victim in 3,114 cases. Unknown or unidentified offenders accounted for only 95 cases. Nationally too, NCRB data shows the same pattern. Of India’s 29,536 rape cases, offenders were known to the victim in 28,597 cases.The dominant public image of sexual violence still revolves around the stranger lurking outside. NCRB’s tables tell a very different story. In most recorded cases, the violence comes not from strangers, but from familiarity.Which means a decline in recorded rape cases cannot automatically be read as a complete resolution of women’s safety concerns.The weak linkMurder presents a steadier pattern.UP recorded 3,491 murder cases in 2022, 3,206 in 2023 and 3,218 in 2024. The figure rose slightly last year, but still remained 7.8% below the 2022 count. Nationally, murder cases declined 5.2% during the same period. Murder data is often treated as relatively more reliable because homicide leaves behind physical evidence and is harder to conceal entirely from official records..Attempt to commit murder remains the state’s weakest category among the five examined.UP recorded 3,788 such cases in 2022, 3,312 in 2023 and 3,728 in 2024. That still leaves the state 1.6% below its 2022 count. India, meanwhile, recorded a 2.8% rise, from 57,256 to 58,844.So while UP still performs better than the national trend, the category does not show the same clean downward trajectory visible in rioting or kidnapping.Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state. Absolute numbers alone can distort perception. According to NCRB’s 2024 projections, UP had a population of roughly 2,388.8 lakh against India’s 14,049.1 lakh, or around 17% of the country’s total population.Yet in all five selected categories, UP’s share of national cases remained below that population share. UP accounted for 11.9% of murders, 6.3% of attempt-to-murder cases, 10.9% of rape cases, 12.7% of kidnapping and abduction cases, and 8.6% of rioting cases.The rate comparison also favours the state. In 2024, UP recorded 1.3 murders per lakh population against India’s 1.9. Attempt to murder stood at 1.6 against roughly 4.1 nationally. Kidnapping and abduction was 5.1 against India’s 6.8. Rioting stood at 1.1 against 2.2 nationally. Rape, calculated per lakh women population, stood at 2.8 against India’s 4.3.Politics versus perceptionDGP Rajeev Krishna has cited the 2024 NCRB figures as evidence that UP’s policing model is working. The government has increasingly leaned on NCRB statistics to counter the opposition’s attacks.The opposition remains unconvinced.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly accused the BJP government of masking insecurity behind spectacle. His critique focuses less on NCRB trendlines and more on police encounters, selective enforcement, women’s safety and whether state power is applied evenly across communities and political affiliations.Both readings find resonance because crime data is not only about dry numbers. It is also about how a citizen feels.Yet one trend remains difficult to ignore. Across five major categories, UP’s recorded serious-crime trajectory has outperformed the national curve between 2022 and 2024. That gives the Yogi government substantial political ammunition.However, NCRB figures remain, ultimately, a measure of recorded crime, not the complete geography of fear. That gap between statistics and lived experience is where the political battle over law and order in Uttar Pradesh will continue to unfold.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosCong Leaders Demand Accountability, Apology From US After Three Indian Sailors Killed In StrikeRubio Tells EAM All Vessels Must Follow US Orders In Hormuz; India Protests Death Of 3 MarinersKalyan Banerjee Targets Rebel TMC Leaders: ‘If TMC Wins In 2029, Will They Resign?’Joint Tribes’ Council Accuses Kuki Cadres Of Killing Six Naga Captives, Seeks Immediate ArrestsCentre’s High-Level Committee On Demographic Changes Begins Work With Focus On Border RegionsYogi Orders FIR Over Remarks on Akhilesh’s Daughter, Says No Insult Against Women Is AcceptableHyderabad Cadet Nidhi Makes History With AIR 6, Fulfills Father’s Dream Of Serving The NationAssam Notifies New Excise Rules With Stricter Liquor Norms And Support For Indigenous BeveragesGovernment Appoints Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth As Next Army Chief, To Take Charge On June 30India, France Expected To Deepen Defence Cooperation With Focus On Submarines And Fighter Jets123Photostories10 baby boy names symbolising fortune and good luck6 most prestigious residential neighbourhoods in Thane for homebuyersNot every cancer begins with pain: Doctors reveal the everyday symptoms people often ignore for too longCrossover of Imtiaz Ali’s characters: Director says at a dinner table, ‘Geet will make bad order; Tara will help’ – Exclusive7 social skills that can help children become confident and make friends easily5 ancient temples in Karnataka that are architectural marvelsLong before becoming the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk survived on hot dogs and oranges for $1 a day in CanadaWhat people who stay healthy into their 80s do differently every day5 signs life’s hardest phase is finally behind you5 animals that are often called the world’s dumbest123Hot PicksStephen A SmithUS Trade DealBullet Train ProjectBeijing ProtestYogi AdityanathPM ModiSpaceX IPORohit SharmaFortnite Gold Sprite Power Hour Start TimingTop TrendingAsha Sharma Net WorthUPSC Prelims ResultNFL Trade RumorFIFA World Cup 2026Women T20 World CupPune Techie SuicideAbhishek BanerjeeComedian PranitTMC Leader Kunal GhoshCBSE Class 10 Second Board Result Jun 14, 2026, 08:09 IST ‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’ box office collection day 9: Varun Dhawan starrer surpasses Rs 60 crore mark globally ‘You’re getting discombobulated’: ‘Commander in Chief’ Trump shares AI image of US troops advancing Jun 14, 2026, 07:44 IST ‘Best film I’ve seen in the last two years’: Priyadarshan hails Chidambaram’s ‘Balan’ ahead of release Why Switzerland is voting to cap its population at 10 million Woh Con Tha: Army officials and veterans nab ’21-year-old Brigadier’ in UP Women’s T20 World Cup: Shemaine Campbelle stars as West Indies stun defending champions New Zealand ‘Peddi will have more acceptance’; Chiranjeevi compares Ram Charan’s film with Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’ 10 baby boy names symbolising fortune and good luck