Home Minister Inaugurated BSF Floating Border Outposts

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Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated three floating Border Outposts (BOP) on the Indo-Bangladesh border to protect the inaccessible areas of the Sundarbans.
On the first day of his two day visit to West Bengal, the Union Home Minister also flagged off the floating Boat Ambulance and laid the foundation stone of ‘Maitri Sangrahalaya’.

The floating Border Outposts (BOP) Sutlej, Kaveri and Narmada have been built by the Kochi Shipyard.
The floating BOPs are equipped with modern facilities and safety equipment.
The front section of the BOP is bullet proof for the safety of the jawans.
A BOP is accompanied by 6 small boats and it has adequate arrangements to prevent both infiltration and smuggling.
Laid the foundation stone of ‘Maitri Sangrahalaya’ or ‘Friendship Museum’.
A boat ambulance at a floating border outpost (BOP) at Haridaspur in the state.
The BOPs with three digi-sets can remain afloat without refilling fuel for a month and will guard the 80-km riverine border between India and Bangladesh.
Three more BOPs will be added to the fleet in the days to come.

Indo-Bangladesh Border

India and Bangladesh share 4096.7 km. of border, which is the longest land boundary that India shares with any of its neighbours.
The India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) came into force following the exchange of instruments of ratification in June 2015.

Why was such an agreement needed?

The raids were conducted after complaints were received saying that Singhal was allowing the operation of Pachadumar sand ghat through favoured contractors.
Complaints also said that the act was done being done illegally without seeking wildlife clearance from the National Board of wildlife.
A land lease agreement was signed between Soren and nine persons of the village on March 14, 2021. In a letter dated June 16, 2021, the Ranchi DMO stated that the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner, in an order dated June 15, 2021, had issued a Letter of Intent giving ‘in-principle approval’ for the mining lease with a few conditions.
The documents also show that on September 9, the CM applied for environmental clearance for the said mine, and that the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority had given clearance by September 22.
A petition was filed in February this year, by one Shiv Shankar Sharma, who is being represented by Advocate Rajeev Kumar, on granting of stone chips mining lease in Ranchi last year.
The petition stated that the High Court has been approached for an ‘appropriate direction to prosecute the Chief Minister (Hemant Soren)’, who is the Minister of Department of Mines, as he ‘misused’ his office in getting the mining lease in his own name.
Pooja Singhal had obliged two NGOs, Welfare Point and Prerna Niketan with Rs 6 crores fund and had granted a mining lease on 83 acres of forest land in contravention of the environmental regulations. As deputy commissioners in Chatra, Palamu, and Khunti districts, she is alleged to have committed irregularities in the MNRGEA.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted raids at 18 locations in four states, including premises linked to Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal.
According to the ED, raids were conducted in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Punjab, and unearthed various documents regarding assets and properties allegedly linked to Singhal.
The agency also recovered Rs 18 crore in cash from the house of a Ranchi-based chartered accountant who is allegedly linked to Singhal, the sources said.
The ED is also raiding the Pulse Hospital in Ranchi. This hospital belongs to the Pooja Singhal’s Husband Abhishek Jha.

About Pooja Singhal

Singhal is an IAS officer and secretary of the department of mines and geology of Jharkhand government, in state capital, Ranchi.
Singhal is a 2000 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and was posted as the deputy commissioner in Khunti district earlier.
Her husband is known as a big businessman in Jharkhand. Her father-in-law Kameshwar Jha has been taken into custody. Pooja’s father-in-law Kameshwar Jha was working as Child Development Project Officer in Madhubani.
Pooja Singhal was earlier married to an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS officer Rahul Purwar). But that marriage was a short-lived married life.

About Enforcement Directorate

The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1st May, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (FERA ’47).
In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’. The administrative control of the Directorate was transferred from Department of Economic Affairs to Department of Revenue in 1960.
It is economic intelligence and law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.
It functions under aegis of Department of Revenue, Union Ministry of Finance.
Its prime objective is enforcement of two key Acts of Government of India namely:
- Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) and
- Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA)

Question:
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) is implemented by
a) Ministry of Home Affairs
b) Ministry of Finance
c) DIPAM
d) Ministry of Corporate Affairs