NEW DELHI: PM Modi Saturday made his first comments on the govt’s move to implement the women’s reservation law from the next Lok Sabha polls, as he asked women to put pressure on the opposition to ensure related bills are passed in Parliament unopposed, while rejecting as a lie the charge that southern states will lose out in delimitation due to their success in controlling population.Addressing an election rally in Thiruvalla in Kerala, he said Parliament’s budget session would reconvene for three days from April 16 so that a law for 33% quota for women in Lok Sabha and assemblies enacted by his govt is implemented from the 2029 LS polls. Modi also confirmed the delimitation exercise to increase the seats of legislatures by the same number that will be set aside for women.PM Modi said, “People are spreading the lie that seats will fall where population is declining. We want Parliament’s stamp on a law that ensures Lok Sabha seats do not decline in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa or Telangana.”The PM acknowledged their good work in controlling population.Govt’s proposal is to increase the number of seats in legislatures by about 50% — number of LS constituencies will be upped to 816 from the current 543 — so that the additional number is allotted exclusively for women, said Modi but without giving out exact numbers.“You should tell members of Congress and LDF that these laws should be passed unopposed… Women should pressure all political parties,” he told voters in CPM-led LDF governed Kerala. He said, “I also appeal to them that this right of our mothers and sisters is pending for 40 years. It should not remain so in the 2029 polls.”Modi noted that his govt had called Congress for a meeting over the issue and has spoken to parties from opposition INDIA bloc. While some opposition parties attended the meeting spearheaded by home minister Amit Shah, Congress, TMC and Left have kept away.Congress and Left have called for an all-party meeting, an unlikely possibility with Parliament set to meet mid-month, a week ahead of assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.Kerala is going to the polls on April 9, and BJP believes that its move for the women’s quota implementation will help it deepen traction with women voters in the three states, which have been a stronghold of opposition parties.

Mumbai: When Dhondiba Ghodke’s mobile phone was stolen from his Vile Parle-based shoe shop in Nov 2025, he never expected to see the device ever again. Beyond the hardware, the loss was personal; the device contained bank documents and photos. Ghodke was in for a surprise on Saturday when the Vile Parle police invited him to a special event, where his phone was returned along with those of others like him.Since 2023, the Mumbai Police have recovered 44,000 lost or stolen cellphones through the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) database, a Union ministry of communications initiative aimed at combating mobile theft or misuse. About 70% of these recoveries occurred within the last eight months alone, Cyber Police said. Once a victim reports a device as stolen or missing at a police station, its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is entered into the CEIR database by officers. Within 24 hours, the device is blocked, rendering it useless on any telecom network nationally. The moment a new SIM card is inserted by anyone into the blocked handset, the system triggers an automatic alert. The police can then track its location and initiate recovery. The tracking and recovery operations frequently cross state lines. In Jan, 13 Mumbai police teams were dispatched to 19 districts of UP, retrieving 1,650 handsets valued at Rs 2 crore. The deputy commissioner of police (cyber) is the nodal officer and coordinates the putting together of teams from local police stations for retrieval. For some, the recovery is bittersweet. Hemant Mayekar, another Vile Parle resident, received his phone from the police on Saturday, but the memory card was never found. “My mother was hospitalised in December 2025, and I was running around for her medicines when the phone slipped from my pocket,” Mayekar said. “I faced immense trouble because I couldn’t access her medical documents. Now, my mother is no more, and I’ve lost all her photos as well,” he said. On Saturday, 939 phones, retrieved using CEIR, were returned to their owners, including Ghodke and Mayekar, at separate events in the western suburbs and central Mumbai. Cybersecurity consultant Ritesh Bhatia advocated for the establishment of a central coordinating agency to handle inter-state retrievals. Currently, police teams travel hundreds of kms to bring devices home. “A central agency could coordinate with police in other states to retrieve and ship devices back,” Bhatia noted. “This would save significant time and resources,” he said.