New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) held its 63rd Founding Day celebrations on Friday. The two-day event was inaugurated by Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The is the apex anti-smuggling intelligence and investigation agency, functioning under the aegis of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
The celebration commenced with an Inaugural Function held at the Ministry of Finance, North Block. Secretary (Finance) and Chairman, CBIC were also present on the occasion along with Pr. Director General, DRI. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the event was also streamed live through a digital platform with participation of over 450 DRI, CBIC and other Government of India officers across the world.
On the occasion, Finance Minister unveiled “Smuggling in India Report 2019-20” which analyses organised smuggling trends on topics such as Gold & Foreign Currency, Narcotic Drugs, Security, Environment, Commercial Frauds.
Bravery Awards conferred
On this occasion, Bravery Awards were conferred upon Najimudheen T S of DRI Cochin Zonal Unit and Sumer Sen, an independent witness of a case booked by DRI, Jaipur.
The DRI Utkrisht Seva Samman, 2020 was awarded to Sh B. Sankaran, an officer of the 1961 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) for his years of distinguished and committed service.
Due to travel restrictions, this year the Bravery Award and Utkrisht Seva Samman were conferred upon the recipients by the Pr Additional Director Generals of DRI’s Zonal Unit earlier this morning, on behalf of Finance Minister.
During the function, video recordings of these ceremonies were played before the attending officials.
Finance Minister congratulated DRI and its officers on their performance and commendable service, especially in times of the prevalent pandemic. She also lauded DRI officers for integrity in their functioning and urged them to keep striving as protectors of the economic frontiers of the nation.
She also lauded the efforts of DRI in safeguarding the economic and national security of the Country. She encouraged the officers of DRI to continue working hard and dedicate their service towards the nation.
The inaugural session was followed by an International panel discussion moderated by the DRI. The panelists included representatives from Australian Border Force, Customs Administration of Netherlands, HMRC (UK) and INTERPOL. The panel discussion was attended by over 200 participants.
