Breaking news on December 31

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday blamed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for being "solely responsible" for Delhi's "poor" ranking in the Centre's cleanliness survey. The Union housing and urban affairs minister said other areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) were doing better than Delhi in cleanliness. Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for the fourth time in a row. Bhopal stood second in first quarter results (April to June), while Rajkot grabbed the second spot in second quarter results (July-September). 

The constitution has a mandate, Parliament - List 1, State Assemblies - List 2. I would again urge the Chief Minister (Kerala) to kindly have better legal advice: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Jamshedpur bags first position in category of city having population less than 10 lakh: Central govt cleanliness survey.

NCR areas doing good work, better than Delhi in cleanliness: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

CAA does not relate to any Indian citizen. Neither creates nor takes away citizenship of any Indian: Ravi Shankar Prasad to media in Kerala.

A play titled 'Jamiawala Bagh' was staged outside the Jamia Millia Islamia which has been at the forefront of the protest against the new citizenship law.

Protesters associated with Jamia Hamdard Alumni staged the play which portrayed and condemned the police action on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia on the campus premises on December 15, said a statement from the Jamia students.

In solidarity with Mohammad Minhajuddin (the injured student who lost one of his eyes), the protesters were requested to bandage one eye to register their dissent and express support.

The Jamia Coordination Committee, which comprises members from various political outfits active on campus, has been helming the protests outside Gate number 7 of the varsity.

Odisha: Preparations underway at Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, ahead of expected footfall of devotees for new year.

Five naxals, including three women surrendered before Gadchiroli Police, Maharashtra. The 5 naxals had total reward of Rs 27 lakhs on their heads.

Five naxals, including three women surrendered before Gadchiroli Police in Maharashtra. The 5 naxals had total reward of Rs 27 lakhs on their heads.

An infant suffered burn injuries when a fire broke out in the neonatal care unit of the Alwar district hospital in Rajasthan on Tuesday, an official said.
The infant has been referred to a hospital in Jaipur.

"The fire broke out in a radiant warmer which was connected with oxygen. There were 15 infants in the ward when the incident occurred," Chief Medical and Health Officer OP Meena said.

A civilian was injured in a landmine blast in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said. Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, Rahul Yadav told PTI that the civilian stepped on the mine in the border belt of Baigyaldara resulting in the blast. He has been hospitalised.

• Can't say predatory pricing is only reason of ill health of airlines, it is one of the reasons: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri
• Some predatory pricing is happening in airfares; if it continues, other airlines can shut down: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri
• After discussion with airlines, predatory pricing has reduced; our advice is to charge realistic fares: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri.
• Air India is a first-class airline, but there are no two views that privatisation has to be done: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri
• We are not slaves of certain deadlines; we are trying to do it (disinvestment) as quickly as possible: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri

15 people injured after bus falls into gorge near Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur

Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of Citizenship Act amid outrage over the newly passed bill that grants Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis living in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane takes charge as Chief of Army Staff, succeeding Gen Bipin Rawat

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav flags off a cycle march of party MLAs in Lucknow against Citizenship Amendment Act, NRC and NPR from party office to the state Assembly.

Rahul Gandhi hold a meeting with Maharashtra cabinet ministers from Congress at his residence in Delhi. Senior party leaders Mallikarjun Khadge, C Venugopal were also present at the meeting.

Newly-elected Congress Ministers in Maharashtra on Tuesday met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence. The ministers were accompanied by Congress General Secretary in charge of Maharashtra, Mallikarjun Kharge and also senior Congress leader KC Venugopal along with AICC secretaries incharge of the State. The new ministers will also be meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi soon.

Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan moves resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act in state Assembly, demanding the withdrawal of CAA.

" I want to make it clear that no detention centres will come up in Kerala," he added.

"Kerala has a long history of secularism, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, everyone reached our land. Christians&Muslims reached Kerala in the very beginning. Our tradition is of inclusiveness. Our assembly needs to keep the tradition alive," Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the death of Nagaland Assembly Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshu, describing him as a diligent leader who was devoted towards development of the state.

Yhoshu (67) died on Monday at a hospital in Mumbai after battling lung cancer for several months.

"Anguished by the demise of the Speaker of Nagaland’s Assembly Vikho-o Yhoshu. He was a diligent leader who devoted his life towards the progress of Nagaland. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in these moments of sadness," the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

"Today as I demit the office of Chief of Army staff, I wish to convey my gratitude to the soldiers, rank and file of Indian Army who have stood steadfast under challenging circumstances," said Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

"I wish to convey my best wishes to General Manoj Naravane who will be assuming the office as the 28th Army chief, for a successful inning," he further added.

India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat receives his farewell Guard of Honour as the Army Chief at South Block.

Sensex drops 100.61 pts to 41,457.39 in opening session; Nifty falls 32.95 pts to 12,222.90

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will take over as first Chief of Defence Staff on January 1

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat who has been appointed as the first Chief of Defence Staff of the country pays tribute at National War Memorial

Government has notified RuPay & Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a prescribed mode of payments for undertaking digital transactions without Merchant Discount Rates (MDR), said Finance Ministry.

All companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crores or more mandated by Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit Card and UPI QR code to their customers, it added.

Finance Ministry has extended the Aadhaar-PAN linking date to 31st March, 2020. Earlier, 31st December, 2019 was the last date for linking PAN with Aadhaar.

Nearly six months after a 37-year-old man immolated himself at Nihal Vihar police station alleging police inaction in a case, two policemen have been booked and one of them has been suspended, officials said on Monday.

On July 3, the man went to the police station and set himself afire alleging police inaction and harassment in a case pertaining to two persons beating him up. The man had allegedly recorded the incident on his phone through Facebook Live.

Four medium intensity tremors with magnitudes ranging between 4.7 and 5.5 hit Jammu and Kashmir in a span of less than two hours on Monday night, the National Centre for Seismology said. 

The first quake with a magnitude of 4.7 hit at 10:42 pm, followed by one measuring 5.5 six minutes later. The third quake measuring 4.6 hit at 10:58, followed by the fourth one at 11:20 pm with a magnitude of 5.4.

There were no immediate reports of casualty and damage to properties. 

Air Quality Index (AQI) at 431 in the 'severe' category in Delhi's Anand Vihar and at 372 in 'very poor' category in RK Puram, according to Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) data

At least 34 trains running late due to low visibility in the Northern Railway region