Breaking News January 29 | LIVE Updates

Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has clarified that the department has only appealed to the government teachers to keep an eye on the consumption of liquor in the state. It was just an advisory.

"We have not given any target to teachers or they are not under any pressure to pass the information to authority about liquor consumption. We have just appealed to them to inform us if they see any mischief in their respective jurisdictions. They do not require additional duty to monitor liquor consumption. We have appealed to every person in the state to inform us if they find people are consuming liquor. Teachers are also included in it. It is the duty of every person to make liquor ban successful in the state but there is no pressure on them," Chaudhary said.

Earlier on Friday, Sanjay Kumar, the additional chief secretary of the education department of Bihar government, had written a letter dated January 28, 2022 to deputy directors of all zones, district education officers, and district education officers of primary, middle and higher secondary schools of Bihar to keep vigil on liquor consumption in their respective areas. He had directed the officers to further communicate to principals, teachers, contract teachers and teachers of Madarsa and ask them to collect information about consumption of liquor, manufacturing units, smuggling, transportation and other activities of mafias in their respective jurisdictions and inform on toll free numbers of the liquor prohibition department.

The Trinamool Congress-Maharashtra Gomantak Party (TMC-MGP) alliance on Saturday promised to revive Goa's virtually non-functional mining sector within 250 days of coming to power, while also assuring to double the state government's spending on health and education sectors, if the alliance comes to power in the coastal state. A joint manifesto released by the two alliance partners on Saturday has also promised 33 per cent job reservation for women in government and private sectors.

"Instituting environmentally sustainable mining practices (within 250 days of TMC forming the government) with an 80 percent reservation for Goans in extraction contracts and mining jobs. Alongside, all income generated through the Goa Mineral Corporation to be utilised to fund welfare schemes in the state," the manifesto states. Fresh mining excavation in the state has been shut down since 2018, when the Supreme Court of India scrapped renewal of 88 mining leases citing irregularities.

The two-day country-wide general strike against the "anti-worker, anti-people, anti-national policies" of the government that was to be held on February 23-24 has been deferred to March 28-29, the trade unions announced on Saturday. The decision was taken in view of the constraints placed on strike preparations due to rising third wave of Covid pandemic; assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh on February 23; local body elections in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal etc., close to February 23-24.

"Therefore, the Joint Platform of the CTUs and sectoral Federations/Associations have decided to defer the general strike dates to March 28-29 when the second phase of the budget session of the Parliament will actually be in session," a statement from the Joint Platform said on Saturday. The decision was taken at an online meeting of the joint platform of Central Trade Unions and Sectoral Federations/Associations held on Friday. 

A forensic team visited the spot. As per preliminary observation, there is a possibility of gelatin use.

The prosecution opposing former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid's bail plea in the northeast Delhi riots case has submitted that the protest was committed in a planned way and the poor people were used as 'cannon fodder'.

The anti-CAA protests were held in Muslim-dominated areas in the national capital, and the poor people were used cannon fodder, the prosecution argued. Delhi Police has registered a case against Khalid and several others under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other provisions of the law, and they are accused of being the "masterminds" of the riots which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

Police had accused Khalid of organising a conspiracy meeting and supervising the site of protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The prosecution has compared the riots with the 9/11 attack by saying as just before 9/11 happened when all the people were involved, they reached a particular place and took training, and a month before that, they moved to their respective positions. That is what is relevant in this case also.

30 years of establishment of formal Diplomatic relationship with Isreal

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu will hold a virtual meeting with leaders of various parties for the Budget session beginning January 31. 

Bengaluru police seize drugs worth Rs.3 Crore from Nigerian nationals

An elderly COVID-19 patient was killed after fire broke out at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal on Saturday morning, officials said. The deceased was admitted to a Covid ward of the hospital, where the blaze erupted around 4 am, they said. Other patients in the ward were safe as they were moved to another wing in time, hospital sources said. Hospital authorities doused the blaze before fire brigade personnel arrived, the sources said. A five-member team has been constituted to investigate the cause of the fire, Hospital Superintendent Tapas Kumar Ghosh said. 

It was a sunny morning in Delhi on Saturday with the minimum temperature settling at 5.4 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, the India Meteorological Department said. According to the weather department, strong surface winds are expected during the day and the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 21 degrees Celsius. The humidity at 8.30 am was 94 per cent. Delhi’s air quality was in the “poor” category as the Air Quality index (AQI) at 8 am on Saturday was 239, the Central Pollution Control Board data showed. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issues a Notice to SBI, seeking withdrawal of the guideline, that prevents women who are over 3 months pregnant from joining service, terming them as 'temporarily unfit'. DCW Chief Swati Maliwal said that this is both discriminatory and illegal.

Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), under its modernisation initiatives, has set up 'new bank note printing lines' each at Currency Note Press, Nashik and Bank Note Press, Dewas. Meera Swarup, Special Secretary & Financial Adviser, Ministry of Finance inaugurated the new bank note printing line at CNP Nashik virtually in the presence of Member of Parliament Hemant Tukaram Godse from Nashik constituency, whereas the new bank note printing line inaugurated at Bank Note Press, Dewas was done by Shashank Saksena, Senior Economic Adviser, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, a statement said. SPMCIL, a Government of India owned Miniratna company, is engaged in the manufacture/production of Currency and Bank Notes, Security Paper, Non-Judicial Stamp Papers, Postal Stamps, Passport, Visa, Cheques, Bond, Warrant, Special Certificates with security features, Security Inks, Circulation & Commemorative Coins, Medallions, Refining of Gold & Silver, and Assay of Precious Metals among others.

-IANS

As many as three persons were apprehended by the Indian Army on Friday at the Shuhama area of Hadura in Ganderbal district after two pistols and Chinese grenades were recovered from their possession.

Two pistols, three magazines and two Chinese grenades were recovered from the possession of those apprehended.

Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra was Friday injured after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a truck near Barrackpore Trunk Road, police said. Mitra was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and discharged, they said. "I am better now, though it was a close shave. I was on my way to attend a flower show in Belghoria area, but because of the traffic, I thought of riding the motorcycle to reach the venue quicker," Mitra told PTI when contacted. Later, the Kamarhati MLA attended the function.

The driver of a truck laden with fodder drove on for at least four km on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Palghar district before realizing that his cargo had caught fire, an official said on Friday. A video of the `burning truck' also circulated on social media. The fodder which the truck was carrying caught fire late Thursday night and the drivers of other vehicles on the road alerted the local fire brigade. Two fire engines were rushed to the spot to douse the fire, said an official of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation in the district. While no one was injured, the truck was a total wreck, he said, adding that the cause of the fire was being investigated.

A teenage girl and boy went missing after the boat they were traveling in capsized in the Sindh river in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district on Friday, police said. Ten other passengers either swam ashore or were rescued. They were returning after attending a religious feast on the other bank of the river when the accident took place at a spot 40 km from Bhind town, said inspector Narendra Singh Kushwaha of Nayagaon police station. Local resident Draupati Baghel (16) and Om Baghel (13), resident of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh were missing and search operation was on, he said.

Authorities served ‘show cause’ notices to 21 employees who were found absent during a surprise visit at government offices in Kishtwar district on Friday, officials here said. The visits were made by Additional District Development Commissioner (ADDC) Sham Lal to check attendance in the government offices, they said. A total of 21 employees were found absent without leave, while district drug control office was found locked during his visit, they said.
As a consequence, the ADDC served show-cause notice to these 21 employees and ordered withholding of their salaries, the officials said. He ordered the concerned officers to seek explanation from the absentees within three days and initiate future action against them, they said.

Deployed to guard the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, Army jawans carried a pregnant woman for kilometres on shoulders to help her to reach a hospital, official said. On Thursday night, Local formation of the Army got a distress call from border area of Tuglu (Noorkote) village situated on the LoC in Poonch for urgent medical assistance to a pregnant woman who had developed labour pain, they said. The Army personnel responded promptly and with the help of locals evacuated the woman to the nearest civil hospital on a charpoy, they said.