Breaking News, August 10 | Updates

Widows of Vrindavan have sent 501 ‘rakhis’ and 75 national flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Raksha Bandhan. Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International and a well-known social reformer, organised a rakhi-making event for the widows at Maa Sharda Ashram here on Tuesday, Madan Jha, media advisor of Sulabh International, said on Wednesday. The event is organised every year, he added.

A Delhi court has dismissed the bail application of an accused in a case where a 20-year-old woman was allegedly abducted, gang-raped, and paraded by a group of people in Kasturba Nagar in January, terming the offence as “serious and heinous”. The victim was allegedly abducted and taken to a house, where she was assaulted, sexually abused, and molested on January 26, 2022, and the accused allegedly remained outside the house to prevent anyone from rescuing the victim.

Delhi University students, teachers and officials held a rally in the North Campus area on Thursday as a part of the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign to celebrate 75 years of India's independence. The rally, led by Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, covered a distance of four kilometres. Participants of the rally carries Indian flags and raised slogans.

A parliamentary committee has recommended that senior citizen concessions be reviewed and restored "urgently" at least for sleeper class and AC 3-tier train travel. In its report submitted on August 4, the Standing Committee on Railways said senior citizens were earlier granted a concession amounting to 40-50 per cent of their railway fares, but the practice was stopped during the COVID-19 crisis.

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, who is set to be sworn in as Bihar chief minister for a record eighth time on Wednesday, is likely to retain the all-important Home portfolio, while the RJD may get most of the departments that were previously with the BJP, a highly-placed source said. He said an in-principle agreement has been reached about the composition of the new cabinet, which is likely to have “35 members or more”, drawn from Kumar’s JD(U), the RJD and the Congress.

The Supreme Court Wednesday granted bail to poet and activist P Varavara Rao on medical grounds in the Bhima-Koregaon case. While granting bail to the 82-year-old, a bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said he shall not misuse the liberty in any manner. Rao, who had challenged the Bombay High Court's April 13 order rejecting his plea for permanent bail on medical grounds, is currently on interim bail.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out raids at locations linked to the accused in the Rs 300 crore Karuvannur Cooperative bank scam, which triggered a political row in Kerala recently. Sources in the ED told PTI that searches were conducted simultaneously at the residences of all the five accused in this district.

BJP national president J P Nadda is scheduled to arrive in Agartala on August 27 on a two-day visit to Tripura to oversee organisational activities, a senior party leader said on Wednesday. The visit assumes significance in view of next year’s assembly elections. “Nadda ji will be in Tripura to oversee the party’s preparedness for the 2023 assembly elections,” BJP state vice-president and MP Rebati Tripura said.

Three people were killed and a woman injured in two separate road accidents in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Wednesday. Hari Kishore (50) and his wife Madhuri (45), residents of Hamidpur in Bihar, were killed while Kishore’s sister Babita (25) was critically injured when their scooty was hit by a truck near Government Medical College Kathua on the Jammu-Pathankot highway on Tuesday night, a police official said.

Security forces averted a major tragedy Wednesday by recovering an about 30-kg improvised explosive device (IED) in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir just days before the 75th Independence Day, police said. The IED was recovered after a specific input generated by police, Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a drugs case. A division bench of justices MS Ramachandra Rao and Sureshwar Thakur pronounced the verdict on the bail plea of Majithia, one of his counsels Arshdeep Singh Kler said.

The Jaipur-headquartered North Western Railway zone has formed special units in all its four divisions to expedite the national transporter's developmental and infrastructure projects, officials said. NWR Chief Public Relations Officer Shashi Kiran said the Gati Shakti units are being set up for a timely completion of the railway's projects such as station redevelopment, yard remodeling and traffic facilities.

The Assam and Mizoram governments signed a joint statement on Tuesday after a ministerial-level discussion in Aizawal and Mizoram to take forward the process of resolution of the boundary dispute between the two states. According to the statement, both states have agreed to promote and maintain peace to prevent any untoward incident along the borders. Also, the Deputy Commissioners of the bordering districts of both states shall meet at least once in two months.