Breaking News, February 25

A day after BJP MLA in Bihar sought the withdrawal of voting rights of the Muslim community, the state's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has given clear message to alliance partner BJP to check its legislators or the government will not run for a long time. JD-U national President Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh called up Deputy Chief Minister Tar Kishore Prasad, who is also the leader of BJP in the Assembly, and asked him to check his legislators.

The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, has approved the remission of fifty percent stamp duty for all first time buyers of real estate in the housing sector for a period of two years, officials said on Friday. The decision is aimed at giving a boost to the real-estate sector in Jammu and Kashmir and motivating the new buyers to participate in the market. It is also expected to provide momentum to property sale and registration by making the purchase of property attractive and affordable.

Close on the heels of a reputed college at Bengaluru asking a Sikh girl student to remove her turban in wake of hijab row, a private school in Karnataka's Mangaluru has allegedly denied admission to a 6-year-old Sikh boy for wearing a turban. The boy, with his parents, had gone on Thursday to a reputed private school in the city seeking admission to Class 1, but authorities reportedly denied admission citing that no religious symbols are allowed in the school. Later, the matter was reported to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) which has asked the childline to submit a report in this regard.

Two persons on Friday were shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants at Khor village in Pataudi, the police said. Paramjeet Thakran (43), a former councillor, and his brother Surjeet Thakran (50), received gunshot wounds all across the body, and even as they were rushed to a hospital, the doctors declared them brought dead. The brothers were liquor merchant, and also run a school in the village.

The Taliban regime has decided to deploy more units of its special forces including a unit of suicide bombers on the Durand Line following repeated clashes between Taliban fighters and Pakistani forces. Border tensions have risen since last year, with the Taliban opposing Pakistan's move to put up a fence on the Durand Line that that demarcates the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The Taliban does not accept the Durand Line as the true border between the two countries as it is seen as a forced legacy of the British.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday asked the States and Union Territories (UTs) to allow further relaxations in the Covid-19 restrictions after a risk assessment based approach on the opening of economic activities. such as social, sports, entertainment, academic and religious events as well as night curfew hours in view of the substantial decline in coronavirus cases.

An active member of Mewat based interstate robbers gang, wanted in a case of attack on police in 2021, has been arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. DCP of Special Cell, Jasmit Singh, said on Friday that Yunus was wanted in a sensational case of attack on police in four PCR vans while being chased by them. Recently, one of his aides was held by the Cell.

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on a plea, filed by the kin of deceased, that he should be punished for an offence of more serious category than causing hurt, therefore leading to enhancement of punishment. Sidhu has urged the apex court not to punish him with a jail term in a 1988 road rage case in which he was let off with a meagre fine of Rs 1,000.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is mulling separate training modules for police personnel to tackle crime in tribal areas and strengthen village policing. It has asked Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) Hyderabad and North East Police Academy (NEPA), Shillong to prepare training modules for the state police.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday asked the authorities to prepare an action plan for scientific and systematic use of cow urine instead of chemicals and pesticides n the field of agriculture in the state, an official said. "Baghel ordered the state chief secretary to prepare an action plan within two weeks on the possibility of scientific use of cow urine instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for agriculture by farmers after discussion with the agricultural scientists in the state," it said. The soil fertility is decreasing due to the continuous use of chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides. Excessive use of chemicals in agriculture is also adversely affecting the health of the general public, the statement quoted him as saying.

In a first, a union law secretary has been appointed as a judge of a high court. According to the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry, Union Law Secretary Anoop Kumar Mendiratta has been elevated as a judge of the Delhi High Court. Mendiratta was appointed as judge based on his seniority as a judicial officer, sources in the government said. His name was recently recommended by the Supreme Court collegium. Mendiratta was a judicial officer in Delhi when he was made the law secretary in October 2019.

An IIT Delhi start-up has launched the "world's smallest” wearable air purifier, claiming it is as effective as an N95 face mask. According to the start-up, Nanoclean Global, Naso95 is an N95-grade nasal filter. It sticks to the user's nasal orifice and prevents bacteria, viral infection and pollen and air pollution. It said the wearable air purifier, which comes in four different sizes, gives better protection than a generic facemask or a loosely fitted face mask. The product has been tested and certified by national and international labs for its safety and efficiency.

A 26-year-old jawan of the Chhattisgarh police's Special Task Force (STF), who was on a month-long medical leave and undergoing treatment in his native village in Bijapur district of the state, was allegedly killed by Naxals, an official said on Friday. The incident took place in Reddy Road area late Thursday night and preliminary investigation suggests that the jawan was severely thrashed before being strangulated to death, the senior police official said. The deceased STF jawan was identified as Arjun Kudiyam, a resident of Dhanora village located under Gangaloor police station limits. He was on medical leave for one month and was taking treatment by staying in his native village, he said.

Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting begins. Further relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions in the national capital in wake of a drop in cases likely to be taken up.

More than 1.9 million children in India lost a parent or caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a modelling study of 20 countries published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal. Globally, the number of children estimated to have experienced the death of a parent or caregiver as a result of COVID-19 has surged to more than 5.2 million, the researchers said. Estimates of the numbers of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death nearly doubled in the six months from May 1, 2021 through October 31, 2021 compared with the numbers after the first 14 months of the pandemic, they said. Globally, the new study suggests, two out of three children orphaned from COVID-19 are adolescents aged 10 to 17 years.

A college student was feared drowned after she allegedly jumped into Ganga Canal near at Nirgajani Jhal here, police said on Friday. She was identified as Shivani, a BA student, through her Aadhaar card and mobile phone, which the police recovered from a bag they found at the river bank, they said. Bhopa police station SHO Pankaj Rai said Shivani was yet to be traced and the search was on. Her brother KP Singh informed the police that the family members were unaware of the reason why Shivani may have taken such an extreme step.

At least two persons were killed and dozens of others wounded as a 6.2-magnitude quake hit Indonesia's western province of West Sumatra on Friday, an official said. Head of the Operation Unit of Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency of West Sumatra Province, named only Jumaidi, said that the quake also destroyed buildings and houses, Xinhua news agency reported.

A newly married couple was killed in a road accident in Rajasthan's Churu district, police said on Friday. Vishal Chaudhary (25) and Neha Chaudhary (24) were travelling in a car and it collided with a truck near Bhojasar bus stand on Sardarshahar-Dungargarh highway late on Thursday night, Station House Officer of Sardarshahar police station Balraj Singh Maan said. Both of them were killed in the collision, he added. He said the couple was going to Haryana. The bodies were handed over to family members on Friday morning after post-mortem, Mann said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the post-budget webinar ‘Aatmanirbharta in Defence-Call to Action' today: Ministry of Defence.

ITBP's K-9 warrior mom Julie gave birth to 8 fighter pups at National Augmentation for K9s (NAK) Project at NTCD (National Training Centre for Dogs) at ITBP, BTC, Bhanu near Panchkula in Haryana. Malinois hero K9 Julie belongs to the same breed used by NATO Forces: ITBP officials

Stressing on the structural audit of high-rise housing societies, the Haryana Directorate General of Town and Country Planning (DGTCP), has directed the District Town and Country Planning (DTCP), Gurugram, to submit a factual situation about complaints received previously by the DTCP. The Gurugram DTCP had sent an e-mail to the DGTCP and informed that various complaints have been received regarding structural issues in high-rise societies even in the immediate surrounding at the Chintels Paradiso Society at Gurugram's Sector-109. However, the case of a few societies' issues are being deliberated upon for a long time such as Raheja Atharwa in Sector-109 and Raheja Vedanta in Sector-108. "So, a structured audit needs to be conducted in the following societies on an urgent basis," the e-mail said.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday accused Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav of insulting Lord Buddha by allegedly not accepting his bust at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh. Rijiju shared a video of Yadav purportedly not receiving the bust being given to him as a gift and apparently asking that it be kept backstage. The rally took place in Kaushambhi a few days ago. Several BJP leaders too have accused the SP chief of insulting Lord Buddha. "I knew that Akhilesh Yadav was never serious about the sentiments of Dalits, but this open insult of Lord Buddha is an insult of India's ethos," the Union minister tweeted in Hindi. Kaushambhi is a major pilgrimage site for Buddhists.

The 270-kilometres Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was reopened on Thursday after remaining closed for a day due to snowfall and landslides triggered by heavy rains, officials said. The highway was closed for vehicular movement due to snowfall, landslides and shooting stones at many places around the Nvyug tunnel, Cafeteria Morh Ramban,  Maroog,  Pantiyal and Sherbibi, they said. Site Engineer, National Highway Authority of India, Sahil Upal informed that vehicular traffic has been restored on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which was affected between Ramban and Banihal. He said adequate men and machinery have been deployed to clear the fresh landslides. District administration Ramban has launched a massive restoration operation to restore road and essential services and supplies affected due to snow and incessant rainfall across the district during the past two days, they said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday said the National Education Policy, 2020 will be implemented in the Union territory from April. A high-level meeting was chaired by Advisor to the LG Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, School Education and Literacy Department Secretary Anita Karwal and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta to discuss the functioning of the School Education Department to resolve the operational issues being faced in implementation of the education policy and other schemes. "The National Education Policy is being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir from April 1," a senior official said. Under the policy, the School Education Department was asked to immediately rollout Vidya Pravesh, a preschool preparation programme for Class 1 students, officials said.

Facing flak over the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) paper leak, the state government Thursday introduced a bill with strict provisions like up to 10 years in jail and Rs 10 crore fine to prevent cheating, paper leak and use of unfair means in competitive examinations. Provisions of attachment and confiscation of properties have also been made in the bill introduced by the Higher Education Minister Rajendra Singh Yadav. The Rajasthan Public Examination (measures for prevention of unfair means in recruitment) Bill, 2022 aims to provide for effective measures to prevent and curb the leakage of question papers and use of unfair means in public examinations for recruitment to any post under the state government including autonomous bodies, authorities, boards and corporations