Breaking News, September 4

Hitting back at the Congress for its criticism on the issue of price rise, the BJP on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought the inflation rate under control despite adverse circumstances which is being "appreciated" by citizens but the Congress party is not able to see it.

Fast bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has replaced Prasidh Krishna in the India 'A' squad for the ongoing three-match series against New Zealand 'A' in Bengaluru.

Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said his fight to ensure justice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir will continue till his last breath as he called for united efforts to bring down the "walls of hatred" for prosperity and development.

Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena visited the Chaudhary Brahma Prakash Ayurved Charak Sansthan (CBPACS) on Sunday and directed the officials to explore new avenues to adopt ancient and traditional medical practices to develop the institute into a leading Ayurveda centre in the world, an official statement said.

A stationery shop owner from Virar near Mumbai was arrested for allegedly killing his 32-year-old friend over a financial dispute and stuffing his body into a wooden box before dumping it in a nullah, police said on Sunday

AIADMK leader in Puducherry M Ramadass on Sunday flayed Chief Minister N Rangasamy for not participating in the 30th Southern Regional Council meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram. Ramadass in a release said acting Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan attended the meeting which would not be of any help to the union territory.

Six persons have been booked for allegedly submitting fake documents to avail a loan of Rs 1crore from a leading bank, a Nagpur police official said on Sunday.

As many as 16 idols were stolen from an ancient Jain temple located in Paroli village under the Narhat police station area of ​​Lalitpur district, officials said on Sunday. Lalitpur Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak told PTI that 16 idols and their four umbrellas were stolen from the ancient Jain temple on Saturday night. 

West Bengal logged 181 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the tally to 21,07,888, a health department bulletin said. One death was reported during the day, which took the toll to 21,473.

Cyrus Mistry, who burst onto India's business stage big time with his appointment as the chairman of Tata Sons in 2012 before a boardroom feud forced his exit, was killed in a car crash in Maharashtra's Palghar district near Mumbai on Friday. Mistry, 54, and a man identified as Jahangir Pandole were killed when his luuxury car hit a road divider, while eminent gynecologist, Anahita Pandole (55), and her husband Darius Pandole (60) survived the crash. Jahangir is the brother of Darius, a former independent director of the Tata Group of companies who had opposed Cyrus Mistry's removal as the chairman.

Nearly 1,300 people have been killed so far due to unprecedented floods triggered by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan's northern mountains, as authorities stepped up efforts to contain the spread of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and malaria in the affected areas.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of weakening the country by spreading fear and hatred, and said only the Congress can unite the country and take it to the path of progress. Launching an all out attack on the Modi government at the 'Mehangai Par Halla Bol' rally at Ramlila Maidan here, he said the government has shut the path of the Opposition from speaking in Parliament, and the "only way for us is to talk directly to people and tell the truth of the country to people and hear them out".

An Assam Rifles jawan has been arrested in Assam's Cachar district for allegedly killing his wife and daughter, police said on Sunday. The reason for the twin murders is not yet known, they added. Police said neighbours found Manika (31) and her daughter Riddhi (12) death in their official quarter at Srikona camp, about 15 km from here, on Saturday morning.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday as many as eight petitions, including the ones filed by politicians Randeep Singh Surjewala and Mahua Moitra, challenging the extension of tenure of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) director and the amended law allowing such extensions up to five years.

UP's Tourism and Culture minister Jaiveer Singh on Sunday said that the BJP will snatch the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, currently held by the Samajwadi Party, in the 2024 general election. "UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and the general secretary (organisation) Dharmpal Singh have formulated strategy to win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats of the state.

As part of the financial inclusion drive, public sector banks will open about 300 brick-and-mortar branches in the unbanked areas of various states by December 2022. These new branches will cover all remaining unbanked villages with a population of more than 3,000, according to sources. A Maximum number of 95 branches will be opened in Rajasthan followed by 54 in Madhya Pradesh.

The government is likely to invite preliminary bids for the strategic sale of NMDC's Nagarnar Steel Plant by March-end, an official said. The official said that NMDC's under-construction steel plant in Chhattisgarh is expected to commence operation this month, and once the demerger process is complete, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will proceed with the privatisation of Nagarnar Steel Plant.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal to attend 1st IPEF ministerial meet during his visit to USA. He will also engage with the industry leaders and entrepreneurs to strengthen trade & investment, giving further impetus to the Indo-US strategic partnership

A 30-year-old mentally-challenged man was repatriated by Pakistan after he inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district, officials said on Sunday. Mohd Rashid, a resident of Degwar-Terwan village in Poonch, was reported missing by his family on August 30, the officials said. The Pakistani army handed him over to their Indian counterparts at Chakan Da Bagh crossing point on the LoC in presence of civil officials and police on Saturday. He was later united with his family, officials said. They said this was the second time in the past few years that the man slipped across the border but was safely returned to his family. 

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at former Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna for his remarks on lack of freedom of expression, saying those who speak without restrictions to abuse a popularly elected prime minister are crying about freedom of expression. Responding to a tweet which quoted a portion of an interview given by Justice Srikrishna (retd) to a national daily, Rijiju said "Those people who speak all the time without any restrictions to abuse the popularly elected Prime Minister are crying about freedom of expression! They will never talk about emergency imposed by Congress party and never dare to criticise some Regional Party CMs." The former top court judge had said that today things are "very bad."

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A man and his two sons have been booked for allegedly posing as members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and demanding Rs 50 lakh from a farmer in Patli village here, police said. According to police, an FIR was registered against Karambir and his sons, Deepak and Mohit, at Farrukhnagar police station following a complaint by Surender Singh. Singh told police that he had recently received Rs 75 lakh as compensation for giving his piece of land for a railway line project and the accused were aware of the development. He alleged that he received threatening calls on WhatsApp on August 29, adding that the accused also threatened to kill him the way popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was murdered. Singh said his photographs were also uploaded on social media networks by the accused. “We have registered a case and are verifying the facts. Action will be taken according to law,” Jitender Kumar, SHO, Farrukhnagar police station said on Saturday. 

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Stones were pelted at a police team when it visited Khanpur village here following a complaint of an alleged assault on a woman by her husband and in-laws, police said. The woman had filed a complaint with the police alleging assault on her by her husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law, they said. A case was registered and a police team went to the village on Saturday to nab the accused, Circle Officer Vandana Sharma said. However, the accused pelted stones at the policemen and also misbehaved with them. 
 

The National Green Tribunal has imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 3,500 crore on West Bengal for its failure in the treatment of solid and liquid waste. The green bench observed there was not much initiative by the West Bengal government in prioritising solid and sewage treatment plants in urban areas. The bench, headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said remedial measures must be taken within six months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the commissioning of indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a historic day for the country and words will not be able to describe the feeling of pride when he was on board the vessel. India launched its maiden indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Friday, with Prime Minister Modi commissioning the warship that put India into a select league of countries with domestic capability to develop such large vessels. Sharing glimpses from the ceremony on Twitter, Modi said on Saturday, "A historic day for India! Words will not be able to describe the feeling of pride when I was on board INS Vikrant yesterday." "Today, India has joined those countries in the world, which manufacture such a huge aircraft carrier with indigenous technology. Today INS Vikrant has filled the country with a new confidence," Modi had said on Friday. 

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said a through probe into Jharkhand's Deoghar airport row, in which nine people including BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari have been booked, will reveal the truth. The FIR was registered against the two BJP MPs and seven other people for allegedly forcing Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials to provide clearance for their chartered flight to take off from the Deoghar airport beyond the scheduled time on August 31. The two BJP leaders were booked while they were returning to Delhi after meeting the family members of a woman in Jharkhand's Dumka who was set ablaze by a man after she rejected his proposal. The woman succumbed to burns later.

A police team was pelted with stones on Saturday after it visited Khanpur village here following a complaint of an alleged assault on a woman by her husband and in-laws, police said. The woman filed a complaint with the police alleging assault on her by her husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law, they said. A case was registered and a police team went to the village to nab the accused, Circle Officer Vandana Sharma said. However, policemen were misbehaved and pelted with stones by the accused, he said. 

On a day several AAP MLAs visited Municipal Corporation of Delhi-run schools and highlighted their "poor condition" to corner the BJP, the civic body hit back, denying its school infrastructure was "poorer than those run by the city government". In a statement, the MCD said an "intrusion by a group of 30-40 people in their schools were uncalled-for" and the children had to "suffer a rude break to the harmonious rhythm of their learning process". "A reckless competition to parade video clips of MCD classrooms on Twitter and other social media platforms began to prove that MCD schools have poor infrastructure and have overburdened teachers and overflowing classes.

ISRO on Saturday successfully demonstrated a new technology with Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) that it said is a game-changer with multiple applications for future missions including to Mars and Venus. An IAD, designed and developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), was successfully test flown in a 'Rohini' sounding rocket from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). The IAD was initially folded and kept inside the payload bay of the rocket, according to the Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Sri Lanka's ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who returned home after seven weeks in exile following protests over economic hardships, could face legal action over forced disappearances of activists now that he has been stripped of constitutional immunity, a lawyer said Saturday. Rajapaksa flew to Colombo around midnight Friday from Thailand and was escorted under military guard to his new home in the capital. He has no pending court cases because he was protected by constitutional immunity as president. A corruption case against him during his time as a top defence official was withdrawn soon after he was elected in 2019.

Delhi Police has issued a look out circular (LOC) against social media influencer Bobby Kataria who was booked after his video of smoking a cigarette inside an aircraft went viral, officials said on Saturday. A senior police officer said Kataria’s phone is switched off and raids were conducted at several locations but he is untraceable. Kataria is not joining the investigation for a long time, hence an LOC has been issued against him, he said. Last month, Delhi Police had registered an FIR against Kataria after a video of him lighting a cigarette inside a SpiceJet flight surfaced. He was booked for alleged violation of security and safety measures based on a complaint filed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Police Station on August 13 by Jasbir Singh, manager legal and company affairs of SpiceJet.