The Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet naming student activists Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in a sedition case nearly three years after the alleged incident at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Earlier, the Supreme Court gave the Centre six weeks to respond to a batch of petitions filed against an earlier order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs allowing 10 central agencies to monitor any “information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer”.
Meanwhile, the Congress in Karnataka has accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading and luring three Congress MLAs to camp in a hotel in Mumbai.
A look at the day’s top stories:
1,000 trees felled ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Odisha
A thousand trees have been cut ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Odisha on Tuesday, leading to three government departments shifting blame on to one another. The trees were cleared to make space for a temporary helipad in Balangir for the Prime Minister’s use. Narendra Modi will be flagging off the inaugural run of a train on the Khurda-Balangir railway line from Balangir station.
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CBI row: M Nageswara Rao’s appointment as interim chief challenged in Supreme Court
Non-governmental organisation Common Cause on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Centre had appointed Rao to the post on January 10 after a panel comprising Supreme Court judge AK Sikri, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge removed former CBI chief Alok Verma from his post.
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#MeToo: Writers pull out of lit fest to protest silence on claims against ex-director CP Surendran
Writer Nikesh Shukla on Monday pulled out of this year’s Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters in protest against the silence of the organisers about sexual harassment allegations against former director CP Surendran. Shukla was scheduled to be a panellist at the three-day literary event, which begins in Kerala on January 31.
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Narendra Modi’s feedback survey asks voters if they see any impact of grand Opposition alliance
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have sought feedback from citizens through a survey on the NaMo mobile application. The survey, titled “People’s Pulse”, asks people if the mahagathbandhan – the Opposition’s grand anti-BJP alliance – will work, and also seeks ratings on various parameters of governance.
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JNU sedition case: Police file chargesheet against Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid
The Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet naming former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and student activists Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in a sedition case, reports said.
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Madhya Pradesh: Four killed after truck hits vehicle escorting deputy speaker’s car
Four people, including three policemen, were killed when a truck coming from the opposite direction hit their vehicle in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district early on Monday. The vehicle was escorting the state Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Hina Kaware, said police.
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Rajasthan to honour those who adopt stray cows on Republic Day, Independence Day
The Congress-led government in Rajasthan has asked district collectors to felicitate citizens who adopt stray cows on Independence Day and Republic Day.
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Uttar Pradesh encounters: Supreme Court issues notice to Adityanath government
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a petition seeking a court-monitored inquiry into police encounters against alleged criminals in the state.
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West Bengal: Jadavpur University professor compares virgin girls to ‘sealed bottles’
A professor of West Bengal’s Jadavpur University has sparked outrage with a Facebook post in which he compared a woman’s virginity to a “sealed bottle”. He deleted the post later but said on Sunday that he stood by the statement.
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2019 Lok Sabha polls: NCP, Congress yet to agree on three seats in Maharashtra, says Sharad Pawar
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his party had reached a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress for all but three constituencies in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections. The state sends 48 members to the Lower House.
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Maharashtra: Train runs over three people in Raigad district
Three labourers were killed on Sunday when a Mumbai-bound train, Tejas Express, ran over them in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. The incident took place near Jite railway station in Raigad’s Pen taluk.
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Uttar Pradesh: Fire breaks out at a camp in Kumbh Mela, no casualties reported
A fire broke out at a camp at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad on Monday. No casualties have been reported so far and firefighting operations are underway.
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Supreme Court dismisses plea against Arvind Kejriwal’s strike outside Lieutenant Governor’s office
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that sought to declare his hunger strike outside the Lieutenant Governor’s office in June last year unconstitutional, ANI reported.
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Karnataka: Congress should not treat JD(S) like ‘third grade citizens’, says CM Kumaraswamy
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday said the Congress should not treat his party – Janata Dal (Secular) – like “third grade citizens” and that the coalition partners adopt a “give and take policy” to put up a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party, PTI reported.
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Mumbai: Bombay High Court rebukes BEST workers for inconveniencing public with strike for 7 days
The Bombay High Court has criticised the workers of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport for continuing their bus strike that entered its seventh day on Monday, News18 reported.
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Facebook asks moderators in India to track posts about Kashmir, deities, tricolour: Report
Facebook asks its moderators to flag “locally illegal” posts in India, looking for 20 markers such as content on Kashmir, deities, and the Indian flag, The Indian Express reported on Monday, citing internal documents.
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Wholesale price inflation eased to 3.80% in December, shows data
Wholesale price inflation eased to 3.80% in December from 4.64% in November, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Monday. The rate of inflation was 3.58% in the same month in 2017.
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Supreme Court keeps plea against Citizenship Bill pending until Parliament approves it
The Supreme Court on Monday decided to keep a petition pending that challenged the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as the Rajya Sabha is yet to approve it, ANI reported.
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Bhima Koregaon case: Supreme Court refuses to quash FIR against activist Anand Teltumbde
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash the first information report filed by the Pune Police against activist Anand Teltumbde in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Meghalaya government colluded with illegal coal miners, citizens’ group tells Supreme Court
A citizens’ forum has urged the Supreme Court to ban coal mining in Meghalaya, claiming that the state government colluded with those in the industry, PTI reported.
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‘Politicians should not interfere in other fields,’ says Nitin Gadkari at Marathi literary meet
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said politicians should refrain from interfering in fields of literature and education, The Indian Express reported.
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SC issues notice to Centre on pleas against Centre’s order allowing agencies to monitor computer
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a batch of petitions filed against a December 20 order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs allowing 10 central agencies to monitor any “information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer”.
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1984 anti-Sikh violence: SC asks for CBI’s response to Sajjan Kumar’s appeal against conviction
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Delhi government to seek its response to an appeal by former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar against his sentencing in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh violence.
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‘Politicians should not interfere in other fields,’ says Nitin Gadkari at Marathi literary meet
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said politicians should refrain from interfering in fields of literature and education.
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Chennai Police arrest two men who linked CM Palaniswami to robbery at Jayalalithaa’s estate in 2017
A special team of the Chennai Police in Delhi on Sunday arrested two men who had sought to link Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami to the robbery attempt at former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Kodanadu estate in April 2017.
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Assam: Singer of BJP’s 2016 campaign song offers to return fee to protest Citizenship Bill
Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, who sang the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign song in the state, offered to return the fee to the party to protest the saffron party-led government’s controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
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Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s daughter stages protest against his remarks on Rabri Devi
Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s daughter on Sunday staged a protest against her father, demanding that he withdraw his comment on former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi.
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Adityanath says SP-BSP alliance will have no impact on Uttar Pradesh politics
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Sunday said the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh will have no impact on the politics of the state. “The alliance means giving power to people who are corrupt, anarchic elements and have casteist mentality,” the chief minister said in Lucknow. “It is good that both these parties have come together. It will help us to effectively wipe them off.”
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Fuel prices increase again, petrol costs Rs 70.13 in Delhi
The prices of petrol and diesel increased on Monday, with a litre of petrol costing Rs 70.13 in Delhi marking an increase by 38 paise. A litre of diesel cost Rs 64.18 in the national Capital, going up 49 paise.
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Gujarat to implement upper-caste quota from Monday, says CM Vijay Rupani
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday announced that the state government would implement the 10% reservation for the economically backward among upper castes in education and government jobs starting Monday. The state government, in a press release said, Gujarat was the first to implement the “historic and revolutionary legislation”, which President Ram Nath Kovind had signed on Sunday.
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Karnataka: Congress claims three of its MLAs camping at a Mumbai hotel with BJP leaders
Karnataka Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was indulging in horse-trading and had lured three of its MLAs to camp at a Mumbai hotel. Shivakumar said the development was part of BJP’s “Operation Lotus” which is aimed at ousting the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government in the state.
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Director Rajkumar Hirani accused of sexually assaulting employee, reports ‘Huffington Post’
Acclaimed filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has been accused of sexually assaulting a former employee of his production company, according to a media report. An unidentified woman claimed in an email complaint that Hirani had “sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018”.
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CBI row: Congress demands removal of Chief Vigilance Commissioner, says he is acting ‘like a puppet’
The Congress on Sunday demanded the removal of Chief Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary, alleging that he had acted “like a puppet” in the hands of the government in the row surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation.
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