The Congress on Wednesday appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra the party’s general secretary for the Uttar Pradesh East region in a move that is being seen as her official entry into active politics. She is expected to take charge from the first week of February.
Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court against a trial court’s verdict to frame charges against them in a case of disproportionate assets.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested nine people, including a minor, for alleged links with the Islamic State terrorist group. The accused were arrested after the police conducted searches in Mumbra, Thane and Aurangabad.
Cabinet approves increase in Autonomous Councils’ powers in Sixth Schedule areas in North East
The Union Cabinet has approved a Constitutional amendment to grant increased powers to Autonomous Councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the North East, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday. The proposed amendment to Article 280 would give greater financial resources to the councils that administer the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura and enable them to undertake development works.
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Former Air India chief Arvind Jadhav and other officials booked in corruption case by CBI: Report
The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked former Air India Chairperson and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav for allegedly violating promotion and appointment procedures, PTI reported on Wednesday, quoting unidentified agency officials.
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Citizenship Bill: Centre will not grant citizenship without consent of states, says home ministry
In the face of protests against the Citizenship Bill, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday said that foreigners would not be granted citizenship without the consent of the governments of the states where they are to be settled.
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Agnivesh urges Pope Francis to defend nuns who protested against rape-accused bishop
Social activist Agnivesh has urged Pope Francis to intervene after five Kerala-based nuns were issued transfer orders by the Catholic Church for leading protests against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal. Four of the nuns were asked to leave their convent in Kuravilangad on January 18. They were servedtransfer orders a few days later. The fifth nun, Sister Neena Rose Edathil, was given the order this week, PTI reported on Tuesday.
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Jammu and Kashmir: Three suspected militants killed near Baramulla’s Binner village
Security forces killed three suspected militants on the outskirts of the Binner village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla on Wednesday. They are now trying to ascertain the identity of the deceased and their probable affiliations. The encounter broke out during a cordon-and-search operation that was launched after the forces received a tip about the presence of suspected militants in the area.
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Rahul Gandhi says he is happy that sister Priyanka Gandhi will now work with him
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the party decided to appoint his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia general secretaries in Uttar Pradesh because they want young leaders to change the state’s politics.
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Delhi: Two men shoot at a transgender woman for refusing sex, one arrested, say police
Two men shot at a 21-year-old transgender woman in New Delhi early on Sunday for allegedly refusing to have sex with them. One of the men, a cab driver, was arrested the following day.
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Former CM Virbhadra Singh, wife move Delhi HC against trial court’s order in illegal assets case
Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging a trial court’s order to frame charges against them in a disproportionate assets case.
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Bihar: Unconscious woman put on a funeral pyre, husband and in-laws booked by police
The Bihar Police have booked a 30-year-old woman’s husband and in-laws for allegedly leaving her on a funeral pyre in an unconscious state. The woman, identified as Lakshmi, has accused the family of torturing her and attempting to burn her alive.
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Delhi air quality improves after rainfall, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh experience heavy snow
Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday after heavy showers lashed the National Capital Region for 24 hours. According to the India Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature was 12.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and the city received 27.8 mm of rainfall till 8.30 am on Wednesday.
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Tamil Nadu: Why have bye-polls in 18 constituencies not been held, Madras High Court asks poll body
The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Tamil Nadu’s chief election commissioner and chief electoral officer asking why elections in 18 constituencies, whose representatives were disqualified by the state Assembly speaker in September 2017, have not yet been held.
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Lok Sabha polls: Priyanka Gandhi appointed Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East region
The Congress on Wednesday appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra the party’s general secretary for the Uttar Pradesh East region. She is expected to take charge from the first week of February.
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Plea in Supreme Court challenges Rakesh Asthana’s appointment to Bureau of Civil Aviation
A petition in the Supreme Court has challenged the appointment of former Central Bureau of Investigation special director Rakesh Asthana as director general of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
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Hindu Sena pays tribute to Queen Victoria on death anniversary, claims she freed India from Mughals
Right-wing outfit Hindu Sena on Tuesday paid tribute to Queen Victoria on her 118th death anniversary, claiming that she “freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals”.
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Watch: Grammy winner cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s impromptu performance on Mumbai’s Marine Drive
Acclaimed Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma put up an impromptu performance at Mumbai’s Marine Drive on Tuesday evening.
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I spent five days in a jungle during Diwali every year to reflect on life, says Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he used to take a five-day break every year during Diwali to live in a jungle and reflect on his life and experiences, and urged youngsters to take time off and introspect to “understand your inner self better”.
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Karwar boat capsize: Toll rises to 14, two people still reported missing
The toll in the incident of boat capsize near Karwar in Karnataka rose to 14, after six more bodies were recovered on Tuesday. The ferry boat, carrying 33 passengers, had capsized in the Kali river on Monday.
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Madras High Court allows construction of Jayalalithaa memorial in Chennai
The Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed the construction of a memorial for former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Marina beach in Chennai. A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam dismissed a petition filed by advocate ML Ravi seeking to restrain the state from constructing the memorial. Ravi had argued that the state should not construct a memorial for a person convicted in a disproportionate assets case.
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Maharashtra: 9 people, including a 17-year-old, arrested for alleged links with Islamic State
The Anti-Terrorism Squad trailed the nine accused for weeks, based on “reliable” intelligence inputs, NDTV reported. The police tracked inflammatory social media posts, the accused’s connections with entities outside the country, and the literature they read, before arresting them.
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Meghalaya: It will take time to retrieve body of trapped miner, says Navy
Navy divers had suspended operations on Sunday to retrieve the body as it had decomposed and was disintegrating. However, on Tuesday, Navy personnel used remotely-operated vehicles and managed to move the body a few metres from where it was on Sunday.
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2002 Naroda Patiya riot case: Supreme Court grants bail to four convicts
A mob had killed at least 97 Muslims in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002. The incident was one of the worst cases of mob violence during the Gujarat riots.
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Bhima Koregaon: Pune court asks prosecution to file response to Anand Teltumbde’s bail plea
On January 14, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal to quash the first information report filed by the Pune Police against him. Teltumbde was granted protection from arrest for four weeks, during which he can seek bail from a trial court.
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After DMK, Dravidar Kazhagam moves Madras HC against 10% reservation for upper caste poor
A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad said the Dravidar Kazhagam’s public interest litigation would be heard together with the DMK’s petition on February 18, PTI reported.
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At least 15 Indian sailors on board two ships that caught fire off Crimea coast are safe
At least 15 Indian crew members on board two ships that caught fire in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea are safe, an official of the Directorate General of Shipping said on Tuesday. Around 14 sailors were killed when the ships carrying 32 Indian, Turkish, and Libyan crew members caught fire on Monday.
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Child from a marriage between Muslim man, Hindu woman entitled to father’s property: Supreme Court
A child born of a marriage between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman is entitled to claim a share in their father’s property, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The bench comprising Justices NV Ramana and Mohan Shantanagoudar also observed that a marriage between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman is neither valid nor void, but “irregular”.
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West Bengal: Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Christian refugees ‘need not be afraid’, says Amit Shah
Bharatiya Janata Party National President Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Christian refugees in West Bengal “need not be afraid”, because the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will grant citizenship to them. He also accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of misleading people on the National Register of Citizens.
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Supreme Court upholds Allahabad High Court order on department-wise reservation in faculty posts
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an Allahabad High Court ruling that reservation in faculty posts in universities should be applied department-wise and not by taking the total number of teaching positions across the departments.
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Raghuram Rajan says India will eventually surpass China in economic size
Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said that the Indian economy will eventually surpass the Chinese economy in size, and New Delhi will be in a better position to create infrastructure in other South Asian countries than Beijing. Rajan made the remarks at a session on Strategic Outlook for South Asia at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland.
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Kerala: Fifth nun who protested against rape-accused bishop gets transfer order, warned of attitude
The Catholic Church has issued transfer orders to Sister Neena Rose Edathil, one of the five nuns from the Missionaries of Jesus congregation who had protested against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal in Kerala. She was also warned of her “rebellious posture”.
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EVM ‘hacking’: One organiser of London event distances itself from claims, another seeks inquiry
One of the organisers of a London event in which an Indian-born “cyber expert” on Monday sought to demonstrate how electronic voting machines can be hacked distanced itself from the event the next day. Syed Shuja had claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party had rigged the 2014 elections by hacking the voting machines. Another organiser, however, has called for an investigation into the allegations.
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Karnataka: Haveri district officials visit villages after study reports about caste discrimination
Police and government officials on Tuesday met members of the Madiga community and the dominant Lingayats in Karnataka’s Haveri district after a report by a Dalit rights organisation documented shocking caste discrimination practices in the region. The officials warned against such practices and assured the Madigas of action.
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Sabarimala row: Woman who entered shrine thrown out of home by husband’s family
Kanakadurga, one of the two women of menstruating age who entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala on January 2, has alleged that her husband and his family have refused to allow her into the house. She filed a complaint with the District Violence Protection Officer. The development came days after her mother-in-law allegedly assaulted her after she returned home.
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Attacks on migrants: Bihar court orders case against Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani
A Bihar court on Tuesday ordered the state police to file a case against Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor for allegedly inciting attacks against migrants from Bihar in September.
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