Top news: Opposition welcomes Supreme Court’s stay order on cutting of trees in Aarey Colony

BJP government must move beyond ‘piecemeal approach’ to solve the ‘economic mess’, says Congress

The Congress on Monday attacked the Narendra Modi government over the state of the economy. It said the Bharatiya Janata Party must acknowledge the “acute slowdown” in the country and move beyond piecemeal approach to put the “economic mess” in order.

Afghan Taliban free three Indians in exchange for 11 members of the terrorist group: Reports

The Afghan Taliban on Monday freed three Indian engineers out of seven it had held captive since May 2018. The terrorist group freed the engineers on Sunday in exchange for 11 of its top members lodged in Afghan jails.

India gets first tranche of Swiss bank account details: Reports

Swiss tax authorities on Monday said they had shared with India the first tranche of details about the financial accounts of Indian clients in Swiss banks under the automatic information exchange framework between the two countries. An unidentified spokesperson of the Federal Tax Administration told the news agency that India was among the 75 countries with which Switzerland has exchanged information about the financial accounts within the global standards of automatic exchange of information.

Mumbai: Over 9 lakh in bank deposits, coins worth Rs 1.75 lakh found at dead beggar’s shanty

A beggar who died on railway tracks in Mumbai has left behind Rs 8.77 lakh in fixed deposits, Rs 96,000 deposited in bank accounts, and Rs 1.75 lakh in coins at his shanty. Police found the money, fixed deposit documents and bank passbooks while looking for the man’s family after his death, Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.

Mumbai: Opposition welcomes SC order, calls out government’s haste in cutting trees in Aarey Colony

Activists and Opposition leaders in Maharashtra on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s stay order on cutting trees in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony area. They also criticised the authorities’ decision to start cutting trees to clear the space for a metro car shed on Saturday, PTI reported.

Nobel Prize for Medicine jointly awarded to three researchers from US, UK for their work on cells

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2019 will be awarded to American researchers William G Kaelin Jr and Gregg L Semenza, and British scientist Sir Peter J Ratcliffe “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability”, the Nobel committee announced on Monday.

Delhi to get BS-VI compliant vehicles by April 2020 to check air pollution, says Prakash Javadekar

Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday announced that Delhi will get BS-VI compliant
vehicles by April 2020, ANI reported. BS-VI, or Bharat Stage VI, is a strict emission norm set by the Centre to check pollution by vehicles that use combustion engines.

Maharashtra Assembly polls: Shiv Sena chief admits to making compromise in alliance with BJP

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday admitted that his party made a compromise while joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Shiv Sena is contesting 124 of the 288 Assembly seats, while the BJP and smaller allies are contesting 164 seats. The Shiv Sena had reportedly asked for at least 135 seats.

‘Modi does not have the breadth of vision about multireligious, multiethnic India,’ says Amartya Sen

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not have the “breadth of vision” about a multireligious and multiethnic India. In an interview to The New Yorker last month, Sen said Modi was a dynamic and enormously successful politician, but had been “relating to the propaganda” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood. The interview was published on Sunday.

Telangana: Transport unions protest after state government sacks 50,000 employees for strikes

Worker unions of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation called for a huge protest at Indira Park in Hyderabad on Monday after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to dismiss nearly 50,000 employees for participating in a two-day strike, Hindustan Times reported.

If NRC won’t affect Bangladesh, how will India deal with 19 lakh ‘non-citizens’, asks P Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday questioned the Centre on the National Register of Citizens, which excluded 19 lakh people who failed to prove their citizenship. The former Union minister, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail in a corruption case, asked how the government planned to deal with those declared “non-citizens”.

Fund flows to commercial sector fell 88% in April-September, shows slowdown in investment: RBI data

Fund flows from lending institutions to the commercial sector have declined as much as 88% till mid-September in this financial year, the Reserve Bank of India said in a report on Friday. Such flows collapsed from Rs 7.36 lakh crore between April and mid-September 2018 to Rs 90,995 crore in the same period this year.

NRC: Gauhati High Court pulls up foreigners tribunal in Morigaon, sets aside 57 orders

The Gauhati High Court has pulled up a foreigners tribunal in Assam that will deliver the final judgement for those excluded from the National Register of Citizens, The Indian Express reported on Monday. The court indicted the functioning of the tribunals while setting aside 57 of its orders in Morigaon district.

Aarey: Supreme Court asks Maharashtra government not to cut anymore trees

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government not to cut anymore trees at Aarey Colony in Mumbai, reported ANI. The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Rishav Ranjan against the cutting of trees for a metro car shed project in Aarey Colony in Mumbai. The matter will be taken up next by the Forest Bench of the Supreme Court on October 21.

Jammu and Kashmir: Jaish-e-Mohammad member arrested in Baramulla, say police

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammad member in Baramulla district, PTI reported quoting the police. He had reportedly joined the terror outfit a month ago.

“Mohsin Manzoor Salhea, a resident of Arampora-Azadgunj area, was arrested on a credible input during an anti-militant operation in Baramulla town,” said a police spokesperson. Arms and ammunition were also recovered from his possession.

PoK protestors stopped from marching towards Line of Control against scrapping special status

Demonstrators from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, protesting against India’s decision to abrogate special status for the part of Jammu and Kashmir it controls, were stopped on Sunday from marching towards the Line of Control with India, PTI reported. The protestors, comprised of mostly youngsters, marched from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s capital city of Muzaffarabad to the town of Garhi Dupatta on Saturday and had stayed overnight.

J&K: Peoples Democratic Party delegation defers meeting with detained chief Mehbooba Mufti

Leaders from the Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu deferred a meeting with detained party chief Mehbooba Mufti late on Sunday, hours after declaring that a delegation would meet her on Monday, PTI reported. This came on the day a National Conference delegation from Jammu met party chief Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah.

Artist Shireen Mody found dead in Goa home, police suspect gardener who died in escape attempt

A 65-year-old artist was found dead in her bungalow-cum-studio in Arpora village of north Goa on Sunday, PTI reported. Police suspect artist Shireen Mody’s gardener, Praful Jana, murdered her and then died while trying to escape the scene.

Aarey tree cutting: Supreme Court to hear urgent plea on Monday

The Supreme Court on Sunday said it will hear a plea against the cutting of trees for a metro car shed project in Aarey Colony in Mumbai, on an urgent basis on Monday, Bar and Bench reported.

The court said a special bench has been constituted to hear the plea, filed by a person called Rishav Ranjan, against the felling of trees. It added that the plea has been registered as a public interest litigation.