National and World

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Several media personnel were abused, thrashed and their cameras were broken by protestors outside Jamia Millia Islamia university as the students' march to Parliament was foiled by the police on Friday.
"You (media) are saying we have hurled stones at the police, but what about the teargas and lathi-charge by them (police)," shouted an agitating protestor as he pushed

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) A video clipping of a septuagenarian Physics professor practically demonstrating different concepts in the subject to his students in the classroom got the Twitterati all amused and full of praise for the out-of-the-box teaching method.
It started when a Twitter user posted the clipping of her teacher in Virginia Beach in the US and wrote: "Y'all need to see this video

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) World leaders tweeted congratulatory messages on Friday as UK's Boris Johnson led his Conservative Party to its biggest victory since Margaret Thatcher's in the 1987 polls.
US President Donald J. Trump wrote on @realDonaldTrump: "Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BR

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) In a significant bureaucratic reshuffle, Higher Education Secretary R. Subramaniam has been shunted out of the HRD Ministry to the Ministry of Social Justice.
While the IAS officer's transfer is being termed as routine, the move is being attributed to alleged unsatisfactory handling of protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Subramaniam has been replaced by A

Panaji, Dec 13 (IANS) The Bombay High Court in Goa has directed a trial court hearing the rape case against former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal to not entertain "irrelevant and extraneous questioning" of the victim.
"The trial Court is directed to permit relevant questions and not to entertain irrelevant and extraneous questioning of the victim pending the hearing of this petition," th

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he and his party are against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which has now become a law, saying they oppose it.
Speaking to IANS, Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, said the party will continue to oppose the new law.
"We are against the CAB. We oppose it. We have opposed it in Parliament as well," Kej

Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 13 (IANS) Prominent realtor Sanjay Kakade, a Bharatiya Janata Party-supported Rajya Sabha MP, on Friday asked the party to simply ignore former minister Pankaja Munde-Palwe as she has no support base left in her own stronghold of Beed.
"She couldn't safeguard her own small (assembly) constituency. Despite being a politician for many years and serving as minister for fiv

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Twitterati gave a big thumbs-up to the news that Bollywood producers Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar, Mahaveer Jain and Pragya Kapoor will collaborate for a new film based on the 2019 Balakot air strike.#SanjayLeelaBhansali trended on Twitter.
One fan posted: "This is a good decision taken by #SanjayLeelaBhansali. Glorifying the bravery of our armed forces is a go

Amaravati, Dec 13 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Friday unanimously passed two Bills, providing death penalty for rapists in cases where there is conclusive evidence and for stringent punishment in cases of other sexual offences against women and children.
The Andhra Pradesh Disha Bill-Criminal Law (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Bill 2019 amending the India Penal Code, says that all

Guwahati, Dec 13 (IANS) The Army and paramilitary forces conducted flag marches in Guwahati and some other districts as public transport remained off the roads and an uneasy calm prevailed in Assam on Friday, a day after two people died during violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which is now a law after the President's assent.
An indefinite curfew imposed in Assam's Dibrug

Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 13: After a massive outcry in theatre and creative circles, a Pune-based organisation has withdrawn its two-day old 'diktat' banning college students from depicting 'sensitive topics' at its mega competition scheduled in Feb, a top organiser said here on Friday.
On Wednesday (December 11), the Firodiya Karandak, one of the reputed state-level inter-college theatre compe

Shillong, Dec 13: Union Home Minister Amit Shah's scheduled visit to Shillong on December 15 to attend a function in North-Eastern Police Academy (NEPA), has been postponed in view of the "law and order situation in the region" following agitation against the new citizenship law, officials said on Friday.
"The Union Home Minister was supposed to visit NEPA to attend the passing-out parade of t

New Delhi, Delhi 13: The Supreme Court Friday said it is satisfied with the report of Juvenile Justice Committee of Jammu and Kashmir HC which had said that no minors have been detained in jails there post abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in the erstwhile state.
The apex court, after perusing the committee's report, said that four high court judges have visited all the jails in J&K and

New Delhi, Dec 13: The Supreme Court Friday declined to pass an order on a plea by two women -- Bindu and Fathima -- to allow them entry into the Sabarimala temple.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde and comprising Justices Surya Kant and B.R. Gavai said: "We will endeavour to constitute a seven-judge bench at the earliest, and these matters would be taken up after the decision of thi

New Delhi, Dec 13: Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday refused to apologise over his "rape in India" remark during an election rally in Jharkhand and hit out at the government saying this was "merely an excuse" for them (BJP government) to divert attention from the main issue.
Speaking to media in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, "All I said was that the Prime Minister keeps talking

New Delhi, Dec 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday congratulated his British counterpart Boris Johnson for securing an overall majority in the UK general election.
Taking to Twitter, Modi said: "Many congratulations to PM @BorisJohnson for his return with a thumping majority. I wish him the best and look forward to working together for closer India-UK ties."
The UK's ruling Conservat

New Delhi, Dec 13: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his "Rape in India" remark, saying he does not have the "moral right" to be an MP and sought his apology in Parliament.
Singh expressed his point in the Lok Sabha after the House met for the second time after an adjournment following ruckus over the issue.
"Our country has been hur

New Delhi, Dec 13: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday adjourned the House sine die at the conclusion of its winter session amid pandemonium over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "Rape in India" remark.
The Speaker said the lower House reintroduced 18 Bills and passed a total of 14 Bills including the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, SPG (Amendment) Bill, Chit Fund (Amendment) Bill, Th

New Delhi, Dec 13: Amid the ruckus over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'rape remark', Congress party national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the Narendra Modi-led Central government of diverting the public attention from the "ongoing unrest in the country".
"You (referring to Modi government) are disrupting Parliament from working in order to divert the public attention anarchy s

Mumbai, Dec 13: The Shiv Sena on Friday attacked the Centre, saying it brought the new citizenship law to show it is the sole saviour of Hindus and asked what kind of politics it is playing by inviting uncalled for pain after the move caused violence in the north-eastern states.
The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) was approved by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha this week, and

New Delhi, Dec 13: The Delhi High Court on Friday described as "shocking" that the Jawaharlal Nehru University had no idea about academic details of the students against whom it has filed a contempt petition for protesting within 100 metres of its administrative block.
Justice A K Chawla directed the university to file an affidavit giving details of the students named in the contempt petition,

Dindigul, Dec 13: In a suspected suicide pact, the mutilated bodies of four members of a family
were found on the railway track near the Kodai Road Railway Station in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu early on Friday morning.
Police said the deceased were identified as Uthirapathi (49), Sangeetha (40), Abhinaya Shri (15) and Akash (12), hailing from Woraiyur area in Tiruchirapalli city.
The

Mumbai, Dec 13: "Rock On!!" director Abhishek Kapoor has joined hands with producers Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar, Mahaveer Jain and Pragya Kapoor for a film based on the 2019 Balakot airstrike.
The announcement was made on Friday on Twitter.
"A story of grit, determination, and valour, #2019BalakotAirstrike is a tribute to the sons of India! Written & directed by @AbhisheKapoor #20

New Delhi, Dec 13: Union Minister Smriti Irani lashed out on Friday at Rahul Gandhi for his remark 'Rape in India' on Friday and called it deplorable that he should play politics on rape, and asked his mother Congress President Sonia Gandhi to advise and guide him.
She demanded an strong action against the former Congress chief and not just an apology.
Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, while addre

New Delhi, Dec 13: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its economic policies and thus keepings it's pressure on economy even in the face of a discourse dominated by the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
She tweeted: "Inflation has reached the highest level in last three years. Common men are finding it extremely tough to

New Delhi, Dec 13: The Rajya Sabha is expected to be adjourned sine die at the conclusion of its winter session on Friday. On the last working day in this session, the House will see the tabling of papers by 17 ministers, CAG report on Defence and Customs, reports by some parliamentary standing committees and six private members' business resolutions.
Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh

Guwahati, Dec 13: An indefinite curfew which was imposed in Assam's Dibrugarh municipal area, was relaxed for five hours on Friday, while the Army and security forces have continued flag marches in Guwahati city, a day after two persons were killed during the violent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019 protests.
Sources said that the curfew in the Dibrugarh municipal area has been re

New Delhi, Dec 13: Rains and hailstorms in Delhi have caused the maximum temperature to drop leading to winter chill conditions.
Some flights from Delhi to Jaipur were diverted and others had to remain in the air due to hailstorms, strong winds and rains.
According to Skymet Weather, these rains have been attributed to the Western disturbance in the hills and its associated cyclonic circula

United Nations, Dec 13: The international community has ignored the anti-India propaganda by Pakistan, the source of "virulent terror", an Indian diplomat has said.
Reacting to Pakistan's statements against India during a General Assembly debate on Culture of Peace on Thursday, Paulomi Tripathi, a First Secretary in India's Mission, said: "The international community has not paid attention to

Panaji, Dec 12 (IANS) In a claim that is likely to raise eyebrows, Goa's Ports Minister Michael Lobo on Thursday said that an ailing former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had whispered the name of Pramod Sawant as his successor to him.
Lobo, a BJP MLA and a close political confidante of the former Union Defence Minister, said that Parrikar was hospitalised at the All India Institute of M

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Facing flak over skyrocketing onion prices, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar blamed the rate hike on shortage created by low production this season. Tomar was speaking during a discussion on "Crop loss and its impact on farmers" in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Talking about shortage, the Minister said, states put the expected onion production at 69.9 lakh

Guwahati, Dec 12 (IANS) Assam continued to be in flames on Thursday as anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protesters set ablaze the house of an MLA, torched vehicles and burnt down a circle office as the state government removed two key police officers including the Guwahati Police Commissioner.
The Army conducted flag march in Guwahati, while the authorities extended the suspension on internet s

Mumbai, Dec 12 (IANS) Ending a fortnight long suspense, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday allocated the portfolios to his cabinet ministers, days ahead of the upcoming winter Session of Maharashtra Legislature next week.
Sena gets Home, NCP Finance, while Congress has Revenue and Power.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi partner Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will be the new Home Minist

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed review petitions challenging the November 9 verdict in the Ayodhya title dispute.
"Applications for listing of review petitions in open Court are dismissed. We have carefully gone through the review petitions and the connected papers filed therewith. We do not find any ground, whatsoever, to entertain the same. The review petitio

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The CPI-M on Wednesday strongly opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha before voting against it. On Sunday party chief Sitaram Yechury held a press conference in Delhi to articulate why the Bill was against the "secular fabric" of India. But a few years back, the party's stance was different.
The CPI-M had demanded a Citizenship Amendment Bill for pe

Beed (Maharashtra), Dec 12 (IANS) Categorically stating that she would not quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), senior leader and former minister Pankaja Munde-Palwe on Thursday launched a veiled attacked on the party leadership and even challenged it openly to sack her.
At a huge show of strength organised by her supporters to mark the 70th birth anniversary of her father, the late Union Mi

Bhopal, Dec 12 (IANS) A 21-year-old Muslim woman fell victim to a trickster's sleazy designs after a brief renunciation by her husband under the banned triple talaq provision, police said on Thursday.
She ended being raped in the name of 'halala' by a fraudulent tantrik (witchcraft practitioner) of her community.
"We have arrested her 27-year-old husband under the Muslim Women Protection Ac

Kolkata, Dec 12 (IANS) A rare two-headed snake was found in a village under Belda forest range in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, a forest official said on Thursday.
Inhabitants of Ekarukhi village found the snake, but did not hand it over to the forest officials.
While there was speculation that the villagers were reluctant to let go of the snake due to mythological beliefs, Belda r

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, terming it as "courageous step".
RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi on Thursday said: " The RSS has always believed that a Hindu who comes to India due to persecution in another country cannot

Mumbai, Dec 12: Superstar Salman Khan says he feels a strong parallel existence of his onscreen avatar Chulbul Pandey.
Salman took on the cop avatar of Chulbul Pandey with "Dabangg" in 2010. It has became very popular among his fans and followers. Now, he will be back as the fun police officer with the upcoming "Dabangg 3".
"Since the last 9 years, I feel a strong parallel existence of Chul

New Delhi, Dec 12: Congress counter to the Prime Minister's Twitter reassurances, on Citizenship (Amendment Bill), to the Assamese people on Thursday is giving twitterati the chuckles.
Tweeting from their official twitter handle, the Congress wondered how the prime minister's message will reach the people of Assam when internet services have been suspended in the state.
The tweet read: "Our

Ranchi, Dec 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to the people of the northeast, particularly of Assam to maintain peace and assured them that their interests will be protected at all costs.
"From the place of Baba Bholenath, I assure that there will be no impact on culture, tradition, language of northeast people including Assam. Their interest will be safeguarded. I assure t

New Delhi, Dec 12: In the backdrop of rising tide of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in northeastern states, the Congress on Thursday accused the Centre of replicating Kashmir "phenomena" in the region by deploying Army and banning mobile internet.
Congress leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, a day after the Army was

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Jawaharlal Nehru University students boycotted the exams on Thursday over the hostel fee hike issue, even as the School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies (SSIS) saw students appearing for their papers.
Professor Hari Ram Mishra of the SSIS said there was full strength of students who appeared for exams in the 10 am to 1 pm shift.
Sources said the SSIS was the only school

New Delhi, Dec 12: A Delhi Court on Thursday deferred judgment in the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home rape case till January 14.
The judgment was deferred as Special POCSO Judge Saurabh Kulshreshta was on leave.
Twenty accused including main accused Brajesh Thakur were produced before link judge who directed all the accused persons to furnish a surety of Rs 50,000 each.
The court had concluded

New Delhi, Dec 12: Heads of 46 universities and institutions of higher education will come together at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 14 to deliberate on topics ranging from promotion of research to the time-bound completion of infrastructure projects.
Hosted by the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the conference is part of the regular interactions that the President has with such institutions, in his capa

New Delhi, Dec 12; The Supreme Court constituted an inquiry commission headed by former Supreme Court judge V.S. Sirpurkar, former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Baldota and former CBI director D.R. Karthikeyan, to conduct an inquiry into the 'encounter' killing of the four accused in the rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising J

Shimla, Dec 12: Picturesque tourist spot Manali in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday experienced season's first snow. Nearby spots of Shimla too were wrapped in a blanket of snow cover, bringing cheer to tourists.
Some of the tourist spots in the upper Shimla district were cut off after snow piled on roads, officials said.
The 'Queen of Hills', as Shimla was fondly called by the erstwhile Britis

New Delhi, Dec 12: The CPI(M) said the BJP has pushed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to extend its "communal agenda" of ensuring that Hindu migrants from Bangladesh living in Assam are given citizenship while seeking to exclude Muslim migrants from that country.
An editorial in the forthcoming edition of the CPI(M) mouthpiece Peoples Democracy said the BJP had to get CAB passed to ensure smo

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Railways has suspended all local train services in Tripura and Assam, and short-terminated long-distance trains at Guwahati following protests in the two states over the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, a railway spokesperson told PTI on Thursday.
The decision was taken on Wednesday night in view of the security situation in the region, Northeas

New Delhi, Dec 12: Lashing out at the BJP, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said the saffron party is bringing in the discriminatory citizenship bill at a time it is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi with fanfare.
Tagging her mother Congress President Sonia Gandhi's strongly worded statement against the bill, which was passed in Rajya Sabha last night,

Guwahati, Dec 12: The Indian Super League (ISL) football match between NorthEast United FC and Chennaiyin FC scheduled to be played on Thursday night at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium in Guwahati has been postponed as the state has been placed under an indefinite curfew following protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
In a media release, ISL stated: "Due to the ongoing unrest

Chennai, Dec 12: India's own semi-high speed train Vande Bharat or Train 18 is highly energy efficient and also weighs less contrary to some reports, said sources in the Indian Railways.
"As per simulations made at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) where Vande Bharat or Train 18 was made, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of gross ton km was 15.4 kWh lesser than other Indian speedy trains," a s

Mumbai, Dec 12: The Shiv Sena sought to know why the government is ignoring infiltration attempts from Pakistan, even as India is preparing to provide citizenship to religiously persecuted refugees from the neighbouring country.
An atmosphere is being created for granting citizenship to refugees, an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' said, and asked whether the government will open its e

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Supreme Court said there should be an "impartial inquiry" into the encounter killings of the four men accused in the gangrape and murder of a veterinarian in Telangana.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was hearing two public interest litigations seeking an independent probe into the deaths last week.
The Telangana government justified the encounte

Fatehpur (UP), Dec 12: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a youth in a village in Hathgama area here, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place on December 5 when the girl was playing near her house. Moolchand (36) allegedly lured the girl with a toffee, took her to a secluded place and raped her, they said.
The girl formed her family members who admitted her to a nursing ho

Mumbai, Dec 12: Actress Rani Mukerji, who plays a cop in "Mardaani 2", has urged women of the country to join the police force in large numbers.
"I want more and more girls and women of our country to choose the police department as their profession because personally as a citizen of this country, I feel that there aren't better police officers than female police officers," said Rani, at a spe

ew Delhi, Dec 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured the people of Assam that they there was no need to worry about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019 and that he and his government were committed to constitutionally safeguard the political, linguistic, cultural and land rights of the Assamese people.
"I want to assure my brothers and sisters of Assam that they have not

New Delhi, Dec 12: The national capital's air quality on Thursday turned to the 'severe' category, with the overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi recorded at 407.
According to the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR), Delhi's overall AQIwas recorded at 9 a.m. at 407, counted under the 'severe' category.
As per SAFAR, the AQI from 0-50 is considered 'safe'. Bet

Lucknow, Dec 12: With December 16 drawing close, the day when one of the most brutal rapes rocked the country's conscience, an air of finality has descended on the Nirbhaya convicts. The Tihar jail officials have sought the services of two hangmen from Uttar Pradesh.
Director General (DG) of UP Prisons (Administration and Reform Services), Anand Kumar has confirmed that the Tihar jail superint

New Delhi, Dec 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday urged the people of Jharkhand to vote in maximum number, as 17 constituencies went for voting under the third phase of the Assembly elections.
"The third phase of Jharkhand polls will take place today. Urging all those whose seats go to the polls today to vote in large numbers. I particularly urge my young

Ottawa, Dec 12: Three people were killed when a small airplane crashed on Gabriola Island, Canada, local media reported.
The twin-engine Piper Aerostar plane, took off from Bishop Airport northeast of Fresno, US state of California, and crashed in a fiery wreck while heading to the Nanaimo airport in Canada's British Columbia province, CTV reported on Wednesday.
The coroners service said th

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry is providing assistance to around 5,000 displaced families each in Jammu and Tripura, respectively.
In his written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy stated that the ministry is providing relief to 5,248 displaced Kashmiri families who are living in migrant camps in Jammu, and 5,407 Bru families li

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy, said in Rajya Sabha, that 3 security force personnel including an SPO have lost their lives between August 5 and December 5 this year. He gave the details of benefits given to the next of kin of those CAPFs personnel, Army personnel and Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel killed in line of duty.
The Minister was giving a wri

Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 12: A Samajwadi Party leader has been booked for sexually exploiting a woman and blackmailing her.
"Aafaq Khan is married with eight children but since 2014, he has been sexually exploiting me and threatens to malign my reputation. He holds me captive and mentally tortures me. He has also been threatening to defame me on the social media.
"I am now seriously ill

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Thursday List of Legislative Business in the Lok Sabha includes three Bills which will be introduced for consideration and passing.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Bill will amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 will b

LAHORE: Hafiz Saeed, the Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned JuD, was indicted on Wednesday by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court here on terror financing charges, amidst intense international pressure on Islamabad to bring him to justice.
The anti-terrorism court (ATC) Lahore indicted Saeed and three of his top aides Hafiz Abdul Salam bin Muhammad, Muhammad Ashraf and Zafar Iq

JAMMU: With the law and order situation improving significantly in the Valley, the Central government has started withdrawing additional paramilitary forces from Jammu and Kashmir, which were deployed here in the run-up to its August 5 decisions to abrogate the erstwhile State’s special status and bifurcating it into two union territories.
The troops withdrawn from here, are being rushed to Assa

Jaipur, Dec 11 (IANS) Bhamashah cards, aimed at making women in Rajasthan as the head their family and for their financial and non-financial benefits introduced by the previous BJP government, will be scrapped from March 31 next year and will be replaced by Janadhar cards from April 1, according to state minister Raghu Sharma.
Sharma, who briefed the media on various decisions taken by the sta

New Delhi/Mumbai, Dec 11 (IANS) Cracking the whip on the terror funding, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached seven properties worth Rs 600 crore, acquired by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar's close aide late Iqbal Mirchi and his family members.
The ED action comes two days after the financial probe agency filed a chargesheet in the money laundering probe against Mirchi and his f

Sydney, Dec 11 (IANS) Twitter was abuzz with concern over deteriorated air quality in Sydney in the wake of Australian bushfires.
The pollution was 11-fold the hazardous levels in some parts of the city.
A user posted an aerial view of the city enveloped in smog and wrote: "The smoke enveloping Sydney is absolutely staggering. This is a crisis."
The clipping got 73.8K views, 343 retweets

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The Delhi government on Wednesday suspended temporarily the Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana, a scheme that offers free travel packages to senior citizens from the national capital, claiming the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had cancelled the trains for December 10 onward trips.
Speaking to the media, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said t

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Amul's advertisement campaigns are known for its relevance and creativity. This time too it has come up with a campaign on onion prices and the Twitter is clearly amused.
The ad posted by the company on its official Twitter handle has the iconic mascot girl juggling three onions and the headline 'Kaho Na Pyaz Hai' and then the word Amul at the bottom with the tagline '

Guwahati, Dec 11 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was stuck at the airport here for hours as thousands of protesters hit the streets protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Sonowal, who landed in the state capital from Tezpur, was stranded at the VIP lounge of the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport, a

Hyderabad, Dec 11 (IANS) Three kg onions trumping a free trip to Goa, sounds incredible but is true.
With onion prices at all-time high in most parts of India, a leading online bus ticketing marketplace included the commodity in the list of prizes for customers booking the ticket on its platform.
Other prizes on Abhibus.com were an all-expense paid trip to Goa, an iPhone or an e-bike.
Ab

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Amid a flip-flop, the new alliance partner of the Congress, the Shiv Sena has lambasted the BJP over the Hindutva politics.
The Shiv Sena, which likely to change its stand after supporting the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha, is walking the tightrope over the ideology issue. The party made it clear that it has not made any compromise with the ideology

Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) The Sino-Indian economic relationship is very important for both countries and there is need for the revival of the 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' sentiment, the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday.
The Dalai Lama, who is in Goa to deliver a lecture on 'The relevance of Ancient Nalanda Teachings in our Modern Times' organised by the Goa University in Panaji, also said, that the Indian

Kochi, Dec 11 (IANS) After the Supreme Court last month ruled that Malayalam actor Dileep would not get a copy of the memory card containing footage of an alleged sexual assault, a case in which he has been charged, a trial court, here on Wednesday, refused the actor's demand for a copy of the records.
The court, however, said the actor or his representative could examine the records on Decemb

Chandigarh, Dec 11 (IANS) A simmering dissent is brewing between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his legislators over their party's government in Punjab.
Congress sources suggest the cause of provocation is disconnect or deliberate side-stepping of a certain section of legislators, who say unbridled powers to handful bureaucrats is hampering their day-to-day working and deliberately ignorin

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The government on Wednesday introduced a Bill to amend a 12-year-old existing law providing the welfare of senior citizens and parents and expand some existing definitions such as maintenance, welfare, children and parents.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has provisions to arraign sons-in-law and daughters-in-law if the

Lucknow, Dec 11 (IANS) National Security advisor Ajit Doval has sent a letter of appreciation to Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary R.K. Tiwari for his "commendable effort in handling the situation in Uttar Pradesh, following the Ayodhya verdict".
The letter dated November 28, was released to the media on Wednesday.
Doval, in his letter, has appreciated the pivotal role played by the chief secre

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) As petrol prices continued to hover at Rs 75 per litre and above in the four metro cities, Twitterati on Wednesday tweeted their displeasure, apart from posting memes and funny comments.
#PetrolPrice trended with 1,169 tweets.
One user remarked: "Everybody is noticing onion prices but price of one commodity is increasing silently. Petrol price today is Rs 77.83 in C

Srinagar, Dec 11: Flyers continued to be disappointed as flight operations at the Srinagar airport remained suspended for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday due to poor visibility caused by heavy fog, officials said.
"No flight operations took place for the fifth straight day and all flights to and fro Srinagar were cancelled on Wednesday," an official of the Airport Authority of India (AA

Mumbai, Dec 11: Filmmaker Jeethu Joseph, who is making his Bollywood debut with "The Body" featuring Rishi Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi, says the veteran actor's legacy never came in the way of making the thriller.
Jeethu has helmed several critically acclaimed Malayalam films, including "Memories" and "Drishyam", which was remade across five languages, including Hindi.
"Rishi sir's legacy neve

New Delhi, Dec 11: Amid protests from sugarcane farmers in western parts of Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and demanded better price for the sugarcane.
Priyanka Gandhi wrote: "UP government has not raised the sugarcane price this year. I am surprised that in the last crushing season also, the prices were not

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) BJP ally JD(U) supported the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
JD(U) member Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said his party supports the Bill. "I am supporting this Bill. I was really amazed about this Bill and what is being discussed in the House."
He claimed that the bill is simple that the people who were persecuted due to religion will be

Chandigarh, Dec 11: Noted American expert on terror and internal security Peter Chalk on Wednesday warned of use of social platforms by Pakistan to attack Indian economy. He blamed his country for playing double role on Islamabad.
He said Pakistan could be harnessing the power of the social media to launch attacks on the Indian economy, even as he warned that the ISI "may well leverage encrypt

Stockholm, Dec 11: Indian-American economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, and his French-American wife Esther Duflo were conferred the Nobel Prize for Economics in Sweden here, alongside their American colleague Michael Kremer.
Unlike other laureates, who arrived in tuxedos and fancy Red Carpet dresses, the couple glorified the prestigious occasion in traditional Indian attire.
Abhijit wore a

London, Dec 11: A consortium of Indian public sector banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) are back in the UK high court to seek a bankruptcy order against liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya over the alleged unpaid debt of around 1.145 billion pounds.
Judge Michael Briggs is presiding over a hearing in the insolvency division of the court in London this week in relation to a bankruptcy petition filed

Jammu, Dec 11: The high altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh received light snowfall on Wednesday even as the night temperature continued an upward trend due to overcast conditions across the region, a meteorological department official said.
The department has issued an orange warning for the twin Union Territories for Thursday and Friday, predicting moderate to heavy snowfall and r

New Delhi, Dec 11: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was considering to appoint a former apex court judge to enquire into the encounter killings of four accused persons in the sensational gangrape-and-murder case of a veterinarian in Telangana.
"We are conscious of the fact that the Telangana High Court had taken note of it," a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde said,

Hamirpur (UP), Dec 11: A five-year-old girl was alleged raped by a teenager in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, police said on Wednesday.
The incident took place at a village in Muskara area on Tuesday night. The 14-year-old boy took the girl, who was playing outside her house, to a secluded place and raped her, Additional Superintendent of Police, Santosh Kumar said.
An FIR has been reg

New Delhi, Dec 11: Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said the opposition could get the required numbers against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as the parties that supported the BJP in the Lok Sabha might vote against the proposed legislation, considering the nationwide protests against it.
"Who knows, we may have the numbers. I think a better sense will p

New Delhi, Dec 11: Terming the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 as divisive and discriminatory, the Congress party on Wednesday vehemently opposed it in Rajya Sabha. The main Opposition party in the Upper House said the bill hurts the soul of India.
Senior party leader Anand Sharma said that the reason for opposition is not political but constitutional and moral.
"I am convi

Jammu, Dec 11: The police have arrested nine alleged drug peddlers and recovered narcotic substances from them in separate incidents here, officials said.
A police party stopped a vehicle at Nagrota on Tuesday night and recovered 110 grams of heroin from the possession of three people, who have been identified as Jamuna Giri, Sham Lal and Mohd Ashraf. A case has been registered in this connect

New Delhi, Dec 11: Home Minister Amit Shah moved the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, saying that Indian Muslims "were, are and will remain Indian citizens".
Moving the bill that provides Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, Shah said minorities in the three nations do not get equal rights.
The population of minorities in these c

New Delhi, Dec 11: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the felling of 452 trees for the construction of an additional track for the railway line connecting Delhi to Agra via Mathura, provided the mandatory compensatory afforestation is also undertaken.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.A. Nazeer also ordered member secretary of National

Guwahati, Dec 11: Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill continued to rock Assam as a large group of students fought a pitched battle with the police near the state secretariat here on Wednesday, police said.
Students in large numbers were seen proceeding towards the Secretariat from all directions. Another group has reached Ganeshguri area, around 500 metres from the centre of powe

New Delhi, Dec 11: With an aim to double the farmers' income, the Narendra Modi government has doubled the agriculture budget in its first tenure, said Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary in the Parliament.
On Tuesday, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Eknath Shinde asked the minister about the roadmap of the government on doubling the farmers' income to which the minister said: "The agri

Mumbai, Dec 11: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has criticised the Narendra Modi government for not taking the opposition into confidence on key issues like the scrapping of Article 370 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
In an interview to PTI, the Congress leader also expressed concern over the economic "slowdown" in the country, and said the BJP-led NDA government's approach towards

New Delhi, Dec 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is an attempt by the "Modi-Shah government" to ethnically cleanse the Northeast and a "criminal attack" on the region.
Protests have broken out in several parts of the Northeast over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday and will be placed in the Raj

New Delhi, Dec 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the opposition of speaking Pakistan's language on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and asserted that the legislation will be written in "golden letters" in history.
Addressing BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi likened the bill to the government's decision to nullify Article 370 and said it will provide permanent relief t

Kolkata: A Kashmiri doctor, having a thriving practice in Kolkata, was blackmailed by four persons, including a woman, who demanded Rs 10 lakh from him after forcing him to disrobe and clicking his pictures with the woman, a police source said.
The doctor, a resident of Tiljala, on Friday received a call from the woman, who complained of excruciating chest pain and promised him high fees for a

New York, Dec 11: An Indian businessman extradited to the US from the Czech Republic has admitted in a federal court that he illegally imported to the US pharmaceutical drugs with a tendency to create addiction problems, according to officials.
Jeetendra Harish Belani, 37, of Nagpur made the admission in the Pittsburgh federal court before Chief Federal District Judge Mark Hornak on Monday, f

Bhopal/Raipur, Dec 11: Tightening its noose in the IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services) case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out searches at over 12 locations in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
A senior ED official said that the central financial probe agency was carrying out searches at 12 locations in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on the premises li

New Delhi, Dec 11: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will move the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bill, which is an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955 and was passed by the Lok Sabha, will come up for consideration and passing.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs by Anand Sharma, Manish Gupta and Rakesh Sinha will table report on the wo

Prayagraj, Dec 11: The annual Magh Mela in Prayagraj that begins on January 10, 2020 will now be a plastic-free event.
The Magh Mela administration has banned the use of plastic and thermocol items in the Mela township.
"The Magh Mela will be an eco-friendly affair. We will be deploying three special teams to keep an eye on vendors flouting the rule. We are making all stakeholders aware abo

Lucknow, Dec 11; Three days after the demise of the Unnao rape victim who was set ablaze by the accused, the charge sheet in the case was field.
Rae Bareli Superintendent of Police Swapnil Mamgain said that the charge sheet was submitted at the Rae Bareli court on Monday indicting Shivam and Shubham of the crime.
"The case will be fast tracked and trial will be done in Rae Bareli only," he

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) Rasaja Foundation, in collaboration with Business & Community Foundation (BCF) will organise a discussion 'Merging Border' with artists Lata Pada (Sampradaya Dance Creations, Canada), Dr I Wayan Dibia (scholar, author and dance choreographer, Indonesia), Shila Mehta (Nupur Zankar Academy of Performing Arts, New Jersey, Belgium and Mumbai) and Hema Rajagopalan (Natya Dance

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANSlife) In its endeavour to constantly reinvent itself to create experiences that connect with consumer passions, PepsiCo India has partnered with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, one of the icons of today's generation.
Speaking about the association, a PepsiCo India Spokesperson said, "We are excited to announce Pepsi's collaboration with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan.

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) Introducing the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Upper House, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy said on Tuesday that the legislation proposes stringent punishment for illegal weapon and ammunition traffickers.
"Though the Bill is small, it is very important Bill," said the minister adding that the proposed legislation would help government in co

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) An elderly fruit-seller's refusal to accept money for fruits bought by women journalists stationed outside a Delhi hospital after a fire tragedy, has won praise from Twitterati.
A Twitter user posted a picture of the old man, appearing to be in his 60s, and wrote: "This man is Nand Lal, who sells fruits outside Lady Hardinge hospital. He did not charge anything from wo

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) Barely 24 hours after Shiv Sena's face in Parliament Sanjay Raut vehemently supporting the Citizenship Amendment Bill and equating it with support for India, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took a complete U-turn.
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Chief Minister and Sena chief said that it is BJP's illusion that those who disagree on CAB are "deshdrohi" (traitors).
Taking a 1

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) In the backdrop of the Hyderabad gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old veterinarian and several other similar cases of sexual violence against women being reported, the government on Tuesday said women's safety is a high priority and it has taken several initiatives for their safety across the country.
Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, in a written repl

Kolkata, Dec 10 (IANS) Selling the high priced onion has become a risky proposition in West Bengal now, with many unscrupulous buyers fleeing without paying the price.
The matter came to light at the state government-run Sufal Bangla stall in Bolpur of Birbhum district, where many customers took the vegetable gratis, hoodwinking the employees at the outlet.
The incident happened on Monday w

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) The government will decide on appointing a consultant among CBRE, Feedback Infra, JLL Pvt Ltd, KPMG and PwC, who will study lease terms and conditions of land, laws regarding construction and development of property in the areas which is currently being used by Hotel Ashok and Hotel Samrat complex. Both are Five Star properties.
A department of investment and public as

New Delhi/Washington, Dec 10 (IANS) India on Tuesday termed the comments made by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) as "neither accurate nor warranted".
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in a statement said, the Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday midnight, "provides expedited consideration

Kolkata, Dec 10 (IANS) In a significant boost to its ongoing academic exchange programmes with Australian institutions, IIT Kharagpur has instituted competitive high-value scholarships for students from the University of Melbourne enrolled under the Dual Doctoral Programme (DDP) jointly conducted by the two institutions, an official said on Tuesday.
IIT Kharagpur's Director (Officiating) Srima

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a petition seeking judicial as well as CBI probe in the Anaj Mandi fire incident, observing it is an early stage and "time ought to be given to the authorities".
A division bench of the High Court presided by Chief Justice D. N. Patel and Justice C. Harishankar, while dismissing the petition said, "The incident took

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) More and more millennials are having a yen for Japanese -- shunning their love for foreign languages like French, Spanish or German that dominated the Indian minds for years -- and some 800 students have already taken the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at Sona College of Technology in Salem, Tamil Nadu.
Salem, the little steel and textile town in Tamil Nadu,

Agartala/Aizawl, Dec 10 (IANS) Normal life was badly affected across the northeast on Tuesday due to the shutdown and agitations organised by various tribal parties and youth organisations including the North East Students' Organisation (NESO), to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB).
The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha after division of votes with 311 in its favour and 80 a

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) A day after 43 people died in a massive fire in the national's capital Rani Jhansi Road area, Delhi BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari on Monday claimed that the owner of the building was associated with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Addressing a press conference at the party office here, Tiwari, who is also the Lok Sabha member from northeast Delhi said, "Rehan is the owner of

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) Hundreds of JNU students attempting to march towards Rashtrapati Bhawan over the fee hike issue were lathi-charged by police for the second time in the day on Monday as they scuffled with police when JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh was pushed off a police Gypsy vehicle.
In the evening, the police rained blows on the students with their canes after the agitating students scu

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) The State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday announced a 10 basis points cut in one-year marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR), effective from December 10. It will bring SBI's one-year MCLR down to 7.90 per cent from 8 per cent.
The bank claimed it continued to be the cheapest loan provider in the country.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this month kept

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) Thousands of Delhi University teachers on Monday held a massive march in the city to demand that ad-hoc teachers be regularised, and threatened to intensify their movement if their demand was not acceded to.
The protesters, including hundreds of ad-hoc teachers, marched to Jantar Mantar through Rajiv Chowk against the Union HRD Ministry's and Delhi University's decision

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) The Central Reserve Police Force here on Monday said the media reports of fratricide pertained to the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and not the CRPF.
Today at about 6.30 a.m. an incident of fratricide took place in a Company (1066) of the CAF of the Chattisgarh Police in which 2 personnel died and one person received bullet injury, the CRPF clarified in a statement.

Chennai, Dec 9 (IANS) A total of 831 job offers were made to the students of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) by 184 companies during the first phase of campus placements.
The offers included 34 international jobs by 17 companies, IIT-M said in a statement issued here on Monday.
According to the IIT-M, the total number of offers stands at 998 if the 167 pre-placement offers wer

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Dec 9 (IANS) Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who was eyeing a comeback in the by-election faced a setback with the Congress facing a rout and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attaining a comfortable majority in the Assembly.
The Congress may face serious internal rift after the final results as the anti-Siddaramaiah camp has been looking for an opportunity to

Bengaluru, Dec 9 (IANS) Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday tendered his resignation to the party chief Sonia Gandhi, after the party suffered a massive defeat in the by-elections.
"Taking moral responsibility, I am resigning as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president," said Rao at the Congress office.
Rao said that the Congress thought people will not favour

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) A total 9,622.807 acres of defence land are encroached upon across the country, Minister of State (Defence) Shripad Naik told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Replying to a query, the minister said the government has conceived a time-bound plan to retrieve the land.
The minister said the government is strengthening defence land management by digitising land records and als

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress accusing it of dividing India on the basis of religion during its partition, and that the move made at that time, now led the government to bring Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The Minister made the remarks during debate on the introduction of the Bill which seeks amendment to the Ci

Jaipur, Dec 8 (IANS) Amid the protest over alleged 'wrong facts' in the movie "Panipat: The Great Betrayal", the Rajasthan Tourism Minister, who is also the direct descendant of Raja Surajmal, on Sunday demanded a ban on the movie in the state.
State Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh, who is a direct descendant of Surajmal, said: "It is unfortunate that the legendary Jat ruler, Maharaja Surajm

Bhubaneswar, Dec 8 (IANS) President Ram Nath Kovind here on Sunday said students and teachers should be sensitive towards empowerment of the marginalised sections of society.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Utkal University, he said universities were great hubs of ideas, but not ivory towers. They were part of society and thus remain engaged with

Kochi, Dec 8 (IANS) The core committee of the Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that met here on Sunday failed to reach consensus on new state party chief.
Since the resignation of P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, named the Mizoram Governor in October, the state BJP has failed to identify his successor.
According to sources, at the Sunday meeting three names -- K. Surendran, M.T. Ramesh and Sobha

Chennai, Dec 8 (IANS) India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket would launch the country's latest spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 and nine foreign satellites on December 11, said the Indian space agency.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the rocket numbered as PSLV-C48 will lift off at 3.25 p.m. with RISAT-2BR1, a radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Nine out 10 injured in Delhi's killer blaze at Lady Harding Hospital were dead on Sunday. Three out of them were minors, say hospital sources. Meanwhile, another 34 people have been reported to have died in LNJP hospital. So far, more than 60 people have been rescued.
A total of 43 people were killed and dozens seriously injured early on Sunday when a massive fire broke

Tirupati, Dec 8 (IANS) Amid the nation-wide rage over rapes and growing clamour for harshest punishment to the guilty, an incident of rape of a minor girl by two youth near this temple town came to light on Sunday.
Chittoor district police arrested both the accused who sexually assaulted the 16-year-old girl on the pretext of giving lift to her on their motor-bike.
According to police, Venk

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Admitting loopholes on many counts, Union Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government will look at them only after getting detailed reports, but this is the time to help those affected by the massive fire that engulfed a factory in Delhi's Rani Jhansi Road area, early on Sunday.
The Minister, who was the first Union Minister to reach th

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narednra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for families of those killed and Rs 50 thousand for the injured after a massive factory fire killed at least 43 people and injured over a dozen more.
The official Twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "PM Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of thos

More than 35 people were killed and over a dozen others injured on Sunday in a major blaze in Delhi's Rani Jhansi Road market, the national capital's Fire Service Department said.
So far, more than 50 people have been rescued and shifted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Lady Harding Hospital.
The Fire Department said that the fire broke out at in the market at 5.22 a.m. and