Top news: Delhi air worsens, pollution regulatory body warns of ban on private vehicles
The biggest stories of the day.
The pollution regulatory body in Delhi on Tuesday said it might consider banning private vehicles from plying, even as the air quality in the region worsened. However, the body at the moment can only implement the odd-even vehicle plan.
A video journalist Achyutanand Sahu from state broadcaster Doordarshan and two police officers were killed in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district in a suspected Maoist attack in Aranpur area.
Here are the day’s biggest stories:
Ayodhya case: Adityanath says ‘justice delayed is injustice’ after SC adjournment
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Tuesday asked people urging the Bharatiya Janata Party government to bring in a legislation to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya to stay calm. However, he also made it clear that he seeks an early resolution too. “Timely justice is the best one,” Adityanath told reporters in Lucknow on Tuesday. “Justice delayed, at times, means injustice.”
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Rajasthan minister booked for allegedly seeking votes in the name of religion
A minister in Rajasthan was booked on Monday after a video of his purported speech showed him invoking voters’ religion to seek votes. The minister, Dhan Singh Rawat, was booked under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, which deals with promoting enmity between two groups in the context of elections. Rawat holds the rural development portfolio in the state cabinet.
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PNB scam: Nirav Modi moves court opposing ED’s plea to have him declared fugitive economic offender
Businessman Nirav Modi moved a special court on Monday to oppose the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to have him declared a “fugitive economic offender”. Modi is an accused in an alleged scam worth over Rs 13,000 crore at the Punjab National Bank.
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Delhi: Might ban private vehicles if air quality doesn’t improve, warns pollution control body
The Environment Pollution Control Authority on Tuesday said it would ban private vehicles from plying in Delhi from November 1 if the air quality gets worse.
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Interim CBI Director Nageswara Rao defends financial transactions between wife and private firm
Interim CBI Director M Nageswara Rao on Tuesday issued a statement defending financial transactions between his wife and a private firm following allegations of unaccounted money. Rao took charge as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation last week after the Centre sent CBI Director Alok Verma and his second-in-command Rakesh Asthana on leave.
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For 11th year in a row, India is among nations with worst records of punishing journalists’ killers
India remains among a handful of countries on an annual index of places with the worst records of punishing those behind the murders of journalists.
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RBI ‘looked the other way’ as banks lent indiscriminately during 2008-’14: Arun Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India had “looked the other way” when banks were lending “indiscriminately” between 2008 and 2014.
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‘Shiv Sena, BJP are ideologically close’: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis hopes for an alliance
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena were “close to each other ideologically” and expressed hope that the parties will form an alliance for the 2019 General Assembly elections and state Assembly polls.
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Sabarimala row: BJP workers begin hunger strike against arrest of protestors
Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Kerala on Tuesday began a dawn-to-dusk hunger strike in front of the office of the Director General of Police in Thiruvananthapuram against the state government’s crackdown on Sabarimala protestors.
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2008 Malegaon blasts: Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, six others charged with terror conspiracy, murder
A special National Investigation Agency court in Maharashtra on Tuesday charged all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case with terror conspiracy, murder and related offences. The seven accused pleaded not guilty after the charges were framed. The court has set November 2 as the next date of hearing.
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BJP criticises Rahul Gandhi after he refers to Mizoram as Manipur on Twitter
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday mistakenly referred to Mizoram as Manipur in a Twitter post where he shared the link of a media report celebrating the achievements of girls in Mizoram. The tweet has since been deleted from his account.
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Supreme Court says timings to burst firecrackers on Diwali will be changed in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
The Supreme Court on Tuesday modified its earlier order that allowedfirecrackers to be burst only between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali. Although the timing will be modified in places like Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, it will not exceed two hours a day, said the court.
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Chhattisgarh: Journalist, two policemen killed in Maoist attack in Dantewada
A video journalist Achyutanand Sahu from state broadcaster Doordarshan and two police officers were killed in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district in a suspected Maoist attack in Aranpur area.
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Mumbai: Fire breaks out in a slum opposite Bandra Fire Station, no casualties reported
A fire broke out in a slum opposite the Bandra Fire Station in Mumbai on Tuesday. No casualties have been reported yet.
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Teacher arrested in Assam for making derogatory remarks against Narendra Modi in Facebook post
The Assam Police on Monday arrested a teacher in Goalpara district for allegedly posting derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Abu Taleb, a Hindi teacher at Lakhipur High School, was allowed to go after interrogation.
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Muzaffarpur rapes: Supreme Court shifts prime accused Brajesh Thakur to Punjab jail
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of main accused in Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case to a high-security jail in Punjab’s Patiala district. He is currently lodged in Bihar’s Badarpur jail.
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#MeToo: Tamil Nadu actors’ body to set up Internal Complaints Committee, says report
The South Indian Artistes’ Association or Nadigar Sangam has announced that it will set up an Internal Complaints Committee following weeks of sexual harassment allegations against members of the Tamil film industry.
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CBI officer who was investigating Rakesh Asthana moves Supreme Court, seeks SIT inquiry
Senior Central Bureau of Investigation officer AK Bassi, who was investigating Special Director Rakesh Asthana, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision to transfer him to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands last week. He also sought a Special Investigating Team inquiry into the charges against Asthana. The top court, meanwhile, asked the police to provide security to Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana, who has accused Asthana of accepting kickbacks.
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#MeToo: Tamil Nadu actors’ body to set up Internal Complaints Committee, says report
The South Indian Artistes’ Association or Nadigar Sangam has announced that it will set up an Internal Complaints Committee following weeks of sexual harassment allegations against members of the Tamil film industry as part of the #MeToo movement. Nadigar Sangam President Nasser and Treasurer Karthi convened a meeting of the organisation’s Special Working Committee on Monday.
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Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son files defamation case against Rahul Gandhi
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son Kartikey Chouhan on Tuesday filed a criminal defamation suit against Rahul Gandhi for accusing him of being involved in the Panama Papers scam, PTI reported. The Congress president said he got confused between the scams as the “BJP is involved in a number of corruption cases”.
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Indonesia crash: Authorities step up search for plane debris and flight recorder
Indonesia authorities on Tuesday intensified search operations for a Lion Air passenger flight that crashed into the sea after taking off a day earlier. An underwater acoustic beacon was deployed to locate the main body of the plane and the flight recorder inside that was en route from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to the city of Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Island.
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#MeToo: IISc professor accused of sexual harassment asked to retire, says report
The Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru has asked a professor accused of sexually harassing a doctoral student to take “compulsory retirement”. The institute’s Director Anurag Kumar said the professor, who has been identified as Giridhar Madras, was asked to leave after the governing council recommended disciplinary action against him.
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Collegium recommends four judges for elevation to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday recommended the elevation of four High Court chief justices – MR Shah, Ajay Rastogi, Hemant Gupta and R Subhash Reddy – to the top court. If the recommendations are cleared, the working strength of the Supreme Court will be 28 – three judges short of its sanctioned strength.
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Bihar Police conduct raids looking for five men accused of assaulting four students in Begusarai
The Bihar Police conducted raids on Monday to arrest five people accused of assaulting four students in Begusarai district last week. On Sunday, seven people were arrested in connection with the case, which came to light after a video of the incident went viral.
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WHO study reveals 93% of children in the world under the age of 15 breathe polluted air
A new World Health Organisation report has revealed that 93% of children in the world under the age of 15 years are exposed to highly polluted air that makes them vulnerable to major health problems. About 630 million of these 1.8 billion children are under the age of five.
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Jammu and Kashmir Police arrest 50-year-old man for allegedly raping his daughter
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday arrested a man in Kunzer in the state’s Baramulla district with raping his daughter. The police said medical examination had confirmed sexual assault.
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Supreme Court stays order allowing CBI inquiry into graft allegations against Tamil Nadu CM
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Madras High Court order allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct inquires into allegations against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami that he illegally awarded road construction contracts to his relatives.
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Jagan Mohan Reddy requests Rajnath Singh to order central agency inquiry into attack on him
YSR Congress Party leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday requested Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to order a central agency inquiry into the attack on him at the Visakhapatnam airport on October 25 as he does not have faith in the Andhra Pradesh Police. A delegation of YSR Congress Party leaders visited Delhi to submit Reddy’s letter to Singh.
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