NRC draft: Filing of claims and objections should be done by December 15, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday said all claims and objections for inclusion of names in Assam’s National Register of Citizens should be filed by December 15. It also allowed claimants to submit as identification five documents that were earlier declared invalid by coordinator Prateek Hajela.

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Muzaffarpur rapes: Bihar court issues arrest warrant against absconding former minister Manju Verma

Bihar’s Manjhaul sub-divisional court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against former social welfare minister Manju Verma for her alleged role in an Arms Act case. On the same day, the state government told the Supreme Court that the police had failed to trace her.

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TDP and Congress announce they will work together to ‘defend democracy and future of the country’

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said his party would work with the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to “defend democracy and the future of the country”. The “principal idea here is to defeat the BJP”, Gandhi said.

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Water tanker hits Qatar Airways plane at Kolkata airport, DGCA orders inquiry

More than 100 passengers were stranded at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport early on Thursday after a water tanker hit a Qatar Airways aircraft that was preparing to leave for Doha. No one was hurt in the incident, officials said.

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Bhima Koregaon: Activists Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde get relief from arrest till November 21

The Bombay High Court on Thursday restrained the police from arresting activists Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde and Stan Swamy till November 21. Both are accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and for their alleged involvement with the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

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Ram Guha tweets he isn’t joining Ahmedabad University ‘due to circumstances beyond’ his control

Historian Ramachandra Guha is not joining Ahmedabad University in Gujarat. A fortnight after the private university announced his appointment to the School of Arts and Sciences, Guha said on Twitter that he will not be taking up the position “due to circumstances [beyond] his control”.

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Trump is not coming for Republic Day celebrations due to ‘scheduling issue’, says US envoy

United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Thursday said President Donald Trump is unable to participate in the Republic Day celebrations because of scheduling constraints. Trump has declined India’s invitation citing a “crowded calendar”.

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Delhi: Air quality on the brink of turning ‘severe’, likely to deteriorate over next 10 days

Delhi’s air quality was on the brink of turning severe on Thursday due to stubble burning and weather conditions. The Air Quality Index in the city was recorded at 392, which falls in the “very poor” category and is just eight points from turning “severe”.

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Delhi High Court told that FIR against CBI’s Rakesh Asthana shows cognisable offences

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the First Information Report filed in a bribery case against Special Director Rakesh Asthana and others shows cognisable offences. Asthana, sent on leave pending an inquiry, is accused of accepting a Rs 2-crore bribe to scuttle an investigation into businessman Moin Qureshi, who is an accused in multiple corruption cases.

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Supreme Court pulls up High Courts for delay in recruitment, warns it will centralise the process

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the High Courts over the delay in filling vacancies in the judiciary. The top court warned that it will take over the task of filling vacancies itself and make it a centralised process if High Courts are unable to do it.

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Demonetisation broke Maoists’ backbone, exposed ‘urban Naxals’, says BJP think tank’s study

The Narendra Modi government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November 2016 “broke the backbone of left-wing extremists”, says a report published by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s think tank. November 8 marks the second anniversary of the note ban exercise.

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West Bengal: 11 men stranded in Iran for seven months return to India after government intervention

Eleven Indian goldsmiths who were stranded in Iran after their employer seized their passports returned to Kolkata on Wednesday following the intervention of an organisation and the Ministry of External Affairs.

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Former Taj Hotels employee accuses ex-CEO Rakesh Sarna of sexual harassment

A former employee of Taj Hotels on Thursday identified herself as the person who had accused the then chief executive officer of the company of sexual harassment two years ago. Anjuli Pandit, a former executive assistant, said she was speaking out against former Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Sarna “inspired by the #MeToo tide”.

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Supreme Court declines urgent hearing of Karti Chidambaram’s plea to travel abroad

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused urgent hearing of a petition filed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram seeking permission to travel abroad. Also, the Patiala House Court in Delhi extended the interim protection from arrest of the father and son till November 26 in the Aircel-Maxis case.

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YSR Congress Party chief moves Hyderabad High Court seeking independent inquiry into attack on him

YSR Congress Party leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday filed a petition in the Hyderabad High Court, asking for an independent agency to look into the attack on him at the Visakhapatnam airport on October 25. He had on Monday requested Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to order a central agency inquiry into the attack as he does not have faith in the Andhra Pradesh Police.

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RBI governor should work in sync with the government or resign, says RSS affiliate

Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel should work in sync with the Centre or should resign, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s economic wing has said. Ashwani Mahajan said on Wednesday that Patel should restrain his officials from making the differences between the government and the central bank public.

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Two suspected militants killed in Budgam

Security forces on Thursday killed two suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district during an encounter, the state police said. The encounter broke out on Thursday morning in Zagoo Arizal area. The militants were trapped in a house in the area and were engaged in an exchange of fire with the security forces.

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Malawi court halts work on Gandhi statue after group accuses him of using racial slurs

A court in Malawi halted the work on a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre, after campaigners accused the Indian freedom fighter of using racial slurs. A judge granted an injunction suspending work on the statue until a further hearing or a new court order.

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Maharashtra declares drought in 151 talukas across 26 districts

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday declared drought in 151 talukas across 26 districts. Of these talukas, 112 are under “severe drought” category and 39 under “medium drought”. Eight of the 26 districts are in Vidarbha region, another eight in Marathwada, five in North Maharashtra, four in West Maharashtra and one in the Konkan region.

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Nitish Kumar wants to quit as Bihar CM after 2020 Assembly polls, claims ally

Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, whose party is a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance, said on Wednesday that Nitish Kumar had told him that he did not want to continue as the chief minister of Bihar after the 2020 Assembly polls in the state. Kushwaha, the chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, claimed that Kumar said he has reached “a saturation point in power” and is now willing to step down.

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India lodges protest with China, Pakistan over bus service through PoK

The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said it has lodged protests with China and Pakistan over a proposed bus service between the two countries through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The bus service is being launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which India has opposed.

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Centre says it wants WhatsApp to share information about fake news sources

The Centre on Wednesday refuted reports that claimed it had asked messaging service WhatsApp to decrypt texts sent using its platform. The government clarified that it had asked the technology company to share with law-enforcement agencies the location and identity of those misusing the service to spread fake news and trigger violence.

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Cooking fuel price hiked, subsidised LPG cylinders to cost Rs 2.94 more

The Indian Oil Corporation on Wednesday increased the price of subsidised liquefied petroleum gas by Rs 2.94 per cylinder and of non-subsidised cylinders by Rs 60. A 14.2-kg subsidised cylinder will cost Rs 505.34 from Thursday.

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India jumps 23 ranks to 77 in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index

India jumped 23 spots to rank 77 out of 190 nations in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index on Wednesday. The organisation said the Indian administration has made starting a business, processing of construction permits and cross-border trade smoother. India scored 137 in the starting a business category, 52 in dealing with construction permits, 24 in securing access to electricity, 166 in registering property, 22 in getting credit and 7 in protecting minority investors.

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