General Bipin Rawat says Army can carry out drone strikes in Jammu & Kashmir if there is no backlash

The Indian Army is capable of using weaponised drones in Jammu and Kashmir and can deploy them if the country accepts the consequences of such actions, General Bipin Rawat has said. “If the nation will spare us, for the kind of mistakes that may get committed using such kind of weapons, then I think we can take a call,” the Army chief said.

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Sabarimala: Opposition disrupts Kerala Assembly proceedings for second consecutive day

The Congress-led Opposition on Thursday disrupted the Kerala Assembly proceedings for the second day in the row while demanding a discussion about the Sabarimala temple row. The protest prompted Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the House within 20 minutes after the proceedings started.

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Taj Mahal vision plan: Supreme Court asks Uttar Pradesh to make document public

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to make its Taj Mahal vision plan public, PTI reported. “There is nothing secret about it,” the bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur said.

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Kerala government issues advisory ahead of Nipah transmission season

Kerala’s Health and Family Welfare Department has issued a directive asking people to undertake precautionary measures before the Nipah virus transmission season begins. Nipah virus cases are reported between December and June, the department said.

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India one of the countries worst affected by climate change, says study

A report by the medical journal The Lancet focusing on the impact of climate change on human health across the world has said that India is one of the worst affected countries. India experienced an additional 40 million heat wave exposure events in 2016 compared to 2012 and lost nearly 75,000 million labour hours in 2017, compared to 43,000 million in 2000.

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Kartarpur corridor will start reconciliation process between India and Pakistan, says Mehbooba Mufti

Peoples Democratic Party chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said the Kartarpur corridor project could be the beginning of a reconciliation between India and Pakistan.

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Maratha quota: Maharashtra Assembly passes bill approving 16% reservation for community

The Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday passed a bill seeking 16% reservation for the Maratha community in jobs and education under socially and educationally backward category, PTI reported.

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GDP data: Arun Jaitley defends Centre’s decision to lower GDP growth rate for UPA years

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday defended the Centre’s decisionto revise the Gross Domestic Product growth numbers during the years of the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government.

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CBI row: Centre cannot transfer chief without nod from selection panel, Alok Verma’s lawyer tells SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday was informed that the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation cannot be transferred without getting approval from the selection committee that appointed him, Bar & Bench reported.

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Rajasthan: Congress releases poll manifesto, promises farm loan waivers and free education for women

The Congress on Thursday released its election manifesto for Rajasthan, promising farm loan waivers, free education to women and jobs for youth, PTI reported. Assembly elections in the state will be held on December 7 and the results declared on December 11.

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Thoothukudi police firing: CBI registers case against police and revenue department officials

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered a case against unidentified Tamil Nadu Police personnel and revenue department officials for the death of 13 people in police firing during anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi on May 22.

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‘What scandal?’ French envoy dismisses reports of irregularities in Rafale deal

France’s Ambassador India Alexandre Ziegler on Wednesday said there were no irregularities in the Rafale defence deal, PTI reported. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Bengaluru.

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Jammu and Kashmir: Security forces kill two suspected militants in Pulwama

Indian security forces killed two suspected militants in Pulwama’s Khrew town in an encounter on Thursday morning. The Jammu and Kashmir Police said that the two militants were affiliated to the banned outfit Hizbul Mujhaideen.

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Rajasthan polls: Adityanath served legal notice by right-wing group for calling Hanuman a Dalit

A right-wing group in Rajasthan sent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath a legal notice and sought an apology from him within three days for saying that Hindu god Hanuman was a Dalit. The chief minister made the comments at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Alwar district on Tuesday. “Hanuman was a forest dweller, deprived and a Dalit,” Adityanath had said in Malakheda. “Bajrang Bali worked to connect all Indian communities together, from north to south and east to west.”

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BJP received 87% of money donated by electoral trusts in 2017-’18: ADR report

The Bharatiya Janata Party received Rs 167.8 crore, or 86.59% of the total money electoral trusts donated to political parties in 2017-’18, the Association for Democratic Reforms said in a report released on Wednesday. In the same period, the Congress, the Biju Janata Dal, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference received Rs 25.98 crore.

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Air India plane hits building at Stockholm airport, no injuries reported

An Air India aircraft with 179 passengers on board hit a building at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport on Wednesday. However, no one was injured. The aircraft, which originated in New Delhi, struck the building in Sweden’s capital with its wingtip as it taxied to the gate.

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Jammu and Kashmir: Voting underway for fifth phase of panchayat elections

Voting for the fifth phase of panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir began on Thursday amid tight security, PTI reported. The polling began at 8 am at more than 2,512 booths and will end at 2 pm. Unidentified election officials said that 4,763 candidates are contesting for 309 sarpanch and 1,534 panch seats in the fifth phase. At least 118 sarpanchs and 1,046 panchs have already been elected unopposed.

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Telangana polls: Transwoman candidate who had gone missing resurfaces, lawyer says she was abducted

A transwoman contesting the December 7 Assembly elections in Telangana reported missing from Hyderabad since Tuesday resurfaced at the Banjara Hills police station in Hyderabad with her lawyer and friends on Wednesday night. But Chandramukhi Muvvala did not explain where she had been, the police said.

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Sensex surges over 450 points, Nifty closes above 10,800

The BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty advanced for the fourth day on Thursday led by gains in metal and energy stocks. Sensex jumped more than 536 points to 36,253.85 during the day and closed at 453.46 points at 36,170.41. Nifty 50 rose 154.2 points to 10,883.05 and ended 129.85 points at 10,858.70.

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ISRO launches earth observation HysIS satellite, which will help monitor pollution

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday morning successfully launched an earth observation satellite using a polar satellite launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The 16-hour countdown to the launch started on Wednesday evening.

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Delhi: Thousands of farmers set to hold two-day protest demanding a solution to agrarian crisis

The farmers belong to 200 groups represented by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, which is affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and will take part in the Kisan Mukti March. They are demanding the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee report, increased minimum support price and a special Parliament session to discuss two Bills – Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018, and Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018.

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Demonetisation was a ‘massive, draconian, monetary shock’, says former chief economic advisor

In his upcoming book, Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy, Subramanian has said that the informal sector had to bear substantial costs due to the ban on high-value currency. The book will be released on December 5.

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Mumbai: Six members of UK parkour group deported for performing dangerous stunts on rooftops

The Mumbai Police on Wednesday deported six athletes of a United Kingdom-based parkour group two days after they were caught on camera performing stunts on the rooftops of residential buildings in Prabhadevi. They were deported for violating visa rules under the provisions of the Foreigners’ Act.

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Supreme Court in a majority verdict upholds the constitutional validity of death penalty

The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death penalty of a convict accused of killing three people, including two women, and questioned if the punishment had proved to be deterrent enough for heinous crimes in society. In a 2:1 majority judgement, however, the bench upheld the constitutional validity of the death penalty.

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