India will have a new PM every day if Opposition’s grand alliance comes to power, says Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday claimed there will be a new prime minister every day if the Opposition’s grand alliance comes to power after Lok Sabha elections this year. The BJP has repeatedly taken a dig at the Opposition’s “mahagathbandhan” and its lack of clarity about a prime ministerial candidate.

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Goa: Ailing Manohar Parrikar presents Budget, says state is likely to grow 10% in coming year

Goa’s revenue surplus is estimated to rise to Rs 445.10 crore in 2019-’20 from Rs 144 crore in 2018-’19, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the state Assembly on Wednesday.

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Manohar Parrikar accuses Rahul Gandhi of using their meeting for ‘petty political gains’

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of using their previous day’s meeting for “petty political gains”. Accusing Gandhi of making a false statement, Parrikar denied that the two leaders had discussed the Rafale fighter jet deal.

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Kumbh: Shashi Tharoor’s tweet about Adityanath’s holy dip ‘a religious slur’, says Smriti Irani

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor faced criticism from several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Wednesday for his remark about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath taking a dip in the Ganga at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

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Swine flu has already killed 169 this year, over 4,500 tested positive, shows data

Swine flu has already killed 169 persons in India in less than a month of 2019, and the virus has affected 4,571 people so far, data from the National Centre for Disease Control showed. Rajasthan had the most deaths as well as the most cases – 72 persons died until January 27, and 1,856 tested positive for H1N1 virus.

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Jammu and Kashmir: Three civilians injured in grenade attack in Kulgam

At least three civilians were injured on Wednesday in a grenade attack by suspected militants in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

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NSC resignations: Panel members did not raise concerns during meetings, says Centre

The Centre on Wednesday said the two members who resigned from the National Statistical Commission had not raised their concerns on the panel’s functioning during meetings in the past few months.

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Finance ministry clarifies it will present an interim budget, not full budget, on February 1

The Union Ministry of Finance denied on Wednesday that it plans to present a full budget on February 1. The ministry will instead present an interim budget, or vote-on-account, as the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held in April and May.

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Kerala: Congress leader from Wayanad booked for allegedly raping adivasi girl for a year

A Congress leader from Kerala’s Wayanad district was booked on Wednesday for allegedly raping a minor adivasi girl for almost a year. A case was registered against OM George under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and for rape, the police said. But he is now absconding.

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Calcutta High Court turns down woman’s plea to terminate 26-week-old foetus with Down Syndrome

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday turned down a woman’s petition seeking to terminate her 26-week-old pregnancy as a medical report did not suggest a danger to the woman’s life. The woman had moved the High Court on January 22 after tests indicated that the foetus had Down Syndrome and abnormalities in heart, abdomen and oesophagus.

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2008 Assam bombings: National Democratic Front of Bodoland founder, nine others get life term

National Democratic Front of Bodoland founder Ranjan Daimary and nine others were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the 2008 Assam blasts. Serial blasts had killed at least 88 people and injured more than 400 in Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta on October 30, 2008.

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Citizenship Bill: Several organisations protest in Manipur, Assam, block national highways

Several groups protested in Manipur’s capital of Imphal on Tuesday, against the Centre’s Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Women vendors gathered at Ima market under the banner of the Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill, a conglomerate of 64 organisations in the state. Vendors of all four women’s markets in the city shut down their shops to protest against the bill. The group has called for a strike across the state starting midnight on Wednesday.

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Assam CM orders inquiry after child was told to remove jacket at a rally

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday ordered an inquiry after security personnel allegedly forced a child to remove his jacket at a function in Biswanath district. The child and his mother were on their way to attend the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a silk mill at Borgang, where Sonowal was present.

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2014 Burdwan blast: Two suspected Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives arrested in West Bengal

The National Investigation Agency arrested two suspected operatives of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangaldesh in connection with the 2014 Burdwan blast case from Hooghly district in West Bengal. An unidentified official of the agency said Kadar Kazi and Sajjad Ali were arrested on Monday night from a building under construction in Borodongol More locality.

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Tamil Nadu: Manager of children’s home in Tiruvannamalai arrested for allegedly abusing 15 girls

The police in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district sealed a children’s home and rescued 15 minor girls on Tuesday following allegations that the manager sexually abused the children. Vinod Kumar, 30, the manager of the Arunai Children’s Home in Ramana Nagar, was taken into custody.

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Madhya Pradesh: CM Kamal Nath reinstates teacher suspended for objectionable post on Rahul Gandhi

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday reinstated a government school teacher who was suspended for an objectionable post on social media against Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

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Maharashtra drought: Centre sanctions over Rs 4,700 crore in assistance

The Centre on Tuesday sanctioned financial assistance of over Rs 4,714 crore for drought-hit Maharashtra. In October last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state had declared 151 out of 355 districts drought-hit, and sought Rs 7,962 crore from the Centre.

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India ranks 78 among 180 countries in Transparency International’s index on corruption in 2018

India improved its ranking and climbed three positions to 78 in a global corruption index last year, according to the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018, which was released on Tuesday.

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SC rebukes Karti Chidambaram for not cooperating with investigation in INX Media, Aircel-Maxis cases

The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised Karti Chidambaram for not cooperating with the investigations in the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis cases. Karti Chidambaram, the son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram, is accused of money laundering in both the cases.

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SC/ST Act: Supreme Court to hear pleas on February 19, declines to stay implementation of amendment

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay the implementation of the amendment of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and said it will hear a batch of petitions related to it on February 19.

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NSC resignations: P Chidambaram says institution died due to government’s ‘malicious negligence’

Former Union minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday criticised the Centre after two independent members of the National Statistical Commission resigned this week, leaving the panel with no members. Two members had resigned after the government allegedly failed to publish a report on employment that was readied last month.

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Sterlite plant is polluting groundwater, nearby river, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board tells SC

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that pollutants from the Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi have entered the groundwater and the nearby Uppar river. The board told the top court that the groundwater contains total dissolved solids 20 to 40 times the permissible limit.

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Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan gets ED notice for allegedly smuggling foreign currency out of India

The Enforcement Directorate has issued a notice to Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for allegedly violating foreign exchange rules. The case pertains to the seizure of undeclared United States currency from him at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi in 2011, and alleged smuggling of American dollars out of India.

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Lok Sabha polls: India at risk of communal violence if BJP stresses Hindu nationalism, says report

A United States intelligence report has warned of a possibility of an increase in communal violence during the upcoming General Elections in India. “The challenges facing South Asian states will grow in 2019 because of Afghanistan’s presidential election in mid-July and the Taliban’s large-scale attacks, Pakistan’s recalcitrance in dealing with militant groups, and Indian elections that risk communal violence,” the report said.

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Why are organisations related to RTI Act staffed mostly by bureaucrats, Supreme Court asks Centre

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked why the Central Information Commission and other bodies related to the Right to Information Act, were staffed almost exclusively by bureaucrats. Justice AK Sikri said the RTI Act mandates that people from various fields serve as information commissioners.

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Institutes of Eminence: UGC defers decision to grant tag to more institutions

The University Grants Commission has deferred its decision on granting the Institute of Eminence tag to more educational institutions as the empowered expert committee has recommended more than the mandated number that the scheme allowed.

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Anna Hazare to launch hunger strike today over delay in appointment of Lokpal

Social activist Anna Hazare will launch a hunger strike on Wednesday over the delay in appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and the passage of the Lokayukta Act in Maharashtra. Hazare said he would begin the hunger strike at 10 am on Wednesday at his village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

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Rafale deal: Manohar Parrikar told me he had ‘nothing to do’ with new agreement, claims Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told him that he had nothing to do with the renegotiated Rafale aircraft deal between India and France. The Narendra Modi-led government had in 2015 replaced the former Congress-led government’s deal for 126 jets with a new agreement for 36 aircraft. Parrikar was the defence minister when the deal was signed in 2016. He is now the chief minister of Goa.

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West Bengal: Rajnath Singh speaks to Mamata Banerjee after violence reported at Amit Shah’s rally

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday expressed concern over reports of violence that broke out in East Midnapore district of West Bengal where Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah held a rally earlier in the day. In a telephonic conversation with Banerjee, Singh asked her to take action against those who indulged in the violence.

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Transferred CBI officer claims interim chief Nageswara Rao acted out of ‘malice and prejudice’

A senior official of the Central Bureau of Investigation has accused the agency’s interim chief M Nageswara Rao of acting out of “malice and prejudice”. CBI Superintendent of Police T Rajah Balaji was transferred within five months of his latest posting. Balaji alleged that he was transferred because he had complained about Rao’s misconduct to former CBI Director Alok Verma.

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National Company Law Tribunal rejects Essar Steel promoters’ settlement offer

The National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday rejected the settlement offer put forth by the promoters of Essar Steel Limited, saying the proposal violated a section of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The Ruia family made the offer on the day the Committee of Creditors approved ArcelorMittal’s resolution plan for the insolvent Essar Steel.

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TMC writes to Amit Shah, threatens legal action over ‘defamatory remarks’ against Mamata Banerjee

The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday wrote to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah for his alleged defamatory and malicious remarks against party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya accused Shah of trying to malign Banerjee’s image by “uttering lies” and threatened legal action against him.

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All members of National Statistical Commission resign after Centre failed to publish jobs report

Two independent members of the National Statistical Commission have resigned after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government allegedly failed to publish a report on employment that was readied last month.

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Promoters of Dewan Housing Finance involved in Rs 31,000-crore scam, alleges Cobrapost

Online media house Cobrapost on Tuesday alleged that promoters of the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation had siphoned off over Rs 31,000 crore in public money between 2015 and 2018. The money was allegedly taken out through secured and unsecured loans and advances to shell companies, illegal round tripping, tax avoidance and insider trading.

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