Breaking News, March 25 | HIGHLIGHTS

Three persons were arrested following a firing that took place over standing in a queue at the meeting centre of the Chaudhary Charan Singh jail here on Saturday, officials said.

A teen was allegedly raped by a youth who used to stalk her and trespass on her house when she was alone, police said on Saturday. The incident came to light after the father of the victim filed an FIR. In his complaint, he said the youth was stalking his 16-year-old daughter for the past two years. He entered his house around 1.30 am on Thursday when he was out of the station and raped the minor.

An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed five people and left six people missing, authorities said. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency confirmed the increase in the number of fatalities Saturday morning after the blast just before 5 pm on Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading.

Border Security Force (BSF) troops seized more than seven kg of heroin in the border districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran in Punjab on Saturday.

A traffic policeman was on Saturday suspended for allegedly assaulting and abusing a woman staffer of a private hostel in Chhattisgarh's Raipur city, police said. The incident, which was captured by CCTV cameras, took place at a women's hostel in Ganj police station area on Friday afternoon, an official said.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they were imposing severe restrictions starting on Saturday on UN and other humanitarian flights arriving in the capital, Sanaa. The Houthi-run Civil Aviation Authority said no humanitarian flights would land in Sanaa between March 25-30. It said in a statement they would allow such flights into Sanaa only on Fridays.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's MP daughter Misa Bharti was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Saturday in the railways land-for-jobs linked money laundering case, officials said. Bharti, 46, is a Rajya Sabha MP of the Rashtriya Janta Dal. She went into the federal agency's office in central Delhi around 11 am following which her statement is understood to have been recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Emergency officials in Mississippi said 23 people have been killed by tornadoes that tore through the state on Friday night, destroying buildings and knocking out power as severe weather that produced hail the size of golf balls moved through several southern states.

Iran-backed fighters were on alert in eastern Syria on Saturday, a day after US forces launched retaliatory airstrikes on sites in the war-torn country, opposition activists said.

Two labourers were crushed to death and three others were injured when a pile of bricks fell on them while they were working at a kiln here on Saturday, police said. The incident happened at one Mukti Nath Tripathi's brick kiln in Babhanoli village under Rampur Karkhana police station.

A court here on Saturday provided the last opportunity to Aaftab Amin Poonawala's advocate to respond to the Delhi Police's arguments on charges against him. Poonawala is accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces.

A 11-year-old boy drowned in a water-filled pit at a construction site in Maharashtra's Thane district on Saturday, a fire official said. The incident took place in Kalyan city this morning, when the victim Riyan Sheikh was returning home from school, the official said.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday said India is ready to lead from the front and be the voice of the Global South in the collaborative fight against tuberculosis (TB). He also emphasied on developing TB vaccines, saying it was the need of the hour. “We have seen the unwavering commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end TB in India. We are ready to lead from the front and be voice of the Global South in the collaborative fight against TB," Mandaviya said during an address to the 36th board meeting of Stop TB Partnership at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He said India has identified three important health priorities under the G20 Presidency. All of these are focused on universal health coverage and relevant to our response for TB elimination, he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out at political parties which played a "game" over languages without doing enough to support them, and alleged they did not want students from villages, poor and those from backward class families to become doctors or engineers. Highlighting the challenges faced by youth from villages and poor families to join the medical profession, he said, understanding this, the BJP government headed by him has given an option of learning medical education in Indian languages including Kannada. "I want to mention before you a challenge that is there before the medical profession; because of this challenge it was difficult for youth from villages, belonging to poor and backward classes to become doctors," Modi said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that his government would not let the "conspiracy" to stop the power subsidy scheme in the national capital succeed and said he would defend like a rock the rights of the people of Delhi.
A day after Power Minister Atishi alleged in the Delhi Assembly that officials were trying to stop the power subsidy scheme at the behest of Lt Governor VK Saxena, Kejriwal warned him not to complain later about "dignities" being breached.
Earlier this week, Saxena -- in an apparent reference to his relationship with the AAP dispensation that has been aggressively attacking him over a range of issues -- had said that the "dignity of speech" was breached in recent times.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the Rs 4,249 crore, 13.71 km Whitefield (Kadugodi) to Krishnarajapura Metro Line here which comprises 12 stations. Officials said this section is the eastern extension to the operational East-West Corridor (Purple Line) from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield Station. Out of the 15.81 km extension under construction, the 13.71 km section from K R Puram to Whitefield was inaugurated on Saturday, they said, adding it would cut down journey time on this route by 40 per cent and reduce road traffic congestion. The new line of Bengaluru Metro is beneficial for five lakh to six lakh Bengalurians serving in information technology parks, export promotion industrial areas, malls, hospitals and several Fortune 500 companies, it was noted.

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday condemned the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying it had tried to malign the country’s judiciary and create a religious divide.
A resolution on this was moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Atul Bhatkhalkar and was put to vote by Speaker Rahul Narvekar. The resolution condemned the UK broadcaster for the documentary, saying it had tried to create a religious divide and malign India’s judiciary. The House passed the resolution by a voice vote. The Opposition was not present in the House when the resolution was taken up. Opposition members had staged a walkout alleging delay in the Speaker’s decision on taking action against those who had slapped a poster of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with footwear on the legislature premises.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has once again decided to decrease the jurisdiction of “disturbed areas” declared under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur. In a series of tweets, Shah said this decision has been taken on account of significant improvement in the security situation in northeast India. “A historic day for the Northeast! PM @narendramodi led GoI has once again decided to decrease the disturbed areas in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur under the AFSPA. This decision has been taken on account of significant improvement in the security situation in North-East India,” he said. Shah said for the first time in India's history, Modi prioritised security, peace and development in the northeast and as a result of it, the region is now rapidly heading on the path of peace and development.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has arrested two of its contractual staffers at its Mumbai office and a "close associate" of an arrested former chairman of a Maharashtra-based cooperative bank for allegedly sharing "sensitive" probe information in lieu of a bribe. The investigation pertains to a money-laundering probe against Amar Mulchandani, a former chairman of the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank. The Maharashtra Police arrested Mulchandani and five of his family members for "obstructing" an ED raid against the former on January 27 and alleged destruction of evidence.

Over 10 lakh cataract surgeries have been conducted under a West Bengal government scheme to provide free of cost eye treatment, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday. She said 15 lakh spectacles were also provided to schoolchildren and adults under the 'Choker Alo' scheme. "Chokher Alo was launched in 2021 with the aim of eradicating vision impairment among the people of WB. I am elated to share that we've crossed 10 lakh cataract surgeries & provided 15 lakh free spectacles to school children & adults (45+), since its launch. Wonderful feat!,” she tweeted. The scheme was launched by the state government to provide free of cost eye treatment and spectacles.

People's perception of Uttar Pradesh as a "mafia and gunda raj" has changed in the six-year rule of the BJP and the state is registering growth in all sectors under the double-engine government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday.
Adityanath was speaking at an event to mark the first anniversary of his government's second term. Deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and the BJP's state unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and others were present on the occasion. During his address, Adityanath said the highlights of the government's achievements in the past six years are being presented by public representatives in all the state's 403 assembly constituencies. "Today, Uttar Pradesh is known for 'mahotsava (festivals)' and not mafia," he said at a press conference.

The Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday staged a walkout accusing the Speaker of delaying action against members who hit a poster of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with footwear on the legislature premises.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar said he needs to take Deputy Chairperson of the Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe into confidence while preparing guidelines for members’ conduct at the legislature and in the House. Narvekar urged the Opposition members to allow the Question Hour to proceed. As the House assembled for the day, Congress’ Ashok Chavan raised the issue. He was supported by Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, Congress legislator Balasaheb Thorat and many more members.
 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a nearly-hour-long closed-door meeting with Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, chief of the Radha Soami Satsang, in the Beas town near here, officials said. After arriving in Beas at 9.30 am, Singh held talks with Dhillon for nearly an hour, they added. According to the Dera officials, Singh also went to the Satsang venue where he spent almost half an hour. Later, he visited the Satsang's community kitchen and was shown around by Dhillon himself, they added. Also known as Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, the Radha Soami Satsang is located in Beas, nearly 45 km from Amritsar city. It has followers across the country, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited the Dera last November.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated 'Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research' (SMSIMSR) & 'Sri Sathya Sai Rajeswari Memorial Block', a totally-free-of-cost medical college and hospital, at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapura district. The SMSIMSR hospital has been established by Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, an official release said.

The countdown for the launch of 36 satellites on-board LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission has commenced, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday. Network Access Associates Ltd, United Kingdom (OneWeb Group Company) has signed an agreement with ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd to launch 72 satellites into Low-Earth orbits (LEO). The first set of 36 satellites for OneWeb Group company was launched on October 23, 2022.
OneWeb is a global communication network powered from the space, enabling connectivity for governments and businesses. The company which has Bharti Enterprises as a major investor, is implementing the constellation of low earth orbit satellites. In an notification on Saturday, ISRO said, "LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission. The countdown has commenced."

A 50-year-old man allegedly killed himself by jumping in front of a train after strangling his wife in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday. Sajan Pasi of Sujalpur Bamrauli village in Kokhraj allegedly killed his wife Rani (48) after an argument on Friday night, they said. Pasi then jumped in front of goods train on the Delhi-Howrah line near the village, Kokhraj police station in-charge Ramesh Patel said. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, the police said.

The Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC tourist train taking travellers on a specially designed "North East Discovery: Beyond Guwahati" was flagged off from here on Friday for its onward journey to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh. The train, a specially designed tour to cover the Northeastern states of India, arrived here on Thursday as its first destination after it began its journey from Delhi's Safdarjung station on March 21. The train was virtually flagged off by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu and Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines, Rao Saheb Patil Danve, an official release said on Saturday. NF Railway General Manager Anshul Gupta and other senior railway officials were present at the Guwahati railway station during the flagging-off ceremony.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's MP daughter Misa Bharti appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Saturday for questioning in the railways land-for-jobs linked money laundering case, officials said. Bharti, 46, is a Rajya Sabha MP of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD). Her brother and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav deposed for questioning before the CBI in Delhi on Saturday in the same case. Both the central agencies had recently initiated action in the case, with the CBI questioning Lalu Prasad and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and the ED carrying out raids against the RJD chief's family.

The National Security Guards (NSG) has carried out a full-fledged anti-hijacking drill at the Jammu airport, officials said on Saturday. The drill was conducted by the NSG with the activation of the Anti-Hijack Committee (AHC) at the Jammu Air Force Station on Friday, a defence PRO said. He said the exercise involved all the key stakeholders, including the Indian Air Force, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Union Territory administration, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Delhi Tourism Minister Atishi on Saturday said the AAP government is trying to connect people with the rich history of the national capital. Atishi, who recently took over as the tourism minister, inaugurated heritage walks at Siri Fort on Saturday.
"We have started the heritage walks from Siri Fort. The (Arvind) Kejriwal government's effort is to connect the people of Delhi with the rich history of the city. New Delhi has so many monuments, so many historical places and we just drive past them. I myself did not know that Siri Fort was a university. It is important to know the history," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told PTI. Talking about her priorities as the tourism minister, Atishi said she wants to introduce policies that aim at "connecting all the experiences" of a tourist in Delhi. "The biggest lacuna is that there is no experience to connect (the entire visit of a tourist). Our priority is to bring such policies that connect all the experiences of a tourist in Delhi," she said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the fight against Left-wing extremism (LWE) seems to be in the final stage of victory in the country and the supreme sacrifices made by the CRPF personnel battling the menace have a huge contribution to it. Speaking at the 84th Raising Day event of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), he also appealed to the force to continue its valiant fight against the LWE till the menace is not wiped out completely. Highlighting the role of CRPF in the fight against Naxalism, he said the credit to wipe out hindrances in the path of development in Maoist-hit areas goes to the CRPF personnel.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday took a swipe at two BJP ministers for accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of insulting OBCs with his "Modi surname" remark in 2019, saying they were "insulting" people's intelligence by making such an "absurd allegation". Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from the Lok Sabha, nearly 24 hours after a Surat court convicted him in a defamation case. The court in Gujarat's Surat sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a defamation case filed on a complaint by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for his remark -- "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" Addressing a press conference on Friday, BJP leaders and Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Anurag Thakur had accused Gandhi of insulting OBCs.

A powerful tornado tore through a rural area of the Mississippi Delta on Friday night, causing injuries, widespread damage and downing power lines as severe weather that produced hail the size of golf balls moved through several southern states and prompted authorities to warn some in its path that they were in a "life-threatening situation." The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado caused damage about 60 miles (96 kilometres) northeast of Jackson, Mississippi. The rural towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork were reporting destruction as the tornado continued sweeping northeast at 70 mph (113 kph) without weakening, racing towards Alabama through towns including Winona and Amory into the night.
The National Weather Service issued an alert that didn't mince words: "To protect your life, TAKE COVER NOW!"

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has passed the Andhra Pradesh Appropriation Bill, 2023 empowering the state government to spend Rs 2.79 lakh crore in the fiscal 2023-24 starting from April 1, said an official. The House passed the bill by a voice vote, tabled by Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath. The House also passed three bills: The Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Andhra Pradesh Inland Waterways Authority Bill, 2023, and the Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2023, said the official in a statement shared later on Friday.
 

Land-for-jobs scam: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation today (March 25) for questioning in connection with a case related to the alleged land-for-jobs scam. Talking about this matter, Tejashwi said, 'We will fight and conquer.' 

Delhi received 12 mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending at 8:30 am on Saturday, the highest in a day in March in three years, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, recorded 12 mm rainfall between 8:30 am on Friday and 8:30 am on Saturday. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 15.3 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average, the IMD said. The relative humidity was recorded at 85 per cent at 8:30 am, it added.

Gujarat police are conducting raids across 17 jails in the state to check if any illegal activities are taking place there and also to ensure that the inmates are getting facilities they are entitled to as per the law, a top official said. As many as 1,700 police personnel, including officers, are involved in the operation that began Friday night, state Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay said. The raids are being conducted in central jails in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and other cities as well in sub-jails, he told reporters on Friday night when the operation was underway. "The purpose behind the raids is to find out if any illegal activities are taking place in the jails and to prevent them. Sniffer dogs have also been roped in this intense search operation," Sahay said.

As Punjab wages war against radical elements in the state, All India Anti-Terrorist Front chairman Maninderjeet Singh Bitta said Pakistan has realised the futility of time and again raising the Kashmir issue and was now trying to target Punjab.
"Pakistan has realised the futility of raising the Kashmir issue time and again... Since the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, you have seen change in the situation there. So, they now again want to target Punjab," Bitta, who survived a terrorist attack in Delhi in 1993 when he was chief of the Youth Congress, told PTI.

The Karnataka government has announced its decision to scrap the four per cent quota for minorities and add it to the existing quota of two dominant communities of the poll-bound state. The 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims under 2B classification of the OBC category will now be divided into two equal parts and added to the existing quota of Vokkaligas and Lingayats for whom two new reservation categories of 2C and 2D were created during the Belagavi Assembly Session last year. The cabinet decided to bring the religious minorities under the EWS category. The decision comes ahead of the Assembly elections. Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting on Friday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the religious minorities quota would be done away with and brought under the 10 per cent pool of the EWS category without any change of condition.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has allocated Rs 318 crore for the construction of the 150-km-long Tanakpur-Pithoragarh all-weather road. NHAI Executive Engineer Sunil Kumar said the approval has been given for the construction of the road on NH-9, which will be done in four phases. "We will first repair 49 landslide-prone spots on the strategically important road so that landslides can be prevented from happening and the road can stay open even during the monsoon," Kumar said.

Two men were killed after their motorcycle collided with a tractor near Raniganj Katehati village in the Jagdishpur area of this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday. Jai Kumar (21) and Vikas (20) were returning home from Nihalgarh railway station on Friday evening when their motorcycle collided with the tractor, they said. According to the police, Jai Kumar died on the spot while Vikas succumbed to his injuries at the community health centre in Jagdishpur. Jagdishpur police station SHO Rakesh Kumar said the bodies had been sent for post-mortem.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Parliament, the Grand Old Party announced the first list of 124 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly Elections going to be held this year. Names of former CM Siddaramaiah, and State party president DK Shivakumar are present in the first list. Congress has fielded former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah from the Varuna assembly seat, PCC chief Shivakumar from Kanakapura. 

A large number of Indian-American community members held a peace rally in support of India in front of its consulate in San Francisco that was vandalised by separatist Sikhs early this week. A group of pro-Khalistan protesters on Sunday attacked and damaged the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, the protesters broke open the makeshift security barriers raised by the city police and installed two so-called Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises. Two consulate personnel soon removed these flags. Scores of Indian Americans drove from in and around San Francisco and waived the tri-colour flag to show solidarity with India on Friday.

Mar 25 (AP) Storms producing tornadoes, damaging wind gusts, and hail up to the size of golf balls were moving through several southern states Friday night with widespread damage and injuries reported in Mississippi from a large tornado.
The National Weather Service in Jackson confirmed a tornado caused damage in Silver City and Rolling Fork and was still moving just before 9 p.m. into the northwest side of Tchula and along Highway 49. The current Rolling Fork mayor, Eldridge Walker, told WLBT-TV he was unable to get out of his damaged home soon after the tornado hit the town because power lines were down. He said emergency responders were trying to take injured people to hospitals. He did not immediately know how many people had been hurt.

Two days of tribal violence in western Sudan's long-troubled Darfur region killed at least 5 people, tribal leaders and a rights group said Friday. The violence between African Masalit tribesmen and Arab shepherds in West Darfur erupted Thursday after two armed assailants fatally shot a merchant in a remote area, leaders from both groups said. In a statement, Masalit tribesmen accused Arab militia of being behind the killing. The slaying sparked a series of targeted attacks that killed at least four more people, the tribal leaders and the rights group both said.

People from across all walks of life on Friday condemned the disqualification of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi from Parliament and termed the action against the senior Congress leader a move against democracy. They said that it would bring together all opposition parties to fight against fascism. Markose P U, a farmer from Pulpally region of Wayanad constituency told PTI, "Fascism has reached our doorstep."

President Joe Biden said Friday that the U.S. does not seek conflict with Iran, but will respond “forcefully” to protect its personnel in Syria and elsewhere, a day after a U.S. contractor was killed and six other Americans were injured in an attack blamed on groups affiliated with Iran in northeast Syria. Biden said he ordered a retaliatory airstrike on sites in Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Speaking in Ottawa, Canada, where he is on a state visit, Biden expressed his “deepest condolences” to the family of the American killed and issued a warning to Iran. “The United States does not, does not seek conflict with Iran,” Biden said. But he said the U.S. is prepared "to act forcefully to protect our people. That's exactly what happened last night.”

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday said the central government was committed to develop Jammu and Kashmir at all fronts especially after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution. "Article 370 and 35 A, being the obstacles in the development of Jammu and Kashmir, were revoked for the welfare of the people," he said. Terming the Union Budget 2023-24 as "AtmaNirbhar Bharat Ka Budget", the minister said in comparison to the financial year 2022-23, there is an increase of 10.18 per cent for the social welfare department in the FY 2023-24.

Eric Garcetti, the former Mayor of Los Angeles, was officially sworn in as the US Ambassador to India on Friday by Vice President Kamala Harris during a ceremonial event here. The US Senate confirmed Garcetti's nomination earlier this month, ending a protracted hiatus of over two years to fill the key diplomatic position. Garcetti's nomination was pending before the US Congress since July 2021 when he was nominated by President Joe Biden. Garcetti's daughter Maya held the Hebrew Bible during the swearing-in ceremony, which was presided by Vice President Kamala Harris. The ceremony was attended by his close family members, including wife Amy Wakeland, father Gil Garcetti, mother Sukey Garcetti and mother-in-law Dee Wakeland.

The Congress on Friday announced a nationwide agitation against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha, alleging that the government acted with lightning speed to "gag" him, and called for taking forward the opposition unity in a systematic manner. Soon after Gandhi's disqualification by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Congress leadership got into a huddle at the party headquarters and deliberated on the way forward. Top Congress leaders, including former AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Rajiv Shukla and Tariq Anwar, and senior leaders P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal among others attended the meeting where the party decided to take this forward into a "Jan Andolan".

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha is a "deep betrayal" of Gandhian philosophy, an influential Indian-origin Congressman said on Friday. Gandhi, the former Congress president, was on Friday disqualified from the Lok Sabha, nearly 24 hours after a court in Surat convicted him in a defamation case. “The expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from parliament is a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India’s deepest values,” Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said in a tweet. “This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for,” Khanna said. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in the US House of Representatives. Khanna, who is the Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian- Americans, has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention on this issue.

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and the opposition BJP on Friday sparred over reports that NHRC has indicted the administration for the hooch tragedy in Saran district last year, which claimed close to 40 lives. According to reports in a section of the media, the NHRC, which took so motu cognisance of the deaths caused by consumption of spurious liquor in the dry state, has concluded that the total number of people who died was in excess of 70, far more than the 38 casualties confirmed officially. "Taking note of the reports in the media, I have raised the matter inside the House,” BJP MLC Sanjay Mayukh told reporters outside the legislative council. “We demand a reply from the government, which stands accused of concealing true figures. It has been said that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has accused the administration of forcing bereaved family members to go for cremation without reporting the deaths,” he alleged.

Union government has given in-principle approval to the transfer of the Uttarakhand High Court from Nainital to Haldwani, an official source said on Friday. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju conveyed the development to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushakr Singh Dhami through a letter, the source said. The law minister in his letter said the state can proceed with the transfer of the high court after having set up fundamental infrastructure in the city located 40 km away from Nainital.
The matter was given in-principle approval by the state last November in a cabinet meeting held under Dhami's chairmanship. A section of people in Nainital have long been demanding the transfer of the court away from the city due to extra stress its presence has been impinging on the tourist hub, whereas the lawyers and a section of traders there have been opposing it.

Eric Garcetti, the former Mayor of Los Angeles, was officially sworn in as the US Ambassador to India on Friday by Vice President Kamala Harris during a ceremonial event here. Earlier this month, the US Senate confirmed Garcetti's nomination, ending a protracted hiatus of over two years to fill the key diplomatic position. “I can’t wait to serve,” Garcetti said, when asked about his new diplomatic assignment. The ceremony was attended by his close family members, including wife Amy Wakeland, father Gil Garcetti, mother Sukey Garcetti and mother-in-law Dee Wakeland.