Category: NATIONAL NEWS

A Tamil Nadu based fringe Hindu outfit today wanted the district administration to ban Valentine’s Day celebrations tomorrow. Such celebrations are against the culture and tradition of India, Hindu Makkal Katchi president Arjun Sampath told reporters here. He also took strong objection to actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s reported remarks on “Hindu extremism.” Haasan recently courted controversy when he hit out at whathe called Hindu extremism, claiming that right-wing groups have taken to violence because their earlier “strategy” has stopped working. The actor, who is facing flak over his comments on right-wing…

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Mopping up operations were under way at a building in Srinagar’s Karan Nagar area with security forces killing two terrorists, officials said today. The encounter between militants and security forces, which began yesterday after the ultras tried to attack a CRPF camp, resumed this morning after an overnight lull. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militants were not immediately known. Security forces had launched a final assault on the terrorists hiding in an under construction building in Karan Nagar area this morning, officials said. The incident came two…

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat of “disrespecting” the Army and those who have laid down their lives for the country. Gandhi slammed Bhagwat over his remarks that the RSS could “prepare” military personnel faster than the Army. The RSS chief’s speech was an “insult” to every Indian, the Congress president said and demanded an apology from the RSS.”The RSS Chief’s speech is an insult to every Indian, because it disrespects those who have died for our nation. It is an insult to our flag because…

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Attacking the BJP, BSP chief Mayawati alleged today that the killing of a Dalit student in Allahabad was the result of narrow and casteist politics of hatred being pursued by the state’s ruling party. “The barbaric murder of a Dalit student in Allahabad is not an isolated case as such incidents are occurring on a regular basis. And no one else but the BJP’s narrow, casteist politics of hatred is responsible for it,” she said in a press release here. Mayawati said that such incidents had vitiated the atmosphere in…

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The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly today passed the 37th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2018 to hike the salaries of the chief justice and judges of the high court in the state. The salary of the chief justice has been raised from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.50 lakh and that of the judges from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh. Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice, Abdul Haq Khan, who moved the bill in the House, said Parliament has amended High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and…

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The principal of Delhi Public School (DPS) here was today arrested for alleged violation of rules, following the death of four students of the institute in a bus accident on January 5, the police said. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Harinarayanchari Mishra said Sudarshan Sonar, the principal of DPS, was arrested for alleged violation of rules and regulations related to transport and maintenance of school buses. Sonar was produced in a court here, which rejected his bail plea and remanded him in judicial custody till February 22. On January 5, a…

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An Indian-origin school principal, who was forced to withdraw a ban on wearing of hijab by young girls after vitriolic abuse on social media, today received crucial support of a UK minister who said bullying or intimidation of school staff was completely unacceptable. Lord Theodore Agnew, Minister for schools systems, faith and counter-extremism in education, also said that schools in the country were completely within their right to make decisions on how to run their institutions in the best interests of their pupils. Neena Lall, an Indian-origin principal of the…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met Mahmoud Abbas on a historic visit to Palestine during which the Palestinian President sought India’s support for a multi-country mechanism to achieve a “just and desired peace” with Israel in accordance with the two-state solution. President Abbas accorded a red carpet welcome to Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Palestine, in an official ceremony at the presidential compound, also known as Muqata’a, in Ramallah – the Palestinian seat of government. They discussed the full range of India-Palestine ties…

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Intensifying his attack on the Centre over the Rafale fighter jet deal, Rahul Gandhi today alleged it was the biggest issue of corruption in the country and asked the prime minister to reply why he took the contract from HAL and gave it to a “friend”. Launching the Congress poll campaign in Karnataka’s Ballari district, Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for criticising policies of previous Congress governments saying he is running the country “by looking in just rear-view mirror” which as led to “mistakes like GST…

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Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and demanded the “immediate arrest” of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in connection with his “involvement” in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The Shiromani Akali Dal leader met Singh with her party collegue Naresh Gujral and submitted a memorandum and a video of a purported sting operation showing Tytler apparently admitting his role in the riots. Tytler has said the video is doctored. “It is a matter of great shock and concern that Jagdish Tytler has clearly admitted his involvement in…

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