INDIA

Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) BJP's Information Technology cell chief and the party's central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, on Friday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of “systematically damaging” the state’s education system.To drive forward his point, he referred to the judgment by Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Biswajit Basu on April 7 ordering the West Bengal government to halt salary payments to 313 teachers employed in government-aided schools in the hills of Darjeeling, Kurseong, and Kalimpong that come under the jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).“The Court found these appointments to be unjustified and in clear violation of due process. Shockingly, many of the appointees lacked the mandatory Bachelor of Education ...

Dharwad (Karnataka), April 18 (IANS) The Karnataka Advocates Association, Dharwad Bench, on Friday wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna opposing the rumoured move to transfer four judges of the Karnataka High Court to various other High Courts.Association President V.M. Sheelavant, in the letter, claimed that there is a proposal to transfer Karnataka High Court justices Krishna S Dixit, K. Natarajan, Hemant Chandangoudar and Sanjay Gouda to other states."The Bar members are in strong protest against the proposal," he underlined."The members of the Bar across the state of Karnataka are in a state of disbelief on hearing the rumours about the intended or proposed transfer of a few of the best legal minds serving as Hon’ble Judges of the High Court of Karnataka," he said in...

Patna, April 18 (IANS) Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal on Friday criticised the Congress party’s newly launched women-centric campaign, ‘Mahila Ki Baat, Congress Ke Sath’, questioning the party’s commitment to women's empowerment during its decades in power.The campaign was officially launched on Friday at the Congress state headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram, with senior leaders, including Mahila Congress national president Alka Lamba, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Madan Mohan Jha, and MLA Pratima Das unveiling the campaign poster.Speaking to IANS, Dilip Jaiswal said, "What was the Congress doing for 65 years? Today, they suddenly remember women’s respect and rights? Why didn’t they provide reservation for women when they were in power for decades?”Highlighting ...

Chandigarh, April 18 (IANS) A delegation of BJP Punjab led by Jai Inder Kaur, President, BJP Punjab Mahila Morcha, met Governor of Punjab on Friday and submitted a detailed memorandum on the alarming situation of illegal sand mining and brutal violence against villagers in Sahnewal constituency in Ludhiana.The delegation was joined by the elected Panchayats of villages Gaunsgarh, Gadhapur, Khwajke, Mangat, Boothgarh, Rawat, Hawas, and Mangli, who narrated the continuing atrocities being committed by the sand mafia under the protection of the local administration and the state government.The delegation also included BJP Punjab Spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal, Senior BJP leader Vineet Joshi and Geja Ram Valmiki, who echoed the villagers' grievances and strongly condemned the failure of t...

Hyderabad, April 18 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday invited Japanese companies to come to his state and find a China +1 alternative.At the India-Japan Economic Partnership roadshow in Tokyo, he exhorted investors to invest, promising that they will thrive, grow, succeed, and will feel like at home.The official TelanganaRising delegation, led by the Chief Minister, hosted a high-level Investment Roadshow, spotlighting the state's thriving industrial ecosystem and inviting Japanese businesses to partner in its growth.At the event attended by over 150 participants from the Japanese business community, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy exhorted Japanese investors and businesses to come to Telangana and invest, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office here...

Hyderabad, April 18 (IANS) Heavy rains, accompanied by strong winds, lashed several parts of Hyderabad and its surroundings on Friday, affecting normal life.The heavy spell of pre-monsoon showers during the evening hours provided some relief from the heat, but it also caused inconvenience to people by throwing vehicular traffic out of gear and disrupting the electricity supply.The rains led to waterlogging on roads at busy junctions, resulting in traffic jams. People returning home from offices and workplaces were stranded.The strong winds uprooted trees in a few places and also resulted in the disruption of the electricity supply.An electric transformer exploded after a big tree fell on it in Red Hills area in Nampally. There were no casualties in the incident.A tree fell on the road in f...

Bengaluru, April 18 (IANS) The sacred thread removal row in Karnataka is taking a serious turn, as a student who missed the Common Entrance Test (CET) alleged that staff at the examination centre denied him entry for refusing to remove his sacred thread (Janivara).He further claimed that they (staff) carelessly remarked, “What if someone hangs themselves with the sacred thread?”In light of the seriousness of the issue, the Congress government has apologised and promised action against the staff who denied entry to students wearing the sacred thread. The government has also announced that strict guidelines will be issued to ensure such incidents do not recur.Suchivruth Kulkarni, the student who was denied the opportunity to write the CET exam, told the media on Friday that he was stopped...

Gurugram, April 18 (IANS) A day after its formation, the Gurugram police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the air hostess ICU sexual assault case on Friday nabbed the accused, after analysing the footage from at least 800 CCTV cameras installed inside and outside of the private hospital, police said. The accused was identified as Deepak, 25, a native of Bihar's Muzaffarpur and working as a treatment machine technician in the ICU of the hospital for the past five months. The accused will be produced before the court on Saturday, and police will seek police custody for further investigation, a police official said.An official privy to the matter said the accused, arrested in the Sadar Police Station area on Friday, has confessed to his crime."While investigating the incident, eight...

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) There is an urgent need to place the welfare of small and marginal farmers at the centre of global agricultural strategies, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said, adding that agriculture for India is not merely an economic activity, but a source of livelihood, food and dignity for millions of families.At the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers in Brazil's Brasilia, India reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable agriculture, an official statement said on Friday.Agriculture Minister Chouhan underscored that global food security and rural development goals would remain incomplete unless small farmers are protected and empowered.He highlighted that the world’s 510 million smallholder farmers are the backbone of th...

Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) The displaced victims of the recent communal violence in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, who are currently housed at a temporary relief shelter at a school in the adjacent Malda district, on Friday, accused the district police of maintaining "blanket secrecy" during their interactions with the representatives of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visiting the relief camp.After the NHRC representatives left the relief camp late Friday afternoon, those displaced victims of Murshidabad violence started protesting and accusing the police of turning the shelter camp into a virtual fortress, allegedly to prevent information about their interaction with the NHRC representatives reaching outside.They alleged that the police action to maintain secrecy in t...