A hardcore Naxalite carrying reward of Rs. 30 lakhs on his head has been killed in an encounter with the Sashastra Seema Bal in Bihar's Jamui District.

Resuming his public interaction programme, 'Janata Ke Darbar Mein Mukhya Mantri', that lasted over nine hours continuing till late in the evening, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today met over 1,000 complainants. "The CM interacted with people for over nine hours and heard grievance of a total of 1,007 people, including 218 women," a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said. Kumar looked into the complaints regarding police, land reforms, general administration, and registration department and directed the state police chief P K Thakur and other senior police officials to help the complainants.

A Taliban suicide bomber struck near a Kabul police complex on Monday, killing at least 20 policemen and wounding 29 people, Afghan officials said, in the latest of a rapid-fire series of militant attacks on the capital this year.

JUST IN: The ED has arrested former MP Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, in a money laundering case in Mumbai.

National Investigation Agency today arrested a 24-year-old Islamic State suspect from Bhopal as part of the agency's crackdown on sympathisers of the terror group.

The youth, identified as Azhar Iqbal, was the 16th person to be arrested in connection with a case registered in Delhi under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the agency on December 9 last year, a senior police officer said.

"The NIA team arrested Azhar Iqbal from Putli Ghar area where he was hiding in residence of one Laik Ahmed," DIG, Bhopal, Raman Singh said.

Iqbal is a resident of Barkheda in Obaidullaganj tehsil in neighbouring Raisen district, he said.

"Bhopal police assisted the NIA in arresting the accused," the officer said.

"A total of 16 persons were booked by the NIA on December 9, 2015 in the (UAPA) case,and rest 15 were already arrested by the agency. This was the 16th arrest in the case," he said.

The DIG said Iqbal might have come into contact with others during his stay in Darul-Uloom, Deoband.

He said only the NIA could provide more details.

Stating that there is not a single case of Zika virus, suspected of causing serious birth defects, in India, the Centre today said it will come out with guidelines to prevent the disease within the next 48 hours.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who chaired a high-level meeting today on the issue, said that detailed discussions were held on the proposed guidelines for the Zika virus and based on the outcome of the emergency meet called by the World Health Organisation (WHO), India will issue the guidelines.

'Discussed guidelines for Zika virus, assessed preparedness, no case reported in India yet. Based on outcome of WHO meet on Zika virus, we will issue detailed guidelines in next 48 hrs,' Nadda said in a series of tweets.

"The guidelines will be for managing situation arising out of the Zika virus, tackling it and preventive measures. Travel advisory will also be issued for the affected countries," a senior official said.

Senior officials of the health ministry, including the Union health secretary B P Sharma, director general health services Jagdish Prasad, officials from Indian Council of Medical Research and National Centre for Disease Control were present during the meeting.

The World Health Organisation committee called an emergency meeting in Geneva today on the response to the Zika virus and will decide whether to designate the mosquito-borne virus -- which has been linked to serious birth defects -- a global emergency.

The Delhi government today launched a website and issued a telephone number through which people can give their suggestions on the odd-even car rationing scheme.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had last week expressed his government's intention to roll out the second phase of the scheme, aimed at tackling pollution in the national capital, and issued an email ID seeking people's opinion on it. A senior official said the government has launched a website -- oddevenidea.delhi.gov.in -- through which Delhiites can send their opinions on the implementation of the 2nd phase of the road-rationing experiment.

"Apart from website, the people of Delhi can also give a missed call on 09595561561 and thereafter, they can follow the instructions provided by Interactive Voice Response pertaining to the second phase of car-rationing scheme," the official said.

The Aam Aadmi Party government had on January 25 decided to invite public suggestions on a bunch of questionnaire relating to the scheme like whether the scheme should be implemented again, if yes, when it should be done and for what duration, whether people will be encouraged to buy another car and whether the exemptions introduced earlier were up to the mark or need to be reconsidered.

It has also asked the people whether the President, vice-president, the prime minister and Union ministers should be exempted in the second phase. As per the plan, the AAP government has asked all MLAs to organise 'jan sabhas' in their respective constituencies from February 6 to 7 to seek people's suggestions on the issue.

"We have decided to seek public opinion in a structured way and incorporate people's suggestions before implementing the second phase of the odd-even scheme which received an overwhelming response from the public earlier. "Based on the feedback received by February 8, we will analyse and come up with a concrete plan," Kejriwal had then said.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today targeted the Modi government over the 'shocking attack' by police on students protesting against Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide outside Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's office in Delhi, even as the RSS rejected allegations that some of its workers joined the police in thrashing the students.

Rahul insisted the demonstrators were 'brutally' beaten as they were 'protesting against the RSS'.

'Shocking attack on students. Instead of listening to them, now the Modi govt is brutally beating them up for protesting against the RSS!', the Congress leader tweeted.

Rahul's tweet came as the Delhi Police faced criticism following emergence of a video in which its personnel were seen thrashing protesters and dragging female activists by their hair outside the RSS office here during a demonstration against Dalit student Vemula's suicide.

The video of Saturday's incident went viral on social media, triggering sharp reactions, with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging the police force was being used as the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'private army' under a political dispensation that is at 'war' with students across the country.

The RSS, meanwhile, said no RSS worker was involved in the incident.

"No RSS worker was there at that time. If somebody feels that there was some highhandedness then there is option of inquiry, law. Police must have done whatever they found was appropriate,' incharge of RSS media unit of Delhi Rajiv Tuli said.

Reacting strongly to the assault, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh, in a press conference, alleged that the BJP and the RSS workers were involved in thrashing the students along with police.

The Congress called it a 'brutal assault' by police on a group of 'unarmed protesters' and demanded action against guilty policemen.

Delhi police Commissioner BS Bassi said he has directed senior officials to investigate the matter and see if there were any 'indiscretions'.

JUST IN: Indian Police Services officer Archana Ramasundram appointed Sashastra Seema Bal chief; first woman to head a paramilitary force.

JUST IN: The National Investigation Agency and the Crime Branch , in a joint operation, have arrested a suspected agent of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence from Bhopal.

More details are awaited.

As expected the Sitamarhi court refuses to take up the case against Lord Ram calling it impractical and frivolous.

An advocate in Bihar's Sitamarhi district had filed a case against Lord Ram and his brother Laxman for renouncing his wife Sita in the Ramayana.

In the case, petitioner Thakur Chandan Singh has accused Lord Ram of renouncing Sita on the accusations levelled by a dhobi.

He has also charged Laxman for helping Lord Ram. According to him Laxman insulted Sita without verifying facts.

In a tragedy that recurs ever so often along the beaches of Maharasthra, at least 13 college students, out on picnic in Murud in Raigad district were drowned after they were swept away.

The bodies of 10 girls and three boys have been pulled out, say the police. Five are being treated.

Around 115 students from the Abida Inaamdar College in Pune had gone for the picnic to the Murud beach, a popular tourist spot.

The police and firemen are trying to rescue more students.


A file pic of Murud beach

Benoit Violier - whose renowned three-star restaurant in a small Swiss town was in December ranked best in the world - was found dead in his home on Sunday in an apparent suicide two days before the latest Michelin guide was published, police said. News of the 44-year-old's death sparked a wave of sadness as contemporaries extolled the French-Swiss chef's talents.
Read more

A woman, who has attained motherhood through a surrogacy procedure, is entitled to six months maternity leave like any other woman, the Bombay High Court has ruled.

"Having considered rules 551(C) and (E) of Child Adoption Leave and Rules, we find that a case is made out for grant of interim relief as there is nothing in these rules, which would dis-entitle maternity leave to a woman, who has attained motherhood through surrogacy procedure,' a Bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and G.S. Kulkarni said in their order delivered on January 29.Accordingly, the judges, granting interim relief, asked the Central Railway (CR) to grant 180 days maternity leave to its woman employee, who had filed the petition challenging the decision of authorities to reject her leave application.

The High Court posted the matter for disposal on March 11.

The petitioner had approached the court after the CR refused to give her maternity leave on the ground that there was no provision in the rules to grant such leave in case of surrogacy mothers.

When the surrogate mother completed 33 weeks of pregnancy, the petitioner applied for maternity leave, but her application was rejected by the CR. Being aggrieved, she moved the High Court.

AAP today alleged that BJP and RSS were "involved" in the purported assault on the protesters, including women, demonstrating near the RSS head office here and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in the matter.

The party also demanded action against Delhi Police personnel "responsible" for the assault on the agitators protesting over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

"BJP and RSS were also involved in the assault on the protesters. The police are acting at the behest of the Sangh," senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh claimed. He was referring to people in civilian clothes in the video of the purported assault.

Virat Kohli rested, Umesh Yadav dropped for the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka

Congress leaders from West Bengal today unanimously rejected the idea of any alliance with Trinamool Congress but remained divided on a tie-up with the Left as party Vice President Rahul Gandhi held consultations with them ahead of Assembly elections in the state this year.


State Party Chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that at the meeting state party leaders were totally against having any truck with Trinamool Congress while some pitched for a tie-up with the Left.


The Congress Vice President heard them patiently, telling them that party chief Sonia Gandhi will take a decision on the issue soon. His refrain was that in the emerging situation Congress is a "determining factor" in West Bengal.


Congress is weighing options in poll-bound West Bengal about which party would help it check BJP's march in the next Lok Sabha elections.

The woman sitting with the blind man gently berates him for refusing to accompany her and their friends to a Bharatanatyam recital she wanted to attend. "So you should have gone,' he tells her, his voice slightly on edge. "Not without you,' she responds. The man's sightless eyes dart agitatedly from side to side. "Dekho Kavita, main nahin chahta hoon ki tum mere liye Gandhari ban jaao,' he says tensely.

This pivotal scene in Sai Paranjpye's Sparsh encapsulates what the film did when it was released 35 years ago '" it subverted, in one stroke, every stereotype that Bollywood had built up about visually challenged people over the decades. Cinema has its classics as well as its path-breakers '" and Sparsh , though underrated on account of not getting a proper release, belongs to the latter category.

This is brilliant essay is a must read.

BJP MP from Mathura, Hema Malini holds a press conference on allegations of land grabbing for a dance institute.

Speaking to the media today, the actress said, "Mumbai and Maharashtra will be very proud to have such a classical dance institute. So much of western influence is there, so it is necessary to encourage Indian culture. That's what  I want to impart.

"I have been trying for this land for the last 20 years. I will do everything according to the rules of the government.

"Arrey mere haath mey land ayega tab na I will give. Once I get the land, I will pay as per government rules: I don't even know how much I have to pay."

When asked why was she not opening the institute in her constituency, Mathura, Hema Malini replied, "Arrey so many years I have struggled in Bombay, now I should open in Mathura?"

When asked to comment on the out-of-turn allotment, Hema Malini said, "I have struggled for 20 years for this, it is my right to have this place. Aapko jaldbaazi lag raha hai? 20 saal lag gaye hain. Maine haar nahi maani."?

A month after the BJP-led government in Maharashtra announced allotment of a prime piece of land in Mumbai to actress and MP Hema Malini for a dance academy, an RTI activist has claimed the plot valued in crores is being given to her for a mere Rs 70,000.

This is the second instance when the BJP MP from Mathura has been alloted a plot in the financial capital and she remains in possession of the earlier one, activist Anil Galgali claimed.  Read more on the issue here.

1 killed, 5 injured in a powerful blast near the police headquarters in Kabul. An explosion rocked an area of the Afghan today in the Deh Mazang area of the city near the parliament building, witnesses reported. 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley's defamation case against AAP leaders has been posted for hearing on 3rd Feb. Jaitley moved a fresh application seeking the summoning of the entire DDCA records of the period when he was president.

Classes resumed today in Hyderabad Central University, two weeks after the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula and subsequent agitation by the varsity students.

"Classes are going on. Administration is also working," a JAC spokesperson Dickens told PTI. "We have set a deadline of ten days. We will continue our agitation in the form of relay hunger strike and organising seminars and rallies peacefully. People from outside also have come to express solidarity to our agitation. (VC) Professor Appa Rao should go. There is no change in that demand," he said.


When contacted, SC/ST Faculty Forum convener Sudhakar Babu said they (teachers) are attending classes. He also said as per the request by in-charge Vice Chancellor M Periasamy, the faculty members would also continue in the administrative position.

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is upset that his peaceful state is now turning violent with the Kapu Garjana agitation

Naidu is believed to have expressed his unhappiness to ministers from the Kapu community for not monitoring what their people felt, despite specific instructions to the effect. The CM is also angry with the East Godavari district police for not making proper assessments of the situation even as the organisers went all out to make the meeting a do-or-die battle.

Naidu has reportedly consulted his cabinet ministers and senior party leaders including Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and Nimmakayala
China Rajappa and discussed the issue.

Arunachal Governor does not have to submit report recommending President's rule, says Supreme Court

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi today reviewed the Kapu Garjana agitation at a high-level meeting of officials.

The Kapu community has been demanding inclusion of Kapus in the BC list as promised by the Telugu Desam Party in the 2014 elections. The community organised 'Kapu Ikya Garjana' in East Godavari to fight for their demands, which turned violent after railway bogies were burnt and traffic halted.

The Centre may send an official delegation to assess the damage and a clear picture will emerge once Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is briefed and a direction is given to officials.

Sabrish, the son-in-law of DMK leader MK Stalin was in New Delhi recently to meet Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to explain the need for an alliance. Whether this meeting was authorised by DMK chief M Karunanidhi or an initiative by Sabrish himself is not yet clear. When this question was put to Rajya Sabha MP and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi she reacted with anger saying it was defamatory. That's just one indicator of how deep the rift in the family is. 

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has agreed to the suggestion of the Janata Dal United (JD-U) Executive Council to seek a Banyan Tree as the party's poll symbol. The party's symbol now is an arrow. There were complaints during the Bihar elections that the symbol did not attract many voters in villages. A petition from JDU to change the symbol is being filed with the election commission on Tuesday in New Delhi.

With no headway made in the probe into the Pathankot terror attack, Pakistan today said it will seek more evidence from India, days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the outcome of the investigation into the assault would be made public soon.

The six-member Pakistani government team investigating the Pathankot attack has written to the foreign ministry to seek more "leads" from India. "The ball is back in India's court again as we need more evidence to move forward in the probe," a source in the investigation team told PTI.

"The team has almost completed its investigation into five cellphone numbers (allegedly used for making calls from Pakistan to India) provided by the Indian government. No further leads were found from these numbers because they were unregistered and had fake identities," the source said.

"The probe is not heading further. The team needs more evidence. Therefore, it has written to the government to speak to India and apprise it of the situation and demand more evidence to move forward in investigation here," he said.

Norway is one of the countries in the world where people feel safest walking alone at night, OECD data based on Gallop World Poll results has found.


A majority of 86 per cent of people said they had no fears about street crime, even when on their own in the dark.Spain, where 85 per cent of respondents said the same, came a close second, the UK isn't far behind at 79 per cent. Read more.

Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who was manhandled by the Students Federation of India activists before the inauguration session of the Global Education Meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, did not let the incident affect him or the prestigious meet.


He proceeded to deliver his welcome address, with just a passing mention of what had happened, his wry sense of humour intact.


"I should apologise for the delay in convening the Inaugural Session of the Global Education Meet. As you have been informed, a section of students made an effort to block entry to the Convention Centre to protest against what they call "commercialization of higher education'," he said.


"Although we had explained the goals of the meet to them including through my op-eds in the Times of India and Mathrubhumi, two leading dailies, they had declared that they would stop the meet at "any cost". I did not realise that the cost was an attack on me, but I am happy to survive it to be here to welcome you. I am sure that our friends from abroad will see it as "militant democracy' in operation."

With Chief Minister Oommen Chandy giving the meet a miss, it was left to Prof William Tierney to inaugurate the meet.

The Global Education Meet, Ambassador Sreenivasan said, was 'the culmination of a journey my colleagues in the Kerala State Higher Education Council and I began in October 2011. We set an agenda for ourselves to create a Higher Education 2.0 with special attention to infrastructure, teachers training, technology-based learning, autonomy, research and internationalisation.

Although the progress on the ground has been modest, we are leaving behind a treasure of recommendations, painstakingly prepared with the participation of some of the best academics in the country.

They contain a road map, a way forward, which, if implemented, will transform higher education in Kerala. I am grateful to the Government for entrusting this task to us and for accepting our advice wherever feasible. I hope that we will have the mindset and the money one day to redefine higher education in Kerala.

"But as the attack by SFI activists shows, it is not going to be an easy task. But unfazed, this is what the Ambassador had to say about the SFI's fears of 'commercialisation of education.


"'Over the centuries, we have welcomed and absorbed the best in many civilisations without being swept away by them. We should not be afraid to learn from others for fear of being overwhelmed by globalization. The message that has come from the World Economic Summit a few days ago was that we are at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution in the world and we cannot be part of it unless we join the education revolution, which is already under way. At the meet, we are following the sage advice given by the great nationalist, Swami Vivekananda.


"Stand on your own feet, and assimilate what you can, learn from every nation, take what is of use to you'," he said.

"Education has been a window to the world for India for years. But today, it is an absolute necessity, because India cannot play its legitimate role in global affairs without a higher education system, which matches the best in the world. We should not only innovate constantly but also emulate the best practices in the world and not insist on reinventing the wheel. Fears of commercialisation should not deter us from moving with the times."


Now, if only the hotheads in SFI paused to reflect on what Ambassador Sreenivasan said.

Astronomer Carl Sagan's wife Ann Druyan has written a letter on Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad research student whose suicide has triggered anger and student protests.

In his suicide note, 26-year-old Rohith had shared that he always wanted to be a science writer like Carl Sagan.

Ann Druyan has responded to Rohith's words -- conveyed to her by activist Rajeev Ramachandran -- in a short but reflective letter.

"To read his suicide note and to learn the details of his predicament is to get a vivid inkling of the actual cost of bias to our civilization. If we could somehow quantify the totality of lost contributions and innovations as a result of prejudice, I believe we would find it staggering," writes Druyan, who collaborated with Carl Sagan on his series Cosmos and also co-wrote books with him.

"You tell me, Rajeev: Is it possible that the attention paid to Rohit's story will lessen its chronic repetition? I am trying to find something hopeful in an otherwise heartbreaking example of needless suffering and squandered potential."

She said that she mourned Rohith's death and lost promise.

Ramachandran has posted the letter on Facebook.

Rohith hung himself in the hostel of Hyderabad Central University on January 7, days after he and four other students were banned from the hostel, cafeteria and other common areas on campus for allegedly beating a rival student activist.

"I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write. I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature," Rohith wrote in his suicide note.


Pic: Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

In a bizarre case, an advocate in Bihar's Sitamarhi district has filed a case against Lord Ram and his brother Laxman for renouncing his wife Sita in the Ramayana.

In the case, petitioner Thakur Chandan Singh has accused Lord Ram of renouncing Sita on the accusations levelled by a dhobi, reported News18.

He has also charged Laxman for helping Lord Ram. According to him Laxman insulted Sita without verifying facts.

The court will now hear the case today where a decision will be taken on whether to accept the plea or reject it.

No prizes for guessing which way this case is headed.

Hundreds of newly elected legislators, a majority of them from pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party today began a parliament session that will install Myanmar's first democratically elected government in more than 50 years.

The session marks a historic turnaround for the National League for Democracy party, which for years was suppressed by the military. The party won 80 per cent of the elected seats in general elections in November for the upper and lower houses, qualifying it to form a government.

As he prepares to leave Delhi, after six years of reporting for the Observer, Jason Burke reflects on three decades of tumultuous change, from the heights of Nepal to the teeming cities of India and Bangladesh.  Read

Blast from the past. That's Dr Abdullah Abdullah with PM Modi in New Delhi.

The charismatic Dr Abullah is the CEO of Afghanistan since September 2014. He used to be a senior member of the Northern Alliance working as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud, until he was killed. He also worked as a doctor of medicine during the late 1990s.

Just in: Mehbooba Mufti to hold a meeting with party legislatures today at 2 pm to discuss further course of action regarding government formation in J&K.


BJP J&K state leadership core group will meet in Jammu to discuss BJP-PDP alliance, ends. 

Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra has told the People's Democratic Party and the BJP that they must clarify by tomorrow evening whether they will form government in the state again, reports NDTV.  


The 10-month-old alliance between the two parties has been brought to an edge by the seeming reluctance of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti to renew it.


Mufti is expected to succeed as chief minister, her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died early last month.   


Mehbooba Mufti, who has refused to take oath long past the official mourning for her father, on Sunday delivered a broad hint that she would prefer fresh elections in Jammu and Kashmir.  

"I will stand by the core ideology of PDP even if I'm all alone. I will go back to the people," sources quoted her as saying at a party meeting.

A PDP communique said she spelled out her condition for government formation -- that the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, must deliver on promises made in a common agenda of governance they agreed upon.  

The BJP, said party sources, has no official communication of Ms Mufti's terms and conditions. Top BJP leaders in the state will meet today and later travel to Delhi to hold discussions with the party's central leadership.

The sources said the party is confident of forming government in the state again with the PDP. It is also firm that it does not have to make any assurances since there has been deviation from the "agenda of alliance" in the last 10 months.

Signals from the PDP are mixed; a section of the leaders reportedly said at Sunday's meeting that they were in favour of immediate government formation.   Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died on January 7. With his daughter refusing to take oath, President's Rule was imposed.    

The PDP is the largest party in the 87-member assembly with 27 seats. It tied up with second largest party, the BJP, which has 25 seats, in an uncomfortable alliance of ideological opposites.

The core group of state BJP met in Jammu today to discuss the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti asserted that her party will have to reassess whether it can continue its alliance with BJP to form government in the state.

The meeting held in Gandhi Nagar area here saw participation of core group members, including former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, former Ministers, MPs and BJP state president, BJP sources said.

The meeting will discuss the situation of uncertainty emerging in J&K following suspense over government formation besides the statement of Mehbooba Mufti made yesterday, they said.

After a four-hour long meeting with party leaders yesterday, Mehbooba had said PDP will take a call on government formation as and when it is confident that Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's vision and mission will be carried forward and implemented in letter and spirit.

"The Government of India shall have to take substantive measures towards implementation of the PDP-BJP 'Agenda of Alliance' in the interest of peace and stability in J-K and for this PDP needs a set timeframe to be worked out," she had said.

Class 11 student dies while trying to click a selfie in front of a speeding train near Chennai

Post-mortem reveals Ryan International student Divyansh died of asphyxia. The 6-year-old drowned to death in school premises

J&K Governor NN Vohra asks Mehbooba Mufti and BJP to make clear stand on govt. formation till Feb 2

BJP J&K state leadership core group to meet today in Jammu to discuss BJP-PDP alliance

Flight services affected at Delhi Airport due to dense fog, visibility below 75 metre