LIVE! Rahul faking his identity, making joke of himself: BJP

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Tue, 27 November 2018

Rahul faking his identity, making joke of himself: BJP

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23:41 Sunil Arora formally appointed as CEC

The Centre formally announced the appointment of seniormost election commissioner Sunil Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner Tuesday.

A notification issued by the Law Ministry said the 62-year-old former bureaucrat would take over his new position Sunday. The incumbent CEC, Om Prakash Rawat, demits office Saturday.

The Election Commission will hold the 2019 general election under him. Moreover, Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are scheduled to be held next year.

A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The convention is to appoint the senior-most election commissioner as chief election commissioner.

A former bureaucrat, Arora was appointed as the election commissioner in August last year. He had been the information and broadcasting secretary, and secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

A 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Arora had worked in ministries such as finance, textiles and also at the Planning Commission.

He had also served as the joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation from 1999-2002 and the chief managing director of the Indian Airlines for five years.

In Rajasthan, besides district postings in Dholpur, Alwar, Nagaur and Jodhpur, he was secretary to the chief minister during 1993-1998 and principal secretary to the CM from 2005-2008. He had also handled information and public relations, industries and investment departments. -- PTI

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday over reports about his "gotra", saying he was faking his identity and making a joke of himself.

Dinanath Kaul, a priest at the Pushkar lake in Rajasthan who performed a "puja" for Gandhi Monday, claimed that the Congress president's "gotra" was "Duttatreya" and he was a Kashmiri Brahmin.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the entire caste-communal narrative of the Congress in the ongoing Assembly elections (in five states) showed that the opposition party was "bereft of issues and its leader Rahul Gandhi is faking his identity and making a joke of himself".

He went on to compare Gandhi with controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who has been staying abroad to evade arrest in various cases in India, saying the Congress chief was swinging from being a "Hindu basher" to being "sold" as a "devout Hindu" and it was as farcical as "Islamic bigot" Zakir Naik claiming to be a "paragon of peace".

"In the election season, such cynical attempts show the intellectual bankruptcy of the Congress party and its inability to engage with the BJP on our government's stellar developmental performance," Rao said.

The priest claimed that he possessed old records containing Gandhi's family tree and his ancestors had performed pujas for Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru and other members of the family at the Pushkar lake.

He also presented documents showing the names of Gandhi's ancestors, for whom pujas were performed at the lake.

The Congress chief had visited the Ajmer dargah and Pushkar Monday, before addressing rallies in Rajasthan. -- PTI

The defence ministry has now allowed developmental work of small nature by the central or state government's statutory bodies for faster development in border areas, an official statement said Tuesday.

The restrictions have been lifted for works like construction, repair and maintenance of village ponds, construction and maintenance of government buildings like schools and hospitals, it said.

The statement said security considerations for construction activities in border areas issued earlier from time to time by the ministry shall not be applicable for the above mentioned development works in border areas.

The fresh guidelines were issued by the ministry by superseding the Security Restrictions Guidelines enunciated by it in 1990, the ministry said in a statement.

These restrictions were restrictive in nature towards developmental activities near border areas and were not fully facilitating in developmental works of small nature in the border areas.

"Keeping in view the requests of state governments that construction works in border areas are getting affected due to provisions listed in the ministry's existing guidelines, Government of India has decided to allow the developmental works of small nature..by Panchayati Raj Institutions and other central or state government statutory bodies for faster development in border areas," the statement added. -- PTI

The chances of using artificial rain to reduce pollution may not be possible in the near future due to unfavourable meteorological conditions and pending clearance to fly an aircraft for cloud seeding, an IIT Kanpur professor working on project said Tuesday.

Delhi's air quality showed a deteriorating trend from Monday and is presently in the "very poor" category.

Authorities have been mulling to use artificial rain as a solution to clear the pollution but clouds having sufficient water content that is required for inducing artificial rain are not currently available, a senior India Meteorological Department official said.

The other issue is getting clearance to fly the aircraft that will carry out cloud seeding.

The scientists at IIT Kanpur have made all preparations to induce artificial rain in the national capital to mitigate the hazardous health situation caused by the pollution crisis.

An IIT Kanpur professor who is working on the project said other than the availability of clouds with required water content for inducing artificial rainfall, they are also waiting for clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to fly the aircraft that will be used for cloud seeding.

Cloud seeding is the process of combining different kinds of chemical agents, including silver iodide, dry ice and even common salt, with existing clouds in an effort to thicken them and increase the chances of rainfall.

The process also involves changing the amount and type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances (mostly salts) into the air. The dispersion is done from an aircraft.

While IIT Kanpur is supporting the plan of the Central Pollution Control Board to induce artificial rain by providing the salt mix and other logistical support, a group of students at IIT Delhi are also helping the weathermen in monitoring conditions to become favourable for creating the artificial rain.

Delhi's air quality has deteriorated to alarming levels in the past three weeks while the overall air quality in the national capital was in the "very poor" category on Tuesday, with some areas in the city experiencing "severe" pollution. -- PTI

Union minister Haribhai Chaudhary Tuesday termed as "false and baseless" the charges levelled against him by senior CBI officer M K Sinha, and said he would quit politics if they were proven to be true.

The minister of state for coal, who represents Banaskantha seat from Gujarat in the Lok Sabha, also sought an inquiry by the Centre over the charges against him.

"People whom I never met in my whole life levelled such false charges against me. They made false and baseless allegations without having any evidence," Chaudhary said.

He was addressing a gathering at Samdhi village near Palanpur town of Banaskantha, around 150 kms from Ahmedabad.

The Union minister said he had denied the charges in a statement that he had issued earlier.

"You must have learned about these allegations through the media. I want to tell you that all these allegations are false and baseless. I want the government to set up an inquiry on this. If I am proven guilty, I will quit politics," he asserted.

Sinha, in his plea in the Supreme Court a week back, alleged that Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana had said during his interrogation that a few crores of rupees was paid to Chaudhary in June this year. -- PTI

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari Tuesday said he would bring a private member Bill in the Lok Sabha for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya if need arose.

During a meeting with the Vishva Hindu Parishad leaders, Tiwari said he will "strongly advocate" a law for constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya within the Lok Sabha and the party.

A delegation of the VHP met North-East Delhi MP and Delhi BJP chief Tiwari at his residence and presented him a memorandum on the Ram Temple.

"If need arose, I will also be at the forefront to bring a private member Bill in the Parliament," Tiwari told PTI.

The VHP, which is spearheading a movement for a law to pave way for construction of a Ram temple, will meet Parliamentarians across the country to seek their support.

The outfit has announced that it would hold gatherings in every Lok Sabha constituency till December 6 to garner support for building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"Starting from this month, from today itself, VHP will conduct 547 sabhas (gatherings) in all Lok Sabha constituencies and meet respective MPs, and order them to support the law for Ram temple as asked by people," Kumar had said in a rally in Nagpur last Sunday. -- PTI

The uncle of 'Baby Moshe', who as a two-year-old miraculously survived shelling and gunfire during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, says the boy will become a rabbi (Jewish religious teacher) like his father.

Moshe's nanny saved his life when terrorists attacked the five-storeyed Jewish centre Chabad House, now renamed as Nariman Light House, killing nine, including his father Rabbi Gavriel and mother Rivka, who was pregnant.

Moshe Holtzberg, who lives in the Israeli city of Afula with his maternal grandparents, visited Mumbai with them and Israel's prime minister in January this year.

"We hope to see Baby Moshe grow up, become a big rabbi like his father and continue in his parents foot steps," said the late rabbi's younger brother, also named Moshe Holtzberg.

"My nephew will be groomed to be the chief rabbi," the senior Moshe told PTI from New York, where he lives.

"Yes, he will be shown the way by his (paternal) grandparents Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg and Frieda Holtzberg, and Rabbi Israel Koslovski, the chief Rabbi of Mumbai," he said.

He said Baby Moshe was a "beacon of light and hope" for Mumbai, India and the world. The boy has "everlasting memories of the barbaric action" of terrorists, which will always serve to denote the contrast between good and evil, he added.

"I was with my brother two months before the Mumbai terror attack. My brother and his wife were so kind and heart warming. They didn't just feed Jewish people who came to the (Nariman) House, but gave food to the poor people in Colaba market. Their house was open for everybody. I will never forget them," he said.

Holtzberg said 10 years after the worst-ever terror attack in India, none of the main perpetrators, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Hafiz Saeed, are in jail. -- PTI

Telecom operators' body Cellular Operators Association of India on Tuesday raised objections to trailers of Rajinikanth-Akshay Kumar-starrer 2.0 movie, which is set to hit the screens this week, saying that the promotional videos show mobile phones and towers in a bad light.

Alleging that the content of the movie is "defamatory", the COAI Tuesday said it has requested the Central Board of Film Certification to revoke the certification of the film.

The COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, has alleged that the promotional videos are based on the theme that electromagnetic field emissions from mobile phones and towers are harmful to living creatures and the environment, including birds and human beings.

Such a depiction would create unfounded fear and mass paranoia by spreading misinformation about the adverse impact of mobile towers and mobile phones, the grouping said in a statement.

The content of the movie is "defamatory to COAI and its members, endangers public order, presents anti-scientific attitudes, constitutes offences including under various sections of the IPC and is in violation of the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952," it added.

The big budget movie is to be released on November 29.

"We have further requested the Censor Board to revoke the certification already granted including for the teaser, trailer and other promotional video and Tamil language version of the film with immediate effect until such time as CBFC makes a determination on our submission.

"We have requested that the exhibition of the movie be suspended in the meantime," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said in the statement.

The COAI has also alleged that the content of film is against the public interest, as it constitutes offences under Section 268 (public nuisance), Section 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and "stands to prejudice the ongoing proceedings before the Supreme Court over whether or not mobile towers have any harmful effects" adequately.

Rajinikanth is expected to announce plans of launching a political party in the coming weeks, as per reports. -- PTI

The Rreserve Bank of India will pump in another set of liquidity in December by infusing Rs 40,000 crore into the system through open market operations.

"Based on an assessment of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the RBI has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under open market operations for an aggregate amount of Rs 400 billion in the month of December 2018," the central bank said in a release Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank will detail about the auction dates for the OMOs in due course.

However, it added that this OMO amount is indicative with the RBI retaining the flexibility to change it, depending on the evolving liquidity and market conditions.

The RBI had announced to inject Rs 40,000 crore into the system in November. It has already infused Rs 30,000 crore into the system while the rest Rs 10,000 crore liquidity would be pumped in through auction on Thursday.

"Based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct purchase of the following Government securities under OMOs for an aggregate amount of Rs 100 billion on November 29, 2018 through multi-security auction using the multiple price method," RBI said in a separate release.

In October, the central bank already injected Rs 36,000 crore into the system through OMOs.

The RBI had earlier stated that the system liquidity will move into deficit in the second half of 2018-19 and the evolving liquidity conditions would determine its choice of instruments for both transient and durable liquidity management. -- PTI

National conference vice-president Omar Abdullah and People's Democratic Alliance president Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday congratulated Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik for not "looking to Delhi" on government formation in the state and stopping the installation of a BJP government.

"My compliments to Governor Malik for not looking to Delhi & for not taking their instructions thereby stopping the installation of a government of the BJP & it's proxies formed by horse trading, defections & use of money," Omar wrote on his Twitter handle.

The National Conference leader expressed amusement over the remarks made by Malik in Gwalior the other day.

"I really don't know what to make of Governor Sb revelations in Gwalior. We know the BJP & it's proxies were desperate to form a government through horse trading & use of money but we've also never known a politically appointed governor going against the wishes of the Centre," Omar tweeted.

Addressing a function in Gwalior on Saturday, the governor reportedly said he dissolved the state Assembly as he did not want to go down in history as a "dishonest man".

During a pre-convocation academic conclave of ITM University in Gwalior, Malik said,"Delhi ki taraf dekhta toh muje Lone ki sarkar banana padhti aur mein ithihas mein ek bayiman aadmi ke tor pe jata...(Had I looked to Delhi, I would have had to install a government led by Lone, and history would have remembered me as a dishonest man)."

"Therefore, I ended up the matter. Whosoever wants to scold, can do so now but I am convinced that whatever I did, was right," he said in his address after noted journalist Ravish Kumar had pointed out in his speech about faulty fax machine.

In a tweet Tuesday, Mehbooba Mufti said it was good to see that the governor refused to "take dictation from Delhi".

"Leaving aside the fax machine fiasco, good to see that governor Sb refused to take dictation from Delhi, rather opted for dissolution of assembly. This could be unprecedented, given the story of democracy in the state," she said. -- PTI

19:40 Kapil Sharma to tie the knot on December 12

Actor-comedian Kapil Sharma on Tuesday announced that him and his longtime girlfriend Ginni Chatrath will be getting married on December 12.

The 37-year-old actor posted a brief statement revealing the date of their marriage, with the caption, "Need your blessings".

"With great joy in our hearts and blessings of our parents, it gives us immense pleasure to announce that Ginni and I will embark on a new journey of love, respect and togetherness on December 12, 2018," he wrote in the statement.

"We would like to thank each and every one who has been a part of our wonderful sojourn and seek the best wishes and prayers of all our loved ones," he added.

The couple has been dating for a longtime now and he had introduced Ginni to his fans in March last year.

On the work front, Kapil will soon be back on TV with the new season of his famous comedy The Kapil Sharma Show. -- PTI

19:30 BCCI announces two-year ban for age frauds

The BCCI on Tuesday announced that a cricketer guilty of age fraud will be barred from all its recognised tournaments for two years.

"The BCCI has a zero-tolerance policy for age fraud in sport and has taken strict action against cricketers found guilty of manipulating their date of birth certificates while registering for BCCI tournaments," said the BCCI in a statement.

"As conveyed to state associations at the start of the season, BCCI wishes to reiterate that from the 2018-19 season, any cricketer who is found guilty of tampering his/her date of birth will be disqualified and barred from participating in any BCCI tournament for a period of 2 years i.e. 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons," it added.

Earlier, a cricketer faced a ban of one year.

In September, the BCCI had banned a Meghalya-bound Delhi player, Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva, for producing a fake birth certificate to play in an Under-19 tournament.

Age fraud is a perennial phenomenon facing junior cricket. In 2016, former India captain Rahul Dravid had acknowledged age-fudging as a major problem in Indian cricket and welcomed BCCI's decision to allow a player to compete in the U-19 World Cup only once. -- PTI

Seeking to ensure a united fight to dislodge the ruling BJP from Rajasthan, the state Congress chief Sachin Pilot said Tuesday his party's MLAs will decide on the chief minister post and asserted that securing a "thumping" mandate was far more important than a decision on who will head the government.

Pilot said he as well as senior party leader Ashok Gehlot have got enough from the Congress in the past and it was now for the party to decide what role they should have.

There have been persisting talks about both Pilot and Gehlot being in race to be the party's chief ministerial face, even as both the leaders have repeatedly rejected any such friction.

In an interview to PTI, Pilot said it was the party's stated policy for the last 70 years to not declare a CM face in the state and the priority was to ensure that Congress candidates win the elections to thwart the BJP's use of "money and muscle power".

Asked if a post-poll decision on the CM post may leave either Gehlot or him dissatisfied, Pilot said: "I don't think so. We have both received a lot from the party."

"He (Gehlot) has been chief minister twice already and he has got an important position in the party. I am (state) party president and I have been a minister. Both of us have got enough from the party and now it is time that the party decides what role they have in mind (for us)," the 41-year-old leader said.

Utimately, the MLAs in the Congress party will take a call as to who will head the government, he said.

"But, far more important than that is that we must get a good, clear, thumping majority, a resounding majority, because the message must go across the country that people --, farmers, young people, women, backwards, tribals, everybody -- will not take this kind of arrogant government and will make it accountable," Pilot said.

Forming the government is far more important than who will head it, he said.

"It is a decision that we have left to the party and it is nothing new for 70 years we have always had the same policy. I don't know why this time it has become so talked about. Every time we fight elections without announcing a CM face, and whenever we win, we elect a leader," Pilot said.

The Congress has kept open the issue of its leadership in Rajasthan. It has fielded both Pilot and Gehlot in the December 7 assembly polls. -- PTI

18:33 Veteran singer Mohammad Aziz passes away

Veteran singer Mohammad Aziz passes away in Mumbai's Nanavati Hosptial.

Mohammed Aziz was born on 2 July 1954, was an Indian playback singer in the Bollywood, Bengali and Odia film industries.

Aziz made his film debut in a Bengali language film, Jyoti.

Later, he came to Mumbai in 1984 and his first Hindi film was Ambar.

He got a break when the music director Anu Malik got him to sing the song Mard Taangewala for the movie Mard, starring Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

In remarks that can embarrass the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has said had he looked to Delhi, he would have had to install a government led by Sajad Lone, and history would have remembered him as a "dishonest man".

Malik had abruptly dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir assembly last week after the Peoples Democratic Party staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress.

This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference led by Lone which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties.

During a pre-convocation academic conclave of ITM University in Gwalior on Saturday, he said,"Delhi ki taraf dekhta toh mujhe Lone ki sarkar banana padhti aur mein ithihas mein ek bayiman aadmi ke tor pe jata...(Had I looked to Delhi, I would have had to install a government led by Lone, and history would have remembered me as a dishonest man)."

The governor also took a dig at the Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference and said that if they were so keen on forming the government, they could have come to Jammu a day earlier and met him.

"It was an Eid holiday and this is an auspicious day. Did they expect the governor to stand by the fax machine and wait for their fax," Malik said.

"If PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and NC leader Omar Abdullah were serious about forming a government (by joining hands) in Jammu and Kashmir, they should have rung me up, or sent me a letter," he said.

After dissolving the state assembly, both NC vice president Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mufti expressed happiness and claimed that this was what they wanted, Malik said.

"I returned at 4 pm from Delhi and I got a briefing from intelligence officials about the situation. I found it needless to talk to Delhi, because two days ago I had met them all," he added.

The governor said that without seeking any advice or direction or holding any discussion with Delhi, he took the decision of dissolving the assembly.

Malik said that as per the state Constitution he did not have to take permission from the president or Parliament.

On remarks of the Bharatiya Janata Party that the NC and the PDP attempted to form a coalition government on the direction of Pakistan, he said that he cannot blame Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah because they were children of Sheikh Abdullah, who "chose India" and were nationalists.

"Mufti Sayeed was Indian and nobody can suspect his nationalism and no one suspects his daughter's credentials as a nationalist," he added.

The governor said Lone had been saying that he had sent me his letter on WhatsApp and Mufti said she tweeted staking claim for government formation.

"I never knew that governments were formed on WhatsApp and tweet messages. Staking claim for the formation of the government are not made on WhatsApp," he said.

"I was watching this all for past 15 days. I was confident that no one had majority. If I would have called one side, there would have been a major drama. There would have been use of money and it would have created a chaos," Malik added. -- PTI

Mocking Rahul Gandhi's poll promise to waive farmers' loans within 10 days of the Congress being voted to power in Rajasthan, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the party is resorting to such slogans as it knows it is not going to come to power.

Jaitley said they had made this promise both in Karnataka and Punjab, but reduced the waiving of loans to a "make-believe formality", when they found that they cannot do it in Punjab.

The Union finance minister was apparently referring to the partial waiving of farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, taken from cooperative banks only.

But waiving the loans even partially resulted in a huge shortfall of funds for developments, he said.

"Those, who do not have the knowledge of a subject, tend to seek cheap publicity. It needs vision, and not slogans, to run the country," he said.

It has become a trend to give slogans to hide ignorance, said Jaitley, adding the slogan-giving custom was started in 1971 with 'Garibi Hatao' but the country is still grappling with the problem.

The time of politics through sloganeering is over now as people's expectations from political leaders are high, he added.

In an election campaign rally in Jaisalmer district Monday, Gandhi had said, You are going to make the Congress party's government in the state. Within ten days of the government's formation, the Congress will waive farmers' loans in the state.

Gandhi said he had made the same promise during Punjab and Karnataka elections and the Congress governments there have waived farmers' loan. -- PTI

17:55 Peter Mukerjea seeks access to bank locker

Peter Mukerjea, an accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, on Tuesday moved an application before a special CBI court in Mumbai seeking permission to operate his bank locker for handing over ornaments belonging to his wife Indrani according to the consented terms of their divorce petition.

The application was submitted before special court judge J C Jagdale who is trying the case.

Peter and Indrani, who is the prime accused in the 2012 murder case, had filed for divorce in the Bandra family court in September under Hindu Marriage Act.

Sheena was the daughter of Indrani out of her previous relationship.

According to the consent terms executed by Peter and Indrani, they would mutually settle their dispute and exchange articles belonging to each other, stated Peter's petition.

Peter is supposed to hand over articles belonging to Indrani which are currently kept in his locker at a bank in suburban Worli, it stated.

Peter requested the court to direct the jail authorities concerned to make a provision for him to visit the bank and operate his locker, it stated. The Central Bureau of Investigation will file its reply on Peter's petition on November 30, its counsel Bharat Badami said Tuesday.

Peter is currently lodged in the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

-- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or Saarc summit, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported quoting country's foreign office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal.

The invitation comes after Pakistan invited Union minister Sushma Swaraj, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor.

On Wednesday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan will be joined by two Indian ministers to lay the foundation stone at the Pakistani side, where pilgrims from India will be able to visit their revered Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwaraby November 2019, to mark the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak.

No Indian minister has visited Pakistan since Home Minister Rajnath Singhs SAARC visit in 2016, which was followed by the Uri attacks.

Last week, both countries announced that they would develop Kartarpur corridor in their respective areas, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjabs Gurdaspur district with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, is located across the Ravi river in Pakistan and is about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab in India.

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that Nizamabad was grappling with shortage of water, electricity and proper roads, Telangana caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday asked him "not to lie for the sake of votes".

"How can you say such a lie... You should not lie, being at the responsible post of Prime Minister, for the sake of votes," Rao said addressing an election rally in Mahabubnagar district.

Nizamabad is represented by Rao's daughter K Kavitha in the Lok Sabha.

"Mr Narendra Modi, there is no power problem in Telangana... don't lie. I am very sorry to say this. You cannot level false allegations against a chief minister. I am not afraid of anyone. I am not (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N) Chandrababu Naidu," Rao said, reiterating that there was a need for a "federal front government" at the Centre.

Rao claimed that Telangana was the only state in the country where farmers were supplied power 24x7 and asked Modi if the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states were providing 24-hour electricity to the farm sector.

The chief minister further said Telangana was at the top spot in implementing welfare schemes, among which were those for women, children and the elderly.

"No one can stop TRS from winning and we will again form the government (in Telangana)," Rao said.

Modi, while addressing his first election rally ahead of the December 7 polls in Telangana, said the chief minister had once asserted that he would transform Nizamabad into a smart city like London but the city was still grappling with shortage of water, electricity and proper roads. -- PTI

Terming Kartarpur as a 'corridor of infinite possibilities', Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Tuesday that such initiatives would promote peace and erase 'enmity' between India and Pakistan.

Sidhu, who arrived here along with a group of Indian journalists to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in Narowal, some 120 km from Lahore, was greeted at the Wagah Border by officials of Pakistan's Punjab province.

The 4-km-long corridor will connect Dera Baba Nanak in India's Gurdaspur district with Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib Narowal in Pakistan.

The corridor will provide visa-free access to the Indian Sikh pilgrims to the gurdwara. Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform the groundbreaking of the corridor on Wednesday.

Sidhu thanked Khan for making this corridor possible which he said will help promote peace between the two countries.

"This will erase enmity between the two nations," he said.

"The seed Imran Khan had sown three months ago has become a plant. It is a happy moment for the Sikh community that the corridor to reach Kartarpur to get Baba Guru Nanak's blessing without any hassle," he told the media.

He said the wait of 73 years is over after the opening of the corridor.

"Karturpur corridor will prove to be a path of peace," Sidhu added.

He termed it as a 'corridor of infinite possibilities' and said through such initiatives, peace would be promoted (between the two countries).

"There are numerous artistes and cricketers in both the countries whom everyone loves and there need to be cricket matches between India and Pakistan," he said when asked about the restoration of cricketing ties between the two nations.

"There are many fans of Imran, Wasim Akram and Javed Miandad in India, similarly in Pakistan Shah Rukh and Salman Khan have a huge fan following." Sidhu said the initiative could open door of several opportunities for both the countries.

"Religion should not be seen through the eyes of politics," the former Indian cricketer-turned-politician said.

Responding to a question regarding criticism of his decision to visit Pakistan, Sidhu said, "I forgive those who criticised me."

"I have been a fan of Imran Khan since I was a child," Sidhu said as he joked and recited verses in Punjabi.

Kartarpur is located in Shakargarh in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province. It is said that Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, had spent more than 18 years of his life there.

The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located on the banks of the Ravi River, about three-four kilometres from the border in Pakistan.

On Monday, Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Gurdaspur. -- PTI

As part of the ORF Occasional Paper series, Maya Mirchandani, former journalist with NDTV and a senior fellow at ORF, analyses the intersections between free speech and hate speech and the impact of majoritarian hate speech in the Indian context, and asks whether government agencies and individuals working to counter terrorism and violent extremism in India can bring majoritarian violence of this nature under their umbrella. You can read her scholarly work, here.

Activist Rehana Fathima, who had attempted to enter the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala when it opened for monthly puja last month, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through her Facebook posts, the police said.

Fathima, 32, was arrested from office in Palarivattom in Kochi, a police officer said.

The activist, a BSNL employee, was booked by police in Pathanamthitta on a complaint by Radhakrishna Menon, alleging that some of her Facebook posts hurt religious sentiments.

She was booked under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code -- deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

She was later taken to Pathanamathitta after her arrest, the police said.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel on Tuesday appeared before a parliamentary panel to brief on demonetisation and non-performing assets situation in the public sector banks, among other issues, sources said.

Patel was earlier scheduled to appear before the panel on November 12.

Source said issues related to November 2016 demonetisation of old Rs 500/1,000 notes, reforms in the RBI, stressed assets in the banking system, and state of the economy, were listed as agenda items of the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

The RBI Governor appeared before the panel days after the central bank's face-off with the finance ministry over issues ranging from appropriate size of reserves to be maintained by RBI to easing of lending norms for small and medium enterprises.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a member of the committee headed by senior Congress leader and former Union Minister M Veerappa Moily. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Congress of perpetuating family rule and said the two parties were playing a 'friendly match' in the Telangana elections.

Reaffirming the Bharatiya Janata Party's commitment to inclusive growth,Modi, addressing his first election rally in the state, said vote bank politics has harmed development like 'termites'.

"The chief minister of Telangana and his family think they can get away with doing no work like the Congress....They have adopted the style of the Congress which ruled for 50-52 years without doing anything. But that cannot happen now," he told an election rally in Nizamabad.

"TRS and Congress are family-ruled parties playing afriendly match in Telangana polls," he said.

Accusing the TRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao of not keeping its promises, Modi said the chief minister had once said he would transform Nizamabad into a smart city like London but the place was still grappling with shortage of water, electricity and proper roads.

He said Rao did not join Ayushman Bharat scheme under which the Centre would bear medical expenses of the poor to the extent of Rs 5 lakh a year because of his feeling of insecurity.

"This chief minister feels so insecure...he trusts astrologers, does puja, ties nimbu-mirchi (to ward of evil). So when we introduced Ayushman Bharat Yojana, he decided not to join it. He feared people will reject him if Modicare comes into force. He did injustice to the poor people of the state," Modi said.

Amid reports that the Congress was preparing a manifesto that would envisage separate schools and hospitals for Muslims, Modi said the only Mantra that the BJP followed was 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' and was against vote bank politics.

"BJP has just just one Mantra- Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas. We believe in inclusive growth. Vote bank politics has damaged development like termite," he said.

Development, he said, was a casualty wherever vote bank politics and politics of casteism, communalism and nepotism have flourished.

He said those who believe in development, building new India and new Telangana trust BJP most. -- PTI

'Exactly thirteen years ago to the day, Gujarat police shot dead a man called Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Like many similar "encounter" killings in the state at the time, this death, too, would have gone unnoticed in the rest of the country. But a series of developments after the murder on November 26, 2005 linked Sohrabuddin's name indelibly with that of another man -- Amit Shah,' writes Manini Chatterjee in The Telegraph, Calcutta, here.

The Observer Research Foundation has put up a mini site on the 10th anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

With an introduction by Harsh V Pant, the special series features articles by a clutch of writers like Maya Mirchandani and Sushant Sareen.

Not to be missed, you can read it here.

Two persons were injured when a fire broke out at a slum in suburban Bandra on Tuesday, PTI reported quoting a fire brigade official.

Around 15 huts were also gutted in the fire, he said.

The blaze erupted around 10.30 am at the slum in Shastri Nagar area, located near the Bandra railway station.

Seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot, the official said, adding that the flames were put out by 1.15 pm.

"Around 15 huts were completely destroyed in the fire. Some furniture and electrical wires were also charred," he said.

The two injured persons were admitted to a nearby hospital where their condition was reported to be stable, the official said.

Photograph: Shrenik Shah/Rediff.com

Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp's chief business officer, said he is leaving the popular messaging service, joining a stream of top executives who have departed Facebook and its group companies in the past year.

Arora, an IIT-Delhi alumnus and the number four in the company, was being touted to take over as WhatsApp CEO earlier this year; however, the role of global head of the company was given to Chris Daniels.

Arora had been with WhatsApp since 2011 and through Facebook's USD 19 billion acquisition of the messaging company in 2014. His exit comes seven months after WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum left the company.

"It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since Jan (Koum) and Brian (Acton) got me onboard at WhatsApp, and it has been one hell of a ride! It is time to move on, but I cannot be more proud of how WhatsApp continues to touch people in so many different ways every day," Arora said in a Facebook post on Monday.

"I am confident that WhatsApp will continue to be the simple, secure and trusted communication product for years to come," he wrote.

Arora's departure comes at a challenging time for WhatsApp, which has been dealing with the growing international problem of users spreading misinformation to large groups of people on the.

This year WhatsApp deployed campaigns in top markets like India and Brazil to educate users and help them avoid sending around false information, CNBC said.

In addition to the recent departure of top WhatsApp executives, Facebook has also lost Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe in recent months. Alex Stamos, who was Facebook's chief security officer, left in August.

The Congress party is keen to get former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh elected to the Rajya Sabha as his term is ending in April 2019.

Now that the Congress does not have the numbers to have Dr Singh re-elected from Assam, the Congress interlocutors have floated the idea that he be nominated from Tamil Nadu -- the DMK willing, of course.

Why Tamil Nadu? Because the state will see six RS vacancies in April, chief among them being Kanimozhi's -- who is slated to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Thoothukudi.

However, the DMK's M K Stalin has been playing hide and seek with the Congress, the reason being that the final assault on the LTTE by Sri Lanka in 2009 was carried out when Dr Singh was prime minister, and Stalin is worried about a possible public backlash in TN if he accedes to the idea.

DMK sources have already communicated this to the Congress party.

When the DMK similarly refused to accommodate P Chidambaram in the Rajya Sabha the Congress high command quickly got him elected from Maharashtra. Will it do the same thing for Dr Singh, too?

The Tamil Nadu police has banned officials below the rank of a sub-inspector from using mobile phones while on work, saying it "distracts" them from discharging their official duties.

A recent circular issued by the office of director general of police TK Rajendiran, particularly pointed to the men in uniform using mobiles to surf social media.

"It is noticed that police personnel deployed on important bandobust (security) duties, frequently use phones for WhatsApp etc, and this distracts them from discharging official duties, particularly at sensitive and critical times," it said.

Henceforth, only officials above the rank of sub-inspector can use mobile phones while on duty even as it is "used only for official purpose," while on important duty, it said.

"Hence, cell phones should not be used by other ranks during important duties such as law and order, VVIP bandobust, temple and festival bandobust," it added.

The circular further said the unit officers may decide on the time and specific places where the restriction would be in place and directed them to ensure that the instructions were communicated down the line by way of a circular, besides reading them out during the daily roll-call.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its manifesto for the December 7 Rajasthan polls, saying it had met 95 per cent of the promises it had made in 2013.

The manifesto was unveiled by Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar, and Rajathan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, in the presence of BJP leaders and workers in Jaipur.

The BJP government in the state met 630 of the 665 promises made in the 2013 Rajasthan manifesto, Raje said prior to releasing the manifesto.

"The overall completion is 95 per cent," she said.

Raje also highlighted several points of the 2018 manifesto, saying 50 lakh jobs will be created in private sector in next five years in Rajasthan and every year, 30,000 jobs will be given in the government sector.

The chief minister also said up to Rs 5,000 per month will be given as unemployment allowance to eligible youths above the age of 21 years. -- PTI

Supreme Court slams Bihar government over its failure to file correct first information report in Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case and gives 24 hours to it add charges under Section 377 (sodomy) of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Children for Sexual Offences Act in the FIR.

"If we find that there were offences under Section 377 of the IPC and POCSO Act and you did not register FIR, we will pass an order against the government," the SC said.

Slamming the Bihar government, the SC said, "What are you doing? It's shameful. If the child is sodomised you say it's nothing? How can you do this? It's inhuman. We were told that the matter will be looked with great seriousness, this is seriousness? Every time I read this file it's tragic."

The SC asked counsel appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation to take instruction if the agency can investigate the cases relating to sexual assault in nine out of 17 shelter homes in Bihar named in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences report. -- ANI

President Donald Trump has asked the General Motors to stop manufacturing cars in China, according to a media report, after the American automobile company announced its plans to cut around 14,800 jobs in the United States and Canada.

Reacting sharply, Trump asked the General Motors to review its decision, which the auto major said would help it save around $4.5 billion in costs by the end of 2020.

The decision will have a major impact on jobs in some of the key states like Ohio and Michigan.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump told the GM chief executive Mary Barra that she should stop making cars in China and open a new plant in Ohio to replace the one that is ending production.

"They better damn well open a new plant there very quickly," Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

"I love Ohio. I told them, 'You're playing around with the wrong person'," he said, referring to his talks with the GM leadership.

Earlier at the White House, the US President said he does not like the GM's decision.

"We don't like it. I believe they'll be opening up something else. I was very tough (with GM leadership). I spoke with her when I heard they were closing. And I said, 'You know, this country has done a lot for General Motors. You better get back in there soon. That's Ohio, and you better get back in there soon'," Trump said.

"So, we have a lot of pressure on them. You have senators, you have a lot of other people -- a lot of pressure. They say the Chevy Cruze is not selling well. I say, 'Well, then get somebody -- get a car that is selling well and put it back in'. So I think you're going to see something else happen there, but I'm not happy about it," he said.

Noting that their car is not selling well, Trump exuded confidence that soon they will put something else.

"I have no doubt that, in a not-too-distant future, they'll put something else. They better put something else in," he said.

Barra defended the decision of the General Motors.

"The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future," Barra said.

"We recognise the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success," she added.

"These actions will increase the long-term profit and cash generation potential of the company and improve resilience through the cycle," Barra said. -- PTI

Makkal Needhi Maiam president and actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday appealed to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to "rise above politics" and extend support to the people affected by cyclone Gaja in Tamil Nadu.

Haasan wrote to the chief minister, saying cyclone Gaja has caused "widespread damage and destruction to life and property" in the Cauvery delta and coastal districts of Tamil Nadu.

He said the Makkal Needhi Maiam has urged the Kerala government and its people to come forward and assist in a way they deem fit to help Tamil Nadu "stand up on its feet again."

"Damage to crops, standing trees and boats is so extensive that the very source of life of our farmers and fishermen has been uprooted," the actor said in a letter to chief minister an veteran communist leader Vijayan.

"We urge you to rise above politics and other affiliations to demonstrate a true spirit of human kindness. Being humane is the fulcrum of humanity," the MNM chief said.

He said that "human benevolence shines brighter" during such times, adding that the damage caused by the cyclone will take years to overcome.

"However, we can begin now and start the process to rehabilitate and restore a sense of normalcy to our fellow brethren," Haasan, known to share a good rapport with Vijayan, said in the letter.

Cyclone Gaja crossed the Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam on November 16, and left a trail of destruction, besides claiming 63 lives.

11:20 Fire breaks out on Kalka-Howrah train

A fire broke out in the front coach of Kalka-Howrah train on Tuesday, but no one was injured, a Railway Police official said.

The blaze erupted in a seating cum luggage coach in the early hours between Dhirpur to Dhoda Khedia railway stations near Kurukshetra, Haryana, he said.

"Smoke filled the SLR bogie (seating cum luggage rake), which is next to the engine. The train was brought to a halt and all the passengers were safely evacuated when smoke was noticed," the official said.

"The bogie caught fire later and fire tenders were called. Three women and two children, who complained of difficulty in breathing as they had inhaled smoke, were provided medical attention," he added.

As per preliminary details, an electrical short circuit was believed to be the reason behind the fire, he said, adding that forensic experts had been called to ascertain the exact cause.

The train which had started from Kalka in Haryana in the early morning was headed to Howrah.

After the incident, the train was held up for more than two hours before the affected bogie was detached and placed about 50 to 60 metres away. Rail traffic on the route was also affected, he said.

Voting for the fourth phase of the Jammu and Kashmir panchayat elections is underway at over 2,600 polling stations in the state, officials said on Tuesday.

Polling for the fourth of the nine-phased elections is being held at 2,618 polling stations, including 639 in the Kashmir division and 1,979 in the Jammu division, they said.

The officials said polling started at 8 am and would end at 2 pm.

They said 777 polling stations -- 571 in the Kashmir division and 206 in the Jammu division -- have been categorised as hypersensitive.

Of the total, 5,470 candidates are in the fray for 339 sarpanch seats and 1,749 panch seats in this phase, the officials said.

They said 99 sarpanchs and 969 panchs have been elected unopposed in the fourth phase.

In total 4,72,160 people have the right to exercise their franchise for sarpanch seats and 3,32,502 for panch seats, the officials said.

In the first phase, held on November 17, 74.1 per cent polling was recorded across the state, including 64.5 per cent in the Kashmir division and 79.4 per cent in the Jammu division.

On November 20, the second phase was held.

Overall 71.1 per cent polling was recorded in the state, with 80.4 per cent in the Jammu division and 52.2 per cent in the Kashmir division.

In the third phase, the state recorded a 75.2 per cent polling.

The Kashmir division recorded 55.7 per cent and the Jammu division 83.0 per cent.

The officials said all arrangements, including those related to security, have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls. -- PTI

The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a man, who identified himself as Imran, in possession of a live bullet, when he had gone to meet Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

As per an official statement, the accused had allegedly found the bullets in the donation of a mosque and had kept it in his wallet which he later forgot about.

39-year-old Imran works as the caretaker of a mosque. He was among the 13 people, including Muslim clerics, who had gone to Kejriwal's Janata Darbar with a request to increase the salary provided by the Waqf Board.

The matter is currently being investigated by the Delhi Police.

The incident comes nearly a week after Kejriwal was allegedly attacked with chilli powder at the Delhi secretariat.

The accused, identified as 40-year-old Anil Sharma, was immediately detained by the security personnel. -- ANI

10:00 Trump says US did not use tear gas on children

United States President Donald Trump on Monday said security forces had to use tear gas at the Mexican border because they were 'being rushed by some very tough people' but it was not used on children.

Trump was replying to reporters' queries at the White House over US Border Patrol authorities using tear gas at the Mexican border to repel caravans of illegal immigrants trying to enter the United States.

"We didn't. We don't use it (tear gas) on children," he said.

"They had to use because they were being rushed by some very tough people, and they used tear gas. And here's the bottom line: Nobody is coming into our country unless they come in legally," Trump asserted.

Over the past few weeks, Trump has asserted that no foreign nationals would be allowed to enter the country illegally and they would have to come to the US through legal process.

He has deployed several thousand additional forces on the south western border with Mexico to prevent them from entering the country.

The caravan of illegal migrants are mostly from three Latin American countries -- Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. But it also includes people from South Asia including India and Bangladesh, local media reports said.

Trump said he has asked Mexico not to let them cross the border.

"Mexico wants to see if they can get it straightened out. But we've, during certain time, closed the border. They're not coming into the United States. They will not be coming into our country," he said. -- PTI

A senior Chinese diplomat on Monday said that some Chinese citizens have donated money for the families of two Pakistani policemen killed in the terror attack on China's consulate in Karachi.

At a ceremony in Islamabad alongside Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Chinese Embassy, Lijian Zhao, said the Chinese citizens had donated money on their own.

Three heavily-armed suicide bombers on Friday stormed the Chinese consulate in Pakistan's largest city, killing four people, including two policemen, before being shot dead by security forces.

The attack was claimed by the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

Lijian said one Chinese citizen had donated a month's salary to support the families of the slain policemen.

He said the donors believed that the Pakistan-China friendship was not simply empty words but 'rooted in the hearts of the people of the two countries'.

"We want to give a message to the terrorists that their efforts at sabotaging Pak-China friendship will never succeed," he said.

Earlier Lijian tweeted that the donations by the Chinese showed the depth of bilateral relations between the two nations.

"Chinese donations for Pakistan police have shown that China-Pakistan friendship is higher than mountains and deeper than the seas. The friendship has never been empty talks, but deeply imprinted in hearts of Chinese and Pakistani people," he said. -- PTI

09:16 Pushkar priest reveals Rahul Gandhi's gotra

A priest at the Pushkar lake in Rajasthan, who presided over the puja offered by Rahul Gandhi on Monday, claimed that the Congress president's gotra was 'Duttatreya' and he is a Kashmiri Brahmin.

"His gotra is 'Dattatreya' and he is a Kashmiri Brahmin. Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have come and offered prayers at the ghat and it is recorded with us," Dinanath Kaul, the priest, told reporters.

Kaul claimed that he possessed old records, or 'pothi', in which the record of his family tree is registered and the priest's ancestors had made Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru and other members of the family do puja at the Pushkar Sarovar.

"(Rahul) Gandhi came and offered prayers at the ghat. He also said his gotra is Dattatreya. Dattatreya are Kauls and Kauls are Kashmiri Brahmin," he said.

The priest also presented documents showing the names of Rahul Gandhi's ancestors who have worshipped at the Pushkar lake.

The Congress chief visited the Ajmer dargah and Pushkar and offered prayers before addressing election rallies. -- PTI

IMAGE: Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the Bramha temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan, on Monday. Photograph: Courtesy @INCIndia/Twitter

09:00 Two encounters underway in Kulgam and Pulwama

Two encounters have broken out between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir: one in Redwani area of Kulgam district, and the other in Pulwama district.

As per officials, Tral's Hafoo area, where the second encounter is underway, is under cordon.

Earlier today, the Kulgam encounter broke out.

Two to three terrorists are said to be holed up in the area.

Security forces are on the job to restrain their movement.

Further details are awaited. -- ANI

Image only for representation.

08:31 NASA's InSight mission lands on Mars

National Aeronautics and Space Administration InSight mission has finally touched down on the red planet on Monday (local time; around 1 pm of November 27 IST) after seven months of traveling through space.

CNN reported that a few minutes after landing, the InSight lander sent an official 'beep' to NASA signaling its clear landing, including a photo of the Martian surface where it landed.

The Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated the touchdown of the lander through a great applause after the landing was confirmed.

"Today, we successfully landed on Mars for the eighth time in human history," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in his statement.

"InSight will study the interior of Mars and will teach us valuable science as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon and later to Mars. This accomplishment represents the ingenuity of America and our international partners, and it serves as a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our team. The best of NASA is yet to come, and it is coming soon," CNN quoted Bridenstine as saying.

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is the first outer space robotic explorer and will study the crust, mantle, and core of the fourth planet in our solar system.

The lander, launched on May 5, 2018, from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and took a six-month cruise from Earth to Mars ever since, is NASA's first spacecraft to land on Mars since Curiosity.

"We've studied Mars from orbit and from the surface since 1965, learning about its weather, atmosphere, geology and surface chemistry," said Lori Glaze, acting director of the Planetary Science Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"Now we finally will explore inside Mars and deepen our understanding of our terrestrial neighbor as NASA prepares to send human explorers deeper into the solar system," Glaze further added.

CNN quoted NASA saying that InSight slowed from 12,300 mph to 5 mph before it gently landed on the surface of Mars.

It has a parachute and retro rockets to slow its descent through the atmosphere, and three legs suspended from the lander absorbed the shock of touching down on the surface.

But the scientists at the same time also prepared the spacecraft to land during a dust storm if need be.

About 20 minutes before landing, InSight separated from the cruise stage that helped bring it all the way to Mars and turned to position itself for entering the atmosphere.

The landing was watched around the world and even broadcast live on the Nasdaq Stock Market tower in New York City's Times Square.

Congratulating NASA on this occasion, US Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter saying, 'Congratulations to @NASA, @LockheedMartin, @ulalaunch, & all who made today's @NASAInSight #MarsLanding possible! This marks the 8th time the US has landed on Mars & the 1st mission to study its deep interior. Incredible milestone!' -- ANI

Photograph: Courtesy @NASA/Twitter

On the 10th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, former prime minister Manmohan Singh Monday hoped "saner elements would prevail" between India and Pakistan to check terror activities.

He also noted that what is happening in Kashmir is an indication of the suffering that strained ties between the two nations has brought about.

Singh's comments came during his address at the launch of a book "Fables of Fractured Times" by former Union minister Manish Tewari here, for which the former prime minister lauded him.

"Today happens to be the November 26, when 10 years ago so many of our countrymen and women were butchered in the city of Mumbai due to acts of great terror that took the lives of nearly 170 of our dear citizens.

"One can only hope that saner elements would prevail between India and Pakistan to find a meaningful solution to the problem of getting a control over acts of terror. They do not achieve any purpose, as what is happening today in Kashmir is an indication of the suffering that the strained relations between our two countries bring about," he said.

Singh noted that international affairs is a subject where changes are taking place at a pace which was unthinkable 10 years ago.

He said people have to come to terms with globalisation but there are countries which had championed the cause of globalisation, but are now becoming champions of protectionism, and this is a big change.

"The European Union is in trouble and nobody could anticipate that. Britain would walk out of the European Union, or that central European countries like Hungary and Poland would switch over to a brand of nationalism which runs counter to the value system which characterises the activities of the EU," he said.

Singh said, "I hope all these issues will be debated, because they have a bearing on our country."

"We live in an increasingly interdependent world. What happens elsewhere in the world, globally and in Europe and the United States and also in the whole of Asia, has a bearing on the working of our country and what goes on in our country and how we can prevail upon the tensions that prevail in our neighbourhood," Singh said. -- PTI

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