The Druk Padma Karpo School in Leh, which shot to fame after it featured in the Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, has decided to raze the 'Rancho Wall' and ban entry of tourists as the authorities felt it was becoming a distraction for students.   

Firing a fresh salvo at the prime minister on the Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Monday charged country's "chowkidar" Narendra Modi with snatching away money from the poor and handing it over to industrialist Anil Ambani. He asked the prime minister for answers on why Rafale price was not disclosed and how Ambani got the contract.


"The chowkidar of the country has taken out Rs 20,000 crore from the pockets of the poor, martyrs and the jawans and put it in the pocket of Ambani," Gandhi said at a meeting in the Jais area of his constituency.


The Congress chief arrived in Amethi on a two-day visit, the first after his Kailash Mansarover pilgrimage, and said the people of the country wants to know the amount involved in the Rafale deal.


"Why was the price not disclosed...how was the contract given to Ambani... serious charges have been levelled by former French president Francois Hollande," he said.


Recalling that during a debate in Parliament on Rafale deal, "The prime minister could not look me in the eye. PM gives speeches but no answers... he does not have the courage to give reply."


"Under the BJP government, the farmers and poor are crying... the present government is providing all benefits to a selected five to ten people," he said, adding people like Anil Ambani, Vijay Mallaya and Lalit Modi are getting all benefits.


The Reliance Group, in a statement quoting Ambani's letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month, had said, "Allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores is a figment of imagination, promoted by vested interests."

"Simply put, no contract exists with the Government of India." French company Dassault, which is supplying the fighter jets, has entered into a joint venture with the Reliance Group to meet its offset obligations to create business for Indian firms, following the Rafale deal. -- PTI

Terming the controversial Rafale fighter jets deal as India's "biggest Defence scam", the Congress on Monday demanded the Central Vigilance Commissioner  KV Chowdary to seize all documents and register an FIR into the alleged corruption.


After meeting the CVC and seeking an independent probe into the case, Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters, "A delegation of Congress has met with the CVC, submitted a detailed memorandum on Rafale fighter jet purchase scam. It is the biggest scam in the acquisition history of this country. This was the arbitrary decision of the Prime Minister of India who without any mandate from the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to do-away with three important things of the original tender purchase of 126 planes and more importantly the approved price of Rs 526 crore that went up to Rs 1,670 crore. The government has been lying and hiding. Therefore, we have demanded the CVC to take cognizance, to seize all files and documents and register an FIR."

Market benchmark BSE Sensex tanked nearly 537 points to end at over two-month low of 36,305.02 and the Nifty crashed below the 11,000-mark Monday, extending their slide for the fifth straight session after heavy losses in banking and auto stocks.


Reports of liquidity concerns following the default in repayment of loans by diversified IL&FS group spooked investors even as losses in global markets on reports that China had called off planned trade talks with the US in the wake of a new round of duties weighed on the market sentiment.


The 30-share Sensex hit a low of 36,216.95 before settling at 36,305.02, down by 536.58 points or 1.46 per cent -- the biggest single-session fall since February 6 when it had lost 561.22 points.


This is the weakest closing since July 11 when it settled at 36,265.93. The index had lost 1,249.04 points in the previous four sessions. The broader NSE Nifty cracked below the 11,000 level by dropping 168.20 points, or 1.51 per cent to end at 10,974.90 due to foreign fund outflows amid prospects of a 25 basis point hike in the interest rate by the US Federal Reserve this week.  -- PTI

BJP President Amit Shah criticised the opposition parties, including the Congress, on Monday saying they suffered from "Modi phobia" and did not have any agenda for the country's development.


All partners of the BJP in the NDA on the other hand are united and serious about transforming India as the number one country in the world, Shah said.


Hitting out at the Naveen Patnaik's BJD government in Odisha, he said it is responsible for backwardness and poverty in the mineral-rich state. Its ouster from power is certain in the 2019 election, he told a women's meeting in Puri.


"I want to tell the people that the Congress and all opposition parties are working together for breaking India while (prime minister Narendra) Modi-ji is busy in making India," he said.


"The prime minister is seeking to eradicate poverty, but the opposition wants "Modi hatao (defeat)", the BJP president said. Modi wants to eliminate unemployment, while opposition calls for his removal.


"We (BJP) say put an end to insecurity among people, but they (opposition) want removal of Modi. The opposition has no specific agenda, no neta (leader) and no neeti (policy). Their only programme is removal of Modi as they are suffering from Modi phobia," the BJP President said.


Hitting out at the BJD government in Odisha, which has been in power in the state since 2000, he said, "The Naveen Patnaik government has lost all rights to continue in power in Odisha even for a second as the state remains backward despite abundant mineral resources."


Slamming the Naveen Patnaik government for rejecting the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, Shah said if the BJP comes to power in the state it would immediately join the programme for the benefit of lakhs of poor people. -- PTI

Sensex tanks 536.58 points to close at 36,305.02; Nifty slumps 168.20 points to 10,974.90, continuing it's losing streak of five days. Shares of Indian carriers SpiceJet, Jet Airways and InterGlobe Aviation, which owns IndiGo, fell as much as 4.2 per cent in Monday's session amid a fresh rise in global crude oil price. Nifty ends below 11,000 with 4 out of every 5 stocks settling lower.

The US-China trade war remained in focus Monday, on reports that China had called off planned trade talks with the US in the wake of a new round of duties.

United Arab Emirates-based ride-hailing app Careem has acquired Commut, the Hyderabad-based mass transportation app, marking its entry into India, the firm said on Monday. Read the report here.

Amazon Prime Video India boss on peak TV, competing with Netflix. Read the report here. 

The mother of one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case Monday met Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to seek her son's release following a Supreme Court order and the state cabinet's recommendation. Arputhammal, the mother A G Perarivalan, said she met Purohit at Raj Bhavan here and submitted a petition with some related material, and exuded confidence he will accept her demand.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has to find a successor to Revenue Secretary Dr Hashmukh Adhia who is retiring in two months. Quoting personal reasons, Adhia says he does not want his term extended.


But the preparation for the 2019 Union Budget is underway and it would serve well to extend Adhia's term by three months.


Adhia is an architect of GST and demonetisation and naturally, the government is reluctant to let him go and so he will be asked to prepare the budget and relieved of his duties by April 2019.


Considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (he served as Principal Secretary to Modi from 2003-06, when Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat) Adhia is a career bureaucrat and does not want favours from the government.  A yoga expert, he does meditation regularly and wants to now spend time in religious discourses.


Interestingly, it has been Adhia who has followed up many of the Enforcement Directorate cases against former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter Misa. The PM has received daily briefings about the CBI and ED raids on former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti, thanks to Adhia.


A final decision will be taken in October when Jaitley takes up the issue with the PM.

A former municipal councillor, a city-based NGO and an advocate have jointly approached the Bombay High Court challenging provisions of an ordinance that makes the practice of instant triple talaq a punishable offence.


President Ram Nath Kovind had last Wednesday signed the ordinance, according to which giving instant triple talaq has been made illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. Seeking to allay fears that the law could be misused, the government also included some safeguards in it, such as providing for bail to the accused husband.


However, the petition moved last Friday by former municipal councillor and social worker Masood Ansari, NGO 'Rising Voice Foundation' and advocate Devendra Mishra, claims that provisions of the ordinance are "illegal, null, void, unreasonable and arbitrary". "The very construction of the ordinance shows that it selectively targets men from the Muslim religion. The provisions of the ordinance are violative of fundamental rights of Muslim men," the petitioners' lawyer, Tanveer Nizam, said.


The petition has sought an interim stay on those sections of the ordinance which criminalises the act of pronouncing talaq by a Muslim husband.
-- PTI

The BSE Sensex dropped 574 points, with the Nifty50 below 11,000 today eroding consumer confidence and wiping out investor wealth.


The losses were sustained on bouts of selling in realty, auto, banks, finance, telecom, industrials and healthcare stocks amid rising crude prices and weak Asian cues.


Major losers in the afternoon were M&M, Maruti, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank.


On Friday, investors on Dalal Street become poorer by Rs 5,66,187 crore in just four sessions of market fall. Friday was the fourth consecutive fall for Sensex and Nifty. Sensex has lost 1,249 points, or 3.28 per cent even as Nifty fell 372 points or 3.23 per cent in the last four sessions.

The Home Ministry Monday dismissed as "baseless" and "devoid of fact" Congress president Rahul Gandhi's statement that a former SPG chief had to quit because he refused to accept a list of officers handpicked by the RSS.


It also said the force is a professional organisation which guards the serving prime minister, former prime ministers and their families.


"The comment reportedly made by Gandhi through the media is baseless, devoid of fact and unfortunate, coming from an SPG protectee," the ministry said in a statement.


Rahul Gandhi, his mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka are among the Special Protection Group's protectees.


The SPG is a professional organisation that takes its task of protecting serving prime ministers, former prime ministers and their families entrusted to its security very seriously, and in the highest professional spirit, the ministry said.


Rahul Gandhi, at an interaction with academicians on Saturday, had alleged that educational institutions, the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India and others are "systematically being captured" by the RSS.


Citing an example, the Congress chief had alleged, "When Mr (Narendra) Modi came to power, a person from Gujarat was chosen to head the SPG. In a short time, he left the position. He told me that he refused a list of SPG officers handpicked by the RSS, and that is why he was sent home."


The Home Ministry said the matter has been verified and the officer in question, Vivek Srivastava, former SPG director, has specifically averred that he did not have any such conversation with Rahul Gandhi at any point of time.


"The officer has stated that as part of his professional duties he interacted with SPG protectees. However, he has categorically stated that during his interaction with (Rahul) Gandhi, there was no talk whatsoever regarding the appointment of a new director, or the reasons for his leaving the SPG," the statement said. -- PTI

Congress leaders meet central vigilance commissioner, demands registration of case for alleged corruption in Rafale fighter jet deal.

Keralas Pala judicial magistrate court on Monday sent rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal to judicial custody till October 6, ANI reported. On September 21, the state police arrested Mulakkal, after three days of questioning, for allegedly raping a nun. Mulakkal will be lodged at the Pala sub-jail.


The Kerala Police had taken him to the St Francis Mission Home guest house in Kuravilangadu to help them reconstruct the crime scene on September 23, PTI reported. The Kerala High Court rejected Mulakkals bail petition on September 22 and sent him to two days in police custody.

Commander and Golden Globe Race  skipper Abhilash Tomy has been rescued. He is in conscious state and has been shifted to the French Fishing Vessel Osiris.


The solo skipper, an officer in the Indian Navy, was taking part in the around-the-world Golden Globe Race when his 10-metre vessel Thuriya struck trouble in the south-west Indian Ocean on Friday.


The mast on Tomy's yacht broke during a storm and he is understood to have suffered a serious back injury, leaving him confined to his bunk about 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 kilometres) south-west of Perth.


Tomy became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe when he achieved the feat in 2013, his website says.He was in third place in the Golden Globe Race when the storm hit.

The BSE Sensex extended losses in the afternoon, plunging over 428 points on sustained bouts of selling in realty, auto, banks, finance, telecom, industrials and healthcare stocks amid rising crude prices and weak Asian cues.


The 30-share index is now trading lower at 36,413 showing at 1 pm. The broader Nifty 50 index was trading at 11,007.


Major losers were M&M, Maruti, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank, falling up to 6 per cent.


Gainers include TCS, Infosys, Coal India, Vedanta and ONGC, rising up to 3.48 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 760.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought equities to the tune of Rs 497.03 crore last Friday, provisional data showed.

In a shocking incident of mob lynching in Karur district of Tamil Nadu, a  15-year-old boy was allegedly lynched by a group of people over suspicion that he had stolen a mobile phone.

An under-construction bridge collapsed in Kakdwip area of South 24 Parganas district on Monday, a senior official said. There has been no report of any casualty, South 24 Parganas district magistrate Y. Ratnakara Rao said.


"The incident happened on Monday morning. We are waiting for further details," the district magistrate said. A team has been rushed to the spot to look into the incident, he said.


This is the third incident of bridge collapse in the state in September. Majerhat Bridge in south Kolkata had collapsed on September 4, killing three persons and injuring 24. On September 7, an old bridge had collapsed near Siliguri in north Bengal leaving a truck driver injured. -- PTI

The BSE Sensex dropped over 200 points in early trade Monday on increased selling of realty, consumer durables, auto and banking stocks, amid weak Asian cues and surging global crude oil prices. The depreciating rupee also dampened investor sentiment.


The 30-share index, after opening positive at 36,924.72, quickly succumbed to selling pressure and fell by 210.22 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 36,631.38 in early trade.


The gauge has lost 1,249.04 points in the previous four sessions. Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined by 65.50 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 11,077.60 after a touching a high of 11,170.15.


Sectoral indices led by realty, consumer durables, auto, banking and healthcare were trading in the negative zone, falling up to 1.66 per cent.


Major losers were Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Kotak Bank, Adani Ports, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, PowerGrid and IndusInd Bank, shedding up to 2.32 per cent.


Shares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation rebounded nearly 25 per cent to Rs 438.75 after the company stated that it had not defaulted on any bonds or repayment nor had there been any single instance of delay on any of its repayment of any liability. -- PTI

Suspended paediatrician of Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College Dr Kafeel Khan, along with two others, was arrested by the police on Sunday in connection with an alleged fraud case.


In 2009, Muzaffar Alam, a resident of the city's Shekhhpur area, had registered a case against Kafeel and his brother Adeel under various sections of the IPC at the Rajghat police station.


In his complaint, Alam had accused both the brothers of using his photograph and ID to open a fake bank account in SBI and using the same to carry out transactions of over Rs 82 lakh. At that time, Kafeel was pursuing his medical studies at Manipal University.


This comes a day after Kafeel was released on bail after being arrested for creating ruckus at a hospital in Gorakhpur. He was also arrested in connection with the death of over 70 children at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in September last year, and was later granted bail by the Allahabad High Court. -- ANI


Also read our June interview with Dr Kafeel Khan.

The Supreme Court Monday referred to a five-judge constitution bench the plea challenging practice of female genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohra Muslims.


A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by a Delhi-based lawyer challenging the practice of female genital mutilation of minor girls of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community.


Female genital mutilation is performed "illegally upon girls (between five years and before she attains puberty)" and is against the "UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which is India is a signatory", the plea said, adding the practice caused "permanent disfiguration to the body of a girl child".


A group of Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community members had earlier told the apex court that the female circumcision is practised by a few sects of Islam, including the Dawoodi Bohra community, and the validity of this be examined, if at all, by a larger constitution bench. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Pakyong Airport near Gangtok in Sikkim. CM Pawan Chamling and Union Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu also present.


The Pakyong Airport is a Greenfield airport near Gangtok, which would not only promote tourism and open up opportunities for the Sikkimese people, but will also provide airlift facility during emergencies and disasters.


The airport now circumvents the need for a five-hour journey through mountainous roads and brings citizens of Sikkim closer to the state capital, Gangtok.

Two ministers have been dropped from the Manohar Parrikar cabinet in Goa, the chief minister's office said Monday. The BJP's Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar have been ailing for some time and are admitted at hospitals. The development comes at a time when Chief Minister Parrikar is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.  Two BJP leaders -- Nilesh Cabral and Milind Naik -- will be sworn in as ministers Monday evening, the official said. Naik was the power minister in the previous Laxmikant Parsekar-led cabinet, while Cabral would be sworn in for the first time. BJP president Amit Shah had said Sunday that Parrikar would continue in his post and announced that a reshuffle of the state's ministers would soon take place. -- PTI

The Supreme Court refers to five-judge constitution bench a PIL challenging practice of female genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohra Muslims. 

In no respite to citizens, fuel prices in the country touched new heights on Monday morning, especially in Mumbai, as the petrol price in the metropolitan city crossed the Rs 90-run mark.


In Mumbai, the petrol price has touched Rs 90.08 per litre, while diesel is being retailed at Rs 78.58 per litre. Meanwhile, the prices of petrol and diesel in New Delhi are Rs.82.72 per litre and Rs.74.02 per litre respectively. ANI

Achche din? A 22-year-old Dalit woman had to leave college after being allegedly harassed by a man in Muzaffarnagar, police said Monday. Following a complaint from the woman's family Sunday, a case was registered against the man, Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar said.


The man, who is at large, was booked under various sections of the IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.


Her family members have alleged that she had to leave college due to constant harassment by the man, the SP said. She has left her college out of fear. The woman had opposed the man's actions, but he did not stop harassing her and also threatened her and her family of dire consequences, Kumar said. Police have launched a search to nab the accused. -- PTI

The five-pronged strategy announced by the government to increase capital inflow into the country is unlikely to reverse the rupee depreciation, Moody's Investors Service said Monday.


The Indian government estimates that the measures, including exempting investors from withholding tax for offshore rupee-denominated (masala) bonds and allowing Indian banks to become market-makers, will increase capital inflows by USD 8-10 billion, or 0.3-0.4 per cent of GDP, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.


The government also announced its intention to curb imports and reiterated its commitment to this year's fiscal deficit target.


"Although these measures provide credit positive support to India's external account, they are unlikely to reverse the currency's depreciation,' Moody's said. The rupee has depreciated more than 10 per cent against the US dollar since January 2018 and was at Rs 72.1 against the dollar as of September 21. -- PTI

In a jam-packed schedule, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold over 30 bilateral meetings as a part of her visit to the United States, starting today.


Swaraj's hectic schedule will begin with the meetings with Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini today.


She will also hold talks with Liechtenstein Foreign Minister Aurelia Frick, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Spain Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, Colombia Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo later in the day.


On the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the External Affairs Minister, apart from participating in the UNGA Debate on September 25, will also attend US President Donald Trump's event on a call for action against the global drug problem.


Swaraj will also be attending the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit at the General Assembly Hall, at the UN headquarter in New York.The Indian External Affairs Minister will also take part in the G4 meet to be held tomorrow besides also attending the Non-Aligned Movement meeting on September 26 and meetings of the BRICS, IBSA and SAARC on September 27.


Swaraj's statement in the UN General Assembly will take place on September 29.Swaraj was also slated to meet her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA. However, after increasing reports of violence on police and army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, the meeting was called off. -- ANI