Earlier today, the parents and brother of Hamid Ansari wait at the Attari-Wagah border. He was lodged in a jail in Pakistan and is being released today. With them (in the blue jeans) is journalist and activist Jatin Desai, who made it a mission to get back the Indian national. Desai went along with Hamid's father Nihal Ansari and mother Fauzia Ansari to the Wagah border in Punjab to welcome him and get him back home.

Indian national Hamid Ansari crosses the Attari-Wagah border to reach India. He was lodged in a jail in Pakistan and was released today. Journalist and activist Jatin Desai, who made it a mission to get back the Indian national jailed in Pakistan, accompanied Ansari's family to the Wagah border to receive him following his release.


Ansari, 33, a Mumbai resident, was released from a Pakistani jail on Tuesday to be repatriated to India, six years after he was detained by intelligence agencies for entering the country illegally reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online.


Desai, who is general secretary of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), had started a dialogue for peace by establishing connection between the Press Club of Mumbai and its counterpart in Karachi.


The city-based activist pursued the case relentlessly by getting in touch with his contacts in the neighbouring country. His efforts led to Pakistani rights lawyer Rakshanda Naz and Qazi Mohammed Anwar taking up the case with authorities in their country.

Indian equity benchmarks reversed early losses to end in the green, marking their sixth consecutive gains, helped by late buying in mainly in pharma, metal and capital goods as firming rupee and sliding crude lifted investors' sentiment.


The BSE benchmark Sensex ended 77 points higher despite losses in information technology and FMCG counters amid weak global cues. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty edged higher by over 20 points to close above the 10,900-level.


In a major boost to domestic market, the Indian rupee jumped 93 paise (intra-day) to trade at 70.63 against the US dollar and the benchmark Brent crude dropped to 57.98 a barrel, a fall 2.73 per cent, easing India's concerns on the current account deficit front. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday laid foundation stones for two metro lines and affordable housing projects entailing investment of over Rs 33,000 crore in the megapolis. At an event held in Kalyan months ahead of the crucial general elections in 2019, Modi kickstarted work on the ambitious Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan (Metro 5) and the Dahisar-Mira Bhayander (Metro 9) in this Mumbai suburb, which will see investments of over Rs 15,000 crore.


He also launched the Navi Mumbai town planning authority Cidco's mass-housing scheme worth Rs 18,000 crore, which offers around 89,771 affordable units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.


Accompanied by state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Modi laid the foundation stones for the these three projects.


The Rs 8,416-crore, 24.9-km-long Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan metro corridor (Metro-5) is expected to carry around 2.29 lakh commuters daily by 2021, with the entire system designed for six-coach trains. The corridor will have 17 stations.


The 10.3-km elevated Dahisar-Mira Bhayander corridor (Metro-9) comprising eight stations, is expected to be completed by 2022, and the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 6,607 crore.


Both the projects are being executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). As per the proposal, Metro-9 will be integrated with Metro-7 (Dahisar to Andheri) and Metro-2A (Dahisar -DN Road) along with the proposed Rs 3,600-crore Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk (Mira Road or Metro-10). The tendering process to appoint general consultants and contractors for civil works for Metro 9 is in progress, and is expected to commence from next March. -- PTI

Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday held a meeting with senior officials of the personnel department to take stock of vacancies, promotions and retirement-related issues in various government departments. The meeting, held at Parrikar's private residence at Dona Paula near Panaji, went on for over two hours,a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office said.


Parrikar went through the records of how many vacancies were pending in different departments and also how many employees were awaiting promotions, he said.


The officials concerned were then given instructions to take necessary steps to fill in the vacancies and award the due promotions, the official said. On Sunday, Parrikar had inspected two under- construction bridges on Mandovi and Zuari rivers in the state.


This was the first time the 63-year-old chief minister was seen in public since returning to Goa on October 14 post hospitalisation in Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Parrikar has been recuperating at his private residence near Panaji since October 14. -- PTI 

Football: Manchester United has announced that it has sacked manager Jose Mourinho. 

"If Rahul Gandhi's authority was absolute, he could have picked his man. That this did not happen shows there is more inner party democracy in the Congress than otherwise assumed. Compare this with the ease with which outsiders like Adityanath in UP, Khattar in Haryana and Fadnavis in Maharashtra were picked without public dissent," says Aakar Patel. Read the column here.

CBI's custody of AgustaWestland deal alleged middleman Christian Michel ends. A Delhi court on Saturday extended by four days the CBI custody of Michel, charge-sheeted and arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case.


The 57-year-old British national was produced before special judge Arvind Kumar. The probe agency told the judge that Michel needs to be confronted with various documents in the case and had sought further custody of for five days. It also said that the accused was required to be taken to the premises of Pawan Hans India Ltd in Mumbai to verify his version of his alleged attempted negotiations to buy back WG-30 helicopters, to identify the shipper and to confront the officials of Pawan Hans India.


The agency said that voluminous documents have been received from various countries pursuant to the 'Letter of Requests' and the accused was yet to be confronted with a number of them.


The defence counsel opposed the CBI application for further remand saying already enough time was granted to the agency and nothing incriminating was found against accused.


Michel was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on December 4.

Man trampled to death by elephants in Jharkhand: A 30-year-old man was on Tuesday trampled to death by a herd of elephants at Khaksa village in Pakur district, officials said. The herd of 30 elephants, including calves, which reached Pakuria block from Dumka district on Sunday night, also damaged crops, the villagers said.


Leopard kills 3-year-old boy in J-K's Reasi: In a second such incident this month, a leopard has killed a three-year-old boy in a remote hilly village in Mahore area of Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, officials said Tuesday.  A massive search operation has been launched to track down the beast which had earlier struck in Kansoli village of Mahore belt on December 8 and had mauled to death 8-year-old Rehmat Ali, they said.  The big cat ventured into Jamlan village from the nearby forest Monday evening, pounced on Wasim Akram when he was outside his house and dragged him away, the officials said.


They said the locals, aided by police teams, chased the leopard but only managed to recover the half-eaten body of the victim. The mutilated body was handed over to the family of the deceased after completion of legal formalities, the officials said.


Three lions die while crossing rail tracks: Three lions died after they were hit by a goods train near the Gir forest in Gujarat's Amreli district, an official said Tuesday. The incident occurred near Borala village in Savarkundla taluka when a pride of six lions was walking along the railway track passing from the village, which is located near the Gir Forest. "A goods train, headed to Pipavav port from Botad, hit three of six lions of the pride during midnight, which led to the death of two lions and a lioness", Chief Conservator of Forests, Junagadh wildlife circle, D T Vasavada told PTI.


Representational image

With Hindutva organisations ramping up pressure on the government to bring a law to build Ram temple in Ayodhya, Home Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday asked BJP lawmakers to be patient on the issue. At the BJP parliamentary party meeting, Ravindra Kushwaha and Hari Narayan Rajbhar, both of whom represent Lok Sabha constituencies from Uttar Pradesh, enquired about the government's stand on the matter, sources said.


Singh, who was addressing the meeting, told them that everyone wants a Ram temple at the site where Lord Ram is believed to be born and asked party MPs to be patient.


As the two MPs raised the issue, a few others also supported them, the sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in meeting, nor was party president Amit Shah. Hindutva organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, have in the last few months intensified their demand for early construction of the temple, with many of them, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, pitching for a law to enable it.


Though the BJP has agreed with the sentiments of these organisations, it has so far not come out in support of a law. The Ram temple land dispute is presently being heard in the Supreme Court. There is a view within the party that paving the way for the temple's construction will boost its prospects in the Lok Sabha elections.


In his speech, Singh asserted Tuesday that the opposition has no leader to match Modi's popularity and asked BJP MPs to work for the party's re-election in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.-- PTI

Four transgenders, who were earlier stopped from proceeding towards the Lord Ayyappa temple, Tuesday offered prayers at the hill shrine under a heavy police security cover.


Ananya, Trupti, Renjumol and Avanthika, clad in traditional black sarees and carrying the customary "Irrumudikettu"(sacred offerings to the deity), were escorted by police from Nilackal to Pamba and during the trek to the shrine. They said they were extremely happy to have got the opportunity to offer prayers at the temple and that this was their life's mission which had been realised.


They had met DGP A Hemachandran, a member of the Kerala High Court-appointed supervisory panel, and Inspector General of Police Manoj Abraham here Monday after which they were allowed to proceed. -- PTI

"Village Rockstars", India's official entry to the 91st Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category, is no longer a part of the Oscars race, with only nine films out of 87 making it to the next round of voting.


Directed by Rima Das, the Assamese feature, revolved around a group of village children aspiring to become rockstars. India has so far drawn a blank in the Best Foreign Film category.


The last Indian film that made it to the final five in the list was Ashutosh Gowariker's "Lagaan" in 2001. "Mother India" (1958) and "Salaam Bombay" (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.

Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuaron's universally-loved, semi-biographical, black-and-white drama "Roma" is in the list alongside eight other films. "Roma", which is generating a lot of awards buzz and may also earn nominations in the best film category if critics are to be believed, will face tough competition from previous Oscar-winner Pawel Pawlikowski's "Cold War". He had won the Oscar for his 2013 film "Ida". -- PTI

DMK president MK Stalin strongly defended backing Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate, saying the Congress chief had the strength to dislodge the BJP regime at the Centre and sought the support of friendly secular parties for his proposal. Amid murmurs in the opposition ranks about reservations over the proposal, Stalin said it may have led to a debate among friendly parties.


"In a democracy, solutions have emerged only from debates... these deliberations too will cause good outcomes," he said in a letter to his party cadre late Monday. Stalin appealed to other opposition parties to "strengthen the hands of Rahul to guard democracy".


He said joining of forces was required to trounce the BJP in the Lok Sabha election next year. The DMK chief said his statement was based on the rationale that projecting Gandhi alone would be appropriate to bind secular forces.


Noting that the Congress beat the saffron party in the recently concluded assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, he said Gandhi had the strength to defeat the Modi-led BJP government. Stalin said his statement was made keeping with the legacy of his father and late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, who was for taking ideas forward at the opportune and appropriate time.


He also reiterated that the DMK under the leadership of his father had taken the lead at the right time during previous Lok Sabha elections to propel the Congress towards victory.  -- PTI

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday said the government never sought the resignation of Urjit Patel as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India over differences in handling liquidity stress in certain sectors.


Speaking at Agenda Aaj Tak, he said the government does not need a single penny from RBI's capital reserves during the current fiscal.


Responding to criticism over surprise resignation of Patel as RBI Governor earlier this month, he said there were cordial discussions at the meeting of the RBI board over issues such as the appropriate size of reserves the central bank must hold. "The government never asked for his resignation," he said. After Patel's resignation, the government appointed former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das as the Governor of RBI. -- PTI

Congress president Rahul Gandhi holds an impromptu press conference outside Parliament house. Flanked by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress president said he would keep the government awake till it gave loan waivers to farmers.


"We will not let PM Modi sleep till he waives off loans of farmers, all opposition parties will unitedly demand this. Till now PM has not waived off a single rupee of farmers.  "It took our state government hours to waive loans of farmers, oppn will force Narendra Modi govt to waive farm loans. Modi government waives loans of only rich people. Money of farmers and small shopkeepers is being stolen by government," he said.


Rahul Gandhi assured India's farmers that their welfare will be looked after. "People have been lied to, farmers & small traders are being looted. Demonetization is the biggest scam in the world.


"JPC, Rafale, farm loan waivers, demonetization, typo errors will soon emerge in everything. ON Sajjan Kumar's conviction, Gandhi said, "I have made my position on the riots very clear, and I have said this before. This press conference is about the farmers of the country and that Mr Modi refuses to waive off even 1 rupee of loan."

Parliament has been adjourned till tomorrow. 

Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday as the AIADMK and DMK protested over Cauvery issue, while the Congress demanded that a privilege notice against the government be taken up for allegedly misleading Parliament and the Supreme Court on Rafale jet deal. Rajya Sabha proceedings have been disrupted for the last five days on issues like Rafale, dam on Cauvery river and demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh.


As the House assembled for the sixth day of the Winter Session, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu informed the members that various notices on urgent matters, ranging from cyclones affecting lives in some states to price rise to agriculture crisis, have been admitted for discussion.


Naidu, who had adjourned the proceedings for the entire day on Monday amid uproar over Rafale, Cauvery and other issues, appealed to the members to let the House run its business. -- PTI

Maharashtra: ESIC Kamgar Hospital staff protests alleging inadequate facilities in the hospital in Andheri, Mumbai. Eight people had died in a fire that broke out in the hospital yesterday.

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till noon on Tuesday following vociferous protests by various parties over Rafale deal, construction of a dam across Cauvery river and other issues.


As soon as the House met, members from the AIADMK, the TDP and the Congress trooped into the Well, with many of them displaying placards, and sought to raise various issues. The Congress raised the Rafale issue and some party members displayed placards demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the fighter jet deal. Many members from the BJP shouted slogans against the Congress and demanded an apology from Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue.


Some members stood in the aisle while others were at their seats. The AIADMK members were protesting against construction of a dam across Cauvery river while those from the TDP were demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.


There were more than 30 members from the AIADMK, the TDP and the Congress in the Well during the Question Hour. Only one question related to production of garlic was taken up. Even as Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh was responding to supplementary questions, BJP members continued sloganeering on the Rafale issue.

Amid the ruckus, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till noon. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was present in the House.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has said his government will waive short-term agricultural loans of farmers and hike the MSP for paddy to Rs 2,500, fulfilling promises made by the Congress ahead of the state Assembly polls.


The state government will also set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the "biggest Naxal attack in the country on political leaders" in Jhiram valley, he said.


Soon after taking oath, Baghel Monday evening chaired his maiden cabinet meeting at the new secretariat office in Atal Nagar (Naya Raipur) where the decisions were taken. The short-term crop loans to the tune of overRs 6,100 crore of more than 16.65 lakh farmers drawn from cooperative banks and Chhattisgarh Gramin Bank as on November 30, 2018, will be completely waived, Baghel told mediapersons at a press conference held late Monday evening at Samvad Bhawan.


He was accompanied by his two newly-inducted ministers - T S Singh Deo and Tamradhawaj Sahu - and Chief Secretary Ajay Singh. -- PTI


Image: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar has written to party president Rahul Gandhi submitting his resignation from the primary membership of the party, sources in the party said on Tuesday.


On Monday, the Delhi High Court convicted Kumar for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. "I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress in the wake of the judgement of the hon'be high court of Delhi against me," he said in the letter to Gandhi. -- PTI

Family of a 33-year-old "mentally challenged" man, who crossed across LoC and reached Pakistan, has appealed to the governments of India and Pakistan to help him in getting his son back.


The man, who had gone missing on December 11, hails from a remote village of Poonch district.Speaking to ANI, father of the missing man, said, "My son is mentally ill and was under treatment. Our Sarpanch came to us informing that he has received a video which confirms that our son is in Pakistan. I urge both (India and Pakistan) governments to help us."


The mother of the missing man said that her son had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) seven days back inadvertently and was later apprehended by Pakistani forces. "I appeal to the authorities of India and Pakistan to help us in getting my son back," she said. -- PTI

The death toll in the blaze in a government hospital in Mumbai rose to eight Tuesday, while 176 injured people, including three firemen, are being treated in different hospitals across the city, an official said.


Milind Ogle, the deputy chief fire officer of the MIDC area, said the hospital doesn't have the final no-objection certificate for fire compliance.


"The hospital applied for the final NOC a fortnight ago for its under-construction building adjacent to the old structure that caught fire," he said. "When our team visited the hospital to inspect the conditions for fire compliance, it found certain shortcomings in the installations and it was communicated to the hospital administration," Ogle said.


While reviewing fire compliance norms for the new building, the team also noticed some lacunae in the old hospital building, he said. "So we refused to issue the full and final fire NOC to the old building also," he added. Hospital medical superintendent Dr Rakesh Sharma said everything happened suddenly.


The deceased include a six-month-old girl. Among those admitted, almost 25 are reported to be critical while 26 were discharged after primary treatment, said the official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's  disaster management cell.


The 325-bed ESIC (Employees State Insurance Scheme) Kamgar Hospital at Marol in suburban Andheri was constructed in 1970s. Police and hospital authorities have vacated the building, he added.


While six people had died in the blaze on Monday, two more succumbed to their injuries later in different hospitals, the official said.


Nearly 375 people, including patients and visitors, were in the five-floor hospital during visiting hours when fire and smoke were reported on its fourth floor around 4.03 pm on Monday, according to a fire brigade official.


"The fire was extinguished at 7.35 pm, and hospital authorities shut down the facility till further notice," he said. "Most of the deceased, including the six-month-old child, died due to suffocation," he said.


Several women who recently delivered babies managed to save their newborns by rushing out of the building while wrapping the children in their arms, he said.


The building's glass facade posed a hindrance as it blocked air passage and firemen had to break the glasses on all the floors to evacuate those stranded inside, he said. A hospital staffer received injuries on his arm when he jumped out of the building to save his life, he added. -- PTI

A Delhi court Tuesday extended till January 11 the protection granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis scam.


Special Judge OP Saini extended the relief granted to Chidambaram and his son Karti after the CBI and the ED submitted that new material has been recovered which needs to be collated. It also granted time till January 11 to the CBI to get sanction to prosecute some of people accused in the case.


The CBI had on November 26 told the court that Centre had granted sanction to prosecute P Chidambaram. The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of FIPB approval in Aircel-Maxis deal. -- PTI

The farmer from Nashik, who had sent his onion sale earnings to the Prime Minister's Office to highlight low returns, has alleged that the district authorities wrongly described his produce as of "low quality".


Sanjay Sathe, from Niphad tehsil in Nashik district of Maharashtra, on Monday wrote a letter to the PMO in which he said the authorities prepared a report about his onion produce without any inquiry and that it was "false".


Sathe had earlier sent Rs 1,064, his earnings from onion sale in the wholesale market, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 29 as a protest.


However, a report later submitted to the Maharashtra government by the district deputy registrar office said the farmer's onions were of "medium to low quality" and "blackish" in colour. Refuting the claim, Sathe, in his letter to the PMO, said, "I sold 750 kg onion and earned Rs 1,064. But without any inquiry, the state government officials in their report stated that my onions were blackish and of low quality. It is false and officials are misguiding you." "I hope you will understand that if authorities can lie to you, what challenges a common man would be facing in government offices," he said in the letter sent from the local post office.


Almost every onion grower was facing the same situation of low rates and the state's "apathy" towards it, Sathe claimed, and requested the prime minister to find a solution to it.


Notably, authorities of the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee had said last week that the report submitted by the district deputy registrar office to the state government was "false".


No official of the district deputy registrar office had met the APMC authorities in connection with the farmer's case, they said. Nashik district in north Maharashtra accounts for about 50 per cent of onion production in India. The Lasalgaon APMC in Nashik is the country's largest wholesale onion market. -- PTI

KM Ashokan, father of Hadiya, 26-year-old Kerala woman who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man in 2016, has joined the BJP. KM Asokan had approached Court alleging his daughter was a victim of 'love jihad'.


The Supreme Court in March this year had restored the marriage of Hadiya, a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam and entered into wedlock with a Muslim man, setting aside a Kerala high court order, and ruling that no court can interfere in the marriage of two consulting adults.


Pulling up the Kerala high court for annulling Hadiya's marriage to Shafin Jahan, the apex court observed that Article 226 gives the extraordinary power to high courts to protect the constitutional rights and not to scuttle them.


The high-profile case of alleged 'love jihad', a term used for Muslim men allegedly seducing and marrying Hindu women after making them convert to Islam, was being probed by anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency.


The court instructed the NIA to go ahead with its probe into alleged instances of love jihad without "touching the marriage".


In Kochi, Hadiya's father K M Asokan, who had claimed her daughter was "brainwashed" to convert, said he would consider moving a review petition in the Supreme Court against its judgement.He maintained that his daughter's marriage with Shafin Jahan was an act of "adjustment" done by a group.


File pic: Hadiya and her father KM Asokan

Breaking its five-day winning streak, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 141 points in early trade Tuesday, as banking, IT, realty and FMCG stocks retreated, tracking sell-off in global market.


The 30-share index dropped 140.51 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 36,129.56 points in opening trade. The gauge had rallied over 1,310 points in the previous five sessions. The NSE Nifty too fell 47.50 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,840.85. Among sectoral indices, IT fell the most 1.19 per cent, followed by tech 1.08 per cent, on account of appreciating domestic currency.


Meanwhile, FMCG, healthcare, banking and consumer durables also fell by up to 0.35 per cent as profit taking emerged on these counters. Brokers said, the decline in benchmark indices was on account of a weak trend in Asian markets amid sharp losses at the Wall Street, as investors continued to fear weakening global growth. Besides, profit-booking in recent gainers also dampened investor sentiment. -- PTI