Category: India

Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Goonj programme in Indore has been postponed to September 19 after permission for Nehru Stadium was denied. The shift underscores the Congress campaign’s focus on student issues even as it clashes with the BJP government over venue access.

The Congress on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event in Indore has been postponed from September 12 to September 19 after the Madhya Pradesh government denied permission to use the city’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the programme.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari announced the change at a meeting to review preparations for the event. He said the party will now look for a new venue and make arrangements accordingly.

Patwari said the government denied permission to hold ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ at Nehru Stadium, which comes under the Indore Municipal Corporation. Earlier, he had written to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, asking him to make the stadium available for the September 12 event.

In his letter, Patwari said Rahul Gandhi’s programme was “not a typical political event, but a public dialogue focused on important issues such as the country’s future, the dreams of youth, the right to education, and the security of the education system”.

Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said the Madhya Pradesh High Court had clearly stated that only sports activities or state-level government programmes could be allowed at the stadium. City Congress president Chintu Choukse had warned of a protest if permission for Gandhi’s programme at Nehru Stadium was not granted.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rahul-gandhi-indore-chhatron-ki-goonj-postponed-after-nehru-stadium-permission-denial-ptag-2985500-2026-09-02

Raghav Chadha’s name was deleted from Punjab electoral roll and marked ‘permanently shifted’. The Rajya Sabha MP called it a political revenge by the AAP for joining BJP.

Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s name has been deleted from the Punjab draft electoral rolls prepared under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with his entry marked as ‘permanently shifted’. Chadha, who was elected as an AAP Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab in 2022 and joined the BJP recently, has alleged that the deletion was an act of “political vendetta” as the AAP is “burning with anger”.

Chadha’s name appears in the ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate) list published on August 13 and the reason recorded against his entry was ‘permanently shifted’. He is among 20.66 lakh voters, or around 9.7 per cent of Punjab’s pre-SIR electorate, whose names have been deleted from the draft rolls.

Reacting to the development, Chadha said his voter ID is registered in Mohali and questioned why he had been classified as ‘shifted’. The MP added the electoral rolls were only in the draft stage and that he was already availing himself of the remedies provided under the SIR guidelines.

“This does not seem like a mere clerical mistake. This is a clear case of political vendetta,” Chadha said in a detailed social media post, alleging that the AAP government was using the state’s administrative machinery against those who had left the party. “Ever since I left the corrupt Aam Aadmi Party, its leadership has been burning with anger,” he said.

The AAP government in Punjab has now taken its politics of revenge to the Draft Electoral Rolls.

I am a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, with my voter ID registered in Mohali, Punjab. Yet my name has been classified as “shifted” in the draft electoral rolls.

Thankfully,… pic.twitter.com/laAFAAWYiQ

— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) September 3, 2026

The 37-year-old MP quit AAP and joined the BJP in April, along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs. Explaining his decision, Chadha said AAP had “completely deviated from its principles, values and morals” while the AAP, in turn, accused him of being “opportunistic” and questioning his absence from key political battles and protests.

“Ever since I left the corrupt Aam Aadmi Party, its leadership has been burning with anger. It has unleashed the Punjab Police and the Punjab Government’s administrative machinery against those of us who refused to remain silent. Other MPs who left AAP and joined the BJP have also been targeted by Punjab Govt. This wrongful classification is only the latest act in that political vendetta,” the MP said.

Chadha further pointed out that a provision in the SIR guidelines creating a “protected list” for public representatives, including MPs and MLAs, had been “wilfully violated” in his case. He maintained that Punjab’s draft electoral rolls were “not the private property” of the ruling AAP.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/raghav-chadha-punjab-draft-electoral-rolls-deletion-political-vendetta-claim-aap-2985890-2026-09-03

 

A Hindu temple in Pakistan Punjab’s Narowal, estimated to be over a century-old, was reportedly demolished on August 21.

India on Wednesday condemned the reported demolition of a century-old Hindu temple in Pakistan’s Punjab and called on the government in Islamabad to conduct an investigation into the incident and ensure that those responsible are held accountable.

This was the latest in a string of similar incidents involving the shrines of Pakistan’s minority communities that have been taken up by the Indian side.

“We have noted with deep concern the disturbing reports of the destruction of a historic Hindu temple in village Siraj, Narowal, Pakistan. We unequivocally condemn this reprehensible act of vandalism against a century old minority place of worship,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

The apparent apathy of Pakistani authorities and the failure to protect the temple is alarming, Jaiswal said. “Such incidents are a stark reminder of the continuing vulnerability of minority communities and the egregious violations of their religious freedoms and places of worship in Pakistan,” he said.

The Indian side called on the government of Pakistan to “conduct a prompt and transparent investigation into this incident and ensure that those responsible are held fully accountable”.

The Pakistan government must also take “immediate remedial measures to restore the desecrated temple and fulfill its primary obligation to guarantee the safety, security and well-being of all its minority citizens and their cultural heritage”, Jaiswal said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th SCO Summit in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek.

US state secretary Marco Rubio does not believe India and Iran are currently negotiating a trade deal. He made the assertion when asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek.

On The Brian Kilmeade Show, Rubio was asked about Modi’s meeting with Pezeshkian and whether India and Iran were working towards a trade arrangement.

“Well, I don’t think there’s a trade deal between India and Iran.” Rubio said countries formulate their own foreign policies and noted that several nations maintain contact with the Iranian government.

“Obviously, there are – countries all develop their own foreign policy, and many countries around the world talk to the Iranian regime,” Rubio said.

‘Have to sanction them too’

Rubio, though, repeated that countries should not help Iran bypass US sanctions or create channels that could generate revenue for Tehran.

“I think what ultimately happens, though, is – and the President [Donald Trump] has been very clear – is no country should be helping Iran evade sanctions,” Rubio said.

“No country should be out there helping them create mechanisms by which they can generate revenue that they will then use to sponsor terrorism and try to build a nuclear weapon,” he added.

He said that countries facilitating such mechanisms could themselves come under US sanctions. “And if countries decide to do that, then we’re going to have to sanction them too,” the US secretary of state said.

What Modi and Pezeshkian discussed

Modi, meanwhile, said India was committed to strengthening its long-standing ties with Iran and expanding bilateral trade.

“Met President Masoud Pezeshkian in Bishkek. Reiterated our commitment to strengthening India’s long-standing friendship with Iran across diverse sectors. We want to expand and diversify our trade basket in the times to come,” PM Modi said on X following the meeting.

Met President Masoud Pezeshkian in Bishkek. Reiterated our commitment to strengthening India’s long standing friendship with Iran across diverse sectors. We want to expand and diversify our trade basket in the times to come.

We had a discussion on the prevailing situation in… pic.twitter.com/qagQy5o108

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 31, 2026

The Prime Minister said the two leaders also discussed the situation in the region and India’s support for efforts aimed at securing lasting peace.

The ministry of external affairs said the meeting was “fruitful” and said the leaders reviewed bilateral relations and recent developments in West Asia.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Modi repeated India’s consistent position that regional issues should be addressed through “dialogue and diplomacy”.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/travel/indian-five-star-hotels-are-actually-five-star-traveller-compares-hotel-standards-in-india-and-pakistan-101788352600935.html

 

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann alleged that the BJP and Akali Dal could reunite if the SAD accepts the condition of passing three farm laws. He criticised their politics, drug menace and past governance while highlighting AAP’s welfare schemes, free electricity, jobs, healthcare, education and infrastructure work.

BJP will come in alliance with Akali Dal if the latter accepts the condition of passing three farm laws, claimed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The Chief Minister also asserted that the BJP is using communal divisions to secure votes and said its victory in Panjab University polls, which he claimed came with Akali Dal support, exposed the nexus between the two parties.

BJP ने सुखबीर बादल के सामने Alliance करने के लिए “तीन काले कृषि कानून” पास करवाने की शर्त रखी है।

बादल परिवार कुर्सी के लिए तो पंजाब बेचने तक को तैयार है।

— @BhagwantMann जी, मुख्यमंत्री, पंजाब pic.twitter.com/AKVnPXAuP1

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) September 2, 2026

Contrasting this politics with his government’s performance, he said Punjab was racing ahead on the development track with rapid work in schools, hospitals, electricity, water and roads.

Addressing the gathering during Lok Milni, Mann said that the Akalis had always adopted an anti-Punjab stance by joining hands with forces inimical to the interests of the state.

“Akalis are ready to join hands with the saffron party for the sake of power, despite the fact that the BJP-led government was responsible for the martyrdom of more than 700 farmers during the agitation against the draconian farm laws. This shows that the Akali leadership has no ideology left and is ready to compromise the interests of Punjab for power,” he said.

The Chief Minister warned the people that if voted to power, the SAD-BJP alliance could once again impose draconian farm laws on farmers. He said that the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal was “on its knees” to enter into an alliance with the BJP ahead of the state Assembly polls.

“Akali-BJP alliance has no ideology and no agenda for public welfare. Its sole objective is to grab power in Punjab. The people of Punjab will not be misled by the political tantrums of these parties and will teach them a befitting lesson in the coming days,” he said.

He said, “Punjabis will send the Akalis and BJP into political oblivion because of their sins against Punjab and its people. The massive presence of people at this Lok Milni is a clear indication that Punjabis are ready to write a new story in 2027.”

Highlighting the work undertaken by his government since assuming office in 2022, Mann said that the government had focused on holistic development and introduced reforms across power, sports, education, healthcare and other key sectors.

“Today, after four-and-a-half years, I am standing before the people after fulfilling every single promise made to them and delivering all the guarantees. During the previous regimes, people lived in an atmosphere of fear and trauma, while drugs destroyed generations of Punjab’s youth,” he said.

Taking a strong dig at the opposition, the Chief Minister said that the people of Punjab would never forgive the Congress, Akalis and BJP for what he termed their anti-Punjab policies and would consign them to political oblivion in the 2027 Vidhan Sabha polls.

He said that these traditional political parties had always protected each other’s interests while in power and used to play “musical chairs”, waiting for their turn to govern. He alleged that their mutual understanding had ensured that their misdeeds remained hidden. “Now the people have elected AAP and the broom is cleansing the political system of Punjab. The day is not far when those responsible for their sins will have to face the consequences of their actions,” said CM Bhagwant Singh Mann.

Referring to the drug menace, he said that traditional political parties had inflicted irreparable damage on Punjab’s youth and that people knew who had allowed the drug trade to flourish. “Those who promoted and patronised the drug trade cannot be allowed to return to power. If these parties come back, they will once again misuse authority to exploit Punjab and its people,” he said.

Lashing out at Akali leader Sukhbir Badal, the CM stated that he is disconnected from the ground realities of Punjab because he had spent his life in a secure environment surrounded by luxury and opulence.

“Sukhbir Singh Badal is a convent-educated political leader who does not know the basic topography of Punjab but wants to rule the state. Leaving everything else aside, he cannot even differentiate between the basic crops of Punjab because he has little understanding of the basic issues faced by the people,” he said.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the Akalis had conducted a “genocide of generations” of Punjab by promoting and patronising the drug trade.

He further added that official vehicles had been used for selling or distributing drugs and that religion had been exploited for political interests.

“Using religion for vested political interests is an unpardonable sin. The Akali leaders mercilessly plundered the wealth of Punjab during their tenure and are now dreaming of an alliance with Delhi to loot the state again. Their interests have always been about themselves, whereas AAP is committed only to Punjab and its people,” he said.

Taking a jibe at the infighting within the Congress, CM Bhagwant Singh Mann said that while Congress leaders were fighting among themselves for political power, the state government was working tirelessly for the welfare of the people.

“They are squabbling among themselves for power, while we are working tirelessly to make Rangla Punjab. Our fight is for quality education, good healthcare and welfare schemes for the people. Congress leaders do not even see eye to eye with each other because their only concern is power,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that Congress had no vision for Punjab and alleged that its only objective was to assume power and plunder the wealth of the state. He said that the Congress was a divided house that would collapse because of its internal fighting.

“It is a pity that senior Congress leaders who come to Punjab claiming to unite the party’s leaders are not even aware of how to pronounce their names. Their dreams of returning to power will never be fulfilled,” he said.

Mann said that the Congress and Akali Dal had acted as termites that ruined Punjab after Independence and caused the state to lag behind on the path of progress.

“These leaders never speak against each other, but they spit venom against me every day because I have exposed them before the people. Punjabis know the anti-people stance of these parties. They have never been loyal to Punjab and its people,” said CM Bhagwant Singh Mann.

Highlighting his government’s welfare-oriented governance, the Chief Minister said that every single penny of the state exchequer is being optimally utilised for the welfare of the people.

He said that more than 90% of households in Punjab were receiving free electricity, while farmers were getting power during the daytime.

“The tax money of the people belongs to the people. We are spending it judiciously on their welfare. People’s money is returning to the people through development, schools, hospitals and roads,” he said.

He added that the state government had provided free electricity to households, government jobs to more than 70,000 youth without corruption, improved roads, closed toll plazas resulting in savings of Rs 70 lakh per day, strengthened education and healthcare infrastructure and undertaken several other key initiatives.

He said that the government was working tirelessly for the development of villages and providing grants for this purpose. “3,100 sports stadiums were being constructed across the state to provide better sporting facilities and help wean youth away from drugs,” he added.

Talking about healthcare, CM Mann said that the state government had launched the Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna, under which every resident family of Punjab was entitled to cashless medical treatment up to Rs 10 lakh.

“The Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country and has significantly reduced the financial burden on people while ensuring access to quality healthcare. Punjab is the first Indian state to offer such comprehensive healthcare coverage, and families have already availed free treatment under the scheme,” he said.

The Chief Minister further said that under the Mukh Mantri Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna, women beneficiaries above 18 years of age had been receiving financial assistance from July 1.

“Every woman from Punjab is receiving ₹1,000, while SC women are receiving ₹1,500. The funds were being transferred directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts, and women already receiving social security pensions were also eligible. He said that around 97% of women in Punjab were expected to benefit from the scheme and that the state government had allocated ₹9,300 crore in the budget,” he added.

“This is a gift to the women of Punjab under the Mukh Mantri Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna and is one of the biggest social revolutions being witnessed across the globe. There is hardly any parallel to such a welfare scheme, through which women are being empowered with direct financial assistance,” said Mann.

The Chief Minister said that 70.92 lakh women beneficiaries had so far received the benefit under the scheme, while 5.20 lakh beneficiaries who had registered recently were receiving ₹181.50 crore.

Emphasising the importance of education, the Chief Minister said that his government had prioritised the education sector and taken several path-breaking initiatives to transform the lives of people. “No freebie or concession card can eliminate poverty or social maladies. Education is the key that can pull people out of this vicious cycle and raise their standard of living. This is why our government is making relentless efforts to improve the quality of education and empower the common man,” he said.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/bjp-will-ally-with-akali-dal-if-sad-accepts-condition-of-passing-three-farm-laws-bhagwant-mann-warns-punjab-voters-ahead-of-2027-polls-video

 

Former Indian Air Force Group Captain and Vir Chakra awardee Abhinandan Varthaman has joined Goa-based regional airline FLY91 as a pilot. Varthaman, who downed a Pakistani fighter jet during the 2019 aerial combat and was held captive for three days, joined the airline in August. FLY91 currently operates six ATR 72-600 aircraft from Goa and Hyderabad.

Former Indian Air Force Group Captain and Vir Chakra awardee Abhinandan Varthaman has joined Goa-based regional airline FLY91 as a pilot, according to sources.

Varthaman, who downed an enemy jet during an aerial combat with Pakistan in 2019 and was held captive for three days in that country, was honoured with the Vir Chakra award in 2021.

The sources told PTI that Varthaman joined the airline as a pilot in August.

When contacted, a FLY91 spokesperson said personal information about employees is a private matter and did not comment.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/from-downing-a-pakistani-jet-to-flying-passengers-former-indian-air-force-group-captain-abhinandan-varthaman-joins-fly91

NEET PG 2026 re-exam for 2,445 candidates affected by Jaipur centre disruptions has been challenged in Supreme Court, with hearing directed before designated NEET bench.

The re-examination announced for 2,445 candidates affected by technical disruptions during the NEET PG 2026 exam has been challenged before the Supreme Court. The plea was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant on Wednesday, September 2, with the petitioner arguing that the proposed re-test was contrary to an earlier order of the top court.

According to PTI, an advocate sought an urgent hearing on the matter before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.

The bench, however, directed the lawyer to approach the designated bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha, which is hearing matters related to NEET.

“All NEET matters are before the designated bench led by Justice Narasimha. Go and mention it before that bench. Several developments take place in these matters,” the bench said.

India’s upcoming BRICS summit in September 2026 marks a significant shift from previous chairmanships, reflecting an expanded membership and a larger agenda.

India has chaired BRICS three times before — in 2012, in Goa in 2016, and in 2021 — but the summit it hosts at New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on September 12 and 13 looks nothing like those earlier turns. Here is what has changed. A much bigger room. The last time India ran BRICS, in 2021, the group had five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and that summit was held entirely over video because of Covid. This year’s meeting is in person, and the guest list is far longer. According to the government’s official BRICS 2026 website, the bloc now has 11 full members: the original five plus Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who came in from January 2024, and Indonesia from January 2025. India has also invited 10 “partner countries”, a category that did not exist in 2021, among them Belarus, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam.

Former Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra will focus on strengthening the Ram Temple Trust, addressing gaps and building public trust.

Former Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra, the newly appointed CEO of the Ram Temple Trust, spoke exclusively to CNN-News18 following his appointment and said he was “extremely happy and grateful” to the Trust committee for reposing faith in him and appointing him to the key position.

Speaking about his priorities, Mishra said he would focus on strengthening the functioning of the Trust and addressing gaps that emerged during the temple-related processes. He also said he would prefer to stay away from the political aspects of the controversy surrounding the alleged embezzlement in the Ram Temple project.

Mishra To Stay Away From Political Controversy

Addressing the controversy, Mishra said that, coming from a defence background, he would prefer not to get involved in its political aspects and instead concentrate on the responsibilities ahead.

His focus, he said, would be on the functioning of the Trust and on addressing the issues that require attention on the ground.

‘Minor Lapses’ To Be Addressed

Mishra acknowledged that there had been some minor lapses during the temple-related processes and said addressing those gaps would be among his priorities.

Once he formally takes charge, Mishra said he will constitute his own team and begin work on strengthening the functioning of the Trust. He also plans to work towards resolving the issues that came to light during the controversy.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/build-and-strengthen-peoples-trust-ram-mandir-ceo-jitendra-mishra-on-his-new-role-exclusive-10306686.html

The rival protests come amid an intensifying political contest, with the NC seeking action from the Centre on restoration of statehood, constitutional safeguards and the reservation issue.

Srinagar: The National Conference (NC) will gherao BJP offices in Srinagar and Jammu on Wednesday (September 2) over statehood and other demands, while the Civil Secretariat will protest outside the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar over the Omar Abdullah government’s performance.

The rival protests come amid an intensifying political contest, with the NC seeking action from the Centre on restoration of statehood, constitutional safeguards and the reservation issue.

On the other hand, BJP has accused the NC government of failing to address electricity tariffs, unemployment, recruitment and delays in local-body elections.

The NC said its mobilisation was aimed at pressing the Union government to act on assurances concerning Jammu and Kashmir made before Parliament and the Supreme Court.

“The mandate of the people of Jammu & Kashmir is not a blank cheque. It must be respected, not taken for granted,” the party said.

The proposed protests follow the NC’s July 20 statehood mobilisation in Delhi, where police stopped party leaders from reaching Jantar Mantar.

The party subsequently held a demonstration in the vicinity of Constitution Club, with Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah among those who participated.

Statehood remains the NC government’s principal demand from the Centre. It has also sought changes to the reservation structure and clearance of the related file.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/jammu-and-kashmir/national-conference-bjp-set-for-rival-protests-in-jk-on-wednesday-4131646

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Indian cultural artefacts, including the Mahabharata, santoor, Ladakhi textiles, Kangra tea and traditional crafts, to leaders and family members in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The gifts showcased India’s literary, musical and artisanal heritage while highlighting cultural links and shared traditions with the two Central Asian nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a range of Indian cultural items to the leadership of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan during his just-concluded visit to the two Central Asian countries. The gifts included an English translation of the Mahabharata, a Ladakhi Tsug-dul blanket, a sandalwood Shata Tantri Veena, two boxes of premium Kangra tea, a marble inlay casket with a Banarasi silk stole and a fine silver brooch.

The gifts reflected Indian literary, textile, musical and craft traditions and, officials said, also underlined cultural links with the two countries. They were presented to the presidents, prime ministers and family members of the leaders of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Modi gifted Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov a 10-volume English translation of the Mahabharata by economist Bibek Debroy. The translation presents the complete, unabridged Mahabharata, including its principal narrative, philosophical reflections, genealogies, dialogues and subsidiary stories.

Traditionally attributed to Ved Vyasa, the epic is a cornerstone of India’s literary, philosophical and cultural heritage, exploring themes of dharma, duty, justice, morality, loyalty and statecraft through the story of the Pandavas and Kauravas. Officials said the Mahabharata also shares a cultural resonance with Kyrgyzstan’s Epic of Manas, as both preserve stories, values and collective memory across generations.

The prime minister also gifted Japarov a Tsug-dul blanket, a traditional woollen textile from Ladakh known for its vibrant colours and geometric, floral and stylised motifs.

Traditionally woven from locally sourced wool, it reflects Ladakh’s pastoral and nomadic way of life. Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliev was gifted a Dokra artwork, ‘a pair of traditional musicians’, showcasing India’s ancient lost-wax metal-casting tradition and depicting two musicians playing traditional instruments. Officials said the artwork also resonated with Kyrgyzstan’s rich folk music and performing arts traditions.

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was gifted a sandalwood Shata Tantri Veena, popularly known as the Santoor. The many-stringed instrument, associated with the musical traditions of Jammu and Kashmir, bears a resemblance to Uzbekistan’s traditional Chang.

Mirziyoyev was also given two boxes of premium Kangra tea in a wooden carved case – Kangra First Flush Black Tea and Kangra Green Tea – reflecting the tea-growing heritage of the Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh. The black tea was described as light, fragrant and subtly sweet, while the green tea was described as fresh and mellow with gentle vegetal and floral notes.

The Uzbekistan president was also gifted an original handwritten scoresheet of chess Grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov from the 2025 FIDE World Cup final in Goa. The scoresheet was described as a unique memento of Sindarov’s historic triumph. Sindarov, who became a Grandmaster at 12 and was part of Uzbekistan’s 2022 Chess Olympiad-winning team, defeated China’s Wei Yi in the final to become the youngest FIDE World Cup champion and qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

Modi gifted Mirziyoyev’s wife a marble inlay casket with a Banarasi silk stole, bringing together Agra’s marble inlay craft and Varanasi’s silk weaving tradition. The white marble casket featured intricate floral patterns made with coloured stones, while the stole had a rich blue ground with a paisley zari design.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/modi-uzbekistan-kyrgyzstan-visit-mahabharata-santoor-craft-gifts-leaders-ptag-2984874-2026-09-01

Torrential rain triggered deaths, landslides, flooding and evacuations across several states on Tuesday. Fresh IMD alerts, school closures and transport disruption underscored a widening monsoon emergency.

Torrential rain caused widespread disruption across several parts of the country on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people in Assam and Uttarakhand, pushing rivers above danger levels in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, and flooding roads and homes. Train services were disrupted in some areas, while schools were shut in parts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Uttarakhand was the worst hit, with at least seven people killed in separate incidents linked to the rain. Assam reported four deaths in landslides in Guwahati, while Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh remained on high alert because of rising rivers and the risk of flash floods. The India Meteorological Department also issued fresh warnings for several states.

In Uttarakhand, three people were killed when the walls of a house collapsed around 3 am in Odyuda village in Almora’s Havalbagh block. An SDRF team reached from the Sariyapani post but had to walk to the site after debris blocked the road around three kilometres away. In another incident in Almora town, two Nepalese labourers were killed after the wall of an old house collapsed in the Dharkituni area, taking the rain-related death toll in Almora district to at least five.

In Dehradun, a rain-swollen current swept away a car near Kandoli Bridge on Poundha Road in Lower Kandoli late on Monday night. An SDRF team recovered the bodies of a man and a woman, while another woman in the vehicle was found injured around two kilometres from the spot.

The Dehradun-Mussoorie highway was among the worst affected in the state, with repeated landslides, road subsidence and falling boulders blocking and narrowing stretches near Mussoorie. Debris and boulders blocked the road at Pani Wala Bend, while damage to safety nets installed by the Public Works Department further narrowed the road and slowed traffic. The heavy rain also swelled rivers and streams. In Rishikesh, the Bin river flowed over an already overflowing causeway, while the Gaula river rose in Haldwani, which recorded 192 mm of rain in the 24 hours ending Tuesday.

Sewer water flooded Nainital’s Mall Road, and in Ramnagar, the Belgarh nala on the Ramnagar-Haldwani state highway rose sharply, disrupting traffic and leaving vehicles stranded. A three-wheeler was also swept towards an overflowing stream and pulled to safety by members of the public.

The IMD issued a red alert for Nainital and Almora and an orange alert for most other parts of Uttarakhand. Authorities in Nainital, Almora and Bageshwar ordered schools from Classes 1 to 12 to remain closed. Bageshwar District Magistrate Apoorva Pandey said reports of landslides and shooting stones had come from several areas and urged residents to stay away from rivers, streams and other disaster-prone places and to avoid unnecessary travel.

Assam also saw deadly rain, with four people, including three members of a family, killed in two landslides in Guwahati. In the Mathgharia area, a couple and their 11-year-old daughter were killed when a landslide flattened their house while they were asleep. Their 19-year-old son was rescued from under the debris and taken to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. In another landslide, a 65-year-old woman was killed after a rock partially damaged her house, while several family members suffered minor injuries. Waterlogging was reported in Panjabari, RG Baruah Road, Chandmari, Beltola, Borbari and Six Mile, forcing students and office-goers to wade through knee-deep water on several roads.

Jharkhand was placed on high alert after the IMD issued a flash-flood warning for Garhwa, Palamu, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla, Khunti, Saraikela-Kharsawan, West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Simdega. Dumaria in East Singhbhum recorded 217 mm of rainfall since Monday, followed by Dumri in Giridih at 162.2 mm and Mahuadawar in Latehar at 146.2 mm. The IMD forecast heavy rain across the state till September 5 and issued a red alert for very heavy rainfall in Garhwa, Palamu, Simdega and West Singhbhum. In Jamshedpur, rivers crossed danger levels, with the Kharkhai at Adityapur bridge rising to 133.10 metres, 4.10 metres above the danger level, and the Subarnarekha reaching 122.60 metres against the red mark of 121.50 metres at Mango bridge. Authorities asked residents in low-lying areas to move to safer places.

Uttar Pradesh also faced severe rain and flood conditions. In Chitrakoot, the Mandakini river rose around four metres above the danger mark after heavy rainfall in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, prompting evacuations. Floodwaters submerged Ramghat and the Nirmohi Akhara, and damaged a bridge connecting Ramghat and Nayagaon. SDRF and NDRF teams were deployed, and Army helicopters were used to evacuate people trapped in floodwaters. In Varanasi, the rising Ganga entered several areas, forcing boats into flooded lanes and disrupting cremations at Manikarnika and Harishchandra ghats.

The river was flowing at 70.28 metres at 10 am, above the warning level of 70.26 metres, and was rising at 0.5 cm per hour. Several families living along the Varuna river were moved to relief camps. In Lakhimpur Kheri, authorities shut all schools up to Class 8 as the Sharda river rose. Train services on the Mailani-Nanpara section were suspended after water seepage was reported between Bhira and Palia stations, affecting around half a dozen trains. Rain also damaged the Ganga Expressway in Unnao, where a portion of the Prayagraj-bound carriageway caved in near the Basiratganj toll plaza, leaving a pit around seven feet deep. Traffic was diverted and repair work began. It was the second such road damage incident on the expressway in the district this monsoon.

In Himachal Pradesh, a yellow alert for heavy rain at isolated places in Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur has been issued till September 3. Kangra recorded 99.4 mm of rain, followed by Jogindernagar at 54 mm and Murari Devi at 50 mm. The rain disrupted essential services, with 60 roads closed, 39 water supply schemes affected and 11 power transformers disrupted. Delhi received light to moderate monsoon showers in several areas in the evening, and the IMD said similar rain was likely in many parts till September 4, with heavy rainfall possible at isolated places.

In West Bengal, a low-pressure system over Gangetic West Bengal brought heavy rain to Kolkata and parts of south Bengal. Kalaikunda recorded 51 mm of rain in the 24 hours till 8.30 am, while Kolkata received 23 mm and Salt Lake 40 mm. Waterlogging in low-lying areas affected office-hour traffic. The IMD forecast heavy rain in parts of Gangetic West Bengal till Wednesday morning and in several sub-Himalayan districts till September 4. In Jammu and Kashmir, heavy rain and swollen rivers and nallahs led authorities to shut all schools in Poonch district.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/heavy-rain-india-several-dead-uttarakhand-assam-floods-landslides-ptag-2984893-2026-09-01

Severe Ganga erosion in Bhagalpur’s Raghopur has swallowed large stretches of land and swept away the nearly century-old Chaiti Durga Temple. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the situation remained serious due to changes in the river’s flow. Authorities are carrying out anti-erosion work, while relief camps and evacuation arrangements are being prepared.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday said the situation in Raghopur in Bhagalpur district was “challenging and difficult” as severe erosion by the Ganga swallowed large stretches of land and caused widespread damage. The nearly century-old Chaiti Durga Temple, a well-known religious site in the area, was also swept away by the swollen river during the day.

Choudhary, who also holds the Water Resources Department portfolio, said the situation had turned serious because of unexpected changes in the Ganga’s flow. He cut short his meeting in New Delhi and returned to Patna on Tuesday in view of the developments.

Speaking to PTI, Choudhary said erosion at several places had created pressure points, while senior department officials and engineers were on the ground and efforts to check the erosion were continuing. “The situation remains serious due to unexpected changes in the flow of the Ganga,” he said. Referring to earlier flooding, he said the department had carried out major anti-erosion work at the site when a pressure point had developed there. “The Ganga, in keeping with its natural course, has been causing erosion. The situation remains sensitive, and the department is making continuous efforts to bring it under control,” he said.

Water Resources Department Secretary Chandrashekhar Singh said the district administration and department officials were on high alert. “Rise in the Ganga’s water level and changes in its flow, with heavy silt deposition and strong currents, are triggering erosion at several places,” he told PTI. He said the situation around the Mahadevpur embankment remained challenging because of strong currents and continuing erosion. A large part of the embankment had been secured through protective work, though erosion and scouring were continuing near the structure. Residents in vulnerable areas were being alerted and arrangements were being made for evacuation, if needed.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bhagalpur-ganga-erosion-chaiti-durga-temple-washed-away-raghopur-ptag-2984912-2026-09-02

A long-standing electoral rivalry in Dholpur’s Ward 26 turned violent after former councillor Ramu Sharma, husband of independent candidate Kalpana Sharma, was attacked and seriously injured.

A political rivalry during the civic elections in Rajasthan’s Dholpur district turned violent in Dholpur Municipal Council, where former councillor Ramu Sharma alias Rajmohan Sharma, husband of woman councillor candidate Kalpana Sharma, suffered a serious attack allegedly involving members of the rival side contesting the election.

The attack left Ramu Sharma seriously injured, and doctors referred him to Agra for treatment. His family alleged that members of the other side assaulted him, opened fire in the air and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. Ramu Sharma suffered multiple fractures in the attack.

Ward No. 26 has seen a direct electoral contest between candidates from the families of former councillor Kookku Sharma alias Vedprakash and former councillor Ramu alias Rajmohan Sharma. The two families have a long-standing electoral rivalry.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, the two major political parties, did not give tickets to candidates from either side because of the rivalry. The candidates from both families entered the electoral contest independently.

After the attack, the accused fled the spot.

Following information about the incident, Dholpur Police official Pradeep Nehra and SHO Ramkishan Yadav reached the scene with police personnel. Police conducted raids at possible hideouts while searching for the accused, but could not trace the attackers.

Nehra said Rajmohan Sharma was meeting people along with three to four supporters in Ward No 26 when Kookku Sharma alias Vedprakash arrived with another three to four people. According to Nehra, Kookku Sharma and the others attacked Ramu Sharma with sticks, batons and iron rods, leaving him injured.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rajasthan-dholpur-civic-election-attack-former-councillors-husband-injured-2984982-2026-09-02

The government had assured the students would not be targeted or harassed in connection with the agitation.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed first information reports (FIR) registered across the country in connection with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led protests in July, invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, even as the group withdrew its call for a September 5 march in Delhi following assurances from the Centre that it would honour its commitments to withdraw criminal cases and compensation to families of students who died by suicide.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the decision would ensure that the criminal cases did not cause “any harm to students or youths who participated in these protests” and that mere participation in a protest would not be treated as an offence under penal laws.

The court ordered that all FIRs relating to the protests between July 20 and 25 in the states and Union territories, including those not formally brought before it, would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed for all purposes. It also directed that similar FIRs pending in other states and Union territories be treated in the same manner. “No further FIR shall be registered in relation to the same incident,” the court directed.

The order followed applications filed by the Centre through Delhi Police and by Maharashtra, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal governments seeking quashing of the criminal cases.

The Centre told the court that the government was committed to honouring three assurances given after a July 25 meeting with representatives of the protesting group — withdrawal of FIRs registered between July 20 and 25, no fresh FIRs relating to those incidents and compensation to families of NEET aspirants and students who died by suicide.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the government was committed to all three assurances, but sought liberty to proceed against persons with “serious and grave criminal antecedents”.

The court agreed to carve out an exception for 2,837 persons whom Delhi Police said had such antecedents and were prima facie present at the protest site. The police had sought permission to register one FIR against them to ascertain their individual roles, if any, in incidents involving bodily harm or destruction of public property. The bench said the issue concerning the 2,837 persons could be considered separately, making clear that the exception did not dilute the larger relief granted to the protesters.

“There was a case of sieving out a section of protesters who had assembled with certain bona fide democratic demands and certain alleged elements with serious criminal antecedents,” remarked the court, noting the Centre’s contention that there had been an “infiltration” of elements who may have had ulterior motives.

The bench said the would be entitled to reserve its right to prosecute such allegedly “pernicious elements”, subject to all rights available to them under law. “At the same time, this exercise is to provide a healing balm to the main body of protesters,” it added.

The court’s intervention came after the CJP announced a September 5 march from India Gate to the Delhi Police headquarters, saying the Centre has failed to honour assurances that had led to the withdrawal of its 36-day agitation on July 25. Withdrawal of criminal cases was among the group’s key demands.

Mehta told the bench that the proposed September 5 march was announced because the protesters believed the government had not honoured its commitments. “Now that we are here and have filed our applications, I would urge the CJP representatives to withdraw the September 5 march call,” the solicitor general said.

CJP co-convener Saurav Das, who was present in court, then read out a statement withdrawing the proposed march.

“In view of the positive assurances of the Government of India and the judicial sanctity bestowed upon them today, and in view of the order being passed by this Court, the CJP deems it appropriate to withdraw the call for the march on September 5,” Das said. The CJP also thanked the court and lawyers on both sides for their efforts and said it looked forward to compliance with the order.

The court described the developments as a “positive” step by both sides and said it was proceeding on “broad parameters” on which there was agreement. “We are doing this to ensure there is no case of vexation for any person who has because of his conscience, participated in a protest which is alleged in the FIR to be a crime,” it said.

The court also noted that it had consistently sought to protect protesters who had participated in the agitation to raise what it described as genuine grievances. “We have always said that let us protect these protesters. We have always said that they were not there for violence or anything but to raise voices about some genuine grievances they had,” the bench said.

The Centre, on its part, reiterated its commitment to provide compensation to families of students who died by suicide in connection with the 2026 NEET examination issue. Mehta told the court tha t the government would need three months to formulate the modalities, given that the issue involved several competitive examinations.

The court then directed the Centre to formulate and notify, in consultation with the states, a pan-India policy framework for payment of compensation in such cases. It directed that the families of victims who died by suicide over the 2026 NEET paper issue would be paid compensation after the policy was notified.

The process of identifying eligible families is already under way, advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for a petitioner, told the court.

The court’s order also provided relief beyond the four states and Delhi that had formally approached it.

It said that if any other FIR relating to the same incidents between July 20 and 25 had been registered in any state or Union territory and had not been brought to its notice, it too would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed. It further directed that similar FIRs pending in other states and Union territories would not be pursued and would be treated as closed.

The Centre told the court that its applications were intended to address the criminal cases arising from the July agitation across the country. The court’s order now gives the relief a pan-India application.

The July 20 “Chalo Sansad” march had witnessed clashes between protesters and security personnel after Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force used lathi charge, tear gas and pellet guns to prevent the protesters from proceeding towards Parliament. Protesters alleged excessive use of force, while the authorities alleged violence against police personnel and damage to public property.

The Supreme Court had earlier constituted a five-member high-powered enquiry committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy to examine the competing allegations arising from the July 20 events.

The HPEC is examining allegations of excessive and unlawful use of force by police as well as allegations of violence by protesters, injuries to security personnel and damage to public property.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/supreme-court-quashes-all-firs-across-the-country-against-neet-paper-leak-cjp-protesters-101788255232389.html

Families of missing workers are pressing authorities to accelerate rescue efforts as teams struggle to remove mud and debris blocking tunnels.

The death toll from the devastating flash floods in Nepal has risen to 1,003, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). As rescue teams continue searching for missing workers, families are recounting the horror of the August 26 disaster and urging authorities to speed up operations.

Among those waiting for answers is 20-year-old Anush Gurung, who has been searching for his 60-year-old father, Laxman, since the floods struck the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project in Rasuwa district. Anush last spoke to his father at around 8 am on August 26. Soon after, the flash floods swept through the area and Laxman disappeared.

The family has received conflicting accounts from Laxman’s surviving colleagues about whether he was inside a tunnel when the floods hit, The Kathmandu Post reported on Tuesday. “Whom are we supposed to believe? If the tunnel is searched, we would know for certain,” Anush told the newspaper. “Now our only hope is inside the tunnel.”

Families push for faster searches

Families of missing workers are pressing authorities to accelerate rescue efforts as teams struggle to remove mud and debris blocking tunnels.

At the Upper Trishuli-3B project in Nuwakot, Bivek Pandey is searching for his 58-year-old father, Kamal Bahadur Pandey. He is among at least 122 people unaccounted for from the project, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Relatives gathered at an Army rescue and relief centre in Bidur and urged authorities to intensify the search. After several days of pressure, an excavator was brought to the site on Monday.

“If excavation begins, the sand covering the quarters can be removed. We still have hope,” Bivek told the newspaper.

It remains unclear whether Kamal Bahadur was inside a tunnel when the flood struck.

Rescuers face blocked tunnels and difficult terrain

Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, a Nepal Army spokesperson, told news agency Associated Press (AP) that teams, assisted by foreign experts, were carrying out searches at several hydropower projects. Army footage showed rescuers entering dark tunnels filled with debris, moving through mud and climbing over rocks while looking for missing workers.

The search has been complicated by damage to transport routes and the remote locations of many hydropower projects. Steep terrain and narrow roads already make access difficult, while the floods have damaged roads and restricted routes to some sites.

Inside the projects, rescuers are also dealing with blocked and damaged tunnels. The floods carried mud, large rocks and other debris into underground passages, collapsing sections and trapping workers. Even when tunnel entrances can be reached, teams have to clear substantial amounts of debris before they can move further inside.

An Indian tunnel rescue team has joined forces with the Nepali Army to conduct joint search and rescue operations at critical hydropower tunnel sites in Chilime, Rasuwa district, news agency ANI reported.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rescuers-battle-flood-debris-mud-at-nepal-hydropower-tunnel-as-victims-families-say-we-still-have-hope-101788268271641.html

Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma made history on September 1 as the first woman non-medical officer in India’s Defence Forces to attain the rank of Air Vice Marshal or equivalent. Commissioned into the IAF’s Education Branch in 1994, she has over three decades of service and has held key roles, including commanding a Sainik School.

In a historic milestone for the Indian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma became the first woman officer (non-medical) in the Indian Defence Forces to attain the rank of Air Vice Marshal (or equivalent). On September 1, she assumed the appointment of Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Education) at Air Headquarters.

About Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma

According to a press release, commissioned into the Education Branch of the IAF on 18 June 1994, AVM Shakti Sharma brings a wealth of experience to her new role, spanning diverse postings across Training Establishments, Field Stations, Command Headquarters, and Air Headquarters.

This landmark achievement marks a new chapter in the journey of women officers in the Indian Defence Forces. With over three decades of distinguished service, she continues to inspire generations to “Touch the Sky with Glory”.

A historic milestone for the Indian Air Force.

On 01 Sep 2026, Air Vice Marshal Shakti Sharma became the first woman officer (non-medical) in the Indian Defence Services to attain the rank of Air Vice Marshal (or equivalent). She assumed the appointment of Assistant Chief of… pic.twitter.com/9IulN6QjOb

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) September 1, 2026

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/avm-shakti-sharma-scripts-history-as-first-woman-two-star-officer-in-defence-services

The Supreme Court recently invoked Article 142 to dismiss all FIRs against NEET-UG protesters, leading the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) to cancel its planned march on September 5.

H1N1 is usually self-limiting, but children, elderly people, and high-risk groups should monitor symptoms closely and seek medical care when needed.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued an awareness message on Influenza A H1N1, urging people to recognise symptoms early and seek medical advice when necessary. According to the ministry, healthy adults generally recover from H1N1 without serious complications. However, medical attention is recommended when symptoms persist for more than five to six days.

The advisory is particularly relevant for young children, elderly people and individuals with underlying medical conditions, who may be more vulnerable to complications from respiratory infections.

Influenza A H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, is a seasonal respiratory infection that can cause flu-like symptoms ranging from fever and cough to body aches and fatigue. While the infection is often self-limiting in healthy adults, children, older adults, and people with underlying health conditions may require closer monitoring.

India has also deployed specialised teams to support rescue and forensic operations in Nepal.

As many as 163 Indian nationals have been rescued from flood-hit Nepal, while 151 Indians left China till Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in its latest update.

The update, issued as of 7.30 pm on September 1, said five more Indian nationals had been rescued since Monday.

Nepal’s devastating floods have claimed more than 1,050 lives, while over 580 foreign nationals remain missing, according to the latest reports. Rescue teams continue to search affected areas as families wait for information about missing people. The disaster has led to a major international rescue, relief and identification effort.

163 Indians rescued from Nepal

According to the MEA, 163 Indian nationals have been rescued from the flood-affected areas of Nepal.

The number increased by five since the previous day.

The ministry also said 151 Indian nationals left China on Tuesday as efforts continued to assist Indians affected by the disaster.

India has also deployed specialised teams to support rescue and forensic operations in Nepal.

Indian tunnel team faces difficult conditions

MEA said the Indian tunnel rescue team has established a foothold at hydropower tunnels in Chilime, but has faced several challenges while trying to move further inside. The team encountered extremely restricted access space, limitations on the use of specialised equipment because of the terrain and a marshy tunnel floor.

To overcome these difficulties, the team used innovative methods and improvised floats to move deeper into the tunnel.

The team will continue its efforts on Wednesday to try to locate and rescue any people who may still be trapped inside, the MEA said.

The tunnel operations form part of the wider search and rescue effort in areas affected by the floods.

India expands forensic assistance

Alongside the rescue operation, India’s forensic team has expanded its work in coordination with its Nepalese counterparts. According to the MEA, the team is undertaking tasks including the examination and analysis of DNA.

The ministry said the expanded forensic activities would help speed up the processing of DNA samples in Nepal.

The forensic effort is part of the wider response to the large number of casualties and missing people following the floods.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/nepal-floods-163-indians-rescued-151-leave-china-india-steps-up-tunnel-rescue-mission-10304910.html

 

TMC leader Saket Gokhale also accused the Centre of trying to deny using pellet guns on protesters at first.

New Delhi: Use of pellet guns on protesters in Delhi is not a human-rights violation, CRPF has claimed, Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale said on Monday.

The former Rajya Sabha MP said he would submit the para force’s reply to the Supreme Court.

In a post on X, Gokhale shared a copy of a Right to Information (RTI) application he filed with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), seeking information on the firing of pellet ammunition by RAF against protesters in Delhi on July 20, the day students took out a march to Parliament at the call of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).

SHOCKING:

CRPF claims use of pellet guns on protestors in Delhi is NOT a human rights violation

I’d filed an RTI with Rapid Action Force (which is a part of CRPF) asking for information related to the use of pellet guns on unarmed protestors on 20th July during the Jantar… pic.twitter.com/0Xv0laN4tA

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) August 31, 2026

“CRPF claims use of pellet guns on protestors in Delhi is not a human rights violation. I’d filed an RTI with Rapid Action Force (which is a part of CRPF) asking for information related to the use of pellet guns on unarmed protestors on 20th July during the Jantar Mantar protests,” Gokhale said.

“Under law, CRPF is exempt from RTI Act exception cases related to corruption or human rights violations,” he said.

The CRPF in its reply, however, said the “allegations made in the application do not attract the exception relating to violation of human rights.” “CRPF refused information claiming that using pellet guns on protestors in Delhi is not a human rights violation. When this was appealed, the appellate authority AGAIN denied the info claiming the same excuse,” he said.

He also accused the Centre of trying to deny using pellet guns on protesters at first.

“First the Modi-Shah Govt denied that pellets were used. Then, when exposed, they refused to give details of total number of victims. And now, it is baffling that use of pellet guns (banned under international law) on unarmed youth in India’s capital is not considered to be a human rights violation by Amit Shah’s CRPF,” he said.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/delhi/pellet-gun-use-no-human-rights-violation-crpf-in-rti-reply-to-tmc-leader-4130185#google_vignette

 

Why India cannot afford to walk away from Chabahar despite the threat of US sanctions, and what the strategic port means for New Delhi. Read to understand what is at stake.

India is looking for a “sustainable way forward” to remain involved in Iran’s Chabahar port, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has said, as US sanctions and the continuing conflict in West Asia complicate New Delhi’s role in the strategic project.

Misri made the remarks in Bishkek, where Kyrgyzstan is hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

“We have been associated with this project over a long period of time,” Misri said. He added that the conflict in West Asia had affected regional cooperation and altered the “regime” under which activities at Chabahar could be carried out.

“We remain in discussion and in touch with various stakeholders in order to find a sustainable way forward to continue this element of cooperation,” he said.

The immediate concern is the expiry of a conditional US sanctions waiver on April 26, 2026. The waiver had shielded India’s work at Chabahar from Washington’s wider sanctions against Iran.

Its expiry has raised the risk of Indian entities involved in the port facing US penalties. The Iran conflict and Washington’s renewed pressure on Tehran have added to the uncertainty, making it harder for India to continue under the existing arrangement.

New Delhi, however, does not want to leave Chabahar.

India is holding separate discussions with the US and Iran over its $120 million investment in the port, Bloomberg reported. One option under consideration is the temporary transfer of India’s stake to an Iranian entity while sanctions remain in force.

Such an arrangement would allow India to reduce its direct exposure to US sanctions without permanently abandoning the project. New Delhi could return to its operational role if restrictions are eased.

Misri’s emphasis on continuing cooperation reflects this effort to find a middle path: protecting India from sanctions while preserving its long-term rights and investments at Chabahar.

The port is important because it gives India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia without passing through Pakistan, which denies it overland transit. Located in southeastern Iran on the Gulf of Oman, it provides India with a direct maritime gateway to the region.

Chabahar is also connected to the International North-South Transport Corridor, a multimodal trade route linking India with Iran, Central Asia, Russia and Europe.

Its location adds to its strategic value. Chabahar lies around 170 km from Pakistan’s Gwadar port, which has been developed with Chinese support and is a major component of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

India began discussions with Iran on developing Chabahar in 2003. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Iran in 2016, New Delhi committed investment to the project.

In 2024, India Ports Global Limited signed a 10-year agreement to operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal. Cargo handled at the port rose from 12.24 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 to 22.32 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, an increase of more than 82 per cent, according to government figures.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/chabahar-port-india-vikram-misri-iran-us-sanctions-cooperation-2984060-2026-08-31

Voters at SIR hearings in Hyderabad said they were being asked for decades-old documents despite submitting Aadhaar, PAN and voter ID details. The complaints have prompted Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and political parties to seek more time and safeguards against wrongful deletions.

‘I was not even born in 1987. Where am I supposed to get such a document from?’ That question from a Telangana voter captures the growing confusion around the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with residents served SIR notices struggling to understand what documents they must produce to protect their names on the voter list.

The controversy has also reached the political level, with Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy seeking more time from the Election Commission and warning that eligible voters must not be removed during the revision exercise.

At hearings in Hyderabad, voters said they were being asked to produce documents dating back several decades to establish their identity, date of birth and address. Some questioned why government-issued documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards, as well as existing voter records, were allegedly not sufficient for the verification process.

VOTER ASKS: ‘WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET SUCH A DOCUMENT?’

One voter, Sai Kanmudraj, said he was asked to produce a document dating back to 1987, even though he was not born at the time.

“I was not even born in 1987. Where am I supposed to get such a document from?” he asked.

Kanmudraj said officials had initially indicated that different documents could be submitted, but later told him that Aadhaar and PAN cards were not being accepted for the particular verification requirement.

“The government issued me this Aadhaar card. The government issued me this PAN card. If neither of these is accepted, where am I supposed to get another document from?” he asked.

He also questioned why voter ID and bank-related documents could not be used, arguing that ordinary citizens should not be expected to produce records from decades ago if such documents were never issued to them.

“I have only one request to the government whether it is Aadhaar, PAN, a bank passbook or any other document, please accept it,” he said.

‘WHAT MORE DO THEY WANT FROM US?’

Another woman who received an SIR notice said she had repeatedly voted at the same polling booth but was now being asked to provide additional proof of her identity and address.

She said her father was no longer alive and that she had been asked to establish the address mentioned in the records. According to her, she had already submitted her Aadhaar card, but officials were allegedly seeking additional documents, including bank-related proof.

“My Aadhaar card has my number and all the details. It is complete proof. What more do I have to submit?” she questioned.

She said she had also submitted her voter ID but was told it could not be accepted for the requirement being raised.

The woman said she had passed her Class 10 examination decades ago, but the certificate did not carry her photograph, leaving her unsure about what additional document would satisfy the verification process.

“I have already submitted one proof. What more do they want from us?” she asked.

She was asked to return for further verification and photography, adding to the uncertainty over what documents she would ultimately need to submit.

OFFICIALS SAY NOTICES ARE PART OF VERIFICATION

An official involved in the exercise said notices were being issued and hearings conducted as part of the verification process.

G Vasanth Kumar, In-charge Assistant Municipal Commissioner and ARO, said around 360 notices had been issued for the day’s proceedings.

According to the official, the exercise covers categories including ASDD entries, no-mapping cases and discrepancies. Figures cited during the hearing put the number of cases in the relevant categories at around 3,760 to 3,786, along with 2,856 discrepancies.

Voters receiving notices are being called for hearings and are required to submit documents prescribed by the Election Commission for verification.

REVANTH SEEKS MORE TIME FROM ECI

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has raised concerns over the scale of the exercise and its possible impact on voters.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Revanth sought an extension of around four weeks for the claims and objections process. He also asked for additional time for voters to respond to notices, wider dissemination of the draft electoral rolls and helpdesks, particularly in urban areas.

According to the figures cited by the Chief Minister, Telangana had around 3.38 crore electors as of June 10, of whom nearly 73.39 lakh entries, or around 21.7 per cent, had been classified under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate categories.

Revanth expressed concern that voters who had only temporarily moved could potentially be treated as permanently shifted.

At a public meeting in Hyderabad earlier this month, he had also urged Congress workers and leaders to visit households, verify voter details and ensure that eligible voters were not deleted.

The Chief Minister alleged that genuine voters could be removed in the name of SIR and said Telangana would not allow eligible voters to be excluded from the electoral rolls.

BRS: ‘NOT A SINGLE ELIGIBLE VOTER SHOULD BE DELETED’

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi has also raised concerns over the exercise, while supporting the removal of dead, duplicate and bogus entries.

BRS spokesperson Putta Vishnuvardhan Reddy said, “Our stand is very clear: we want to make sure that the votes of the people who are dead, people who are carrying duplicate votes, people with bogus votes they must be deleted from the electoral rolls.”

At the same time, he said the Election Commission must ensure that “not a single eligible voter should be deleted.”

Reddy cited an example from Banjara Hills, claiming that the number of voters registered at a commercial building increased from 19 before the revision to 44 afterwards.

“When we see these sort of anomalies that defy logic, there is definitely something wrong going on in the entire exercise, raising serious questions of collusion,” he said.

He also said large urban areas such as Hyderabad have voters whose forms may not yet have been collected because of various reasons.

“The focus of the Election Commission should be on migrants and tenants to guarantee that no legitimate citizen is robbed of their vote,” he said.

CONGRESS DEMANDS DEADLINE EXTENSION

Congress MP Anil Kumar Yadav also questioned the scale of the SIR exercise and called for more time and assistance for voters.

“Nearly one-third of Telangana’s population has come under scrutiny in the SIR exercise, with over 94 lakh voters flagged as ASDT. This raises serious concerns about the transparency of the process,” he said.

Yadav said many voters served notices belonged to economically weaker sections and slum communities and needed adequate time and assistance to respond.

“We demand an extension of the SIR deadline and insist that no eligible voter in Telangana should be deleted from the electoral rolls without proper verification and an opportunity to respond,” he said.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/telangana-sir-notices-voters-document-confusion-revanth-seeks-more-time-2984118-2026-08-31

The CBI has booked eight people over an alleged Rs 28.87 crore subsidised rice diversion racket involving FCI and NERAMAC officials. The FIR alleges rice meant for vulnerable groups was routed through private traders in violation of OMSS rules.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked eight people, including senior officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC), over an alleged Rs 28.87 crore rice diversion racket involving the distribution of subsidised grain.

According to an FIR registered on August 27, the agency has alleged a criminal conspiracy between public servants and private traders to obtain rice at concessional rates in violation of the government’s Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic), or OMSS(D). The alleged arrangement could have caused a potential loss of Rs 28.87 crore to the FCI, the agency said.

The case centres on the allocation of 62,000 metric tonnes (MT) of rice by the FCI’s Delhi Region to NERAMAC between April 13 and May 15, 2026. Of this quantity, around 50,645 MT was actually released, according to the FIR. The CBI alleges that the rice was lifted from FCI depots by traders instead of reaching the vulnerable groups for whom the subsidised grain was purportedly intended. The traders allegedly sold the rice onwards to other traders for “huge profits”.

Rs 28.87 CRORE ALLEGED LOSS TO FCI

The alleged financial loss forms a central part of the CBI’s case. The agency estimates that the FCI could have earned an additional Rs 28.87 crore if approximately 50,645 MT of rice had been sold through e-auction at the applicable reserve price of Rs 28,900 per MT, instead of being released at the concessional rate of Rs 23,200 per MT.

The FIR also raises questions over NERAMAC’s eligibility to receive rice without an e-auction under the OMSS(D) 2025-26 policy. According to the CBI, NERAMAC, despite being a Central government-owned enterprise, was not eligible for such an allocation. The agency said the policy permitted allocations without e-auction to state governments and their corporations.

Despite this, FCI’s Delhi Region allegedly continued processing and approving NERAMAC’s proposal. The FIR names then FCI Delhi Region General Manager Kunhiraman Padmini Asha, then AGM (Sales) Brahm Prakash and then Manager (Sales) Amarendra Vikram.

The CBI alleges that the officials handled the proposal with “undue haste” and failed to properly examine whether the allocation complied with the OMSS(D) policy. It further alleges that the General Manager continued approving the allocation and release of rice despite the alleged violation.

NERAMAC allegedly appointed three private entities — Utapalakshi Agro Products Pvt Ltd, Dibesh Commercials Pvt Ltd and Super Grains — as channel partners. The agency alleges that Rajesh Bajaj and Pankaj Saraf subsequently approached traders in the Delhi-NCR region and facilitated the lifting of rice from FCI depots.

According to the FIR, traders deposited Rs 23.25 per kg into NERAMAC’s bank account, while the private entities allegedly received commissions ranging from 64 paise to Rs 2.50 per kg.

The CBI alleges that the rice was subsequently diverted from its stated beneficiaries, including daily wage earners, labourers and migrant workers. Instead, it was lifted from FCI depots at Ghevra, Mayapuri and Narela and sold to other traders for “huge profits”. The agency further alleges that bogus date-wise charts were maintained in NERAMAC records to create the appearance that the rice had been distributed through retail outlets in Delhi and Noida. Antedated appointment letters were also allegedly prepared to show the appointment of 23 sub-distributors.

EIGHT PEOPLE NAMED IN FIR

The eight people named as accused in the FIR include senior officials of both FCI and NERAMAC, as well as representatives of the private entities involved in the alleged distribution chain.

They include Kunhiraman Padmini Asha, then General Manager of FCI Delhi Region; Brahm Prakash, then AGM (Sales) at the FCI Delhi Region; and Amarendra Vikram, then Manager (Sales) at the FCI Delhi Region. From NERAMAC, the accused include then Managing Director Bhaskar Barua, then Additional General Manager Anjal Kumar Dutta and then Deputy Manager (Agri-Business) Dilip Saha.

The FIR also names Rajesh Bajaj, Director of Utapalakshi Agro Products and Dibesh Commercials, and Pankaj Saraf, partner of Super Grains. The agency has also named unknown public servants and other unknown persons in connection with the alleged conspiracy.

HOW THE RACKET UNFOLDED

According to the CBI, NERAMAC Additional General Manager Anjal Kumar Dutta initially sought an allocation of 31,000 MT of rice per week from the Delhi government. The proposal reportedly said the rice would be sold at affordable rates to vulnerable sections of society. The Delhi government subsequently forwarded the proposal to the FCI.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cbi-rice-diversion-case-eight-booked-over-rs-2887-crore-fci-neramac-omss-racket-2984125-2026-09-01

The latest GDP data, which now incorporates producer price indices, has also made an upward revision to the GDP numbers in the quarter ending March 2026.

The Indian economy grew at 7.8% in the first quarter (April-June 2026) of the current fiscal year braving what has been described as the largest oil shock in the history of capitalism. The data, released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday, positively surprised analysts and pleased the government.

“India’s exemplary GDP growth of 7.8% during Q1 of FY 2026-27 is a herculean feat. The collective strength of our people ensured India delivered such growth despite oil price shocks and supply chain issues in the midst of global uncertainties. Doomsayers were doomed and India bloomed…yet again!”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.

India’s exemplary GDP growth of 7.8% during Q1 of FY 2026-27 is a herculean feat.

The collective strength of our people ensured India delivered such growth despite oil price shocks and supply chain issues in the midst of global uncertainties.

Doomsayers were doomed and India…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 31, 2026

Sitharaman hails strong GDP growth

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also attributed the performance to the government’s reforms and economic management. “The credit for this strong performance goes to the people of India and their hard work. Reforms undertaken by the NDA Government, together with an agile management of the economy, are bearing results,” Sitharaman said on social media.

Experts believe the latest GDP data does not rule out a growth slowdown over the full fiscal year and also increases the possibility of a rate hike later in the year.

Growth slowed after West Asia war

The latest numbers should not, however, be seen as evidence that the West Asia war did not adversely affect India’s economic momentum. The latest GDP data, which now incorporates producer price indices, has also made an upward revision to the GDP numbers in the quarter ending March 2026, which were published in June. March quarter growth now stands at 8.6% compared to 7.8% according to the data released by the NSO in June. This means that growth did slow down after the outbreak of the war.

None of this negates the fact that India’s domestic growth drivers shielded it from a large deceleration on account of the war. Disaggregated GDP numbers support this assessment. Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) grew at 7.1% and 11.9%, respectively, in the June quarter. Exports too grew at an impressive 12%, even as imports contracted by 1.1% in real terms.

At the sector-wise level, services gave the biggest boost to growth with a 10% rise. Manufacturing saw a growth of 9.2%.

“Growth continues to be supported by resilient domestic demand, sustained expansion in manufacturing and services activity, and robust exports, reaffirming India’s position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy”, RBI’s MPC had said in its latest resolution published on August 5.

War’s fiscal cost visible in GVA data

What is also discernible in the latest data is the fiscal cost of the war. This is best seen in the Gross Value Added (GVA) growth being 8.2%, greater than its GDP counterpart. GVA is GDP less net indirect taxes.

Growth in net indirect taxes fell to 3.9% in quarter ending June 2026 compared to 6% a year ago. High frequency data released by the NSO along with GDP numbers also shows a large rise in fertilizer subsidy spending in the June quarter.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-shrugs-off-oil-shock-to-post-7-8-growth-in-q1-rbi-gdp-growth-fy27-us-iran-war-west-asia-pm-modi-101788223457369.html

 

Lifestyle content creator Shenaz Treasury recently gave her followers a glimpse of the practice, revealing that an Ayurvedic doctor had prescribed it to her as part of her treatment. Sharing a video from an Ayurveda clinic, she admitted that she was surprised to find herself undergoing what she described as “medicated smoking.”

The idea of “Ayurvedic smoking” may sound surprising, especially in a world where smoking is strongly associated with tobacco and its health risks. But an ancient Ayurvedic practice known as Dhumapana involves the controlled use of smoke produced from selected medicinal substances.

Lifestyle content creator Shenaz Treasury recently gave her followers a glimpse of the practice, revealing that an Ayurvedic doctor had prescribed it to her as part of her treatment. Sharing a video from an Ayurveda clinic, she admitted that she was surprised to find herself undergoing what she described as “medicated smoking.”

“I was surprised too when the doctor prescribed an ancient Ayurvedic practice called Dhumapana, inhaling smoke from specific medicinal herbs,” she wrote.

What Is Dhumapana?

Social reformer Anna Hazare, 88, has been shifted to Bombay Hospital in Mumbai and admitted to the ICU after his health worsened during treatment at a hospital near Ralegan Siddhi. He was brought to Mumbai for specialised care following a severe viral infection and acute dehydration. Doctors are conducting a detailed evaluation while closely monitoring his condition.

Social reformer Anna Hazare has been moved to Bombay Hospital in Mumbai and is currently receiving treatment in the ICU after his health worsened during treatment at a hospital near Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra.

The 88-year-old activist was brought to Mumbai for specialised medical attention after suffering from a severe viral infection accompanied by acute dehydration. He is being treated under the care of Dr Gautam Bhansali.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/mumbai-anna-hazare-shifted-to-bombay-hospital-after-health-worsens-admitted-to-icu

Delhi’s H1N1 tally has crossed 3,000 as flu cases rise across several states. Here are simple, practical ways to protect yourself from swine flu.

Delhi’s H1N1 tally has crossed the 3,000 mark, with 3,006 cases reported so far this season, according to the latest figures. The capital recorded 199 new H1N1 cases in a single day, making it the second-highest single-day increase reported this season. Alongside H1N1, Delhi has recorded 3,843 Influenza A cases in total, highlighting the scale of the respiratory illness circulating in the city.

Meghalaya’s political equations could see a major shift ahead of the Shillong Lok Sabha bye-election, with reports suggesting nine of the 12 UDP MLAs are in talks to join the BJP. The move, linked to internal discontent over UDP chief Metbah Lyngdoh’s leadership, could boost the BJP’s strength from two to 11 MLAs and reshape the state’s coalition dynamics.

Political calculations across Meghalaya are undergoing a high-stakes recalibration as intense back-channel negotiations place the spotlight on the ruling configuration ahead of the crucial Shillong Lok Sabha bye-election. Rumors of a massive political realignment have intensified, driven by reports that as many as nine of the 12 United Democratic Party (UDP) legislators are orchestrating a switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

​The brewing mutiny stems from mounting internal friction and discontent among regional lawmakers regarding the leadership style of UDP President Metbah Lyngdoh. While senior insiders hint that closed-door discussions have advanced significantly, the UDP chief has publicly maintained complete unawareness of any impending mass defection by his party colleagues. Conversely, sources within the state BJP camp acknowledge that exploratory talks are actively underway, though a final formal pact is yet to be sealed.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/meghalaya-political-earthquake-9-udp-mlas-in-talks-to-join-bjp-ahead-of-shillong-bye-election

Four people were killed after a trailer allegedly lost control, crossed the divider and crashed into their Baleno on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida’s Jewar. The accident occurred around 10 pm Sunday as the car travelled from Mathura towards Noida. All four occupants were extricated and rushed to hospital, where doctors declared them dead. The driver is in custody.

Four people were killed after a speeding trailer allegedly lost control, broke through the divider and crashed into a car on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida’s Jewar area late Sunday night.

According to police, the accident occurred at around 10 pm on August 30 near the 36-km mark of the Yamuna Expressway under the Jewar police station limits. A Dial 112 call alerted authorities about a collision involving a trailer and a car.

Visuals of the ill-fated wrecked car have surfaced on the internet showing the severity of the crash. The vehicle can be seen completely destroyed on the driver’s side, all the way to the back.

Greater Noida DCP Ravi Shankar Neem said a Baleno carrying four people was travelling from Mathura towards Noida when it was hit by the trailer, which was travelling in the opposite direction from Noida towards Agra.

According to the DCP, the trailer broke through the median barrier on its right and entered the lane carrying traffic towards Noida before colliding with the car. The impact was reportedly severe, leaving the Baleno badly damaged and trapping its occupants inside.

The Station House Officer of Jewar reached the spot along with his team after receiving the information. Senior police officials, including the ACP Jewar, ADCP Greater Noida and DCP Neem, also reached the accident site.

Victims Trapped Inside Car After Crash

All four occupants of the car were found unconscious after the collision. Police and rescue personnel extricated them from the wreckage and rushed them to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared all four dead.

Local reports said the impact was so severe that the victims were trapped inside the mangled vehicle. Rescue teams had to work to remove parts of the damaged car to recover the occupants.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/yamuna-expressway-accident-4-killed-after-speeding-trailer-breaks-divider-crashes-into-car-in-greater-noidas-jewar-videos

A disagreement between two women at a Thane housing society over two pet dogs sitting on a common bench has sparked debate online. The dog owner said the bench was already wet due to rain and promised to clean it. The resident objected, saying people use the benches for morning yoga. Social media users remain divided over pets, hygiene and shared spaces

A disagreement between two women at a housing society in Thane, Maharashtra, has sparked a lively debate online after an argument broke out over two pet dogs sitting on a common bench.

The incident, which unfolded during the monsoon, was recorded by the dog owner and later shared on social media. The video shows her defending her pets, Bruno and Shadow, after an older woman objected to them using the benches.

‘The bench was already wet’

According to the dog owner, the benches were already wet because of the heavy rain in the area. She argued that she would clean the spot before leaving and said her dogs had been using the benches for nearly five years without anyone raising an objection.

“Maine apne dogs ko yahan pe baithaya hai and yahan pe already paani hai,” she said, explaining that the bench was already covered with rainwater.

The woman then told the older resident that she regularly cleaned the benches after her dogs used them and questioned why they were being asked to move.

The resident, however, explained that the benches were used by people in the morning, including residents who gather there for yoga. She also claimed that she had noticed the dog owner failing to clean the benches a few days earlier.

Argument escalates over common space

The discussion soon turned into a heated exchange, with both women asking each other for their names and flat numbers. The older woman eventually threatened to call security.

“Yes, call them,” the dog owner replied.

The dog owner also stressed that her pets were living beings and should not simply be treated as objects that could be moved whenever someone objected to their presence.

The post was shared with the caption, “Was It Wrong? I Do Clean That Place Daily.”

Social media divided over who was right

The video has prompted sharply divided reactions. Some users supported the pet owner, arguing that dogs are family members and should be allowed in common areas if their owners maintain cleanliness.

“Ma’am please…why create a problem when there should be none. Why so much of dissatisfaction that you would like to disrupt a peaceful, happy situation. Look for your happiness instead,” one user commented.

Another person defended the dogs more bluntly, writing, “Why though? I mean, those dogs look way more civilised and clean than that aunty. I wouldn’t mind sitting on that same bench with those dogs even during monsoon, but sitting next to aunty? Well, yeahhh… HARD PASS.”

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/log-yaha-exercise-karte-hai-woman-objects-to-pet-dogs-using-resting-benches-in-thane-society-watch

The road is significant not simply because it will connect two remote parts of Arunachal. For the Army, it could mean greater flexibility in moving vehicles, engineering equipment

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has moved towards preparing a detailed plan for a new 95.348-km road between Huri in Kurung Kumey district and Taksing in Upper Subansiri, a project that could significantly change the way India approaches one of its most sensitive frontier sectors in Arunachal Pradesh.

The BRO wants a feasibility study and detailed project report for the Huri-Taksing road, described as a new greenfield alignment to be built to NHDL specifications. A BRO document dated August 29, accessed exclusively by CNN-News18, details the 95.348-km proposed road under ‘Project Arunank’.

The road is significant not simply because it will connect two remote parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Its importance comes from where Taksing is located and from the wider network of roads that India is trying to build towards the frontier.

Taksing lies in Upper Subansiri, more than 200 km from district headquarters Daporijo and close to the India-China border. The area has long been among the most difficult parts of Arunachal Pradesh to access. Road connectivity reached Taksing only in recent years, and even today, the existing approach remains difficult.

The existing road between Nacho and Taksing is narrow and in poor condition, with locals saying that in some stretches, even two vehicles cannot pass each other. That also creates difficulties for Army movement. This makes the proposed Huri-Taksing alignment particularly important.

As a “new alignment” and a Greenfield road, it would provide another approach to Taksing from the Huri side, creating an additional road axis into the frontier area.

Taksing is a forward settlement in Upper Subansiri, in an area abutting the Tibet region of China. The settlement and surrounding areas are close to the Line of Actual Control.

A dependable road determines how quickly troops can move, how much equipment can be transported, how frequently supplies can be replenished and how quickly engineering and medical support can reach forward locations.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/new-huri-taksing-road-to-give-india-second-strategic-axis-to-a-frontier-just-kms-from-lac-exclusive-ws-l-10301165.html

 

A UP woman constable suffered a head injury in a scooter accident on August 22 and sought leave for further treatment. Her husband alleged that two constables failed to forward her leave application, preventing her from taking leave to seek medical treatment. She later died, prompting an inquiry.

Two Uttar Pradesh Police personnel have been suspended in connection with the death of a 28-year-old woman constable who was posted at Lalganj police station, an officer said on Sunday. The action came as police began an inquiry into allegations linked to her request for leave after she suffered a head injury in a scooter accident.

The constable, Kesari Verma, had suffered the injury on August 22 and wanted leave for further treatment. Her husband, fellow constable Nagendra Verma, alleged that she handed her leave application to constables Abbas Ali and Deepak Mishra, but they did not forward it to a senior officer, which meant she could not go on leave for further medical care.

Nagendra Verma alleged that because the leave application was not forwarded, his wife was unable to take leave for treatment and later died. Police said the allegation is being investigated by the Circle Officer of Harraiya.

According to Kesari’s brother, Amarjeet Verma, the 2018-batch constable was on her way to join duty from her home in Pratapgarh district when the scooter she was travelling on with him lost balance. She suffered a serious injury to the back of her head and was taken to a hospital, where she received stitches and underwent a CT scan.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/up-police-woman-constable-death-two-suspended-over-leave-application-probe-ptag-2983277-2026-08-31

Owaisi questioned the Sangh Parivar’s repeated references to Babur, urging its supporters to reconsider invoking the Mughal emperor after Uzbekistan, his place of origin, honoured PM Modi.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday turned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest foreign honour in Uzbekistan into a political taunt against the BJP, saying the honour came from the country from which Mughal emperor Babur originated. He asked how the BJP and the Sangh Parivar could now invoke Babur’s name to target the Opposition after the country of his birth honoured the Prime Minister.

Reacting to PM Modi being conferred the Order of ‘Oliy Darajali Dustlik’, Uzbekistan’s highest state award, the Hyderabad MP said, “I congratulate the BJP; the very country from which Babur came to India has conferred an award upon the Prime Minister.”

Owaisi noted that Babur belonged to the Fergana Valley in present-day Uzbekistan and said it has become routine for Prime Minister Modi to receive honours during his foreign visits.

“Wherever the Prime Minister goes these days, he returns with an award. Congratulations,” Owaisi said.

The AIMIM chief also took aim at the BJP and the broader Sangh Parivar over references to Babur in political discourse. “You used to shower so many insults in Babur’s name, yet the people of that very country are now honouring you with an award,” the MP added.

Owaisi said the development should prompt introspection within the RSS and its supporters.

“The Sangh needs to reflect on this. You used to abuse us, invoking Babur. And now you have been given a civilian award from the very place where Babur came from. We hope that people of the Sangh Parivar and those who support the RSS will no longer take Babur’s name in this manner, because the Fergana Valley is there, in Uzbekistan. Now what will they say? he asked.

PM Modi was conferred with Uzbekistan’s highest honour for foreign leaders on Sunday, the ‘Oliy Darajali Do’stlik’ Order, during his visit to the Central Asian country. The honour recognises his contribution to strengthening the strategic partnership and friendship between India and Uzbekistan.

“Honoured to receive the Oliy Darajali Do’stlik Order. I dedicate this to the enduring bond between India and Uzbekistan,” Modi said in a social media post.

The Uzbek honour adds to a long list of top state and civilian awards conferred on Prime Minister Modi by nearly three dozen countries, recognising his leadership and contribution to strengthening bilateral ties.

In July, Indonesia conferred its highest civilian award, the ‘Bintang Adipurna’ of the Republic of Indonesia, on pm Modi for his contribution to strengthening ties between the two countries.

In June, Seychelles awarded the PM its highest national honour, the ‘Guardian of the Blue Horizon’, in recognition of his leadership in environmental conservation and sustainable development.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/asaduddin-owaisi-reactc-pm-modi-uzbekistan-award-babur-sangh-parivar-bjp-2983295-2026-08-31

An FIR was lodged against Rahul Gandhi based on the complaint submitted by Amit Kumar, a member of the Scheduled Caste community.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on Sunday against leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at Haldwani Kotwali police station in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district over his alleged remarks on a “purification ritual” conducted at the local Ramlila Ground.

Superintendent of Police (City) Haldwani Manoj Kumar Katyal confirmed the development, saying, “Based on the complaint submitted by Amit Kumar, a Jawahar Nagar Colony resident, an FIR has been registered against Rahul Gandhi under relevant sections, and a thorough investigation into the matter is currently underway.”

Complainant from SC community

Kumar (26) identified himself as a member of the Scheduled Caste (Valmiki) community and an office-bearer of the local trust, Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/fir-against-rahul-gandhi-for-calling-haldwani-purification-ritual-untouchability-101788137984279.html

 

The project is part of a wider capital expenditure plan covering healthcare, education, roads, power, housing, and industrial infrastructure, the government said.

The Assam Cabinet has approved a Rs 600-crore Proton Beam Therapy facility as the state government steps up investments in healthcare and other key infrastructure sectors.

The project is part of a wider capital expenditure plan covering healthcare, education, roads, power, housing, and industrial infrastructure, the government said.

Funding for the projects will come from the state’s own resources, borrowings from NABARD, and different schemes of the Central government.

In the health sector, the government plans to improve primary healthcare facilities and expand access to advanced treatment. The proposed Proton Beam Therapy centre is expected to add a specialised cancer treatment facility to the state.

The Cabinet has also cleared infrastructure-related proposals for schools and anganwadi centres.

Road connectivity and the power sector are other areas where fresh investments have been planned. Proposals have also been made for facilities aimed at women, including women-only markets and hostels.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/assam-government-approves-proton-beam-cancer-therapy-facility-11979399?pfrom=home-ndtvworld_icymi

Kolkata Police filed a suo motu FIR against Mamata Banerjee and TMC student wing rally organisers over alleged violation of Calcutta High Court directions. The court had allowed the August 28 rally on Cathedral Road but ordered one road flank to remain open. Police said the condition was not followed and the role of those involved will be examined.

FIR lodged against former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over alleged violation of Calcutta High Court’s order on Trinamool Congress (TMC) students’ wing rally on August 28.

Case Registered At Hastings Police Station

The Kolkata Police has filed a suo motu case against Mamata and the organizers of the programme at the Hastings Police Station.

The Calcutta High Court had given the nod to Mamata to hold a rally on the foundation day of TMC student wing’s foundation day on August 28 on Cathedral Road in Kolkata, but had directed that one flank must be kept open.

Police Allege Court Direction Was Not Followed

Hours before her delivery, a video of Mishra pleading with her family to take her away from the hospital surfaced on social media.

A 25-year-old woman and her newborn child died at a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, prompting protests by her family and an inquiry into alleged medical negligence.

Kalpana Mishra, a resident of Hatwa village, was admitted to Gandhi Memorial Hospital on August 26 for delivery. She reportedly underwent a C-section at around 8:30 pm, but she and her newborn died later that night at 11:55 p.m.

Hours before her delivery, a video of Mishra pleading with her family to take her away from the hospital surfaced on social media. She was heard expressing fear about continuing treatment at the facility. “If this kind of treatment continues, these people will kill me,” Kalpana is heard telling her mother in a video recorded shortly before her death. “I won’t survive. Please save me, my life is in danger,” she pleaded again.

According to medical records, Mishra had a platelet count of around 30,000 per microlitre, severely high blood pressure and elevated liver enzymes. Doctors diagnosed her with a term pregnancy complicated by severe disorders and initiated treatment.

Woman’s Family Alleges Medical Negligence 

Her family, however, alleged negligence and misbehaviour by hospital staff and demanded a criminal case against those responsible. Following the allegations, Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Rajendra Shukla ordered an inquiry.

A preliminary probe led to the suspension of duty doctor Dr Sonal Agrawal from the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department and anaesthetist Dr Nidhi Pandey. Two nurses were also suspended following complaints of misbehaviour with the family.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/theyll-kill-me-woman-newborn-die-at-hospital-video-shows-her-pleading-for-help-before-delivery-ws-l-10299775.html

The CPI(M) accused the VHP of dictating how Durga Puja should be observed in West Bengal. Mohammed Salim said the push over rituals and food reflects a wider politics of diversion and control.

The CPI(M) on Saturday criticised the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, accusing it of trying to decide how Durga Puja should be celebrated in West Bengal and of hurting the festival’s spirit. The attack came days after the VHP objected to some earlier Durga Puja themes in the state, saying idols of the goddess had been “distorted”, and urged organisers to follow traditional rituals and ban non-vegetarian food inside pandals.

Addressing reporters on the first day of a two-day extended meeting of the CPI(M)’s West Bengal state committee in Kalyani, state secretary Mohammed Salim also widened his criticism to the BJP government.

He alleged that the party had turned to “religious purification” instead of delivering on promises of jobs, better education, industry and action against corruption.

“The VHP has taken upon itself the authority to decide how Bengalis would celebrate Durga Puja. They are now saying non-vegetarian food will not be allowed in the vicinity of puja pandals,” Salim said. He alleged that the VHP was trying to destroy the festive spirit of Durga Puja.

Salim also accused the BJP government of throttling democracy and freedom of speech, attacking opposition parties and creating a toxic atmosphere around religious issues. “It is for the people of Bengal to decide whether they elected the party for jobs, industries, education, stopping corruption or for this,” he said.

He alleged that the government was targeting poorer sections of society. “They have declared a war against hawkers, footpath dwellers and the homeless,” Salim said, adding that they were facing hardship because of the government’s actions.

The BJP administration has launched anti-encroachment drives across the state to clear pavements of hawkers. Agnimitra Paul recently faced criticism over her rebuke of a homeless woman heating milk on a Park Street footpath, and Suvendu Adhikari later met the woman at his weekly Janata Darbar and assured her of assistance.

Salim said the BJP had come to power promising jobs, industrialisation, filling all vacant posts and ensuring a free and fair recruitment process, but alleged that little had been done in the past three months.

Drawing a parallel with the previous Mamata Banerjee government, he said, “We had seen similar attempts by the previous dispensation.”

He alleged that the earlier government dictated which newspapers, magazines and books would be taken by government libraries.

He also alleged that educational institutions such as Jadavpur University were being targeted. “Attacks are being perpetrated on anything related to intelligent thinking,” he said.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/durga-puja-row-cpim-slams-vhp-over-bengal-festival-curbs-ptag-2982556-2026-08-29

The Special NIA Court in Mumbai rejected the agency’s plea to cancel bail granted to four Elgar Parishad accused, saying their mere presence at a Press Club gathering did not establish a violation of bail conditions or Maoist-linked activity.

A Special NIA Court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) applications seeking cancellation of bail granted to activists P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad case, holding that the agency had failed to produce sufficient evidence to establish a violation of their bail conditions.

The Elgar Parishad case dates back to 2018 and involves allegations that activists and others were linked to the banned CPI (Maoist) and were involved in activities described by the prosecution as part of an “Urban Naxal” network. The accused have been facing these allegations since the case came to light, though trial in the case is yet to begin.

The latest dispute arose over a gathering held at the terrace of the Mumbai Press Club on January 19, 2026. The NIA alleged that the four activists attended the meeting in violation of their bail conditions.

WHY DID NIA SEEK BAIL CANCELLATION?

The agency claimed that the gathering was intended to propagate the ideology of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) and discuss the future course of the “Urban Naxal” movement.

The NIA alleged that the presence of the four activists at the gathering breached a bail condition prohibiting them from contacting or communicating with co-accused or people involved in similar activities. It also sought their immediate arrest.

The four activists, however, told the court that the meeting had been called by former journalists and social activists and that they had not organised it.

They submitted that discussions at the gathering included prison life, the future course of action of co-accused Gautam Navlakha after his move to Delhi, how the case against another co-accused, Surendra Gadling, would proceed, his prospects of release and his prevailing health condition in prison.

The activists said they had not invited any other accused and did not know that other co-accused had been invited to the gathering. They also denied attempting to contact or communicate with any co-accused or anyone involved in similar activities.

WHAT DID THE COURT SAY?

Special Judge Chakor S. Baviskar, after hearing the matter, held that cancellation of bail requires “very cogent and overwhelming circumstances”. The court said such action is warranted in cases involving supervening circumstances, such as interference with the administration of justice, abuse of bail or a likelihood of absconding.

The court also examined CCTV footage of the gathering submitted by the NIA. However, it noted that the footage had no audio and therefore could not establish what conversations took place.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/elgar-parishad-case-nia-plea-to-cancel-four-activists-bail-rejected-2982729-2026-08-29

 

A Shiv Sena leader said ‘humour should be taken as humor’, while a BJP MLA slammed Raina, saying Kashmiri Pandits cannot be treated as subjects of ridicule.

Samay Raina is again in controversy over his India’s Got Latent show after a Kashmiri-Bihari banter with comedian Sharon Verma in the latest episode of show’s second season. The banter kicked up a row as several politicians called him out over the remarks.

While Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam said ‘humour should be taken as humor’, Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam slammed Raina, saying Kashmiri Pandits cannot be treated as subjects of ridicule.

The controversy erupted over the duo’s conversation during the show after Raina said, “You know, Sharon Verma is a Bihari who came to Mumbai in search of a job. Just Bihari things.” To this, Verma replied, “At least I left my state by my choice.” For context, Verma is from Bihar, and Raina is a Kashmiri Pandit.

The fresh row of Raina’s show also prompted comments from political leaders from J&K as well.

Here is what the J&K leaders said:

Two days after Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a Congress rally in Haldwani, members of the Shri Ram Sena reportedly conducted a “shuddhikaran” havan at the venue.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi order an FIR against those involved in the “shuddikaran” or purification of the Ramlila ground in Haldwani after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, addressed a public meeting there.

Calling it a fight between two ideologies — the Constitution versus the RSS-BJP’s views — Gandhi said his party president must get justice and urged the government to take action under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“Our demand is an FIR should be lodged at the earliest against those who performed Shuddikaran. The Prime Minister said he belongs to all castes. His party chief in Uttarakhand claimed Shuddikaran was the right thing to do. We want the PM to give order to file an FIR under the SC/ST act. This show the BJP and RSS’ mindset. They don’t want a Dalit to become prosperous and live respectfully. We are not asking for anything impossible. According to the Constitution this is a crime. We are seeking justice for the Congress president. We are not asking anything more. It is a duty of the state government and the national government to ensure that Kharge ji gets justice in Uttarakhand,” Gandhi said at a press conference on Saturday.

Playing a video that showed the BJP’s Uttarakhand chief supporting Shuddikaran, Gandhi said, “It is a reflection of PM’s ideology that he is not saying anything. BJP’s Uttarakhand chief has committed an illegal act by justifying the act. But the PM is silent.”

Congress president had raised the issue of purification at the Congress Working Committee meeting on August 19 and had lamented that some party leaders didn’t take up the issue.

Gandhi, in the press conference, raised the larger question of atrocities and violence faced by Dalits in India, pointing out how Dalit students are made to clean toilets in schools, barred from drinking water from the village well or in tea shops, given different cups and forced to wear helmets to protect themselves from stone pelting during wedding processions. He alleged that a shuddikaran followed after Union minister Jitin Ram Majhi visited a temple.

“This is done by the BJP and RSS and this is a crime according to the Constitution. Shuddikaran is another name for untouchability. Which is illegal but BJP practises it,” Gandhi said.

The Leader of the Opposition further pointed out that Kharge addressed a rally on August 8. The Shuddikaran took place on August 10 by BJP-RSS workers. “20 days have passed but no case has been filed under the SC/ ST act. No action has been taken,” he said.

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act came into force in 1995 to prevent atrocities and violence against the vulnerable sections. It has been amended to impose stricter punishment.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rahul-gandhi-demands-fir-under-sc-st-act-over-purification-ritual-after-kharge-s-haldwani-speech-pm-modi-delhi-101787988264436.html

The food safety regulator submitted a six-page compliance affidavit to the Supreme Court outlining a clear, high-visibility labelling framework

Following sharp criticism from the Supreme Court over prolonged regulatory delays, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed mandatory front-of-pack (FoP) warning labels for packaged foods containing excessive added sugar, saturated fat, and salt.

The food safety regulator submitted a six-page compliance affidavit to the apex court outlining a clear, high-visibility labelling framework. Under the proposal, packaged products exceeding nutrient thresholds set by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) will be required to feature prominent red hexagonal warning labels.

Red Hexagons to Flag Unhealthy Nutrient Levels

To ensure high readability and eliminate consumer confusion, the FSSAI specified that the front-of-pack warnings must be printed in a bold red hexagonal shape. The font size of the text inside the symbol must be at least one point larger than the font used in the nutrition information table on the back of the package.

The labels will feature clear, direct warnings based on the product’s composition:

• High Fat, High Sugar, or High Salt: Explicit declarations identifying specific nutrients that exceed safe dietary thresholds.
• Combined Warnings: Products surpassing limits for multiple ingredients will feature joint labels, such as “HIGH FAT HIGH SUGAR” or “HIGH FAT HIGH SALT.”
• Sweetened Drinks: A distinct “HIGHLY SWEETENED BEVERAGE” label will be mandated for sugary drinks.

Single-ingredient foods and items inherently rich in specific nutrients—such as milk, ghee, edible oils, sugar, jaggery, and honey—will be exempted from the warning system.

Phased Rollout and Judicial Pressure

The regulatory shift comes shortly after a Supreme Court bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala severely reprimanded the FSSAI for failing to enforce interpretive warning labels and delaying public health protections. The court rejected complex numerical tables, emphasizing that visual warning symbols are crucial for enabling ordinary consumers and children to make informed nutritional choices.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/high-sugar-high-salt-high-fat-fssai-proposes-bold-red-hexagon-warnings-on-front-of-food-packs-ws-lt-10298988.html

IIT Delhi’s student death highlights the urgent need for accessible mental health support, academic flexibility, effective grievance systems and campus welfare safeguards.

The death of 31-year-old MSc Physics student Rishikesh Kumar at IIT Delhi has sparked protests and renewed attention on student mental health, academic pressure and campus welfare systems. More than 500 students have reportedly demanded an independent inquiry, accountability and stronger safeguards for student well-being.

The institute has since outlined the academic, mental-health and grievance-redressal mechanisms available to students. The developments have also brought a larger question into focus: are campus mental health support systems sufficiently accessible, responsive and effective when students face emotional, academic or personal difficulties?

Delhi CNG prices have risen by Rs 3.89 per kg amid surging global LNG costs. Congress called PM Modi ‘Inflation Man’, saying CNG prices have nearly doubled over six years.

CNG prices in Delhi have gone up by Rs 3.89 per kg, with the new rate of Rs 86.98 per kg coming into effect from 6 am on Saturday, August 29. The hike has drawn a sharp political reaction from the Congress, which accused the Modi government of adding to the burden on consumers.

Taking aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress in a post on X said, “‘Inflation Man’ Modi’s stick has struck again – CNG has become Rs 3.89 more expensive. Over the past 6 years, CNG prices have risen by nearly 99%, meaning they’ve doubled.”

The post highlighted that the CNG price in August 2020 was at Rs 43.80, whereas in August 2026 it has reached Rs 86.98, almost doubling in six years.

“‘Inflation Man’ Modi has made CNG nearly Rs 43 more expensive in 6 years,” the post said.

‘महंगाई मैन’ मोदी का हंटर फिर चला है – CNG 3.89 रुपए महंगी हो गई।

पिछले 6 साल में CNG के दाम करीब 99% बढ़े हैं, मतलब दाम डबल हो गए।

• अगस्त 2020: 43.80 रुपए
• अगस्त 2026: 86.98 रुपए

‘महंगाई मैन’ मोदी ने 6 साल में CNG करीब ’43 रुपए’ महंगी कर दी।

और अभी कहर जारी है…

— Congress (@INCIndia) August 29, 2026

The Congress’s attack came hours after Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) announced the price revision late Friday night.

 

Muskan Sharma, a 21-year-old social media creator, was murdered in Delhi after trying to distance herself from Imran, a gym trainer with a troubling past.

Twenty-one-year-old Muskan Sharma was allegedly trying to distance herself from Imran after learning about his alleged drug use and criminal background, police said. Her decision to step away from him, investigators believe, may have been linked to the events that led to her murder in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar.

Muskan, who was building a presence on social media, was allegedly killed by Imran, a gym trainer, after she decided to stay away from him. According to police, Imran could not accept her decision and allegedly went to her house, where he stabbed her multiple times.

After the alleged murder, Imran reportedly took Muskan’s iPhone with him. Investigators suspect that he wanted to remove or destroy digital evidence connected to the crime, according to Times Now sources.

Police said Imran allegedly tried to delete data from the phone but was unsuccessful. He later dumped the iPhone near a drain in West Delhi, where it was recovered by the police and then led police to Imran.

Mumbai is set for a busy pre-Ganeshotsav Saturday, with nearly 30-40 prominent Ganesh idols scheduled to arrive across the city. Chinchpokli Cha Chintamani’s procession will begin from Parel at noon, with thousands of devotees expected. Security has been heightened across Lalbaug-Parel, with around 800-1,000 personnel expected alongside RAF, CRPF teams to manage crowds and maintain law and order.

Mumbai is set to witness one of the busiest pre-Ganeshotsav days on Saturday, with nearly 30-40 prominent Ganesh idols scheduled to arrive across the city. The grand aagman processions are expected to draw thousands of devotees, with the Lalbaug-Parel belt witnessing heightened security arrangements.

Among the major idols arriving today is Chinchpokli Cha Chintamani, whose procession will begin from the Parel Central Railway Workshop Ground at noon. The idol will then be taken through Lalbaug in a grand procession before reaching its mandap late at night.

List Of All Ganesh Aagman Processions Today

Several other prominent Ganesh idols are also scheduled to arrive across Mumbai, including Parel Cha Raja, Parel Cha Maharaja, Fort Cha Laadka, Sakinaka Cha Maharaja and Andheri Cha Maharaja, along with around 25-30 other major idols.

With massive crowds expected, the Mumbai Police have intensified security across the Lalbaug-Parel area. The area has been turned into a virtual fortress ahead of Chintamani’s arrival procession.

800-1,000 Police Personnel Expected

Security arrangements around the Kalachowki signal area have been strengthened since Friday, with a large number of police vehicles and personnel deployed in the vicinity. Around 800 to 1,000 police personnel are expected to be deployed during the arrival procession.

The deployment has been stepped up in view of the recent tension in Parel and the possibility of large crowds gathering along the procession route. Personnel from the Mumbai Police, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will also be deployed to maintain law and order and manage the crowds.

Thousands of devotees are expected to line the route to catch a glimpse of Chinchpokli Cha Chintamani. Police are therefore maintaining special vigilance to prevent any untoward incident and ensure the smooth movement of devotees and vehicles.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/chinchpokli-cha-chintamani-to-parel-cha-raja-mumbai-to-witness-grand-ganesh-aagman-processions-today-lalbaug-turns-into-fortress-mumbai-news

A private tutor was arrested in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Friday for allegedly raping and impregnating a Class 9 student of a residential school during her stay at home on summer vacation, police said.

A private tutor was arrested in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Friday for allegedly raping and impregnating a Class 9 student of a residential school during her stay at home on summer vacation, police said.

A routine medical examination at the school earlier this week revealed that the girl was five months pregnant, following which her parents were informed of the matter, they said.

The investigating officer in the case said the parents spoke to the girl, who then opened up about the alleged sexual assault and threat she faced during the summer vacation.

The local authorities had announced summer vacation in schools of the area in March itself in view of the hot and humid weather at that time.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/class-9-odisha-student-found-pregnant-during-health-check-up-tutor-arrested-11973379?pfrom=home-ndtvworld_icymi

Recent cases point to an organised operation linked by three common threads: online entrapment, honeytrapping, or information related to India’s defence assets

The arrest of a young couple in Delhi on Friday has put the spotlight back on espionage rackets run by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in India.

A close study of such recent cases points to an organised and meticulously planned operation tied together by at least three common threads—online entrapment, honeytrapping, and scouting for information related to India’s defence assets and infrastructure, according to officials privy to the developments.

HT has accessed details of the aid, funds and other assistance being mobilised for disaster-hit Nepal.

India has rushed 62 tonnes of emergency aid to Nepal since deadly flash floods struck on Wednesday, emerging as the first major country to physically deliver humanitarian assistance to the Himalayan nation.

HT reported on Friday that India was the first country to physically deliver aid to Nepal after the disaster. The prompt response reinforces India’s “first responder” tag, reflecting its growing record of delivering aid and assistance to disaster-hit countries, from Türkiye and Syria to Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Venezuela.

Third flight with assistance from India reaches Kathmandu.

Relief supplies and an 11-member medical and tunnel rescue team are now on the ground.

🇮🇳🇳🇵 pic.twitter.com/7VAGVLKvdg

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 28, 2026

By Friday evening, India had sent 62 tonnes of aid in three airlifts, while several other countries and international organisations—including the United States and China—were still mobilising assistance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah within hours of the disaster, conveyed his condolences and said India was ready to provide all possible humanitarian assistance. He also said Indian teams were coordinating closely on rescue and relief efforts.

Other countries and international organisations have also pledged or begun providing assistance to Nepal. HT has accessed details of how governments and global organisations are rallying around the disaster-hit country.

Nepal: The Nepali government has said it can mobilise up to $229 million for disaster relief. The figure includes resources from the Prime Minister’s Natural Disaster Relief Fund and the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, along with up to $164 million in emergency assistance that the World Bank has indicated could be mobilised.

India: India has sent 62 tonnes of emergency relief supplies in three airlifts. The first, an IAF C-130J aircraft, carried 10 tonnes of temporary shelters, blankets, hygiene kits, solar lamps and medicines. The second, a C-17 aircraft, carried 37.5 tonnes comprising 28.5 tonnes of relief items such as tents, blankets, hygiene kits, solar lamps, dewatering pumps, kitchen sets and generator sets; eight tonnes of medicines; and one tonne of food items. A third flight carrying another 10 tonnes of humanitarian assistance left for Kathmandu on Friday.

 

Police have stepped up the probe into the killing of Shamli singer and YouTuber Ankit Baliyan after a high-level review meeting. The case has sparked anger among his family and local residents as officers say arrests may come soon.

Uttar Pradesh police have intensified their investigation into the murder of Shamli-based Haryanvi singer and YouTuber Ankit Baliyan, with Meerut Zone ADG Bhanu Bhaskar holding a high-level review meeting with senior officers in Shamli.

The ADG held a nearly two-hour meeting with DIG Saharanpur Abhishek Singh and police officials from Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Shamli. The meeting reviewed the progress of the investigation, efforts to trace the accused and action being taken by various police teams.

Bhanu Bhaskar said eight police teams have been formed to crack the murder case and are investigating different angles. Several teams are conducting raids in Haryana and searching for suspects.

The ADG said the police were close to reaching the accused and had also made significant progress in tracing the weapons allegedly used in the murder. He expressed confidence that the accused would be arrested soon and the entire case would be solved.

“Eight teams have been formed to solve the Ankit Baliyan murder case. Teams are also conducting raids in Haryana. The police are very close to tracing the weapons. The accused will soon be arrested and the entire case will be solved,” Bhanu Bhaskar said.

The murder has triggered anger among Ankit Baliyan’s family members and local residents, with attention now focused on the police investigation and the expected breakthrough in the case.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/uttar-pradesh/story/ankit-baliyan-murder-case-shamli-police-form-8-teams-raid-haryana-for-suspects-2982228-2026-08-29

Uttar Pradesh has asked hospitals to stay on alert and keep isolation wards ready amid swine flu concerns. The move comes as Delhi reports over 2,600 H1N1 cases and reviews hospital preparedness.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed all hospitals across the state to remain on alert amid concerns over swine flu and ensure continuous monitoring of the situation.

The Chief Minister instructed district magistrates and health department officials to maintain special vigilance in their respective districts and regularly review healthcare arrangements. Hospitals have also been directed to keep isolation wards ready and ensure adequate stocks of medicines and testing kits.

Officials have been asked to conduct regular reviews of swine flu cases and ensure that there is no lapse in preparedness or patient care. Any significant change in the situation must be reported to the state government immediately.

The directions aim to ensure timely detection, treatment and containment of any potential rise in swine flu cases across Uttar Pradesh.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/uttar-pradesh/story/swine-flu-uttar-pradesh-cm-puts-hospitals-on-alert-delhi-cases-rise-2982220-2026-08-29

A Delhi-bound passenger bus overturned near Bhadrakali bend in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand killing two scooter riders. Eleven injured passengers are being treated, police and medical teams continue rescue operations.

Two people riding a scooter were killed after a passenger bus lost control and overturned near the Bhadrakali bend in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district on Friday. Eleven bus passengers were injured and are undergoing treatment at SPS Hospital.

BUS EN ROUTE TO DELHI OVERTURNS

The bus, bearing an Rajasthan registration number, was heading to Delhi when it lost control on a slope near the Bhadrakali bend, Rishikesh and overturned.

There were around 60 passengers on board. While the passengers sustained minor injuries in the accident, the two scooter riders travelling along the roadside were struck by the bus and became trapped beneath it.

Both scooter riders suffered critical injuries and were rescued by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). They were taken to hospital by ambulance, where they died.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/uttarakhand-bus-overturns-tehri-two-scooter-riders-killed-11-injured-2982196-2026-08-28

 

Jharkhand CID has arrested four successful JSSC-CGL candidates in its exam irregularities probe. The action intensifies scrutiny of the stalled recruitment process amid the High Court stay.

The Jharkhand Police’s Criminal Investigation Department on Friday arrested four successful candidates of the JSSC-CGL examination held in 2024 as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment test. The arrests were made by a Special Investigation Team of the Jharkhand CID investigating the alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination-2023 conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.

The development comes amid continuing scrutiny of the recruitment process. The Jharkhand government had earlier announced the cancellation of several recruitment tests, including the JSSC-CGL-2023 conducted on September 21 and 22, 2024, following protests by job aspirants over the alleged irregularities.

However, the Jharkhand High Court later stayed the government’s decision to cancel certain exams, including the JSSC-CGL-2023, on a plea by successful candidates who feared losing their jobs.

In a statement on Friday, the CID said, “In connection with alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination-2023 conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, four successful candidates of the JSSC-CGL examination have been arrested.”

The four have been identified as Deepak Kumar, Vijay Kumar Tiwari and Anand Kumar Singh, all residents of Dhanbad district, and Umesh Kumar Rai, who is currently staying in Bokaro.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jssc-cgl-exam-irregularities-jharkhand-cid-arrests-four-successful-candidates-ptag-2982130-2026-08-28

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered tighter monitoring of 13 sensitive glacial lakes in Uttarakhand. The move aims to strengthen early warnings, evacuation planning and disaster readiness in vulnerable hill areas.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday directed officials to step up monitoring and safety measures for glacial lakes in the state after 13 of them were identified as sensitive. He said the lakes could pose potential risks in hilly areas and asked for regular and scientific monitoring.

According to instructions issued to State Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman, the chief minister also called for the installation of state-of-the-art early warning systems in sensitive areas and for their numbers to be increased wherever needed. He said a comprehensive survey and scientific study of the sensitive glacial lakes should be carried out across the state.

Dhami said the process should include regular assessment of the lakes’ condition, water levels, changes in size, the condition of the surrounding terrain and potential risk zones. He also stressed the need for modern sensors, water-level measuring instruments, communication systems and other technical resources so that timely warnings can be issued to affected areas if there is a threat.

The chief minister further directed officials to identify sensitive areas and strengthen safe evacuation routes, communication networks, local warning systems, and relief and rescue preparedness for disaster situations. Following his directions, Vinay Ruhela, Vice-Chairman of the Disaster Management Department’s State Advisory Committee, and Lt Col (Retd.) Raghuvir Singh Bhandari held a meeting with all district magistrates.

The meeting reviewed preparedness to deal with possible disasters in Uttarakhand, especially in view of the recent floods in Nepal. District magistrates were told to ensure regular monitoring of potential risk zones in their districts and immediately report any unusual activity to higher authorities.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/uttarakhand-glacial-cm-lakes-dhami-orders-monitoring-alerts-13-sensitive-sites-ptag-2981537-2026-08-27

Uttar Pradesh has sounded a high alert in border districts and sent rescue teams to Nepal after deadly flash floods. The move comes as river levels rise, Indian tourists remain missing and vulnerable villages are being warned.

The administration has sounded a high alert in Maharajganj and Kushinagar districts of Uttar Pradesh and stepped up monitoring of the Gandak and other water bodies downstream of rivers in Nepal, following devastating flash floods in the neighbouring country that have killed at least 177 people and left thousands missing.

The administration in UP, which shares its northern borders with Nepal, is focusing on river monitoring, alerting vulnerable villages and keeping relief-and-rescue teams ready.

The UP government has deployed a 32-member SDRF platoon and 22 PAC personnel to Nepal for rescue and relief operations following directions from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, an official statement said.

Four rubber boats are available and an aluminium boat is also being sent with an additional SDRF platoon. The relief commissioner’s control room is monitoring border districts, while families of stranded UP residents can contact the 1070 helpline, it said.

The Nepal floods were triggered after an ice-rock landslide blocked a river near the country’s border with China. The floods have affected several districts and left at least 826 people missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management authorities.

Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has said nearly 300 Indian tourists are among those reported missing.

The flash floods have caused extensive damage to bridges and roads, with several major highways blocked.

In Maharajganj, District Magistrate Gaurav Singh Sogarwal and Superintendent of Police Shakti Mohan Avasthy inspected the Narayani river and adjoining areas and reviewed flood preparedness.

They also boarded an SDRF boat near the tail fall to assess rescue arrangements. Sogarwal directed revenue, police, SSB and SDRF personnel to continuously monitor the river and remain ready for relief and rescue operations. He appealed to residents to stay away from the river and low-lying areas.

In neighbouring Kushinagar, the administration has stepped up preparations amid rising water levels of the Gandak, known locally as Narayani.

District Magistrate Mahendra Singh Tanwar, accompanied by Superintendent of Police Keshav Kumar, inspected vulnerable riverside villages and the Valmikinagar barrage and urged residents to remain alert and stay away from the river and low-lying areas.

In Balrampur, a condolence meeting was held at the Samajwadi Party (SP) office to pay tribute to those killed in the Nepal disaster. Gaisri MLA Rakesh Yadav, whose constituency borders Nepal, announced that the SP would send relief material, including medicines, medical equipment, food packets, tents, tarpaulins and drinking water, to flood-affected areas in Nepal.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Gonda’s BJP MP Kirti Vardhan Singh expressed grief over the deaths and disappearance of Indian tourists in Nepal, saying the Indian government is assisting in relief-and-rescue operations.

He said the NDRF has reached Nepal and is searching for missing people with modern equipment and technology.

Singh said water levels and weather conditions are being monitored in border districts, including Lakhimpur Kheri, Gonda, Bahraich and Maharajganj, with a system to receive advance information about water released from Nepal.

In Ballia, two residents of Rasra town — 54-year-old Usha Devi and her 18-year-old son Rahul — have been reported missing after the Trishuli river flood in Nepal. They were reportedly at their family’s shop when the flooding occurred on August 26. Ballia DM Mangla Prasad Singh said he was seeking information about the matter.

According to the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) Daily Water Level and Forecast Bulletin dated August 27, the Rapti was rising at Madhwapur in Bihar, where the water level stood at 124.54 metres at 8 am.

It was also rising at Sarju (Babai) in Gaighat and several stations on the Kwano and Sarda rivers. The Rapti recorded 40 mm of rainfall at Bhinga, 36.4 mm at Madhwapur and 43.6 mm at Balrampur during the 24-hour period ending at 8:30 am on Thursday.

The bulletin also showed that the Sarda at Uttarakhand’s Banbasa received 67 mm of rainfall and stood at 217.6 metres at 8 am, while the Sarda at Kabir Ganj in UP’s Pilibhit was rising at 163.23 metres.

The CWC said the Ghagra at Turtipar in Ballia was above its warning level, at 64.06 metres against 63.01 metres, though the level was falling.

The administration is particularly monitoring villages in sandy areas across the river, where people and livestock live close to the river.

Arrangements are being made to move people to safer locations if the water level rises sharply.

The Valmikinagar barrage in Bihar has been under close watch, with all 36 gates opened. The discharge rose from about 1.04 lakh cusecs at 8 pm to 1.36 lakh cusecs at 9:30 pm and 1.42 lakh cusecs at 10 pm, according to the district administration.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/uttar-pradesh/story/nepal-floods-up-high-alert-maharajganj-kushinagar-gandak-levels-rise-2981609-2026-08-28

Modi’s visit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan includes the SCO Summit and key meetings with world leaders, focusing on India-Russia relations and regional security.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday begin a four-day visit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, where he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit and hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Modi will visit Uzbekistan from August 29 to 30 at President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s invitation before travelling to Bishkek on August 31 for the SCO Summit.

The meeting with Putin will be among several bilateral engagements Modi will hold on the margins of the summit, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. Details of other meetings will be announced once they are finalised.

“A meeting is scheduled between both the leaders of India and Russia on the sidelines of the summit,” secretary (West) Sibi George said at a media briefing. George said the two leaders were expected to review the entire gamut of the India-Russia relationship.

Earlier this week, external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow, where he met Putin and co-chaired the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation meeting.

The SCO Summit, which will mark 25 years of the grouping, is expected to focus on the evolving security scenario in the region, the ministry said. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are among the leaders expected to attend the summit.

During his address at the summit, Modi will highlight India’s priorities such as security, connectivity and opportunity, the ministry said.

The SCO was established with the primary goal of countering terror, separatism and extremism, which remain a challenge, Sibi George, secretary (West) in the ministry, told a media briefing. India became a full member of the grouping in 2017.

During the visit to Kyrgyzstan, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to attend the opening of the sixth World Nomad Games, which celebrate the cultural heritage of Central Asia.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-russia-narendra-modi-uzbekistan-sco-vladimir-putin-kyrgyzstan-101787874889642.html

Vijay argued that the petitioner failed to demonstrate how alleged inclusion of children in campaign activities translates into a statutory ground under Section 100 of RPA, 1951

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay has submitted a “reject the plaint” application before the Madras High Court, asserting that the alleged involvement of children in an election campaign does not constitute a valid legal ground under the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, to declare an election void.

The application was presented before Justice V Lakshminarayanan in response to an election petition filed by DMK rival candidate S Inigo Irudayaraj, who challenged Vijay’s victory from the Tiruchi East Assembly constituency.

‘Lack of Statutory Basis Under the Representation of the People Act’

Vijay’s legal team argued that the election petitioner failed to demonstrate how the alleged inclusion of children in campaign activities translates into a statutory ground under Section 100 of the RPA, 1951.

Key arguments raised in the rejection application include:

During the dialogue, Sitharaman and Champagne exchanged views on global macroeconomic developments and domestic policy priorities.

India expressed its readiness to begin negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Canada at the earliest, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne concluded the inaugural Canada-India Finance Ministers’ Economic and Financial Dialogue.

According to an official joint statement released by the Ministry of Finance, the talks focused on strengthening economic and financial cooperation between the two countries, with enhanced trade and investment emerging as key areas of discussion.

The two ministers reaffirmed their shared ambition to increase bilateral trade to CAD 70 billion (around Rs 4.65 lakh crore) by 2030. The meeting follows a commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during their meeting in New Delhi in March 2026 to deepen bilateral economic and financial ties.

“India expressed its readiness to initiate negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty at the earliest,” the joint statement said.

The ministers also discussed the ongoing negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with both sides committed to concluding the talks by the end of 2026.

During the dialogue, Sitharaman and Champagne exchanged views on global macroeconomic developments and domestic policy priorities, while highlighting the mutual benefits of stronger investment ties.

The two sides welcomed growing investment flows between India and Canada and recognised the importance of long-term institutional capital. They noted the substantial presence of Canadian pension funds and other institutional investors in India and discussed measures to encourage greater engagement between financial institutions and investors from both countries.

The ministers also discussed the importance of domestic tax policies that provide stability and certainty to investors, as well as commercially viable investment opportunities across sectors of mutual interest.

Financial-sector cooperation featured prominently in the discussions. The two sides explored greater collaboration in payments modernisation, financial stability, fintech innovation, capital markets development and efforts to combat financial crime.

They agreed to encourage engagement between relevant authorities and stakeholders on cross-border remittances and merchant payments. The ministers also welcomed opportunities to expand the use of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Canada through partnerships with payment service providers.

According to the statement, greater adoption of such payment systems could enable faster, more efficient and cost-effective transactions while supporting bilateral trade, tourism, education and the growth of small and medium-sized businesses.

Economic security and supply-chain resilience were also discussed, with the two countries agreeing to explore cooperation in strategic areas including critical minerals.

Following the dialogue, Sitharaman and Champagne participated in joint engagements with representatives from Canada’s financial services, fintech, technology, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, energy and natural resources sectors. The discussions focused on opportunities for long-term growth and deeper collaboration between businesses and financial institutions.

The ministers agreed to maintain regular economic and financial dialogue and work towards “concrete cooperation and tangible outcomes” in areas of mutual interest. The next Canada-India Economic and Financial Dialogue is scheduled to be held in 2027.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/india-ready-for-bilateral-investment-treaty-talks-with-canada-targets-rs-4-65-lakh-crore-trade-by-2030-ws-l-10297522.html

A hand slips into a pocket and finds nothing. No phone. For a split second, something feels genuinely wrong. That reaction goes beyond simple inconvenience or anxiety. According to a new research paper, the body itself responds, with muscle memory firing for a device the hand has come to treat almost like an extension of itself.

A researcher at Edith Cowan University and RMIT University, writing in the academic publication M/C Journal, has published findings on what smartphones have become in daily life: less a communication tool than a physical object the human hand has learned to expect. Drawing on more than a decade of interviews and hands-on experiments with over 100 Australian smartphone users, the research explores how deeply the device has embedded itself into the body, and what it feels like when that bond is suddenly interrupted.

That research arrives against a pointed backdrop. Across Australia and beyond, schools are banning smartphones outright. Trendy “phone-free” events are popping up in cities. Retro landline accessories are selling as a kind of analog rebellion. A cultural conversation is building around stepping back from constant phone contact, and this paper asks what that actually means for people who have spent years treating their phone like an extension of their own hand.

Your Phone Has Become a Body Part
To understand why losing a phone feels so strange, the research traces how smartphones were designed, almost from the start, to fit the human hand as naturally as possible. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it replaced physical buttons with a smooth touchscreen that responds only to bare skin. That choice was not accidental. It locked the device and the fingertip into a relationship of constant, direct contact.

Swiping, tapping, and pinching became second-nature motions. Over time, the thumb learned to find the bottom edge of the screen without looking, and the fingers developed a grip the paper describes as “neither tight nor loose but simply right.” That physical familiarity, built up over years of daily handling, sits at the center of what the paper calls the “snug tether,” a term researcher Mizuko Ito coined in work on Japanese mobile phone culture twenty years ago. Jess Hardley revisits and updates that idea for a world where people are now actively trying to break it.

What Over 100 People Revealed About the Phone Habit
Hardley’s research spans more than ten years and involved home visits, in-depth interviews, app walk-throughs, and GPS tracking with more than 100 participants in Australia. One revealing experiment asked participants simply to hold their phones without using them, then describe how that felt.

Responses ran the full range of human feeling. Some people stroked the screen. Some closed their eyes and held the device against their chest. Participants said things like “I’d be lost without it,” “it’s my world,” and “it’s my connection to everything,” alongside at least one person who called it “such an unnecessary burden.” Those reactions pointed, according to the paper, not to addiction or brand loyalty in any simple sense, but to something more physical and instinctive about how the device had woven itself into daily experience.

To bring the findings to life, Hardley presents a fictional-but-grounded character named Ravi, a composite built from real participant experiences. Ravi is in his early twenties, lives in a shared house in a large Australian city, and one Saturday morning realizes halfway to work that he left his phone at home. Rather than turn back, he decides to prove he does not need it.

His hand reaches into his pocket throughout the day anyway. Over and over, the body moves toward something that is not there. Hardley describes it as “muscle memory taking precedence over material reality,” a phrase that captures the paper’s core argument. By the end of the day, Ravi has done more than go without a device; he has been cut off from his social network, unsure whether friends messaged, whether the person he is dating replied, whether anyone noticed he went quiet.

Beyond the reflex, the study surfaced a less obvious reason phones have become such constant companions. Several participants admitted to scrolling through social media on public transit not because they needed to, but to avoid making eye contact with strangers. Others used their phones in shared office kitchens to sidestep small talk. One participant described her phone and wireless headphones together as “the sign of my generation that I don’t want to be disturbed.” The tether, in other words, is not only about staying connected. For many people, the phone is also a shield.

Infographic showing research on habitual smartphone use, automatic reaching, phone-free events, device-limiting products, and school phone bans.
When Putting the Phone Down Becomes a Group Activity
Not everyone is waiting for an accidental moment of separation. In Amsterdam, a group called the Offline Club has been staging “1-Hour Reading Raves,” events held on a museum rooftop where participants arrive with their phones switched off and tucked away. Phones are not left at home; they stay in bags or pockets. But their networking and touchscreen functions are suspended for the duration.

Hardley sees this as a meaningfully different kind of separation from what Ravi experienced. Rather than an absence of the device, it is a pause in the relationship. These events still require online registration and booking through a web browser or app, a paradox the paper does not let slide. Even the act of choosing to disconnect runs through the connected devices people are briefly escaping.

A third strand of the paper looks at physical products designed to create distance between the hand and the device. One is a retro handset accessory, shaped like an old-fashioned corded telephone receiver, that plugs into a smartphone through a cable. Another is a wall-mounted dock with a coiled cord that gives the phone a fixed home in a room rather than a spot in a pocket. A novelty lockable box marketed as a “phone jail” can hold up to six devices and uses a built-in timer to block access.

These products occupy a strange cultural space. They are gimmicky, in the paper’s own word, and some lean on vague wellness language about rewiring the brain or resetting the nervous system. But they also reflect something real: a broader desire to stay close to smartphones while disrupting the constant handling and scrolling that defines much of their use. The paper frames them as deliberate versions of the accidental separation Ravi stumbled into.

At the institutional scale, Australian schools have gone further, legislating outright bans on smartphones during the school day across several states. Hardley notes that one education expert described Australia’s broader approach to youth and social media as “an extraordinary test case.” School bans do not ask students to choose separation; they impose it on an entire population within an entire regulated setting.

Can an Ingrained Phone Habit Really Be Unlearned?
What ties these examples together, from the empty pocket to the reading rave to the phone jail, is a question about unlearning a habit that has been built into the body. Hardley is careful not to offer a simple verdict on whether stepping back from phones is good or bad. Instead, the paper closes with a caution: being without a phone does not feel the same for everyone. Age, gender, race, and disability all shape how the device is used and how its absence lands. A blanket policy or a trendy accessory assumes a universal relationship with the phone that this research finds does not hold.

Whether new rules and products can genuinely retrain that reflex, or only interrupt it for a while, is a question the paper leaves open. The reflex itself, Hardley argues, is real; it is physical, and it has been years in the making.

Source: https://studyfinds.com/why-losing-your-phone-feels-physical-according-to-a-decade-of-research/

Anaya Bangar, the child of former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar, announced on social media that she will be eligible to participate in elite women’s cricket in Australia from March 2027.

Anaya Bangar, the child of former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar, announced on social media that she will be eligible to participate in elite women’s cricket in Australia from March 2027. Anaya shared pictures of the official statement from Cricket Australia (CA) and in the letter, CA said that the decision was based on the medical information provided. Anaya, who played age-group cricket with Sarfaraz Khan, underwent a gender-affirming surgery in March this year. The Cricket Australia policy states that players competing in the women’s category of elite cricket need to maintain a serum testosterone concentration below 10 nmol/L continuously for at least 12 months. Anaya will also have to maintain the eligibility requirements.

The approval from Cricket Australia means that Anaya will be able to take part in the Women’s Big Bash League as it is classified as elite cricket. However, the clearance does not guarantee a contract for her.

Anaya will also be eligible to take part in premier cricket competitions in any Australian state or territory.

“I am now eligible to play in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia from March 2027 onwards. For me, this is incredibly emotional because there was a point when I genuinely believed I had lost cricket forever,” Bangar told Bombay Times.

Source : https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/anaya-bangar-eligible-to-play-in-womens-big-bash-league-after-big-approval-11963429

Five people were killed and around 20 injured after a private bus carrying 42 passengers rammed an iron-rod-laden container on the Hyderabad–Vijayawada highway in Telangana’s Suryapet district.

Five people were killed and around 20 others sustained serious injuries after a private travel bus rammed into an iron-rod-laden container from behind in Telangana’s Suryapet district on Wednesday.

The accident occurred at around 4.30 am on the Hyderabad–Vijayawada National Highway when the private bus, carrying 42 passengers, was travelling from Hyderabad to Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. According to police, the bus rammed the truck from the rear.

The impact caused the iron rods loaded on the container to pierce into the bus, worsening the severity of the accident. Several passengers became trapped inside the mangled bus and cried for help.

Police carried out a rescue operation for more than an hour to pull the injured and trapped passengers out of the bus. The injured were shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The accident caused a major traffic jam on the Hyderabad–Vijayawada National Highway.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/telangana/story/telangana-bus-crash-killed-after-bus-hits-iron-rod-container-in-suryapet-2980050-2026-08-26

 

CISF personnel at Bengaluru airport found two yellow-metal capsules concealed in a Dubai passenger’s mouth during screening. The passenger was handed over to Airport Police, while officials said the metal’s nature and value are yet to be established.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru detected two capsules containing approximately 82 grams of concealed yellow metal inside a passenger’s mouth during security screening.

The passenger, identified as Mohd. Siraj had arrived in Bengaluru from Dubai on an IndiGo flight. He was scheduled to travel onwards to Ghaziabad on another IndiGo flight.

SUSPICION DURING SECURITY SCREENING

A CISF screening officer noticed that Siraj was not responding appropriately during the screening process, raising suspicion that he could be concealing something.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bengaluru-airport-dubai-passenger-82g-yellow-metal-capsules-mouth-2980764-2026-08-26

 

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said AI can assist courts in research, translation and administration during talks with Germany’s top federal judge. He said judges alone must decide cases, as India considers a permanent apex body to regulate AI use and accountability.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday said artificial intelligence may augment judicial reasoning but cannot replace judicial conscience, stressing that the technology must support, rather than determine, judicial decision-making.

Speaking at a bilateral meeting with Ulrich Herrmann, presiding judge of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany, CJI Kant said the Indian judiciary is using AI for certain defined support functions, including legal research, translating judgments into 16 languages and providing citizens with a conversational interface to access information on case status and procedures.

He said these tools are intended to reduce repetitive work and improve access to justice, but do not determine judicial outcomes.

“Artificial intelligence may augment judicial reasoning, but it cannot substitute judicial conscience,” Kant said. He added that draft regulations prepared by the Supreme Court’s AI Committee allow administrative uses of AI for functions such as scheduling, transcription and translation, while prohibiting its use to assess witness credibility, flight risk, recidivism or bail eligibility.

A permanent apex body has also been proposed to oversee the adoption of AI and ensure accountability, he said.

“Our two judiciaries share the same underlying responsibility: to preserve judicial independence and public confidence while adapting our institutions to new forms of litigation and new expectations of access,” Kant said.

“Technology and administrative reform can support this responsibility, but neither can replace careful adjudication, human judgment and fidelity to law,” he added.

Kant said institutional mediation centres, Lok Adalats and digital Lok Adalats, including the Supreme Court’s recent special Lok Adalat, Samadhan Samaroh, have made dispute settlement accessible to people beyond major cities. These initiatives are supported by trained professionals, case managers and secure digital systems.

He said India and Germany, as major trading partners, could benefit from greater judicial cooperation on cross-border commercial mediation, recognition and enforcement of mediated settlements, and joint training for mediators handling India-Germany commercial disputes.

At the outset of the meeting, Kant noted that India and Germany have different judicial structures and legal traditions. India follows the common-law tradition with an integrated judicial hierarchy, while Germany follows a civil-law system with separate branches of federal jurisdiction.

“These differences make the exchange particularly useful. They allow us to compare how our institutions deal with the same practical concerns, including appellate workload, consistency of case law, timely disposal, judicial administration and access to justice,” he said.

Kant identified three key areas for cooperation: harnessing technology and AI in the administration of justice, strengthening cross-border mediation and other dispute resolution mechanisms, and deepening institutional cooperation through a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

He also proposed identifying areas where courts, judges, registries and judicial academies of the two countries could continue their engagement through a structured and reciprocal programme.

The CJI said any proposed MoU could focus on technology and AI in court administration, cross-border mediation and dispute resolution, commercial and business law, and digitalisation of judicial processes.

“I propose that each side identify one institutional point of contact so that today’s discussion can be converted into a workable programme, with the MoU or another suitable arrangement to follow once the appropriate authorities on both sides have considered its scope, frequency, participants, confidentiality requirements and working language,” he said.

Giving an overview of India’s judicial system, Kant noted that the country does not have a separate constitutional court.

“The Supreme Court is simultaneously the final appellate court in civil and criminal matters and the country’s highest constitutional court, with original jurisdiction under Article 32 to enforce fundamental rights,” he said.

Kant said India’s approach to judicial technology has focused not merely on making courts more digital, but also on making them more accessible, transparent and responsive to all stakeholders in the justice delivery system.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/artificial-intelligence-judiciary-cji-surya-kant-ai-cannot-replace-judicial-conscience-ptag-2980728-2026-08-26

Six granddaughters of Neem Karoli Baba have asked the Firozabad administration to investigate ownership of his ancestral home and worship site. The trust has denied the allegations as officials examine records and competing claims.

A dispute has emerged over the ancestral home and worship site of renowned spiritual figure Neem Karoli Baba in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district, with six granddaughters of his younger son approaching the District Magistrate (DM) alleging interference by the Shri Thakur Hanuman Ji Trust.

The six women — Sunita Sharma, Archana Sharma, Vandana Sharma, Bhavana Rawat, Ritu Tiwari and Richa Rawat — have submitted a complaint to Firozabad DM Santosh Sharma, seeking an investigation into the ownership and alleged occupation of the property.

According to the family, Neem Karoli Baba had two sons, Anke Singh Sharma and Dharam Narayan Sharma. Anke Singh Sharma had a son and a daughter, while Dharam Narayan Sharma had the six daughters who have now raised the issue with the district administration.

The ancestral property is located in Akbarpur village under the Tundla tehsil of Firozabad district and is regarded as Neem Karoli Baba’s birthplace. The family has alleged that the trust has also interfered with the worship site attached to the ancestral property.

The complainants have claimed that the ancestral house was never donated to the trust and have urged the administration to examine revenue records and other documents. They have also sought action to remove any illegal occupation or interference if established during the inquiry.

Firozabad DM Santosh Sharma said the administration was already looking into the allegations.

“This is Baba’s birthplace and several government projects are underway here to ensure that devotees visiting the site do not face any difficulties,” Sharma said. He added that the government was also working to develop the religious site as a better tourist destination, given its significance and the sentiments attached to it.

“As far as the allegations are concerned, an inquiry is being conducted,” the DM said.

WHAT THE TRUST SAYS
The Shri Thakur Hanuman Ji Trust, which is at the centre of the dispute, has rejected the allegations. Trust treasurer Manoj Agrawal said the claims were incorrect and maintained that Neem Karoli Baba’s house, temple and dak bungalow had been legally transferred to the trust.

According to Agrawal, Baba’s wife Rambeti established the trust in 1996. The trust currently has 18 members, with Baba’s daughter Girja Bhatele serving as its president.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/neem-karoli-babas-ancestral-home-dispute-six-granddaughters-approach-firozabad-dm-2980834-2026-08-27

Over 100 have been killed and at least 750 are missing in Nepal after floods triggered by an avalanche in Tibet. The devastation has made experts raise a red flag over the 60,000-MW dam that China is building in the high seismic zone in Medog county, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh.

It’s young and growing, and restless too. And once in a while, it doesn’t stop from showing its fury. The Himalayas are the world’s most seismically active mountain range, and a flood resulting from an earthquake-triggered avalanche has killed over 100 people on the Nepal-Tibet border, with hundreds more unaccounted for. The devastation from the unstoppable wall of flowing water also made experts caution about a monster dam that China is building just next to the border with India.

The 60,000-megawatt (MW) Medog Dam that China is building on the Yarlung Tsangpo, which becomes the Brahmaputra in India, is near Arunachal Pradesh. The dam, which Beijing is looking to operationalise by 2033, is located in China-occupied Tibet Autonomous Region’s (TAR’s) Medog or Medong. This is a zone that is prone to earthquakes, and such a massive dam has therefore been referred to as a “water bomb” by experts.

Houses, roads and power projects were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” from the flood triggered by the avalanche in the TAR on Wednesday. The deluge of muddy water swept down from an estimated nearly 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level.

At least 341 foreign travellers, including more than 100 Indians, are missing. Most of them are Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims.

Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Parliament on Wednesday that initial reports suggested that an earthquake could have triggered an avalanche and caused the floods in the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems.

Even a study by geologists affiliated with China’s state-run geological survey had in July found that the under-construction Medog Hydropower Station on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet sits atop an active fault line.

“The Himalayas are the world’s most seismically active major mountain range, with a record of triggering devastating earthquakes. How even a moderate seismic event can trigger massive cascading effects was illustrated today when a magnitude 4.4 quake along the Tibet-Nepal border unleashed a disaster, with flash floods washing away Nepali villages,” wrote strategic expert Brahma Chellaney on X.

Reports also suggested that an ice avalanche could have triggered the deadly cascade. “A chunk of ice with a width of about 2,000 feet snapped cleanly off the glacier,” The New York Times reported, quoting geologist Daniel Shugar.

Though it was too early to confirm the trigger, the devastation in Nepal made experts issue a stern warning over the mega-Medog Dam.

China has been building settlements and infrastructure projects in eco-sensitive border areas.

“This [the Nepal disaster] will renew global attention on China’s folly in persisting with the construction of the world’s largest dam in the middle of the Himalayan seismic zone,” said Chellaney.

“The project, located next to the Indo-Tibetan border, is a water bomb in the making, which could drown India’s northeast and wreak havoc farther downstream in Bangladesh,” he added.

Former Indian ambassador and foreign affairs commentator Rajiv Dogra too warned the risk of a “much bigger devastation” to India’s northeast because of the Chinese dam.

“A much bigger devastation could strike India’s North-East if China goes to complete its 60,000 MW monster dam on Brahmaputra in seismologically sensitive zone,” wrote Dogra on X.

CONCERNS RAISED BY CHINESE EXPERTS OVER MEDOG DAM’S STRUCTURAL SAFETY
China began the construction of what is set to become the world’s largest hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, triggering concerns in India over water security, flooding, ecology and the future of communities living downstream.

The project, also known as the Motuo Hydropower Station, is estimated to cost around $167 billion. Once completed, the Medog Dam will surpass China’s Three Gorges Dam, which is the world’s largest, to become the largest hydroelectric project in size and could generate roughly three times as much electricity, according to the Sydney-based think tank, Lowy Institute.

Fresh concerns over the structural safety of the Medog Dam were raised in July after the study by geologists affiliated with China’s state-run geological survey.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), citing a paper published in Mandarin in the journal Sedimentary Geology and Tethyan Geology under the supervision of the state-owned China Geological Survey, researchers identified the active Paizhen Fault directly beneath the Medog Dam site on the Yarlung Tsangpo.

WHY IS INDIA CONCERNED OVER CHINESE DAM ON YARLUNG TSANGPO?
The Yarlung Tsangpo flows from Tibet into Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as the Siang, before becoming the Brahmaputra as it moves through Assam and eventually enters Bangladesh.

The Medog Dam that China is building is located in one of the most dramatic sections of the Yarlung Tsangpo, where the river makes a huge U-turn around Mount Namcha Barwa of Tibet. The river descends sharply through a deep canyon, creating enormous potential for hydropower generation. China plans to develop five cascading hydropower stations in the region.

The sheer scale and location of the project have raised concerns in India because China controls the upper reaches of a river that is crucial to communities, agriculture and ecosystems downstream.

A concern for India is China’s ability to influence the flow of the Brahmaputra once the dam is fully constructed. Though the Brahmaputra gets most of the water from monsoon-fed tributaries in India, it is still a lower-riparian country. Any major alteration in the volume or timing of water released from Tibet could potentially affect Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/china-medog-dam-near-india-nepal-tibet-flood-experts-warning-2980761-2026-08-27

Floodwaters from Nepal entered the Gandak river system, prompting Bihar to open all 36 barrage gates. The move has triggered round-the-clock monitoring and emergency preparations across vulnerable districts.

Bihar was put on high alert on Wednesday after floodwaters from Nepal entered river Gandak and reached the Gandak Barrage, prompting authorities to open all 36 gates to manage the surge, officials said. Around 1.50 lakh cusecs of water had been released from the barrage by 11 pm, the highest discharge recorded there during the day. Officials said the flow was now expected to start receding.

The alert in Bihar came after a massive flash flood originating in Tibet swept through central Nepal, killing over 150 people and leaving more than 750 missing, including 133 Indian nationals. Several towns and villages were hit, key bridges were washed away and about a dozen hydropower projects were crippled.

The Gandak Barrage is located at Valmikinagar in West Champaran, Bihar’s northernmost district bordering Nepal. Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Parliament that an earthquake struck the Tibet region at 8:37 am (local time) and flash floods were reported three minutes later, suggesting the tremors may have caused a glacial outburst that triggered the floods.

As soon as the news broke, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary held a meeting with Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit and other senior officials to review the situation. Officials were directed to remain on high alert, take necessary measures and keep continuous watch on developments.

Amrit also held a meeting with district magistrates and senior police officials of the bordering districts, and district authorities were told to complete all rescue and relief preparations and closely monitor the situation.

Water Resources Department secretary Chandrashekhar Singh said, “The situation is expected to remain normal. Nevertheless, all teams are on alert at the barrage, along the embankments and in the control room.” The highest discharge recorded this year was 2.24 lakh cusecs on July 14, 2026, while 5.625 lakh cusecs was recorded on September 28, 2024.

In a post on X, Choudhary said the loss of lives in Nepal was deeply saddening. “My deepest condolences to the families of those who have passed away in this disaster. I pray to God that all Indian citizens stranded in Nepal remain safe and secure,” he said. He added, “In this hour of crisis, the Government of India and the people of India stand firmly with our brothers and sisters in Nepal. Under the guidance of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, every possible assistance is being provided in the relief and rescue operations.”

According to the Chief Minister, departmental officials have been told to keep all preparations in place for any emergency, maintain continuous vigilance and monitoring, stock essential materials and carry out regular inspection of embankments. District administrations are also issuing alerts in sensitive areas through public address systems.

Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who also holds the Water Resources Department portfolio, said, “The department has taken immediate precautionary measures. All 36 gates of the Gandak Barrage at Valmikinagar have been opened, and a technical team led by a Superintending Engineer has been deployed at the barrage. Warnings have also been issued to all districts in the Gandak river basin.”

Department officials said opening all 36 gates would help the water flow and assist in controlling the flood situation.

Officials said the water level of the Narayani river at the Devghat gauge site in Nepal was 4.77 metres, against a danger level of 9 metres and a warning level of 7.30 metres. Vijay Kumar Choudhary said Bihar needed to remain on alert through the night because of the floods.

He appealed to people to stay alert but not panic, and said the Chief Minister was personally monitoring the situation. He also said there was no report at present of any rise in the water level of the Kosi river.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bihar-flood-alert-nepal-floodwaters-open-all-36-gandak-barrage-gates-ptag-2980786-2026-08-27

SC judge Justice Sandeep Mehta’s letters allege maladministration and other irregularities by Rajasthan HC’s acting chief justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court collegium was already working on the appointment of chief justices to the remaining high courts, amid the controversy triggered by Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta’s letters alleging maladministration and other serious irregularities by Rajasthan High Court acting chief justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma.

CJI Kant, in a press statement, said he and other senior judges of the collegium have taken note of the concerns raised by Justice Mehta but stressed that allegations against a sitting judge had to be dealt with strictly through the established institutional mechanism.

The CJI said that the contents of the letters could not be adjudicated in the public domain and that Justice Sharma must be given a fair opportunity to place his response before any conclusion was reached.

“The fact that allegations have been made cannot by itself be treated as a finding against the judge,” said the CJI, emphasising the need for due process in dealing with complaints against members of the higher judiciary.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cji-surya-kant-rajasthan-high-court-chief-justice-sanjeev-prakash-sharma-sandeep-mehta-supreme-court-101787790146126.html

 

 

At Andaz Delhi by Hyatt, 87 kg of expired sweets were found; at JW Marriott in Aerocity, hygiene standards were severely compromised across the property, FSSAI said.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said on Wednesday that it has issued notices to two hotels in New Delhi’s Aerocity, Andaz Delhi and JW Marriott, after inspections at the five-star properties uncovered what the regulator described as serious food safety violations. These included seizure of 87 kg of sweets that were past their expiry date at Andaz, and pest infestations at the JW Marriott property.

These two hotels are listed among host or stay venues for the official BRICS Business Forum website. This forum is the flagship private sector platform of the BRICS grouping, convened annually in the summit host country on the eve of the Leaders’ Summit. India will host the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13.

Regulatory and surveillance samples were collected during the inspections, the authority said in communication via its official social media handles. It added that further action would follow based on the hotel’s compliance and the analysis of those samples. The regulator did not specify the dates on which the inspections were carried out.

At Andaz Delhi by Hyatt (operated by a firm named Juniper Hotels), around 87 kg of expired sweets were found in the confectionery area and destroyed on the spot, the FSSAI said. Bread packets bearing expired stickers were also recovered, and expired cake bases, flies and cockroaches were found in the pastry section, it added. Deficiencies were recorded in the segregation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in the kitchen, with cutting boards used for both categories kept in the same water container, it further said.

The FSSAI also shared details of an inspection at JW Marriott in Aerocity (operated under Aria Hotels and Consultancy Services), in which the hotel was found conducting retail operations under the JW Marriott brand without the necessary licence.

Pre-packaged items lacked mandatory manufacturer addresses or displayed misprinted licence numbers on items, including paneer, khoya and chana masala. The primary FSSAI license was also not displayed prominently on the premises, the authority added

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/expired-sweets-pests-in-kitchen-food-safety-notices-to-delhi-hotels-thatll-host-brics-business-forum-delegates-11962187?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

Ankit Balyan, Haryanvi singer and Youtuber, was shot dead outside a gym in Shamli district.

Youtuber and Haryanvi singer Ankit Balyan was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside a gym in Shamli district on Wednesday evening, police said.

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav termed Balyan’s killing “highly condemnable”, saying the “law and order” situation had been reduced to “zero” and demanded investigation into possible political rivalry.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also called it an attack on the Jat community.

The incident took place in the Kotwali police station area when Balyan was coming out of the gym, they said.

Speculation was rife that Balyan was planning to contest upcoming panchayat polls, but there was no official confirmation from authorities or his associates immediately on it and if that could be the reason behind his killing.

Superintendent of Police M P Singh told reporters that police rushed to the spot after receiving information about the shooting.

“The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, and an investigation is underway. Police teams have been formed to arrest the accused,” he said.

According to police, the assailants arrived on two motorcycles and opened several rounds of fire at Balyan. He died on the spot.

Police are examining CCTV footage from the area to identify the attackers, officials said.

Balyan was a Youtuber with over 3.66 lakh subscribers. He featured in his videos as a singer and performer with different collaborators. Several of his videos showed the use of guns, firearms and SUVs.

Meanwhile, SP chief Yadav on Wednesday evening condemned the killing of Balyan, saying the incident reflected the deteriorating law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh and had created “fear” in the region.

“The way popular singer Ankit Balyan was brutally murdered in Shamli by firing 18 rounds, reducing Uttar Pradesh’s law and order to zero, has created fear throughout the region,” the SP chief said in a post on X, along with a news clip image.

Describing reports of Balyan’s mother mourning on the road with her son’s body in her lap as “heart-wrenching”, Yadav said the Jat community had raised its demand for the immediate arrest of the attackers.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ankit-balyan-dead-shamli-haryanvi-singer-youtuber-ankit-balyan-shot-dead-outside-gym-in-up-11964200?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

A total of 79 rescue teams are working in the flood-hit districts of Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Nabarangpur and Koraput.

Bhubaneswar: The flood situation in Odisha remained grim on Tuesday as over 1 lakh people in six districts are still affected, despite a fall in water levels in major rivers, officials said.

A total of 79 rescue teams are working in the flood-hit districts of Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Nabarangpur and Koraput.

In Bhadrak district, 75,432 people in 70 villages under 18 gram panchayats of Tihidi and Chandabali blocks remained affected, while over 21,000 people in 41 villages under Binjharpur and Dasarathpur blocks of Jajpur district were also impacted by the deluge, they said.

More than 5,000 people across five blocks and one urban local body in Kendrapada district continue to remain under flood.

Due to heavy rainfall over the past three days, some areas of Keonjhar, Nabarangpur, and Koraput districts have also been affected, officials said.

Local administrations evacuated 1,622 people in Nabarangpur district and 660 people in Koraput district. They have been accommodated in relief camps, they said.

A total of 79 rescue teams, including 28 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), one NDRF team, and 50 fire services teams, have been deployed for prompt rescue and relief operations in the affected areas, officials from the revenue and disaster management department informed.

The flood situation is expected to improve in the state as all major rivers, including Baitarini, Jalaka, Vansadhara, Brahmani, Salandi, and Budhabalanga, were flowing below the danger level on Tuesday, said Dillip Kumar Rout, engineer-in-chief (EIC) of the Water Resources Department.

All major rivers are flowing below the danger or warning level. So, there is no flood on the rivers. But, several villages remained marooned as the water had not receded, he said.

Rout said that the water level of the Mahanadi river will rise on Wednesday due to water release from Hirakud dam.

At Mundali in Cuttack district, the water flow is estimated to increase from 6 lakh cusecs to 6.7 lakh cusecs, a marginal rise that does not pose a risk of major flooding, he said.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/odisha/odisha-flood-situation-remains-grim-over-1-lakh-people-affected-4124008

New Delhi and Beijing had agreed that the 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for resolving the territorial dispute would be followed by a framework for boundary settlement.

New Delhi: Though New Delhi and Beijing are yet to work out the settlement framework that, according to the 2005 bilateral agreement, should precede delineation and demarcation of the boundary between the two neighbouring nations, India and China on Tuesday discussed ways to make progress on delimitation.

As the special representatives of the two governments held the 25th round of boundary negotiations in Beijing on Tuesday, the Embassy of India in the capital of China stated that the ways to make progress on “boundary delimitation” had been discussed.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi noted that the special representatives – National Security Advisor Ajit Doval of India and Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China – had agreed to continue “seeking a political settlement of the boundary question” in the context of the “overall and long-term interests” of the two nations.

The two sides “engaged in in-depth discussions on advancing border demarcation negotiations, strengthening border control, improving mechanisms, and promoting cross-border cooperation,” according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the government of China.

New Delhi and Beijing had agreed that the 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for resolving the territorial dispute would be followed by a framework for boundary settlement.

They had agreed that the “framework would provide the basis for the delineation and demarcation of the India-China boundary to be subsequently undertaken by civil and military officials and surveyors of the two sides.”

Though the two sides could not work out a framework in the past two decades, Doval and Wang, according to the readout issued by the Chinese MOFA, discussed “advancing border demarcation” on Tuesday. “They discussed ways to further expand bilateral cooperation, maintain stability and ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas, and make progress on boundary delimitation, while sustaining the ongoing work on transboundary cooperation,” the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on X.

The discussion on the boundary delimitation on Tuesday signalled that India and China were ready to revisit the agreed sequencing of the process to resolve the protracted territorial disputes between the two neighbouring countries.

The Indian MEA stated in New Delhi that the special representatives of the two governments, under the strategic guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, had “a candid and in-depth exchange of views on the boundary question” in “a constructive and forward-looking spirit”.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/no-settlement-framework-yet-but-india-china-discuss-advancing-boundary-delimitation-4124134#google_vignette

West Bengal BJP president Saamik Bhattacharya warned party leaders and workers against corruption, extortion and ‘cut money’ practices, saying action would follow if allegations are proved. He said complaints of irregularities had been received and the party had already issued over 200 show-cause notices and suspended more than 100 individuals over alleged misconduct.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Saamik Bhattacharya on Tuesday, in an open letter, issued a stern warning to party leaders and workers against corruption, extortion and ‘cut money’, making it clear that even MLAs will not be spared if allegations are proved.

BJP warns against corruption

“BJP is an ideological party and serving the nation is its foundation. Recently, I have received letters and complaints regarding irregularities and undesirable activities by some workers. If any leader or worker acts outside the party’s principles or gets involved in corruption, the party will not take responsibility for their actions. This applies from the booth level to the state level,” Bhattacharya wrote in his letter.

Notably, the state BJP has already issued more than 200 show-cause notices and suspended over 100 individuals over allegations of irregularities.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/west-bengal-bjp-president-warns-leaders-against-corruption-says-action-will-follow-if-allegations-are-proven

An earthquake of magnitude 4 shook parts of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, according to the National Centre for Seismology.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at around 5:30 in the morning, was located near Shimla.

So far, no loss of life or damage to property has been reported.

Earthquake of magnitude 4 hits Himachal Pradesh. (Representative Image)Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/earthquake-of-magnitude-4-hits-himachal-pradesh-article-155986528

Bengaluru’s Health Department has initiated inspections at several high-profile clubs to assess adherence to food safety and hygiene regulations. FDA teams discovered multiple violations, such as inadequate personal hygiene among food handlers, unsanitary storage conditions, and pest infestations.

The Health Department has launched raids at some of Bengaluru’s top clubs to check whether food safety rules and hygiene standards are being followed. The inspections are being carried out by FDA teams at clubs that have some of the city’s elite as members, with membership fees at several clubs running into lakhs of rupees.

The inspections found several alleged food safety and hygiene violations at some of the clubs. These included poor personal hygiene among food handlers, unhygienic frozen storage rooms, cockroach infestation and a lack of proper separation between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

The teams also found that hot water was not available at some utensil-cleaning areas, raising concerns over basic hygiene practices followed in the kitchens.

FDA Teams Raid 10 Bengaluru Clubs
The FDA teams are searching the following clubs as part of the food safety inspections:

Amit Shah said only citizens had the right to live in the country and infiltrators posed a threat to India’s security, economy and demographics.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday reiterated that India was “not a dharamshala”, saying only citizens had the right to live in the country and that infiltrators posed a threat to India’s security, economy and demographics.

“This country is not a dharamshala (charitable rest house); only citizens of the country have the right to live here,” Shah said, speaking at the valedictory session of the National Security Strategy conference of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), attended by chiefs of central agencies and state police forces.

Shah’s take on India’s security policy
Stressing that infiltrators threatened the country’s “security, economy and demographics”, the home minister said: “Over the past eight months, after visiting all states sharing land borders, we have shared a document outlining a four-pronged approach to border security with the states. Our goal is to make the country free of infiltrators in a very short period.”

Shah said India’s security policy had to be framed against the backdrop of global instability, insecurity around energy and resources, supply-chain disruptions, rising radicalisation and the warfare of cyber misinformation. A strong internal security apparatus, he said, was a prerequisite for a developed India. “If India is to emerge at the forefront in every field, its internal security will have to be further strengthened.”

Over the two-day NSS conference, intelligence agencies and security forces discussed infiltration, real-time intelligence-sharing against terror groups, and the dismantling of their logistics and funding networks, among other national security matters.

Similar comments from the past
Shah made similar remarks in Lok Sabha on March 27 while replying to the debate on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025. On that occasion, he had said India was “not a dharamshala where anyone can come and stay for any purpose”, arguing that Parliament had the right to bar those who posed a threat to national security, and that sensitive locations and army establishments along the borders could not be left open to all. Those who came legally to contribute to India’s prosperity were welcome, he had said, but illegal entrants would be dealt with strictly.

The Supreme Court too used phrasing when on May 19, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and K Vinod Chandran declined to intervene in the detention of a Sri Lankan Tamil national facing deportation after a seven-year sentence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. “Is India to host refugees from all over the world? We are struggling with 140 crore. This is not a dharamshala that we can entertain foreign nationals from all over.”

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/amit-shah-dharamshala-home-ministry-internal-security-refugees-immigration-border-safety-intelligence-101787704020561.html

The CJP announced a peaceful protest march from India Gate to the Delhi police headquarters, alleging that the Centre failed to honour its commitments.

The Delhi Police has begun making security arrangements ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) proposed September 5 march, citing security and traffic concerns, even as a senior officer on Tuesday said the group is yet to seek permission for the protest.

On Monday, the CJP announced a peaceful protest march from India Gate to the Delhi police headquarters on Jai Singh Road, alleging that the Centre failed to honour commitments made to the young protesters when the stir at Jantar Mantar was called off last month. The 2.5-km march will see the families of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants who died by suicide and victims of alleged police brutality take part. Students, youth organisations and young citizens from across the country have been invited to participate in the event.

Delhi Police says no permission sought
Police had earlier said that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita are already in force in the New Delhi district area where India Gate is located, and that protests and marches are only allowed near Jantar Mantar with prior permission.

“The department has not received any request for any march or protest from their side,” said deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma.

A CJP spokesperson said they will be informing the Delhi Police about the protest in the coming days.

An officer asking not to be named said, “There is absolutely no possibility that this protest is legal. India Gate is not a designated site and also huge crowds there will lead to major law and order as well as traffic violations. Also, we do not allow marches in New Delhi due to security issues.”

Police have now started “chalking out” plans to ensure “nobody” is allowed at India Gate, said one officer, asking not to be named. Two officers told HT that senior police officers, including joint commissioner of police (New Delhi) Nupur Prasad and officers of the New Delhi district, held meetings on Tuesday to assess the proposed protest and maintain security in the area.

Prasad did not respond to HT’s requests for comment.

Police said they will also push for a venue change from New Delhi district to Ramleela Maidan or other place, based on the estimated number of protesters.

Delhi Police calls in border forces
A team at Parliament Street police station has also collected details of the group’s leaders, spokesperson, and other organisers. It is monitoring their social media activity and assessing whether protesters and supporters could travel to Delhi from other states, the first officer quoted above said.

“We have also found families of NEET victims, and other student leaders will join them. We are keeping a check on them. If CJP does not approach us, we will reach out to them. It’s too soon to say but in case there’s mobility from multiple states or groups, our staff is already keeping an intel on social media activities and transport,” said the officer.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/cjp-protest-india-gate-september-5-neet-protest-delhi-latest-news-police-101787683525387.html

Police said a minor girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by three juveniles near Valsad’s Sai Baba Temple after meeting one through Instagram. The case has renewed concern over minors’ online contacts, with all three accused now in custody.

A minor girl was gang raped by three juveniles near a temple in Gujarat’s Valsad district after befriending one of the accused through social media, police said. All three accused have been taken into custody and booked under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to police, the incident took place on the night of August 23 near the Sai Baba Temple in Tithal, a coastal area in Valsad. The case came to light after the victim’s mother lodged a complaint with the Valsad City Police Station.

Deputy Superintendent of Police AK Verma said preliminary investigations revealed that the girl had come in contact with one of the juvenile accused through Instagram around two years ago. The two had remained in touch through social media and frequently communicated online.

Police said the boy allegedly called the girl to meet him near the Sai Baba Temple on August 23. When she reached the spot, he was accompanied by another juvenile. The trio reportedly went for a walk before the girl was allegedly taken to a secluded area behind the temple, where the assault took place.

Investigators said the two accused later called a third friend to the location, following which all three juveniles allegedly sexually assaulted the girl.

The incident remained undiscovered for several hours as the victim did not return home. Concerned family members launched a search and began looking for her across the area. Police said the frightened girl was later found near Wadi at around 1.30 am.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/instagram-friendship-leads-to-horror-3-juveniles-in-custody-for-minors-gang-rape-in-gujarats-valsad-2980004-2026-08-26

 

Prashant Kishor challenged Samrat Choudhary and Tejashwi Yadav to sit their Class 10 exams together. The jibe came after Mithilesh Tiwari told Tejashwi Yadav to clear matriculation before backing student protests.

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Tuesday challenged Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav to sit for their matriculation exams together and clear the test. Kishor suggested that Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari should propose the idea at the next cabinet meeting.

The Bankipur MLA made the tongue-in-cheek remark while responding to Tiwari’s advice to Yadav to clear his Class 10 exams before backing protests by students. “Tiwari should give the same suggestion to Samrat Choudhary as well. Let him propose in the next cabinet meeting that both the CM and the LoP sit for their matriculation exams together,” Kishor said, news agency PTI reported.

Kishor said he was also making the appeal on behalf of Bihar’s youth and urged both leaders to take up the challenge.

“People of Bihar should have the confidence that their leaders are capable of clearing their class 10 exams,” he said, adding, “Choudhary and Yadav must rise to the challenge.”

The remarks came after Tiwari advised Tejashwi Yadav to clear his Class 10 examination before supporting student protests. HeYadav, the RJD working president, had dropped out of school after failing Class 9, according to the report.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/prashant-kishor-challenges-bihar-cm-samrat-choudhary-tejashwi-yadav-to-take-class-10-exams-together-2979955-2026-08-25

The term ‘Bandi Singhs’ refers to Sikh prisoners convicted for their involvement in militancy during the Punjab insurgency of the 1990s.

The grant of a 21-day furlough to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Tuesday drew sharp reactions from Sikh religious and community leaders, who questioned why a rape convict was being released repeatedly while Sikh prisoners who have completed their sentences remain behind bars.

Ram Rahim walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak on Tuesday. It was the 17th time he has come out of prison since his conviction in August 2017, and his third release this year after 30-day and 40-day paroles in May and January.

Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples and is currently lodged in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak.

Reacting to the furlough, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj criticised the decision. He said those jailed for heinous crimes like rape were being released “frequently” as if they were on a “picnic”, while ‘Bandi Singhs’ who had spent over 30 years in jail and completed their sentences were being denied parole.

Gargajj also said Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a life sentence for the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, has not yet been granted parole to meet his ailing mother.

Several Sikh organisations have been demanding the release of ‘Bandi Singhs’ and parole for Hawara so that he can meet his mother. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has already met the governor, favouring a 10-day parole for Hawara to meet her.

The term ‘Bandi Singhs’ refers to Sikh prisoners convicted for their involvement in militancy during the Punjab insurgency of the 1990s. The Qaumi Insaaf Morcha has been holding a protest near Sector 52-53 in Chandigarh and YPS Chowk in Mohali since January 7, 2023, as part of its campaign for the release of Sikh prisoners.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ram-rahim-furlough-sikh-leaders-question-release-as-bandi-singhs-remain-in-jail-ptag-2979545-2026-08-25

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has travelled to Moscow for unannounced talks, the BBC’s US news partner CBS has reported.

John Ratcliffe reportedly arrived in the Russian capital earlier on Tuesday. Neither Washington or Moscow have confirmed the nature of the visit or who he was due to meet.

In-person talks between high-level American and Russian officials are rare.

Flight tracking data confirmed a large US military aircraft travelled to Russia from the US via Latvia on Tuesday. It departed later on Tuesday.

BBC News has contacted the CIA, the White House and Pentagon for comment.

Footage posted on social media showed the C-17 transport plane approaching Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport.

It departed Riga airport at 05:50 GMT and appeared to have landed in the Russian capital at around 07:04 GMT, according to data from FlightRadar24. It returned to Riga shortly before 17:00 GMT.

Footage on social media also purported to show a diplomatic motorcade travelling through Moscow.

Ahead of the trip, the US told Ukraine that a senior delegation would be travelling to Moscow and asked Kyiv to suspend strikes until they had left, a senior Ukrainian official told CBS.

The trip is thought to be Ratcliffe’s first trip to Russia as CIA director, although he has maintained contact with his intelligence counterparts in Moscow.

John Foreman, who served as a British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told Radio 4’s PM programme that the visit could be focused on “escalation management” given speculation recent drone activity in Germany could be linked to Russia.

He said: “The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up.”

Foreman said the trip could also concern the release of US detainees currently being held in Russia.

Ratcliffe played a role in negotiations for the release of Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina, who was jailed in Russia for over a year after being accused of providing support to Ukraine.

The CIA was also involved in a 2024 prisoner swap deal with Russia that saw the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, as well as former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87vg9x5d7do

India is the world’s second-largest wheat producer.

The central government on Monday lifted the export ban on ban on wheat and its products with immediate effect, a move expected to ease the commodity’s availability in the international market.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued notifications revising the export policy of wheat from “prohibited” to “free.”

The ban has also been removed on wheat flour and other products, including maida, semolina and wholemeal atta.

“The export policy of wheat… is revised from prohibited to free with immediate effect,” one of the notifications stated.

India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, had imposed the ban in May 2022 to control rising domestic prices amid disruptions to the global supply chain caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. In February, the government had permitted limited exports of 25 lakh tonnes of wheat.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/india-lifts-wheat-export-ban-with-immediate-effect-4122772

 

Shah also laid emphasis on training for the implementation of the anti-terror policy developed by his ministry.

Directing security agencies to strictly deal with infiltration, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday called for an artificial intelligence-driven analysis of intelligence data to counter various national-security challenges.

Inaugurating the two-day ninth National Security Strategies (NSS) Conference-2026, Shah also laid emphasis on training for the implementation of the anti-terror policy developed by his ministry called the “PRAHAAR” scheme, according to a government statement.

The home minister also asked the agencies to expedite trial by bringing back fugitives, using trial-in-absentia provisions and undertaking a comprehensive and integrated approach while investigating anti-terror cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the statement said.

“The Home Minister directed that an AI-based analysis of information available on MAC (Multi Agency Centre) platforms should be done to create SOPs to counter various national security challenges. Union Home Minister directed all the agencies to take strict measures against infiltration,” it added.

The conference, being held in a hybrid mode, is being attended by 850 senior security and police officers from across the country, besides Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Intelligence Bureau Director Mahesh Dixit, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Praveen Sood and Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Parag Jain, among others.

Several security officials and domain experts, deputy national security advisors, heads of paramilitary forces and directors general of police (DGPs) of state police forces are also participating in the conference, the statement said.

“On the first day of the conference, discussions focussed on critical aspects of national security, including response to counter-terrorism challenges, fusion, analysis and operationalisation of intelligence through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), vision document on narcotics control, detection and deportation of illegal migrants, a policy framework to combat cyber-crime and proxy warfare by Pakistan,” it said.

Before inaugurating the conference, Shah laid a wreath at the Martyrs’ Column in remembrance of the Intelligence Bureau personnel who died in the line of duty while safeguarding national security and integrity.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/amit-shah-calls-for-ai-driven-analysis-of-intelligence-data-to-counter-national-security-challenges-4122814

 

Pakistan has witnessed an unusual surge in Turkish military transport flights, with C-130 Hercules and A400M aircraft reportedly landing at Nur Khan, Masroor and Murid air bases between August 19 and 21.

Pakistan has witnessed an unusual increase in Turkish military transport flights in recent days, prompting questions in Indian defence circles over whether Ankara is supplying fresh military hardware to Islamabad. Open-source flight tracking data cited in reports indicates a surge lasting around 60 hours, with Turkish Air Force C-130 Hercules and A400M transport aircraft operating into Pakistani military air bases between August 19 and 21.

According to several open-source intelligence observers including OpGrid India and Third Eye OSINT & Intel, the flights included aircraft such as an A400M operating under the call sign TUAF526. Turkish military transports were observed at key Pakistani facilities including Nur Khan, Masroor and Murid air bases, although the precise nature of the cargo carried by the aircraft has not been officially disclosed.

The activity comes weeks after Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7. The agreement provides for collective defence, stating that an armed attack against one of the three countries would be treated as an attack against all three.

🚨| China-Türkiye Airlift Into Pakistan: Is Islamabad Preparing for a Military Escalation?

“In intelligence, a single movement is a data point. A pattern of movements is a warning.”

A noticeable surge in military airlift activity involving China and Türkiye has been reported… pic.twitter.com/39XuGUKmS5

— OpGrid India (@OpGridIndia) August 23, 2026

Xi Jinping is expected to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi, marking his first visit in seven years.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit India next month for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, accompanied by a delegation of around 400 officials, in what would be his first trip to the country in seven years. India will host the BRICS summit on September 12-13, with Xi’s presence expected to draw particular attention amid ongoing efforts by New Delhi and Beijing to stabilise relations following the deadly 2020 border clashes, Reuters reported.

“Chinese officials are busy finalising hotels and security protocols,” one of the ⁠Indian sources with direct knowledge told the agency.

Two other sources said Xi was likely to be accompanied by a delegation of about 400 officials, compared with fewer than 200 officials the last time in 2019. Officials from both countries are expected to use the summit to explore ways to expand engagement while managing long-standing differences over the border and regional security issues, the sources added.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time in seven years, but the relationship has only improved gradually.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Modi government of weakening reservation through a “backdoor” by keeping over 8.2 lakh sanctioned government posts vacant. Citing media reports, he said vacancies have nearly doubled since 2015, while permanent PSU jobs have declined and contractual hiring has increased, threatening opportunities for SC, ST, OBC and EWS communities.

The Congress on Monday attacked the Centre over more than 8.2 lakh sanctioned posts reportedly lying vacant across government civilian establishments, and alleged that the Modi government had hatched a plan to end reservations through the back door.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP policy of conspiring to end the rights granted by the Constitution had been “exposed”.

His remarks came over media reports that more than 8.2 lakh sanctioned posts were lying vacant across central government civilian establishments.

चोर दरवाज़े से मोदी सरकार ने आरक्षण ख़त्म करने की योजना रची !!

2015 में केंद्र सरकार में 4.21 लाख पद खाली थे। 2024 में यह संख्या बढ़कर 8.24 लाख हो गई।

रेलवे में 2.40 लाख पद खाली हैं। डिफेंस में 2.41 लाख। गृह मंत्रालय में 1.10 लाख।

PSU में 5.1 लाख स्थायी नौकरियां खत्म हो गईं।… pic.twitter.com/bGTfoUX7nW

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 24, 2026

Kharge shared a screenshot of ministry-wise vacant posts based on a media report that claimed that over a decade, the number of vacant posts in the central government had nearly doubled.

In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, “The Modi government has hatched a plan to end reservations through the back door! In 2015, there were 4.21 lakh vacant posts in the central government. By 2024, this number has risen to 8.24 lakh.” In railways, there are 2.40 lakh vacant posts, while in defence there are 2.41 lakh vacant posts, he claimed, citing the report.

“In the Home Ministry, 1.10 lakh vacant posts. In PSUs, 5.1 lakh permanent jobs have been eliminated. The share of contractual workers has risen from 19% to 49%. The question is not just about employment, but about social justice,” he said.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/82-lakh-govt-posts-vacant-congress-alleges-modi-govts-backdoor-plan-to-end-reservations

 

The action covers 128 flats at the project in the Crown Mill Compound. Several of the flats are reportedly linked to Maharashtra politicians, bureaucrats and prominent businesspeople.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has begun demolition action against alleged unauthorised construction at Rustomjee Crown, a luxury housing project in Mumbai.

The action covers 128 flats at the project in the Crown Mill Compound. Several of the flats are reportedly linked to Maharashtra politicians, bureaucrats and prominent businesspeople.

The case relates to common and open spaces around the building’s lifts. A complaint alleged that some flat owners had merged these shared areas into their apartments, resulting in unauthorised construction.

The space is estimated to be worth more than Rs 250 crore. Property in the affected part of the building reportedly sells for more than Rs 1 lakh per square foot.

RTI activist Santosh Daundkar filed the complaint alleging that owners of the 128 flats had occupied common areas around the lifts in violation of building rules. The BMC’s assistant commissioner for the G-South ward ordered action against the structures after the complaint was received.

Rustomjee Crown has three towers, each 63 storeys tall. Two of the three have received Occupancy Certificates from the BMC.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/demolition-begins-at-mumbais-rustomjee-crown-128-luxury-flats-face-action-11952702?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Amazon did not submit a response, while Instamart sought additional time to submit its documents regarding the action it took. BigBasket said in its response that it had stopped the online sale of the fruits.

In a major move against quick commerce apps, the Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration Department suspended the food licences of Amazon, Instamart and BigBasket for selling poisonous datura (dhatura) fruits and seeds on their platforms for human consumption.

The authority had earlier ordered an inquiry into the sale of datura products, as well as their online listing on these platforms.

The action comes on basis of complaints against the quick commerce giants selling the poisonous products.

In its investigation, the department found that datura fruits and seeds were being displayed for sale on various e-commerce platforms, in some cases with FSSAI licence or registration numbers, despite the products being toxic and posing a serious risk to human health if consumed.

Packets containing datura fruits and seeds were found bearing food licence/registration numbers and that the products had been stored in warehouses and offered for sale or distribution through online platforms.

Representatives of the companies had appeared before the authority. According to the order, Amazon did not submit a response, while Instamart sought additional time to submit its documents regarding the action it took. BigBasket said in its response that it had stopped the online sale of the fruits, and noted it would correct the labelling to clearly state “Not for human consumption” in the future.

However, the regulator said the responses and explanations were unsatisfactory, and said storing, selling or distributing the products as food was impermissible.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amazon-swiggy-bigbasket-lose-food-licences-over-datura-sales-in-karnataka-11953495?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Sangeeta’s maternal family said disputes between the couple, including conflicts over property-related issues, had affected the family

Kunal Chandgude, a 19-year-old boy who fell from a cliff in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, wanted his parents to resolve their differences and stay together, the family’s relatives said, suggesting that the iPhone EMI narrative was a “rumour”.

The incident unfolded on August 21 when Kunal reportedly jumped off a cliff on a hill in Waluj. His father, Murlidhar, tried to rescue him and lost his balance before slipping off the cliff. Seconds later, Sangeeta –– who witnessed her husband and son fall –– also died after jumping off the same hill. Their bodies were recovered by the investigators.

Sangeeta’s maternal family said disputes between the couple, including conflicts over property-related issues, had affected the family. They said that Kunal sought to bring his parents together and wanted them to work on their differences, India Today reported.

They described Kunal as a brilliant student who had scored 82 per cent in Class 10. According to them, he wanted to become a doctor.

They also rejected claims that the 19-year-old threatened his parents to jump off the hill as he was seeking their help to pay for the monthly instalments for an Apple iPhone, which he had purchased.

Sangeeta’s sister, Pallavi Patil, said the iPhone narrative is a “rumour”. She suggested those who spread such tales “know nothing”, NDTV reported.

Kunal’s Parents Had A Love Marriage

Murlidhar’s sister, Shobha Rajendra Maske, said the couple had a love marriage about 22 years ago. Upset about the marriage, the man’s family did not attend the wedding. Therefore, Shobha said, relations between Murlidhar and his family remained sour after the marriage, according to India Today.

She also mentioned the reported differences the couple had faced over the years.

How Incident Unfolded 

On August 21, Kunal left home around 8 AM for his classes. However, his location was traced to the hill between 10 AM and 10:30 AM, after which villagers reportedly informed the police.

The fire brigade was also called around 11:30 AM. When the team arrived, Kunal was standing near the edge of the hill and kept moving around. Rescue teams placed a safety net below as a precaution and tried to convince him to return.

Meanwhile, his parents also reached the location to persuade their son to return.

During the efforts, Murlidhar approached his son and tried to rescue him by grabbing his hand. The father-son duo then lost their balance fell off the cliff. Sangeeta, who witnessed her husband and son fall off the hill, reportedly jumped off the cliff and died, according to police.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/iphone-row-or-family-discord-what-really-led-to-maharashtra-hill-tragedy-10291464.html

Mumbai’s taxi and autorickshaw drivers say they are willing to learn Marathi, but claim RTO officials are asking questions beyond their training. As a three-day auto and taxi strike hits the city, commuters are struggling to find rides during peak monsoon season. Drivers are worried that the language test could threaten their livelihoods.

For decades, Mumbai’s iconic kaali-peeli taxis and autorickshaws have given the city its daily rhythm and enabled the superfast pace the city boasts about. Not just during peak office hours, cabs and autorickshaws are also a crucial part of the city’s late-night ecosystem. But since August 21 (Friday), hailing a taxi or autorickshaw and hearing the meter-down sound has become extremely difficult in Mumbai, because officials from the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) have started checking if the drivers can speak Marathi.

The nakas are everywhere, from south Mumbai to the northern suburbs. Drivers who fail to speak in Marathi are being issued a “memo”, and if they fail again after a month, their registration as cab or autorickshaw drivers could be cancelled for three months, until they can pick up a few basic sentences in Marathi. At least, that’s what the official requirement says.

Basic sentences in Marathi shouldn’t be much of a problem. But drivers allege that the questions they are being asked by the officials are “out of syllabus”.

The checking drive is scheduled to continue until September 30.

A section of autorickshaw drivers in Mumbai began a three-day strike on Monday evening against Maharashtra’s new Marathi language requirement for commercial passenger vehicle drivers.

Mumbai had already been facing a shortage of autos since Friday, when the drive began. Several commuters told India Today Digital that they had to wait 40-50 minutes to find an auto or cab, with many reaching work late.

The language test, the drivers said, has added pressure to an already difficult livelihood.

On Monday, autorickshaw and taxi drivers in the Kandivali suburb staged a road blockade, alleging that the enforcement of the Marathi language rule has led to harassment and threats against drivers who are not proficient in the language.

Cab drivers who spoke to India Today Digital said they are willing to learn Marathi, but claimed that some questions being asked by officials are beyond what they were taught during the government’s training programme.

The requirement applies to taxi and autorickshaw drivers, including those working with app-based cab services such as Ola and Uber. The Maharashtra government amended the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, to make working knowledge of Marathi mandatory for commercial passenger vehicle drivers. The enforcement drive began on August 20, after a three-month grace period ended on August 15.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday, “We are not trying to make our Hindi-speaking brothers experts in the Marathi language, but they should have working knowledge of the language… The deadline to learn the language has been extended three times now. Our Mahayuti government will not allow injustice based on language.”

DRIVERS SAY RTO OFFICIALS’ QUESTIONS ARE OUTSIDE THEIR TRAINING

Kisun Yadav, a Kandivali-based taxi driver, originally from Patna, told India Today Digital that drivers were prepared to learn Marathi but were struggling with the way the requirement was being implemented.

He said, “Training and certification centres were operating in parts of Mumbai, including Marol Naka, Kanjur Marg, Kurla, Andheri and Goregaon. But the material taught there did not adequately prepare drivers for some of the questions they were facing during RTO checks.”

Yadav said this was particularly difficult for older drivers, many of whom have limited education and depend on driving for their livelihood. He said some drivers were not even literate and had taken up driving because they had few other options to earn a living.

The pressure is also greater for drivers who work on short-term contracts. Yadav told India Today Digital, “Many autorickshaw drivers do not own their vehicles. Instead, they work under contractors who own several autos or cabs and pay drivers a share of their daily earnings.”

For such drivers, Yadav said, “Learning another language while meeting daily income targets is very difficult. Not all of them become cab or auto drivers permanently. They keep moving from driving, labour work, and other jobs, whatever comes their way.”

Yadav also questioned the timing of the government-backed Marathi classes conducted through the Konkan Sahitya Parishad. He said attending classes meant losing working hours, while the sessions were held during periods when drivers could otherwise be earning.

Ashok Tiwari, another cab driver who spoke to India Today Digital, is originally from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, and has lived in Mumbai since he was five and learnt Marathi in school. But he said his experience cannot be compared with that of lakhs of other drivers who came to Mumbai later in life.

Notably, in Mumbai alone, there are 4.6 lakh auto-rickshaw and taxi licence holders, according to figures cited in The Hindu’s report.

Tiwari said learning a new language can itself be difficult for people with little or no formal education. His main objection, however, was to what he described as questions that were outside the training material provided to drivers.

WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE TEST THAT MUMBAI DRIVERS NEED TO TAKE?

The official test consists of practical questions based on situations drivers encounter every day. These include communicating with passengers about destinations, fares, routes, meters and CNG stops. Expected responses include phrases such as, “Mala CNG bharayche aahe. Thode thambave lagel” (I need to fill up with CNG, we’ll have to stop for a while), and “meter chalu kele aahe” (have started the meter).

The transport department has said the questionnaire is based on the Marathi training provided to drivers by the Konkan Sahitya Parishad. Officials have said the questions are designed around everyday conversations between drivers and passengers.

But the drivers India Today Digital spoke to asked what exactly constitutes “working knowledge” of Marathi?

It must be noted that Marathi is the mother tongue of nearly 36% of Mumbai City’s population, making it the city’s largest linguistic group, according to the 2011 Census. However, at the same time, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were among the biggest sources of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra, accounting for nearly 47% of Mumbai’s out-of-state migrant population, according to 2011 census data.

The Census report on the mother tongue of residents in the city has shown that respondents who identify Hindi to be their mother tongue have grown by over 40% from 25.88 lakh to 35.98 lakh in Mumbai. At the same time, the number of respondents who said that Marathi is their mother tongue fell by 2.64% from 45.23 lakh in 2001 to 44.04 lakh.

So, the Marathi language rule comes against this backdrop. Drivers who spoke to India Today Digital said most passengers they encounter understand and converse in Hindi, and that this has been the case in Mumbai for decades.

OVER 1,200 DRIVERS ISSUED NOTICES IN FIRST ROUND

Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said on August 21 that 1,268 commercial passenger vehicle drivers had been issued notices after the first day of statewide checking. Of the 8,217 drivers tested until the evening of August 20, 3,995 were tested in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

As of August 20 (Thursday), in the MMR, 604 drivers were found to lack working knowledge of Marathi. On the same day, outside the MMR, 4,222 drivers were tested and 664 were issued notices, according to the press release by Sarnaik.

Drivers receiving notices have one month to acquire the required working knowledge of Marathi. If they fail to comply, their badges can be suspended for three months.

Sarnaik defended the exercise, saying, “Possessing working knowledge of Marathi is not merely a matter of following rules but is also about the convenience and safety of passengers.”

However, cab drivers Kisun Yadav and Ashok Tiwari said that if you go to a busy station like Dadar or Bandra Terminus, or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, where trains from everywhere in Maharashtra arrive every few minutes, you’ll barely find any passengers who only speak in Marathi. “If someone from Kolhapur or Solapur or Satara is initiating the conversation in Hindi, why would I respond in Marathi?” asked Yadav.

The minister, however, has also said the government does not want to take away anyone’s livelihood, but wants to protect Marathi and Maharashtra’s identity and culture. He said 1.65 lakh drivers had already undergone Marathi training and received certificates during a 105-day campaign.

The results, however, are visible in the form of strikes and absent cabbies and autorickshaw drivers in India’s financial capital.

But the rule itself is not entirely new. According to Sarnaik, a requirement for practical Marathi knowledge for operating autos and taxis has existed in Maharashtra since 1989, but had not been strictly enforced. The state amended the 1989 rules in 2026 to give the requirement effect.

The enforcement has nevertheless triggered concern among drivers and unions.

Official data says Maharashtra has around 9.65 lakh licensed rickshaw and taxi drivers. The government’s training campaign covered only 1.65 lakh drivers.

DRIVERS FROM UP, BIHAR FEAR CONFRONTATION WITH MNS MEMBERS

For drivers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, there is another concern — the fear of confrontation with Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) activists.

Drivers told India Today Digital that the MNS’s history of confrontations with north Indians in Mumbai makes some of them nervous about the language drive.

The party has a long association with aggressive Marathi identity politics. The MNS won no seat in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election and did not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election, but is aggressive against both north and south Indians when it comes to language politics.

The picture, however, is more complicated than a simple MNS-versus-migrant narrative.

MNS has joined hands with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). Yet Jan Suraaj leader and newly elected Bankipur MLA Prashant Kishor, who had worked with Uddhav Thackeray’s undivided Shiv Sena, said he had sought an assurance that Hindi-speaking migrants would not be targeted. He also credited the Uddhav-led Sena with ensuring that such violence did not take place during his stint with the party.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/mumbai-auto-rickshaw-strike-taxi-cab-ola-uber-shortage-drivers-face-out-of-syllabus-marathi-test-2979015-2026-08-25

For years, Tehseen and Shehzad Poonawalla have sparred over politics. While Tehseen backs the Congress, Shehzad just quit as a BJP member. An official post or not, the two brothers are still finding new ways to take political digs at each other. The latest was Rahul Gandhi blended with sugar and ethanol.

Brothers Tehseen and Shehzad Poonawalla have spent years on opposite sides of India’s political landscape. Their prime-time debates, with Tehseen backing the Congress and Shehzad making a case for the BJP, were a feast for TV news watchers. Though Shehzad recently quit as a BJP national spokesperson and a primary member, he has ensured that it isn’t seen as the end of the brotherly fight between the two.

While Tehseen, the elder sibling, is fighting against the rushed implementation of ethanol-blended petrol (E20) and the sugar policy, Shehzad is highlighting issues faced by the tax-paying middle class.

On Sunday, Shehzad took a swipe at Tehseen over a post targeting the Centre’s ethanol and sugar policy. The exchange has once again put the spotlight on one of the more unusual sibling relationships in Indian politics, between brothers who have long been against each other in political debates on TV, and on social media.

Tehseen claimed he was put under “house arrest” and posted a video of him offering sugarcane juice to Delhi Police personnel who were stationed outside his apartment.

His latest protest came even as India removed duties to import sugar. Diversion of cane for production of ethanol in India, a leading sugar exporter, has been linked to the shortage of sugar in the country.

Taking aim at the government’s sugar policy and the E20 petrol issue, Tehseen wrote on X that the “sugar scam” was making the common citizen pay more for sugar while alleging that vehicle owners were suffering because of ethanol-blended petrol. He also alleged that the system was “making sons of netas become millionaires”.

The next day, Shehzad responded to his brother.

“Dearest Tehseen,” he wrote, before asking, “Is your pal Rahul Gandhi a beneficiary of ‘Beta Badhao’ yojana? Since you made this about netas children.”

He followed it up with another question: “Why so selective?”

Shehzad then questioned Rahul Gandhi’s political credentials and said he was “not fit to even be a booth level leader”, while asking why he was called “Jannayak”.

The exchange is significant not merely because of what was said about Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, but because of who said it, and to whom.

The Poonawalla brothers have for years been among the most recognisable siblings in India’s political landscape. Their political positions have taken them in polar opposite directions. Before he left the saffron party, Shehzad had become one of the BJP’s most vocal faces on television after leaving the Congress in 2017, while Tehseen has generally been associated with the Congress side of the political spectrum and has frequently criticised the BJP government.

Their differences have not remained confined to political ideology.

In interviews, Tehseen has spoken about the strain their political differences have placed on their personal relationship. He has said that the brothers have not had the kind of conversation one would normally expect between siblings for years.

Asked in an interview about their equation off camera, particularly given that they frequently fought on television debates, Tehseen said there was no “bhai wali baat-cheet (brotherly conversation)” between them. He also spoke about the emotional distance that had developed between the two.

TEHSEEN AND SHEHZAD’S ON CAMERA RELATIONSHIP MANUFACTURED?

Tehseen and Shehzad’s relationship on camera has often fuelled speculation that the rivalry could be manufactured for television or social media. But Tehseen has rejected that suggestion, saying that if the disagreements were merely a political or television arrangement, the relationship would not have reached the point where the brothers stopped speaking to each other.

The latest exchange comes at an interesting moment in Shehzad’s political journey.

Shehzad, a lawyer by training, began his political career with the Congress but broke with the party in 2017, strongly opposing the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president and criticising what he described as “dynastic politics”. He then joined the BJP and became one of its most prominent national spokespersons, particularly on television debates and social media.

But that political chapter has now formally ended.

Shehzad resigned from the BJP in August, citing “pressing personal and financial circumstances” and saying that he planned to move to the private sector. He had first submitted his resignation on July 30, but the party had asked him to reconsider. He later reiterated his decision and sought to be relieved of his organisational responsibilities and primary membership.

Shehzad made it clear that leaving the BJP does not mean abandoning his political beliefs. In his resignation letter, he said he was leaving the party’s “vyavastha”, but not the “vyakti” or “vichar”, and expressed his continued support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s larger ideological vision.

As an activist, Shehzad is championing tax relief and greater accountability for India’s salaried middle class. He argues that taxpayers are not getting adequate public services in return for the taxes, tolls and other levies they pay, and is calling for lower or even zero personal income tax for salaried middle-class Indians until public infrastructure and civic services improve.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/shehzad-poonawalla-tehseen-clash-rahul-gandhi-sugar-policy-post-e20-fuel-bjp-congress-2978542-2026-08-24

US Ambassador Sergio Gor said India had asked to avoid questions during PM Modi’s June 17 meeting with Donald Trump in France, but Trump invited reporters anyway, turning it into a 45-minute press interaction.

India had specifically asked the US to avoid questions at the press conference after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has claimed. Trump initially agreed, but then appeared to forget the request and invited questions, turning the interaction into a 45-minute presser with PM Modi sitting beside him, Gor said at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum on Saturday.

The PM Modi-Trump meeting took place on June 17 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains in France.

“We were behind the scenes, behind the stage, and at one point it was just the president and I, and he asked me, he goes, what the Indians are going to raise. We went over some topics,” Gor said, recalling his conversation with Trump before the meeting.

“And he said, do they have any asks? And the MEA had one ask. He said, and it was, let’s bring in the media, but let’s not do a full press conference,” the ambassador added.

Gor said he conveyed India’s preference directly to Trump.

“I told the president, I said, the Indians prefer no questions. He said, sure, no problem,” Gor recalled.

The meeting subsequently began with journalists and cameras present. Gor said there were around 50 cameras in the room as Modi and Trump sat across from each other and delivered their opening remarks.

“So the meeting starts, the press comes in, there must have been 50 cameras, the president is sitting here, the prime minister is sitting there, they both speak for a few minutes,” he said.

But immediately after the opening remarks, Trump turned towards the cameras and asked reporters, “Any questions?”

Gor said the question effectively opened up the interaction.

“And that opened everything up,” the ambassador said, adding that what followed was “a 45-minute press conference” in which “everything was on the table”.

The government has not officially responded to Gor’s comments regarding New Delhi’s no-question request.

PM Modi’s meeting with Trump on June 17 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in eastern France came days after three Indian mariners were killed in an attack by the US Navy on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The safety of Indian seafarers operating in the conflict zone was among the issues raised by Modi during the interaction.

“Many Indian seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz, their safety is of the utmost importance,” the PM told Trump during the meeting. Trump, however, played down the risks associated with seafaring, describing it as a “rough profession”.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-modi-donals-trump-g7-meeting-sergio-gor-says-india-wanted-media-present-but-no-questions-press-conference-2978255-2026-08-24

India rushed the E20 mandate and built a huge ethanol set-up with ready loans. Now, it is diverting rice bought with taxpayers’ money to ethanol distilleries at a 40% less price. Despite that, ethanol remains costlier than petrol. The questions here. Who’s subsiding whom, and who is really gaining?

Irony is one among the several layers of India’s ethanol-blending programme. The government’s attempt at energy security is latched on to its food security system with parasitic hooks. Paddy, that the government buys on a minimum support price (MSP) with taxpayers’ money to distribute among the poor, is being sold to distillers at half the cost.

It is a bewildering case where the finished product — rice, after transporting, milling and stocking — is being sold at even lower than the procurement price of the source product — paddy.

We are going to tell you how that is being done and why we are talking about the national food security programme here. We are also going to tell you why the government is doing so.

The government says the national Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme will help reduce petroleum imports and save India’s foreign reserves. That should make sense because India imports around 90% of its energy needs. There’s just one small problem: the current economics don’t support the plan.

This economics is the primary reason why the government is supplying “surplus” rice from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns to distillers producing ethanol.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in a statement on July 31 clarified that the EBP programme didn’t compromise India’s food security programme. However, it sidestepped crucial questions, the main being: why was rice, bought under India’s food security programme using taxpayers’ money, being given to distillers at a subsidised rate?

“In a country where 80 crore people depend on free rations, the diversion of any item that can be used as food to produce ethanol is a big sacrifice. Food cannot be an alternative energy source in a country like India,” agriculture expert and Lucknow University professor Sudhir Panwar told India Today Digital.

INDIA’S ETHANOL PROGRAMME AND CEA NAGESWARAN’S WORD OF CAUTION

While the need to cut petroleum imports is understandable, the rush to do so with ethanol-blended petrol isn’t.

The government has mandated the sale of E20 petrol, which is a mix of 20% ethanol in a litre of petrol. While the deadline was set for 2030, the capacity to produce enough ethanol for blending with petrol was achieved by 2025, five years ahead of schedule.

That was even as 80% of the vehicles on the road were not E20 compatible.

In an Op-Ed article published in The Indian Express on August 17, India’s Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran argued that E10 petrol should be made available for older vehicles.

Nageswaran’s piece, co-authored with Department of Economic Affairs consultant Akash Poojari, also suggests that India shouldn’t move beyond the E20 until India has “thoroughly costed the food-versus-fuel trade-off”.

The government was moving towards E25 and higher ethanol blends, and paused only after public backlash. CEA Nageswaran is cautioning against rushing towards higher blends because some moves around agriculture pattern and distillery capacity might be difficult to undo.

One of the reasons the government is under pressure on the EBP programme is that it has already installed hundreds of factories to produce ethanol.

Investments were made, and big bank loans were taken out to build these plants. The repayments clock is ticking and investors and bankers might find the wait for a gradual move to higher ethanol blends difficult.

HOW DID INDIA GET 700 CRORE LITRES OF ETHANOL SURPLUS CAPACITY?

India’s ethanol production capacity expanded from about 421 crore litres in 2014 to nearly 2,000 crore litres by 2026. The spirited dash has made India sit on a notional surplus capacity of 700 crore litres of ethanol. That means, it can produce more than it can use.

There are 370 operational distilleries while 40 others are coming up, shows data shared by the All India Distillers’ Association (AIDA) with India Today Digital.

Now, ethanol is a biofuel, which means there is a farm component to it. While the scope of expansion of factories is virtually limitless, a steady supply of feedstock, which is agriculture dependent, and therefore not unlimited, has to be maintained. The input price of the feedstock has to be factored in too.

WHAT FEEDSTOCK ARE INDIA’S ETHANOL FACTORIES BEING RUN ON?

While molasses and rotten rice were earlier used to make ethanol, the feedstock has now changed to include millets (corn) and even rice.

Going by the current trend, grain-based ethanol is 67% of the total supply while the rest is from sugarcane-based feedstock. This shows “the strategic role of grain in sustaining India’s ethanol blending programme,” said AIDA.

AIDA president Vijendra Singh told India Today Digital that the government has mandated ethanol distillers to source at least 40% of their feedstock from surplus rice stocks held by the FCI.

Singh said distillers independently procure feedstock such as maize (corn) and sugarcane, while the government supplies broken rice.

“The FCI has a huge rice surplus, including broken rice that is not fit for human consumption, lying in its warehouses. The government has limited avenues for disposing of it, and that is why it has mandated that 40% of ethanol production must come from surplus FCI rice,” AIDA’s Singh told India Today Digital.

But experts say broken rice is perfectly fine for consumption. Also remember, the broken rice being provided to the distillers had been procured by the government through the FCI as part of India’s National Food Security And Nutrition Mission.

WHAT’S INDIA’S NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION MISSION?

India’s historical memory is scarred by famines in which millions of people have been killed. An Independent India inherited food scarcity and used to live from aid ship to mouth. Contaminated wheat, especially from the US, was the hallmark of the largesse of the West.

In the 1960s, India launched the Green Revolution under scientist MS Swaminathan. The increase in grain production, particularly in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, turned India into a food-surplus nation. Cultivation of paddy and wheat, the staples, was encouraged as India built a buffer stockpile in FCI godowns.

India launched the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in 2007-08 to increase the production of rice, wheat, and pulses. The NFSM was rebranded National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM) in 2014-15.

The Manmohan Singh government in September 2013, brought the National Food Security Act (NFSA), a landmark law that was aimed at ensuring food and nutritional security for all in India.

While the government tries to boost foodgrain production under NFSNM, it guarantees their equitable distribution under the NFSA.

So, India’s food security programme has two dimensions — procurement and distribution. Foodgrain, especially paddy and wheat, is purchased under the minimum support price (MSP) system from farmers and distributed through fair price or ration shops.

Around 800 million people in India get free food grains. Every month, 5 kg of grain, of which two-thirds is rice, is given to people below the poverty line.

HOW GOVERNMENT SUBSIDISED RICE FOR ETHANOL PRODUCERS

In just one year, (Kharif Marketing Season 2024-25), the government spent Rs 65,695 crore on paddy procurement.

The government supplied that paddy, bought using taxpayer’s money, to ethanol distillers at around 40% lower than its acquisition price. This was revealed in an answer by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Department in the Rajya Sabha on July 28.

The FCI spent Rs 3,889 per quintal (Rs 38.89/kg) on paddy procurement in 2025-26. The cost includes storage, transport and carrying charges. Estimates by experts like Ashok Gulati put that at a higher Rs 44 per kg.

However, the rice was sold at Rs 2,320 per quintal (Rs 23.20/kg) on an average to distilleries for the production of ethanol. This is a difference of almost Rs 1,600 per quintal or Rs 16 per kg.

The government’s justification is that the rice is broken or damaged, and unfit for consumption.

BROKEN RICE FIT FOR CONSUMPTION, BEING DIVERTED, SAYS EXPERT

Agriculture expert Sudhir Panwar said rice being broken doesn’t make it unfit for consumption. “The nutrient composition of broken rice remains the same. It is just that the aesthetic changes,” he explained.

“Broken rice formed a bigger part of the public distribution system. No food went to waste. Whatever broken rice was left, used to be given to African countries as humanitarian aid,” he added.

Panwar says the share of foodgrains in the production of ethanol in India is increasing rapidly every year, and needs to be weighed against the trade-offs like water use and farmland dedication.

The broken rice logic is most likely being used to make the broken ethanol-blending model limp.

OIL COMPANIES PAYING MORE FOR ETHANOL THAN FOR CRUDE?

At Rs 60.32 a litre, ethanol made from surplus FCI rice is the cheapest, data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas reveals. Ethanol from corn costs Rs 71.86 a litre while it is Rs 65.61 if produced from sugarcane.

The weighted average ex-mill price of ethanol stood at Rs 66.61 per litre, according to a reply in the Lok Sabha by the government on July 30.

Weigh this against the cost of petroleum imports at around Rs 48 a litre with crude at $91 a barrel. Add the processing cost of Rs 7 to Rs 9, and the total comes to around Rs 55.

Blending ethanol to petrol will turn “genuinely advantageous only when crude climbs into the $120-130 [per barrel] range or higher,” KBS Sidhu, former Special Chief Secretary of Punjab, told Financial Express Digital.

Prices of Brent Crude hit $113 a barrel on April 7, at the peak of the Iran-US war, and was at $86 on August 21. The $120-a-barrel scenario is highly unlikely now.

So, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are adding costlier ethanol to cheaper petrol. If FCI rice isn’t provided, the contrast will become starker.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-ethanol-blending-math-is-not-mathing-fci-rice-food-security-e20-petrol-2978064-2026-08-24