Breaking News, March 16

Reliance Capital Ltd on Wednesday said its chief executive officer Dhananjay Tiwari has resigned. The date of his cessation is March 15, 2022, the company said in a regulatory filing, without citing the reason for Tiwari's resignation. The debt-laden company promoted by Anil Ambani is undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) at the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh could follow the footsteps of his illustrious teammate Sachin Tendulkar as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha as he is likely to be Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) candidate for a seat in the Upper House. AAP, after sweeping the polls in Punjab, formed the new government with Bhagwant Mann being sworn in as the Chief Minister on Wednesday. AAP would like to send an icon from the state to the Upper House of Parliament and one of the foremost names to have emerged is that of 41-year-old off-spinner.

Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane visited the Eastern Command of the Army on Wednesday and reviewed its operational preparedness. The Kolkata-headquartered Eastern Command takes care of guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors.

Some leaders of the Congress's 'Group of 23' met at the residence of former Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad over dinner on Wednesday to work out the grouping's future strategy and discuss the party's poll debacle in the just-concluded assembly polls. Sources said the grouping had earlier planned a dinner at Kapil Sibal's residence, but it was changed at the last minute.

Among the leaders who attended the meeting included Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Sandeep Dikshit. The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders - Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma joined them. The grouping had given an open invite to other Congressmen to join them at the dinner meeting.

Powerful earthquake hits northern Japan, tsunami advisory issued. 

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly was on Wednesday adjourned sine die, nearly 10 days ahead of its scheduled date, after it completed the business listed for the day, including passing of the state budget for 2022-23, amid protest by the opposition Congress. After the Question Hour was completed and the House finished its listed business, including passage of the budget, without discussion on demand of grants related to various departments by a voice vote, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra moved a resolution proposing that the Assembly be adjourned sine die.

A protest erupted in Gangapur Road locality of Nashik city of Maharashtra when some police personnel were allegedly found to be having a liquor party while on duty. A video of the incident also went on viral. When a local resident went to lodge a complaint against some miscreants at the D K Nagar police outpost around 11 pm on Tuesday, he allegedly found the policemen drinking.

While Manipur’s BJP leadership has flown to Delhi to lay rival claims to the posi of cxhief minister of the Northeastern states, NPP leader Conrad K Sangma who had earlier flown to Imphal to seek a place for his party the NPP in the government to be formed, seems miffed by hints that BJP will go ahead and form a single party government.

A visit to India by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi later this month could be on the cards but there is no finality on it yet, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. There is no official word by the Ministry of External Affairs or the Chinese government on the possible visit. If the visit takes place, it will be the first trip by a senior Chinese leader to India after the eastern Ladakh standoff between the two countries began in May 2020.

The government is considering developing an operating system as part of its efforts to push the design and innovation ecosystem in the electronics and IT sector, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that no funds have been allocated by the government to develop an Indian mobile operating system yet.

The CBI has filed a supplementary charge sheet in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam against former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force personnel, officials said Wednesday. The CBI filed the charge sheet in a special court in Delhi after getting the nod from the government to prosecute Sharma, who was the Defence Secretary between 2011 and 2013 before being appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Ministry of Home Affairs has restored valid e-tourist visa issued for five years, which was suspended since March 2020, to nationals of 156 countries: Officials

A 33-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death by a man over a petty dispute in Ulhasnagar town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Wednesday. A case under section 302 (murder) has been registered against the accused at the Vitthalwadi police station, an official said. The accused and the victim knew each other and were allegedly having an affair, he said. The incident took place on the night of March 12, when the accused reached the victim's house in Vitthalwadi and a quarrel erupted between the two over a petty issue, he said. The accused allegedly beat up the victim severely and banged her head into a wall and killed her, the official said.

The Ameer-E-Shariat Karnataka, Maulana Sagir Ahmad Khan Rashadi has called for state-wide bandh on Thursday expressing "sadness" on the verdict of the High Court related to hijab. In a video message, Rashadi said, “I request all the Muslims to listen to the order read out here attentively and implement it strictly. Expressing our anger against the sad order of the Karnataka High Court regarding hijab, tomorrow on March 17 there will be a complete Bandh across the Karnataka State for the entire day." He appealed to every section of the Muslim community will have to participate in the bandh. “Make it successful and convey to the rulers that it is possible to get education while adhering to the religious practices. We also request every Justice loving people and the Millat-e-Islamia to follow bandh,” Rashadi said.

In a major victory for Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay its decision allocating 50 per cent super-specialty seats in government medical colleges to NEET-qualified in-service candidates. A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai permitted the state government to continue providing 50 per cent quota for in-service candidates in super speciality courses in its colleges. "We are of the view that no case is made out for continuing the interim protection which was granted for the academic year 2020-2021 by interim order dated November 27, 2020. Thus we reject the prayer in that regard. Needless to say, that the state of Tamil Nadu would be at liberty to continue counselling for the academic year. By taking into consideration reservations provided by the state,” said the bench. It then ordered a listing of a batch of petitions for further hearing after Holi vacation from Thursday.

The Bihar assembly on Wednesday morning was adjourned till 2 pm within minutes of commencement of proceedings as the opposition kept demanding an apology from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the alleged insult of Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, ignoring pleas by the latter to forget the "kaala adhyay" (dark chapter) and move on. The speaker, who had excused himself from attending the House on Tuesday, was in the Chair after a late-night meeting with the chief minister which seemed like an attempt at reconciliation. The treasury benches were visibly miffed at the opposition which had a field day fishing in troubled waters and stalled proceedings for the most part of Tuesday.

As many as 77 crore people in the country have been covered under the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme through which beneficiaries can take their share of food grains from anywhere in the country, Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. Goyal said in Lok Sabha that the technology driven initiative was conceptualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, taking into account the problems being faced by migrant workers in getting government benefits. He said the scheme is now available in 35 states and union territories covering 77 crore beneficiaries.

Former Maharashtra minister Shankarrao Kolhe died in Nashik on Wednesday due to old age- related ailments, family sources said. He was 93. Kolhe served as the minister for agriculture, co-operative, revenue and transport between 1989 and 1993. He was the founder of a cooperative sugar factory and the Sanjivani Group. Kolhe also served on various key committees of the state government in his career. He was felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Vasantdada Sugar Institute in 2017 for his contribution to the cooperative sector. He is survived by his wife and three sons.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi to meet party's MPs from Punjab at Congress Parliamentary Party office at 12.30 pm today.

Hijab ban matter mentioned before the Supreme Court for urgent hearing by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde. Supreme Court says it would consider the listing of pleas related to hearing, after Holi vacations.

Supreme Court upholds the government's decision on One Rank, One Pension (OROP) and says it does not find any constitutional infirmity on the OROP principle and the notification dated November 7, 2015.

Vaccination of children in the 12-14 years age group against COVID-19 started in Delhi on Wednesday, amid a steady dip in coronavirus cases reported in the national capital. About six to seven lakh children in this age bracket in the city are eligible for vaccination to begin with, and the number would keep increasing as days pass, official sources said on Tuesday. Several Covid vaccination centres across 11 districts in Delhi have been identified for the inoculation exercise. The city government has received 6,31,400 doses of Corbevax vaccine, official sources said on Tuesday, adding, training has been imparted to staff from all stakeholder departments for the exercise.

Five suspected inter-state narcotics smugglers were arrested along with a huge quantity of contraband by the Anti-Narcotics Task Force on Tuesday, an official said. The smugglers- three residents of Punjab and two Kashmiris- were arrested after a truck and a private car were intercepted by the ANTF sleuths on a specific input near Transport yard Narwal in the outskirts of Jammu, he said. He said 160 kg of poppy husk, which was being smuggled from the Kashmir Valley to Punjab, was recovered during search of the vehicles. A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against the arrested narcotic dealers, the official said and identified the arrested persons as Bashir Ahmad Dar of Charar-e-Sharief (Budgam), Javid Ahmad of Pulwama, Dalip Singh of Jalandhar, Paramjeet Singh and Hanook Singh of Ferozpur (Punjab). During initial investigation, the official said it has been found that these narco-dealers were using fake registration number on the truck to dodge the police.

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The TMC received a shot in the arm on Tuesday as a CPI councillor in Kharagpur Municipality joined the Mamata Banerjee-led party. Nargis Parvin, the councillor of ward number 4 in Kharagpur, was welcomed into the fold by TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh among others at the party headquarters. Parvin, who recently won the municipal polls by over 5,000 votes from her ward, said she believed that she would be able to do her job in the most “befitting manner” by joining the TMC.

An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces at Nowgam area in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district, officials said on Wednesday. "Encounter has started at Nowgam area of Srinagar. Police and security forces are on the job," police said. The firefight between terrorists and security forces took place after a joint team of the police and the security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation on the basis of specific information about presence of terrorists. As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the encounter.

Vaccination of children in the 12-14 years age group against coronavirus will start after March 22 in Madhya Pradesh after necessary training is given to the frontline staff, a senior health official said here on Tuesday. Also, necessary changes will be carried out in the CoWIN portal, said National Health Mission director Santosh Shukla in a statement. In many states, inoculation for this age group is set to start from Wednesday.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday said action under the National Security Act will be taken against those involved in organised copying racket in high school and intermediate exams conducted by the UP Board of Secondary Education. The directives were given at a meeting held by Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra with all divisional commissioners, police commissioners, district magistrates and SSPs through video conferencing, an official statement said. He directed that zonal and sector magistrates should be deputed in districts to conduct copying-free examinations and they should regularly inspect and supervise the examination centres. Action under the NSA should be taken against those involved in organised copying racket, the officer said, adding that special attention should be paid to those spreading rumours.

Two chain-snatching cases were reported in Hudkeshwar and Ajni police station areas in Nagpur in a span of 12 hours, an official said on Tuesday. In the first case, a gold chain worth Rs 15,000 was snatched from a 68-year-old woman in Hudkeshwar, while in the second case, a 45-year-old man got robbed of a gold chain in Ajni, he said. Probes into both incidents are underway, the official added.

Twenty head of cattle being smuggled to Haryana for slaughter were freed from two places in Alwar district, police said on Tuesday. Eight people were arrested in this connection, they said. During checking at two places on Monday night, police teams recovered 20 head of cattle being smuggled to Haryana for slaughter in vehicles. The animals were shifted to a cow shelter, police said. Three people were caught from the spot and five others were held later.