India

Bengaluru, Jan 7 (PTI) Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Tuesday claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act violates Constitutional provisions.

"The CAA law that has been passed in my judgment should be turned down by the Supreme Court on the grounds of it being unconstitutional because you cannot have certain types of fundamental human rights linking citizenship with religious differences," he told reporters at the Infosys Science Foundation's Infosys Prize-2019 here.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 8 (PTI) The day-long strike called by central trade unions was near total in Left-ruled Kerala on Wednesday, with vehicles, including state-owned KSRTC and private buses keeping off the roads.

In the state capital, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) did not operate city and long distance services.

Very few private vehicles and autorickshaws were seen plying on roads.

As Sabarimala pilgrims have been exempted from the strike, KSRTC buses are taking Ayyappa devotees to Pamba.

Patna, Jan 8 (PTI) A woman was allegedly raped at gunpoint after being kidnapped from the parking lot of a mall here on Monday, police officials said.

One person has been arrested out of four persons named in the FIR.

"We have identified the four accused persons who were the (rape) victim's acquaintances. One man raped the girl while others were part of the conspiracy," City Superintendent of Police (Central), Patna, Vinay Tiwary told PTI.

Ahmedabad, Jan 8 (PTI) Banking services were partially hit in Gujarat on Wednesday due to the nationwide strike called by 10 central trade unions to protest against the Central government's "anti-labour" policies.

Transport services are absolutely normal across the state while offices of various business establishments also remained open.

Although trade unions claimed that factory production was hit in many parts of Gujarat, industrialists said it was business as usual.

Kolkata, Jan 8 (PTI) Train services were disrupted in the suburbs and neighbouring districts of the city by supporters of a nationwide general strike called by 10 trade unions on Wednesday, Railway officials said here.

At least 175 local trains were cancelled in the Sealdah and Howrah divisions of Eastern Railway (ER) owing to the blockades put up by supporters of the strike, its spokesman said.

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) A four-member fact-finding team of the Congress visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Wednesday to probe the attack on students and faculty members by a masked mob earlier this week.

The team comprising All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, party MP from Ernakulam Hibi Eden, former NSUI president of JNU unit Syed Nasser Hussain and former NSUI president and ex-president of Delhi University Students' Union Amrita Dhawan interacted with students on the issue.

Statements of students were video-graphed.

Patna, Jan 8 (PTI) The strike called by trade unions and farmers bodies had a perceptible impact in Bihar where people hit the streets on Wednesday demanding workers rights and denouncing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed country-wide implementation of NRC.

The Left parties have extended their support to the strike.

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (PTI) Amid spiralling US-Iran tensions, security was on Wednesday tightened outside the US Consulate here by Hyderabad Police.

As a precautionary measure, security was enhanced by deploying additional personnel, a senior police official told PTI.

Bhopal, Jan 8 (PTI) After enduring the rise in onion prices for months, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday accused the Centre of harming farmers' interest by importing the staple from Turkey at a time when local bulbs are arriving in the market.

While, onion prices hovered at Rs 100 per kg for the last two months, the staple is now being sold at Rs 50 to Rs 70 per kg at retail markets in Bhopal and other cities of the state as on Wednesday.

Chennai, Jan 8 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday told the Assembly that dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees was "possible" and wanted the Centre to ink a pact with the island nation to facilitate it.

Raising the issue, Leader of Opposition, M K Stalin said the government has been harping on giving dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu and wanted to know if consultations were made with legal experts on its feasibility.