India

New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Soon after the Supreme Court cleared the deck for the ambitious Central Vista project on Tuesday, the Congress said the project is not a legal issue but a case of misplaced priorities of "an autocrat seeking to etch his name in the annals of history".

The opposition party also described the project as "a colossal waste of public money" in times of the coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession.

The Congress has been opposing the Central Vista project that involves the construction of a new Parliament building by 2022.

Mathura, Jan 4 (PTI) The judicial custody of four alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) activists, booked for sedition and other charges after their arrest while going to the Hathras rape-murder victim's village in October last year, has been extended for 90 days, a senior government counsel said on Monday.

Deputy SP of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Rakesh Paliwal on Monday sought extension of the judicial custody of Atiq-ur Rehman, Masood, Alam and journalist Siddiq Kappan, he said.

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as the farmer leaders insisted on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws right from the beginning, even as the government listed various benefits from the Acts.

The next meeting will take place on January 8, farmer leaders said.

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) The UPSC has recommended 89 candidates for different civil services from its reserve list drawn on the basis of the 2019 civil services examination, according to an official statement issued on Monday.

The result of the 2019 civil services examination was declared on August 4 in 2020, recommending 829 candidates in order of merit for appointment to IAS, IFS, IPS and other Group A' and Group B' central services against 927 vacancies.

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 2.7 crore of a Surat-based BJP leader and a media firm linked to him in connection with a money laundering case against them, the agency said on Monday.

Jalna, Jan 4 (PTI) A man was sentenced to three years in jail by a court in Jalna in Maharashtra for molesting a minor girl, an official said on Monday.

District and Sessions Judge Sakharam Deshmukh convicted Vijay Dnyandev Harbak for molesting the victim on March 10, 2018 when she had gone to fetch water in Ambad area, said assistant government pleader Varsha Mukim.

He was found guilty under provisions of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and was also fined Rs 4,000, Mukim added.

Agra, Jan 4 (PTI) Four people were arrested here on Monday after they waved saffron flags at the Taj Mahal complex, police said.

The CISF personnel deployed at the historic place apprehended them after which they were handed over to police.

Tajganj police station Inspector Umesh Chandra Tripathi said three people waved flags at the Taj Mahal complex under the leadership of right-wing leader Gaurav Thakur.

Police have registered a case against them, he said.

Kolkata, Jan 4 (PTI) British actress Banita Sandhu, who is in the city to shoot for a movie, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and was admitted to a private hospital after she refused to be treated in a government facility, health department sources said.

Sandhu, who was shooting for 'Kavita & Teresa', reached the city on December 20 and she travelled in the same flight with the youth who tested positive for the mutant coronavirus strain on his return from the United Kingdom.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Jan 5 (PTI) A youth has been arrested for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at a village under Jalalabad police station area on Monday evening when the girl was playing outside her house, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Nipun Agarwal said.

The suspect, aged 18, has been arrested and the girl sent for medical examination, police said. (UP), Jan

Kolkata, Jan 5 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday stood in a queue along with other locals in Kalighat area here to collect her 'Swasthya Sathi' smart card from a Kolkata Municipal Corporation distribution centre.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, dubbed the move as "pure drama".

The TMC chief, accompanied by urban development minister Firhad Hakim and other government officials, arrived at Joy Hind Bhavan, close to her residence on Harish Chatterjee Street, around 11.45 am, to collect the card.