India

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) Bhartiya Kisan Union Bhanu, a farmers association, has moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene as a party in a pending plea challenging the constitutional validity of the newly enacted three contentious farm laws.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Justice S A Bobde, on October 12, had issued a notice to the Centre by agreeing to test the validity of the laws on the pleas filed by RJD lawmaker from Rajya Sabha, Manoj Jha and DMK Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, Tiruchi Siva, and one by Rakesh Vaishnav of Chhattisgarh Kisan Congress.

Indore, Dec 11 (PTI) Protesting against the Union government's decision to allow post-graduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in surgical procedures, nearly 8,000 doctors, mostly from the private sector, struck work in Madhya Pradesh on Friday.

The protest did not have much impact on the functioning of big hospitals in the state.

Guwahati, Dec 11 (PTI) Fresh agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was launched by 18 organisations in Assam on Friday demanding repeal of the legislation and release of jailed KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi who was taken into custody during the protests last year.

Protest rallies were taken out across the state by the organisations, including Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, Lachit Sena, besides students, and youth organisations of ethnic communities.

Gorakhpur (UP), Dec 11 (PTI) A six-year-old boy has been kidnapped from a village in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district and a ransom of Rs 50 lakh demanded from his parents, police said on Friday.

Deepak, son of Piyush Gupta, was last seen around 3 pm on Wednesday, playing games on a mobile phone outside his house in Banspar Baijouli village. He went missing from there along with the handset, they said.

His parents started searching for him and lodged a missing report, police said.

Kolkata, Dec 11 (PTI) Doctors of different hospitals across West Bengal Friday staged protests against the Centres move to allow postgraduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has demanded withdrawal of the notification.

Doctors in various hospitals in the city and in Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, North and South 24 Parganas districts wore black bands but carried on normal duties.

Ranchi, Dec 11 (PTI) Scores of doctors in Jharkhand joined the protest call of the IMA on Friday against the Centre's move allowing post-graduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained to perform surgical procedures.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had given the nationwide call for withdrawal of non-essential and non-COVID services on Friday in protest against the notification by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), stating that it will lead to "mixopathy" and demanding withdrawal of the notification.

Simdega, Dec 12 (PTI) Four militants of the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) were arrested in two separate operations in Jharkhand's Simedga and Lohardaga districts, police said on Saturday.

Three militants were arrested in Simdega district in a raid in Kanarwa forest in the Bano police station area.

Balaghat (MP), Dec 12 (PTI) Two women Naxals were killed in separate encounters with police in a forest area of Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, an official said on Saturday.

While one of the Naxals was killed around 11 pm on Friday, another one was eliminated around 7 am on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Tiwari told reporters.

Chandigarh, Dec 12 (PTI) Intensifying their protest against the Centre's new agri laws, farmers took over some toll plazas in Haryana on Saturday, not allowing authorities to collect fees from commuters.

The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.

New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) United Airlines inaugurated on Saturday a daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Chicago, according to a company statement.

The airline will operate a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft between the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and its hometown hub at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

With the introduction of the service, United will operate four daily nonstop flights from India.