India

Srinagar, Oct 17 (PTI) The government on Saturday amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act to provide for setting up of District Development Councils in each district which will have directly elected members, marking the implementation of the entire 73rd Amendment Act in the union territory, an official spokesman said here.

The District Development Councils (DDCs) of each district shall have 14 constituencies after their delimitation by the respective deputy commissioners, the spokesman said.

Nagpur, Oct 17 (PTI) A man was arrested in Nagpur for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl after luring her to the cotton fields nearby, police said on Saturday.

The incident happened on Friday afternoon in Nilaj village when the girl and her brother were grazing goats, said a Khaparkheda police station official.

After the girl's kin filed a complaint, Manish Ravindra Choudhary (25) was held under provisions of IPC and POCSO Act, he said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 17 (PTI) Unless there is a strict separation of religion from politics and government, secularism cannot be protected, defended or put into operation in a proper sense,CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday.

Yechury said forces like the RSS want to "take India into the darkness of the past" by changing the country's history, culture, education policy "to give a monolithic Hindu identity to India" instead of its syncretic cultural identity.

Kanpur: International level facility will be provided in a multi-purpose sports complex at Brajendra Swaroop Park here. 

The vacant land with an area of 8666 sq mt will be developed for this purpose.

A committee to estimate the cost has been formed. Additional chief executive officer, Smart City has been made president of the panel. Other members are chief engineer, civil, KMC, chief engineer lighting, KMC and chief accounts officer, KMC. They will prepare the DPR of the proposed sports complex. 

NEW DELHI, Oct 17 (NNN-XINHUA) — At least eight people were killed and over 30 others injured Saturday after a passenger bus overturned after skidding off the road and collided with a car in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The accident took place at village Baari Bujhia of Pilibhit district, about 260 km north of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s coronavirus infections rose by another 62,212 cases over the previous day and a local media report said on Saturday that the government had begun identifying about 300 million people who would be given the vaccine first when it is ready.

The Times of India said that frontline health and sanitation workers, police officials and elderly people with co-morbidities will get the vaccine on priority.

Kanpur:  Guardians are in a hodgepodge as to send their wards to school opening in days to come. They seem to be in double mind. Fear and anxiety distress them badly. Although the school authorities are extending a guarantee of social distancing, sanitizer and temperature check, yet the fearing parents dangle between to be or not to be. They do not find themselves in making a final decision. 

Pune, Oct 17 (PTI) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said a large number of people, including activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj and Anand Teltumbde, are under detention for their words, although none of them is accused of hitting anyone or possessing a gun.

He also said that words and ideas may outlast power and authority.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP and author of several books was speaking at the Symbiosis International University Literary Festival via video-conferencing.

Patna, Oct 16 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address 12 rallies in Bihar where the three-phase assembly election will begin on October 28.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the prime minister will address the first set of rallies in Sasaram, Gaya and Bhagalpur on October 23.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other leaders of the NDA constituent parties will attend the rallies to be addressed by Modi, he said.

New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad has tested positive for COVID-19 and has quarantined himself at home.

The 71-year-old Congress leader shared the information on Twitter and asked those who came in contact with him in the recent past to follow protocols on self-quarantine and testing.

"I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am in home quarantine. Those who came in contact with me in the last few days may kindly follow the protocol," he said in a tweet.