India

Mumbai, Oct 13 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has informed Governor B S Koshyari that a decision on reopening places of religious worship will be taken after careful consideration of the COVID-19 situation in the state.

Responding to a letter by Koshyari a day earlier, Thackeray on Tuesday wrote to the Governor, saying the state government will consider his request to reopen these places.

In his letter, Koshyari had mentioned that he has received three representations from delegations demanding that places of religious worship be reopened.

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday sought response from the Centre on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the newly enacted three contentious farm laws.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the central government and sought its reply within four weeks.

New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The national capital's air quality was in the very poor category on Tuesday morning, the first time this season, with calm winds and low temperatures allowing accumulation of pollutants.

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, an increase in farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring regions of Pakistan is also going to impact the air quality in Delhi-NCR.

Patna, Oct 12 (PTI) Bihar minister for backward and extremely backward class welfare Vinod Kumar Singh died on Monday at a hospital in Delhi due to post-COVID 19 complications, family sources said. He was 55.

He is survived by wife Nisha and two daughters.

Singh, a BJP MLA from Pranpur constituency in Katihar district, had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 28 and subsequently recovered.

Shortly after, however, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and had to be airlifted to a private hospital in Delhi, where he breathed his last.

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Industrial production declined by 8 per cent in August, mainly due to lower output of manufacturing, mining and power generation sectors, official data showed on Monday.

According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, manufacturing sector production registered a decline of 8.6 per cent, while the output of mining and power segments fell 9.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

The IIP had contracted by 1.4 per cent in August 2019.

Bhadohi (UP), Oct 12 (PTI) A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped by an employee of a carpet factory here, police said on Monday.

The matter came to light on Saturday when the woman got ill and her family members took her to a hospital, where it was found that she was three months pregnant, Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh said.

The 22-year-old accused would take the woman to the factory and rape her several times, Singh said.

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Retail inflation rose to 7.34 per cent in September, mainly on account of higher food prices, according to government data.

The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.69 per cent in August. It was 3.99 per cent in September last year.

Kolkata, Oct 12 (PTI) Calling the BJP an "evil force" and the "biggest pandemic" that has struck the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed that the saffron party was "trying to flare up tensions" in the state for its own political gains.

Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, further said that the BJP was not bothered about the well-being of people, and was only interested in seizing power.

Kohima, Oct 12 (PTI) Senior Nagaland minister C M Chang died of COVID-19 here on Monday, health officials said.

He was 77 and is survived by his wife, four sons, five daughters and grandchildren.

Chang was being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in Kohima, they said.

He is the first MLA in the state, which has reported 7,240 COVID-19 cases so far, to succumb to the infection.

The Nagaland government has declared state mourning on October 13 and 14, officials said.

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur on Monday lamented "weaponising" the sedition law, adding one of the worst forms of curtailment of freedom of speech is charging a person with sedition.

Observing that law is being misused to curb free press and speech, the retired judge said a lethal cocktail" of use and misuse of law is being used to impact adversely the liberty of all those who dare to speak up.