Indian Sub-continent

Pandary Nath Shinde, a member of Blind-faith Elimination Committee surprised everyone when he invited his relatives and friends to his son’s birth-day party in a ‘shamshan' where, among other food, meat was served.

Some members of the Hindu community did not appreciate Shinde’s actions, got together, and went to ‘shamshan’ to purify the place. They sprinkled cow urine and read mantras to cleanse the ‘shamshan’, to make it fit for the next cremation.

Colombo, Sep 26; PTI:  An Indian national who was aware of an alleged plot to assassinate Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has been arrested, a court was told.

The Indian national, identified as M Thomas by Lankan media, was arrested on Tuesday from the residence of the Anti Corruption Movement operations director Namal Kumara, who exposed the assassination plot, CID Chief Inspector Ranjith Munasinghe informed the Fort Magistrate Court.

New Delhi, Sep 26; PTI:  The Congress Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar act, which allowed private entities to access Aadhaar data, and termed it a "slap on the face of BJP".

The Supreme Court has declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme constitutionally valid.

It has also struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which allows not only the State but also any "body, corporate or person" or private entity to demand an Aadhaar.

Varanasi, Sep 25; PTI: The Banaras Hindu University Tuesday suspended classes and asked students to vacate five of its hostels within 24 hours following a late night, on- campus violence, injuring at least six students.

BHU Registrar Neeraj Tripathi ordered closure of the university till September 28 following clashes between BHU resident doctors and hostellers allegedly over non-allotment of bed to a patient.

New Delhi, Sep 25; PTI:  The Kerala government Tuesday sought a special grant of Rs 5,000 crore from the Centre for livelihood development in the flood-ravaged state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and submitted a memorandum listing the devastation in the state, rehabilitation works done and the assistance required for rebuilding Kerala after the deluge last month.

Vijayan, however, said that there is no change in the Centre's stand over the issue of accepting assistance from any overseas government.

New Delhi, Sep 26, (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to live-streaming and video recording of court proceedings.

The apex court said that necessary rules for balancing rights of public and protecting dignity of litigants will be placed soon.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant", the bench said while allowing live streaming of court proceedings.

Live-streaming of court proceedings will effectuate the "public right to know" and bring in more transparency in judicial proceedings, the court said.

New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the appointment of Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next Chief Justice of India, saying the petition was "devoid of merits".

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said "We are of the view that it is not the stage to interfere (with the appointment)."

The petition against Justice Gogoi's appointment as the next CJI was filed by two lawyers.

Guwahati, Sep 26 (PTI) The Assam government on Wednesday said it has purchased 60,000 books of the 15-volume biography of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya worth Rs 1.6 crore.

In a written reply to a query by the Leader of the Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, Cultural Affairs (Library and Archeology) Minister Keshab Mahanta said the government has purchased the books for different libraries, educational and other institutes.

New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid but struck down some of its provisions including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.

Donald Trump appears to be a bigger risk for Narendra Modi than Rahul Gandhi for 2019 elections.

Trump’s America first policy and his trade war with most of the world has caused Indian Rupees to fall from 63 in the beginning of year 2018 to about 73 now. Indian Rs have been hit harder when compared to Pakistani Rs and Bangla Deshi Taka.

Petrol price has increased to about Rs 90/litre in Mumbai affecting prices of other commodities.