Indian Sub-continent

Ahmednagar, Feb 1 (PTI) Social activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike Friday entered the third day with his doctor stating that the 81-year-old's blood pressure and blood sugar levels had "significantly" increased.

Hazare has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday in Ralegan Siddhi village in the state's Ahmednagar district demanding appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and resolution of farmers' issue.

Jaipur, Jan 31 (PTI) Congress candidate Shafia Zubair won the Ramgarh assembly poll in Rajasthan by defeating her nearest BJP rival Sukhwant Singh by a margin of 12,228 votes, officials said.

With this, Congress's tally has increased to 100 in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Its ally - RLD- has one seat thus the government is in comfortable position.

Zubair got 44.77 per cent votes by securing 83,311 votes while Singh secured 71,083 votes, the officials of the Rajasthan election department said.

Gadchiroli (Maha), Jan 31 (PTI) Naxals allegedly torched six vehicles, including tractors brought for construction work, in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Thursday, a police official said.

The incident took place in the morning in Korchi tehsil near Dongargaon police outpost, he said.

A group of around 12 Maoists set on fire four tractors and two JCB machines which were brought for construction work in the area, the official said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 (PTI): The Kerala government Thursday set apart Rs 100 crore in the 2019-20 budget for the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Sabarimala temple that faced an unprecedented a dip in revenue due to the recent floods and violent protests over the women's entry issue.

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac presented the annual budget for the year 2019-20 in which he lashed out at the "vicious propaganda" unleashed by some "politicians" that the government was "siphoning off the money" of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

Srinagar, Jan 31 (PTI) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said Thursday the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), under which a person can be detained without trial for six months, would be revoked if his party was voted to power in Jammu and Kashmir.

Making the announcement at militancy-hotbed Pulwama district in south Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said: "I do not wish to see the youth of the state behind bars without trial for months together. The parents crying for their children picked under the act."

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) An eleven-year-old boy moved the Bombay High Court Thursday seeking a ban on popular mobile game 'PUBG'.

Ahad Nizam, who filed the public interest litigation through his mother, said the game promotes violence, aggression and cyber-bullying.

The court should direct the Maharashtra government to ban it, the PIL said.

Ranchi, Jan 31 (PTI) A minor was allegedly raped by five youths at Bundu area of Ranchi district and the accused were arrested, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

The incident took place of Tuesday when the girl left home to visit her maternal uncles house at Bundu, about 40 km from here, superintendent of police (rural) Ashutosh Shekhar said.

But before going her uncle's house, the girl had spent time with her boy friend. Then when they were on their way to the girl's uncle's house, the five accused thrashed the boy and snatched away their mobile phones.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) GST collections in January crossed Rs 1 lakh crore-mark after a gap of 2 months, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

"The total gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 has today crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year," the ministry tweeted.

Jaipur, Jan 31 (PTI) A four-year-old nomad girl was allegedly raped by a man of the same community near her home in Rajasthan's Sikar district, police said Thursday.

The 28-year-old accused took the minor to a cremation ground located near their huts and committed the crime on Wednesday night, Station House Officer of the Khatushyamji police station Surendra Kumar said.

The accused was caught the same night, the SHO said, adding he has been placed under arrest under relevant sections.

The girl was admitted to a local hospital, Kumar said.

Dehradun, Jan 31 (PTI) Over 3.5 lakh government employees in Uttarakhand went on a mass holiday on Thursday in support of their 10-point charter of demands, including a hike in housing allowance and timely promotions.

Essential and emergency services like health, roadways, power and water supply were kept out of the ambit of the protest.