Indian Sub-continent

India: Three held over gangrape of 16-yr-old girl in Tripura, minister's son involved

Agartala, Oct 24 (PTI) Three people were arrested in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 16-year-old girl in Tripura's Unakoti district, the police said.

Claiming that a state minister's son was involved in the incident, the opposition Congress and the CPI(M) demanded the arrest of all the accused, while the BJP dismissed the charge.

India: Delhi's air quality turns very poor in Diwali morning

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) Delhi's air quality turned "very poor" on Monday morning as unfavourable meteorological conditions allowed accumulation of pollutants, and emissions from firecrackers and stubble burning compounded the situation.

On Sunday evening, the city reported a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 259, which was lowest for the day before Diwali in seven years.

Indian PM Modi to celebrate Diwali with soldiers in Kargil

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Kargil to celebrate Diwali with soldiers on Monday.

The PMO said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed in Kargil, where he will celebrate Diwali with our brave soldiers."

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has been visiting different military facilities to celebrate Diwali.

India: Delhi Recorded Worse Air Quality As Winter Begins To Set In

NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (NNN-PTI) – Indian capital city, New Delhi’s overall air quality has deteriorated to the “Poor” category, showed the data by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, today.

Some of the areas in and around New Delhi remained in the “Very Poor” category, the data suggested.

It forecast that Delhi’s air quality will remain between the “Poor” category and the lower end of the “Very Poor” category, until the Diwali festival, to be celebrated on Monday amid the bursting of smoke-emitting firecrackers.

India: Odisha man gets 15 years in jail for rape

Baripada, Oct 22 (PTI) A court in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district on Saturday sentenced a 45-year-old man to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment after convicting him of raping a girl eight years ago.

The judgment was delivered by Fast Track Court Judge Baripada Durga Charan Mishra.

The court imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict Arjun Hembram, Special Public Prosecutor Manoranjan Pattnaik said.

The court also directed Mayurbhanj District Legal Services Authority to pay Rs 7 lakh to the victim as compensation.

India: Over 1,500 obsolete, archaic acts to be repealed: Rijiju

Shillong, Oct 23 (PTI) The Centre will repeal more than 1,500 obsolete and archaic laws during the winter session of Parliament, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said.

Obsolete laws are impediments in the normal life of common people and do not have relevance in the present time, nor deserve to remain in the statute books, Rijiju told reporters here on Saturday.

India: Goods train derails as eight wagons pile up near Fatehpur

Kanpur: A goods train carrying an empty wagon from Central station got derailed at Ramwan station near Fatehpur on Sunday.

Train's eight wagons run over each other ruining the tracks.

As a result, rail traffic got disrupted on the Delhi-Howrah route upon the Up and Down railway tracks.

Twelve passenger trains, including Vande Bharat Express, have been affected due to the damage to the tracks.

The process of clearing the track and repairing the OHE line has started. The engineers expect the situation to return to normal by evening hours.

Indian PM says COVID-19 impact not to go soon

NEW DELHI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic would not go soon.

Modi made the remarks while launching an employment fair where he distributed 75,000 appointment letters among government job aspirants.

"The side-effects of the once-in-a-century pandemic will not go away in 100 days," said the Indian prime minister.

Modi said his government was working toward softening the blow from the pandemic on India's economy.

Indian Army helicopter crash : Four bodies recovered

Itanagar, Oct 21 (PTI) Four Army personnel were killed in a defence chopper crash in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Friday and search is on for a fifth person, a defence spokesperson said.

The bodies of the four Army personnel have been recovered from the crash site in a densely wooded mountainous area 35 km from the border with China, he said.

India: Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India Journey) to enter Telangana on Oct 23

Hyderabad, Oct 22 (PTI) The Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi will enter Gudebellur in Telangana on Sunday morning, after exiting Karnataka from Raichur.

The Telangana leg of the march will begin from Gudebellur in Mahabubnagar district.

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