Author: LokMarg

Hours after a female sub-inspector named Sandhya Topno was mowed down to death allegedly during a vehicle check, Jharkhand Police on Wednesday assured that the guilty won’t be spared.

In an exclusive conversation with ANI today, Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kaushal Kishore said, “We got information from Tupudana Out Post area that a suspicious vehicle coming from Gumla is reaching Ranchi. Thus, a police check led by sub-inspector Sandhya Topno was deployed in the area.”
The police have arrested one accused in the matter and is trying to nab the other accused.

“This incident happened with the Sub-Inspector while she was trying to stop this vehicle. After getting injured, she was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead. The vehicle has been taken into custody and the driver has been arrested too,” said Ranchi SSP Kishore Kaushal.

The accused arrested tried to breach government works as well in the past, the police said.

“One more person was present inside the vehicle, for whom a continuous search is on. Efforts will be to complete the investigation quickly and get the guilty punished with a speedy trial. Accused, namely Nigaar Khan tried to breach government works as well,” said Ranchi SSP Kishore Kaushal.

Further probe into the matter is underway.

In another incident in Haryana, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Surendra Singh Bishnoi was mowed down by a truck while probing illegal stone-mining in Nuh district.

Police officer, Surendra Singh Bishnoi, who had gone to investigate a case of illegal mining in Nuh, died after being allegedly run over by a dumper driver.

Nuh Police official informed ANI today in this case and said, “Tawadu (Mewat) DSP Surendra Singh Bishnoi, who had gone to investigate an instance of illegal mining in Nuh, died after being run over by a dumper driver. A search operation is underway to apprehend the accused. More details are awaited.”

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of DSP Surendra Singh Bishnoi and said the culprits will not be spared.

He said strict action will be taken against the mining mafia in the state.

“We will control the mining mafia in the state and the culprits will not be spared. Strict action will be taken against them,” he said.

Khattar said police posts will be created near mining areas and the destination of mining vehicles and their equipment will also be fixed. (ANI)

Star Studios and Junglee Pictures dropped the first look of director Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming flick ‘Babli Bouncer’ featuring Tamannaah Bhatia and announced the release date.

Taking to its Twitter handle, Star Studios shared the two posters of ‘Bahubali: The Beginning’ actor, to which they captioned, “Oye bawale, suna kya? Aa gaya hai Babli Bouncer ka time! Dilon ko yeh jodegi, ya khub haddiyaan todegi? Pata chalega jald hi! Here’s the first look of #BabliBouncer, starring the phenomenal @tamannaahspeaks.Streaming from Sept 23 only on @DisneyplusHS.”

In the poster, Tamannaah is seen in and as babli bouncer!

In the first poster, the ‘Entertainment’ actor donned a denim jacket that she paired with black jeggings. And struck the bodybuilder pose.

In the other image, she wore a black t-shirt and denim jeans. Striking a pose towards the camera.

‘Babli Bouncer’ is set to release on 23rd September 2022 on Disney+ Hotstar in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu!

‘Babli Bouncer’ is touted as a coming-of-age feel-good story with a slice-of-life comedic tone set in the real ‘bouncer town’ of North India – Asola Fatepur will see Tamannaah Bhatia in a never seen before avatar, as Babli Bouncer.

Produced by Star Studios and Junglee Pictures, Babli Bouncer is directed by Madhur Bhandarkar and stars Tamannaah Bhatia, in the lead along with Saurabh Shukla, Abhishek Bajaj and Sahil Vaid in pivotal roles. (ANI)

Heavy rains lashed the national capital on Wednesday afternoon, leaving low-lying areas water-logged thereby affecting traffic movement in parts of the city.

The traffic police issued an advisory, asking people to check the weather before heading out.
Generally cloudy sky, moderate rain or thundershowers are predicted in the city over the next three days, the daily bulletin by the India Meteorological Department informed.

The weather department has issued a yellow alert in the Capital city with a warning of moderate to heavy rainfall. The intensity of rainfall is set to increase from Wednesday onwards and the weather could also bring the maximum temperature down to around 32 degrees Celsius by Thursday.

IMD tweeted, “Thundershower with moderate to heavy intensity rain with very heavy intensity rain over isolated places and gusty winds with speed of 30-50 Km/h would occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR ( Loni Dehat, Hindon AF Station, Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram,…..”

“…….Chhapraula, Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Manesar, Ballabhgarh) Sonipat, Rohtak, Kharkhoda, Mattanhail, Jhajjar, Farukhnagar, Sohana, Palwal (Haryana) Bagpat, Khekra, Modinagar, Kithor, Amroha, Moradabad, Garhmukteshwar, Rampur, Pilakhua, Hapur, Gulaoti, Siyana, Sambhal, Billari, Milak, Sikandrabad, Chandausi, Bulandshahar, Jahangirabad, Anupshahar, Bahajoi, Bareilly, Shikarpur, Khurja, Pahasu, Debai, Narora, Gabhana, Sahaswan, Atrauli, Badayun, Kasganj, Ganjdundwara, Etah (U.P.) during next 2 hours,” tweeted IMD today.

With the fresh spell of rain, the air quality in the national capital is in the ‘satisfactory category’. System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), a government agency, today morning informed that the overall AQI is at 90 at 3:00 PM.

As per the government agencies, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

The minimum temperature on Wednesday was 31 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is predicted to reach 40 degrees Celsius.

Flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport might get affected today due to bad weather in the national capital. Airlines such as Vistara and SpiceJet took to Twitter to inform the passengers about the same and requested them to get in touch with the airline concerned for updated flight information.

“#TravelUpdate: Due to bad weather (Heavy Rainfall) expected in Delhi, Arrivals/Departures are likely to get impacted. Please visit http://airvistara.com or SMS UK<Flight no.> to 9289228888 to check the updated flight status. Thank You,” Vistara tweeted

Another airline company, SpiceJet tweeted, “#WeatherUpdate: Due to bad weather (heavy rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status via http://bit.ly/2tG9xBx.”

Yesterday, some parts of the national capital received light rainfall, bringing a little respite to residents from sultry weather. However, the maximum temperature settled at 37.7 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. (ANI)

There has been a substantial decline in terrorist attacks from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

While giving a written reply to a query to the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, the MoS said the government has a “policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and the security situation has improved significantly in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The Minister said the incidents of terrorist attacks also decreased significantly since 2018 in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 229 terrorist attacks were reported in 2021; 244 in 2020; 255 in 2019; and 417 in 2018.

In these attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister said, a total of 42 security force personnel were killed in 2021 following 62 killings in 2020, 80 in 2019 and 91 in 2018. Similarly, a total of 41 civilians were killed in 2021 following 37 in 2020 and 39 each in 2019 as well as 2018.

Also replying to Kharge’s question “Whether the government was aware of the rising attacks on Kashmiri Pandits during last few months” the Mos said, during the last few months two incidents of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir in which one person was killed and another person injured.

“The government has taken several measures to ensure the safety of minorities in the valley. These include a robust security and intelligence grid, day and night area domination, patrolling and proactive operations against terrorists, round-the-clock checking at Nakas, deployment of Road Opening Parties at strategic points to thwart any terrorist attack,” Rai said.

He also shared data showing the year-wise attacks on civilians during the last five years.

As per the data, a total of seven civilians had been attacked in Jammu and Kashmir up to June 30 this year.

“The number of civilians attacked in 2021 was 12. The number stands at 28 both in 2020 and 2019. However, 33 civilians were attacked in 2018,” as per the data. (ANI)

With over 400 cases every day, China is witnessing a new outbreak of COVID-19. More than 20 provincial-level regions in the Chinese mainland have reported locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, and daily caseloads have begun to flare up in recent days.

An expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that more subvariants have emerged during the new round of outbreaks, such as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5, and the fact that they are more transmissible and harder to find poses challenges for the country’s COVID-19 control efforts, Global Times reported.
On Tuesday, the country reported 108 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 47 in Gansu, 21 in Guangxi, and 20 in Guangdong province, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.

Provincial-level regions such as Anhui, Guangxi and Gansu became the latest hotspots. Anhui’s Sixian, which witnessed a spike of cases in early July, resumed normal life and production last week, but other small cities in Anhui, such as Bengbu’s Huaiyuan county, are still struggling with the increasing cases.

Epidemiologists said this new wave is challenging the coping ability of more inland and small cities, which are not as well equipped as metropolises, and emerging subvariants of Omicron further press anti-virus efforts as they spread faster and are harder to detect, the Global Times reported, Global Times reported.

Previously, from July 2 to 11, over 300 cases were reported every day. Some 199 confirmed cases and 539 silent carriers were reported on Tuesday.

The CDC expert said that compared with previous outbreaks since March, the latest outbreak exposed a new trend, that is the infection has sneaked into inland and small cities.

“Compared with cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Jilin, which faced the severest onslaughts during the last round of outbreak, those that are seeing a surge this time are less equipped medically, and in a poorer condition to cope with the virus,” he added.

Apart from large-scale outbreaks in small cities, big cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin also reported an increase in the cases in recent days, the expert said.

A new subvariant of Omicron BA.2.12.1 was found in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, said Chengdu’s health authorities on Sunday, noting it is 1.2 times as transmissible as BA.2, and no homologous sequence was found in the Chinese mainland.

Recently, around 500 people were found infected with COVID-19 over five days at a tourist resort in China’s Guangxi region.

Global Times reported that the outbreak left over 2,000 tourists stranded in Beihai city due to a coronavirus flare-up that hit the holiday resort.

The city of Beihai located in the south of Guangxi is one of the most popular tourist resorts in the region.

According to the local health commission of Guangxi, a number of cities including Beihai, Nanning, Guilin, Hezhou and Chongzuo have been affected by the outbreak.

The new wave of COVID-19 cases has been triggered by new emerging Omicron sub-variants, with nine such sub-variants all classified as forms of Omicron reportedly having been spreading among 12 regions since July, Global Times reported.

Recently, China enforced a lockdown in Xian, home to 13 million people after the city reported the first cases of a new Omicron subvariant. The lockdown was implemented after Xian reported 18 COVID-19 infections from Saturday to Monday, all of which are of the Omicron BA.5.2 subvariant, according to local disease control officials.

BA.5.2 is a sub-lineage of BA.5, which is already dominant in the US and appears to escape antibody responses among both people previously infected with COVID-19 and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to researchers.

It is the first time the subvariant has been reported in China, one of the last places in the world still adhering to a stringent zero-Covid policy.

Due to the latest outbreak in Beijing, millions of people are facing mandatory testing and thousands are under targeted lockdowns, just days after the city started to lift widespread curbs that had run for more than a month to tackle a broader outbreak since late April. (ANI)

The Supreme Court began hearing on Wednesday petitions filed by both factions of the Shiv Sena relating to the control of Shiv Sena party and the recent political crisis in Maharashtra, which brought down the Mahavikas Aghadi (Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP) government in the state.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli hearing the petitions filed by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions said time is not an issue but some of the issues are important constitutional issues which should be settled. The pleas one by the Shinde camp and five by the Thackeray camp pertain to the disqualification proceedings, the election of Speaker, recognition of whip, floor test and others.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal representing Uddhav Thackeray’s camp told the apex court that every elected government in this country can be toppled if this case can be accepted. “Democracy is in danger if state governments can be toppled despite the bar under the 10th schedule,” Sibal said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings. He has sought time to file reply on the petitions filed by Thackeray camp and asks to post the hearing next week.

In his arguments Sibal said: “Forty members of Shiv Sena by their conduct are deemed to have incurred disqualification by giving up party membership. By voting for a candidate put up by the BJP as Speaker in violation of the official whip, they have attracted disqualification. By voting in the vote of confidence violating official whip, they have incurred disqualification,” said Sibal.

He further said that the Governor should not have sworn-in to the new government when the Supreme Court was hearing the matters.

“Speaker recognizing a whip other than the official whip nominated by the party is mala fide,” he said.

Sibal said that the issue of the political party is itself in question. When disqualified members elect a person and they stand disqualified, then the election itself is bad.

“What happens to the verdict of the people who elected the government,” Sibal asks.

He said that the Schedule that has been used to prevent defection has been used to instigate defection. The tenth schedule has been turned topsy-turvy. Every day’s delay will play havoc with democratic decisions. An illegitimate government should stay for a single day, he added.

Senior advocate Singhvi appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp also told the Supreme Court that the so-called departing faction sent a letter to the then Deputy Speaker seeking his removal and they sent it from an unauthorized email followed by a letter by an advocate. Deputy Speaker didn’t take it on record saying no MLAs came before him.

Singvhi said the condition in the 10th Schedule is that not only you should have two-thirds going but also the 2/3rd should merge with another party. They have not merged with another party and they are not calling themselves BJP either. It is common ground that they have not merged. Yet they are not disqualified. They can vote in a floor test and form a contrived majority. We are beseeching the court to uphold a very important moral, ethical, legal and constitutional aspect, he added.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings.

“If a large number of people in a party feels that another man should lead, what is wrong with that. The moment someone gathers enough strength within the party and stays within the party to question the leader without leaving the party and says we will defeat you in the house, that is not defection. Defection is only when they leave the party and join hands with one another, not when they stay in the party,” he said.

Salve further said that the inner party matter and the court has never interfered in the workings of a political party.

Earlier, the top court had asked the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Rahul Narwekar not to take any action on the new disqualification notices issued against the members of Shiv Sena.

It had asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra Governor, to inform its direction to the newly-appointed Assembly Speaker.

Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had approached the top court challenging the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government and also the Speaker’s election and floor test.

They had also challenged the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s action recognising the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena. The plea said the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognise whips nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of the Shiv Sena official party.

However, the Shinde group challenged the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker to 16 rebel MLAs as well as the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader, which is also pending before the apex court. (ANI)

Renowned former Olympic track and field athlete PT Usha on Wednesday took the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Constitution as Rajya Sabha MP.

Usha, along with renowned composer Ilaiyaraaja, screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad and spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade, were nominated to the Upper House of Parliament by the government in what was seen as part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) outreach to southern India.
“Pilavullakandy Thekkeyaparambil Usha (Nominated) to make the prescribed oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Constitution,” mentions Rajya Sabha List of Business.

Usha, was recently nominated to the Rajya Sabha, by the central government. A day ago, she met BJP president J P Nadda who extended his congratulations to her for being nominated as Upper House MP and wished her the very best.

Born in a small village in Kozhikode district in Kerala, Usha is one of India’s most iconic sportspersons.

Popularly known as the Payyoli Express, she has represented the country and won medals at various international sporting events, including the World Junior Invitational Meet, Asian Championships, and Asian Games. She has set and broken many national and Asian records during her career.

Usha has been a role model and inspiration for lakhs of young girls across the country who have dreamt of taking up a career in sports, especially track and field events.

In the 1984 Olympics, she missed winning India’s first medal in track and field in a photo-finish as she stood fourth in women’s 400M hurdles and lost the Bronze medal by 1/100 second.

Earlier on Monday, cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Misa Bharti, daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla took oath along with nearly 25 other leaders as Rajya Sabha members.

Others included A Rao Meena, Vijay Sai Reddy, Kheeru Mahto, Shambhala Saran Patel, Ranjeet Ranjan, Maharashtra Majhi, Aditya Prasad, Praful Patel, Imran Pratapgarhi, Sanjay Raut, Sasmit Patra, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Vikramjeet Singh Sahani.

Randeep Singh Surjewal, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, R Girl Rajan, S Kalyan Sundaram, KRN Rajesh Kumar, Javed Ali Khan, V Vijendra Prasad were others among those who took the oath on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties forced adjournment of both the Houses of Parliament till 2 pm amid sloganeering and ruckus.

Both the Houses of Parliament are witnessing repeated adjournments following the ruckus by the Opposition leaders since the commencement of the Monsoon session on July 18. (ANI)

The Lower House of the Parliament has been adjourned till 2 pm on Wednesday after ruckus and sloganeering by Opposition parties on Day 3 of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on issues of inflation and GST hike.

Adjourning the House over sloganeering by Opposition MPs, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said, “I want to tell those members who are indulging in sloganeering that they should take part in discussions. The public wants the Parliament to work.”
Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the third straight day after Opposition members created a ruckus over inflation. Shortly after Leader of Opposition in the Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge began addressing the issue amid chaos, Upper House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh hit out at the ‘obstinacy’ of the PM Modi government after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned without discussion on price rise and GST hike. He said the business in Parliament was suffering to the government’s denial of a debate on the issues.

“This morning in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition led by the Congress demanded an URGENT debate on price rise and senseless GST rates on food items. This was denied. The House was adjourned till 2 pm. Modi Sarkar’s obstinacy continues. Business in Parliament is suffering,” tweeted Ramesh today.

Prior to the commencement of today’s Monsoon Session, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani lashed out at Congress MPs for disrupting the Parliamentary proceedings and said, “Rahul Gandhi never posed a question and always disrespected Parliamentary proceedings…He’s the one to have less than 40 per cent attendance in the House… Today, the person who’s been politically unproductive is dedicating himself to ensuring there’s no debate in Parliament”

The Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 18 and will continue till August 12. There will be 18 sittings during the Session. (ANI)

Overnight heavy rain near the Kahara village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Tuesday resulted in floods which have caused a lot of damage in the area.

“The village area is currently experiencing floods caused by very heavy rainfall which has destroyed many houses and caused loss of property, including the Allama Iqbal Memorial Academy and the building and grounds of Tourism,” said the local.
The people urged the District Administration and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to deploy teams and take appropriate measures.

The India Meteorological Department on Monday had predicted scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms/lightning over Jammu and Kashmir for three days and a fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls over the region on Tuesday and Wednesday (i.e., July 19 and July 20).

Earlier on July 14, heavy rains and flash floods had damaged a foot-over bridge in the hilly areas of Rajouri causing much inconvenience to the people, due to which people were forced to cross the rivulet in waist-deep water for commuting.

The heavy rains in Rajouri had also damaged the crops of the local farmers.

Speaking about the situation, DDC Chairman Panchayati Raj, Naseem Liqat said that he requested Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to declare it a state disaster.

A cloudburst struck the holy cave area of Amarnath on July 8 and resulted in a heavy discharge of water in the ‘Nallah’ adjoining the holy cave, claiming 16 lives.

In the tragic incident, at least 36 people were reported missing.

Amarnath Yatra was partially suspended after the said cloudburst incident, but it later resumed on July 11 from the Nunwan Pahalgam side.

A cloudburst triggered by the heavy rains blocked the Srinagar-Leh highway on July 5, after flash floods occurred in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Flash floods also occurred in the Shah Mohallah Kullan area of Kangan in the Ganderbal district on July 3, inundating several houses and causing damage.

Apart from J-K, several other parts of the country are also facing flood-like situations after torrential rainfall this monsoon. (ANI)

The Customs sleuths have arrested a passenger who had flown in from Dubai and seized air guns, telescopic sights and arms accessories worth Rs. 20,54,000 at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, informed the officials on Tuesday.

The materials were recovered from a passenger coming from Dubai via flight no. IX-194.
The passenger was intercepted on the basis of database while attempting to pass through green channel without any declaration to Customs.

“During the examination of his luggage 10 air Guns, telescopic sights mountable on arms and other misc. arms accessories were recovered. During subsequent interrogation, the pax was found to be not in possession of licit documents,” read an official statement.

The goods have been seized for contravention of Customs Act, 1962 read with Baggage Rules, 2016, Foreign Trade (D&R) Act 1992 and Arms Rules, 2016.

The passenger has been arrested and will be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) Lucknow for judicial custody.

Further investigations are underway.

Earlier on July 14, the Customs department at Indira Gandhi International airport arrested an Indian couple who had arrived from Vietnam and seized at least 45 guns worth more than Rs 22 lakh from their bags.

According to the Commissioner of Customs, the accused couple admitted their previous involvement in the smuggling of 25 guns having a value of more than Rs 12 lakh.

“An Indian couple that arrived from Vietnam was nabbed and 45 guns worth over Rs 22 lakh from two trolley bags seized. They admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling 25 pieces of guns having a value of over Rs 12 lakh,” said the Commissioner of Customs, Indira Gandhi International Airport and General.

While the National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed the functionality of the seized guns in a preliminary report, the Customs said that a ballistic report will confirm whether they are genuine.(ANI)