Exchange Of Fire In Watergam Sopore, Operation Underway

On the Congress and National Conference alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi said, “Rahul Gandhi should clarify his party's stance on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Congress party is blind for power. The Congress party does not hesitate to create anarchy, disorder, instability and enmity in the country for power. The Congress party has repeatedly endangered the interests of the people and the security of the nation by joining hands with divisive and anti-national elements. It has even threatened the security, sovereignty and unity of the country. In order to protect their own interests, the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections have created a lot of questions by colluding with the National Conference run by the Abdullah family. Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi should clarify to the people about the promises made by the National Conference in its election manifesto.”
 

On Haryana BJP's letter to the Election Commission to postpone the elections, Congress leader Chaudhary Birender Singh said, “Earlier also whenever the election schedule comes during a major festival, the elections were postponed for a day or two from the polling day. But long vacation time is not an argument. The public of Haryana is not happy with the BJP government.”

On the alliance of Congress and National Conference, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "National Conference manifesto, first they have said that they will restore Article 370 and Article 335 A of the Constitution of India. National Conference manifesto has clearly said that they are for constructive dialogue with Pakistan. They have also said that they want to have trade with Pakistan and those who were involved in the stone pelting and various heinous crimes against the civilians and Police, will be taken back to the government service. National Conference manifesto has also said that they will withhold or they will discontinue the reservation given to the Dalits, Gujars, Bakarwals and Pahari communities. They have also said that they will continue to patronize directly or indirectly the separatist voices. So under the circumstances, if Congress joined hands with the National Conference, it is presumed that Congress has endorsed the National Conference manifesto and it is nothing but an anti-India document. It is a pro-Pakistani document. It is a document of a few fundamentalists. They are undermining the heroic sacrifice of our armed forces. I think Congress stand exposed today. Congress was against the interests of India. They are against the interests of India and they will continue to be against the interests of this great nation."

Jammu and Kashmir Police Saturday announced a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh on information about a wanted Lashkar-e-Taiba militant. Pakistan-based terrorist Sumama alias Illyas alias Babar, a commander in the proscribed outfit LeT, is wanted by CI Kashmir in a case registered under the UAPA and IPC, a police spokesperson said.
 

Shiv Gopal Mishra, Secretary (Staff Side), National Council (Joint Consultative Machinery) said, "Today, we are very thankful. Maybe across the nation, it would be the first time a PM has invited the delegation of Staff Side of Joint Consultative Machinery to interact. This is a very important moment for the 32 lakh central employees we represent. He has spoken about an assured pension system. In the coming days, those who will retire and those who have already retired, will get a 50% assured pension. He also said that whenever there is a requirement, the whole govt will be available for central govt employees."

 The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration has re-opened the famous Parthasarathy rocks on campus, which was declared out of bounds for students in 2019.

In a circular issued on Friday, the university stated that entry to Parthasarathy Rocks will be allowed from 6 am to 10 pm every day.

Parthasarathy Rocks at JNU is a famous hilltop area of historical and cultural significance. It is part of the Aravalli Hills and is believed to contain stones dating back to the prehistoric age.

“50% assured pension is the first pillar of the scheme...second pillar will be assured family pension,” said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. 

Employees to get assured minimum fund before retirement. 

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra on Saturday approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), which aims to provide assured pension, family pension and assured minimum pension to government employees.

Kolkata rape accused Sanjay Roy’s polygraph to be done tomorrow 

Three educational institutions in West Bengal have been issued a show cause notice by the school education department for making students participate in a rally during school hours against the murder and rape of a woman doctor in a hospital in Kolkata, an official said.

The three state-aided schools -- Baluhati High School, Baluhati Girls' High School and Bantra Rajlakshmi Girls School -- all in Howrah district were served the show cause notice on Friday and asked to give an explanation within 24 hours.

The school education department official said that along with students, several teachers and non-teaching staffers had taken part in a joint rally taken out on Thursday by the schools in "violation of all rules and regulation".

The Central government on Saturday directed an insurance company to pay pending claims of up to Rs 225 crore to about 2 lakh farmers in Maharashtra's Parbhani district within a week.

The order follows Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's interaction with farmers in Nanded on August 21, where issues of pending soyabean crop insurance claims were raised.

On August 22, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare held a meeting of the National Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The committee rejected the insurance company's objections to crop-cutting experiments and ordered the settlement of pending claims, an official statement said.

The name of the insurance company was not disclosed in the statement.

 The Met Department on Saturday warned of very heavy rainfall till August 26 in several south Bengal districts, owing to a cyclonic circulation over north Bay of Bengal and a vigorous monsoon.

The cyclonic circulation is likely to intensify into a low-pressure area over the region by Monday, it said in a bulletin.

The weather office said that heavy to very heavy rainfall will occur in the districts of South and North 24 Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly, Birbhum, East and West Bardhaman.

Heavy rain is likely in other districts of south Bengal, including Kolkata.

CBI Registers Corruption Case Against Sandip Ghosh

Shiv Sena (UBT) workers, stage a protest in Thane against the Badlapur incident, where a minor girl was allegedly sexually assaulted at a local school.

The PDP on Saturday released its manifesto for the Assembly elections, promising to pursue the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.

It also promised to advocate for diplomatic initiatives between India and Pakistan, and establish full connectivity across the Line of Control (LoC) for trade and social exchange.

The manifesto was released at a function at the party headquarters here by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti along with senior leaders of the party.

The manifesto titled 'People's Aspirations' also talks about advocating a regional free-trade area and shared economic market, striving for revocation of the Public Safety Act (PSA), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Enemy Act, as well as its commitment to revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

 CBI takes over investigation in case of alleged financial irregularities in RG Kar Medical College

Terrorist killed in encounter with security forces in J&K's Sopore

A private helicopter crashed near Paud village in Pune district. The helicopter belongs to a private aviation company. It was going from Mumbai to Hyderabad. Among the 4 people who were in the Helicopter, the captain sustained injuries and is hospitalised. The rest of the three persons are in stable condition: SP Pankaj Deshmukh Pune Rural Police

Selja rules out alliance with AAP, says Cong will fight on its own in Haryana

Maharashtra assembly polls: Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has called a meeting this evening regarding the division of assembly seats.
 

An interstate coordination meeting on Naxalism chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah began in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Saturday.

The meeting, which is being attended by senior officials of seven states, will review the inter-state coordination and Left Wing Extremism situation, an official said.

Among those taking part are Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Deputy CM Vijay Sharma, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai as well as Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police (DGPs) of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, the official said.

Nepal bus accident: Union Minister Raksha Khadse and Nepal Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak visited the Hospital in Kathmandu and met the injured At least 27 Indians, all from Maharashtra, who were visiting Nepal, were killed and 16 others injured after the bus they were travelling in veered off the highway and fell into Marsyangdi River in the Aanboo Kaireni area in Tanahun district yesterday.

The Prime Minister has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased in the mishap in Tanahun district, Nepal. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000.

The Congress forged an alliance with the National Conference for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir due to its "lust for power", Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday.

Dhami also posed 10 questions to the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi and asked them to explain why the party allied with the National Conference and the Abdullah family.

He alleged that the Abdullahs "pushed back" Jammu and Kashmir for three decades and "ruined" it.

Fresh spell of rain lashes parts of Mumbai city.

Kolkata doctor rape-murder: Polygraph test of former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh among others to be held today 

Kolkata rape-murder: Polygraph test on main accused and 6 others including ex-principal of RG Kar Medical College has started, say officials

Heavy rain was recorded in several districts of Rajasthan in the last 24 hours, an official of the meteorological department here said.

According to the weather data until 8.30 am, Bhungra (Bhilwara) in eastern Rajasthan recorded the highest rainfall of 131 mm, while Marwar Junction (Pali) in western Rajasthan recorded 75 mm, the official said. Mount Abu tehsil logged 120 mm of rainfall, followed by Khushalgarh (110 mm), Pratapgarh (100 mm), Kapasan and Dholpur tehsil (90 mm) each, and Ramganjmandi (80 mm), the data showed.

Even the court stopped our bandh, but it cannot suppress our voice: Uddhav Thackeray

'Finally, Mamata Police has created a 'toolkit' to spread fake news' wrote Suvendu Adhikari on social media platform X.

West Bengal government's knees shook as the message of Navanna campaign on 27th went viral on social media. The government and the administration are already under immense pressure after the women's spontaneous night-occupation program first got an unprecedented response and turned into a public outcry. This time, the message of the non-political Navanna Abhiyan of the students raised Mamata Banerjee's blood pressure.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and party MP Sanjay Raut staged a protest in Mumbai, Maharashtra, against the Badlapur sexual assault case.

Maharashtra BJP Mahila Morcha hold a protest against MahaVikasAghadi, in Mumbai.

 Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says, "I have talked to the Union Defence Ministry regarding the sad incident that happened yesterday in Kathmandu. The Home Minister has appointed a nodal officer to help all those affected and they will be taken to Nashik from Gorakhpur by the Air Force. For those who are injured, treatment is being provided to them. The state govt is actively working in this regard and all the needful help is being provided by the state and the central govt.".

WB govt, CBI should address concerns of victim's family: Sanjay Singh on medic's rape-murder 

SIT files charge sheet against JD(S) MLA Revanna, former MP Prajwal

Traffic on the key Ratnagiri-Kolhapur road in southern Maharashtra was disrupted after a landslide at the Anuskura ghat, an official said on Saturday.

No one was injured in the landslip that occurred late on Friday night on the arterial road, the official said.

According to the Ratnagiri police control room, earthmoving equipment like JCB machines have been sent to the spot to clear the debris.
 

Republic accesses CCTV footage of accused Sanjoy Roy, entering the hospital on the night of incident. 

Former principal of the Medical College and Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh arrives at CBI Special Crime Branch at CGO complex, Salt Lake
 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh meets US NSA Jake Sullivan; discusses 'key' strategic matters

RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case: As per the order of the court, all documents pertaining to the alleged financial irregularities in RG Kar have been handed over to CBI by SIT today: Kolkata Police
 

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut says, "Bandh was called by Maha Vikas Agadi today to protest against the atrocities on women. The court said not to do so, we respect the court's decision but we will hold a protest. Today at 11 am, Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena will protest. Efforts are being made to suppress our voice but our fight will continue..."

IAF Mi-17 and ALH helicopters continue relentless efforts in Tripura flood relief operations, with NDRF personnel inducted into disaster-struck areas. Operating from Agartala, the helicopters air-dropped over 4,000 food packets to stranded locals in Rangamati, Jatanbari, Udaipur, Paschim Malbasa, Shankar Pali, and nearby areas. A total of 28 tons of relief material has been airlifted till now for flood-affected Tripura.

Police recover body of Dhing gang rape accused, search for other two continues

An Indian Air Force plane will bring the bodies of the Maharashtra pilgrims killed in a bus accident in Nepal to Nashik on Saturday, officials have said.

Tragedy struck north Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Friday as at least 27 pilgrims from the region died after the tourist bus they were travelling in veered off the highway and fell into the fast-flowing Marsyangdi river in central Nepal.

The victims were from Varangaon, Daryapur, Talvel and Bhusaval in Jalgaon district, 470 km from Mumbai, officials said.

The prime accused in the rape of a minor girl allegedly escaped from police custody, jumped into a pond and died on Saturday morning at Dihang in Assam's Nagaon district. Visuals of the body of the accused being taken away after it was recovered by the police from the pond.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin in Pentagon, Washington DC yesterday.  Rajnath Singh is on his four-day visit to the US to further boost the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries.

Team India cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has announced his retirement from International and domestic cricket. The star cricketer made his decision public on saturday morning over social media. 

“As I close this chapter of my cricketing journey, I carry with me countless memories and gratitude. Thank you for the love and support! Jai Hind!” Dhawan captioned the post on 'X'.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Ukrainian students who are studying the Hindi language.

'Highlights from a very special visit to Ukraine, a valued friend of India’s', wrote PM Modi in social media platform X

Russia will have “significant challenges” if the world, including India, stops buying subsidised oil from it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday.
The West has been critical of India’s continued buying of Russian oil despite sanctions on that country since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

Amit Shah to chair anti-Naxal review meeting today in Chhattisgarh's Raipur