India

New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) The government plans to rope in professionals for top positions at Air India through a global search process, as part of efforts to revive the national carrier, according to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu.

With the proposed strategic stake sale of the Air India failing to take off in May this year, the government has been working on various initiatives, including hiving off a significant chunk of over Rs 55,000 crore debt into a special purpose vehicle, to turn-around the ailing airline.

Bhopal, Dec 29 (PTI) The Congress-led Madhya Pradesh Government said Saturday that it is going to create an Adhyatmik Vibhag (spiritual department) by merging several existing departments.

The Congress had promised to form such a department before the last month's Assembly elections.

The `Anand Vibhag' (Department of Happiness) set up by the previous BJP government, a first in the country, would be incorporated into the new department.

Lucknow, Dec 29 (PTI) A police constable was killed Saturday in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur when protesters hurled stones at vehicles returning from the venue of a public meeting addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Superintendent of Police (Ghazipur) Yashveer Singh said the protesters were workers from the Rashtriya Nishad Party who were prevented by the administration and the police from going to the rally venue.

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Four women employees of a shelter home in Delhi, where girls were allegedly abused by its staff, were arrested on Saturday, police said.

During an inspection of the private shelter home in Dwarka on Thursday, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) found that girls were severely punished by the staff for not following rules. Some teenage girls alleged that the female staff put chilli powder in their private parts as punishment. They were also forced to have chilli powder, the DCW had said.

Aurangabad, Dec 30 (PTI) One person was killed and 10 vehicles were torched by Maoists in Bihar's Aurangabad district, a senior police officer said Sunday.

Superintendent of Police, Satya Prakash said the Maoists attacked Sudi Bigaha village under the jurisdiction of Deo police station area late on Saturday night and shot dead a man identified as Narendra Singh (55).

Singh is the uncle of Rajan Kumar Singh, who is a member of Bihar Legislative Council, he said.

KANPUR: A case of deception has come to light at the Hallet Hospital here on Saturday.

One Eshu became the victim of this fraud at the hands of the swindlers roaming in and around the hospital. Disturbed with his mother’s illness he consulted Dr Ranjeet Nigam of the Medicine Department at the hospital. The doctor advised him to admit his mother. Certain medical tests were also asked to complete.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said that the Congress party will not let the passage of the triple talaq bill in its present form in the Rajya Sabha.

According the PTI report, the bill will be moved by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar is likely to surrender before a court here on December 31 to serve the life imprisonment awarded to him by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

"We will comply with the high court's judgment," his counsel Anil Kumar Sharma told PTI.

The counsel said Kumar's appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict is not likely to be taken up for hearing before December 31.

New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) Names of more than 1 lakh (100,000) companies have been struck off the official records in the current fiscal for not carrying business activities for a long time, the government said Friday.

As part of clamping down on illicit fund flows, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has been taking action against entities that are suspected to be shell companies.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, a company can be deregistered if it has not been carrying out any business for two continuous years and has also not applied for obtaining dormant status.

Gangtok, Dec 29 (PTI) The Indian Army has rescued more than 2,500 tourists stranded near East Sikkim's 17th Mile area, close to the India-China border, due to heavy snowfall, officials said Saturday.

The tourists were returning from Nathu La pass and Tsomgo (Changu) Lake on Friday evening when snowfall in the region blocked roads, leaving over 300 to 400 civil vehicles stranded at various points on Jawahar Lal Nehru Road, East Sikkim District Magistrate Kapil Meena said.