Indian Sub-continent

Chandigarh, Aug 28 (PTI) Indian Youth Congress interim president Srinivas B V on Wednesday launched the 'Jan Shakti Abhiyan' of the party ahead of the assembly elections in Haryana.

The aim of the campaign is to highlight 'failures' of the present regime and works carried out by the previous Congress government.

Addressing a press conference here along with Haryana Youth Congress president Sachin Kundu, Srinivas said people of the state had realised that the BJP had made "false promises" due to which they would bring the Congress back to power.

29 August 2019; AFP: Former Bangladeshi students are turning to social media to detail allegations of "rampant" sex abuse at the hands of teachers and older pupils in Islamic schools, breaking their silence on a taboo topic in the conservative country.

Child abuse in madrasas has long gone unreported in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation where hardline Islamist groups draw their support from the tens of thousands of schools across the nation of 169 million people.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved on Wednesday setting up of 75 government medical colleges to be attached with existing district or referral hospitals by 2021-22.

The establishment of new medical colleges, under phase III of the ongoing Centrally sponsored scheme, will add at least 15,700 MBBS seats in the country.

Raipur, Aug 28 (PTI) A former sarpanch (village head) was killed by naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Kanker district, police said on Wednesday.

Pamphlets left by the assailants at the spot claimed that he was a Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker.

Bhopal, Aug 28 (PTI) A 30-year-old man has been arrested within hours after he allegedly raped his 15-year-old neighbour in the bathroom of a slum in Bhopal in the wee hours on Wednesday, police said.

The accused Dharmendra Malviya allegedly forced his way into the bathroom around 2 am and committed the crime, said TT Nagar police station in-charge Sanjiv Chowkse.

Both are residents of a slum.

Malviya has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape.

Further investigation is underway.

Akola, Aug 28 (PTI) Amid reports that differences are cropping up between the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) constituents ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday said the alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi-led MIM will continue.

The VBA, comprising the BBM and the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together. The VBA had won one seat in Maharashtra.

Jammu, Aug 28 (PTI) Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire by restoring to mortar shelling and firing of small arms along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, a defence spokesperson said.

The firing from across the border started around 8 am and continued for three-and-a-half hours, he said.

The spokesperson said the Indian Army retaliated befittingly.

There was no report of any casualty in the Pakistani firing and shelling, he said.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) Fourteen candidates, including three women, are in the fray for the four posts in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls this time.

The United Left, which comprises All India Students' Association (AISA), Students' Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students' Federation (DSF) and All India Students' Federation (AISF), will be contesting on all the four posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) Senior diplomat Pavan Kapoor has been appointed as India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of External Affairs announced Tuesday.

Kapoor, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, will replace Navdeep Suri as India's Ambassador to the UAE.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the MEA said in a statement.

Kolkata, Aug 28 (PTI) In a veiled attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said attempts are on to change the history of the country and its democracy is under threat.

Because of its narrow political considerations, a particular party has destroyed the unity of the country, she said at the Assembly where a resolution was moved remembering martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on its centenary year.