Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accepted Governor Satya Pal Malik's 'invitation' to visit Jammu and Kashmir but said he did not need an aircraft.

Gandhi said he and other opposition leaders would visit Jammu and Kashmir and urged Malik to allow them the freedom to meet people, and soldiers.

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) As many as 10 MLAs of the Sikkim Democratic Front joined the BJP on Tuesday, propelling the saffron party to the status of the main opposition in a state where it had not won a single seat in the recent assembly polls.

The MLAs met BJP working president J P Nadda and joined the party in the presence of its general secretary Ram Madhav, who is in charge of the party's affairs in the north east.

Madhav told reporters that the SDF had a strength of 13 MLAs and its legislature party decided to merge with the BJP.

Raipur, Aug 13 (PTI) A bus was set ablaze by suspected Naxals after they asked its passengers to alight in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, a police official said on Tuesday.

They also robbed the passengers of their cash and mobile phones before fleeing, he said.

The incident took place on Monday night when the private bus was on its way to Narayanpur town from neighbouring Kondagaon district, Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

Lucknow Aug 13 (PTI) BSP President Mayawati on Tuesday termed the fee hike by the CBSE for Class 10 and 12 examinations as unfortunate and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

The BSP president said SC/ST students will now have to pay a higher fees.

"Similarly, the fee for general category students has also been doubled. This is a very unfortunate, racist and anti-poor decision. CBSE should take it back immediately. This is the demand of BSP," she said on Twitter.

Agartala, Aug 13 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday called upon tribal youth, who were still pursuing the wrong path, to join the mainstream for the speedy development of the state.

The chief minister was speaking after welcoming 88 militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), who surrendered arms, in Dhalai district's Ambassa.

Raipur, Aug 13 (PTI) Chhattisgarh has become the second state in the country after Odisha to recognise the forest rights claims as well as the forest lands acquired by Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.

So far, four lakh individual and 24,000 community forest rights certificates have been distributed in the state while recognition has been given to 3.42 lakh-hectare land in individual claims and 9.50 lakh-hectare land in community claims, an official release said on Tuesday.

Jaipur, Aug 13 (PTI) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh filed nomination papers for the bypoll to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Tuesday.

Singh filed four sets of nomination papers in the chamber of returning officer in Rajasthan Assembly.

He expressed gratitude to the Congress party for nominating him and expressed condolence for BJP's Madan Lal Saini, following whose death the seat got vacant in June.

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to pass any immediate directions to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government on a plea seeking lifting of all restrictions imposed after the abrogation of Article 370.

The apex court said that it will wait for return of normalcy and take up the matter after two weeks.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An unprecedented security lockdown is keeping people in Indian-administered Kashmir indoors for a ninth day Tuesday.

Indian troops patrolling the disputed region had allowed some Muslims to walk to mosques to mark the Eid al-Adha festival Monday and shops had been opened briefly on previous days.

But residents were running short of essentials under the near-constant curfew and communications blackout as India tried to stave off a violent reaction to the government’s decision Aug. 5 to strip Kashmir of its autonomy.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Troops in Indian-administered Kashmir allowed some Muslims to walk to local mosques alone or in pairs Monday for the Eid al-Adha festival during an unprecedented security lockdown in the disputed region that has gone on for eight straight days.