Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, July 4;  IANS/GANASHAKTI:  Alleging that private passenger trains will start operating within 100 days, the CPI-M has come out strongly against what it says is the government's planned privatisation of Indian Railways.

"The Modi government's second coming is going to be marked by a stepped up privatisation drive. Already the Niti Aayog has announced that 46 public sector enterprises will be sold off or shut down as per a 100 day action plan," said an editorial in CPI-M journal "People's Democracy".

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) The Supreme Court convicted 12 persons on Friday in the 2003 murder case of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.

The apex court allowed the appeals of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Gujarat government challenging the high court order by which the convicts were absolved of the murder charge in the case.

The trial court had convicted the accused persons for the offence of murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Patna, Jul 5 (PTI) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will appear before a court here on Saturday in connection with a defamation suit filed against him by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl in Dwarka's Sector-23, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon. The girl was standing near her house, when the accused lured the girl by offering her a 'frooti' and took her to a secluded place, police said.

The victim was found in the bushes adjacent to a road and was spotted by a passerby.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.

New Delhi, July 4 (PTI) In India, there is one doctor for every 1,457 people as per the country's current population estimate of 1.35 billion, which is lower than the World Health Organisation norm of 1:1000, the government has informed Parliament.

New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her two juvenile neighbours who lured her with toffees in southwest Delhi's Kapashera area, police said Thursday.

The boys, aged 10 and 11 years, have been apprehended, they said.

The incident took place on Tuesday night at a slum cluster in Kapashera area where the girl lived with her family, including her father who worked as a daily wager, a senior police officer said.

Chennai, July 5 (PTI) MDMK chief Vaiko was on Friday convicted by a city court here in a sedition case filed in 2009 by the Tamil Nadu government.

He was sentenced to simple imprisonment for a year.

Judge J Shanthi held him guilty of the offence of sedition.

Vaiko, who was present in the court, said he never sought any leniency.

A petition was filed to suspend the conviction enabling an appeal against the order. Subsequently, the conviction and sentence were stayed for one month.

Mumbai, Jul 4 (PTI) Banks have reported a massive 73 percent increase in incidents of fraud worth Rs 71,543 crore in FY19, a senior Reserve Bank official said Thursday.

Till March 2019, the top five, 10 and 100 cases of frauds cumulatively reported constituted 24 percent, 34 percent and 70 percent of all frauds, respectively, a chief general manager with the RBI Jayant Dash said.

In FY18, the banks had reported frauds worth Rs 41,167 crore, he added.

TASS, July 5: More than forty civilians have been killed or injured as mortar shell hit a market in Afghanistan, Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported on Friday.

According to the agency, the incident took place in the northwestern province of Faryab. Details to come.