Indian Sub-continent

Islamabad, Mar 28; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Pakistan on Thursday said it examined the 22 "pin locations" shared by India but found no terror camps there and also claimed that it could not establish any links between the 54 people detained by authorities here and the Pulwama attack.

New Delhi, March 28; GANASHAKTI: The All India Agricultural Workers Union condemns the detention of the well known economist Jean Dreze, who was part of the UPA National Advisory Council and two of his colleagues for holding a public meeting on the issue of Food Security some 40 kilometers at Bishnupur in Garhwa in Western Jharkhand today. He was also active in the struggle to pass the MNREG Act along with our union and other bodies committed to ensuring the right to employment for all citizens.

Ahmedabad, Mar 28 (PTI) Former Gujarat BJP MLA Shamji Chauhan quit the Congress Thursday, claiming that the party cheated him by not offering Lok Sabha ticket from Surendranagar as promised.

The Congress has not announced its candidate for Surendranagar yet. However, local Congress MLAs Soma Patel and Rutvik Makwana are considered to be front-runners for the nomination.

Sensing that he stands no chance, Chauhan bid adieu to the party Thursday.

Kolkata, Mar 28 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court Thursday stayed criminal proceedings against BJP president Amit Shah in connection with an FIR that accused him of provoking violence in his speech in January.

Questioning how Shah's claim that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal would fall on the day of counting of votes of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections could possibly incite violence, Justice Jay Sengupta stayed proceedings against him for four weeks.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Mar 28 (PTI) An elderly woman was allegedly raped by a 30-year-old man who also thrashed her when she opposed him in Kamruddin Nagar village here Thursday, police said.

The 75-year-old woman had left home to relieve herself in the nearby fields when the accused, Rajiv, allegedly raped her and also beat her up when she resisted, they said.

The woman was admitted to hospital. The villagers later caught the accused and handed him over to police, they added.

Agartala, Mar 28 (PTI) Tripura occupies the second position in India in terms of child marriages among girls between 15-19 years of age, an international study has found.

Over 80 percent of total child marriages in the state take place in rural areas of three districts, said the report.

Mumbai, Mar 28 (PTI) A 21-year-old Navy sailor, hailing from Tamil Nadu, died after being seriously injured during weapon firing drill onboard INS Gomati off Mumbai coast, an official statement said Thursday.

Mohan Raj, Seaman First Class, suffered a grave injury while carrying out "combat weapon firing drills at sea", a Navy statement said.

He was airlifted to naval hospital INHS Aswini here but succumbed to the injuries, it said.

Secunderabad, Mar 29 (PTI) The BJP faces a tough challenge in retaining its lone seat in Telangana after a dismal performance in the recent assembly polls, but the saffron party has pinned its hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma and its leaders say they are confident of pulling off victory.

The Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, where the BJP had 33.62 per cent vote share in 2014, has become a crucial battleground for all three main parties -- the BJP, the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said new ventures will not require any regulatory permissions for three years and will get easy access to bank credit if his party is voted to power.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, he also promised to remove the existing 'angel tax' imposed on start-ups. Angel tax is levied on investment in start-ups. Currently, angel tax is charged at a maximum rate of 30 per cent.

Three Kashmiri separatists were killed by India security forces in an alleged encounter in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Thursday.

India security forces allege to have launched an anti-separatists operation in Yawran forests in the district following information about their presence, a J&K police spokesperson said.

The slain separatists have been identified as “Sajad Khanday, Aqib Ahmad Dar and Basharat Ahmad Mir, all residents of Pulwama," the spokesperson said.