Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Jan 15; PTI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear a plea by Zakia Jafri, challenging the SIT's clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in connection with the 2002 Godhra riots, after four weeks.

Zakia, the wife of ex-MP Ehsan Jafri who was one of the 68 killed in Ahmedabad's Gulberg society, has challenged the Gujarat High Court's October 5, 2017 order rejecting her plea against the SIT's decision.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi.

New Delhi, January 15; GANASHAKTI: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions extends full support and solidarity to the three days’ strike on 23-25 January 2019 in all defence-production units and service centres by all the three employees’ federations representing employees working in the defence production units and service centres and workshops spread throughout the country.

New Delhi, Jan 15; PTI: Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the CBI's interim director "illegal" and demanding that a meeting of the selection committee be convened immediately to appoint a new chief of the probe agency.

Kharge, who is part of the prime minister-headed three-member panel that removed Alok Verma as CBI chief, alleged that the government is scared of CBI led by an "independent" director.

Jammu, Jan 15 (PTI) In a bid to build bridges between Raj Bhawan and Hurriyat Conference, J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik Tuesday reached out to the separatist leaders urging them to apprise him directly of the cases of "atrocity and injustice" to common people that they may come across.

Malik made the offer with an appeal that the Hurriyat Conference leaders should not treat him as "an alien".

"I have a message for Hurriyat that they should not consider me as an alien," Governor Malik told PTI in an interview.

Kollam, Jan 15 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the left government in Kerala on the Sabarimala issue, saying Communists do not respect India's culture and spirituality.

Hitting out at the CPI-M-led LDF and the opposition spearheaded by the UDF in the state, he said both the fronts were two sides of the same coin and accused them of neglecting people of the state.

"We know that the Communists do not respect India's culture, history and spirituality," Modi said at a public meeting here.

Jammu, Jan 15 (PTI) A BSF officer was killed on Tuesday in sniper fire from across the border in the Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials of the border guarding force said.

They said Assistant Commandant Vinay Prasad was hit by a sniper shot at about 10:50 am when he and his patrol party were out for "carrying out border domination" along the IB.

Bhopal, Jan 15 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Tuesday launched his government's Rs 50,000-crore farm debt-waiver scheme named 'Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana'.

Hailing the scheme as a milestone, Nath said here it would benefit 55 lakh small and marginal farmers.

He also slammed the opposition parties for alleging that the scheme was being implemented without any budgetary provisions.

Lucknow, Jan 15 (PTI) Buoyed by the new SP-BSP alliance for the coming Lok Sabha elections, at least one Bahujan Samaj Party leader has gone on social media projecting party chief Mayawati as the next prime minister.

Senior BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria shared a poster expressing the wish on his certified Twitter handle while congratulating Mayawati Tuesday on her 63rd birthday, celebrated as `Jan Kalyankari Diwas' or Public Welfare Day.

Bhadoria tweeted that it was his dream to see the BSP chief become prime minister.

Lucknow, Jan 15 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has allocated Rs 4,200 crore for the Kumbh Mela being held in the 'sangam' city of Allahabad, which is over thrice the budget of the Maha Kumbh in 2013, making the mega pilgrimage perhaps the costliest ever.

"The UP government has allocated Rs 4,200 crore for 2019 Kumbh Mela. The previous state government had spent around Rs 1,300 crore for the Maha Kumbh, which was held in 2013," state Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal told PTI.

Chennai, Jan 15 (PTI): Tamil Nadu lad D Gukesh Tuesday became the second youngest Grand Master in the world and the youngest Indian to achieve the feat at 12 years, seven months and 17 days, erasing the mark set by his state-mate R Praggnanandhaa in June last year.

He achieved his third and final GM norm at the ongoing 17th Delhi International Open Chess tournament in Delhi after beating compatriot D K Sharma in the ninth round.

Gukesh becomes India's 59th Grand Master.