Indian Sub-continent

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 28 (PTI) The BJP in Kerala Sunday announced a 'Rath Yatra' to save the customs and traditions of Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, intensifying the agitation against the entry of all women into the shrine, a day after its Chief Amit Shah extended the party's support to devotees.

The yatra under the auspices of NDA would begin on November 8 from Kasargod and culminate at Pathanamthitta on November 13, BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai told reporters here.

Bhopal (MP), Oct 28 (PTI) Hindutva leader Pravin Togadia Sunday claimed over 3.10 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the country, which he said is the fallout of the "wrong policies" of the last 25 years.

Speaking to reporters here in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, where assembly elections are scheduled to be held on November 28, Togadia appealed to ruling parties to start waiving loans of farmers in their respective states.

He also asked farmers to not elect leaders who neglect their demands.

New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can file RTI applications to seek governance-related information, the government has said, correcting its earlier stand.

In response to a query in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh had on August 8, 2018 said NRIs were not eligible to file applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Raipur (CG), Oct 28 (PTI) A BJP leader was critically injured Sunday after he was attacked by suspected naxals with sharp edged weapons in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, around 400 kms from here, the police said.

The attack took place at around 8 pm when Nandal Mudiyami, a member of Dantewada Zila Panchayat, was at his house in Palnar village, Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

Soon after the incident, his relatives informed police and rushed him to Dantewada hospital, he said.

Raipur (CG), Oct 28 (PTI) A BJP leader was critically injured Sunday after he was attacked by suspected naxals with sharp edged weapons in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, around 400 kms from here, the police said.

The attack took place at around 8 pm when Nandal Mudiyami, a member of Dantewada Zila Panchayat, was at his house in Palnar village, Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

Soon after the incident, his relatives informed police and rushed him to Dantewada hospital, he said.

Barasat (WB), Oct 29 (PTI) A man has been arrested for allegedly selling off his twin daughters to two childless couples in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, police said Monday.

Ratan Brahma(38) of Bahaduria village had allegedly sold his two-month-old twin daughters to a rice trader for Rs 1 lakh and to a couple of Ramchandrapur village for Rs 80,000, they said.

Brahma and his wife also have a 10-year-old daughter.

Ghaziabad/Dehradun, Oct 29 (PTI) The Editor-in-Chief and CEO of a news channel in Uttarakhand was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence on Sunday for allegedly putting pressure on one of his employees to do a sting operation on prominent politicians including the state chief minister with an intent to blackmail them, police said.

Samachar Plus CEO Umesh Kumar Sharma was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence after raids were conducted at his office in Noida and residence in Ghaziabad, ADG (law and order) Ashok Kumar said.

In his address to an audience at the Bengaluru Literature Festival, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling, you can't remove him with your hand & you cannot hit it with a chappal either”.

According to The Indian Express, Tharoor was quoting an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) source to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “scorpion sitting on a Shivling”.

New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) The Supreme Court is likely to hear Monday a batch of pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court's 2010 verdict by which the disputed land on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid area in Ayodhya was divided into three parts.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph would hear the appeals filed in the matter.

By Murtuza Merchant

Mumbai, Oct 28 (PTI) The United States is not going to put pressure on India to buy F-16 fighter jets or any other defence system, a senior US diplomat has said here.

United States Consul General in Mumbai Edgard Kagan said India has purchased more than USD 15 billion worth of American defence materials and the US is "very proud" of the expanding defence ties between the two countries.