Indian Sub-continent

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 22 (PTI) Accusing the Centre of discriminating against Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Monday said denying permission to ministers from the state to go abroad for raising funds for flood relief works was the latest example of its bias.

Denying permission to the ministers and other stands taken by the Centre regarding flood relief works could only be seen as "moves" against Kerala, Vijayan, who returned early Monday morning after a five-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told reporters here.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) Delhi's air quality improved to 'poor' on Monday, even as authorities said it might deteriorate in the coming days with possibilities of 'severe' pollution.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 272 in the evening.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

Chennai, Oct 22 (PTI) The Congress has never said "officially" that its president Rahul Gandhi should be the prime minister if an opposition alliance formed the next government, senior party leader P Chidambaram said Monday.

He insisted the Congress' focus was on dislodging the BJP government and bringing in a "progressive" alternative.

Chidambaram said the decision on who will be the prime minister in the event of an opposition alliance winning next year's Lok Sabha poll will be taken by its constituents.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) As many as 542 people have died of swine flu so far this year, with Maharashtra alone accounting for almost 50 per cent of fatalities.

Maharashtra recorded 217 deaths out of 1,793 cases reported till October 14, said a government official.

It was followed by Rajasthan where 191 people succumbed to H1N1 complications out of 1,912 cases during the same period.

In Gujarat, 45 persons died out of 1,478 reported cases, the official said.

Palanpur (Guj), Oct 22 (PTI) A 13-year-old girl was abducted and raped allegedly by a local farm labourer in Vav in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, police said Monday.

The incident happened in Dethdi village in the early hours Saturday and a complaint was filed by the minor's mother Sunday, a Vav police station official said.

Mumbai, Oct 22 (PTI) A Right to Information plea has found that 18,423 people died and 18,847 people were injured in suburban train-related mishaps between January 2013 to August 2018.

Replying to the RTI query filed by activist Shakeel Ahmad, the Mumbai railway police commissionerate said that these casualties occurred due to passengers falling from trains, dashing against poles, crossing railway tracks or travelling on the roof of trains.

KANPUR: A heavy crocodile dragged a girl into the river in Sajeti village of Tehsil Ghatampur under Kanpur Nagar District. Villagers and a team of Forest Department attempted to search the girl but efforts remained ineffective. Neither the crocodile nor the girl was eventually traced.  

New Delhi, Oct 21; PTI:  In the long list of renamed Indian cities, Shimla could be the latest entrant as the ruling BJP government is considering a proposal to change its name to Shyamala.

A campaign has been launched by some right-wing Hindu groups demanding that the capital of Himachal Pradesh be renamed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state health minister Vipin Singh Parmar said many cities in different parts of the country used to have historic names but they were changed.

So, there would not be any harm in reverting to those names.

New Delhi, Octber 21; GANASHAKTI: In an interesting development, India’s premier investigating agency The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named its Special Director Rakesh Asthana as an accused for allegedly demanding and taking bribe from a businessman who was being investigated in the Moin Qureshi corruption case by a special investigation team led by Rakesh Asthana.

Mumbai, Oct 20 (PTI) A special NIA court rejected 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit's petition challenging the validity of the prosecution sanction for his trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Special NIA court judge Vinod Padalkar rejected his petition after hearing the arguments of Purohit and other accused in the case.

The court has set October 26 as the next date of hearing in the case.