India

Mumbai, Jan 2 :  Over 1,000 women formed a humanchain in Mumbai to express solidarity with the 'Women's Wall'formed in Kerala as part of an initiative to uphold genderequality amid the row over entry of females of certain ages inthe Sabarimala temple.

On Tuesday, over 35 lakh women stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the national highways in Kerala, creating a620 km-long human 'wall' from the northern end of Kasaragod tothe state's southern tip.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan Wednesday moved the Supreme Court, seeking review of its December 14 verdict dismissing all PILs alleging irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

In their review plea, they alleged that the judgment "relied upon patently incorrect claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover" to the apex court.

They have also sought that the plea be heard in an open court.

Jamshedpur, Jan 2 (PTI) The Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP), a tribal outfit, Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce recognition of Sarna Dharma of the adivasis as a fundamental right during his visit to Jharkhand and Odisha on Saturday.

Sarna Dharma is centred around the worship of nature.

In a letter to the prime minister, JDP president Salkhan Murmu said the adivasis across the country are neither Hindus nor Christians and they worship only the nature.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) BJP ally Shiv Sena Wednesday supported the Opposition demand in Lok Sabha for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale issue and drew a parallel with the alleged Bofors scam, claiming that people say Rafale aircraft is good but the deal is bad.

Speaking in a discussion on the Rafale issue, Arvind Sawant (SS) said the government speaks of transparency, then why it is rejecting the demand for a JPC probe.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The government Wednesday approved the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB) to make it a globally competitive lender.

With the merger, BoB will become the third largest bank after State Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

"There will be no impact on the service conditions of the employees and there will be no retrenchment following the merger," Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters about decisions taken by the Union Cabinet.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed high drama after Congress president Rahul Gandhi sought permission to play a purported audio tape of a Goa minister on the Rafale deal but refused to authenticate it, prompting Union Minister Arun Jaitley to accuse him of speaking "lies repeatedly".

Initiating a discussion on the Rafale issue, Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that he "does not have guts" to come to Parliament to confront questions on the issue and "hides" in his room.

Barmer, Jan 2 (PTI) Shale Mohammad, the only Muslim face in Ashok Gehlot's cabinet, offered prayers at a Shiva temple in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer days after taking charge of the minority affairs department.

Mohammad, son of Muslim religious leader Gazi Fakir, reached his constituency Pokhran in Jaisalmer on Sunday for the first time after becoming a minister.

Hyderabad, Jan 2 (PTI) The Communist Party of India (CPI) appeared to disapprove of two women of menstruating age group entering the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala "secretly" on Wednesday and said it should have been done "openly".

"Generally, we want women's entry (into the Sabarimala shrine), but we don't want something secretly to be done. It is to be done openly, everybody should accept, that's our view," CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said.

KANPUR: The Railways cared a fig for passengers’ thirst but it has been pondering over saving wastage of water in the washing of its racks daily. Now, automatic washing machines will solve the purpose only after the Railways Board approves the proposal.

As many as 4500 litres of water in the cleaning of three racks with 24 to 26 bogies are being used manually. It will take only 1500 litres of water if cleaned by automated machines.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The Train 18 will run from Delhi to Varanasi, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed on Wednesday, saying the run-time would be eight hours, about "one-and-a-half-times" faster than the fastest train on the route.

While the railways had been saying that it had proposed two routes for the train, Delhi to Bhopal and Delhi to Varanasi, this is the first time that the route has been officially confirmed.