India

Chamarajanagar (Karnataka), Sep 30 (IANS) Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi entered Karnataka on Friday amid a warm welcome by Siddaramaiah and his supporters, who in the process violated forest rules.

Siddaramaiah and his supporters had gathered in the Tiger Reserve Forest near Kekkanahalli at the Karnataka border. The forest department had denied permission for the padayatra in the reserve forest and had given permission to travel by car only.

But Siddaramaiah stopped his vehicle and welcomed Rahul Gandhi in the Tiger Reserve Forest along with former ministers and senior Congress leaders Mahadevappa, K.J. George and others.

Rahul Gandhi will participate in a convention organised at Gundlupet town before the launch of the 21-day Bharat Jodo Yatra through Karnataka. The party has arranged lunch for 30,000 party workers in the Veeranapura village.

Rahul Gandhi will walk for four kilometers after the convention on the National Highway before halting for lunch. He will interact with Adivasis and families of victims who died due to lack of oxygen in Chamarajanagar district hospital during Covid-19 pandemic.

The padayatra will resume at 4 p.m. near Bendakalli Gate, and at 7 p.m. the first day's yatra will end at Begur village.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) India reported 3,947 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, against 4,272 reported on the previous day, said the Union Health Ministry on Friday.

In the same period, the country recorded 18 more deaths, taking the national Covid death toll to 5,28,629 as per the report.

The active caseload presently stands at 39,583 cases, accounting for 0.09 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

The recovery of 5,096 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,40,19,095. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.73 per cent.

Meanwhile, India's daily positivity rate has been reported to be 1.23 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 1.44 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 3,20,734 tests were conducted across the country, increasing the overall tally to over 89.50 crore.

As of Friday morning, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 218.17 crore.

Over 4.10 crore adolescents have been administered with a first dose of Covid-19 jab since the beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Sep 30 (IANS) The Meteorological (MeT) department on Friday forecast dry weather in Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours.

"Dry weather is likely to continue in J&K during the next 24 hours", an official of the MeT department said, adding that the weather was similar on Thursday also.

Meanwhile, Srinagar registered 11.4 degrees Celsius, Pahalgam 6.6 degrees and Gulmarg 6.4 degrees as the minimum temperature this morning.

Drass in Ladakh region reported 2.9 degrees, Kargil 6.6 and Leh 2 degrees, while Jammu had recorded a minimum of 22.8 degrees, Katra 20.2, Batote 12.4, Banihal 10.4 and Bhaderwah 10.9.

--IANS
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Basti, Sep 30 (IANS) Three doctors of a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Basti district have been booked for gang rape.

According to reports, a Lucknow woman approached the SSP of Basti district and handed over her complaint alleging that the accused gang raped her after one of them befriended her on a social media platform around seven weeks ago.

The Basti police have registered an FIR under the IPC sections 376-D for gang rape, 504 for insulting and 506 for criminal intimidation at Sadar police station.

An investigation in the matter was initiated on Thursday.

Circle Officer (CO) City, Alok Prasad said that the FIR has been registered against two doctors posted at Kaili Hospital in Basti and their doctor friend in this connection to the complaint provided by the woman.

He said the police are further investigating the matter and the medical examination of the woman as well as the process of recording her statement under CrPC section 164 before the judicial magistrate is under process.

The CO said so far, no arrests have been made in the matter and it will be done as per the findings of the investigation.

In her complaint, the woman said that one Dr Siddharth working with Kaili hospital befriended her on the social media website and she visited Basti to meet him on August 10.

She alleged that the doctor took her to a room in the hostel of Kaili hospital and forcibly made sexual relations.

She alleged that the doctor then called up his two other friends, and they also raped her.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will meet party president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, the last day of filing nomination papers for party president post elections.

Earlier, on late Thursday night, G-23 leaders including Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan met at Anand Sharma's residence but did not divulge detail of the meeting.

Meanwhile, after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced on Thursday that he will not be contesting the election, political observers in Madhya Pradesh have started assuming that the route for former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh to become chief of the party seems clear to some extent. However, the final outcome will be known only after the contestants would file their nominations and the elections are held.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress seems to have united to support Digvijaya Singh. More importantly, hours after Digvijaya Singh took the nomination form from the party headquarters in New Delhi and announced that he would file his nomination for the AICC president's election, state Congress head and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath called a meeting of party leaders at his residence in Bhopal and asked them to reach Delhi to back Digvijaya Singh.

--IANS
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By Brij Khandelwal
Agra, Sep 30 (IANS) With the second spell of monsoon rains last week, the dry and polluted Yamuna river is again in full flow, adding visual delight to tourists' experience at the rain-washed Taj Mahal and the Etmauddaula.


"Yamuna's lost glory has been restored. The river has sprung back to life drawing thousands of cheering people to its banks," said Devashish Bhattacharya of the River Connect Campaign.

Will there be a flood? How long this beautiful scene with the river flowing full to the brim will continue to inspire and fascinate us? These are the questions everyone is asking.

The rain washed Taj Mahal against a clear, blue skyline dazzles, as tourists, express awe and wonder. The Yamuna at the rear of the Taj Mahal has transformed the ambience as the lush green vegetation around the Mehtaab Bagh all the way to the Agra Fort and beyond is a delight to watch.

The controversial Taj Corridor is now a sprawling green buffer between the Taj and the Fort, both world heritage monuments. The picturesque skyline against a full flowing Yamuna is an experience that tourists shall never forget.

Pandit Jugal Kishor Kishore of the Sri Mathuradheesh temple along the river bank said, "From a sickly sewage canal, the Yamuna river stands as a vibrant and attractive water body which is the lifeline of the city. Heaps of garbage that had accumulated along the banks have disappeared. The banks are now cleaner and greener, thanks to the monsoon rains. The chirping birds are back and people stop by for a while to enjoy the spectacle of the Yamuna in its pristine glory."

It is worth recalling that the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal because of the Yamuna river, but in the past few decades, due to lack of fresh water and pollution by industries, the river has lost its charm and ancient glory. For most part of the year the Yamuna remains dry and polluted as upstream barrages from Hathini Kund to Wazirabad, Okhla and Gokul hold back all the water. The downstream cities suffer as a result.

Environmentalist Devashish Bhattacharya says there is an urgent need to ensure a minimum flow of water round the year so that the river remains alive and sustains the precious aqua life.

Over 500 years ago, it was the grandeur of the Yamuna that had attracted the founder of the Mughal dynasty to open shops in Agra. In later years, his descendants built some of the magnificent monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Etmaduddaula along its banks.

While the younger folk have generally stayed away from the stinking river which holds no charm for them, people of the older generations do occasionally venture out to conduct ritualistic pujas and baths. Unfortunately the dozen-odd ghats along the riverfront, which once was the centre of a thriving commercial activity and river culture, have disappeared without a trace, reducing the 20 km-long riverfront to a vast wasteland, Bhattacharya adds.

"We all know that all great civilizations in the world developed along river banks. The rivers have been sustaining life in its various manifestations and glory. The importance of rivers in India can be understood by one simple fact that almost all rivers are worshipped as goddesses," green activist Padmini Iyer said.

Yamuna, the consort of Sri Krishna has played a significant role in shaping the history of India right from the days of the Mahabharat till today. An interesting fact about Yamuna is that it has a richer history and a valuable contribution to enriching culture, art, architecture and commerce, compared to river Ganga.

Starting in Uttarkashi district in the Himalayas from Yamunotri glacier, it enters Dehradun, flows close to Jagdhari and Yamuna Nagar in Himachal, separates Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, enters Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, touches Kurukshetra, Karnal,Sonipat, and the famous battleground of Panipat.

The epic Mahabharata was written on its bank, Saint Parasher and Satyawati gave birth to Ved Vyas, Raja Bharat and the father of Bhisma Shantanu organised great Yagnas, and for thousands of years great saints and thinkers lived in ashrams along the Yamuna banks.

Leaving Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the river enters Delhi which for 2,000 years has been the seat of power and politics. The Mughals and later the British built dozens of monuments and forts. The river once again enters Haryana and three of its big industrial clusters, Ballabhgarh, Faridabad and Palwal depend on its water.

Once it enters Uttar Pradesh, the river's profile changes as a whole mythology is woven around the Yamuna. Sri Krishna lore would be incomplete without the river. From Vrindavan to Bateshwar in Agra district, it is Sri Krishna and Radha and their leelas that sustain literature, culture, faith and philosophy.

Vallabhacharya, the blind bard of Braj Bhasha Soor Das, the mediaval Bhakti movement and the Meera tradition blossomed along the Yamuna banks. As the river leaves Mathura it enters the famous Renuka Dham. Renuka was the mother of lord Parshu Ram. A little distance away the river suddenly takes an eastern turn as it enters Agra, the capital of the Mughals. The river is now joined by half a dozen other smaller rivers like Parvati, Khari, Utangan, Gambhir. Beyond Agra rivers Betwa and Chambal merge into Yamuna which eventually joins Ganga in Prayagraj.

No other river in the world has a richer history, culture or religious significance and as the sister of Yamraj, the god of death, its star status in Indian mythological tradition is permanently etched.

Yamuna finds mention in Rig Veda, the founder of the Mughal dynasty Babar was lyrical about the quality of Yamuna water confirmed by medieval historians and foreign travellers. Both Abul Fazal and Lahauri have written extensively about the Yamuna water.

It was the Yamuna water that compelled Shah Jahan to build his dream monument the Taj Mahal along its bank. Pandit Jagannath, wrote the famous Ganga Lahri. But in praise of Yamuna he wrote the Amrit Lahri, such was the quality of its water.

But what of today? How do we describe Yamuna today? A sewage canal, a drain, a big gutter, a civilisational sink? From the life giving Amrit to death dispensing poison, has been the cruel tale of this river which even in its dying stages is sustaining the life of millions of people.

--IANS
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Kanpur, Sep 30 (IANS) In a frightening replay of the Chandigarh incident, a sanitary worker has been caught red handed making video of girls in a private girls' hostel in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.

The incident took place in a hostel located here in Tulsi Nagar area where medical aspirants are staying.

The accused allegedly made videos of girls in the bathroom.

The girl students filed a police complaint following which the man was arrested.

As per the complaint, the hostel staffer made several obscene videos of the girls in the hostel.

On Thursday, one of the girls saw the staff secretly filming and snatched his phone. The girl reportedly saw there were several such videos and approached the nearest police station to register a complaint.

The hostel is owned by a police officer who is posted as Additional SP in one of the districts in Uttar Pradesh and students from different districts are living in the hostel and preparing for medical exams.

ACP Kalyanpur Dinesh Shukla said that a complaint has been received from the girls and a case has been registered. Further investigation into the matter is underway.

--IANS
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Bhubaneswar, Sep 29 (IANS) BJP national President Jagat Prakash Nadda said on Thursday that the saffron party is fighting family-based parties in various parts of the country, including in Odisha.

Addressing booth-level workers at the Janata Maidan here, Nadda said BJP is the biggest political party in the world with a strength of 18 crore.

"There is no party in the world with such strength. We are an ideology-based national party. For us, it is always nation first, but keeping in mind the regional aspirations," he said.

"This is a cadre-based party with a mass following. After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, we formed government in Bihar, Assam and Puducherry for the first time... So, we are a national party with government in maximum states," Nadda said.

"Today we are fighting against the Indian National Congress, but the party no longer remains national nor Indian as it has become a party of brother and sister," he said.

"We are also fighting against dynasty-based parties. Abdullahs and Muftis in Jammu & Kashmir, Chautalas in Haryana, Badals in Punjab, Akhilesh in UP, Yadav in Bihar, and Soren in Jharkhanda. In Odisha it is one man party... We are fighting parties run by families," he added.

"Dynasty politics is also prevalent in Odisha with the presence of Biju Patnaik's party. BJP is the only party that is not family-based and is driven by ideology," said the BJP chief.

Nadda also informed the party workers about the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government for providing safe drinking water, power supply, pucca houses, toilets etc. for the people of Odisha.

Institutions like AIIMS, IIM, NISER and many medical colleges have been set up by the Modi government in Odisha, he said.

"The first tribal President of India, Droupadi Murmu, is from Odisha and more than 15 persons from the state have been conferred with Padma awards. This was never the case during the UPA rule and shows PM Modi's immense love for the state," he added.

Taking a dig at the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in Odisha, Nadda said, "This government puts lebels on Central schemes. The PM Awas Yojana is being branded as Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. While 50 crore people have been included under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, 60 lakh people in Odisha are deprived of it."

The Centre has allocated Rs 15,490 crore to Odisha under MGNREGA but fake bills are being made here, he said.

"Similarly, crores of rupees are being spent under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Yet tribal women in Odisha are going to ponds and wells to fetch drinking water. It shows that the Naveen Patnaik-led government is riddled with corruption," the BJP chief said.

Claiming that protectors have become perpetrators of crime in Odisha, Nadda said, "The state of governance in Odisha can be gauged from the fact that three ministers are accused of murder."

Nadda added that even the 'Ratna Bhandar' of Lord Jagannath is not safe in Odisha.

"Ratna Bhandar's key was missing and later a duplicate key was found. Uproot this type of duplicate government and bring BJP to power in Odisha," he said.

"The BJD has been ruling Odisha for 20 years, yet it has failed to ensure ambulance service for pregnant women in the remote areas," the BJP leader claimed.

It's time to uproot this government and bring a double-engine 'sarkar' for development, Nadda told the party workers.

The BJP President is on a two-day visit to the state. This is Nadda's first visit to Odisha after being appointed as BJP chief.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Despite the Indian government's heightened scrutiny of Chinese tech firms, the Chinese smartphone brands are expected to solidify their foothold in the country owing to booming sales in the 5G era, state-run Global Times has reported, citing industry experts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to officially announce the 5G launch on October 1 and there will be a new wave of sales in the domestic market, dominated by Chinese manufacturers.

"India's 5G network upgrade will mean a range of opportunities for Chinese mobile phone firms, which have two-thirds of the market, leading to an expected sale of 20 million 5G phones before the year end," the report mentioned.

That is equivalent to an additional month of sales for the Chinese phone makers, said Yang Shucheng, secretary general of the India China Mobile Phone Enterprise Association.

According to the report, Chinese smartphones have shown resilience in the market, despite heightened scrutiny of Chinese technology companies by the Indian regulators, "which have caused disruptions and concern among the Chinese businesses".

"But Chinese smartphone brands' popularity among the ordinary Indian consumers provides a firm foundation".

Shipments of smartphones in India reached 36.4 million in the second quarter, with Chinese brands accounting for about 70 per cent, according to data released by Canalys.

"This shows that Indian consumers put importance on phone quality, while not political factors," said Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University.

"Many Chinese mobile phones are already equipped with 5G functions, and with the launch of 5G service in India, they will be favoured by the Indian consumers," Feng was quoted as saying.

Earlier reports mentioned that troubled China-based smartphone brands in India are now planning to set up manufacturing plants in countries like Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

The report, citing a Chinese executive based in India, claimed that companies will evaluate bilateral ties, market potential, preferential policies and labour costs to set up manufacturing plants elsewhere.

--IANS
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Guwahati/Dhubri, Sep 29 (IANS) In Assam's Dhubri district, a boat capsized in Brahmaputra river on Thursday morning and several people have gone missing since, officials said.

Manash Kumar Saikia, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri told IANS that the accident happened at an under-construction Dhubri-Fulbari bridge on Brahmaputra river.

He informed that the boat hit a pillar of the under-construction bridge and capsized. Following the incident, at least five people could swim across the river and reach the shore. But, several others are still missing.

"There were reports of some 50 people on board the boat. But, we are still not sure about the exact number," he added.

It is learned that Dhubri Circle Officer Sanju Das, along with a land record official and an office staff were also on the boat to survey an erosion-hit area. All of them are missing after the accident.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was deployed to rescue the people. According to a police source, around 15 people have been rescued so far.

The locals claimed that many school children were also on the boat. It carried around 10 motorbikes as well.

The place of the incident known as Adabari is 3km from Dhubri town.

Notably, the Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge is a proposed bridge over the Brahmaputra river between Assam and Meghalaya.

The bridge, to be completed by 2026-27, would be India's longest bridge over water, spanning more than 19 km. This bridge, close to the Bangladesh border, will connect Assam's Dhubri with Meghalaya's Phulbari area.

--IANS
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