Regional

Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS) In the upcoming episode of 'Bigg Boss 16', show's host and superstar Salman Khan will be seen reprimanding contestant Archana Gautam for the statement she made on Sumbul Touqeer Khan and Shalin Bhanot and their looks.

Salman asked Archana: "Archana you are flying too high with your attitude. For Sumbul, you said 'Shakal dekhkar rani raja banao'. Everybody in India knows this face and because of this face, many people know her. Aap apne aap ko samajhti kya hain? For Shalin, you said 'he has a face like a dog'!"

Shalin tried to put his point but Salman asked him not to, before finally screaming: "I said not now!"

--IANS
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Chennai, Dec 2 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu agriculture department has allocated Rs 2,399 crore for crop insurance subsidy to the farmers in case of a natural disaster and has requested the farmers to enroll in the scheme before December 31.

The farmers will have the facilities to register in primary agricultural credit cooperative societies, common service centres, or nationalised banks. The farmers will have to remit 1.5 per cent of the subsidy amount to be claimed as a registration fee.

During the southwest monsoon there was extensive damage to crops across Tamil Nadu with Rabi crops being the most affected in the state. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had then announced special subsidy schemes for the farmers and that money would be allocated to provide loan subsidies to the farmers.

The Kuruvai farmers had suffered huge losses in the recent rain and even the harvesting machines could not be used due to heavy inundation in the paddy fields. Most of the farmers had suffered losses and the announcement of the government allocating Rs 2,339 crore as crop insurance subsidies has come as a big relief.

Sukumaran, a farmer from Myladuthurai in Tamil Nadu while speaking to IANS said, "We suffered huge losses during the October rain and the announcement that the government has allocated Rs 2,339 crore for crop insurance subsidy is a relief. Will register before the deadline of December 31."

--IANS
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Raichur (Karnataka), Dec 2 (IANS) An incident of an engaged Hindu woman eloping with a Muslim man has come to light in Raichur district of Karnataka.

The girl's parents have alleged that their daughter had fallen prey to love jihad.

According to police on Friday, Bharthi, a resident of Netajinagar locality in Raichur city was engaged to a Hindu man from Hoovinahadagali and their marriage was fixed by families.

However, Bharthi was in love with Rihan, who worked at a flower shop with her. After her engagement, she eloped with Rihan and married him.

Rihan and Bharthi had got married at a registrar's office in Hyderabad city on November 6 for which the girl converted to Islam.

The parents lodged a missing case with the local police.

Later, they lodged a complaint alleging that Rihan had trapped their daughter into marriage and forcibly converted her to Islam.

The police managed to track them and when inquired, the girl refuted all allegations against Rihan.

She told police that she was in love with Rihan and married him as per her wish.

The police have closed the case and let them free after her statement.

--IANS
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Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 2 (IANS) Bike-borne assailants shot dead the headmaster of a school in the Jiyanpur Kotwali area of Azamgarh district.

Sanjay Yadav, 46, was a resident of Kasada Ima village, and was posted as headmaster at the composite school at Akhaipur in the Haraiya block.

The assailants opened fire at Yadav near a brick kiln and fled from the spot.

Hearing the gunshot, locals working in a nearby field raised an alarm. They took the injured headmaster to a private trauma centre in the city, where he succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment.

A police team led by Azamgarh Superintendent of Police, Anurag Arya, went to the spot for investigation.

The SP said they have identified the killers and have started a manhunt to arrest them. He said preliminary investigation suggested that the murder was a fallout of a rivalry in the panchayat elections.

"The accused also have a criminal history. Police will take action against them under the Gangster Act and confiscate their property," the SP said.

--IANS
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Beirut, Dec 2 (IANS) The council of the European Union (EU) adopted an assistance measure worth 6 million euros ($6.3 million) to benefit the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).

A statement issued by the EU delegation in Lebanon said that the assistance measure, adopted by the council under the European Peace Facility, will enhance the capabilities and the resilience of the LAF to ensure the security and stability of Lebanon through the enhancement of their military medical capacities, and the provision of equipment for the LAF's operational personnel.

The statement added that the assistance measure will finance healthcare equipment to support military medical services and personal gear, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lebanon requested assistance from the EU in October.

--IANS
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Chennai, Dec 2 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu cyber police have floated tenders to acquire high-end forensic tools to bring the actual culprits behind cyber crimes and to retrieve the data deleted by the criminals, sources said.

The aim is to collect authentic data so that a foolproof investigation is conducted to bring the criminals to justice.

It is to be noted that cyber criminals in general delete the videos that they have uploaded on their telephones, laptops, and even in cloud format.

However to put an end to this, the cyber crime police of Tamil Nadu is soon purchasing a Universal Forensics Extraction Device (UFED) 4 PC.

This, according to cyber experts is a data extraction tool that can retrieve data that are deleted from cell phones, laptops, desktops and even in cloud servers.

The police will also buy tools that are required to extract data from message applications like WhatsApp, decrypt passwords, decipher images, and facial recognition.

The passwords and the IP of the encrypted data will be a hindrance for the cyber sleuths to break into the networks of the criminals.

The cyber experts of the police told IANS that the new tools that would be bought through the tendering process will help the department to crack these.

According to Greater Chennai Police, there is an increase in cyber crimes in the city including blackmailing of men and women, using cyber expertise to siphon off money from gullible bank accounts, and several cyber crimes are reported and complaints lodged on a daily basis.

The increase in the number of complaints is one reason for the cyber wing police to upgrade the tools and tenders are floated for buying the latest gadgets.

--IANS
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Agartala, Dec 2 (IANS) Placements for the 2022-23 academic year at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) began on a strong note on Thursday with a total of 168 offers made by 46 companies, officials said.

The institute received two international offers, the highest being of Rs 2.4 crore per annum, besides a highest domestic offer of Rs 1.1 crore per annum.

An IITG official said that the 168 offers included job profiles such as software development engineer, core engineer, UX designer, VLSI, vehicle engineer, analyst, product designer etc.

The big recruiters include Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Google, Uber, Qualcomm, C-DOT, Enphase Energy, Oracle, Nutanix, Thoughtspot MTS-2, Squarepoint SDE/Quant, American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Bajaj, Rippling, Tibra, Cohesity, and Sprinklr Platform + Product.

Phase I of placements is expected to continue till December 15, an institute statement said.

Abhishek Kumar, Head, Centre for Career Development at IITG, said that the company officials as well as the students are excited to meet face-to-face after two years of gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This gave upper hand to both the employer as well as potential employee to interact one-to-one, giving more space for proper understanding on both sides of the table," he said.

In the 2022-23 academic year, a total of 1,269 students have registered for placements across different streams.

The total number of companies registered for Phase I of placements is 264, which will be recruiting for a total of 470 profiles.

As many as 78 startups have registered for the recruitment process in the ongoing academic year, along with five public sector undertakings (PSUs).

IITG Director T.G. Sitharam said: "We are really excited to physically host companies on the IIT Guwahati campus after two years. We have recorded progressive outcomes in Sessions 1.1 and 1.2 of the placement drive. I am sure the final outcomes will touch new heights for the institute."

IITG students have already received as many as 218 pre-placement offers (PPOs) during the academic year 2022-23, the highest in the last four years.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Dec 1 (IANS) In the wake of a ragging incident in Dibrugarh University, the Assam government will soon conduct a drive against the illegal boarders at hostels of different educational institutions in the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

"The former students of any educational institutions will not be allowed to stay at the hostels. We will strictly implement this rule across the state," he said.

To detect illegal boarders, the state government will conduct a special drive at the educational institutions.

Sarma said that if the police, administration, and authorities of the educational institutions work together, incidents of ragging will not happen.

Anand Sharma, an M.Com student of Dibrugarh University faced severe ragging by a few seniors at the hostel of the varsity last week.

He then jumped off a two-storey building of the hostel to "save himself from extreme mental and physical harassment".

Sharma, who sustained severe injuries, is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital. Doctors submitted that he is out of danger.

The Dibrugarh University has already rusticated 18 students who were allegedly involved in the ragging incident.

An FIR was lodged and police had arrested four accused. On Thursday, another student who was also involved in the incident has also been detained by the police.

However, the main accused, a former student of the university, is still absconding.

--IANS
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Mathura (UP), Nov 24 (IANS) Bizarre as it may sound, the Mathura police have claimed that rats ate up over 500 kilograms of marijuana.

According to a report submitted by Mathura police to a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (1985) court, rats "ate" over 500 kg of marijuana, confiscated and stored in the warehouses of Shergarh and Highway police stations.

Earlier this year, the court had asked Mathura police to produce the marijuana recovered in a case registered under the NDPS Act.

The additional district judge has ordered SSP Mathura Abhishek Yadav to get rid of the 'mice menace' and then deliver proof that rats actually consumed 581 kg, to be precise, of marijuana worth Rs 60 lakhs.

The officers told the judge that mice and rates, though small in size, do not fear the police.

The court has also issued five-point directions for the auction/disposal of weed stored in police warehouses.

"Time-bound action will be taken in compliance with the court orders," said acting senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mathura, Martand P. Singh while the special public prosecutor Ranveer Singh said, "The SHOs of Shergarh and Highway police stations have claimed that 581 kg of weed stored in warehouses was destroyed by the rats. The cops have been finding it impossible to protect substances kept in the said storage areas. The court has ordered the police to produce evidence regarding the claim and set November 26 as the next hearing date."

Notably, in May 2020, three men smuggling weed in a truck were arrested in Mathura. The truck was intercepted near Jatwari village in the Shergarh area and 386 kg of weed hidden in millet bags was recovered from the vehicle. The three accused were booked under the NDPS Act and sent to judicial custody.

The court had ordered the police to produce the weed recovered in the case.

A similar case happened in 2021 when cops at Etah district's Kotwali Dehat police station claimed that rodents consumed over 1,400 cartons of seized liquor worth over Rs 35 lakh.

Additional director general (ADG) of police (Agra zone) Rajeev Krishna had tasked an IPS officer from Aligarh to probe the matter.

An FIR was registered against station house officer Indreshpal Singh and head clerk Rasaal Singh after a preliminary inquiry revealed that the policemen had sold the seized liquor to gangster Bantu Yadav.

--IANS
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Kanpur, Nov 24 (IANS) The problem of strays is now dogging the IIT-Kanpur where several dog bite cases have taken place in recent days.

A section of faculty members and other officials have demanded a ban on stray dogs on the premises.

The institute's animal welfare cell had already decided to remove the dogs and dog feeders alleged that they were being harassed.

"Dogs have been mysteriously disappearing from the campus," they said.

Refuting the allegations, IIT-Kanpur director Prof Abhay Karandikar said: "We are not against stray dogs. We have an animal protection cell within the campus. The authorities have discussed the matter at length, and decided to let stray dogs stroll in the open areas such as gardens, but not near hostels."

He said that eight to 10 students had submitted a representation to Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) stating that they would like to continue feeding the dogs.

"An AWBI team was to visit the campus for an inspection on Wednesday. But it did not turn up. We have 13 hostels where 9,000 students reside. Their safety is important. Dogs have also attacked peacocks on the campus," he said.

Prof Karandikar added the institute was not against dogs, and only wanted to restrict their movement near hostels.

--IANS
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