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Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) Former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who has been brought to the forefront by the BJP high command ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, on Saturday claimed that he will ensure thumping victory for the saffron party.

Yediyurappa, who has been nominated to the party's highest decision-making bodies, the Parliamentary Board and the Election Committee at the national level, was seen sharing dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the frontline in Mangaluru on Friday.

During Prime Minister Modi's last visit to Bengaluru and Mysuru cities, Yediyurappa was only seen at the airport receiving him and could not be seen anywhere during his two-day visit on the occasion of celebration of International Yoga Day.

Sources in the BJP said that this time, seating arrangements were made as per the wishes of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi was seen holding hands of Yediyurappa at the time of his arrival and talking to him dearly.

Yediyurappa told Prime Minister Modi that he would meet him after the public rally. However, the Prime Minister took him to the rally and ensured he sat in the frontline, the sources added.

Yediyurapppa attended the government function without an invitation and protocol was also sidelined. He was seated next to the Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot.

Speaking to reporters in Shivamogga, Yediyurappa said, "I will travel the length and breadth of the state and ensure victory for the party in upcoming assembly elections in 140 seats," he stated.

Yediyurappa further stated that, "Prime Minister Modi has set a target of winning 140 seats out of 224 assembly constituencies in the state. Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would also arrive for campaigning. We will form a government in the state after the next assembly elections in 2023."

He also announced that he would organise a rally of 1 lakh people in Shivamogga in a short time after discussion with party leaders.

"Prime Minister Modi has told us that he would visit the state once in a month in the coming days. We will invite Modi Ji," Yediyurappa said.

The Central leadership is listening to Yediyurappa's strategies for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

The response of the huge crowd in the form of clappings, whistling and celebrations, whenever Yediyurappa's name was mentioned at the Prime Minister's rally was testimonial to his popularity in the state.

When Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's name was called out, the crowd was silent and even during his speech, he did not get any attention from the crowd, the sources added.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on Saturday alleged political motive behind the release of Bilkis Bano's convicts.

Addressing a press conference, JIH Vice-President Engineer Saleem said: "The role of the Gujarat government in ensuring the release of those convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and the murder of seven members of her family is deplorable."

"Such decisions that are aimed at reaping political dividends to appease a particular constituency are highly objectionable,"

He said the JIH condemns the decision and hopes that the apex court intervenes in the matter to reverse this grave injustice carried out under the guise of official government policy.

"The remission policy should be applied to those languishing in jails for petty crimes not for heinous crimes like rape and murder. " he said.

If state governments are allowed to free criminals of their choice through a remission policy despite being convicted for crimes like rape and murder, then this will make a mockery of our judiciary and the citizens will lose hope in the supremacy of the law.

"This is bound to embolden criminals and their masterminds as they will be confident of being bailed out by the system sooner or later despite committing the most heinous crimes." added Saleem.

The manner in which these convicts are being felicitated and lauded is quite reprehensible.

Jamaat-e Islami Hind has sought the President's intervention in reversing the decision of releasing the convicts to save the system of justice and governance from becoming paralysed an ineffective.

Notably, Bilkis Bano was 19-years-old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning in Gujarat in 2002.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) Two cab drivers have been arrested for gang-raping a woman on the pretext of dropping her to a church in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

The arrested have been identified as 25-year-old G Akshilesh from Ballary and 21-year-old J L Deepu from Hassan.

In her complaint to police, the 25-year-old victim said that on Thursday, she was walking towards church in Ejipura when the accused offered her lift to the place of worship.

However, instead of church, they took her to an isolated place near Huskur, stripped her and gang-raped her. The accused also kept her in captivity. The victim somehow managed to escape from there in the darkness and took shelter behind the bushes for entire night, police said.

Early on Friday morning, the victim managed to reach a nearby house and requested for clothes. After managing to get them, she reached straight to Viveknagar police station where police lodged an FIR and arrested the accused.

--IANS
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Patna, Sep 3 (IANS) Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister, Giriraj Singh has demanded a survey of madrasas and mosques in Bihar similar to that in Uttar Pradesh.

"We demanded from the Nitish Kumar government to conduct survey on the madrasas and mosques of Bihar, especially in Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region. We must have data about who are running madrasas and mosques in these regions and who are staying in them," Singh said.

"The Yogi Adityanath government has taken the right decision and is conducting the survey of madrasas and mosques in Uttar Pradesh. We need the approach in Bihar as well to check at least those who are taking shelters in madrasas and mosques," the Union MInister added.

Seemanchal region of Bihar is considered Muslim dominant area of Bihar where more than 60 per cent population belongs to Muslim community. Moreover, a large number of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals are also residing there illegally.

--IANS
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Gandhinagar, Sep 2 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday made five "key promises" to farmers in Gujarat while addressing a rally at Dwarka town in the state's Saurashtra region.

He said if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power, his government will procure wheat, rice, cotton, groundnut etc. at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The other promises include waiving farm loans, re-conducting the survey of agricultural land earlier conducted by the BJP government which will be scrapped and re-survey will be hold.

The AAP leader has promised to give power supply during day time for 12 continuous hours apart from giving assistance -- if crop fails -- Rs 20,000 per acre.

"Narmada projects field canals will be completed in entire Narmada command area," he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister has reiterated to give stipend to unemployed youth and will create 10 lakh government jobs in one year. The AAP leader has appealed to give his party one chance in Gujarat.

--IANS
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Sharjah, Sep 2 (IANS) Spin twins, leg-spinner Shadab Khan and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz shared seven wickets between themselves as Pakistan thrashed Hong Kong by 155 runs in the final Group A match of Asia Cup 2022 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

After sparkling knocks from Mohammad Rizwan (78 not out), Fakhar Zaman (53) and Khushdil Shah (35 not out) carried Pakistan to a daunting 193/2, Hong Kong were blown away by pacers and spinners to be bundled out for 38, giving the Babar Azam-led side their biggest-ever win by runs in T20Is.

The win also means that Pakistan qualify for the Super Four stage from Group A while Hong Kong crashed out of the competition. It also sets up another India-Pakistan showdown in the Super Four match in Dubai on Sunday, exactly a week after meeting in the first Group A match of the tournament.

Nizakat Khan began well by crunching a drive square of the wicket off Shahnawaz Dahani. But Naseem Shah took him out in the next over, chipping straight to cover. Four balls later, Shah castled Babar Hayat for a four-ball duck. More trouble followed for Hong Kong as Dahani bounced out Yasim Murtaza and mid-on ran forward to complete a low catch.

From there, Shadab and Nawaz took over to totally dismantle Hong Kong's challenge with the bat. Shadab bamboozled with his googly, taking out Aizaz Khan and Haroon Arshad. Nawaz, on the other hand, took out Kinchit Shah, Scott McKechnie and Zeeshan Ali.

Post drinks break, Shadab's wrong'un castled Ayush Shukla and then trapped Mohammad Ghazanfar lbw to complete a resounding thrashing of Hong Kong at the hands of Pakistan.

Brief scores: Pakistan 193/2 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 78 not out, Fakhar Zaman 53; Ehsan Khan 2-28) against Hong Kong 38 all out in 10.4 overs (Nizakat Khan 8, Shadab Khan 4-8, Mohammad Nawaz 3-5) by 155 runs

--IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Twitter, which is locked in a legal battle with the Indian government over content blocking orders, banned 45,191 accounts of the Indian users in the month of July over violation of its guidelines, the microblogging platform said in its monthly compliance report on Friday.

Twitter suspended 42,825 accounts for promoting child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and similar content in India, while blocking another 2,366 accounts for promoting terrorism, it said in its monthly compliance report as per the new IT Rules, 2021.

The microblogging platform received 874 grievances in the country through its local grievance mechanism between June 26-July 25, and took action on 70 complaints.

In June, Twitter had banned more than 43,140 accounts of the Indian users.

"While we welcome everyone to express themselves on our platform, we do not tolerate behaviour that harasses, threatens, dehumanises, or uses fear to silence the voices of others," Twitter said in the report.

Under the new IT Rules 2021, big digital and social media platforms, with more than 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Twitter receives complaints in its Grievance Officer-India channel that relate to account verification, account access, or seeking assistance or information regarding an account or Twitter's enforcement actions.

In addition, Twitter processed 124 grievances which were appealing account suspensions.

"These were all resolved and the appropriate responses were sent. We overturned none of these account suspensions after reviewing the specifics of the situation," said the company.

The compliance report came as whistleblower Peiter Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, alleged that the Indian government forced the platform to "hire a government agent on its payroll" and "grant access to sensitive user data", a claim which has been dismissed by Twitter.

In May, Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court against the Indian government's order to take down some content on its platform.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Noting the "shocking data" of decreasing water quality in Yamuna river, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said it shows "utter lack of adequate action" and monitoring by higher authorities of Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

The green court made the remark while dealing with a plea against pollution of Yamuna.

"Delhi has many areas that don't have a proper sewer network. Over 20 per cent of the population is yet to get a proper sewer network. Moreover, over 80 per cent of the sewage treatment plants (STP) don't meet the standards," the plea pointed out referring a DPCC official.

The greivance also highlighted a media report published in January which mentioned that the pollution in Yamuna has worsened with the faecal bacteria level being at a record high of 14 times than what existed three months ago.

In the order recently passed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar, it was noted that unfortunately the authorities concerned did not consider the sensitivity of the matter.

Noting that the grim situation, the tribunal directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi to ascertain latest factual position and submit his report via mail within two months with explanation as to why coercive and penal measures be not taken in terms of fixing accountability for such blatant failure of the authorities in protecting the water quality of the Yamuna.

It may also be necessary to seek similar reports from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The reports of Chief Secretaries may be in a consolidated manner in the light of inter-departmental review and ground realities, the court said.

"It remains a matter of concern that authorities should not be able to maintain river flowing in the Capital of India clean inspite of clear roadmap Afor its rejuvenation and clear directions of Tribunal," the order said.

"How the continuing loss to environment and public health should be ignored is beyond anyone's comprehension. It is shocking to note the data relating to water quality of Yamuna and the pollution load posted by DPCC on its website depicting that drains remain un-trapped even after a year of the last order. This shows utter lack of adequate action and monitoring by higher authorities," the order read.

Further the green court asked Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to review the situation at higher levels and take remedial action and also sought the earlier-appointed Central Monitoring Committee to file its latest status report.

--IANS
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New York, Sep 2 (IANS) For the first time, astronomers have used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system.

The exoplanet called 'HIP 65426 b' is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable.

The exoplanet is about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter, and these observations could help narrow that down even further.

It is young, about 15 to 20 million years old, compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old Earth.

"This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb but also for astronomy generally," said Sasha Hinkley, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter in the UK.

The image, as seen through four different light filters, shows how Webb's powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond our solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets, the space agency said in a statement.

This image shows the exoplanet 'HIP 65426 b' in different bands of infrared light.

A set of masks within each instrument, called a coronagraph, blocks out the host star's light so that the planet can be seen.

Astronomers discovered the planet in 2017 using the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and took images of it using short infrared wavelengths of light.

Webb's view, at longer infrared wavelengths, reveals new details that ground-based telescopes would not be able to detect because of the intrinsic infrared glow of Earth's atmosphere.

Since 'HIP 65426 b' is about 100 times farther from its host star than Earth is from the Sun, it is sufficiently distant from the star that Webb can easily separate the planet from the star in the image.

"It was really impressive how well the Webb coronagraphs worked to suppress the light of the host star," Hinkley said.

Taking direct images of exoplanets is challenging because stars are so much brighter than planets.

The 'HIP 65426 b' planet is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in the near-infrared, and a few thousand times fainter in the mid-infrared.

"Obtaining this image felt like digging for space treasure," said Aarynn Carter, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In July, James Webb Space Telescope produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) The Congress on Friday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to acknowledge the efforts of previous governments in building INS Vikrant -- India's first Indigenous aircraft.

"India's 1st indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant commissioned today is a collective effort of all govts since 1999. Will PM acknowledge? Let's also recall original INS Vikrant that served us well in 1971 war. Much reviled Krishna Menon played a key role in getting it from UK," veteran Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

The aircraft carrier keel was laid in 2009 during UPA government and was launched during that period, he Congress said.

Prime Minister Modi commissioned the fully indigenous developed aircraft carrier INS Vikrant this morning. After unveiling the aircraft carrier, the Prime Minister said India has joined the select club of nations who have developed indigenous aircraft carrier.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minster said: "INS Vikrant a floating airfield, a floating town and the power generated in it can light up 5,000 houses, while the cables can run to Kashi from Kochi."

He that its deck is up to the size of two football fields and its the example of government aim to make India self reliant in defence sector.

Though the security of Indo-Pacific region is our priority, but in the past it was ignored, he said.

Unveiling the new flag of the Navy, the PM said: "Indian Naval flags carried a sign of slavery which has been replaced with a new one inspired by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj."

The new Naval Ensign that draws inspiration from the seal of great Indian emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, depicts steadfastness, while the octagonal shape represents the 8 directions symbolizing multi-directional reach of the navy, Prime Minister Modi said.

--IANS
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