LIVE: Court orders blocking Congress' Twitter for copyright infringement

From Delhi air pollution restrictions being lifted to Musk's threat to Twitter account impersonators, catch all the live updates from across the globe here

9:36 PM

Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Maharashtra's Nanded from Telangana

8:15 PM

Coal India reports 106% jump in profit at Rs 6,044 crore in Sept quarter

State-owned CIL on Monday reported a 106 per cent jump in its consolidated profit at Rs 6,043.99 crore in the September quarter of FY23 on higher revenue from operations.

 

The pubic sector enterprise had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 2,932.73 crore in the year-ago period, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a filing to BSE.

7:45 PM

Karnataka Court orders blocking of Congress' Twitter account

A Bengaluru court directs Twitter to temporarily block the accounts of Congress party and Bharat Jodo Yatra for allegedly infringing the statutory copyright owned by MRT Music by illegally using sound records of the film KGF Chapter-2.

 

6:00 PM

Kerala Congress welcomes EWS order, ally IUML calls verdict worrisome

The Congress in Kerala on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on upholding the amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS) while its United Democratic Front (UDF) ally, IUML, said the order was worrisome.

The Supreme Court by a majority view of 3:2 today upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to the EWS category in admissions and government jobs.

"The Congress has been asking for this for a long time. We have always voiced for the reservation for the economically weaker sections in the community but this should not affect the reservation quota of other sections," state Congress chief K Sudhakaran told the reporters.

3:00 PM

MCD polls 'crucial' not just for Delhi, but for entire country: Hardeep Puri

India will become a developed country by 2047 as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where there is no place for "revri politics", Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday, taking a dig at the AAP-led Delhi government.

He also said that the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls are "crucial" not just for the national capital, but for the entire country.

Puri was speaking after flagging off a fleet of video vans as part of the BJP's electoral campaign. Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta and other senior party leaders were also present at the event.

2:44 PM

Cong does not care for country's security, people's sentiments: Adityanath

The Congress could not have taken steps such as construction of the Ram temple, the surgical strike or the abrogation of Article 370 because it does not care for the country's security or the sentiments of people, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday.

Campaigning for the BJP in this constituency in Himachal Pradesh's Una district, Adityanath said India is touching new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country's prestige has risen on the global stage, the PTI reported.

The BJP government at the Centre, he said at a rally, has taken landmark steps such as the surgical strike across the line of control in Kashmir and the abrogation of Article 370. The construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya also started under this government, Adityanath, who has been campaigning extensively across the hill state, told the gathering.

2:33 PM

What excuse will SP give for its defeat in Gola Gokarnnath bypoll: Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati targeted the Samajwadi Party over its defeat in the Gola Gokarannath assembly bypolls, asking what excuse will it give for the loss given that her party did not contest the election, the PTI reported.

She said it remains to be seen whether the Akhilesh Yadav-led party will be able to retain the Mainpuri Lok Sabha and Rampur assembly seats where bypolls are scheduled on December 5.

BJP's Aman Giri won the Gola Gokarannath assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, defeating his nearest rival and Samajwadi Party candidate Vinay Tiwari by over 34,000 votes, a senior official said.

2:18 PM

Delhi govt to reopen classes from Nov 9, revokes work-from-home order

 The Delhi government on Monday decided to reopen primary classes from November 9 and revoke the order asking 50 per cent of its staff to work from home in view of improvement in the city's air quality.
 

At a press conference, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said there has been a rapid improvement in the air pollution situation in Delhi and farm fires have also reduced.
 

"Therefore, it has been decided to lift the curbs imposed under stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan in compliance with the direction from the Commission for Air Quality Management," he said.

2:02 PM

Mining lease row: Relief for Jharkhand CM Soren; SC sets aside HC order

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the appeals of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the state government against a high court order accepting the maintainability of PILs for a probe in the mining lease issue. It also set aside the Jharkhand High Court's June 3 order.

"Satyamev Jayate," Soren, who has been accused of granting himself a mining lease as the state's mining minister, said on Twitter after the Supreme Court's ruling.

We have allowed these two appeals and have set aside the June 3, 2022 order passed by the Jharkhand High Court, holding that these PILs were not maintainable, the bench said.

1:44 PM

Demonetisation was a colossal failure which crippled economy, says KTR

Demonetisation was a colossal failure which crippled the growing Indian economy, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao said on Monday, the IANS reported.

"What a colossal failure this Demonetisation was & let's not forget how it crippled the growing Indian economy," tweeted the TRS leader.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, alleged that this "half-baked" idea led to eight consecutive quarters of slowdown, subsequently landing in lockdown in 2020 serving a body blow to the vibrant economy.

1:28 PM

Gujarat HC takes suo motu cognisance of Morbi bridge collapse tragedy

The Gujarat High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy and issued notices to the state government and local authorities and also sought a status report in the matter by November 14.

The collapse of the British-era suspension bridge in Morbi on October 30 claimed 135 lives.

A division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri issued notices to the Gujarat government through the chief secretary, state home department, commissioner of municipalities, Morbi municipality, district collector and State Human Rights Commission and relisted the matter on November 14.

 

1:11 PM

BJP slams Arvind Kejriwal after conman Sukesh's another letter surfaces

The BJP on Monday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arving Kejriwal after a third letter of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar surfaced detailing the 'deals' done at AAP Minister Kailash Gahlot's farmhouse with the consent of Delhi CM.

Shehzad Poonawalla, the national spokesperson of the BJP raised questions for Kejriwal to answer.

Speaking to IANS, Poonawalla "This is why Satyendra Jain has not been removed from the cabinet by Delhi CM Kejriwal despite the court not granting him relief... so that he can do extortion from inside the Tihar Jail. Imagine the number of people from whom money has been extorted. This is just one case.

1:01 PM

As AQI improves slightly, Delhi govt to decide on lifting ban under GRAP

With the Air Quality Index in the national capital improving slightly to "very poor" category on Monday, the Delhi government is likely to review the ban imposed under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) restrictions.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the overall AQI of the city improved further on 326 in the "very poor" category this morning.

The concentration of both PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the environment was recorded at 326 under the "very poor" category and 205 under "poor" category respectively.

12:45 PM

Sharad Pawar's participation in 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' will depend on his health: Ashok Chavan

Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has said the participation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Maharashtra will depend on his health condition.

The 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', a mass outreach initiative of the Congress which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, is scheduled to enter Maharashtra's Nanded district on Monday night from neighbouring Telangana.

The Congress had invited NCP president Pawar, 81, to participate in the foot march and the latter earlier said he would join the yatra.

12:29 PM

Ex-PM Imran Khan committing 'treason' against Pakistan, says minister

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has accused Imran Khan of "committing the crime of treason against the state," and exhorted institutions like the judiciary to stand up against the former premier's "wretched agenda."

Speaking during Geo News' programme "Naya Pakistan" on Sunday, Sanaullah said, "Khan only has one demand: he wants to be adopted by the institutions to make him sit on the prime minister's chair."

12:09 PM

BJP leader shot dead in Bihar's Katihar district

A BJP leader was shot dead by two bike borne assailants in Bihar's Katihar district on Monday, police said.

The victim has been identified as Sanjiv Mishra, a native of Telta village who was a former district president of the BJP

He was sitting outside his house in Telta when the assailants arrived and opened fire on him

12:05 PM

BJP leaders laud SC's quota order as win for PM Modi's social justice mission

With the Supreme Court on Monday upholding the EWS quota, the BJP lauded the decision and said it is a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his "mission" to provide social justice to the country's poor, the PTI reported.

BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said, "Supreme Court upholds the legality of EWS reservation for unreserved sections. Another big credit for PM Narendra Modi's vision of Gareeb Kalyan. A big boost in the direction of social justice ."

Echoing the view, BJP general secretary C T Ravi said the verdict is yet another victory for Modi in his mission to provide social justice to India's poor.

11:49 AM

20 injured in collision between buses in Maharashtra's Palghar

At least 20 people were injured when two state transport buses they were travelling in collided head-on in Palghar district on Monday morning. No casualty was reported in the accident, the police said.

 

Officials said that the incident took place at the ghat section area on Jawhar-Silvassa Road in Palghar district early morning on Monday.

11:37 AM

200k youth recruited in Central Armed Police Forces in 5 yrs: Official

Nearly two lakh people were recruited in six Central Armed Police Forces like the BSF and the CRPF in the last five years as part of the Narendra Modi government's efforts to provide jobs to unemployed youths, officials said.

 

However, as of July-end this year, there are still over 84,000 vacancies in these forces the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Assam Rifles (AR). Steps have been taken to fill them too.

11:28 AM

Hemant Soren writes to EC seeking copy of "second opinion" sought by Governor

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) for a copy of Governor Ramesh Bais's request letter to the election panel seeking a "second opinion" in the office-of-profit case.

The letter sent through the CM's lawyer Vaibhav Tomar on October 31 that was made public today stated, "My client has now come to learn from media reports that recently the honourable governor in a press interview has disclosed that the honourable governor has sought a second opinion from the election commission of India which is pending before the commission".

Bais, in a media interview, said that he had sought a second opinion from the ECI.

 

11:20 AM

Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar writes another letter to L-G, cites threat

In another letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena, incarcerated conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar has alleged that he had been receiving severe threats from the jail administration on behalf of AAP's jailed leader Satyendra Jain and Director General prison Sandeep Goel after his first letter went public.

Chandrashekhar even requested the L-G to order a CBI probe urgently claiming that the truth will expose AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Satyendra Jain.

He even claimed that he would submit every single detail of all the meetings, interactions, number of cash deliveries, locations if a probe was initiated.

11:04 AM

Supreme Court upholds constitutional validity of 10 per cent EWS quota

Supreme Court (SC) on Monday upheld the validity of the 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker section (EWS) under the 103rd Contitutional Amendment. The five-member bench headed by chief justice of India UU Lalit announed the judgement on Monday. Justice Ravindra Bhat was the only judge that disagreed on the exclusion of SC/ST from the EWS quota.    
 

CJI Lalit is set to retire on November 8. 

SC said that the EWS quota does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution set under the Indra Sawhney Case (1992).

11:02 AM

Gopal Rai calls meeting Monday, decision to be taken on reopening schools

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will chair a high-level meeting Monday to discuss the new directions by the Centre's air quality panel about revoking curbs imposed under the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan, officials said.

A decision on reopening primary schools and revocation of order asking 50 per cent of the government staff to work from home is likely to be taken at the meeting, the PTI reported.

The Centre's air quality panel on Sunday had directed authorities to lift the ban on plying of non-BS VI diesel-run light motor vehicles in Delhi-NCR and entry of trucks into the capital imposed under the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan.

10:47 AM

Elon Musk suspends comedian Kathy Griffin's Twitter account permanently

Comedian Kathy Griffin becomes the latest Twitter casualty, as her account got suspended after Twitter CEO Elon Musk rolled out that handles engaged in 'impersonation' without clearly specifying "parody" will be suspended permanently.

Griffin had changed her profile name to Musk, following which she seems to have been promptly banned from the social media site, as per Fox news reports.

Despite her handle showing her own @kathygriffin name, the moniker by her blue checkmark. Elon Musk said this goes against the company policy against impersonation.

10:26 AM

PM Modi yet to acknowledge 'epic failure' of demonetisation move: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday over his government's 2016 demonetisation move, saying the PM is yet to acknowledge this "epic failure" that led to the "fall of the economy".

Kharge's remarks, a day before demonetisation's sixth anniversary, came over a media report which said that the currency with the public has jumped to a new high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore as of October 21.

"Demonetisation was promised to free the country of black money. But it destroyed businesses and ruined jobs. 6 years after the 'masterstroke' the cash available in public is 72% higher than that in 2016," Kharge said in a tweet.

10:04 AM

Delhi air quality recorded at 326, to deteriorate further, says forecast

Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital Delhi on Monday morning came down and stopped at a 'very poor' category, after continuing to slide from the 'severe' category, which was recorded for three straight days last week, said the forecast system SAFAR.

Even though the air quality in Delhi continued to slide for the second consecutive day from the 'upper end of very poor' to the 'very poor' category, still, it is touching an alarming level on Monday morning as the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city stood at 326.

The National Capital Region (NCR) continued to witness bad air as Noida, which is part of the national capital region, recorded an AQI of 356, in the 'very poor' category, while Gurugram's AQI stood at 364 and continued to remain in the 'very poor category, as per data released by SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) India.

9:54 AM

Maharashtra govt will plan film city between Mumbai and Thane, says CM Shinde

The Maharashtra government will work on planning a film city between Mumbai and Thane cities to provide a wider platform to artists, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said.

Speaking at an event on Sunday where noted Marathi theatre actor Prashant Damle was felicitated for the 12,500th show of his play 'Eka Lagnachi Gosht', Shinde said the state government will support Marathi theatre and cinema.

"There is a lot of shooting happening in Thane too," he said, adding that a film city will be planned between Mumbai and Thane.

9:41 AM

India logs 937 Covid-19 infections in a day, active cases decline by 324

India's COVID-19 case tally rose by 937 in a day to reach 4,46,61,516, while active cases declined to 14,515, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,30,509 with nine more fatalities, including seven deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Of the other two deaths, one each has been recorded in Delhi and Odisha.

The active caseload declined by 324 in 24 hours and now comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.78 per cent, according to the ministry website.

9:12 AM

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra to enter Maharashtra today

After completion of the foot march in southern states, Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra led by party leader Rahul Gandhi will enter Maharashtra on Monday.

The yatra has already covered parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Now, Rahul Gandhi will enter Maharashtra on Monday evening at Madnur Naka in Degloor of Nanded district.

The Maharashtra Congress Committee has made elaborate arrangements. They are trying to get massive success in Maharashtra too.

Rahul Gandhi and other congress delegations will start the march around 10 pm with a torch and Ekta Mashal.

8:57 AM

Schools, colleges in Assam's Diphu to remain closed due to dengue outbreak

In view of an alarming surge in dengue cases, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) on Sunday announced that all schools and colleges falling within the Diphu Municipal Board and the Greater Diphu Town area in Karbi Anglong district of Assam will remain closed for five days this month.

An order issued by the Principal Secretary of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council said, "In view of the alarming surge in dengue cases and as preventive measures against impending epidemic, therefore all educational institutions both government and private, etc. from non-formal pre-schools (Anganwadi) to colleges falling within Diphu Municipal Board and Greater Diphu Town area, shall remain closed on from November 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12."

Amid in surge of Dengue cases, as many as three people died in Diphu and more than 20 people are currently undergoing treatment at the government hospitals in the hill district.