RIVANCH

If its parts were to be read in isolation, it could have been just a story about an honest prince with a gambling problem. Or a story about a king in lust denying his son his rightful claim to the throne. Or of another king’s blind love for his son leading to a devastating war. But the Mahabharat is a sum of all these stories. These are just important sub-plots of the world’s most thrilling, expansive epic. Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and the public spectacle that has ensued is a riveting story. Many of us are annoyed by the daily, primetime inquisition of his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty by screaming anchors, singling her out as the sole villain, or she being thrown into jail on charges seemingly unrelated to Sushant’s death. Others are angry at what they feel are an elaborate PR exercise by certain channels and a part of Bollywood to whitewash her role, as also the Maharashtra administration’s apparent desperation to save her from scrutiny. But Rhea’s story – or even the great Su

New Delhi:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an LPG pipeline project and bottling plants in Bihar on Sunday as the government pushes its development agenda in the poll-bound state. The projects include the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur pipeline project and two LPG bottling plants, an official statement said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will also be present on the occasion. The 193-km long Durgapur-Banka pipeline section, built by state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), is a part of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project, for which the foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister on 17 February, 2019. Durgapur-Banka section is the extension of the existing 679-km long Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline to the new LPG bottling plant at Banka in Bihar. The pipeline of 14-inch diameter passes through West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. While LPG is presently injected into the pipeline at IOC's Paradip and Haldia refinerie

Thane: A 27-year-old attendant at a COVID-19 quarantine centre in Maharashtra's Thane district has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman at the facility, police said on Sunday. The incident took place in June, but came to light on Saturday when the 20-year-old woman lodged a police complaint, inspector Sampat Patil of Navghar police station said. The woman in her complaint alleged that the accused committed the offence while she was attending to an 11-year- old relative who was lodged at the quarantine centre, located in Mira Road area here, the official said. According to the police, the woman was staying in a room at the facility along with her 10-month-old daughter to take care of the relative who tested positive for coronavirus. The accused used to visit the room at night under the pretext of giving hot water. He allegedly made advances towards the woman, but she resisted his move following which he threatened to kill her child, Patil said. He allegedly raped the wom

Union home minister Amit Shah was on Saturday re-admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) after he complained of breathlessness, reports said. According to NDTV , Shah was readmitted to AIIMS at 11 pm on Saturday after he complained of breathlessness. On 2 August, Shah, 55, had said on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19 . He had undergone treatment for the coronavirus infection at Medanta Hospital and was discharged after he tested negative for the disease. According to an earlier statement by AIIMS, he was admitted to the hospital on 18 August following complaints of fatigue and body aches, days after his discharge. He had been discharged from AIIMS on 31 August. With inputs from PTI   from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3kaPGmk FP Staff

08:53 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates Domestic air travel recovers in Wuhan, China Domestic air travel in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak, has returned to pre-pandemic levels, authorities say. The virus was first detected in Wuhan late last year and the city underwent a draconian 76-day lockdown as its hospitals struggled to deal with a tidal wave of cases that required the rapid construction of field hospitals to handle the overflow. Since re-opening in early April, life has gradually returned to normal and numbers of domestic flights serving the city, as well as the number of passengers, had both fully recovered, according to the operator of Wuhan Tianhe International airport. It said 64,700 passengers were transported aboard 500 domestic flights on Friday. -AP 08:15 (IST) Coronavirus in India LATEST Updates Health Ministry issues 'post COVID-19 management protocol' The Union Health Ministry on Sunday issued 'post COVID-19 ma

Names of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh and Delhi University professor Apoorvanand figure in a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in the February riots cases, allegedly for "provoking and mobilising" anti-CAA protesters. Some of those named have also been charged with — based on the statements of three students already arrested in the case — asking the protesters to go to "any extreme", spreading "discontent" in the community by calling CAA/NRC anti-Muslim, and organising demonstrations to "malign the image of Government of India". Their names appeared in the supplementary chargesheet, a copy of which is with the PTI , filed by the police on the riots in North East District between 23 and 26 February, which claimed 53 lives and left 581 injured, 97 of them with gunshot wounds. Later, after a political slugfest broke out on the issue, Delhi Police sources sou

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2020 was declared on 11 September by the National Testing Agency (NTA) at jeemain.nta.nic.in . A total of 24 students secured 100 percentile in the exam that was conducted from 1 to 6 September across 600 centres in the country. Around 8.58 lakh candidates had registered for the entrance exam which is conducted for admission to engineering courses in IITs, NITs and Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs). Among these, only 74 percent of candidates had appeared for the exam. There are several questions in the minds of students who qualified the JEE Main 2020 and what is the next procedure. Who can apply for JEE Advanced? According to a report by The Quint , the top 2,50,000 JEE Main rank holders are eligible to apply for JEE Advanced. Those who wish to apply are advised to complete the registration process and start preparing for the JEE Advanced 2020. As reported earlier , the registration process fro JEE Advanced 2020 exam has s

NEET UG 2020:  The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2020 exam will be conducted on 13 September across the country from 2 pm to 5 pm. The National Testing Agency (NTA), the body that conducts the medical entrance exam, said that 15.97 lakh candidates have registered for the exam. For the safety of students and to ensure that social distancing is maintained amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the NTA has increased the number of exam centres from 2,546 to 3,843. Each exam hall will have 12 examinees instead of 24. According to a report by The Times of India, there have been adequate arrangements made outside the examination centres also to enable social distancing. The NEET UG 2020 admit card mentions specific instructions to maintain social distancing and other COVID-19-related protocol. It contains a list of items that the examinees will be allowed to carry to the exam hall. Body pat frisking will not be done . Instead, candidates will be checked by metal detector held w

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has named CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh, Delhi University professor and activist Apoorvanand, and documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy as co-conspirators in the Delhi riots in February. According to the supplementary chargesheet, they have been accused of asking anti-CAA protesters "to go to any extreme",  and spreading discontent in the community by calling CAA/NRC "anti-Muslim", and organise demonstrations to malign the image of the Government of India. The names appeared in a supplementary charge sheet, a copy of which is with PTI , filed by the police on the riots in North East District between 23 and 26 February, which claimed 53 lives and left 581 injured, 97 of them having gunshot wounds. The activists have been named as accused based on the confessions of three students — women's collective Pinjra Tod members and JNU students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Nar

Video calling app Zoom has introduced an enhanced two-factor authentication making it easier for organisations to protect their users and prevent security breaches. The 2FA has a secure login feature and will requite users to present two or more pieces of evidence, or credentials, that can authenticate the ownership of their account. As per Zoom’s blog , users may be required to use a password or pin, or information on something that they use, be it a smartcard or mobile device. They will also be required to use biometric authentication options such as fingerprint or voice. Zoom said that the 2FA provides a number of benefits. With it, organisations can minimise the risk of identity theft and security breaches by adding extra layer of security that restricts others from accessing accounts by guessing passwords or gaining access to employee's or students' devices. It will also enable one to meet compliance obligations for sensitive data and customer information. The 2FA is

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Saturday said that the COVID-19 pandemic will cause a huge pendency of cases in courts, and a lot of emphasis has to be placed on utilising mediation for resolving many of these matters. The CJI also stressed on the need to focus on mental health and referred to the uncomfortable prediction that there might be a "suicide pandemic" following the COVID-19 crisis. "This COVID-19 pandemic is going to present us with huge pendency of cases. I do not see any way out of it. We have to decide cases," the CJI said during a virtual event, where he launched the book ' Judiciary, Judges and the Administration of Justice ', authored by former top court judge Justice R Banumathi. The CJI said he believes that this is the time when a lot of emphasis has to be placed on utilising mediation — pre-litigation and post-litigation mediation — to resolve many matters. "I am not suggesting every matter can be, but when the pa

London: Retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju was challenged as a self-publicist on behalf of the Indian government on Friday as he gave evidence in the extradition case of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi via a live videolink from India at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. On the final day of a five-day hearing, Justice Samuel Goozee heard Katju's detailed evidence before adjourning the case until 3 November, when he will hear arguments on the admissibility of the evidence provided by the Indian authorities on the charges of fraud and money laundering against the diamond merchant in the USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, sought to counter Katju's written and oral claims that Modi would not receive a fair trial in India because a majority of the judiciary was corrupt and the investigating agencies subservient to the government. Is it at least poss

Madurai: A 19-year-old medical aspirant allegedly died of suicide on Saturday, apparently "apprehensive" over the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET), police said. The victim, identified as Jothisri Durga, was found hanging at her residence and a purported suicide note left behind by her said she was "apprehensive" though others had "high hopes" on her, they said. The death, which comes days after another medical aspirant in Ariyalur in the state also allegedly died by suicide, drew sharp responses from the state's parties who are opposed to the NEET, even as Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam of the ruling AIADMK expressed shock over the incident. DMK president MK Stalin said the NEET "is not an exam at all." Taking to Twitter, Palaniswami expressed grief over the "sad" incident and said students have many avenues to taste success and resorting to such extreme steps was distressing. "I

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has commenced the online application process for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2021 on the website  gate.iitb.ac.in . Candidates can apply without late fee by 30 September. The last date to submit the online application along with the late fee is 7 October. As per the official notification, GATE 2021 exam will be conducted between 5 and 14 February. The exam will be held in two shifts. The first shift will be from 9 am to 12 noon, while the second will start from 3 pm and end at 6 pm. The result of the examination will be declared on the official website on 22 March 2021. According to a report by The Indian Express, the application process started two days in advance. It was earlier scheduled to begin on 14 September. Those appearing for the exam will have to pay a fee of Rs 1,500 per paper which will be increased to Rs 2,000 from 1 to 7 October. Females and reserved category candidates will have to pay Rs 750. For app

Patna: Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, whose recent resignation from the RJD founded and headed by Lalu Prasad has left political waters in Bihar astir, has fallen critically ill and put on a ventilator, a close aide said on Saturday. Singh, who has been admitted at AIIMS, Delhi for about a week after developing post-COVID-19 complications, resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday and followed it up with an open letter, a day later, addressed to Prasads arch rival and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, triggering speculations about his future moves. "Singh sahibs condition deteriorated considerably last night. At 11.56 pm, he was put on ventilator. We are praying for his well-being", the aide, who remains by the side of the septuagenarian, told PTI-Bhasha over phone. A staunch loyalist of the RJD supremo whom he supported in thick and thin, Singh ran afoul with the party a few months ago when murmurs about mafia don turned politician R

A Delhi Assembly panel has issued a notice to Facebook India vice president and managing director Ajit Mohan, asking him to appear before it on September 15 in connection with complaints about the social media giant's alleged deliberate and intentional inaction to contain hateful content in the country. According to an official statement, the Facebook official has been summoned based on "scathing depositions of key witnesses as well as incriminating material" submitted by them on record. "We hereby summon you (Ajit Mohan) to appear before the committee on September 15, 2020, at 12 noon at MLA Lounge-1, Delhi Vidhan Sabha, for the purpose of recording your deposition on oath and participating in the proceedings carried out by the committee," the Delhi Assembly's deputy secretary said in the notice sent on September 10. The move by the Delhi Assembly Committee on Peace and Harmony, headed by AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, follows a recent Wall Street Journal report

Chandigarh: Two ruling BJP MPs Dharambir Singh and Brijendra Singh have condemned the way the recent farmers' stir at Pipli in Kurukshetra was handled by authorities and described the incident as "painful". Their statements after ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Opposition parties targeted the Manohar Lal Khattar government over the issue. The two MPs, who are part of a three-member panel constituted by state BJP president OP Dhankar on Friday to pacify farmers and hold talks, said farmers have equal rights to raise their voices. While Dharambir, the MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, on Friday said the action of resorting to lathicharge on farmers without listening to their voices is "condemnable", Hisar MP Brijendra said the incident was "painful". The BJP's coalition partner JJP also condemned the handling of the situation in Pipli. In a tweet after the incident, JJP leader Digvijay Chautala said the incident of lathicharge on farmers is c

Several leaders, including vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, as well as rights activists and the general public condoled the death of Swami Agnivesh, and remembered him as a "truly secular" person, who fought for bonded labourers and women rights. A social and political activist Agnivesh, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis for a long time, died of multi-organ failure at a Delhi hospital on Friday. He was 80. "I am saddened to hear of the demise of Swami Agnivesh ji, a famous social worker and leader of Arya Samaj. He waged a lifelong struggle against bonded labour. My humble tribute!" Vice-President M Venakiah Naidu tweeted on Friday. प्रसिद्ध सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता और आर्य समाज के नेता स्वामी अग्निवेश जी के निधन का समाचार पा कर दुखी हूं। बंधुआ मजदूरी के विरुद्ध उन्होंने आजीवन संघर्ष किया। मेरी विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि! pic.twitter.com/Bl42A7VNdq — Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) September 11, 2020 "He was a great friend of the entire Left movement.

JEE (Main) Result 2020 | Five students from Delhi have scored 100 percentile in the Joint Engineering Entrance (Main) exam, the result for which was declared late night on Friday. The exam was conducted earlier this month after being postponed twice in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The top scorers from Delhi include Chirag Falor, Gurkirat Singh, Laksh Gupta, Nishant Aggarwal and Tushar Sethi. They are among the 24 candidates who have scored 100 percentile in the crucial exam. Steps to check scores: Step 1: Go to the official website -- jeemain.nic.in Step 2: On the homepage, click on 'JEE Main result 2020' link, or access the link directly by clicking here Step 3: Enter your application number, password and other details Step 4: Download the result and take a print out for future reference. The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Main for admission to engineering colleges across the country, is conducted twice a year. The first round of the entrance test for engineering col

Erode: The Tamil Nadu government is against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and has been urging the Centre to exempt the state from the test, state school education minister KA Sengottiyan said on Saturday. The minister's statement comes on a day when a 19-year-old girl died by alleged suicide in Madurai, apparently 'apprehensive' over NEET. Speaking to reporters at Gobichettipalayam, where he distributed old age pension orders, Sengottiyan said Chief Minister K Palaniswami has requested the central government to exempt students from the state from writing the exam. Despite the opposition from the government, the NEET will be conducted on 13 September in 238 centres and 1,17,990 candidates are appearing for the test, he said. The minister was responding to a query on the NEET issue. The girl's death comes days after a young medical aspirant in Ariyalur district died by 'suicide,' drawing sharp response from political parties opposed to the

Kohima: A closed-door meeting was held between RN Ravi, the Centre's interlocutor for the Naga peace talks , and representatives of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), during which all stakeholders have agreed that the "defining hour" for announcing an honourable solution to the vexed issue was soon approaching, a statement said. The "waiting period is over", and the Centre is taking the necessary steps to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all, the statement by the media cell of NNPGs' working committee said, following the meeting in Dimapur on Friday. Ravi, who is also the Governor of Nagaland, was not available for comments, but the statement said that he has given an assurance that the Centre is "taking forward the decision of the Naga groups on 31 October, 2019". It also said that the central government has "acknowledged the fact that Naga tribes and civil societies had spelt out their positions over the political issue&qu

Aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday said a scheduled flight will be suspended for a period of two weeks if anyone is found taking photographs inside the plane. This announcement comes a day after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked IndiGo to take "appropriate action" after it found alleged violation of safety and social distancing protocols by mediapersons in the airline's Chandigarh-Mumbai flight that had actor Kangana Ranaut as a passenger. According to a video of the incident that took place inside Wednesday's flight, reporters and cameramen were jostling and bunching up to get a comment from Ranaut, who was sitting in one of the front rows of the plane. The DGCA order on Saturday said, "It has been decided that from now on, in case any violation (photography) occurs on any scheduled passenger aircraft - the schedule of flight for that particular route shall be suspended for a period of two weeks from the next day (of the incident)."

Itanagar: Five youths who were allegedly abducted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China near the McMahon line in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri were released on Saturday in Anjaw district, around 1,000 km away. The youths were handed over to the Indian Army by the PLA after completing necessary formalities, Tezpur-based defence spokesperson Lt Col Harsh Wardhan Pande said. "All five of them will now be placed under quarantine for 14 days as per COVID-19 protocols and thereafter be handed over to their family members," the spokesperson said. The development comes amid a prolonged border face-off between India and China in eastern Ladakh. The youths, who went hunting on 2 September, were allegedly whisked away by the Chinese troops from Sera-7, an Army patrol zone located around 12 km further north of Nacho in Upper Subansiri district. "Arunachal Pradesh is known for its rich natural heritage and adventurous people fond of exploring the nature f

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced registration will commence from today (Saturday, 12 September) . The computer-based entrance test will be conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi across the country. Application forms will be released on the website - jeeadv.ac.in . The JEE Advanced 2020 exam will be conducted on 27 September. Candidates can register for the test by 17 September up to 5 pm. The exam is conducted every year for admissions to 23 IITs across the country. The cut-off marks for various categories are as follows: Common Rank List (CRL) - 90.3765335 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) - 70.2435518 Other Backward Class (OBC-NCL) - 72.8887969 Scheduled Caste (SC) - 50.1760245 Scheduled Tribe (ST) - 39.0696101 People with Disability (PwD) - 0.0618524 The top 2,50,000 rank holders are eligible to apply for JEE Advanced. According Careers360 , male applicants belonging to General/ OBC (NCL)/ EWS categories will have to pay a registra

Social activist Swami Agnivesh , who passed away at the age of 80 on Friday evening, was best known for his work on freeing bonded labourers, as also for his efforts to ensure inter-religious harmony. Along with his social activism, Agnivesh also took up several political causes, taking on various political parties at different points of time. He was jailed for opposing the Emergency, and several decades later, was also accused by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha for being a 'Naxal sympathiser.' For a short while, in what was perhaps the most unusual aspect of his long public life, he even appeared on the reality show Bigg Boss. Early life Agnivesh was born in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam and his original name was Vepa Shyam Rao. He studied law and had a brief stint of working with Sabyasachi Mukherji, who later went on to become Chief Justice of India. Agnivesh joined the Arya Samaj in 1968 and became a sanyasi in 1970, relinquishing his caste and surname. Later, he wa