Thursday, January 1, 2026

India, 3 other nations back idea of creating terrorist groups’ database shared with Russia

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Evgeny Anoshin, spokesman Russian Security Council, on September 26 said that India, Iran, Afghanistan, and China backed the idea of creating a terrorist groups’ database shared with Russia.

Anoshin further said that the issue was addressed at the multilateral consultations on the Afghan settlement, held in Tehran and participated by the delegations of Russia, India, Afghanistan, Iran and China.

Spokesman Anoshin added, “Participants of the meeting noted the positive significance of the database of terrorist organizations created by the Russian Federal Security Service. They stressed the importance of creating a similar base for all countries participating in today’s meeting.”

Anoshin further added that the meeting’s participants “supported the initiative of Iranian colleagues to create a new mechanism at the level of security councils’ secretaries, exchanged views on priority tasks in the Afghan issue.”

Supreme Court allows live streaming of court proceedings

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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The Supreme Court on September 26 allowed the live streaming and video recording of court proceedings in the court of the Chief Justice of India, as proposed by the Centre.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra heard the submissions which came on petitions filed by advocate Indira Jaising, law student Snehil Tripathi and NGO ‘Centre For Accountability and Systemic Change’.

The SC said that webcast of proceedings, which will start from its court, will bring transparency into the judicial system and will effectuate the “public right to know”.

Apex court while passing the order said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” it said while passing the order.

The court added that necessary rules for balancing rights of public and protecting dignity of litigants will be placed soon.

The government had backed the live streaming of trials and said that the process can be extended to other courts depending on the success of the pilot project.

The Centre cautioned that this exercise must not be permitted in matrimonial cases, matters involving interests of juveniles or protection and safety of the private life of young offenders and cases involving national security.

Indira Jaising welcomed the court’s decision as ‘the biggest reform of the century’.

DAC approves procurement of 1000 engines worth Rs 2300 crore for fitment in T-72 tanks

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Tehelka Web Desk
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The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved procurement of 1,000 engines for fitment in T-72 tanks of the Army at an approximate cost of over Rs 2,300 crore, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. The engines will improve the mobility, agility and acceleration of T-72 tanks making them more versatile and effective in the battlefield.

“The DAC also accorded approval for procurement of 1,000 engines of 1,000 BHP (brake horse power) for fitment in T-72 tanks of the Army under ‘Buy & Make’ category and at an approximate cost of over Rs 2,300 crore,” the Defense Ministry statement said.

In order to reduce the timelines in defense procurement and to streamline the procedures the DAC also approved several amendments to Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-16, the manual governing such procurement.

The major changes include limiting the time period for executing repeat order to five years after the date of completion of warranty of final delivery in the previous contract.

Post the transfer of technology, Ordnance Factories Board will manufacture most of these engines.

Three Storey building collapses in New Delhi, five killed, several feared trapped

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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A three-storey building on Wednesday collapsed near Sawan Park in Ashok Vihar in New Delhi. The incident took place close to Satyawati College in North Delhi. Several people are feared trapped under the debris.

According to sources, at least five people including four children and one woman have been reportedly killed and nine people have been rescued.

According to the officials, six fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

Two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were mobilised for rescuing the people who are still trapped.

The cause of the building collapsed is not known yet.

A rescue operation is currently going on.

More details are awaited.

Lashkar-e-Taiba letter threatens to blow railway stations, security tightened

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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A senior railway official in Ambala in Haryana received a letter purportedly sent from Pakistan has threatened to blow up railway stations, religious places, military camps and petrol pumps in various states of India.

The letter was found by the Ambala Cantonment railway station director BS Gill on a table in his office on September 25.

According to reports the threat letter is allegedly from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) area commander Molvi Abbu Bukhari Kishtwar Kashmir, Karachi, Pakistan.

The letter reads that the jihadis would blow up several railway stations, including Ambala Cantonment, Jagadhri, Saharanpur, Rewari, Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Jakhal, Sirsa and Hisar on October 20.

The cover of the letter had no stamp of any post office.

According to reports the security has been heightened at Ambala Cantonment railway station an FIR has been lodged and a probe is underway.

DSP GRP Shital Singh reportedly said that an alert has been sounded and the CCTV footage of the railway station will be analyzed.

Supreme Court: Aadhaar not mandatory for School admissions, bank accounts, mobile linking

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutionality of Aadhaar and said that Aadhaar gives dignity to marginalised sections, which outweighs the harm. The court in its verdict also said that it was not mandatory to link Aadhaar to bank accounts and mobile linking, but maintained that it was mandatory to link it with PAN for filing income tax returns.

A five-judge bench comprising CJI Misra, Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan gave its verdict on petitions that challenged the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, which called it a violation of the right to privacy.

The court in its verdict said, “There is a fundamental difference between Aadhaar card and identity. Once the biometric information is stored, it remains in the system.” Minimal demographic and biometric data is collected from Aadhaar which gives identity and benefits to marginalised people of the community, the apex court added.

Justice Sikri while delivering the verdict, said “The Aadhaar authentication process is not exposed to the internet world. Regulations are strictly followed. There is a sufficient defence mechanism. There is an oversight by technology, no information on the nature of the transaction is obtained.”

While Justice Chandrachud said, “If Aadhaar is made mandatory for every service the Government of India provides, it is impossible to live in India, Legitimate aims can be met with less intrusive measures” he added.

Key Points of the verdict:

Court says schools cannot make Aadhaar compulsory. Every child has the right to education.

Aadhaar is not needed for banking.

Linking of Aadhaar to mobile numbers not constitutional, No mobile company can demand Aadhaar card.

Aadhaar is not mandatory for UGC, NEET & CBSE examinations. 

Private firms can’t access Aadhaar data.

Aadhaar  must for PAN card and for the filing of income tax returns.

Supreme court says no need to collect quantifiable data, clears way for SC/ST Job Promotions

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed the findings in M Nagraj judgement which stated that the states required to collect quantifiable data to prove backwardness and also said its 2006 decision in the case on the reservation for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in job promotions does not require reconsideration by a larger bench. 

In August this year, A five-judge bench of the apex court comprising of Justices R F Nariman, Kurian Joseph, S K Kaul and Indu Malhotra had reserved its verdict on petitions seeking a seven-bench examination in the M Nagaraj case that had put conditions for job promotions to SC/ST employees working in the public sector.

In the Nagaraj Judgement, earlier the Supreme Court had held that there was no compulsion on the state to provide reservation in promotions to SCs/STs. But if any state wished to give promotion, it was required to collect quantifiable data to prove the backwardness, the state was also required to ensure that the reservation does not breach the 50 per cent ceiling.

The Centre and various state governments had sought reconsideration of the 12-year-old verdict on various grounds. Appearing for the centre Attorney General K K Venugopal, had sought reconsideration of the Nagaraj verdict, saying it was not implementable.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra at the time of reserving its verdict in the case had noted that no state had prepared the “quantifiable data” despite such a direction in the Nagaraj case.

Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurates air pollution mitigation devices at ITO and Mukarba Chowk in Delhi

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Union Minister for Science & Technology and Environment, Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday inaugurated air pollution control device WAYU (Wind Augmentation Purifying Unit) for traffic junctions at ITO intersection and Mukarba Chowk in Delhi. WAYU is developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) as a part of Technology Development Project being funded by Department of Science and Technology.

Speaking at the inauguration Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that the prototype device that has been indigenously developed has the capacity to purify air in an area of 500 meter square. Dr. Vardhan further added that the device consumes only half a unit of electricity for 10 hours of running and has a maintenance cost of only Rs. 1500 per month. “We are in the process of developing a bigger version of WAYU which can purify air in an area of 10,000 meter square and also the designs of future WAYU devices will have even better aesthetics and can be deployed in bus shelters etc,” said Dr. Vardhan.

The device works on two principles mainly Wind generation for dilution of air pollutants and Active Pollutants removal. The device has filters for Particulate Matter removal and activated carbon (charcoal) and UV lamps for poisonous gases removal such as VOCs and Carbon Monoxide. The device has one fan and filter for sucking and removing Particulate Matter. There are two UV lamps and half kg of activated carbon charcoal coated with special chemical Titanium Dioxide.

By 15th of October, the ministry plans to install 54 more WAYU devices at various traffic intersections across Delhi.

Himachal seeks army help, 500 stranded in Lahaul-Spiti

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday sought an immediate help from the Indian army to take-up an aerial operation to rescue nearly 500 tourists including 45 students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee who were stranded at two different locations in Lahaul-Spiti district across 13059 feet Rohtang Tunnel after heavy snowfall in past 24 hours.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur who flew to Kullu this morning alongwith a team of senior officials, beside two cabinet ministers –Govind Thakur (Transport and forest) and Dr Ram Lal Markanda (Agriculture ) said nearly 300 tourists were stranded at Kokar and another 200 at Baracha La .Efforts were underway to organise a rescue operation and airlift the tourists.Tere is also a report of one person having died ,he said.

Himachal Pradesh  witnessed massive rains in past four days, resulting in eight deaths and massive destruction of public and private property. More than 160 roads and Chandigarh –Manali National Highway have remained closed .

Landslides  also resulted in obstruction of Pawarnoo-Shimla National Highway briefly while district administration deploy massive machinery to clear the debris. A major portion of the Highway ,which is undergoing four-lanning work also caved in on Monday evening

Three districts –Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba have been worst affected by the rains and flash floods .

Three Indian airforce helicopters have reaced Kullu for rescue of all stranded tourists.

Deputy Commissioner Kullu Yunus said 45 students of IIT Roorkee were safe. They  had gone trekking in Himachal Pradesh’s mountainous Lahaul and Spiti district

“The group of 50 trekkers which includes IIT-Roorkee students are safe,”  Chief Minister told Tehelka.

Jairam Thakur said this is first time after 1955 that Lahaul-Spiti had witnessed snow fall throwing the life out of gear. This has caught the goverment totally unaware. The Rohtang Pass also remains closed .

Reports said two foreign nationals, who were caught in a bad weather on Monday  in Lahaul-Spiti were rescued by the Air Force.

In all 45 deaths have taken place in Himachal Pradesh since July 2018 due to monsoon rains.

West Bengal Bandh: BJP, Trinamool men clash, Govt deploys police

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a 12-hour bandh on Wednesday in West Bengal (WB), protesting the death of two youth at North Dinajpur’s Islampur on September 20.

The WB police are out in full force in capital Kolkata and other sensitive districts, as many as 4000 police personnel have been deployed.

Protesters in West Bengal vandalised private buses in Howrah’s Tikiapara area and clashes between the Trinamool and BJP supporters have been reported in Barasat.

Government buses have been vandalised in Cooch Behar and Midnapore and the drivers of the buses were seen wearing helmets while driving to keep themselves safe from the protests by BJP workers.

However, the Trinamool government warned that strict action will be taken against those trying to enforce the 12-hour bandh today.

Party general secretary and state education minister Partha Chatterjee accused the BJP of trying to incite trouble in the state and said all steps will be taken to ensure normal life is not affected.  

Chatterjee on Tuesday had asked schools and colleges to remain open.

Two students were killed on Friday after protesters clashed with the police in Islampur.

Reports say, the clashes erupted over protests over the appointment of Urdu teachers in a local government school.

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