The Amarnath Yatra on Tuesday was suspended for the second consecutive day from Jammu due to bad weather.
As per officials, the yatra has been suspended from base camp in Jammu due to the closure of the highway because of heavy rains and landslides.
No pilgrim is allowed to proceed towards the shrine from Jammu.
Over 2.70 lakh pilgrims this year have performed Amarnath Yatra.
The Amarnath Yatra which started on June 28 will conclude on August 26 with ‘Raksha Bandhan’ festival
Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, on Monday, witnessed the highest rainfall for August in 117 years, the weather office said.
In August 1901, 277 mm rainfall was recorded in a day according to the Meteorological (MeT) department data.
As per, Met Centre Director, the second highest showers were witnessed, with 172.6 mm rains recorded in 24 hours till at 8.30 am on August 13.
Eleven districts of the state recorded excessive rainfall, he said.
Sujanpur Tira recorded the highest rainfall at 307 mm in the state on Monday.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday attacked the BJP-led central government over the exclusion of 40 lakh people in the final draft of Assam-NRC and accused them of being “anti-Bengalis”.
Questioning the criteria on which 40 lakh people have been excluded, she said they are very much Indians.
TMC chief asked if hilsa fish, Jamdani saree, sandesh and mishti doi, which are originally from Bangladesh, would also be branded as “infiltrators or refugees”.
“What is going on in the country is injustice. The BJP with their extremist ideology is trying to create division among the people. I think they are playing the politics of revenge among the countrymen. We are not for this kind of politics,” she said.
Mamata accused the BJP of being “anti-Bengalis” and “anti-West Bengal”.
The Delhi Police on Monday filed a charge sheet naming Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia as accused of an alleged assault on Chief Secretary (CS) Anshu Prakash in February.
After the development, AAP government accused the BJP-led Centre of “political vendetta” and called it another instance of “witch-hunt”.
Along with Kejriwal and Sisodia, 11 other AAP legislators— Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania are also named as accused in the charge sheet by the police filed before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
After completion of the investigation and collection of evidence a 1,300-page charge sheet has been filed, the police have accused Kejriwal, Sisodia, and others of criminally conspiring to threaten the Chief Secretary with death or grievous hurt, obstructed him in discharging his public function and caused hurt.
Chief Secretary of Delhi had accused Aam Aadmi Party MLAs of assault at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in his presence on the night of February 19.
The Supreme Court on August 13 approved the central government’s proposal to use color-coded stickers on vehicles running only in New Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) for classifying vehicles on the type of fuel used in an effort to help control air pollution.
The scheme is based on the model being used in Paris, it entails the use of blue stickers to be used for vehicles running on petrol and CNG and orange stickers for diesel vehicles.
This scheme will help restrict the use of vehicles on days when the pollution levels are severe. The central government has supported the said scheme and said it will be a more scientific way than the odd-even scheme.
A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprising Justice A. M. Khanwilkar and D. Y. Chandrachud was hearing the petition filed by noted environmentalist M. C. Mehta, seeking a direction to take proper steps to tackle rising level of pollution in Delhi and NCR.
The SC also asked Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni, who was representing the ministry, to consider having green number plates for electric and hybrid vehicles. In response, Mr. Nadkarni told the court that the ministry would look into it and take a decision soon.
“Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways says that there is no objection to the suggestion made by amicus curiae about putting stickers on the vehicles,” the bench noted in its order.
The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal announced 5320 projects just to get appreciation from the public. This was revealed by Sampat Singh, former Member Parliament, and a senior Congress leader today at Chandigarh. Addressing the media he said that from 8 November 2014 to 09 July 2018 the total cost of all the projects was estimated to be 28246 crores but nothing has been done in this regard so far. Since forming of the BJP Government for last 4 years till now 4998 crores has been spent which is 17.69 percent of the total amount. Sampat Singh procured the information of the 898 projects which have not commenced till date right from CM cell on July 13, 2018. These 1931 projects budget was 15937 crore which is untouched till date.
He clearly stated that now the Government should seriously start working for the development of the people and not only take interest in cultural programs. When asked about from where would he be contesting the election he said I have left it on the Congress Party.
He has taken the bull by the horns by penning down all the projects promised by Haryana CM in the last 4 years of his leadership. Some of which are not fulfilled and others which have not been started till date. He sums up all by telling CM Manohar lal, “please be serious” and start working instead of announcing projects and attending cultural programs.
Pakistan on August 13 released 30 Indian prisoners, including 27 fishermen, from jail as a goodwill gesture ahead of the country’s Independence Day on August 14.Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a statement, The release of the prisoners “is in line with Pakistan’s consistent policy of not politicizing humanitarian issues.”
Spokesperson Faisal further said, “This is a humanitarian gesture to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day and it is our hope that the Indian side will also reciprocate in a similar manner.”
Ghulam Baksh, Senior jail superintendent at the Malir jail in Karachi, has said that they had released the fishermen yesterday and sent them via train to Lahore after getting orders from the interior ministry.
According to Indian Government report submitted before the country’s Supreme Court in July over 470 Indians, including 418 fishermen, are detained in Pakistani jails.
Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen for allegedly trespassing in the territorial waters as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in the Arabian Sea.
Numerous civil society organizations across the world have been urging New Delhi and Islamabad to enter into an agreement for defining and enforcing proper international maritime laws.
The Supreme Court (SC) on August 13 directed the Meerut Inspector General of Police (IGP) to investigate the alleged Hapur lynching case and to ensure protection to sole surviving witness (Samiuddin) in the same. The SC also asked IGP to file a report on the entire incident within two weeks.
“Issue notice. In the meantime, Inspector General of Meerut range shall conduct an inquiry and submit a report in regard to the incident within two weeks,” the apex court ordered.
The matter is fixed for the next hearing on August 28.
The SC was hearing the plea of a sole survivor in the case, who is seeking a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the matter.
The plea has also sought cancellation of bail granted to the accused, including alleged key offender Yudhishthir Singh Sisodia and also sought transfer of case and subsequent trial outside Uttar Pradesh.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra considered the submission of a lawyer representing Samiuddin, 64, that he along with 45-year-old meat trader Qasim Qureishi were thrashed and brutally assaulted on June 18 by a mob on the pretext that they were involved in cow slaughter and the Hapur police has registered a case of road rage instead of mob lynching. Qureishi died soon after the incident.
More than 2,000 people waving placards such as “Sikhs for a United India” and “We stand for one united strong India” turned out at Trafalgar Square, London on August 12 to counter Pakistan-backed Referendum 2020 event demanding an independent Sikh nation.
Pro-Indian supporters turned down the rally organized by pro-Khalistani supporters who shouted slogans such as ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ and waved anti-India placards.
British-Pakistani, Lord Nazir Ahmed’s, open participation at the event exposed Pakistan’s direct financial and logistic support to the event.
Sikh separatist leader Jaswant Singh Thekedar reportedly condemned the Pakistan based propaganda. He widely accused Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was one of the organizers, of being a Pakistani stooge.
“No religious Sikh leader has participated in the event. Pannun was making publicity of this event for the past two years and spent huge amount of money. They hired TV and radio stations for the publicity. We believe Pakistan has spent entire money for this publicity. These Sikhs are mostly enjoying Pakistan’s patronage and we do not support their cause,” Singh added.
He further added, “The Referendum 2020 is totally unlawful and the voting will have no relevance”.
Navdeep Singh, one of the organizers of Pro-India demonstration said, “Indian Sikhs don’t want this Referendum 2020, they don’t even know what this Referendum is about, who is organizing and why.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had expressed its disappointment at the stance.
MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “We have said that it seeks to propagate violence, secessionism, and hatred and we expect them to take into account the larger perspective of the relationship when they take a decision on such matters.”
