Dehradun Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday celebrated Diwali with the personnel of Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), mandated to guard 3,488 km Sino-India border, in Uttarakhand.

The Prime Minister reached Harshil village at around 7.50 a.m. in a special Indian Air Force plane and distributed sweets to the personnel before leaving for Kedarnath around 9.10 a.m., according to an ITBP spokesperson.

Harshil is situated at the confluence of Jalandhari Gadh and Bhagirathi rivers and at the foot of the mountain that lies at the head of the Baspa Valley at the height of around 8,000 feet.

On the occasion, Modi said he still remember his Kailash Mansarovar Yatra long back and how ITBP troops helped him and other pilgrims in the holy yatra.

The Prime Minister is also slated to offer prayers at the Kedarnath shrine.

(IANS)

Patna Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has not returned home after he visited his father in Ranchi regarding his decision to divorce his wife of six months, family sources said on Wednesday.

Tej Pratap’s mother, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, has been eagerly waiting for his return to join the family for Diwali celebrations, the sources said here.

However, RJD leaders said that Tej Pratap was camping in Varanasi since Monday.

“Contrary to reports that Tej Pratap was missing, he is in Varanasi and in touch with few of his close supporters,” a party official told IANS here.

The official said that Tej Pratap was upset and angry after his family including his mother, did not support his decision to separate from his wife Aishwarya Rai, daughter of senior RJD leader Chandrika Rai and granddaughter of former Chief Minister Daroga Rai.

“Tej Pratap, who is a deeply religious man, went to Varanasi to get some peace after he announced his decision to the media which was not approved by his family. He is likely to return soon,” the official added.

In the last few months after his marriage, Tej Pratap spent a number of days in Vrindavan, where he was reportedly seen playing a flute with a peacock feather tied to his head in the midst of a herd of cows.

He filed for divorce at the Patna High Court on November 2.

In his petition, Tej Pratap said he no longer wanted to be with his wife since they had compatibility issues.

(IANS)

New Delhi President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday greeted the nation on the occasion of Diwali, the festival of lights.

“Wishing all fellow citizens a happy and prosperous Diwali. May the festival of lights illuminate every home and every family, in our country and across our shared planet,” the President said in a tweet.

Naidu in a series of tweets said that Diwali signifies the victory of good over evil.

“I extend my warm greetings and good wishes to the people of our country on the auspicious occasion of Diwali, the festival of lights. Diwali signifies the victory of good over evil and reaffirms our faith in the noble qualities that Lord Ram embodied.

“Also associated with Goddess Lakshmi – the harbinger of wealth, grace and prosperity – Diwali is celebrated not only in India but all over the world by the people of Indian origin. May this festival bring illumination, peace, prosperity and happiness in our lives,” Naidu said.

The Prime Minister also took to Twitter and said: “Happy Diwali! May this festival bring happiness, good health and prosperity in everyone’s lives. May the power of good and brightness always prevail.”

Diwali is one of the biggest festivals of India which is celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness across the country.

(IANS)

Jammu/Srinagar Srinagar city recorded the season’s coldest night at minus 2.2 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperatures throughout the Kashmir Valley dropped below the freezing point on Wednesday, the weather office said.

“The minimum temperatures remained below the freezing point in the valley as Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season so far at minus 2.2 degrees Celsius,” an official from the Met Department said.

The night’s lowest temperature was minus 5.2 degrees Celsius in Pahalgam and minus 6.6 in Gulmarg.

The official said the minimum temperatures were likely to drop further due to clear night sky during the next three to four days.

Kargil town at minus 9.0 degrees Celsius was the coldest town of Jammu and Kashmir followed by Leh at minus 8.4.

Minimum temperatures also dropped in the Jammu division on Wednesday.

Jammu city recorded 9.1 degrees Celsius, Katra 10.1, Batote 6.1, Bannihal 7.2 and Bhaderwah 4.0.

(IANS)

New Delhi Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said the lesson of the 4-1 victory in the parliamentary and assembly bypolls in Karnataka is that the alliance has turned out beneficial.

“The 4-1 win in the Karnataka bye-elections is similar to the Test series of Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli. Lesson to be learnt: Alliance has turned out to be beneficial,” Chidambaram tweeted.

The senior Congress leader’s remarks came after the Karnataka ruling coalition Janata Dal-Secular and Congress took lead in two seats each in the vote count for the three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats.

According to early trends at 9.45 a.m., the Bharatiya Janata Party was expected to hold on to its Shimoga seat but might lose the Bellary seat where its trailing by over one lakh votes.

The JD-S was leading over BJP in Ramanagara and Mandya, while the Congress was leading in Jamkhandi and Bellary.

Counting of votes began at 8 a.m. in Bellary (reserved), Mandya and Shimoga Lok Sabha seats and Jamkhandi and Ramanagara assembly seats for the polling held on November 3.

Prior to the bypolls, the JD-S held Ramanagara and Mandya seats, while the Congress Jamakhandi and the BJP Bellary and Shimoga.

(IANS)

New Delhi The national capital and its surroundings continued to suffer toxic air quality on Tuesday with only a slight improvement from “emergency” to “severe” category.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 9 a.m. was recorded 403, on a scale of 0 to 500. The AQI on Monday at the same time was 415, which had gradually worsened to 435 by evening.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the shallow fog in the morning mixed with the pollutants that lead to smog.

On Tuesday, there was a slight drop in moisture, which was good for dispersion of pollutants.

The pollution monitoring agencies said that the extra load of pollutants coming from stubble burning from neighbouring states also registered a slight drop, leading to slight improvement — though still in the danger zone.

“The condition is expected to prevail till Diwali,” said the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)

However, it might improve if no additional emission from firecrackers add to Delhi’s air, it added.

The average volume of particle pollutant PM2.5 , or particles with a diametre less than 2.5 mm, was 257 microgrammes per cubic meters, considered “severe”.

The safe limit of PM2.5 and PM10 is under-60 and 100 units, as per national standards. The international standards are 25 units for PM2.5 and 50 units for PM10.

[IANS]

Bengaluru Karnataka’s ruling coalition Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Congress are leading in two seats each in the vote count for the three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats, a poll official said.

According to early trends at 9.45 a.m., the Bharatiya Janata Party was expected to hold on to its Shimoga seat but might lose the Bellary seat where its trailing by over one lakh votes.

The JD-S was leading over BJP in Ramanagara and Mandya, while the Congress was leading in Jamkhandi and Bellary, an Election Commission official told IANS here.

Counting of votes began at 8 a.m. in Bellary (reserved), Mandya and Shimoga Lok Sabha seats and Jamkhandi and Ramanagara assembly seats for the polling held on November 3.

Prior to the bypolls, the JD-S held Ramanagara and Mandya seats, while the Congress Jamakhandi and the BJP Bellary and Shimoga.

Congress candidate for Jamkhandi assembly seat Anand Siddu Nyamagouda was leading over BJP’s Shrikant Kulkarni by a margin of 16,516 votes, as per leads from EC website after nearly two hours.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy of JD-S was leading in Ramanagara assembly segment over BJP’s L.A. Chandrashekar by a comdfortable margin of 34,995 votes.

Chandrashekar had quit the BJP and re-joined the Congress just days ahead of the bypolls. His nomination, however, remained since he withdrew from the bye-election after the final date of withdrawal.

While, Congress’ V.S. Ugrappa from Bellary Lok Sabha (reserved) seat was leading over BJP’s J.Shantha by a margin of 1,00,723 votes.

From the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, L. Shivarame Gowda of the JD-S was leading over BJP’s Siddaramaiah by a margin of 38,920 votes.

In Shimoga parliamentary seat, BJP’s state unit president and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra was leading over JD-S nominee Madhu Bangarappa, the son of former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, by a margin of 9,665 votes, the EC trends showed.

The vote counts were being conducted in the engineering and government colleges that have been taken up as counting centres.

Around 66 per cent of the 54.5 lakh electorate have voted in the five bypolls.

(IANS)

Sabarimala Hours ahead of the one-day special pilgrimage of the Sabarimala temple, devotees facing Kerala Police’s questions and checking protested on Monday.

The famed temple that witnessed massive protests against the September 28 Supreme Court verdict allowing hitherto banned age group of girls and women to enter the Lord Ayyappa shrine, saw many devotees complain and shout slogans as the police stopped them for checking.

At 8 a.m., the police opened the barricade and started allowing devotees to walk to Pamba — the base town of the temple. With the shrine set to open at 5 p.m., hundreds of pilgrims at Nilackal and Erumely were seen arguing as they faced repeated obstacles from the police from advancing.

What irked them most was the insistence to check their identity proofs and answer questions as they tried to reach the sanctum sanctorum that would close at 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

At Erumely, all pilgrim vehicles were stopped. The devotees protested and shouted Lord Ayyappa slogans as they arrived at a bus depot of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), demanding transport to proceed to the hilltop shrine.

“We have been asked to wait since last (Sunday) night. We are all on a pilgrimage and we have no other intentions. We are not particular that our vehicles should be allowed. The KSRTC should then operate the buses to take us forward,” said an angry devotee, as others echoed his demand.

Following the growing number of protesters, the police has agreed to allow private vehicles from Erumely till Nilackal.

Vishnu Das, 70, was angry at the way the police was managing the pilgrims’ progress. He said it was the first time in his 56 years of visit to the shrine that he has been put into such difficulties.

“The police are out to create trouble and the scene here is as if it’s a battleground. The police is very intimidating. Till last year, there were no issues at all.

The visit to Sabarimala is suppose to bring solace, but this time everything has changed,” said Das, as he was walking towards Pamba.

The arrangements at the temple town is such that all pilgrims arriving on their vehicles have to get down at Nilackal and then take a KSRTC bus to Pamba, about 20 km, and then start the trek to the temple, situated on a hilltop.

Sreekumar Varma of the Pandalam Royal family, the custodian of the jewellery of the Sabarimala temple, said he was hurt by the way things have unfold.

“All along it has been a peaceful pilgrimage to Sabarimala. But today the temple has been turned into a ‘police station’. It pains us all,” said Varma.

The temple town is witnessing one of its stringent security arrangements. There were more than 2,300 police officials posted at various point up the pilgrimage path after the state tookover the shrine’s security on Saturday.

Several metal detectors have been kept at a various points and crowd combating arrangements were also in place. The media was allowed to go up the pathway at 9.15 a.m.

The Kerala government has announced it will implement the apex court ruling pitting it against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and numerous Hindu groups which have been up in arms against the verdict.

(IANS)

Jammu Landslides in Ramban district on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Monday blocked the road that was restored for one-way traffic less than a day ago, a senior traffic department official said.

Landslides hit the Battery Chashma area earlier. “Traffic was restored from Jammmu to Srinagar last evening. Today it was scheduled to open for those travelling from Srinagar to Jammu,” he said.

It would harm the apple business as the untimely snowfall has caused damage to the orchards in the valley and majority of trucks moving from Srinagar to Jammu carry apples for sale in the terminal markets.

Delay in delivery due to the landslides was likely to cause huge losses to the Jammu and Kashmir Horticulture industry.

[IANS]

Cambridge International has conferred an impressive 210 ‘Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards’ on Indian students. The awards recognise exceptional exam performances in 2017-18 in four categories – ‘Top in the World’, ‘Top in the Country’, ‘High Achievement Award’, and ‘Best Across’.

In all, 62 ‘Top in the World’ awards have been won by students of schools across India. Of them, 13 are from Bengaluru schools — Gitanjali Raghavendra and Nitin Nagarkar of National Academy for Learning; Divij Gupta and Teghveer Singh Rekhi of Inventure Academy; Nayantara Ghosh, Aryaan S. Anand, Udayveer Singh Sodhi, and Riddhi Sahima Verma of Mallya Aditi International School; Kathryn Nicole Sam of Ryan Global School; Sannivas Reddy N. of Greenwood High; Sapolnach Prompiengchai of Sarala Birla Academy; Pavan R. Kashyap of Deccan International School; and Vedaant Kuchhal of Head Start Educational Academy.

The ‘Top in the World’ award recognises students who have achieved the highest marks in the world in a Cambridge IGCSE or Cambridge International AS & A Level subject in the November 2016, March 2018 and June 2018 Cambridge exam series.

Ruchira Ghosh, regional director (South Asia), Cambridge International, said Indian students have not only performed well in STEM subjects but also in subjects such as Cambridgeglobal perspectives, environmental management, drama and music.The award-winners will be recognised for their impressive academic achievements at a Cambridge Outstanding Learner Awards ceremony early next year.