TeaHe expressed concern that the combined forces of climate change and human action could spell disaster for the fragile ecosystem of North Bengal, a point that had been raised in recent years but ignored. This proved costly, as a massive disaster struck this region of mountains, lush foothills (the Dooars) and alluvial plains with fast-flowing streams on 5–6 October. More than 300 mm of rainfall in 12 hours caused hundreds of landslides in Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts. Rivers burst their banks, roads were blocked, villages were cut off or destroyed. Adding to the human suffering list, more than 40 people have died, while 10,000 people are taking shelter in relief camps. “Out of the 32 cattle I have, 22 have either died or been lost. In our tea garden, at least 70 families are affected,” says Sikander Majhi, 41, a resident of Tandu tea garden in Nagarakata block of Jalpaiguri district. North Bengal was also forewarned: On October 4, 2023, a glacial lake outburst in Sikkim sank the Teesta III dam and caused havoc downstream.

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New Delhi: Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar He spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday to discuss regional developments and concerns over shipping security in the region. A later post on X EAM detailed the conversation and said both sides agreed to remain in touch.

“Had detailed talks this evening with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the latest developments regarding the ongoing conflict. We agreed to remain in touch.”Later, Iran’s Foreign Ministry gave details of the phone call between the two ministers in a statement on Wednesday. .In a post on Twitter, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said: “India’s Foreign Minister Subramanian Jaishankar held a phone conversation with Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, during which they discussed regional developments.” According to the statement, the two ministers also discussed the impact of the ongoing conflict on maritime traffic through the key waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to global shipping routes.“The foreign ministers of Iran and India also discussed the consequences of the US and Israeli regime’s military aggression on the security of shipping and vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.During the call, Araghchi detailed the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran over the past 11 days, including a missile attack on a girls’ elementary school that killed more than 100 girls, and attacks on civilian sites and public service centers. “In this telephone conversation, Iran’s Foreign Minister detailed the crimes committed by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian nation over the past 11 days, including the missile attack on the girls’ elementary school in Minab on the first day of the war and the subsequent widespread attacks on civilian sites and public service centers. He stressed Iran’s determination to comprehensively defend Iran’s integrity,” the post added. He said such actions are a violation of international law and the principles of the UN Charter. The Iranian minister also noted Iran’s principled approach to safeguarding navigational security in the Persian Gulf, adding that the instability affecting maritime traffic in the region was a result of “the aggressive and destabilizing actions of the United States.”According to the statement, Jaishankar stressed the importance of continuing and strengthening bilateral relations between India and Iran and the need for continued consultations aimed at restoring stability in the region.

YesUrugram-based Cyril Nair, a senior software executive, was visiting Jaisalmer with family when, just an hour away on the new access-controlled highway, his young son said with some urgency: “Dad, I need to pee.” They were in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, with ominous clouds roaring overhead and rain falling heavily on the windshield. 44-year-old Nair could see through the wipers that the asphalt was spread for a few meters. There is no sign of a resting place anywhere. “I had to tell my family that we couldn’t stay… We had to drive another 30 km to find a place with a good wash room.”

mMaharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s political career has rarely been without controversies – be it allegations of corruption in irrigation contracts, irregularities in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, coalition rifts, or dividing the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The latest challenge has come from a controversial land deal worth crores of rupees in Pune involving his son Parth.

New Delhi: Invoking special Article 142 powers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the setting up of a tribunal comprising retired Chief Justice and former judges of Calcutta and neighboring high courts to decide appeals against orders of judicial authorities rejecting claims for inclusion in the Bengal voter list after special intensive vetting.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi stuck to its order that no bureaucrat acting as an ERO would sit in appeals against the decisions of judicial officers drawn up to scan documents of 60 lakh voters in ‘logical anomaly’ and ‘unmapped’ category.Cal HC CJ will nominate former CJs, judges: Supreme Court The Supreme Court gave a free hand to the Calcutta HC CJ to nominate former CJs and judges and directed the EC to notify the tribunal in consultation with HC CJs and retired CJs.The CJI-led bench took exception to several applications from TMC supporters and private individuals related to the SIR work and process, rejected the applications and warned of contempt action if such attempts were made in future.The Supreme Court was also unhappy over the delay by the EC in creating secure IDs for judicial officers and said, “A situation has arrived where we have doubts about the credibility of both the state government and the EC.” It asked the Election Commission to ensure that there is no delay in making the IDs to allow judicial officers to function without any delay.The CJI said the Calcutta HC CJ had informed the Supreme Court that more than 500 judicial officers from Bengal and 200 from Jharkhand and Odisha were working seven days a week and had disposed of more than 10 lakh claim applications.At the beginning of the hearing, senior lawyer Maneka Guruswamy attempted to press for the applications in the absence of an appellate forum for voters whose claims have been rejected by the judicial authorities. The Supreme Court said, “As CJI, I will not let anyone dare to question the work of judicial officers. I am issuing a warning.”It was advocate Kalyan Banerjee who expressed the grievances and said that when 10 lakh claims have been adjudicated, why is the Election Commission not publishing the supplementary voter list, as directed by the SC, which includes the names of those whose claims have been accepted?Banerjee also said that rejection of claims should be accompanied by reasons so that the aggrieved person can appeal against it before a designated forum. The bench asked both the state government and the Election Commission to provide facilities to the judicial officers, who are acting as agents of the SC, so that they can do their work smoothly.“We have taken a lot of risk in handing over the work of SIR to the judicial officers, who are working tirelessly. But the risk is worth it because it (preparing the voter list) is very important for free and fair elections. Citizens have a constitutional right to be included in the voter list, but not infiltrators and illegal immigrants,” the CJI said.

TeaOne-year-old Nitin Rathod from Kota is the kind of student the government had in mind when it envisioned the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS). A graduate in Business Administration from Career Point University and the first person in his business-owning family to look for a job, he has been working in the HR department of an Indian multinational company for the past few months. Considering a one-year internship as a stepping stone to a secure career, he says, “I am giving my 100 per cent in it so that they give me a pre-placement offer.”

In Bingwadi, a small village nestled within the Pauri district of Uttarakhand, the silence begins long before the houses are visible. “There are only empty houses and hanging locks to welcome you here,” says Pratap Singh, 85, a retired sub-inspector of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, who lives alone. Of his two brothers, one has settled in Pauri city, the other in Dehradun. His three daughters and one son all live outside the state. “There’s no one left,” he says quietly. “People come back only when there is a wedding or some ritual that must take place here.” Village head Manvendra Rawat says that out of 392 registered voters of the village, 125 live elsewhere. “Even the public works of MNREGA are incomplete. There is no one left to do it,” says Rawat.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine the veracity of the Bombay HC’s judgment striking down amendments to the Information and Technology Rules that had allowed the Center to set up fact-checking units to flag fake social media content, making it mandatory for intermediaries to remove content or lose ‘safe harbor’ protection. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that the Center does not intend to block social media platforms but to limit the damage caused to individual, institutional and national reputation through fake social media posts, which can be prevented through the FCU.

Fake news can harm the country’s reputation: CJI

Opposing the Centre’s argument, senior lawyer Arvind Datar told a bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi that the government is already empowered to issue takedown orders and a social media platform or intermediary is bound to remove or remove such content within 48 hours of receiving the notice.CJI Kant said that if a fake post destroying the reputation of a person is allowed to remain active for 48 hours, the dignity and reputation of that person will be so tarnished that it cannot be repaired.“Look at how some of these platforms are behaving. Some examples placed on record by the government show how dangerous they are. Such fake news can also harm the reputation of the country and institutions. We will examine all these issues,” the CJI-led bench said. And petitioners before the HC Kunal Kamra, Editors Guild, News Broadcasters and Digital Association and Association of Indian Magazines were asked to respond to the Centre’s appeal in four weeks.However, the bench refused to accept the SG’s plea to stay the Bombay HC decision, which would have revived the FCUs.CJI said that there is no question of staying the decision. “It is better to hear the petition and decide the matter at once,” the bench said. It also rejected the SG’s request to issue notice on the Centre’s application seeking stay on the HC decision.A Bombay HC division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale had delivered a split verdict, with Justice Patel striking down the FCU while the latter upheld the validity of the rules. It was referred to the umpire judge – Justice AS Chandurkar, now a Supreme Court judge, who agreed with Justice Patel.In its appeal, the Center said, “The rule is in compliance with Article 19 and, in fact, strengthens the right of the public to have access to true and accurate information about the functioning of the Central Government. Article 19 does not confer any right to engage in knowingly spreading misinformation and as such, the regulation of such misinformation by the rule has no adverse impact on freedom of expression.”It said that the rule struck down by the HC needs to be examined from this angle also.