Gandhi faces police probe over parliament scuffle
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is under police investigation over a scuffle between opposition members of parliament and those from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which injured two lawmakers.
The police decided to take action following a BJP complaint accusing opposition leader Gandhi of pushing and shoving BJP lawmakers and causing injuries to two of them on Dec 19 as they protested outside parliament house against opposition parties.
Mr Gandhi was briefly disqualified from parliament last year after a court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment in a defamation case. The Supreme Court suspended the conviction and he was reinstated as a lawmaker.
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses back on shelves
Nearly four decades after its controversial import ban in India, author Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses is once again available for sale in bookstores across the country. The lifting of the ban follows a court ruling in November that deemed the government’s inability to produce the original notification as sufficient grounds to declare the ban void.
Published in September 1988, The Satanic Verses sparked global outrage, particularly within sections of the Muslim community, who accused the novel of being “blasphemous”. Under pressure from religious groups, the Indian government, led by then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, issued a customs order banning the book’s import on Oct 5, 1988.
Court dismisses challenge to award slum revamp to Adani
The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the award of a contract to Adani Group to revamp one of Asia’s largest slums in Mumbai, clearing one of the main legal challenges to the ambitious project.
The group led by billionaire Gautam Adani won a US$619 million ($840 million) bid in 2023 to convert the Dharavi slum into a modern city hub, but Dubai-based SecLink Technologies Corporation challenged the award of the contract to Adani in a petition in the Bombay High Court in July 2023.
The 240 hectare (594 acre) slum, known as Asia’s densest and featured in the Oscar-winning 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire, stands in contrast to India’s development boom with its open sewers and shared toilets, close to Mumbai’s international airport and business district.
“The grounds urged in support of the petition lack force and accordingly, the challenge... fails,” the Bombay High Court concluded in the order.
Crackdown on child marriage in north-east leads to 5,000 arrests
A crackdown on illegal child marriages in the north-east has resulted in nearly 5,000 arrests, after 416 people were detained in the latest police sweep.
“We will continue to take bold steps to end this social evil,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. “Assam continues its fight against child marriage,” he added, saying those arrested would be produced in court.
India is home to more than 220 million child brides, according to the United Nations.
More than half of Kolkata’s yellow taxis to be off roads in 2025
About 65 per cent of the iconic yellow taxis in Kolkata will be off the roads by March 2025 due to the 15-year service limit imposed on them by the West bengal transport department.
Currently, there are around 7,000 registered yellow taxis in Kolkata. Around 4,500 of those will be barred next year because of pollution norms.
The Ambassador yellow taxis were earlier produced by Hindustan Motors at the company’s unit in Hooghly district. There is now no chance of them being replaced, as the company has stopped production.
Man fakes Sunny Leone ID to steal Rs9,000 from welfare scheme
Virendra Kumar Joshi, a 37-year-old man from Chhattisgarh, exploited a state government women’s welfare scheme by applying for benefits under the name of Bollywood actress Sunny Leone.
He managed to get Rs1,000 monthly payments from March to December 2024 totalling Rs9,000 ($145), before he was arrested.
The deception came to light when social media users began questioning how Sunny could be a beneficiary of a state welfare scheme. This led to a swift investigation by the authorities, revealing Joshi’s modus operandi.
Legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal dies at 90
Shyam Benegal, a trailblazing Indian filmmaker credited with spearheading a new wave of socially conscious cinema in the 1970s, has died at the age of 90 due to chronic kidney disease.
He died on Monday at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai.
Benegal was a mentor to some of India’s most celebrated actors, including Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, many of whom became icons in mainstream Bollywood.
Celebrated author Vasudevan Nair dies at 91
Legendary Malayalam writer MT Vasudevan Nair died at the age of 91 on Thursday.
He died at a hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode district where he was admitted a few days earlier with breathing difficulties.
MT, as Mr Nair was popularly known, was also an acclaimed film director and screenwriter.
India to play Champions Trophy matches in UAE
India will play their Champions Trophy cricket matches in the United Arab Emirates next year after hosts Pakistan selected the Gulf country as a neutral venue for their rivals, the Pakistan Cricket Board said.
Due to soured political relations, India have not visited Pakistan since 2008 and the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has decided not to send its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy citing government advice.
The eight-team Champions Trophy will be held in February and March next year.
