NEWS

More than 24 hours after the Congress kickstarted its Mekedatu padayatra, the Karnataka government moved towards taking action against it, albeit only on paper.

After public outcry over the event that openly flouted Covid-19 norms, the Sathanoor police in Ramanagara district booked 31 people Monday, including Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah.

Although an FIR was filed, no coercive action to stop the padayatra was undertaken by the BJP government, and the Congress was allowed to continue on day two of the 10-day padayatra from Mekedatu to Bengaluru.

After over 400 staffers working with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats and from allied services tested positive for Covid-19 in the last few days, the Rajya Sabha secretariat has put several restrictions including on employees’ attendance. According to sources, 65 staffers of Rajya Sabha Secretariat, 200 of Lok Sabha Secretariat and 133 of allied services have tested positive for Covid-19 during last week.

The latest direction specifies that 50% of officials and staff below the rank of the under secretary and executive officer will work from home till this month end. They constitute about 65% of the total employees. Those with disabilities and pregnant women have been exempted from attending office. Moreover, starting and closing timings of the secretariat have been staggered to avoid crowding and all official meetings will be held virtually.

Enhanced rainfall, thunderstorms activity over east and adjoining central India till January 14 are expeceted, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned on Monday (January 10).\

"The confluence of winds from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal at lower tropospheric levels is very likely over the east and adjoining central India during next 4-5 days. Under the influence of above systems, isolated to scattered light/moderate rainfall/snowfall is very likely over Western Himalayan Region till Tuesday (January 11) and there would be dry weather for subsequent 3-4 days," the IMD bulletin said.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday attacked Telangana’s governing TRS and Asaddudin Owaisi-led AIMIM, saying names of Nizam and Owaisi will be wiped out from the state soon. He was addressing a gathering at Warangal to express solidarity with BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who was jailed for organising a protest last week, reports Sribala Vadlapatla.

“There was a time when people thought they could rule with the names of Babar and Aurangzeb. But those days are gone,” Himanta said. “Article 370 has been repealed and the construction of Ram temple (in Ayodhya) has begun, so the day isn’t far away when names of the erstwhile Nizam and Owaisi are removed too,” he said. Sarma exuded confidence that the Nizam’s legacy will come to an end and that a new culture based on Indian civilization will emerge in Telangana.