NEWS

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the convener of the party’s Assembly election management committee for Rajasthan.

Rajasthan BJP president Madanlal Saini will head the 16-member panel that will take all the important decisions related to the forthcoming Rajasthan assembly elections. The committee was constituted by BJP chief Amit Shah.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje is one of the members while union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and state party spokesperson Satish Punia have been made joint conveners.

New Delhi: Dineshwar Sharma, the government interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir, said that the need of the hour was a break from the “narrative of violence” and called for measures that will help “change the public sentiment” at a time when the Valley was tense over apprehensions that Article 35A of the Constitution might be scrapped.

“The focus should be on youth engagement and public sentiments. For peace, it is important not to raise contentious issues,” Sharma, a former Intelligence Bureau director, said.

New Delhi: Officials in charge of conservation of Odisha’s Chilika Lake have advised against starting the proposed sea plane facility there. They have cited legal restrictions and the economic and ecological problems it would cause. Chilika Lake isAsia’s largest brackishwater lake.

In June, the Airports Authority of India announced plans of starting water aerodromes and amphibious aircraft operation in Chilika lake and Sabarmati river of Gujarat.

In a letter to the state government, Chilika Development Authority’s chief executive Sushanta Nanda said that the provisions of the Wetland Conservation and Managent Rules, 2017 prohibit conversion for non-wetland uses.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government would extend more aid to Kerala for rehabilitation purposes in the flood affected areas once the full estimate of the damage was done.

Addressing the ‘India for Kerala’ conclave in Thiruvananthapuram, organised by the Times Network in association with the Times Foundation, via video message, he said the Centre’s focus for the state was two-pronged.

“While carrying out relief activities, we are also focusing on the emergence of a new Kerala,” he said.