QUICK NEWS

A majority of women in West Bengal and Jharkhand were married by the age of 21, while the proportion in Jammu and Kashmir was less than 10% in 2020. In Delhi, over 17% of women married before 21. In the country as a whole, nearly 30% of women married by the time they were 21, just released government data shows.

J&K also had the highest mean age of marriage of 26 years followed by Punjab and Delhi, where it was 24.4 years. It was the lowest at 21 in West Bengal and Jharkhand and 22 in Odisha. The average for India was 22.7.

One-third of rural women married between 18-20 yrs

On the day the Supreme Court live streamed its proceedings for the first time ever, more than 8 lakh people watched it across multiple platforms.

"This is a humble beginning and all attempts will now be made to live stream proceedings in all important matters before live streaming of all proceedings becomes the order of the day," said an official.

Proceedings before the three separate Constitution benches were live streamed on different platforms, including YouTube. "Statistics show that more than eight lakh viewers watched the proceedings before the three Constitution benches. Truly, a historic day," added the official.

Former Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani said he was asked to step down from his post only the previous night by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “high command”, adding he handed over the resignation letter with “a smiling face, not a sulking one”.

“Aagla divasey ratre j kidhu ane mein bije divesey aapi j didhu (They told me the previous night and I submitted it (resignation) the very next day),” he said in an interview to an English daily.

Rupani, who stepped down on September 11, 2021, said that the party had not given him a reason for that, and he did not ask for it either.

An inquiry has been ordered after the headmaster of a government school in the Gadag district was heckled by some people over an essay competition on Prophet Muhammad. According to local media reports, the principal was heckled by activists of Sri Rama Sene, a right-wing organization, who accused him of facilitating the religious conversion of students.

Sri Rama Sene workers reportedly barged into the government high school, Nagavi. Visuals from the school showed activists barging into his cabin and accusing him of promoting Islam. The officer, however, refuted the claims and said that the essay was proposed as a part of a handwriting competition and that the allegation that he was promoting Islam was 'incorrect'.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Sameer Mahendru, a liquor trader who was among the accused in the alleged Delhi liquor scam.

The ED's action comes a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Vijay Nair, another liquor trader accused in the case.

According to the FIR, at least two payments running into crores were allegedly made to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's 'close associates' by Sameer Mahendru, the owner of Indospirits. Mahendru is one of the liquor traders allegedly involved in irregularities in the framing and implementation of the now defunct excise policy.