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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brother Prahlad Modi, who is also the vice president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation (AIFPSDF), on Tuesday staged a dharna here with various demands of the organisation. Prahlad along with several other members of the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation (AIFPSDF) gathered at Jantar Mantar, holding banners and raising slogans.

"A delegation of AIFPSDF will submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, listing our long-standing demands for the sake of our survival. With the current situation of hike in the cost of living and overhead expenditures for running shops, a raise of mere 20 paise per kg in our margin is a cruel joke. We request the Union government to grant us relief and end our financial miseries," Prahlad said.

UNESCO chairperson on International Water Cooperation Ashok Swain is drawing massive backlash on social media after a tweet that has been deemed offensive by many. Swain wrote on Twitter, “When Bengalis try to speak Hindi, it is an insult to everyone and everything!” The tweet invited a torrent of outrage; and debates on everything from nationalism, language, culture to pluralism were triggered across Twitter.

While some Twitter users said that Bengalis speaking Hindi is an attempt to be inclusive which should not be disparaged, others said that there is no one perfect way to speak a language. There were more people who claimed there were double standards in the scenario, as when equal criticism is not often meted out to Hindi-speaking people attempting to speak Bengali.

SpiceJet on Tuesday said it has cleared all outstanding dues and will no longer operate on the “cash and carry” basis at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) run airports across the country by reverting to advanced payments for flight operations.

“SpiceJet’s ability to clear the pending dues reflects the airline’s improved cash flow in recent times. In another big boost for the airline, AAI will release SpiceJet’s INR 50 crore bank guarantee following the airline clearing all its principal dues. This will result in additional liquidity for the airline,” an airline spokesperson said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, visited another residence of arrested former minister Partha Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee, as part of its investigation. The residence, which is a 3BHK flat located in Rathtala, Belgharia, in the North 24 Parganas district, has three beds in each room, which left the ED officials baffled.

ED officials are yet to find out the reason for having three beds in each of the rooms. The flat strangely also has four bathrooms, which were constructed by dividing two bathrooms into four in the flat.

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Raos daughter Kanthamaneni Uma Maheswari allegedly committed suicide in Hyderabad on Monday. Maheswari, 52, hanged herself at her residence in upmarket Jubilee Hills. Jubilee Hills police received the information about the suicide around 2.35 p.m. after Maheswari`s daughter Deekshita reportedly found her hanging in her bedroom.

Police registered a case under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code and shifted the body to government-run Osmania Hospital for autopsy. It was initially reported that Maheswari died of ill-health. The reasons of suicide are not known.