QUICK NEWS

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA-elect Raja Singh voiced opposition to Akbaruddin Owaisi's appointment as the pro-tem Speaker of Telangana assembly and said he and other BJP MLAs would not participate in the oath-taking event with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen lawmaker presiding over the proceedings. The newly-elected MLAs of Telangana are scheduled to take oath during the first session of the legislative assembly scheduled to be held 11am on Saturday, a government order (GO) said.

In a video message, Raja Singh said he would never take oath “as long as he is alive” in front of AIMIM. “Can I take oath in front of a person (Akbaruddin Owaisi) who made anti-Hindu comments in the past?” asked Raja Singh.

In an ambitious stride towards sustainable energy, India is constructing what is set to be the world's largest renewable energy project in the Rann of Kutch, a vast salt desert that borders Pakistan. 

This colossal undertaking will further India's plans to shift to renewable energy sources, and could be visible from space.

The project, sprawling over 726 square kilometers – an area comparable to the size of Singapore – is expected to generate a staggering 30 gigawatts (GW) of power. This output is enough to light up over 20 million homes, marking a significant leap in meeting the country's burgeoning energy demands while adhering to environmentally friendly practices.

Schools and colleges in Chennai district will remain closed on Friday (December 8) due to relief work in areas adversely affected by the rain, the Tamil Nadu government announced.

Several regions remained inundated in Chennai due to the heavy rainfall caused by Cyclone Michaung in the last few days. At least 20 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in the city.

The cyclonic storm made landfall in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and subsequently weakened into a deep depression. The system is likely to dissipate as it travels further northward direction.

In what has triggered resignations in the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, a quasi-judicial authority, the Eknath Shinde-led government has asked it to “ascertain existence of exceptional circumstances and or extraordinary situations in the context of Maratha community justifying exceeding of the limit of 50% reservation as laid down in the judgements of the Supreme Court.”

A fourth member, who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express that in the December 1 meeting of the commission, the dissenting members disapproved collection of data only on Marathas, and instead pushed for collecting data of all communities. “The government wants a report from the Commission on a pre-decided assumption that Marathas are backward. This is an independent commission, which will collect and analyse the data and only then a conclusion on the backwardness of the community will be drawn. How can the government ask the commission to give data to include a particular community into backward classes?” the member said.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) parliamentarian DNV Senthil Kumar on Wednesday expressed regret in the Lok Sabha for his controversial remark on Hindi heartland states, amid a political row that escalated as Union minister Anurag Thakur questioned the Congress’s silence on the matter.

The Congress is an ally of the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

Kumar, who had earlier apologised, said the comment on the Hindi heartland states on Tuesday was made “inadvertently”, and that he withdraws them if they have hurt the sentiments of the people.