Category: India

On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, shared that the Uttar Pradesh police stopped his convoy at the Ghazipur border. He wanted to visit Sambhal, a place affected by recent violence, but the police wouldn’t let him go. Rahul claimed that he was being denied his right to meet the people impacted by the violence.

Rahul mentioned he was even willing to travel to Sambhal alone with just the police. However, the authorities told him to come back in a few days. “I have the right as the Leader of the Opposition to go there, but they are stopping me,” he said at the Ghazipur border. “This is not just unfair; it goes against the Constitution. We just want to see how people are doing and understand what happened.”

Priyanka Gandhi, a Congress MP, also spoke out, saying that Rahul has the right to meet the victims of the violence. She explained that what happened in Sambhal was wrong, and the police shouldn’t prevent him from visiting.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister, Brajesh Pathak, accused the Congress leaders of trying to make political gains from the situation. He urged politicians to avoid worsening the law and order in the state. “Your visit is disturbing the peace,” he said. He also mentioned that some cartridges were found, hinting at larger issues related to the violence.

The Sambhal violence resulted in four deaths and many injuries after protesters clashed with officials surveying a mosque site. The survey was ordered because of a local court decision regarding a claim that a temple was demolished to build the mosque.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, a former deputy chief minister of Punjab, was attacked while doing community service at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Badal, who is 62, was there to apologize for mistakes he made while leading the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party from 2007 to 2017.

The attacker, named Narain Singh Chaura, is 68 years old and has a dangerous past. He was involved in the 2004 Burail jailbreak and is wanted for many other serious crimes. During the attack, Chaura aimed a gun at Badal but missed because a volunteer quickly pushed him away. The bullet hit a wall instead.

This scary moment was caught on camera. The footage shows Chaura walking towards Badal with a gun in his pocket. Thanks to the brave volunteer who stopped him, Badal was unharmed.

Chaura has a long history of crime. He helped dangerous prisoners escape from jail and once had a bounty of ₹10 lakh on his head. He was also accused of sending weapons into Punjab during the early years of terrorism in the area.

Recently, Badal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, a former union minister, arrived at the Golden Temple in wheelchairs, wearing signs that acknowledged their past mistakes. They were told they were guilty of serious errors, such as not punishing those responsible for serious incidents in 2015. Five top Sikh priests had declared them guilty of wrongdoing.

Opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa condemned the assassination attempt, calling it deeply unfortunate. He said such violence is harmful to our society and called for all political leaders and citizens to work together for peace in Punjab.

On Wednesday morning at 7:27 AM, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake jolted Mulugu district in Telangana. The quake surprised many residents, who quickly ran out of their homes for safety. Tremors from the earthquake were felt in several nearby districts.

According to Mulugu’s Superintendent of Police, Shabarish, no major damage has been reported yet. Police teams are currently patrolling the area to assess any impact. The district forest officer, Rahul Jadhav, noted that the shaking was brief, lasting only about 6 to 10 seconds. The epicenter was about 7 kilometers from an area that had already seen fallen trees due to heavy rains. The quake was measured at a depth of 40 kilometers, as recorded by the Bhookamp app.

Security cameras in Bhadrachalam and Mulugu captured the moment of the tremors. Thankfully, even though the earthquake rattled the region, there were no immediate injuries or major damage.

Earthquakes like this aren’t very common in Telangana, but there have been a few before. For example, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Ramagundam in April 2020. Prakash Kumar, a seismologist from CSIR-NGRI, confirmed that the earthquake’s epicenter was in the Medaram area of Mulugu district. He explained that while this earthquake was felt strongly, it wasn’t enough to cause serious problems for buildings and structures. Interestingly, people as far away as Hyderabad, around 250 kilometers from Mulugu, felt the tremors too, but only minor vibrations were experienced there.

On Wednesday, there was a shocking incident at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, where bullets were fired. This happened while leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), including Sukhbir Singh Badal, were doing a service known as ‘seva’ as part of a punishment given by Sri Akal Takht Sahib.

The police arrested a man named Narain Singh Chaura, who tried to shoot Sukhbir Singh Badal. Chaura, a former militant, has been involved in many criminal cases and had been hiding from the law. At the time of the shooting, he was standing very close to Badal. Thankfully, a helper (called a ‘sewadar’) pushed Chaura’s hand up just in time, preventing the bullet from hitting Badal.

Sukhbir Singh Badal was at the Golden Temple to fulfill a religious punishment after the Sikh leaders said he needed to serve. He was in a blue ‘sewadar’ uniform and used a wheelchair because of a broken leg. Alongside him was another senior leader, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, also in a wheelchair due to age, working to show they were serving their ‘tankhah’ (punishment). They cleaned and washed dishes for one hour as part of their duty. Other leaders, like former ministers Bikram Singh Majithia and Daljit Singh Cheema, also helped by cleaning and washing utensils.

Small signs were hung around Badal and Dhindsa’s necks that explained their “mistakes.” This punishment was given for errors made during the Shiromani Akali Dal government’s time from 2007 to 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Tuesday that the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, is a key law that will help improve energy security in India and make the country more prosperous. His message came after the Bill was approved in the Rajya Sabha.

This new law aims to change the current rules about exploring and producing oil and gas. It will separate oil operations from mining to encourage more investment in the energy sector. The Bill, which was introduced in August, passed by a voice vote.

Modi praised the law, saying it is vital for boosting energy security and supporting a prosperous India. Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also expressed excitement, saying that India’s fast-growing energy industry took a big step forward with these important changes to the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, originally established in 1948.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to launch an exciting mission called PSLV-C59/Proba-3! The launch will happen on December 4 at 4:08 PM IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This mission, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), will focus on advanced space technology.

What is the Proba-3 Mission?

– The PSLV-C59 rocket will carry two spacecraft, the Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC) and the Occulter Spacecraft (OSC), working together to study the Sun.
– This mission is special because it will demonstrate how these two satellites can fly closely together, creating the effect of one big spacecraft in space!
– The satellites will be 150 meters apart and aligned with the Sun, allowing the OSC to block bright sunlight so the CSC can observe the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere (the corona).

Details About the Spacecrafts:

– The Coronagraph Spacecraft weighs 310 kg and uses hydrazine for propulsion. It has special instruments to study the Sun’s corona.
– The Occulter Spacecraft, which weighs 240 kg, uses cold gas propulsion and has its own scientific instruments.

The mission will act as a “floating lab,” testing new ways for space gadgets to meet and work together in orbit. Both satellites will work in a fixed formation, providing continuous views of the Sun for valuable scientific research.

NSIL, which is a part of ISRO, aims to provide satellite services to Indian and global users. As India’s first commercial satellite service provider, NSIL supports communication and remote sensing services.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the country’s market watchdog, has cancelled the IPO (Initial Public Offering) of a company called Trafiksol ITS Technologies. This decision came after the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had paused the IPO for further investigation.

Sebi ordered Trafiksol to return the money to investors who bought shares in their IPO. They also instructed the BSE to help with the refund, which must be completed within a week. Once the refunds are done, the company must cancel any shares that were issued.

Trafiksol ITS is based in Noida and specializes in smart transport systems to manage traffic and tolls.

Here’s a quick background on the IPO: Trafiksol wanted to raise money through an IPO by offering 6.41 million shares priced between Rs 66 and Rs 70 each. The IPO had been set to run from September 10 to September 12 and was very popular, with investors wanting 345 times more shares than were available. Shares were supposed to start trading on September 17.