7 Soldiers Injured During Gunbattle With Terrorists In J&K

SRINAGAR, Jan 18: Seven soldiers were injured while engaging terrorists holed up in harsh terrain in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar, sources have said.

The soldiers were carrying out an operation in Kishtwar's Chatroo when they were shot at by terrorists, sources said, adding they retaliated in force and ensured the evacuation of the injured troops to a hospital.

The operation, which the Indian Army's Jammu-based White Knight Corps has named 'Operation Trashi-I', began around noon.

In a post on X, the White Knight Corps said the security forces came in contact with the terrorists in the general area Sonnar, northeast of Chatroo, during a deliberate search operation conducted as part of ongoing joint counter-terror exercises along with Jammu and Kashmir Police.

"Operations remain underway with additional forces inducted to reinforce the cordon, supported by close coordination with civil administration and security agencies," the army said, commending the troops for their exceptional professionalism and resolve while responding to hostile fire under challenging terrain and conditions.

According to the officials, one of the search teams came across a group of two to three foreign terrorists allegedly belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), who fired indiscriminately and also lobbed a few grenades in an attempt to break the cordon.

The troops retaliated and reinforcements from the army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the police were rushed to further tighten the cordon. There was intermittent firing between the two sides for some time, the officials said.

Advanced surveillance equipment, including drones, and sniffer dogs have been deployed to speed up the operation.

This was the third encounter between the security forces and terrorists in the Jammu region this year. Encounters broke out in Kahog and Najote forests in Billawar area of Kathua district on January 7 and 13, respectively.

On December 15 last year, a police officer was killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Udhampur district. The terrorists managed to escape, taking advantage of thick foliage and darkness.

The encounters followed a major counter-terrorist operation launched in the forest belts of the Jammu region in December last year to flush out nearly three dozen holed-up terrorists. Operations have been further intensified in the run-up to the Republic Day to ensure peaceful celebrations, amid intelligence inputs about desperate attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push more terrorists, the officials said.

Nearly 44,000 startups registered in 2025: Modi

NEW DELHI, Jan 16: Nearly 44,000 startups registered with the government in 2025, the highest annual addition since Startup India was launched, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Startup India scheme.

Launched on January 16, 2016, the flagship initiative seeks to foster innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and enable investment-driven growth.

“I’m even more pleased to see that the momentum of Startup India is steadily increasing,” Modi said. “Today’s startups are becoming unicorns, unicorns are launching their IPOs, and creating more and more jobs. Last year alone, in 2025, nearly 44,000 new startups were registered. This is the biggest jump in any single year since the launch of Startup India.”

The Prime Minister said that the Startup India mission has become a “revolution” in India, with the country taking its position as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.

“Ten years ago, there were fewer than 500 startups in the country; today, that number has grown to over 200,000,” Modi said. “In 2014, India had only four unicorns; today, there are nearly 125 active unicorns in India… These figures bear witness to how our startups are driving the ecosystem, innovation, and growth.”

The Prime Minister also talked about how the perception of risk-taking has changed in the country, becoming more widely accepted and even respected.

“Earlier, risk-taking was discouraged in the country, but today, risk-taking has become mainstream,” Modi said, adding, “Those who think beyond monthly salary are not only accepted but respected. Risk-taking ideas, which people once considered fringe, are now becoming fashionable.”

During his speech, the Prime Minister said that more than ₹25,000 crore has been invested through the Fund of Funds for startups that had been created by the government.

Speaking to the media after the event, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the focus of the Fund of Funds 2.0, approved in April 2025 with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore, would be on deep tech, particularly in areas witnessing a lot of innovation, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum technologies, defence, and aerospace.

“These are areas where the country has a need, and where we want to become a global leader,” Goyal said. “Usually, startups in these areas take a long time to reach the proof-of-concept stage and become successful. The focus will be to make more risk capital available for this.”

SC raps Bengal govt over ED I-PAC raid drama, issues notice, stays FIRs against agency officials

NEW DELHI, Jan 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Bengal government, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the police and also stayed FIRs registered against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following the probe agency's petition seeking a CBI probe for allegedly obstructing raids at I-PAC last week and taking away evidence.

The top court observed that the ED's allegations are "very serious" and agreed to examine whether a state's law-enforcing agencies can interfere with a central agency's probe into any serious offence.

During the hearing, the court also said that there are larger questions which emerge in the ED's plea and if not answered it shall lead to lawlessness. The court posted the ED's plea for hearing on February 3 and directed the West Bengal police to protect CCTV footage of raids on I-PAC premises.

A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Pancholi issued notices to Mamata, Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top cops following the ED's petitions.

Rapping the Bengal government, the court said, “It is necessary to examine the issue so that offenders aren't allowed to be protected under shield of state's law enforcing agencies."

The court also maintained that a central agency has no power to interfere with the election work of any party. However, if central agencies are acting bona fide to investigate any serious offence, the question arises whether agencies can be restricted from carrying out duties under the shield of party activity, it said.

The court was hearing a petition by the ED over the alleged obstruction of agency's raids in Kolkata last week on I-PAC, firm that does political consultancy for Mamata-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The probe agency told the court that Mamata has a “shocking pattern” of barging into premises during proceedings by statutory authorities. In the petition, the ED had sought directions to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the West Bengal government to suspend key police officers, including West Bengal DGP Rajiv Kumar, Manoj Kumar Verma, Kolkata Police Commissioner, and Priyabatra Roy, DCP South Kolkata, for allegedly interfering in the agency's raids last week.

Dramatic events unfolded in Kolkata last Thursday when CM Mamata Banerjee “rushed” to the residence of I-PAC's Pratik Jain amid Ed raids as she claimed that officials attempted to “loot” her party TMC's hard disks as well as internal documents and sensitive data.

She described the raids as “politically motivated and unconstitutional” and was seen visibly charged, dodging media persons to make her way amid noisy scenes in videos of the incident shared on social media.

“They have raided the residence of our IT chief. They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which has details about our candidates for the assembly polls. I have brought those back,” said Mamata Banerjee.

2.89 Crore Voters Removed From UP SIR Draft List, Maximum From Lucknow

LUCKNOW, Jan 6: Releasing the draft revised list for Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission said 2.89 crore voters have been removed from the electoral rolls in the state, including 46 lakh voters who are dead. The development comes after the enumeration process was extended three times amid concerns over large-scale deletions in the country's most populous state.

Of the 2.89 crore people whose names have been removed, 2.17 crore have moved, 46.23 lakh are dead, and 25.47 lakh are registered in more than one place. The final list will be published on March 6.

As per official figures, Uttar Pradesh had around 15.44 crore registered voters at the time the SIR was announced on October 27, 2025. Individual enumeration forms were printed for every voter, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) tasked with door-to-door verification and collection of signed forms.

Out of the total electorate, 12,55,56,025 enumeration forms were returned, accounting for 81.03 per cent of voters. However, forms from about 18.7 per cent of voters were not received, leading to the exclusion of 2.89 crore names from the draft rolls.

According to the data shared by the Election Commission, Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, has lost the maximum number of voters. When the SIR was announced, Lucknow had 39.9 lakh electors, which has now come down to 27.9 lakh - a reduction of 30 per cent.

Similarly, in Lalitpur, 9.5 lakh electors were registered as of September 27, 2025, which has reduced to 8.6 lakh - down by 10%.

The Election Commission had initially allocated one week for the enumeration process and set December 11 as the deadline for it. However, with reports of nearly 2.97 crore names facing deletion and ongoing mapping work, Uttar Pradesh authorities sought additional time. The Commission subsequently granted a 15-day extension, pushing the date to December 26.

Further delays occurred due to administrative challenges, including an uneven workload for BLOs, some of whom were handling more than 1,200 voters per area. Additionally, 1,530 new polling stations were approved on December 23, requiring server-side data shifting. Following another extension, the draft voter list was published on Tuesday.

The scale of deletions has triggered sharp political reactions. Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav had earlier alleged that the SIR process has disproportionately affected certain voter groups.

Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam Denied Bail

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: The Supreme Court today denied bail to student activists Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid, citing evidence of a criminal conspiracy in a case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.

It granted bail to five others named in the case: Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan, and Shadab Ahmed.

All the seven had challenged the Delhi High Court order denying them bail in a case filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or (UAPA), linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots.

A bench led by Justice Aravind Kumar read out a lengthy judgment before pronouncing the verdict.

While rejecting the bail applications of Khalid and Imam, the Supreme Court said it is satisfied that the prosecution has given enough material that indicated the two's involvement in the criminal conspiracy.

The Supreme Court differentiated the charges against every individual named in the case, saying it cannot treat all individuals equally for bail.

"Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam stand on a qualitatively different footing as compared to other accused," the bench said. "The hierarchy of participation requires the court to assess each application individually."

The Supreme Court said it checked whether Section 15 of the UAPA could be applied to them. This section defines what constitutes a terrorist act. The factors the court looked into included any act that endangered the unity, integrity, or economic security of the country.

The technical bits of the judgment included observations such as: bail is not a forum for evaluating defences; judicial restraint is not an abdication of duty; the correct application requires the court to undertake a structured enquiry to check whether it discloses prima facie offences, and whether the role of the accused has a reasonable nexus to the offence.

The Delhi Police have said the offences they committed involved a deliberate attempt to destabilise the state, and cannot be termed as spontaneous protests. They launched a well-orchestrated "pan-India" conspiracy aiming at "regime change" and "economic strangulation", the police have said.

The conspiracy was allegedly planned to coincide with the official visit of US President Donald Trump to India, with the intention of drawing international media attention and globalising the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the investigators had told the court. The issue of CAA was carefully chosen to serve as a "radicalising catalyst" camouflaged in the name of "peaceful protest", they said.

Imam surrendered to the police in January 2020, while the police arrested his co-accused Khalid in September that year when the COVID-19 pandemic was still raging.

Indore tap water contamination: Infant born after 10-year wait dies; family rejects government compensation

INDORE, Jan 2: A child born after 10 years of fervent prayers and vows died within days due to water contamination that has claimed several lives in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city.

An eerie silence prevailed in an alley in the Marathi Mohalla of the Bhagirathpura area, where six-month-old Avyan Sahu lived with his family. A simple act of diluting packaged milk with water cost the baby his life and plunged the Sahu family into unbearable grief.

The family claims it has rejected the government's compensation for the death of the child, who was born after 10 years of prayers and vows. The government has announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh each to the families of the deceased persons.

Residents have claimed that 15 people died due to the vomiting-diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura over the last year, with Avyan being the youngest among them. The health department, however, has not confirmed this claim and said only four deaths occurred in the outbreak.

Avyan's grandmother, Krishna Sahu, said, "We have not taken any compensation from the State Government so far. Our child is gone. Will the compensation bring him back to life? Money is not greater than a child." According to the family, Avyan died on December 29, 2025. She said, “Her daughter gave birth to Avyan after 10 years of prayers and vows.”

"The entire family prayed for his birth and made a vow at Hussain Tekri Dargah. My prayers were answered, but I never imagined that the baby would leave us so soon," she said in tears. Krishna Sahu said the child was healthy and had put on five kgs.

"He played in his mother's lap. One day, he suddenly started suffering from diarrhoea and, on a doctor's advice, we started with medicines at home. His condition, however, worsened, and he was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead," she said. “Due to insufficient breast milk, the infant was given packaged milk and milk powder mixed with water from the municipal tap,” she added

Sahu alleged that the water was contaminated and proved fatal for the child.

Anita Sen, a neighbour, said, "There is a one-month-old girl, a four-year-old child, and a 10-year-old girl in my house. Now the government should ensure that no mother is robbed of a child due to contaminated water." More than 1,400 people have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea in Bhagirathpura over the past nine days.

According to the health department, 272 patients were admitted to hospitals in the area till Thursday (January 1, 2025), of whom 71 have been discharged. At least 32 patients currently hospitalised are undergoing treatment in intensive care units, it was stated.

Modi govt could give neither clean water, nor clean air, making public suffer: Kharge

NEW DELHI, Jan 2: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission but was silent on deaths caused by contaminated water in Indore.

He alleged that the Modi government and the BJP failed to provide either clean water or clean air to the country.

“Narendra Modi ji, who never gets tired of trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is maintaining his usual silence on the deaths caused by drinking contaminated water in Indore.”

"This is the same Indore city that has clinched the 'Cleanest City' title for the eighth consecutive time in the central government's Swachh Sarvekshan survey. It's a shameful state of affairs that, due to the BJP's incompetence, people here are desperate for clean water," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

For 11 years, he said, the country was fed nothing but long speeches, lies and deceit, empty promises, and boasts about the "double-engine" government.

"When ministers are questioned, they resort to abuses and intimidation. Drunk on the arrogance of power, they turn the tables on the journalists.

"The entire machinery swings into action to cover up the misgovernance of BJP governments," he said.

Kharge stated that all the government's schemes were marred by corruption and foul play, and noted that 10% of the Jal Jeevan Mission fund was allocated for purifying contaminated water.

"The Modi government and the BJP have failed to provide either clean water or clean air to the country. The common people are the ones suffering," the Congress chief said.

At least 10 people died of a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of Indore.

On Thursday, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Madhav Prasad Hasani said laboratory reports from a city medical college confirmed contamination of the drinking water supply to the locality due to a leakage in a pipeline.

The CMHO did not share the detailed findings of the report.

Officials said a leakage was found in the main drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a spot over which a toilet has been constructed.

More than 1,400 people have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea in Bhagirathpura over the past nine days.

Modi stays silent whenever poor die: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI, Jan 2: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted the BJP's double-engine government in Madhya Pradesh after at least 10 people died allegedly due to contaminated water in Indore and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always silent whenever poor die.

Gandhi alleged that Madhya Pradesh has become the epicentre of misgovernance and cited various instances of casualties reportedly due to cough syrups, poor hygiene at government hospitals and now due to contaminated water.

"Not water, but poison was distributed in Indore, and the administration remained in deep slumber," he said in a post on X in Hindi.

"Every home is filled with mourning, the poor are helpless - and on top of that, BJP leaders are making arrogant statements. Those who lost their lives and livelihoods needed solace; the government offered arrogance," he said.

Senior MP cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday triggered a controversy after he used an objectionable word on camera — ghanta (loosely translating to nonsense) — when questioned by a TV journalist about the water contamination incident.

Gandhi, in his post, asked why complaints were not heard when people repeatedly complained about dirty, smelly water.

"How did sewage get mixed with the drinking water? Why wasn't the supply stopped in time? When will action be taken against the responsible officers and leaders?" the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha asked.

"These aren't trivial questions — they demand accountability. Clean water isn't a favour, it's a right to life. And the BJP's double engine government, its negligent administration, and insensitive leadership are solely responsible for the destruction of this right," he said.

"Madhya Pradesh has now become the epicentre of misgovernance — deaths from cough syrup, rats killing children in government hospitals, and now deaths from drinking sewage-contaminated water. And whenever the poor die, Modi ji remains silent, as always," Gandhi alleged.

Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava on Friday said he has received information about 10 deaths due to a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of the city.

However, local residents have claimed that 14 individuals, including a six-month-old infant, have died due to the health crisis. The health department has not confirmed this claim.

Contaminated Tap Water Claims 11 Lives In Indore

BHOPAL, Jan 1: The contaminated drinking water in Indore's Bhagirathpura has now cost 11 lives and more than 1,400 residents have been affected. What was initially described as an "unfortunate contamination" in what is officially India's "cleanest city", now show every sign of negligence and administrative failure as sources and official confirmations indicate that the tragedy was preventable.

Investigators have traced the contamination to a leak in the main drinking water pipeline near a public toilet beside the Bhagirathpura police outpost. Officials suspect that sewage entered the drinking water line through this breach.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav confirmed that evidence of contamination due to leakage had been found and warned that such negligence would not be tolerated. Urban Administration Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya also acknowledged that sewage mixing into drinking water was the likely cause, specifically pointing to the leak near the police outpost.

Health department reports have now confirmed this. Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Madhav Hasani said the water samples tested at MGM Medical College clearly established that the residents of Bhagirathpura fell ill and died after consuming contaminated water.

Sources said the tender for replacing the Bhagirathpura pipeline was floated as early as August 2025, at an estimated cost of Rs 2.4 crore, specifically citing complaints of dirty and foul-smelling water.

But no work began. No emergency repairs were carried out.

Only after people started dying was the tender hurriedly opened. "This is not failure. This is abandonment," said a senior water department official on condition of anonymity.