'No question' of giving BJP ticket to Muslim candidate for Belagavi bypoll, says Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa

Bengaluru: Karnataka rural development minister KS Eshwarappa on Saturday said the BJP will not give ticket to a Muslim in the by-election to Belagavi Lok Sabha seat. Noting that Belagavi was one of the centres of Hindutva, he said the ticket will be given to its proponents.

"In BJP there is no question of Kuruba, Lingayat, Vokkaliga or Brahmin community, we will all sit together and discuss, this is the system, a democratic way. In no party other than BJP there is a democratic system," Eshwarappa pointed out.

Speaking to reporters in Belagavi, the senior BJP leader said state and national leaders will select a candidate who can win by gaining the trust of the people.

"Whether we give (ticket) to Kurubas or Lingayats or Vokkaligas or Brahmins, we will not give to a Muslim. Belagavi is one of the centres of Hindutva, there is no question of us giving tickets to Muslims here," Eshwarappa said in response to a query.

"We will give tickets to Hindutva proponents, I don't know whether we will give it to followers of Sangolli Rayanna, Kittur Chennamma (freedom fighters) or Shankaracharya," he added.

The Belagavi Lok Sabha seat fell vacant recently following the death of Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, who represented the seat, due to COVID-19.

The bypoll for the seat is yet to be announced by the Election Commission.

This is not the first time Eshwarappa has made such comments. In April last year, Eshwarappa had in Koppal said BJP will not give tickets to Muslims to contest the elections as they do not believe in the party.

However, he had subsequently clarified that he was not hater of any community including Muslims and his statement was in response to a question about a specific leader from the community getting a ticket from the BJP.

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Indian Navy recovers some debris of crashed MiG-29K in Arabian sea; search for second pilot on

Mumbai/Panaji: The Indian Navy has recovered some debris of the MiG-29K aircraft that went missing four days back in the Arabian Sea off the Goa coast, a spokesperson said on Sunday, adding the search continued with ships and aircraft for missing pilot Cdr Nishant Singh.

In addition to nine warships and 14 aircraft engaged in the search efforts, the Indian Navy's Fast Interceptor Craft are also deployed to search waters along the coast, a defence release said.

"Indian Navy's search and rescue effort to locate the second pilot of the MiG-29K trainer aircraft which ditched off Goa on 26 November continues with extensive deployment of naval ships and aircraft," a defence release said.

"Some debris of the aircraft, including landing gear, turbocharger, a fuel tank engine, and wing engine cowling has been located," it said.

The Marine Police and Coastal Police are on the lookout and nearby fishing villages have been sensitised, the release added.

The Russian-origin jet had taken off from aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and went down at 5 pm on Thursday, officials had said, adding that one pilot of the aircraft had been rescued.

The MiG-29K is an all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed by Russian aerospace company Mikoyan (MiG). The Indian Navy had procured a fleet of 45 MiG-29Ks from Russia over a decade back at a cost of around USD 2 billion to operate from INS Vikramaditya.

INS Vikramaditya was part of the second phase of the Malabar exercise involving navies of India, the US, Australia, and Japan.

The MIG-29K fleet onboard the aircraft carrier was also involved in the mega naval drill that took place from November 17 to 20.

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Guwahati Police arrests man who appeared on behalf of JEE Mains topper from Assam

Delhi: A man was arrested by the Guwahati Police from Delhi for appearing in the Joint Entrance Examination Mains on behalf of the candidate who 'topped' the test in Assam, officials said on Sunday.

A team, led by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Suprotive Lal Baruah, arrested Pradeep Kumar, the eighth accused to be nabbed in connection with the case, they said.

Prime accused Bhargav Deka, the owner of city-based coaching institute Global Edu Light, was arrested on 1 November.

The others arrested in the case are Neel Nakshatra Das, who 'topped' the examination in the state and at present is out on bail, his doctor father Jyotirmoy Das, a woman employee of the coaching institute and three other alleged accomplices.

The woman employee was arrested on 31 October and the other five accused on 28 October.

Baruah is heading a special investigating team, set up to probe the scam that came to light due to a viral phone call conversation, in which Neel had purportedly admitted to his friend that a proxy was used for appearing in the examination, held on 5 September.

Subsequently, a complaint was filed by one Mitradev Sharma on 23 October in the Azara police station, alleging that Neel did not take the exam but had used a proxy.

Neel allegedly had entered the examination centre in the Borjhar area but came out after registering the biometric attendance with the help of an invigilator, and someone else took the test on his behalf.

The complainant had also alleged that his parents, both of whom are practising doctors, had paid a sum of Rs 15- 20 lakhs to a private coaching institute in Guwahati to help him crack the examination.

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Arvind Kejriwal issues directives to reduce price of RT-PCR COVID-19 test in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said he has issued directives to reduce the price of the RT-PCR test in the National Capital, saying it will help those going to private labs for COVID-19 tests.

Currently, people have to spend Rs 2,400 for the RT-PCR test at private labs.

"I have directed that the rates of RT PCR tests be reduced in Delhi. Whereas tests are being conducted free of cost in govt establishments, however this will help those who get their tests done in private labs," Kejriwal tweeted.

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain in reply to the chief minister's tweet said orders for this will be issued immediately.

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CA November 2020 exams: ICAI changes exam centres in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Lucknow due to 1 Dec elections

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has announced that test centres of students for CA November 2020 exams in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Lucknow have been shifted due to election on 1 December. The ICAI has released a notification in which the names and addresses of existing centres and new centres are given. Those who live in any three of these cities can check the notification by visiting the official website of the ICAI at icai.org.

The ICAI has changed 15 centres for the paper scheduled to be held on 1 December in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Lucknow.

The remaining papers will be taking place at the existing centres. New centres have only been allotted for 1 December.

India Today reported that CA November exams 2020 admit cards will be valid at the new exam centres and no new hall ticket will be issued for 1 December.

The ICAI had previously rescheduled its intermediate and IPC examination in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in view of the destruction and power outages caused by Cyclone Nivar, which made landfall in the state and the union territory last week.

CA November exams 2020 started on 21 November after being postponed several times due to COVID-19 pandemic. The exams are being conducted following the COVID-19 guidelines.

Almost two weeks ago, the ICAI released a notification informing about the shifting of test centres for CA November 2020 exams. The exam centres were changed due to “unavoidable circumstances.” It shifted the exam centres for all candidates in some cases, while it changed test centres for students of specific courses in a few cases.

The notification contained list of centres across the country. The ICAI made changes to 30 exam centres for CA November 2020 exams, which started on 21 November and will end on 14 December.

Earlier in November, the ICAI asked students to submit their “genuine concerns” if their exam centres fell in containment zones.

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Roscosmos claims an ISRO satellite made dangerous pass of a Russian satellite

The Russian space agency has said that a satellite sent into space by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently had a close pass-by with a Roscosmos satellite. According to a tweet from the official handle of Roscosmos, India’s cartography satellite Cartosat-2F missed a collision with Russian Kanopus-V in the outer space last Friday, 27 November. The 700 kg Indian sat came as close as 224 metres to the 450 kg Russian satellite.

Roscosmos referred to the information given by TsNIIMash and analytical centre of the Warning Automated System of Hazardous Situations to state that at 7.19 am IST the satellites brushed dangerously past each other. Both the satellites are meant to carry out earth’s remote sensing.

WION quoted an anonymous source with expertise on the matter to state that two satellites in orbit should maintain the distance of at least one kilometre to safely pass by. The minimum distance of 224 meters is “scary” and the incident can be considered to be a collision miss. The report added that generally, “when two satellites are predicted (based on calculations) to make a close pass, a decision is taken to manoeuvre one of them away in advance (usually days ahead)”.

Although the Russian side has made the matter public, ISRO is yet to comment on it. Also, it is not clear why the Indian satellite went that close to the foreign satellite.

This incident again brings to focus the increasing traffic in outer space, especially the low-Earth orbit. All space agencies use certain prediction techniques to calculate and maneuver the path of their satellites. But there is a chance that the calculations do not predict the path of other satellites correctly leading to collisions. Satellites also need to steer clear of any space debris.

Hinting to the speedy increase in space debris, a few months back scientists had noticed space junk in broad daylight for the first time.

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Narendra Modi to chair all-party meet to discuss COVID-19 situation at 10.30 am on 4 December

New Delhi: The government has called an all-party meeting to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic situation on 4 December that will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said on Monday.

Floor leaders of all parties from both Houses of Parliament have been called for the meeting, which will be held virtually on Friday at 10.30 am, sources told PTI. The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is coordinating the meeting and has reached out to floor leaders of all parties, they said.

This will be the second all-party meeting called by the government to discuss the COVID-19 situation since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The top brass of the government including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan are expected to attend the meeting. Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi and minister of state Arjun Ram Meghwal will also attend the meeting.

The meeting is being held at a time when it is being contemplated to merge the Winter session of Parliament with the Budget session in wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the National Capital.

The meeting also assumes significance as it is being held after Modi's visit to pharmaceutical companies in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune to review coronavirus vaccine development work there.

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