Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi to inaugurate Kartarpur corridor on Indian side today; SC to hear plea against Delhi govt's odd-even scheme; day's top stories

Narendra Modi to inaugurate much-awaited Kartarpur corridor on Indian side today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the integrated check post of the much-awaited Kartarpur corridor to Sri Kartarpur Sahib on the Indian side on Friday.

Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday said Prime Minister Imran Khan has waived the condition of passport for one year for Indian Sikhs visiting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib using the Kartarpur corridor, contradicting an earlier statement by the army spokesman who said the pilgrims will need a passport.

During his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Faisal said the condition of passports for Indian Sikhs was waived for one year in the wake of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Prime Minister Khan also waived the requirement to convey pilgrim information to the Pakistani government 10 days prior to entry, and he also waived $20 service fee per pilgrim on 9 and 12 November, Faisal said.

"We have formally conveyed this to India," he added.

Earlier, Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Indian pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Sahib will need a passport to use the Kartarpur corridor, creating confusion over the status of passports.

Supreme Court to hear plea against Delhi govt's odd-even scheme today

The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea against the Delhi government's odd-even road rationing scheme, alleging that it is arbitrary, contrary to statutory provisions and is nothing but a "political and vote bank gimmick".

The petition, filed by a Noida-based advocate, has alleged that the Delhi government's 1 November notification on the scheme also violates fundamental rights.

Representational image PTI

"The odd-even vehicle scheme violates the fundamental rights of residents of Delhi and adjoining states who daily commute in/out of Delhi in their four-wheeled vehicles to do their jobs/business to earn their livelihood and is ultra vires Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India," the plea said.

It alleged that the odd-even rule violates citizens' rights to practice any profession, carry out any occupation, trade or business and to move freely throughout the country.

The odd-even scheme started on 4 November and would remain in force till 15 November. Under the scheme, four-wheelers with registration numbers ending with odd digits will ply on odd dates and those ending with even digits will ply on even dates.

The petition said that the odd-even rule is only meant for four-wheelers whereas two-wheelers, which cause more pollution in comparison to cars, have been kept out of its ambit.

Jharkhand Assembly polls: Congress-JMM seat-sharing talks in final stages; announcement likely today in Ranchi

Seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for the Assembly election are in final stages and an announcement is likely on Friday, sources said.

The Congress, JMM and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are attempting to form an alliance to defeat the ruling BJP in the five-phase election in November-December in the eastern state.

Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Rameshwar Oraon and Congress Legislature Party leader Alamgir Alam met JMM chief Hemant Soren. Sources said the JMM is likely to be the leading partner in the alliance and will contest on more than 50 percent of the seats.

The Congress may settle with 25-30 seats in the 81-member Assembly, leaving the rest for smaller allies. The Congress had contested on all seats in the last Assembly election in 2014, it may settle for 25-30 seats as part of the alliance.

The Congress has already held preliminary discussions on its possible candidates for the election at a meeting of the party's screening committee.

Another meeting of the screening panel will be held on 9 November. On the same day, a meeting of the central election committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi will be held to finalise the list of candidates.

IMA calls for 24-hour shutdown in Karnataka to extend support to striking doctors in Bengaluru

Outpatient services in hospitals and nursing homes in Karnataka are likely to be hit on Friday with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) giving a call for a 24-hour shutdown in support of striking doctors of an eye hospital in Bengaluru over the alleged assault of a colleague.

The IMA member nursing homes and hospitals will shut down the OPD services for 24 hours from 6 am on Friday to 6 am on Saturday, IMA Karnataka chapter President Annadani Meti said.

There are about 25,000 doctors across the state, who will support it, said Dhanpal N, another IMA office-bearer.

Dhanpal added that the doctors, including private practitioners, will not attend to patients in OPD for the whole day.

He, however, clarified emergency cases will be taken up during the day-long shutdown.

The doctors of the government Minto Eye Hospital are on a strike since Friday last protesting the alleged attack of a colleague by members of a pro-Kannada outfit.

The members of the outfit were upset that proper compensation was not given to the victims of an alleged botched cataract operation drive in July this year. A few people had lost their vision partially due to a drug reaction.

Cognizant to hire over 23,000 STEM graduates in India in 2020

Cognizant on Thursday said it plans to hire more than 23,000 STEM graduates and post-graduates from technical institutions in India in 2020.

This comes at a time when the US-based company — which has about two lakh employees in India--had recently said it will slash about 7,000 jobs across various locations.

"To further support the needs of our fast-growing digital business, in calendar 2020, Cognizant plans to hire more than 23,000 STEM graduates and post-graduates from technical institutions in India, which is 30 percent more than the hiring we did last year," Cognizant India Chairman and MD Ramkumar Ramamoorthy said at 'CII Connect 2019' event in Chennai.

The company has already made about 15,000 offers in more than 80 engineering institutes across the country, he added.

Taapsee Pannu, Shashi Tharoor attempt stand-up comedy on Amazon Prime Video series One Mic Stand

Amazon Prime Video will soon release One Mic Stand, a series where five celebrity guests will try their hand at stand-up comedy.

The show stars Taapsee Pannu, Shashi Tharoor, Vishal Dadlani, Bhuvan Bam and Richa Chadha. They will be mentored by comedians Zakir Khan, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi, Kunal Kamra and Angal Singh Ranyal.