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Daily Bulletin: Voting begins even as BJP seeks cancellation of Ramanagaram bypolls; air quality in Delhi remains 'very poor'; day's top stories

FP Staff November 3, 2018, 08:26:27 IST

Today’s top stories: BJP seeks cancellation of Ramnagara polls after BJP candidate withdraws; Shah Rukh Khan lauds Salman Khan for being a part of Zero; Narendra Modi announces Diwali gift for small businesses; and more.

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Daily Bulletin: Voting begins even as BJP seeks cancellation of Ramanagaram bypolls; air quality in Delhi remains 'very poor'; day's top stories

BJP seeks cancellation of Ramanagaram bypolls even as voting begins in three Lok Sabha, two Assembly seats Voting began as schedule for three Lok Sabha — Bellary, Shimoga and Mandya and two Assembly constituencies — Jamkhandi and Ramanagaram — in Karnataka. The BJP, however has sought cancellation of the Ramanagaram bypolls after L Chandrashekhar, its candidate against chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s wife, Anitha, quit the contest and returned to the Congress. With the BJP candidate withdrawing, Anitha is expected to have smooth sailing. On Friday, the BJP had petitioned the Election Commission requesting it to “annul” the bye-election immediately as the poll process has been “vitiated”. The BJP also demanded that leaders of Congress-JD(S) coalition, including the chief minister, be charged under relevant provisions of law for allegedly acting in “collusion” to ensure that there is no contest. In its petition to the Commission, the BJP alleged that the developments are the “convergence of undue influence” practised by Chandrashekar, Congress’ Bengaluru Rural lawmaker DK Suresh, Anitha and the chief minister. [caption id=“attachment_5496761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]Polling stations open across Karnataka. ANI Polling stations open across Karnataka. ANI[/caption] US allows 8 countries to buy oil from Iran, to announce ’toughest ever’ sanctions on Iran from 5 November The US has agreed to let eight countries, including India, Japan and South Korea, keep buying oil from Iran even as it’s set to announce the ’toughest ever’ sanction on the OPEC producer on 5 November, reports said. The Trump administration on Friday announced that it would impose new sanctions targeted at Tehran’s economy, with the intention that the authoritarian Iranian regime would change its behaviour. “On Monday, the Treasury Department will add more than 700 names to our list of blocked entities. This includes hundreds of targets previously granted sanctions relief under the JCPOA, as well as more than 300 new designations. This is substantially more than we ever have previously done,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters. Sanctions lifted under the terms of Iran’s nuclear deal will be reimposed on individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft that touch numerous segments of Iran’s economy. This will include Iran’s energy sector and financial sectors, he said. “We’ve gone after the financial networks that the Iranian regime uses to fuel its terrorist proxies in Hezbollah and Hamas, to fund the Houthis in Yemen, and to support the brutal Assad regime in Syria,” he said. Tigress Avni killed in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal town A tigress believed to be responsible for the deaths of 13 people over the last two years, named Avni by the public, has been killed in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal on Friday night, news agency ANI reported. In September, the Supreme Court said she should be shot on sight, prompting a flurry of online petitions. For about three months, 150 ground personnel, elephants and so-called expert trackers and shooters were on a quest to find Avni. The forest department conducted the search with the help of trap cameras, drones, sniffer dogs and a hang-glider along with a team of Forest Department officials in the vicinity of the Tippeshwar Tiger Sanctuary. The forest department had also hired the services of controversial private marksman Shafat Ali Khan. Delhi air quality remains very poor; stubble burning in UP recorded for the first time Delhi’s air pollution level dipped slightly on Friday to remain in the “very poor” category as authorities detected stubble burning in Uttar Pradesh for the first time this season after Punjab and Haryana, which, they said, may add to the pollution woes of the national capital. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), an institute under the Earth Sciences Ministry, said the highest fire count was observed from the north-west region of India, which comprises Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh. As authorities warned that the air quality would severely deteriorate from next week, a citizen’s group shot off a letter to the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), suggesting additional steps that could be taken to curb pollution, which included putting in public domain emission levels from all industries in Delhi-NCR and urging employers to encourage office-goers to work from home till 10 November. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation said around 1,582 challans were issued for violations in the zones under it. Deputy commissioners of 14 police districts in the national capital were directed to ensure no temporary licences are issued for sale of firecrackers till the PESO-approved crackers were available in the market. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot Friday launched a trial run of an e-bus and said the Delhi government had plans to float tenders for 1,000 electric buses by December so that the zero-emission vehicles are rolled out in the next five to six months. Narendra Modi announces Diwali gift for small businesses In a major boost to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a slew of sops for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, ranging from granting loans at the shortest possible time, curtailing Inspector Raj to making it mandatory for public sector units to buy a certain percentage of goods from women entrepreneurs. He  said that loans of up to Rs 1 crore will be sanctioned in 59 minutes through a special portal as part of the Centre’s MSME Support and Outreach programme. “I dedicate the 59-minute loan approval portal to you. All GST-registered small and medium enterprises can now avail a loan of up to Rs 1 crore in just 59 minutes,” Modi said while speaking at the launch of the programme at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The programme was attended by finance minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for MSME Giriraj Singh. He called it a big step in breaking ‘silos’ and a shining example of ‘collective initiative’. “Minimum government and maximum governance is the core principle of our government. This is new India where no one needs to go around government offices,” he said. As part of government’s support and outreach initiative for MSMEs, the prime minister also announced a relaxation in labour laws, easier compliance with environmental rules and changes in company laws. Arsenal host leaders Liverpool in crucial Premier League clash Fourth-placed Arsenal host Liverpool in what promises to be a mouth-watering clash of the Premier League giants. Arsenal, under new manager Unai Emery, are on a 13-match unbeaten run as they look to consolidate their position in the top-four. Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool have never lost against Arsenal and the Reds will be relying on the in-form Mohamed Salah to continue that run. Very dignified of Salman to be part of Zero: Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan unveiled the trailer of his upcoming film Zero on the occasion of his birthday on Friday. At the trailer launch, he said that he was touched by the gesture of Salman Khan doing a cameo in the film. When he was asked about how Salman came on board, Shah Rukh told the media: “Anand (L Rai, Director) had spoken to Katrina (Kaif) regarding this film quite some time ago and that time Salman also heard the story.” “The coincidence is, when I said yes to the film, immediately after he said he will also be a part of the film, in a song. That was very dignified and loving of him.”

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