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Russia-made medium transporter aircraft AN-32–the mainstay workhorse of the Indian Air Force (IAF)--will no longer ferry personnel, or civilians. In an exclusive, Huffington Post India found out that his follows a Court of Inquiry into the crash of an AN-32 aircraft on July 22 this year off the coast of Chennai. The decision has major implications for India's armed forces and beyond.
Sasikala Natarajan has been announced as the new general secretary of the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. But this hardly comes as a surprise, writes G Pramod Kumar here. "The men in the AIADMK were smart enough to realise this reality early because what they need at the moment is survival. And hence they have found a replacement for their "Amma" in their "Chinnamma", he writes. The big question now is how effectively can Sasikala function as a political leader?
Last year, India had ranked as the second most ignorant nation. This year, it beat Mexico to become the the most 'ignorant' of a list of 40 countries where respondents were surveyed on their perceptions tested against reality.
A Kashmir photojournalist Xuhaib Maqbool, 30, was capturing the images of a protest when he was shot with pellets. He ended up losing vision in his left eye. There is a chilling audio of the incident.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi was re-admitted to hospital late last night after he was discharged last week, following complaints of difficulty in breathing due to throat and lung infection. The 92-year-old leader is now 'stable', the hospital has said.
Ratan Tata is most likely to step down as chairman of the Tata Trusts, which control 66% in Tata Sons, the holding company of the $108-billion Tata Group, reports Times Of India. The next chairman of the Trusts will be an Indian, but not necessarily a Parsi or a member of the Tata family, Tata's long-time confidant R K Krishna Kumar told TOI on Thursday.
The government is now focusing on printing 500 notes, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has announced. The deadline for using old 500 and 1000 notes at petrol pumps and some other facilities ended yesterday. Meanwhile, tightening the noose around people who misused banking channels to park unaccounted money, the Reserve Bank Of India has imposed certain restrictions on withdrawal if more than Rs 2 lakh has been deposited after November 9 in an account which has a balance of over Rs 5 lakh.
BJP's Ravinder Gupta was caught on camera singing the national anthem wrong, and even forgetting in parts. In a video that was doing the rounds on social media, Gupta is heard using 'jaarat' instead of 'Bharat' repeatedly while singing 'Jana Gana Mana'.
A month after his last show on Times Now, senior journalist Arnab Goswami has announced that his new venture would be called 'Republic'. Reports suggest the channel will start airing before the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections in the first quarter of 2017.
With the winter session ending today, all eyes are now on Rahul Gandhi. He had said that he has 'information' about PM Modi's 'corruption.' "Whatever the information, people are deeply intrigued by Rahul's assertion that he will only speak "only" in parliament. Why? The public has every right to know. It does not matter if the information is divulged in parliament or outside," writes AAP leader Ashutosh for NDTV. "Rahul at best is a caricature of the past. He still lives in his own make-believe world and is unwilling to venture out of his comfort zone as the Crown Prince of his party.... there are no signs of Rahul Gandhi offering any competition to Modi," he writes.
Delhi BJP has said that it will gift citizens a laddoo for patiently waiting at bank and ATM queues. Indian Express, in this op-ed piece notes how perhaps laddoo might make us forget our daily bread. "Soft, yet compact, the laddoo also travels with ease, requiring neither fork, nor knife — only a pragmatic hand-to-mouth approach. But remarkably, for all its delights, research suggests the laddoo wasn't intended to be a sweet. It was possibly invented as medicine, doled out to calm raging tempers and oscillating moods. Perhaps this, over its sweetie-pie tag, made the local BJP choose the laddoo — and not, say, the syrupy gulab jamun or halwas with oily after-tastes — as a gift to congratulate Delhi's good folks with." All for surviving the demonetisation.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that Muslim personnel cannot keep beards by citing religious grounds. An op-ed in Hindustan Times notes that the ruling is unfair. "The court has taken upon itself the responsibility of determining what the essential/ non-essential practices of a religion are. This obscure exercise draws the court into an area which is arguably beyond its competence. It gives power to judges to decide on matters of religion."