Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) The CPI(M) on Monday demanded immediate sacking of JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, alleging that he allowed rampage against students to continue on the university premises.

"The Vice Chancellor, who has been instrumental in systematically undermining and dismantling the country's premier university, had permitted this rampage to go on unchecked for hours. The Vice Chancellor should be sacked for this complicity in permitting this attack.

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday dubbed the National Register of Citizens a "sinister and mischievous plan" to divide the country and alleged that the NRC-CAA-NPR exercise is part of the RSS-BJP plan to push its "divisive" agenda of a 'Hindu Rashtra'.

Terming the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) "patently discriminatory", he said three neighbouring countries have been included, while Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bhutan excluded and some minority groups, including Muslims, kept out of its ambit.

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) The elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 8 and results will be declared on February 11, the Election Commission announced on Monday.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the notification for the polls will be issued on January 14 while the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be January 24.

The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress.

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (NNN-PTI) – University and college students staged protests and demonstrations across many cities in India, including Mumbai, Delhi and Aligarh, throughout Sunday night, against the violence that erupted inside the Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), injuring around 30 students.

Students belonging to various colleges, institutes and universities were seen continuing with their protests at Mumbai’s popular monument Gateway of India, till Monday morning.

New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Six of the 10 most valued Indian companies suffered a combined erosion of Rs 26,624.10 crore in market valuation last week, dragged down by ICICI Bank.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), HDFC Bank, HUL, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI were the other bluechips which saw a drop in their market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday, while TCS, HDFC, Infosys and ITC ended in the green.

ICICI Bank's valuation tumbled Rs 6,883.44 crore to Rs 3,48,532.24 crore, taking the steepest hit among the top-10 firms.

New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Petrol and diesel prices rose for the fourth straight day on Sunday as global oil prices jumped after the US killed a top Iranian general, fanning fresh fears of conflict in the crude-rich Middle East.

Retail pump price of petrol was hiked by 9 paise per litre and that of diesel by 11 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 75.54 per litre -- the highest in more than a year, while a litre of diesel comes for Rs 68.51.

NEW DELHI, Jan 4 (NNN-PTI) – The call for restraint came, soon after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, threatened “severe revenge” for “the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with [Soleimani’s] blood.”

The external affairs ministry, in a statement, referred to Soleimani as a “senior Iranian leader,” reflecting India’s sensitivities in handling relations with both Iran and the US, and said, his killing had resulted in worldwide concern.

Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Jan 3 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government will not budge an inch on its decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act despite the opposition criticism of the law.

Launching an awareness programme in support of the amended citizenship law, Shah accused the Congress and other opposition parties of running a misinformation campaign.

He said the amended law does not take away Indian citizenship from anyone but grants citizenship.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) A section of protesters at Shaheen Bagh, who have been demonstrating against the CAA for the last 20 days, called off the road blockade on Thursday alleging "politicisation" of their "peaceful protest", though locals refused to leave the spot and continued with their agitation.

"We have called off the Shaheen Bagh road blockade today to avoid the impending violence from party goons and to avoid politicisation of the stage by parties, Sharjeel Imam from Shaheen Bagh Coordination Committee said in a statement.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dismiss his own chief minister for openly opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act and to declare him an "anti-national" for doing so.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala used a tweet of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to challenge the Prime Minister.

"Mr Prime Minister, Stop fooling India! Your own CM is openly opposing CAA. Will you now declare him 'anti national'? I challenge you to dismiss him before criticising the opposition," he said on Twitter.