Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) The All India Kisan Sabha Tuesday called for 'Gramin Bharat Bandh' on January 8 and 9 to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "non-committal" stand on farm loan waiver.

In a two-day meeting the Central Kisan Council has taken a resolution to call a two-day Gramin Bharat bandh on January 8 and 9, Ashok Dhawale, president, AIKS, said.

The AIKS is a CPI(M) affiliated farmers' organisation.

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) A 23-year-old married woman from Uttar Pradesh has alleged gangrape at multiple locations, including in Delhi, and submitted a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), said the Bandhua Mukti Morcha.

The woman has alleged that police in Delhi forced her for compromise with the accused and did not take necessary action on her complaint, the Morcha said in a statement.

A Delhi Police officer denied the allegations saying there must be some action if the victim reached the police station concerned.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Terming the exit of Urjit Patel as credit negative, S&P Global Ratings said the increasing involvement of the government in the affairs of the RBI could undermine the hard-fought improvements in the banking system over the past few years.

"In particular, S&P Global Ratings views as credit negative the circumstances leading to the recent resignation of Urjit Patel, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). We await any changes to banking system regulation at the next RBI board meeting in January 2019," it said.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has cautioned that transfer of excess reserve to the government may bring down rating of the central bank.

Rating downgrade of the RBI from 'AAA' would make borrowing costlier for the central bank and will have implication for the entire economy.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) A fresh Bill to make the practice of tripe talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday to replace an ordinance issued in September.

Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 would supercede an earlier Bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced USD 1.4 billion financial assistance to Maldives after he held extensive talks with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during which both sides vowed to deepen security cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.

The two countries also inked four pacts, including one on visa facilitation.

"We held successful talks in a cordial atmosphere. We vowed to strengthen ties," Modi said in his press statement, with Solih by his side.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Dengue cases in Delhi have mounted to 4,704 this year even with the onset of winter when conditions become unfavourable for the breeding of mosquito larvae, a municipal report said Monday.

At least four people, including a minor boy, have died in the city due to the vector-borne disease this year till December second week.

Three of the victims were identified by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as Aman Tiwari (13), Sanskriti (21) and Gagan (23).

New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) A nine-year-old girl was raped on Saturday allegedly by a man who took her to his shanty in a nearby area in Rohini's Samaipur Badli, police said.

After getting information about the incident at around 12 pm, a police team reached the spot, they said.

Investigations revealed that the girl was playing outside her shanty when the accused reached there and took her to his shanty, where he allegedly raped her, a senior police officer said.

After the incident, the victim came out of the place crying, the officer said.

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) India's biggest crisis is unemployment and the country needs to invest more in the tourism sector which hires nearly 10 times as many people as any manufacturing industry, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said.

He said the future of India depended very much on its ability to escape from the politics of identity and the government's ability to provide answers to the real needs of the people.

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) A three-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a neighbour at her house in southwest Delhi's Dwarka on Sunday afternoon, police said.

On being informed about the incident police reached the spot and rushed the unconscious girl to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, they said.

The minor girl was allegedly raped by one Ranjeet, who works as a guard and resides in the ground floor of the same building as the victim. The girl's parents were out on work when the incident occurred, a senior police officer said.