1/10 - Top trending national stories
2/10 - No extra student visas for India in trade deal, says UK international trade secretary
UK international trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is at the helm of negotiating the UK-India free trade deal, says that the UK has no plan to “offer more student visas” nor specific visas for the under-35s to India as part of the UK-India free trade deal as Britain left the EU because it “does not believe in free movement”.
3/10 - Violence erupts in heart of Kolkata as ISF protesters clash with police
Supporters of Indian Secular Front (ISF), the political party that has a lone representative in the assembly from Bhangar, clashed with police in the heart of the city on Saturday which left the city paralysed for over an hour. As many as 19 cops were injured in the brick batting while agitators were also injured in lathi charge. ISF MLA Naushad Siddique, who was leading the protest, was among 17 arrested.
4/10 - Violence erupts in heart of Kolkata as ISF protesters clash with cops
The mayhem was a sequel to nightlong clashes between ISF and TMC supporters at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas that turned into a pitched battle on Saturday. During the rally, ISF supporters blocked two arterial roads demanding the arrest of TMC leader Arabul Islam for the violence in Bhangar.
5/10 - ‘Missing’ ponds responsible for Joshimath subsidence?
Old-timers recal how the town was once laced with multiple water sources including these ponds. They add that the onset of multiple construction activities started the process of shrinking the water bodies.
6/10 - ‘Missing’ ponds responsible for Joshimath subsidence?
Residents of Joshimath say that at least five ponds which were in and around the area till a few decades ago have either dried up or have been constructed upon and water underneath may be leading to the cracks and fissures in houses and other structures across the town.
7/10 - Government blocks online links to ‘divisive’ BBC film
The government has ordered the blocking of multiple YouTube videos and nearly 50 tweets that shared the first episode of the BBC documentary — “India: The Modi Question”— on grounds that senior officials of various ministries found it to be an attempt to “cast aspersions” on the authority of the Supreme Court and make “unsubstantiated allegations” regarding the actions of foreign governments in India.
8/10 - Government blocks online links to ‘divisive’ BBC film
According to the officials who watched the documentary, the film was seen as an “attempt to cast aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sow divisions among various Indian communities, and make unsubstantiated allegations regarding actions of foreign governments in India”.
9/10 - Assam’s royal burial mounds in race for Unesco heritage site tag
India has nominated Charaideo’s royal burial mounds or tumulus called “moidam” of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for six centuries from 1228 to 1826 for consideration as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Also known as the Pyramids of Assam, the moidams in Charaideo have been likened to the royal tombs of ancient China and the Egyptian pyramids.
10/10 - Assam’s royal burial mounds in race for Unesco heritage site tag
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that the dossier on the Charaideo moidams has been picked by PM Narendra Modi as the country’s nomination for the Unesco tag for 2023-2024 from a list of 52 sites proposed by other states.
