LIVE News Updates: Rahul Gandhi challenges PM Modi to tell students of his plans to create jobs for them

“I challenge the Prime Minister right now, to go to any of the university, stand over there without his police, without his infrastructure and tell the people what he is going to do for this country,” Rahul Gandhi said after a meeting of the Opposition parties in New Delhi.

“We are busy discussing everything except the main issue, which is joblessness and our economic strength. Instead of addressing this, instead of going to the students of India and saying, listen! this is what I am going to do, this is how I am going to give you jobs, this is how I am going to set the economy right. He (PM Modi) is doing the biggest disservice to this nation by dividing this nation and distracting the attention of people,”

“This is not going to help our country. Mr. Narendra Modi should stand up and have the courage to speak to the youngsters in these universities and tell them why the Indian economy has become a disaster.

“Unfortunately, the Prime Minister does not have the guts to do this. He does not have the guts to stand in front of the students of this country and tell them, so he crushes them using the police,” the Congress leader said.

Indigo's Mumbai-Chandigarh flight was diverted to Delhi and its Hyderabad-Chandigarh flight was diverted to Lucknow due to bad weather, Chandigarh International Airport authorities said on Monday.

The ongoing semester exams in Jamia Millia Islamia have been postponed for now. The New schedule will be announced later. The decision came on the demand of protesting students, the Vice Chancellor announced

A parliamentary panel on Monday questioned Delhi Police officials over the use of force against protesting students and suggested that it should have dealt with the students in a mature manner, sources said.

The panel also questioned the Delhi police about the frequent imposition of restrictions in the national capital which it said causes trouble for the common man.

Top officials of Union Home Ministry and Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik appeared on Monday before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs chaired by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma to discuss rising crimes in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).

While addressing the opposition meet, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, “the government has let loose a reign of oppression, spreading hatred and trying to divide our people along sectarian lines. There is unprecedented turmoil today. The Constitution is being undermined and the instruments of governance are being misused. Students and the young have in particular been targeted. In several parts of the country, especially in Uttar Pradesh, large sections of the population are being harassed and attacked.

There have been nation-wide spontaneous protests by the youth supported by citizens from all walks of life. The immediate cause is the CAA and NRC but they reflect widespread frustration and pent up anger, which is now out in the open. The response of the police in UP and Delhi has been shockingly partisan and brutal. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have misled the people. They have contradicted their own statements of only weeks ago, and continue with their provocative statements while remaining insensitive to the state suppression and violence that is increasingly becoming commonplace.

The nation has watched in horror at the BJP-orchestrated assault on JNU coming so soon after what happened in Jamia, BHU, Allahabad University and AMU and other institutions of higher learning in other parts of the country. The Modi-Shah Government stands totally exposed for its inability to govern and to provide security to the people.

The NRC seems to have back-fired in Assam. The Modi-Shah government is now focussing on the NPR exercise that is scheduled to begin in a few months. Contrary to the assertions of the Home Minister, it is clear that this is being done to lead to a nation-wide NRC.

The real issue facing India today is the collapse of economic activity and slowing growth and development affecting all sections of society, especially the poor and disadvantaged. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have no answers and want to divert the nation’s attention from this grim reality by raising one divisive and polarizing issue after another. It is for us to work together and thwart the designs of this government.”

A meeting of Opposition parties convened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday deliberated on the current political situation following widespread protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the violence on campuses.

Significantly, the BSP, the AAP and the Mamata Banerjee-led BSP TMC, stayed away from the meeting attended by representatives of 20 parties in all.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, JMM leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, LJD chief Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leader Upendra Kushwaha, RJD leader Manoj Jha, National Conference leader Hasnain Masoodi, besides Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were among those present.

Doctor Prashant Upadhyay, who treated the father of the Unnao rape victim, died in a suspicious condition. The doctor was in Emergency when the victim's father was brought to the district hospital after the assault. It was him who asked the police to take the victim's father to jail. Doctor Prashant was suspended when a CBI probe began in the case . Doctor Prashant was restored after a long time. Dr. Prashant was presently posted in Fatehpur.

Amid the widespread protests over the contentious citizenship law and a proposed National Register of Citizens, the opposition parties met on Monday to discuss the current political situation and chart out their strategy

Senior IPS officers Sujit Pandey and Alok Singh will be the first police commissioners of Lucknow and Noida respectively, a UP government spokesperson said on Monday.

Besides them, Inspector General (IG) Naveen Arora and IG Nilabja Chaudhary will be the joint police commissioners of Lucknow and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Akhilesh Kumar and DIG Sriparna Ganguli will be additional police commissioners of Noida, he said.

The state cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for implementing the commissionerate system of policing in the two cities, giving more powers to the police.

The government has also transferred six other IPS officers, posting Jai Narain Singh as Additional Director General of Police (ADG) of Kanpur zone, Prem Prakash as ADG of Allahabad, Pravin Kumar as IG of Meerut and Lav Kumar as DIG of Gorakhpur.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that a nationwide implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) was needless and had no justification.

He made the remarks on the floor of the state assembly while thanking the House members for unanimously approving a constitutional amendment for extending quotas to SCs and STs by another 10 years.

Referring to an impassioned speech made by Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, who had demanded that the chief minister, who is an ally of the BJP, come clean on the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, NRC and National Population Register (NPR), Kumar wondered from where did this talk of NRC sprung up?

The country is witnessing huge turmoil on these issues (CAA, NRC and NPR), Kumar said, adding that we should keep in mind that NRC was an exercise confined to Assam as part of the accord signed by the Rajiv Gandhi government.

A natiowide NRC would be needless (koi zarurat nahin hai) and has no justification (koi auchitya nahin hai). We do not think any such thing is going to take place. I think the prime minister, too, has spoken clearly on this, he added.

Hundreds of Jamia Millia Islamia students gheraoed Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar's office on Monday, demanding registration of an FIR against Delhi Police in connection with last month's violence on the campus.

Among other demands, they also want the university to reschedule examinations and ensure security of students.

The students barged into the office premises after breaking the lock on the main gate and raised slogans against the VC.

They are staging a sit-in outside the office, asking the VC to interact with them over issue.

Police tells HC it has not yet received any response from JNU administration on preserving footage on violence. Police says it has also written to WhatsApp to preserve data of two groups on which JNU violence was planned

The Delhi Police on Monday morning closed both carriageways of the Baba Gang Nath Marg near the Jawaharlal Nehru University for traffic movement as a precautionary measure, officials said.

Police said the road from Nelson Mandela Marg to Aruna Asaf Ali Marg was closed in anticipation of a demonstration by students.

Walmart has announced layoffs of more than 100 senior executives including vice presidents across sourcing, agri-business and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) divisions at a townhall on Friday, January 10, 2020. Walmart also plans to shut the Mumbai fulfilment centre and halt new-store expansion in India.

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar met MoS Finance Anurag Thakur over issue of revival of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative(PMC) Bank

The Congress accused the Modi government on Monday of failing to utilise a cess amount of over Rs 3 lakh crore since fiscal year 2015, saying it was a "shocking case of financial anarchy".

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala's claim cited a media report saying that the unutilised balance from cesses collected between fiscal year 2015 and 2020 (budgeted number considered for FY20), and lying in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), is a staggering Rs 3.59 lakh crore.

"Shocking case of 'financial anarchy'! Between 2014-15 to 2019-20, Modi government failed to utilise 'cess amount' of a whopping Rs. 3,59,000 crore! Is it 'financial insomnia' or sheer 'financial incompetence'?" Surjewala said.

"Modi government beats up, lathi charges, tear gases students demanding affordable education! Modi government refuses to roll back the fee hike in central universities! Yet it utterly failed to utilise Rs.49,101 crore of 'higher education cess' collected between 2014-15 to 2019-20," he said in a series of tweets, asking the government the reason behind this.

India is choking because of air pollution, with Delhi and many cities becoming gas chambers, and pollution has emerged as the single biggest challenge in the 21st century for the country and yet, the Modi government failed to utilise Rs 38,943 crore of Clean Energy Cess between 2014-15 and 2019-20, Surjewala added.

"Petrol and Diesel prices go through the roof! Farmers suffer and budget of middle class bleeds as prices skyrocket everyday! Yet Modi government fails to utilise Rs. 74,162 crore of 'cess on crude oil' between 2014-15 to 2019-20! Why?" he said.

The Supreme Court on Monday commenced hearing on issues related to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.

A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said that it was not considering review pleas in the Sabarimala case.

"We are not hearing review pleas of Sabarimala case. We are considering issues referred to by a 5-judge bench earlier," the bench said.

The apex court had on November 14 asked a larger bench to re-examine various religious issues, including the entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple and mosques and the practice of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

Two dead and around 16 injured after a bus rolled over on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway near Fatehabad, due to low visibility, early morning today. The injured persons have been moved to a hospital

Lava and broad columns of ash illuminated by lightning shot from an erupting volcano south of the Philippine capital on Monday, grounding hundreds of flights amid an alert for a possible "explosive eruption".

Homes and streets across the region surrounding the Taal volcano, which exploded to life on Sunday accompanied by a series of earthquakes, were coated in fine grit and at least 10,000 people had sought refuge in evacuation centres.

"You could not sleep anymore, because every time you closed your eyes the house would shake," restaurant owner Lia Monteverde told AFP, saying the quakes came minutes apart.