Live news update: Congress president Rahul Gandhi to set up a task force on national security

Congress President Rahul Gandhi to set up a Task Force on National Security to prepare a vision paper for the country. Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) to lead the Task Force and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts.

In the latest incident of assault on Kashmiri students after the Pulwama terror attack, students from the northern state studying in a college in Yavatmal were attacked by members of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, police said on Thursday.

The attack happened on Wednesday night, police said. The students were also threatened, they added.

A video of the incident has gone viral on the social media and a case has been registered at the Yavatmal police station. The students were attacked around 10 pm outside their rented accommodation on Waghapur Road, police said.

In the absence of injured Harmanpreet Kaur, Indian women’s ODI skipper Mithali Raj said depending on the situation she might change her batting order in the forthcoming home series against England, starting on Friday.

The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against unidentified officials to probe allegations of nepotism and other irregularities in selections by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission when Mayawati was chief minister in 2010, officials said.

The selection of officials were at the rank of additional private secretary, they said.

The agency had taken up this enquiry on a complaint by the Uttar Pradesh government which was referred to it in January.

One of the allegations states that a relative of a public servant was preferred over other eligible candidates, the officials said.

Farmers under All India Kisan Sabha in Nashik, continue to march to the state Legislative Assembly in Mumbai, over demands of complete loan waiver for farmers and implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations among others in Maharashtra.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to address booth-level workers of the party in Goa in the first week of March.

Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar said Gandhi would be speaking to the booth-level workers about the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Chodankar also said the party will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday met protesting employees of his government who are demanding restructuring of the Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services (DASS) and steno cadre.

Three members of the Delhi Government Employees Welfare Association (DGEWA) have been sitting on a hunger-strike outside the Delhi Secretariat for the last four days in favour of their demands.

Normal life was hit in Itanagar on Thursday as several students' bodies and civil societies called for a 48-hour bandh, seeking changes in the proposals made by a government-appointed panel on the issue of granting permanent residence certificate (PRC) to non-Arunachalees.

The Joint High Power Committee, after holding parleys with the stakeholders, has recommended granting PRC to six communities, who are not natives of Arunachal Pradesh but has been living in Namsai and Changlang districts for decades.

The mortal remains of Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi, who was killed in the mid-air crash between two aircraft of Indian Air Force's aerobatic team Surya Kiran near Bengaluru, were consigned to the flames with full state honours on Thursday.

Earlier, the mortal remains of Sahil arrived at the Hisar airport by an Air Force helicopter. Some IAF officers also accompanied the mortal remains.

In Bhima-Koregaon case, Pune Police files a 1,837 page charge-sheet against Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and wanted accused Ganapathy, the former General Secretary of banned organisation CPI(M).

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah responded to the government’s decision to remove the security cover for 155 Jammu and Kashmir politicians and tweeted saying “I have no doubt this step was taken without taking in to consideration inputs from central and state intelligence agencies which can only mean it’s been done for political purposes and there is an element of pick and choose at play here.”

He also said, “I would like to encourage Jammu and Kashmir governor to reconsider this step. If it is not revisited we will approach the courts and ask them to intervene. At a time when mainstream political parties should be encouraged to step up their activities and build greater contact with people to counter the forces that have supported radicalisation and violence this will have the opposite fallout.”

He expressed his concerns about how this would impact those in Jammu and Kashmir and said, “Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers and office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the valley. This is regardless of the fact that no one from Jammu Kashmir National Conference has had their security withdrawn in yesterday’s list.”

The CPIM on Thursday demanded sacking of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy over his support for calls of boycotting Kashmir in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

Describing Roy's comments as "outrageous", the CPI(M)'s Politburo in a statement said the governor's endorsement comes at time when Kashmiris, particularly students, across the country were being victimised.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday alleged that the BJP was busy in inaugurations at a time the kin of the CRPF men killed in Pulwama terror attack were mourning the loss of their dear ones.

Addressing a press conference at the SP headquarter here along with Patidar leader Hardik Patel, the former UP chief minister said the government should explain how the bus carrying security personnel was hit by an explosive-laden vehicle.

The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed its former judge, Justice D K Jain as the first ombudsman for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and A M Sapre said: "We are happy that by consent of the parties and the suggestions, the name of retired Justice D K Jain has been agreed to be appointed as the ombudsman in the BCCI.

"We accordingly appoint Justice (retired) D K Jain as first ombudsman in the BCCI.

Jawans of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to take a commercial flight to join duty or while going on leave as the government Thursday issued authorisation orders, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)". "This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, ie, while going on leave from J-K to home and return," it said.

Authorities on Thursday lifted day curfew in Jammu, facilitating resumption of normal activities in the city that saw massive protests following the Pulwama terror attack.

Markets reopened and public transport was back on the roads. Schools also reopened after week-long closure due to curfew and restrictions. Jammu District Magistrate Ramesh Kumar issued two orders announcing relaxation of curfew in all areas of Jammu district from 7 AM to 6 PM for 11 hours.

The district magistrate initially ordered relaxation in the curfew in the entire city from 7 AM to 2 PM and later extended the relaxation period till 6 PM, as per the order.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted stating, “The brave are martyred. Their families struggle.40 Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of “Shaheed”. While this man (Anil Ambani) has never given and only taken. He’s gifted ₹30,000 Cr of their money and will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modi’s NEW INDIA.”

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav moves Supreme Court seeking bail in three cases in fodder scam, citing ill health. Yadav had moved SC challenging the order of Jharkhand High Court which had rejected his bail application

International Shooting Sport Federation stated that the World Cup that is due to take place in New Delhi faces an urgent situation as Pakistani athletes can't get entry visas due to terror attacks last days in India. ISSF and the Organizing Committee are making all efforts to resolve the situation to avoid the discrimination of the Pakistani team.

“How did terrorists acquire a huge amount of RDX and rocket launchers? 48 hours before the attack JeM released a video warning of attack. There was an intelligence report also on 8th February. Why were these warnings ignored?” asks Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala at a press conference said, “When the whole country was mourning the loss of lives of our jawans in Pulwama attack in the afternoon, PM Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film in Jim Corbett park till evening. Is there any PM in the world like this? I have no words really.”

The farmers' long march from Nashik to Mumbai will continue after their leaders' late night parleys with Maharashtra government to address their demands remained inconclusive, the march organisers said on Thursday.

Farmers have embarked on a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai for the second time in the last 12 months to protest against what they termed as the "betrayal" of peasants by the BJP governments at the state and centre.

The Kisan Long March-2, expected to take over nine days to complete, is being organised by the CPI(M)-backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Security cover of 18 separatist leaders and 155 Jammu and Kashmir politicians has been withdrawn in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which over 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

An order issued by the Home Department late on Wednesday said security cover of separatists and some mainstream politicians was also being withdrawn/downgraded apart from those that were initially withdrawn on February 18.

As per the new order, the new list includes names from the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.