Top Stories on 1st November in a capsule

22 dead, 100 injured in NTPC boiler blast in UP’s Rai Bareli

At least 22 people lost their lives and more than 100 were injured in a blast at National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Rae Bareli on Wednesday. According to the District Magistrate of Rae Bareli, an ash-pipe exploded due to pressure, triggering the blast at the Unchahar power plant. The rescue operations started immediately, but more people are still feared trapped. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced ex-gratia of two lakh rupees to the family of the deceased, and rupees 25,000- 50,000 to those who are injured. NTPC is a government arm and  generates 25% of the power requirement of the country.
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 Businessman arrested for 5,000 crore money laundering scam

The Enforcement Directorate arrested businessman Gagan Dhawan on Tuesday for a money laundering scam. Dhawan had reportedly aided in bank loan frauds linked to Sterling Biotech, a Vadodara-based company and few other similar alleged illegal transactions. He is said to be a close aide of Ahmed Patel, the political secretary of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The CBI has alleged that the company had taken loans of over Rs. 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which have turned into non-performing assets. He was arrested from Delhi and will be produced before the court for further custody.
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Prepare ‘special courts’ to deal with cases involving politicians: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to create special courts to expedite trials of politicians. A bench of the apex court said the trials must be concluded within a year and this is in the interest of the nation. The SC told the government to finalise a plan and inform the court by December 13. The Centre objected to the lifetime ban on convicted politicians  but also said that it supports decriminalization of politics. These courts will be created on the lines of fast-track courts for the swift handling of cases against elected representatives, media reports said. 

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Delhi government bans hookah bars, to cancel trade licenses

The Delhi Government has currently banned all hookah bars in the city and has asked the Delhi Police and the Municipal Corporations to immediately cancel licenses of restaurants with these bars. Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said on Tuesday that hookah smoking is not allowed in non-smoking zones as per Section 4 of COTPA (Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act), as well as in the smoking zones. After several raids in various parts of Delhi and chemical analysis has "shown presence of nicotine in significant amount in almost all the samples", after the parlours claimed that they were using herbal products.

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Sensex, Nifty close at record highs, gain 1%

The Indian markets had a great start of the month as the Sensex and Nifty closed at record highs on Wednesday. The Nifty closed above 10,400 for the first time and the Sensex shot up 387 points and ended at 33,600. Collectively, the indices gained about 1% today. Airtel was the major gainer today, rising 8%, the most it has gained in 7 years. ICICI Bank, and SBI were the top gainers, while Dr Reddy’s Labs, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors and Bharti Infratel lost the most.

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Singing national anthem mandatory for staff: Jaipur Mayor

Jaipur mayor Ashok Lahoti has made it mandatory for all staff members to sing national anthem every morning and the national song, Vande Mataram, every evening. As per the order that came into effect from Tuesday, the national anthem will be played at 9.50am and the national song at 5.55pm every day at the JMC headquarters. On the first day, more than 350 JMC employees, including BJP party workers and councilors, sang the national anthem before beginning the day's work. The Mayor's statement has invited sharp criticism from the Congress and triggered a debate on patriotism.