Telangana govt celebrates Rs 66 crore Iftar party admits public criticism  In a lavish series of events, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandshekar Rao held the grand 'Dawat-e-Iftar' event, on Friday organised by his cabinet, worth Rs 66 crore. Attended by prominent personalities from the political circle including Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi, KCR lauded that his state is setting an example in minority welfare. While the budget of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs is around ₹4,000 crore, Telangana is the only state with a ₹2,000 crore budget for minorities welfare,” KCR told the audience gathered at LB Stadium in Hyderabad. Earlier in the day, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Hyderabad High Court against the event, followed by social activists also approaching the judicial body alleging the CM of misusing public funds. ________________ Dead body found in Rashtrapati Bhavan's servant quarters In a shocki...

STORY OF THE DAY Maharashtra Kisan Morcha: Protest ends, railways to run special trains for farmers The 35,000 farmers from all across Maharashtra, ended their protest on Monday as the government agreed to fulfill their demands. Girish Mahajan said they had a positive meeting with the Kisan Sabha leaders. “They had around 12-13 demands out of which we have accepted some and will be giving a written draft on it", he said. The farmers, on their seventh day of protest reached Mumbai, with the intention of surrounding the State Assembly, demanding complete loan waiver from the government. Defending his government, CM Devendra Fadnavis, said “Since the 1st day of the protest, we tried to discuss issues with them (farmers). But they were firm on taking out the protest." The Central Railways also announced special trains being run to take the farmers back to their villages. __________________ Mangalore Court acquits all accused in the 2009 pub attack case Al...

Periyar's statue attacked in Chennai, hours after BJP leader's threat Hours after BJP Minister H Raja threatened on social media, that the statue of Dravidian revolutionary, Periyar, in Chennai will be vandalized, it was attacked on late Tuesday night by two men. In the attack that took place at a municipal office in Vellore district, the glasses and nose of the statue were broken by a BJP and a CPI member, as identified by the police. Raja’s threat came on the same day when two statues of Russian Communist leader, Vladmir Lenin, were razed down by mobs in Tripura, just two days after BJP won assembly elections in the state, ending the 25-year-old rule of the Communist Party. ________________________ Sri Lanka declares 10 days of  emergency over communal clashes Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days following communal unrest between the Buddhist and Muslim communities on Tuesday. Properties of Muslim communities, including apartmen...

Dalit Law student dies after beaten up by public in Allahabad A second-year law student was beaten to death by a group of men outside a restaurant in Allahabad. The entire incident was caught on CCTV. Twenty-six-year-old Dileep, a second-year LLB student, had reportedly gone to a restaurant for a meal in Karnalganj along with two friends on Friday. An altercation broke out between Dileep and few persons, outside the eatery. The men soon started assaulting Dileep with bricks and sticks, leaving him seriously injured. He succumbed to his injuries on Sunday _________________ 71 ‘onboard’ dead as Russian plane crashes in Moscow A plane operated by Russia’s Saratov Airlines crashed in the Moscow region on Sunday, killing all 71 people on board, Russian news agencies said, citing sources in the emergency services. There were 65 passengers and six crew members onboard the plane which went missing from radars less than 10 minutes after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo a...