From The Newsroom: Diganth, Aindrita Ray served notice by CCB; Rajnath says India committed to peaceful resolution of China row

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, CCB officials served notice to Diganth and Aindrita Ray in the drug scandal case; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says that India is committed to a peaceful resolution of the border stand-off with China in Ladakh and Flipkart says that it will create over 70,000 direct jobs ahead of its upcoming Big Billion Days sale and the festive season.

Here are the top news of today, Tuesday: September 15, 2020:

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said India is committed to a peaceful resolution of the current border stand-off with China in Ladakh but any attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo by the neighbouring country is unacceptable.

Making a statement in Lok Sabha, Singh also said the Indian Army has inflicted heavy costs including casualties on the Chinese side during the clash with the PLA at the Galwan valley on June 15.

The defence minister said since April, buildup of troops and armaments by the Chinese side has been witnessed in the border areas adjacent to eastern Ladakh.

He said in early May, the Chinese side had taken action to hinder the normal, traditional patrolling pattern of Indian troops in the Galwan Valley area, which resulted in a face-off.

Singh said even as this situation was being addressed by the ground commanders as per the provisions of the bilateral agreements and protocol, in mid-May the Chinese side made several attempts to transgress the LAC in other parts of the Western Sector.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials have served notice to couple Diganth and Aindrita Ray in a Sandalwood linked drug scandal case on Tuesday afternoon. The couple are asked to appear before the CCB officials in the CCB office on Wednesday around 11 am.

Sandeep Patil, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) confirmed the notice has been issued to the couple. They will be interrogated related to the drug case.

Diganth is the first male actor from Sandalwood to get a notice from CCB.

A senior officer said, "we cannot disclose the exact evidence against the couple or which accused has revealed their names, tomorrow once we question them, further details can be shared. Aindrita and Diganth have received the notice and assured the police to appear tomorrow."

Veteran actor and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday charged that the film industry was being defamed and slammed those from the entertainment industry indulging in it, saying they are biting the hands that feed them.

Though Bachchan did not take any names, her remarks come a day after BJP's Lok Sabha MP and Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan said there was problem of drug addiction in the film industry and also actor Kangana Ranaut's recent remarks calling Bollywood a "gutter".

Through a Zero Hour mention in Rajya Sabha, Bachchan said the entertainment industry was being flogged by social media and asked the government to protect and support it.

Without taking names, the Samajwadi Party MP said she completely disagrees with those who called the entertainment industry a "gutter".

"People who have made a name in this industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree and I really disassociate," she said.

In a reference to Kishan's statement in Lok Sabha on the alleged Bollywood drug cartel, Bachchan said she was "really embarrassed and ashamed."

"Jis thali mein khate hai Usme chhed karte hai. Galat baat hai," she said referring to a popular Hindi proverb that means to bite the hands that feed you.

"I was really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday (September 14) one of our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the industry, spoke. I am not taking names. It is a shame," she said.

Phase-I clinical trials have revealed "excellent safety" of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and Cadila Healthcare Ltd and their immunogenicity testing is now in progress, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Their phase II clinical trials are going on, Choubey said in response to a question on the present status of the vaccine programme/clinical trials for Covid-19 undertaken by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and other private research centres in the country.

Choubey further informed that discussions on collaborations on the recombinant vaccine developed by Russia are ongoing. However, no formal studies have been initiated.

Serum Institute of India (SII) and ICMR have partnered for clinical development of two global vaccine candidates.

The first is ChAdOx1-S, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine developed by University of Oxford/AstraZeneca. This vaccine is undergoing phase III clinical trials in Brazil.

Homegrown e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart on Tuesday said it will create over 70,000 direct jobs ahead of its upcoming Big Billion Days (BBD) sale and the festive season.

The company will also create many more indirect seasonal jobs. While creating direct job opportunities across Flipkart's supply chain, that include delivery executives, pickers, packers and sorters, there will also be additional indirect jobs at Flipkart's seller partner locations and kiranas, the company said in a statement.

This will be further supplemented by job creation in ancillary industries including vendor locations, and freight partners, as the entire ecosystem scales up for the festive season, it said.

The onboarding of more than 50,000 kiranas by Flipkart for last-mile delivery will also create thousands of seasonal jobs to deliver millions of packages this festive season, the company said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to rechristen the under construction 'Mughal Museum' in Agra, about 350 kilometres from here, after the Maratha-Warrior king Shivaji.

''Mughals cannot be our heroes.....Shivaji is our real hero...his name will give rise to patriotic feelings in us,'' Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said.

The 'Mughal Museum' project was the brainchild of the then-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and was conceived in 2016. The Museum would have artefacts from Mughal and Braj (the region, where Lord Krishna was born).

While the opposition Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) termed the rechristening an attempt to divert the attention of the people from pressing issues, including unemployment and law and order, several BJP leaders hailed the decision

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and film actress Kangna Ranaut also welcomed the rechristening of the Mughal Museum.

Some BJP leaders now want the Taj Mahal, the 16th century ivory-white mausoleum on the bank of Yamuna river in Agra and one of the wonders of the world, to be rechristened as 'Tejolay' or 'Tejo Mahal' (a Shiva Temple).