From the Newsroom: Hafiz Saeed jailed for 10 years; Bihar Education Minister Mewalal Choudhary resigns

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 10 years in jail; Four Jaish-e-Mohammed militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir; Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says coronavirus vaccine will be available in a couple of months; parliamentary committee questioned Twitter the recent tweets by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra; Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge lashes out at colleagues for “weakening the party from within”; Bihar Education Minister Mewalal Choudhary resigns three days after taking oath, and Karnataka government says it is aiming to mould the state into a $300 billion digital economy in the next five years.

Here is the top news of November 19, 2020:

Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in two more terror cases.

Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in February this year in two terror financing cases. He is lodged at the Lahore's high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.

Four freshly infiltrated militants, believed to be affiliated with Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, were killed in an encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Jammu, on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, on Thursday morning.

Two policemen were also injured after the militants opened fire at the security team when the truck, on way to Kashmir, was stopped at around 4.45 am for a security check at Ban toll plaza near Nagrota, police said. The group of terrorists onboard a truck was on its way to Kashmir valley.

Noting that it is natural to prioritise the Covid-19 vaccine distribution process, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said healthcare workers and people aged above 65 years will be given coronavirus vaccine on priority.

Addressing the FICCI FLO's National Webinar on 'The Shifting Healthcare Paradigm During and Post-Covid', Vardhan said coronavirus vaccine will be available in a couple of months and it is estimated that by July-August, 400-500 million vaccine doses will be made available for 25-30 crore people.

A parliamentary committee questioned Twitter on Thursday over the recent "obscene" tweets by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra targeting the Supreme Court and the chief justice of India (CJI), and sought reply from the social media giant over the matter within seven days, said the panel's chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi.

This came close on the heels of Twitter apologising in writing to the same parliamentary panel for wrongly showing Ladakh in China and promising to correct the error by the month-end.

Twitter India representatives deposed before the Joint Committee of Parliament on Data Protection Bill on Thursday.

With the Congress facing an unresolved leadership crisis, party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday lashed out at his colleagues for “weakening the party from within” and questioned their credibility as leaders.

“I am pained by the way some senior leaders have spoken about the party and our leader,” Kharge said during an event to mark the birthday of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

“On one hand, we have the BJP-RSS on our back. On the other hand, we have internal rumblings. We can’t go forward if we have people weakening the party from within. If our ideology weakens, we will be destroyed,” he said.

Three days after being sworn in as Bihar’s Education Minister, Mewalal Choudhary resigned on Thursday. The JD(U) MLA from Tarapur in Munger, who was one of the five ministers from Nitish’s outfit, was in the eye of storm ever since he took oath. He was reportedly facing corruption cases for irregular appointments of assistant professors and junior scientists when he was earlier the Vice Chancellor of an agriculture university.

Besides, the Opposition on Thursday posted a video which showed that “the Education Minister does not even know the national anthem.” Hugely embarrassed, Nitish summoned Mewalal before asking him to tender his resignation on Thursday.

The Karnataka government said on Thursday it is aiming to mould the state into a $300 billion digital economy in the next five years. It is also targeting to garner 50 per cent market share of India's bio-economy (biotechnology-economy) by 2025.

"One of the key goals of the State is to achieve 50 per cent market share of the national bio-economy target of 100 billion US dollars by the year 2025 and necessary steps have already been taken," Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said at Bengaluru Tech Summit, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Source: DHNS/PTI