New Delhi [India], March 4 (ANI): Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar on Thursday condoled the demise of R Krishnamurthy, former editor of Tamil daily ‘Dinamalar’.
“Saddened to hear the demise of R Krishnamurthy ji. His contribution was instrumental in making Dinamalar, one of the most popular Tamil Dailies. Deep condolences, may God give strength to his family to bear the loss. Om Shanti,” Javadekar said in a tweet.
Krishnamurthy, a renowned epigraphist, passed away at the age of 88 on Thursday morning. He had played a pivotal role in simplifying the Tamil script. He is survived by his wife K Rajalakshmi, two sons and two daughters.
Dinamalar was founded in 1951 by TV Ramasubba Iyer and Krishnamurthy had joined it in 1956.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and former Karnataka minister CT Ravi also expressed his condolences on Krishnamurthy’s death.
“Pained to learn about the sad demise of Thiru R Krishnamurthy, the former editor of popular Tamil daily Dinamalar. Fondly known as RK, Thiru Krishnamurthy published many papers and books on Tamil script, epigraphy and numismatics. I pray for the Sadgati of His Soul. Om Shanti.” he tweeted. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 4 (ANI): Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday demanded that the State Government should immediately release and implement the recommendations of the Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission’s socio-economic survey report.
“Karnataka Chief Minister’s (CM) decision to constitute a high-level 3 member committee, to study the reservation demands is nothing but an attempt to buy time and mislead people for political gains.”
“If CM had an honest intention to permanently resolve the issues surrounding reservation demands, he should immediately release the social and economic census report and implement it,” he added.
He also asked the Karnataka State Government to demand from the Central Government that it extend the cap for total reservation.
“The demand to change the reservation category for various castes can be permanently resolved only by increasing the total reservation limit. CM of Karnataka should place this demand immediately in front of the Central Government.”
“The ongoing reservation issue is the result of Karnataka BJP and RSS’s cruel political game. The people of Karnataka will teach BJP a lesson,” he added. (ANI)

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 4 (ANI): Three Bengali celebrities on Thursday joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead of the forthcoming Assembly polls.
Singer Aditi Munshi, who is also the wife of North 24 Parganas Trinamool Youth Congress president Debraj Chakraborty, joined TMC at the party headquarters in Kolkata in the presence of the veteran leader and MP Sougata Roy.
Earlier today, actor and film director Dheeraj Pandit and actor Subhadra Mukherjee joined the TMC here.
Also, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Usha Chowdhury changed camp and joined TMC along with the actors.
Elections for the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal will begin on March 27. The state is set to witness eight-phase Assembly polls this year. (ANI)

Kochi (Kerala) [India], March 4 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday served a notice to journalist TP Nandakumar and summoned him to its Kochi office in connection with the SNC-Lavalin corruption case in Kerala.
ED has asked Nandakumar to reach its office at 11 am on Friday with evidence related to the SNC-Lavalin corruption case in which Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was one of the accused.
In 2006, Nandakumar had filed a complaint with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against Vijayan, current Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Issac, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) polit bureau member MA Baby.
Vijayan was accused of allegedly hatching a criminal conspiracy while he was serving as the Electricity Minister of Kerala from May 1996 to October 1998.
Vijayan and other senior executives of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) — former Power Department secretary K Mohanachandran and former joint secretary A Francis — were accused of allegedly awarding the contract for renovation and modernisation of few hydroelectric projects to a Canada-based company SNC-Lavalin at exorbitant rates.
However, the CBI court acquitted Vijayan and Kerala High Court withheld the decision due to lack of evidence against him. A plea against his acquittal by CBI is still pending in the Supreme Court. (ANI)

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 4 (ANI): In view of the Maha Shivaratri on March 11, devotees of Lord Shiva in Lucknow have started the Kanwar Yatra to the Lodheshwar Mahadev Mandir in Barabanki district where they will pay obeisance and offer Ganga water.
Lodheshwar Mahadev Mandir, an age-old temple of Lord Shiva, is located in Mahadeva village in tehsil Ram Nagar on the banks of river Ghaghra.
Speaking to ANI, Manoj, a Kanwariya said that many changes have taken place in the Yatra since Yogi Adityanath came to power in the state.
“At first, we were not allowed to have DJs with us during the yatra but now we have been given the permission to do so,” he said.
This is the first time the route of the yatra is via Hazratganj, Lucknow where the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is located.

Totu Mahant, another Kanwariya said, “With Yogi Adityanath becoming the Chief Minister, the Kanwar yatra has become hassle-free as he is himself a mahant and understands the significance of the yatra.”
Maha Shivaratri, which translates to the greatest night of Shiva, is one of the most celebrated festivals across the country.
It celebrates the marriage of the lord of destruction Shiva — with the goddess of fertility, love, and beauty — Parvati, who is also known as Shakti. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 4 (ANI): Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take action against media channels that are not members of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) if and were found to have violated Cable TV Networks Act in broadcasting content relating to actor Rakul Preet Singh.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh has sought the status report and listed the matter for further hearing on May 20.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has filed an affidavit through advocate Ajay Digpaul whereby it informed that NBSA has passed 10 orders in respect of the complaint filed by actor Rakul Preet.
These orders relate to action taken by NBSA news reports/programmes telecast by 13 TV channels.
The ministry also informed the Court that they are examining the representation of the petitioner.
The court was hearing actor Rakul Preet’s petition seeking an interim direction to the respondents to ensure that the media does not broadcast any programme or publish, print or circulate any article or write-ups relating to her in the drugs case.
The actor has alleged that the media has continued their slander campaign by not only re-broadcasting and reporting the earlier falsehoods but attributing statements to her during the investigation which she never made.
The petition was filed by advocates Aman Hingorani, Shweta Hingorani and Himanshu Yadav.
Rakul Preet’s name surfaced in a drug-case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. (ANI)