Headlines at 10:30 am on 20th June 2022 – The Indian Express

You are listening to the Expresso News Update. Here is the latest news from The Indian Express.Let us begin with the top headline: The military leadership yesterday ruled out the rollback of the Agnipath scheme, even as thousands of aspirants continue to protest across the country, and many Opposition parties also lent their support to the protesters, asking the government to rethink or rollback the new policy.

As the protests didnt let up for the fifth day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with the service chiefs for the second time in two days. Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Air Force Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari met Singh yesterday morning. The three chiefs had met Singh Saturday as well.Amid continuous protests happening across the country over the Agnipath Scheme, a senior Army official Lt General Anil Puri, Additl Secy, Dept of Military Affairs said that there is no place for indiscipline in the Armed Forces and all candidates will have to give a written pledge that they did not indulge in any arson or violence.

In other news: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi. Addressing the event, the PM said, New Indias youth is excelling in every sport. Theyre making records. We won 7 medals in Tokyo Olympics and 19 in the Paralympics. We also won Thomas Cup after many decades

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India is looking forward to working on new areas of cooperation with Bangladesh, which include artificial intelligence, cyber security, start-ups and fintech.

Jaishankar, who held a bilateral meeting with visiting Foreign minister of Bangladesh, A K Abdul Momen, said, We now look forward to working with you to take our ties to new domains Artificial Intelligence, cyber security, startups, fintech.

The seventh round of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) was held in New Delhi on Sunday.Moving on to some other national news: In seperate incidents, two SpiceJet aircraft returned to their airports of origin shortly after take-off yesterday with one suffering a bird hit in Patna and the other from Delhi facing a technical glitch that led to a cabin pressurisation issue. In a third incident, an IndiGo aircraft turned back to Guwahati a few minutes after takeoff due to a bird hit.

All the three incidents will be probed by the aviation safety regulator DGCA.

On Sunday afternoon, a Delhi-bound Boeing 737-800 operated by the Gurugram-based low-cost airline made an emergency landing in Patna, minutes after take-off from there, after one of its engines suffered a bird hit. The aircraft was carrying 185 passengers and six crew members.Meanwhile, a day after an Islamic State-claimed attack on one of the main gurdwaras in Kabul that killed two people and injured at least three, the Indian government granted visas to 111 Afghan Sikhs who wanted to come to the country.

Sources said the decision to grant the e-visas were taken within hours of the attack, which took place on Saturday when 25-30 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus had gathered at Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita Guru Gobind Singh Karte Parwan, the central gurdwara of the Afghan Sikh community in Kabul, for the Sukhmani Sahib or morning prayers. A group of gunmen, believed to be around four in number, stormed the gurdwara and opened fire.

In some political news: Polling for 46 municipalities in Haryana registered a 10 percentage point drop from last years voter turnout amid ongoing protests against the Agnipath scheme.

Election officials told The Indian Express that at 6 pm, the voter turnout was 70.4 per cent and was expected to touch 72 per cent as poll booths saw queues till late evening. According to an official, the voting in 42 of the 46 municipalities was nearly 80 per cent in 2016; voting in the remaining four municipalities started this year.

An official said the protests against the Agnipath scheme might be a reason behind the low turnout this time even though there were no major protests reported on Sunday.Lastly, amid continuing protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, the Opposition raised pitch for its withdrawal, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appealing to the youth to recognise fake nationalists and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav asking if the RSS has a hidden agenda behind the scheme.

Speaking at the Congresss satyagraha against the scheme at Jantar Mantar, Priyanka said the Congress supports the struggle of the youth, who should fight to bring to power a government which represents true patriots.

She said: Follow democratic means, walk on the path of truth and non-violence and bring down this government. You should strive to bring a government which shows true patriotism.

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Headlines at 10:30 am on 20th June 2022 - The Indian Express