124: News18.com Daybreak | Kumaraswamy's Swearing-in, 11 Killed in Police Firing In TN and Stories You May Have Missed

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Protests against Vedanta's Sterlite copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi took a violent turn on Tuesday with at least 11 people being killed in alleged police firing. Thirty others were left injured as a mob of 20,000 people went on a rampage in the city, demanding the copper unit be shut down because it has been polluting groundwater and air in surrounding areas. This is not the first time that the plant has been in the centre of controversy.

Ending speculation over the contours of government formation, Congress’ general secretary KC Venugopal revealed that G Parameshwara will be Kumaraswamy’s Karnataka Deputy CM. The Congress has bagged 22 berths in HD Kumaraswamy’s Cabinet while the JDS will get to appoint 11 ministers, the two parties revealed on Tuesday after days of hectic bargaining over the power sharing formula in Karnataka. Read more on the Cong-JD(s) berth sharing here.

In a cabinet meeting held in Lucknow on Tuesday, the Yogi Adityanath government passed an order to make it mandatory for all madrasas in Uttar Pradesh to start teaching in English and Hindi medium besides Urdu. They have also been asked to follow the NCERT syllabus prescribed for schools. Moreover, subjects like Science, Mathematics, English, Hindi and Social Science would also be introduced in the madrasa curriculum.

The UP CM also ordered closure of all the tanneries in Kanpur from December 15, 2018 to March 15, 2019 in order to keep the river Ganga clean during the Kumbh in Allahabad.

Almost 10 year ago, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan had promised a college for the people of this village in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki and even laid its foundation stone. The superstar and his family could however, not do anything more than that. The people of Daulatpaur in Barabanki district took it upon themselves and have now successfully established a degree college here.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the state government was happy to welcome dedicated doctors who volunteer to serve in Kozhikode district affected by outbreak of the Nipah virus that has claimed ten lives. Responding to a request of Dr Kafeel Khan, an accused in the BRD medical college infant tragedy case in Uttar Pradesh, Vijayan said that in this regard the government was happy to welcome doctors like Khan to work in the state.

Amid a tussle between the Lt Governor and the AAP dispensation over a range of issues, the city government has revived its demand for full statehood to Delhi, with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday announcing a special three-day session of the Assembly on the issue next month.

Karnataka chief minister-designate H D Kumaraswamy acknowledged on Tuesday that running the Congress-JD(S) coalition government over the next five years will be a "big challenge" for him. “I'm not expecting that I will be able to fulfill my responsibilities as chief minister easily," HDK who will be sworn in as chief minister on Wednesday, said.

Clashes with police also took place in West Bengal when members of Bajrang Dal went on a rampage and clashed with police in Purulia district on Tuesday. The clash followed the arrest of the right-wing outfit’s district co-convenor for an alleged objectionable Facebook post regarding the recently concluded Panchayat polls and his alleged role in armed Ram Navami processions in March. Following the arrest, the outfit called for a bandh in Purulia, put up road blockades and held pitched battles with the police at various locations. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob. Several people, including a woman, was injured in the clashes.

A JD(S)-Congress coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy will be sworn-in on Wednesday in Karnataka at a ceremony attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders and chief ministers, a development that could plant a seed for a broad-based anti-BJP platform before the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Facing "crisis situation" created by rising fuel prices, the government is likely to come out with "some steps" this week to deal with record high petrol and diesel rates, a senior official said on Tuesday. Petrol costs Rs 76.87 per litre in Delhi and diesel costs Rs 68.08 a litre. In last nine days, petrol price has risen by Rs 2.24 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.15.

Agree or disagree?

Over-speeding is fatal. So is overconfidence. The BJP top brass has learnt this the hard way in Karnataka as its efforts to install a government there not only floundered, but have coalesced their detractors — the Left and the Right, the regional and the national — at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are not far. The BJP strategy to quickly install the party's government in the key southern state has given a boost to the badly divided opposition to close ranks for diverse reasons.

With Karnataka out of the way, the BJP has now turned its attention to Odisha. That is the message the party wanted to send out loud and clear when it announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address a rally in the historic city of Cuttack on May 26 to mark the fourth anniversary of his government. Odisha is important for the BJP for two reasons. Read what they are here.

On reel

Three of the 10 deaths caused by a mystery viral fever in Kerala’s Kozhikode were confirmed to have been caused by the Nipah virus, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has said. The Nipah virus symptoms bear similarity to vector-borne viral diseases and these patients were tested for all others, including dengue and H1N1 before someone thought of Nipah. Watc the video to find out all about the deadly virus which first appeared in 1998.