New Delhi, Officials are entitled to travel in Indian Railways trains with their families only in accordance with norms, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said in a written statement in the Lok Sabha.. Officials can travel if norms permit: Vaishnaw on free Palace on Wheels, Maharaja Express trips. Vaishnaw made the statement in response to a question concerning the justification for allowing officials to travel complimentary with their spouses on luxurious trains such as the Palace on Wheels and the Maharaja Express.. VS Matheswaran, an MP from Tamil Nadu, raised the issue, asking the railway minister to provide the names and designations of railway officials who have been granted complimentary travel on these luxury trains since 2012.. The Palace on Wheels and the Maharaja Express are the most luxurious trains in the country, whose fare ranges from ₹4 lakh to ₹22 lakh per person, depending on the class and tour categories.. Matheswaran also questioned the reasoning behind permitting railway officials on official duty to travel with their spouses at public expense in these luxury trains.. “Railway officials are entitled to travel in Indian Railways trains with their families in accordance with Railway Servants Rules, 1986 only,” Vaishnaw said.. Additionally, the MP from Tamil Nadu sought information on the timeline for completing the construction of a lift at Karur railway station.. “Development works at Karur Junction station under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme have been taken up at a good pace. The works of improvement of station building, main entrance arch, platform widening and surfacing of platform no 1, platform shelter at platform no 2/3 and 4/5, AC waiting hall, general waiting hall, toilet at platform no 1, 2/3 and 4/5, circulating area and parking have been completed,” Vaishnaw said.. He added, “The works of platform surfacing at platform no. 2/3 and 4/5, water booth, seating arrangement, lift, escalator and 12-metre Foot Over Bridge have been taken up.”. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. 

 The ministry of road transport and highways has built 7,211km of national highways till February, well short of its 10,000km target for the current financial year, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.. Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari speaks in the Rajya Sabha. (PTI). The average pace has dropped to 21.5km per day, down from 29.21km per day in 2024-25 and 33.83km per day in 2023-24. The highest expansion — 13,327km — was recorded in 2020-21, also at an average of 33.83km per day.. Gadkari presented the data while replying to a question by BRS MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra. In the same response, Gadkari said 660 under-construction National Highway projects have overshot their original completion timelines. This excludes projects currently under consideration for termination or foreclosure. The highest number of delayed projects is in Maharashtra (62), followed by Andhra Pradesh (50) and Uttar Pradesh (48).. Responding to a separate question from AAP MP Ashok Kumar Mittal, Gadkari said the average time taken by a vehicle to cross a toll plaza under electronic toll operations is around 40 seconds, compared to 12.23 minutes under the earlier manual system. This marks a substantial improvement in traffic flow and reduced congestion, based on an impact assessment of the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) Programme for 2024–25. 

 An Iftar party on the Ganga River has sparked a row in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, 14 men were arrested on allegations of eating chicken biryani and discarding its remains in the river.. As per Jaiswal, the men discarded chicken biryani and chicken bones into the river during their iftar. His complaint adds that the act was done “deliberately” to hurt Hindu sentiments. (AP/Representational). A viral video on X showed 14 men marking their iftar on boats on the Ganges River. The men were arrested on a complaint from Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Varanasi city unit president, Rajat Jaiswal, who accused them of discarding the remnants of chicken biryani in the river.. “A video went viral on Monday, purportedly showing a group of people holding an Iftar party on a boat on the Ganga and consuming biryani during the gathering,” Vijay Pratap Singh, additional commissioner of police (ACP), said on Tuesday.. As reported by HT earlier, a case has been registered under sections 298 (defiling a place of worship), 299 (malicious act with intent to outrage religious feelings), 196(1)(B) (promoting enmity), 270 (public nuisance), 279 (fouling water of a public spring or water reservoir), and 223(B) (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).. What are the allegations?. As per Jaiswal, the men discarded chicken biryani and chicken bones into the river during their iftar. His complaint adds that the act was done “deliberately” to hurt Hindu sentiments.. “The Ganga holds deep and unshakeable faith for followers of Sanatan Dharma. Thousands of devotees from across the country and the world visit Kashi every day to perform rituals and offer prayers using Ganga water,” said Jaiswal.. “This act has hurt religious sentiments,” he added.. While the viral video shows the men eating the meal aboard a boat on the Ganga river, the video does not show them discarding bones and leftovers into the river.. The police has also said that the allegations against the men are being investigated.. Meanwhile, another video has been going viral on social media which shows another group of men holding iftar aboard a boat on the Ganga. However, this appears to be a different video and not related to the arrest of the 14 other men.. Gyanvapi Mosque managing committee condemns act. Amid the row, SM Yaseen, joint secretary of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee has criticised the youths.. “It came to light that certain ignorant individuals were hosting a roza iftar on a boat. Iftar is a purely religious observance; it is neither a social outing nor a picnic. It is mandatory to offer the Maghrib prayers immediately after Iftar. Therefore, hosting roza iftar on board a boat is against the religion. There is no place for such an act.”. The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (AIMC) is the Muslim management body responsible for overseeing the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. 

 A fresh row has erupted over the recently-tabled Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which activists say, reduces the scope of the current law that was passed in 2019 to protect the rights and benefits of transgender persons across the country.. Members of the Odisha Transgenders Association stage a demonstration, demanding withdrawal of the Centre’s proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, in Bhubaneswar. (PTI). Union minister for social justice and empowerment Virendra Kumar presented the bill in the Lok Sabha on March 13. The proposal aims to introduce changes to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.. ALSO READ | ‘Lawmakers’ imaginations of trans bodies’: Activists reject amendment Bill in its entirety. What is the issue?. In 2014, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling that recognised transgender persons as a separate gender category. It said every individual has the fundamental right to choose their own gender identity.. Then, in 2019, the Parliament brought in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. This law barred discrimination against transgender persons in areas such as education, housing, employment, healthcare and access to public services.. Now, in 2026, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, has been introduced in Parliament. The concern raised by activists and members of the transgender community is about how the term “transgender person” has been defined in this new bill.. It all comes down to the definition. The bill states that a clear definition is needed to ensure proper identification and protection of transgender persons, so that the benefits under the current law reach the right people.. Under the proposed changes, protection is meant only for those “who face severe social exclusion due to biological reasons for no fault of their own and no choice of their own.”. This approach goes back to the understanding that existed before 2014, placing focus on biological factors to decide eligibility. In its 2014 ruling, the top court had upheld the right to self-identify one’s gender, allowing a person to identify as male, female or third gender.. The self-identification factor. Self-identification refers to how a person understands their own gender. Gender reflects a person’s way of being. It shapes how they feel, dress, interact and behave. A person’s gender identity develops through their own sense of self as well as how society recognises them.. In cases where a person’s sex and gender do not match, the need to affirm one’s identity becomes important. The right to decide one’s own identity helps individuals claim space that society may not provide.. The concern now is that the bill moves away from the basic principle of self-identification of gender. So, it restricts the law to a limited group of transpeople who belong to certain socio-cultural communities that are more visible in 

 Sikh student died after being assaulted during a clash between two groups of youths in Canada on March 14.. File photo of Gurkirat Manocha. (LinkedIn). Gurkirat Manocha, 26, hailed from Ujjain and was pursuing a business management post-degree diploma programme at Northern Lights College in Canada’s British Columbia. Track updates on Iran US war. Gurkirat had gone to Canada approximately 15 months ago for higher studies. The family resides at Parshvanath Colony in Ujjain.. On March 14, after a dispute between college students, he was attacked near Charlie Lake, resulting in his death, his family said.. Also read: Badrinath Kedarnath temple committee says Sara Ali Khan must submit proof of faith as Sanatani to visit | Explainer. Gurkirat’s father Gurjeet Singh stated that the entire matter is being investigated by the Canadian police, and only after the investigation is complete will the cause of the incident and other details become clear.. The family members said that with the help of the government, they want to bring Gurkirat’s body here and perform his last rites.. Also read: Khamenei to Larijani: All faces Israel says it eliminated and Iran now seeks revenge for. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday met the family members of the deceased and assured that the state government would bear the expenses of bringing his body home. “The state government will bear the cost of bringing Gurkirat’s body and performing his last rites,” the statement quoted Yadav as saying.