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News18 Afternoon Digest: Tomar-Shah Discuss Farmer Protests, Mehbooba Says Army Forced to Chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ & Other Top Stories

Farmers Protest: Tikri, Singhu Borders Shut, Ghazipur Border Partially Sealed as Farmers Stay Put

As farmers continue to block Delhi’s Tikri and Singhu borders forcing it to be shut for traffic movement, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar held deliberations over crop growers’ protest against the three central farm laws with BJP president JP Nadda. Thousands of protesting farmers have stayed put at Ghazipur-Ghaziabad (Delhi-UP) border and Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border). LIVE UPDATES

‘Govt’s Vision of Integrating J&K into India’: Mehbooba Claims Army Forced Locals to Chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’

Jammu and Kashmir’s former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday claimed that Army personnel dragged civilians out of their homes in the middle of the night, thrashed them with batons and forced them to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’. She further took a jibe at the BJP-ruled Centre and said that it “seems like this is GOI’s vision for integrating J&K into India”. “Army personnel drags civilians out of their homes in the middle of the night, thrash them with batons & then force these innocent men to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’. Seems like this is GOI’s ‘vision’ for integrating J&K into India now,” Mufti tweeted along with a media publication detailing the incident. READ MORE

‘Even if Nehru had to Beg, Borrow…’: New Book Reveals How Former PM Rebuilt Indian Army After 1962 War

Contrary to the current perception built by a section hostile to Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister had “worked himself to death” to restore and rebuild the Indian defence forces after the 1962 Indo-Chinese conflict. Octogenarian Prem Prakash, chairman of the Asian News international [ANI], in his memoirs, ‘Reporting India – My Seventy Year Journey As A Journalist’ [Penguin Random House India] states, “It is my belief that in the twenty months that he lived after October 1962, Nehru did a great deal to restore the defence capability and strengthen the Indian Army. He felt personally responsible for its earlier decline and needed to reclaim the confidence of Indians people.” READ MORE

Kejriwal Directs Reducing Rates of RT-PCR Test in Capital; Tamil Nadu Govt Extends Covid Restrictions Till Dec 30

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said he has issued directives to reduce the price of the RT-PCR test in the national capital, saying it will help those going to private labs for COVID-19 tests. Currently, people have to spend Rs 2,400 for the RT-PCR test at private labs. “I have directed that the rates of RT PCR tests be reduced in Delhi. Whereas tests are being conducted free of cost in govt establishments, however this will help those who get their tests done in pvt labs,” Kejriwal tweeted. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in reply to the chief minister’s tweet said orders for this will be issued immediately. LIVE UPDATES

Stopped from Betting on IPL Matches, Hyderabad Man Poisons Mother and Sister

Aman in Hyderabad killed his mother and sister for objecting to him betting on the IPL cricket tournament with money from his dead father’s savings, police said on Sunday. The accused Sainath Reddy’s father Prabhakar, former resident of Rawalkol village in Medchal District, died in a road accident three years ago. After his death, Prabhakar’s wife Sunita, daughter Anusha and Sainath had been living together. An amount of Rs 20 lakh, from life insurance claim and land sale was deposited as the family’s savings. READ MORE

Colombian Youtuber Might Face Charges For Pranking People Into Eating Soap Covered With Chocolate

Social media influencers often engage in weird and off-beat acts in the race to garner more followers. But sometimes they might get too far while trying to score more eyeballs and what initially might seem a fun idea for a social media video might just be in poor taste. This is exactly what happened with a Colombian social media influencer who, in a bid to ‘prank’ people, came under scrutiny of the law when he made poor and homeless people eat soap bars covered in molten chocolate, Daily Mail reported. READ MORE

Argentine Prosecutors Investigate Diego Maradona’s Doctor for Involuntary Manslaughter

Argentine justice officials are investigating the death of football legend Diego Maradona and ordered the search of properties of his personal doctor on Sunday, a local prosecutor’s office said. Maradona died at age 60 of a heart attack on Wednesday. The search order was requested by prosecutors in the affluent Buenos Aires suburb San Isidro and signed by a local judge, according to a statement issued by the prosecutor’s office. READ MORE

Source: News18