Jammu and Kashmir: The 13th anniversary of the 1999 Kargil war between India and Pakistan was commemorated at the war memorial in Drass town in Kargil district (Hindustan Times). War veterans, senior army officials and widows of Indian soldiers killed during the war laid wreaths at the memorial. An enormous Indian flag, more than 37 feet, or 11 meters, long, was hoisted during the two-day event.
Assam: The Supreme Court said Friday that it will look into a petition seeking refugee status for Bengali-Hindu immigrants living in Assam, who are believed to have fled neighboring Bangladesh, their country of origin, because of persecution (Indian Express). The petitioners, two nongovernmental agencies, told the court that other eastern and northeastern states also had such populations.
Bihar: Four of the five students accused of raping a teenager in the state capital, Patna, have been arrest ed, the news Web site IBNLive reported. The incident took place last month; the perpetrators circulated videos of the alleged crime, according to the report filed with the police.
Gujarat: A recent report released by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development drew attention to weak water-treatment systems in the cities of Ahmedabad and Surat (India Express). The channeling of “industrial sewage into domestic wastewater networks and natural streams exerts pressure on existing wastewater treatment infrastructure,†the report said.
Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray, the chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a Hindu nationalist political party in Maharashtra, appealed to the state government to make toll collection more transparent (Daily Bhaskar). He urged citizens not to pay tolls until greater transparency is achieved. “I am not against toll or payment of taxes, but people should get the services for which they pay,†he said. MNS party workers were seen vandalizing property at toll plazas along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and shutting down toll booths in certain Mumbai suburbs.
Andhra Pradesh: The state has approached the federal government with a proposal to build a second major port (New Indian Express). Visakhapatnam currently is the only major port on the state's 996 kilometers, or 619 miles, of coastline.
Kerala: Tons of grain are rotting in the open while a government agency created to store agricultural produce rents out its warehouses for other purposes (New Indian Express).
