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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has urged the Election Commission to respond to a media report claiming that ten “anonymous parties” in Gujarat received funds of Rs 4,300 crore in five years, even though they rarely contested polls. The little-known parties allegedly received these funds from 2019-’20 to 2023-’24, a period that included the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2022 Assembly polls.

The parties fielded only 43 candidates in the polls, collectively securing a mere 54,069 votes. While they officially reported expenses of only Rs 39.02 lakh, their audit reports showed expenses of Rs 3,500 crore.

Gandhi asked the poll body how these parties received thousands of crores of rupees and where the money went. Read more.

At least 30 persons have died after heavy rainfall triggered a landslide near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Katra. The pilgrimage to the shrine was suspended after the landslide, which occurred at around 3 pm on Tuesday.

The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has urged devotees to reschedule their pilgrimages in view of the incessant rainfall.

The India Meteorological Department has asked residents in the Jammu region to stay indoors, avoid low-lying and waterlogged areas and follow advisories issued by the administration. Read on.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the Indian armed forces must be prepared for diverse security challenges, from short-term conflicts to wars stretching up to five years. “In today’s era, wars have become so sudden and unpredictable that it is very difficult to predict when any war will end and how long it will last,” Singh said at an event in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow.

The minister added that major components of security have come to encompass a country’s economic systems, industrial structures, technological capabilities and educational systems.

“National security is no longer just a matter of the Army, but has become an issue of a whole-of-nation approach,” the minister said. “We do not want anyone’s land, but we are ready to go to any extent to protect our land.” Read on.

United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has said that Washington is planning changes to its immigration system, including the H-1B visa programme and green cards. He described the current H-1B visa system as “terrible”.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers for special occupations. In the past few years, Indians have constituted the majority of H-1B visa holders. Indians comprised 72.3% of all H-1B visas issued by the US in the financial year 2022-’23.

Lutnick also criticised the green card system, claiming that it benefits the wrong candidates. A Permanent Resident Card or green card allows an individual to stay and work permanently in the US. Read on.

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