Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said that while Kashmiri Pandits would be welcomed back to the Valley with respect, the community would not be provided with separate land.

"Kashmiri Pandits ko baizzat laayenge, yahan saath milkar rahenge" (Kashmiri Pandits will be brought with all respect and they will live with us) said Mufti.

"Sanik colonies are not for outsiders but for state subjects only, this proposal is in process from the last government tenure. In our government tenure, Governor ordered to identify land for Sanik colonies but so far no land has been identified," ANI quoted Mufti as saying.

Just before a few days, there were reports that the Jammu and Kashmir government has identified at least three sites for setting up colonies for displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

The reports further stated that most of the land is being held by private owners and the Mehbooba Mufti government had approached them for outright sale of the land where it plans to construct dwelling units to rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits.

CBSE class X results 2016 have been declared. Like every year, girls have outdone boys yet again.

According to emerging reports, the total pass percentage of girls is 96.36% while that of boys is 96.11%. Thiruvanathapuram emerged as the best region with 99.87% pass percentage.

The total pass percentage is 96.21%.

This year, 92,816 candidates from the Board-based exam have scored 10CGPA as against 75,725 of school-based. Also, 168,541 candidates have scored 10CGPA.

Anupam Kher's campaign for Kashmiri Pandits has put Naseeruddin Shah in a controversy. Or so does the media believes.

The buzz was on regarding Shah's alleged statement against Kher's campaign before he gave another statement in the media saying that he never commented on the issue.

Media reports had quoted Shah as saying, "A person who has never lived in Kashmir has started a fight for Kashmiri Pandits. Suddenly, he is a displaced person".

Kher, on the other hand, said he found it hard to believe that a personality of Shah's stature would make such a comment. He said:

"I have great regard for Naseerudin Shah. I don't think the comment was made by him but seems it was attributed to him by someone. My roots are in Kashmir. I don't want to prove my credential of being a Kashmiri Brahmin. It's a very insensitive statement, I don't think such a statement befits from a person like him."

An RTI reply has revealed that the Union home ministry has no evidence to indicate that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had illegally influenced affidavits prepared by the UPA government in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The RTI query was filed on 24 April by Tehseen Poonawalla, an entrepreneur, RTI activist and Congress supporter married to a cousin of Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi.

In her query, Poonawalla asked the ministry to provide evidence of Gandhi's interference in the Ishrat Jahan affidavits issue as alleged by BJP leaders, according to The Economic Times.

More than a dozen Africans were subject to mob attacks on Thursday night at a south Delhi village as they passed by in cars or autorickshaws, or returned to their homes in the area. The mobs allegedly beat them with cricket bats and iron rods, and threw bricks at them.

The violence took place at Rajpur Khurd, close to the Qutub Minar, between 10 pm and 11.30 pm, and left at least seven people injured, two of whom have been hospitalised and one of whom had his nose smashed and partially severed with an iron rod, says The Telegraph.

Celebrations around the second anniversary of the Modi government's will cost tax payers much more than the Rs 100 crore spent on advertisements, say government officials.

This is over and above an undisclosed sum paid to the event management company Geometry Global Encompass Network, which is organising shows at at India Gate and five state capitals today.

Sources in the directorate of audio-visual publicity have said that the government will spend Rs 85 crore on radio and television ads and another Rs 18 crore on newspaper ads, according to The Telegraph.

According to Haryana Director General of Police KP Singh, citizens have the right to turn vigilante and even kill miscreants who outrage the modesty of a woman or participate in acts of arson or murder.

Singh recently replaced DGP Yashpal Singh who was removed from his post after heavy criticism for the Haryana police for their inaction during the Jat stir.

Speaking at a convention on Thursday about the role of the police in Panchayati Raj, Singh said that citizens are not aware that they can take action when they come across violations of the law, according to the Hindustan Times.

Separate shootouts in north Kashmir since Thursday have seen the deaths of one soldier and six militants.

On Thursday, soldiers fired at a group of militants who were attempting to cross the Line of Control in Nowgam sector in Kupwara district. In the gun battle that followed, one soldier and four militants died, according to the Hindustan Times.

An army spokesperson said: "Four heavily armed terrorists were eliminated by the alert troops operating in the area. Bodies of these terrorists were recovered from the site along with four AK-47 Rifles, ammunition and other warlike stores."

The Ram Mandir issue will not feature in the BJP's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, said Union home minister Rajnath Singh in an interview with a news channel.

"The Ram Mandir issue is not a political but a cultural issue. The matter is also sub judice," said Singh. "We are not going to contest the Uttar Pradesh elections on this plank. We will contest on the development plank."

Singh said that his party did not indulge in the politics of communal polarisation for votes and will not do so in the future either, according to ABPLive.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will a lead a torch procession of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee today in protest against the water and power crises faced by Delhi.

The march will begin at 6.30 pm at Samta Sthal and continue to Players Building via Rajghat.

The protests are aimed at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party government, according to ANI. The BJP has also been protesting in front of Kejriwal's residence over the same issues.