As rain fury continues in Tamil Nadu, Army, Air Force and the Coast Guard have been pressed into service to rescue thousands of flood-hit residents, especially in Chennai and Kancheepuram, where a week of torrential rain has claimed many lives.

Though there have been no rain in Chennai on Tuesday but many areas in low-lying parts of the city are still water-logged.

Moreover, discharge from the Chembarambakkam Lake has further added to the water-logging problem.

Due to incessant rainfall in Chennai and across Tamil Nadu, train services have been severely affected, leaving normal lives disrupted on Tuesday.

Many travellers were disturbed and unhappy as their trains got cancelled by the Southern Railways.

“Roads have got damaged due to rainfall and that is why train services have also got affected. People are very disturbed,” a disgruntled passenger said.

“We had planned to go to the Tirupati but unfortunately the train has been cancelled. The Southern Railways has cancelled many trains,” said another passenger.

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised a primary school teacher from Alwar for developing 52 educational mobile apps, Rajasthan government on Tuesday offered him a job in the science and technology department.

37-year-old Imran Khan, a Sanskrit teacher at a government school in Alwar, was in the news recently for introducing 52 educational apps in a period of three years and dedicating them to students for free.

The Prime Minister had mentioned him during his speech at Wembley in London on November 13 for his efforts in education sector.

Imran Khan was offered the project officer’s post by Technical and Higher Education Minister Kalicharan Saraf today. The minister also felicitated him with a cheque of Rs 11,000, an official spokesman said.

“We have offered Imran the post of project officer in the department of science and technology. It is up to him to accept it or not, but the government is ready to provide him assistance,” Saraf said.

On being asked why the state government came forward to promote Khan only after PM’s praise, the minister said, “He got recognition only after PM stated his name and that made him eligible (for felicitation)”.

Talking about the state government’s offer, the school teacher said, “It is too early to say whether I will be accepting the post or not, but it is an honour for me.”

He was also felicitated by school Education Minister Vasudev Devnani.

Though Khan, whose apps have been downloaded around 30 lakh times, has never met the PM, he gave a presentation of his works before HRD Minister Smriti Irani in a national seminar some time back.

In a major relief to former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, the Income Tax department on Tuesday gave clean chit to him in an alleged benami property transaction case.

Appearing in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Centre, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the petition has no relevance and that nothing was found in the income tax case against Balakrishnan.

The petition was filed by an NGO – Common Cause – against the former Chief Justice. The NGO had earlier accused Balakrishnan of amassing Benami property and disproportionate assets in the names of his relatives and associates during his tenure as Chief Justice.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled to take place on January 19.

A Colonel of Army’s elite Para Commando force was on Tuesday killed and a policeman injured by militants during an operation near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Kashmir, officials said.

The Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles Colonel Santosh, who was leading a search party, was critically injured when militants hiding in a dense forest area of Haji Naka opened fire, the officials said.

Santosh, who was from the elite regiment of Para Commandos, was evacuated to a hospital but he succumbed to injuries, the officials said.

They said a police constable was also injured in the firing and was undergoing treatment.

The operation to track down the militants was continuing when last reports were received, the officials said.

The party of army and police came under fire when it was conducting searches as part of an operation started on November 13 to flush out terrorists hiding in the forest area on the basis of a specific information.

An Army jawan was injured on the first day of the operation.

After the initial contact on November 13, the militants fled deep into the forests and the security forces continued the chase them, leading to fresh contact, the officials said.

Vishva Hindu Parishad​ (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal, who was undergoing treatment in a Gurgaon hospital died on Tuesday.

Singhal’s demise was confirmed by Praveen Togadia. “Singhal died at 2.24 PM at Medanta Medicity hospital in Gurgaon,” Togadia said.

89-year-old Singhal was admitted on November 14 to Medanta with complaints of acute breathlessness and has been diagnosed with right lower Lobe Pneumonia. He was on a ventilator from November 14 evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief and said that Ashok Singhalji’s death was a personal loss. “He was an institution in himself, whose life was centred around serving the nation,” the PM tweeted.

Expressing his condolences, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy tweeted: “Deeply sorry to hear of Ashokji demise. He was a Hindutva Titan and the founder of our Hindu Renaissance movement. His last wish-Ram Temple.”

A bachelor and an RSS pracharak all his life, Singhal, adopted an aggressive style in the “kar sewak” campaign in the build up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December, 1992.

A metallurgy engineering graduate from Banaras Hindu University, he pitchforked the organisation in the Ayodhya Ram temple movement and sought to internationalise it by recruiting supporters and organising branches world wide. The overseas supporters contributed immensely to the VHP campaign.

BJP president Amit Shah, union Health Minister JP Nadda, and BJP general secretary (organisation) Ramlal visited the hospital on Saturday to enquire about Singhal’s health.

Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, union minister Harsh Vardhan, VHP leader Praveen Togadia, Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, and a few state leaders visited the hospital on Monday to enquire about Singhal’s health.

A three-year-old girl died in Hyderabad on Tuesday after getting stuck in an elevator at a private school.

Syeda Xanaib – a nursery student – died after her head got stuck in the doors of the lift at her school in Dilsuknagar area.

“We had registered the case. We will take stern action as per the law,” said V Ravinder, DCP.

“As per preliminary inquiry, a teacher along with few students was going from third to ground floor when the girl got stuck between grill gates,” he added.

Three people including Satish, zonal in charge, principal Shalini and teacher Saroja have been arrested by the police under Section 304A of IPC (causing death by negligence, punishable with imprisonment up to two years.)

As per the school administration, Syeda was inside the lift with other students and school staff when she accidentally got stuck between the doors, and suffered serious injuries. She died on the way to hospital.