Deepening the crisis within Sikh religious affairs, radical Sikhs on Tuesday announced the “appointment” of convicted Khalistani terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara as the Jathedar (chief) of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion.

The congregation of radicals also announced the “removal” of all Sikh high priests.

The appointment was announced by radical Sikh leaders during a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ (grand assembly of Sikhs) congregation at Chaba near Amritsar on Tuesday.

Hawara is the main accused in the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh who was killed by a human bomb in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.

The congregation decided that the present Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh be removed from his post and that Hawara, who is serving a life term in the Beant Singh assassination case, be appointed.

We all dread the curse of a flat tyre or a puncture!

Around 3,371 deaths and 9,081 injuries were reported in India in 2014 due to tyre burst related incidents. Globally, 1.25 million injuries and casualties are estimated to occur due to tyre bursts.

Now, TycheeJuno, a team from Odisha headed by Sameer Panda from Odisha has come up with a unique technology to prevent tyre burst and the accidents they can cause.

For their innovation, the team recently bagged an award from NASA at the Create the Future Design Contest 2015 in New York. The contest was conducted by NASA Tech Brief, an event which is jointly organised by NASA and Society of Automobile Engineers, International.

The technology named as ‘Mild Run Flat Tyre’ is a multi-chambered tubeless tire with sealant inside the chamber to take care of puncture in tread and sidewall. The innovators say their product has improved on the traditional drawback of tyres like leakage, deterioration of sealant due to interaction with air, problem in wheel balancing, rubber hardening, clogging near the valve etc.

It is estimated that if this technology is used in 10 million vehicles, carbon emission due to tyre replacement can be reduced up to 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

BJP MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is under attack for his alleged anti-party activities, has hit back at his party colleague Kailash Vijayvargiya for calling him dog.

The Patna Sahib MP has slammed senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya for comparing him with dog and blaming him for party’s electoral drubbing in Bihar.

Sinha tweeted, “People want my reaction to Vijayvargiya’s remark. My reaction to small or big flies in any party is “Haathi chale Bihar,….bhaunken hazaar”.

Sinha’s reactions came hours after Vijayvargiya, who is known for making highly provocative statements, compared the actor-turned-politician with ‘dog’ and said his political identity is only because of his party.

Vijayvargiya had recently grabbed headlines for attacking Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for the latter’s remarks on alleged growing intolerance in the country.

Rejecting Sinha’s suggestions regarding BJP’s electoral drubbing in Bihar, Vijayvargiya had said, “Shatrughan Sinha’s identity is because of BJP. The party is not identified because of Shatrughan Sinha.”

The BJP leader also went on to say, “Dog runs after car and he thinks that the car is moving because of him…party doesn’t run with a single person’s efforts.”

Vijayvargiya also cautioned Sinha to “take care of his discipline” and said that it is the duty of every BJP worker to give something to the party.

The sharp reactions from Vijayvargiya came hours after Sinha met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in Patna.

A local VHP leader died and several others, including policemen, were injured as violence erupted over the holding of the birth anniversary celebrations of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.

A youth was also injured in firing by some unidentified persons, police said, adding that prohibitory orders have been clamped in the entire Kodagu district and additional reinforcements sent to the area to bring the situation under control.

Police used tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge as hundreds of people gathered here and clashes erupted between the opponents and supporters of the celebrations.

According to police, one Kuttappa, a VHP leader and a former state government employee, suffered head injuries in stone throwing and died on the spot.

The violence flared up even as statewide celebrations are being held by the government for the first time to commemorate the birth anniversary of Tipu which, however, is being boycotted by BJP amidst opposition by several outfits who see him as a “religious bigot”.

Some outfits in Kodagu district had called for a bandh today to protest against the government’s decision.

Meanwhile, Home Minister G Parameshwara said additional reinforcements were being rushed to Madikeri from Chamarajanagar and Mysuru districts and appealed to people to maintain peace.

BJP has announced a “total boycott” of the celebrations, saying that no public representative from their party at any level would participate in the official function.

Further, the party’s state unit chief Prahlad Joshi said that Tipu was a “fanatic” and “anti-Kannada”.

Several organisations and individuals, too, have opposed the state government’s move to celebrate ‘Tipu Sultan Jayanti’ on November 10.

Tipu was a ruler of the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore and considered an implacable enemy of the British East India Company. He was killed in May, 1799, while defending his fort of Srirangapatna against British forces.

Karnataka Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah has defended the government’s decision to commemorate his birth anniversary even as he slammed RSS and “other communal forces” for opposing it.

Mangaluru United Christian Association, too, has protested against the celebrations, alleging that Tipu was responsible for the destruction of many churches in the coastal region and also that Christians were harassed under his rule.

Military veterans returned their war and other medals at various places in Haryana and Punjab on Tuesday to register their protest against the “diluted” notification of the One Rank One Pension scheme.

In Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh, the veterans returned their medals to the Panchkula deputy commissioner to protest against the OROP notification issued by the central government.

There were reports of veterans returning their medals in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala in Punjab and Rohtak, Hisar and Ambala in Haryana.

The veterans said that they had rejected the OROP notified by the Narendra Modi government.

“OROP scheme was cleared by Parliament. Then why were the changes made in the scheme? Why did they put conditions?” said Former group captain VK Gandhi, general secretary of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement.

“We returned 20,000 medals during 2009, 2010 and 2011. But at that time the then government had said they were working on the OROP scheme. But the present government is cheating us. They reduced the scheme to ‘One Rank Five Pension’ scheme,” Gandhi added.

The veterans have listed seven changes made by the government which include annual equalization, 2013-14 financial years as the base year for calculating pension, and taking the highest pension scale of 2013 as the base for calculation and not the average as announced by the government.

The new scheme also states that it will be reviewed once in five years and not annually.

Gandhi said the veterans demanded reconsideration on the changes made by the government in implementation of the OROP scheme.

Earlier, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said ex-servicemen protesting against the OROP notification were misguided.

He said while everyone had a right to make a demand in a democracy, not all demands can be fulfilled.