A person will not be allowed to convert or adopt another religion for the purpose of marriage as the BJP-led Haryana government has notified rules to implement a law against religious conversions, placing the burden of proof of innocence on the accused.

The rules say if the conversion is done by allurement, use of force, coercion or fraudulent means, including the use of digital mode, there is a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than Rs 1 lakh. Anyone concealing his religion with an intention to marry shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than three years, which may extend up to 10 years and shall be liable to pay a fine not less than Rs 3 lakh.

Anyone conducting a mass conversion can be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years and may extend up to 10 years. The person will also be liable to pay a fine not less than Rs 4 lakh. Any person who intends to organise the conversion will have to seek permission from the district magistrate.

Under the rules, “any person intending to convert shall prior to such conversion, must give a declaration in Form ‘A’ to the district magistrate. In case the person intended to be converted is a minor, both parents or surviving parent, as the case may be, shall give a declaration in Form B.’’

It will be a two-phase election for the 182-member Gujarat assembly, whose term ends on February 18, 2023.

The first phase of voting will be on December 1, which will involve 89 constituencies, and the second phase on December 5, which will involve the remaining 93 constituencies, Gujarat Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Nov 3 in a press conference that was also attended by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey and senior officials from the poll authority.

The counting of votes will be done on December 8.

The Commission had announced elections to Himachal Pradesh on October 14 but skipped declaring polls for Gujarat.

The counting of votes in the Himachal Pradesh Election too will happen on December 8.

Over 4.9 crore electors will be eligible to vote in these elections. In 2017, 4.35 crore electors were eligible.

Gujarat has a strong 4,90,89,765 electorate, which includes 2,53,36,610 males and 2,37,51,738 females.

Home voting facility will be available for senior citizens above 80.

Polls in the state will be conducted across over 51,000 polling stations. More than 34,000 of these are in rural areas. Over 1,274 of the polling stations will be completely managed by women officials

The Chief Election Commissioner also announced a Know Your Candidate app and a section on the Election Commission website that will help in "informed voting.

The Election Commission's Suvidha Portal will provide online nomination and affidavit filing options to the candidates.

The Supreme Court on Nov 3 dismissed the plea of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq seeking review of its judgement awarding death penalty to him in the 2000 Red Fort attack case that left three people, including two Army jawans, dead.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said that it has accepted the prayers that electronic records be considered.

Arif was one of the accused, who had entered the Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and had opened indiscriminate firing leading to the death of three.

The Chhattisgarh government has suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, who was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by a special PMLA court in Raipur. The General Administration Department, that updated the civil list of the IAS officers, showed that the 2009-batch officer had been suspended on October 27 but it was not declared earlier.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had, during its raids conducted on October 11-12, seized `47 lakh cash along with jewellery from Vishnoi’s house. The ED then conducted searches at multiple locations of government officials, including three IAS officers, deputy secretary in CM’s office, businessmen and some Congress leaders.

Following the seizure, the ED took Vishnoi and two businessmen, Laxmikant Tiwari and Sunil Agrawal, in custody for two weeks. The court sent the trio to jail on October 27. The ED has claimed to have traced a cartel, involving bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians that entered into an alleged criminal conspiracy pertaining to a scam in which illegal levy of `25 per tonne of coal was extorted.

The lead internal Security Force Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has for the first time not only promoted its two lady cadre officers to the rank of Inspector General but have also put them to command two sensitive sectors of the force.

Seema Dhundia and Ms Annie Abraham with their accompanying 35 years of experience will be heading the Bihar Sector and as the head of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) respectively. Both Seema Dhundia and Ms Annie Abraham were amongst the first batch of lady officers ever inducted into the Force as they joined as the Directly Appointed Gazetted Officers (DAGos) of 1987 batch of CRPF Cadre officers in 1987.

India sent an all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) to be deployed in Liberia in 2007 after a civil war ravaged the African nation. The RAF is a specialized wing of the CRPF for riot and crowd control is getting IG Annie Abraham as its first female head since its raising in 1992. Ms. Annie Abraham, IG in addition to commanding the all female FPU in UN Mission in Liberia, had served as DIG Intelligence in Force Headquarters, as DIG Ops in Kashmir Operations Sector and as DIG CR and Vigilance.

Both the officers have been awarded President’s Police Medal for distinguished Service, Police Medal for Meritorious service and Ati Utkrisht Sewa Padak besides numerous other national and International recognitions.

Renowned social activist and Gandhi Ela Bhatt who was the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) passed away on Nov 2. She was 89.

She was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, the Right Livelihood Award in 1984, and the Padma Bhushan in 1986 for her work in empowering impoverished women in Gujarat. She was also selected for the Niwano Peace Prize in 2010.

Ela Bhatt was also serving as the chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram since 2016.

Until recently, for seven years, she had served as the chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith. She stepped down from the post on 19 October due to failing health.

The Vidyapith, which is over 100 years old, was founded by Mahatma Gandhi and he himself had been its first chancellor.

Elaben Bhatt was born on 7 September 1933. Her father Sumantrai Bhatt was a successful lawyer while her mother Vanalila Vyas was active in the women's movement and was the secretary of the All India Women’s Conference founded by Kamladevi Chattopadhyay,

Ela Bhatt, who studied law in college, joined the legal department of the Textile Labour Association (TLA) in 1951, one of the oldest unions of textile workers in Ahmedabad.

Ela Bhatt founded SEWA, an organisation of poor, self-employed women workers, in 1972 and served as its general secretary from 1972 to 1996.

Ethiopia’s warring sides agreed  on Nov 2 to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a 2-year conflict whose victims could be counted in the hundreds of thousands, but enormous challenges lie ahead, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.

African Union envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, in the first briefing on the peace talks in South Africa, said Ethiopia’s government and Tigray authorities agreed on “orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament.” Other key points included restoration of services to the long cut-off Tigray region and “unhindered access to humanitarian supplies.”

The war in Africa’s second-most populous country, which marks two years on Oct 28 , has seen abuses documented on either side, with millions of people displaced.

The conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region. Abiy’s government has since declared the Tigray authorities, who ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took office, a terrorist organization.

Qatar has rejected calls for a compensation fund for migrant workers killed or injured during World Cup preparations, with the country's labour minister calling it a "publicity stunt".

Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri told AFP that Qatar is already handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages, and accused the Gulf state's critics of "racism".

Marri said Qatar already has a fund to deal with worker deaths and injuries. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have led demands for FIFA and Qatar to create a fund for workers matching the $440 million World Cup prize money.

Human rights groups accuse Qatar of under-reporting deaths. The government strongly disputes reports that thousands have died in construction site accidents or from heat-related illnesses in the country's searing summer temperatures. FIFA has said there is "ongoing dialogue" about the fund, but in the government's first public comment, Marri said the proposal was unworkable.

Qatar started a Workers' Support and Insurance Fund in 2018 to help workers who have not been paid, which the minister said had disbursed $320 million this year alone.