Following a split verdict by the Supreme Court on  Oct 13 on the petitions challenging the hijab ban in the southern state of Karnataka at the educational institutions, the state's education minister, BC Nagesh, said that the restrictions on wearing of the hijabs - headscarves worn by Muslim girls and women - would continue. He also stressed that his government expected a "better judgement" from the top court even as he "welcomed" the order. "Regarding the issue of hijab, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court has given a different verdict, and the dispute is likely to be transferred to an extended bench. In the interest of all-round development of the students, the government has implemented the prescribed uniform code in schools. There is no change in our stand on this. Legal experts will be consulted on the decision," said Araga Jnanendra, Karnataka’s minister for home affairs.

Here are top ten points on the Karnataka hijab ban case:

The Supreme Court on Oct 13  delivered a split verdict after hearing the matter, and reserving the order on September 22. The two judges on the bench differed in their opinions. Justice Hemant Gupta, in his judgment, backed the BJP government in the state to enforce a uniform mandate.

On the other hand, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia underlined that wearing of hijabs is a matter of choice and and there cannot be any restriction against it.

The matter has now been referred to Chief Justice and there cannot be any restriction against it. CJI UU Lalit is set to retire in November, and he would be succeeded by Justice DY Chandrachud.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the fourth Vande Bharat Express train on  Oct 13 in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district. This is the first Vande Bharat train for the state, which is set to hold assembly elections soon. The semi-high-speed train will run between Delhi and Amb Andaura. It will run on all days except Wednesdays .

On Oct 13 , during the visit to the poll-bound state, PM Modi also dedicated IIIT Una "to the nation". Its foundation stone was laid in 2017. Currently more than 530 students are pursuing study in this Institute, as per the government.

In a push to the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, the foundation stone of Bulk Drug Park at Haroli in Una district, which will be built at a cost of over Rs 1900 crore, was also laid by PM Modi. This is expected to reduce imports, attract investment of around Rs. 10,000 crores and provide employment to more than 20,000 people in a boost to the state economy.

The Jammu administration on Oct 12  withdrew a notification that authorised all tehsildars to issue certificates of residence to people residing in the winter capital "for more than one year". According to the new order by Deputy Commissioner of Jammu, Avny Lavasa, the notification issued under the subject The Special Summary Revision 2022, acceptance of document for registration of electors, dated October 11 is withdrawn and be treated as void. The order has been withdrawn amid strong objections from regional parties.

The Cabinet on Oct 12  approved a one-time grant of Rs 22,000 crore to state-run oil marketing companies that lost money selling cooking gas below cost, a move aimed at helping the three firms – they incurred a combined net loss of Rs 18,500 crore in the first quarter of 2022-23 – improving the health of their profit and loss statements. They are expected to post a higher loss in the second quarter.

Announcing the decision after the Cabinet meeting, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the one-time grant to the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) is to offset their losses on selling liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) between June 2020 and June 2022. The three OMCs are – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

This one-time grant is over and above the Rs 4,000 crore Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG subsidy in 2022-23 provided in the Budget, an official aware of the development said, requesting anonymity. The budgetary allocation of LPG is, however, shrinking.

The actual direct benefit transfer of LPG subsidy, which was Rs 29,628 crore in 2019-20, first reduced to Rs 23,667 crore (actuals) in 2020-21. Thereafter, it was trimmed drastically to Rs 3,400 crore in the revised estimates (RE) of 2021-22 from the budget estimates (BE) of Rs 12,480 crore. The BE for 2022-23 has now been kept at Rs 4,000 crore. There is no official data available on specific details of LPG subsidy through DBT mode – number of the beneficiaries, location of such beneficiaries and amount of unit subsidy paid to them.

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Oct 12 met with victims of Pakistan's devastating monsoon floods, in only the second visit to her home country since being shot by the Taliban a decade ago.

Catastrophic flooding this summer put one-third of Pakistan under water, displaced eight million people, and caused an estimated $28 billion in damage.

Authorities are also battling a health crisis of malaria, dengue and malnutrition that has broken out among flood victims living in thousands of makeshift camps across the country.

Yousafzai visited camps in rural Sindh province where she met with women who have fled their submerged villages, describing them as "very brave.

She also expressed her concerns over the impact on education, with two million children missing classes and 12,000 schools damaged.

Yousafzai was just 15 years old when the Pakistani Taliban -- an independent group that shares a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban -- shot her in the head over her campaign for girls education in the Swat Valley.

She was flown to Britain for life-saving treatment and went on to become a global education advocate and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The militant group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), waged a years-long insurgency that ended with a major military crackdown in 2014.

But the group has resurged in the region since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul last year.

Amid escalation of war in Ukraine, Russia in an interview with state-run TASS news agency on  Oct 1 said that its former Soviet neighbour's entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will lead to a third world war.

Calling Ukraine's application for a fast-track NATO membership “rather a propaganda move”, Russian security council deputy secretary Alexander Venediktov said that Kyiv is “well aware” that such a step would mean a “guaranteed escalation to World War III”.

Venediktov said that NATO members themselves understand the “suicidal nature” of the step - admitting Ukraine to its wing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a bid for fast-track NATO membership at the end of September, soon after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a ceremony to annex four regions of the strife-torn east European country.

Venediktov's statement comes hours after Ukraine's capital - Kyiv - region was hit by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early  on Oct 13 , triggering rescue workers to rush to the scene. The attacks come close on the heels of fresh Russian shelling in the recent weeks that have resulted in several casualties across Ukraine.

Furthermore, US President Joe Biden  has promised to give advanced air defense systems to Ukraine after Russian missile attacks in Kyiv and other cities.

This latest development comes after 143 nations of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly on  Oct 12 voted in favour of a resolution condemning the annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Russia. India was among 35 nations that abstained from the vote.

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced the state's new electric vehicle policy in a bid to promote faster adoption of environment-friendly clean mobility solutions.

The Uttar Pradesh government said the main objective of the policy is to make the state a global hub for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries and other equipment.

The government said the new electric vehicle policy aims to attract investment of more than Rs 30,000 crore and generate employment (direct and indirect) for over 10 lakh people.

Here the key highlights of the Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy 2022.

According to the UP government statement, the EV policy provides attractive incentive regime which includes benefits to consumers for purchasing electric vehicles, to manufacturers of batteries and related components and to the service providers developing charging facilities.

The EV policy also provides attractive subsidies to the buyers to open up the electric vehicle market in the state. It includes 100 per cent road tax and registration fees exemption during the first three years of effective period of policy on all the segments of electric vehicles purchased and registered in the state. The same exemption will be applied in the fourth and fifth eyear too.

The UP government has also allocated a budget outlay of Rs 500 crore under a purchase subsidy scheme notified for a period of one year on all segments of EVs. It also includes a 15 per cent subsidy on factory cost for purchasing two-wheeler electric vehicles of up to Rs 5,000 per vehicle which is subject to first two lakh EVs purchased, Rs 12,000 per three-wheeler EV subject to maximum first 50,000 such vehicles purchased and up to Rs 1 lakh per four-wheeler EV subject to maximum of first 25,000 EVs purchased.

The state government employees will be encouraged to buy electric vehicles for which an advance will be allowed by the regime.

The Uttar Pradesh government said the policy also enables provisions to attract big ticket investments. The policy also provides capital subsidy at a rate of 30 per cent on investment subject to maximum of Rs 1,000 crore per project to maximum of first two ultra mega battery projects, investing Rs 1,500 crore or more each for setting up battery manufacturing plant in the state of minimum production capacity of 1 GwH.

IT services company HCL Technologies on  Oct 12 posted a 7 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,489 crore for the September quarter and raised the full-year revenue guidance.

The net profit stood at Rs 3,259 crore in the year-ago period.

The revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2022, came in at Rs 24,686 crore, 19.5 per cent higher than the same period the previous year.

The board has also declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 per equity share for the financial year 2022-23.

The company has increased its full-year revenue guidance to 13.5-14.5 per cent year-on-year in constant currency terms. The company has earlier projected 12-14 per cent growth in revenue for the full year.