5 stories you must read today, December 4: From Imran Khan dissolving PTI’s political committee to Congress expelling rape-accused Kerala MLA and more

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has announced a major rejig of the party’s top leadership. In a social media post from Adiala jail, Khan said PTI’s political committee has been dissolved and that it would be replaced by a smaller group, which will be decided by Secretary General Salman Akram Raja. Khan also announced that Shahid Khattak should be appointed the parliamentary leader in the National Assembly. The announcement came days after his sister Uzma Khanum met Khan in the Adiala jail amid growing concerns about his well-being. Read more

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday announced that it is expelling suspended Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil from the party. The announcement was made moments after a court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Mamkootathil, who is facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations. Mamkootathil, a former Youth Congress President and first-time MLA, has been on the run since last week after the police booked him on charges of raping a woman and forcing her to undergo an abortion. Since then, another woman has also come forward claiming that she was sexually abused by Mamkootathil in 2023. Read more

The Donald Trump administration has ordered an enhanced vetting of H-1B visa applicants for highly skilled workers. According to a State Department cable, sent on December 2, US consular officers have been directed to review LinkedIn profiles or resumes of the H-1B visa applicants and their family members who would be travelling with them in order to check if anyone has worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others. While all visa applicants are subject to vetting under this policy, the directive sought an increased scrutiny for the H-1B visa applicants as they more frequently worked in the US technology sector. The H-1B visas remain crucial for tech companies based in the US, and a majority are issued to Indian nationals. Read more

Punjab has the maximum number of human trafficking cases in the country, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha that the Punjab government has constituted an SIT and a fact-finding committee to look into cases of human trafficking. According to the minister, 25 FIRs have been registered against 58 illegal travel agents, and 16 accused have been arrested in Punjab. Jaishankar also said that in Haryana, 2,325 cases have been registered and 44 FIRs have been registered, and 27 people have been arrested. Read more

The Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department is set to increase the number of field posts and impose higher eligibility criteria for officers, including requirements for specialised degrees and proficiency in both Hindi and English. Officials in the department said the new posts were created a month ago to restructure the department, and that the new Subordinate Tourism Services Rules have now been notified to ensure the hiring of a more professional workforce. According to officials, the focus is not just on major destinations, but is increasingly moving towards boosting tourism in every district, with heritage tourism, rural tourism, wellness tourism, spiritual tourism, and so on. Read more