5 stories you must read today, November 20: From Gen Z protests in Nepal to SIR row in Bengal and more

Nearly two months after they toppled the government, Gen Z protesters in Nepal have returned to the streets. Authorities have imposed a curfew in Bara district on Thursday. Tensions began on Wednesday in Simara Chowk in Bara district after fresh clashes erupted between young protestors and loyalists of the former ruling party that was overthrown after the uprising in September. Nepal's Prime Minister Sushila Karki, meanwhile, appealed for calm and called on all parties to "refrain from unwanted political provocation" and to trust the democratic process ahead of elections set for March 5, 2026. Read more

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to immediately halt the ongoing Special Intensive Revision. In her letter to the CEC, Mamata alleged that the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, had “resorted to intimidation” of Booth Level Officers. She also claimed that many BLOs, under extreme pressure and fear of punitive action, are being pushed to submit incorrect or incomplete entries — risking disenfranchisement of genuine voters and eroding the integrity of the electoral roll. Read more

The Sonitpur district administration in Assam has issued orders directing five people to remove themselves from India within 24 hours. The five people – four women and a man, who are reportedly from two families, were asked to leave India after they were declared foreigners by a tribunal this year. The orders on Tuesday were issued under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, and are the first cases where the rule was invoked. According to the police, the whereabouts of the five individuals, who have been identified as residents of Dhobokata village in Sonitpur district, are unknown and they are “absconding”. Locals said they left the area and have not lived there for over a decade. Read more

The National Investigation Agency on Thursday said it has arrested four more people, all close associates of Umar Un Nabi, who allegedly drove the i20 car that blew up near Red Fort on November 10. The arrested men have been identified as Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai of Pulwama, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather of Anantnag, Dr Shaheen Saeed of Lucknow, and Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay of Shopian. According to NIA, the accused had all played a key role in the terror attack near the Red Fort in Delhi. Separately, the Kashmir police had earlier arrested the four other accused, and they have now been taken into custody by the NIA in Srinagar. Read more

As part of its efforts to combat online scams in India, Google India announced that it is rolling out a scam detection feature on Pixel phones that uses Gemini Nano’s capabilities to analyse calls in real-time and flags potential scams entirely on-device, without recording audio or transcripts or sending data to Google. “The feature is off by default, applies only to calls from unknown numbers (not saved contacts), plays a beep to notify participants, and can be turned off by the user at any time,” Google said. The tech giant further said that it is piloting a new feature aimed at combating digital arrest scams, which have seen a recent surge in India. Read more