News updates from Hindustan Times at 9 am: Lack of alternatives may hurt decision to phase out plastics and all the latest news at this hour

Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion at 9 am curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion at 9 am curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

Single-use plastic bags are used to carry vegetables by a man, in Amritsar, Punjab. The government has aimed to sensitise public against the use of plastic and has decided to ban one-time use plastic items from Oct. 2, 2019, in the wake of environmental concerns. (PTI)

Lack of alternatives may hurt decision to phase out plastics

India is preparing for a complete phase-out of single-use plastic items by 2022, as announced by Modi on Wednesday. At least 29 states and Union territories are already regulating the use of various single-use plastic products, but enforcement has been lax until now. Read more here.

3 charged with allegedly raping Unnao survivor week after rape by ex-BJP MLA

A CBI official confirmed that the charge sheet has been filed against Shubham Singh, Naresh Tiwari and Brijesh Yadav, who had allegedly abducted the girl and raped her in a moving car, allegedly a week after Kuldeep Singh Senger sexually assaulted her at his residence (on June 4, 2017). Read more here.

Coming soon: Swachh Bharat to do a toilet count

WCD and NITI Aayog will soon launch a nation-wide survey to find out how many schools and anganwadis (rural child care centres) have access to clean drinking water and toilets. WCD ministry will be collating the data in anganwadis while the department of school education under the HRD ministry will collect data from schools.Read more here.

Profits from rising onion prices helps Maharashtra farmers buy 250 tractors in a single day

Major automobile makers have reported double digit declines in domestic passenger vehicle sales but this hasn’t stopped onion farmers in Maharashtra’s tribal belt of Kalwan from buying as many as 250 tractors in a single day. Read more here.

Maharashtra polls: How did state fare in terms of investment, jobs?

The Fadnavis government set a target of making a Maharashtra a 1-trillion-dollar economy by 2025, but it is also impacted by economic slowdown. While a comparison shows Maharashtra received two times more investment than the erstwhile Congress-NCP government. Read more here.

‘I am shocked,’ Sourav Ganguly reacts to Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s speech at the UN

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly reacted to Virender Sehwag’s tweet where he had posted an interaction involving Pakistan PM and TV show host from an American network wherein the anchors had slammed the Pakistan PM for drawing comparisons between Chinese cities and New York. Ganguly, in his tweet, wrote, this is not the Imran Khan that the cricketing world once knew. Read more here.

James Franco accused of sexual exploitation by two ex-students of his film institute in lawsuit

Two women, actresses Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, accused Franco and two other men associated with his production company and school of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, fraud and other wrongdoing. They said that the Academy award nominated actor ran an acting school where young women eager to advance their acting careers were duped into auditioning nude or shooting explicit sex scenes. Read more here.