Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
'When so many young Baloch men and women are willingly volunteering as fighters and even suicide bombers.'
In the e2W category, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of total EV sales, volumes fell 15 per cent to 118,944 units in November, compared to 139,787 units in the previous month
Devotees attending the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj are facing transportation challenges, with many forced to walk long distances in search of transport. Thousands of pilgrims returning from the event are stranded at Varanasi Cantt and Banaras railway stations, with some missing their trains due to the rush and others stuck because of cancellations. Officials say the traffic situation in the district has returned to normal, but some pilgrims report difficulties in finding transport and reaching their destinations.
Vehicular movement remained suspended on the 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, as over 400 vehicles and passengers were stranded at various places. "The highway was closed for traffic for the third day due to heavy snowfall and landslides at various places en route," a police official said.
A BEST electric bus, traveling at a speed of 46 kmph, collided with a crowd in Kurla, Mumbai, killing seven people and injuring 42 others. The driver, Sanjay More, has been arrested for reckless driving. The accident has raised concerns about speed limits and training for drivers of automatic transmission buses.
Delhi's air quality plummeted to alarming levels on Tuesday after 24 days, with many areas witnessing a significant spike in pollution despite the strictest measures, including a ban on construction activities and the entry of trucks into the city, coming into force.
Road construction witnessed a near 60 per cent year-on-year jump in the first two months of financial year 2021-22 (FY22), despite restrictions being imposed in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19. Around 1,470 km of roads were constructed during the first two months of the current fiscal, as against 847 km in the corresponding period last year, according to official figures. However, these are provisional numbers as the state public works departments of Maharashtra and Goa are yet to provide data.
The Uttar Pradesh government is expecting over 35 crore pilgrims to attend the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, a significant increase from the 24 crore who attended the 2019 Kumbh Mela. The event, which will take place over 45 days, will feature extensive security and sanitation measures, as well as a digital component. The state government has allocated Rs 7,000 crore for the event.
Gadkari said, infrastructure sector including highways, airports, inland waterways, railways, logistic parks, broad gauge and metro, apart from MSMEs can attract large scale foreign investment.
Eighteen people were killed and 19 injured when a double-decker sleeper bus headed for Delhi hit a milk tanker on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao on Wednesday, officials said.
While she primed up spending on infrastructure to create jobs and boost economic activity, Sitharaman did not tinker with income tax slabs or tax rates. Her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2022 proposed a massive 35 per cent jump in capital expenditure to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, coupled with rationalisation of customs duty, an extension of time for setting up new manufacturing companies and plans for starting a digital currency and tax crypto assets.
Quick commerce major Zepto has raised $340 million in a follow-on financing round at a valuation of $5 billion as it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO). This is Zepto's third big-ticket fundraise within a year. With this, the company has raised more than $1 billion in 12 months.
33 per cent of all road accidents and 35 per cent of fatal accidents took place on national highways and expressways.
Projecting India as the land of biggest opportunities globally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday promised the business sector facilitation, reforms, a stable policy regime and high growth. Addressing the ET World Leaders Forum, Modi, in turn, asked investors to commit to innovation, performance, positive disruption and high-quality products, as he stressed that the country respects wealth creators.
Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in July touched 178,948 units, marking the highest monthly sales this financial year. This represents a 27.9 per cent increase from June, which saw 139,905 units sold, according to the Vahan data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The strong performance in July contributed to more than one million being sold in the first seven months of the calendar year.
"We respect the Supreme Court order. We will take suggestions from legal experts to see whether there can be a middle path," Sharma said.
Many Kashmiris have been left with no option but to flag down the odd private vehicle passing by in the Valley.
A terrorist holed up in a border village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district was killed by security forces on Wednesday in a more than 15-hour operation during which his partner was also shot dead and a CRPF jawan lost his life, officials said.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
Pakistan's deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is in China on a four-day visit, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-chaired the fifth round of the foreign minister-level China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue.
Within the army, there is growing concern that New Delhi will allow the Chinese to retain the territory they have occupied in the last month.
So far this year, around 839,545 electric vehicles have been sold, accounting for approximately 6.69% of the total 12,541,684 vehicles sold.
The all-weather Atal tunnel inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours.
Though some operators offer the facility of tag lanes, such tags can only be used at designated points.
Infrastructure associations such as the National Highway Builders' Association say that interest rates on loans for road projects need to fall to 8-9 per cent for projects to become viable. Currently interest rates are hovering between 13 per cent and 16 per cent. The NHBA's Director General M Murli said that traffic projections made by the National Highways Authority of India should be a realistic figure.
While activity in the highway segment has been slow, the bid pipeline saw recovery in January 2024, and awards are expected to improve in Q4FY24. The national highway (NH) bid pipeline has recovered from a low of Rs 15,900 crore in December 2023 to Rs 68,400 crore at present. The NHAI's pipeline stands at Rs 66,100 crore, with hybrid annuity model (HAM), build operate transfer (BOT) and engineering procurement and construction (EPC) projects accounting for 60 per cent, 29 per cent and 13 per cent share, respectively.
The report showed that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.
A few weeks ago, when Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari launched an electronic toll-collection system on the Delhi-Mumbai highway, television channels reported live from toll plazas showing vehicles with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in dedicated lanes that did not have to stop for paying cash.
Widespread violence between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged electoral malpractices in strife-torn Sandeshkhali marred the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a number of people.
The Meteorological Department has forecast rains or snow over five days from Monday.
He further said that the "focus is on horizontal drilling" as rock formation has created challenges for vertical drilling.
'We started AgniKul to show that space transportation should be as simple as road transportation.'
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
Plug-in hybrids have two engines and the electric part has a much larger battery than in the regular hybrids. Car companies, led by the Japanese, are pushing the Indian government to look at hybrids in the interim if it wants to reduce carbon emission.
The sector hit many roadblocks during 2014, as builders were seen shying away from the projects and investments dried up amid various regulatory, judicial and policy-related bottlenecks.
In one of the biggest such seizures in recent times, security forces unearthed a huge arms haul, including 60 kg of RDX, nine assault rifles and 11 pistols, at a house in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.
It was earlier reported that 60,000 people had already confirmed, via a website set up to register attendees, to attend the event to be attended by only Indian-origin persons.
The BSA Gold Star is launched....Ola Enters e-motorbikes Biz... Bajaj, TVS To Enter e2Ws Market...
