India is one of the few countries in the region that enjoys good relations with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, and IMEC would allow it to recreate the old Spice Route to Europe. All this is in jeopardy now, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
'The 1971 War was our greatest military victory.' 'It had so many stories of exceptional valour and leadership.'
The flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage saw a marginal rise on Tuesday afternoon, oscillating between 50,000 and 60,000 cusecs.
Very light rains and thundershowers occurred at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh though, and a fresh warning of heavy showers was issued in Himachal Pradesh as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in several parts of the country, including the northern region, over the next six-seven days.
Avantika Bhuyan meets a train ticket inspector who captures everyday scenes beautifully on canvas.
The employers, many of whom had virtually abandoned the migrant labourers, are sending them train and even flight tickets to fetch them back as factories whir back to life, construction activities pick up and the sowing season sets in.
The Imphal Valley in Manipur, which remained peaceful for most of Friday, witnessed sporadic clashes later in the day as more security forces were rushed in from other states by road and air to calm down a state which had witnessed bloody ethnic rioting over the last 48 hours.
The metropolis has received heavy rains in the last 24 hours.
The drive met with opposition in Tinsukia in upper Assam leading to lathicharge by the security forces, while in Sonitpur the alleged illegal settlers claimed that it was launched about a week before the stipulated date.
Over 40 people died in rain-related incidents, majority of them in Uttar Pradesh, while incessant rainfall in Bihar left the streets of state capital Patna and other areas waterlogged and residences of at least two ministers marooned.
Bihar police on Tuesday claimed to have unearthed a suspected ISI link to target the railways with arrest of three persons in East Champaran district of the state bordering Nepal and are being interrogated to find out if they had a role in the derailment at Kanpur Dehat in November and elsewhere.
Suburban services were disrupted with trains on all the three lines -- western, central and harbour -- running late.
Security presence which has been bolstered by flying in more army troops and rapid action force and central police forces was clearly visible at all major areas and roads.
Heavy rains had battered the metropolis on Sunday and Monday as well.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to people to maintain peace and calm and urged the protesters to refrain from taking law into own hands.
Hudhud leaves a trail of destruction in Visakhapatnam, home to a major naval base.
Mumbai, India's financial capital, is set for a mega transformation with a massive patch of land opening up for redevelopment; a new metro railway ready to start services by the year-end; and the country's oldest railway station, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, going for modernisation with private sector participation. Work on Mumbai's second airport will start from next month, while construction of the sea link connecting central Mumbai to Navi Mumbai has already moved into a fast lane despite Covid-induced lockdowns. Also, a coastal road project, connecting Nariman Point to Worli, is under way and will help decongest the city to quite an extent. Of all these mega infrastructure projects, the one that has a huge potential to change the city's skyline is the Eastern Waterfront project - to be built on the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land.
The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted.
An unspecified number of people were evacuated from coastal areas of Odisha where Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore were likely to experience heavy rainfall accompanied by high-velocity winds, particularly on May 19 and 20, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.
A deafening bang and a powerful tremor flung sleeping passengers off their berths as the Delhi-bound Seemanchal Express jumped the tracks.
India has maintained communication with both Russia and Ukraine. It is time Narendra Modi steps up on the world stage and plays the role of peacemaker, suggests military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The attackers snatched the walkie-talkie of the station master, and forced staff of a goods train standing outside the station to shut down the engine.
World over, pluralism is in retreat. Luckily for us, Indian pluralism and its consequent tolerance of diversity is rooted in our basic values. As long as we remain faithful to these values and keep our institutions in good health, the Indian miracle of last 75 years is likely to last centuries, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Even as the concerning state governments and the central government claim that the exodus of students and other people from north-east from southern states were due to rumour mongering by some vested interests, panic-stricken people continue to rush back home in special trains from Chennai and Bengaluru.
According to central and state officials, omicron cases have been detected in 11 states and union territories -- Maharashtra (54), Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (9), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1).
After the Ladakh fiasco where Xi Jinping did not expect the Indian Army to resist his land-grabbing tactics, he has to save face before his colleagues in the Communist party.' To bring the threat of a mega-dam to the northern Indian border is a clever move, observes Claude Arpi.
An alert has been sounded by the Delhi government after the water level of Yamuna river crossed the danger mark, an official said.
With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
Neetu David played 10 Tests in which she had taken 41 wickets. She retired from international cricket in 2008.
With recovery of a huge quantity of arms and ammunition recently from houses of some CPI(M) leaders at Khejuri in East Midnapore district, Railway minister Mamata Banerjee today suggested involvement of central agencies in combing operations and accused the Left Front government of using the police for partisan ends.
The four, including two women, were seated in S-8 and S-9 coaches, which are non-AC, and other passengers claimed that they died due to excessive heat.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
The promptness with which the railways renames stations, that is missing when it comes to providing commuters with basic facilities, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
According to reports, the very severe cyclonic storm, located over west-central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal, has weakened into a severe cyclonic storm.
Gandhi said that the BJP government has clearly mishandled the economy that was built by the United Progressive Alliance government, and is now resorting to selling the country's assets as a "last resort" to generate some money.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
In Tripura, the challenge for the chief minister is less from the alliance partners and more from his own party, the BJP.
The biggest storm -- Typhoon Hagibis -- to hit Japan in decades left deaths and destruction in its wake, as it battered the central and eastern parts of the country. The storm flooded rivers and caused secondary weather patterns like tornados that destroyed homes and public property in areas east of Tokyo. Hagibis hit the capital, where streets were largely deserted and people were bunkered down, moving past the city by midnight, but not before flooding some sections. Reports state that the storm killed as many as 33 people and injured 186 others.
Political power has now been outsourced fully to the Modi government. Even if the RSS is still, in principle, his guru, nobody would dare to whisper a word of advice to Modi, forget some whiff of criticism. When the shishya grows into such a popular and domineering leader, the guru has to applaud from the sidelines, points out Shekhar Gupta.
This is how Mumbai's civic administration, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation along with Mumbai Police are dividing the city into 'Containment Zones' to prevent the spread of the deadly Coronavirus as the tally of those testing positive and those dying because of it shows no sign of abatement.
