The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of 'test, track and treat' that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
The two central premier investigative agencies - Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate - have asked their officials to focus more on digital evidence, e-forums and social media to crack down on offenders. These are a crucial part of prosecution amid the second wave of the pandemic. The Income Tax Department is going full throttle on data analytics to issue notices in time-bound cases. Further, sleuths have been given electronic devices including laptops with secure connections, which keep data encrypted and inaccessible.
He said people have the right to protest but what happened with Kulkarni was not protest. "I recognise people's right to protest, but what has happened with Sudheendra Kulkarni is not protest," he said.
The Santacruz observatory recorded 286.4 mm rainfall during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday, making it the fourth highest rainfall in Mumbai since 1974, an Indian Meteorological Department official said.
The Income Tax Department on Wednesday raided the homes and offices of Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap as well as his partners who launched the now shuttered production house Phantom Films, officials said.
Aditya Thackeray may want Mumbai's shops and restaurants to remain open 24x7 but the Maharashtra government won't be okaying it in a hurry, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
'...to give him a signal that you cannot ignore Maharashtra, you are too close to the Centre.' 'I can see some kind of rivalry also in this, but it is better that the NIA goes deep into it.'
'As of this moment, we have 1,173 ventilators, 2,695 ICUs and about 10,408 plus isolation beds.' 'But this number keeps changing with every passing hour as we incorporate more private as well as government hospitals in our fight against the pandemic.'
The statement from the CBDT came as raids on the homes and offices of Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu, director Anurag Kashyap and his partners who launched the now shuttered Phantom Films continued in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad for the second day. The searches also covered some executives of celebrity and talent management companies KWAN and Exceed, officials said.
In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered was administered on an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital.
'... so that the hospitals do not get overwhelmed. We have to avoid it at all costs.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party in the state demanded an apology from the Uddhav Thackeray-led government over this incident.
While Karnataka reported five new cases, Delhi and Telangana reported four each, and Gujarat reported one fresh case of the Omicron variant.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with experts, and senior ministers and officials of his government to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state and curbs that were put in place to control its spread.
Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
Bhujbal was supposed to go to St George Hospital for a dental treatment but Ghule changed his medical papers without the knowledge of Arthur Road Jail CMO and recommended that he get admitted there for some other reason.
During the four-month monsoon period, India recorded the highest rainfall since 1994, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court that pending inquiry it would not initiate any criminal action against police officers responsible for the illegal arrest of two girls from Palghar in Thane district for their post on Facebook.
Veteran BJP leader Eknath Khadse says he will expose Devendra Fadnavis in a forthcoming book.
Shubham Pundir top-scored with 42 to take J&K to 139 for eight in 20 overs.
Who would you pick in India's playing XI for Tuesday's first One-Day International against England?
In a major goof-up, the Maharashtra government has appointed two senior officials to the top post in Excise Department, raising questions over coordination among various concerned departments.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday termed as 'quite serious' the matter in which former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has filed a plea against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, but asked the Indian Police Service officer to approach the Bombay high court with his grievances.
Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, 54, a resident of Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, is an associate professor in the Department of English
Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead in Karnataka and two in Goa, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement on Thursday that the daughter of slain 26/11 police officer Vijay Salaskar, Divya, has been given a job in the Maharashtra sales tax department.
Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, the Union health ministry officials said there was no need to panic. They also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Bombay high court on Thursday granted four weeks time to the Union government to respond to a petition seeking amendments in law to enhance punishment for offenders in drunk driving cases and more compensation to the accident victims.
'With more and more young people relocating outside their home states for work, an all-India MLDA of 21 would be a good way to ensure that more Indians can go with the flow,' recommends Kanika Datta.
Sixteen deaths in rain and flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, while the toll in Karnataka rose to five since Sunday.
Surveys suggest that the AAP would win 40 seats in the 182-member assembly if elections are held tomorrow.
Most key rabi-producing states of north India, such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have staggered their procurement to enable farmers to come in batches, so that there is no overcrowding. The Centre has also set up a call centre to coordinate the inter-state movement of farm commodities.
The decision was taken to prevent crowding at shops and marketplaces amid the lockdown to contain the coronaviruspandemic, a statement from Thackeray's office said.
Many government departments, including Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, Revenue and Forest, Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission, Home, Environment Ministry, Public Works Department and Uran Land department, were issued summons directing them to produce before the commission, all documents pertaining to the scam-hit Adarsh Society on Monday. However, except BMC, all the departments sought one week's time to submit all the files along with an index.
'Have discreet, separate corona and non-corona hospitals for treating these two categories of patients.' 'Concentrate on your non-corona patients as well.' 'Because then your diabetics, your hypertensives, the ones on dialysis, the asthmatics, who, if and when they get corona, are the ones who are going to require more intensive care and are going to be more at risk of death.'
The toll in Mumbai's worst hooch tragedy rose to 102 on Monday with the death of five more victims who consumed spurious liquor in Malad area and another 46 are in hospitals with eight of them struggling to survive serious ill-effects of the killer brew.
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases with 74, including three foreigners, followed by Kerala at 52 including seven foreign nationals.
Giving details of coronavirus situation in the country, Bhushan said the previous highest surge has already been crossed and the trend is going upward and that is a cause for worry and that is something they continuously share with the states and UTs and try to help them tackle the pandemic in a more effective manner.
This is the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise from foreign soil during the COVID-19 lockdown.