The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 543 and the number of cases climbed to 17,265 in the country on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.
A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporter attempted self-immolation in Darjeeling as the indefinite bandh by the GJM for a separate Gorkhaland entered the sixth day on Thursday, even as the West Bengal government said it would follow court orders strictly to maintain normalcy.
Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Monday demanded Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for reconstruction work in Kalimpong and other areas of Darjeeling hills affected by the September 18 earthquake.
The army was being deployed in violence-hit areas of Darjeeling district after 2 persons were killed on Tuesday when the police opened fire to stop Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters from taking out a march in adjacent Jalpaiguri district defying prohibitory orders, sparking arson by GJM workers who torched government vehicles and offices.
Principal Secretary of the state health department Bibek Kumar, in his letter to the secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Friday, described the list as "an erroneous assessment" and said Bengal, keeping in view the parameters set by the Centre, has earmarked four "red" zones -- Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore.
Power lines were snapped in Darjeeling and Kalimpong where Sunday evening's tremor was mainly felt and administration has been instructed to take necessary steps, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
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The search operation was on to recover more missing persons by the army, the NDRF, the Sashastra Seema Bal and other rescue teams.
Hours ahead of the second-phase strike, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung on Monday sought intervention of the Centre for resolving the crisis in the Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal.
'Manmohan Singh's fond hope of avoiding conflict over territory by 'making borders irrelevant' is increasingly difficult to realise in a world where institutional restraints on aggression are weakening and the new game in town is unalloyed power play,' notes T N Ninan.
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The West Bengal government arrested Binay Tamang, one of the top leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and a member of its central committee, around midnight on Wednesday.
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
'India is yet to demonstrate that it cares for a giant who fought single-handedly against an archaic monarchy and helped India extend and secure its borders against China.'
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
The army has moved more than 6,000 troops to the Sino-Indian border close to the tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China even as Army Chief Deepak Kapooor said reports of intrusions of Chinese forces in Bhutan was a "matter between the two countries".
Gitdabling, a village near Kalimpong, is famous for its homemade cakes and pastries in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
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The GCPA has sought the West Bengal government to not conduct any election in the district as 'the terms of incorporation of Coochbehar into India had been violated.
After the prolonged GNLF movement, as well as the agitations by the 'Uttar Banga Tafsili Jati/Jan Jati Adivasi Sangathan', Uttarkhand and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, the GCPA's demand has put the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee government in a fix.
Post offices in Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Siliguri, Gangtok and Jalpaiguri have been earmarked for the purpose.
Kohli was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate S K Sharma, as the additional chief metropolitan magistrate 'enquiring' into the demand for his extradition to the UK was on leave.
The BJP could win only 16 out of 57 seats where Shah campaigned.
Bharati Das, the Indian wife of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the prime accused in the Hannah Foster murder case, has refused to accept a British cash award of around Rs 4 lakh for providing information to help arrest him from Kalimpong.
Tamang said, "All schools in Darjeeling will be given relaxation for 12 hours on June 23 to evacuate students from the city."
'I want to unburden myself and tell the truth (about) what happened that night,' he told NDTV television channel.
All relevant tests were made but no serious health problem was detected, sources said.\n\n\n\n
He died in New Delhi on Thursday at the age of 78.
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Sikkim's new chief minister will have to achieve growth without compromising nature.
Like millions of people across the world, the year 2020 had dealt me irreplaceable losses and the lowest of blows. Like I have always done at such junctures, I had sought the refuge of the mountains. I wanted to end the year on a high, to show the finger to life, says Sumit Bhattacharya after a memorable journey to North Sikkim.
The sound of the water amidst the silence of nature will remove all the tiredness of the journey, says Ashim Chakravarty.
Rescue operations were underway in three subdivisions of Darjeeling district where multiple landslides have claimed 38 lives besides washing away highways and damaging homes.
Observing that law and order was a "state subject", a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra stayed the Calcutta high court order restraining the Centre from relocating the paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts and asked the state government to respond to the Centre's appeal within a week.
The West Bengal government had written to the Centre seeking extended deployment of CAPF till December 25, but was told that out of the 15 companies present, 10 would be withdrawn on October 15 and the rest by October 20.
Normal life was disrupted for the second day on Tuesday due to the 72-hour bandh called in the Darjeeling hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand Gorkhaland.
Schools, shops, markets and business establishments remained shut in and around Baduria, including Keosha market, Banshtala, Ramchandrapur and Tentulia, where prohibitory orders are in force.
Arpi deserves to be complimented for the commitment and hard work that have gone into this production. The frustrations of seeking reliable documentation from the catacombs of the Indian bureaucracy did not deter him from going after the best information available, and the result is one that he can take much satisfaction in. Ambassador Prabhat P Shukla, Member Advisory Council, Vivekananda International Foundation, reviews Claude Arpi's The End of an Era: India Exits Tibet.
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