Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
The Centre asserted that it is regularly engaging with the states and Union Territories that are reporting a spurt in cases and those with a higher fatality rate.
The opposition party's remarks come after Bihar ministers claimed that the latest report of NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 vindicated the state's long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance.
Twenty-nine of the 30 incumbent chief ministers are crorepatis with Andhra Pradesh's Jagan Mohan Reddy having the highest assets totalling Rs 510 crore, according to poll affidavits analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
On January 29, the Central government had extended the ban imposed on the SIMI for five more years.
India will showcase its military prowess and rich cultural heritage on Kartavya Path in New Delhi on January 26 to mark the 76th Republic Day. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will be the chief guest at the event, which will also see the participation of a marching contingent and a band contingent from Indonesia. The theme of the parade is 'Swarnim Bharat: Virasat aur Vikas', focusing on the platinum jubilee of the enactment of the Constitution. The parade will feature a number of cutting-edge defense platforms, including BrahMos, Pinaka and Akash, as well as the Army's Battle Surveillance System 'Sanjay' and DRDO's surface-to-surface tactical missile 'Pralay'.
A new report, "India Justice Report 2025", highlights the stark gender disparity in India's police force, with less than 1,000 women holding senior positions like Director-Generals and Superintendents of Police. Despite growing awareness about the need for gender diversity in law enforcement, not a single state or Union Territory has met its target for women's representation in the police force. The report also emphasizes the significant challenges faced by the justice system as a whole, including infrastructural deficiencies, overcrowding in prisons, and inadequate staffing levels. The report calls for systemic reforms to address these issues and ensure a more equitable and accessible justice system for all.
Among the cities that have fully implemented their projects are Agra, Varanasi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Udaipur, Pune, Surat, and Vadodara
Reddy directed the officials to treat the storm as a major challenge to avoid loss of life and property as the winds are expected to blow gales reaching speeds of up to 110 kilometres per hour.
A total of 1,226 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been reported in the country so far with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh recording the highest number of cases till now, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) on Thursday.
COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 has spread to 15 states and Union territories with a total of 923 cases of the infection reported so far, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
The Kerala police were the most sensitised to the rights of those arrested while that of Jharkhand and Gujarat the least.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday termed misleading claims by opposition leaders that if any state is not named in the Budget speech, then it does not get any budgetary allocation. Replying to a Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman asserted that no state was being denied money. She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
The Centre had, in an affidavit filed in the apex court earlier, said it had issued a letter on April 18 to all states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in these petitions.
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Keshav explains his stand on the issue and says that the best way to solve the problem is to educate the people of Telangana about the benefits they would have if they remained in Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP was unable to win any seat in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Puducherry in 2011.
>The Indian Army still uses old British-era names and recruits soldiers based on caste or region, which hurts national unity, argues Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
>Bihar (18 days) has the most number of heatwave days in 2023, followed by Andhra Pradesh (15 days), Odisha (15 days), Jharkhand (13 days), West Bengal (8 days) and Tamil Nadu (6 days).
If the fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP has to be met for 2024-2025, which the government must in view of the uncertainties and challenges emerging both domestically and globally, the finance ministry may see in the composition of the current year's capex a sliver of hope, notes A K Bhattacharya.
UP's representation in the government could diminish, given the BJP's decreased seat count in that state.
If 74.9 per cent of NRI voters are from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh at 6.4 per cent, Maharashtra at 4.7 per cent, Tamil Nadu and Telangana at 2.9 per cent each follow way behind.
Reuters Photographers Francis Mascarenhas, Almaas Masood, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Sharafat Ali, Anushree Fadnavis capture fascinating glimpses of polling in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Monday, May 13, 2024, covering 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories.
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Telangana are among the seven states categorised as top achievers in the ranking of states and Union Territories based on the implementation of the business reform action plan 2020, according to a report released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday. Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh are the other states categorised as achievers in the ranking.
Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.
The constitution of a committee by the Centre to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election" has opened up the possibility of Lok Sabha polls being advanced so that they could be held with a string of state assembly polls.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd made a number of electoral bond purchases close to the date of bagging crucial projects, including the all-weather Zojila tunnel that is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The country has reported the highest number of recoveries with 42,08,431 COVID-19 patients having recovered from the disease so far, pushing the national recovery rate to nearly 80 per cent, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.61 per cent, the ministry said.
In Kerala, 95 out of 135 MLAs, accounting for 70 per cent, have declared criminal cases against themselves.
A maximum of 92,000 personnel of CAPFs are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in seven phases, followed by 63,500 personnel in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where polling will be held in five phases.
The further distribution of vaccine to the districts will be done as per the registered beneficiaries, for which a separate communication will be done shortly, the letter stated.
The maiden, critical mineral auction in India has failed to enthuse the mining industry, with the first tranche achieving less than a 50 per cent success rate and the auction of several mines was cancelled owing to low response. The results, announced by the Ministry of Mines on Monday, showed that six lesser-known companies emerged as preferred bidders. Among these were Agrasen Sponge, Kundan Gold Mines, Dalmia Bharat Refractories, Sagar Stone Industries, and Maiki South Mining.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Amid the row over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, a Union minister from Seemandhra has met senior Telangana Congress leader and his colleague at the Centre Jaipal Reddy seeking his support for making Hyderabad a Union Territory.
'The pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the House draws near and usually all amount is released.'
The government will stick to its decision on making Hyderabad a common capital for 10 years, but may agree to a special package for Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
