The ministry, however, said it could not be sufficiently established yet if these variants were behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in some states.
According to the Delhi police, Nikita Jacob with arrested accused Disha Ravi, an activist from Bengaluru, were allegedly involved in preparing the document and were in direct touch with "pro-Khalistani elements".
Those arrested have been booked under IPC section 302 (murder) and the sections pertaining to rioting.
As per the India Meteorological Department many districts in Maharashtra recorded maximum temperatures of 40 degree Celsius or above in the last two days.
Signalling a thaw in the Janata Dal-United-Bharatiya Janata Party ties, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi accompanied Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the last leg of his Vishwas Yatra to Gaya district.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
People aged 45 and above account for about 88 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in India making them the most vulnerable section, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday, a day after the government opened up vaccinations for all those in the age bracket from April 1.
Referring to various media reports showing the 'unfortunate and miserable conditions' of migrant labourers walking on foot and cycling long distances after the lockdown, the top court issued notices to the Centre, the states and union territories and sought their replies by May 28.
After former Shiv Sena MP Pradeep Jaiswal, ex-MLA of BJP from Latur, Shivaji Patil Kavekar, has resigned from the party with his supporters. Similar revolts had been reported from Nanded, Beed and Hingoli districts also.
He was accompanied by his father, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, and mother Rashmi while filing nomination papers.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave another breather to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, staying his arrest till the next hearing. Earlier, on February 4, the court had stayed Raj's arrest till February 17. Raj's lawyer argued in front the bench comprising Justice A V Potdar that his client was arrested by the Mumbai police from Ratnagiri, when a state transport bus was pelted with stones in Badnapur tehsil of Jalna district.
Hundreds of people are still seen attending the rallies without wearing face masks and pushing and shoving each other for space.
Agitating farmer groups on Thursday held a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' agitation with the railways saying there was negligible impact on services though some trains were stopped by officials at stations as a precautionary measure.
'Can we slip through the cracks in the alliance and use the situation to our advantage?'
The deceased jawan was identified as 20-year-old Sepoy Mustapure Shubham Suryakant, a resident of Konerwadi village in Parbhani district of Maharashtra.
The PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, called the raids a gimmick and an attempt to divert attention from the farmers' issue.
Official figures say 1.8 lakh workers have returned home to Bihar. Unofficially, however, that figure is said to have crossed 3 lakhs. Can Bihar cope?
For two-and-half weeks, as Kanhaiya Kumar's Jan Gan Man Yatra opposing the CAA-NPR-NRC makes its way through Bihar, it has come under sustained violent attack. Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers that the yatris, who include teenagers wanting to save the Constitution and the Nation, are unfazed by the threats and loathing.
Addressing poll rallies at Gayas Sherghati and Aurangabads Rafiganj, Kumar said, "There are some people who know nothing but are promising these many jobs. Where will the money come from?
The daughter of a tea-shop owner, Sudiksha Bhati died on Monday morning near Aurangabad when she was riding pillion on a motorcycle with her younger brother, a minor, they said. The two were en route to their maternal uncle's home in Bulandshahr's Khanpur area from their house at Deri Scanar village in Gautam Buddh Nagar's Dadri tehsil, the officials said.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to issue orders for registration of a first information report against Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sujay Vikhe Patil over allegations that he had illegally procured a large consignment of Remdesivir drug for his constituency Ahmednagar to improve his political image.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and several of his cabinet colleagues figure in the list of 118 Congress candidates for the October 15 Assembly polls announced by the AICC late on Wednesday.
Five other convicts were also granted varying jail terms by a special MCOCA court.
Lakhs of people, including men and women, students, working professionals, lawyers and doctors from the community, participated in the march, under the umbrella of 'Maratha Kranti Muk Morcha'.
'Haven't you heard of the magical EVM machines? They can negate all our votes.' 'There is no hope. Modi is India's Putin.'
Fissures in Maha BJP were out in the open at a rally organised in memory of the late Gopinath Munde, with Eknath Khadse and Pankaja targeting former CM Devendra Fadnavis.
The BJP's quest for dominance over the states political scene, evident from a seat-sharing deal as part of which it clinched nearly as many constituencies as the Janata Dal-United its senior partner so far- resonated during the election campaign.
PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have all expressed grief over the incident.
Trouble erupted in Godapur village under the Town police station area, where an idol was found vandalised, following which the members of two communities indulged in heavy stone-pelting, District Magistrate Kaushal Kumar said.
Drought hit Bihar plans to increase the number of days of work from 100 to 150 under the rural job scheme to check migration of the poorest of poor in search of livelihood by providing employment opportunity locally.
The court accepted prosecution's case that the aim of the convicted accused was to create terror in the minds of people and to eliminate public leaders like then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Hindu leader Pravin Togadia.
A five-judge Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan heard the petition filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh. The duo had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued death warrants in their names for their hanging on January 22.
'Police officers should be selected on merit and not on the basis of who is close to the political party in power.'
Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second COVID-19 wave, a central team report has said, highlighting that there is very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts, and there is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people in rural and urban areas in the state.
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu likely to be India's most water-scarce states this summer
This was the second ceasefire violation by Pakistan in the past 24 hours.
Not just in the hostel, but in college too, they would block his way in the corridor; snatch his mobile; make him get up from where he was sitting; crowd around him in the mess; drag him into their room and threaten to hit him with a belt.
Biharis can confidently decide whether they want to follow Badlav Se Bhadiya Bharosa (Trust is Better than Change) or Badaliye Sarkar, Badaliye Bihar (Change the Government, Change Bihar), asserts Asmita Bihari.
Voters will decide the fate of 456 candidates in 32 constituencies spread over six Naxal-hit districts.
