Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera made an 11-day road voyage across some of South Asia's most deserted, challenging, terrain, always under the gaze of the sacred, dazzling Himalaya.
The 300-km long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continued to remain closed for traffic for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday due to landslides triggered by heavy rains, leaving over 700 Kashmir-bound trucks and light passenger vehicles stranded.
Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages of Noida and Greater Noida on Thursday took to the streets seeking hiked compensation, bringing traffic to a standstill in several parts of Delhi-NCR as they made an unsuccessful bid to march towards Parliament.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
Kashmir is witnessing a fresh spell of wet weather with higher reaches receiving heavy snowfall and plains lashed by a mix of rain and snow.
Many of the tragedies occurred in the dark, which is when it is cooler to walk, and many people were caught in their sleep. The combination of no traffic and speeding vehicles has led to havoc, endangering the lives of those who found themselves without work or money in the coronavirus-induced lockdown and were frantic to get home, any which way.
Reiterating warnings made in dropped leaflets, the IDF's Arabic spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee directed Palestinians to continue moving south of Wadi Gaza.
Sub-divisional police officer Chingtham Anand, a resident of Imphal's Haobam Marak locality, was killed in a sniper attack while he was on duty overseeing the cleaning of the grounds of Eastern Shine School for construction of a helipad jointly by the police and BSF, officials said.
Farmers from across the states arrived at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Monday early morning protesting over unemployment.
Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, positioned adequate stocks of all petroleum products -- petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG in the state.
In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a total of Rs 1,52,369 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.
He said China has accrued significant capacities for force mobilisation, application, and sustenance of military operations and maintained the long-pending boundary issue can not be divorced from bilateral relations between the two Asian giants.
'We were shaking with fear whenever we heard a gunshot somewhere and we could hear gun shots all around us.' 'We thought they would come near us soon.'
Neither the BJP, nor the Congress before it, made any manifesto commitments on defence spending, even though allocations have plummeted from 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the late 1980s to less than 2 per cent today, points out Ajai Shukla.
A resident of Uttarakhand's Badena village, Singh had joined the army in 2016 and is survived by his parents.
India and China have resolved the stand-off at the Ladakh border and withdrawal of troops will begin on Friday and be completed by September 30, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said describing the resolution of the issue as a "big accomplishment."
Lou also spoke about China's tensions with neighbouring countries without directly mentioning the eastern Ladakh border standoff with India since May 2020 which resulted in the Galwan Valley clash in June of that year.
Manipur witness more violence on Tuesday when unidentified armed men, suspected to be cadres of banned terror groups, attacked people from the tribal community in the morning killing three of them in Kangpokpi district, officials said.
The defence ministry had in September red-flagged the promotion of certain officers following allegations of impropriety.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Thursday visited Sopore town that had been in the news recently for violence and attacks on the mobile service providers and telecom towers.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 crore for restoration works in the flood-affected areas of the state.
The committee's convenor L Binod had earlier said that the strike is not to add to the hardships of the people, but to 'pressure the government.'
Gaza based channels reported spotting IDF tanks at the Netzer intersection in Gaza City, a strategic point deep inside the enclave.
Kashmir remained cut-off from the rest of the country for the second day on Thursday with road and air links to the Valley snapped due to snowfall, the heaviest in a decade in the month of January.
'Israel should stop water supply to the people who want to destroy us.' 'It is not Israel's responsibility to take care of the people who want to kill Israelis.'
"Numerous rounds of talks have taken place with the Chinese counterparts to deescalate the situation without compromising on India's stand of 'complete disengagement and immediate restoration of status quo ante'," the defence ministry said.
The Border Roads Organisation is due to commission a cable stayed bridge, over river Ravi in Basholi area of Jammu and Kashmir next year.
Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road will be taken to Bucharest by officials of the Indian government so that they can be evacuated in the two Air India flights, they added.
Faced with an onslaught of unsavoury messages on social media, some purportedly written by retired and serving personnel, the army on Thursday turned to Facebook to caution them against accepting or forwarding messages without verifying facts.
The thrust will be on improving connectivity in economic corridors and remote and border areas with a view to hike trade and enable faster movement of cargo.
China said that it had put off the visit of Indian pilgrims who enter Tibet via the Nathu La pass "for safety reasons" in view of the border issue.
During the visit, she reviewed the security situation in the border region and inaugurated a bridge that will link Leh to Karakoram, providing connectivity on the strategically important Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Olde axis for military transport.
Showering his praise on the armed forces guarding the nation, Prime Minister Modi earlier on Sunday dedicated this year's Diwali to the jawans.
Activists of the Swarajya Sanghatana on Wednesday smeared black paint on the signboard of Karnataka Bank at its branch in Nashik city of Maharashtra amid a simmering border dispute between the two states.
In his opening remarks at the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Modi also said that some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policy and the grouping must not hesitate to criticise them.
The mob also tried to snatch weapons from the police, forcing them to fire at the crowd. No casualty was reported so far, the sources said.
The grandeur and might of the various types of aircraft in the Indian Air Force were on full display on the occasion of the 88th Air Force Day celebrations on Thursday.
About 10 inches of snow had accumulated on ground around Jawahar Tunnel areas, but the real problem is continuous landslides and shooting of stones triggered by incessant rains in Ramban sector which is hampering the efforts of early restoration of the highway.
