With the flood situation in Assam remaining critical on Monday and affecting a population of nearly 43 lakh in 33 of its 35 districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed air dropping of food and other relief materials in areas where there is heavy inundation, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its two Assam allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal -- on Wednesday 'almost finalised' their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.
One of the high-profile contests in the high-stakes Bengal polls is likely to be a direct fight between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former confidant and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat.
Lakhs of voters will have to bear the searing heat when they step out to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
The rains after arriving over Kerala will quickly cover Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, but then might slacken a bit, which could delay its arrival over Northwest India.
A superintendent of police and another police official were killed in an encounter when tribal militants from the Karbi People's Liberation Tigers ambushed them in Karbi Anglong district of central Assam late on Thursday night.
The manifesto, released by BJP national president JP Nadda, promised to protect "genuine Indian citizens and to detect infiltrators" to ensure the Ahom civilization stays safe.
In a move aimed at maintaining 'zero tolerance' against terrorism and cross border crimes, the Centre has empowered the Border Security Force to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the international border along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
Assam CM said the police case filed against two senior Mizoram government officials - Deputy Commissioner of Kolasib district and Sub-divisional Police Officer of Vairengte - will be withdrawn.
In the Interim Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a high power committee would be set up to consider the challenges arising from 'fast population grown and demographic changes.' 'But who wants data? It pays to feed people's fears, insecurities and apprehensions. If such fears don't exist, they must be created,' her husband Parakala Prabhakar says in this fascinating excerpt from his book, The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis.
With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Assam government to provide extensive data, including those on the number of Bangladeshi immigrants granted Indian citizenship in Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971, while taking note of pleas that illegal immigration has impacted demography and cultural fabric of the border state.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
Eight people, including madrasa teachers, were taken into custody for allegedly being associated with the same terror group, also known as Ansarul Bangla Team, in the past two days in the district.
The toll due to the flood since mid-May is now 101, they said.
Sisodia claimed that while the Assam government procured PPE kits for Rs 600 a piece from other companies, Sarma gave urgent supply orders to the firms of his wife and son's business partners for Rs 990 a piece "taking advantage of the COVID-19 emergency".
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
'Unfortunately, there is no movement towards peace in Manipur.'
Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.
Seven out of eight women street vendors reported experiencing high blood pressure, while women in the middle age group raised concerns about delays in their menstrual cycles due to the extreme heat.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said on Monday the police have also detained his "accomplices" for questioning.
They had earlier been arrested by the Manipur police in September last year when they were allegedly extorting money by wearing police uniforms and carrying sophisticated weapons, the officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honoured Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain refugees by giving them citizenship through Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday and maintained there is no provision of stripping of anyone's citizenship in the new law.
Sarma's name was proposed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and seconded by BJP state party president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and newly elected Haflong MLA Nandita Garlosa.
'We are not secessionists, we want to coexist with our countrymen but not on the terms that will strip us off our dignity and a right to peaceful existence.'
A tripartite agreement among five insurgent groups of Assam, the Centre and the state government was signed on Saturday to end years of violence in the Karbi Anglong region.
'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
Many parts of Cachar district's severely affected Silchar town are still waterlogged.
A video of the attack which went viral on social media showed that a person, apparently looked like the doctor, was being assaulted by a group of people, including women.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
Over 1.54 crore voters in the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam will exercise their franchise in the 1st phase of polling
The National Testing Agency, under fire over the lapses in the conduct of NEET and UGC-NET, is gearing up to conduct on Sunday a retest for the medical entrance exam for 1,563 candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks to make up for the loss of time at six centres.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) was one of the top Sensex gainers in trade on Monday, ending with gains of nearly 9 per cent. The stock has gained about 42 per cent year-to-date. For the March quarter, the company reported a revenue of Rs 12,000 crore, which was down 3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) but up 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q). The drop was on account of one-time arrears related to the Nagapattinam tariff bid competitive bidding (TBCB) project in Q4 FY23.
Retail inflation eased to an 11-month low of 4.83 per cent in April as prices of some kitchen items declined though overall food basket firmed up marginally, according to a government data released on Monday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation was 4.85 per cent in March. It was 4.7 per cent in April 2023.
The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in coastal areas, and 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
Throwing security concerns to wind Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday plunged himself amid the masses in Nagaon district of Assam during a road show after seeking blessings of Goddess Kamakhya at the historic Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati earlier in the day.
Assam's Director-General of Police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh said the threat to Sarma by the pro-Khalistan group was being taken very seriously.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal condemned the fatwa and directed police to provide security to the singer.
The proposed population control policy will, however, not be applicable in all the schemes in Assam immediately as many of the benefits are offered by the central government, Sarma said at a press conference in Guwahati.
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