As cases of 'black fungus' among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Centre on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the 'new challenge'.
Is it inconsistency in policy, or the lack of robust support?
The Met Department has predicted light to moderate rainfall across parts of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with the probability of the severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' recurving.
Fresh rains triggered by a low pressure compounded the miseries of flood victims in Odisha.
Noting that heavy deployment of security forces in neighbouring Chhattisgarh was driving Maoists to his state, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday demanded two additional Central Reserve Police Force battalions and a military chopper to "effectively" tackle the extremists.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
There are always attempts from across the border to push in more terrorists before the onset of winter and closure of tracks due to heavy snowfall, but the security forces are alert and would foil any infiltration bids, Border Security Force Director General Nitin Agrawal said in Srinagar Thursday.
Rain and thundershower are likely to lash many parts of coastal Odisha and some other areas under the impact of the cyclonic storm 'Mahasen', centered about 760 km south of Paradip on Tuesday, the meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar said.
Rejecting the Centre's charge that the Odisha government has failed to contain left-wing extremism, the state's director general of police on Tuesday claimed that Naxal violence had declined in 2011 compared to the year before. "The Naxal situation in most parts of the state had been controlled while it was a cause of concern for the state government in areas bordering Chattishgarh," Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj wrote to Union Home Secretary R K Singh.
The Odisha government stepped up relief and restoration activities as cyclone Hudhud passed to neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Monday after claiming three lives, damaging about 50,000 thatched houses, electrical infrastructure and roads in four districts.
The IMD has warned of squally winds speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph likely to commence along and off Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh coasts from October 27 onwards.
The Centre on Tuesday permitted 20 states to raise Rs 68,825 crore through open market borrowings to bridge the GST revenue shortfall.
Five railway employees, including the station master of Bahanaga Bazar, are being investigated in connection with the three-train accident in Odisha's Balasore district that claimed 288 lives, official sources said on Monday.
The VSHORADS missile is meant for neutralising low altitude aerial threats at short ranges.
Bright dreams of a new journey, desperation to stage a comeback and desire to rediscover old glory will be the dominant themes of this season's Ranji Trophy that begins at various centres across the country from Friday.
The chief minister and his wife Kamlesh Thakur presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence in Shimla.
Dr Ravikant said the workers were thoroughly examined and their blood test, X-ray, and ECG reports were normal.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said it will set up an exclusive healthcare centre for the families of servitors. Ahead of the Rath Yatra, a massive sample collection exercise was conducted on Monday night and one servitor had tested positive, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said.
As rigor mortis had set in, the workers broke the body at the hip, wrapped it in an old sheet, tied it to a bamboo pole, and carried it to the railway station from where it was taken to Balasore by train.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
'Rahul Gandhi never gets firsthand information. He does not know what is good or bad going on in the party.'
The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed the Centre to respond to a plea by LGBTQ couples who are seeking live streaming of proceedings on a batch of petitions to recognise same-sex marriages under the special, Hindu and foreign marriage laws on the ground that the matter is of great national and Constitutional importance.
The Centre is keenly observing the hostage situation in Odisha and is believed to be against any swap of prisoners with an abducted member of Legislative Assembly and an Italian tour guide.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Rama is Lord God of maryada. Today's maryada is the Constitution.'
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday started its investigation into alleged criminal negligence leading to the Balasore train accident which claimed 278 lives after registering a first information report (FIR), officials said.
The finance ministry on Monday said it will transfer Rs 6,000 crore as the second tranche of GST compensation shortfall to 16 states and 3 Union Territories -- including Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Puducherry and Delhi. The Centre had on October 23 transferred Rs 6,000 crore to 16 states and 2 UTs of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. In the second tranche of transfer, Union Territory of Puducherry has been included.
The amount of financial assistance to each state and Union Territories is based on their COVID-19 caseload.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Jaya Varma Sinha, member of operation and business development, Railway Board said, "According to the preliminary findings, there has been some issue with the signalling. We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. Only Coromandel Express met with an accident. The train was at a speed of around 128 km/h."
After being pounded for an entire day by Cyclone Hudhud, the storm is weakened on Monday leaving behind a trail of destruction in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The central government may, however, advise state authorities to continue with strict curbs in COVID-19 containment zones in the worst-affected 30 municipal areas that account for 80 per cent of the positive cases in the country. These 30 municipal areas are from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.
A large chunk of the Rs 8.8 lakh crore of investments the Patnaik government had attracted is in uncertain territory.
Death toll due to floods in Odisha climbed to 45 and number of people affected by the deluge to over 32.9 lakh on Sunday as the situation improved gradually with receding water level in many areas.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level meet with representatives of states/UTs to also review and discussed the COVID-19 management and response strategy through video conference.
The announcement of Murmu's candidature by BJP president J P Nadda came a day after she celebrated her 64th birthday.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Twenty-two proposals comprising 16 states and Union Territories and six ministries and departments have been shortlisted for participation in the parade after a series of five meetings.
'She has worked really hard after coming back from injury. The strength and conditioning team have worked really hard to get her in peak physical shape. Technically, she will be using a stiffer and longer pole.'
Hitting out at the Biju Janata Dal government over the abduction of a tribal MLA, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha on Saturday accused it of being hand in glove with Maoists and pushing the state into anarchy by ignoring Centre's advisories.
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