The home minister held a video conference with Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra -- Vijay Rupani and Uddhav Thackeray respectively -- and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Praful Patel, and assured them all central help in view of the impending cyclone, an official statement said in New Delhi.
With Tamil Nadu witnessing a sharp increase in the covid-19 cases, the government on Saturday announced clamping a two-week 'total lockdown' across the state to curb the spread of the pandemic.
What dos and don'ts should people in Maharashtra follow with the state government notifying The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 lockdown orders?
On Monday, around 5,000 nurses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi went on a strike over their long pending demands, including those with regard to the Sixth Central Pay Commission.
In Assam, nearly 27.80 lakh people across 26 districts have been affected by the deluge. The deaths were reported from the Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts. The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has risen to 122.
Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has been appointed as school education secretary.
Heavy overnight rains have disrupted normal life in the island with a flood-like situation in north and middle Andamans.
The air carriers' liability and insurance draft bill has proposed a five-fold increase in compensation in case of death or injury, the report said.
Flood situation in West Bengal's six districts remain unchanged, even as the death toll rose to 17 with reports of eight more deaths from different districts on Friday.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to rival leaders to "not do politics" over Chhath Puja, even as he asserted that the restrictions imposed on its celebrations at riverbanks and other public places were for the safety of people amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Massive relief and rescue operations have been launched in Manipur where a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday claimed nine lives, shattered buildings and caused panic.
The system moved north-northeastwards at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the weather office said in its 11.30 am bulletin.
The 15 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the expanded Gehlot cabinet, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state's Congress government.
A day after Cyclone Yaas tore through coastal Odisha and Bengal to cause havoc as far as Jharkhand, tornadoes, torrential rains, bridge collapses and swelling rivers continued to plague eastern India as people tried to pick up their lives amid the debris of swept away mud homes and swamped farmlands.
An alert has been sounded across Assam as cyclone 'Mahasen' is likely to hit the northeastern states on Thursday night, officials have said. All boats and ferry services on Brahmaputra have been closed for the next three days and fishermen have been directed not to venture out to the river.
It is a complete mayhem in West Bengal, Manipur and Odisha with more than 60 dead
Maharashtra state disaster management officials said no locust swarm was spotted in Mumbai. "The viral images and videos have been wrongly attributed as being from Mumbai," an official said.
The Centre has initiated 'major penalty proceedings' against former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, amid a tug-of-war between the Union government and the Mamata Banerjee dispensation over him, which may deprive him of post-retirement benefits, partially or fully.
What worries state officials is that Bihar expects to receive more than 1 million migrant workers by the end of May.
'We had decided that India was unique and had overcome Covid.' 'Other nations ordered vaccines on time.' 'They let their scientists determine whether the battle against the pandemic was won instead of a divinely inspired leadership,' asserts Aakar Patel.
More than 39.8 lakh people in 27 of the 33 districts in the state were affected by the deluge on Thursday.
The order of five-day mandatory institutional quarantine was opposed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia in a meeting of Delhi State Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Saturday.
The top court also directed authorities to consider withdrawing all cases against migrant workers for alleged violation of lockdown norms under the Disaster Management Act.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray through video conference and took stock of the state's preparedness to tackle any eventuality, the latter's office said. 10 units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in vulnerable districts, while six others have been kept on a stand-by, officials said.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said people living in the coastal belt would be shifted to safer places.
The accident occurred when the private boat 'Ma Kamala' was headed to Majuli from Nimati Ghat and the government-owned ferry 'Tripkai' was coming from the riverine island.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation till Sunday was running trains with 50 per cent seating capacity, after the services had resumed after a long hiatus on June 7.
At least five states were hit by unseasonably powerful storms and tornadoes on Friday night, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
With this allocation of portfolios, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has got most of the 'plum' ministries.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in Uttarakhand and noted that rescue operations are underway to help the affected.
The MeT department forecast very heavy rains over the next 48 hours in the mountainous areas of the state especially the disaster-prone Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts where torrential rains may trigger flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides asking people as well as authorities to be alert.
Participating in a video conference along with chief ministers of other states, Kumar spoke about many states having arranged for return of students from the Rajasthan town, and also made an oblique reference to the pressure from opposition parties that his government has been facing on the issue.
All existing emergency numbers will be phased out within a year of rolling out 112, depending upon the awareness about this new facility.
In accordance with ''Level-1'' alert under the graded response action plan (GRAP), private offices will function with physical attendance of 50 per cent of the staff, barring essential categories.
Modi also announced Rs 2 lakh aid to the kin of those who died in the deluge.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of four lakh rupees to the kin of those killed in the incident.
The detection of the COVID-19 case from the premises of the President's Estate prompted Rashtrapati Bhavan to issue a statement in which they clarified that 'no employee of the President's secretariat has tested positive for COVID-19 and the secretariat along with the local administration is taking all the preventive measures required under the government guidelines'.
The cyclone would bring light to moderate rains at most places and 'heavy to very heavy downpour' at some places on November 6.
This is the highest number of cases since December 13 when 1,984 people tested positive for the virus, according to official data.
