What has really alarmed the police, and also the families of young drug abusers, is the entry of "chitta" -- a highly refined white powdery semi-synthetic substance (mainly heroine) -- into the drug scene and has spread like wildfire among the state's youth. Ashwani Sharma reports.
Asked whether it was an effort at unity, he said this is not an attempt but a reality. "We are one."
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation from arresting Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in connection with the disproportionate assets case but allowed the enquiry in the matter to proceed.
Thakur's name was proposed by Suresh Bharadwaj and Mahender Singh and seconded by other members.
The outgoing BJP government had 12 cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
Tomato prices have been on the boil for more than a month. Data from major cities show that the spike has been between 125 and 150 per cent at the wholesale level. Soaring vegetable prices, including tomatoes, pushed the retail inflation rate to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September, according to government data. Though reports say prices are expected to come down in the next few weeks after supplies improve from Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, how long will the respite last is anybody's guess.
Shimla has witnessed several landslides in the past weeks with the toll in rain-related incidents in the district in the past 10 days rising to 26, which include 17 deaths in Summer Hill landslide, five in Fagli and two in Krishna Nagar.
Soon after Gandhi's press conference, the Election Commission said it will respond with full facts in writing.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
The BJP leader said the Congress wants to divide the country on the basis of religion and region.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the Opposition is suffering from "selective amnesia" as during the Congress-led UPA rule, the winter session was held in December in 2008 and 2013.
Clash of the two richest titans, a celebrity and a 'royal', is on the cards in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, known for electing erstwhile 'royals' maximum number of times.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday approved 139 Padma awards including seven Padma Vibhushans, 19 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shris.
Neeraj dropped the news to the world at a time of his choosing, which was a good 48 hours after solemnising his union with US-based tennis player and coach Himani Mor.
Forty-one Border Road Organisation labourers working to clear snow near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were trapped under an avalanche on Friday.
Himachal has a tradition of change in government after every elections and going by the trend, this time it is the turn of the BJP which is upbeat after exit poll results.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly ruled out any threat to the IPL or the South Africa series. But said the authorities are keeping a tab on the situation.
There is also speculation within the BJP that its national president J P Nadda, whose extended tenure will end by this month and who was among the leaders meeting Modi, may also be brought back in the government.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the punishing heat affecting health and livelihoods.
While members from Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland and Tripura are retiring on April 2, five members from Punjab are retiring on April 9.
With the strategy working in its favour, the BJP could be encouraged to undertake similar steps in states, including Karnataka, where elections are due next year, to counter factors that might work against it.
The collapse of a three-storey building in Punjab's Mohali has claimed two lives, with rescuers pulling out the body of a man and a fatally injured woman from under the rubble during a multi-agency 23-hour rescue operation that concluded Sunday evening, officials said.
The expenditure was incurred by the government through the Central Bureau of Communication, Thakur said.
'The power sector accounts for much of the financial burden of state governments in India.'
Republic Day is leading to a tizzy in New Delhi to fill vacancies for governors in several states. Governors hoist the national flags at state capitals.
Mishra, 78, had resigned from the Narendra Modi-led government as minister for micro, small and medium enterprises in 2017 after he crossed the age of 75, the BJP's unofficial age limit for holding an elected post.
"Word of the day! Definition of *snollygoster* US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician. First Known Use: 1845. Most recent use: 26/7/17," Tharoor had tweeted in 2017.
Kumar became CBI director in 2008, succeeding Vijay Shanker, in the midst of the agency's probe into the Aarushi Talwar murder case that hogged the headlines.
FIRS were earlier registered in connection with the three-day Dharam Sansad that was held in Haridwar last December where hate speeches were made targeting members of a community.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, the little-known Hyderabad-based firm that in recent years won the prestigious Zojila tunnel deal among other projects, forayed into city gas and acquired a media group, was the second largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds.
Months before the Haryana assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party replaced its strongman Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister with low-profile OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini, a decision that surprised many.
The PM also said the results proved that there is a strong support for "politics of good governance and development".
Several opposition parties have claimed that the mandate of 2024 Lok Sabha elections was against the ruling haratiya Janata Party, even though it was able to form the government with support of other parties.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, was conspicuous by her absence at the event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people as the Congress sought to promote opposition unity.
'This verdict means that if there is presidential rule anywhere in any state of India, that state can be dismembered and from a state can be downgraded to a Union territory.'
Inflencer and vlogger Shenaz Treasury chooses her favourite quiet spots.
Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.
There is little doubt that the prime minister's own charisma exceeds that of his party, but 2024 is proof that no party can ultimately depend on one person to deliver victory all the time, points out R Jagannathan.
