As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
The move is expected to give a major relief to Air India, which suffered a huge financial loss of around Rs 491 crore.
India has flattened its Covid-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
The GoM was told that six states -- Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- account for 86 per cent of the deaths caused by COVID-19 and 32 districts account for 80 per cent of such fatalities, the Union health ministry said.
The Akali Dal-BJP alliance won on four seats and the AAP bagged one.
The decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown across the country will be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
India, which has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UNSC, began its two-year tenure at the Council on Friday last.
India strongly condemned the terror attack, saying targeting of a religious place in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak reflects the "diabolical mindset" of the perpetrators and their backers.
As major airports like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad have a severe cap on the number of fights they can handle, cancellations continued on Tuesday.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
As the government plans to take sector-specific steps to tackle the slump, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will soon hold talks with representatives from various sectors to get and take steps so that the confidence of those sectors can be restored.
'The days when less government, more governance were spoken of are well and truly behind us.' 'More government, it is now believed, means more governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral in Delhi.
India on Wednesday hit out at tweets by global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of the farmers' protests, the focus of a sharply polarised international debate that saw many Bollywood stars and top ministers rally around the government in its pushback.
Prime Minister Modi will continue to take the nation by surprise, catching his political opponents offguard, says Shreekant Sambrani.
All these persons have been kept in single room isolation at designated health care facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the ministry said.
"We believe in peace and we are giving a message of peace from here. But, their generals should understand that we have a large Army and we are prepared..."
Panthic politics came easily to Parkash Singh Badal. But he was quick to abandon it when it became a problem, points out Aditi Phadnis.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
At least 40 CRPF jawans were killed after the convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack on February 14, 2019.
Stepping up its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine, the Centre on Monday decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, government sources said.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
India's assessment is that the Kartarpur project was being implemented with alacrity and military zeal under the supervision of the Pakistan army as it has the strategic objective to use the corridor to encourage separatism in Punjab, say government sources.
The prime minister was often seen vigorously thumping the desk, prompting his Cabinet colleagues and NDA MPs to follow suit.
Portfolios of more than half-a-dozen ministers are expected to be changed.
Besides the chief minister of Telangana, Modi was accompanied by Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Telangana's IT Minister K T Rama Rao and state Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Laxman in the much-awaited train's inaugural run.
The number of local youth joining militancy has shown a declining trend during the current year. Check out information revealed by ministers in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Kamra was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.
Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo's Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday.
Amit Shah's net worth grew 32 per cent to Rs 37.91 crore, mainly due to 80 per cent appreciation in the market value of his securities.
The Kartarpur corridor was an excellent opportunity for the Congress to seize centre-stage in Sikh religious affairs. After all, the Akalis never achieved this in their years in power, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
New Delhi's candidature was unanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping, including China and Pakistan, in June last year.
The death toll due to the coronavirus infection rose to 7,466 and the cases mounted to 2,66,598 in the country.
A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said.
'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a foreign entity,' says A K Bhattacharya.
Air India and IndiGo have already suspended Kamra from flying until further notice and six months, respectively.
Across the country, the number of patients in ICU beds is 4,88,861 while 1,70,841 patients were on ventilators and 9,02,291 patients were on oxygen support.
'A close relationship between India Inc and the government cannot help the BJP win elections.' 'While Opposition parties may feel good about Mr Bajaj criticising the Modi regime, the BJP should be seeing the indictment as a political boon,' says A K Bhattacharya.
The Sikhs love a good fight, and that's what the Modi government has given them.
'Significantly, Foreign Secretary Gokhale was received at very high level in Beijing.' 'It only shows China's keenness to move forward and put the relationship on a 'win-win' footing,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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