Parliamentarians, who have been slugging it out for past the few days in Lok Sabha over several issues, were seen mixing freely at a dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday night to commemorate three years of his presidency.
As India launched the world's largest vaccination drive against the coronavirus pandemic, showing the light at the end of a 10-month tunnel that upended millions of lives and livelihoods, here are some of the quotes from politicians across parties and other people who took the jab:
In a review meeting through video conference with chief ministers and representatives of seven states with a high burden of COVID-19 cases, Modi said having micro containment zones will help states in dealing with the spread of the infection and also allow normal activities to continue.
The arrival of the June-September rains has been delayed.
It is the first highest level face-to-face meeting between the two sides after the border row escalated in eastern Ladakh in early May.
He also said it was important that even during the difficult moments of this "crisis" India has been communicating and engaging with China.
It is believed that the crop residue burning in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana are contributing to polluting the air.
Sushma Swaraj does not follow anybody, Gadkari is happy to track only two, while Parrikar has only 117 tweets.
Talking about the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Agarwal said, "If the Tablighi Jamaat incident had not taken place and we compare the rate of doubling -- that is in how many days the cases have doubled, we will see that currently it is 4.1 days (including Jamaat cases) and if the incident had not taken place and additional cases had not come then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days."
The opposition invested in people to speak badly about the Aam Aadmi Party, says Prithvi Reddy, national executive member of AAP. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Thirty-five Union ministers on Friday huddled in a strategy meeting for an image make-over for the government on a day when Congress began its foot march against the land bill from the symbolical Bhatta Parsaul village.
At a video conference with chief ministers and representatives of these 10 states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Modi said the recovery rate has gone up which, he added, meant that government efforts have proved to be effective.
"Indian-Americans are an 'organic bridge' between the world's two largest democracies," he said.
In his remarks in New Delhi at an all-party meeting held virtually, Modi said healthcare workers involved in treating COVID-19 patients, frontline workers, who include police personnel and municipal staff, and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority.
Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said the purpose of the COVID vaccine drive would be to break the chain of viral transmission.
Easing restrictions, all private hospitals were on Tuesday allowed to give the vaccines if they adhere to the laid down norms, while the 9 am to 5 pm timing was also done away with.
The fire started at around 5 pm from the microbiology department and thick plumes of smoke billowed from the building, sparking panic among patients, attendants and staff, and affecting emergency services.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
India's COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population are amongst the lowest in the world, the govt says.
AIIMS doctors said the BJP stalwart and former external affairs minister died of a cardiac arrest.
Gen Naravane's visit to Nepal from November 4-6 is largely aimed at resetting bilateral ties that came under severe strain following a bitter border row between the two countries.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The Apex court said, "It appears that the Lieutenant Governor (Najeeb Jung) has made positive moves in exploring the possibility of government formation in Delhi. There could be a minority government with an outside support of a political outfit. Let us wait for sometime".
Delhi BJP chief Tiwari said each poor family will be provided good quality, subsidised 'atta' (wheat flour) at a rate of Rs 2 per kilogram. The BJP will bring an ambitious 'Samridh Delhi Infrastructure Scheme', with a provision of Rs 10,000 crore, to ensure "focussed and priority" development of roads, flyovers, foot over-bridges and other key infrastructure projects, the manifesto stated. The manifesto promises to set up a 'Colonies Development Board' for undertaking development of various civic amenities.
On Tuesday, Pompeo and Esper will hold the 2+2 talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, covering the entire expanse of defence and security ties as well as key regional and global issues.
The fierce litigious fight for little-known Birla Corporation marked the first major controversy for this storied and reserved business family.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu reported one case each, officials said.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to form government in Delhi through "horse trading", Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said Aam Aadmi Party will seek the President's intervention to ensure that the saffron party does not get an invitation "under any circumstances" from the Lt Governor.
A city resident doesn't find Delhi to be livable anymore.
'The greatest danger is that the current crisis will clear a little, we'll be able to see our hands in front of our faces, and with great relief we'll forget all about it and willingly breathe poison until next November', says Mitali Saran.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
Some vaccine frontrunners are in advanced stages of trial and could hit the market by early next year, making the task of securing "last mile connectivity" and ensuring that nothing goes wrong before the shot is administered more urgent.
Notwithstanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's warning of strict action if work is not resumed, the junior doctors carried on with their agitation.
The East Delhi MP was on protest demanding proof from Kejriwal about his allegations that he was involved in Khan's murder and demanded an apology in case the chief minister was unable to do so.
In an unusual advice to Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked his party MPs not to show him respect by touching his feet or greeting other senior leaders by touching their feet.
What is particularly worrying is that the vast majority will not have access to testing or even to proper treatment. These cases could have been avoided if the government had shown the political will to do so, observes Rashme Sehgal.
A total 95 deaths deaths were reported since Friday morning, of which 37 in Maharashtra, 24 in Gujarat, nine in West Bengal, seven in Madhya Pradesh, four each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and two from Delhi and one each from Punjab and Haryana.
The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc, it said.
Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig.
The average rate of COVID-19 vaccination in the country has been 10.8 million per week. At that rate, it will take India till December 2024 to complete two billion doses.
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