In the wake of 73 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India so far, the Union health ministry has made functional 52 laboratories for testing samples while 57 labs have been designated for helping in sample collection for Covid-19 to enhance capacity for diagnosis and detection of the disease. "Following the increase in load of screening samples from suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affected countries, the department of health research/ICMR has commissioned 52 laboratories for COVID-19 testing in India," an official said.
'The Congress party hated him because he had not gone to jail, he was not lathi charged, he had not gone on hunger strike.' 'They felt he had lived in London all his life and then he came to India and became an MP and a minister.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be administered oath of office for his second term along with his new council of ministers on Thursday. Modi is the first Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has been elected for the second time after completion of his five-year tenure, a feat so far achieved only by two Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Time's profile of Modi says that in its 74 years as an independent nation, India has had three pivotal leaders -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Modi. "Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country's politics like no one since them."
'Although Narendra Modi had no direct participation in the Ayodhya agitation, he would not have been in the dominant position he is now had it not been for the Ram Janambhoomi agitation.'
Miffed at being ignored in the ministry expansion, Sena had on Tuesday said it was 'hurt' at the way the exercise was carried out and questioned the prime minister's "selection criterion".
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced but not of Gujarat so that the PM can inaugurate many more bridges like the one that collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The inter-ministerial committee will coordinate investigation against Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
It would be a miracle if demonetisation doesn't extract a political price from the BJP and Modi, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Exasperated over naming of popular projects after members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, the BJP on Tuesday asked the ruling party whether the country was devoid of any other great leader. "All new institutions and programmes are named after Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. All limits of sycophancy have been crossed by this government," BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said.
Not only has the Mudra loan mela generated no jobs, it has frittered away trillions of taxpayers' money and it's time to bury the scheme, argues Debashis Basu.
'Being authoritative is one thing -- Nehru was that -- but being authoritarian is quite another -- the current prime minister is clearly one.'
'Why does Mr Modi only attack Nehru from the Dynasty?' 'At one level, it is pure politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
'These naval sailors should have been given due respect as freedom fighters.' 'February 18, 1946 should be as important as January 26 because that date changed everything.'
The dates of the first Parliament session are expected to be finalised during the first meeting of the new Cabinet on May 31, a day after Narendra Modi takes oath as the prime minister of the country, they said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party got a thumping majority in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, surpassing its performance five years ago in 2014.
When Kapil Dev lifted the 1983 World Cup at the Lord's balcony, the erstwhile BCCI president and one of the powerful ministers in the Indira Gandhi cabinet, late NKP Salve had a different worry.
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
'Harassment' is the objective, not detention.
Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took charge as the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, citing Rahul Gandhi's slogan 'daro mat' to energise workers and declaring that the party will demolish the government's 'system of lies, treachery and hatred'.
'His politics is pure power politics. It's defined by the struggle that he has gone through.' 'Like Indira Gandhi, he is always suspicious about the people who surround him, he is lonely as he does not trust anyone. And he will not allow anyone to challenge his superiority, be it individual or institutions,' says Ashutosh.
Modi is scheduled to arrive in the city to lay the foundation of the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
The senior BJP leader also scoffed at Priyanka Gandhi's resemblance with her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The Modi leadership could lose Election 2024 if a communal flare-up becomes cause for all-round catastrophe, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Overnight, with zero qualification whatsoever for the responsibility of prime ministership, Priyanka is being projected as an alternative to Narendra Damodardas Modi!' says Nazarwala who predicted Mayawati's win in the 2007 UP elections, forecast her rout in the 2012 polls, and called right the 2017 UP assembly election result.
With about 18 weeks to go for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the state is being barnstormed by one notable politician after another.
The Year of the Rabbit, according to the Chinese calendar, began on Sunday, January 22.
ACN Nambiar's life was extraordinary and intricately linked to momentous turns in history. Having lived in Europe for five decades, he was witness to and entangled with what we today -- with the benefit of hindsight -- call recent history.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Monday for the first time targeted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is considered close to him, by saying that ongoing Lok Sabha polls outcome will prove the impact of the Janata Dal-United's decision to end its alliance with the BJP.
Sitharaman, who became the first full-time woman defence minister in the first tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government -- will also head the Corporate Affairs ministry in the new cabinet.
Something in Alia has surely changed after Gangubai. Her entire performance is about proving to herself and not to the world what she can do, feels Sukanya Verma.
United States President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump will be visiting India -- Ahmedabad and Delhi -- on February 24 and 25 on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let's assess earlier American presidential visits to India.
Opposition leaders asked all secular forces to field a joint candidate for presidential elections and have common minimum programme to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party, reports Archis Mohan.
'Priyanka Gandhi is not Indira Gandhi, declares Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. According to Yadav's confidant Azam Khan, if Priyanka formally joins politics and campaigns everywhere in UP, then political parties will treat her as a politician. Chief Minister Mayawati is also preparing a dossier on Priyanka and her businessman husband Robert Vadra to counter her charm offensive in the electoral battle.
'R N Kao was a spymaster, an institution builder and a gentleman.'
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