The Supreme Court of India has directed the Odisha government to decide within six weeks on a plea for remission filed by Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the murders of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons in 1999. Singh, who has spent over 24 years in prison, claims to have "repented" his actions and seeks an opportunity to reform his character. The court issued the notice after Singh argued that he has already served more than the required period of sentence and that his right to liberty is being jeopardized by the delay in processing his plea.
A video of Dehury crawling on a village road has gone viral on social media.
Singh has sought the application of a more liberal remission policy to ensure his premature release from a prison in the state where he is lodged for more than 24 years.
One of the agitating truck owners died after an 8-day hunger strike in Keonjhar on Wednesday, sparking tension and law and order problem in the district.
KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were made deputy chief ministers of the state, he said.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday claimed that the state has achieved its 'Zero Casualty Mission' as there has been no report regarding any loss of human life or injury in the severe cyclonic storm Dana which made landfall in the coast on Thursday night.
A civic volunteer, identified as Chandan Das (31), died on the spot when he allegedly touched a live wire in Bud Bud in Purba Bardhaman district. The incident happened when he was out with a police team, they said.
However, there was no report of any major damage or casualty so far even as the landfall process started more than an hour ago, the official said.
According to weather officials, wind speeds along and off the Odisha-West Bengal coasts are anticipated to reach 60 km/h from October 23, increasing to 120 km/h from October 24 night to October 25 morning.
Nayak had earlier resigned from the BJD and joined the BJP and got a nomination from the saffron party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that one person died in the state in cyclone Dana, even as the administration evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from the low-lying areas.
As Odisha and West Bengal are bracing for a severe cyclonic storm, governments of both states started evacuating people and while deciding to close educational institutions in vulnerable areas.
As Cyclone Dana barrels toward the coasts of Odisha, threatening to impact nearly half of the state's population, the government is racing against time to execute a massive evacuation plan aimed at relocating about 10 lakh people in several coastal districts to safety. In West Bengal, the cyclone is set to bring heavy rainfall in several southern West Bengal districts, including Kolkata, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
Out of the 20 candidates announced by the BJD for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's party has nominated at least seven leaders who came from either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress.
The BJP won 74 seats in the 147-member Odisha assembly and was leading in four more seats, the Election Commission of India.
Senior BJP leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo and debutant from Nimapara assembly segment Pravati Parida took oath as deputy chief ministers.
A sitting MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate allegedly broke an electronic voting machine (EVM) and attacked a polling officer inside a booth during voting in Odisha which recorded a voter turnout of over 60.97 per cent in six Lok Sabha seats and 42 assembly segments, officials said.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
The labourers had sheltered from heavy rain under the goods train when it started rolling.
The 37-year-old woman was taken in a police van to Anandapur sub-divisional hospital on Thursday morning where doctors refused to undertake her medical examination as the place of occurrence of the crime was under Salania Community Health Centre (CHC) area.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The weather system remained practically stationary during the last six hours and weakened to a depression, and is likely to turn into a well-marked low pressure area during the next 12 hours, it said in a bulletin.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
These mines include B C Deb mines (Keonjhar), Arjun Ladha (Haromoto-Keonjhar), M L Rungta (Silijora-Keonjhar), Rungta Mines (Jajang-Keonjhar), Indrani Patnaik (Unchabali-Keonjhar), S N Dasmohapatra (Rudukela & Katasahi-Keonjhar), (Kalapahar-Keonjhar), Serajuddin & Company (Guruda-Keonjhar), Serajuddin & Company (Balda-Keonjhar), Raj Kumar Agrawal (Champasara-Bolangir) and B K Das (Kasiabeda-Mayurbhanj).
Agitators squatted on railway tracks at various places, leading to cancellation, short-termination and diversion of several trains.
The airport issued a notice to airmen on Tuesday to alert airlines that its flight operations will be suspended from 11 pm to 5 am on Thursday.
Toral Varia and photographer Reuben Verghese report on an emerging trend in the red bastions of Odisha's Keonjhar district: The rebels return home.
At least one person was killed and four others were trapped in the wreckage after two goods trains collided in Orissa's Keonjhar district early on Wednesday.
Heavily armed Maoists on Thursday attacked a police station and a forest office setting them on fire and abducted a policeman in Orissa's Keonjhar district.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
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.
Armed men attacked a railway station and beat up employees, including the station master, in Orissa's Keonjhar district on Sunday night.
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"Sasmita Rana, the bravest little girl I ever met, died at Sishu Bhavan in Cuttack. She remained proud and strong against all odds."
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
Defence witness Hemalata Karua claimed the event occurred two days before Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death.
At least 29 people were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha.
YSR Congress MP Goddeti Madhavi has declared assets of just about Rs 1 lakh whereas the BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur, at 4th poorest, is worth Rs 4.44 lakh.
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