The Centre will grant Rs 500 crore for each of the smart cities.
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to data issued by the Johns Hopkins University.
"I said last year that I was happy with the stadium and I haven't changed my mind. It is a fantastic stadium and most of the works which we have requested to be able to host four teams and all the logistical organisational aspects of the World Cup have been completed," Yarza told reporters after the inspection visit.
The prime minister thanked the people but said it was the start of a long battle, as he urged them to follow social distancing to stop the chain of transmission of Coronavirus which has infected 360 people and claimed seven lives in India.
As the Indian Army reported its first case of the infection with a 34-year-old soldier testing positive in Leh, the Army said it has taken a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the forces such as checking flu symptoms among soldiers on their return from leave and cancelling non-essential travel, conferences and recruitment drives.
"After pulling down the statue, slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' were raised,'' Datta told PTI.
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.
'I'm just about getting out of the cocoon now,' the former investment banker-turned-politician tells Kavita Roychowdhury.
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
Mukesh Ambani said he had never seen any city decked up so strikingly as Lucknow
Targeting the Delhi government, the party president also accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of getting into fights with the Centre for political reasons.
A 10-man Odisha FC registered their second win of the season, beating Hyderabad FC 3-2 in the Hero Indian Super League match, in Pune, on Wednesday.
There have been several instances of traders dumping fruits and vegetables outside mandis. Or of farmers dumping produce outside their villages or feeding them to their animals.
He blamed 'bad elements' encouraged by ruling Telugu Desam Party for the violence that erupted at Tuni in the district on Sunday, and alleged that the TDP government tried to suppress his agitation by creating obstacles to the public meeting.
'In the last two months, we have only done 16,000 tests and that is nothing.' 'If coronavirus cases in the community picks up and infection spreads, then we will be in big trouble.'
The cycle rickshaws have been replaced by battery-run 'totos'. These 'totos' strangely are not registered with the regional transport authority but by the strange rules of West Bengal administration are 'empanelled' with the ruling party, says Keya Sarkar.
'It might get worse. We don't really know what is it that is resulting in the high value of R now.'
Around 52.46 per cent of the patients have recovered, the health ministry said. The number of active cases stood at 1,53,178 while 1,80,012 patients have recovered, it said in the daily COVID-19 update.
'The handling of the pandemic, under this totally constitutional and legal three-level dictatorship, has begun to show its downside,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Sensing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's attempts to rekindle Ayodhya sentiments, the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in Uttar Pradesh has banned a meeting to mark the 25th death anniversary of brothers, Ram and Sharad Kothari, who fell to police bullets while performing the symbolic kar sewa on November 2, 1990 -- two years before the Babri Masjid was brought down.
'You cannot fight a disease as complex as COVID-19 without a carefully calibrated, localised response.'
'Is it time to think beyond the traditional questionnaire-based approach in India?' asks Atanu Biswas.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called for movement against Narendra Modi government at the Centre in view of rising prices and said the Bharatiya Janata Party would not be able to emerge a major political force in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state.
The human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Thursday, even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
Mr Mitra, show me where is industrial development in Bengal: Tata
'The foundation of the 2014 triumph was Narendra Modi's appeal to voters in the Hindi belt. The Bihar Vidhan Sabha polls will demonstrate if he continues to appeal to them,' says T V R Shenoy.
Kejriwal, who had joined International Yoga Day participants last year along with Lt Governor Anil Baijal and the then Union minister and now Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, was found having high blood sugar following his nine-day, arduous sit-in at the Lieutenant Governor's office.
Metro cities are ranked lower in cleanliness index and tourist towns also lag
'The non-vegetarian share of the population fell from 75 to 71 per cent between 2004 and 2014, no doubt in anticipation of the lotus blooming.' 'Three years of saffron authoritarianism may have thinned the non-vegetarian ranks even more,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Mission XI Million is the most ambitious football engagement programme to date in India.'
'Without it, it is going to be much, much, much, much worse.' 'In the meantime, we really need to work on a sort of war footing, given that it is a natural disaster, provide relief, provide essentials, till we get biological herd immunity, we need to get economic immunity, and also social immunity.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday "strongly disapproved" incidents of vandalism of statues in certain parts of the country and spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter.
Multiple-system operators feel extending the deadline to submit the forms isn't necessary
His father spent Rs 5 lakh on his studies. He works with a chartered accountant in Delhi for Rs 8,000 a month. He's excited at the thought of landing a job at Rs 17,000 -- even if it is as a sweeper.
The BJP doesn't want to focus entirely on an anti-Mamata campaign.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Delhi is a year-round health hazard that visitors shun like the plague, says Sunil Sethi.
'I still remember I couldn't buy How To Learn Acting because I did not have sufficient money.' 'Later, when I searched for the book, I could never find it.'
'Our plan is to put the best foot forward for the upcoming tournament and play good matches'
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