'It is perplexing to see the leader of the First World with a first rate medical infrastructure come up short on its foresight to handle the pandemic,' notes Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
He said though there is a spike in new cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe disease or require hospitalisation.
The cyclone would bring light to moderate rains at most places and 'heavy to very heavy downpour' at some places on November 6.
The SC asked the Kerala government to file its response during the day on an application against the three-day relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions in the state in view of the upcoming Bakrid festival.
Officials from the Centre say there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asserted on Tuesday, and estimated that there might be 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases in the city by July 31. Delhi will need 80,000 beds by July end, he told reporters after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). The meeting was chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal who is also chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.
Showing a photograph of the mishap site published in a newspaper, she said that it looked like a site of bomb blast. There were various aspects which should be looked into.
The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted.
106 people died on a single day on Thursday.
In Uttar Pradesh, southwest monsoon has been normal so far where rains and thundershowers occurred in few places since Friday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in its circular, had asked all employers to make payment of wages to their workers without any deduction for the period their establishments were under closure during the lockdown to contain COVID-19.
Officials have admitted that the problem of frothing will continue until sewage treatment plants in Delhi are upgraded to meet the new standards.
Hoping that the new state of Telangana will come into being by January, over a dozen Congress leaders from the region are said to be lobbying hard with the party high command for the chief minister's post.
The picturesque port town of Visakhapatnam, a major industrial, educational and tourism hub in the east coast, is still reeling under the impact of havoc caused by the cyclonic storm Hudhud and is picking up pieces from a trail of destruction left behind by the calamity.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim after fresh heavy rainfall in Meghalaya's Garo hills and Goalpara district as the death toll mounted to 40.
The "intentions and motive" behind filing of the plea are evident from the fact that the instant project has been singled out by the petitioners despite several other agencies, including Delhi Metro, carrying out construction activities across the national capital, the Centre has alleged.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea against deferment of hearing on a public interest litigation seeking direction to halt construction activity at the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic but gave liberty to petitioners to approach the Delhi high court for urgent listing of the matter.
People spent a sleepless night as a series of aftershocks shook Assam after a strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage to buildings.
The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident.
As government-issued guidelines in many places banned large congregations and setting up of fairs or food stalls, the torching of effigies was restricted to very few venues than usual. The Ramleela Maidan at the iconic Red Fort where every year the Dussehra festivities are attended by dignitaries including the prime minister and the President apart from hundreds of common people, was deserted this time as the annual celebrations were cancelled.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force started landing in Gujarat with the help of the Indian Air Force to undertake preventive evacuation of people living on the west coast, an IAF official said.
'The prime minister expressed concern and assured all possible help to the state,' CMO said.
'Drought in the 1990s was essentially the drought of a poor India.' 'This 2016 drought is of a richer and more water-guzzling India.' 'The severity and intensity of the drought is not about lack of rainfall.' 'It is about the lack of planning and foresight, and criminal neglect.'
Tokyo -- the songs Japan, Love In Tokyo and Sayonara from the 1966 Hindi film automatically pop up in the mind -- is buzzing and crowded like any other metropolis, discovers Deepa Gahlot. The modern apartment blocks are built cheek by jowl, so close together that one can open the window and borrow sugar from the neighbour in the next building. One of the fears of the Indian traveller is the unavailability of vegetarian food. Every city and town in Japan has an array of Indian restaurants that serve every variety of cuisine, right from Gujarati to Punjabi to Andhra and Kerala meals.
With the recovery of four more bodies today, the death toll mounted to 36 in Assam floods that affected about 10 lakh people in 13 districts and rendered majority of them homeless.
In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people in 987 villages of 28 districts in the state.
According to sources, all private offices will work from home and only government offices and essential services will be open.
Pump manufacturing company Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and Coal India on Friday are jointly moving 18 high-powered pumps to the mine, officials said.
Efforts to retrieve the body would continue on Wednesday.
The right to life and health of the public at large cannot be sacrificed at the altar of a right to celebrate a festival
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath was told by the Centre in its application moved by additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati that a status report in this regard will be filed before the court within six months on the basis of the advice of the experts on the tanslocation of Asiatic lions from Gir to Kuno.
Stepping up relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Nepal, India on Sunday deployed over two dozen aircraft and choppers along with nearly 1000 trained personnel and said the situation in the Himalayan nation was "very, very serious".
One wonders where the inestimable Syed Ali Shah Geelani and his gang of separatist leaders have disappeared.
Cyclone Nisarga slammed Maharashtra coast with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph, making landfall at 12.30 pm at Alibaug near Mumbai. The process was completed by 2.30 pm, a senior India Meteorological Department official said. Alibaug witnessed wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour. It weakened into a 'deep depression' late on Wednesday evening, the IMD said.
Within three weeks of lifting its mask mandate, the Delhi government on Friday made masks mandatory at public places with immediate effect, and imposed a fine of Rs 500 for any violation as coronavirus cases rise in the city again.
Action against the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members was first taken after over 2,300 people, including 250 foreigners, belonging to the Islamic organisation were found to be living at its headquarters located at Delhi's Nizamuddin soon after the nation-wide lockdown was announced in March. Several of these members had tested positive for coronavirus.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
At least five states were hit by unseasonably powerful storms and tornadoes on Friday night, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
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.
As Delhi hospitals faced a severe oxygen crisis for the third consecutive day, the DDMA roped in three senior bureaucrats on Thursday to ensure a smooth movement of tankers and facilitate oxygen supply to the needy establishments, and directed the police to provide the security logistics from the manufacturers' sites to various health facilities in the city.
