Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday held a review meeting to discuss the preparedness of the national capital
With the summer approaching sooner than scheduled, Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, and West Bengal have already started experiencing heat waves with temperatures soaring above 40°C.
The Indian government has informed the Lok Sabha that it does not maintain data on casualties and injured victims from the Maha Kumbh stampede, as "public order" and "police" are state subjects. The Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, stated that state governments are responsible for crowd management, disaster prevention, and providing assistance to victims. He added that the National Disaster Management Authority and the Bureau of Police Research and Development have issued guidelines on crowd management and crowd control.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking immediate action to prevent future stampedes at railway stations. The PIL, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, calls for the implementation of a 2014 report by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on crowd management. The plea also criticizes the disparity in safety efforts, questioning why high-end technology and intelligence are deployed for VIPs while common citizens remain vulnerable to such incidents. The PIL seeks directions to the Indian Railways to take measures for passenger safety, including widening corridors, constructing broader over-bridges and platforms, and ensuring easy access to platforms through ramps and escalators.
About 57 per cent of Indian districts, home to 76 per cent of the country's population, are currently at high to very high risk from extreme heat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 1,600-crore assistance package for flood-hit Punjab after reviewing the damage. He also announced ex gratia for the deceased and injured. The state is battling its worst deluge since 1988.
Authorities continue evacuating stranded pilgrims from areas around Dharali village in Uttarkashi, focusing on air rescue and relief operations due to damaged roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is overseeing the efforts, with central government support.
Due to the rising COVID cases, the Centre is conducting mock drills to check facility-level preparedness and has instructed all states to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines, official sources had said.
India's active Covid case tally crossed the 5,000 mark with Kerala remaining the most affected state followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, according to the Union health ministry data released on Friday.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan announces ambitious space program goals, including landing Indians on the Moon by 2040 and launching the 'Gaganyaan' mission in 2027. The agency is also working on a national space station and uncrewed missions.
All states have been instructed to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators and essential medicines in view of rising cases of Covid, official sources said on Wednesday.
The India meteorological department said heatwave conditions will persist for at least two more days.
Poor land-use planning, indiscriminate approvals of building plans and the absence of disaster-risk assessment in urban design have resulted in what experts term concentrated concretization, predisposing cities to disaster risks
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has rejected a privilege notice against Union Home Minister Amit Shah after he cited a 1948 government press release to authenticate his statement that a Congress leader was part of the management of Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had moved the notice against Shah for "casting aspersions" on Congress Parliamentary Party head Sonia Gandhi.
Many in the specialised force feel they are not being treated on par with those in the armed forces. Sahil Makkar reports
An accurate early warning system that correlates rainfall and the potential for landslides. That is the imperative, say experts as rains create havoc in hills across India and the toll mounts in Kerala's Wayanad slopes where landslides buried entire homesteads and possibly hundreds of people.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, assured the court that everything is under consideration.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed concern over China's proposed mega hydropower project on the upstream of Siang River in Tibet, stating it will have a cascading effect on India and Bangladesh in the near future.
The rain and flood situation in northeastern states remained grim on Tuesday, with lakhs people affected in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, even as the meteorological department predicted more rain in several parts of the region.
The important observation on the interpretation of the provision came in a judgement by which the top court directed National Disaster Management Authority to issue guidelines in six weeks for ex gratia compensation to families of those who died of Covid.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising justices R S Reddy and M R Shah said that voluntary contribution can always be made to the NDRF as there is no statutory bar under the Disaster Management Act.
The Union home ministry has issued strict guidelines for the enforcement of the 21-day complete nationwide lockdown in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, invoking the National Disaster Management Act which may result in imprisonment of up to two years for any violation. All government offices, the offices of state and Union territory governments, autonomous institutions, public corporations, commercial, private, industrial establishments shall remain closed, the guidelines issued by the ministry said.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
In a communication to all states and union territories, the NDMA said due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.
In a communication to the chief secretaries of the states and Union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown were issued after taking the views of the states, following a video-conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers on May 11.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board on implementation of safety guidelines issued by it for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
At least 28 people died in rain-related incidents Sunday as heavy downpours lashed north and northwest India, causing landslides, traffic chaos and house collapses, as well as a dam breach which inundated several villages in Haryana.
This comes as Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by lawyer-cum-petitioner, Gaurav Kumar Bansal, seeking an ex gratia compensation for those family members, who died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"You cannot have a lockdown of people, and a lockout of the economy. That is not the way to formulate policy. We are not criticising, we are only saying it is time to rethink, we will support the government in every possible way," said Kapil Sibal.
In view of the continuous dip in coronavirus cases, the home ministry has decided to end its all Covid-19 containment measures from March 31, two years after their implementation following the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.
Maharashtra has so far reported 54 cases of the Omicron variant. Out of these, 22 are from Mumbai, including cases found through screening at the international airport here, as per official data.
On Monday, Maharashtra reported 15,140 new coronavirus cases, 7,304 less than the day before, and 39 fatalities due to the infection, according to the state health department.
The Supreme Court Monday said no state should deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000, as recommended by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to the kin of persons who died of COVID-19 on the sole ground that death certificate does not mention it as the cause of death.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to issue fresh guidelines for providing minimum standards of financial help to families of those who lost their lives to COVID-19.
A court in Mumbai on Wednesday issued summons to then Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, former Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and then additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani for alleged "discriminatory" orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. A complaint was filed against the three in December 2021 by Ambar Koiri, claiming that their orders imposing various restrictions during the pandemic discriminated between vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens. On Wednesday, a magistrate's court here issued 'process' (summons) to Kunte, Chahal and Kakani and posted the matter for further hearing on January 11, 2023.
The Odisha government is preparing for Cyclone Phailin -- which is expected to hit the east coast on Saturday evening -- on a war footing.
The home ministry on Wednesday dropped domestic air travel from the list of prohibited activities during the ongoing lockdown, paving the way for operations of regular commercial flights. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the order in this effect in his capacity as chairperson of the national executive committee under the National Disaster Management Act.
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