The police on Thursday arrested former Andaman and Nicobar chief secretary Jitendra Narain in a gang rape case filed by a 21-year-old woman against him and others.
The quake, with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter Scale, hit south Andaman region at 01:21 hours, the India Meteorological Department said in New Delhi.
The project, the agreement for which was signed way back in 2009, had been gaining strategic relevance over the years as India-China ties took a hit.
With over 550 islands dotting the strategically located spot in the Bay of Bengal with near 500 of them still uninhabited, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide the Indian armed forces the ideal landscape to train its troops on amphibious warfare, which entails landing on the beaches of the enemy territory and taking the gun fight right into the mainland.
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The islands that would be connected through seaplanes are Campbell Bay, Car Nicobar, Havelock, Hutbay, Neil, Long Island and Diglipur, reports Arindam Majumder.
In the run-up to Independence Day, Rediff.com presents some interesting facts about India.
'If one island gets wiped out it will be the loss of an entire culture, a whole tradition.'
The environment ministry has rejected the Navy's proposal to set up a missile testing site at Tillanchong Sanctuary in Andaman and Nicobar islands, saying the firing range would destroy the habitat of endangered bird species Nicobar Megapode.
India agreed to give up the Poonch salient as well as Uri. To the north India also proposed to give up land in the Gurez sector giving the entire Neelam/Kinshanganga valley to Pakistan. In return India sought control of the post dominating Kargil town, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The CBI has registered 11 cases against cyber criminals involved in financial fraud using the internet and the agency conducted searches at 87 locations while 28 locations were raided by the state police forces, they said.
Six teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been kept ready at Chennai and an equal number have been moved to the Hindon airport to deal with any eventuality in the wake of Wednesday's massive temblors off the western coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia. A home ministry spokesperson said the Andaman administration has moved people from Nicobar side to safer areas as a precautionary measure.
With the tribes together accounting for less than 1,000 people, largely disconnected from the rest of the world and having very low immunity levels, anthropologists fear they could get extinct should the pandemic spreads its tentacles across the islands.
The Tsunami Warning Centre at Hyderabad has issued a warning for three places in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Kishore Swarna Angel, a scientist at the TWC at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service in Hyderabad, said that the impact of the earthquake was still being analysed. "We have issued a tsunami warning for three places," he said.
Tsunami disaster has a taken heavy toll on the tourism industry of Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
The ministry of home affairs has identified around 1,700 km of fencing that needs to be done, BRO's additional director general (East) PKH Singh said.
'Human safaris' in the Andaman and Nicobar islands were still continuing, an international organisation working for the protection of tribal rights alleged on Thursday.
Indian Army personnel on Wednesday conducted yoga sessions at more than 100 locations along the country's land and maritime borders, forming a 'Bharatmala' on the occasion of the International Day of Yoga.
The Navy chief also inaugurated the new Air Traffic Control building there.
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India has one of the world's longest coastlines. So it's not surprising that India's stunning beaches are a huge draw for tourists and locals alike.
Six states and UTs have reported no new case in the last 24 hours
Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla was on Wednesday made Governor of Manipur while ex-Rajya Sabha MP V P Singh Badnore goes to Punjab in new gubernatorial appointments announced for four states with all of them being associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The prompt approval to set up a radar station on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands signalled the Modi government's intent to deal with China on its own terms.
Officials in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were alerted to the existence of 'human safaris' two years ago by the London-based charity organisation Survivor International, which had helped expose the practice in the past. The practice of getting members of the Jarawa tribe in the islands to dance before tourists has been taken up by the Indian government after the Observer and The Guardian newspapers last week published a report and a video on its prevalence.
It has also predicted a below normal monsoon for the season with a Long Period Average of 93 per cent, subject to the error margin of 5 per cent.
It said the weather system was expected to intensify into a deep depression by 5.30 am on Wednesday and turn into Cyclone Mocha in the next 12 hours, packing wind speeds of 80-90 kmph and gusting to 100 kmph.
With 17,51,555 people defeating the disease, the recovery rate has surged to 71.17 per cent.
According to an official communication, a decision has been taken by the central government in this effect and the guidelines for the transfer and posting of IAS, IPS officers of the Joint AGMUT cadre-2016 has been modified in this effect.
IAF and navy are engaged in massive evacuation drive in Car Nicobar.
The TMC would field one candidate for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Haasan said his party would extend full support to him.
The area affected by the tsunamis generated by a quake in distant Indonesia, in South East Asia.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Uttarakhand and six other states for their alleged failure in implementing Disaster Management Act in order to handle natural catastrophe.
Punjab on Saturday adopted over 200 families of ex-servicemen in the tsunami-hit Campbell Bay Island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, promising them financial assistance and educational grants to their children.
The Rs 64 crore warship is named after one of the islands in the archipelago and took 26 months to be constructed.
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