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.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm, named Remal, on Saturday evening and is likely to turn severe before making landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
'I tried a public donation drive to support my campaign for progressive politics without much success so far. I also tried to cut down the projected campaign spending to the minimum'
The cyclone, according to an IMD report early Sunday, is developing into a severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and can potentially become a very severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, S N Pradhan, the chief of NDRF said in New Delhi.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday embark on a near two-day meditation exercise at the famed Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, and the district has come under a thick security blanket following the high profile event.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
'Evacuation' has been key to disaster management in Odisha. The aim is to achieve zero casualty.
Sucharita Mohanty, the daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty, in a mail to Venugopal on Friday claimed that her campaign was hit hard because the party denied her funding.
The government on Saturday said a committee will be formed to propose safety measures for healthcare professionals even as OPD services were hit across the country as doctors joined the 24-hour nationwide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the alleged rape and murder of a trainee medic in Kolkata.
Alamgir Alam had distanced himself from the activities of Lal while speaking to reporters after the ED raids, pointing out that he had earlier served with other ministers of the state government too.
January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
Over 1,000 police personnel have been awarded with different categories of gallantry and service medals on the eve of the 75th Republic Day, a government statement said Thursday. This includes 277 gallantry medals.
A special CBI court in Godhra on Saturday granted the probe agency four-day custody of Jay Jalaram School's principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra, all of whom are alleged to be involved in irregularities in the May 5 NEET-UG exam in Godhra.
The Odisha government imposed a curfew-like shutdown in three hotspot districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur from 10 pm Thursday, to conduct active surveillance and contact-tracing.
The accident occurred at 3.45 AM near Barabamboo, around 80 km from Jamshedpur, under the Chakradharpur Division of the South Eastern Railway (SER), they 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 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.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The hijackers had demanded release of Azhar Masood in order to release the passengers of the plane.
Six members, including three women, of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) were killed in an alleged exchange of fire with the elite Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh Police in Visakhapatnam district on Wednesday, while a fierce gunbattle took place between security forces and Maoists in neighbouring Odisha's Malkangiri district.
It was a simple 100-watt light bulb that provided much-needed heat to a newborn girl who was found stuck inside a cold borewell in Odisha, before she was rescued safely in an over five-hour-long operation on a winter night.
The attackers snatched the walkie-talkie of the station master, and forced staff of a goods train standing outside the station to shut down the engine.
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.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
The curfew, clamped in the arson-hit town on Friday, would continue till Sunday, while the prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC were imposed in nearby Dhamnagar and Basudevpur as a precautionary measure to prevent spread of violence, a police official said.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Dehadrai said, "I have given my complaint to the CBI. This is a very serious issue and there are people from Odisha who are financing and supporting those against whom I have filed a complaint (to the CBI). This fight is a bit dangerous but I will not back down."
A Shree Jagannath Temple Administration official said devotees will be required to wear "decent clothes" to enter the shrine.
The ongoing lockdown in force in other parts of the state will continue during which essential supplies like groceries, vegetables, fruits and milk will be available to the people.
Three Maoists were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in a forest area of Odisha's Rayagada district, police said on Friday.
The private bus, on its way to Cuttack from Talcher, crashed into the railing of the bridge and plunged 30 feet down into the dry riverbed, they said.
Gun-totting Maoists shot dead a contractor and former tribal village head in Mudulipada area of Odisha's Malkangiri district on Saturday, suspecting him to be a police informer, said the police. The victim, identified as Budra Dhangda Majhi, had gone to the market at Khairput, nearly 70 km from Malkangiri, when three ultras fired at him, Inspector In-Charge of Mudulipada police station Rajesh Chatria said.
A total of 1,016 candidates -- 664 men and 352 women -- have qualified in the examination and have been recommended by the Union Public Service Commission for appointment to various services.
Several trains under the purview of SER and ECoR were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, including the premium Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, owing to the blockade by members of the Kurmi community in Jharkhand and Odisha, officials said.
Five hardcore Maoists, allegedly involved in a number of violent incidents, surrendered before security forces at two different places in Odisha's Malkangiri and Koraput districts on Tuesday.
He also interacted with Odisha's revenue and disaster management minister Pramila Mallik as well as the local police chief.
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