Six police encounter in five days in Bihar, the first such action to deal with criminals in decades.
At least 25 people were killed in lightning strikes and hailstorms in several districts of Bihar, India, on Thursday. The India Meteorological Department has issued an 'orange alert' for a number of districts, forecasting heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday. The state capital, Patna, recorded an average of 42.6 mm rainfall till 5.30 pm.
In the last few years, a number of similar incidents have taken place in various parts of the state, and though no fatalities have been caused, these have led to questions being raised on the quality of public works in the state.
"It might be a small bridge or causeway. District officials have left for the spot. We are trying to gather more information about the incident," Additional Collector (Saharsa), Jyoti Kumar, said.
The Supreme Court of India has transferred a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the safety and longevity of bridges in Bihar to the Patna High Court. The court expressed concern over the state government's handling of bridge collapses, noting that officials were suspended after incidents but reinstated after the public outcry subsided. The court also criticized the state's voluminous response to the PIL, which lacked explanations for the collapses. The Patna High Court will now monitor the state's efforts to ensure structural and safety audits of bridges in Bihar.
Villagers suggested that heavy rainfall over the preceding days may have contributed to the collapse, with a surge in Gandaki river potentially weakening the bridge's structure.
Five bridges, big and small, have collapsed across the state in just over a week. One incident each was reported from Araria, Siwan, East Champaran, Kishanganj and Madhubani districts.
Another instance of bridge collapse came to the fore in Bihar on Thursday, making it the 10th such incident to have been reported from the state in just over a fortnight, an official said.
Besides, the department has sought an explanation from officials concerned for the collapse of bridges in East Champaran on June 23 and in Madhubani on June 26.
This will be the first time the BJP has got more seats than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD-U in Bihar, underscoring the change in their equations after they joined hands a few months back.
The Mahagathbandhan's seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over.
The Rediff Labs team analyses the growth of the districts across the state by calculating the percentage change from 2001 to 2013 in three major fields
The floods have also damaged crops in 2 lakh hectares of land.
The death toll in Bihar floods today mounted to 64 with over 33 lakh people spread across 13 districts affected by the deluge.
Chief Ministers of both states announced Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to the next kin of the deceased.
According to media reports, 56 people -- mostly farm labourers working in the fields -- died in Bihar while 44 people were killed across Uttar Pradesh, Jharkand and Madhya Pradesh.
Why are the protesters still on their own and why are political parties abstaining from joining this mass movement? Aakar Patel explains.
The Bhartiya Janata Party along with the Lok Janshakti Party are all set to fight a pitched political battle against the ruling Janata Dal-United and also the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal combine in Bihar. But there's one thing in common between the five major parties of the state -- all of them have fielded bahubalis, criminal-turned-politicians and their wives in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
Lalu's return to the political forefront signifies the hold RJD chief exercises over public consciousness.
'Consider this image of today's youth in Bihar -- armed with a bike, a smartphone and possibly some illegal arms too, imbibing incessant stream of images from the Internet and television.' 'Some of them would turn into gau bhakts, some would listen with interest the exploits of Salafism, dig deep into the Internet to come out with images which cry vociferously that their respective religions are in danger.'
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
'Communalism and communal riots happened in India only during and due to colonialism. Pre-colonial India didn't have this problem of communal conflicts and religious strife.'
