Senior journalist Sandeep Unnithan, author of Black Tornado, a semi-official account of the 26/11 attacks, was on Rediff.com chat on November 26. In what was a frank and instructive interaction Rediff users spoke to the scribe about his views on the status of security and possible upgrades to the same.
The Indian Navy has stepped up its game with new surveillance and modernised equipment and ships that enables it to combat any challenge
The home minister held a video conference with Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra -- Vijay Rupani and Uddhav Thackeray respectively -- and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Praful Patel, and assured them all central help in view of the impending cyclone, an official statement said in New Delhi.
According to an official, two fresh deaths have been reported in Cuttack and Khurda districts of the state.
The 51-year-old BJP leader Vaishnaw, born in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, is a suave and former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch. He managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp.
There were reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader complained of high blood pressure and sugar levels and a doctor was called to examine him.
"Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, during his recent visit to New Delhi, met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and proposed the separate force of marine police to guard the coastal area of the state," Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department, Chandra Iyengar said on Tuesday.
Goa CM said that all the seven persons are natives of Goa, but six of them had returned to the state from abroad.
The shipping business is like the heaving sea -- it's up and down, observes Shyam G Menon.
While a maximum of 21 people died in Puri, four deaths each were reported from Mayurbhanj and Jajpur, and three each in Cuttack and Kendrapara.
Explosives, weighing totally nearly 750 kgs, were used in a controlled manner to bring down the lakeside structures in Maradu, eight months after the apex court ordered their demolition for violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
South China regions including Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were affected by strong gales and heavy downpours on Sunday morning.
Scenes of angry parents of such children arguing with police and school authorities and an instance of a student trying to flaunt a saffron scarf as an apparent retaliation were also reported.
'I am not in favour of the hijab myself.' 'I personally think it wrong to make women shut themselves out of the world, where there is so much to see.' 'But I can't dictate to others about what they should wear.'
The Bombay high court on Friday granted interim exemption to TV journalist Arnab Goswami from appearing before a magistrates court at Alibaug in adjoining Raigad district in connection with an abetment to suicide case.
The powerful cyclone, strongest to hit India in 20 years, made landfall at around 8 am in India's eastern state of Odisha, killing at least 12 people.
Several kutcha houses, temporary shades were destroyed, while hundreds of trees and many electrical poles were uprooted and roofs of some structures were blown away by the storm.
India displayed its military might and vibrant cultural heritage on Rajpath on Wednesday with the grandest flypast with 75 aircraft to mark the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations being the highlight of the 73rd Republic Day Parade, which was drastically scaled down in view of the Covid pandemic.
The Indian Navy said it was in a high state of readiness to "deter, prevent and defeat" any "misadventure" by Pakistan in the maritime domain.
Residents near the border have been asked to switch off lights at night. Farmers whose agriculture land is beyond the fencing wire were ordered not to visit their fields.
Two days after the Goa government launched a crackdown on Nigerian nationals illegally living in Goa, a senior state Bharatiya Janata Party minister compared Nigerians to cancer.
Defying shoot-at-sight orders and a curfew, anti-bifurcation agitators on Sunday hit the streets in Vizianagaram town and other parts of the district and clashed with police.
The dam breach caused a flood-like situation in seven downstream villages, with as many as 12 houses being swept away.
He further stated that if the Nigerians come to India to study then the state government and the police should keep a strict watch on them.
The deceased, five boys and three girls, were part of a group of 47 students.
The state government has declared a holiday on Wednesday and Thursday for all private institutions, offices, non-essential services within Outer Ring Road here in view of rains.
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.
Curfew has been imposed in Vizianagaram town with police given the orders to shoot at sight in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators, police said.
The curfew was imposed on Sunday after a group of miscreants carrying swords attacked some people travelling on a three-wheeler in Porathota area of the town. The vehicle was set on fire.
Ahead of the India-China summit, Mahabalipuram, the ancient coastal town near Chennai, has been virtually turned into a fortress with unprecedented security arrangements while the beautification and other preparations touched a feverish pitch on Wednesday.
The gunman was killed when police responded to the shooting in the southeastern coastal city of Virginia Beach.
According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country.
A 58-year-old man died after a power transformer fell on him in Raigad district. 2 people died and 3 were injured in two separate cyclone-related incidents in Pune.
On his arrival, Xi will be welcomed by traditional peformances including 'tappu' folk drum art display at the airport by about 500 artistes.
No masks, no sanitisers, and many rules of COVID-19 are not in place and every human activity, including marriages and public gatherings continue, thanks to strict standard operating procedure that bars easy entry of people to the island in the Arabian sea.
Puntland, the breakaway state of Somalia, with its long coastline, has been known as a hub for pirates. But recent efforts by the Puntland administration have resulted in the pirates relocating to central Somalia beyond Puntland's control, according to the President of the Puntland State of Somalia, Adiranaman Mohamed Mahamud 'Farole'.
Six teams of the National Disaster Response Force are being deployed in four coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh as cyclonic storm 'Helen' is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast near Kavali on Thursday evening.
The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, in a tweet, said as per the latest updates #GajaCyclone is likely to have landfall between 8 pm and 11 pm on Thursday in all probability in Nagapattinam district.
Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
Protests against the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh rocked Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions for the second day on Thursday, with united Andhra supporters taking out rallies and preventing public transport buses from plying.
