Given the vital role played by cyberspace in new-age electioneering, the UP police have constituted a digital monitoring cell to curb objectionable and defamatory social media posts on the eve of the elections.
National Disaster Management Authority had in 2016 suggested assistance offered as a goodwill gesture 'may' be accepted.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast 'extremely heavy rains' at a few places in Marathwada, Mumbai and other parts of the coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra in the next 24 hours.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim after fresh heavy rainfall in Meghalaya's Garo hills and Goalpara district as the death toll mounted to 40.
Home Secretary L C Goyal said 72 deaths were reported from the four states of Bihar -- 56, Uttar Pradesh -- 12, West Bengal -- 3 and Rajasthan --1.
Landslides blocked roads, many villages went without electricity and the death toll climbed to 52 as authorities on Wednesday faced the aftermath of the rains that had battered Uttarakhand for over two days.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
Railway officials also indicated that possible 'sabotage' and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.
Massive evacuation has been undertaken in four districts of Andhra Pradesh before a severe cyclone hits the eastern coast on Thursday followed by very heavy rainfall.
'I feel numb with the trauma we have been going through ever since we first got the news. For close to two weeks, we have been hearing my child will be rescued today. That today never comes'
This is the first time in the history of Jharkhand that it is facing such a severe cyclonic storm.
The probe agency, while seeking Patkar's custody, also told the court that an offence of such magnitude was not possible without the "explicit complicity of senior functionaries" of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
According to experts, slopes in Himachal have become highly vulnerable to landslides due to cutting of rocks at the foothills and the lack of proper drainage system, and high intensity rainfall is making the things worse for the state.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday imposed several new restrictions, including a ban on inter-city and inter-district travel and curbs on office attendance in an attempt to bring the spiralling coronavirus infections under control.
Two more bodies were on Sunday found in the search and rescue operations which continued for fourth day following the collapse of a bridge on Mumbai-Goa highway near Mahad in Raigad district, taking the death toll to 26.
Anxious relatives of several Indians stuck in Sudan following the fighting between the Army and paramilitary forces are eagerly waiting for information about their relatives and appealed to the government to evacuate them from the strife-torn African country as soon as possible.
Tracing the remaining persons was proving a daunting task as the river remained in spate with over two lakh cusecs of floodwater gushing, sources said.
The directions came after the Delhi government told the court that oxygen that was to come from Panipat in Haryana was not being allowed to be picked up by the local police there.
The apex court said this while dealing with an application filed by the Assam which had sought a clarification whether each of the children of the deceased parents would be provided ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000, in case there is more than one child.
A low-pressure area, set to form over east central Bay of Bengal on May 22, is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and strike the Odisha-West Bengal coast on May 26, the Met department said on Thursday, sparking fears of another Amphan-like catastrophe.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Uttarakhand government not to force people, caught in flash floods, to walk long distances and said that they should be air lifted to safer places.
The Centre has assured all help to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh where a "very severe" cyclone is expected to hit on Saturday and sent nearly 500 personnel of National Disaster Response Force for relief and rescue operations.
In a curious turn of events on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked Rajeev Topno, a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Gujarat cadre and a part of the Prime Minister's Office under former PM Manmohan Singh, as private secretary.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
Heavy overnight rains across Uttarakhand on Monday led to a rise in the levels of most water bodies, including the Bhagirathi River and the Tehri Lake.
Relatively a lesser degree of damage, including those to houses marked the landfall of cyclonic storm Mandous in Tamil Nadu and at least four people were killed in rain-related incidents, authorities said in Chennai on Saturday.
The picturesque port town of Visakhapatnam, a major industrial, educational and tourism hub in the east coast, is still reeling under the impact of havoc caused by the cyclonic storm Hudhud and is picking up pieces from a trail of destruction left behind by the calamity.
The Delhi government has banned construction and demolition activities in the city till November 21.
As many as 79 people have lost their lives in incidents related to cyclone Tauktae in different parts of Gujarat, officials said on Thursday as the authorities carried out restoration work in affected areas and launched damage assessment exercise.
Heart-breaking stories of sorrow and shock began emerging from various parts of Kerala as people learned about the death of their loved ones.
Maharashtra state disaster management officials said no locust swarm was spotted in Mumbai. "The viral images and videos have been wrongly attributed as being from Mumbai," an official said.
The army, SDRF and NDRF are assisting the district administrations in evacuating the affected population to safer places, the authority said.
The flood situation eased in Assam and northern districts of West Bengal with water receding and no fresh deaths being reported in both the states.
Bhalla said the availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen is an important pre-requisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 and with the increasing cases, the medical oxygen supply will need to keep pace with the requirements of the states and union territories.
The government is planning to airlift excavators to flood-ravaged Uttarakhand regions for clearing boulders and debris accumulated in Kedarnath.
LIVE! Incessant rains: Red Alert in 5 Kerala districts
In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people in 987 villages of 28 districts in the state.
Alert to the looming threat from the 'Omicron' variant, states began to re-tighten curbs and urgently trace people who arrived from abroad in the last one month while a demand to not allow flights from the affected countries was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
'The situation is especially serious in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu),' the MHA statement said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia said the number of cases might have increased but the hospitalisation rate is low.
