With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
A 25-year-old man in Jharkhand's Khunti district allegedly strangled his live-in partner to death and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area. The accused, Naresh Bhengra, was arrested after stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village. Bhengra had married another woman without informing his partner and took her to the forest to kill her after she pressured him to return to Khunti. The incident has sent shockwaves in the region, recalling the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022.
Earlier on Monday, two women Naxalites were killed and one CoBRA jawan was injured in an encounter during the same operation, they said.
Three Maoists were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday. The gunfight broke out in the morning at a forest in the Indravati National Park area when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. The bodies of the three Naxalites were recovered along with firearms and explosives.
The Finance Ministry's annual report has revealed that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded seven projects worth USD 750 million in India during the 2023-24 fiscal year. The projects, implemented in partnership with the Indian government, cover areas like agriculture and food security, water and sanitation, renewable energy, disaster management, health, sustainable forests, and climate adaptation. This disclosure comes amidst controversy over USAID's alleged role in influencing Indian elections, with claims that the agency allocated USD 21 million to India for 'voter turnout'. However, the report clarifies that no funds were dedicated to enhancing voter turnout.
Combat units of the Chhattisgarh police's District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and Bastar Fighters were mobilised from different directions in the area on February 7, the official said.
'You have to separate the concept of India as a nation State which is very young and the Upanishadic wisdom which is timeless.'
The tribal communities, asserting their rights under the Forest Rights Act, are now planning to gather in Delhi to demand "justice" for their livelihoods and traditions that are closely linked to the forests.
'Putin dreams about his legacy. He wants to forcibly restore the Russian empire.' 'Unfortunately, after three years of large-scale war with massive human losses, Putin will not budge from his goal because human life is the cheapest resource in the Russian State.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that the Constitution of India is 'blank' because he has never read it.
Two Haryana State Enforcement Bureau officers were allegedly injured in an attack by suspected mining mafia during inspection of an illegal mining operation in the Ghata Shamshabad village of Nuh district, police have said.
The Battle of Lhagyala on November 23, 1962, fought by the 4 Rajput Regiment against the Chinese PLA, remains a forgotten chapter of heroism, with no survivors left to tell their story.
One of the teams rescued two lion cubs that had fallen into an open well in Jasadhar Range of Gir East division during the cyclone's landfall on Thursday evening, the official said.
Pahalgam Terrorist Attack: Dombivli families shattered in grief and grit. Demand dignity, justice and answers to unanswered questions.
Twelve of the 16 Naxalites killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district have been identified as dreaded ultras carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 3.13 crore, including a central committee member of the outlawed movement, a police official said. Among them was Chalpathi alias Jairam, a member of the central committee and Odisha state committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), who had a collective bounty of Rs 90 lakh on his head in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It was the first time someone from the central committee, the main governing body of the proscribed outfit, has been eliminated in an encounter in Chhattisgarh. The encounter, which lasted three days, involved personnel from E-30 (a Gariaband district police unit), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and Odisha police's Special Operation Group (SOG).
Gaikwad, an MLA from Buldhana assembly seat in Vidarbha region, is no stranger to controversies.
A training camp for the U.S. women's national team has been moved from Los Angeles to Miami due to the wildfires that have devastated Southern California, U.S. Soccer said on Friday.
L2: Empuraan is an ambitious sequel that is bigger, bolder and timid in equal measure, observes Arjun Menon.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
Data from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change reveals that 30 cities recorded an increase in PM10 levels compared to 2017-18 (FY18), indicating deteriorating air quality.
The apex court, while hearing a separate plea on the issue on June 7, had directed the state and the Faridabad municipal corporation to remove "all encroachments" in the Aravali forest area, saying "land grabbers cannot take refuge of rule of law" and talk of "fairness".
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has accused "some agencies with vested interests" of misleading the Centre about the ongoing crisis in the state, calling it an attempt to destabilize Manipur. He emphasized the need for unity among Manipuris and criticized the 2005 Suspension of Operations (SOO) agreement, blaming it for the current unrest. Singh also condemned the recent killing of two non-Manipuris, calling it a politically motivated move to create an atmosphere of fear.
The forest department has launched an investigation into the reported death of 18 to 19 monkeys in a village in Chhattisgarh's Bemetara district and recovered four rotten carcasses, a senior official said.
The SC to remove "all encroachments", consisting around 10,000 residential construction, in Aravali forest area near a village, saying "land grabbers cannot take refuge of rule of law" and talk of "fairness".
A cache of weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, one SLR (self-loading rifle), one INSAS rifle, one LMG rifle and one .303 rifle were also recovered from the encounter spot.
Nearly 2,00,000 have been displaced due to the raging fires. As many as 10,000 structures along with entire residential neighbourhoods have been destroyed.
Seven Naxalites, including two women, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district. The gunfight broke out in the early hours of Thursday in the forest of south Abujhmad, along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts. A large cache of weapons and daily use items were recovered from the spot. This incident brings the total number of Naxalites killed in encounters in the Bastar division this year to 215.
'I don't believe there is an international conspiracy to swamp tribals in India or in Jharkhand.'
We the people are left in the wind, waiting on the whims of an unengaged president and an oligarch with a nearly bottomless wallet, observes Sree Sreenivasan.
Hercules Singh Munda's father used to open the gates to a forest. Today, Hercules leaves for London to open the gates of his many dreams.
Ten Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Friday, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out in the morning in a forest within the jurisdiction of the Bhejji police station when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. The operation was launched based on inputs about the presence of Maoists belonging to Konta and Kistaram area committees of Naxalites on forested hills of Korajguda, Dantespuram, Nagaram and Bhandarpadar villages. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai hailed security forces and said the era of peace and progress has returned to the Bastar region, which includes Sukma.
An invasion of wolves is keeping the forest authorities on their toes in Bahraich, where the animal is suspected to have killed at least six people and wounded several, all within a very short span.
Tax devolution shares, which threaten to create a north-south divide among states, may have more to do with per capita income, and not so much with population.
The newly-formed Delhi Cabinet in its first meeting approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the national capital. The cabinet also decided to present 14 pending CAG reports in the first session of the assembly. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the previous AAP government did not allow the health scheme in the city, preventing the people from availing its benefits.
The obsession for migrating to the US is visible mostly in Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab, he further said.
The administration is working to catch the attacking wolves, with four already caught, she said, however the problem is there are more than hundred revenue villages and the wolves are attacking new villages within a span of four to five days.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Chalapathi, a top leader of the CPI(Maoist) and a key figure in the 2008 Nayagarh armoury attack in Odisha, was killed in a gunfight with security forces at the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. He was one of 14 Maoists killed in the encounter, which lasted for two days. Chalapathi, who had been a mystery to security agencies for decades, was eventually identified through a selfie with his wife, Aruna, found in an abandoned smartphone. He was considered an expert in military tactics and guerrilla warfare and had played a significant role in expanding the Maoist network in Odisha.
More than two dozen officials of the Uttarakhand forest department have been transferred following allegations of large scale felling of trees and illegal constructions in Corbett Tiger Reserve's buffer zone.
Run by a former cricketer and son of India's military heroes, Mike's Forest Retreat is an ode to all that we hold dear.
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