Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule tried to placate the protesters outside the house, saying she was ready to talk to them but she must ensure first that her parents who were inside were safe.
The project holds strategic significance as Zojila Pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway and remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall.
After making landfall near Puducherry on November 30, Cyclone Fengal weakened on Sunday, but torrential downpour under its influence paralysed the union territory, with the Army stepping in to evacuate stranded persons in inundated streets.
Several Union ministers and chief ministers voluntarily removed the red beacons from their vehicles even before the notification of it came into effect.
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
The limited availability of flexible (flex)-fuel vehicles in the Indian market and the slow rollout of ethanol-blended petrol by oil-marketing companies (OMCs) remain major obstacles to achieving widespread use of biofuels in the transportation sector in India. Recently, two Union ministers have emphasised India's biofuel potential, arguing that it has the capacity and potential to lead a transition towards widespread biofuel adoption. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari signalled that this transition is well underway and urged car manufacturers to quickly adapt and introduce new biofuel-run vehicles, lest the government resort to taxing diesel vehicles.
The toughest part is to tackle human behaviour. On the Atal Setu, says Indrajit Gupta, I chose to drive at a consistent speed of 80 kmph in the middle lane. Vehicles on the right lane were clipping along at 150 kmph, way over the maximum permissible limit of 100 kmph. On occasion, I had to slow down or dodge vehicles suddenly pulling into the middle lane from the side.
V Singh said that "actual farmers are very happy with what has been done in last six months."
"They (opposition parties) are not concerned about the development of the children of the country's poor. Their common minimum programme is to increase corruption for their family. Democracy means 'of the people, by the people, for the people'. But these dynastic parties have the mantra of 'of the family, by the family, for the family'. For them, their family is first, and the nation is nothing," he said.
In the wake of Mumbai attacks by terrorists who came by the sea route, the Centre on Friday decided to authorise the Coast Guard to check all the "suspicious merchant vessels" prior to entry at the country's ports.
The Congress activists termed the hike in fines under the amended act an "unrealistic move" that came without any preparation.
Central government ministers will remain exempt from odd-even scheme while CM Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues will come under the ambit of the second phase.
Erode MP A Ganeshamurthi, who allegedly attempted suicide recently, died at a Coimbatore hospital on Thursday morning, sources from his party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the police said.
Singh's post prompted Twitterati to question the state of the medical infrastructure in the country where even the minister's relatives were struggling.
India can become the number one automotive manufacturing hub in the world within five years, but auto companies need to enhance safety features to reduce deaths due to road accidents, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday. In his inaugural address at the Auto Expo 2023 here, the minister for road transport and highways asserted that the government's target is to reduce these accidents by 50 per cent before the end of 2024 while asking the auto industry to take suo moto action for road safety as the government doesn't want to make anything mandatory. Gadkari's sentiments were also echoed by Minister of Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey, who lamented that while India has only 1 per cent of the total overall vehicles, the country accounts for 11 per cent of the total global deaths due to road accidents.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday unveiled the prototype of the world's first Bharat Stage (BS)-VI-compliant electrified flex-fuel car, developed by Toyota Kirloskar Motor. The car, which runs on 100 per cent ethanol (E100), is based on the Toyota Innova HyCross. It can cover 40 per cent of its distance on ethanol and the remaining 60 per cent on electric, with the petrol engine shut off.
What some of our leaders were up to on the weekend.
Ministry has set a target to spend Rs 5 lakh crore in road infrastructure
Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, are unlikely to visit Belagavi on Tuesday as both have various meetings scheduled in Maharashtra during the day.
It has been decided to do away with beacons of all kinds on top of all categories of vehicles in the country.
According to the government, the additional chief secretary of the state housing department is designated to sign an agreement with the Union government for the land lease transfer.
The move, which was approved by the Union home ministry, comes amid a military standoff with China in the eastern Ladakh area.
The state has suffered losses of Rs 4,000 crore and the figure is likely to go up as estimates continue to pour in, he said.
Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for 16 days.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Transport Kamal Nath on Tuesday claimed that the Congress would form the government in Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra.
Some taxi and cab unions, including those associated with app-based aggregators, have decided to join the strike called by farmers organisations demanding repeal of three new farm sector laws.
The 'Angh' of Oting, Tahwang, is contesting the February 27 assembly polls on a Naga People's Front (NPF) ticket against the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MLA P Paiwang Konyak, who is a cabinet minister in the outgoing government.
The minister said there is a need to ramp up road construction 10-fold to achieve the development targets set for the next decade.
A tribute to the unsung heroes.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched the country's first crash testing programme Bharat NCAP aimed at improving road safety standards of motor vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes. Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) is India's own crash testing programme and is cheaper than tests conducted abroad, Gadkari said, adding that the star ratings will help buyers understand the quality of the product and make an informed purchase decision. Bharat NCAP will be implemented from October 1, 2023.
With increasing number of road accidents involving vehicles driven by under-age boys, Union Minister Renuka Chowdhary on Tuesday said that parents of such children should face the music."The children are not at fault. The parents should be responsible enough not to allow an under-age child to drive. This is the reason they are not allowed to vote and drink. Father's license should be taken back and then only there will be a check (on such incidents)," she added.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced hiking the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development for 2023-24 and will be at 3.3 per cent of the GDP. Presenting the Budget for 2023-24, she said the newly established infrastructure finance secretariat will assist in attracting more private investment. "Capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP.
Gadkari, a senior BJP leader, insisted that Raje had done no wrong and said that such issues should not be brought into politics.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation. The projects covering 35 districts in nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal -- will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.
'We completed Rs 17 trillion worth of projects in the first term and currently Rs 9 trillion worth of contracts are under construction.'
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
The BJP promised revival of the legislative council in Tamil Nadu, which was abolished decades ago by its ally, the ruling AIADMK, if their combine was voted to power in the coming assembly elections.
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