The TMC also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections but at the same time denied that it was planning a third front, separate from the Congress-led front.
Targeted killings in Srinagar and in South Kashmir have inspired fear among migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh plying their trade in the Kashmir Valley.
"Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. Therefore, a sustained debate is required on the subject of simultaneous elections and all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on this issue," he had said.
Thirteen cities of the country had an average Air Quality Index above 400, which falls in "severe" category, with seven of them in Uttar Pradesh, five in Haryana and one in Bihar, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
These workers do not have jobs and the Railways should not charge train fare from them, Deshmukh said in a video message. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said the Railways has subsidised 85 per cent of ticket fare for special trains being run to transport migrant workers and the state governments have to pay the remaining 15 per cent.
The last rites will be performed by Sharad Yadav's son Shantanu Bundela, the late politician's nephew, Shailesh Yadav, informed.
The flood situation in Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh showed signs of improvement on Sunday with most rivers receding even as heavy rains lashed parts of Goa, Rajasthan and Orissa.
Kumar recommended Sahani's expulsion from the cabinet to the governor in the evening, after a written submission to the effect by the BJP, hours after the minister for fishery and animal husbandry was given the ultimatum to withdraw forthwith a recent notification.
An army captain and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) were killed in an accidental grenade blast along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said on Monday.
Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced that it has scrapped the minimum recharge plan of Rs 99 in seven circles -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Northeast, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (West). In these circles, the price of the entry-level plan now would be Rs 155. This 57 per cent increase in Airtel's entry-level plan comes two months after the telco discontinued the Rs 99 plan in Haryana and Odisha in November last year.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
The success story written by Nitish Kumar in Bihar has not gone unnoticed in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where his counterpart chief minister Mayawati appears to be getting serious about governance.
Anxious to return home after the spate of killings targeting minorities, non-locals and other civilians in the Valley, about 50 migrant labourers, many of them from Bihar, arrived at the Nowgam railway station late on Monday night from nearby Budgam district where they worked in brick kilns.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has questioned the granting of hefty funds to certain states by Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate, and sought to know if this was meant to influence the ruling parties including Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal - United and the Trinamool Congress.
The Election Commission is confident of holding the five assembly polls due early next year, including in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, on time as the poll panel has gained a lot of experience from the electoral exercise in Bihar, West Bengal and four other assemblies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has asserted.
In a stunning blow to the BJP on Wednesday, the party lost bypolls to all the three Lok Sabha seats it contested, including its bastion Gorakhpur, and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, besides Araria in Bihar.
Among other things, the states will exchange intelligence on the movement and activities of naxalite outfits, UP Director General of Police V K V Nair said in Varanasi.
A total of 822 incidents were reported in 2017, a rise from the 703 in 2016.
Speaking at the first Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Memorial Lecture at Jamia Millia Islamia University, Amitabh Kant said, "The eastern part of India, particularly states like Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is keeping India backward, especially on social indicators. While we have improved on ease of doing business, we have remained backward on human development index. We are still 131 out of 188 countries in HDI."
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
'Rahul is not even a lamp before the sun'
Manoj Tiwari is the only sitting MP whom the BJP has retained.
Like Uttar Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar in next general elections.
The 85-year-old was admitted to the hospital on June 11 with breathing problems, fever and difficulty in urination.
Continuing its probe into covert activities of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the National Investigation Agency has arrested a man hailing Bihar in the national capital,
Jaymal Singh Negi mentioned that his brother informed him about the trapped men engaging in yoga and exercises inside the tunnel.
Uttar Pradesh director general of police HC Awasthy, Sashastra Seema Bal DG Kumar Rajesh Chandra and Special Secretary Home Ministry VSK Kaumudi were short-listed for the post of Central Bureau of Investigation director.
In Kerala, 95 out of 135 MLAs, accounting for 70 per cent, have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
Large parts of north India reeled under numbing cold on Tuesday with the mercury remaining below freezing point at most places in Jammu and Kashmir, while dense fog in the early hours of the morning hit road and rail traffic movement.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The new machine, that landed at the Chinyalisaur helipad, over 30 kilometres from the tunnel on the Chardham route, is being put into service, amid apprehension by workers at the site on the progress of the multi-agency rescue operations.
An Economic survey released by the state government said the poverty estimates provided by the Planning Commission reveal poverty ratio in the state is 30.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent more than the all-India (27.5 per cent) figure.
We do not interfere in religious practices of any sort, the Bihar CM said.
Around five lakh devotees visited the Ram temple complex on day one as it opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, a day after the consecration ceremony, according to officials.
'They are trying to destroy the culture and trying to impose Manu Dharma through Hindi'
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
Despite the BJP emerging as the largest party in the ruling alliance with 74 seats, 31 more than the JDU, the top leadership of the saffron party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has emphatically endorsed Kumar as the next chief minister.
Gearing up the machinery ahead of the general elections, the full Election Commission will visit Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this week to review the poll readiness in these two key states in the Hindi heartland which together accounts for 120 seats.