India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
The Bal Puraskar was conferred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave digital certificates to the awardees using blockchain technology developed by IIT Kanpur.
The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of 'test, track and treat' that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
'My belief that I could protect the Himalayas was shattered.'
Chinook is a heavy lift, tandem rotor helicopter which serves armed forces of 19 countries. It is a multi-role platform and is used for the transport of troops and material among other roles
The SP of Chamoli district, which faced the brunt of the glacier break in Uttarakhand, provides insights about the rescue operations.
Only the government has the capacity to collate all death data across all facilities and count corpses dumped in rivers. And the government is patently not interested in finding out, observes Devangshu Datta.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
She waited for the call promised by her son in the evening but only got the heartbreaking news that Indian Air Force pilot K Praveen was no more.
President Pranab Mukherjee condoled the death of personnel of the IAF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and National Disaster Response Force in a helicopter crash during rescue operations at Kedarnath in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
The bus was returning from the Gangotri shrine.
CM Harish Rawat condemned the imposition of President's rule in the state as a "murder" of democracy and said PM Narendra Modi's hands were dipped in the "blood".
With many searching their loved ones after the Nepal earthquake, Google has launched its 'person finder' tool and Facebook has activated its 'safety check' feature to help locate and report missing persons.
In Assam, nearly 27.80 lakh people across 26 districts have been affected by the deluge. The deaths were reported from the Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts. The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has risen to 122.
About 2.14 million people were displaced in India last year due to natural disasters, according to a United Nations-backed report which said the country was third after the Philippines and China to record the highest levels of displacement in 2013.
Three expert members -- Rajendra Singh, Ravi Chopra and Rashid Siddiqui -- have resigned from the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
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.
Improved fire-fighting equipment and proper training for forest guards is a must to ensure that fires like the recent ones don't occur again. In the first of a three-part series, Geetanjali Krishna looks at the burning issues that need to be resolved.
All educational institutions in Shimla and Kullu districts will remain closed on Monday as heavy to extremely heavy rains continue to lash the state, district officials said.
Both Airtel and Vodafone claim they did everything possible to resume services.
The uproar over 'dams' following the Uttarakhand disaster is ill-informed & potentially counter-productive, says Anand Sankar
In an order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said buses shall be used for transport of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating.
Former Karnataka Minister Shobha Karandlaje, who returned to Bangalore after remaining stranded for four days at Rudraprayag in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, on Friday said it was a harrowing experience as her group of 1,000 pilgrims had to spend sleepless nights sandwiched between high mountains and flooded Ganga river.
The BJP believes that the only party still capable of leading a credible challenge against it is the Congress. Please note how BJP campaigners in states where the Congress may count for a cipher or thereabouts, mostly attack the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The national capital received heavy precipitation resulting in waterlogging on several roads and traffic jams at various intersections.
Top officers across various ministries participate in the meeting that started at 8 pm on Saturday. The meeting is currently underway. The country is currently witnessing a second and more severe wave of the pandemic.
The teams will be in addition to the 56 such contingents which are undertaking flood combat operations in these two states, besides Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri on Thursday asked the Centre to learn lessons from the recent natural calamity in the hill state and demanded a separate ministry for the Himalayan region to preserve its fragile ecology.
Facing flak from the Congress for his "Rambo" act in flood-hit Uttarakhand, Narendra Modi on Tuesday came in for criticism by ally Shiv Sena which said his rescue efforts for Gujaratis was detrimental to his interests when he is being cheered as likely prime ministerial candidate.
'How much rain fell on June 16 and 17 is NOT known because the area of Kedarnath is not covered by the Indian Meteorological Department,' M Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority tells Sheela Bhatt. Because of this, the NDMA will not know "what exactly happened over there, in and around the Kedarnath temple."
Whether the third wave will ravage us depends on the pace of vaccinations, careful and calibrated opening up of establishments, and a strategy to contain the spread in specific states or pockets.
'Once you resume economic activities, life will be normal.' 'The younger people will tolerate the virus very well. So, life will become normal very soon.'
If the Ganga manages a rebirth, so will the country.Roy
'Modi as chief minister did a superb job of rehabilitation after the Kutch earthquake of 2001. He can use that hard-earned expertise for the benefit of the people of Kashmir too -- but only if they let him do so,' says T V R Shenoy.
Only traces of rainfall were recorded in a few areas of the national capital on Thursday which continued to experience sultry weather.
Official death toll due to the cyclonic storm has been pegged at 21, nearly 12 million people affected.
As chief minister of Gujarat, he said he had offered to take the responsibility of reconstructing areas surrounding the temple when the tragedy had struck in 2013, killing thousands of people.
Experts have flagged issues regarding the levying of new cess/tax, especially those related to complications in administering the cess.
The next two days are very crucial in terms of rescuing the maximum number of pilgrims and tourists stranded in rain-hit Uttarakhand as heavy showers may come anytime, a senior official said.
Uttarakhand was a tragedy that none of us will forget. As experts analysed the tragedy, it became clear that the disaster was more man made. The intergovernmental panel on climate change in its Assessment Report 5 states that human influence on the climate system is clear and this is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system.
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