Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the 59 seats spread across seven states and one Union territory going to polls in the last and final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 19, 2019.
Several states are likely to witness heat wave conditions, the India Meteorological Department said in its summer forecast for the season (March to May).
The final phase saw voting in all 13 seats of Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved public private partnership mode for the rollout of BharatNet project for broadband services in villages in 16 states with viability gap funding of Rs 19,041 crore, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Prasad said the decision to involve private players was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15, 2020 that around 6 lakh villages in the country will be connected with broadband in 1,000 days. "The Cabinet has in-principle approved implementation of BharatNet in 16 states in a public private partnership model with total expense of Rs 29,430 crore.
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Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association has published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".
The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 9,272 and as many as 1,189 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, it said.
RCom slashed 3G prices for all kind of connections -- pre-paid, post-paid, new and old -- across 13 circles where its third-generation services are available.
This is the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise from foreign soil during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded an 'upsurge' in daily new cases of COVID-19, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
There has been a decline of four points in male U5MR and three points in female U5MR during the corresponding period.
India's total number of active COVID-19 cases has reached 1,64,511, which comprises 1.48 per cent of the country's total infections, the Union health ministry said on Sunday highlighting six states that have shown a surge in new cases in a span of 24 hours.
His immediate challenge is the February 8 Delhi assembly polls followed by year-end elections in Bihar. However, his big test would be the next year's assembly polls in West Bengal, a state where the BJP has emerged as a strong challenger to Mamata Banerjee-headed TMC.
The morcha claimed that the response to the bandh call was 'more widespread than before' and nearly all opposition political parties extended an unconditional support to it.
Radha Mohan Singh appointed in-charge of politically crucial UP. Kailash Vijayvargiya will continue to be the in-charge of West Bengal and he will be assisted by BJP national secretary Arvind Menon and party national IT cell head Amit Malviya.
Bengal wrapped up what was meant to be a four-day Ranji Trophy contest in just one-and-a-half day after blowing away Odisha for an unbelievable 37, prompting the livid visiting team to lodge a complaint about the nature of the pitch with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
Scores of people die every year due to cold waves that sweep across the north Indian plains.
The second meeting of the NITI Aayog's governing council, was, however, attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The southwest monsoon season concluded on Saturday with India receiving 'below-average' cumulative rainfall -- 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm -- in an El Nino year.
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Very light rains and thundershowers occurred at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh though, and a fresh warning of heavy showers was issued in Himachal Pradesh as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in several parts of the country, including the northern region, over the next six-seven days.
Villages are flooded, roads have washed away and railway tracks have submerged under the rising waters.
Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.
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Four states - Karantaka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan - were in the top performers' category.
The case fatality rate has dropped 2.01 per cent, according to ministry data.
The Centre will release Rs 95,082 crore as tax devolution to the states this month after including one advance instalment to help them push their capital expenditure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. After a meeting with all chief ministers and state finance ministers, Sitharaman said states had said that it would be helpful for them if the tax devolution is front loaded.
Top ranked women recurve archer Deepika Kumari (Jharkhand) retained the individual title, while in the men's section Atanau Das (PSPB) emerged winner in the Individual Olympic Round of the 34th Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports complex in Jmashedpur.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who is not contesting Lok Sabha polls as he is ailing, has been made acting in-charge of the AICC Communication department along with party spokesman Randeep Surjewala.
It has been over two decades since the cabinet cleared the BharatNet project, earlier known as National Optical Fibre Network. However, progress of the programme has been slow. While the government had set the target of connecting 100,000 gram panchayats by 2013, it took another four years to achieve this target in December 2017. Progress under the current administration has improved, but the government has again missed its targets.
India's hydroelectric power generation grew 17.5 per cent to 7.5 billion units in January this year from 6.4 billion units in the same month of 2012.
Other than Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, call centres would come up in Assam, Manipur, Tripura.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
'Rahul Gandhi should have prevented Nitish Kumar from going.' 'He must pacify Mamata Banerjee if he has a cause of Mohabbat Ki Dukaan.' 'He should bring this Mohabbat Ki Dukaan on the political canvas.'
In the wake of 73 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India so far, the Union health ministry has made functional 52 laboratories for testing samples while 57 labs have been designated for helping in sample collection for Covid-19 to enhance capacity for diagnosis and detection of the disease. "Following the increase in load of screening samples from suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affected countries, the department of health research/ICMR has commissioned 52 laboratories for COVID-19 testing in India," an official said.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the protest against the Centre's three new agri-marketing laws, told the MPs the 'Voters' Whip' overrides their party whips.
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.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'