In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
In a purported video which surfaced on social media, the accused man, reportedly a Tamil Nadu native, could be seen sitting on a platform atop the Ponnambalamedu Hills, located about four km from the Sabarimala temple, and chanting mantras and doing some rituals.
Two Maoists -- a man and a woman -- were apprehended following a gun battle in a forest area in Wayanad, Kerala, late on Tuesday night, the police said.
An Indian Air Force chopper flew several sorties in Nainital district sprinkling water lifted from a lake to douse the raging forest fires across Uttarakhand.
A decision on reopening the schools is likely to be taken in a review meeting after the Forest Department submits a report later on Thursday.
A group of people torched the office building of the Range Forest Officer in Tuibong area around midnight, and several fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, they said.
The Manipur Police personnel allegedly drove the two women from the Kuki-Zomi community, who had sought refuge in their official Gypsy, to a mob of around 1,000 Meiti rioters in Kangpokpi district, the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet has said.
Two weeks after Maoists and police exchanged fire in Wayanad, a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and two offices of the Forest department were on Monday attacked by suspected Maoists in Palakkad and Wayanad districts.
Over seven months of violence severely hit businesses, schools, colleges and other institutions, besides disrupting transportation and communication networks. It also affected the agrarian sector, considered the mainstay of the state economy.
'Modi knows the people here are opposed to this project, but he is using the might of government to push this port down our throats.'
Shocking videos of an ailing wild leopard being surrounded by a group of villagers, who are taking selfies with him and even trying to ride on him have emerged from Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
About a dozen locations in the state, including in state capital Ranchi and a premise in Rajasthan, are being raided by the central agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
A team of experts, including veterinary doctors, is set to visit Rajgir to study the cause of their death.
The fire broke out on Wednesday evening and when the army and forest personnel reached the area to douse the blaze, they found the carcasses of three burnt tiger cubs, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) S S Sharma said, adding that another tiger cub was found alive but during treatment it also succumbed to burn injuries
According to officials, 46 deaths have been recorded in terrorism-related violence since January this year in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and nearby Reasi district.
Official sources said mobile Internet services were suspended both in Poonch and Rajouri districts as a precautionary measure to check rumour-mongering and prevent miscreants from creating any law and order problem.
As per the primary probe, one of the deceased was identified as Bitlu Madavi, a commander of Perimili Dalam, while two others were identified as Vasu of Perimili Dalam and Srikant of Aheri Dalam.
Nine people were on the helicopter that crashed in northwest Iran on Sunday, including three officials, an imam, and flight and security team members, as reported by Tasnim news.
Youtuber Elvish Yadav was questioned by the Noida Police early Wednesday over suspected use of snake venom at a party, officials said, even as an investigation by the veterinary department found venom glands missing in all nine snakes that were rescued last week.
Sunny Singh Gill was standing at the proverbial career crossroads one year ago. He had the option to continue as a prison officer or concentrate on carrying forward his family's rich footballing legacy by chasing his refereeing dream.
The move comes after the Manipur high court had directed the state government to operationalise mobile towers, on a trial basis, in all those district headquarters which have not been affected by the ethnic clashes.
As media phenomenon, Arikomban is in a different league. Efforts to capture the elephant were telecast live. Local three-wheeler drivers started a fans association for the pachyderm. A film has now been announced based on Arikomban's life.
Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath asked the Centre to furnish details of the experts in the task force who specialise in cheetah management, their experience and qualification within two weeks.
Madhya Pradesh anti-corruption officials have raided properties belonging to Chief Conservator of Forest B K Singh and unearthed disproportionate assets worth Rs 42 crores from his residences in Bhopal and Ujjain.
Generally, tigers that attack humans apart from circumstances like defending cubs or trying to save one's own life are referred to as conflict tigers.
Oban, one of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia in September last year, strayed into the field near Baroda village, some 15-20 kilometres from KNP, from the free range area of the park into which he was released last month, Sheopur divisional forest officer (DFO) P K Verma told PTI.
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A large number of logs had floated into the reservoir following heavy rains in the past few days and the five employees along with some locals had gone to take stock of the situation.
An official said that a South African delegation will visit India in February for an assessment of the preparations at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
As per revised rules every four tribals is likely to be displaced or affected by projects, as their habitations were rich in natural resources
He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists fired at the security forces, who retaliated.
Tourism to Corbett and Almora could be particularly hit as a result of the fire, which has destroyed 2,200 hectares of forest.
Earlier, a government panel had said no to the controversial project in Orissa citing violation of a series of laws by it in active collusion with state government officials.
He said that such a campaign will hurt the interests of the country.
Security forces on Tuesday extended the search operation to adjoining villages to track down a terrorist who managed to escape from a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, officials said.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday announced compensation and jobs to the kin of the three civilians who were found dead in Poonch district as a massive search operation was underway to track down terrorists behind the recent ambush on two Army vehicles that left five soldiers dead.
The operation to neutralise the terrorists involved in the encounter that led to the killing of four security forces personnel continued for the second day on Thursday as the police claimed to have "encircled" two Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists in the higher reaches of Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
Jwala (Namibian name Siyaya) had also given birth to four cubs last March. However, only one of them survived.
