If 2019-20 (FY20) was an unusual year for highway construction in India, with the pace of work slowing down for the first time since the Narendra Modi government assumed power in 2014, largely due to the general elections in May and liquidity crunch, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21 (FY21) only made matters worse with lockdowns and labour unavailability. The pace of highway construction in 2021-22 (FY22) has not been able to bulldoze the pandemic barriers in a year marred by two Covid-19 waves - the second at the start of the fiscal year, the third towards the close. With localised lockdowns and restrictions on mobility, highway construction growth in the country has now fallen to a five-year low.
This is the first protest in Bihar against the state government order directing schools, colleges and coaching institutes to remain closed till April 11 following a rise in COVID-19 cases.
The agriculture ministry also reiterated it is ready to find a "logical solution" to the issues raised by protesting farmer unions.
'I expect normalcy to return in one or two days,' says Tuticorin's new Collector Sandeep Nandur.
'We are not getting any clear guidance on what to do. Initially, we were asked to move to the bunker...when we packed our bags and reached there, our university head asked to go back to our hostel room. So we came back. Movement is very risky these time'
Sukanya Verma lists the best mystery movies this past decade.
An unhappy, restive mood prevails at the Ford factory Maraimala Nagar, 50 km from Chennai, and the surrounding area. The security is tight - not just Ford security personnel but also Tamil Nadu state police who are posted at the main gate. From September 9, when Ford India announced it was phasing out its units in India and leaving, workers at its manufacturing unit at Maraimala Nagar have held onto one hope: that the state government will step in to save their jobs.
Bir Singh Yadav, from Bahlolpur village in Noida, enacted the "symbolic suicide" at the Dalit Prerna Sthal where he has been camping along with scores of protestors belonging to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti).
The movement of maids, cooks, drivers, house help, nurses, and medical attendee providing service to senior citizens and ailing people at home will be allowed between 7 am and 10 pm on all days during the restrictions, including the weekend lockdowns.
Many villages were cut off as several roads connecting them were inundated.
For months, Hong Kong's streets have seethed with discontent. Scenes show protesters, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many wearing surgical masks and carrying umbrellas that have come to signify resistance. The images are astonishing, and the issues that set the protests in motion are complex. Amid these 11 weeks of protests, here's how daily life unfolds.
Even media persons covering the agitation manage to reach the protest sites with difficulty as they first have to pass through checking and then cross multiple layers of barricading. A Bharatiya Kisan Union office-bearer at Ghazipur border, which now resembles a highly-secured fortress, said despite the odds, supporters from far-off places are reaching the site to express solidarity with farmers.
With the COVID-19 positivity rate touching 0.55 percent, the Delhi government has decided to re-impose night curfew from Monday, according to sources.
On Wednesday, the top court observed that the Centre's talks with the protesting farmers have 'not worked apparently' and were bound to fail, and said it will form a committee having representatives of both the sides, but the agitating leaders dismissed it as no solution.
The minimum temperature in the capital dropped to 9.6 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal and the lowest this season so far. The maximum is likely to settle around 27 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said.
The Delhi police had on Saturday increased security arrangements by deploying additional personnel and placing more concrete barriers.
At least 40 people, including 20 police personnel, were injured during the clashes, the police said on Saturday.
There's wisdom to be found in an unfairly treated man's short and sweet concluding words -- a nation is only as great as our appreciation of the people who make it great, notes Sukanya Verma.
The letter by Singh, who is camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida along with his faction members since December 2, came as protestors marked the birth anniversary of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Police had to fire dozens of tear smoke shells in an attempt to disperse the stone-pelting students from S P College and the adjoining Women's College on M A Road, officials said.
Farmers had threatened to block other roads of Delhi in the coming days if the new agriculture laws are not scrapped soon.
'We have been paying visits to hospitals and police stations every day and nobody is ready to help'
It also asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana to take immediate stringent actions to curb stubble burning and authorities in Delhi-NCR to strictly check biomass burning.
Europeans are feeling the effects of the "Beast from the East," which refers to frigid winds blowing east to west from Siberia toward the United Kingdom. Temperatures have plunged as much as 20 degrees Celsius below average for this time of year, thanks to these frigid winds. Take a look at how Europe is coping after being dumped with heavy snow.
According to the Indian Fireworks' Manufacturers' Association, the ban would wipe out sales of around Rs 600 crore during the upcoming Deepavali season.
In this winter of discontent, in every procession, in every demonstration, in every protest -- from Jawaharlal Nehru University to Jamia to Shaheen Bagh to the streets of Mumbai -- the front rows have been occupied by women. It's been weeks since women have been sitting in protest across the country against the newly-introduced Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. The protests are a nerve centre of unwavering voices against what has been perceived as a discriminatory law. The women -- some housewives, some students with hijabs covering their hair, and others in full-length burqa robes -- are rallying against the 'Man' in what could also be perceived as a revolution for the 'weaker sex' in India.
The Central Committee members on Sunday elected a 25-member Political Bureau which picked the Standing Committee members to govern the country.
One Indian student has died after he nearly drowned in a swollen lake in Texas.
Hundreds of Kashmir-bound stranded vehicles were given green signal on Tuesday afternoon after the roads were cleared for vehicular traffic.
Two people at the scene were treated for injuries after the vehicle crashed into the large steel barriers erected around the Houses of Parliament complex.
The farmers' agitation, which has entered its fourth week, has also led to traffic diversions at various border points causing inconvenience to commuters.
Measures under the GRAP's 'very poor' and 'severe' categories came into effect on Tuesday.
Farmer leaders at the border also welcomed the support extended by a number of political parties and called upon all others to come forward and support the 'Bharat Bandh' on Tuesday.
At least 13 people, including a police head constable, have died and over 200 were injured since Monday as mobs went on a rampage in Maujpur, Jaffrabad, Babarpur, Bhajanpura, Yamuna Vihar, Chandbagh areas in northeast Delhi.
There is no protest yet on Delhi's borders with Gurgaon and at other points of National Highway-8 that connects the national capital with Jaipur, a senior police officer said.
China and the United States were headed for a major diplomatic confrontation as Washington on Wednesday ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, a move it said was aimed 'to protect American intellectual property and private information', hinting at cyber espionage.
The district administration has instructed tourists to postpone their visit to Dharamshala in view of the heavy rains.
Closures, travel restrictions, and self-isolation measures due to the coronavirus have cleared public squares, roads, and travel destinations across the globe. Photographers have been capturing the eerie stillness of these public spaces, recently emptied of the crowds they were built for.
The heart of the national capital on Monday turned into a fortress with heavy deployment of police who blocked roads leading to India Gate and Raisina Hill to ensure that no protests took place there but the arrangements put commuters at severe hardship. Office goers and students were the most affected due to blockade of roads and closure of nine metro stations near India Gate and Raisina Hill.
'Cyrus was also generous, hospitable, sharing of whatever he had.' 'He never ever acted like the inheritor of great wealth.'
