Nandigram, March 29 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday conducted a massive roadshow in Nandigram, where she is pitted against her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari. The high-stakes constituency in Purba Medinipur district will go to the polls in the second phase on April 1. Accompanied by senior TMC leaders, Banerjee led the 8 -km-long roadshow from Reyapara Khudiram More to Thakurchowk in her wheelchair, greeting people with folded han

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS): President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday approved the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) (Amendment) Bill 2021, which was passed by Parliament last week. The Union Home Ministry will now determine when it comes into effect. The development came just as Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal welcomed support from Chief Ministers of other states against the new law, which provides more power to the

Nagpur, March 29 (IANS): At least five Maoists, including two women were gunned down after two encounters with the security forces in the deep forests of Khobramendha in Gadchiroli, officials said here on Monday. The first encounter took place when the Gadchiroli Police's C-60 Commandos team was engaged in a search and combing operation on Saturday morning, culminating in a fierce exchange of fire with around 50-60 extremists hiding in the jungles at various locations. In tha

New Delhi, March 28 (PTI): In view of the rise in fresh COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked officials to prepare a plan for implementation of a lockdown which will have a minimum impact on the economy on the recommendation of the state COVID-19 task force, an official release said. In a meeting held with the chief minster, Health Minister Rajesh Tope and other officials, principal secretary to state health department Dr Pradeep Vyas said there

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 (IANS): India's forest management marked a conservation milestone when three women officers were inducted into the Indian Forest Service (IFS) in 1980, and since then a traditionally 'all male bastion' is gradually opening to more and more women officers. This has led to the birth of the 'lesser-known Khaki'. Today, the Indian Forest Service has 284 women officers serving the nation. These women officers are not only doing exemplary work in th

New Delhi, March 28 (PTI): Modernisation in the agriculture sector is the need of the hour as already a lot of time has been lost, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat programme, Modi also hailed the world's largest vaccination programme being carried out in India against COVID-19, and stressed on "dawai bhi, kadai bhi" (medicines as well as strict preventive measures). Asserting that adopting modern practices in the agriculture sec

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 (IANS): High voter turnout during the first round of Assembly polls in West Bengal on Saturday has once again given a chance to political pundits to speculate if it is a sign of anti-incumbency in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a press conference on Sunday, also asserted that that his Bharatiya Janata Party is going to win 26 out of 30 Assembly seats on which polling took place in the first phase of the elections. A high

MUMBAI, MARCH 28 (IANS0: Signalling a major breakthrough in the SUV case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday managed to retrieve some electronic devices and other key evidence from the Mithi River in which they were allegedly dumped by arrested Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze. The NIA took Vaze and a team of divers to the river's branch near the Bandra Kurla Complex where the articles crucial to the probe were said to be dumped weeks ago, and a search was l

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the BJP would win 26 of the 30 seats in West Bengal and 37 of the 47 in Assam where polling was held on Saturday in the first phase of the Assembly polls. Addressing a press conference at his residence here, he said: "Based on discussions and feedback received from booth level workers and leaders, I can confidently say that the we are winning 26 of 30 seats which went in for polling in the first phase

New Delhi, March 28 (PTI): Modernisation in the agriculture sector is the need of the hour as already a lot of time has been lost, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat programme, Modi also hailed the world's largest vaccination programme being carried out in India against COVID-19, and stressed on dawai bhi, kadai bhi (medicines as well as strict preventive measures). Asserting that adopting modern practices in the agriculture sector is imp

New Delhi, March 28 (PTI) India saw 62,714 new coronavirus infections in a day, the highest single day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,19,71,624, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. Registering a steady increase for the 18th day in row, the active cases have increased to 4,86,310 comprising 4.06 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 94.58 per cent, the data stated. The 62,714 ne

Dhaka, March 27 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday and discussed the progress achieved in areas like connectivity, energy, trade, health and developmental cooperation following which the two countries signed five MoUs covering a number of areas of bilateral cooperation. Modi, who is visiting Bangladesh on his first trip to a foreign country since the outbreak of the coronavirus, held one-on-one talks with Hasina which was fol

Srinagar, March 27 (PTI) National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah on Saturday said India's vaccine diplomacy has come at a cost as the anti-COVID shots supplied to other nations could have been put to good use domestically amidst a second spike of infections in the country. Omar's remarks came after India told the United Nations General Assembly that the country has supplied more COVID-19 vaccines globally than it has vaccinated its own people. With the country se

Mumbai, March 27 (IANS): Nearly 40 hours after the massive fire in a suburban mall claimed 11 lives in a Covid hospital in the same premises, hundreds of angry and weeping store-owners confronted the government with the huge losses they have suffered in the blaze, here on Saturday. The conflagration broke out on the first floor of the Dreams Mall in Bhandup just before midnight late on Thursday - quickly spread to the second floor and then engulfed the third floor where the Sunrise

Kolkata, March 27 (PTI) A huge controversy erupted on Saturday amid the polling for 30 assembly seats in West Bengal, with the BJP releasing an audio clip where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is purportedly heard cajoling a BJP leader from Nandigram to rejoin the TMC and help her win the seat. Banerjee is pitted against her former protege and now the BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, the spring board that propelled her to power in 2011, dislodging the Left Front from powe

Panaji, March 27 (IANS) The combined trend of filing a PIL, then aggressively campaigning for it on social media and finally slandering the judges, when the order does not go their way is unacceptable, Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. Speaking during the inauguration of a new office complex for the Bombay High Court bench in Goa, Prasad also said that "it is not fair" to target judges using social media, even as Chief Justice S.A. Bo

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Saturday chaired a high-level review meeting with Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of 12 states, Municipal Commissioners and District Collectors of 46 districts most affected by rising cases and rising mortality because of Covid-19. The 12 states include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Amid surge in coronavirus cases, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan said that the Central government is planning to widen the umbrella of vaccine beneficiaries soon to cover other sections of the population. While addressing 'Reshape Tomorrow Summit' organised by The Economic Times on Friday, he also spoke about the vaccination drive currently underway, India's investment in the "Test, Track and Treat" strategy

New Delhi, March 27 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at a Matua temple in Bangladesh's Orakandi, the birthplace of Hindu mystic figure and Matua community's spiritual guru Harichand Thakur. Modi, who was wearing a mask, offered prayers at the Harichand-Guruchand Temple, where he was welcomed with 'Dhaak, Shankh, Ulu' in line with local rituals. Orakandi is the abode of hundreds of Hindu Matua community, a large number of whom are res

Chennai, March 27 (IANS): Transgenders M. Radha and Bharathi Kannama, who are fighters in their own right, are contesting the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu to be held on April 6. Interestingly, there are only 7,246 transgenders enlisted in the voters' list of Tamil Nadu even though 1 per cent of the 6 crore population in the state are transgenders. Radha is contesting on a 'telephone' symbol from the Mylapore Assembly constituency, while Kannama is in the fray from the