New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The Narendra Modi government still enjoys high approval ratings for its handling of the Covid-19 situation in India with more than three-fourths of respondents endorsing how the government is dealing with the crisis, as per the IANS-CVoter Covid-19 Tracker. As per the latest poll with a sample size of 1,723, 77.3 per cent respondents agree that the government is handling the crisis well, endorsing the Modi-led government's actions on tackling Covid-19 w

NEW DELHI, July 24 (Reuters) - Indian and Chinese diplomats were set for more talks on Friday to narrow differences on ways to pull back troops eye-balling each other across a disputed border in the western Himalayas, where 20 Indian soldiers died in a clash over a month ago. There were no shots fired during the June 15 fighting in the Galwan Valley of India's Ladakh region when the Indian soldiers were beaten with rocks and clubs, but it still marked the worst clash in decades

Kanpur, July 24 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested Shivam Dubey, another aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey who killed eight policemen in an ambush on July 3 in Bikru village. ASP, STF, Vishal Vikram Singh said that 24-year-old Shivam Dubey was present on the day of the ambush as per electronic evidences and also the statements given by other members of the gang who have been arrested earlier. Shivam was arrested on Thursday night from near Ghadi soap

Bhubaneswar, July 24 (IANS): At least two Maoists, including a woman, were killed in a gunfight with security personnel in Odisha's Kandhamal district on Thursday, police said. The gun-battle broke out after the left-wing extremists opened fire on a party of the state police's Special Operation on Thursday evening. The security personnel returned the fire, killing two insurgents, said state DGP Abhay. Two bodies (one male and one female in uniform), an INSAS rifle, a carb

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS): On the birth centenary year of late former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, the Congress in Telangana has commenced a year long celebration. Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi and former President Rahul Gandhi have also praised Rao who had initiated economic reforms in 1991. In a message, Sonia Gandhi said: "Rao's tenure was also marked by number of political, social and foreign policy achievements. He was a dedicated Congressman who served

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) India on Friday recorded the highest single day spike of almost 50,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in 24 hours taking the total tally to 12,87,945, with the death toll also crossing 30,000 mark, the Union Health Ministry data revealed. India recorded 49,310 fresh Covid-19 cases with 740 fresh deaths, the overall toll reached 30,601. But the recovery rate stood at 63.45 per cent with as many as 8,17,209 cured, which is almost twice the number of active patients at

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) After reports emerged that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is not withdrawing from the 'depth areas' as agreed in four rounds of talks between the corps commanders of India and China and 40,000 troops are still estimated to be present at the LAC, the Congress questioned the silence of the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister on the issue. The Congress demanded that the "status quo ante as it existed prior to May 2020 should be restore

New Delhi/Moscow, July 23 (IANS) Over a month after the India-China faceoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Russia on Thursday said that it is satisfied with India's cooperation at BRICS -- the multilateral forum which includes China. In a webinar on 'Russia-India Relations and Pandemic Test of Global Governance', Russian Ambassador to India, Nikolay R. Kudashev, said, "We are very satisfied with the cooperation with India in the bilateral

New delhi, July 23 (PTI): he HRD ministry on Thursday announced a relaxation in the admission criteria for NITs and centrally funded technical institutions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, doing away with the requirement of minimum 75 per cent marks in Class 12 board exams.        "Due to prevailing circumstances, Central Seat Allocation Board has decided to relax the eligibility criterion for admissions to NITs and other centrally funded technical instituti

New Delhi, July 23 (PTI): As many as 29,557 COVID-19 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours, the highest recorded in a day so far, taking the recovery rate to 63.18 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. According to data updated at 8 am, total recoveries have surged to 7,82,606 and exceeded the active cases of COVID-19 by 3,56,439 as on date. The number of tests for detection of COVID-19 has also crossed the 15-million mark as the number of cases surged t

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The Indian Army has started the process to grant permanent commission to short service commissioned women officers in 10 streams, the force said on Thursday. The Ministry of Defence has issued the formal government sanction letter for grant of permanent commission to women officers in the Indian Army, paving the way for empowering women officers to shoulder larger roles in the organisation. The order specifies grant of Permanent Commission to Short Servi

Patna, July 23 (IANS) Flood waters have now started entering new areas in Bihar, triggering fears of more loss of life and property. Almost 6.50 lakh people in 10 districts have been affected by the floods so far. Buildings in Gopalganj have all been submerged by the flood waters. The National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force are working non-stop to rescue the people. Disaster Management Department Additional Secretary Ramchandra Doo said that the dep

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The government proposes to roll out compulsory e-invoicing of GST from October 1, but has decided to raise the threshold to exempt smaller entities from this compliance, an official said on Thursday. Accordingly, e-invoicing will be mandatory only for businesses with turnover of Rs 500 crore or more. Those, on the other side of the threshold, will be exempted from the compliance burden, for the time being. The threshold for mandatory e-invoicing -- a ste

Chandigarh, July 23 (IANS) Covid-19 patients violating home isolation instructions in Punjab will have to shell out Rs 5,000 as fine, as per the new guidelines announced on Thursday by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Currently, there are 951 patients under home isolation across the state. The Chief Minister also announced Rs 5,000 as fine for owners of restaurants and commercial eating places violating social distancing norms, as a deterrent against defiance of the restrictions p

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) As the counsels of rebel Congress MLAs in Rajasthan and the Assembly Speaker slug it out in the Supreme Court, two words became a bone of contention during the course of the hearing. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Krishna Murari told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi, that the High Court had only requested the Speaker to wait till July 24. Sibal replied, "Sus

SHIMLA, JULY 23 (IANS): It may come as a surprise, but a poor family in the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh had to sell their cow, a substantial source of income, for just Rs 6,000 to buy a smartphone so that their two children could stay connected with online studies amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Considering the fact that the cow is regarded as holy and often referred to as mother in the rural setup, the sacrifice cannot be described as small by any means. The man -- Kuldeep Kumar -- b

RAIPUR JATTAN, July 23 (Reuters): For more than two decades, Indian farmer Ravindra Kajal cultivated rice the way his forefathers had - every June he flooded his fields with water before hiring an army of farmhands to plant paddy seedlings. But a scarcity of workers this year because of the coronavirus forced Kajal to change. He irrigated the field just enough to moisten the soil and leased a drilling machine to directly sow seeds on his 9-acre (3.6-hectare) plot. "Sinc

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) India on Thursday recorded the highest single day spike of 45,720 fresh Covid-19 cases in 24 hours taking the total tally to 12,38,635, the Union Health Ministry data revealed. With 1,129 fresh deaths, the overall toll reached 29,861. But the recovery rate stood at 63.18 per cent with as many as 7,82,607 cured, which is almost twice the number of active patients at 4,26,167. Being the third-worst hit country, India is now adding a lakh cases every three

New York, July 23 (IANS) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that he was confident that through "concerted effort", India and the US can protect their interests in the face of China's "unacceptable behavior". Calling India "a key pillar in (President Donald) Trump's foreign policy", he said, "The United States has never been more supportive of India's security." Pompeo, who was in Denmark, spoke remotely to the U

New Delhi, July 22 (PTI): The Supreme Court Wednesday issued notices to Attorney General K K Venugopal and advocate Prashant Bhushan on the contempt proceedings it has initiated against the activist-lawyer for his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary. The apex court directed that Twitter INC be made a party, instead of Twitter India, to the contempt proceedings it has initiated suo motu (on its own) and asked the US-based firm to file a response in the matter. A bench