North East

19 Jun

Rajya Sabha Election 2020.

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Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress. Voting for 18 seats were deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic. Later the Election Commission announced polls for fours seats in Karnataka and one seat each in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Of the 19 seats where polling will be held, four each are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand, and one each from Manipur, Mizoram…

18 Jun

Centre has mapped skills of migrant workers.

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Ahead of the launch of 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan' scheme, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Central and state governments have meticulously mapped the skill sets of the migrant workers who have returned in large numbers to the 116 districts in six states. "Workers from all over the country wanted to go back to villages a little while after the lockdown began. The Central and state governments made some arrangements and they have gone back. We have looked at the districts to which they have largely returned," Sitharaman said at a press conference. "Within 125 days, nearly 25 schemes…

18 Jun

India-China boarder tension: Mortal remains of martyr K Palani laid to rest in T.N.

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The mortal remains of Indian Army soldier Palani, who was killed in a “violent stand-off” with the Chinese Army in Galwan Valley, was laid to rest at his native village Kadukalur in Ramanathapuram with full military honours on Thursday. Palani was among 20 Indian Army personnel who died in a bloody faceoff with the People’s Liberation Army of China at Galwan in Ladakh on Monday night. The body, which was air-lifted from Chandigarh, reached Madurai airport on Wednesday night. Paying tributes, military officers, senior bureaucrats and elected representatives laid wreaths following which the body was taken to the native village…

18 Jun

WHO testing interim data from Covid-19 trial on HIV drugs

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The World Health Organization is looking at interim data from its large multi-country trial of the combination of HIV drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir to treat Covid-19 patients, the UN agency’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Thursday. Her comments come after the WHO on Wednesday stopped testing of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in the trial of treatments for COVID-19 patients, after studies indicated it showed no benefit in those who have the disease. She said more study was needed to see whether hydroxchloroquine could prevent infection.

18 Jun

50 Chinese mobile apps like TikTok pose threat to India

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New Delhi: Indian security agencies have identified atleast 50 Chinese mobile apps that they claim should be banned as they pose a security threat to the nation. According to a report submitted by security agencies, country's important security data is being sent outside India through these apps. Mobile apps like Tik-Tok, Helo, UC Browser among others are considered a threat to the security of the country. Though these companies have refuted all allegations of sending user data out of the country. Meanwhile, calls to boycott China-made goods have once again erupted across India, after the clashes between Indian and Chinese…

18 Jun

Indian troops on border duty always carry arms

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Hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comment on Galwan Valley standoff, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday rectified him saying that all Indian troops guarding the border carry arms. Gandhi had earlier asked that why Army personnel in Galwan Valley were sent "unarmed to martyrdom". Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the EAM said that the Army doesn't use firearms as per provisions of two bilateral agreements sealed in 1996 and 2005. "Let us get the facts straight. All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post. Those at Galwan on 15 June did so. Long-standing…

18 Jun

Coal mine auction opens up vast stretches of forests in central India for mining

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the auction of 41 coal mines for commercial mining, saying the market for the commodity is now open and the sales will help turn the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity. But the list of 41 mines showed several are located in biodiversity-rich forest areas in central India, including a few in one of the largest contiguous stretches of dense forest called Hasdeo Arand that spans 170,000 hectares. Brief descriptions of the mines up for auction on the website of state-run MSTC Limited showed several do not have the required forest clearance and are…

18 Jun

Railways terminates contract with Beijing firm, cites ‘poor’ performance

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Indian Railways’ PSU, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), has decided to terminate the contract of China’s Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication for signalling work. This move comes amid escalation of the border conflict with China triggered after Monday night’s face-off in Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India is mulling economic measures, including limiting China’s access to its vast market. The contract for signalling and telecommunication work at the Kanpur-Deen Dayal Upadhyay 417 KM long stretch on the Eastern Dedicated Freight corridor. The World Bank funded project was…

18 Jun

CBSE : To Decide on 10th and 12th Exams by June 23.

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The Central Board of Secondary Education will decide the fate of its pending Class 10 and 12 board examinations by June 23. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has extended its deadline for students to decide whether to write examinations or not to June 24, and will specify its alternative assessment option by June 22. A group of parents, whose children have to appear in Class 12 Board examination, had moved the apex court challenging the CBSE decision to conduct the remaining Board examination from July 1 to July 15. The parents claimed if students were to…

18 Jun

5.95 lakh students to appear for PU exam in state today

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Over 3 lakh migrant workers have used the Shramik trains to return back to their native from Bengaluru. As of Wednesday, South Western Railways (SWR) had operated 240 trains from across Karnataka, of which 207 departed from Bengaluru. According to railways, of the over 3.50 lakh people who used the services, more than 3 lakh were from Bengaluru. BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar had appealed to the public to inform migrant workers wishing to leave Bengaluru where the civic body has set up a transit camp at Tripura Vasini, Palace Grounds to help migrants wishing to go back to their…