Category: NATIONAL NEWS

Kerala has retained the top rank in Niti Aayog’s SDG India Index 2020-21, while Bihar has been adjudged as the worst performer, according to a report released on Thursday The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74 Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year’s India…

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 US-based Google LLC has contended that India’s new IT rules for digital media are not applicable to its search engine, and urged the Delhi High Court on Wednesday to set aside its single judge order which applied them on the company while dealing with an issue related to removal of offending content from the internet. The single judge’s decision had come while dealing with a matter in which a woman’s photographs were uploaded on a pornographic website by some miscreants and despite court orders the content could not be removed…

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The single day rise in coronavirus cases in India fell below the 2-lakh mark for the second time this month taking?the total tally of COVID-19 cases to?2,75,55,457 out of which 2,48,93,410 patients have recuperated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday A total?of 1,86,364?new?coronavirus infections were reported in a day, the lowest in around 44 days,?while the death toll climbed to?3,18,895?with?3,660?daily deaths and the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 90.34 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed The daily COVID-19 count in India…

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There is no reason to believe that children will be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in the coming weeks and months or in the next wave, the head of a government working group said, but stressed on the need for additional resource inputs to improve the paediatric Covid services. In an interview with PTI, Dr N K Arora, Chairman of India’s COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), said Indian data does not show specific predilection of the currently circulating virus strains either for the…

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A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into cyclonic storm ‘Yaas’ and is likely to cross the Odisha-West Bengal coasts on May 26 after turning into a very severe cyclonic storm, the MeT Department said on Monday. ‘Yaas’ is likely to cross the Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands around noon on May 26 as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 155-165 kmph, Kolkata’s Regional Meteorological Centre Deputy Director Sanjib Bandopadhyay said. The system lays 540 km south-southeast of Paradip in Odisha…

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The Ministry of Education has called a crucial meeting on Sunday to discuss the issue of pending Class 12 board exams, which were postponed in view of the second wave of COVID-19, Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said. The meeting will be chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar will be in attendance. “I recently held a meeting with the state education secretaries in this regard. The consultative process will be further strengthened through a…

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The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 3 lakh for the fifth consecutive day with 2.59 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. With a total of 2,59,551 fresh cases, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,60,31,991. The death toll climbed to 2,91,331 with 4,209 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed. The active cases further reduced to 30,27,925 comprising 11.63 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery…

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With 38 people on board a barge that sank in the Arabian Sea four days ago still missing, Indian Navy ships worked through the night, using searchlights to trace any movement in the pitch dark waters, as hopes of finding more survivors began to recede on Thursday. The Navy on Thursday morning launched a fresh aerial search and rescue mission, deploying helicopters to scour the waters off Mumbai coast, where the accommodation barge P305 went adrift in Cyclone Tauktae fury before it sank Monday. As many as 37 personnel on…

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Singapore on Wednesday conveyed to Indian High Commissioner P Kumaran its strong objection to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s comments that a variant of COVID-19 found in that country was particularly harmful to children and could cause a third wave of infections in India. Following Singapore foreign ministry’s reaction regretting the “unfounded assertions” by Kejriwal, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Delhi chief minister does not speak for India. MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian High Commissioner conveyed to the Singapore government that the Delhi chief minister had…

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High speed winds and heavy rains lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Monday as the “very severe cyclonic storm” Tauktae headed towards Gujarat, uprooting trees and disrupting local train services here, officials said. In view of the strong winds, the Bandra-Worli sea-link was closed for traffic and people were asked to take alternate routes, a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The Colaba area in south Mumbai recorded a wind speed of 102 km per hour around 11 am, the highest for the day so far,…

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