Category: NATIONAL NEWS

The Army has found “prima facie” evidence its troops “exceeded” powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act during an encounter in Kashmir’s Shopian district in which three men were killed in July this year and has initiated disciplinary proceedings, officials said on Friday. On July 18, the Army claimed three militants were killed in Amshipura village in the higher reaches of south Kashmir’s Shopian district. Committed to ethical conduct during anti-militancy operations, the Army initiated an inquiry after social media reports indicated the three men were from Rajouri district…

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A record single-day increase of 97,894 infections pushed India’s COVID-19 tally to over 51 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 40 lakh on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 51,18,253, while the death toll climbed to 83,198 with the virus claiming 1,132 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The total recoveries surged to 40,25,079 while the active cases of COVID-19 crossed 10 lakh for the first time.…

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India’s novel coronavirus tally crossed 49 lakh on Tuesday with 83,809 new cases, while 38.59 lakh people have recuperated so far, taking the recovery rate to 78.28 per cent, the Health Ministry said. The death toll rose to 80,776 with 1,054 more people succumbing to the infection. The case fatality rate stands at 1.64 per cent, according to the ministry data. There are 9,90,061 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), comprising 20.08 per cent of the total 49,30,236 cases, it said. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research,…

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Facing flak from detractors on both political and coronavirus front, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said a conspiracy is afoot to malign Maharashtra. “Whatever political storms come, I will face… I will fight coronavirus too,” Thackeray said in a televised public address. A day after COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra crossed the 10-lakh mark, Thackeray said his government has done effective work to tackle the pandemic. Speaking in the backdrop of political criticism over demolition of actress Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow in Mumbai and the way his government handled the Sushant…

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The Pakistan Army on Friday opened heavy fire and shelled mortars at forward areas along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, officials said. This is the third consecutive day that Pakistani troops have targeted areas along the LoC. “At about 0830 hours, Pak initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & shelling with mortars along LoC in Mankote sector in district Poonch,” a defence spokesman said. The Indian Army retaliates befittingly, he added. On Thursday, the Pakistan Amy had opened fire with small arms and shelled…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the government’s skill agenda is to create a workforce that matches the global demands and several efforts have been undertaken to enable a strong skill development ecosystem. He also observed that the whole nation has come together under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission and it is the need of the hour for every Indian to be self-reliant in these changing times, an official statement said. In his address read out at a digital conclave, the Prime Minister stated that it is “the government’s skill…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said efforts are being made to provide an online delivery platform to street food vendors on the lines of big restaurants. After a virtual interaction with beneficiaries of the PM Street Vendors’ Aatmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme from Madhya Pradesh, Modi praised the state government for ensuring the scheme’s benefits to over lakh people and providing identity cards to over 4.5 lakh people (scheme beneficiaries) in just two months. The Union government had launched the PM SVANidhi scheme on June 1 to help poor…

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India’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 42,80,422 on Tuesday with 75,809 instances of the viral infection recorded in the last 24 hours, while a record 1,133 fatalities took the death toll to 72,775, the Union health ministry data showed. During the same period, the number of recoveries surged to 33,23,950 pushing the recovery rate to 77.65 per cent, according to the data updated at 8 am on Tuesday. India’s single-day rise in cases dipped on Tuesday, after recording over 80,000 cases daily for five days in a row. India recorded a…

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The Delhi Metro resumed services with curtailed operations on the Yellow Line on Monday after being closed for over five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as both the DMRC and the commuters trod with caution amid the new normal in the rapid transport system.   The trains will operate in batches of four-hour each from 7-11 am in the morning and 4-8 pm in the evening, officials said. The services resumed at 7 am with strict safety and social distancing measures in place. The first trains left from Samaypur…

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Twitter on Thursday said the account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked, and it has now been restored. “We’re aware of this activity and have taken steps to secure the compromised account. We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted. Advice on keeping your account secure can be found here,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The compromised account has about 2.5 million followers. After hacking the @narendramodi_in Twitter account, which is the Prime…

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