Category: NATIONAL NEWS

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after conducting an aerial survey of cyclone ‘Bulbul’-hit areas in North 24 Parganas, said on Wednesday that the loss incurred by the state due to the natural calamity might go up to Rs 50,000 crore.Banerjee handed over a cheque of Rs 2.4 lakh each to the family members of five people from the district who lost their lives in the calamity. Taking note of the fact that at least 15 lakh hectares of agricultural land was damaged due to the storm, she said the…

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Shouting slogans and raising banners, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students clashed with police on Monday as their protest over steep fee hike escalated, leaving HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ stranded for over six hours at the venue of the varsity’s convocation.The students of the varsity, which has seen several such agitations in the recent years, were protesting outside the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) premises, the venue for the varsity’s third convocation, which was addressed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.The protests started in the morning…

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Cyclone ‘Bulbul’, which made landfall between Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, brought in its wake heavy rain coupled with strong winds till early Sunday, affecting normal life in several parts of the city and the coastal districts of the state. At least four people were killed in rain-related incidents in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas since Saturday, according to official reports. An employee of a renowned club in the city was killed when a branch of a cedar tree fell on him, police said. In Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, three persons…

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Devendra Fadnavis on Friday resigned as Maharashtra chief minister, five years and a week after he assumed the state’s top job, as an aggressive Shiv Sena rebuffed all attempts to form an alliance government. Fadnavis, 49, drove to Raj Bhavan and handed over his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who asked him to be the “caretaker CM” till alternate arrangements are made. The development came a fortnight after results of the October 21 Assembly elections were declared. “The alternate arrangements could be anything, be it a new government or…

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Empowering people, especially women, has been one of the most satisfying efforts of his tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, asserting that the support from people cutting across regions, languages, age groups and occupations has given his government a mandate “unseen for decades”. PM Modi was responding to tweets from Ray Dalio, the founder of investment management firm Bridgewater Associates, who praised the prime minister as “one of the best, if not the best, leaders in the world”. Mr Dalio also posted the video of his short interview…

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The BJP on Wednesday welcomed NCP president Sharad Pawar’s statement that his party would sit in opposition, which on the face of it denies the BJP’s warring ally Shiv Sena any extra leverage amidst the tussle over formation of government in Maharashtra.Earlier in the day, Pawar told reporters that a BJP-Sena government was the only viable option in the state in the given scenario. After meeting senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut, the NCP chief ruled out joining the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in new government with the outside support of the…

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On the eve of NCP president Sharad Pawar’s meting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi amid an impasse over government formation in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena seems to have reached out to the Sharad Pawar-led party on Sunday.The speculation the Sena was exploring alternative options other than the ally BJP got strengthened on Sunday when senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar showed reporters a phone message from Sena MP Sanjay Raut, which just contained a formal introduction of and greetings from the latter.The Sena and the BJP are locked…

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On the eve of NCP president Sharad Pawar’s meting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi amid an impasse over government formation in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena seems to have reached out to the Sharad Pawar-led party on Sunday.The speculation the Sena was exploring alternative options other than the ally BJP got strengthened on Sunday when senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar showed reporters a phone message from Sena MP Sanjay Raut, which just contained a formal introduction of and greetings from the latter.The Sena and the BJP are locked…

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 Lawyers and police personnel clashed at Tis Hazari Court complex here on Saturday afternoon during which nine police vehicles were vandalised, officials said.Lawyers alleged that two of their colleagues were injured, including one in police firing, but the police denied that it had opened fire.Bar Associations condemned the incident and called a one-day strike across all district courts in the national capital on November 4.Secretary of Tis Hazari Bar Association Jaiveer Singh Chauhan told PTI that a lawyer’s car allegedly hit a police jail van following which an argument broke…

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The share of stubble burning from the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana in Delhi’s pollution rose to 46 per cent on Friday, the highest this year, government agency SAFAR said as the air quality in the national capital nose-dived further.As the pollution levels entered the “severe plus” category”, the Supreme Court mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority on Friday declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR region and banned construction activity till November 5.It also asked implementing agencies to take immediate stringent action to stop stubble-burning in…

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