Category: NATIONAL NEWS

A 46-year-old potato farmer in Agra has commited suicide on Tuesday, allegedly because he had a huge loan burden. The family of Kanchan Singh, claims that he had borrowed Rs. 7 lakh, from a bank and private money lenders. Kanchan Singh’s potato crop had failed for successive years, said his family, and he was unable to repay the loan. The farmer was also worried about his daughter’s marriage scheduled next month. ‘My father owed Rs. 5 lakh to the bank and Rs. 2 lakh to local moneylenders,” the farmer’s son told news agency . He also…

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As the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh celebrates a year today, an alliance partner has given it a poor assessment and has gone public with his view that there are “grave problems”. Om Prakash Rajbhar, a minister in the UP cabinet, also warns that the ruling BJP “will lose elections” if the government doesn’t shape up. “Celebrating and talking about building temples in Mathura and Kashi mean nothing. No one else has the guts to question this government. If speaking the truth is revolt then I am revolting,” Mr…

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BJP national president Amit Shah will visit Odisha in April, a party leader said. Amit Shah is likely to arrive during the first or second week of April, BJP state president Basant Panda said in Bhubaneshwar on Sunday. During the visit, the BJP chief will attend public meetings and youth conferences in western districts like Sambalpur, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Bolangir and Sonepur. The BJP chief is also expected to interact with local BJP leaders and prepare strategies to make the party’s base stronger ahead of the 2019 assembly polls. The BJP…

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Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today asked the NDA leaders to desist from making off-the-cuff remarks and be “more tactful” during elections, in the wake of the party’s poor showing in the recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He expressed concern over some leaders of the ruling NDA at the centre occasionally making remarks that created an impression of the alliance being against certain sections of the society and also spoke about why his son spoke about course correction that the BJP needs after bypoll results. Mr Paswan’s Lok…

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Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said that while Gujarat has done very well in industrialisation, it will need to do some catching-up in the health and education sectors. Mr Kumar met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and senior state officials in Gandhinagar. “Gujarat’s achievements in education and health are not like those in other areas like industrialisation, infrastructure and energy….it lags behind in these two (health and education). I talked about this with the state government,” he said, speaking to reporters after the meeting. He was happy to…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today exhorted scientists to extend their research from “the labs to the land” for the greater benefit of the people and said time was ripe to redefine R&D’ as research for development of the nation. Addressing the inaugural session of the 105th Indian Science Congress here, he said India has a rich tradition and a long history of both discovery and use of science and technology. “It is time to reclaim our rightful place among the front-line nations in this field,” he said, calling upon the…

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The Lok Sabha today could not take up notices for no-confidence motion against the NDA government moved by Andhra Pradesh parties, with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan saying there was no order in the House and adjourned the proceedings for the day amid vociferous protests over various issues. In the nearly four-year rule of the BJP-led NDA alliance, this is the first time that no-confidence motion notices have been moved against the government. The notices were moved by YSR Congress and TDP, who have been demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh, an…

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Samajwadi Party candidates were leading in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh after initial rounds of counting for the parliamentary by-elections, officials said In the prestigious Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP’s Upendra Dutt Shukla was trailing behind Praveen Nishad of the SP by over 1,500 votes at the end of third round of counting Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajeev Rautela, who is also the returning officer, announced that after the third round of counting, Nishad polled 44,979 votes against 43,457…

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Assam Government has proposed an insurance scheme for journalists and their families in the budget for 2018-19. Presenting the budget in the assembly yesterday, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “I have earmarked a budgetary allocation of Rs 63 crore in 2018-19 for the (Information and Public Relations) Department (that would implement schemes for journalists). The New Journalist Insurance Scheme would ensure security and protection of the journalists and their families, he said. The minister said he has made necessary provision for media fellowship for pursuing higher studies in…

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Nine CRPF personnel were today killed after Maoists blasted their mine protected vehicle using over 50 kgs of explosives in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, about a year after a dozen jawans were killed in a similar ambush in the district. Officials said the incident took place around 12:30 pm along the 5-km under-construction Kistaram-Palodi road when the troops of the 212th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were out for an operation. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the incident was “deeply distressing” and asked CRPF Director General R R Bhatnagar…

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