Category: NATIONAL NEWS

Icy winds walloped most areas in West Bengal intensifying the prevailing cold conditions even as the MeT office today forecast similar conditions for the next few days. While the western districts of the state experienced cold wave conditions, there was abnormal drop in day temperatures in some sub-Himalayan districts. Sriniketan in Birbhum district was the coldest in the plains with minimum temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius at 5.30 am this morning, the MeT department said. In North Bengal, Jalpaiguri recorded the day’s maximum temperature at 13.5 degrees Celsius, 10 notches…

Read More

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu today said a delegation of experts will soon visit the Konkan region to explore opportunities for “make in Konkan”. Speaking at the inauguration of 6th Global Kokan Festival here, Prabhu said that the “Make in India” initiative of the Centre will be successful only if it happens at the state and district levels. “As Railway Minister I had undertaken a program of developing a joint tourism circuit including Konkan and Goa regions. Now as Minister for Commerce and Industry I want to take…

Read More

The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of ignoring economic wisdom and dealing a “catastrophic” blow to India’s growth story.Party communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala claimed that the double whammy of “Modi Made Disaster of Demonetisation” and the implementation of a flawed GST were responsible for the economy’s downturn. “An arrogant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a failed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, hell bent upon ignoring economic wisdom, have dealt a catastrophic blow to India’s growth story as proved by the latest GDP estimates slumping…

Read More

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inaugurated and laid foundation stones for nearly 200 projects worth more than Rs 300 crore in this district as part of his state-wide “Vikas Samiksha Yatra”. The Chief Minister visited Raghopur village, which falls under a block of the same name, in the north Bihar district where he launched 198 projects worth Rs 304 crore before addressing a public meeting. Among the projects inaugurated by Kumar was a solar-powered mini water supply system involving a modest cost of Rs 36.91 lakh. The Chief Minister…

Read More

The fate of the contentious triple talaq bill continued to hang in a balance on the penultimate day of the winter session of Parliament today, with the Rajya Sabha witnessing a rancorous debate between the government and the opposition over whether to refer it to a Select Committee. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley contended the resolutions moved by the opposition to send the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill to a Select Committee were not according to the rules. The Congress suggested that the face-off could be resolved if…

Read More

An Indian Air Force helicopter, carrying three service personnel on board, made an emergency landing at a Madhya Pradesh Police ground here today due to a technical glitch, but all were safe, a police officer said. The chopper, which took off from the IAF’s Gwalior base, was on a routine sortie, Bhind Superintendent of Police, Prashant Khare told PTI. “The helicopter carrying three IAF personnel, including the pilot, made an emergency landing at the local Special Armed Force (SAF) ground,” he said. The chopper landed at 3 pm at the…

Read More

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today described the bill on triple talaq as “defective”, saying it would do Muslim women more harm than good. She accused the BJP of trying to “do politics” with the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha recently. “We did not oppose the triple talaq bill because we are for women. I know many Muslims who abide by the law. This bill, brought by the BJP government, is a defective one. “Instead of protecting the Muslim…

Read More

Rahul Gandhi will next week embark on a visit to Bahrain, his first foreign trip after becoming Congress president, during which he will address a convention of NRIs and is likely to meet the country’s prime minister. According to party sources, Gandhi will be the state guest of the Kingdom of Bahrain and will address NRIs settled there on January 8. He will leave for Bahrain on January 7 and is likely to return on January 9. The NRIs settled there have invited him. Gandhi is also likely to meet…

Read More

Rajinder Khanna, a former chief of the country’s external intelligence agency RAW, was today appointed the Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA), according to an official order.He headed the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from December 2014 for a fixed two-year period. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the appointment of Khanna as the Deputy NSA on re-employment and on contractual basis, according to the order issued by the personnel ministry.Khanna is at present Officer on Special Duty (Neighbourhood Studies) in the National…

Read More

Eight days after being sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani today assumed charge of his office at Gandhinagar. Before assuming the office for the second consecutive term, Rupani visited Swaminarayan temple at Vadtal in Kheda district and took blessings from the head priest Rakeshprasadjee Maharaj and some other saints, an official release said. Earlier on December 26, the newly-elected BJP government under Vijay Rupani was sworn-in at a grand ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Visitors thronged Rupani’s office to greet…

Read More