Breaking News, March 26

Four women died and as many were seriously injured after a speeding truck mowed them down in Bihar's Saran district, police said on Saturday.

In an initiative aimed at safeguarding the interests of farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced that in future, farmers incurring any loss from a natural disaster would be duly compensated prior to completion of assessment.

The Congress legislature party and other opposition MLAs on Saturday unanimously proposed former Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeria as a consensus candidate for the upcoming elections for the Speaker of the state legislative assembly. 

A 49-year-old construction worker was killed after a metal pipe fell on his head from the 25th floor of a construction site in Gurugram, police said on Saturday.

Around 600 paratroopers of the Indian Army's Airborne Rapid Response teams carried out large scale drops near the Siliguri Corridor on March 24 and March 25 in an Airborne Exercise, after being airlifted from various airbases, the force said.

Two persons were arrested on Saturday following the seizure of a rhino horn in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, police said.

After 16 Sri Lankans landed at Rameswaram and Mandapam on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government has issued a red alert in the coastal areas to prevent a larger inflow of refugees from the island nation.

A man was killed and his cousin suffered injuries after a fight broke out between them in the national capital, an official said on Saturday.

An Indian-American ophthalmologist in New York has been sentenced to 96 months in prison for a healthcare fraud scheme, along with fraudulently obtaining government loans meant for Covid-hit small businesses.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that development works, be it in Maharashtra or India, will be carried out without bringing in any kind of politics. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of two National Highway projects in Sangli, the Union transport minister said he considers himself an "ambassador of Maharashtra" and feels that the state should emerge on top in the country. "In the last seven years of my tenure, I got an opportunity to execute development works worth Rs 5 lakh crore in Maharashtra. I was in port, shipping, water resources, MSME and road transport (as a minister), but I always considered myself an ambassador of Maharashtra and feel that the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj should prosper and flourish," Gadkari said. If any state should emerge as number one, it should be Maharashtra, he said. The minister further said that development works will be carried out without bringing in any politics and assured that the demands put forth before him will be fulfilled.

Congress general secretaries and party in-charges of various states met on Saturday to discuss the party's membership drive and the current political situation. Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal chaired the meeting at the party headquarters here and discussed the progress of the ongoing membership drive and future agitational programmes. Among prominent leaders of the party who attended the meeting were Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Oomen Chandy, Mukul Wasnik, Tariq Anwar, Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken and treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal. The meeting comes in the wake of the party's humiliating defeat in the recent Assembly elections held in five states.

A 35-year-old tea-seller allegedly hanged himself in his shop in Jaisalmer district, police said Saturday. The reason for the move is yet not known and no note has been recovered from the deceased explaining it, they said. Fateh Singh used to run a tea and snacks shop with his younger brother, they said. His brother, who was out for some work, found him hanging in their shop on Friday when he returned, and informed the police, Sub Inspector at Kotwali Police Station Urja Ram said. He said that body has been kept at Jawahar Hospital mortuary and an investigation is on in the matter.

A 35-year-old tea-seller allegedly hanged himself in his shop in Jaisalmer district, police said Saturday. The reason for the move is yet not known and no note has been recovered from the deceased explaining it, they said. Fateh Singh used to run a tea and snacks shop with his younger brother, they said. His brother, who was out for some work, found him hanging in their shop on Friday when he returned, and informed the police, Sub Inspector at Kotwali Police Station Urja Ram said. He said that body has been kept at Jawahar Hospital mortuary and an investigation is on in the matter.

The ruling BJD was leading in three municipal corporations and 73 other urban local bodies in Odisha as the counting of votes was underway on Saturday, according to State Election Commission. BJD candidates were leading in 73 civic bodies for the post of chairperson, followed by the BJP in 16 and the Congress in seven, while others, including Independent candidates, were ahead in nine ULBs. The ruling party's mayor candidates in three municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur were also leading over their nearest rivals. Counting of votes polled in Dhamnagar Notified Area Council in Bhadrak district will be held later, an SEC official said.

A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reached Bogtui village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Saturday and started its investigation into the violence that claimed eight lives earlier this week. Unidentified people had on March 21 set 10 houses on fire in the village, killing at least eight people, including women and children. The CBI team, consisting of around 20 members, went inside the house where charred bodies of seven people were found. “We are starting the investigation today. We have to conduct the probe on a war-footing as we have a deadline to meet,” the CBI official told PTI.

A 24-year-old woman was raped by two men who held her three-year-old son hostage at gunpoint in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred on Thursday night at a village under Mehgaon police station, around 40 km away from the Bhind district headquarter, police said. The accused Vikram (28) and Krishna Sharma (30) threatened to kill the complainant's three-year-old son with a gun and raped her by taking turns, Superintendent of Police Shailendra Singh Chouhan said quoting the FIR. A case of rape was registered and search is on to trace the accused duo, he added.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 20.1 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average, on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The humidity level was at 56 per cent at 8.30 am, it said. The city's air quality was recorded in the 'moderate' category (AQI 195) at 9 am, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra has said that food delivery company Zomato's new feature promising delivery of food within 10 minutes is akin to jeopardising the life of delivery persons and people on roads and asked the company to change the quick delivery plans. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mishra said that Zomato will not be allowed to violate traffic rules and the company will be held responsible for the violation of traffic rules and accidents that occur during the instant delivery process. "Zomato's plan of delivering food in 10 minutes is like playing with the lives of its employees (delivery partners) as well as the lives of other people. Let alone Zomato, no one will be allowed to violate traffic rules in Madhya Pradesh. I am exhorting Zomato to change these plans,” Mishra said.

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The global coronavirus caseload has topped 478.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.11 million and vaccinations to over 10.86 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 478,619,889 and 6,113,687, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,860,311,810. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 79,936,775 and 976,499, according to the CSSE. India accounts for the second highest caseload at 43,016,372.

One migrant from Eritrea was electrocuted while trying to board a train at the station of the city of Valenciennes, northeast France, French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported. Three other migrants following him were also injured, and one employee of the French National Railway Company (SNCF) on Friday suffered a shock at the scene, Xinhua news agency reported. A fire was triggered in the wagon that contained tyres, then spread to other wagons and onto another train. According to Le Figaro, the migrants attempted to smuggle on to the train heading to the city of Calais for England. But the first migrant that went into the tarpaulin wagon was electrocuted and died on the spot. "They are migrants that could be underage," said the Public Prosecutor of Valenciennes, Jean-Philippe Vicentini. The train station was evacuated and traffic was interrupted. The Mayor of Valenciennes, Laurent Degallaix, annoucned that the train station would be closed until Saturday.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Saturday, the fourth increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of raw material. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 98.61 per litre as against Rs 97.81 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.07 per litre to Rs 89.87, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. All the four increases since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22, have been of 80 paise a litre. These increase increases are the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was started in June 2017.

A man was beaten up outside a strongroom in Bhubaneswar on Friday after supporters of different political parties guarding the place suspected that he was trying to go inside to tamper with EVMs used in the civic polls, police said. The incident happened near the BJB Autonomous College, prompting the police to lathi charge to control the situation, they said. The youth had an identity card and allegedly tried to enter the strong room. Suspecting that he was there to tamper with the EVMs, the workers of different political parties caught hold of him and started grilling him. Soon, a large number of people gathered near the strong room and beat him up. As the crowd outnumbered the police present at the spot heavily, more force was called in and a "mild" baton charge had to be done to control the situation, police said.

From the academic year 2022-23, students will only need to clear Class 12 and CUET to be eligible for admissions to Delhi University (DU). The proposal to consider passing marks in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions, and not the cut-offs as earlier, was passed by the varsity's executive council during its meeting on Friday. The university also accepted the proposal to set up Delhi School of Analytics (DSA) under Institutes of Eminence. The DSA will offer short and long-term certificate courses, diploma and degree programmes that will enhance the business analytical skills of students.

The Geographical Indication (GI) tag provided by the government to the famed hand-knotted Kashmiri carpets has given a new lease of life to the trade in the Valley. The GI tag certifies the genuineness of these carpets with information of the manufacturer, weaver, district and raw material mentioned on them, a government spokesperson said. “Kashmiri carpet has always been a brand big enough to be sold anywhere in the world, but some people were selling Iranian and machine-made carpets in its name. Now, buyers can distinguish between hand and machine-made carpets,” an artisan from Gadekhoud village, known for carpet weaving, said. Several artisans said that the GI tag will fetch better returns on their products and will certainly encourage the younger generation to learn carpet weaving and preserve the art.

The month-long budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly was adjourned sine die on Friday, with Chief Minister Hemant Soren hinting at a possible revival of the old pension scheme, and increasing the MLA fund. The session, which started on February 25, had a total of 17 working days. “We are going to implement the old pension scheme in the state very soon,” Soren said in the assembly. Legislators of ruling and opposition parties in the state have been demanding revival of the old pension scheme. The scheme for government employees was discontinued from April 1, 2004, and the new National Pension Scheme (NPS) was implemented.