Breaking News, May 31

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 26 fresh coronavirus positive cases and zero fatality, the health department said. With the addition in cases, the state's overall infection tally grew to 81,69,258, while the toll remained unchanged at 1,48,552. The state had recorded 33 cases and zero fatality on Tuesday. At present, the dominant variant of coronavirus is Omicron XBB.1.16 and a total of 1,685 cases were found to be infected with this variant. There were 19 deaths reported among the cases of this variant, the department said in a bulletin. Of the total fresh cases reported during the day, Mumbai recorded nine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda will address rallies in West Bengal next month, party state unit president Sukanta Majumdar said on Wednesday. The rallies will be part of the countrywide mass outreach campaign on the BJP-led NDA government's completion of nine years in power at the Centre, he said. "The PM, Union home minister and BJP national president will address one rally each, across north and south Bengal, in June. The dates and venues are yet to be fixed," Majumdar told reporters. The Balurghat MP said the state unit of the BJP has decided to hold 1,000 big and small rallies across 1,000 mandals (local units) as part of the campaign. "Of these 1,000 rallies, 294 will be held in June itself," he said. Majumdar said other senior party leaders and ministers such as Sarbananda Sonowal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh and Sushil Modi will address rallies in various parts of the state. "As panchayat polls are knocking at the doors, the rallies by senior party leaders will provide an impetus to our campaign," he said.

Police on Wednesday registered a case against a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary from Dombivli in Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly threatening a policewoman and demanding sexual favours from her, an official said on Wednesday. The case was registered against the former party office-bearer for repeatedly threatening the victim between 2018 to 2023. "The victim resides with her husband, who is also a police officer, in the same building where the accused lives. The two sides were locked in some dispute and the former BJP functionary wanted the couple to vacate the premises," an official of Manpada police station said.

Capturing a new stream of revenue and expanding the freight basket offerings of the Vijayawada Division of the South Central Railway (SCR) zone, the first ever rake loaded with palm oil nut shells husk has been dispatched from Samarlakota in Andhra Pradesh to Pathri in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday at a 45 per cent lower cost when compared to road transport. Conventionally transported on road, it costs Rs 5,000 per tonne to ship palm husk to northern states by trucks covering a distance of 2,160 km while on train the cost plummets to just Rs 2,250 per tonne. "Due to constant dialogue and repeated negotiations by the marketing team of the commercial department at the field level and briefing them (customers) regarding various economic benefits and advantages of transport through rail route, the party (customer) has agreed to load the consignment from Samarlakota," said a press note shared by Vijayawada Division today.

The murder of a teenage girl in Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area has posed deeper questions to the society and the country about where they went wrong, Women and Child Development minister Atishi said on Wednesday. Unveiling the fourth issue of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights' (DCPCR) "Children's First Journal on Children's Lives", Atishi said the journal is a reminder to create an equal, just and happier place for children. "The recent murder of a teenage girl in Delhi has left society and the country with deeper questions about where they went wrong. The DCPCR journal reminds us of creating a planet that is equal, just and happier for children," she said. The minister further said that the country, society and educators need to work collectively to ensure that such incidents are not repeated.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said an amount of Rs 181 crore has been released to the farmers who have suffered rabi crop damage due to unseasonal rains. The chief minister has transferred this compensation directly into the accounts of the farmers through e-Kshatipurti portal, according to an official statement. The crops had been damaged due to unseasonal rains in the state in March-April this year. Recently, Khattar conducted a whirlwind tour of the rain-hit villages to assess the damage to crops due to rain. "We had conducted a special survey of crop damage, according to which the damage was reported in 2.09 lakh acres in 18 districts.

The Kerala government will soon implement a comprehensive geriatric care programme to address the health issues of elderly population in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Wednesday. He directed the officials concerned to compile a draft for the same after consulting with various departments, a CMO statement said here. Vijayan was speaking while chairing a high-level meeting of the Aardram Mission, which envisages to completely transform the public health sector of the southern state.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took to the streets here to protest against the alleged manhandling of wrestlers at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar after they tried to march towards the new Parliament building following its inauguration three days ago. Holding a placard with the message, "We Want Justice", written on it, Banerjee participated in a rally which started at Hazra Road crossing in the southern part of the city and culminated at Rabindra Sadan, the cultural hub of the eastern metropolis. Banerjee joined the 2.8-km rally at Bhabanipur, her own constituency. She was flanked by former women footballers Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar and Shanti Mallick, ex-soccer players Alvito D'Cunha, Rahim Nabi, and Dipendu Biswas and several other sports personalities and common people.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed with costs a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of professor Yogesh Singh as the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University. A bench of Chief Justice Satish Kumar Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad refused to allow the petitioner to withdraw the plea, which was filed on the basis of news reports and in which “reckless allegations” were levelled. “We will not permit you to withdraw it (the petition) when the President of India is involved… The kind of reckless allegation you have made in your petition... Very sorry we will not permit you to withdraw. Based on newspaper clippings you have filed a PIL so you have to face the consequences,” the bench said. “It (news report) is not Bhagwad Gita, with due respect. Dismiss with costs,” the bench said, without specifying how much cost it was imposing on the petitioner. Petitioner organisation 'Forum of Indian Legists' claimed Singh was appointed as the vice chancellor (VC) of Delhi University in violation of rules and that he was not having requisite experience.

Mangaluru city police have arrested two persons and seized 10.125 kg of ganja from them near the banks of Phalguni river at Adyapadi in Moodushedde here, police said. Acting on definite tip-off, Assistant Commissioner of Police Manoj Kumar, inspector Gururaj and other personnel raided Phalguni River bank area on Tuesday and arrested Sahil (19), a native of Andhra Pradesh and P Mansoor (21) from Someshwara in Ullal. The weight of the seized ganja is 10.125 kg, valued at Rs 3 lakh in the market. A case in this connection has been registered at the Kavoor police station, they said.

Samajwadi Party national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya on Wednesday said that he received a death threat on Twitter and sought strict action against those involved. "On May 29, 2023 at 7.12 pm, a Twitter account named 'International Bhagwa Rakshak Force Jai Shri Ram' posted a tweet saying 'You will be finished within a month' and has pasted a sword on my neck in the photo, which directly indicates murdering me. Please @UPGovt@ChiefSecyUP @Uppolice @dgpup @lkopolice @LkoCp take serious action and initiate legal proceedings in this matter," Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi. He shared screengrabs of the Twitter post, and also tagged the Union Home Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office in another tweet asking them to take cognisance of the matter. Maurya, a prominent OBC leader who is also an SP MLC, had sparked a controversy early this year when he said that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste, and demanded that these be banned. Maurya had contested the 2022 assembly polls from Fazilnagar on an SP ticket but lost.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said an important meeting would be held with his Himachal Pradesh counterpart on June 5 to discuss issues related to surface water. The issues to be discussed are the construction of the Kishau dam, the construction of new parallel linked channel from Dadupur to Hamida head, the Saraswati River Rejuvenation and Heritage Development Project, the SYL canal water via Himachal and the imposition of cess on electricity. This information was given at a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister with administrative secretaries to review projects worth more than Rs 100 crore. Khattar directed the officers to formulate various schemes on a large scale to drain out water from the waterlogged areas to enable the farmers can get its benefit.

The West Bengal government on Wednesday announced introduction of a four- year honours course at the undergraduate level in all government and state-aided higher educational institutions from this academic year. In a statement, the higher education department said the decision has been taken after holding talks with all stakeholders and based on the recommendation of a state-appointed expert panel which had suggested rolling out a four-year UG course from the 2023-24 academic year. "After consulting various stakeholders and keeping the future of students in mind, it has been decided by the competent authority in the State Government that the four-year UG level programme will be introduced in all Government/ Government aided/ Government sponsored Higher Education Institutions from the academic session 2023-2024..... "They shall be awarded degrees in accordance with the UGC national curriculum and credit framework for UG level programmes," the statement said.

 Five people, including a 12-year-old boy, drowned in the Yamuna river in separate incidents in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said. Two teenagers and a 20-year-old drowned in the Nakud area on Tuesday. Superintendent of Police (Dehat) Sagar Jain said the trio -- Anmol (16), his friend Sagar (15) and his elder brother Vicky (20) -- had gone to take a dip in the Yamuna on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay a three-day visit to South Africa beginning Thursday to participate in a conclave of five-nation grouping BRICS in Capetown.
From South Africa, he will travel to Namibia for a visit from June 4 to 6, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). "The external affairs minister will visit South Africa from June 1 to 3 to participate in the BRICS foreign ministers meeting being held in Capetown," the MEA said in a statement.

Senior IPS officer Vijay Kumar will be the new acting DGP of Uttar Pradesh, a senior official said today. With the officiating Director General of Police (DGP) R K Vishwakarma retiring from service on Wednesday, the chief minister has given the additional charge to Kumar.

Ten Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were found in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said. While six IEDs were found in the forest near Tumbahaka village in the Tonto police station area, a 5 kg explosive was found at a forest near Chota Kuira in Goilkera police station area, they added. 

Three men and a woman from a family were killed when their car hit a tree after a tyre burst and then caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Harda district today, a police official said. The accident took place near Nausar village at around 7 am when the victims were returning to their village Varkala from Deepgaon after taking part in a wedding function, Timarni police station in-charge Sushil Patel said.

A 39-year-old man from Maharashtra's Thane city working as a corporate consultant has allegedly lost Rs 6.50 lakh after being lured by a woman on a video call, police said.
As per the victim's complaint, he received a WhatsApp video call from a number on March 17, 2023, where a woman spoke to him. In the midst of the call, she suddenly undressed herself following which the man immediately disconnected the call, an official from Kasarwadavali police station said.

The Delhi government has provided an honorarium of Rs 1 crore to the family of a nurse who lost her life to COVID-19 while serving as a frontline warrior during the pandemic. Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday met with the family of Gayatri Sharma, who had been serving as a nurse (ANM) at GTB Hospital since 1998 and was due to retire in January 2024.

With the officiating Uttar Pradesh DGP RK Vishwakarma all set to retire today, the Yogi Adityanath government is expected to announce the name of his successor within the next few days. So far, the Yogi government has not sent the panel of names to the Centre -- a requirement to shortlist names of the right candidate.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sandip Pathak has said if his party is elected to power in Chhattisgarh in the Assembly polls due this year-end, farmers will get higher rates for paddy than what they are receiving under the incumbent Congress government.

The Army opened fire after noticing suspicious movements near the border fence along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The firing was reported from forward Karmara village in Gulpur sector around 4 am but there was no immediate report of any casualty, the officials said.

A massive fire broke out in a godown on Pune-Ahmednagar Road in the Wagholi area of Pune city at around 4 am. The fire was put out using two fire tenders of PMRDA (Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority). According to officials, no casualties were reported but products worth lakhs and a pickup tempo were damaged in the incident. 

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka 'Prachanda' is all set to visit India today on a 4-day official visit, the Ministry of External Affairs informed. Dahal, who assumed office in December last year, will visit India from May 31-June 3 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the visit, the Nepalese PM will also call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama began a two-day special teaching for the Tibetan youth. Over two thousand students from different schools and colleges in and around the country gathered at the main Tibetan Temple, Tsuglagkhang, in Dharamshala.