Breaking News: October 23, 2020 | Highlights

As many as 1,310 special trains will originate and terminate in the South Central Railway (SCR) zone during the festivals of Dasara, Diwali and Chhath Puja.

In addition to the 1,310 trains, another 456 festival special trains will pass through the railway zone, prompting the railway authorities to implement additional safety measures at all the stations.

The Maharashtra government on Friday came out with a list of 59 pharmacists in the state where Remdesivir, a drug used for COVID-19 treatment, will be
available at Rs 2,360 per unit.

Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Friday said state-owned Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL) will recruit staff to fill up 8,500 vacant posts. Most of these posts are for technicians and engineers, according to an official statement.

It added that pointing out that the announcement was made after a meeting between MSETCL's top officials and the minister.

The officials said there is a shortage of staff since the split of the erstwhile Maharashtra State Electricity Board into four companies.

As per the statement, MSETCL Chairman Dinesh Waghmare said the vacancies are creating a burden on the existing workforce and also creating industrial tensions as the trade unions have become aggressive about filling up the vacancies.

Raut said the youth in the state is languishing due to unemployment and the new job opportunities would bring hope in their lives, as per the statement.

The recruitment will be for 6,750 vacant posts of technical cadre and about 1,762 engineers, the statement said.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal directed agencies to intensify their action against pollution-causing activities in the national capital as the city's air quality dipped to the 'very poor category' on Friday, an official said.

The official said the lieutenant governor asked concerned officials to take action against local factors such as garbage burning and others contributing to the city's air pollution.

Baijal also directed them to ensure installation of anti-smog guns and taking other measures to reduce pollution level in the national capital.

Delhi recorded as many as 4,086 fresh coronavirus cases. With this, the tally of coronavirus cases in the state has mounted to over 3.48 lakh on Friday, while the death toll mounted to 6,189. READ MORE

Air India will operate its flight to Wuhan on October 30, the first after the central Chinese city from where the coronavirus initially emerged in December was officially declared safe from the virus in June and all curbs were lifted.

A Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flight would be operated from Delhi-Wuhan sector on October 30, the Indian Embassy in Beijing announced on Friday.

The Telangana government planned to take up recruitment of 20,000 personnel in the Police department, state Home Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali said on Friday.

From an electrician's daughter to an elder sibling of five surviving on limited resources, 379 girls from Delhi government schools have cracked the medical entrance exam NEET this year.

Amid the uncertainties created by the coronavirus pandemic, the Reserve Bank's central board on Friday held a meeting to discuss, among other things, the economic situation and other challenges. The meeting, which was held through video conferencing, also deliberated on the issues concerning financial stability in the present context.

"The board reviewed the current economic situation, continued global and domestic challenges and various areas of operations of the Reserve Bank.
The board also discussed the working of sub-committees of the central board and the local boards and deliberated on the aspects related to financial stability in the present milieu," the RBI said in a release.

Apart from RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and other central bank functionaries, the meeting was attended by N Chandrasekaran, Ashok Gulati, Manish Sabharwal, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, Dilip S Shanghvi, Satish K Marathe, S Gurumurthy, Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi.

The finance ministry was represented by Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Debasish Panda, Secretary, Department of Financial Services.

It was the 585th meeting of the RBI Central Board.

 Depression over the Bay of Bengal will bring heavy rains on Friday to the northeastern states of Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya, the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD said the depression is very likely to cross West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coasts between Sagar Islands (West Bengal) and Khepupara (Bangladesh) over the Sundarbans on Friday.

Singapore and Germany have agreed to establish a reciprocal green lane, allowing direct flights between the two countries for essential business and official purposes.

Eligible applicants for travel will have to abide by the COVID-19 prevention and public health measures mutually agreed by the two sides, foreign ministries of the two countries said in a joint statement on Friday.

"The reciprocal green lane will enable essential travel for business or official purposes, via direct flights between both countries," the statement said.

Gold prices on Friday rose by Rs 59 to Rs 50,825 per 10 gram in futures trade as speculators created fresh positions on firm spot demand. On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for December delivery traded higher by Rs 59, or 0.12 per cent, at Rs 50,825 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 13,626 lots.

Fresh positions built up by participants led to the rise in gold prices, analysts said. Gold prices traded 0.35 per cent higher at USD 1,911.30 per ounce in New York. 

The body of a 19-year-old man was found dumped in bushes in Uttar Pradesh's Noida on Friday, with police launching an investigation into the case, officials said. The body was found in the morning near a drain in Sector 32, under Sector 24 police station limits, by locals who alerted police about it, they said.

"The deceased has been identified as Ashok, who lived in the slums in Sector 9 here. His family has been informed about it," a police spokesperson said.

The cause of his death is yet to be ascertained and the body has been sent for post-mortem, the spokesperson said. Further proceedings are underway,

• People of Bihar know that it is important to make Nitish Kumar the CM again for faster development of the state. The parties who are today standing against NDA are against the growth of the country, says PM Modi in Bhagalpur
• Bihar deserves quality education. Can it be ensured by those who don't even know the value of education or by those who are working 24/7 to bring IITs and AIIMS to Bihar, says PM Narendra Modi in Bhagalpur

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that Covid-19 vaccine, when available, will be administered free of cost to the poor in the state. Chouhan said: "Since the time Covid-19 vaccine trials started in India, there has been one discussion among the poor people -- 'whether we will be able to afford the vaccine?' Today, I want to make it clear that every poor person in Madhya Pradesh will get the vaccine free of cost. We will win this battle."

The BJP poll manifesto has promised free Covid-19 vaccine to people in Bihar, following which other states have also joined in the chorus.

A joint committee of Parliament on Friday issued summons to Facebook in order to seek its "oral evidence" on the issues of data protection and privacy. Twitter too is said to have been directed for appearance next week. The joint committee led by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi has 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

Airtel Africa on Friday reported a fall of 8.8 per cent in its net profit on a year on year (YoY) basis at $88 million for the quarter ended September. The company's revenue for the period under review was $965 million compared with $844 million earned during the July-September quarter of the last financial year.

In a statement, the company said that its customer base grew by 12.0 per cent to $116.4 million during the quarter. Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said: "The first half of our fiscal year included the peak impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the countries where we operate in, as lockdown measures were swiftly implemented to stem the initial spread of the contagion."

Tripura reported at least 145 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the tally to 30,070, while the death toll rose to 336 with five fatalities, a health department official said. West Tripura district, comprising state capital Agartala, has accounted for 175 deaths, he said.

Tripura now has 2,232 active cases, while 27,479 people have recovered from the disease. Twenty-three patients have migrated to other states, the official said. As many as 4,43,481 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the northeastern state so far, he added.

At least 20 army soldiers killed in a Taliban attack on their outpost in Khashrod district, Nimroz province, last evening

The police on Friday recovered the revolver used in the shooting incident in Durjanpur village here which had left one person dead. According to police, BJP leader Dhirendra Pratap Singh, arrested for allegedly killing the man during the allotment of a ration shop in the district, revealed that he hid the weapon under a tree near his house after the incident. A Ballia court had on Wednesday remanded Singh in police custody for two days.

The Karnataka government on Friday decided to reopen engineering, diploma and degree colleges that were shut for students due to the COVID-19 pandemic from November 17.

"In a meeting that took place under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister it was decided to reopen degree college from November 17. Engineering, diploma and degree colleges will all start," Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said.

LJP chief Chirag Paswan thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remembering his father Ram Vilas Paswan. "As a son, I felt good seeing Prime Minister's love and respect towards my father," says Chirag Paswan. 

A 24-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his colleague over a work-related dispute in Maharashtra's Thane city, police said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday, when the Suraj Saroj, employed as a plumber, entered into an argument with supervisor Vijay Ram Ujjagir (38), an official said. During the heated exchange, the accused rained blows on the victim and bludgeoned him to death with a heavy-duty spanner, the official said.

Google, Paytm summoned to appear before Joint Committee of Parliament on issue of data security on Oct 29

A moderate-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.7 shook Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on Friday, the Meteorological Department said. There was no report of any casualty or damage to property.

The quake's epicentre was at a depth of 5 km north-east in Chamba district, the department said, adding tremors were felt in and around the district at 12.15 pm.

At least three persons were killed and four others injured when a speeding state transport bus collided with a car in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on Friday, a police official said. The incident took place near Adur village on Gaganbawda Road around 11.30 am, the official said.

"Police have rushed to the spot and the injured have been taken to a nearby hospital," he said. Further details are awaited.

In the last few years, a lot of effort & strict actions have been taken to limit the activities of Naxals in the country. Naxal presence has now been restricted to limited areas:, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a public rally at Gandhi Maidan in Gaya, Bihar.

Delhi High Court grants bail to one Faizan Khan, arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) charges in connection with Northeast Delhi violence case. He was accused of allegedly giving SIM card on fake ID to another accused Asif Iqbal Tanha.

NDA government abrogated Article 370. These people say they will bring it back if they come to power. After saying this they dare to ask for votes from Bihar. Is this not an insult of Bihar? The state which sends its sons and daughters to the borders to protect the country, says PM Modi.

• I want to congratulate the people of Bihar for the way they are fighting the battle against COVID-19. The decisions & steps taken by the state govt & people of Bihar against the pandemic are highly commendable, says PM Modi at a public rally at Biada Maidan in Sasaram
• Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won't let those who have a history of making the state 'Bimaru' come near them, says PM Modi
• The people who once ruled Bihar are again looking at the developing state with their greedy eyes. But, Bihar must not forget who pushed them backward, that was the time when there was worsening law & order situation and corruption in the state, says PM Modi

Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 178 (unhealthy category) at Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar in Kalaburagi city at 9 am today, as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

• Bihar lost its two sons recently. I pay my respects to Ram Vilas Paswan Ji, who was with me till his last breath and gave his entire life for the welfare of the poor and Dalits. Similarly, Babu Raghuvansh Prasad Singh ji also worked for poor. I pay respects to him, says PM Modi addressing a public rally at Biada Maidan in Sasaram

• I welcome our Prime Minister and I thank people for turning up in huge numbers despite COVID-19 pandemic, says Bihar CM & JDU chief Nitish Kumar 
• Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, we've worked for the development of Bihar. If given another chance to serve the state, we'll make sure irrigation facilities & benefits of the latest technology are available at every village, says Nitish Kumar in Sasaram
• Currently, Bihar is at the 23rd position in crime rate in the country. Our govt has brought in control the law & order situation in the state, says Nitish Kumar at a public rally in Sasaram. 

18 new COVID-19 cases reported in Mizoram, taking the total number of cases to 2,359.  The number of active cases is at 184 while 2,175 people have been discharged so far.  No death reported in the state till date, says Govt of Mizoram

Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 200 points in early trade on Friday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and TCS amid positive cues from global markets.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 228.56 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 40,787.05, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 70.70 points or 0.59 per cent to 11,967.15.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins and TCS.

On the other hand, Infosys, HCL Tech, HUL and Asian Paints were the laggards.

A bike-borne criminal was injured in an encounter with police at Etmaddulah police station area in Agra.

"Hasan Ali, a prime suspect in 18th Oct's loot & murder of a cash agent in Etmadaulla, has been arrested. A bag with cash was recovered from him," says BR Pramod, SP, Agra City

PM Modi should speak out today on Chirag Paswan, joblessness, migrants issue & #COVID19 deaths in Bihar. He will effectively turn all big lies into truth during his speech. He should now stop his 'Jumlebaazi', says Jan Adhikar Party Chief Pappu Yadav on Modi's Bihar Elections rallies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address three rallies in Sasaram, Gaya and Bhagalpur today ahead of Bihar election 2020

Look at China. How filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s filthy. The air is filthy, says US President Donald Trump on climate change during the Presidential debate.