Breaking News, February 23 | HIGHLIGHTS

Four Naxal militia members were arrested in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Friday, police said. Jay Singh Mudami, Phaguram Poyam, Govind Vatti and Gutta Udde were apprehended by security forces from the hills of Ponadwaya following a tip-off, district Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Friday said there has been "no change" in the party's stand of contesting all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, a few in Assam and one seat in Meghalaya, amid reports about the Congress soon finalising its seat-sharing arrangements with the party. The Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which are part of the opposition bloc INDIA, are said to have revived their talks to unitedly take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls, due in April-May.

A team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday went to the restive Sandeshkhali and spoke to villagers who accused local TMC leaders of sexual atrocities on women there. The team constituted NHRC member Vijaya Bharathi Sayani and five officials of the rights body. The team visited some villages, including Patrapara and Natunpara in the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, situated about 100 kilometres from Kolkata.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is likely to present a proposal in the House to recognise employee unions and associations in all of its 12 zones by holding elections through secret ballot for representing staff concerns, civic body sources said. The civic body is expected to table the proposal in the House meeting on February 26. A secret ballot election committee will be constituted for holding the polls, they said.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) observed a "black day" on Friday and burnt effigies of BJP leaders in protest against the Haryana Police's action against agitating farmers camping at two of the state's border points. The call was given by the SKM on Thursday to mourn the death of Shubhkaran Singh, who died in clashes between the Haryana Police and farmers from Punjab.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday moved an application before the state’s high court, seeking permission to participate in the budget session of the assembly. A special court in Ranchi had earlier denied permission to Soren to take part in the session that got underway on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate NTPC’s 1,600 MW Lara Super Thermal Power Station and lay foundation stone for another 1,600MW of the plant under Stage-II in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, on Saturday. While Stage-I of the station is built with an investment of approximately Rs 15,800 crore, the Stage-II of the project will be constructed on the available land of Stage-I, a power ministry statement said. No additional land will be required for the expansion. Stage-II will entail an investment of Rs 15,530 crore.

Police on Friday claimed to have solved at least seven cases of house break-in in Navi Mumbai and Thane with the arrest of three men. Allauddin Sayyed (26), Vishal Jadhav (24) and Suraj Tidke (24), the accused, traveled in stolen auto-rickshaws to commit crime at night and abandoned the vehicles afterwards, said a police official. Sayeed is a driver by profession while the other two work as porters, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Gujarat’s first All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rajkot on February 25, state Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said on Friday. This will be one of the five AIIMS to be dedicated to the nation by the prime minister from Rajkot on February 25, the minister said.

A student of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, popularly known as IIIT Basar, in Nirmal district of Telangana, allegedly died by suicide, police said on Friday. The 18-year-old, a student of Pre University Course-I, was found hanging in her hostel room on Thursday night by some of her classmates, a police official said.

Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bengaluru-based United World Academy offering affordable education for children of SSB personnel.

Five people, including three children, were rescued from a house that caught fire in west Delhi's Mohan Garden area on Friday morning, fire officials said. No one was injured in the incident, they said.

Mahua Moitra's plea against the leakage of 'sensitive' information to the media in relation to an Enforcement Directorate probe against her under FEMA was rejected by the Delhi High Court on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation of several projects worth more than Rs 13,000 crore in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi on Friday. According to an official statement, these projects include multiple roads, a cooking gas bottling plant, a milk processing unit, and a silk fabric printing common facility centre for weavers.

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday condoled the death of former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi, and said he endeared himself to people and was loved by leaders cutting across party lines.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced waiver of interest and penalty on certain crop loans and did not hike taxes as he presented a Rs 1.89 lakh crore budget for 2024-25 financial year. While announcing the budget proposals at a time when farmers have intensified their protests at Punjab-Haryana borders, Khattar asserted that his government has taken many steps for the welfare of the farmers and that Minimum Support Price (MSP) is being given for 14 crops.

All 728 villages of Mizoram have been covered under the Centre's Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the state assembly was informed on Friday. The JJM, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, seeks to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.

Delhi minister Gopal Rai on Friday lashed out at the BJP and alleged that the Centre has been planning to arrest AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal by serving him a notice through CBI.

From fertiliser shortage, its black marketing and capacity constraints earlier, to the current situation of adequate supplies, farmers’ empowerment and technological innovations like 'Nano Urea', India has come a long way.

"Stubble-burning incidents dropped by 67 per cent in Haryana in the last two years," said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday while presenTing FY25 Budget.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that 21 vegetables and fruit crops included in the 'Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana' to reduce farmers' risk.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday condoled the death of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and said his contributions to the politics of the country and Maharashtra will always be remembered.

A private US lunar lander touched down on the moon Thursday, but contact with the craft was weak, company officials said. There were no immediate updates on the lander's condition from the company, Intuitive Machines.

Salil Parekh, CEO and managing director at Infosys, has joined US India Strategic and Partnership Forum as its board of directors.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi passed away at a Mumbai hospital on Friday, where he was admitted after suffering a cardiac arrest. READ HERE...

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi passed away at a Mumbai hospital on Friday, where he was admitted after suffering a cardiac arrest. Joshi (86) was admitted to Hinduja Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on February 21 and passed away early Friday, the private medical facility said.

A high-powered delegation of 31 provosts, vice provosts, deans, and other leaders from 17 top American universities are travelling to India next week as part of their goal to strengthen India-US collaboration and student and scholar mobility between the two countries.

At least 48 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern and central Gaza overnight, half of them women and children, the territory's health officials said. European diplomats stepped up calls for a cease-fire on Thursday, with alarm rising over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.