Breaking News: October 27, 2020 | Highlights

A total of 230 additional seats have been approved for the MBBS course at four medical colleges in Rajasthan, according to an official statement.

The National Medical Science Commission has also approved the commencement of Srikalyan Government Medical College, Sikar in the session 2020-21.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is expected to be launched by 2022 as India and the US have decided to share Space Situational Awareness Information, which will catalyse efforts to create the conditions for a safe and sustainable space environment.
 

In a clear message to China, India and the US on Tuesday vowed to step up their cooperation towards a free, open, inclusive and peaceful Indo-Pacific, highlighting the importance of securing the economic and security interests of all stakeholders.

The issue figured prominently at the third edition of the annual Indo-US 2+2 dialogue and both sides held that a closer India-US cooperation in the Indo-Pacific will help in promoting security and prosperity of the region and beyond.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held the talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold election rallies in Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, and Patna on Wednesday. Voting for the first phase of Bihar assembly elections will be held tomorrow.

Police have issued a fresh order prohibiting the flying of drones and other remote-controlled or "micro-light aircraft" in the city for 30 days to prevent their possible use for terrorist activities during the festive season.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said there were visible signs of revival in the economy but the GDP growth may be in the negative zone or near zero in the current fiscal. She said the economy saw a contraction in the April-June quarter, but demand has picked up in the festival season.

Speaking at the India Energy Forum of CERAWeek, she said infrastructure, fintech and all employment generating and asset creating industries would be priority sectors for the government.

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) on Tuesday officially renamed one of its stations in Noida as "Pride Station" dedicated to the transgender community, a first for Metro services in northern India.

Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh and NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari unveiled the new name of the station, earlier known as the Sector 50 station.

The Uttar Pradesh government has allowed liquor stores in the state to remain open till 10 pm. 

Now through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), poor get 100% benefits of govt schemes, they get it directly in their bank accounts. Due to DBT, over Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand crore being saved from going into wrong hands. Today, we can say that country has left behind the era of scams, said PM Modi at the inauguration ceremony of the National Conference on Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.

Be it corruption, economic offences, drugs, money laundering, terrorism or terror funding, all these are connected to each other. So, we need to work together with holistic approach against corruption, through systemic checks, effective audits & capacity building and training, PM Modi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken part in the inauguration ceremony of the National Conference on Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Tuesday, via video conferencing. 

The theme of this year’s conference is - Satark Bharat, Samruddha Bharat.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order on Tuesday to extend the guidelines for re-opening, issued on September 30, to remain in force up to November 30, 2020. READ MORE

A weeklong lockdown came into force in Aizawl municipal area on Tuesday, as part of the government's measures to check the spread of COVID-19 in the state capital, where several coronavirus cases with untraceable contacts have been recorded in the past few days.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a low-cost membrane technology to produce psychoactive drugs and anti-ageing compounds from wide range of agricultural resources like citrus fruits and peels especially orange peels, berries, parsley, pulses, tea, sea buckthorn and onions.

The technology which has been patented and developed by Mihir Kumar Purkait, Head, Centre for the Environment and Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati along with his M Tech student V L Dhadge, does not use any organic solvents.

Saudi Arabia will allow foreign pilgrims, between the age of 18 and 50, to enter the country to perform 'Umrah' (the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca) starting from Sunday onwards, the media reported.

About 34 per cent of 1,463 candidates in the second phase of the Bihar Assembly election have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

About 27 per cent or 389 candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it said. Serious criminal cases are non-bailable offences with over five years of imprisonment.

As many as 502 or 34 per cent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 

A total of 495 or nearly 34 per cent have given their financial assets worth crores of rupees while three candidates have declared zero assets, the report said.

India and the United States have signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). Defence ministry’s Additional Secretary Jivesh Nandan signed the agreement on behalf of India.

"Today is real opportunity for 2 great democracies like ours to grow closer, as I said on my trip to India last year when I called for a new age of ambition in our relation. I think we’ve delivered on that over the past year. There is much more work to do," says Mike Pompeo.

With notification of UT of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order, 2020, twelve state laws have been repealed as a whole out of the 26 others adapted with changes and substitutes.

Doctors of MCD-run hospitals risked their lives to serve us during pandemic but did not get their salaries. This is shamefu, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. MCDs are yet to pay Rs 3,800 crore that Delhi govt loaned to them, says Kejriwal as doctors continue to protest over unpaid salaries

Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Sallahuddin, Indian Mujahideen's Bhatkal brothers designated as "terrorists" under UAPA, says Home Ministry

Three alleged members of the Neeraj Bawana gang were apprehended by the Special Cell of Delhi Police early Tuesday morning after exchange of fire between the two sides in Karala area here, officials said.

"Manish Dabas and Deepak alias Katiya got bullet injuries. One Prince has also been nabbed," a senior police officer said.

They all were involved in an extortion case and shooting at the house of a businessman in the city's Modal Town area, the officer said.

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"Our economies have suffered losses. We're trying to revive industries & services sectors. Our partnership becomes more important in view of current challenges we're facing. We both believe in rule-based order & democracy, says Home Minister Rajnath Singh during India-US 2+2 dialogue

"We are happy that we've completed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement), which will open new avenues in the information sharing. We are eager to discuss further issues with the U.S, Rajnath Singh added.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper are attending India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

At least eight more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, raising the tally in the Union Territory to 4,253, a
health department official said on Tuesday. Of the fresh cases, three were detected during contact tracing, while five have travel history.

Number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 6,25,857, while 72,01,070 people have recovered from the disease so far: Union Health ministry

Single-day rise of 36,470 new COVID-19 cases, 488 fatalities pushes India's caseload to 79,46,429, death toll to 1,19,502: Health ministry. 

Senate confirms US President Donald Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court

Sikkim reported five fresh COVID-19 cases and one more fatality, an official said on Monday. East Sikkim reported four cases, while South Sikkim accounted for one infection.
A 57-year-old male succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 65, the official said, adding, the states COVID-19 tally stands at 3,840. It now has 245 active cases, while 3,448 patients have recovered and 82 others migrated out. Sikkim has tested a total of 55,870 samples. 

Supreme Court will today pronounce its verdict on a plea seeking a direction for setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court to probe UP's Hathras incident

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the four-day Army Commanders’ Conference being held in Delhi today

Five people were killed after two country boats capsized in a water body in West Bengal's Murshidabad on Monday. The bodies of five men, all of whom were residents of Beldanga, were fished out of Dumni water body. The incident took place around 5:15 PM.

An earthquake of magnitude 3.3 occurred 96 km north-northeast of Nagpur, Maharashtra at 4:10 am today

Senate confirms US President Donald Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court

Delhi: Air Quality Index is at 346 in Rohini, 329 in RK Puram, 377 in Anand Vihar and 363 in Mundka; all four in 'very poor' category as per Delhi Pollution Control Committee data