HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to immediately release the pending grant of Rs 1,800 crore to the backward districts of Telangana as per the AP Reorganisation Act. The chief minister met Nimala Sitharaman in her chambers in Parliament on Friday. Revanth discussed with the Union minister the grant which is to be received from the Centre for the development of backward districts and reminded her that the Union government had agreed to r

MYSURU: A controversy has broken out over the food menu at the upcoming 87th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana to be held in Mandya. The Kannada Sahitya Parishat has included non-vegetarian food along with alcohol and smoking in the restricted items. This has come up against much opposition. This has irked many Kannada activists, progressive organisations and others, who claim the organisers have no right to question their food habits or choices. Kannada Rakshana Vedike President H D Jiaram submitted a

CHANDIGARH: Nearly 1.30 lakh trees and plants are likely to be felled for the construction of the proposed 150-km-long Malwa Canal, a flagship project of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. This canal is touted as the first to be built in Punjab post-Independence. The canal is proposed to be constructed on the left bank of the Rajasthan Feeder Canal, land that officially belongs to the Rajasthan Government. Estimated to cost Rs 2,300 crore, the 12-foot-deep canal will originate from the Harike

THANE: Police in Maharashtra's Thane district have booked a 31-year-old man for allegedly giving 'triple talaq' (instant divorce), which was banned in 2019, to his wife, an official said on Friday. The accused, a resident of the Mumbra area, called the father of his 25-year-old wife on Tuesday and said he was annulling his marriage through 'triple talaq', now a criminal offence, as she was going alone for a walk, the official said. On a complaint by his wife, police on Wednesday registered an FI

GUNTUR: Bapatla police arrested an interstate thief on Thursday and recovered stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 7.41 lakh. The accused, K Appanna, a resident of Bikkavolu in East Godavari, is implicated in over 40 criminal cases across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Known for committing thefts near railway tracks at night, Appanna also has several pending arrest warrants against him in various police stations. Following recent thefts in the district, Bapatla SP Tushar Dudi directed a focused effort

CHENNAI: Three people have been arrested by the Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime police on charges of swindling Rs 3.84 crore from a man in a digital arrest scam. According to the police, the arrested were identified as Mathangi Harish Babu (34), Logesh (30), and S Afroz (31). The police said that Harish was a mule account holder who earned Rs 1 lakh by selling his account, while Logesh, a mule account agent, confessed to providing two bank accounts to operators. Afroz, an operator, utilized trading agenc

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Harmeet K Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice. I am pleased to nominate Harmeet K.Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice, Trump announced on Monday on Truth Social, a social media platform owned by him. Dhillon, a Sikh, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School, and has clerked in the US Fourth

BELAGAVI: Admitting that 20% of BPL cards in Karnataka are held by ineligible beneficiaries, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa reiterated that the government will not cancel the cards of eligible beneficiaries. Muniyappa told the Council on Monday that the state government aims to streamline the Public Distribution System (PDS). Responding to MLA K.A. Tippeswamy, the minister assured that no eligible BPL cardholders have been removed from the list. However, he acknowledged that a f

BHUBANESWAR: More than a decade after the Centre initiated steps to revive the Talcher Fertiliser plant and redevelop it as the countrys largest and first coal gasification-based urea unit, it continues to remain non-operational due to inordinate delay in execution of the project. Talcher Fertiliser Ltd (TFL) was among the five fertiliser plants in the country taken up for revival in 2014. The revival of four other plants at Sindri (Jharkhand), Barauni (Bihar), Ramagundam (Telangana) and Gorakhp

ROURKELA: The Foundation for Technology and Business Incubation (FTBI) at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, has signed an MoU with Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for a funding support of Rs 4.65 crore to promote start-ups. The pact aims at additional focus on women and tribal entrepreneurs to help build more inclusive and sustainable economies. FTBIs initiatives have been making significant impact with several tech-based start-ups gaining investor confidence. The MoU was signe

JAGATSINGHPUR: Despite repeated complaints, the unabated supply of substandard quality sooji and chhatua in anganwadi centres of Balikuda block has triggered strong resentment among local residents. Sources said there are 252 anganwadi centres in Balikuda block. The district administration had decided to test the quality of food supplied at the anganwadi centres under its special nutrition programme (SNP) on the 23rd of every month. The task had been assigned to the zilla parishad members and PR

CHENNAI: About 1.27 lakh women beneficiaries have been removed from the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) scheme, which was launched in September last year. While the majority of them were removed due to being dead, a small number were disqualified for reasons such as family members purchasing vehicles like cars or jeeps, acquiring land, securing government jobs or filing income tax returns that exceed the prescribed annual income limit of Rs 2.5 lakh. Following updation, the total number o

SANGAREDDY: Following the repeated incidents of food poisoning from different government institutions, the district administration has decided to check all the hostels and take stock of the situation. Sangareddy Collector Valluru Kranthi directed officials to visit all the hostels, examine the provisions being used, check the dining hall, kitchen, and bathroom and identify the problems. It is learnt that the state government is keen to provide nutritious diet to students in hostels. The official

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India and the advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Union Territory of Ladakh to gracefully consider the issues raised by the human rights defender. The apex rights panel asked the authorities to ensure the needful actions, within a reasonable time span. Acting on a petition filed by Supreme Court advocate and noted human rights activist, Radhakanta Tripathy, the NHRC passed the order

Sam Pitroda on Saturday said that his laptop, smartphone and server have been hacked repeatedly over the past few weeks, reports said. The Chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress, who is considered a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Pitroda said that the hackers issued threats to him, demanding payment of tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. Sam Pitroda, in an email to news agency ANI , informed about the hacking incident. He said the hackers have threatened to damage his reputation if

BENGALURU: The South East CEN Police arrested a man for defrauding a payment company of Rs 15.5 lakh by creating a fake website. The accused has been identified as Nitish Yadav (26), a resident of Gurugram in Haryana, and a native of Rajasthan. The police said Yadav, along with five of his friends, who worked at a digital marketing company in Gurugram, decided to launch an educational tutorial platform called crackyourexamnow.in, intended to provide online coaching and study material for IIT, JE

BERHAMPUR: The Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) and MKCG Medical College and Hospital are caught in a tussle over payment of bills for cleaning the health institutions premises. While the municipal body has rapped MKCG MCH for non-payment of Rs 10.48 lakh towards the cleaning services, the latter has claimed it owes nothing to the BeMC. The BeMC commissioner, in a letter to the MKCG MCH superintendent, sought payment amounting Rs 10.48 lakh towards waste collection from the MCH premises. I

The Jharkhand government may file a money suit to recover the dues of Rs 1.36 lakh crore with the Centre under the Civil Procedure Code of 1908. Notably, on November 28, a decision was taken during the first cabinet meeting that legal action will be initiated to recover the Rs 1.36 lakh crore which is due on the Central Government and Central Undertakings. According to sources, out of the total amount of Rs 1, 36, 000 crore, Rs 1, 01,142 crore is due as land compensation, Rs 32,000 crore under C

NEW DELHI: India has categorised packaged drinking water and mineral water as high-risk food. The step taken by Indias food regulator indicates that these products will now undergo more stringent safety checks through regular inspections and audits. The Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) announced the reclassification following the government's October decision to remove the requirement for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification from these products. Under the updated guidelines,

WASHINGTON: The Biden Administration on Monday notified the Congress of its decision to approve the sale of MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter Equipment and related ones at an estimated cost of USD1.17 billion. The proposed sale will improve India's capability to deter current and future threats by upgrading its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notification to the Congress. The Biden administration's approval of sale of major defence equipment t

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Election Commissions response on a PIL challenging its decision to increase the maximum number of voters from 1,200 to 1,500 at every polling station, saying it is concerned. Asking the EC to clarify its stand, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said, We are concerned. No voter should be excluded. The bench directed senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the EC, to file a short affidavit explaining the r

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat's District and Subordinate Courts are grappling with a staggering backlog of 15.61 lakh pending cases, the Central government revealed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. As of November 15, 2024, the pending cases include 3.5 lakh civil cases, 12.11 lakh criminal cases, and an additional 50,128 cases in Family Courts as of September 30, 2024. Compounding the issue, 535 judicial officer positions remain vacant in District and Subordinate Courts as of November 21, 2024. The Law Mini

LUCKNOW: Initiating action against those found responsible for lapses that led to the fire at the NICU ward of Maharani Laxmibai Medical College, Jhansi, which claimed the lives of 10 infants on November 15, the Uttar Pradesh government removed the principal of the medical college and suspended three other staff members on Wednesday. The state government took this action based on the findings of a high-level inquiry conducted by a four-member committee, headed by Director General of Medical Educ

NEW DELHI: India's coast guard said Tuesday they had seized their biggest haul of illicit drugs when they stopped a fishing boat smuggling 5.5 tonnes of methamphetamine from war-torn Myanmar. An Indian Coast Guard (ICG) reconnaissance air patrol spotted a small fishing boat in the Andaman Sea -- which lies between India and troubled Myanmar -- operating in a suspicious manner. A coastguard vessel was sent out, with officers boarding at dawn Sunday when the fishing boat with a crew of six Myanmar

IMPHAL: An earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale struck Manipur's Bishnupur district early Friday morning, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS). The tremor occurred at 4:42 am and was centred in the Bishnupur region, at a depth of 10 km, with latitude 24.64 north and longitude 93.83 east, the NCS reported. EQ of M: 3.6, On: 22/11/2024 04:42:37 IST, Lat: 24.64 N, Long: 93.83 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Bishnupur, Manipur, the National Center for Seismology said in its stat

LUCKNOW: The by-poll to nine assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh witnessed a moderate 49.71 per cent voters turn out to seal the fate of 90 candidates, including 11 women, on Wednesday. According to the information shared by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Kundarki assembly segment in Moradabad district recorded the highest voter turnout of 57.32 per cent voter turnout, while the Ghaziabad (Sadar) seat witnessed the lowest at 33.03 per cent. Till 5 pm, Meerapur seat in Muzaffarn

PATNA: The Social Welfare Department of the Bihar government on Thursday suspended the officer-in-charge of the women's shelter home in Patna where three inmates had died and several others were taken ill after consuming contaminated food, a top official said. Apart from the suspension of the officer-in-charge of the home, 12 other employees have been relieved from their duties due to negligence on their part and disciplinary action has been initiated. Talking to PTI on Thursday, the Additional

NEW DELHI: Donald Trump's return to the White House has made many countries anxious and recalculating where they stand with the US, but India appears to be welcoming the change that may embolden nationalist leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I know today a lot of countries are nervous about the US; let's be honest about that, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said over the weekend. India was ot one of them. A call from Modi was among the first three calls, I think, that Pre

RANCHI: Despite Maoist threats, first phase of polls for 43 Assembly seats were completed peacefully with 64.86 per cent voting turnout till 5 pm in Jharkhand. Notably, registering their presence after a long time, the Peoples Liberation Front of India (PLFI) an offshoot of the CPI (Maoist) had put up posters near Ranchi and Khunti districts calling for a boycott of Assembly polls in Jharkhand. Voting which commenced at 7 AM today was held peacefully without any incidents of violence. As per upd

The BJP has urged the Election Commission (EC) to take action against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of violating the Model Code of Conduct during campaigning for next weeks Maharashtra elections. The ruling party has called for the EC to eprimand, censure, and restrain Gandhi for spreading false claims. In a written complaint submitted to the EC on Monday afternoon, the BJP condemned a speech Gandhi made in Mumbai last week, where he allegedly falsely accused other states of steali

RANCHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, campaigning in Jharkhand, pledged to make the state the nations top-performing region if the BJP comes to power. Shah assured the crowd that his government would remove every Bangladeshi intruder from Jharkhand while criticising the Congress Party for allegedly attempting to award reservation rights to Muslims at the expense of the Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Congress wants to give 10% reservation to Musl

KOLKATA: The father of the deceased woman medic of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said he has spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has called him for a meeting. He, however, declined to divulge much about his talks with Shah and when and where the meeting would be held. I have spoken to him (Amit Shah). He has called me (for a meeting). I cannot talk much about it, but the meeting will take place, the father of the deceased woman medic at the RG Kar Hospital told reporters on Wed

NEW DELHI: Kharif food grain production for 2024-25 is likely to increase by 5.7% over that of the previous year. The total production is projected at 1647.05 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), which is 89.37 LMT more compared to last year and 124.59 LMT higher than the average kharif food grain production, according to the agriculture ministrys first advance estimate released on Tuesday. Last year, the total kharif production was 1,557.68 LMT. The estimated increase in food production in 2024-25 is most

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Election Commission on Monday directed the state government to transfer DGP Rashmi Shukla with immediate effect following complaints from political parties, including the Congress, sources said. The poll body directed the Maharashtra chief secretary to hand over Shukla's charge to the next senior-most IPS officer in the cadre. The chief secretary was also directed to send a panel of three IPS officers by Tuesday afternoon for appointment as

AHMEDABAD: A tremor of 3.4 magnitude was experienced in Gujarat's Kutch district early on Sunday, the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR) said. No casualty or loss of property was reported in the district due to the seismic activity, officials said. The tremor was recorded at 3.58 am with its epicentre located 53 km north-northeast of Lakhpat, the Gandhinagar-based ISR said. Earlier on October 27, Amreli district in Saurashtra region of the state recorded a tremor of 3.7 magnitude, as per

NEW DELHI: A surge in festival demand pushed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collected by the Union and state governments in October to Rs 1.87 lakh crore, marking it the second-highest collection since the new indirect regime was rolled out on July 1, 2017. The highest GST collection was recorded in April 2024, at Rs 2.10 lakh crore. The October figure comes with annual growth of 8.9%, finance ministry data released on Friday showed. In October 2023, the total GST revenue was Rs 1.72 lakh cror

NEW DELHI: More than 1.8 lakh pensioners generated their digital life certificates on the very first day a special campaign was launched to promote it, the Centre said on Friday. The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) has launched the third nationwide digital life certificate (DLC) campaign, which is being held in 800 cities and districts across the country from November 1 to November 30. This is the biggest-ever DLC campaign undertaken, said a statement issued by the personne

NEW DELHI: Despite a good monsoon and a better outlook for kharif and rabi crops, prices of food grains, edible oil and vegetables have seen steep hikes in the past two months, according to government and market data. Indias retail inflation rose to a nine-month high in September due to higher food prices, government data shows. Annual retail inflation, based on the all-India Consumer Price Index, rose to 5.49% in September, higher than 3.65% in August. Food inflation rose 9.24% annually compare

MUMBAI: The dispute in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi over 15 Maharashtra Assembly seats out of the total 288 persists, though alliance sources reaffirmed the consensus giving Congress 104 seats, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena 95 and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP 85. In this agreement, MVA will also give two seats to Samajwadi Party, three to the left parties and two to the Peasants and Workers Party. Besides, the MVA has also offered three seats to Bhai Thakur-led Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi, if it ties

BHUBANESWAR: Landfall process of severe cyclonic storm Dana has started in Odisha and is likely to continue till Friday morning, an IMD official confirmed late on Thursday night. Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph) Cyclone Dana landfall process started past midnight as the storm lay about 50 km east-northeast of Paradip (Odisha), 40 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 160 km s

BHUBANESWAR: Landfall process of severe cyclonic storm Dana has started in Odisha and is likely to continue till Friday morning, an IMD official confirmed late on Thursday night. Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph) While meteorologists continue to track the storms progress and landfall with uncertainty, the state government has already evacuated 3.5 lakh people to cyclone shelters, a

PUNE: A food delivery man was killed after a high-end car driven by a senior executive of a private firm hit the two-wheeler he was riding in Pune in the early hours of Friday, police said. Ayush Tayal (34), who was driving the car, fled from the spot after the accident near Tadigutta in the city's Mundhwa area. Later, he was detained after police tracked him down with the help of CCTV footage, he said. The food delivery person has been identified as Rauf Akbar Shaikh. The car driven by Tayal cr

KOLKATA: The junior doctors, agitating over the rape and murder of their colleague at the RG Kar Hospital, continued their fast unto death for the fifth day on Thursday, with their talks with the West Bengal government failing to break the deadlock. Doctors from various private and corporate hospitals in Kolkata joined the protest and 40 doctors of state-run SSKM Hospital resigned en masse on Thursday to show solidarity with the medics on hunger strike. Two days back, 54 senior doctors of RG Kar

NEW DELHI: Industry leaders mourned the death of Ratan Tata on Thursday, saying that with his demise, India has lost a visionary who shaped its industrial and philanthropic landscape. TVS Motor Co Chairman Emeritus, Venu Srinivasan, said in a statement: Mr Tata was a truly remarkable business leader, the likes of whom nations get only once in a century. He added that Tata placed the country before business interests, and his vision was transformational for both the country and its people. Simila

CHANDIGARH: In a major breakthrough against trans-border narcotic smuggling networks that use drones to transport drugs across the border, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has arrested three drug smugglers after recovering 5 kg heroin and Rs 3.95 lakh drug money from their possession. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said here today those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of village Roranwali in Amritsar, Harpreet Singh alias Happy, a resident of Village Ro

NEW DELHI: Hitting back at the Election Commission after it dismissed allegations about slowing down the updating of Haryana election results, the Congress on Tuesday said the poll watchdog's reply degrades the conversational level to an unacceptable low and misrepresents crucial facts in a vein similar to that done by the BJP. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh's strongly-worded response to the Commission came after the poll authority told him that there was nothi

LUCKNOW: A conspiracy to mix sputum samples of a critical Tuberculosis (TB) patient in the food and beverages meant for the Deputy CMO of Baghpat District Hospital by two employees came to light on Tuesday. Both the employees working on contract TB-HIV coordinator Jabbar Khan, 32, and lab technician Mushir Khan, 28, were booked by the district police on the basis of a complaint lodged by Deputy CMO Dr Yashveer Singh. While both the employees are absconding since their plot got exposed, the dist

LATUR: Fifty female students of a government college who were hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after having dinner at their hostel in Maharashtra's Latur city were discharged on Sunday evening, a senior health official said. The hostel, part of the Puranmal Lahoti Government Polytechnic, has 324 female students. At around 7 pm on Saturday, the students had dinner, consisting of rice, chapattis, 'okra' curry and lentil soup. By 8.30 pm, several of them felt nauseous and some of the stude

NEW DELHI: Voter turnout of 69.69 per cent has been recorded in phase-3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, with women outnumbering men in casting votes, the Election Commission said on Thursday. Overall, 63.88 per cent turnout has been recorded at polling stations, as against 58.58 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls, the poll panel noted. In phase-3 of the polls on October 1, when 40 seats went for voting in the Union Territory, the turnout of male voters was recorded at 69.37 per cent as com

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Tuesday released Rs 5858.60 crore to 14 flood-affected states as central share from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and advance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. A senior MHA official said, The released fund include Rs 1,492 crore to Maharashtra, Rs 1,036 crore to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 716 crore to Assam, Rs 655.60 crore to Bihar, Rs 600 crore to Gujarat, Rs 468 crore to West Bengal, Rs 4