While India may be lagging behind the world in terms of the number of ships, it has an ocean of opportunity ahead in making shipping more sustainable, said Umesh Sharad Wagh, chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, at THE WEEK Maritime Conclave 2024 in Chennai on Tuesday. He was speaking at a panel discussion on 'Private Sector Role in India's 2047 Vision and the Government Support', which also had P.L. Haranadh, chairman, Paradip Port; J.P. Irene Cynthia IAS, managing director of Kamarajar

Two Village Defence Guards (VDGs) were killed by militants in the forests of Mujila Dhar, Kishtwar in Jammu on Thursday night. The deceased were identified as Nazir Ahmed and Kuldeep Kumar, residents of Ohli, Kuntwara. According to reports, they were in the forest grazing cattle when they were taken away and shot dead. The Kashmir Tigers, a group believed to be linked with Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), claimed responsibility for the killings and shared photos of the deceased. Lieutena

Commander Abhilash Tomy KC, NM, Indias first and only solo, non-stop circumnavigator delivered a special address at the Maritime Conclave 2024 organised by THE WEEK. The one-day event is being held at the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai on November 5. The retired Indian Navy officer wowed the audience with experiences from his two successful solo circumnavigations and the one in September 2018 which saw him dismasted in the Southern Ocean, and very close to permanent paralysis. He also requested the

The last 10 years have set a massive stage for India to move from still playing catch-up to being champions in the private sector, said Dhruv Kotak, group managing director, JM Baxi, at THE WEEK Maritime Conclave 2024 in Chennai today. We are seeing a huge opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs not just in the infrastructure space or the maritime or the asset heavy space, but across the board, he said. Kotak asserted that there is no dearth of opportunity, be it port development, port-based indu

Despite having one of the worlds longest coastlines, India has largely ignored the coast and the sea in the past, but it has changed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal. India has a rich history of maritime trade. Indeed, the country's maritime history is magnificent. However, in modern times, we have been blind to the maritime economy, but this blindness is ending under the vision of PM Modi. We plan to rec

More than 150 people were injured in a massive fireworks accident that took place at Anjootambalam Veererkavu temple in Nileshwaram. The annual festival marks the beginning of Theyyam festival in North Malabar. It has been revealed that no precautions were taken during the festival and the temple officials procured Rs 24,000 worth of fireworks without getting permission. Police have registered a case and the temple committee president and secretary have been arrested.

The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal is likely to become a cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours before turning into a severe cyclonic storm that will make landfall in Odisha between Thursday night and Friday. The latest update from IMD said that the deep depression had moved west-northwest with a speed of 3 kmph and is centred about 670 km from Paradip in Odisha and 732 km from West Bengal's Sagar Island. It is very likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over northwest Bay of Beng

An FIR was registered against Union Minister Prahlad Joshis elder brother and younger sister in an alleged bribe-for-ticket scam, following a complaint by the wife of a former JDS MLA, who accused Joshis kin of cheating, criminal breach of trust and making casteist slurs. Sunita Chavan, wife of Devanand Fulasing Chavan (54), belonging to the Lambani (ST) community, lodged a complaint with the Basaveshwara Nagar (Bengaluru) police on October 17, alleging that the ministers brother Gopal Joshi ha

Authorities have grounded three international flights from Mumbai a New York-bound Air India flight and two IndiGo flights to Muscat and Jeddah respectively following a bomb threat. While the Mumbai-New York Air India flight was diverted to Delhi, the IndiGo flights have been moved to isolated bays at Mumbai airport. According to a senior police officer, Mumbai Airport authorities reportedly received a threat about an explosive onboard the Mumabi-New York Air India flight through social media

From India Inc, it was Harsh Goenka who was arguably the first to take to X on Wednesday night to confirm the death of Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. Soon, an official statement came from N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons. The familys official statement followed, signed by 12 relatives closest to Tata: 1. Simone Tata: Ratan Tatas stepmother. The French-Swiss Catholic married Naval Tata in 1955 and settled in Mumbai. Former managing director of Lakme and chairperson of Trent.

The Maharashtra government has sacked two members of the Pune Juvenile Justice Board for misuse of power, following a probe into alleged lapses in the bail granted to minor involved in Pune Porsche crash case. The 17-year-old boy involved in the incident in May was granted bail by the Board under flimsy conditions. The state women and child development (WCD) department conducted a probe into alleged irregularities after huge uproar over bail granted to the juvenile under lenient conditions. The

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who beat anti-incumbency to ensure the BJP government got a third term in the state, will likely continue in the top post. Amid speculations that the new government will take oath on Saturday, there seem to be no strong contenders for the post, other than Saini. The BJP leadership too have heaped praise on Saini after the results came in, suggesting that Saini would continue in the post. While BJP president J P Nadda congratulated Saini for the victory,

The Congress has approached the Chief Election Commissioner alleging that there was an unexplained slowdown in updating of results on the Election Commission's (EC) website. This comes as the Congress witnessed an unexpected setback in the Haryana Assembly Elections. The party which had a comfortable lead in the morning later trailed, with BJP clearing the majority mark. As per the complaint, there was a delay in publishing of results on the EC website between 9 am and 11 am. This allows bad-fai

The BJP looks set for a consecutive third term in Haryana, as counting trends in the Haryana assembly elections 2024 shows the ruling party, under the leadership of incumbent Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, is leading in 49 seats in the 90-seat assembly. With the saffron party crossing the majority mark, the state and the national leadership can heave a sigh of relief, as they seem to have overcome anti-incumbency and the public mood against the incumbent government over the controversial far

Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Haryana minister Anil Vij is trailing in his stronghold seat Amabala Cantonment by less than 600 votes as per early trends. As counting has completed six rounds, independent candidate Chitra Sarwara is leading against Vij. As per election commission results, at the end of six rounds of counting, Congress rebel and independent candidate Sarwara is leading against Vij by a margin of 545 votes. Sarwara has polled 20,443 votes while Vij is trailing a

Aam Aadmi Party leader Mehraj Malik is leading Jammu and Kashmirs Doda constituency, the only seat where Arvind Kejriwal-led party is faring this round of assembly elections. Malik, a District Development Council councillor from Kahara, is leading by over 4,500 votes against Bharatiya Janata Partys Gajay Singh Rana. As per election commission, the counting for Doda assembly seat is nearing completion as 12 out of 13 rounds of counting have been completed. Also read | Jammu and Kashmir Assembly

The National Conference (NC)-Indian National Congress (INC) alliance is on track for a commanding victory in Srinagar, with their candidates leading across all eight constituencies in the region. This marks a significant shift in Srinagars political landscape, as the region overwhelmingly backed the NC-INC partnership in this critical assembly election. In Srinagars seven assembly segmentsKhanyar, Habba Kadal, Zadibal, Hazratbal, Lal Chowk, Eidgah, and ChanaporaNC candidates are maintaining stro

As votes are being counted in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti is not in a comfortable position. Early trends show she is trailing from the Srigufwara-Bijbehara seat. Iltija faces National Conference leader Bashir Ahmad Veeri. This is 36-year-old Iltija's debut elections. Ironically, Srigufwara-Bijbehara is a stronghold of the PDP and a historic seat for the Mufti family. So far, the PDP has failed to put up a tight fight with its candidates leading only in th

As early trends suggest the National Conference-Congress alliance will form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, NC vice president Omar Abdullah said the Bharatiya Janata Party and lieutenant governor should respect the peoples mandate and should not indulge in jugaad if the mandate is against them. Addressing presspersons, Abdullah said there should not be any fiddling with peoples mandate. Transparency should be there. Whatever happens, it should be done in a transparent manner. There should

Even as counting progresses in the Haryana assembly election 2024, there seems to be a swing in fortunes for the ruling BJP. Though initial trends showed the Congress crossing the half-way mark of 46 seats, soon the tides turned in the favour of the saffron party. The party is now leading in 49 seats, proving the exit polls wrong , most of which had predicted a Congress comeback after a decade. If the trend continues, the BJP, under incumbent Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, will complete a ha

Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda, who was pinning his hopes on being the Haryana Chief Minister again, appeared downcast on Tuesday morning after the stunning turnaround saw BJP gaining a lead in the state. Exit polls had predicted that Congress would sweep the elections and early trends showed the party clearing the absolute majority within a hours. But, the tables soon turned with BJP racing ahead with over 50 seats. This came as a rude shocker to Hooda, who was watching the results from the Co

The counting of votes to the Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana began on Tuesday morning. The counting process began at 8 am and a three-tier security arrangement has been made at counting venues. In Jammu, the Congress-National Conference alliance will lock horns with the BJP. Another major party, that is expected to play kingmaker is the PDP, considering that the exit polls have predicted a hung assembly, with a slight edge to the Congress-National Conference alliance. The BJP i

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, the Congress candidate from Julana in Haryana, is heading for a stunning victory in her debut elections. If Phogat wins against BJP candidate Yogesh Bairagi, this would enable Congress to grab the Julana Constituency after a long 19 years. In the last election, Congress could only come third place in Julana after Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) candidate Amarjeet Dhanda won the seat. The Congress managed to win only 12 per cent of the total votes in the seat. Meanwhile, former

The vote counting in the assembly elections in Haryana began at 8 am on Tuesday and the much-awaited election results for the 90 seats will be out in a few hours. The state recorded 67.9 per cent voter turnout in the polls. The state government has beefed up security at the counting venues with three-tier arrangements. This will be the first major election after the Lok Sabha polls where the BJP and the Congress are facing each other directly. Besides the ruling BJP and the Congress, other parti

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah is reportedly leading from both Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies. In Budgam, Abdullah is pitted against PDPs Agha Syed Muntasir, cousin of NC leader and MP Agha Syed Rooullah Mehdi. In Ganderbal, a family bastion of Abdullah's that was represented by his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah, father Farooq Abdullah and himself in the past, he is facing PDP candidate Bashir Mir. The contest in Ganderbal is said

The Pune police has deployed 10 teams to nab three men for raping a 21-year-old girl during the late hours of Thursday. Police said the trio assaulted the male friend and tied him up while assaulting the victim. According to Pune police, the victim had gone to Bopdev Ghar area along with her friend around 11pm on Thursday. The girl and her friend were assaulted at an isolated place and the three men gang-raped the woman, police said. Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Joint Police Commissioner, Pune City sa

As the voting for the final phase of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir gets underway on Tuesday morning under tight security, controversial leader and Awami Ittehad Party leader Engineer Rashid has said that no party in Jammu & Kashmir would win more than 25 seats in the Assembly elections. There is a total of 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. No party will win more than 25 seats.Had I got one more week to campaign, we could have won 35-40 seats. Still, the Awami Ittehad Pa

The alleged use of substandard ingredients and animal fat in Tirupati laddu, the sacred offering at Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, has triggered a political slugfest with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu pinning the blame on the previous YSRCP government. Though the lab report suggested that the ghee contained beef tallow andpork lard did not mention any manufacturing companies, the controversy has shed light on why the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which had been supplying Nandini ghee

Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam leader and actor Vijay said his partys first conference will be conducted in October at Vikravandi. In a statement, the actor-politician said the partys principles and ideological leaders will be revealed on the day. In a statement, the TVK leader said the first state conference of the party will be held on October 27, at Vikravandi in Villupuram district. He added the partys ideology, ideological leaders and action plans in sync with the partys ideology will be announc

Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi will take oath as chief minister of Delhi on Saturday. The party said on Thursday that along with Atishi, a few other ministers would also take oath along with Atishi on September 21. The ruling party had initially decided that only Atishi would be sworn in, however, it was later determined that her council of ministers would also take the oath, PTI reported. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned as the Delhi chief minister on Tuesday. Kejriwal met Lieutenant Govern

The Karnataka police have so far arrested 52 persons in connection with clashes during Ganesh Chathurthi procession in Mandya on Wednesday. District authorities said the situation has returned to normalcy and prohibitory orders have been imposed in Nagamangala town where clashes occurred. Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara said some miscreants pelted stones at the Ganesh idol procession when it reached near a mosque in Nagamangala town and 52 persons have been arrested from both sides in c

The Indian Army sources on Monday said it thwarted an infiltration bid and killed two terrorists along the Line of Control (LocC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri. The terrorists were reportedly heavily armed. According to the statement released by the Army's Jammu-based White Knight Corps on X, the Army received intelligence that there was likely an infiltration bid and the operation was launched on the night of Sunday, towards Monday morning in the Laam sector of Nowshera. The area was kept unde

By Mohit Sharma A reduction of 40 per cent in PM 10 pollutants has been witnessed in 21 cities, including Varanasi, as per the latest environment ministry data. Particulate Matter (PM 10), a major air pollutant, are particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less which are small enough to pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs and can cause various illnesses. While reviewing the Clean Air Action Plans being implemented in 131 cities, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav s

RG Kar Medical College and Hospital former principal Sandip Ghosh reportedly took a cut of 20 per commission on each tender he awarded to the two vendors, according to reports. The tenders were awarded flouting norms to the vendors Biplav Singha and Suman Hazra, who were arrested by the CBI along with Ghosh on Monday in connection with the alleged financial misconduct at the state-run institute during Ghosh's tenure as its principal. Both Singha and Hazra laundered money for Ghosh, reported The

The CBI on Monday arrested three others, besides the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh, in connection with the alleged financial irregularities at the establishment. These include Ghosh's security guard Afsar Ali, and vendors Suman Hazra and Biplab Singha. Ghosh was arrested on Monday after being quizzed for 15 consecutive days since August 16 over his alleged involvement in the financial misconduct in the hospital. He also faces charges of negligence in rep

Chaos ensued in many parts of West Bengal on Wednesday after the12-hour bandh called by the opposition BJP triggered violence and disrupted normal life. The 'Bangla Bandh', which began at 6 am, was called by the BJP in protest against police action on participants of 'Nabanna Abhijan' on Tuesday. Though the general strike was partial in the state, normal life was hit after rail and public transport services faced disruptions. The BJP and TMC workers clashed in many places, with the former accusi

The 12-hour general strike called by the BJP in West Bengal to protest against the police action on protesters during the 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally, began on Wednesday morning. Over 200 people were arrested on Tuesday after the rally triggered chaos and disruptions. Videos from Kolkata showed vehicles keeping off the roads. Private buses did not ply while government buses were few and far between. The BJP workers were also seen disrupting rail traffic at Krishnanagar railway station. Similar shutd

Thousands took to streets on Tuesday in protest against the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district. Outraged demonstrators vandalised the school and pelted stones at Badlapur railway station during the 'rail roko' agitation. The two kindergarten girls, aged three and four, were allegedly sexually abused at the school toilet by a male attendant, who has been arrested. The school principal, the class teacher and a female attendant have also b

The Pune police have arrested two persons for allegedly manipulating the blood samples of the accused minor in the Pune Porsche crash case. With this, the total arrests in the case has gone up to nine. According to police, the blood samples of two other minors who were along with the accused in the car on the day of the accident were swapped with those of two other persons. The blood samples of two minors who were with the juvenile accused in the car were swapped with those of these two persons

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah got a breather on Monday after the Karnataka High Court, while admitting his writ petition seeking to quash Governor Thawar Chand Gehlots order sanctioning his prosecution in the MUDA scam, directed the trial court to defer its proceedings till August 29, the next date of hearing in the high court. A single bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna, taking note that the proceedings before the trial court were up for orders on whether a sanction should be granted to