The Serum Institute of India (SII) will seek emergency use authorisation for the AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine in about two weeks. Adar Poonawalla, Founder and CEO, SII said on Saturday that SII is in the process of submitting the data for the clinical trials to the DCGI and will seek emergency use authorisation. He said there will be no delays in the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout as the trials are more than enough for establishing efficacy and it will not affect emergency use authorization in Euro

For the second time this year, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government and the saffron party is facing a barrage of criticism from Opposition parties and certain sections of people on the formulation of contentious laws. After the passing of controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) bill, efforts are being made by the Central government and the BJP at an organisational level to resolve the grievances of farmers protesting in New Delhi against the Centre over the three Ce

Lashing out at his Haryana counterpart for inflicting brutality on Punjab's farmers, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday demanded an unequivocal apology from Manohar Lal Khattar, accusing him of spreading lies by saying Khalistanis are managing the protests, Khattar is lying that he tried calling me earlier and I did not respond. But now, after what he has done to my farmers, I will not speak to him even if he calls me 10 times. Unless he apologises and admits that he did wrong with Punja

The Delhi government on Saturday said it has infrastructure to undertake coronavirus vaccination among all city residents within three-four weeks, adding that it was only waiting for the vaccine to be made available. Health and Family Welfare Minister Satyendar Jain made this announcement in at a press conference called to update Delhi's daily health bulletin. He gave the updates on Covid-19, decreasing positivity rate, availability of beds, and preparations for vaccination. He said that the gov

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Bharat Biotech, a city-based pharmaceutical company, is closely working with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to create an indigenous Covid vaccine on Saturday. At the Bharat Biotech facility in Hyderabad, was briefed about their indigenous COVID-19 vaccine. Congratulated the scientists for their progress in the trials so far. Their team is closely working with ICMR to facilitate speedy progress. pic.twitter.com/C6kkfKQlbl Narendra Modi (@narendram

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by Muhammad Moin Faridulla Qureshi, serving a life term after conviction in the 1993 Mumbai blasts' case, seeking leniency under the Juvenile Justice Act. Qureshi had moved the top court under Article 32 of the Constitution. A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee said on Friday that the relief sought in the petition would essentially require the court, in exercise of its jurisdiction under Ar

Night temperatures dropped across J&K and Ladakh UTs on Saturday as Leh remained literally frozen at minus 12.9 degrees Celsius. The weather office has forecast generally dry weather till Thursday. Srinagar city recorded minus 2.2 as the minimum temperature while Pahalgam recorded minus 5.2 and Gulmarg recorded minus 5.6. while Kargil was at minus 9.2. Minimum temperatures have dropped in J&K and Ladakh today due to clear night sky. Weather is likely to remain generally dry during the next five

The Congress on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his three-city visit to review the Covid-19 vaccine development and manufacturing process, saying he should be holding meetings to strategise how it will be allocated instead of doing publicity everytime. Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Congress office here, Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera said, The Prime Minister should be holding meetings to strategise and decide on how will the vaccines be allocated, how will it

India's first electric loco shed completed 92 years onSaturdaywith Central Railway marking the day with events at the shed. 28th November 2020is celebrated as the 92nd foundation day of Electric Loco Shed (ELS), Kalyan. The premier Shed of Indian Railways has the proud distinction of being the First Electric Loco Shed under the then Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR). It was established on 28.11.1928, Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said. Kaushik Sanjiv Dharwadkar

Traffic movement on both sides at Singhu and Tikri continued to be disrupted for the second day on Saturday as farmers planning to hold protest in Delhi rallied at these interstate borders and were reluctant to move to Burari where they were allowed to move in. Delhi Traffic Police diverted traffic from Mukarba Chowk and GTK Road to prevent inconvenience to commuters due to rallying farmers, who have been travelling towards Delhi in buses, trucks and tractor-trolleys. The farmers who had gathere

With 41,322 new coronavirus infections and 485 deaths in the past 24 hours, India's overall tally stood at 93,51,109 on Saturday, as the toll touched 1,36,200, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. Currently, there are 4,54,940 active cases, whereas 87,59,969 patients have been cured and discharged so far. The recovery rate stands at 93.68 per cent, and the fatality rate is 1.46 as per cent, the Ministry said. Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit state with 18,08,550 cases till da

BJP national President J.P. Nadda said on Friday that calling Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls a 'gully election' is a disrespect to the people of Hyderabad. He hit back at the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for criticising him for campaigning in GHMC polls. I was astonished when it was said that the president of a national party is coming for gully election. This is disrespect to the electorate of Hyderabad. A city which has over 74 lakh voters, five Lok Sabha seats,

The largest among the 31 farm organizations in Punjab protesting the central government's Farm Laws set out for Delhi on Saturday in a cavalcade that stretches for 40 km as they resumed their onward journey from Haryana's Jind town where they made a night halt under the open skies. Packed in hundreds of tractor-trailers, buses, cars and motorcycles loaded with eatables these farmers belong to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta-Ugrahan and they will reach the national capital soon. They will jo

Describing the newly-minted Goa Tourism Policy 2020 as a mirage which will not benefit either the state or its people, a church body has said that the document is not only short on data and fact, but also bats for privatisation of public resources. In a letter to the state's Tourism Ministry, Fr. Freddy Braganca, Executive Director of the Centre for Responsible Tourism which functions under the aegis of the Goa Church, said that the policy which was cleared by the cabinet last month, ignored ser

The skeleton of an elephant estimated to be around 200-300 years old and an unidentified animal has been found at the Metro construction site near Mandai in Pune . The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha-Metro) is carrying out the construction work for a Metro station near Mahatma Phule Mandai. Also Read: Woman sees headless 'body' washed ashore, turns out to be mannequin While digging for the Metro station work, the labourers found the skeletons of the animals on Wednesday. Speaking to Hin

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav have been asked to appear before the Delhi court on December 3 in connection with a criminal defamation case. #Delhi Chief Minister #ArvindKejriwal ( @ArvindKejriwal ), his deputy #ManishSisodia ( @msisodia ) & Swaraj India president #YogendraYadav ( @_YogendraYadav ) have been asked to appear before the Delhi court on Dec 3 in connection with a criminal defamation case. Photo: IANS (File) p

The simple and fast method of dry swab-direct RT-PCR, developed by CSIR's constituent lab Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, for scaling up coronavirus detection has now been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the apex body announced on Friday. This method developed by CSIR-CCMB is a simple variation of the existing gold standard RT-PCR method and can easily scale up the testing by two to three fold with no new investment of resources. After evaluating

In a world altered by COVID-19, the 2020 Oxfam Trailwalker India, a fundraising walkathon has gone virtual. Just last year, thousands of Oxfam trailwalkers had come together from all across India and around the world, to walk for better education, affordable and quality healthcare, gender equality, forest rights, and to end discrimination in the country's underserved states like Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. The special challenge, this year, is to complete eith

The Madhubani police on Friday arrested a person on charges of throwing onions at CM Nitish Kumar during the election campaign in the district. Rajnish Keshri, the SHO of concern Harlakhi police station in Madhubani district said that the FIR was registered on the report submitted by Block Development Officer (BDO) and SDM. The accused has been booked under IPC sections of 188, 353 and 504 in Harlakhi police station. The accused, Raj Nandan Yadav, a resident of Gangaur village threw onions on CM

In a strong bid to cut delays in security checks, Kempe Gowda International Airport Limited - Bengaluru (KIAL-B) authorities on Friday appealed to passengers not to carry sharp weapon-like items in their baggage, a KIAL-B official said here. According to a statement released by the KIAL - B, the airport has witnessed an increase in the collection of prohibited goods, including hand tools, blades, lighters, coconuts, toy guns, ghee packets and spices over the last few months. The security team at

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has claimed that the Narendra Modi government has done more for Indian Muslims and other minorities in the last six years compared with Congress rule since Independence. He said that while the Ministry of Minority Affairs was seen as a part-time portfolio during the earlier Congress rule, it was now a full-time Ministry in the Modi government. The Modi government did away with the policy of minority appeasement and instead worked towards 'sabka

A court in Mumbai on Friday issued a bailable warrant against Ramadhar Rajbhar, father of Vijay Rajbhar who is an accused in the the murder of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani. Mumbai-based artist Hema and her lawyer Bhambani were killed on December 11, 2016 and their bodies disposed of in Kandivli. The warrant was issued against Ramadhar for not producing before court a tempo, which belongs to Vijay and was allegedly used for disposal of bodies of the two victims. A sessions

The Thane Municipal Corporation in its general body meeting last week put on hold a proposal for the acquisition of land for the bullet train. This is the second time that Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporators have put the proposal on hold. The proposal is for a 3849.00 sqm land in the name of Thane Municipal Corporation that the National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), building India's first bullet train project, wants to acquire at a compensation of Rs 6.92 crore agre

In an attempt to stop the expected second wave of the pandemic, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is leaving no stone unturned. Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar has begun the Mission break the chain 2 initiative to contain the spread by increased daily testing and tracing. NMMC has managed to keep the daily cases low, but believes the next 20 days are extremely important. The government of India had cautioned of a second wave of COVID-19 infections after diwali. The NMMC, which

The Government Railway Police's (GRP) commissioner has asked the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (CR) to get CCTV cameras in all coaches. In the initial phase, the commissioner has asked for CCTV cameras in women's coaches and later in all of them. CCTV cameras, the GRP said, are necessary to detect crimes that take place in trains. GRP Commissioner Ravindra Sengavkar wrote to the general managers of CR and WR, raising the issue of passenger safety. Recently, there was also a meeting of

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has been accused of using over eight-year-old buses in Mumbai in its support to BEST, in violation of high court orders. Transporters and bus associations questioned the concessions to MSRTC, which refuted the claims. As per guidelines, the life of diesel vehicles is eight years and that of CNG vehicles is 15 years. In 2000, a committee headed by former transport commissioner V M Lal observed that pollution levels in Mumbai had reached an

Screening, detection and work related to COVID-19 care have severely affected the treatment of other communicable diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy across the city. Data indicates that the number of fresh cases of leprosy and TB reported this year is much less than last year's tally. Hence, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to carry out a door-to-door survey to screen people for both the diseases starting December 1. Civic officials said that last year there were

The number of daily coronavirus cases in Maharashtra continued to remain above 6,000 on Friday, taking the total count to over 18.08 lakh, while fatalities from the complications of COVID-19 increased to 85. In Mumbai, though the fresh cases stayed over 1,000, there was a slight drop as compared to the past few days. But, there was a slight rise in new casualties as compared to Thursday. Of the 85 COVID-19 casualties recorded across the state on Friday, Mumbai led with 17 deaths, followed by Sol

Over 30 environmental groups from the country have come together under the banner 'Greens With Farmers' to show support to farmers protesting against the three farm laws passed by the Centre recently. The citizens' movement group 'Awaken India', who have been raising their voice against the mandatory wearing of masks and the upcoming rollout of 5G network have also lent their support. On Wednesday, Awaken India members gathered at Dadar's Kotwal Garden with banners reading 'Say No To Monopoly Of

With lack of specific treatment for COVID-19, and absence of a strong healthcare infrastructure and specialists, a second wave of infection could lead to an extremely challenging situation in small cities of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), warned health experts on Friday. They cautioned that if the state government does not shift its focus to cities like Kharghar, Panvel, Bhiwandi, Mira Bhayandar, Vasai and Virar now, then it might become a challenge later. Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai ar

Satan-worshipping paedophiles are trying to take over the world. They have been running a child-trafficking ring for years, their members hiding in plain sight, and some of the biggest celebrities in the West have long been active recruiters. They will destroy our way of life if we allow them to, so we should be on guard. There is only one man standing between this powerful group of evildoers and the rest of us. His name is Donald Trump. This premise doesn't sound convincing even if it were to a

An environmental group has called for the creation of a mangrove safari at Uran. The ideators said that the safari should be run on a cooperative basis, adopting a Sindhudurg self-help group model, a report said in this paper. The Sindhudurg model has a women's self-help group taking up a mangrove safari and eco-tourism park with the help of the Mangrove Foundation and aided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Uran group has pushed for a similar initiative and there is welcom

At a time when there are pay cuts and salary delays, professors from across city colleges are a hassled lot due to erratic work timings. Most of them complain that the work-from-home culture forces them to toil all day with no fixed timings in place. The fact that they have to attend to students at any given time of the day is adding to their stress and leaving them with no personal time. Also, they fear that it might eventually affect the quality of education. Pic for representation A professor

The BMC's move to demolish part of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's office, was condemned by Bombay High Court on Thursday. The HC declared the BMC action illegal and decided that a valuer would be appointed to assess the damage caused in order to calculate the compensation amount due to Ranaut. The HC decision has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to target the Shiv Sena as it leads the civic corporation. BJP leaders have demanded that the exorbitant fee of the lawyer

After completing a year in the office of the tri-party alliance, Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has called the BJP 'people with distorted mentalities'. Denying the possibility of a saffron alliance in the future, he cautioned the frenemy against attacking his family. Thackeray said that the BJP would not succeed in coming back to power because no Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally, especially the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), would take a position that might destabilise hi

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has hit out at the BJP for indulging in politics of vendetta and said his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government cannot be intimidated by the ED and the CBI probes. He said this in an interview to Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who is also the executive editor of the party mouthpiece ''Saamana'', on the occasion of the MVA government completing a year in office on Saturday. This government has the blessings of people and it cannot be intimidated by ED and CBI probes

Delhi Police on Friday made the necessary arrangements at the Nirankari ground in Burari after they gave permission to the protesting farmers to enter Delhi and stage a protest at the designated ground. Some representatives of the farmers also inspected the site along with senior police officers. The development came after the Delhi Police and the protesting farmers had a confrontation at Delhi-Haryana borders in Singhu and Tikri since Friday morning. Tear gas shells and water cannons were used

The Maharashtra government on Friday extended the lockdown on account of coronavirus in the state till the midnight of December 31, 2020, an official release said. In the last couple of months, the government has eased several lockdown restrictions. Revised guidelines have been issued from time to time by, allowing resumption of various activities as part of the Mission Begin Again, the release said. Earlier this week, the government allowed reopening of places of worship. Schools for students f

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-city visit on Saturday to personally review Covid vaccine development and manufacturing process. Accordingly, he will visit the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune. PM will embark on a 3-city visit to personally review the vaccine development and manufacturing process. He will visit the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune,

Providing details of the overall Covid-19 situation in the country, the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the average cases per day have reduced by 50 per cent since the past 8 weeks, and currently, only 2 states have more than 50,000 cases, contributing almost 33 per cent of the overall active cases. Delhi constitutes 62 per cent of the nationwide active cases and 61 per cent of the total deaths, the apex court was told. The Union Home Ministry emphasised that the Covid situation in th

A man, who killed the wife for not giving him money to buy liquor, has been arrested after a month. The accused, identified as 39-year-old Raju Mehra, used to work as a labourer. After murdering his wife, Raju became a rag picker to hide his identity. According to the Kopar Khairane police, on October 25, Raju asked his 35-year-old wife Ratna Mehra to give money for buying liquor, but she refused. This led to an argument and Raju hit Ratna with a hammer. Ratna was admitted to Sion Hospital where

After drugmaker Pfizer's former Vice President and Chief Scientist for Allergy and Respiratory Michael Yeadon claimed that he pandemic is fundamentally over in the UK, health fact-checker Health Feedback termed his assertions false. In an article published in Lockdown Sceptics (lockdownsceptics.org) on October 16, Yeadon claimed that the he susceptible population (in the UK) is now sufficiently depleted and the immune population sufficiently large that there will not be another large, national

To ensure that unauthorized passengers do not travel in trains, the Mumbai Division of Central Railway has started conducting special drives with teams of senior officers and ticket checking staff. So far, 43,526 cases have been found and Rs 1.50 crore has been collected as fine from June 2020 to November 20, 2020. Also Read: Mumbai: Railways Says Kids Will Not Be Allowed At Stations Of the 43,526 cases, 39,516 were detected in suburban trains and Rs 1.10 crore was collected as fine, while 4,000

The Dadar railway police on Friday identified the body of a person who had died by suicide five days ago by jumping in front of a local train. The deceased, identified as Palaniswami, was recognised through a medicine strip and a lunch box. Five days ago, Dadar Railway Police had received information that a man jumped in front of a running local train at Dadar railway station. The railway police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and a team was formed under Assistant Commissioner of Pol

The Rajkot police commissioner has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fire incident in a private hospital in Rajkot, which claimed the lives of five corona patients on Friday. Rajkot Police Commissioner Manoj Agrawal has formed the three-member SIT to probe the fire at the Uday Shivanand multispeciality hospital. According to sources in the police, the SIT will be headed by the DCP zone 2, Manoharsinh Jadeja. The two other members of the team are of the rank of an ACP and a P

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting vaccine maker Bharat Biotech's facility here on Saturday as part of his three-city tour to take stock of the Covid-19 vaccine development work in the country. Modi is scheduled to land at the Hakimpet Air Force Station around 4 p.m. and from there he will reach Bharat Biotech's facility at Genome Valley, where the work is underway on Covaxin, India's first indigenous vaccine for coronavirus being developed by the company in collaboration with the Ind

Mumbai-based Cityflo, an app-based bus service for corporate professionals, raised Rs 57 crore funding as part of their expansion plan. Founded in May 2015 by Jerin Venad and his friends from his alma mater, IIT Bombay, the brand provides an alternative to driving through Mumbai traffic. Cityflo connects popular residential areas in Mumbai like the Western suburbs, Navi Mumbai and Thane, to major commercial hubs in the city. Over the years, the company has expanded its presence to office hubs in

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Friday said that she will hold a meeting with the legal team of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to assess the Bombay High Court's order in Kangana Ranaut case. What we did was according to municipal rules. I haven't seen the court order, will go through it, Pednekar told reporters here. #WATCH : Everyone is surprised that an actress who lives in Himachal, comes here & calls our Mumbai PoK... such 'do takke ke log' want to make Courts arena for politi

A 48-year-old woman from Mauritius with a pancreatic tail tumour was successfully treated with complex robotic surgery in Delhi-NCR. The patient underwent a 'robotic distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy' to remove the tumour which was four centimetres in size. According to the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram, on presentation, a whole-body PET CT scan was conducted. It revealed that, in addition to large uterine fibroids (eight centimetres in size), there was a mass on the tail o

After hours of confrontation and talks with the farmers the Delhi Police finally on Friday afternoon allowed the farmers to enter Delhi. They will be escorted to Nirankari ground in Burari for carrying on their protests against the Centre's Farm Laws. After discussion with farmer leaders, the protesting farmers have been permitted inside Delhi to hold peaceful protest at Nirankari ground in Burari. Delhi Police appeals to them to maintain peace, said Eish Singhal PRO Delhi police. The agitating