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PATNA: Veteran BJP leader Prem Kumar was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Bihar assembly. Pro-tem Speaker Narendra Narayan Yadav informed the House that Kumar was the only candidate whose name figured for the post. Thereafter, he was declared unanimously elected following a voice vote. As per custom, Kumar, who recently won the Gaya Town seat for a record eighth term, was escorted to the Chair by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav.

NEW DELHI: With the Department of Telecom asking mobile phone makers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi application in new handsets, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday described it as a snooping app and alleged that the government is turning the country into a dictatorship. The Department of Telecom (DoT) directed manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets to ensure that its fraud reporting app Sanchar Saathi is pre-installed in all new devices within 90 days. Asked about the issue

The second day of the Winter Session began on a tumultuous note as Opposition MPs continued their protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon as Opposition MPs refused to relent in pressing for a discussion on SIR. Following the adjournment, LS Speaker Om Birla called Opposition floor leaders and ministers for consultations to resolve the issue. Ahead of the day's proceedings INDIA bloc MPs staged a demonst

BALRAMPUR: A bus hit an electricity pole and caught fire early Tuesday after colliding with a truck on the Balrampur-Gonda road here, leaving three passengers dead and over two dozens injured, police said. The incident took place at about 2 am when the bus was going to Delhi from Sonauli border. Some Nepalese nationals were among the passengers. The three deceased are yet to be identified. Among the injured, condition of six was stated to be critical and they have been rushed to a Lucknow hospit

PUNE: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said world leaders listen carefully when Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks and this is happening because India's strength is getting manifested and the country is finding its rightful place. Speaking at an event organised in Pune on Monday to mark 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bhagwat suggested one should not look forward to celebrating milestones like jubilees or centenaries, but aim to complete the given task within the stipulated time.

SRINAGAR: The Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir faces growing political and community pressure ahead of the submission of the Cabinet Sub-Committees reservation review report, with OBC groups demanding a steep quota hike and Kashmiri leaders warning against any dilution of the Residents of Backward Areas (RBA) category. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently confirmed that the cabinet will take up the issue of rationalising job reservations in its next meeting. We were constrained by

The state education department and minister Madan Dilawar cant seem to stay away from controversy. The latest storm erupted over a circular directing schools to celebrate Shaurya Diwas on December 6, the day Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992. The order went viral within minutes. As Muslim organisations and opposition parties joined the uproar, department officials rushed to disown the circular, claiming it had never been authorised. From dictating uniforms for female teachers to tweaking hist

NEW DELHI: The Law Commission is of the opinion that bringing in law to implement the model code of conduct (MCC) will hamper its enforcement during polls and might result in whittling down the powers of the Election Commission, which will not be conducive to holding, time-bound and fair elections. The Commission made this observation in its submission to the Joint Committee of Parliament examining bills on holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The members of the 23rd

CHANDIGARH: With 14 months left for the Punjab Assembly election and to avoid another controversy, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declined the Haryana governments proposal to construct a separate assembly building in Chandigarh. Highly placed sources said the MHA has advised senior Haryana officials not to pursue the matter further. The officials had recently approached the ministry, which categorically directed them not to take the proposal ahead with the Chandigarh Administration. At p

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday remanded Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, the founder and chairman of Haryanas Al-Falah University, to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with an expanding money laundering investigation linked to the recent Red Fort blast. The order came from Additional Sessions Judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan, after Siddiqui was produced before the court on the completion of his 13-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody. He will remain in judicial custody till December 15. Sidd

They want to remove people who they believe will not vote for them, DMK MP Kanimozhi tells TNIE , interpreting the statement of Home Minister Amit Shah the SIR exercise is to purify electoral rolls. Excerpts: The Election Commission has extended the deadline for submitting SIR forms by a week. Is it enough? It is not sufficient. We need more time. Many people travel, and not everyone lives in their birthplace; they often return home to vote. With such short notice, they may not be able to return

HARIDWAR: A major rift has surfaced within Uttarakhands spiritual leadership with the expulsion of two senior MahamandaleshwarsSwami Prabodhanand Giri and Swami Yatindranand Girifrom the Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara. The action, taken late Sunday, followed their participation in a meeting at Bharat Sewa Ashram in Haridwar that saw several sadhus reportedly raise demands contrary to the Akhara Parishads established norms. Announcing the decision, Juna Akharas International President Mohan Bhart

NEW DELHI: The Jal Shakti ministry on Monday said untreated sewage, missing effluent treatment facilities, project delays and a major shortfall in solid waste processing remain the primary reasons the Yamuna continues to run polluted in the national capital. It also disclosed that the Delhi Jal Board spent about Rs 5,536 crore over the past three financial years on efforts to clean the river. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, MoS for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said that Delhi had a se

A 21-year-old woman in Nanded district, Maharashtra, who married the corpse of her lover, has accused two police officials of abetting his murder. Aanchal Mamidwar claimed that on the day Saksham Tate (20) was killed, her brother Himesh took her to Itwara police station to file a complaint against Saksham. When she refused, she alleged, the officials encouraged Himesh to kill him instead. I only demanded that my father and brothers be punished the same way Saksham died. Now I have married him an

SRINAGAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested an accused carrying Rs 10 lakhs bounty for his involvement in the 1989 abduction of Rubiya Sayeed, the daughter of then Home Minister Mufti Sayeed, after 36 years in Srinagar. The accused, identified as Shafat Ahmed Shangloo, was arrested by the CBI officials from the Nishat area of Srinagar today. According to a CBI spokesperson, Shangloo conspired with JKLF chief Yasin Malik and others in committing a crime under various s

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed deep concern over the health of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, saying India stands ready to extend all possible support in whatever way we can. In a post on X, Modi wrote, Deeply concerned to learn about the health of Begum Khaleda Zia, who has contributed to Bangladeshs public life for many years. Our sincere prayers and best wishes for her speedy recovery. India stands ready to extend all possible support, in whatever w

NEW DELHI: Flying out of airports in Mumbai and Delhi could get costlier for the public if the plan by its private operators to hike the User Development Fee (UDF) is approved. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), as well as domestic and foreign airlines are opposing the hike, and the matter is set to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on December 3. The fee could get doubled for the flyers as it would get recovered over two five-year control periods and will not be hiked mul

NEW DELHI: In keeping with its long tradition of supporting and promoting sporting talent with its players regularly representing India on the world stage the Ministry of Railways on Monday promoted three women cricketers, Pratika Rawal, Sneh Rana, and Renuka Singh Thakur, to Group B Officer-grade posts as Officers on Special Duty (Sports) through Out-of-Turn Promotion. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, encouraging them during their visit to the ministry, said they have made the nation proud

NEW DELHI : India has granted Pakistan permission for a Pakistani aircraft carrying humanitarian aid for cyclone victims in Sri Lanka to use its airspace. India also described as fake reports in the Pakistani media that India has not granted overflight facility to Pakistan to send aid to Sri Lanka. According to sources, an official request for overflight was submitted by Pakistan to India at around 1300 hrs IST today, seeking permission to fly over Indian airspace on the same day, December 1. Gi

MUMBAI: Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday claimed that as many as 35 MLAs from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena camp are set to defect to the BJP after the local body elections in Maharashtra. Earlier, Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan had made a similar claim that after the local body polls, there would be a major political earthquake in the state. He even said that there is no importance to the number two position deputy chief minister in government, only th

KOLKATA: In a startling revelation, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls could not find any dead, duplicate or untraceable voters in 2,208 polling booths across West Bengal. The Election Commission of India (ECI) came to know about the matter after verifying the enumeration forms that have already been digitised. In the SIR exercise, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) distribute enumeration forms among voters during their door-to-door visits and collect them once they are

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and assured Indias continued assistance to the flood-hit island nation under Operation Sagar Bandhu, an ongoing humanitarian mission responding to the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah . According to an official release, Modi conveyed his condolences over the loss of lives and the extensive damage triggered by the cyclone. He said the people of India stand in fir

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court was informed on Monday by Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioners, that despite its strict directions, vacant posts in the Central Information Commission (CIC) have not been filled. The CIC has been without a Chief since September 14, 2025, and of the 10 posts of Information Commissioners, eight remain vacant. The backlog of cases in the CIC has now reached 30,134, Bhushan told a two-judge bench, headed by Justices Surya Kant and Bagchi, during the he

NEW DELHI: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin continues to be part of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) school curriculum. He was responding to a query from MP Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy on whether the government had removed the theory from the Class 10 NCERT science syllabus. The MP had also asked for the reasons, if such a move had been made, and whether experts and researc

NEW DELHI : India has an estimated 25.61 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV), the second largest number globally in 2024, although the annual HIV incidence rate remains very low in the country, according to a government report released on Monday to mark World AIDS Day. The India HIV Estimation 2025 technical report, released by Union Health Minister JP Nadda, states that in 202425, 73% of newly detected HIV-positive persons reported acquiring the infection through heterosexual transmission. This

BHOPAL: A major portion of a more than 50-year-old bridge collapsed in Madhya Pradeshs Raisen district on Monday, killing a 35-year-old man and injuring at least three others. While a three-member enquiry committee has been constituted to probe the matter, AA Khan, who is a manager of the MP Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) has been suspended. The portion of the bridge in Nayagaon area on the Bareli-Pipariya State Highway in Raisen district collapsed while a motorcycle and scooter were passi

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, expected to reduce travel time by almost four hours, was opened for a trial run on Monday. Developed at an approximate cost of Rs 12,000 crore, the corridor will significantly reduce the travel time between the national capital and the city located in the Doon Valley on the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand from the existing 6.5 hours to just 2.5 hours. The access controlled expressway, that has an operational speed limit of 100 kmph

PATNA: Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar on Monday clarified that the grand old partys alliance with Opposition Mahagathbandhan , a part of INDIA bloc, was only for Bihar assembly elections and that the party would now focus on strengthening the organisation. Kumar was talking to the media after a crucial meeting with all district presidents and officer bearers frontal organisations. It was the first meeting with district level leaders after the partys drubbing in the state assembly election

MUMBAI: 21-year-old Aanchal Mamidwar married her deceased lover Saksham Tate in Nanded district of Maharashtra on Monday. Saksham was murdered by Aanchal's father and brother, who both disapproved of her relationship with a lower-caste man. Aanchal arrived at Saksham's house upon hearing of his death. In an act of defiance, she applied turmeric on her lover's corpse and vermillion on her forehead, publicly 'marrying' him at his funeral. Videos of Aanchal's marriage with Saksham's lifeless body w

NEW DELHI: HIV burden in the South-East Asia Region remains substantial with 88,000 people newly infected, and around 50,000 people dying of HIV-related causes last year, the WHO said on Monday on the occasion of World AIDS Day. While about 3.5 million people in the region live with HIV, challenges are compounded by 42 million people living with hepatitis B, seven million with hepatitis C, and 60 million with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. Vulne

NEW DELHI: Union parliamentary affairs minister, Kiren Rijiju, on Monday stated in Rajya Sabha that the Government is not averse to holding a detailed discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Clarifying the Governments stand on the Oppositions insistence, he said that their request for a debate on the issue is already under active consideration. However, Rijiju urged the Opposition members not to press for a strict timeline for conducting the discussion. Nobody is u

CHANDIGARH: To curb the drug menace in the state, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to give a reward to those who provide information about people involved in the chitta (an adulterated form of heroin) business. The reward ranges from a minimum of Rs 10,000 to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday led the Anti-chitta Awareness Walkathon in Dharamshala in which a large number of school children and people from various sections of socie

GUWAHATI: Manipur government on Monday constituted state and district levels committees to strengthen the ongoing efforts for rehabilitation and resettlement of the people who were internally displaced by the ethnic violence. The government made an announcement on the constitution of the panels through a statement, issued hours after the internally displaced persons (IDPs) had launched a month-long protest demanding their resettlement at their original homes by this month. The statement said the

PATNA: Former minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Prem Kumar, who has won the Gaya Town seat for the ninth consecutive term in recent Bihar polls, is set to be elected as Speaker of Bihar legislative assembly unopposed. Kumar filed his nomination papers for the post of assembly Speaker on Monday in the presence of Nitish, Samrat, Vijay and others. The Opposition did not field any candidate against Kumar, paving the way for the latters election as Speaker unopposed. He was of

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to consider allowing a pregnant woman and her child, who were pushed into Bangladesh earlier this year, to enter India on humanitarian ground while keeping her under surveillance. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek instruction on allowing the woman, who is in the advanced stage of pregnancy, to enter India through the Indo-Bangladesh border at Malda in West Bengal. G

Industrialist Anil Ambani has approached the Supreme Court of India, challenging a recent Bombay High Court order that upheld the State Bank of Indias (SBI) decision to classify his personal loan account and that of Reliance Communications (RCom) as fraud. The Supreme Court is yet to schedule the matter for hearing. The Bombay High Court, in its October 3 order, dismissed Ambanis plea, holding that SBIs decision did not warrant interference and that the petition lacked merit. SBI had designated

Four people have been rounded up for questioning in connection with the murder of a 26-year-old professional bodybuilder, Rohit Dhankar, for protesting against alleged sexual misconduct towards women during a wedding in Haryana's Bhiwani. According to media reports citing eye witness accounts, Dhankar was brutally beaten up with hockey sticks and rods by a group of 18-20 men on Friday night while he was attending the wedding ceremony of a friend's relative. Jatin, whose relative's wedding it was

NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry on Monday said all probable causes leading to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad in June are being investigated and emphasised that the preliminary probe report contains factual information based on the evidence available at that point in time. A total of 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members, died when a London Gatwick-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad on June 12. Only one passenger survive

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at 12 locations on Monday across Maharashtra's Nandurbar and Mumbai in connection with a money laundering allegation against religious educational institute Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom. Law enforcement agencies last year found that two Yemeni nationals were illegally residing at the institute premise in Akkalkuwa, leading to the probe. Agencies also found that there were irregularities at As-Salam Hospital, run by the same trust, inclu

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday slammed Narendra Modi's enjoy the weather remark, and wondered whether the prime minister was aware of what was happening in Delhi and around the country. The prime minister's remark ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament came at a time when winter had set in across parts of India, but the Congress linked it with the air pollution in several cities, particularly Delhi. You also enjoy the weather, Modi told reporters in Parliament in h

While welcoming the new Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on his first day of chairing the House proceedings on Monday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge made a mention of the unexpected and sudden exit of his predecessor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, irking the treasury benches. Referring to the sudden exit of Dhankar, Kharge said, It was a completely unexpected and sudden exit from the office of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, which is unexpected in the annals of the parliamentary history. I was di

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said the air pollution issue in the Delhi-NCR cannot be treated as a customary case to be listed only during the winter months, noting that it will be taken twice in a month to find out short and long-term solutions to the menace. In a significant shift from the usual narrative, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, The issue of stubble burning should not unnecessarily become a political issue or an issue of ego. Ques

KOLKATA: A Bangladeshi couple have finally received Indian citizenship after spending 35 years in Nadia district of West Bengal. Laturam Sikdar and his wife Padma Sikdar have been staying at Kamgachhi Joypur under Nadias Taherpur police station area for the past 35 years. Laturam used to stay at Sanatanpur in Bangladesh while Padma was a resident of Panditpur, before coming to India. The couple had managed to get Aadhaar cards a few years after entering India, but could not include their names t

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday disclosed that incidents of GPS spoofing and interference with flights have been reported at major airports in the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. In a written reply to questions raised by YSRCP MP S Niranjan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu confirmed that GPS spoofing was reported in the vicinity of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi. Some fl

KOLKATA: West Bengal has recorded more than 21 lakh dead voters so far till Monday afternoon, according to sources in the Election Commission of India (ECI). In North 24 Parganas district alone, more than 2.75 lakh dead voters have been identified in the state by the ECI. West Bardhaman and South 24 Parganas hold second and third positions respectively in term of dead voters identified by the Commission during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls so far in the state. West Ba

SRINAGAR: A senior BSF official on Monday disclosed that there are 69 active launching pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, where around 100-120 militants are waiting to infiltrate. Addressing a press conference, IG BSF Kashmir Frontier Ashok Yadav said the BSF, in coordination with the army, has effectively dominated the LoC in Kashmir, resulting in foiling fourinfiltration attempts this year in which eight militants were killed. The BSF, he said, also carried out 22 joint operatio

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned on Monday, the first day of the Winter session of the Parliament, amid unrelenting protests by the opposition parties demanding a discussion on the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Opposition has been pushing for a debate on the exercise launched by the Election Commission, pointing out several issues, including the rising number of suicides of the booth level officers (BLO), allegedly due to work pressure. Before being a

DHAKA: A court in Bangladeshs capital sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison Monday for corruption involving a government land project. Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhakas Special Judges Court, said Hasina misused her power as prime minister while Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother and two siblings get a land plot in a government project. Siddiqs mo

Australia will soon ban under-16s from the likes of Facebook and TikTok, a world-first move of huge interest to all those worried about the harms of social media. Internet regulators around the world are watching to see if Australia can rein in the tech giants -- but questions remain as the ban approaches on December 10. Here's what we know about how Australia will enforce the new restrictions. - Prove age - Starting December 10, some of the world's largest social media platforms will be forced

CHANDIGARH: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declined the proposal of the Haryana Government to construct a separate assembly building in Chandigarh. Highly placed sources said that the MHA has advised the senior officials of the Haryana Government not to pursue this matter any further. Sources further said that this kind of land swap might not fall within the purview of the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952, which governs land use in Chandigarh. Earlier this year, t