The New Indian Express

NEW DELHI: India has overtaken Japan as the world's fourth-biggest economy -- and officials hope to pass Germany within three years, the government's end-of-year economic review calculates. Official confirmation however depends on data due in 2026 when final annual gross domestic product figures are released, with the International Monetary Fund suggesting India will cross over Japan next year. India is among the world's fastest-growing major economiesand is well-positioned to sustain this momen

NEW DELHI: A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention to address the continuing constitutional failure to prevent and respond to racial discrimination and violence against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions. The PIL was filed on December 28 in the backdrop of the brutal killing of Anjel Chakma , a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura, who succumbed on December 27 to grievous injuries sustained in a racially motivated attack in Selaqui area of Deh

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday vowed to gherao the Election Commission's office in Delhi if the name of a single legitimate voter is deleted from the final electoral roll after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state. Addressing a rally in Bankura district, Banerjee said people of the state were being ortured in the name of SIR. Around 60 people have died due to SIR. Elderly people are being called for document verification hearings, s

GUWAHATI : Citing the prevailing unstable political situation in Bangladesh and the frequent arrests and detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the Northeast, a Meghalaya-based organisation has urged Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to take the lead in demanding the extension of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to the entire region. The Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO), in a letter addressed to Sarma, appealed to him in his capacity as Chairman of the North East De

AGARTALA: The family of Anjel Chakma (24), who was killed by miscreants in Dehradun, wants capital punishment or at least life imprisonment for all the accused involved in the incident. Anjel from Unakoti district's Machmara went to Dehradun after completing his graduation in Holy Cross School, Agartala, to pursue MBA, where he was stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother Michael. We will never get back Anjel, but his family wants capital punishment or at least life term imprisonm

GUWAHATI: The North East Students Organisation (NESO) has demanded capital punishment for all those who were involved in the killing of Tripura student Angel Chakma in Dehradun. In a memorandum addressed to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the NESO, which is the apex students body of the Northeast, further demanded the establishment of at least one special police station for dealing with cases related to racial discrimination and atrocities on people from the region, and the enact

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday voiced deep concern over the reports of the targeting of the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged Russia and Ukraine to focus on diplomatic efforts to end hostilities. Deeply concerned by reports of the targeting of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation, Modi said in a post on X. Deeply concerned by reports of the targeting of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Ongoing diplomatic effor

NEW DELHI: The Centre has warned online platforms, mainly social media firms, of legal consequences if they fail to act on obscene, vulgar, pornographic, paedophilic and other forms of unlawful content. In an advisory dated December 29, 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) asked social media firms to immediately review their compliance framework and act against obscene and unlawful content on their platform, failing which they may face prosecution under the law of the land. Intermedi

MUMBAI: After a week of negotiations, the BJP has agreed to offer 90 seats to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls . The BJP will contest in the remaining 137 seats, against the initial plan of contesting 150 seats. The party had initially offered 50 seats to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, but after final negotiations, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ensured 90 seats for his party. Mumbai BJP unit president Amit Satam said that accordi

CHANDIGARH: Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday accused the BJP-led Haryana government of giving a free hand to mining mafias, leading to large-scale damage to the Aravalli hills. Surjewala said that even though the Supreme Court had stayed its earlier order, there was no check on blasting and mining in the Aravalli range in Haryana. The party general secretary alleged that the situation had turned villages and residential areas into unsafe zones. Surjewala said indiscriminate mining

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday the people of West Bengal to give the BJP a chance to govern the state, asserting that the party would replace fear, corruption, and misgovernance with good governance. Addressing press at Kolkata, Shah projected BJP as the alternative to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other parties that have governed Bengal in the past. Shah accused TMC chief Mamata Banerjee of abetting infiltration of Bangladeshis for electoral benefit and said his party would

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that West Bengal will have a BJP government in 2026, promising a transformation from what he described as fear, corruption and misgovernance to good governance. Addressing press in Kolkata, Shah said the people of Bengal have resolved to embrace change and development under the BJP. Shah alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is abetting infiltration of Bangladeshis for electoral gain. He added that the BJP will not only identify infiltrator

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised the issue of attacks on Bengali-speaking people, especially in BJP-ruled states. Chowdhury, a former Congress chief in West Bengal, urged the prime minister's intervention in helping stop such attacks, which, he said, could lead to communal tension and possibly violence in the state. Their only offence is that they speak in Bengali language which are often misunderstood by the concerned admin

DEHRADUN: A passenger bus travelling from Dwarahat to Ramnagar plunged hundreds of feet into a steep ravine in Uttarakhand's Almora district on Tuesday morning, killing seven people. Eleven others were critically injured in the horrific accident. The bus, carrying 19 passengers, went out of control near Salapani in the Bhikiyainsain area. Eyewitnesses reported that the tragedy struck shortly after the vehicle passed Vinayak. Relief and rescue teams, including police and local administration, rus

INDORE: At least 32 people have fallen ill due to suspected water contamination in a locality in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, prompting the administration to collect samples of drinking water for testing, officials said on Tuesday. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav directed the administration of Indore, the cleanest city in the country, to ensure prompt and quality treatment for all patients. Talking to PTI, Indore District Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani

BAGHPAT: People in Baghpat district are divided over the khap panchayats ban on the use of smartphones and wearing half-pants in public places by those under 18. In its Saturday diktat, the panchayat also objected to holding weddings in banquet halls, asserting that marriages should be held in villages and homes. It suggested the kurta-pyjama for boys and the salwar-kurta for girls. While some sections have welcomed the decisions, several intellectuals and social activists have strongly opposed

RAIPUR: Flex materials are used for making banners, signage or advertising boards and often are not suitably recycled; they get accumulated in landfills, drains, and contribute to the growing challenge of plastic pollution. Raipur, like any other city, is witnessing an increased use of flex boards or cut-outs, which are seen along roadsides and streets, mostly for publicity or display. Later, such posters would fall apart over time and would be seen accumulated in corners. The Raipur district ad

CHANDIGARH: Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday alleged that the BJP had turned the slogan Vande Mataram, which signifies respect for the motherland, into a language of hatred. He accused the BJP of following a divisive political model in Haryana by repeatedly pitting communities against each other. He said the state has been divided along multiple lines over the years- Jat versus non-Jat, Punjabi versus Aggarwal, Ravidasia versus Valmiki among the poor, Sikh versus Hindu, and att

RANCHI: In a development that has left the judiciary shocked, a Ranchi court acquitted the prime accused in a high-profile narcotics case after police informed the court that nearly 200 kilograms of seized marijuana, worth Rs 1 crore, had allegedly been destroyed by rats while stored in police custody. The marijuana was seized in January 2022 by Ormanjhi police during a vehicle check on NH-20. Acting on a tip-off, the police intercepted a white Bolero allegedly carrying a large consignment of na