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CHANDIGARH: Himachal Pradesh has brought into force one of the countrys strictest laws to curb paper leaks and organised cheating in recruitment examinations, making offences such as paper leak, organised cheating and facilitation of copying non-bailable and cognizable. Individuals involved will face a minimum of three years imprisonment, extendable up to five years, and fines of up to Rs 10 lakh. For agencies conducting the examinations, penalties can go up to Rs 1 crore. The Himachal Pradesh P

GUWAHATI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has termed the Assam government budgetary assumptions for 2023-24 unrealistic and overestimated, pointing out that in several cases supplementary grants were approved where expenditure of the original allotted funds was not even done. It also highlighted non-submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and annual accounts of several autonomous councils and other bodies. The CAG report on state finances for 2023-24, laid in the Assembly on Satur

NAGPUR: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday expressed concern over the declining use of Indian languages and mother tongues, saying the situation has reached a point where some Bharatiya people do not know our own languages. Speaking at a book release event in Nagpur, Bhagwat appealed to society to introspect on the erosion of linguistic heritage. There was a time when entire communication, sharing, daily business was in Sanskrit. Now, some American professor teaches us Sanskrit, when in reality w

NEW DELHI: An all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Winter session of Parliament is underway here on Sunday where the opposition is likely to rake up various issues, including Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the Delhi blast and foreign policy matters that it wants to raise in both Houses. While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal are representing the government, the opposition is being rep

NEW DELHI: In a major setback to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Delhi Polices Economic Offences Wing has registered a fresh FIR against them and six others in the decade-old National Herald money laundering case . The FIR, registered on October 3, 2025, follows a detailed complaint from Shiv Kumar Gupta, Assistant Director of the Enforcement Directorates Headquarters Investigation Unit, and invokes charges of criminal conspiracy, dishonest misappropriation of property, crimi

DEHRADUN: Mussoorie, one of Uttarakhands most popular hill stations, is facing an alarming situation due to escalating land subsidence in Landour Bazaar. The Landour Bazaar, a historical hub, is visibly sinking, raising fears of a major disaster. While similar issues have been reported in other parts of the state, the situation in Mussoorie, called the Queen of Hills, is concerning due to its significance as a tourist destination and its fragile geology. The central stretch of Landour Bazaar has

DEHRADUN: The office of the Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has released the 2003 voter list for the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls, but tracing names from that period is a challenge for many residents. The core issue lies in delimitation exercises that followed 2003, rendering 18 former assembly constituencies obsolete and replacing them with new names and boundaries. The newly released 2003 electoral data, available on the CEO website, is crucial for verifying if a vo

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) has invited all citizens to download the ECINet App and give suggestions to make the application more user-friendly till the 27th of next month. The app is an integration of 40 election-related applications and websites that were earlier separate. The user suggestions would be examined, and the platform would be further updated to make it more user-friendly, the poll panel noted in an official statement. The official launch of the ECINet platform is planne

NEW DELHI: Nearly 7-10 million people require palliative care (PC) in India, but less than four per cent have access to it, said the latest study, which found that only Kerala and Chandigarh provide better accessibility to these centres as compared to states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar. The study, published in the ecancermedicalscience journal, said that the demand for palliative care in India is going to rise as four in ten people are estimated to have at least one chronic disease, an

In the turbulent battleground of Karnataka politics, 63-year-old Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar doesnt just make news, he commands them. A master strategist and the Congress partys organisational backbone, Shivakumar embodies an assertive brand of leadership. As one of the partys most reliable trouble-shooters, his strength lies in sharp political acumen, unwavering loyalty and an ability to bolster organisation at every level. Shivakumar is currently navigating a challenging phase of his c

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday alleged that Naxal insurgency in India persisted for an extended period and reached alarming proportions largely due to policy paralysis during the second term of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government. In a series of posts on X, the BJP claimed that then PM Manmohan Singh had described Naxalism as Indias greatest internal threat, yet the UPA had treated extremists as victims instead of confronting them. Congress sheltered sympathisers, blocked anti-Maoist actio

NEW DELHI: With MCD deciding to start using cow dung cakes at crematoriums, experts have pointed out that scientific literature confirms that burning cow dung cakes worsen pollution levels further. The cow dung cakes release more amounts of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), volatile organic compounds and black carbon than wood when burnt. In homes where biomass burning occurs, airborne particle concentrations are far in excess of those found in homes where it is not used as a heating or cooki

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has barred litigants from orally mentioning matters for urgent listing before the Chief Justice of India as items requiring special attention will come up for hearing automatically within two working days. The court made these changes while restructuring the system of oral mentioning, urgent listing and adjournment of cases effective December 1. The changes also include barring senior advocates to mention matters before any bench, while encouraging junior counsel to

NEW DELHI: SRI Lanka was on Saturday picking up the pieces after widespread destruction caused by cyclone Ditwah, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declaring a state of emergency throughout the country as the death toll rose to 153. Disaster management authorities in Colombo told local newspapers about 191 people still remaining untraced as search and relief efforts continue across 25 districts. The cyclone brought landslides, flash floods, and heavy rains, affecting over 7,74,724 people f

NEW DELHI: IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express on Saturday started carrying out software upgrade of A320 family planes to address a potential flight control issue, and requisite modifications have been done for over 90 per cent of the affected 338 aircraft, an exercise that also resulted in delays and some flight cancellations. According to the latest data from the aviation regulator DGCA, IndiGo and Air India did not cancel any flights, while Air India Express cancelled four flights due to

PATNA: Lawmakers of the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar on Saturday unanimously elected Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD as the coalition's leader in the state legislature. The decision was taken at a meeting hosted by Yadav here ahead of the five-day session of the legislature, beginning on Monday, during which all the newly elected members of the 243-strong assembly will be sworn in. Talking to reporters after the meeting, RJD MLA Bhai Virendra said, Tejashwi Yadav has been elected leader of th

GUWAHATI: An interim report of a Group of Ministers (GoM) in Assam recommended a three-tier classification of Scheduled Tribes ST (Plains), ST (Hills) and ST (Valley). While the ST (Plains) and the ST (Hills) continue to cover the existing tribal communities residing in the plains and hills, the ST (Valley) will cover six communities such as Ahoms, Chutias, Morans, Mataks, Koch-Rajbongshis and Tea Tribes (Adivasis). The recommendation was made in light of the ST status demand by the six communi

CHANDIGARH: A 30-year-old Indian student from Haryana, Vijay Kumar Sheoran, has been stabbed to death in the United Kingdom. His family has written to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar seeking assistance to bring his mortal remains back to India for the last rites. The West Mercia Police in the United Kingdom stated on 28 November, We continue to appeal for information after a murder investigation was launched in Worcester. On Tuesday morning (25 November) around 4:15 am, a 30-year-old man

Bhopal: A national-level teen skater and Class VIII student, Rishan Katara, jumped from the third floor of his school building in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, moments after his father was called in to discuss the issue of the boy bringing and using a mobile phone on the campus on Friday. The 14-year-old, who suffered multiple fractures in his legs, spine and jaw, was admitted to a private hospital in Ratlam and referred by doctors to Ahmedabad on Saturday for advanced treatment. The incident occurred

SRINAGAR: In a significant judgement, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has ruled that trade conducted between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) qualifies as intra-state trade, since PoK is considered part of J&K and such trade falls within the purview of the GST Act. The ruling settles a long-pending question around the tax treatment of cross-Line of Control (LoC) barter transactions carried out during 20172018 and 20182019. Cross-LoC trade was introduced in 2008 a

New Delhi: A series of prolonged and severe droughts lasting more than 85 years each likely led to the gradual collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), according to a new study published in Nature . The research, led by IIT Gandhinagar in collaboration with two US universities, shows that repeated drought cycles between 4,450 and 3,400 years ago caused widespread aridification across 65- 91% of the region, ultimately forcing the de-urbanisation of Harappan centres. The Indus Valley Civil

GUWAHATI: Protesters, mostly students, vandalised Assams autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) secretariat in Kokrajhar on Saturday, opposing the state governments move to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six communities. Hundreds of protesters took out a march from the Bodoland University in Kokrajhar to the BTC secretariat at the call of Tribal Students of Bodoland, Assam who requested everyone to join and support this important movement. The protesters alleged that the government

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to substantially increase the number of women drivers on app-based ride-booking platforms, ordering that at least 15% of all such drivers must be women within the next six months, with the target rising to 25% over the following two to three years. The court also stated that ride-hailing apps should give women passengers the option to choose a woman driver as their first preference. The directive is part of a comprehensive set of

NEW DELHI: With Madvi Hidma now eliminated, security forces are now approaching to cross the finish line in completely ending the Naxal threat in the country. However, officials in the security grid say the mission will remain unfinished until Devuji and Ganesh Ukey are found and neutralised. Security officials said that Hidmas encounter psychologically unsettled the already fractured organisation and now, eliminating the two ageing commanders, who are the final symbolic pillars of the CPI (Maoi

GUWAHATI: A journalist and a policeman were injured in Manipur on Saturday when internally displaced persons (IDPs), seeking to return to their original homes, clashed with security personnel. The journalist, P Bobo, who works with a local news channel, and the policeman sustained minor injuries. Their condition was stated to be stable. The trouble broke out when police and central forces prevented hundreds of IDPs from the Sawombung Relief Camp in Imphal from returning to their homes in the Gwa

LUCKNOW: Wolf attacks are sweeping through the Bahraich district and adjoining areas of central Uttar Pradesh. On Saturday, two wolf attacks took place within eight hours, claiming the lives of a five-year-old boy and a 10-month-old girl. Five-year-old Star, the son of Roshan Kumar, was dragged by two wolves that came out from the adjoining fields at 4:30 pm. Star was playing in front of his house in Mallahnpurva hamlet under the Kaiserganj police station area. As per the local eyewitness accoun

KOLKATA: Implementing a Central Government notification, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Saturday renamed the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata to 'Lok Bhavan'. The governor's office claimed that West Bengal is the first State in the country to change the name of the Raj Bhavan into Lok Bhavan. In a video posted by the office on X, Bose is seen replacing three letters L, O and K with R, A and J before Bhavan. The Union Home Ministry had issued a directive on the renaming of Raj Bhavan on November 2

CHANDIGARH: With 14 months left for the assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab is grappling with a wave of public anger across the state, from employees and lawyers to farmers. Bus services in parts of the state remained affected on Saturday as employees of Punjab Roadways, Punjab State Bus Stand Management Company Limited (PUNBUS) and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) continued their protest for the second day. The state transport department issued notices aski

KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has expressed serious concern over the alleged reluctance of many BLOs in West Bengal to mark cases such as absent, shifted, dead and duplicate in enumeration forms during their door-to-door visits for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal and senior officials held a virtual conference with district magistrates (DMs), who also serve as district electoral officers

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann announced that the State will embark on the biggest road construction work so far, targeting to construct 44,920 kilometres of roads with a total cost of Rs 16,209 crore by the end of next year. He added that the government has not received even a single rupee of Rural Development Fund ( RDF) from the central government and is constructing the roads from its own funds. Divulging more details, CM Mann said that roads will be with a five-year m

HALDWANI: A breakthrough in the Delhi blast investigation led Delhi Police to Uttarakhands Haldwani, where a local religious leader, Maulana Mohammad Asim Qasmi, was detained early Saturday for suspected links to the operative allegedly behind the explosion. Sources close to the investigation revealed that the breakthrough came after Delhi Police decrypted crucial data and tracked the call detail records (CDR) from the mobile phone of the suspected terrorist, Umar. Around 2:30 AM, a specialised

NOIDA: A 25-year-old woman was shot dead allegedly by her partner, with police suspecting that he killed her after she refused to marry him. The accused is absconding, and multiple teams have been formed to nab him, they added. According to police, the incident took place in the Phase 2 area on Friday evening when Krishna (26) opened fire at his girlfriend Sonu (25) at her paying guest accommodation here, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Shakti Mohan Avasthy said. Upon receiving inf

PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) state president Mangani Lal Mandal said on Saturday that all seats that Congress won in the recently held state assembly polls were because of RJDs support. The remark comes hours before a joint meeting of the Opposition INDIA bloc allies in the state capital to discuss strategy for the special session of the Bihar legislature, beginning December 1. Talking to media persons, Mandal said that if the Bihar Congress intended to adopt a 'different' way, it was free

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant on Saturday slammed the implementation of the Centre's four new labour codes , saying they would destroy the rights of workers and create uncertainty. Speaking to reporters, Sawant, who heads the Sena (UBT) workers' wing, accused the government of aligning with capitalists and the rich. The law has taken everything from certainty to uncertainty, he said, adding that the new codes will be challenged in the courts. The Union government has notified the Indu

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has directed district magistrates (DMs) across the state to upload details of Waqf properties to the Central Governments Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) portal. The state minority affairs and madrasa education department has sent the directive to the DMs at a time when some officials in the department felt that the exercise was a time-bound compliance requirement set by the Centre. The Centre has aske

Hundreds of displaced people, seeking to return to their homes, clashed with security forces in Manipur's Imphal East district on Saturday. The displaced people, who have been staying at different relief camps after ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, were stopped by security forces at Yaingangpokpi when they were marching towards their homes at Gwaltabi, located on the periphery of the district. As the situation escalated, security forces lobbed several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday extended the NIA custody of deported gangster Anmol Bishnoi for seven more days. Special Judge Prashant Sharma ordered the extension till December 5 in the hearing conducted at the NIA headquarters amid high security. Wanted in connection with the killing of NCP leader Siddique, firing at actor Salman Khan's residence in April 2024, the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, among other crimes, Anmol was emoved from the US on November 18. He was detained

NEW DELHI: An estimated 95,000 people, mostly children younger than 5 years of age, died due to measles in 2024, said a new WHO report released on Friday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) report, however, said that global immunisation efforts have led to an 88% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2024. Nearly 59 million lives have been saved by the measles vaccine since 2000, it said. The WHO said that though the 2024 death toll is among the lowest annual tolls recorded since 2000, every

NEW DELHI: Investigation into a cross-border narcotics trafficking racket has found that Myanmarese nationals misused GST credentials of Indians to facilitate purchase of raw material required for manufacturing drugs, the ED said. The federal probe agency had conducted its first-ever searches along the India-Myanmar border on November 27 following registration of a money laundering case into a drugs trafficking case of Mizoram. Locations across Aizawl and Champhai (along India-Myanmar border) in

NEW DELHI: As many as 338 A320 family aircraft operated by Indian airlines require the software upgrade to address a potential issue related to flight controls, and modifications have been carried out in more than half of the affected fleet, according to DGCA data. Sources told PTI that there are no flight cancellations, but there are delays in the range of 60-90 minutes for some flights as the software updates are being carried out for the affected planes. On Friday, Airbus said intense solar r

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday deferred its order on cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chargesheet filed in the National Herald case. Special Judge Vishal Gogne deferred the pronouncement of the order to December 16. The ED has accused Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as well as late party leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, along with Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and a private company, Young Indian, of conspiracy and money laundering. They allegedly acquired

NEW DELHI: IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express flight operations will see disruptions as they work on fixing a potential issue related to flight controls in their A320 family planes and 200-250 aircraft will be impacted in the country, according to sources. Airbus on Friday said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions. Wi

VARANASI: The food and drugs department of the Uttar Pradesh government has filed a case against 12 more pharmaceutical firms in connection with the codeine-containing cough syrup-smuggling case in Varanasi. Previously, the department had filed a case against 26 firms. Inspector Janab Ali of the department said on Friday that the case against the 26 firms was filed on November 15. At that time, 12 suspicious firms were also found. When a team went to investigate these 12 firms, they were either

KOLKATA: The Election Commission appointed retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta as the 'Special Roll Observer' for the SIR exercise in West Bengal, an official said. The EC also appointed 12 IAS officers as 'Electoral Roll Observers' to oversee the key aspects of preparation of the electoral rolls following the SIR and help the district election officers (DEOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs) in taking corrective measures, he said. Gupta, a 1990-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, wi

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Friday said there will be no luxury litigation in his court as his priority is to ensure justice for poor litigants, emphasising that if required, he will hold the court till midnight for them. The CJIs remark came after a senior advocate mentioned a matter for urgent hearing. The big lawyers want us to just hear them. There will be no luxury litigation in my court. My priority is the smallest litigant sitting at the very back and if required, Ill

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said the Maharashtra state election commission will conduct local body polls as scheduled, but made it clear that results of the bodies where 50% ceiling on OBC quota have been breached will depend on its final verdict. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the observation and referred the case to a three-judge bench, which will take it up in January 2026. The bench hearing pleas alleging that Maharashtras decision to implemen

BHOPAL: Senior citizens in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are facing a new and highly unsettling cyber-fraud tactic, with criminals impersonating anti-terror investigators, placing victims under a so-called digital arrest, and extorting huge sums by falsely accusing them of involvement in terror funding. In Bhopal, the fear triggered by such calls has already claimed a life. Sixty-eight-year-old advocate Shiv Kumar Verma recently died by suicide at his home. A suicide note, purportedly penned by h

Chief Minister Hemant Soren marked one year of his governments second term by distributing 8,792 appointment letters to newly selected candidates. This focus on recruitment directly aligns with the governments promise to expand employment opportunitiesa major poll commitment. The CM noted that this anniversary would have been even more meaningful had Dishom Guru Shibu Soren been present. Remembering his recent passing, he said the veteran leader would have been happy to witness so many youths re

RANCHI: Netarhat, long celebrated as the queen of hills in Jharkhand, is facing rapid, unchecked construction that residents and conservationists say violates SC guidelines meant to protect Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ). Much of the plateau lies next to the Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary, the Palamu Tiger Reserve and Betla National Park, placing it firmly within the ESZ where new commercial structures require strict environmental clearance. According to locals, a surge of illegal hotel and resort construc

India gets a new Chief Justice as it marks the 76th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution. A new judicial era has begun with the appointment of Justice Surya Kant as the 53rd Chief Justice of India. His rise from humble origins to the high office reflects the democratic character and inclusivity of our public institutions. The new CJI has a unique opportunity to develop the constitutional vision of access to justice. His nearly-15-month tenure has the potential to make a substantive im