The New Indian Express News

NARAYANPUR: A jawan from the District Reserve Guard was killed after a weapon went off accidentally in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Sunday, police said. The incident occurred in Kadenar camp in the morning when a team of security personnel returned from an area domination operation in the forest under the Naxalite-affected Chhotedongar police station area, an official said. The operation was launched on Saturday. The patrolling team reached the camp in the early hours, and while securit

Indian Railways (IR) has rationalised its fare structure with effect from December 26, 2025. Under the revised system, passengers travelling up to 500 km in non-AC coaches will pay an additional Rs 10. The fare revision, however, will not apply to suburban (local) train services or Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs). Journeys of up to 215 km in the ordinary class will also remain unaffected. As part of the rationalisation, fares for Mail and Express trains in non-AC classes have been increased by 2 p

MUMBAI: The BJP has emerged as the single largest political force in Maharashtras urban local body elections, consolidating the Mahayuti alliances dominance by winning 133 of the 256 Nagar Parishads declared so far and a majority of municipal councillor seats across the State. According to the latest results, the BJP has won 133 Nagar Parishads, while its Mahayuti partners, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, secured 46 and 35 Nagar Parishads respectively. In contrast, th

SRINAGAR: The 40-day harshest winter period, known as Chilai Kalan, began in Kashmir on Sunday amid snowfall in the upper reaches, including the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Sonamarg, and rain in the plains, including Srinagar. Chilai Kalan, the coldest phase of winter in Kashmir, starts on December 21 and ends on January 31. During this 40-day period, the Valley remains in the grip of intense cold, with the highest chances of snowfall and rainfall, while night temperatures mostly stay several

Counting of votes for the elections to the posts of president and members in 286 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across Maharashtra began on Sunday. The counting began at 10 am at centres across the state. A turnout of 67.3 per cent was recorded in the polls of 263 local bodies held on December 2, while 47.04 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the second phase of the elections in 23 local bodies on Saturday, the State Election Commission said. The final voter turnout figure

GUWAHATI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday morning set sail on river Brahmaputra on a cruise ship, as he began his interaction with students during a 'Pariksha Pe Charcha' programme on the second day of his Assam visit. A total of 25 students from various schools of Assam are taking part in the event. Modi is scheduled to interact with the students for around 45 minutes aboard the three-deck 'M V Charaidew 2', officials said. He arrived at the Guwahati Gateway Terminal of the Inland Water

Security has been stepped up at the Indian Assistant High Commission office and the visa application centre in Bangladeshs Sylhet city following rising tensions after the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi , officials said. Sylhet Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) Saiful Islam said the measures were taken to ensure that no third party can exploit the situation, according to The Dhaka Tribune . Police said enhanced security was deployed from Friday morning at the Ass

PATNA: Contrary to the expectations, Ayush doctor Dr Nursat Parveen, who hit the national headlines after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar pulled down her hijab (veil) at an official function in Patna last week, did not join her job on Saturday. Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan defended CM Kumar, saying that there could never be any conflict between a father and a daughter. Nitish Kumar is like a father to Nusrat, and it is wrong to label the affection and discipline a father shows towards his daughter as

AIUDF to go solo in assembly elections Even as the Congress is trying to unite opposition parties to defeat the ruling BJP in Assam, minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has announced that it will go solo in the next years assembly elections. We will follow the ekla chalo re principle, AIUDF chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said. Weve neither received any offer for an alliance from the Congress nor are we anticipating one, he said. Ajmal was not too optimistic about the Congress

NEW DELHI: Backing the adoption of a standardised Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) for all pre-packaged foods, a parliamentary committee has recommended QR-based multilingual food labelling to ensure transparency, inclusivity, and consumer protection across Indias diverse population. Noting that current labels are often difficult for the average consumer to interpret and may not sufficiently guide healthier purchasing decisions, the committee, headed by Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora, said i

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Saturday arrested Lt Col Deepak Kumar Sharma, a senior officer in the defence ministry, in a bribery case, the agency said. One Vinod Kumar has also been arrested along with the Lieutenant Colonel. On Friday, the agency registered a case against Lt Col Sharma, Deputy Planning Officer of International Cooperation and Exports, Ministry of Defence, his wife Col. Kajal Bali, and others, including a Dubai based company on the allegations of criminal conspiracy and bribery. A per

It is Akshaye Khannas year, and we are just bidding adieu to it. Scroll through social media, and every second reel is of the actor, lording over the frame, grooving to the catchy beats of FA9LA , the song by Bahrain-based rapper Flipperachi, used in the blockbuster Dhurandhar. Akshaye plays Pakistani gangster Rehman Dakait, and with his intense stare and a Marlon Brando-coded dialogue delivery, shines the brightest in a multi-starrer. Rewind to the beginning of the year, and you have him playin

NEW DELHI: Parliaments winter session saw seven of nine bills passed within a week of introduction, even as both Houses sat beyond scheduled hours and spent more time debating than legislating. The session, held from December 1 to 19, ended with the Lok Sabha functioning for 103% and the Rajya Sabha for 104% of their scheduled time, according PRS Legislative Research. Despite the extended sittings, legislative business accounted for 36% of Lok Sabha time and 30% of Rajya Sabha time, continuing a

NEW DELHI: The political sparring over air pollution in Delhi escalated on Saturday after a proposed parliamentary debate on the issue was dropped, sparking a fresh war of words between the government and the Opposition. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju blamed the Congress for the cancellation by sharing a video of disruptions in the Lok Sabha during the passage of the VB-RAM-G Bill, the Opposition accused the government of lacking the intent to hold the discussion, arguing it could h

NEW DELHI: Delhi continued to grapple with severe air pollution and dense fog on Saturday as well, with more than half of the citys air quality monitoring stations recording alarming levels. At the same time, the city experienced its first cold wave of the season, with two of its five monitoring stationsSafdarjung and Palamrecording cold wave conditions. Out of 39 monitoring stations, 22 reported an air quality index (AQI) above 400, placing them in the severe category. Areas such as Chandni Cho

PATNA: Senior Congress leader and chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, Shashi Tharoor, on Saturday expressed deep concern over the prevailing mob rule and instability in Bangladesh, warning that the unrest could adversely affect both Bangladesh and India. Speaking to media at Patna airport ahead of his participation in the five-day Nalanda Literature Festival, starting Sunday at Rajgir, Tharoor said that mob rule in Bangladesh was not good either for Banglades

NEW DELHI: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is working on an expansion plan for the countrys first Gallery of Confiscated and Retrieved Antiquities, established at Purana Qila in 2019. The proposal envisages adding more antiquities to the collection on display, though access to the new additions will be restricted to research scholars. In addition to it, a dedicated online portal is being planned to host detailed information and photographs of the artefacts, making the collection accessi

NEW DELHI: Over the years, citizens voice has become a strong tool for assessment in Swachh Survekshan, which consistently reflects the strength of citizens perception and engagement with swachhata, especially visible cleanliness. To further amplify the initiative, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has designed its 202526 toolkit to give citizens opinions greater power and weightage. Starting this year, citizens will be able to share feedback round the year through multiple platf

BHOPAL: Bhopals long wait for operationalisation of the metro rail project ended on Saturday evening, as the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar, joined the CM Dr Mohan Yadav to flag off the first metro train on the around 7-km-long and eight-station-strong priority corridor. Following the operationalisation of the first metro train in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in the country to witness the operationalisation of metro railway service in its tw

NEW DELHI: Aimed at transforming the countrys doctoral research ecosystem and leveraging defence technology for civilian applications, the Prime Minister's Office has issued directives to the secretaries. It directed the secretaries to reexamine the selection of guides for doctoral degrees and start commercialisation of defence sector innovations, sources said on Saturday. The PMO directives outlining a fundamental restructuring of higher education research protocols stated: The method of select

NEW DELHI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Saturday said that eggs available in the country are safe for human consumption and recent claims linking eggs to cancer risk are misleading, scientifically unsupported and capable of creating unnecessary public alarm. Responding to reports and social media posts alleging the presence of carcinogenic substances such as nitrofuran metabolites (AOZ) in eggs, FSSAI officials clarified that the use of nitrofurans is strictly proh

JAIPUR: The Supreme Courts recent acceptance of the Union Environment Ministrys definition of the Aravalli hills -- restricting the range to landforms with an elevation of more than 100 metres -- has triggered widespread protests across Rajasthan. Political leaders, environmental activists, social media influencers and citizens have expressed strong opposition and warned that the move will entail serious ecological and economic consequences. Under the revised definition, nearly 90 per cent of th

MUMBAI: In a big blow to Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress party on Saturday announced to contest the Asias largest civic body the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections alone. The voting for the BMC and the other 28 municipal corporations' elections is scheduled on January 15, next year. Maharashtra and Mumbai Congress in charge, and Observer senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala held the review meeting, where the decision to contest the BMC elections alone was taken unanimously

Nearly a decade after a horrific crime that shook the nation, the city court at Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh convicted all five accused in the Bulandshahr gang rape case on Saturday. The case had sparked nationwide outrage in 2016. The Special Judge POCSO Case, Bulandshahr, has held all five accused identified as Juber, Sajid, Dharamvir, Naresh and Sunil Kumar guilty in the gang rape case. After the conclusion of the trial, the court found the accused persons guilty and will pronounce the senten

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a strong attack on the Indian National Congress, accusing the party of neglecting Assam and the Northeast during its years in power and alleging that it protected infiltrators at the cost of the regions security and identity. Addressing a public rally in Guwahati after inaugurating a new terminal at the citys airport, the Prime Minister said the Election Commission of India had initiated the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to

PATNA: Normal life in Bihar has been largely hit by dense fog and severe cold wave conditions, prompting authorities concerned to change the timing of schools for children. Severe cold wave condition is expected to persist till December 22. Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudharys helicopter could not take off due to bad weather conditions and poor visibility. He was scheduled to attend official functions at Sugauli and Raxaul in East Champaran district. According to authoritative sources,

The birth centenary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bharat Ratna and former Prime Minister of India, is not merely an occasion of remembrance but a moment of national introspection. It invites the country to reflect upon the values, vision, and civilisational commitment that defined one of the most remarkable public lives in modern Indian history. Born on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, Atalji lived a purposeful life of 94 years devoted entirely

NEW DELHI: The global economic and political pecking order has undergone a very significant change with multiple centres of power emerging, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday. Jaishankar said no single nation today can dominate global affairs across all issues. No country, however powerful, can impose its will on all issues, he said, adding that this has led to a natural competition among nations and a new global balance. Several centres of power and influence have emerged,

NEW DELHI: Thirty-six former judges,including former Supreme Court and High Court Chief Justices, denounced theOpposition leaders' bid to impeach Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, stating such an attempt, if allowed to proceed, would cut at the very roots of democracy and independence of the judiciary. This is a brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society. Even if the reasons mentioned

KOLKATA: As the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal puts thousands of Matua community members at a risk of losing Indian citizenship, Prime Minister Modi's silence during his rally in West Bengal has sparked sharp criticism from the ruling Trinamool Congress. While addressing the crowd at the Taherpur rally, a Matua-dominated region of the state, the PM started his audio message from Kolkata airport saying Jai Netai, and remembered the roles of social refor

GUWAHATI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Congress for speaking up in defence of infiltrators (illegal migrants) by criticising the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the new terminal building of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here, Modi said the government was working to stop infiltration and identify infiltrators, but the Congress and the INDIA bloc had openly adopted what

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Saturday that Indias task of engaging the United States and managing relations with China has become significantly more complicated, reflecting the deeper churn under way in the global political and economic order. His remarks underline how Indias foreign policy environment is being reshaped by shifting power balances, sharper geopolitical rivalries and a weakening of the assumptions that governed international relations for much of the postCold Wa

Satadru Dutta, the arrested main organiser of the Kolkata event featuring football giant Lionel Messi, has told a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that the Argentine legend left the Salt Lake Stadium within minutes of his appearance on December 13 --resulting in chaos-- as he was unhappy with being touched or hugged, reported PTI. According to the report citing sources from the SIT, Dutta also disclosed that the much-awaited event ended in chaos and violence after a very influential person reach

NEW DELHI: The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday constituted a Special Vacation Bench to hear urgent matters during the ongoing court's winter vacation on December 22. It is notable that the SC's winter vacation formally starts on December 20 and ends on January 04. Generally, the court doesn't conduct proceedings during winter vacation. This special sitting has been arranged to ensure timely consideration of pressing cases that require immediate judicial intervention during th

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Monday expressed its strongest condemnation of the actions of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for attempting to forcibly pull down the hijab of a woman doctor during a public ceremony held in Patna on December 15, 2025. In a statement, the President and Executive Committee of the SCBA described the incident as a grave infringement of a womans personal dignity and autonomy. The association said the alleged act, carried out by a person holdi

NEW DELHI: A fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Union of India, States and Union Territories to frame laws or policies recognising the problems faced by women during menstrual pain and to provide necessary relief, including the grant of leave, in consonance with Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The PIL has been filed by lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi, who has urged the apex court to intervene and address what he described

KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday criticised what he called the 'Maha Jungle Raj' under Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and appealed to the voters to support the BJP in next year's assembly elections to bring a 'double engine' government to the state. Modi addressed a rally virtually in Taherpur, Nadia district, after dense fog caused by low visibility prevented his helicopter from landing there. The Prime Minister was scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of two

AHMEADBAD: A murder has shaken Gujarats Vadodara district, with police alleging that a minor girl, driven by a forbidden love affair, drugged her own father and orchestrated his killing with the help of her lover and his friend. Investigators say the crime came to light after they pieced together a trail of failed poisoning attempts, a past POCSO case, and a carefully planned escape. Vadodara city was jolted after police cracked the murder of a young man from Padra taluka, who was stabbed to dea

AHMEDABAD: A traffic police constable was caught on camera slapping a woman motorist at a busy junction in Gujarats Ahmedabad, which has triggered public outrage and counter-cases, leading to the suspension of the constable. Criminal charges have been filed against both the cop and the woman motorist, turning a routine signal stop into a full-blown law-and-order controversy. The incident unfolded in the evening on Friday at a four-way junction in the Paldi area, of Ahmedabad under the N Division

RANCHI: Jharkhand Health Minister Irfan Ansari on Saturday said he has offered a job with Rs 3 lakh monthly salary, a government flat and desired posting to a woman doctor from Bihar following the naqab controversy during distribution of appointment letters. Ansari alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to demean naqab and the Muslim community by removing the veil of a woman. I have invited the woman doctor to Jharkhand and offered her a job with Rs 3 lakh monthly salary, a flat, d

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday criticised the VBG Ram G Bill , which was passed by the Parliament recently, replacing the decades-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), despite strong protests from the Opposition. In a video message posted on Congress's X handle, the Rajya Sabha MP stated that the BJP-led Centre has run a ulldozer over the MGNREGA, by removing Mahatma Gandhi's name and making significant changes arbitrarily. ...it is a matter of great re

BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday announced the successful completion of a series of qualification tests for the drogue parachutes, a critical component of the deceleration system for the Gaganyaan Crew Module. The tests were conducted on December 18 and 19, 2025, at the Rail Track Rocket Sled facility of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory in Chandigarh. According to ISRO researchers, the test series involved a total of ten parachutes of four different

RAIPUR: In Chhattisgarhs Sukma district, long affected by Maoist violence, surrendered cadres are now playing a role in rural development by constructing houses sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas YojanaGramin (PMAY-G), reflecting a shift from armed insurgency to livelihood-based rehabilitation. Several surrendered Maoists, after undergoing professional training at the district rehabilitation centre, have become skilled masons and are engaged in building partially completed and new PMAY-G h

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary panel has called for the rigorous implementation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act), particularly in the Scheduled Areas, and raised concerns over violations of the Act's provisions. In a report tabled in Parliament this week, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, chaired by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, expressed concern that despite

RANCHI: Family members were forced to carry their dead four-month-old child in a plastic bag as the hospital failed to provide transportation facilities. Dimba Chatomba, a resident of Baljori village under Noamundi block, had brought his sick child to Sadar Hospital at Chaibasa on Thursday. The child's condition worsened, and the child died during treatment on Friday. After the child's death, the family members had requested the hospital management to provide a vehicle to take the body back to t

Results from the recently-concluded Bihar assembly elections have opened up doors for the BJPs victory in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, addressing a rally in Taherpur virtually after dense fog prevented his helicopter from landing at the venue. Owing to low visibility, the prime ministers helicopter made a U-turn after hovering briefly over the makeshift helipad in Taherpur and returned to Kolkata airport, officials said. This was Modis first visit to the state sinc

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned Jai Anmol Ambani, son of industrialist Anil Ambani, for the second consecutive day in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud, officials said. The statements of 34-year-old Anmol Ambai were recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the first time on Friday, and the session is continuing on Saturday, they said. The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group did not respond to the development.

LUCKNOW: Wading into the Nitish Kumar 'naqab' controversy, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday raised concerns over the Bihar chief minister recently pulling off the veil from a woman doctor's face , saying the JD-U chief should express regret and make effort to end the itterly growing controversy. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also flagged concerns over a controversial police parade incident in Bahraich, which she described as a failure of legislative sessions in the state and Parliamen

NEW DELHI: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has said that corporate social responsibility cannot be separated from corporate environmental responsibility and companies cannot claim to be socially responsible while ignoring equal claims of the environment and other beings of the ecosystem. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar passed a slew of directions to protect the Great Indian Bustard, a species which is on the verge of extinction and faces threat from the operation of

FIROZABAD: A local court has sentenced a cashier of an Indian Bank branch to life imprisonment and five others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for siphoning off more than Rs 1.85 crore from over 100 accounts, police said on Saturday. Additional District and Sessions Judge Sarvesh Pandey on Friday convicted cashier Jaiprakash Singh and slapped a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh on him, while awarding 10 years' imprisonment each to former bank manager Raghvendra Singh, Praveen Kumar, Akash Mishra, Veer Baha