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CHANDIGARH: The Union Government has stated that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 23.79 lakh cases were flagged in Punjab. Over 2.90 lakh beneficiaries have been deleted, and the verification of 20.69 lakh has not been completed. Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had alleged that the centre had deleted 8 lakh beneficiaries, and he would not allow any beneficiary to be removed. In reply to a question asked by Punjab Congress president and Member of Parliament from Ludhiana,

NEW DELHI: Out of the total 6,833 treatment requests raised by road accident victims under the Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme so far, only 5,480 victims have been found eligible, and the remaining 1,353 cases (nearly 20 per cent) have been rejected by the police, Parliament was informed on Thursday. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, said the total fund disbursed under the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund is Rs 73,88,848.

Amid the rising number of suicides and deaths allegedly due to work pressure during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, hundreds of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on Thursday protested outside the office of the state's Chief Electoral Officer in Kolkata. Breaching police barricades, a group of over 400 BLOs marched towards the office of CEO Manoj Agarwal and staged a sit-in demanding further extension of the enumeration deadline of the SIR exercise by at

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday informed the Lok Sabha that the proposed Health and National Security Cess will not be levied on essential commodities but would be imposed on the production capacity of pan masala units, which is a demerit good. Moving the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, for discussion in the lower House, Sitharaman also said the proceeds from the cess will be shared with states under specific health schemes. By levying the cess, we exp

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, on Thursday, issued a slew of directions to address the problems faced by the BLOs while working in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in various states. A two-judge Bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in its order directed that the states which were affected would depute additional staff for SIR duty to reduce the working hours of persons engaged in SIR. Whenever any individual has a

JAIPUR: The Bhajan Lal Sharma Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rajasthan Jan Vishwas Ordinance, aimed at promoting ease of living and ease of doing business, mirroring the Centres Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023. The Rajasthan Public Trust (Amendment of Provisions) Ordinance, 2025, cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday, eliminates jail terms for minor or technical breaches under 11 state laws and substituties them with monetary fines. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel s

The United States has deported as many as 18,822 Indian nationals since 2009, including 3,258 this year since January 2025, the Union government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Responding to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said state governments and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also investigated cases of human trafficking , in which Punjab has the maximum number of cases. Since 2009, a total of 18,822 Indian nationals have been deporte

As chaos over mass cancellations continues, an IndiGo flight from Madinah to Hyderabad was diverted to Ahmedabad on Thursday following a bomb threat, PTI reported. PTI reported that the aircraft landed safely at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport around 12:30 pm, and all passengers and crew were deboarded for a thorough inspection, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 4) Atul Bansal said. Bansal said an email sent to IndiGo claimed a bomb had been planted on the aircraft. As Ahmedabad

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Thursday tried to set the record straight on the scope of Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha, saying discussion under this provision can only take place on any of the items already listed on the day's agenda and not on any unrelated subjects. Session after session, Opposition party MPs have been giving notices under Rule 267, seeking to set aside the agenda of the day to take up discussion on the subject they considered more important. But none of th

BIJAPUR: Six more bodies of Naxalites have been recovered following an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, taking the toll of cadres killed in the gun battle to 18, officials said on Thursday. Three personnel of the District Reserve Guard, a unit of the state police, were also killed in the gunfight which took place on Wednesday. Following a prolonged intermittent exchange of fire that lasted for around 12 hours, bodies of 12 Naxalites were recovered till late W

MUMBAI: Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane on Thursday wondered why environmentalists opposing the felling of trees in Nashik ahead of Kumbh Mela were never seen opposing the slaughter of goats on Eid. Rane's remarks came amid protests by civil society members against the Nashik civic body's plan to cut down more than 1,700 trees in the Tapovan area to build a 'Sadhu Gram' (settlement for religious leaders) ahead of the Kumbh Mela, which will begin in October 2026. The environmental

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, more than five years after his arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Bhosale allowed the bail plea of Babu. The detailed order was not available yet. The HC refused the request of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to stay the bail for enabling it to appeal before the Supreme Court. Hany Babu had sought bail primarily on th

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the government of barring visiting foreign dignitaries from meeting the Leader of the Opposition, calling it a sign of insecurity. His remarks came hours before Russian President Vladimir Putins two-day visit to India. Gandhi, who is the LoP in the Lok Sabha, said it has long been a tradition for foreign leaders to meet the opposition leader, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following the norm. Normall

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the 16-year delay in the criminal trial of a 2009 acid attack case, calling it a shame and a mockery of the system, after being informed that proceedings were still pending before a Rohini trial court in Delhi. If the national capital cannot handle such a situation, then who will? This is such a shame! This (the delay in criminal trial) is a mockery of the system, remarked a two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kantand

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the 16-year delay in the criminal trial of a 2009 acid attack case, calling it a shame and a mockery of the system, after being informed that proceedings were still pending before a Rohini trial court in Delhi. If the national capital cannot handle such a situation, then who will? This is such a shame! This (the delay in criminal trial) is a mockery of the system, remarked a two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kantand

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday deferred its order on framing of charges in the alleged land-for-job scam involving RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others. Special CBI Judge Vishal Gogne directed the CBI to file a status report after verifying the status of the accused persons in the case. Of the 103 accused persons in the case, four have died. Judge Gogne posted the matter for further proceedings on December 8. The CBI had filed chargesheets against Lalu Yadav, his wife

NEW DELHI: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the current system of toll collection will come to an end within a year and an electronic system will take its place, ensuring a seamless experience for highway users. The new system has been rolled out in 10 places and will be extended across the country within a year, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said in Lok Sabha during Question Hour. This toll system will end. There will be no one to stop you in the name of toll. W

NEW DELHI: Leaders of various Opposition parties on Thursday staged a protest in Parliament complex over the issue of air pollution in the national capital, with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi asking the government to take action. Carrying placards, leaders of various parties raised slogans outside the Makar Dwar of Parliament asking the prime minister to stop making statements and take action. Some of the MPs also wore masks at the protest to highlight the problem of air pollution. It is the gove

KOLKATA: West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday suspended its Bharatpur MLA Humayun Kabir, who had triggered a storm with the proposal to build 'Babri Masjid' in Murshidabad district. Kabir, who has hogged the limelight over the last few years with his controversial statements on various matters, including the party's internal affairs, had announced that the foundation stone of the proposed mosque would be laid at Beldanga on December 6. Announcing his suspension, senior TMC leader

A Reddit user has posted a detailed account on r/delhi claiming he managed to expose and intimidate an alleged scammer by using an AI-generated geolocation and front-camera capture link, forcing the person to abruptly call off the operation. According to the post, the user, a young IT graduate, said the episode began when he received a message on Facebook from a number impersonating one of his college seniors, an IAS officer. The impostor allegedly claimed that a CRPF officer friend was being tr

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorates Shillong Sub-zone has conducted its first search operation in West Garo Hills Tura in connection with the case related to the alleged misappropriation of funds of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). The searches were carried out at five premises pertaining to the accused, Boston Ch. Marak, Ismail Marak, Kubon Sangma and Nikseng Sangma. The case relates to the non-execution of developmental works and the alleged diversion of funds allocated

Disruptions to IndiGo's operations continued on Thursday as the carrier cancelled services across several airports, a day after it scrapped more than 200 flights and delayed many others amid a nationwide crew shortage. As many as 33 outbound and 35 inbound IndiGo flights are expected to be cancelled from Hyderabad on Thursday, according to sources at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. More than 30 flights scheduled to depart from Delhi were also cancelled early Thursday, while Bengaluru airport

SRINAGAR: A confrontation is brewing in Jammu & Kashmir after the Omar Abdullah cabinet approved the Cabinet Sub Committees reservation report and sent it to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha for final clearance. The move has triggered sharp reactions, with the Association of Residents of Backwards Areas (RBA) and several Kashmiri leaders warning against reducing the 10% RBA quota to increase the Open Merit share. Meanwhile, Open Merit (OM) students have rejected token cuts to select categories and demand

FM Sitharaman likely to table Health Security se National Security Cess Bill today Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to move the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha today. The Bill aims to boost resources for national security and public health. It proposes levying a cess on machines installed and other processes involved in the manufacturing or production of specified goods. Congress MPs move Adjournment Motions in Lok Sabha over Delhi-NCR p

NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the government is actively working to frame new rules to curb fake news and regulate AI-generated deepfakes. During Question Hour, the minister highlighted the growing threat of fake news and AI-generated deepfake videos to Indias democracy. He stressed the need for strict action against those who create and spread false information and mentioned efforts to strengthen ins

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha will take up two major debates next week one marking the 150th anniversary of the composition of Vande Mataram and the other on electoral reforms, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC), chaired by Chairperson C P Radhakrishnan and attended by floor leaders of several parties, finalised the schedule on Wednesday evening. According to sources, the BAC decided to hold the Vande Mataram debate on

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday warned that countries erecting barriers to the movement of skilled professionals across borders will ultimately be net losers, urging nations to recognise that cross-border talent is a shared economic asset, not a political liability. Speaking at an interactive session during a conclave on mobility against the backdrop of rising concerns over the US move to impose higher fees on H-1B visas, Jaishankar said advanced manufacturing and

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked BJP MPs from West Bengal to counter the TMC government and work towards winning the assembly elections next year. BJP MPs from the state met the PM along with Khagen Murmu, Maldah Uttar MP who was attacked by a mob in October. The PM told us to keep fighting the West Bengal government to save democracy. We will remove this government, Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said after the meeting. Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said the PM highlighted

NEW DELHI: Gen Z is hooked on junk food and regularly order from popular online app to purchase ultra-processed foods (UPFs) like soft drinks, juices, biscuits, cakes, ice creams, candies, chips, and noodles, said a latest survey, which found that alarmingly one in two packaged food items listed on quick commerce platforms in India is high on fat, sugar and salts (HFSS). The survey findings come in the wake of the Lancet series, which said the rise of UPFs in human diets is damaging public healt

NEW DELHI: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati Chairman Navneet Kumar Sehgal has resigned. His resignation has been accepted by the I&B ministry and he been relieved from service. According to ministry letter, Sehgal tendered his resignation on Tuesday. Sehgal, a retired bureaucrat was appointed as Prasar Bharati Chairman in March 2024. The former IAS officer from1988 batch belongs to the UP cadre and has leadership experience of over 35 years heading key departments while driving governance and p

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday hauled up the Maharashtra Prison officials for repeatedly failing to produce an undertrial accused before the trial court on a majority of hearing dates. Criticising the jail staff, the SC said, We were shocked at the conduct of thestate authorities. The production of an accused before the court is not only to ensure speedy trial but more importantly, as a safeguard so that the prisoner is not abused otherwise, and he comes directly in contact with the c

CM Devendra Fadnaviss medical help cell, in collaboration with government and social and community organisations, has planned three mega events. These initiatives aim at bringing marginalised and socially overlooked communities like Banjara, Lamana, Walmiki, Sikhlegal, and Mohayal etc together at one platform. The programme will start in Nagpur in presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. It will then shift to Navi Mumbai where Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be present. Finally, i

BHOPAL: As the country grapples with worsening air quality, it has been revealed that Madhya Pradeshthe home state of Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhanis contributing the maximum to stubble burning. According to the recent statistics pertaining to monitoring paddy residue burning in the country via satellite remote sensing, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) detected as many as 33,028 active burning events in six study states. The six study states are: Punjab, Hary

NEW DELHI: A meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, held in Parliament House on Wednesday, reignited the buzz about the election of a new party president. It is learnt that the closed-door discussion for nearly an hour covered crucial organisational and political matters. According to sources, the process for electing the next BJP president, selection of a new chief for UP, and possibility o

NEW DELHI: A private firm reportedly uprooted a green belt stretch and damaged an adjacent footpath on Africa Avenue in Sarojini Nagar on Wednesday, officials claimed. The stretch is maintained by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). The site is located on the main road opposite Shaheed Sudhir Tyagi Marg in the Sarojini Nagar area. According to sources, the firm allegedly installed a gate in the area and created a path to allow vehicular entry. NDMC authorities have been notified, and a d

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday eased to victory in seven of 12 seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by-polls, adding to its dominant win in the February Assembly election. The AAP, dumped out of power by the BJP 10 months ago after over a decade in power, finished a distant second with three seats. And a struggling Congress did what it could not do earlier this year, that is win a seat. The 12th seat went to the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB). Interestingly, of the seven BJP winners

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has approved a major infrastructural plan to redevelop 402 kilometres of city roads by March next year. Spearheaded by the Public Works Department (PWD), the initiative aims to upgrade the citys road network with modern engineering standards, reduce congestion points, and enforce strict accountability mechanisms. The plan accommodates the road projects spanning 301 kilometres operating under the Central Road Fund (CRF) and 101 kilometres the state fund. PWD Minist

NEW DELHI: Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday undertook a strong defence of the newly implemented Labour Codes . In a statement posted on X, he issued a point by point rebuttal of the charges levied against the codes earlier in the day by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The opposition parties today staged a protest in the Parliament House complex demanding the immediate withdrawal of the codes.Billing the labour codes anti-labour, anti-worker and pro-croni

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has accounted for 35% of the total arrests nationwide under the UAPA in four years period after 2019 as a total of 3662 persons in the Union Territory were arrested and booked under stringent anti terror law from 2019 to 2023. According to the data placed in Rajya Sabha by Union MoS Home Nityanand Rai in response to a question by Congress MP Shafi Parambil, a total of 3662 persons have been arrested under UAPA in Jammu and Kashmir in four years from 2019 to 2023. The

BHOPAL: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans home state, Madhya Pradesh, is contributing the maximum to parali burning (paddy residue/stubble burning) in the country, data showed. As per the recent statistics pertaining to monitoring paddy residue burning in the country via satellite remote sensing, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said as many as 33,028 active burning events in six study states. The six study states included Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi, Rajasthan,

NEW DELHI: India recorded nearly 8.5 lakh out-of-school children (OoSC) in 2025-26, of whom 3.7 lakh were girls, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. In a written reply, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Savitri Thakur, said that in 2024-25, the provisional figure for total OoSC was 11,76,894, of whom 5,09,499 were girls. She said the key reasons for children dropping out of school included migration, the socio-economic condition of families, the imposition of domes

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Education, Sukanta Mazumdar, informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of faculty vacancies in Central Universities stood at 25.44%in 2025. In a written response submitted in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to a query from MPAnil Kumar Yadav Mandadi, Mazumdar said, There has been a substantial increase in the sanctioned faculty posts to 18,951 in 2025 from 16,324 in 2014. Despite the 16% increase in total sanctioned faculty posts, the faculty vacancies reduced to 25.

NEW DELHI: Indias largest pilot association, The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has come out with a slew of charges against Indigo airlines for the spate of cancellations and delays on Wednesday and Tuesday. It plans to raise these points with the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Aviation Ministry. The FIP has a membership of nearly 6,000 aviation professionals, employed in India and abroad. In a strongly-worded release to the media, Captain CS Randhawa,

JAIPUR: Just before the much-hyped Pravasi Rajasthan programme, the High Court has delivered an embarrassing jolt to the Rajasthan government. The court has sharply criticised the state for failing to prepare a clear roadmap for repairing dilapidated school buildings. The HC has also questioned why funds are being spent on grand events and beautification drives while unsafe schools continue to endanger school children. During the hearing, the Rajasthan High Court expressed strong displeasure ove

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI investigation into the alleged paper leak of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission's Combined Graduate Level Examination (JSSC-CGL). On November 3, after hearing arguments from all parties, a division bench of the High Court Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Rajesh Shankar had reserved the order. The court has also directed the JSSC to declare results and initiate the recruitment process. The court,

NEW DELHI: A Maharashtra-based Trust, under scanner of the MHA for alleged FCRA violation, and its trustees aided a Yemeni couple to overstay in India after the expiry of their visas and also got them Aadhaar, PAN and birth certificates, the ED said on Wednesday. The federal probe agency conducted multiple searches on December 1 after registering a money laundering case against Nandurbar-based Jamia Ismalia Ishatul Uloom (JIIU) Trust and some others. The raids were undertaken in the northwestern

NEW DELHI: A total of 1,232 flights were cancelled by Indigo in November with 755 of them cancelled due to crew and Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) constraints, said an official release from the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The regulator is investigating the present situation with the airline and is working with it to reduce cancellations and delays. An official release from the regulator said that 92 of these cancellations were an outcome of Air Traff

NEW DELHI: The national capital is all set to roll out the red carpet as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives from Moscow on Thursday for a tightly packed two-day state visit laced with high-level diplomacy, economic negotiations and ceremonial grandeur. His first India trip in four years, the visit is designed to inject fresh momentum into the IndiaRussia partnership at a time of shifting geopolitical alignments. Putin touches down in the capital on Thursday evening, followed by a private d

NEW DELHI: Expressing its strongest displeasure the way the Maharashtra Prison offcials repeatedly failed to produce an undertrial accused before the trial court on a majority of hearing dates, the Supreme Court criticised the jail staff and said it was shocked at the conduct of the State authorities. We are shocked at the conduct of the State authorities. The production of an accused before the Court is not only to ensure speedy trial but more importantly, as a safeguard so that the prisoner is

RANCHI: In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has formally taken over the Jharkhand liquor scam probe from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), launching its own investigation into the case. ED sources confirmed that the agency has adopted ACB case 9/2025 and registered a parallel Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) numbered 10/2025 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Following the registration of the ECIR, the ED moved the Special PMLA Court in Ranc