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Imphal : The cabinet of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh has declared a drought-like situation in the state owing to scant rain that have led to crop failures in over 70 blocks of the state, a government release said. File image of N Biren Singh. PTI The decision was taken on Saturday to seek relief from the Centre, the statement by N Geoffrey, secretary to the chief minister, said. "Rain deficit this year has affected crops in over 70 blocks of the state. Villages that have witnessed crop failures ranging between 33 percent and more than 50 percent have been categorised as moderately and severely affected," it said. Prior to the cabinet meeting, the chief minister chaired a high-level emergency meeting with cabinet ministers, MLAs, top officials, deputy commissioners of 16 districts and representatives of agricultural institutes to discuss the situation, it said. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2MP2u54 Press Trust of India

New Delhi : The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that isolated pockets over Odisha and Coastal Karnataka are likely to receive heavy rainfall on Sunday. Representational image. PTI Besides, some of the areas of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and West Madhya Pradesh are also expected to witness  heavy downpour throughout the day, the IMD stated in its All India Weather Warning Bulletin. "Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan and Goa, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana and South Interior Karnataka," the IMD said on Sunday. Thunderstorm accompanied by lightning over Bihar, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal, it said. Strong winds, speed reaching 45 to 55 kilometres per hour, are very likely to prevail over west-central and southwest Arabian Sea, central and adjoining southeast Bay of B

India’s GDP growth fell to 5 percent in the second quarter of this year, the lowest in six years. Manufacturing, the crown of Make in India, has grown under 1 percent. This is the second quarter where we have not touched 6 percent and the growth calculations are based on the revised method the government uses which many, including the former economic advisor himself, think are incorrect and optimistic. Representational image. Reuters. There is a lot of work ahead of the government to first think and then execute a way out of this. Unless very high growth is revived, India’s journey towards eliminating poverty and dependence will halt. This is something that concerns all of us no matter which part of India we live in and what our language and religious background. A lack of adequate GDP growth is not an academic exercise: A few months ago we learned that India’s unemployment rate is the highest in 50 years. This has actually risen further and shows no sign of moving in the positive

New Delhi: E-tickets bought through IRCTC will get costlier as the Indian Railways has decided to restore service charges from 1 September, according to an order. Representational image. AFP The IRCTC will levy a service charge of Rs 15 per ticket for non-AC classes and Rs 30 for AC classes, including first class, according to the 30 August order issued by IRCTC. Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately. The service charges were withdrawn three years ago to promote digital payments, a pet project of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. IRCTC used to levy a service charge of Rs 20 on every non-AC e-ticket and Rs 40 for every AC ticket before it was withdrawn. Earlier this month, the Railway Board had given its approval to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to restore the mechanism of charging service charge from passengers booking online tickets. In a letter dated 30 August, the Board had said the IRCTC, railways ticketing and tourism

Ahmedabad:  Approval has been given for a ferry service between Mumbai and Surat and operations are likely to begin in November this year, the Gujarat government said in a release on Saturday. Representational image. Reuters The air-conditioned passenger ferry service, with 20 rooms and with a capacity of 300 passengers, will operate between Hazira port in Surat and Bandra in Mumbai once a week to start with, and its frequency will be increased depending on public response, it added. "As per in principal approval, the service will begin from November this year, with the ship initially operating once a week. Its frequency will be increased in the future based on the passenger traffic," the released said. "Initially, the cruise ship will start from Bandra at 7 pm Thursday, and will arrive at Hazira port at 9 am on the next day. Its return journey will begin at 6 pm Friday from Hazira, reaching Bandra at 8 pm Saturday," it said. The Gujarat government operates a

Ranchi: The condition of jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad is not stable as his kidneys are not functioning properly, and blood sugar and blood pressure are fluctuating, a senior doctor attending to him said on Saturday. File image of Lalu Prasad Yadav. AFP Prasad, 71, is undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi. He has been in jail since 2017 after his conviction in fodder scam cases. "His kidneys are not functioning properly. The GFR (glomerular filtration rate) has dropped. His blood sugar and blood pressure are also fluctuating. We can say he is not stable," Dr Umesh Prasad, one of the attending doctors, told PTI . "His diet has also decreased compared to earlier. We are giving him medicines now," he said. The former Bihar chief minister and ex-Union minister is undergoing treatment for multiple ailments. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2Unl98Z Press Trust of India

Ahmedabad:  Approval has been given for a ferry service between Mumbai and Surat and operations are likely to begin in November this year, the Gujarat government said in a release on Saturday. Representational image. Reuters The air-conditioned passenger ferry service, with 20 rooms and with a capacity of 300 passengers, will operate between Hazira port in Surat and Bandra in Mumbai once a week to start with, and its frequency will be increased depending on public response, it added. "As per in principal approval, the service will begin from November this year, with the ship initially operating once a week. Its frequency will be increased in the future based on the passenger traffic," the released said. "Initially, the cruise ship will start from Bandra at 7 pm Thursday, and will arrive at Hazira port at 9 am on the next day. Its return journey will begin at 6 pm Friday from Hazira, reaching Bandra at 8 pm Saturday," it said. The Gujarat government operates a

Final NRC list excludes 19 lakh names in Assam The updated final National Register of Citizens (NRC) , which validates bonafide Indian citizens of Assam, was released on Saturday, with the NRC authority shutting out the citizenship claims of over 19 lakh applicants who now face an uncertain future. A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded. Those who have been excluded from the NRC have 120 days to appeal against it at the 'foreigners' tribunals'. If not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunals, they will have the option to move the respective high court and the Supreme Court for redress. In order to assuage the fears of those who could be excluded from the final list, the Assam government has already ruled out their detention "in any circumstances" till the time a foreigners' tribunal declares them foreigners. An NRC centre in Assam. Reuters Notw

Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced that a statue of former finance minister late Arun Jaitley will be installed in the state. The chief minister also said, while speaking at the SKM hall in Patna, that Jaitley's birth anniversary will be celebrated as a state function every year. Jaitley passed away in New Delhi on 24 August at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 66. He was cremated with full state honours at the Nigambodh Ghat in the national capital on 25 August. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2Lf9ypX Asian News International

Guwahati : The Assam government Saturday claimed many genuine Indian citizens have been left out of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), but said they do not need to panic as they have option to appeal in the Foreigners Tribunal (FT). Speaking to PTI, Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, said the government will provide legal support to the Indian citizens not finding place in the NRC list. "One thing is sure that many genuine Indians were left out of the NRC. However, they don't need to panic and worry. They can appeal in the FTs," Patowary said. People stand in a queue to check their names on the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) outside a Gaon Panchayat office in Assam. PTI If the genuine Indians, who were not included in the NRC, require assistance in appealing in the Tribunal, the government will assist them, he added. "We have increased the number of FTs to 300 from 100 earlier. The additional FTs will

New Delhi: The Congress-affiliated NSUI was issued a show-cause notice on Saturday by the JNU's election committee after Hardik Patel attended one of its poll events. The model code of conduct is in place currently for the upcoming Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls and according to the rules, no outsider can canvass for the parties. File image of Hardik Patel. News18 Sources said the JNU unit of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) had sought permission to invite Patel, a Congress leader from Gujarat, for their " Mashal Juloos ", but it was declined by the election committee. The party took out the " Mashal Juloos " from Ganga Dhaba to Chandrabhaga Hostel on the university campus on Saturday. The NSUI had even circulated invites for the event, which said it would be addressed by Patel. The first show-cause notice was issued to the party on Friday and it replied to it, saying it was not aware how Patel was present t

Islamabad: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that war is not an option to deal with the Kashmir issue amidst fresh India-Pakistan tensions over New Delhi revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status. His remarks came at a time when Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been repeatedly threatening the possibility of a nuclear war with India over Kashmir after his efforts to internationalise the matter failed to gain any traction. File image of Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Reuters Asserting that abrogation of Article 370 was its internal matter, India has strongly criticised Pakistan for making "irresponsible statements" and provocative anti-India rhetoric over issues internal to it. In an interview to BBC Urdu published on Saturday, Qureshi said Pakistan never followed an aggressive policy and always preferred peace, adding that the current government of Pakistan has repeatedly offered India to start talks because the two nuclea

Lucknow: Mobs thrashed six people, including a Delhi resident and a woman beggar, over rumours of child-lifting in three fresh incidents in Uttar Pradesh, despite the police warning to invoke the National Security Act against those spreading such canard. Attacks over rumours of child-lifting have increased over the past week in the state. On Thursday, Director General of Police OP Singh said 82 people have been arrested for spreading rumours about child theft, but incidents of public thrashing have continued. Singh had warned authorities will invoke NSA against rumour mongers. Under the Act, a person can be detained for as long as required and authorities need not disclose the grounds of detention. On Saturday, police said a Delhi resident was attacked in Muzaffarnagar when he was on a personal visit to the district. They said Anandpuri area residents suspected him to be a child lifter and thrashed him on Friday but an investigation found he was innocent. File image of Uttar Prad

New Delhi : Senior Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday for the second straight day in a money laundering case, officials said. He appeared at the ED headquarters in the national capital, they said. The investigating officer of the case had grilled him for over four hours on Friday and recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said. Shivakumar is expected to be put through documents and queries through the day with a lunch break in between. File image of DK Shivakumar. News18 While making his first appearance on Friday, after he arrived by air from Bengaluru, the Kanakapura MLA had said he will cooperate with the ED probe. "It is my duty (to appear)... I have to respect the law. We are lawmakers and law abiding citizens. They (ED) have summoned me... I don't know why they have called me under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)," he said. "But,

Lahore: Under pressure, the government in Pakistan's Punjab province has constituted a high-level committee to negotiate with Sikhs angry over the abduction and forced conversion of a teenage girl from the community. Jagjit Kaur's family alleged that she was converted to Islam at gunpoint and forced to marry a Muslim boy. Her family says she is 18-year-old. A Sikh gilr in Pakistan's Punjab was allegedly forcibly converted and married to a Muslim man, leading to furore in the community. An FIR has been registered against six people in the case, said Muhammad Jamil, Nankana City Police Investigation Officer. Police have arrested one of the suspects named Arsalan, a friend of the prime accused Mohammad Hassan who married the Sikh girl. The girl has been sent to a shelter home in Lahore on Friday on the court's order. The incident sparked tensions between the Sikh and Muslim communities. Some reports said that the Sikh community in Nankana Sahib, some 80 kilometers

Guwahati: The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updation of the National Register of Citizens six years ago, said the final NRC turned out to be a "flawed document" because its prayer for reverification of the draft list was rejected by the apex court. The NGO also wondered whether the software used in the updation exercise was capable to handle so much data and if it was examined by any third party Information Technology expert, APW president Abhijeet Sharma said. People stand in a queue to check their names on the final NRC list at Morigoan, Assam. PTI "The final NRC has made it obvious that the problem of illegal immigration will never be resolved in Assam. Had it been completed flawlessly, it would have been a golden chapter in Assam's history," Sharma told reporters after the final NRC was released, excluding names of over 19 lakh applicants. The APW, as the primary petitioner, had submitted five

As the much-awaited updated final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was published on Saturday (31 August) , excluding names of over 19 lakh applicants, the outcome didn't go down well with BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), both expressing dissatisfaction and urging the Supreme Court to allow re-verification for "a correct and fair NRC." "A total of 3, 30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 found mention in the document while 19,06,657 individuals were excluded," a statement from the NRC State Coordinator's office said in Guwahati. People wait in a queue to check their names on the final draft of the state's NRC after it was released, at an NSK in Morigaon on 30 July, 2018. PTI The status of both inclusion and exclusion can be viewed online in the official NRC website – www.nrcassam.nic.in . Expressing little faith in the final list that intended to identify legal res

Pain, like death, is a universal phenomenon. The sour grimace on the woman’s face, registering her bodily complaints to Dr GP Dureja in his East Delhi office, would be recognised anywhere. Slouched shoulders, pinched forehead. She wore a willowy black kurta and cast a disapproving glance at the five pain physicians-in-training huddled behind Dureja, founder of Delhi Pain Management Centre and one of India’s pioneering pain physicians. The five trainees, participants in the center’s acclaimed pain fellowship programme, recorded the woman’s consultation on their smartphones, eager to see India’s famous pain doctor do his work. After their fellowships, they will return home to Chennai, Kashmir, Rajasthan, ready to forge careers in India’s exploding pain industry. Representational image. Reuters The woman had been under Dureja’s care for some time; he diagnosed her with fibromyalgia, a chronic neurological disorder of mysterious origin that causes pain throughout the body. But the re

The final list of the government’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on Saturday (31 August). It’s the list of all houses, alongside the names and number of people residing in them, and their assets ostensibly meant to filter out illegal immigrants who have percolated through state's porous border with Bangladesh. On one hand, the publication of the NRC list marks the culmination of a process that practically started in May 2005 but had been stewing for much longer. On the other hand, it has impelled lakhs of Assam residents, who have been stripped off their citizenship by the stroke of a pen, into a legal quagmire. Those who are labelled 'outsiders' must defend their rights as Indian citizens in a court of law, or suffer deportation or detention. Representational image. Reuters This is when the Centre itself had admitted that there was a possibility that the process of determining the state resident's legal claim to citizenship may not have been fo

Islamabad:  Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan said that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi "reverses" its decision on revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status, end the restrictions and withdraws its troops to the barracks. In an opinion piece in The New York Time s on Thursday, Imran Khan again warned that if the world does nothing to stop India's decision on Kashmir, the two nuclear-armed countries will get ever closer to a "direct military confrontation." File image of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. PTI Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Reacting to India's decision, Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner after it downgraded the diplomatic ties with New Delhi. "On Kashmir, the dialogue must include all stakeholders, especially the Kashmiris,"

Islamabad:  Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan said that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi "reverses" its decision on revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status, end the restrictions and withdraws its troops to the barracks. In an opinion piece in The New York Time s on Thursday, Imran Khan again warned that if the world does nothing to stop India's decision on Kashmir, the two nuclear-armed countries will get ever closer to a "direct military confrontation." File image of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. PTI Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Reacting to India's decision, Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner after it downgraded the diplomatic ties with New Delhi. "On Kashmir, the dialogue must include all stakeholders, especially the Kashmiris,"

With the Assam government releasing the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list on Saturday (31 August) , those who found their names excluded might well find themselves concerned. But take heart: No one can be labelled an illegal migrant or a non-citizen just because their names are excluded from the list. The right to pass a verdict on someone's citizenship only lies within the ambit of Foreigners Tribunals, a quasi-judicial body especially set up to solve matters of dubious citizenship. People wait in a queue to check their names on the final draft of the state's National Register of Citizens after it was released, at an NSK, on July 30, 2018. PTI It is this body that residents should approach to dispute the exclusion of their names from the NRC.  Those excluded from the final NRC list can even approach the Gauhati High Court or even the Supreme Court in case they are unsatisfied with the response of the Foreigners Tribunals. The state police on Thursday appeale